After ditching that village, we continued to run again in another blizzard in wolf form. The wind had picked up some but not as bad as the last time that we ran through a snowstorm. None of us spoke a single word to each other because of what the hell happened back in that town. And the fact those humans had harmed me didn't exactly help since I didn't seem to hide myself in time to avoid that from happening but I seemed to have the confidence and bravery to get myself out of that humans clutches. I honestly don't care that he helped me. I just wanted out of there and to get back to my friends. I'm telling them that befriending humans only leads to trouble and I didn't want to want to stay for that sort of trouble.
In the meantime, we had made it into a cave that was big enough to fit all five of us in here. We sat in it in human form and I had my injured leg stretched out while my other one was bent upwards. I was exhausted and I leaned my head back against the slightly frozen structure of the cave. I sat in between Toboe and Tsume, who was on a flat rock that was in here. My leg was also sore and it felt extremely heavy from us running so much. "Oh man… I sure am hungry." Toboe sighs. "Yeah. You're not the only one." Hige agreed lazily. I open my eyes and turn my head to look at him. He looked to be just as tired as I was. They were discussing on how long it had been since we had ate. And I honestly didn't care about food at that point in time. All I cared about was resting my leg.
"Would you two stop whining? It's only been three stupid days." Tsume grumbled, getting to be just as irritated as me. "Yeah, but we would've found food if we hadn't left that city." Toboe said, lifting his head to look at Tsume. "We can last a lot longer if we bask in the moonlight." Kiba said, getting our attention. I lifted my head at what he said and I furrowed my eyebrow. How was basking in the moonlight going to help a wolf survive? That's really weird in my opinion. "I traveled a full month that way." Kiba continued, catching only Hige off guard. "Did you say a month?!" he exclaimed in surprise. Just the mention of food made my stomach quietly growl and I let my head lean back against the wall of the cave. It got me to realize how long it had been since I had ate something. Those damn birds from Freeze City didn't seem to fill me up so we need to find food soon but I didn't say anything to bring it up.
"Well, if worse comes to worse we can always eat each other." Tsume suggests in a smug way. This catches all of our attention and my eyes widen. He must be out of his damn mind if he thinks that I'm resorting to cannibalism just to stay alive. "We can start off with the runt since since he's so weak. And of course there's always porky over there." Tsume continued, a smug grin on his face. I just raise an eyebrow at him. Was he just kidding or was he being serious because I can't tell by the tone in his voice. "Wait a minute, how come Kiba and Luna aren't on the menu?" Toboe asked, seemingly offended by what Tsume suggested. Tsume sat up at that and looked at the both of us. "Because the guy's totally full of crap and this she-wolf was dumb enough to get herself shot by the humans in that village." Tsume answered coldly, looking from Kiba to me. Needless to say, it did piss me off and I jerk my head towards him. "Excuse me? How am I dumb?" I spat back, anger written all over my voice. The grey wolf looks at me with an ugly stare but doesn't answer me. His arrogance seems to blind him.
"Hey, come on. Stop it would you? You guys are just hungry! You don't mean what you're saying!" Toboe pipes in, standing up in order to break up the petty argument between us. Before anything else was said, Hige suddenly takes off bolting into the snow in his wolf form, leaving his wolf paw prints behind. It was as if a sudden rush of energy just abruptly made its way into his veins or something. It confused me for a moment before it dawned on me. He must've caught the scent of food or something. Soon enough, the rest of us follow him and he had led us to the remains of a deer carcass. The more I looked at it, the more hungry I was getting.
Everyone but Tsume stood in wolf form. I looked down at the deer carcass intently with my wolf ears pointed up all the way. "I wonder where it came from. I mean it's all by its self out here." Toboe wondered quietly, more to himself than the rest of us. Hige took a step forward with his left fore wolf paw and put his wolf nose to the carcass to sniff it. "Are you going to eat that?" Tsume questioned. Hige turned his wolf head around to look at Tsume for a moment. "Aren't you?" Hige answered. My stomach continued to growl loudly and I couldn't help myself at this point. I put one of my wolf forepaws on the back of the deer and I instantly begin to dig into the deer; eating ravenously. Hige, Toboe, and Kiba did also and I didn't pay much attention to how much I ate.
