Levi and Judah were throwing stones at the pack of wolves that were attacking part of the flock. They were both young and athletic.  Simeon and Reuben were hitting the wolves wherever they could with their staffs.  The wolves tried to attack but stopped when their alfa was killed.  The animals howled and left the area, tired and bloody.

"Come.  Gather the sheep!" Reuben ordered.  The sheep we're scared and scattered.  Some of them were dead, laying on the grass, bleeding themselves out.  The brothers gathered all of the sheep, which were over more than 200 of them.  How many exactly?  They didn't know.  Many sheep were dead n ow, some of them with chunks of meat off them.  Simeon noticed that one of them was wounded, but not as badly as the others.  He carried the bloody lamb towards a corner and Reuben walked towards him.  He knelt down next to him.  

"You think he can live?"  Reuben asked Simeon.  Simeon took out some cloth from his wool bag.

"I don't know.  Maybe," Simeon said.  Simeon pressed the cloth on the lambs' wounds and the lamb wailed in pain.  

"It's okay, buddy," Simeon said.  Reuben patted his brother on the shoulder. 

"Okay, I'm going to tell the others to bring over here any sheep that's wounded," Reuben said.  Simeon gave him a brief nod, but his attention was on the lamb.  Reuben walked around the area and saw that his brothers were either gathering the sheep together or placing them in a pile where they would be left to die.

"Brothers, if you have a lamb that you believe may survive, bring her here.  Simeon is tending to their wounds," Reuben said.

"Reuben, it's not worth it.  I think they're not going to make it," Issachar, one of the brothers said.

"I don't care what you think.  If it's not badly wounded, bring it here," Reuben told him.

"Reuben it's a walk that takes 14 days just to get to Hebron.  The wounded ones, just aren't going to make it,"Issachar insisted.  Reuben walked towards him and grabbed his dark brown oat over his shoulder.  He frowned at him and pulled him near to his face.

"Reuben! Issachar complained, but Reuben interrupted him.

"You're going to do as I say or I'll tell father that you left wounded and alive sheep here,"Reuben warned.

"Get off me!  You're not my father," Issachar demanded.

"Hey, he's the oldest! Show some respect,"Judah another brother said.  

"Mind your business," Issachar complained.

"Shut up! He's the oldest," Levi, another brother who was next to Judah said.   Judah gazed at Levi and Levi gazed back, but then the both of them returned their sights over at Issachar who was being an annoying sibling.  Issachar, noticing that Simeon and the others were also staring at him, he backed down and gave his eldest brother a simple nod.  

"Yes," Issachar said and he went to the pile of sheep to see if any of them were alive.  

"What's the matter with him?" Simeon asked Reuben. 

"Who knows," Reuben. 

"Who knows," Reuben said still wearing a frown over his face.  He didn't like Issachar's disrespect, especially in front of his other brothers.  He didn't know why Issachar dared to defy him in front of his other brothers, but he suspected that Joseph was to blame.  He didn't say his thoughts out loud, but he thought about it.

He walked around the area to gather more sheep without arguing with anybody else.  A few sheep were brought to Simeon and placed next to the one he had tended to.  Simeon continued to see each wound and did his best to cover them and add pressure to the wounds to stop the bleeding.

Reuben walked towards Simeon as Issachar helped his brothers without complaining about it.  Reuben scowled at his brother Issachar, but only instantly.  He wanted to know how Simeon was doing with the sheep. 

"Well, brother?  How are they?" Reuben asked him.

"I think they're going to need to rest here a few days and drink some water.  Those five over there had some internal organs damaged.  I don't think they're going to make it," Simeon said.  

"Okay, but you believe that the rest of them will make it?" Reuben asked him.

"If they rest properly, they will make it, but they need rest and water," Simeon said.

"For how long?" Reuben asked him.

"At least four days," Simeon said.

"Four days?" Reuben asked both annoyed and surprised.

"Yes, at least.  Maybe five," Simeon replied.

