Is anyone out there? That's all I can ever think of. Everything and everyone in Yellowstone seems to have vanished. Ash is still raining from the sky and piling up like snow. Every day unleashes new challenges of finding essentials like food and water and just flat out surviving. I'm not sure I can make it much longer. It's been two days and there are no signs of the volcano ending its eruption. I want to go back to the time when things were fun and I was with my family. But now my family's dead. Everyone's dead. *Will this Specimen survive the super volcano's eruption?*
-Rewritten-
I stretch as I awake, my body alive once more, ready for a new day. The fresh scent of pine is strong as I walk out of my den which holds me and my siblings, Shadow and Cloud, who are currently playing tag in the clearing. I stride over towards my mother who looks at me with her olive drab colored eyes.
"Are we going hunting today?" I ask curiously. She sighs and shrugs her shoulders as she resumes gnawing at the elk bone. I can't understand how she can sit there for most of the day and chew stories into bones. It would drive me grihl. Of course, my mother was supposed to keep the records of the pack, but still, it is monotonous work in my opinion. Finally giving up hope of finding an answer, I trot over to Shadow and Cloud.
"Can I join your… game?" I question slowly, not really wanting to know. I am just trying to free myself from the imprisonment of boredom.
The boys look at each other and then Shadow opens his mouth to reply.
"Only if you agree to our rules," he says, smiling devilishly as he does so. "All of them." I raise my eyebrow curiously. What rules could they have for a game of tag? "Because, if you want to play these games, you need to join our club," he answers my unvoiced question.
"A club?" I ask. "What's your motive to create a club? We are a pack, already, you know." Shadow rolls his eyes.
"We are like, the pack's secret agents," Cloud pipes up. He then slowly glances over at Shadow who has his ears flattened.
"Shh!" Shadow hisses. I sit down, deciding that watching this short comedy show put on by my two younger brothers was better than helping the pack decide something stupid like always. "Either that or I'll whack you so hard, you'll go grihl," Shadow snaps in Cloud's ear.
"Calm down you two," I say, moving in-between them to break up Shadow's attack. "It's not bad that Cloud said you guys were the defenders of the pack, or whatever. That's cool," I say, trying to put my heart in it so I sound believable, at least, "and if you two are a club, then you shouldn't fight." I exhale gradually, my eyes darting between the two as I back up. Being their pup sitter is harder than I thought it would be when I decided to start doing it for mom a while back.
"Sorry," Shadow says to Cloud. The latter nodded in recognition.
"Me too," Cloud says, "I shouldn't have said anything." I give them each licks on the head before I lay down.
"So, what are these rules?" I question them. "Must be real hard," I mutter sarcastically. Cloud disappears behind the pines and out of view. He soon emerges with a leaf of some sort. Probably from an oak or some sort of deciduous tree. He sets it down between me and them. Shadow clears his throat.
"One, you may not tell anyone about this organization slash club thing, and you can't tell them… where we meet. Which is currently right," he draws a circle around us, "right here."
"But mom's over there. She can see us—" I start to say, but they don't give me clearance to continue.
"Don't tell anybody! This is secret. Second, you have to eat this leaf." What the…? I let my thought trail as I stare at them, my mouth slightly agape in disbelief. I reluctantly bend my head down, my mouth open. I couldn't wait until my friends were up. This is ridiculous, and I'm not going to do it. I stop and back up from the browning leaf. I'm not going to eat this just to get in on all of their fun. That's what my friends are for, right? God, I couldn't wait for them to wake up.
"Like, what are you doing?" Cloud asks curiously.
"I'm not doing this," I say simply, now suddenly begging to get out of here. Get away from these whack jobs.
"Why?" Shadow joins in, his green eyes questioning. I look at the grey wolf in astonishment.
"Because it's stupid. I'm one and a half years old; you guys are what, six months? I'm not doing this. This is for… pups," I say coolly. "And I don't want to be in your 'club'. I changed my mind, okay? I have better things to do."
"Like what, gossip and talk about boys?" Cloud snickers as he looks over at Shadow who is also laughing. I roll my eyes the hardest that I can before I turn my back to them and walk away towards where my friends and I usually meet. So what if we did those things? They'd do the same one of these days. I sit down next to some tall grass, hoping to evade the oncoming ultraviolet rays from the sun. It's only eight o' clock, but the temperature is already becoming scorching hot. I rest my chin on my paws just in time to see Cherry, Liko, and Skhala appear.
"What's up girlfriend?" Skhala asks, her beige body glimmering with beads of sweat from the intense heat.
"Hey guys," I say with a smile. "Nothing much," I add after a second's pause. "You don't know how glad I am to get away from the fuzz balls." I motion over towards my brothers who are now creating a small three winx by five winx fortress out of rocks.
"I thought you liked your brothers," Cherry ponders. "You always say how cute they are and stuff…."
