Runt In The Wild

Chapter Eight

It's the final day of the Wolf Games. Today, our team will go against Stacy's team. Both teams have to perform a unique routine that shows teamwork and style.

I walked next to Lucy through the forest as we head to the school's field for the competition.

"How's your paw?" I ask her. We continued to walk under the green canopy in silence.

"It's fine," she answered.

"You did a great job at the games yesterday. It's like your paw wasn't even hurting."

Again, another silence followed. We walked the rest of the way without talking.

When we arrived at the fields the whole team got ready for the competition to begin.

Stacy's team went first. Stacy smiled with a pose in the middle of the field with Macy and Lacy doing the same behind her.

She stood there for a few seconds before she howled, and the girls behind her started to howl in another note.
The three wolves sang and danced with such grace. I hated to admit it, but they were really good.

After a little while, Max and his friends walked onto the field, howling in their low voices. They danced, but not like the girls. They danced and howled with a faster beat, and soon the girls joined them, dancing and howling in unison.
Finally, the girls jumped over the boys' backs and slid in front of them with a pose, finishing the routine.

Everyone cheered and barked and howled. Stacy walked off the field with a smirk plastered onto her muzzle. She whispered into my ear as she passed, her breath as cold as her heart. "Beat that, runt." I stifled a growl as Stacy strutted away, her hips swaying from side-to-side.

We trotted out to the center of the field in a perfect straight line. I bowed my head, closing my eyes as I took a deep breath. The many scents of the forest and the cliffs flooded through me, running through my wild blood.

Suddenly, I threw my head back and howled until my lungs felt like they would burst. When my head came down, my friends were running around me, steadily gaining speed.

I somersaulted over the running wolves to land on my four paws slightly spread out. My team stopped running, and we began to go deeper into our routine.
Finally, we got to the formation I was most worried about.

The wolf pyramid.

Leo, Brian, and Leonardo stood close together in a straight line. With perfect timing and precision, the three wolves did two backflips, staying in their straight line. Lucy and I ran from behind them, bolting across the rocky soil and small grass patches. We landed squarely on their backs, my paws on Leo and Leonardo's back and Lucy on Leonardo and Brian's back, after doing a spectacular front flip, if I do say so myself.

And last but not least, Molly leapt up onto me and Lucy's back. Molly howled a long, high pitched howl.

But before Molly could finish, a chorus of yelps came from beside me. I looked over to see Lucy with her injured paw in the air just before she pushed me off of the boys' backs and landed on top of Leonardo and Brian licking her paw with quick, smooth strokes of her tongue. The wolves around us began to bark and murmur among themselves.

After the crowd got all settled down, and I helped Lucy over to the judges, her paw still in the air, an older dark gray wolf stepped forward to address everyone in the cliffs.