Hunted

They Return

Dakota approached Night after his patrol with Diamond, he had a perplexed look.

"I think you should see this." Dakota's tail clung to his legs.

Why didn't he go to one of the Alpha's? Night nodded and Dakota turned and led Night to the river bank. He nodded towards the other side of the river.

Alpha Aspen was sniffing the ground. In front of him were tracks which showed no sign of lifting feet. No, no, no... Night sprinted to the other side of the river. She sniffed the tracks. The object the Evil Creatures used to move flashed in her mind. She whined and fell to the ground. Night covered her snout with her paws.

"No, no, no..." Night muttered.

"What's wrong?" Alpha Aspen tried to calm her tense muscles.

"The Evil Creatures..." Night shook her head in disbelief.

Diamond came through the bushes with Nadia and Claw following. Nadia froze when she saw the tracks. Claw sprinted to Night, ignoring them.

He laid next to her, "You have to calm down. You know the most about the creatures, we can stop them this time."

He licked her ear and laid closer to her. His presence relaxed her. He's right, losing my head will only make this worse.

Alpha Aspen looked to Night hopefully, "What should we do, Beta?"

"Should we run before they start another fire?" Nadia asked, a tremor in her voice.

"No, we can't run. They'll just come again. It's useless running." Night growled.

"The pack is large, can't we just scare them off or something?" Aspen sat down on his tail trying to not show his scared feelings.

"No, they have something that kills wolves. What we need to do right now is warn the pack. Claw, you can tell everyone the story about your paw. That'll make everyone more aware." Night sighed.

Claw nodded and left with Aspen to warn the pack. Dakota, Diamond, and Nadia looked at Night.

"Dakota, I want you to come with me, we need to find more out about the Evil Creatures. Our black coats will hide us in the shadows." Night sniffed the tracks once more.

Dakota  crossed the river and sat on the other side of the tracks.

He sniffed them then spoke, "Do you really think we shouldn't run?"

Night swallowed down a whine, "I don't know."

They slowly walked on opposite sides of the tracks, neither made a peep. They stopped, two more tracks joined the others.
There's two? Why would they need another one? "Whatever you do, don't attack; and for sure run if they see you." Night cautioned Dakota.

He nodded then walked slower until he was slinking. Night did the same.

The tracks ended at two of the large objects, but this time they had things in them. The back of the objects had all sorts of boxes in them. The boxes were made of bars and looked like they had doors. Is this a new trap of some sort?

One of the creatures walked to the large object. Night twitched her ears at Dakota and he froze.

"Why wouldn't Boss want us to kill them? What good does it do if they're alive? I think he's just making this more difficult!" The creature threw the white stick in his mouth to the ground and stepped on it.

"Hey, Tipper, lighten up! We're getting double the money this time, isn't that worth it?" A larger creature swung his arm around the other one.

"I think they're prettier alive." The small one, which Night remembered they called Charley, grinned.

"Don't you see though, Billy! Something just isn't right!" Tipper pulled himself away from the large one.

"I think you're just trying to find something to use against Boss. You two don't have the best relationship, ya know?" Billy took a drink from a small brown container.

Tipper pulled a stick from inside the large object and pointed it at Charley, who was bouncing in place, "I think you could use a tranquilizer."

Charley froze, but then laughed, "Whatchya gonna do? Knock me out and throw me in a cage with the wolves?"

So they aren't killing us and they plan to put us in those boxes. What about a fire?

Tipper removed his eye from the small circle on the stick. He froze and slowly walked towards the bushes which Night was hiding in.

Billy removed his lips from the brown container, "What's up, Tipper?"

Dakota suddenly sprung from the shrubbery and knocked Tipper to the ground. Night sprinted out and followed Dakota back down the tracks.

"Shoot 'em you idiots!" Tipper screamed.

Too late. Night grinned as she glanced behind her.

                                                ***

Night watched the hunters in the grasslands from a hill. All six of them worked efficiently and quickly. She froze, the grass farther ahead of them was slightly moving.

Tipper emerged from the grass with the stick to his face.

Without warning they appear and without warning they'll attack. Night howled urgently and sprinted towards the hunters hoping they had heard. When she arrived at the grasslands she was almost trampled by fleeing wolves.

Misty laid on the ground with a red stick in her haunch. Flash was urgently trying to get her up. She's not dead is she? They said they weren't killing. Night sprinted towards the mates.

Misty's chest was rising and falling, but her eyes were closed and she seemed unaware of Flash's urgent calls. Night studied the red stick, this must be what they called a tranquilizer.

"Why won't she get back up?" Flash pressed his nose against her snout.

"She's in a deep sleep..." Night cautiously checked the surroundings.

"Listen it's not safe here, and if we stay... we'll wind up like her." Night tried to pull Flash away by his ear.

"Are you telling me to leave my mate out here with these monsters?" Flash whined.

"I'm telling you your pups would be better with a parent left then no parent left." Night looked at Flash hopefully. I'm so sorry it has to be like this, Flash.

Flash whined and licked Misty's snout then sprinted away. Night followed him back to chaos of panicking wolves.

"Everyone please sit still! You're making our chances of survival slimmer by the second!" Aspen barked at the wolves.

Night stood next to the alpha, "SIT DOWN ON YOUR TAILS OR YOU MIGHT AS WELL RUN TO THE ENEMY WITH FLASHING COLORS."

Everyone froze and sat. That's more like it.

Aspen whispered to Night, "Well you've got their attention, now what?"

Run? No, we can't, not again. Fight? They have those sticks, it won't work.

"We will have to run, there is no other -" Whoosh. Aspen flinched and pulled a tranquilizer from his haunch.

His tongue lolled from his mouth and he slowly fell to the ground.

"I GOT ONE!" Charley exclaimed from behind Night.

Night turned and leaped at Charley. The stick flew from his hands and he grabbed her neck. Night desperately tried to get her jaws around his neck, but despite how small he looked, his strength over powered hers.

Whoosh. There was a quick, sharp pain in Night's side. She turned to see a tranquilizer, and a foot kick her off Charley.

She tried to stand and fight back, but her body was numb and her eyelids heavy.

Tipper's voice sounded above all the noises, "That's the special one, isn't it?"