I wrote this for a literature assignment.
I hope you enjoy!
All content © 2011 by the author. All rights reserved.
As the dart pierced my tender skin, I heard Noel yelp in pain, I knew it was a trap. My name is Lupa, I am a Timber Wolf and I am nine moons old. My father is the leader of the Thunder Clan in a forest in Ohio. I have silver fur and golden eyes. My best friend is Noel, who is only two moons old. We were both captured by our enemy, Hunter. As I slowly lose consciousness, I know that Hunter will take us away and ship us to who knows where. I met Noel when I found her wondering around the woods, only less than a moon old. I knew if my father saw her in our territory, he would kill her on site.I carried her to my den, took care of her, and treated her as an equal. It's all my fault we're in this mess. One minute, I am jumping over Hunter's snares, underestimating his knowledge. The next, We both got hit by darts. He was obviously hiding behind a tree, observing us.
I woke up in a cage, which was far by too small for me. I tried getting up, but hit my head on a roof. I now just realize that Noel is by my side, groaning. The only light source I can spot were slits of sunlight dancing on the floor. I peered through the slit the light was coming from and spotted Hunter. He was only a few feet away, hauling crates onto his truck, the same truck that killed my mother many moons ago. I was still staring through the slit, when Noel nuzzled me. I turned, and she asked, “what’s going to happen to us, Lupa?" She stared at me with those green-hazel eyes of hers, her brown fur obscured in the darkness. "I'm not sure," I replied;" only time will tell." I nuzzled her back, knowing that she needed comfort. I felt our cage shake, and I knew Hunter was now hauling us onto his truck. I heard the engine start, and the cage lurched forward. Noel curled up beside me, starting to fall asleep. I tilt my muzzle back, close my eyes, and howled. I waited for a moment or two. I howled again, this time much louder, and I waited again. The only sound I could hear was the low buzzing of the truck's engine. I guess we were too far away for my brothers and sisters to hear me. I curled up next to Noel, and dozed off.
I woke up in an encloser. I got up to survey the area. There were tall fences that stretched toward the sky. There were rocks, which were fake, I can tell through the feeling of my paws. I sniffed the pine trees, which were plastic, knowing from many encounters of human trash in my lake. Noel was sniffing the dirt floor, which was padded down by many wolf tracks. “I think these tracks are from the north, but I can't be sure," she said. I lowered my head and sniffed. "No, these tracks are from other Timber Wolves," I confirmed. I looked around and noticed there were other animals in many other enclosures.
A few I recognized, but the rest I have never seen in my life. “We have get out of here," said Noel, “I don't like this place, not one little bit!" She started to hit her head on the fence, making it wiggle back and forth." Noel, get a hold of yourself. Look, there are some wolves," I nodded to three wolves huddled in the corner." They might know a way out."
We approached the wolves, who were talking in a foreign language." Excuse me," I said. They all stopped and looked at me. They all had golden fur with blue eyes. "Do you have any idea of how to get out of here?" I asked. The wolf in the center replied, “No, we tried for many moons, but no success." She had a very heavy German accent. "I am Katrina, from the Star Clan," the wolf said. "These are my sister, Kloe and Kiarra." "Nice to meet you," Noel and I said at the same time. "I'm Noel and this is Lupa," said Noel. Just then, we heard the fence rattle and a door open. "food time," said Katrina. Hunter came in with a trough of slop that made me shiver with disgust. Noel just stared at it and drooled. Hunter got distracted with a monkey next door. Then an idea struck me. I nudged Noel with my paw, bringing her back to her senses. "I have an idea," I told them. A few minutes later, Hunter came back to our door with the trough. Kiarra, Katrina, Kloe, and I were hiding behind rocks closest to the door. I nodded at Noel who pretended to limp with a bad leg and started whimpering. Hunter took notice of her. “What’s up with you, wolf?" he said. He came over to examine Noel. He did it rather roughly, because Noel looked uncomfortable and jerked awkwardly. I snuck out the door and gave Katrina a signal.She and her sisters sprang behind the rock and jumped on top of Hunter. He screamed, and fell to the ground. Noel rushed to my side.
I watched as Katrina, Kiarra, and Kloe ripped at his clothes, bit his flesh, and scratched his face. All I thought was that he deserved it. I mean seriously, keeping this zoo, unauthorized, with a bunch of animals trapped? Noel and I headed for the exit. My head swiveled behind me, waiting for them to come. I stopped and trotted back a little. “Katrina? Are you coming?" I yelled. She came out with her sisters. “Hunter’s out cold on the floor. You guys go ahead; we got to free these other animals." I bowed my head to the floor, and ran after Noel, who was well in front of me. I finally caught up to her, and we rested on the outskirts of a forest nearby. We both watched the zoo, our muscles tensed. Then, a gorilla burst through the door, and many other animals trailing behind him. Katrina, Kiarra, and Kloe were the last to come out. They ran to us, exhausted. “Hunter woke up when we were about to come out," gasped Kiarra. “Well, we have to keep going! There are woods over there," said Noel, jutting her nuzzle towards the woods. “We have to go home," replied Kloe, “you two better get going, Hunter is really mad."
As she said that last part, as if on cue, Hunter burst through the door. “Run," yelled the triplets. "And don't stop!" yelled Katrina, as we bolted toward the forest. I turned back, and saw them running north, as we ran east. We kept running as Hunter trailed behind us with cuts, bruises, gashes, teeth imprints, and a huge claw mark running down his face. Funny, my dad has the same cut on his face. We kept running, and at the same time Hunter shooting arrows and yelling at us.