"You know what? This stuff is pretty good. It's just a little bit tougher than hamburger." Toboe stated, using his wolf fangs to pull another piece of meat off the deer before looking back at Tsume with his wolf ears raised. "Hey, come on Tsume, get you some! We still have a long way we have to go." Toboe continued, turning back to take another bite with his wolf jaws open before Tsume stopped us. "Go? Go where exactly?" Tsume coldly says. I lift my wolf head up with a piece of the deer meat in my wolf jaws and I raise my wolf ears. "To that Paradise place? Off in the direction you smelled the flower?" Tsume coldly states. I flatten my knicked wolf ears some before finishing my piece of meat that I had in my wolf jaws.
We sit in human form and I lifted my body up to straighten my back up and sucked in a deep breath because I ate a lot on the deer as if I was hibernating so that told me to not eat any more of it. "Tsume…" Toboe said, before looking to Kiba, who just was kneeled over the deer while keeping quiet because he didn't say anything the whole time that we were out here. To be fair, I haven't said anything either because what could I say? I couldn't just blurt out a response to his thoughts on Paradise because in all honesty, I kind of have the same feelings for it as he does. No one knows that if it does exist or not so I do have my doubts so Kiba, being the supposed wolf trying to find it, is pretty much chasing his own damn tail for nothing. It doesn't make sense. I know wolves can't stay in one spot for so long but we don't need to set our sights in that place. Even though I don't see myself actually going there, I just kept myself quiet and didn't say a single word to no one here.
"Kiba, what's Paradise really like?" Toboe asked inquisitively to the white wolf. "It's an amazing place! The flowers are always in bloom, and the food is always abundant! And there's beautiful babes there too." Hige pipes in, glancing over to me with a wink. I just give him a disapproving stare to show that I, in no way in hell, am I ready for a mate. He seemed to get the hint when Toboe got hyped up at what he said. "Well, I hope so at least." he said, chuckling nervously. That brought the excitement down from the young wolf, which wasn't that surprising to me because it's not the first time that I've heard it from my late pack.
"Paradise is nothing but a damn fairytale. If it isn't, then it's just some idiots dream." Tsume scoffed at the idea of Paradise being real. "Well, if you think that, then why the hell did you come with us?" I ask, feeling confused at what he said. If Tsume thinks Paradise is nothing but that, why the hell did he bother coming with us? I don't get it at all. Toboe turned around to face Tsume. "Well, we won't know unless we look for it." Toboe proclaimed, slightly lifting his arms. However, the young wolf's answer doesn't bode well with Tsume and I narrow my eyes at what he said. "How far are you going to let this guy string you along? How far are you going to follow him in pursue in a place that doesn't even exist to begin with?" Tsume spat, the tone in his voice seeming to get more agitated and angrier with each passing word that exited his mouth. When none of us answered his question, he growled at us and turned away from us. "That's it! I can't put up with you losers and this dumb bitch anymore!" he growled. That insult right there caught me off guard and I jumped back in disbelief. I know that insult was directed to me considering I'm the only she-wolf in this small wolf pack out of 5 wolves.
He then turned around to have his back towards us and he began to walk away from us with his thumbs in his pockets. "Hey, where do you think you're going all by yourself?!" Hige called out, raising up a bit. "To look for hell I guess." Tsume coldly responds, not stopping. "Suit yourself." Kiba finally spoke, getting me to look at him. Tsume looked back at him with a cold stare in his golden green eyes. I could tell that he didn't seem to care on what Kiba was going to say next. "But remember, those rules that you had back in the city doesn't apply way out here." the white wolf continued. At this, Tsume only growled and spat back at him, "It really pisses me off when smug kids like you have that know it all look on their face and yet their actually clueless." Kiba narrowed his eyes at what the grey wolf said before walking off with a angry scoff. "Tsume, come on! Don't leave now we finally made some friends!" Toboe called out. Tsume just kept on walking without looking back at us. "Have your little playdate without me. I'm out of here." he growled, his image getting intentionally smaller and smaller as he walked away from us.
