Chapter 4: Family Problems
Quick responses to reviews:
Bay45220: Ha, yep. And I know, it seems kind of stalkerish but I could definitely see her doing this as a werewolf. She's already very protective over the ones she loves, not to mention the added wolf nature that would only make that worse. Especially for someone who she cares about in a different way. Thanks. I'll try to see if I can't add some more funny scenes like that.
TR13 Reader: Oh, I can't tell you how many times I wished for a brother when I was a kid, and I was lucky enough to only have one sister. And you were the youngest! I'm sorry you had to go through that alone. Lol. Yeah, I don't know why but I've always been a fan of those kinds of scenes where Katara gets jealous and possessive of Aang. I think it's hilarious. And Jin and Aang will only be friends in this story, so don't worry. Let's just say that her breeding period is going to put her hormones in overdrive, and is going to make life… interesting for Aang, if you know what I mean. And yeah, I wouldn't like it if someone tried to control me like that either, but you gotta understand that his job is to protect his pack. In this context, Zuko's just trying to do his job to make sure that they're all okay. Though I totally get where you're coming from. Sorry if I'm overdoing it with that.
Benoc2004: Wow, thanks! I'm honored to be one of your favorite writers! And I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. I really liked the story when I first started reading SDB's works, so hopefully my version will be enjoyable to read for you guys.
Ashley Barbosa: Lol, yeah. I think it's one of his best, too. I always thought about doing my own version of it but never got around to it until now, I guess. I'm glad that you're liking it so far, and I hope that you'll like what I do with it in the upcoming chapters.
Lightningninja17: Thanks, man! I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far. Don't worry, there will be future Jin and Aang interaction later in the story. Lol, yeah, that's something I really enjoyed about SDB's version. Katara's character is already protective of the ones she loves in the show, so I imagine that having the instincts of a wolf would only make her more protective of her territory. If you know what I mean.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Being in a family was never easy. Whether it was because every person had their own values and ideas or simply because that's just what happened in families, there always seemed to be troubles that came with being part of one. And despite being a member of a foster family instead of a regular one, Zuko found this to be even more true.
He supposed that he shouldn't complain too much. They all got along well for the most part, but every day he spent with them, it became more and more clear just how different each of them were. Especially Katara, as she defied him every chance she got. Not that he didn't understand where she was coming from, as he wasn't exactly a fan of other people telling him what to do, but far too often he found her to be beyond reason.
Now more than ever since she had met Aang. He didn't know what it was about the guy that made Katara like this, but ever since their first date, Katara had been becoming harder and harder to wrangle. Often, he would knock on her door at night only to find that her room was empty, meaning that she had gone to watch over her boyfriend for the night. Normally, he wouldn't have a problem with this if there wasn't any risk to it, but there was. Someone could see her, or knowing how protective she was of the ones she cared about, she could mistake someone as a threat to him and do something that would force them to relocate.
No matter how much he tried to get her to see this, however, she kept doing it anyway, and he feared that she would eventually make a mistake that would force them to leave. This wouldn't have been a problem for him before, but he had been rather happy dating Jin over the short time they had been together, and he did not want to lose that if he could help it.
Despite wanting to tell Katara to calm down, he knew that he didn't really have a right to tell her to stop, either. Even if they were a pack and he was their leader, they each had their own individual rights to do what they wanted. His role was more for the protection and relocation, if necessary, of his makeshift family. Other than that, he had no real say in what they did on their own time.
Not that he wanted to boss everyone around. In fact, the only reason he was the leader of the pack was because he was the most level-headed of them all. Sokka was smart and had the capabilities of a good leader, but far too often he was distracted, and frankly goofed around too much to truly be able to lead. Toph was too headstrong and proud to be in charge, so she was not an option. Suki also would be an ideal candidate for leading their pack, but she had made it clear from the beginning that she had once led a human pack of her own, and despite having enjoyed it, was not going to do it again.
Then there was Katara, who because of her quickly changing emotions and her personal rivalry with her brother, would not have been the best choice to lead the pack. And finally Azula, who although was certainly strong and could make a good leader, had nominated Zuko to the position when they had first formed their whole "family".
