Chapter 13- Future sights

Moonshine slid down casting over the land, the sounds of steady crickets chirped in the night. Shadow hadn’t commented on the rabid wolf they encountered. It was becoming late and night travel was not recommended suggested by Crystal. They stayed in rich dirt all over a clearing among several large trees that were condensed inward. Shadow settled down and looked over at Crystal. Her fur along her back was still stained in dry blood. She seemed stiff and stern the way she plummeted to the ground. Shadow crawled to her side and whispered quietly to her. “Is something wrong”? Crystal turned and looked at Shadow with glazed eyes. They were bloodshot and baggy. “My father is dead, I’ve nearly been killed twice, and I still have hundreds of miles to traverse until I find sanctuary”. Shadow crawled back slightly. “You’re looking at things with heavy negativity you know”? Crystal gave a short growl and Shadow turned and crawled away. Crystal turned herself back around and huffed. The moon sat high above. Crystal slowly drifted off to sleep, Shadow did too. Moonlight cast on them and the night started its long journey to morning.

 

James was walking in front of the pack with Sarina close at his side. They were slowly climbing up from the desert lands over a mountain range hoping for forests or vegetation waiting on the other side. The wounded wolf’s face dried from the blood. It was thick and dry and the sand was stuck into it like sprinkled snow on the ground. If they didn’t find vegetation soon, the wolf would fall victim to his wounds and die. With the life hanging over him, James was determined to save the wolf. They walked over the sandy hills to look high above at a forest of green. They all smiled and Charlie chocked with laughter and glee. James knew it wasn’t over; they still had to find aloe leaves. The question was where to begin looking.

 

Crystal slowly stood up, she was looking down at bright brown dirt, no plants or greens greeted her, something was wrong. She could hear explosions of some sort around her and yells and screams. She turned her head. A large brown wolf standing on its two hind legs ran at her and jumped over her. It was yelling madly and it charged passed. She looked to see the wolf heading at a dark shadow of a human. There was a shot and the wolf crashed into the ground with a thud. Blood rushed over the exit wound on the wolf’s chest and the human stepped over the fresh corpse with no remorse or pain. What was happening? Crystal thought quickly. Another wolf and another and another charged together into the shadows of humans who where holding up there guns and firing over and over. Suddenly, Crystal felt a tug at her neck and she was dragged down. She came face to face with a ragged grey wolf with green eyes. He was covered in black material and his face had a large scar across his eye. “What do you think you are doing up there? Stay in the trenches, this isn’t your battle”! And with that, the wolf turned and ran up over the side of a dirt wall. Crystal was sitting in a long wide trench. Above, she could hear the explosions and gunfire. She began walking the other way. She could hear whimpering wolfs and she turned to see a wolf pup stranded on the other side of the trench, it was wandering around whimpering. She was about to run to its aid but another wolf grabbed it up just as an explosion erupted nearby. Crystal poked her head over the side of the trench wall; she saw a large human house. Curious, Crystal began walking towards it. It was in flames, burning and falling apart.

 

 

Shadow woke with a chill run over his body. He found himself lying on a cold stone floor. He shivered and stood up looking about. He was standing in an empty stone hallway with lit torches all along the wall. The torches were lit with blue and shifty light. Shadow stared to his left and right, both being dark and black with chilling winds blowing down them. Shadow could hear a quiet sound of voices carrying up through the stone and rock. The torches twitched and waved with the wind. Shadow walked through the darkness with almost no sense of where he was going. The torches behind him dimmed as he walked away and the ones around him lit with his steps. The voices shifted into Shadow’s ears, they were slurred with no speech readable. He heard a creak to his left. He looked to his left, a small door was hanging open and the wind gave it a push causing it to creak again. Shadow slowly approached hearing the voice carry from inside. The door creaked wider open and a voice called slowly. “When will it end”? Shadow perked his ears in question. The voice silently whispered again. “He will come for us, give us savior”. He poked his head through the door and looked inside. There was an empty room with small pillars in each corner with an empty space in the middle lit with four torches all around the room. He stepped past the door and sniffed. A smell of dust and cold dirt reeked in his nose. There was another gust of cold wind and then a large shadowy skeleton crashed in front of him. Shadow stared with fear; it was a wolf skeleton, rotted and cracked. Shadow turned, a crowd of voices carried behind him, there was shouting and yells but seemingly silenced. “I heard it back here”! Shadow felt himself freeze in fear. “An intruder? Here”? The voice shouted and growled. Shadow slid into a corner next to a stone pillar. The torch above him blew and waved. Shadow gave a blow up to put it out, but it just waved weakly. Suddenly, the squeaky door blew open and slammed into the wall. The torches in the room blew out like an explosion. Two shadowy and ghost like characters stood in the doorway. They were both two wolves floating slightly above the ground. They both had transparent shadowy bodies, signs of being shades. “There was someone here, I swear I heard something”. The black shadowy wolf waved his paws angrily and slapped them into his sides. A grayish white one stood next to him and brushed his paws across the door. “I see no one, it must be the wind”. The black wolf waved his head and then snapped his claws together. The room lit up in a heavy light. The torches glassed all over leaving Shadow huddled into the corner but shining in plain light. “Ah, here is your intruder Bettino”. The shadowy black wolf smirked. “It’s Shadow; I didn’t expect to see him for several more years”. The white wolf said chuckling slightly. Shadow simply stared and then he felt his eyes opening.

