The World Ended (The World Is Ending: Book Two)

Dog Teeth

Everyone was taken aback by my speaking abilities. Yes, of course I can speak while in wolf form. I knew how to communicate with all creatures, one of the many gifts I had.

Joan and Talyn backed up a few paces and gasped at the talking. They were also, starstruck.

"I knew it! Animals can talk!" Thomas said, happily. I could see his Morality bleeding through.

"That's so... AWESOME!" Tayln jumped up with joy. She slowly walked over to Thomas and sat by him.

Joan was hesitant and unsure.
I didn't blame him...
He joined the others as well.

'Well this is a stellar conversation... You're supposed to be secretive! No reveal everything at once! Ugh, my anxiety is already taking over.' I had thought. Joan looked at me, sympathetically.

"It's alright, Shadow. You're not the only one with anxiety." Joan comforted...

'Wait, he can-?' I began to thought, but was cut off by Joan.

"Yes, I can read minds." He chuckled.

All of a sudden, I looked to Thomas and his Anxiety took over.
"See? We're not the only ones with anxiety." The deep voice stunned me. This was indeed, Anxiety. I was a little scared, a little intimidated, but I was also very intrigued.

Thomas took control and returned back to normal. He smiled. "Heheh, don't be afraid of us. Anyway, Shadow is a nice name."

"Yeah! Oh, we should probably introdu-" Tayln tried to speak, but I instantly cut her off.

"You're Tayln, that's Thomas, and you are Joan."

"Wait... You know us? So cool!" Thomas hugged me, and I went stiff. I didn't move... Infact, I really hated hugs.

Ever since the beginning of all of these adventures, everyone used to hug me. Joey, Meghan, ...Everyone. I loved hugs... But being hugged just reminded me of them... How I couldn't see them until the final run... I missed them so much.

No one hugged me after that last adventure. I wasn't held, I wasn't hugged to remind me that someone was there... Nope. Everyone thought that I hated hugs.

They were so comforting...
But after that last adventure, I went through everything alone. I stood in silence as warm tears would trail down my face. I had experienced too much. I had grown up too fast.

My emotions were now gone.
I took on everything with a straight face... Nothing suprised me anymore.
I had grown strong.
The pain wasn't there... I am just numb now.

My healing was way too powerful for the pain to ever reach me...

Thomas stopped the tight hug, and he looked at me. Apparently I was crying, because he wiped away my tears.

I hadn't even realized that I was crying... I suppose the memories were too much? ...I didn't know, honestly.

"W-Why are you crying?" Thomas had asked me. He was the one who comforted everyone.

I shook my head to stop the emotions.
"N-Nothing. It's n-nothing. I need to ask you... All of you... How did you find me, and why are you here?" I asked them in my soft, but leader-like tone. I looked at each of them for answers.

Thomas was about to speak, but Joan cut him off. He began to tell the story...
"Well, we had retreated to L.A., because Florida was hit by all of these natural disasters, when all of a sudden... Everything had started. We were in this hotel when these... Zombies came? Yes, zombies. Fire started to spread throughout L.A., there were explosions everywhere... It's terrible." He ended it off.

...Just like before.

"W-We need to go..." I quickly said and began to get up and lead the way.

"W-What?" They said in unison..
I looked back to them, knowing we wouldn't have much time to escape.

"Come on!" They all followed as I ran into the unknown lands. I wondered what would happen... Who we would meet...

We ran for a while, but stopped at a good location. There were trees for shelter, there was a frozen lake, and a small little mountain.

I didn't know how we would get fire, but I would think of that later. All we had to do was survive. This was the second end of the world.

I sat down and sighed. I looked at the setting sun. I didn't let myself relax... I kept my guard up. I couldn't exactly trust a lot of people during these times...

The three came running after me.
They panted as they reached me and held onto their knees so they could take a breath...

"You have some explaining to do..." Tayln said through multiple breaths. I continued to look out into the distance until I heard footsteps behind me. I couldn't recognize them, either, which scared me.

I stood up and quickly got in front of Thomas and the others. I looked ahead, and there was zombies...
They had sensed us...
Perfect.

"Stand back..." I warned the others. They looked confused. They couldn't see that far away, unlike me...

The zombies came into their view, and they had realized what I had meant. All of a sudden, Thomas pulled out a sword that he had gotten from Princey, Joan had a dagger, and Tayln had a baseball bat.

'Wait... How the heck did they have weapons? I didn't see that they had weapons...' I had recalled in my mind. I stood my ground, lowering myself to the zombies and growling.

"We always have weapons... Well, at least I do. You never know when you can use a dagger." Joan explained.

"Yeah, and I just took this baseball bat because I need something to defend myself with."

"We will not let you just stand there, fighting alone!" Thomas shouted in a Princey voice...

It was like I was a damsel in distress, but in reality, Thomas was the true princess here. I mean, I can take care of myself. I'm an independent wolf.
Thomas was the one who needed saving, and we all knew that.

...Even so, I knew the others wouldn't back down. I found no point in arguing because it would get us nowhere.

I summoned my pink bow from my necklace and turned to the others.
"Ready?"