The Wolf, Tiger, and Wolf pup

Chapter 2

Antony worked hard chopping the trees around the area, wrapping them up in a bundle and onto the carrier loads, whisking them back to the mill and into planks. He had grown physically strong ever since he started working and was able to carry three logs at the same time.

A few hours later, Antony had finished his workload for the day and was heading to collect Lucas from school. As he headed towards the shower room, he saw that Rudra was also inside the shower room as he was taking off his clothes.

The grey wolf was quite nervous about going inside since he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the tiger, but he knew that he couldn't go to school or the clinic with the fur on his armpits smelly. Antony took a deep breath and headed on into the shower room.

Antony stripped his clothes off and awkwardly crept into the showers, where he went over to the shower stall next to Rudra's; the grey wolf quietly washed underneath his armpits and used his brand of wolf shampoo to clean his fur. As the grey wolf continued to flow, he could hear Rudra beginning to sing to himself, which began as simple humming but eventually began vocalizing the lyrics.

"When you start to feel down, and life seems so glum, just sing to yourself, and you will be glad. Life is just a stream of ups and downs," the tiger's voice began to get louder as he sang further into the song. "You just need to believe you are enough, and then you will feel accomplished in life!!".

Antony never knew that Rudra liked to sing; sure, his voice wasn't top tier like many other singers he heard before, but something comforting about his voice made him feel warm. A few other co-workers came into the shower room, and Rudra again fell silent; the grey wolf could see the tiger's feet from underneath the stall rush out franticly as if he was nervous about other people and animals hearing him sing.

"He shouldn't have to feel ashamed about his voice; it was such a nice song anyway," thought Antony.

The grey wolf cleaned his body, changed his clothes, and headed towards his bike to collect Lucas from school.

Just as he was leaving, the roof speakers turned on, "EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT, PLEASE HEAD TO THE DELIVERY ROOM IMMEDAITELY FOR AN EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT."

All the workers, including Antony, head to the delivery room to hear the emergency. Maybe one of the machines was broken.

The boss of the mill, Gary, was a middle-aged moose who had been in charge of the mill since he was twenty-five years old due to his confident leadership skills. However, he was strict with his co-workers most of the time but never forced them to work overtime, and they were paid for the time they worked at the mill; he stood up on the catwalk above the workers and spoke into the microphone.

"First of all, good afternoon to all of you today. I didn't come this morning cause I was busy talking with someone in my office earlier. I called you all here suddenly because the person I spoke to at the office was from C.H.A.N.G.E, and they were hoping to get case files of all of you people who have worked here.

The workers began to look worried and mumble and whisper to each other.

C.H.A.N.G.E was a childcare agency that helped children from families in poor places around the country and helped them grow into fine, civilized people when they grew up.

Still, there were rumors about the company that showed them in a negative light, like how they used extreme methods to make the children behave correctly or how they took them away from their families for unfair reasons.

Most people and animals in the country didn't trust the company. They demanded that the higher-ups running the company get checked for allowing potential child abuse to happen inside, but nothing ever came of it. It would leave a negative aura on the company whenever they were on the news or in town checking up on other families.