Why she had nominated him, Zuko had no clue. She was proud by nature, and despite being the younger sibling, had always tried to boss him around when they were kids. Something in her had changed on that night, when they had been attacked by that wolf that had changed their lives forever. He didn't know what exactly had happened in her mind, but ever since then she had been much more humble, even if she occasionally tried to take charge when she felt strongly about something.
Regardless, he knew that it was for the best that he was the leader of the pack. They all knew that he would do whatever he could for their benefit, even if they wouldn't like what he decided. And though he wasn't always happy about being stuck with this responsibility, especially on days like these where Katara rebelled against him, he knew that it was the right thing for him to do.
And though he would try his best to be understanding of what she was going through, he knew that he would have to step in if things went too far. For now, Aang was still human, and if Katara tried to mate with him before he agreed to join their pack, the situation might take a turn that he knew Katara wouldn't like.
Of course, there was also the added worry that if something happened and everything went wrong, he would no longer be able to be with Jin. Despite having done his best to fight his feelings, he could already tell that he was really falling for her, and he was finding himself wanting to ask her to be his mate. But this was not the time, as they had only been dating for a few weeks. He would not tell her who they were before she was ready, seeing as he didn't want to scare her off before he even had a chance.
Deciding to ignore these thoughts for the moment, he looked around the room and refocused on his surroundings, trying to figure out what seemed to be out of place. Then, looking to his right where Sokka sat and then looking in front of him, he finally seemed to notice that Katara was not in her seat.
Looking around the room again, he raised a brow as he found that she was not in the room. Being unsatisfied with this, he leaned into Sokka and whispered lower than any normal human could hear. "Sokka, where's Katara?"
"How should I know?" Sokka snorted back without tearing his eyes from the small tv that was playing in front of them, due to it being "Fun Day Friday" as their teacher called it. "She asked to go to the bathroom and left."
Still not being fully satisfied with this, Zuko decided to drop it for the moment. He would just have to ask Katara where she had gone when she got back. After a long time of waiting, he noticed the door open out of the corner of his eye and looked to see Katara walk back in, closing the door quietly before making her way back over to her seat.
Waiting until she had settled herself in, he dropped his voice so only their makeshift family could hear. "Where were you?"
Rolling her eyes, she didn't bother to look back at him as she leaned back against her chair and whispered back. "I went to the bathroom. Like I said I would. Are you going to monitor everything I do from now on?" she asked in annoyance.
"I wouldn't have to if you were reasonable," Zuko responded, earning an eye roll from her as he continued. "I'm not trying to control you, I just want to make sure you don't do anything to hurt anyone or make us leave."
"I can handle myself, Zuko," she shot back with a quick glare back at him before returning her attention to the screen. "I'm not a she-pup anymore."
"I'm not saying you are," he attempted to parlay, knowing that it wouldn't do them any good to have a fight here. "I'm just saying-" All of a sudden his nose picked up something. Something that he hadn't smelled in a long time as his eyes narrowed. "Who was with you in the bathroom, Katara?"
"What are you talking about?" Katara attempted to play it off, but Zuko knew better. He could smell the arousal coming off of her, and he knew by how strong her arousal had been that she hadn't been working on herself.
"I can smell it, Katara," he hissed, making her silently curse as she remembered that they had stronger noses than regular humans did. "You were with him, weren't you?"
Knowing that she had been caught, she finally decided to drop the charade and told him the truth. "Fine. Aang met me in the bathroom, we may have made out a bit, and I might have let him touch me down there. It's not a big deal!"
"Yes, it is a big deal, because you're in heat right now," Zuko argued, making Katara's blood start to boil. "I know it's hard to control it, but Aang isn't one of us yet. If you try to mate with him, you'll break him."
Scoffing, Katara did her best to keep her rapidly growing anger from getting the best of her and replied. "I know how to control myself, Zuko. I'm not going to hurt him."
"You don't know that!" Zuko disagreed, making Katara's anger become dangerously close to exploding. "All it takes is one wrong decision and-"
Finally reaching the end of her patience, Katara growled and stood up, turning around to face him as she felt her anger powering her movements. "Okay, that's it! Stop telling me what to do! I can handle myself!" she yelled before picking up her desk and throwing it at him.
