Winter's Wrath(Finished)

[rascalgal]

Damon McCoy
It's a cold, still morning as I trudge wearily through the deep blanket of snow that covers the forest floor. I don't have much with me; just my bow, a few arrows, and my hunting knife. But unfortunately, I know it won't matter anyways. I'm not going to be able to find any prey worth bringing back to the District, and this truth hovers over me like a huge,gray stormcloud. Most of the game has either died or fled the area to escape the horrible conditions winter has brought to District Nine. If only it was as easy as that. Just run away when things get bad, and travel to a better place. But unlike the wildlife, the citizens of District Nine can't escape. We're caged in like animals, and are forced to hunt for the Capitol's benefit. We don't even get a fair share of the meat we've earned. Instead, we are left with nothing but small rations of stale and moldy "food". And in times like this, when prey is scarce, many hunters fail to bring anything back, and they are punished severley by the local peacekeepers.Whippings,beatings, hangings; I've seen them all. I've even experienced a couple of them.

  I can't ease the suffering of the victims here much, but I try my hardest. Currently, me and my father are hunting for two other families who've been hit hard by the food shortage, and whose hunters have become gravely ill. And everyone in District Nine knows that if you can't hunt, you don't get your rations. And if you don't get your rations, you don't survive.

  This winter is especially hard. Usually, during the winter, me and my father struggle, but we've always been able to scrape by without going hungry for too long. But now, even we are becoming victims. I've eaten little in the past few weeks, and I'm overcome with fatigue. All I want to do is fall down in an exhausted heap and let the cold, numbing snow overcome me. I was seriously considering this until I suddenly remembered the devastated crowd of people I saw as I passed through the District square this morning.
Hollow-eyed and hopeless, their thin,frail bodies shake violently from the cold. Dressed in rags, they sit on the street corner, pleading for any scrap of food. Among them is a thin, haggard looking little girl that appears to be about eight years old. She watches me as I pass, and I attempt a smile, hoping to spread a little warmth and compassion in any way I could. I thought she might smile back at me, but instead, she just stared, looking upon me with sad,dead eyes,...
I begin to walk harder, pumping my legs faster and faster, ignoring the protests from my stiff,aching muscles. There are people suffering much,much more than me, and many of them have given up and fallen into despair. But I now know that to do that, is to die. The only way to survive now is to keep holding on until you see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I've made up my mind to never let go.

  Suddenly, a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I stop abruptly. I then instictively crouch down, raise my bow, load an arrow, and pull back into a shooting position; all in one smooth,fluid motion.  My eyes dart back and forth, quickly taking in the barren landscape around me. At first, I didn't see anything but the maze of dead, leafless trees. But as my eyes passed over a tangled clump of bracken, something small darted forward. "Finally," I thought to myself, "Something I can actually shoot! By the looks of it, I'm guessing it's a hare or a pheasant,..." The animal moved again, this time to a nearby bush. "Gotcha," I whispered softly as I grinned and aimed my bow towards the animal.  Bit by bit, the animal cautiously ermerged from the vegetation, and I finally saw that the animal was,....a squirrel. It was a freaking squirrel. "You've got to be kidding me." I said aloud, my grin dissappearing. The squirrel immediently shot up and looked at me when he heard me. He then frantically darted out to a tree and scampered up it, dissapearing into the branches.

    Exasperated, and even more exhausted than ever, I sighed deeply and absent-mindedly ran a hand through my honey-blonde hair. Having been defeated, I dropped my bow next to me and left it lying in the snow. Then, I casually leaned up against a tree and allowed my mind to wander. I was in the middle of trying to figure out how much trouble I was going to find myself in if I didn't bring anything back when I heard a twig snap behind me. My bow was in the snow somewhere(with my luck today,it wasn't surprising that I somehow managed to lose it while I wasn't paying attention), so I automatically reached for my knife. My hands(stiff and numb from the cold) fumbled for it as I struggled to unsheathe it. When I finally managed to remove it, I whirled around, half expecting to see that stupid squirrel again. Instead, I found myself face to face with another person.

[KenzieRain♥]

• Reana [Rea] Wirth.
  
• Sixteen.
  
