"Emily. Are you awake?"
Emily opened her eyes and stared straight into wide blue eyes that were only inches from her face.
"She's awake!" exclaimed Mike.
She raised her head and shook it, to clear it. She saw a green smudge out of the corner of her eye and looked round to see Sandy looking down at her, warm brown eyes filled with concern.
"Emily, are you okay?" asked Sandy worriedly. She then saw Emily's unimpressed expression and said: "Sorry, stupid question; what's wrong? We all heard you panicking yesterday. What happened?"
"Yesterday?" Emily stopped and thought in confusion. "That was a whole day ago?"
"Yes, and before that you were out for a week," murmured Mike. "Well, we're guessing it's been a week because of the lights and darks, they turn off the lights at 'night'. That's how we know the days because, as you can see; there are no windows."
At this, Emily had a proper look around. The room they were in was about ten by seven meters, it was painted white, and as Mike had mentioned, there were no windows. The floor was covered with a thick layer of newspaper and over that dirt, twigs, leaves and other sorts of woodland debris to give a sort of 'forest' look. There was even a fake tree in the corner and under that a tiny wooden hut for a makeshift den.
Although the mock woodland had been obviously erected for the wolves comfort, after living in a real forest with a pack of wolves, this small, white room was a bitter mockery of her former habitat. It seemed to Emily to be a jeering taunt rather than a comfort, although the woody smell covered up that of the harsh chemicals. Another problem with the natural look was a large mirror that took up half of the longer wall. There was something strange about that mirror; she could hear faint whispering coming from it... She would steer clear of it. Then Emily thought:
"Mike, Sandy, where's Gwen? I can smell her, but where is she?"
"Oh, she's still asleep in the hut, with..." Mike paused and very obviously changed the subject. "We spend most of our time sleeping; there isn't much else to do."
"Is it morning then?"
"I reckon. They've just turned on the lights. We slept 'outside' with you, after yesterday they brought you in, you were still quite heavily under, I guess they left you here to recover from your faint," explained Mike.
"I swear I faint too often for my own good, I probably have brain damage," muttered Emily.
The wolves sniggered.
Mike said: "Nah, I think it's 'cos so many people are out to get you." He laughed for a moment, then stopped, looking at her thoughtfully.
"What are you looking at?" accused Emily.
"Nothing." Sandy and Mike said together, quickly. Sandy hurriedly changed the subject
"What happened yesterday, Emily?" asked Sandy gently.
"I had a sudden realisation," said Emily bitterly. "I'm arachnophobic."
Mike and Sandy gazed warily, neither laughed.
"The ...spider's venom affected my legs worse than I thought. I was in a little carry crate and there was a nasty human yelling at me. So, you know me and what I'm like, I heat the handle he was holding on to. He yells and drops the crate. I got jolted and I realised that something was wrong. I couldn't feel my legs. I had a panic attack, I couldn't move or breathe and there was no space, I swung around when the humans opened the door, trying to get out, but I banged my head on the crate," somehow saying it out loud made it feel worse for Emily.
"You- You can't move your legs?" hissed Mike.
"No."
"Try, they might have got better!" urged Sandy.
"No, it hurts! Really bad," begged Emily. "I don't want to, it's bad."
"But-"
"What's going on?"
The earth and water wolves turned round, except for Emily who just looked over her shoulder, desperate to avoid the painful twinge that was set off by movement. Gwen was standing looking at them, and behind her was a bright yellow wolf. He was such a bright colour; he seemed to glow with a white luminescence. On the end of every dazzling hair was a vivid blue tip that seemed to stand up on end, giving the wolf a bushed out effect. His fur crackled with static.
"Emily?" asked Gwen.
Emily smiled.
"Emily! You're alright!"
Gwen loped over to her. She got to the red wolf and looked down at her sprawled out on the imitation woodland floor, puzzled.
"Aren't you going to stand up and say hi?"