Quickly getting to his feet, he caught the desk like it was nothing and cast it aside, preparing himself as Katara came charging toward him. Every strike she dealt was of little pain to him, given that they were of the same teacher pointlessly tried to get Katara to calm down, but she wasn't going to have it. She wasn't completely in her right mind, but she had more than enough of Zuko trying to interfere with her love life, even if it was for their pack's best interest. Knowing that he needed to calm her down and hopefully get her away from their fellow students, he met her blows and started forcing her out of the room, barely managing to succeed as he suffered the many blows that she whaled on him.
Once he had finally gotten her out, he turned to the teacher and said. "Sorry about that. I'll calm her down out here," before closing the door and returning his attention to the still quite angry Katara who was staring him down.
"Just stop telling me what to do, Zuko! That's all I'm asking!" she growled.
"My job is to protect everyone, and that includes you, Katara!" he growled back, earning a dissatisfied look from her as he got himself ready for a fight.
Charging toward him again, she made sure that he didn't know what her plan was and slid past him, catching him by surprise as she grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder down the hall. After rolling for a few moments, he finally managed to get himself to stop and jumped back to his feet just in time as she came at him with more blows, making him wonder how he was going to stop this fight without having to knock her out.
Fortunately for him, he didn't have to do anything, as their teacher came walking up to them with two security guards who each took one of her arms. "Young lady, you are in serious trouble!" the teacher barked. "To the Principal's office!"
Knowing that she could easily shrug these people off of her, but knowing that at least for now she needed to appear somewhat normal, she allowed them to lead her away, not noticing as Aang came running up to her. "Katara, wait!"
Before he could go running after her any more, Zuko put his arm out and held him back, making Aang raise a brow at him. "Trust me. She needs some time to cool down. You can come see her after school."
"What happened?" Aang couldn't help but ask, seeing that there had been an obvious fight between the two. He would have expected this to happen between her and her actual brother, but he had not been expecting this.
"We disagreed about something," Zuko decided to go with as he met Aang's eyes, seeing the confusion in them. "Something to do with you."
"Me?" Aang asked in surprise, looking back at her and watching her until she disappeared out of sight before looking back at him. "What were you fighting about?"
"I can't tell you, yet," Zuko told him honestly, making Aang only grow more confused as he tried to figure out what was going on. "Maybe soon. For now, all I can tell you is that she likes you a lot, and she doesn't like that I'm trying to protect her."
His face taking on another look of surprise, Aang couldn't help but sputter out. "Protect her? Protect her from what? I don't want to hurt her!"
Zuko put a hand on his shoulder, doing his best to keep the young man calm as he then said. "I know you don't, and frankly, she's not the one I'm worried about." He could tell that Aang didn't appear to be understanding any of this, and sighed a little before continuing. "Like I said, maybe we'll tell you soon. But for now I need you to trust me. My job is to take care of my family, and since Katara really likes you, that means I have to take care of you, too. Okay?"
After a few moments of trying to figure out what was going on, Aang decided that this was probably the best he was going to get for the moment and reluctantly nodded. "Good. Thank you," Zuko told him gratefully, making a mental note that Aang would be an ideal member of the pack since he appeared to be more level-headed than Katara. Especially if he could help calm her when she was having one of her fits. Not that she had them often, but when she did, it was never good.
"Is she going to be okay?" Aang decided to ask after a few moments of silence. "Will she be in a lot of trouble?"
"She might get put in detention for a week, but other than that, I wouldn't worry about it," Zuko assured him, making Aang sigh in relief. It was good to see that Aang really seemed to care about Katara, and he hoped that Jin would soon think the same of him. Especially when it came time to tell them who they really were. Hearing the bell ring, Zuko then said. "Just try not to think about it, and you can talk to her later. Okay?"
"Okay," Aang agreed with a sigh, wishing that he could go check on her, but knowing that it wouldn't do anyone any good. Remembering who exactly he was talking to, he extended a hand out to Zuko. "I guess we haven't officially met yet. I'm Aang."
"Zuko," Zuko replied as he shook it, smelling the rest of his family members behind him as he gestured to them. "While we're here, you might as well meet the rest of our family. That's Sokka," he pointed to Sokka who gave him a grin and two thumbs up. "Suki." Suki gave him a friendly smile. "Toph." Toph nodded to him while leaning back against the wall. "And my sister Azula." Azula just gave him a terse nod.
