Amika {{Discontinued}}

Chapter 3: Fox and Chickens

I awoke the next morning grody. I felt a little better after falling down that hill side, but my leg still hurt. I tried to stand, but quickly stumbled back down as my pain intensified."oooohhhh that one hurt, aaaahhhh man down man down!" I yelped as I tried to cheer myself up since no one was in the cave at the time. I barked for Kova instead Ujo bounded in with a flower headband around his head.
     "Greetings Amika! Are you calling for Kova? If you are then he won't come because he went on hunting with mother. Do you want to play with me?"
     I remembered that I had to go hunting with mom today! I guess though I'm in no condition to go hunting with her since the fall happened just yesterday. Kova just took my place for today, no hard feelings though. Ujo smiled at me waiting for me to respond. I looked at him and smiled back," well I don't have anything better to do anyway. What do you want to play?" Ujo smiled hard and said follow me.
     Ujo helped me up and we made our way down the hill where Rujo and Innoissan say on the tall grass near the valley. We walked over to them and I plopped down next to Innoissan who looked happier than ever. Ujo stood tall and proud which he usually isn't.
     Ujo was a cowardly pup with a jet black coat, except for his paws and muzzle they were a nice blend of brown and white. His eyes were a ice cold blue. When he looked at you after you yelled at him, it makes you want to apologize over and over again no matter what he did. But even before you could apologize he would be running away crying.
     "So why did you brings us here Ujo?" Rujo asked impatiently. He shifted around as if he couldn't get comfortable."Well my dear little brother I have brought you here to play a game with you all! My friend and I made this game up while we were playing near the fish pond."
     Very recently Ujo has made friends with a sneaky, sly, elusive fox. They were friends at first sight. Mailap was very nice according to my encounters. But he always stayed distant from the den, fearing if he got to close mom would have to wrong reaction and think he is attacking us. Rujo never met mailap because he was always in the den, but he has heard alot about him.We never told Kova about mailap, one he would tell mom and two he would never like mailap because he was a fox. Kova had one rule, stay in the pack only to pack, it means no relations with other dogs or wolves(or anything of that manner).
     Ujo explained the point of the game as training for hunting," Ok so fox and chickens is very simple. There is only one fox! But the rest of you are the chickens. In the field over there is where we will play this game. The rules are also simple,if you are a chicken and you get caught by the fox then you will simply go and sit out for the rest of the game and until all the chickens are caught you will remain there. I will start out as the first fox everyone has about 5 minutes to go hide in the fields. Oh yeah almost forgot NO leaving the fields everyone got that?"
     We nodded and he shouted go. I limped to the field and headed north into the swirling grasses trying not to leave a trail. As I went I heard the others going along in the other directions. I reached my destination in no time, the old stump. No one knew about this stump except for me I sat down next to it and thought how clever I am.
     I heard a loud ready or not here I come, over from where Ujo was standing. The grass started to rustle and I laid low to the ground. I heard deep sniffing and a quiet found you. After that a surprised yip from nearby echoed across the valley.
     "Found you Rujo! Here I'll help you back to the starting position." Ujo helped rujo from the tall grass and lead him back to the start. I rustled around the grass to get comfortable and as the sun blazed down on me and wind shifted my fur, I fell asleep.
     I was running down a very long hallway. Bright red lights circled round and round as a loud siren sounded in the distance. But I keep running. I didnt know what I was exactly running from, but I knew if it caught me I would surly die. Pictures swarmed around my head as I went. A young pup I never seen before, a crow diving towards a rabbit, my mother lying on the ground, a cage, and a tall silhouette of a man with a shotgun. My eyes started to water at the sight of them all swirling and swirling around my head. Until, I tripped. The pictures zoomed away then I blacked out.
    I jumped up and yelped hard as I landed on my bad leg. I heard a distant voice say,"was that amika?" I whimpered and laided back down, but in no time Ujo was standing above me with a concerned look on his face."Amika you seem to have howled like you are hurt. Are you?" He looked down on me as I laid on the ground,"oh it's nothing, I just you know had a bad dream. And as you know me I get scared easily and I jumped up and landed on my bad leg and it just hurt. You know what I'm going to head back to the cave, I need to rest." I got up and Ujo  looked at me,"Amika. Do we need to talk? I mean you looked like you saw a ghost." His ice blue eyes looked right through me, like he knew what I was feeling."Don't worry little brother I'll be fine, I will tell you if I have the dreams again." I stood up and limped off as Ujo stared at me looking as if I was shot, lying on the ground slowly slipping away.