THE STOLEN PIECE

CHAPTER 34 - CHAOS

GABRIEL

This situation was way more dangerous. I heard the roar again and I Knew I was right…

    -”TWINS RUN!”

    -”What I can’t see?”

    -”Run where?”

I saw Gur… still limping and Fang, trying to take dried blood from his eyes. Then I saw them vibrating and shifting back… “What’s going on Zeus?” “We are running towards the twins, and let them ride us.” “What’s happening?” “ WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!” Zeus was already running towards the twins. They quickly grabbed Zeus' fur and jumped on his back. The extra weight didn’t slow Zeus down… He was running for our life. Then I tried to look back and saw the cream wolf running towards the smoke. Is he crazy? “Gabe! I need your eyes on the road!” Then I felt it… and intense heat, I looked back and saw the clearing where we were seconds ago covered in fire. “Zeus we need to go, FASTER!” “That’s what I am trying to do! But the twins pulling my fur isn’t helping me!” I saw the flames approaching us. “Faster Zeus we need to go faster!”

    -LOOK AT THOSE FLAMES!

Daniel’s screams were full of terror. Then I felt a pull and I felt Zeus energy-draining… “Let me help!” Just like that, I started feeling the earth between our paws and the wind through our mane. I started running as fast as I could… putting all my energy out there. I crossed the road and heard some tires squealing against the road but I didn’t stop, I kept running. Then I saw a small river and instantly jumped towards it. Zeus' body was heavy and it was draining me to keep it floating. “Let’s shift back!” I started shifting back… It was painful. I was drowning and the pain of the shift wasn’t helping. The cold of the water did help to relieve the burns on my legs. As soon as I could move I started swimming into the edge of the river, where the twins were already laying on the ground. I crawled and laid next to them.

    -That was awesome…

    -Shut up Dave! You couldn’t see anything... We almost died!

    -But we didn’t!

I was just too exhausted to join the conversation, I could feel my chest burning with every breath I took. My tongue was feeling awful… like when you eat something so sour that leaves an awful feeling. My legs hurt… I hadn't looked at them but I knew I had to have some burns on them. I looked at Daniel, and his leg did have a big s***h… It wasn’t bleeding but I knew he had to get some stitches. David’s face was now clean and it had a huge wound on his left eyebrow and down to his cheek… That was still bleeding. “Zeus?” “I hate water… But I’m fine.” I sat and saw the huge curtain of smoke. Well, this is going to alert Maria… they will find us… Then I heard an annoying noise… followed by human voices. We need to move, we can’t let humans find us.

    -We need to go.

    -Where?

    -We can’t go anywhere we are naked!

-I don’t care… We are moving.

I stood up and started walking.

-Aren’t they gonna find us by following our footprints?

I looked down and saw the footprints. “What if we shift?” “So that they follow huge lion tracks… No thanks.” Then I looked at the river. “No…” “Yes we are getting there!” I ran into the river and felt the pain when the water covered my legs.

    -Come on we are swimming until I… Think of something.  

    -I don’t…

I didn’t have time for Daniel’s answer.

    -NOW!

I felt the heat and I knew my ears must be showing. Both entered and started swimming. We kept swimming for a while… Then I saw many rocks on the edge… “If we stand there we are not going to leave footprints.” “Finally, just take us out of the water, please!” I reached the shore and proved that the footprints will go unnoticed by the humans. When I was sure of it I started walking to some big rocks and climbed up, now that we were far from the river and all of the noise that the fire attracted I sat and laid my back on a tree trunk. The twins joined me, one on each side.

    -Now what?

Daniel said not very pleased.

    -Now we wait.

    -Wait for what?

He was getting on my nerves, but I tried to keep my cool… Zeus was already irritated and I was just so tired.

    -We wait for the rest to find us.

    -What rest? The human and two sick pack members?

That was it, Zeus snapped and with my exhaustion, I couldn’t stop him… I roared and shifted. Zeus had Daniel pinned down to the ground, our fangs were almost on his face. Daniel had a look of shock… The smell of panic started to flow from him. I heard David standing, but as soon as Zeus looked at him he knelt. Then Zeus looked again at Daniel. I saw some tears fall from Daniel's eyes. Zeus roared and just as he ended the roar he stepped off Daniel. Daniel didn’t move, he stayed there lying on the ground. David was also still in the same position. I couldn't shift back. Zeus was beyond mad and I was too tired to try to take control back. Zeus was passing around. I looked down and he was leaving footprints. “We need to erase those…” “Not now!” He was still mad. I looked at Daniel… still on the ground, but David was sitting, so he must be better… right?

    -”David, I need you to look for some branches or something to erase Zeus' footprints… I will try to keep him steady but erase the footprints. We can’t risk leaving and someone finding them.”