We kept running for days, only stopping to hide and rest for a few minutes. I woke up one morning, to enjoy a breakfast of acorns and berries. Noel and I hid behind a fallen pine tree. We gnawed on katniss roots we dug up by a pond. We then heard Hunter a few feet away. “Here, little wolves, come and get it little wolves." We didn't know what he was talking about, but when we peered over the tree, our mouths dropped. He was holding a bucket of freshly killed ground squirrel in his hand. Noel started to drool again, but I couldn't blame her. My stomach started to rumble to the thought of munching on succulent ground squirrel. Noel was about to approach him, when I got to my senses and pulled her back by the ruff of her neck. “Come on, we both can't we eat roots and berries forever?" she said. A look of pleading filled her eyes, but I resisted. “No, he will capture us again and this time he'll be sure to keep us locked up." I said firmly. She got the idea, and we both snuck off. We were a few yards away, when an arrow whizzed by my ear. It landed into a tree and we both dashed away. Two, three, four arrows barely missed us when one finally hit Noel. She crashed down to the dirt, yelping in pain. The arrow was lodged into her left hind leg. Hunter was at least twenty yards away, with a big grin spreading on his face. Warm heat filled my blood, and I felt so much hatred and envy. I ripped the arrow out of noel's leg, who let out another yelp, but mixed with a sigh of relief.
I charged toward Hunter, who got startled and fumbled to get his weapon ready, but I was faster. I leaped and planted my paws firmly on his chest, claws outstretched. He fell backward and hit the ground hard. I grasped his weapon between my teeth, and through it a long ways to my left side. I put mu face right up to his, seeing the fear in his grey eyes. Something I saw in his eyes made me reconsider the idea of ripping him limb from limb. He had a family. I can tell by the intense fear in his eyes. I now notice that he looks older, about in his early forties. He probably had a kid and a wife back at his home. I released my claws from his tattered shirt, and got off his torso. He got up really slowly, and backed away a few steps. I lowered my head and arched my ears back. I gave a deep growl that showed my razor sharp teeth. He turned away and sprinted the opposite direction.
I dashed back to Noel's side, who was lying down, licking her wound clean. “I can't walk, Lupa, I just can't." There were tears in her eyes. “It’s okay, I can carry you. Maybe we can find a wolf who can help you." I picked her up by the ruff of her neck, and continued waking. A couple of hours past, and we came across an opening where no trees grew. There were dozens of wolves roaming around, obviously guarding their territory. “I know this place," said Noel," I don't know what it is, but it seems so familiar."
I hushed Noel (which is hard to do if you have you're holding a two moon old wolf pup in your mouth), because she caught the attention of one wolf, but the wolf just walked on. I surveyed the scene, and my eyes caught on a tree. It had three large claw gashes at the base and four above it. That was my dad's territory mark, but this wasn't my home. I wonder if he moved to this area because a hunter raided our old one. Noel sneezed, which brought some wolves attention because it was very loud. “Who goes there?" said one wolf closest to us. “Show yourself trespasser, how dare you enter the River Clan's territory," he growled. That wolf looked so familiar, and I knew why. He was my father, I can see his scar on his face. Wait, River Clan? We were the Thunder Clan, unless, no, it couldn't have happened.
Another wolf walked up next to him, this one was a she wolf, possibly the same age as my father. “Mom?" croaked Noel. “Noel?" said the she wolf. “Mom!" cried Noel. She wriggled out of my grip and fell to the ground. She limped towards her mother, who picked her up by the ruff, and threw her in the air and caught her. She smothered Noel with licks and nuzzling."Lupa, Is that you?" asked my dad. “Yes, it's me dad." He laughed and ran to me. He smothered me the same way Noel's mother smothered her. “Everyone, our children have returned!" He exclaimed. All the wolves cheered and celebrated by dancing."Lupa, I have very big news," he told me."This is Reyna," he pointed his nuzzle toward Noels' mother, who was curing Noel's wound. "When I found out you were missing, I chased after Hunter's truck, but I couldn't catch up. I crossed paths with Reyna when we were both chasing after the truck. She introduced herself as the leader of the River Clan and that her pup was kidnapped by Hunter. I told her that you were kidnapped by Hunter too. We both worked together to try and find you, and something happened. We both fell in love with each other." At this i couldn't help but smile. “We set up a new territory here," he continued, “and I brought everyone from our clan and Reyna brought everyone from her clan here. We then mated and now we are part of the River Clan." Noel joined my side and asked, “so, does this mean me and Lupa are sisters?" My dad nodded, and she went all crazy.
We had a huge ceremony of our return. We were showered with pink water lily flowers from a nearby pond. Tonight was a full moon, which means we would have the Full Moon Howl. As night fell, we all gathered on a cliff. We waited for the moon to rise high, and in chorus, we all gave a nice loud and long howl. We continued howling for a while when Noel patted me with her paw. I turned, seeing that her leg is all patched up with moss. “Promise me something," she said. “what is it?" I replied. “Promise me we won't ever underestimate hunters again. “I laughed. “Never again," I promised, because I now know what had kept us alive this whole time. It was friendship. Friendship kept us going, to reach our destination. Friendship reunited us with our pack. I tip my head back one last time, before the moon descended from its peak.All content © 2011 by the author. All rights reserved.
