The Middle

Chapter 4 - The Dogs

"Kyle!"

"Kyle, get up!"

My eyes open to the sight of Luna shaking me violently, "Kyle, get up right now!"

I sit up and my brain immediately goes into alert mode. I can hear the sounds of dogs barking in the distance.

"Dogs?" I ask her.

She grabs my hand and makes me stand up, "Precisely. We have to get out of here. Fast."

Ella gives a yawn and stands up herself, "I assume this isn't the kind we want to pet."

"No, you'll lose a hand," Luna says as she puts out the fire that was only a couple of burning ashes, "Maybe even lose a heart. Come on, let's go. No stopping for nothing."

Luna begins to dart off with Jules not far behind. Ella and I begin to follow closely behind. The barking sounds extremely far away. We might have a chance at getting away with them.

"Where are we going?" I ask Luna.

"For now, anywhere we can hide from them!" Luna responds, "Anywhere we can change our scent on them. If we can do that, then we'll have a chance at getting away."

Ella looks up at the sky, "But Luna! It looks like it's about to rain! If we change our scent now, the rain could wash it off!"

I can hear Luna grunt, "Then just run for now! Let me think!"

We all fall silent and focus on trying not to run into any of the large trees or twisting an angle on a stray root. I don't know if it's my own brain getting paranoid, but I swear the barking and growling gets louder and louder.

At least, until I figure out that it wasn't my brain. It was getting louder and louder. They were catching up. They did catch up.

Ella screams out in pain and starts to fall behind. I turn back for a split second to see a dog biting down on her leg. It makes her fall. I watch as it begins to tug at her leg. The dog looks more like a wolf than any dog I've seen. It's grey fur on its neck sticks up and it has bright glowing red eyes. It's a bit larger than a wolf, but I wouldn't say that it's too much bigger.

"Ella!" I shout back at her. My brain is absolutely racing. I don't know what to do.

Luna turns back and gives a small whimper.

"Do something!" I shout at her. She only gives me a terrified look. I look back at my sister and begin running towards her. I feel a rush inside of me. Suddenly I'm running alongside a bright blue light. The bird crows and dives at the dog. The dog growls and lets go of my sister's leg.

I pick Ella up and begin running back towards Luna. I still see Jules perched on her shoulder making me realise the events that just happened.

It's back. My bird is back.

"Come, there will still be more," Luna says as I catch up with her, "No time to rest."

I hold my sister close to me as the two of us run through the forest. In the run, cold rain starts to fall down. It gets into my eyes but I just shake it away. My only concern is getting my sister to safety. Her wet hair whips me.