• Hunter. (knife thrower)
  

I cursed under my breath; the cold had numbed all the feeling in my body and I felt as if I was swollen all over. My normally fair skin was some sort of shade of pink and my blonde hair was up in my sad attempt at a bun; some strands still hung in front of my face, causing me to let out a sigh and throw my head to the side. The hair just fell back into my face. I had dressed as warmly as I possibly could with brown boots that came up to my calve, thin, tan colored pants, a dull grey shirt, and a sorry excuse for a coat that was a faded maroon color. So basically, I was freezing my butt off.

I heard my dog, Evita, snort as I tried to fix my hair. Turning, I glared at her, "Oh, please. I'd like to see you find something!" I snapped in a low whisper. Evita was part wild dog, well, mostly wild dog actually, but looking at her you'd barley notice. She had black fur, which, like my hair, was messy and nappy. She had round brown eyes that spoke for her and wet black nose. The fur under her chin was white, but that was the only part of her body that wasn't covered in black fur. Unfortunately, she was way too skinny. Neither of us had gotten very much to eat in the past months seeing as how the weather changed so drastically. That fact, made her irritated that I wasn't find anything while hunting. But really? No one was.

I wasn't as skilled as some of the hunters in my district but I knew how to handle a knife better than anyone...in my house. My Dad was more of a spear type of guy while my sister, Elaina, was into healing the sick. (She did know a thing or two about knives though, because I'd shown her a few things.) My mother had been killed by someone unknown when I was ten and honestly? It sucked. But we had to learn how to survive.

Hearing movement to my right, I swiftly grabbed my dagger from my leg pocket, flipping it in my hand and getting a good grip on it's hilt. "Ready Evita?" I mumbled to my dog, who only stood in answer. We trudged forward cautiously, avoiding the twigs that had fallen on the forest floor. My boots made a trudging sound and I cursed them silently before I spotted something - no, someone. I let my guard drop, narrowing my eyes in annoyance seeing that I hadn't found a kill. I walked towards him more casually, letting myself step on the twigs underneath my feet.

He, clearly, needed more warning than that. He struggled to get his knife out, (I assumed that was not his chosen weapon) and turned to attack but I was faster, I brought my own knife up and whipped it up so that it stopped his knife from attacking me. I stared at our knives for a moment before sending my blazing blue eyes to his face, narrowing them in clear anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I snapped. Evita growled, coming up behind me and snapping at his feet. I put my knife away and rolled my eyes, "Down girl, he's just some kid." I placed my hands on my hips, "Who clearly doesn't know how to sense a human when he hears one!" I was still a little peeved about the knife incident. Running a hand through my hair, I sighed glancing around and noticing the bow and arrows on the ground. My eyebrows raised and I glanced up at the boy, amusement written on my face. How was he supposed to hunt with his weapons on the ground?

[rascalgal]

(OOC: I read your character bio to get to know Reana a little better, and it's awesome! If you want to read mine, it's in the character creation thread. It's near the top, so it's not hard to find! )
Damon McCoy
   Shock ran through me as the girl in front of me easily parried my knife away. Her eyes burned with fury as she snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?" I was just about to reply with a sarcastic, "Me? What the hell is wrong with you?", when a large, black dog that I assumed was hers, snapped it's gleaming white fangs at me. I thought better of speaking, and I held my tongue as she sheathed her knife, rolled her eyes, glanced at her dog, and remarked, "Down girl, he's just some kid who clearly doesn't know how to sense a human when he hears one!" Sighing, and running a hand through her hair, she then looked at the ground where my bow lay, and a look of amusement crossed her face.

   I couldn't believe it, she was mocking me. Humiliated, ashamed, and angry, I finally defended myself by replying, "Well if you hadn't come up behind me like that, maybe I would've seen you!" I angrily sheathed my knife, and my blue eyes glared at her as I continued, "And besides, we're in the middle of a forest! It's not like I was expecting anyone!" My words sounded alot harsher after I spat them out, and I began to wish I hadn't said anything. Like me, she appeared thin and haggard, and everybody in District Nine was pretty irritable these days. When she found me, she was probably expecting a strong, lean buck to hunt. Not some random guy who could barely hold his own knife. But my pride was hurt, and I had to admit; I was embarassed. So to hide it, I shot her one last angry scowl, and moving slowly(I didn't want to evoke the dog who was still sending me death glares to attack me), I walked over to where my bow lay, and gently slung it over my shoulder. When I turned back to face her, I was surprised to notice that when she wasn't holding a knife to your throat and yelling at you, she was actually,...well,...pretty. Her golden blonde hair was wrapped up in a messy bun, while her ice blue eyes sparkled, reflecting the morning light off the snow.
   After a few tense seconds, I sighed, slowly sat down, and leaned up against a nearby tree. I decided that I might as well stick around and try to be nice. It's not like we were going to find anything out here to hunt. In a calmer tone, I finally said to her, "Sorry I snapped at you, I was just a little,...surprised. So, I don't think I've seen you around before, what's your name?" I attempted to smile, but it probably just ended up looking stupid after all the anger we shared just moments ago.

