was a dog,” I answered.

“Why did it attack us,” she asked.

“Because people trained it to attack us,” I told her.

“Why didn’t it ask us to leave instead of just blindly attacking us,” She questioned.

“I-I don’t know” I answered.

            Tally, the three pups, and I slowly continued our journey for about another hour. I was very worried because the pups were beginning to complain that their paws ached, my shoulder was killing me, and Tally was limping heavily. Finally, we reached a small wood. We couldn’t live in it because it had no prey because it was too small, but it would do for the night. All five of us snuggled together in a tight circle with the pups in the middle to sleep.

In the morning, my shoulder became better and so did Tally’s leg. We journeyed on solemnly, only stopping to drink in the scents around us to see if it was safe.

Soon, we came to another train track. Silver shuddered and edged closer to Tally, obviously recalling the day when the giant metal train almost claimed her life. Tally ran her tail down Silver’s back comfortingly, but memories aren’t forgotten with just the swish of a tail. I hesitated before setting paw on the icy cold track. I looked both ways, nothing. I sniffed the air, nothing, and I stepped on the metal track to fell for vibrations, nothing. I continued warily onto the track and signaled with my tail for the others to follow. Tally nudged the pups on ahead, but Silver refused to go. Tally fastened her teeth around Silvers scruff and lifted her off the ground. She nosed the two other pups ahead of her and then slowly followed. Silver had her eyes closed tight as if she was expecting a train to come out of nowhere. When Tally and the pups were safely across, Silver loosened her muscles, relieved that the train tracks where behind her.

We traveled for about another day, and then came to a wide open field. On the other side of the field were woods. Tally looked at me, relief clearly shining in her deep gold eyes. I smiled and nodded to tell her that we should continue onward to the woods. I led the way across the wide open field. I was surprised at how well cut and even the grass was. I knew that humans did it.

“What is that” asked Storm, pointing his muzzle towards a small thin flag.

“I don’t know” I answered

“I’m going to check it out,” Storm announced confidently and sprinted of towards the flag

“Storm, Wait!” I shouted after him, “we don’t know what that is!” but I was to late, Storm was already next to the flag and pressed his nose against the flagpole, letting the scent fill his nostrils as if the flagpole was something very important and mysterious. He took a step backward and locked his eyes on the red flag above. He let out playful growl and lunged carelessly at the flag and landed lightly on his feet, and then he lunged again and yelped as he landed. Tally and I ran up to him followed by the other two pups. Storm had landed successfully on three paws, but the other one was jammed inside a hole about an inch or two deep. I picked him up and licked his swollen paw. Then, a blinding flash lightened up the whole field. The pups were horror-struck and I turned my head to see a group of humans with a thing that I think is called a camera.

“RUN!!!” Tally yowled desperately. I picked Storm up and ran for the woods. We seemed to be running for hours and the woods never looked any closer. Another flash lightened the field behind me and I ran faster. Finally, the woods were only yards in front of us. I ran into the woods and stopped after I was several yards away. I gently put Storm back on the ground and liked his hurt paw. Tally raced to me holding Silver and Luna not far behind. She took my place next to Storm and examined his paw slowly, assuring that she didn’t miss on scratch. She plucked a small dirt clog from in between his pad and relaxed a bit. I looked at our surroundings and was happy at what I saw. Trees as far as I could see, the rustling of prey in the bushes and under the leaves, and no scent of humans up ahead. I smiled and looked at Tally. She seemed to be satisfied too.

“I think this is the place,” she told me confidently.

“I agree,” I told her happily. We walked a few minuets deeper into the forest, then, Silver suddenly let out a desperate shrike. She yowled and struggled. Tally and I swerved around. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Behind us, Silver’s paw got stuck in a metal trap. The teeth of the trap dug painfully into her small front leg. She howled and jerked helplessly. Tally bolted to her daughter’s side and quickly examined the trap. She grabbed one side of the trap in her jaws and beckoned me with her tail to grab the other side. I obeyed quickly and Luna and Storm stared in horror at their trapped sister. Tally and I tried to pull the trap apart and free Silver, but the trap was too hard and slippery to get a grip on. You could tell that she was in tons of pain and I almost cried seeing her suffer like that. Then we heard the clumsy footsteps of a human. I yanked at Tally’s scruff and all four of us jumped into the undergrowth.

