Different Worlds

III

Emmanuel's POV

The trailers had 15 members of the herd inside and another 5 unconscious on the ground loaded with tranquilizers. 7 were dead that I could see, and the rest were terrified and ranging from critically injured and still running or scratched and bruised and running for their lives soaked with sweat. I was the latter with a somewhat conscious but incoherent Tyson still on my back, I was still following the faint voice of my sister. Then my dad's voice cut through the night with an angry bellow.

"Keep running! They can't follow us through this pass, its not far just keep running, comeback together as a group! We stand more of a chance together now that they're running out of bullets. Hurry we need to get there before sunrise and before the fire comes to close to that pass opening!" 

But then the voice stopped and so did Lily's, and I didn't know where to go anymore I knew she was over on the left side of the herd but that side was almost covered in flames. I'd stopped dead in my tracks looking frantically through the smoke and running family and friends when I heard it again. I was about to pass out, the smoke and the 2 tranquilizers i'd been hit with were getting to me and my vision was already getting hazy, figures were blurring and most sounds were dulling. I snapped back to attention when I heard Lily's voice again.

"Manny!Help me! Mommy won't get up, I can't find Tyson and daddy isn't coming back!" My little sister Lily whinnied some where in the mass of running bodies smoke and screaming. Lily was sobbing for our mother to get up, to move, to help us. I was galloping for all I was worth to her voice, Tyson gripping my mane unable to speak, only to find her standing bedside our lifeless mothers body nudging her side, pulling her hair, stomping near her head to provoke a reaction.

"Follow me!Leave the others behind!" Dad bellowed above us one the over looking cliff perched near our mountain valley home for that spring. Shouts of protest and agreement mingled together most flooding together to meet up with my father, protesters staying behind with the weak and fallen members of the heard doing there job to protect each other and the young as the trucks peeled by taking some out or striking them with the empty weapons.

"Manny help!"Lily screamed again, "Mommy!! Wake up!"She stopped screaming then just started sobbing. The flames were growing closer and we needed to go. Now. I shifted back making sure Tyson was right behind me.                  

"Lily I need you to shift back now! Mommy will be ok, I need you to shift we need to hide!" She did as  shifting back and curling up in a ball. I gathered her up in my arms cradling her to my chest and running to the trees at the dip at the mountain where the flames haven't touched the land yet, the rain from a few days ago made the area cooler and less likely to burn on its own. Clutching Tyson's hand in mine we dodged the remaining trucks and shots still going off. We all jumped when the helicopter flew over probably to fight the fire or get footage, the sound terrified Lily and she started screaming again.

"Shhhhh, shhhhh. Lily baby it's ok, we're alright we're gonna be fine. They're gonna help us ok it's gonna be fine."I cooed to her covering her ears through the worst of it, kissing her forehead I rocked her back and forth finding the patch of secret clothes we hide for emergencies.I dressed my self then Tyson, then Lily keeping her ears covered and holding both of them close. Protecting them.

I was all they had left.

Our way of life was gone and we were alone.

After that I passed out. The last thing I saw and heard was Tyson slumping on the ground beside me and Lily's shriek. I vaguely remember trying to speak or lash out at anything nearby before I went limp. I came to in a few hour, I could tell it was around 6:00 am by the pail sun light streaming through the trees that I was able to see through my barley cracked eyelids, except instead of the grass I was laying on something soft with someone talking to me gently then barking out orders, I was still groggy, my senses were off, and my eyes felt like blocks of lead. I could tell the voice was female, and I could now feel something on my face.