"Nice to meet you all," Aang told them with a smile, being glad to formally meet them. Even if he still couldn't get the bad feeling out of his system as he looked upon them. "Katara told me a lot about you guys."
Unable to stop himself from snickering, Sokka replied. "Well, Katara definitely told us a lot about you." Earning a blush from Aang as he tried not to show the wide smile that spread across his face from hearing this. Toph and Suki also couldn't help but snicker as well, knowing just how much Katara had been talking about him to them.
"Anyway," Zuko interjected before they could talk about this further. "We should all probably get to class. I'll let Katara know that you'll come visit her later."
"Okay, that sounds good. Thank you," Aang thanked him with a grateful smile before saying his goodbyes and making his way to his next class.
Waiting until he was gone, Zuko finally let out a sigh of relief and turned to his family. "Okay, now that that's settled…" He looked at Sokka. "Can you talk some sense into your sister? She might force us to leave before we get a chance to tell them who we are."
"What happened to 'I don't want her to join us'?" Sokka asked with an amused look, making Zuko blush as he gave Sokka a pleading look. "Okay, fine," he sighed in resignation. "I'll try to talk to her, but I can't promise anything. Katara is stubborn enough on her own without having… other things affecting her emotions."
Knowing that this was the best he was going to get, Zuko nodded and gave him a smile of gratitude. "Thank you. That's all I can ask for." Hearing the first bell sound, Zuko looked at his family and motioned for them to follow. "Come on. Let's get the rest of this day over with and we'll figure this out later."
"Aye Aye, Captain," Toph sarcastically remarked with a fake salute, making Suki and Sokka snicker while Azula couldn't help but crack the beginnings of a smirk. Rolling his eyes, Zuko led the way to their next class, wondering how exactly he was going to deal with all of this later.
A few hours later, Katara stormed into the house with her 'family' right behind her, knowing that for the moment it was best to give her some space. They had all seen her when she was unhappy, and though they were all of equal strength and had the same powers, they all knew that she was a force to be reckoned with when she was upset.
"Katara," Jeong Jeong began calmly as he walked in the room. "What's this I hear about you getting in trouble at school?"
"It's nothing, Jeong Jeong," she sighed as leaned back against the counter, refusing to meet anyone's eyes, and least of all Zuko's due to her still being quite angry with him. "Zuko and I just got in a little fight."
"A little fight?" Zuko asked incredibly, making Katara frown as she kept her head down. "Katara, you threw a desk at my head!"
Feeling her anger begin to boil again, she finally looked up and walked straight over to him, pointing an accusatory finger into his chest as she stared him down. "Well, maybe if you would stop trying to get involved in my love life, we wouldn't have this problem!"
Zuko began to growl and got right up in her face, both of them looking like they were about to fight before Jeong Jeong decided he had enough. "Alright! That's enough!" he yelled as he got in between them, just barely managing to stop them before they began transforming. Turning to Katara, he then said. "Katara, your little stunt at the school is giving us unneeded attention."
"Tell Zuko to back off, and we won't have a problem," she frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest, her face showing more determination than ever before.
"He's just trying to keep your pack protected," Jeong Jeong reminded her, earning a roll of eyes from her as she looked away. "It's his job. But," he added as he turned back to Zuko. "She is right in a way. I have noticed that you have been instructing her at every turn."
"If she wasn't in her breeding period, we wouldn't have this problem," Zuko told him with a shake of his head. "She thinks she can control herself, but I know what it's like. If someone doesn't keep her in check, she's going to kill the poor guy."
Seeing Katara open her mouth to speak, Jeong Jeong interrupted her and looked at them both. "It might not matter, anyway. Because of today's events, people are going to wonder about us more. We may have to move again."
Her eyes widening in panic, Katara's eyes narrowed as she felt herself beginning to change. "No! We are not leaving before I change Aang and we can take him with us!" she yelled, her eyes flashing yellow as her clothes began to stretch, her hands starting to grow claws as she snarled at them.
"Katara, please! Calm down!" Jeong Jeong nearly begged, knowing how dangerous each of them were when they went into their wolf form angry.
"You don't actually decide for us what we need, Jeong Jeong!" Katara snarled as her face began to morph as well, her teeth growing pointed as she stared him down. "You just pretend to be our foster father so no one questions why we all travel together."
