Runt In The Wild

Chapter Seven

So day two. Today we will be doing a huge hunt. So each team gets a set of animals that they have to catch. The first team to catch all of the animals needed wins.

There were five teams in the games when we started yesterday. One team has four wolves. Two teams have five wolves. And the last two teams, mine and Stacy's, have six wolves. Now there are only three teams because after the relay race, the last two teams were eliminated from the games.

The last two teams yesterday were the four-wolf team and one of the five-wolf teams. Today, one of the remaining teams will be eliminated from the games. The remaining two teams will face off in a routine tomorrow.

The animals that we have to catch are three birds, two squirrels, two rabbits, and a caribou. Our team's strategy is to split up into groups and get certain animals.

Brian and Molly will get the three birds. Leonardo and Lucy will get the two squirrels. And Leo and I will get the two rabbits. Finally, we will all catch the caribou as a team.

I'm kind of worried about Lucy because of her paw. Granted, she has done a lot better since we left the healer's caves yesterday, but I'm still really worried that she will get hurt or get worse.

Lucy just says I worry too much, but I told her that someone has to worry. And it might as well be me since I'm the captain of the team.

All five teams line up at their group's spot. There is a medium-sized hole in the ground behind us for the prey we catch. Whenever we catch a required animal, we just bring it back and put it in the hole.

We all get ready to take off. Finally, the starting howl echoed throughout the forest and the plains. We all dashed off to our different hunting spots.

Leo and I ran side-by-side through the plains. We turned to look at each other and smiled. We were a great team. And not just us. All of our friends work together to create the best team possible.

Suddenly, I am jerked out of my thoughts as a smell fills my nostrils. I stop abruptly and slide as I made four shallow trenches in the ground, pulling up grass and exposing the mud and soil underneath.

Leo slowed his pace but didn't stop like I did. He turned around and ran back to me, not nearly as fast as when we were running together.

"What is it?" He asks me, even though he probably already knows.

"It's rabbits." I sniff around some more. "Three of them. Two middle-aged ones and one older one. With one white, one black and white, and one white and brown rabbit."

Leo smiles a little and chuckles. "Man. I wish I could do that."

"What?"

He smiles even bigger than before. "I wish I could just sniff and know everything about something. I would only smell that there are three rabbits somewhere around here. And then you have a way stronger sense of smell, so I might not even smell it at all, like just now."

I smile at him. But I snap out of it almost immediately. I ran off as I followed the scent. Leo trailed right behind me, letting me lead the way.

I took a sharp turn to the right towards the tall grass. I heard a bark, but I am so ready to go get the rabbits that I almost missed it. I stop to find Leo several feet behind me with a worried expression carved onto his face.