[KenzieRain♥]

ooc: read your bio and decided to pull this out of it, if you mind I'll edit it, justclet me know! :3 also this was written on my itouch so.. May the Lord help us.


I stared at him for a moment, my blue eyes going wide. So that's how he was going to be? Fine. I clenched my jaw, analyzing him while he went and got his bow. He looked a lot like me, to be honest. Blue eyes, blonde hair, skinny because of the lack of of food but strong because of all the hunting we did. I faintly remembered him from another time but the memory was fuzzy so I let it drop.

Then he apologized. My mouth gaped open and it was only Evitas prodding at my hand with her nose that made me right myself. I remembered him. When I was eleven my dad had sent me to his house with a share of meat to pay our respects to his mother. I remember him snapping at me then apologizing and asking for my name. I decided to repeat the situation fully and respond in the exact same way, "Now if I told you that I wouldn't be so much of a mystery." it wasn't witty or clever but I was feeling nostalgic. Might as well give him a clue, right?

[rascalgal]

(OOC: Oh, this is a great idea! I would’ve never thought of it! In this post, I went into detail with the flasback, and your character said a few things. I just had her react based on how I pictured her, so if you want me to change something she said, or how she reacted, etc, just tell me and i'll gladly edit it! But I just have one question. When Rea brought the meat to Damon, was it right after his mother's death, or was it a few years later? Because if it was right after, I believe that Rea would be 8 years old since she's one year younger than Damon. I just thought it would be better if it was right after, but I can change it if you want. ;D And I’m typing on my Ipod too! It takes FOREVER! Oh, and sorry it’s so long! I got a little carried away )

Damon McCoy
My weak smile dissapeared as I began contemplating her reply. “What kind of answer was that?”, I thought to myself, “And why did it sound so familiar? It made absolutley no-“ And then, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. Recognition flooded through me as I slowly began putting the pieces together. The wild, blonde hair, the piercing blue eyes, her frustrated, angry remarks, and her cold, unfriendly manner. I knew this girl. I had met her once before, but I just couldn’t remember where. I racked my brain for an answer, and suddenly, the memory came hurtling back to me. It was a cold, winter day(just like today), when I was nine years old. It was a time that I will never want to revisit. The memory was blurry and hard to focus on, but when I concentrated hard enough, I faintly recalled what happened.


I was sitting on the couch in my house, just trying to understand where my mom went, and how she could just no longer be there. All the adults just kept telling me that she’d gone somewhere to rest, and wouldn’t come back for a very long time. They told me she was in a better place. But that confused me. Didn’t she love me and my dad? Wasn’t home the best place she could ever be? A light knock on the door interupted my tangled thoughts. I started to go get my dad, but then I remembered what happened last time we had a visitor. He had looked a thousand years old, and his eyes were full of pain. Deep, incredible pain. I never wanted to see him like that again, so I went to answer the door by myself.


When I opened the door, a girl that looked about my age stood holding a large bag. Her blonde hair blew in all directons from the winter wind, her blue eyes were wide and bright, and her cheeks were flushed red from the cold. I could see her breath come out in little clouds of fog as she spoke. “My dad told me to bring this meat for you and your dad,” she said, signaling towards the bag she was holding. She paused, and for a few moments, there was only silence. Then she added softly, “I’m sorry about your mom.” To this day, I’m still not sure why that last comment made me so angry. Maybe it was my emotions that were all tangled up and knotted inside. Or maybe I just hated people feeling sorry for me. Whatever the reason, anger boiled up inside of me, and I screamed, “We don’t need any of your help, go away!” Her eyes widened, and for a brief moment, she looked stunned.