"I know, I know," Jeong Jeong did his best to placate her, becoming relieved as she didn't appear to be transforming anymore for the moment. Deciding to keep this up, he continued. "I'm not trying to do that, Katara, I'm only saying that the people of this town are already suspicious of you guys. Can we please just all calm down and talk this out like non-werewolves?"
Knowing that he was right, and feeling bad that she had gotten this angry with him, she forced herself to take a deep breath and calmed herself down, her clothes going back to normal as her claws and fangs retreated. Once she had finally settled herself, she gave Jeong Jeong an apologetic smile. "You're right. I'm sorry, Jeong Jeong. I don't know what got into me."
"This is what I've been trying to tell you, Katara," Zuko spoke up as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You think you can handle it until…" he trailed off sadly, making Katara sad as she remembered what had happened so many years ago. Before she and her brother had joined the pack.
Feeling bad for him, she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know. I'm sorry, Zuko." He didn't say anything, his mind still flashing back to what felt like so long ago. Taking a deep breath, Katara then said. "Look, I'm really not trying to argue with you, Zuko. I understand why you're trying to help me, and as much as I don't want to admit it, you might be kind of right."
"Kind of?" Sokka asked in disbelief, especially after just having witnessed her almost go berserk on them.
"Okay, fine. He was mostly right," she reluctantly conceded, her pride not allowing any more as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked back at Zuko. "But I still need to be able to do this on my own. Breeding period or not, if I'm going to be able to convince Aang to join our pack, you constantly worrying about me breaking Aang isn't going to help that. I appreciate that you all are keeping an eye on me, but this is on me. Just like it's on you to convince Jin to join us."
After a few moments of silence, Zuko finally nodded his agreement. "Okay. I'll back off, but you have to promise that you'll be careful and keep yourself in check. Aang shouldn't have to die because of who we are. No one should have to, let alone your mate."
"He's not my mate," she argued, but looked down at her feet as a worried look came over her face. "But I hope he will be," she muttered, knowing that all of them could hear her anyway, but not caring for the moment. Taking a deep breath, she finally looked back up and nodded as well. "Okay. I'll be more careful."
"Good," Jeong Jeong smiled as he looked at them all. "Now that this has been settled, why don't we get dinner prepared and dig in."
"I'll go hunting," Katara volunteered, not waiting for anyone to volunteer themselves as she made her way to the back door.
"I'll go, too," Suki piped up as she followed her friend, both of them making it outside and beginning to take off their clothes before they heard a loud scream come from the woods. At first Katara didn't recognize the voice who had screamed, being able to tell that they were a girl if nothing else. Then she heard a man shout as well, but this time she recognized this voice immediately.
Her eyes widening to the size of plates, Katara shouted back to their family who were still inside. "Guys! Aang and someone else are in trouble!" Once she saw them come running outside, she quickly threw her clothes off and transformed, not waiting for anyone else as she bolted into the forest.
"What's going on?" Zuko asked Suki as the rest of them finally made it outside. "Katara said Aang's in trouble?"
"Yeah, him and someone else," Suki told him as she pointed to where Katara had run off to. "A girl by the sound of it."
Motioning for all of them to be silent for a moment, he heard another scream come from the girl somewhere not too far off his eyes widened in fear. "Jin."
—-
Aang found himself walking home from school a few hours after Zuko had sent him off to his next class. Despite wanting to make sure Katara was okay, he knew that Zuko had his reasons for telling him to wait until later, and had done as he was told. Though he had to say, he had not been expecting to take orders from him like this.
He wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't trying to get on any of her family's bad sides or if it was simply because Zuko seemed to know something that he didn't, but he suspected he had done the right thing by listening to him. At least now he could go see her and make sure everything was okay.
Then, just as he was about to walk up to her front door and knock, he noticed that their door was still open and looked inside. From the looks of it, she, Zuko, and their foster parent were arguing over something. Remembering earlier how Zuko had told him their fight had something to do with him, he decided that he would give them some time to settle this dispute on their own, knowing that today had been crazy enough. Besides, he didn't want to do anything to upset Katara further if he could help it.
