First Day

It was nighttime, but the sky was starting to lighten in the distance on the horizon. A wolf pack slept peacefully on a large, block of ice that floated across the ocean’s waves. However, there was one young wolf dog that couldn’t sleep at all. She was sleepless, and she started to feel doubt that they hadn’t reached any land yet. She gave a sigh and looked up into the sky. The northern lights were right above the wolf pack’s heads, and they shined brightly from the range of colors of blue to red to green.

The young wolf dog smiled softly to herself, remembering how her dad always watched them with her when she was a young pup. As she looked closer, she saw the northern lights take form of a recognizable mouse. Then a gentle whisper entered into her mind saying, “Have faith in you, young one.”

Before the wolf dog could shout out his name in excitement, she saw the northern lights disappear over a few mountains in the distance. At that moment, the wolf dog noticed the mountains and cheerfulness filled every inch of her body. They were going to survive!

“Everyone,” shouted the young wolf dog, “there’s land in the distance! We’re almost there to the land of the caribou!” The wolf pack started to stir with mumbling until they saw the mountains in the distance. Everyone cheered and howled in excitement, thankful that they had made it.

After minutes had passed, the mountains and the beach started to get closer and closer. Finally, the block of ice halted to a stop as it smoothly skidded across the beaches’ sand. Every wolf jumped off of the ice and took in a deep breath of the new, fresh land.

“So what do we do now Aleu?” asked a brown-yellowish wolf with drool hanging over his chin, whose name was Sumac. Aleu hesitated at first, until she saw a raven flying above their heads. She looked into its eyes, and she saw a vision of caribou eating in the meadow that was behind the mountains.

Aleu shook her head as the vision disappeared with the raven. With a deep breath, she replied, “We have to go over those mountains.”

“Why the mountains?” asked a wolf with many fleas and thick, black fur (His name was Yak).

“Uh…” Aleu started, “the raven told me.”

“Ohhh…” Everyone murmured in unison. Then the pack started to walk toward the mountains as they followed Aleu.

*****

As they walked to the peak of the mountains, the sun was finally rising above the horizon. It was a breath taking view, especially the meadow in the distance that was filled with caribou  Aleu smiled to herself, secretly thanking the raven in her mind.

“Look! Caribou!” she shouted excitedly to her pack. Everyone started to lick their lips in hunger as they stared at the grazing caribou intensely.

“CARIBOU!!!”  Nuk shouted in excitement, which he was a heavier built wolf with dark brown fur. With adrenaline racing through his mind, Nuk started to run down the mountain as the other wolves happily followed him.

“Wait!” Aleu shouted. Everyone halted suddenly as they noticed their leader wasn’t following them.

“Don’t we need to come up with a plan? We don’t need to scare all of them away.” All of the wolves looked at each other, agreeing that the new leader did have a point.

“I have a plan. So this is what we’re going to do…” Aleu said as everyone started to gather around her.

*****

Every wolf crept silently into the meadow.  The grazing herd of caribou didn’t notice, going on with their business peacefully. However, an old, sick caribou was wandering farther away from the herd so he can have a drink of water from the creek nearby. This was the wolves’ signal.

Trotting through the tall grass with a quickened pace, the pack cautiously circled the caribou. A few were on the other side of the creek, ready if the caribou escaped the creek’s thick, sticky mud.

With a sudden surprise, a red wolf with a tint of brown fur attacked the caribou from behind. Startled, the caribou fell into the mud, exactly according to the plan. Then the pack made a tighter and smaller circle, ready to attack.

“Go!” Aleu called out, signaling that everyone can kill the caribou. With that said, the caribou was choked to death from a wolf holding its grip while his teeth sank into its throat. After the death of the caribou, everyone was about to feast happily. That’s when trouble came in.

Large, young, and muscular wolves with arrogant expressions invaded the pack’s feast and easily stole the meat of the caribou quickly. Astonished, Aleu's pack just stared with gawking expressions as the muscular wolf pack ran away with food in their mouths. Only small amounts of meat on the dead caribou carcass were left.

Snapping out of shock, Aleu shouted “Hey! That’s our food! Come back!” And then she dashed after them, adrenaline and anger stirring in her body.

With incredible speed, Aleu caught up to the leader, who was running in the back of the pack. Without thinking, Aleu pounced on top of him, sending both of them tumbling down a hill. Then, the two started to attack each other as they were tumbling through the air. Aleu, not giving up, landed on top of the leader with her paws on his chest. She leaned over him, showing her teeth as she growled viciously. No one was going to mess with her pack on the first day in this new, mysterious land.

“Hey, take it easy…” the wolf said as he chuckled nervously with a cocky smile.

“Take it easy? Your pack stole our kill! You want us to take it ‘easy’?!” She retorted back as she furrowed her eye brows and bristle her fur.

“Well, you see, this is our food because it’s our territory. I thought a cute pup like you would know that.” The wolf said smoothly, still having a cocky smile on his face. Aleu rolled her eyes. Oh great, a charmer.

“Ugh…” She mumbled agitatedly. Then she took her paws off of his chest and walked off of him, turning away bitterly.

“Is there any other caribou that’s not in your territory?” she asked coldly as the wolf got up from the ground.

“Ouch, your tone of voice hurts.” He whined as he brushed his tail under her chin. Aleu gave a small sneeze as his fluffy tail tickled her nose. Then, regaining herself from the sneeze, Aleu rolled her eyes and sighed.

“So, I assume the caribou is only here.” She stated, still waiting for the wolf to answer. He then showed his bright, white teeth with a wide grin.

“Yup, caribou only come here seasonally. And this is the only place where they graze food. Other herds are hundreds of miles away, and it will be hard to get to them when there’s a blizzard coming in soon.” Aleu sighed in frustration to his answer.

“Well, do you mind sharing the caribou? We promise not to go into your territory for other reasons besides hunting.” She smiled at him sweetly, hoping that her charm might work on him. That is, if she did have any charm.

“Hmm, do you promise not to hunt most of them from my pack? Actually, let’s say I make it an even share, like a nice welcome gift from us.” He replied, still wearing his cocky smile.

While thinking over his deal in her head for awhile, Aleu hesitated, but said, “Yes, I agree. Thank you so much!”

“No problems, toots.”

“Aleu”

“Oh. No problems, Aleu.” said the wolf cockily, starting to trot away and disappear into the meadow. He had white-silvery fur (like the most of his pack), but had a black stripe that ran from the top of his head all the way down to his tail. He had soft, amber eyes and a smug expression that was plastered onto his face.

Aleu rolled her eyes and walked away toward her pack. As she came back, her pack was anxious to hear the news.

“Well, we are not allowed into their territory, but we have an agreement. We get half of the caribou kill and they get the other half. However, this rival pack is all brawns, unlike us who aren't very much,” The whole pack looked disappointed at what Aleu said, but she continued as she included, “But you know what we have that they don’t? Brains. And brains always beat the brawns.”

“So, we… are… ugh… smart? And what do brawns mean?” Yak asked, scratching at his fur with a clueless expression.

“Oh boy,” Aleu mumbled under her breath, “this is going to be a long day…” 

*I do not own any of Universal's characters! Respectfully used! (: