here!"
    Clara's blood oozed into her eyes again.
    "I..." She coughed. "I... Can't"
    Aleu saw the blood and blinked. Then he heard his father struggling to get through Clara's tiny hole. More afraid of his father than the blood, Aleu scrambled to underneath Clara and pushed up with his legs. She came up surprisingly easy.
    Aleu set his vision straight ahead, and ran.
    Clara's cheek smacked against Aleu's bone, and it hurt, but she didn't care.
    She was getting close...
    Aleu could feel Clara's strength ebbing away. "Hang in there, Clara, we're almost there..."
    Clara fell off of Aleu.
    Aleu turned back around and nuzzled Clara. The pups were gathered around their mother. Suddenly, voices- human voices- drifted to Aleu's ears.
    "The she-wolf is hurt pretty bad, isn't she, Frank?"
    "Yup, but I think we can help her."
    "Grab your kit."
    "Help...!" Clara coughed.
    Aleu stood in front of Clara and faced the approaching humans. He let out his deepest, fiercest growl, and gnashed his teeth. One of the humans shied away.
    The other one was a lot braver. "Whoa, boy. We just want to help your friend, there. C'mon. Let us through."
    Aleu nipped at the closer human, but he pulled out some kind of dart and stuck it into Aleu's neck.
    Everything went dark.
    Sapphire and Quintin shied away and whimpered.
    "What did you do to Aleu?" Quintin wailed.
    "And what are you going to do to Mommy?" Sapphire whimpered.
    A third human approached cautiously.
    "It's okay, Phil. Steve tranqed the adult male. We have a pair of cubs, and a wounded adult female. Looks like she got in a fight."
    "I brought the kit. You need me to detain the cubs?"
    "Couldn't hurt. Pass me some disinfectant and bandages. Keep another tranq ready, just in case." The humans kneelled in front of Clara and began to wrap her in some white cloth.
    "Quintin," Sapphire whimpered. "I'm scared."
    "Don't worry," Quintin said slowly.  "I think they're helping us."
    Sapphire padded up to the humans.
    "Whoa! Frank, you are supposed to keep them separated from the mother."
    "Look, Phil. This one is pretty bad. We're gonna have to take them to the shelter."
    The humans gathered up the medical stuff. One of them carried the equipment, one carried Aleu, and the third carried Clara. The pups followed behind.
    Sapphire wailed for the humans' attention.
    The human carrying Aleu loaded him onto a waiting sled. "I'll get the cubs." He turned to Sapphira. Kneeling, he patted her on the head. "What is it?"
    Sapphire spun in circles.  She looked up with pleading eyes.  Her stomach growled loudly.
    "Hey Phil! What's keepin' ya?"
    "I think these pups are hungry. We have any jerky left?"
    One of the humans tossed a bag, out of it came dried meat.
    Quintin came over.  They looked at the jerky, lips wet, and tails wagging.  They yelped.
    The human fed the pups a bit of the jerky, then put some into his hand, clicked his tongue, and placed it on the sled. "Come on."
    Sapphire and Quintin chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed.  It had taken them a few minutes to get the jerky almost completely chewed.
    "This is so chewy!" Sapphire growled.
    "Right back atcha!" Quintin replied, giggling.
    The humans had started the sled as soon as Sapphire and Quintin had climbed in. Aleu was just waking from his drugged sleep, but he was still drowsy.
    "The floor is...spinning..."He groaned.
    Suddenly, Aleu collapsed onto Sapphire.
    "Gah!" She yelled.  "What's wrong?!"
    Aleu blinked at Sapphire. He couldn't quite recall her name...
    "I don't know if I feel so good."
    "Aleu!" Sapphire wailed.  "What did they do to you?!"
    Aleu wobbled to his feet, then fell down again. "Dunno..."He mumbled. Then, Aleu glanced over the side of the sled. "Oh...now I know I don't feel so good..." Aleu dry heaved. "Glad I didn't eat for the past week."
    "The humans are mean!" Sapphire cried.
    A building came into view. Aleu felt a sharp prick on his neck, and yelped. He saw a dart appear on Sapphire, and one on Quintin.
    "Ow..." He muttered.
    Sapphire and Quintin heaved a big sigh.
    Sapphire yawned.  "Quintin, I'm a little sleepy."
    Quintin nodded.  "Me too."
    They both slumped to the ground and fell asleep.

    Aleu awoke to see metal strips in front of him. A voice called," Hey, Fred! The one you overdosed is awake! Man, he don't look too good."
    Sapphire and Quintin woke up, and squinted there eyes.
    "Uh, I don't feel so good..." Sapphire moaned.
    Aleu was removed from his cage and muzzled, then taken to an examination room.
    A human's hand reached out towards the pups and picked Quintin up by the scruff.  He wailed and wailed, calling for his sister.
    Once in the Exam room, the human stuck a needle into Aleu. Almost immediately, Aleu felt a little better.
    "Sorry about the O.D., buddy, but you were pretty aggressive back there, and you slept that tranq off pretty quick."
    Sapphire struggled and restrained herself and jumped out of her cage, and ran as fast as she could, after Quintin.
    Aleu's vision began to clear, and he became aware of another mass in the room moving. He moved his head. There was a dog, sitting good-naturedly at the other end of the room.
    The human put Aleu on a machine. "Just a routine checkup, to make sure you're put together right." The machine came up with some digits, then the human went pale. He walked over to an intercom button and spoke into the mike. "I need another doctor in exam room A. We seem to have an incredibly thin wolf."
    The dog, now seeming curious, trotted over to read the digits. He also went a little pale. "Hey, buddy! How long has it been since you ate anything?"
Aleu spoke, hearing himself slur embarrassingly. "I dunno. How long was I out?"
    Quintin was taken into the examination room.  The slightest bit, he looked up, and saw Aleu.  Quintin coughed and put his head slowly on his paws.  He did not have energy.  At all.
    The dog tilted his head to one side as Quintin was brought in. "You were out about two days, because you were overdosed on tranquilizer fluid."
Aleu thought about that. "Then, it's been about a week. And two weeks before that. But that time, there was more than I usually scavenge in a whole month."
    "Aleu!" Quintin whispered, in a scratchy tone.  "Help!  I think somethings wrong!"
He started having trouble breathing.
    The dog's eyes went wide. "That's far too long between meals! Why don't you just hunt, like the rest of your species?"
    Aleu tried to fight back as the human moved him to the same table as Quintin, who appeared to be hyperventilating. "Quintin, deep breaths." To the dog, he said," Don't even get me started."
    "I can't!" Quintin coughed.  "My chest hurts!"
    Aleu was by now almost fully awake. "Try. These humans will help."
    The dog went over to the humans and tugged on one of them' pant leg. "The pup's hurting. Hurry!" He barked.
    The humans exchanged glances with each other.
    "What is it, boy?"
    The dog rushed over to the table with the humans behind him. They looked at Quintin, then at each other. One rushed out of the room, and the other got out a pointy glass-metal thing and used the pointy end to fill the glass section.
    Quintin's breath slowed, as well as his heart.  His eyes went up into his head.
    The human jabbed Quintin with the pointy tool, and the other returned with a machine. One cranked the handle, while the other places it against Quintin's heart. "Clear!" Said the human cranking.
    Quintin jerked when the cold, gel-covered thing shocked his heart.  His heart thumped, but went slower.
    Aleu panicked, seeing Quintin being zapped. He jumped off the table and slammed against the door, which had been left partially open in the rush. When it opened, he ran out of the room and went to find Clara.

    Clara woke up slowly.