I just sighed at this and shake my head at how he acted towards us. "If you ask me, he's acting more like the pup than us." Hige sighed, not agreeing at all with how Tsume's attitude was thrown towards us. "Don't say that. I like Tsume. He's nice." Toboe said, looking off to where Tsume walked off to. "I wouldn't say that because of what he said to us." I say, shaking my head. Toboe looked back at me with a slight angry glare. "Come on. Let's go after him." he suggested. I sit up at that because I partly believed that Tsume was just already done with being with us and putting off Paradise as a whole however, I'm not a cold hearted wolf and I just couldn't bring myself to say no to him. I just sigh and stand up with a grunt because of my leg still being sore from being shot. I look back down at Hige and Kiba for a moment.
"We'll be back soon." I tell them before Toboe and I take off in Tsume's direction in a run. It didn't take us very long to find the grey wolf, who was still in his human form with one hand on his hip as he walked. "Hey, wait for us Tsume!" Toboe called. Once we caught up with him, I kept my pace fastened as I walked, well actually limped. "What are you so mad about for huh? Come back would you?" Toboe persisted, looking at Tsume's back. "Shut the hell up!" Tsume growled in an angry voice. "Stop with the pissy attitude okay? You'll get yourself killed out here because those humans could be on our case!" I scold, looking up at him too. "You don't know that! We're always alone so it doesn't matter! So you shut the hell up as well!" Tsume growled at me, seeming to get more pissed by the minute. Toboe tried to grab a hold of him by grabbing his muscular arm however, Tsume quickly turned and shoved the young wolf back onto his ass with a grunt. I end up back up a bit in reaction while swinging my arms a bit.
"Both of you don't follow me." Tsume growled, looking kind of guilty of doing what he did before taking off in a run in his wolf form, leaving us there in the gutter. I sigh and get to my knees to Toboe's height. "You okay?" I ask, putting a hand on his back. The young wolf looked up at me with a defeated glance. "Yeah. I'm fine." he answered. I extended my hand to help him up to his feet and he instantly took it. "Let's go after him. For one, I can sense that something might go wrong here." I proclaim, looking around as I talked. I was being honest about what I just said because my gut was telling me that something was going to potentially happen while Kiba and Hige were left back with the deer carcass. So we would have to find Tsume so he wouldn't get himself killed. Because I can kind of tell that he seemed to have spent most of his time in the city surviving off of humans skills by stealing from them in cunning ways. However, I for one, survived mostly on the opened world and hunting down whatever I can find. I only stayed in the city for a few days before leaving.
A few hours roll by and the sun began to set as Toboe and I began our search for Tsume. The environment we were in was a cross between an abandoned city that looked sunken into the ground and the desert. Surrounding us was old equipment that humans used like tanks and stuff like that that seemed to decay over the course of time. The scent of it wasn't pleasant however, we would have to deal with it. "Tsume! Tsume!" Toboe called, cupping his hands together to call for Tsume. The grey wolf wasn't anywhere near here, especially his scent didn't seem to be here either.
We walk in wolf form and the sand beneath our wolf paws was really warm and the sun hitting my black wolf fur made me feel hot. I lower my wolf nose to the ground to sniff for his scent. "His scent isn't here." I say, lifting my wolf head and I looked ahead with my wolf ears lifted all the way. The wind softly blew through our fur and it honestly felt very good along with the setting sun. "He's got to be here somewhere…" Toboe stated, looking around with his wolf eyes open all the way. Looking ahead, I suggested that we keep going straight ahead in hopes of finding something. Toboe had agreed with me. But before we continued on, I lift my right wolf forepaw and place it in front of me and suddenly hear a click, getting the both of us to freeze for a solitary moment. In lifting up my wolf forepaw so that it was in the air slightly, the two of us caught that it was some old metal thing that was stuck in the ground. We thought nothing of it and kept moving, trotting to the decaying city in front of us.
My wolf tail swished back and forth and I kept my wolf head partly lowered as I trotted along the sandy colored ground while Toboe ran ahead of me some; his bracelets jingling as he ran. His reddish brown fur was perfect under the sun. Once we made it into the silent, decaying city, Toboe got on a blocky, sandy catwalk from the looks of it and I stood on it too so that we were beside one another. My wolf tail stuck out half way as I turned my wolf head back and forth to inspect the area. "Aaaarrroooo!" Toboe howled, letting it echo throughout the dead city. "Tsume! Stop hiding! Don't be dumb!" I call out, catching a whiff of his scent. My wolf ears twitched back and forth when I caught an unfamiliar sound. Something… robotic in a way.
