Fight For What's Right

 It was late at night. I had been walking through the woods when I heard a growl. One not from our pack. “Show yourself!” I demanded. A group of black wolves came forth. In the front I noticed that it was Cami. She was the leader of the teenage group for her pack, but unfortunately, I was the leader for my pack. Before I get any further into this, let me explain. 

The wolves of this forest are divided into packs. Also, we aren’t just wolves. You know how people say someone was raised by wolves? Well my species of wolves is a lab experiment from a crossbreed between humans and wolves. We have the body of a human but the ears and tail and some natural instincts of a wolf. Anyways, my pack is the gold wolves. We are one of the most powerful packs in the forest. However, the black wolves are also powerful. My father is the pack leader for the gold wolves. That makes me the princesses of the pack. However I am far from what you think I would be. I am probably the most nerdy and dorky in the whole pack, but still the teenage pack leader. Cami’s father is the pack leader so that means she is the leader for her teenage pack. So we are natural enemies. However she is really rude so you can’t blame me. Anyway back to where I was. 

Cami had been wearing her green top with her black jeans with black heels. She always wears the most extravagant outfits. Her top made her gray eyes pop. However, my eyes were drawn to someone in the back. I have never seen her before. She was wearing a big blue hoodie with gray leggings. She had beautiful blue eyes that sparkled like the sun’s rays hitting the ocean.  Star no, don’t be saying something nice about the enemy, I thought to myself. 

“Star, nice outfit. Turquoise, again? Getting kinda old, isn’t it.” Cami said.

“Haha Cami. Very smart. Come on pack, let's go back guys, we don’t need to be around the likes of them.” I said turning back.

“Weak!” Cami called out as we walked away.

We went home and my father got mad because I made my pack back down. 

“Father you know I don’t want trouble!” I retaliated.

“You make our pack seem weak!” he screamed.  

“Well I’m sorry you are disappointed in me.” I yelled back. I stormed away and went back out into the woods alone. Father always told us not to go out alone but I didn’t care. Gah! Why does he want me to be something I’m not. I refuse to be a stuck up loser like Cami. I don’t understand. Man, I want someone who understands. Someone who actually gets what I am going through. Then I bumped into someone. And that someone was the girl I saw early. The one with the beautiful blue eyes.

“Star, hi. I’m Ash.” she said. 

Ash? Then I realized it. She had more grayish fur rather than black.  “I’m sorry. You know I have more gray in my fur too.” I said. She smiled at me. “Nice smile. Also, I love your eyes. They are really pretty.”

“My eyes? Your eyes are so bright green and they are so much more beautiful!” Ash said. 

“Thanks.” I said. Then it got quiet. “You know what it's like, right?” 

“To be a disappointment? Your fur to be more different to others? To have a totally different personality from your parents?” Ash finished. I laughed then nodded. We stood in silence for a moment. I reached for Ash’s hand and held it for a moment.

“I’m sorry.” I said again.  “Come here, I want to show you something.”

 I walked with Ash until we finally reached a large rock. The rock was covered in moss and had Spanish Moss hanging from the top. I pulled it aside like it was a curtain and Ash walked through. We walked for a little while longer until we finally heard the sound of running water. Another couple of feet and we reached the waterfall. It was midnight and the moon light shined on the ripples making the water even lovelier than it normally is.  I walked over to the edge and put my feet in. Ash followed me and did the same. 

“I have seen every inch of these woods but never have I seen this. How did you know that you could get in between the moss?” Ash asked.

“I didn’t. I had been running from my father because he had been trying to make me more popular and I just couldn’t stand it. I didn’t care right then if I got hurt so I ran in between the moss. Then I found this place.” I responded. 

Ash and I talked the night away. When it became dawn, the two of us knew that we had to get back to our packs. We walked back until we knew that we had to split up. 

“Bye Ash. And thanks for tonight. I really needed it.” I told her.

“Bye Star. And same to you.” Ash said. 

Right before we had split, Cami came out from behind us. 

“Well well well. Did the two of you have a romantic evening together?” She asked.

“Cami stop right there. No one cares about your opinion. We are friends. Right?” I said.

“Yea, and no one cares about you. You are stuck up and so annoying. Honestly I would much rather be with any other pack than this one with you in it.” Ash said. I gave her an approving smile and she smiled back. Then Cami’s minions came out from behind us. They started to attack but I wouldn’t let them get the best of me. Alpine bit me so I bit back harder. However Ash was having a harder time. We tried super hard but it didn’t work. We got beat. Then, everything went black.