"I don't think we can wait here for so long.   The sheep are already fat and grown.  We need to send them back to the father.  We also have the problem that Joseph was bitten by one of those wolves.  He must be on his way to tell father that we fell asleep on the job," Reuben said.

"That idiot!"  Simeon complained.  

"Don't say that.  He's our brother," Reuben said. 

"I'm sorry, but... he's so... annoying.  He thinks he's better than us," Simeon complained.  For the first time someone had said out loud what he was already thinking about his brother. 

"Is that what you think?" Reuben asked him.

"I don't mean to be hateful, but father always gives him the biggest meat from the table, the best clothes and the most attention.  I don't hate him, but it's annoying.  Father is always laughing at his stupid jokes," Simeon said. 

"His jokes aren't that stupid," Reuben replied. 

"Are you kidding?  Levi tells better jokes, yet father always chooses to listen to Joseph's jokes first," Simeon complained.

"That's true, but I'm not sure if that's really Joseph's fault," Reuben replied. 

"Are you kidding?  It is absolutely his fault.  He also has the best animals.  The donkeys he has are the best.  It's annoying," Simeon remarked. 

"Maybe you're right.  Maybe father has spoiled that kid," Reuben admitted for the first time.

"Completely.  Joseph thinks he's better than us," Simeon said.  Reuben decided to shut his mouth and not talk about the issue anymore, but it seemed that at least one of his brothers felt the same way about Joseph.  Reuben didn't want to hate his brother, but sometimes he just couldn't avoid it.  He decided however to brush away those emotions.  He walked away to see what his other brothers were doing.  Dan and Neftali were sitting one in front of the other.  He noticed that Neftali was rubbing two sticks together and that Dan was looking at him. 

"So, you'll do the fire here?" Reuben asked them.  Neftali didn't look up.  He was pressing the wooden stick and turning it in circles to make the fire, but Dan replied.

"That's right.  We're burning the dead sheep," Dan said. 

"I think you should make the fire closer to the pile," Reuben said.

"They're walking back and forth Reuben.  We'll just make it here and then burn them over there,' Dan replied.  He pushed his long, straight hair back.  Dan looked a lot like his mother, Bilha.  Reuben couldn't help, but to think of her.  She was so beautiful.  Dan's hair looked exactly like hers', long, soft and silky.  

"Isn't that more work?" Reuben asked him trying to focus on them and not on the memory of Bilha.  Her hair, her neck, her jaw, her lips... he shook his head forcing himself to forget about her.  

"Yeah, it is, but what can we do about it?" Dan said.

"It's fine, Reuben, " Neftali replied without looking at him.  Reuben and Neftali's relationship wasn't a very good one.  Reuben avoided confrontations with Neftali as much as possible. 

"Okay," Reuben answered and left.  Dan looked at Neftali and Neftali briefly gazed at Dan.  Then he returned to focus on his wooden sticks.  After rubbing and rubbing them together, small patches of smoke formed next to the sticks.

"Finally!" Dan said.

"Shut up and help me," Neftali said.  Dan gently blew on the branches and also gave brief stops allowing the fire to breathe.  Then, suddenly, the fire grew.

"Yes!" Neftali said. 

"You are the master of fires," Dan said and Neftali laughed.

"Yeah.  Hey, what happened?" Neftali asked Dan.  He noticed that his beige colored coat was wet in red.

"Oh... nothing," Dan said trying to brush off the question, but Neftali insisted.

"I think you're bleeding," Neftali told him, but Dan kept brushing off the subject and lifted his hand. 

"It's nothing," Dan replied.

"Have Simeon taken a look at it?" Neftali said, but Simeon shook his hand.  Neftali insisted. 

"Go or I'm never talking to you again," Neftali said.  Dan rolled his eyes and walked towards Simeon to have his knee checked.

"I'm assuming that we're not burning them all,"Neftali shouted at his brother Reuben who was with Levi and Judah.

"We are keeping five to eat.  We might as well have a great feast for ourselves.  Burn the rest," Reuben shouted back.

