"Hey! Sir!" Sego yelled to the elite guarding the entrance.

He turned around quickly, his jowls flopping in the light. "What?"

"I need to see the Shifter, I'm tired of this dog!" She yelled, referring to me.

"What was that?" The elite yelled, his voice echoing through the tube.

"I said—oh, never mind I'll just come down to you."

She gave me a wink, then slithered down the tube. Now all I had to do was sit and wait.

Nothing happened for a long time. It was quiet except for the flies buzzing around my ears, small talk from the elites guarding me, and the echoes of my scuffing feet.

I didn't know if this plan would work, but it was our only shot. If it didn't, there wouldn't be another chance to escape. The Shifter would kill me, and Sego would be locked up forever. I suppose the Guerro could start up a revolution of their own, but I wasn't sure. They weren't in great shape, and the last few days had worn them down to the bone. The Shifter would probably kill them anyways.

But I had to have hope. Hope was the only thing that could get us out of there alive.

I kicked around a rock to keep myself distracted. This lasted for a bit until I heard a sharp cry of pain from the camp, followed by an echo of barks and frightened yips.

"What's that?" The guard closest to me barked out.

The guard up front yelled something back, but I couldn't understand what he said. Something about the wendigo. Sego had let Snake out.

"Do they need help?" He asked, eager to do something besides sitting around.

The other guard told him to stay put and don't let me out. He sat down, sighing with frustration. He wouldn't be able to resist Sego's next trick.

I sat there patiently, waiting for another volley of barks. The guard near me stood up and whined. I couldn't see him well, but I could tell he was getting antsy.

A great roar came from a coyote down in the camp: "PRISION RIOT!"

The guard couldn't take it anymore. Before he bolted out of the cave, he turned around to yell at me. "Stay put! Or the Shifter's got your head!"

Eh, he wanted it anyways.

After the guard had stumbled out of the cave, barking with excitement, I slithered out as carefully and quietly as I could. There may be another guard down in the cave.

I quickly examined the area before stepping out. It looked clear besides the rotting pronghorn remains. I lightly stepped out of the tunnel and prodded to the mouth of the cave, the overcast light blinding me.

The somber deafness of the camp had been disturbed by Snake, now a ravaging beast. He hadn't quite transformed into a wendigo yet, but he was on his way. His body looked more lanky and bony than a normal coyote, and the skin on his face had tightened, as if it might rip at any moment. His movements were frantic and wild, attacking anything around him. The elites tried to contain him, but anyone who tried got bitten and scratched.

If that didn't cause enough distraction, Sego had started up a prison riot. All the coyotes who had been laying in the shade, waiting to go hunting, patrolling or just die, were now fighting. Their movements were slow and weak, but there was a lot more of them than elites.

I allowed myself a tiny smile. Everything was going according to the plan.

I scanned the chaos for either the Shifter or Sego. I spotted her sneaking away with Sarah, Negrita, Mountain and Verde. Good. They would come up with a battle strategy, and we could end this.

I was about to sneak down to them, but I saw something move in the corner of my eye. It was a black snake.

It striked at my foot, but I stepped back, growling. When it struck again, I grabbed it with my teeth. I could feel tiny bones crunching, and it went limp.

I spat out the snake. It tasted disgusting.

When I thought it was dead, it sprang at my leg again and sunk its teeth in.

"Ahh!" I roared, flicking it off. Fire soared up my leg, making it go numb. I lost my balance and collapsed in the corner.

The snake made a hissing laugh, and at that moment I knew who it was.

The Shifter morphed into a lizard, then a rat, then a hare, then finally a demonic coyote with ugly black eyes and matted, greasy fur.

"What a fool. Thinking I could be distracted by your girlfriend's little diversion." He hissed.

I grimaced with pain, the fire spreading to my chest.

The Shifter laughed at my weakness. "You think you can win! But you'll never defeat me. I'm as old as the nations who once lived here and twice as adaptable. And you're just a dumb coyote." He kicked sand into my eyes.

I winced again, blinking it out. "Why are you doing this?" I growled, my voice cracking.

"Why? Because of you! Because of what you've done to stop me from achieving greatness!" He hissed, prowling around me.

If I can stall him, I can keep him away from my friends. At least for a bit. I thought.

"No. I don't care about myself. I want to know why you're taking over the desert." I said, the venom making my legs shake. "There's nothing here but dust and bones."

He snarled. "You'd never understand. You don't know the powers that lie within the Sonoran desert. And you have a pack that cares about you, no matter how weak you are. I've always had to prove myself . . . prove that I was strong enough to be a shifter."

"Oh I've had to prove myself." I growled. "My pack never trusted me. I've always been an outsider."