I woke up later tied to a chair. I looked around. I didn’t know where I was but Alpine and Gunner  were laying on a rock so I assumed we were back at one of the black wolves' dens. I looked around and then felt Ash behind me. I didn’t know what had happened. Then all of the memories came back. We had lost the fight and now Cami had taken us captive. I’m sorry Ash, I thought.  I didn’t mean to let you down. 

“Don’t worry. It will be okay.”

“What was that? Who said that?”

“I can read minds.” 

“Ash?”

“Yep.”

“How are we going to get out of here?”

“Don’t know.”

“What if I cut my way through the ropes?”

“Wait, you have claws too? I thought all wolves had their claws removed!?”

“They did, but somehow mine grew back. Are you implying that you have claws too?”

“Yep!”

“Great! Cut your way through and then we will see what happens from there.”

“Got it.”

I cut my way through the ropes and so did Ash. Right before the two of us got up and struck however, Cami walked in. Abort! Keep your ropes against your wrist, wait till Cami, Alpine or Gunner come near you then claw and bite like you never have before! Before Ash could respond Cami began talking.

“Hm, the traitors of their packs, together forever huh? You guys really messed up. Who takes sides with the other packs. That's not the way this world runs. But no. It wasn’t good enough for Star and Ash, nope. They had to write their own rules. Well guess what, you guys are both done for, want to know why?” Cami said, leaning close to my face. “Because you guys are going to die here and we will make sure of it.”

“NOW!” I swiped for Cami’s face and got her eye. Alpine and Gunner came straight for me but Ash stopped them. She scratched their stomachs and they bent over in agony. I bit Cami’s tail and she whimpered in pain.

“Nice going! Now we just got to make sure that they stay hurt!” I heard Ash think. 

The 5 of us fought our best until finally there were only two victors, me and Ash. We made sure that Cami, Alpine, and Gunner were all in extreme pain before we left the cave. Since Ash was a black wolf she knew her way around the tunnels pretty well. We were almost at the exit of the cave when I got an idea.

“Hey Ash, wolves can tell different pack’s howls apart, right?” I asked.

“Yeah why?” she answered. 

“Get ready to run okay, we are going to my pack but we are going to bring a few guests.” She looked at me with concern but I gave her an encouraging smile. Then I howled. I heard her pack howl back in confusion then come running for us. Ash and I ran for our lives toward my pack. 

“Why are we doing this again?”  Ash thought.

“Because that's the fun of it.”

“Star, seriously why?”

“If we get them to confront each other and tell them that we are friends and are a part of different packs, maybe the woods can be at peace again.  Aren’t you tired of all of the fighting?”

“Yeah.”

“Here’s the plan, we have your pack chasing us. When we get to my pack area you are going to howl to get their attention. Then we split up and meet each other back at the water. But we can’t let our packs see eachother so you might have to give it a minute before you howl. Meet me at the waterfall, okay?”

“Okay, stay safe Star, please.”

“Don’t worry about me Ash.” And I was off. I howled once more for good measure I reached the rock within another minute. I waited for the Ash’s pack to catch up to me before going between the moss. When I saw Cami’s brother Cody, I knew I needed to go. I ran in between the moss and started climbing to the top of the waterfall. Ash’s pack followed me but stayed on the ground. Soon Ash was up here with me. Our packs had already started to fight with the two of them growling at eachother.

“Hey! Listen up!” I called out. I had everyone’s attention. This was my time to shine. “Our packs have been at a guerrilla war for almost 24 years. We wouldn’t even help save one another's lives. But last night, the two most excluded wolves from their pack had a great time. I say we put a stop to all of this. Look around. Are we really that different. We are all failed lab experiments. Do you really want to get revenge on the scientist without doing it together like we should? We don’t need this and it would be better if we stuck together. Now come on. Who’s with me?” I howled. At first, nobody howled, then Ash howled, followed by more and more until both packs were all howling. 

Ash hugged me then smiled at me. “We did it.” She said.

“Of course we did, we are better together.” I replied, returning her smile. I then pushed her off the top of the waterfall and jumped in after her. We were soaked, but the rest of the pack, meaning the gold and the black, went for a swim too. Eventually, we got all packs to join forces once more, now the woods live happily ever after. For now.

To be continued….