But her surprised expression quickly turned into a fierce, piercing glare, and she yelled back, “Fine then!” She turned around and began to storm off. For a second, I regretted what I’d done. But I’ve always been stubborn, and a little proud, so I crossed my arms, and stood as unmovable as a statue, watching her go. As she got farther and farther away, I started second guessing myself. We really needed that meat. It wasn’t until she was almost out of sight that I finally swallowed my pride, broke my stance, and ran after her.


The snow was deep, and I kept falling down, but I didn’t stop. When I got close to her, I cried, “Wait!” She turned around, and when she saw me, her expression hardened. I finally caught up to her, and breathing hard, I stammered, “Look, I…uh,…I-I’m,…”

“Just spit it out already!” she snapped.


"I'm sorry.” I replied. Her angry expression slowly melted, and she stood there, silently analyzing me. After a few tense seconds, she offered the bag to me. My mouth dropped open, and I was speechless. I definetly wasn’t expecting that to happen. I gingerly grabbed the bag from her, and looked down at it. And for some insane reason, I smiled. When I looked back up, she had already begun to walk away. “Wait!” I cried out to her, “What’s your name?” She paused for a second. Then she looked over her shoulder and replied, “Now if I told you that, I wouldn’t be so much of a mystery.” Once again, my mouth dropped open, and I continued to gape at her as she walked away.

The memory faded, and I was brought back into the present. Realizing who this girl was, I looked up at her and began, “You,…you’re that girl,…the girl with the food.” I knew she wouldn’t tell me her name right away, she would tell me that when she wanted to. But I went ahead anyway and said, “I’m Damon, Damon McCoy. You’re from the Wirth family, aren’t you?”

[KenzieRain♥]

ooc; oh sorry! I read it wrong! I thought you said she died when he was twelve. CD and your post was perfect! Imma try.



Finally he recalled what had happened. Your that girl? "Yeah..." Evita growled at me and I turned to her, glaring angrily. But she was cold, her paws would probably bleed if she couldn't feel them. I exhaled and slipped off my jacket, faintly listening to Damon only faintly. The Wirth Family? "Yeah. I'm Rea... I'm the oldest..." I muttered, unshealthing my knife and cutting up my jacket. I gestured for Evita to come toward me and wrapped part of the jacket around her forepaw. I felt like Damon was watching me but I was too... Proud? Too annoyed? Or maybe I was embarrassed that he was watching me care for my dog. Whatever it was, it made my face heat up and I knew I was blushing. I continued to wrap Evitas paws until they were all wrapped. I stared at her for a moment, wincing as the could actually hit me. I shivered as a gust of wind blew. "See what I do for you?" I muttered to her ruffeling her fur and turning back to Damon and wrapping my arms around myself.

[rascalgal]

(OOC: Oh that's completley ok! I was just making sure!)

Damon McCoy
Rea Wirth. So that's her name. The dog standing next to her growled, and at first I thought it was going to try and attack me(I had to admit, the dog did make me a little nervous). But apparently, Rea knew something I didn't. She slipped off her light jacket(it couldn't have been that warm in the first place), cut it up, and gently wrapped it around the dog's paws to keep them warm. Rea somehow understood the dog, and she sacrificed her own comfort for it. I admired her for that. It was easy to see that they shared a special bond; one that I would never fully understand. She muttered to the dog, "See what I do for you?" and affectionately ruffled its fur.

But now, I was starting to become a little worried about Rea. It had to be at least below twenty degrees out here, and that was without the wind chilling you to the bone. All she had on was a lightweight, short-sleeved gray shirt, thin pants, and boots. She stood in the snow holding her arms, and shivered, looking miserable. The first thought that popped into my head was to give her my jacket. I had a pretty thick long-sleeved white shirt underneath it, so I'd be fine for awhile. Besides, she clearly needed it more than me, and I couldn't just sit here and let her freeze. I just hoped giving her the jacket wouldn't make things too awkward. I didn't want her to think I was trying to,...you know,...make a move on her or anything(although, a little part of me liked this idea, but I quickly dismissed it). I stood up, slipped off my thick, wool jacket, and walked over to her. I put on my most genuine smile, and handed the jacket to her. "Here, this should be a little better than that flimsy, old thing you had."

[KenzieRain♥]

When the blonde boy slipped off his jacket and offered it to me, my blue eyes widened. There were certain things you didn't do in District Nine, and offering a competing hunter your jacket was one. My Dad had fallen ill and my sister knew way more about healing than hunting, so I was the only food source for my family. Why was he being so kind? We all had it bad, and giving Evita my jacket was a huge risk that mightve gotten me killed. But giving another person your jacket was something unheard of.

