Lily

Chapter Sixteen: Escaping a Second Time

Lily spent more and more weeks in the new Summer Territory. Once again she felt as if nothing could go wrong. Life was normal. She normally hung out with the other wolves in the middle of the island, where they'd play games involving jumping and stacking on top of each other. Other times, Lily would shop at the stands, to get a few bananas, mangos, and meat. She also liked to lay by the beach on some towels, chewing on bones from the leftover meat.

Not much happened until one night when she couldn't sleep.
Lily woke up from sleeping on the surface of a cold rock, the cool night air blanketing her pelt. She could still hear the sounds of owls in the distance, and crickets all around her making melodies, as she swiftly moved off the rock and decided to take a nighttime stroll through the territory.
She then came across one of the oddest things she's seen in the past months. A majority of the Summer Tribe was grouping up together. And the smell in the air was rather odd...smoke?
Lily crept behind a few bushes, watching as the grouped-up wolves gathered even more, the smell of smoke and fire grew stronger, then she noticed it: fire.
Also snarling.
Fire was beginning to scorch up the beautiful green leaves, and wolves were fighting each other in the distance. In the large group of Summer Tribe wolves, a brown wolf barked an order to move, and the rest followed as they headed towards the beach and its stony castle-like buildings.
But the wolves didn't go to the buildings. They weren't going to take a "Yoga for Wolves" yoga class on the mats like they would every Sunday or going on a food shopping spree. These wolves were fleeing.
Lily decided to join them. She knew suddenly that she had no choice but to leave the safety of the new Summer Territory behind. And this time, she was going to struggle and do her best to stick with her tribe.
She began to join the group of wolves as they all continued to flee down the beach into the waters. A few wolves got attacked and mauled by angry Wild Tribe wolves, which lead into fits of snarling, kicking, tumbling and biting, causing the rest of the traveling tribe to move faster, quicker towards the waters, as smoke began to engulf them more and more.
Lily knew that her only hope to make it out alive was to stick with her tribe, following any wolf that she knew was from that tribe.
And that's what she did. She had the urge to cough from the smoke, and after the waves of heat from the fire warmed her fur, she was glad to cool off once her pelt touched the water.
She continued to swim alongside her fellow tribe, leaving the once-safe territory behind her. The sound of fire crackling, the feeling of its dangerous warmth, and the snarls of wolves fighting grew farther and farther away, and more and more distant, as Lily continued to do what her instincts told her to: to stick with her tribe this time.
And she knew that even though she had thought she found the rest of her tribe and a new place to live, she had to leave that place to live behind. The new Summer Territory was no more but soon-to-be ruins, and she knew she would never come back.