"Well I was the runt! I was supposed to be the greatest shifter who ever lived, the one who would fulfill my father's legacy. But I could never live up to his perfect expectations! I wasn't as cunning or ruthless as my half siblings . . ." he turned away, clenching his paws. He paused for a moment, trembling in anger. "I would never be half the shifters they were. I had to get rid of them. Prove to my father that I was more powerful. More powerful than any demon or monster alive."

He turned around to look at me again. "So maybe we aren't so different, runt."

I spat on his paws. "I am nothing like you."

He snarled and shook his paw, then crouched down by me. I could smell his rancid breath. "I should kill you for that. But I'd rather watch you slowly die. That venom will spread to your body, making it spasm and contract painfully, but it won't affect your heart. Your blood will still be pumping, keeping you alive while your brain slowly dies . . . that headache should be coming on anytime now."

As soon as he said it, my skull started throbbing. The pain on my face made him cackle. The sound made my whole head ring. The light from the sky felt dark and heavy, like a stone crushing my skull. They slow contractions in my body were relentless, making my muscles freeze involuntarily.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a dark blob crawl into the cave. I must have been hallucinating, but I realized what it really was as it snuck up behind the Shifter and bit his neck. It was Rabbit.

The Shifter roared in confusion, whipping his head around to find the small attacker, but she held on tight. Flashes of light flew into the cave, turning it into a dancing spiderweb of shadows and colors. The spirits!

They yipped happily, distracting the Shifter and helping Rabbit stay on. One jumped into me, and a blissful feeling overcame the sharp tremors in my body, unlacing the venom from my fibers and giving me control again.

When the spirit seeped out of my fur, I felt refreshed and strong, like I could run a hundred miles. I stood up, ready to attack the Shifter, but I noticed the spirit hadn't gotten up. It wasn't glowing anymore. It had turned black, flopping lifelessly on the floor.

I panicked. "Ahh! No!" I tried to pick up the spirit, but it wouldn't budge.

The Shifter finally bucked Rabbit off his back, slamming her into the wall. He cursed as she crumpled to the floor.

I roared and jumped at his face, teeth flashing as I slammed him into the wall.

He was quick and strong, but I felt as powerful as the Great Spirits. I bit his face, his ears, his throat, and he clawed at my eyes.

"How?!" He yelled as he swatted my face. "You're supposed to be dead!"

Black and red blood flew through through the air, spinning with slobber and ferocious screams. I was able to pin him for a moment, but he kicked up against my stomach, throwing me to the edge of the cliff.

The Shifter pinned my throat against the ledge, cackling with glee. "This is the end, runt!"

He was about to bite my neck when Rabbit plowed into him. She cried out as they tumbled over the edge.

I turned onto my stomach quickly and backed up, my gut lurching as my toes slipped on gritty sand. I found a foot hold and caught myself, watching the Shifter and Rabbit fall into the crowd of fighting coyotes.

The Shifter got up quickly, snarling with pain and frustration, but he got lost in the flurry of movement. Rabbit was splayed out on the ground, her tiny body twisted at an awkward angle . . .

"Rabbit!" I called out.

I climbed down the rocks as quickly as I could, but it was trickier than climbing up them. When I was close enough to the ground I jumped off and ran to her, the spirits following me.

She was trampled by a pair of sparring coyotes, then another pair slammed into me, leaving blood and slobber on my flank. I was whisked away in the battle, but I could see Sarah's black and white tail slip behind the rock formation.

"Take care of her, okay?" I yelled out to the spirits. They seemed to understand me, because they wove through the battle and found the place she fell.

After making sure she would be okay, I ran behind the rock formation. I expected Sarah and the others to be discussing a battle plan, but I when I heard her sharp screams I sprinted.

"GET OFF ME YOU SON OF A—"

"Sarah!" I yipped.

That dark gray Fuego coyote was biting her scruff, holding her down to the ground. She smelled like blood.

I roared ferociously, jumped on him, grabbed his face and pulled him to the ground. I tasted blood and dirty fur.

I bit and clawed at him, seeing nothing but red. My rage blinded me of his screams and the tears running down his broken face.

"AHHHH! STOP STOP!" He screamed, his voice sounding more like a rabbit's than a coyote's.

"Astor, stop!" Sarah yipped, pushing me away.

I tumbled away, feeling dizzy and panting hard. My blood-caked paws left prints on the ground.

The coyote moaned, but he didn't get up.

Sarah looked up at me, her eyes blazing with fear and disbelief. "Astor . . ."

"I . . . I'm tired of these Fuego whores." I panted between breaths.

She looked back at him, then at me. "Thank you . . . but I've never seen you like that. You looked so scary . . ."

I looked down at my paws, shaking with adrenaline. I nodded. "He got what he deserved. If he wanted a female, he should have earned her."

She nodded, still in shock. "Let's . . . let's go find everyone. We got ambushed and were separated."

I nodded. As we surged back into the fight, I looked back on the bleeding coyote. I should have felt some kind of remorse, but I didn't.