 

 

Crystal walked to the door. She put her paws against the door and it crashed down sending flames rising up into the air around her. She coughed and the smoke cleared passed her. There were distant screams but Crystal ignored them walking through the house slowly. A human table sat in flames in the corner of the room and several more flames smashed through the windows catching other human things on fire. Crystal stumbled over something; she looked down to see shattered glass around her foot. Among the glass lay a photo. On the photo were pictures of a human female with a baby in her arms. Crystal looked up, a large chunk of the stair in front of her crashed down and nearly hit her. She moved and walked slowly up the stairs.  The flames around her crackled and waved. She ignored them and walked up the stairs and into a fire lit hallway. A door at the end was waving open and Crystal walked towards it. It swung loosely and slapped against the door frame. Crystal stopped outside the door. She heard a voice inside. “Its ok honey, it’s going to be alright, I won’t let them in”. Crystal cocked her head pushed the door slowly open. She saw two humans in the room. A mother and her daughter were both knelling on the floor, crumpled up together. The mother looked up. “No! No! Stay out”! She shouted and kicking her legs. Crystal simply stared and walked closer. “Hold on sweetie”! The mother jumped up with her daughter in her arms and ran for the window along the wall. Crystal stopped. The mother climbed into the window sill and suddenly she jumped. Crystal stared in amazement and horror. She quickly ran to the window and looked down at the two. The mother was sprawled on the ground and shouting “Go sweetie, run”! The daughter was pulling at her mothers arms. “Mommy come on! Come with me”! Crystal began to panic. Several wolves gathered around them. They all glared with bloodthirsty looks. “Fresh catch”. One of them commented. “Kill them both, enjoy the meat”. Another wolf said coolly. Suddenly the crowd of wolfs jumped forward with open jaws. Crystal snapped her eyes shut as she heard the piercing scream from the mother and child. She suddenly felt herself stand up. She was breathing heavily. She looked over. Shadow was doing the same. “Are you okay”? They both asked in unison. “Bad dream”. Shadow said and looked down. “Me too”. Crystal said slowly. Shadow looked up confused. “Do you think we had the same nightmare”? Crystal shook her head. “I don’t know”. Shadow began scratching at his ear and waved his leg madly. “In mine, I was in like this stone hallway, and there were these two shades that found me”. Crystal cocked her head. “The weird thing is they said “Its Shadow, I didn’t except to see him for several more years”. Crystal looked over at him and began speaking. “In mine, I was in some sort of battle, wolves on their hind legs fighting humans, and there was this mother and child”. Crystal stopped. “I think I saw the future”. As soon as she said it, Shadow began chuckling. “ahahha! You really think you saw the future and Chanoue starting a war? That’s pretty silly”. Crystal glared. “I’m serious, I think Chanoue might be able to cause a war between humans and wolves, there is going to be deaths all around the world”. Shadow stopped laughing. “Well nature is going to take care of it right”? Crystal shook her head; I don’t think she has the power to stop what Chanoue has in store”. Shadow licked his paw and huffed. “It’s just a dream; Chanoue’s not going to be able to do anything”. Crystal looked down. “I hope you are right about that”.

 

The forest floor was warm; the sunlight seeped through the bushy tree’s and coated the area in its faint glow. James sniffed along the ground; the plants wet smell of moist air filled his nose. The smell was delightful, but he knew there was no time to enjoy it. Charlie was in heavy danger now, he grew weaker and began to slump as he attempted to walk. James could smell the fresh sent of aloe. The smell slithered out of a nearby bush patch. “I think I’ve found some of the plant”. Charlie chocked behind him. James reached down into the bush and ripped a small group of leaves crumpled together up out of bush. “Quick, rub the leaves on his face, try to coat the wound”. Sapientia stared at the wound with interest. “It’s closed”. She said. “What”? James asked and walked slowly over with the leaves water slipping into his mouth. He dropped them to the ground and looked up. “The wound, it’s sealed itself shut, the poison is going through his body as we speak”. Charlie gasped and coughed loudly causing some of the wolves to step back nervously. James panted in terror. “What can we do for him? What are our options here”? Sapientia shook her head slowly. “James, we’ve done all we can”. James felt tears leaking from his eyes. “No! There’s has to be something we can do, we can’t just let him die”! Sarina came up alongside James and nudged him. He turned his head and angrily sobbed softly. Charlie chocked again. “James, you did your best, it’s not your fault”. James jerked his head wildly round to look among they saddened faces surrounding him. “I gave my word to lead you, to keep you safe; I was to lead you to the Sierra safely. But look! I failed, Bruce has left, Sapientia almost died and now… now Charlie has to accept an early fate”. James’s face was drenched in cold wet tears. His teeth bared in anger. “I wasn’t even able to protect my own pup”. The others looked on a bit shocked and depressed. Charlie coughed again. “James, you need to save who you have left; don’t let my fate decide the fate of the others”. He rolled to his side coughing loudly. Sapientia licked his face. James looked away stricken with depression. As he turned his eyes back he could no longer hear Charlie’s coughs; the wolf had died.