He nodded and disappeared thru the forest. “Zeus just lay down. We need to relax. We are not helping anyone with this attitude. Your point was already proven, Daniel understands... He didn’t even shift…” “Of course he didn’t have Gur threatened! If he dared to shift we would have fought him, no mercy… He could have been exiled… so it was a smart move he decided not to risk it.” “WHAT? You threaten to exile Gur and Daniel?” “He needed boundaries.” “But not like that!” “Gabe, you are just pissing me off. Do you want me to stay calm or  are you just pushing my patience?” I was still mad about it… but he was right. We needed to stay calm, so we could shift back… I heard noises and then saw David running with a huge branch. He started sweeping the ground erasing Zeus’ footprints, then he started also erasing our footprints. I could see David looking at us… now and then.

    -“Is everything alright David? Do you want to say something?”

    -Yes… just… how much time do you think they will take to find us?

He wasn’t saying it as Daniel did, he seemed more afraid and unsure… He wasn’t cooky, just genuinely concerned… And I wasn’t going to lie, I was also concerned We were now really far from where we were, how would Maria and the rest could get to us, if we even erased the footprints and swam here. “We can go to them.” “Naked? I don’t think so, Zeus.” “What? Haven't you seen us… We are a magnificent specimen.” “I know we are but…” “You are still a shy boy.”

    -”I am not sure.”

Daniel rolled to the side… Zeus noticed and let out a low growl, and Daniel stopped moving. David lowered his head and continued brushing the ground with the branch. I looked up, the sun was already on the west side… so it was already late. Maybe we could try and get near the city? Could the people still be at the fire? I saw up and the smoke was still visible… So the idea to go back was out, if there was still a fire people probably are still there. “It's not that bad, he can hunt something, and…” “I left Crystal alone again today…” “What?” “That I missed work.” “AND?” “I want to prove that I can keep a job!” “The job can go to hell! We found the wolf that night!” Zeus was right… I couldn’t lose sight of our mission… We are getting our brother back and now we have a real link to him… Well kind of.

    -I’m hungry.

David’s voice made me go back to our situation.

    -Hunt.

I heard Daniel say.

    -I want Chinese food or at least bbq chips.

    -Then go and look for a Chinese restaurant or a potato chip tree in the middle of nowhere.

    -I’m not dumb I know chips don’t grow on trees.

I felt Zeus starting to get annoyed… “Can we shift now? before your mood gets worse?” “I can try..” I felt Zeus' energy getting calmer… I pushed myself and started feeling the heat spreading and my bones started to deform. It was painful, shifting was not a pleasant experience for me lately… Finally, I was back on human form.

    -Can we go now?

    -We are still naked Dave, stop complaining and sit down.

Daniel’s voice was annoying… he was still lying on the ground and looking in the opposite direction of where I was. 

    -We could try to get closer… and see if we found Maria and the rest looking for us.

    -At least they are looking for us… You told them we were near the fields so we should try to go back near that area at least.

    -I was supposed to tell them?

    -Well they can’t mind link so how would they know we are missing?

I didn’t think about that… Great so there’s no one looking for us.

    -...your phone?

    -What?

    -You had your phone with you? Where did you leave it?

I tried to remember…  “We shifted near the entrance to the forest.”

    -It should be near the road, at the entrance.

    -We could go get it?

    -Or we could go and get our clothes and our phones. We hid them well before we shifted.

    -Thatglared! I forgot about that Daniel!

    -Then let's give that a go.

    -What about waiting for the rest to find us.

I looked at Daniel… He lowered his head and inclined his head a bit to the left… I knew he was being submissive so Zeus wasn’t as mad for his comment.

    -Let’s try to get to your clothes.

I started walking… but I remembered that I didn’t have a clue where I was going…

    -David, lead the way.

I saw David looking at Daniel.

    -David now!

David walked towards me and started guiding us. It wasn’t that easy… there were still people lingering around so we had to avoid them. When we arrived I took Daniel’s pants from his backpack and wore them. Daniel was taller than David, not as tall as me, but he was definitely more my size. 

    -So am I walking in a shirt and my underwear?

    -It’s better than being naked.

Daniel glared a bit at me and started dressing. I took David’s phone and dialed Maria.

    -DAVID FINALLY! GABRIEL IS MISSING! HAVE YOU SEEN HIM! TRY TO MINDLINK HIM NOW!

Her voice was desperate and I could hear a lot of noise and voices around her.

    -I’m fine Maria…

    -Gabe? Where are you? Are you hurt? Why aren’t you picking up your phone?

    -It’s a long story… but David is hurt. Can you make time to check up on him?

    -Is he badly hurt? Is he okay?

    -Not that bad… but he has a scratch on his face and it’s no longer bleeding but it’s still open.

    -So he needs stitches.

    -Yes, I think that even with our healing, if we don’t treat it… it's going to be an awful scar.

    -Right now the hospital is really packed, but I can make time for some sutures, so bring him.

    -Okay, we will be on our way.

I hung up and started walking to the main road.

    -Come on, we need to get back.

    -I can lend you my pants if you like?

    -I’m okay Dave.. just leave me alone.

We kept walking until we were close to the city. I recognized the place where I shifted and picked my phone up. I had more than 30 calls from Maria, Eva, and Lucas. We had some trouble catching a taxi that wanted to accept us with me without a shirt and Daniel without pants. Finally, we were all in the taxi and entering the city…  Then suddenly the taxi took a detour.