My mouth gaped open and I stared at him for a moment, trying to register what was on his mind. In my time of hesitation, Evita decided to take charge and grab the jacket from his hand, dropping it at my feet and barking at me. I rolled my eyes and went to pick it up, slipping it on an giving him a nod of thanks. I wasn't good with people. Especially in Panem, you had to always be reserved. But Damons generous gesture confused me to no end.

"It was my mothers," I finally said, "The jacket." yes, my mother who died when I was ten. Everyone knew the story of how someone had snuck into the house and tries to rob us. Everyone heard about how he bashed her face in and cut her bloody. And everyone heard Elaina and I cry for help. Try named it the 'Kitchen Murder'.

I lowered my head, trying to hide the pain that no doubt registred in my eyes. Damon had lost his mother as well. But there was a difference. I watched my. Mother get beaten to a pulp. I watched her die. I just stood there helplessly. I vowed never to let that happen again, I tightened my grip on my knife before hearing shuffling to the right. I turned and flung the knife, pinning a squirrel to a tree by it's neck. One kill for Rea.

[rascalgal]

Damon McCoy
When I offered Rea my jacket, her eyes widened, and she looked at me like I was crazy. And I didn't blame her. People just didn't do this kind of thing in District Nine. Each family looked after themselves, and dealt with their own problems. But that just wasn't me. My mother used to tell me all the time that I should always give more than I take, and I've always tried to do just that. It was simply the right thing to do. Suddenly, the dog grabbed the jacket from my hand and set it down by Rea's feet. I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. Rea just rolled her eyes and picked up my jacket. She slipped it on and gave me a curt nod, as if to say thank you.

For a few seconds, we just stood there silently. Then she said, "It was my mother's, the jacket." That's when I remembered that I wasn't the only one who lost my mother. Almost everybody knew about the Wirth family and the "murder" incident. I watched my mom slowly wither away and die. But I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to watch someone murder your mom. And that just made me feel worse, knowing that I had called her mother's jacket a "flimsy, old thing". She lowered her head, and I could've sworn I saw her eyes fill with agony. I wanted to comfort her somehow. Tell her that everything would be alright, but I wasn't sure how. So I just continued to stand there, not sure what to do.

 Suddenly, there was a shuffling noise to the right, and before I could even look to see what it was, Rea flung her knife towards whatever made the sound. It turns out, it was my old friend the squirrel(who was now hanging limp by it's neck on the tree). If this had happened at any other time, I would've laughed out loud. But looking at Rea's expression of hurt and anger, I knew that now wasn't the time for that. I knew exactly how it felt to lose someone you loved. That one person who was always there to comfort you, always there to hold you, just suddenly gone. After my mother's death, I remembered all those strangers telling me they were sorry. But none of their pity helped. What good would it do for them to be sorry? None of those people could bring my mother back. They had no idea what it felt like.

But I do know what Rea went through. And I did want to help her. So as gently and softly as I could, I whispered, "Rea," I waited until she looked up at me, then I poured every last drop of emotion into what I whispered next. "I am so, so sorry."

[KenzieRain♥]

"Evita, fetch." I muttered and as soon as Evita was out of ear shot (or as soon as a human would have been out of ear shot) Damon whispered that he was sorry. I met his blue eyes with my own and for the first time, I believed him. People seemed to always be saying sorry to me about Mom. And I never believed them. But I could see the pain in Damons eyes. The same pain I saw in a little boys eyes years ago. He was hurting just as much as I was. He knew the pain. And so, I decided to trust him.

A sad smile curved onto my lips, "Me too." I whispered, my voice wavering. Maybe from the cold or from the pain or maybe because I was scared to let Damon see.. Me. I was letting him into a part of me that only Evita knew. No one had ever managed to do that... Not even my sister, Elaina. After a moment of staring at him I broke our eye contact, a blush heating my cheeks. Evita was sstruggling to pull out the knife from the squirrel, so I jogged over to help her. I laughed and pulled the knife out of the neck, letting Evita grab the squirrel gingerly in her mouth. "Stupid," I teased, grinning down at her and she returned the look with a glare.

