The night was moist and the moon was bright, paws were thundering through the forest, amongst the thundering came a small pitiful yelp. o Wait!o Barked a voice, o my pup! We must go back for him!o . A low gravelly voice answered, o There is no time! The humans are out, with their god-forsaken bones!o , o But we cano t just leave him to be the slave of a slobbering man!o , o heo ll never know the joy of life! Of hunting with his kin, or having his own pups!o . o Perhaps he will be happier with his life of shelter and contentmento ¦ you must not dwell on this Hollyo As the pack ran on, the she-wolf sat and let a small glistening tear roll down her cheek. o That is not the life of wolveso she muttered to herself, and ran to catch up with the rest of the pack.


A cold droplet of water woke Holly, every time she went to sleep the dream replayed in her mind. She could not forget that fateful night when the only pup of her litter was tamed by a human. It had been many seasons ago when it had happened, the humans had stopped trying to train wolves. Sometimes when she was out with her pack, patrolling the woods, she stopped near the humano s cottage to maybe get a glimpse of her pup. Every day, in the camp she would hear him bark, no one else could hear him, but Holly could hear him. She always heard his pain, his joy, and his despair.


Holly walked up to the alpha, o Why cano t we get him back, River?o , she addressed him, o I need our pup!o . o Io m sorry Holly, but our pup would deny coming back with us even if we managed to get him as far as the tree-line!o River lowered his gaze and sadness filled his eyes, o I miss him too, but we cano t get him backo He rested his muzzle on her forehead. o We may not be able to get our pup backo ¦ but we can prevent this from happening to any otherso , Holly turned her gaze into the depths of the forest, o The skeletons must be taken out before the humans get to themo . o Let the pack gather for a meetingo River howled to the sky, o Whato s going on?o Asked a wolf with a dark brown streak running along the spine through his sliver fur, o Just sit and listen Rooto , said a she-wolf from across the camp. o We need to make sure that the humans never again try and train us! We must take out the Skeletons!o


Grass squelched beneath the pads of seven wolves as they plodded through the darkness of the forest, River held up his tail to signal the rest of the patrol to halt, o I can hear somethingo , he growled quietly. Up ahead there came a clinking, o A skeletono ¦o sniffed Root. o More than one,o whispered a she-wolf with gray speckles, o Youo re right leaf, it sounds like two or three.o Muttered River, o run back to the camp and bring back up, Rooto , Root dashed off through the forest and eventually, he was swallowed by the foggy darkness. o Wait a second,o whispered Holly, o I think thereo s a couple zombies tooo , o Then we cano t wait. ATTACK!o River launched himself through the cover of the bushes and landed on a skeleton, right away the other wolves followed suit. o Slash them to bonemeal!o shouted Leaf encouragingly. Eventually there were only shattered bones and arrows lying on the ground. o We did it!o yowled River, o I hope this plan workedo rasped Holly groggily.


Suddenly there was a rustling and the Back up bursted through the brush, o Ito s ok, we finished themo River informed them, o There will be no more tameing from now on. o We must head back and share our news with the otherso , o Io m sure that Cloud will be pleased, she is expecting pups after allo . o The whole pack will be pleased, maybe we can finally live in peaceo ¦o Suddenly there was a groan, o oh no we forgot about the Zombies!o yelped Leaf, o run as fast you can back to camp everyone!o When Holly tried running she stumbled and fell, her leg was bleeding badly, River looked back o Holly! No!o , Holly gazed up with a wild fear in her eye, but it melted into compassion and wisdom, o Go River, I will watch you from the skyo , River started to run toward her but the growled, o Go! Run and protect the pack, I will always be watching.o River ran away and the forest fell silent apart from the groaning of the nearby zombies, they were getting closer. o I am ready to dieo Holly whispered to herself, she laid her head down on her forepaws and gave her last breath. A blinding light erupted from her body and a wave of pure power rushed towards the zombies, they were instantly obliterated, and where the corpses were disintegrated, plants grew, they were holly bushes.