Wrong place, wrong time

TW: mention of blood, violence, mild language.

"Meet me behind the red barn, half-past 9."

Was what the note Ellie was holding saying, a piece of paper she found on the edge of her bedroom's windom this afternoon. It was not signed by anyone, but the person did have a good handwriting, whoever it was.

She did not tell anyone she found it, they were all preparing a fire outside to sleep under the starlights tonight. Ellie was unsure about this, what if it was a trap? Well, Phil did tell them that people are out every day to make sure no humans approach this place, so there was no reasons to worry right?

Right.

The fox girl was making her way behind the big red barn, where no one was since everyone was kind of preparing the fire altogether or would not sleep in a barn because there are animals in there.

There was no reasons to be stressed out, if anything happens, she can run away and scream if necessary. It's probably someone shy that wanted to get to know her or something like that.

Passing by the building, a few branches cracking under her feet, she got to the entrance of the little village, where they came in the first day. It was mainly the end of the very vast forest behind the beach. Ellie walks a few meters more and then decides to stop, waiting for the person to show themselves.

It was so calm, she swore she could hear the silence around her. Wind, birds, water, distant laughter, leaves falling. It was too silent. Maybe it was just because her ears were out, that she could hear more than usually and had to get used to it. Nothing to worry about.

The sun was slowly moving down, leaving an orange and pink fade into the sky, the forest becoming darker through the minutes.

Finally, she heard footsteps, they were heavy and strangely rythmed. Ellie looks around her to find the person coming towards her, but she couldn't see anyone. Even with that, she could still hear the footsteps.

"Hybrids shouldn't be outside the red line, especially when your head is wanted for reward." A masculine, but not too low voice said behind her, which sent shivers down her spine. This was a joke right?

The man standing behind her grabbed her shoulders to spin her towards him. Ellie was facing a taller person, wearing an iron armour and helmet, hiding most of his face. Fear spread around her body like running water as her eyes widen. A metallic sound was heard from below, she recognizes it quick enough to step away and fall to the ground, avoiding being slayed by the man's sword. He was part of the human army, according to the L'Manberg flag draw on his shoulder.

The young girl then tries to crawl backwards, away from the one trying to kill her. As she managed to move her arms in motion to go back, a strong pain came from her arm, which made her let out a groan in pain. Ellie's eyes shifted to her arms, to see that she was injured around the shoulder.

It all went so quickly, as soon as she heard the footsteps again, she tried to ignore the pain to keep moving back, away from him.

The soldier bends down to pick the girl up by the arm, making her squeal in pain. He had no problem lifting her back up on her feet, tightening his grip on her arm so she wouldn't go away.

"Let's try to not make this more difficult, alright?" The man told her as she was struggling to get out of his grip.

Close by to her waist, she felt something very cold against her bare skin, which made her quickly look down to see that he was holding his sword against her. Panic was taking over her, heart racing like never.

May it seem ridiculous when told, but it saved her. Ellie did not waste anymore seconds as she bent down her head to pierce her teeth into the man wrist, that luckily was out enough for her to bite it. A groan escaped him as he lets go of her arm, which gave her enough time to kick him right in the jaw, sending away his iron helmet.

A light sigh of relief escaped her as she looked at him, putting his hand to his face. There was no time to waste. The fox girl turns around to start running away, putting a hand over her bleeding arm. She could feel the sweat on her forehead, trying to run, but it did not work.

A strong hand grabbed her shoulder once more, pulling her to face backwards, her back soon pinned against a tree. A thin blade pierced into her waist, which made her slightly scream in pain, feeling the tears come up to her eyes as she looks up to face the man. He looked mad, upset, a bit of blood was coming out of his nose. She clenched her jaw under the pain, the blood already purring out of her while he kept the blade in.

Ellie did not know how to feel, maybe this was her very last instants alive, but she had no words. She was in pain, wondering if he was the one who wrote the note.

Further away, in the middle of a large crowd of joyful people chatting together all around a fire, someone abruptly got up from his seat, his ears standing straight, as a strong feeling of distress was coming from far away. Wilbur looks around to see that Ellie was the only one not present. Soon enough, the british man was running towards the direction his heart was saying, leaving his friends in confusion, as Tommy and George followed him like they could.

With a shaking breathe, Ellie tried to look away from the man's face, to observe the forest around them. She always loved nature, it was just beautiful. Maybe, she had to embrace that it was her time now. To say goodbye and accept her fate.

As her body was slowly falling to ease, something purple flew out of no where and hit the man right in the face. Making him back away, bringing a hand to his face with a moan of pain.
"Sapnap! What the hell man!" Another masculine voice said, coming from her right.

The man looked to the left to see another boy, with light long curly brown hair coming his way, picking back up his purple booklet on the way. He seemed mad, even close to furious.

"Karl?" The soldier spoke out as he looked at his childhood friend in disbelief.

The bit smaller boy stepped in front of the fox girl with a clenched fist, staring right in the eyes of his old friend. "I thought you promised never to fight against hybrids! What the fuck is wrong with you Sap'!" Karl exclaims, disappointed and confused by his friend's acts.
"I- I- Karl, look, I didn't have a choice-" Sapnap struggled to say as someone ran to him quickly to pin him roughly to the ground.

The soldier was soon punched in the face by an angry man, making sure to hold him on the ground so he couldn't move.
"Wil! Stop it, this is useless!" Tommy called out to his wolf friend as he tried to pull him away from the human soldier.

On the other hand, George noticed the bleeding girl sitting against the tree, so he quickly took manners in his hands to install bandages over her wounds, so he would be able to transport her easilly to the village and heal her.

Karl helped Tommy pull Wilbur away from Sapnap, with a bit of struggle. Breathing hard and loudly, the wolf hybrid was staring at the soldier with daggers in his eyes.
"Sap? What are you doing here?" Tommy said when he finally recognized one of the soldiers he worked with.

"I was sent to kill the girl, I swear I had no choice, Dream's tracking down hybrids all around the country that aren't outside the red lines" The man explained as he was sitting on the ground, a hand holding his painful cheek.

"There's no reasons to trust him!" Wilbur called out as he was back on his feet. "He tried to kill Ellie, there's no way we're letting him leave." He adds.

Next to them, George was picking up the injured girl in his arms, with the help of Karl, slowly making their way towards the village to take care of her. On the other hand, Wilbur uses the rest of his energy boost to knock-out the soldier with his elbow. With the help of Tommy, they transported the body of the man to the village so they could lock him up in the iron cabin so he wouldn't hurt anyone.

Once the girl finally found some rest, Karl sat on his stool, looking at George who was putting away his booklet and potions that he used to heal Ellie. The owl man turns his glance towards the boy, curious.
"Why were you there with them?" He asked him, on a lower tone.

Karl looked over at Ellie for an instant, then down to his purple notebook. He sighs and says;
"I was supposed to meet-up with her, but I arrived late"