Standing in human form, I was partly behind Toboe but was able to see what was in front of us. Just when I believe things were okay, Toboe and I were suddenly grabbed by none other than Tsume; just as rapid bullets were fired at us and the sounds echoed in my ears as we fell to another flooring. What the hell was that about?
Night time fell about an hour later and the three of us were running along a different part of this dead city. Toboe seemed to catch that Tsume was limping badly on his left leg and some of his blood was dripping behind him, leaving a trail that showed where we were before. As he limped, his heavy, pained grunts didn't hide it. "Are you okay?" Toboe asked, catching up with him but only to get pushed back by Tsume. "Stay away!" the grey wolf growled. I was on his left side and was limping too but not as back as him. When I looked behind me, I could see that something was coming after us. And from the sounds of it, it sounded metallic.
"Shit… something's coming." I swear, feeling my heart beating from adrenaline. We come to an edge that led to total darkness below and before looking back, the metal thing began to fire bullets at us without a second thought. We all jumped down the cavern to safety and the bullets forced us to hide behind a large piece of rubble so we wouldn't be seen. It's like that thing could see that we are wolves. We looked around the piece of rubble subtley to see what exactly was shooting at us. Since I was between Tsume and Toboe, I had a clear view of it. It was a large military robot… and it was searching for us so it can kill us. "What the heck is that thing?!" Toboe exclaimed, seeing it as well me. "Damn robot… we can't let it see us." I say, clenching my teeth. Tsume didn't say nothing but only clench his teeth from the pain in his leg, causing Toboe and I to look down. That would looked just as bad as mine when I got shot.
"Damn it… the stench of this place is starting to make me sick…" Tsume grunted, baring his teeth from the pain in his leg. He then gets up without any effort and begins to limp away. Toboe and I follow behind him, each of us being on one side of him. As we walked, I frequently looked behind us to see if that robot was trying to catch up with us. And sure enough, it was because I could hear it in the distance. When I looked at Tsume, it kind of amazed me that he actually saved Toboe and I from being shot down by that robot. You'd think that a cold and aloof wolf such as him would even think about doing. He actually brought himself to save a she-wolf and a pup that he hardly knows and it kind of surprised me in a sense that I didn't expect to see that side of him.
Afterwhile, the robot was tailing us and we resorted to running because of that damn robot being on our tails. It was coming in fast now and I knew that we had to hide somewhere and fast before we all get ourselves killed. My leg was throbbing heavily because of how much running we had to do and frankly, it made me want to stop but my instincts were telling us to keep on moving if we want to stay alive. Once we make it to another steep cliff, that robot had caught up with us and I felt my heart pound out of my chest because I believed we would meet our fates here. It fired something large at us and it made the edge of the cliff crumble into pieces, causing the three of us to fall beneath the earth below. I let out a yell because of how high it was.
I didn't realize that I had fallen unconscious at the end of the fall because my vision was blurred severely. "Ugh… agh… what the hell?" I groan, trying to make sense of where I was. I push myself up to a sitting position with my right hand holding my head while my left hand held me up and I didn't realize that my body weight was this heavy especially after first waking up after being unconscious for so long. And the problem was, I don't know how long I was knocked out for. It wasn't until the sound of Toboe licking Tsume's wound brought me back to reality and I quickly turn my head to look at him. It didn't take Tsume long to wake up with a grunt. Toboe had both hands on Tsume's wounded leg while he licked it.
"Stop that!" Tsume shouted, roughly shoving the pup off him, "Don't ever touch me…" Toboe ends up looking down at his knees in defeat. I look ahead at the outside of the cave, feeling myself calm down just a bit because we had lost that damn robot. Toboe must've gotten us to safety which I much appreciate. "What's it doing?" Tsume wondered, looking ahead. "It's not after us. It looks like we gave it a slip." Toboe answered, looking from him to the mouth of the cave. Thank god for that and I stood up to go to the mouth of it to get a better look. When I sit down by the right wall, I pull both of my legs up to my chest so that my arms could rest on them. I push my bangs on both of my ears so that the knicks in my ears were exposed. They didn't go unnoticed however.
