I woke up again. Wolf wasn't there. I thought she would but it seemed as though she would be cooking again. But she...wasn't. I couldn't smell berries or anything like that.
“Guys! I think I found something!” I heard Axolotl yell from outside the tent. Now that I listened closer, I could hear everyone else talking too.
I decided to get up and get out of the tent. Everyone seemed to be really upset about something.
“Everyone? Are you guys okay?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“We can't find Bear! He disappeared! I think he might've left after the fight yesterday.” Wolf pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
“We’ve been looking for him for the past hour.” Butterfly comes up from behind me and hugs me from behind. I yipped quietly but he shushed me.
“Yeah. Hasn't been a lot of fun.” Red Panda walked past us and glared at Butterfly. Butterfly stuck out his tongue and blew raspberries back at him.
“Guys!” Axolotl whined, pointing at the bushes near us. We all decided to walk over and see what’s there.
“In the forest, just a little bit in. You have to walk in a little bit more!” Axolotl stepped away from the bushes, giving us space to walk in.
Wolf, Butterfly, Red Panda, Panther, and I walked into the shrubbery. Suddenly a rancid smell filled our noses.
“Ugh, what the hell is that smell?” Butterfly closed his nose.
“It smells really weird. Maybe a squirrel died over here?” Wolf suggested.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a squirrel over here before. The only animal I’ve seen are the birds, but they fly too high and never really come down here.” Red Panda picked up a stick and threw it.
“I found something. Looks like blue cloth. It’s ripped.” Panther pointed out. We all looked that way. It was indeed, blue cloth. It was stained with something dark red, like a crimson color. Immediately after, Butterfly tugged at the cloth.
“I think it’s stuck on something. Something heavy, I think.” He sighed and bent down to try and pull it harder. It wouldn’t even budge.
“I’ll help.” Red Panda mumbled under his breath as he bent down to his knees to tug at the cloth too.
The cloth was attached to something. Well, more like someone. When Butterfly and Red Panda pulled out what it was, Wolf gasped and covered her eyes. It was Bear. More like, what was left of Bear. The cloth was a piece of his sleeve, which was around his arm. When they pulled the sleeve, all that was there was an arm, dangling from the sleeve. Butterfly jumped back from the bloodied limb. It was bruised and still lightly dripping blood. After closer inspection, we discovered the full corpse. Bear had been stabbed about 4 times in the stomach. His face was bloodied and bruised. The ring of red skin around his neck told us that he must’ve also been strangled. The killer was unsure if he was truly dead or not.
“Jesus Christ…” Red Panda closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Damn, poor guy.” Butterfly took my hand and held it. I hadn’t made a single sound since the body was discovered.
“Who...did this!? Who would do such a thing!?” Wolf cried.
We looked to Panther who scowled and nodded. She ran out from the small clearing.
“Wait! Panther!” Butterfly ran after her through the trees. The rest of us followed her back to the camp.
She ran up to Bat and Duck’s tent. She stuck her head inside and grabbed the collar of Bat’s coveralls. She pulled him out and up to his feet.
“You motherfucker!” She roared as she punched him square across the face.
“What the hell! Why’d you do that?!” Bat yelled back at her as she pushed him on the ground. She must’ve knocked out his jaw because he grabbed his lower jaw and pushed it back in, making it click.
Duck climbed out of the tent and screamed, “Stop!” It was the first time we ever heard her speak.
“Panther! Don’t do this.” Owl got out of her tent as well. She walked over to Panther and put her hand on her shoulder.
“It’s only right to beat this motherfucker up after what he did to Bear!” Panther pulled her shoulder away and pinned Bat down. Duck gasped and covered her face.
“Red! Come on!” Butterfly waved for the other boy to come over. They ran to restrain Panther but she was just too strong for them. Suddenly, Bat pulled out a dagger from his chest pocket.
“Stay back!” Bat threatened Panther and put the knife against her chest. She snatched the weapon from his hands and flipped him over so his laid on the ground with his face against the dirt.
“Panther, stop it!” I was going to run over but Butterfly held me back.
Panther wrapped her arm around Bat’s neck and choked him as he struggled against her grasp.
Everyone tried their hardest to get her off of him, even Spider who has been in his tent for most of the fight. But then I noticed something after a little while.
“Wait, guys! H-He’s not breathing! He stopped moving!” I yelled. Everyone stopped, including Panther. She dropped Bat and he went as limp as noodles. We stood in silence for a good minute before jumping to help him. Owl checked for a pulse but then sighed and looked up at us.
“He’s...dead.”
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