Sheets of rain fell from the dark sky and jagged shadows loomed around every corner. Trees shook violently in the wind threatening to fall over at any second. The ground was muddy from the sky’s downpour slowing me down as I ran. A gunshot sounded, easily mistaken for thunder in this weather, and a bullet lodged itself into the tree next to me.
I swerved onto a small side trail in the forest in hopes of leading the hunter away from the others. Trees and bushes were all a tangled blur as ran, the rain hit my face with cold slaps. My heart pounded as I glanced behind me, the others were gone. My plan had worked, only me and the hunter were left.

Rocks made the path difficult to travel along, but I had practice, the hunter did not. All of my solitary days spent in the woods were paying off, somewhat. Lightning lit up the dark sky and a loud crash of thunder followed. I covered my sensitive ears and bit my lip; there was no way for me to get out of this, I either died tonight or I would spend the rest of my life as a test dummy for some cruel scientists. I’d hesitated a moment too long and now the hunter was right behind me. His gun glinted in his leather gloved hands and long brown hair stuck to his face in clumps. I began running again; fear echoed in every heavy footstep I took.
Another shot was fired, but this time something was wrong. I fell over in sudden agony and let out a deafening, inhumane screech. It felt like a thousand hot knives were ripping through my abdomen. Blood poured out in a scarlet pool beneath me and I realized I’d been shot. My head was buzzing but I attempted to climb back onto my feet. The hunter was there in a second, pushing my face back down into the mud. I spit dirt out of my mouth, it was a good thing it was raining, at least that way he couldn’t see me crying.

“I finally caught one of you filthy dogs. It feels good, how does it feel for you mutt? Not so good I’m guessing.” He chuckled with his hot breath against my ear; I struggled against pain and disgust to stay in control; If I let the wolf come out he would win. I could hear the silent footsteps in the woods that belonged to my pack, they were watching the hunter humiliate me. The mixed emotions were unbearable, weakness was the strongest. Blood continued to pump out of the wound, my consciousness was slowly fading with it.

The hunter realized he was losing me and flipped me over onto my back, “Mutt?” I gasped for air and coughed up some blood, staining the ground with blood’s scarlet color. He swore under his breath and propped me up in his arms. He pulled his jacket off and gently pressed it to the gunshot wound. Fear gave way to confusion, why was he helping me? A sharp wave of pain rushed over me and I let out a groan and curled up into a ball, causing me to roll away from him. The hunter’s hand slid away and I replaced it with my own. “If I lose you, then I lose too; they’ll kill my family.”

My mind felt numb for several seconds, maybe he’d been torturing my pack this whole time because he was trying to save everyone he loved? I let out another groan and a rough cough; more blood spattered across the ground, “I’m sorry.” I whisper and closed my eyes, I was losing the fight of consciousness. The hunter cried out in frustration and a single tear rolled down his cheek, “But if I lose you…” He mumbled and my world faded to cold, painful darkness.