When we turned back to Damon I felt exposed and my face heated up again. I hoped you couldn't tell I was blushing becaus the cold had flushed my cheeks, but tht seemed a bit too hopeful, even for me. Running a hand through my hair, I looked at thesnowy ground, unsure what to say. Why did he make me feel so...self concious? Confused? Comfortable? ...happy? Whatever the word was... He made me feel it.

And that in itself was... Strange.

[rascalgal]

Damon McCoy
"Me too." she whispered back. Her voice faltered a little bit, but I couldn't blame her. It hurts to look back at a past you regret, and she was letting me in, a person she barely knew.


 For a moment, we just stared at each other. And when I looked into her eyes, something strange happened. All of a sudden, I felt lightheaded and dizzy. And for some reason, I was completley tongue-tied. The feeling is hard to explain, and I've never felt it before. So, what was that? When she finally looked away, I found myself blushing, something I never did.

 The dog looked like it was having trouble fetching the squirrel, so Rea laughed, went over, and pulled the knife out of it. The dog gently picked it up, while Rea jokingly said, "Stupid," I couldn't help but smile at them, humor clearly written on my face.

 When Rea turned back to face me, I could've sworn that she was blushing. But that might've just been the cold flushing her cheeks, so I wasn't sure. She ran a hand through her hair, and appeared to be observing the ground. I suddenly felt that lightheaded feeling again, so to prevent myself from blushing, I decided to take my mind off of it by attempting to "make friends" with Rea's dog.

   I walked closer to it, and crouched down. I gingerly put out my hand for her to smell. Now I'm not going to lie, being this close to the dog was a little nerve-racking for me. But something in it's big, brown eyes told me it wasn't going to hurt me. Now if only I could remember it's name. Oh, what was it again? I think I heard Rea say it a few times, but I couldn't remember,...Evita! That was her name! "Hey girl," I said gently, "Evita, is that your name?"

[KenzieRain♥]

I almost laughed when Damon inched toward Evita, no one ever dared to go near her and she did not like Damon very much. He held his fist out to her and I gasped, my eyes widening just as Evita growled and opened her mouth to snap at him. She was clearly aiming or his face, which was my fault because I liked to train my dog for battle. I yelled something, her name probably, before leaning forward and grabbing her muzzle, pushing it closed. But before I succeded I was cut by her tooth. I cursed loudly and held my right hand in my left, standing infront of Damon an watching my dog with hurt and angry blue eyes. She seemed to feel the same because she turned and flew off in the other direction. Great.

I took a moment to look at my hand; there was a cut down the top of it that went from my knuckle to my wrist. It was as deep as it couldve been but it was decently injured. "Good thing Im left handed." I growled bitterly before turning and cupping Damons face, leaning close to examine if he had any damage done. My stomach felt fluttery, my face heated up again, we were so close. Inches seperated us but I had no idea why I found that so exciting or maybe I found it frightening.   Whatever it was I was feeling... It was getting stronger with every second I spent with Damon.  

[rascalgal]

Damon McCoy
    My eyes widened in shock as Evita suddenly leaped at my face. I braced myself, and waited for the pain that was sure to come. But at the last second, Rea shouted out, and clamped Evita's muzzle shut. But Evita somehow managed to cut a deep gash in Rea's hand, and as she stood clutching it, Evita darted off. Rea muttered something along the lines of, "Good thing I'm left handed.", and then she leaned in close, cupping my face in her hands, her expression bent with worry.

    Her lips were inches away from mine, and I could feel her warm breath against my skin. My stomach fluttered, and I began to blush uncontrollably. Time seemed to slow down, and for a brief moment, I forgot where I was. Then, I had a bizarre urge to kiss her, right then and there. But feeling uncomfortable, I looked away, and the trance was broken. Reality came rushing back, and it was then that I noticed just how bad Rea's injury was.

    "Oh God Rea," I said, worry starting to seep in. Knowing that I had to do something, I managed to rip off one of my sleeves, and I unsheathed my knife. Then, I clumsily cut the fabric into strands(managing to cut myself multiple times), making a makeshift bandage. "Here, it's not much, but at least it'll stop the bleeding."

