I awoke the next morning in high spirits. Renard was still asleep, so I nudged him until he woke up. “Come on, lets get some food so we can get going.” I told him. “Fine...” he replied with a yawn. He streched and got to his feet, while I made my way to the smell of food. We ate along with the other wolves, andwe finished Sonya walked over to me and sat down. “Hey,” I said with a full mouth. “Good morning, I got some information from the wolves I sent out.” She told me as I finished eating. “You have, huh? Anything suspisious?” I asked.
“Wolves from Hellpack have been sited throughout the forest, there preventing entrance to the Evergreen Valley.”
“If they're there then they must know were coming.”
“Yes and also because humans have already gotten in through the Evergreen Valley...looks like there setting camps up not far from there.” She said turning her attention to the fresh killed elk meat that laid before us. “If that's the case we need to get going so we don't miss out on all the fun.” I said getting up and streching, “Come on Renard let's get some fresh air and wait for everyone.” I said walking off. I went out of our earthen shelter and saw to the north, those same dark skies I saw when I first entered Youroak; they were still just as ominous looking as before. “So that place over there is where your from?” Renard asked me looking over towards the dark skies. “Yes,” I replied. “I've lived there all of my life, till now that is.”
“Well were gonna get it back; for you and for everyone!” Renard said looking at me with a happy smile. I smiled, “yeah...we'll get it back.” I said, my eyes still locked on the dark skies ahead. At that time Sonya walked out of the shelter followed by Trent, and all the other wolves. “Were ready where you are.” Sonya told me. “Well if you guys really are ready, let's not delay; we still have quite a ways to go,” I said looking at her. She nodded and then looked at Trent. He put his front paws on our earthen shelter and with one powerful shove, he knocked it down. It hit the ground and shattered reducing to rubble. “Alright, let's go.” He said when he finished. We began running once more, covering lot's of ground, and looking for any signs of human activity along the way. At one point we would hear distant thunder and see lightning flashes in Katridge which made me pay attention to how much farther we had. “Hm...” I thought to myself. “What is it? Somethin on your mind?” Tetra asked me while we were stopping for a rest. “ I'm looking at that lightning.” I replied not taking my eyes away from it.
“What's so special about it?”
“I'm wondering if it's natural, or is it lightning made by spiritual energy.”
“Is there a differene?” Tetra asked me. “Yeah a big difference...but I'd rather not go into detail.” I replied. She gave me a look and walked off. Not long after that we got moving again. After a few hours of travel we made it and we could all tell that Hellpack, and humans had been there; the trees were bare, all the leaves were reduced to ash leaving a thick layer of ash on the floor of the forest. Burn marks were on the trunks of the trees, and far off to the right were tree stumps; must have been the humans trying to get there tanks through. “Alright...remember to stay together, anything that attacks, you kill without question.” I said looking to my pack.
I crept into the forest and looked around but the ash layerlayer on the ground started to fly into the air making it hard to see and smell any sign of life. “This place looks deserted...” I heard Trent say. “Yeah...there are bones everywhere...” I said kicking a rabbit's skull aside as I walked. I then heard a slight rustle and stopped. “What is it...?” Renard whispered to me. “I heard something...” I replied looking around. I heard it again; to my left. I turned to my left and I saw what was causing the rustling: it was that same blue bird that I saw when I first came to Youroak. I laughed a little as I saw it looking down on us. “What's so funny?” Tetra asked me. “Look it's that bird, remember when we met it snatched some fur off of my head?” She laughed a little too but then she stopped. “Zatch...that bird is staring at you...” She said looking at it. I noticed it too, and then common sense kicked in. “Crap, everybody keep moving...!” I said turning away from the bird but it was too late; it let out a horrible screeching noise which rang through the forest, and hurt our ears. Then out of nowhere, growling was heard around us, and a large wolf jumped out of the thicket of trees in front of me. It was repulsive, mutated, and disgusting to look at. It towered over me in height, and far exceeded my weight; it had long black fur with patches missing. It had scars all over its body, and it's ears were all ripped off. “What the hell is that thing...?” I heard Sonya say. The monsterous beast snarled and looked at Sonya. “I am not a thing, I am a girl!” the beast said. “I would say something about how scary that is but if I did I'd probably piss myself...” Trent said trembling. “You fools obviously don't know a girl when we see one...” The beast growled. “My name is Blackspawn, spawn of the devil!” She roared. “I honestly don't care who you are, we have to get somewhere.” I said walking right past her. She snarled and let out a howl which must have been a signal because before we knew it wolves had jumped out from the trees and from the ash on the ground. “Your surrounded you arrogant pup...” Blackspawn snarled. I looked at her, my yellow eyes, met her dark menacing ones, and then they attacked.