"Wow, you guys are covered in scars. And the ones on your ears Luna, those look cool like your scar Tsume!" Toboe enthusiastically declared. I let out a mixed sigh of anger and sadness because I absolutely despise talking about my scarred ears because it only reminded me of the cowardice that I suffered when I lost my pack. I don't want to discuss that. When I looked over my shoulder half way, Tsume had turned over to his right side so that he had his back to Toboe. He seemed to be offended of what Toboe said too. It looks like we got something in common but I found it to not be the right time to point it out. My eyes narrow as I look outside into the desolate, icy apocalyptic land that laid in front of us. It made me wonder what all the animals, the humans, and the wolves went through and how many have died in this area because I didn't want to be next on the list. "I wonder what happened to Kiba and Hige. They're probably worried about us by now." Toboe stated, looking outside.
"I don't trust anyone." Tsume said, breaking the silence around. I look back at him halfway and just watched him as he continued to talk. "And with that, no one has to trust me. That way it keeps things nice and simple." he finished in a seemingly angry tone. I could help but feel a hint of sympathy for him because it got me to wonder, what had he gone through to be this aloof towards Toboe and I? I laid my head on my crossed arms and closed my eyes in hopes of clearing my head however that was short lived when the distant sound of booming footsteps. It didn't bother me until the sound grew louder and louder in our ears. Then, it was so loud that we all jumped up to a sitting position in a gasp. I look around the cave and instantly back up when I saw it was that same robot from before. It had found us.
"It found us guys!" I say, backing up to where they were. Tsume growled at what I said and could also hear the mechanic sounds of that damn robot. "Damn it!" he growled, trying to stand up, only to be pushed back down by Toboe. "No Tsume! You'll get yourself killed out there!" Toboe exclaimed, keeping a good hold on him. Tsume smirked and looked up at the entrance. "Well then, you and Luna will finally have something to eat." he said in a smug manner. I jump back at what he said because he can't be serious about still resorting to cannibalism. "No way Tsume! That's pure stupidity!" I exclaim, still going against it. Toboe then stands up and begins to run to the door. "Toboe, what are you doing?!" I cry, stopping him in his tracks. The young wolf turns around to look at the two of us and I saw the determination on his face. "I'll be a decoy and distract it while you two run!" he declared, getting both me and Tsume to jump up.
"Don't do it!" Tsume cried out, his eyes widening. He looks back at us again; this time giving us a softened glance with a warm smile. He's actually wanting to do this so we'd make it out safely because he could also be killed in distracting it and that's what scares me. But I had no choice but to comply to what Toboe was going to do in order to protect us. "You guys can trust me. It's okay." he said assuringly. I couldn't help but smirk some.
And with that, Toboe had run out of the cave in a sprint while I helped Tsume up to his feet and to my surprise, he actually let me do that because of the adrenaline that he was going through at that point in time. Hadn't that robot found us, he would push me away and go off on his own to do god knows what. After that, we ran in in the opposite direction as Toboe and we winded up limping away from the robot. The two of us run in our wolf forms. The ground was cold against my wolf paws and it pushed through my thick, black wolf fur. My wolf ears were raised all the way so I could hear what was going on around us. I thought it was only our wolf claws however, the dreaded sound of the robot filled our wolf ears.
Off to our right, we saw that damn robot shooting at Toboe with relentless rounds. When it spotted us, we took off in the right direction and we ran into a narrow passageway as it begins to fire bullets at us. "Go! Go now!" Tsume shouted as the robot shot at the wall of ice in an attempt to shoot and kill us. When we make it through, we were suddenly blown away from the passageway in our human forms when it fired a bomb or something at us. I landed on my right side and felt the throbbing pain in both my ears and leg when I landed and I squeezed my eyes shut from the pain. That explosion was very loud and it hurt my ears so bad. Then, the sound of that large gun made me snap fully awake and I jump up to a sitting position and found that I wasn't that far off from where Tsume landed during that explosion. That robot was pointing directly at him which sent protective instincts through me.