"Where are they?  Have they been separated yet?" Neftali shouted.

"No, Gad and Asher.  Separate five sheep for us from the pile.  We are feasting on those," Reuben said.  Gad and Asher walked towards the mountain of dead sheep and separated five from the rest.  

"Like how many survived?" Asher asked him as they began to drag the sheep and separate them like eight feet away from the mountain of dead herd.

"I don't know, but father's going to be angry.  There's like 20 dead sheep here, at least," Gad said.

"Do you think he's going to take away our allowance?" Gad asked.

"Oh, definitely," Asher replied. 

"Why didn't Joseph wake us up on time?  It's his fault," Gad said.

"That kid is supposedly the best shepherd according to father, but he couldn't even wake us up on time," Asher said.

"I heard he was bitten," Gad said.

"Na.  He was probably scratched.  He'd do anything to leave. He's so lazy," Asher said.

"Maybe he was bored, but let's be honest, Joseph isn't lazy.  He actually does work more than us," Gad said.

"Speak for yourself.  I work enough," Asher replied defensively. 

"Come on, you know Joseph works, but I definitely believe that he was bored," Gad said.

"Yeah, well, he should have woke us all up.  He didn't wake us up," Asher remarked.  After they dragged the five dead sheep out of the pile of the other dead sheep from the created mountain of the herd, they told Reuben and showed him the sheep. 

"Excellent.  Neftali, the mountain of her is all yours," Reuben shouted.  Neftali had already made a big fire, but he decided to grab a branch with a few dry leaves.  He then, tossed the dry leaves in the fire and as soon as the leaves lit up, he walked towards the sheep with as much balance as possible not wanting the fire to burn out.  Very gently he stretched out his hand and began to burn the wool of the sheep on the fire, to bring it to the mountain of sheep.  The wool lit up and he then, slowly, placed it on the other sheep's wool to burn the mountain of dead herd.  The fire grew intensely, surrounded by smoke.  

"Wow, Look at all of that lost wool.  Father's going to be angry," Judah remarked.  Neftali shrugged his shoulders.  

"You don't care?" Judah asked Neftali.

"No.  It's not that I don't care, it's that there's nothing I can do about it," Neftali replied.

"We are in so much trouble," Judah remarked.

"Okay, we're going to camp here for the night.  The wolves will not return because we have built an enormous fire," Reuben said.

"But what about the wounded animals?  Don't you think the wolves might attack them?" Neftali asked. 

"Yes, you're right.  I'm up for suggestions," Reuben said. 

"Maybe we should build a shelter for them," Issachar replied.  Reuben looked at Issachar with approval.  Issachar had obviously changed his attitude. 

"Good.  Do it," Reuben told Issachar.  This time Issachar didn't complain.  He simply gave him a brief nod and left.  

"I'll help him," said Gad. 

"Me too," said Asher. 

"Okay, go," Reuben remarked.  Simeon was mending Dan's knee. 

"Dan, what happened?" Reuben asked him.

"God bit by a wolf," Dan replied.

"And you said it was nothing serious?" Neftali remarked.

"There was too much going on," Dan replied, but Reuben scowled him.

"You should have told us.  You're lucky that Simeon has herbs and wrappings left.  If he would have used the whole thing on the herd, you would have had a serious situation with that knee.  Your leg could have been amputated,"Reuben said.

"My leg won't need to be amputated, will it?" Dan now asked Simeon feeling some sort of paranoia.  

"No.  I was able to clean the infection Dan, but both Reuben and Neftali are right.  You should have showed it to me first," Simeon said. 

Dan walked away with a slow pace.  Barely limping, he reached a huge stone and there he sat.

Gad, Asher and Issachar went to get materials to build a shelter for the wounded animals.

Neftali began to cut off one of the sheep's wool.  Reuben went towards him to help him cut the wool.  

"Well, at least we get to eat some excellent meat,"Neftali said and Reuben gave him a brief nod, but he didn't reply.  He knew that as soon as he reached to Hebron he was going to disappoint his father.