The group sat in silence for a while. No one really knew what to say, they were all too sad. Mike stared down at the dirt. Dried tears stained his cheeks. He was hurting the most out of all of them.
Noah sat with Cody in his arms, still out cold. Suddenly, Cody shifted and let out a soft groan.
"Cody?" Noah asked and cupped Cody's face in his hands.
Cody mumbled something and opened his eyes. He looked around and raised his eyebrows. "What- where-" He stammered. Then he noticed Noah cupping his face and blushed. Noah also blushed and quickly let go. "Sorry..." Noah mumbled.
Cody gave him a reassuring smile. "No problem," he said.
Ella gave him a weak smile. "Hey Cody, how do you feel?" She asked.
He sat up and scooted off of Noah's lap. "Uh, a bit dizzy, but other than that I'm fine," he replied. He noticed everyone's sad eyes. He looked around again and noticed Sky and Zoey were gone. "What happened?" He asked.
Noah explained everything to him.
Cody's eyes were wide open. "Oh my god, that's-" he started but was cut off by a rustle in the trees.
Everyone jumped to their feet except Mike, who stayed staring at the ground. The rustling continued. A crow crowed in the distance and the wind picked up a bit. Scott picked up a stick and moved slowly towards the trees. He carefully poked the bush the rustling was coming from and waited. Everything seemed to go in slow motion after that. First, a trap net that was under Mike trapped him in it and lifted him off the ground. Then, a huge wolf leaped out of the bush onto Scott. Then, another net trapped Topher in it and lifted him off the ground.
The wolf dug it's teeth into Scott's shoulder. Scott screamed out in pain. Ella gasped and ran to his aid. She tried to calm the wolf down, but it only got angrier. The wolf growled at Ella and leaped at her, luckily, she dodged it.
Dawn rushed over to Scott and knelt down beside him. "Scott! You're hurt!" She gasped. Blood oozed down his shoulder.
Dave leaped up and managed to grab Mike's hand and tried to pull the net he was in down. Suddenly, another net came up under Noah and lifted him off the ground. That left Cody, Dawn, Ella, Scott and a very angry wolf on the ground.
A gun shot echoed around them and everyone stopped moving, even the wolf. The wolf whimpered and ran back into the trees. The mysterious man stepped out of the trees with a gun in his hand. He smirked at all of them.
"So... Only eight of you, eh?" He grinned at Mike who growled.
He pointed his gun at Cody who flinched. "Who shall I kill?" He asked and moved the gun from Cody to Ella. Then to Dawn, then to Scott.
He finally settled the gun on Ella and smirked. "The one who tried to calm my wolf," he said. Ella gasped.
"NO!" Topher shouted and scrambled to get out of the net.
The man glared at Topher but then focussed back on Ella. He began to pull the trigger, but someone screamed and kicked him. He fell to the floor, along with the gun. Sky then wrapped her arms around her stomach and crumpled to the ground. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. The cuts on her stomach hurt like hell.
"Sky!" Dave shouted.
The man growled and picked the gun back up again. He was about to shoot at Sky, but Dave knocked him over, causing a bunch of bullets to go off all over the place. One bullet hit Noah's net which made it come crashing down to the ground. Dave through a punch at the guy but then yelped in pain.
"Yikes, is your face made of steel or something!?" He cried.
The man kicked him off. He reached for the gun but Dawn kicked it somewhere into the bushes. He glared at her and raised his hand. She managed to dodge the slap he was about to give her and Cody rushed in and tackled him down.
"ENOUGH!" He screamed and pushed Cody off. He stood up and ran into the trees.
"Geez, that guy is insane," Cody grumbled and crossed his arms.
"Oh no..." Mike said from the net he was in.
Blood dripped down from Topher's net. Topher lay with his eyes wide open. His chest barely moved up and down. He had been shot.
"Topher!" Ella cried.
"Shit..." Cody whispered.
"Lower his net to the ground! Quickly!" Sky said and got up. Cody, Noah, Ella, Dawn and Sky all carefully lowered Topher's net to the ground and pulled him out fo it. Ella knelt down beside him and cupped his face in her hands.
"Topher...?" She asked quietly with tears in her eyes. Topher smiled up at her and took her hand. Cody ripped a piece of his shirt off and held hit against Topher's wound to try to stop the bleeding.
"We need help, and fast," Cody said.
Sky suddenly gasped and spun around. She had left Zoey sitting in the forest. Sky ran back to get her.
"Zoey!" Sky said in relief, "Topher's been shot, we have to-"
Zoey held up her hand and slowly pointed to the wolf from before that was growling at her from the bushes. It's yellow eyes glared out at her.
"Oh my god..." Sky whispered and didn't move.
"Sky, the wolf is hungry," Zoey said slowly and quietly, "it will leap at me soon." She glanced at Sky. "I can't run, my leg is broken, but you can," she told her.
Sky's eyes widened in shock. "Zoey, I'm not leaving you!" She said sternly.
The wolf growled louder and took a step closer to Zoey. "Sky, walk slowly back to where you came from," Zoey whispered.
Sky shook her head. "I have a better plan," she said and glanced at the branch just above Zoey's head. Sky took a deep breath and sprinted towards Zoey. The wolf howled and leaped at them. Sky also leaped at Zoey and pushed her out of the way. The wolf's claws scraped Sky's arm but she ignored it. Sky threw Zoey over her shoulder and with one hand, grabbed onto the branch. She hoisted herself up and then pulled herself onto another one. The wolf barked and scrached the tree bark below them.
"Ha!" Sky laughed, "Can't get us up here, can ya?"
Zoey rolled her eyes and grinned. "You call that a better plan?"
Sky lightly punched her in the arm. "At least you didn't get eaten," she teased.