I growl and jump in front of him in my wolf form with my wolf fangs bared at the robot. My wolf legs were spread out so that I stood in a fighting stance with my wolf tail standing up as well as my wolf hackles. Even though Tsume was a hard ass to Toboe and I earlier in the day, I couldn't leave him here to die like this especially when he's injured like this. I'd rather die protecting my own kind than being selfish about saving my own skin. That's not what a wolf does; they protect their pack.
Suddenly, the sound of another wolf's howl caught my attention as well as the sudden appearance of Kiba running at the robot in top speed in wolf form with his wolf fangs bared some as he prepares to attack the robot. When the robot turned its attention to Kiba, it barely had any time to react as Kiba used his hind back legs to leap into the air in a loud snarl with his wolf fangs bared. He latches himself to the robot and gave Tsume the perfect opportunity to escape.
Smoke rose up and we shifted to our human forms and watched in shock that Kiba now had the robot fully on him so it didn't pay any attention to Tsume and I. The two of us exchanged glances for a moment. And during that solitary moment, I happened to catch the look on Tsume's face. He was shocked at the fact a she wolf such as myself would risk her life to keep a wolf she barely knows safe as well as an acquaintance who also put his life on the line for him. It was as if he expected us to just leave him there and let suicide take over him. "Tsume! Luna!" Hige's voice pulled us out of our trance. We look up to see the tan wolf in his human form on another ice ledge. He gestured for us to come with him. "This way!" he called out. And we did just that.
Along with Tsume, we used our wolf agility to pounce on the ice ledges in our wolf forms. The wind blew past my wolf face and it was hard to keep my wolf eyes open so I could see where I was going. Tsume had a bit of trouble getting to the top of the cliff because of his wound on his hind leg.
Once we made it to where Hige and Toboe were, we waited for Kiba's return because he needed to be with us and to be honest, I did fear that that robot would end his life unfairly. He had put his own life on the line to protect both Tsume and I. He didn't have to do that but… he apparently didn't want us to get killed. At least he's sensible and isn't as aloof and distant as I thought him to be. I had my back to the others and watched the sun start to rise, bathing the snow and icy land in it's warm, golden light. I closed my eyes and let the sun warm me and breathed in the frosty air. Just then, I hear the footsteps of Kiba approaching us. When I opened my eyes, I saw the white wolf slightly limp to where we were in his human form.
"Hey, you okay?" Hige asked him as he walked over to us. "It's just a scratch." Kiba vaguely answered, stopping a couple of steps from me. "Pssh, yeah right. There's nothing but trouble with you." Hige scoffed. "I knew it. Well, I wasn't sure but… I had a feeling you two would come back for us." Toboe said, looking down. Hige turned his head to look at the young wolf with a furrowed eyebrow. I can honestly say that Toboe is one of the most optimistic wolves that I have ever met. "Why did you do that?" Tsume grumbled, sitting down with his back facing towards us. The four of us look down at the grey wolf. "Why would you Luna and him risk your lives to save someone like me? You should've ran when you had the chance. And don't go off and say it's because we're friends." Tsume continued, taking note of what Kiba and I did.
"Tsume, unlike you, I do have a heart and I'm not letting a wolf get killed like that. You should be thankful that I stood in front of you and Kiba coming out of nowhere to distract it." I reply, defending Kiba and I's actions. Tsume looked back at me for a moment with his usual narrowed angry glance but only for a moment. Kiba mentioned that it was just his instinct to come and protect us and how it wouldn't ever be simple enough to protect our own. When Tsume stood up, Toboe immediately saw he was having trouble walking and he quickly ran up to him to help him walk by putting Tsume's arm over his shoulders. The grey wolf looked back at Kiba and me for a moment before he and Toboe walked on. I then join them by walking ahead of both Hige and Kiba. We continued on walking this deserted plain in our wolf forms. Once again being a mish mash of wolves. Going from white, grey, black, red, and dun. I kept my knicked wolf ears slightly lowered and my wolf tail limply laid behind me. The only question was… what was going to happen next on our treacherous journey for us wolves?