The house was dark, only the soft moaning of her mother could be heard as the medical person took the bullet from her arm. Feral was told to remain outside in the living room, where she was alone, sitting on the couch in a blanket. A dark figure came out holding a candle. It was her father again. Kneeling beside her, his eyes could be seen clearly. A milky yellow color. "Let me see your neck" He asked calmly. Feral looked at him for a second, her brows knitted together in a rather angry scowl.
After feeling her sense of obedience take over, she lifted her head slightly, her fur was pushed to the side a bit, making her flinch at his touch, but let him do so, revealing dark purple bruises.
"Nothing's broken. You should be okay after a good night's rest." he explained before getting up. Feral kept her eyes on the ground, feeling badly about tonight, of what she had done. The emotions almost made her want to cry.
"...You were very brave tonight Feral. You should be proud that you stood up to someone like that" He comforted quietly. Ferals eyes opened wide in shock, tears dotting the edge of her eyes. Before she could look up at him, he walked back towards the room her mother was being treated in. Feral watched him go, before her eyes closed halfway again. Turning back around, she stared down at her feet once more. For a moment, everything went quiet. Nothing stirred, nothing banged. Feral gripped her blanket.
'I need to become stronger...I want to protect my mommy...' Her thoughts raced. Tail bristling slightly. 'and Daddy can teach me!' She thought to herself.
...*the next day*...
The day was a bit gloomy, light grey fluffy clouds covered the skies in a huge blanket, leaving no blue area to peek through. Feral sat on the tire swing as Jackal began to push her, the little wolf pups playing like nothing had happened.
Everyone else in the village worked hard together, helping rebuild Jackal's house, his mother and father receiving gifts from the others. They were grateful for everyone's kindness. The entire place was a pack orientated area, everyone looking out for one another. It wasn't like those sad everyone for themselves type of town. No. In some way or another, all were related and all loved and cared for one another. Their bonds were close, especially since the pack consisted of no more than 50 members or so. None were fabulously wealthy, and no one was ranked higher than the other.
"Hey! W-wait your pushing me too high Jackal!" Feral called, her voice trembling slightly. Jackal pushed one last hard one, sending Feral flying out of the tire. Letting out a yelp of surprise, she went flying across the air. "F-FERAL!" Jackal called, surprised by his own strength. Taking off over to her, he hurried as quickly as he could through the deep snow, but his steps were slightly weighed down in the soft snow, his stubby legs hardly giving him any type of ground at all.
Feral felt herself flying through the sky, feeling the sense of vulnerability. During mid air, something in the back of her mind triggered, her eyes widening in sudden realization, the little wolf flipped backwards, throwing her feet beneath her, she landed against the trunk of a tree, before leaping forwards. Jackal was awestruck by his friend, only able to watch as she gracefully avoided a nasty impact that probably could have split her skull open. However, as she landed, her feet tripped beneath her, sending her tumbling across the ground in a big fluffy black.
"Are you ok?" Jackal picked her up by the shoulders, shaking her like crazy. "Any broke bones? Rushing fluids? Blood?" He shouted. "Jackal please stop shaking me...Im gonna hurl" Feral stated in between shakes. "Huh? Oh sorry...man...how did you do that?" Jackal let go of Feral, who sat down, tail sprawl out to the left of her.
"Do what?" She asked, oblivious to what she just did. "That f-flip! I-It was amazing!" He shouted, his tail wagging excitedly as he explained. Feral only looked at him with a surprised look on his face. Towards the end of his spewing compliments, she grinned hesitantly, paw raised behind her head in embarrassment.
During this event, Ferals' dad had been watching them. Stepping out, he walked towards the in silence. By the time he had reached them, they had only just noticed when he was but a few steps away.
"Oh um...I'll see you later then Feral" Jackal spoke in quiet voice, slowly stepping away before taking off towards his home. Feral didn't want Jackal to leave. She still felt uncomfortable with him around. His quiet and serious demeanor was enough to intimidate anyone.
"h-hi dad" She said quietly after she quickly scrambled to her feet.
"That was quite a move you made there. You're a natural fighter by the looks of it. That's good." He seemed to be speaking to himself more than her, however, his compliments made her glow. Especially since they came from him. Her tail wagged softly a bit before she stopped it.
"Dad? ...is...is mommy gonna be ok?" She asked quietly, her voice soft. His slight smile disappeared at her question. The wound she had taken got infected and it didn't seem to be clearing up anytime soon.
"She's fine for now. Her body is not getting any better though. If she remains her she will die" He replied, feeling that it was honest to say she was ok right at the moment. Ferals face was filled with horror and shock. Definitely not something a parent should tell a child.
Guilt rushed over Feral, feeling it was her fault that her mother had gotten so bad. If she hadn't intervened, her mother would not have been shot. Her little body trembled as her memories came back from that time. A warm paw was placed on her shoulder. Her father. He was warm. The warmth of her father made her feel a sense of comfort she had not felt before, it was different from her mother. A sense of security made a hole in her heart fill up.
"Dad...I want to become stronger...so I can protect my mother" Her voice was surprisingly calm and focused. A sense of maturity seemed to surround her at the moment. Feral's dad looked down at her for a moment before standing up.
"...if you want to be strong. You must come with me"
((Whoo! Chapter 4 is finally up. :D It is a bit longer than the other chapters, mostly because I didnt want it to lag on for another chapter...she will be moving no? no. Idk yet. lol I wont spoil it I mean ;) enjoy as I get some r&r and draw lots of stuff. ))