   I gently grabbed her hand(which made my heart begin to beat faster), and began wrapping it, silently cursing myself. This was all my fault. She's injured because I was being an idiot. Why did I always have to hurt the people I cared about? I hurt my dad everyday. I constantly argued with him, yelled at him, pushed him away. But in a way, I thought he deserved it. He had abandoned me when I needed him most, and I don't know how I could ever forgive him for that. Now, I was hurting Rea, and the guilt was almost too much to bear. I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eye, and when I was done patching up her hand, I said curtly, "Come on, let's go find Evita." Suddenly, I didn't feel like talking anymore.

[KenzieRain♥]

My heart dropped when he broke our stare, but in a way I was glad. I felt a pang as he completely failed at trying to cut his shirt. "Don't do that, you already gave me your coat." I growled but he seemed to ignore me, keeping up and wrapping my hands with his shirt. I rolled my eyes and bit my lip, averting my eyes purposefully. He was so determined... just like me. Glancing back up at him I realized that his features had darkened, had I done something. Damon had turned his mood around, acting close and timid. Great. Thanks, Ev. I thought bitterly. Find her? That's the last thing I wanted to do! I wanted her to maybe get a kill and then bring her sorry tail back home. But, the thing was... without me by her side she looked like a random Wild Dog. She looked like food. Panic shot through me and I suddenly I running in the direction where Evita had set off, screaming her name.

No matter how deep she had cut my hand, no matter how much she had messed up my hand - she was still my best friend. "EVITA!" I yelled, stumbling over a few roots that reached the surface of the Earth. I heard her bark and jolted to a stop, rushing to the right, where the sound came from. "Evi--" My eye widened and I stopped, ducking behind a tree. How the hell did my dog manage to find a pack of Wild Dogs? There were only four of them, but the way they surrounded Evita made them seem so much more dangerous than they actually were.

Desperately I looked around, trying to find Damon, what was I going to do? My girl was in trouble and there's no way I could defeat those dogs with just knives. "Damon?" I whispered, my voice barley audible. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the lead wolf, a large grey-furred monster, step toward Evita growling threateningly. I cursed under my breath, this was not my day.

[rascalgal]

Damon McCoy
Rea ran off, disappearing into the endless maze of trees. I ran after her, and for awhile, I lost sight of her. But I wasn’t worried. She was yelling Evita’s name at the top of her lungs, so she wasn’t that hard to find. After running for awhile, I finally caught up to her. She was crouched down in front of a tree, and I found that a little strange. Had she gotten hurt again? I was about to ask her what she was doing, but then I saw her fearful expression. Something was terribly wrong. She looked around and whispered urgently, “Damon?”

As quickly and as quietly as I could, I jogged over to her and crouched down next to her. “I’m here,” I whispered, “What’s wrong?” It turns out, I didn’t even have to ask. I heard shuffling and growling, so I cautiously looked behind the tree. There stood Evita, surrounded by a pack of four wild dogs. “Oh shit,” I whispered. I quickly crouched back down behind the tree, and turned to face Rea. We had to do something, and fast. My mind was racing as I tried to find a way to get out of this mess. I had my bow and arrow, but as soon as I shoot a dog, the others are just going to instantly attack me. And although Rea was amazing with her knives, I knew that they wouldn’t be much defense against the pack of dogs. Besides, as soon as they finished off Evita, they would surely pick up our scent and go for us. So the question was, what could we do? How was I supposed to protect them now? I was on the verge of giving up when I remembered just how much Rea loved Evita. I couldn’t let her lose another part of her family; she’d suffered enough pain already. And I sure as hell was not going to let a pack of oversized mutts do that to her. So with a new determination, I looked around, trying to find anything to help us. But the only thing around us was a bunch of leafless trees. “Wait…” I thought, “Trees…” And that’s when it hit me. I might not be able to shoot at the dogs from the ground, but if I was in a tree, they wouldn’t be able to reach me.