Instead, he looked around their home and couldn't help but admire it. The house was rather large, which he supposed they would need for a seven family member home. Though he couldn't help but wonder how they got the money to be able to afford such a nice home, given that the only one bringing money into their home was the old man who he assumed must have been their foster dad.
Deciding not to dwell on this thought too much, he looked around the house and noticed that their backyard opened up into a good sized section of the woods. Finding himself curious to explore this new territory, he was about to go take a walk when he heard someone speak behind him.
"Hey, Aang!"
Becoming surprised, he turned around quickly and sighed in relief as he saw it was just Jin. "Oh. Hey, Jin," he greeted her with a friendly smile as he relaxed. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I came here to see if Zuko wanted to hang out for a little while, but it looks like he's busy at the moment," she told him as she looked back to the doorway, seeing that the argument seemed to have escalated and looked back at him. "I'm guessing you're here to see Katara?"
Chuckling a little, he nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, I wanted to check up on her since she and Zuko got in a fight today at school."
"Wait, what?!" Jin couldn't help but ask in complete surprise, making Aang laugh as he nodded. Taking on a look of confusion, she then asked. "What were they fighting about?"
"I wish I knew," he told her honestly with another shrug. "Zuko just told me that it had something to do with me and to trust him." He blushed a little as he remembered that Zuko had also told him that Katara really liked him, smiling as he found himself happy to know that she seemed to like him as much as he liked her. Shaking this off, he cleared his throat and continued. "Whatever it is, it looks like they're still arguing about it now, so I'm just waiting it out until they're done."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Jin agreed as she looked to where he had been looking. "So, I take it you were thinking of taking a walk in the woods while they settle things?"
Being surprised that she had been able to decipher his thoughts so quickly, he cracked a smile and nodded. "Yep, that's what the plan is. You're pretty smart."
"Thanks," Jin laughed as she started making her way towards the woods, waving for him to follow. "Come on. Since we're both waiting, we can both take a walk. Sounds like we're probably going to need to get to know each other if we're going to be dating members of the same family."
Finding that her logic wasn't wrong, he nodded his agreement and began following her out to the woods, knowing that it might be a while before Katara and her family would be done with their argument. "So," Jin began as they walked deeper into the forest. "You said you're not from around here?"
"Yeah. I moved here from Washington, but I never really got to stay in one place for too long," he explained as they looked around at their surroundings, enjoying the natural beauty of everything around them. It wouldn't be long before it was Winter, and Aang wanted to enjoy the fall as long as he could.
"Wow. That must not have been easy," Jin gave him an apologetic smile as she looked at him.
"It wasn't," he admitted as he thought about all of the friends he had made that he couldn't keep over the years. "But at least I'm here now. My dad finally decided that we were going to stay for once. And now I can make some new friends."
"You mean like Katara?" Jin teased, making Aang blush as he laughed nervously. "It's okay. I'm pretty much the same way with Zuko."
Smiling as he found himself enjoying her company, he decided to ask. "So, did you grow up around here?"
"Ever since I was a little girl," she laughed, thinking of all of the memories she had of their little town. "It's kind of hard not to know everybody around here since there's not as many of us. It's kind of like we're a big family."
"Hmm," Aang hummed in thought as he pondered over this idea, a smile growing on his face as he found that he liked this idea. "That's a good way of thinking of it. The people here are very kind."
"That's what we like to call 'small town hospitality'," she grinned as they made it to a deeper section of the woods, making him laugh as they continued walking. "It's actually pretty nice, though. I just wish-"
She stopped as she heard the sound of a twig snapping, making both of their eyes widen as they looked at each other, but saw that neither of them were anywhere near a twig. Looking around wildly, the two became surprised to find absolutely no one there. There were no animals or anything that they could see.
"You know, maybe we should start walking back," Aang suggested, getting a bad feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.
"I think that's a good idea," Jin agreed, turning around with him as they quickly began making their way back the way they came. After a few moments of walking, they heard more movement behind them, but found nothing again. Deciding that walking faster would be their best bet, they shared a nod of agreement and picked up their pace, their speed walking being not far from sprinting as they tried to make it back out.
Unfortunately for them, their fears had proven to be right, as three dark gray wolves came out from behind a cluster of trees in their path, snarling as drool dripped from their ravenous mouths. Clearly, they were hungry, and neither of them knew how they were going to get out of this alive.