Chapter 10, Surprise Wounds

"Listen," One of the leopards that had trapped him growled, "We're going to go take all your carrots, and you need to stay mighty hush about it, ok? Or we'll hurt you bad."

Skye stared at them with wide, fearful eyes.

"Keep him in check, Dayson," Said the leopards. They all dashed off, leaving Skye with only two of them.

One of the leopards leered in his face. "You're scrawny, midget." He sneered.

The other leaned in at him. "You're ugly," He said. Then he gave Skye a hard slash on the face. His blood oozed out.

Skye struggled as pain lit up his cheek. The leopards were strong though, and held him there.

They continued to torment him, scratching and biting until he was shaking with pain and exhaustion.

"You die tonight," One hissed.

Finally it became too much. Skye rocketed upward as hard as he could, even though his muscles shook with the effort. The leopards rolled from him and lay dazed for a second on the ground. Skye saw his chance and bolted across the ground, away from them. The leopards took quick pursuit, and Skye felt terror course though his body.

He rolled into the clearing and fell hard.

"HELP! HELP!" He screamed as quickly as he could.

The leopards thundered down on top of him. Their hard claws slashed his face and their teeth sunk into his limbs.

Then they were torn from him. Skye looked up to see Alira battling one hard. Both stood on their hind legs. Claws and teeth flashed like fire. Alira's brown eyes blazed. They moved like lightening.

Blood rained from the two and peppered Skye's body. He was weak and numb with pain and shock, but still he watched the ferocious battle above him.

Finally, Alira made a dive and sunk her fangs into the leopard as hard as she could. As the wolf drove him into the ground, her lips relaxed and covered her teeth again. She stepped away from the stunned leopard and staggered to Skye.

"I'm sorry, Skye." She muttered.

"For what?" He rasped.

"Dragging you into the game." She looked up, then sat down slowly. The orange team was cheering. They'd won.

"Darn." Alira muttered. "My first time leader and I lost."

Skye looked at her then he stood up. "Don't think about it. We tried hard. Are you hurt bad?"
"Not much. I'm smaller then the average leopard, so I can move faster, giving me more of an advantage against their claws. Come on. I don't want to watch the orange team celebrate."

Skye stood up and followed Alira out of the little forest. The green team, bruised and tired, were heading back to the cabins. Skye stopped beside Alira.

"See you," he said, smiling.

"You too." She smiled back, a slight smile like always, then the two broke apart and headed back to their cabins.

XXX

The weeks spun by until Skye had been at the camp for a moon. He had come to like the camp, and was accustomed to what happened there.
He headed to dinner one night, remembering he was to eat with Alira. Raising his head, he scanned the entire area for her, but did not spot the young, small white wolf.

He waited for a long time as the sun slowly set. Most everybody was finishing up by the time Skye saw Alira race over. She skidded to a halt beside him.

"Skye!" She gasped. "I'm sorry I'm late." She reached for some carrots and hurriedly started stuffing them into her mouth.

Skye, who hadn't touched the carrots yet, watched her eat. "Where were you?" She asked.

She didn't answer and acted like she hadn't heard him.
"Bed now, I guess." She said, swallowing hard. "Everyone else is done eating. Come!"

"Yeah." He muttered. He followed her away from the dinner place, then stopped, mind reeling. "The moon!" He rasped. It hit him. Suddenly he realized he'd forgotten about the big moon. It had stopped rising! He didn't see it when he was on Aster.

Alira separated him soon and he took his own route back to his cabin.

Inside it he turned over and thrashed on the blankets, trying to get comfortable. He couldn't get the image of the moon thundering toward Eris out of his mind. It was like the moon had turned into Aster….

"Interesting mirage." He muttered, then fell asleep.

Skye was awoken later that night by whispering from out of his cabin. He rolled over and saw a bunch of German Shepherd marching by, harboring guns over their shoulders. The darkness made them hard to see though, so Skye didn't press to find out what they were doing.

They soon passed by, leaving things quiet again.

Then there was a strange sound. Like someone gasping for breath, someone hurt. Skye shot to his feet and slunk from the cabin. Somebody was coming out of the shadows, dragging their hind legs on the ground. It came right up to Skye and stopped.

"Skye…"

Her fur was spiked up with dark blood and the holes on her side oozed red. She was broken and hurt. Dying.

It was Selena.