I growled and crouched in a ready position as Danny instantly shifted into his fur beside me. He growled and watched the Rouge for a few minutes as we waited to see if it was alone or not. After a minute or so, there was no other wolves coming out of the surrounding forest, so my brother -who had paced around the Rouge- attacked it as its attention was on me. It tried to defend itself, but my brother had taken it by surprise and was quickly able to snap it's neck and shake him out.
Growling, he started to rip him apart for what he did to the helpless shaman. She had never been a fighter. I growled at him to make him stop, using my influence as the elder sibling, and he did. We heard another howl accompanied by a painful yelp and Danny and I started to run to the house. I stayed in my skin as I ran along side Danny on the path -he ran through the trees since the branches wouldn't get in his way as he nimbly dodged them. As we got closer to the house, shouts from wolves and people were becoming more distinct.
When we broke from the trees we both paused for a moment and took in the scene before us with growing horror. Our house, and all of the houses surrounding it were on fire. People from my pack were running out of the houses and as soon as they were free from the flames, they were chased down by unknown wolves and killed. The pack warriors were doing their best to fight back, but from the looks of it, they had been taken by surprise and were not sure what to do; put out the fires, save the non-fighters, or fight a Rouge in front of them? Most of the Warriors were split between all three, going to put out a fire, then attacking a Rouge as they tried to kill a woman, child or elder. It was, in short, hectic and we were losing.
My parents should have been one of the first people out in this mess, calling order and telling people where to go; so where were they? Danny and I seemed to come to the same conclusion at the exact same time, for we looked at one another for but a moment before dashing to our house. The flames were red, orange and white, giving off immense heat that we had felt before we even left the forest line. So when we reached the house and Danny rammed into the door, the burst of flames was almost overwhelming.
Coughing at the dark smoke, we made our way into the house, watching for the roof to not fall in on us. I was calling out to my parents, asking them to answer me with my Alpha voice, but no one answered as we combed the house. On the second floor, the ceiling was groaning nearly as much as the hot floors as we went to their room. No one was in there, and I felt my heart clench in worry. If they were not in the house and not outside, where could they be?
I saw a family picture that my mother had always kept beside her bed and clutched it tight. The ceiling gave a last warning groan and the doorway to my parents bedroom collapsed, trapping my brother and I in the room. He whimpered to me, his ears back and tail low as he kept close to my side, his normally light brown fur now caked in gray soot and smoke. Seeing the window I walked over to it, looking down. There were no rocks or uneven footing below, but there was the soft dirt of the garden that my mom had put a lot of effort into growing.
Covering my face as best as I could, I made sure that Danny would follow me and backed away from the window. Running, I slammed into the hot glass of window pane and everything seemed to slow down as the glass gave away, shards floating around me. Then I fell, down I went until my feet hit the dirt hard, making a jolt of pain run through my legs and up my back. The glass barely cut me, so I moved out of the way and watched the window for Danny.
A Rouge suddenly appeared from around the corner and saw me, drawing my attention from the window. Despite my tiredness from the day and the smoke in my lungs, I was not about to go down without a fight. I coughed as I tried to keep my eyes completely open and crouched into a defensive position. The Rouge attacked, lunging at me, but at that moment, Danny had jumped out the window.
He had over jumped though, and ended up landing beside me, distracting the Rouge enough for me to get the upper hand. I fell backwards, bringing my hands up so that my head would not touch the ground and positioned my legs properly. Just as the Rouge passed over me, I kicked up into it's rib cage, and with a sickening crack, sent it flying behind me. I used the momentum I had to flip and land on my legs, my hands pushing against the ground to help me jump up.
I coughed again and looked at my brother, he was also coughing like crazy, and was trying to catch his breath. In the process of getting rid of the Rouge I had dropped the picture frame, so as I picked it up, I looked carefully to see blood pooling from under it. Shocked, I followed the trail of blood, and gasped. I coughed some more as tears started to fall from my eyes at the sight. I had found my parents. When I heard a whimper beside me I knew that my brother had followed me. They were both in mangled pieces, Rouges feasting on their flesh as the house burned down.
My mother was still in her skin, my father in his fur, and she looked like she had tried to protect father. I gave a menacing growl as more Rouges came our way and started to rip them apart and feast. In a split second I was in my fur, attacking them, Danny fighting beside me. I let my claws and teeth speak of the anguish that I was feeling. When the Rouges had been killed and I ripped them apart, unable to be satisfied with their death only; their loved ones had to feel what I had felt from what they did to me. An eye for an eye. But Rouges don't have families to grieve for them.
I was suddenly pushed aside and I snarled, ready to attack my assailant only to see it was Danny. He nudged his head in the direction behind me and I turned to see what was up. My heart constricted at the sight and my already short breath almost stopped. Rouges were everywhere, ripping bodies apart and calmly going from one body to another. We had lost, everyone in the pack had been killed. It was only a matter of time before they noticed that Danny and I were still here.
I felt Danny at my side, pushing me and I turned. I picked up the picture frame on our way past, and we both made our way to the forest. Crying, we ran to the nearest road and started to follow it by the shadows of the forest. Not wanting to be followed, we ran in a deceptive way, doubling back at times to try and put off anyone who might have followed us. Soon we reached a train track with a train rocking across it. Seeing an open door to a compartment, we easily caught up and jumped on board, shifting into our skins as we jumped to grab the sides and pull ourselves up.
Once we were safely on board, we shifted back into our furs in silence. The moon was coming out, the stars starting to glimmer in the night sky, and tears fell in my fur. The night was still beautiful despite the ugliness which happened this night.
I sat beside Danny, placing the picture of our family in front of us. I looked back to the moon as the sadness swelled in my chest. Now that Danny and I were standing still, I could finally start to try to process what exactly had just happened.
My teacher had been murdered before my eyes. My friends mascaraed where they'd slept. My parents executed before the pack and the pack itself was torn apart then burned to the ground. Many deaths happened on this night and it ripped my heart apart to think that everyone that I had known was now dead.
With a numb feeling in my chest, I tipped my head back, and let out a broken howl. I could no longer see the moon and stars with how blurry my vision had gotten as I silently cried. My howl was long and low and soon Danny was joining me as we sang about their death to the moon Goddess Diana.
She is the Goddess whom rules over all the animals, wild or tame alike.
Exhausted, I curled up at the back of the compartment, behind the boxes, with the picture at my belly. I felt Danny's warmth as he layed down beside me and gently place his head on my back. Letting the train rock me, I fell into a dreamless sleep.
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