“Ok, I have a plan.” I whispered to Rea. I was going to tell her to get as far away from here as she possibly could so when I started shooting, the dogs wouldn’t go for her. But when I saw the determined expression on her face, I knew she wasn’t going to agree to that. She wanted to help save Evita. So I told her, “Rea, I’m going to need you to climb a tree so the dogs won’t be able to reach you. And if it looks like I need backup, just start chucking those knives of yours.” Before she could protest, I quietly dragged her over to the biggest and tallest tree I could find. I was going to make sure she was safe. I signaled towards the tree, waiting for her to climb up it. When she hesitated, I remembered something. Why would she know how to climb a tree? She was a knife thrower; she had no need to ever learn how to do that. So I gently lifted her up, and held her close as I half carried, half dragged her up the tree. There wasn’t any time to think about it, but when I held her in my arms, I felt that strange feeling once again, and my heart was almost singing. When I had successfully gotten her up the tree, I told her, “If for some reason you need to come down, just turn around, don’t look down, and slide as carefully as you can down the tree.” I didn’t wait for a reply, and I silently climbed back down the tree. When I got down, I started looking for a tree for me to shoot in. Unfortunately, the tree I found was small, frail, and looked extremely unstable. But it was the only one that gave me a good view on the dogs. Besides, I was running out of time. So I quickly climbed up it, the branches rustling and snapping under my weight. Thankfully, the dogs didn’t seem to notice, and when I got to the top, I was at least fifteen feet off the ground. I needed to be higher up than that to be safe, but this would just have to do.

I could clearly see Evita and the pack of dogs, so wasting no time, I took my bow off my shoulder, loaded an arrow, aimed, and fired. My arrow hit its mark, piercing one of the dogs in the chest. As soon as it fell over dead, the other dogs looked around, trying to find where the attack came from. They quickly spotted me, and they rushed towards the tree, jumping, barking, and bearing their fangs, trying to reach me. Yes! The plan worked…well almost. The lead mutt hadn’t been tricked into attacking me instead of Evita. He was still in front of her, growling fiercely. I loaded another arrow, and right when I was about to shoot it at the lead dog, he leaped at Evita’s throat. “No!” I screamed. I fired the arrow, not bothering to aim. Thankfully, it hit him before he could get to Evita, and he fell to the ground. But he wasn’t dead. The arrow had hit the animal’s hind leg, and he was wounded. I breathed a sigh of relief when Evita ran away as the lead dog attempted to get to his feet. At least she was safe. But now, I had a new problem. Not counting the lead dog, there were still two other dogs below me, and I only had two more arrows left. And to make things worse, the dogs were managing to jump higher and higher, getting closer to me. One of them leaped and snapped its jaws, closing them just inches away from my foot. I shot another arrow at the dog, but it missed and hit the ground next to it. I took a deep breath, and aiming carefully, I shot my last arrow. This time it pierced a dog in its side, and it was killed. Now there were only two dogs left. But I was out of arrows, and I didn’t think that I could throw my knife as accurately as Rea could. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did; much worse.

Every movement I made, no matter how small, shook the tree violently. And the dog, which was still leaping and clawing at the tree, didn’t make it any better. So I shifted my weight, trying to find the best position to keep from falling out of the tree. That was my first mistake. The branch I was sitting on was already weak and thin, and it just couldn’t take my sudden shift in weight. It snapped and fell from under me. Terror seized me as I plummeted towards the ground. For an instant, I felt the air rush past me, and the landscape blurred around me. I spun in the air and decided to fall on my side, to try and cushion my fall. That was my second mistake.

When I slammed into the ground, I heard a sickening, “CRACK!” and I felt something in my side snap. Instantly, pain seared into my chest, and a strangled cry escaped from my lips. I turned over on my back, and I was unable to get up. I didn’t know how bad I was injured, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. The dog that had been under my tree was waiting for me, and it immediately ran at me. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, and by some miracle, I managed to yank out my knife, ready to try and defend myself (although, it was hopeless, I was pretty much doomed). At the last second, when the dog was almost upon me, a black blur darted out from the undergrowth and slammed into the dog’s side, knocking it off its feet. At first, I couldn’t tell what had saved me; all I saw was a mass of fur and teeth. But then, I picked out a black body of a dog with white fur underneath its muzzle…it was Evita! She ferociously ripped at the other dog, attacking it with all her might and she seemed to be winning. For a second, I thought that I might actually make it. But then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that drained all the hope away from me. The lead dog had somehow staggered to its feet, and was slowly making its way towards me. Drool dripped from its fangs, and its menacing yellow eyes burned with hate. His sides heaved in and out as he breathed deeply, and his injured leg was soaked with blood. This wasn’t a dog, it was a monster. Evita was busy fighting the other mutt, so I was left defenseless. Sweat dripped down my face, and I struggled to breathe as I desperately tried to get up. But as soon as I moved, a new wave of agony struck me, and I was forced to lie back down, helplessly awaiting my death.