"I can't."
"Why-" she stopped, gasped and said: "Emily, what happened to your legs?"
Mike and Sandy sighed and looked at each other, rolling their eyes.
"Guinevere, the queen of tact," sighed Sandy.
Emily frowned, concerned. She turned her head to see what had caused Gwen to cry out and the thing that the twins had tried to keep from her.
Her entire lower back was raw. There was no crimson red fur protecting her legs. Her skin was so scabbed and bloody that it looked like dry mud; there were oozing sores that hadn't healed over yet that caked her hide, from the small of her back to the base of her tail.
"This is after a week?!" Emily gasped in horror.
Her pack was also clearly dismayed. Gwen hung her head in shame, she hadn't thought about what she was saying and now Emily was paying the price. The yellow wolf wrinkled his muzzle in a grimace of disgust; he was obviously repulsed by the gory nature of Emily's skin.
"Will this heal? It's so bad..."
"Was that what the... spider did?" questioned Gwen quietly.
Emily nodded, speechless. She was drowning, submerged in horror. Would she ever regain use of her legs? And if she didn't, how could they escape? She looked up, and caught the yellow wolf looking intently down at her. He looked away immediately and blushed under his glimmering fur; it was beyond rude for a wolf to stare at another.
"Who's this?" questioned Emily, hostile. She glared, but her look was a challenge.
"Um..."
"Well, what happened was..."
"Well?"
"I'm Ty," spoke the glistening yellow wolf. "Hi, I've been waiting to meet you for ages."
"Have you now? That's interesting. "
"Yes, Mike, Sandy and Gwen have been telling me all about you."
Emily turned to look accusingly back at them.
"But Em, we think he's one of us!" protested Mike.
"I think I'll be the one to decide that," snarled Emily. "As you know everything there is to know about us, tell me about you."
Mike and Sandy rolled their eyes.
The wolves heard footsteps come stomping down the corridor outside. Ty suddenly stiffened and whined.
"It's them! Get into the hut!" he hissed
Mike and Sandy turned back to look worriedly back at Emily, she stared back, angry at Ty and confused by their fear. Gwen had already returned to the small hut and was hiding in the corner with Ty.
"Come on! Quick, they're nearly here!" he hissed.
The twins looked torn for a moment, then ran for the cover, leaving Emily worried and confused in their wake.
"What's going on?"
Two humans slammed open the door. One was the black-clad snarling man carrying a mysterious briefcase. Emily had a chance to see him properly. He was looked like most of the people here, wearing all black, with dark trousers, leather gloves, a midnight jumper and shirt, he was huge. He was more like a mountain than a man, with his light hair cropped back to his head. He looked intimidating now. Emily desperately hoped that he didn't hold grudges; or else she was dead.
The other human was the man in the green coat with the friendly lined face and grey hair. He looked warily around the room, to clock the five wolf's locations. He didn't seem surprised that the four able-bodied wolves were cowering in the hut. This made Emily concerned; what had they done to earn a pack of wolves fear? He looked down at the red wolf on the newspaper-strewn floor at his feet; she was slowly trying to edge away from him with her front paws. He gestured to the towering man beside him, who brought forwards the black briefcase. He opened it and Emily saw it was holding all sorts of medical equipment; syringes, small bottles, swabs, that sort of thing.
The older human said something to the snarling man and pointed at Emily. There was a growl and Mike and Sandy were instantly at her side; standing on either side of her, their chests rumbling. The man in the green coat sighed and the human wearing black pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at the protective wolves. They stood there for a moment, then retreated slowly, but only to the fake tree.
The man outstretched a gloved hand towards the red wolf. She shrank back into the floor, wincing and snarling shakily, in an attempt to warn the huge man away. He seized her by the scruff of her neck and lifted her into the air with ease. Emily cried out in shock and Mike and Sandy howled mournfully. The last thing Emily saw before the door slammed was rain start to fall from within the room.