About a minuet of waiting behind the bushes and ferns, three humans busted through the bushed and laughed spitefully at the little coyote struggling to get free. The biggest human pulled the medal jaws of the trap apart and lifted Silver from the trap. He held her eye level from him and laughed tauntingly at her as she swiped boldly at his nose. He chucked deeply and muttered something to his three companions and the laughed loud enough to scar the prey miles around.

Suddenly Tally sprang from the under growth and threw herself at the man holding Silver

“RUN” she yowled to Silver and the terrified pup scrambled away. Before she got very far, the second human snatched her up and stuffer her in a box, then ran away. The third human went to help the first human. I leaped out and tacked him to the ground. He yelled and turned to face me. I wasn’t going to bite him, but I wanted to scar him enough to keep him away from the forest for a wile. Tally, on the other hand was attacking very viciously. Then Storm and Luna came to join the battle. Then, the third human reached for his gun and a large bang filled the air. Tally immediately loosened her grip the human’s fatty arm and stared in horror at Luna lying still with blood flowing endlessly onto the cold rocky ground. Tally ran to her pup’s lifeless body. She nudged her deceased daughter and howled in grief. I trotted miserably to her side and rested my muzzle on her shoulder. She licked Luna’s body and turned to the humans. She faced them with her fur bristling. I looked into her eyes. The fire inside them told me just how much she was hurt by her last daughter gone and the fierce hunger for vengeance. She snarled ferociously and lunged for the human’s throat. I tacked her to the ground. She struggled strongly beneath my paws.

“What are you doing” I asked

“Get off of me!!” She snapped. I was very taken aback by the icy tone in her voice, it almost hurt. All signs of gentleness and self control were gone from. It was like I didn’t know her. She humans grabbed Luna’s body and sprinted away, the human that Tally had attacked bleeding badly. When they had gone I loosened my grip from Tally. She suddenly started to sobbed.

“I’m so sorry, Birch” she whispered. I licked her shoulder tenderly. There was nothing I could say at a time like this. All that time, Storm was staring in terror as the humans shoot Luna, his mother attack the humans, his dad stopping her, and now, Tally was crying. He was confused, but he didn’t question anything. Tally and I turned to him. Tally stopped crying and shook her head to clear her mind. Tally and I bounded sadly up to him and we both touched noses with him.

“We can’t stay here” Tally told me quietly, “it’s too dangerous.” I nodded my agreement and we continued onward out of the woods and into another town. We walked me and Tally taking turns carrying Storm, town by town.

Eventually, the towns turned into houses acres apart from one another. Next to one of the houses, we saw a lot of birds. They couldn’t fly and were fat. My mouth watered just looking at them. I stalked through the overgrown lawn and soon one was right in front of me. Then a human came out of the door holding a gun. I yowled and fled. Tally ran too. An ear piercing bang filled the air. Tally had Storm clamped in her jaws and bolted ahead of me. I ram as fast as I could and another blast rang so loud, I thought my ears would fall off. The human then started to yell curses after us. Then I heard the door of his house slam closed and I slowed down a bit, slowly getting calmer.

We reached a red barn and went behind it to rest. “Oh boy, that was close” Tally panted.

“I know,” I agreed.

“Is there anywhere safe to be?” Storm asked shakily.

“Of course there is, honey,” Tally paused and then went on, “we just haven’t found it yet”

We walked and walked and walked, as usual. I was starting to lose hope that we would ever reach a place we can call home. Soon we found a small forest, but it stank of humans, so we wouldn’t live there, but maybe, if we traveled far enough into it, we would find a way out and maybe the other side wouldn’t be as full of humans as this place. We started to follow a path that was tramped down by generations of humans, but then trailed off as a less travel path appeared. It smelled like humans have been there recently, but we decided to go that way anyway. That was the biggest mistake of my life. I led the way, but suddenly, the path got unnaturally quiet. I froze because I scented humans very nearby. Tally couldn’t sent them because the sweet smell of Storm, whom she was holding, filled her nostrils. She passed me a little then looked back.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me.

“Can’t you smell humans very close by?” I asked

“No, can you”

“Yes” I answered.

She gently