Sally's POV

It lunged.

I felt a weight on my chest making it difficult to breath, and I open my eyes to a growling wolf in my face, a big one in fact. I got my pistol and shot it's ear. It got off me as it reared in pain I got up and saw that even Ellen and Joshua were having trouble with them.

The biggest wolf lunged on me again and was on my back. I yelled in pain as it's claws scraped my back and it's weight pushed me into the ground. I searched for my pistol, and found it. I reach for it, but I couldn't get a grip on it. It was just out of reach. I felt pain sear through my shoulder, as the wolf bit into my skin. "Gaaah!" I yelped and tried to squirm out of it's weight and grasp. No success.

I looked around, Joshua and Ellen were beat up to the core, especially Joshua. They lay motionless and I closed my eyes. 'This is all just a bad dream... Wake up!' I thought to myself, knowing it wasn't, at all, a dream. After what seemed like the death of me,'BAM!' I heard a gunshot sound from the distance. And suddenly the weight added on me. "Oof!" I heard whimpers from the wolves except from the one on me. And then another round of shots fired.

'BAM, BAM BAM BAM BAM!' The weight was not removed, but no other wolf lingered at the scene. I tried to get up, trying to slide out of the mass of fur's weight. Much to my dismay, I couldn't move my shoulder, as it was severely injured.

I look around, to see the wolf on top of me dead, with a fatal wound on it's forehead. "Who.." I heard quick footsteps and a bucket was dropped. It was Rea who saved us! And she's just learned how to fire a gun!

"You alright, Sal?" Rea asked me. I replied with glee, not forgetting the pain on my shoulder, "Thanks for saving us! You really fire that gun well!"

Rea's POV

"Thanks for saving us! You really fire that gun well!" She thanked me. But it wasn't me who saved them. I look back at her and said, "It wasn't me who saved you guys. You should be thanking Connor. He's your savior." Sal looked at me with a surprised face. Okay then. Connor walked up to Ellen, and carried her bridal style. Although the redhead was still unconscious. Sad, I would've liked seeing her reaction.

I half ran, half walked up to Joshua's limp body and put my hand on his chest. It pulsed, and his breaths came shallow. I called Dan over to help me with Joshua. Sal was being supported by Jason. Or should I say, being carried? Either way, we got to the hideout. It was very quiet the whole way, and Joshua didn't even wake up or anything. 

Once we got them treated, we all waited for Ellen and Joshua to wake. Ellen woke up some 3 hours later. But Joshua was still knocked out. I got very worried, and stayed with him the whole time he was asleep. The rest went to hunt.

When what seemed like forever continued, I drifted into a deep sleep, my head rested on top of my arms beside him. At least it was peaceful.

Joshua's POV

I awoke to see the dim ceiling of the clinic area, and I feel something soft under me, knowingly a bed . When did I get here? A better question.. How  did I get here? I sat up and saw Rea, asleep beside me. I look at myself. I was covered in gauge, with a bit of blood staining through it. Should I wake Rea up? I mean, she'd be worried if she found me missing. So I did.

"Wha– JOSHUA!" She exclaimed in joy. And she hugged me afterwards. "Ahh!" I hissed to myself, as a shoulder wound was stinging. "I-I'm sorry!" She apologized when she stopped hugging me after she heard me. Well, she certainly does care about me, huh? If I'm gonna be a MAN, I know what to do. 

Never play with a young girl's heart. She only has one, and if you break it, she'd be fixing it by herself. And when she's done, she'll be moving on, knowing that you probably hate her. And if you don't want that, better keep the heart whole and not shatter it. Hold on, why am I even talking about this? Connor deserves her more.. Wait.. What? Look at me, Mr. Know-it-all on love.

"Hey, Rea." I said to the nervous Rea beside me. "Yeah?" Rea asked back. "Where are the others?" "Most likely out hunting together. I told everyone I'd stay behind with you. You had me worried and I didn't want anyone to come kill you." Oh. So they left us here then. I shrugged it off and stood as I got off the comfort of the bed. I stumbled a few times when I tried walking, but Rea at least was there to support me. By the time we got out of the room, I didn't need any help from her. It's then that I noticed that an eerie silence has filled the tunnels, and only the echo of our very footsteps and every creaking door was heard. Rea clutched on to my arm, not forgetting it was the injured limb.

It was pretty dark, barely could see a thing. Rea breathed hard at the darkness. Is she afraid of the dark? Pfft. I walked down the dark tunnel and she was muttering as she clutched on to my arm, "There's nothing there. There's nothing there."

There was a very faint glow at the end of the tunnel. It's already dark out, huh? We emerged out of the tunnel, just to see the others coming back with a whole lot of rabbits. I could see Russet trotting with three rabbits dangling from his jaws. Or is it a she? The dog dropped the prey and ran over to Rea, barking. "Hey, girl! How was it? Did you like hunting with them?" Rea said to the apparently female dog, with a voice that you make when you talk to babies. Heh.

I looked at Ellen, she seemed, like nothing at all hurt her. The only evidence there was a few bandages covering her palm until her elbow, and a few blots of ointment on her forehead where scratches made themselves through. Sal had a few bandages too. Well, I wouldn't say few, rather a lot, especially on a wounded shoulder. The rest didn't have any, as they weren't involved in that attack. Wait... Who saved us then? I asked Rea, and she replied withna straight tone,"It was Connor. He heard growling, snarling and yapping in a distance and came to check it out, found out you guys were being attacked." It was Connor? But he's just new here.. I looked at Connor. Connor was staring straight back at me, as if he was expecting me to ask him something. 

"How old are you?" I asked him.

"12. Why?" 

Okay, so apparently, Connor's not 13. I continued to talk to him after the thought crossed my mind.

"Nothing. It's just you have very good experience with a gun."

"Thanks. I learnt it when I was just 3."

3? What! How! Huh? He learnt it when he was freaking 3! 3 freaking years old! Should I stop freaking out? I mean, it's not like me to do that. Rea's right about me being silent and all. I guess I can't be all that controlled of myself.

We all went back in and ate together. We told stories of where we came from. Dan and Rea apparently aren't siblings, but they were in fact very close. They came from the village, the only village on this mass of land. I told where Ellen and I came from, the 1st state, most civilized among all 6 states.

Sal and Jason came from 3rd state. The upper Middle class. Connor apparently came from 1st state too. But it doesn't explain how he got all that experience in gunning. 3 years old? I mean, even I wasn't able to learn how to use my crossbow until I was 9! His father, maybe? Or he had an older sibling? Either way, it feels like he's got more up his sleeves. It has been nagging me for so long to actually see who he really is. I guess I'll just have to see more to the future of being with him.

——————————————————————————————————————

A/n

Me: Wew, that took long .3.

「Word Count: 1429 (excluding commentary)」

I still have no cover. I can't do a good one since I'm lazy at backgrounds. ;-;

I'm LITERALLY running out of ideas. I've got the main point of the story, (which is a secret to even Ysha-ne.) but I need to make more events so that it won't be short and boring. 

Sorry again!

-Chloe