"Oh, well, I don't know. They're just… weird," I say. "Look at what they're doing now! I don't know. Nowadays, they just come across to me as insolent little—"
"Careful now," Skhala warns, a smile drawn on her lips, "little ears." She nods her head towards my brothers and flashes her eyes to the sides of us. It was true that there were quite a few pups around the clearing that was just behind us.
"I really don't know why," I continue as if there hadn't been an interruption, "but they are just… more annoying now."
"They're growing up. They haven't found their footing yet," Liko says in a faraway voice like always.
"Okay, enough sib talk," Skhala huffs. "Let's talk about other stuff." I can hear Liko give a slight moan of annoyance while Cherry perks up and inches closer. I just shake my head.
"Hey, when we were hunting, did you see that male?" Cherry asks Skhala.
"Oh my God, yes," she exclaims. "He was so hot." He really was attractive. His midnight black colored coat and silvery eyes. But I wasn't interested in finding a mate out of the pack.
"I hope he was a Druid," Cherry yaks, breaking my thoughts.
"That would be perfect," Skhala squeals. "Just as long as he's not a Slough, though, they live in a wasteland. They can't be strong, then, can they? See, my problem with our pack is that we don't have any cute males. Except Phoenix and Aireo, but they're always taken." And that's why I would probably never get a mate, even in the pack unless he was… ugly. I am not boy-crazy like Skhala and Cherry are, talking constantly about who is the hottest, or whatever. Sure I'll join in, but if I find a male that I like, I don't tell them. Well, I do, once I'm sure I actually like him, but I've only liked one male. And that was Phoenix who is currently more interested in Taigo, the young alpha. The 'princess.' I still have a thing for Phoenix, but I have long since given up trying to get his attention.
"So, who do you all like?" Cherry asks. Liko grunts in boredom. "Sorry, just asking," Cherry apologizes.
"Obviously nobody here. Well, like I said, that male we saw, but the chances of seeing him again," Skhala sighs sadly. They all look at me, even Liko who I know secretly has an interest in this subject; she just doesn't like to express it.
"Me? I uh… nobody," I lie. My voice quivers slightly, and I know they will not believe me.
"Uh-huh. Sure," Cherry says. I sigh lightly, giving up.
"Who do you think?" I ask them.
"Oooh," Skhala says with a glint in her eye. "She likes Phoenix still!" I avoid their stare by looking at the dirt beneath my paws. Liko lets a little gasp escape her. Cherry looks at her with a risen brow before averting her attention back to me. "He's right over there," Skhala states.
"So? I'm not talking to him." Skhala clicks her tongue at me. "What?" Before I can do anything, Cherry steps forward and stops before Phoenix.
"Hey," I can hear her saying, "Bandit really wants to talk to you." The sound of my name gives me shivers. It doesn't sound like a female's name.
"Oh, is that so?" Phoenix looks up at me with his blazing golden eyes. His gold and red body moves towards us. I can feel a shiver rush down my spine as he comes nearer. Cherry, Skhala, and Liko all move back, giving me space. My face grows warm. "So… what do you want to talk about?" he asks with his sincere voice. I stay silent, my tightly shut mouth blocking the words from coming out. My throat becomes dry as I stare into his eyes. I can feel the seconds tick by. He stands still, waiting. One minute. Two minutes. He becomes a little bored, I can see it in his face, and shifts his weight as he shakes away the prickling feeling of his legs falling asleep. It had to be three minutes when he gives me an odd look and he begins to turn away.
"Wait!" Skhala barks. He looks back. "I'll tell you, since she's a little…" Skhala gropes around for the right word, "nervous." Okay, so I am a little nervous, but she better not tell him. If she does—
"She likes you. Quite a bit, too," Skhala adds thoughtfully to herself. I can see Phoenix's eyes widen slightly. I tense and look over at Skhala, hatred apparent in my eyes. "What?" she snaps quietly to me. I shake my head as I look back up into Phoenix's eyes. They soften as I look at him. There is an awkward moment where he doesn't say anything.
"Well then, if what Skhala is saying is true, I'll see you tonight." Phoenix smiles, winks, and then walks away into the woods. My mouth is slightly open as my mind processes what he just said. I can't believe we were going to actually talk—alone. Together.
"Oh my God, Skhala, thank you!" I say, breathless as I put a paw on her shoulder.
"No prob, sis," she says with a grin. Liko is watching me like she thought this was just a dream for me and a nightmare for her. All of them had not even tried to get together with Phoenix or Aireo. But with Skhala's and Cherry's help just now, I had. I look over at Liko with something just short of a sympathetic smile. This had gone from sort of a crazy day to the perfect day.
"C'mon girl, we have to get you ready for tonight!" Cherry exclaims. I get to talk with Phoenix, and they get to fix me up for it. It's a win-win all around.
*Grihl: mad/insane/nuts
*Whinx: equivalent to 12 inches.
A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope it was okay. The next ones will hopefully be better!
Oh, and if you have any ideas for names, please tell me ;-)