Chapter 5: Dawn of Destruction

Night had fallen and Claudette, Runt, and most of the pack had long since gone to sleep. A few নেকড়ে remained awake to guard the borders in case something went wrong, sleeping in shifts the whole night. The rest of the দিন had gone দ্বারা without event after Stinky had left and everyone thought nothing bad was going to happen. As dawn approached, however, something did happen. Something that would change everyone’s lives forever.

The sun was just beginning to come up over the horizon and the নেকড়ে that were out on patrol could see the light peeking out from behind the mountains. A small, black, round object then came flying through the trees and hit the ground পরবর্তি to two of the wolves. They looked down at the strange object, sniffing it, trying to figure out what it was. Suddenly, it exploded, killing them both instantly.

The harsh sound broke through the peaceful silence, waking the entire pack up. Claudette and Runt rushed into the valley, seeing many নেকড়ে there already, chaos quickly ensuing.

“Go!” Claudette ordered to a nearby wolf. “Get Winston, Eve, and Tony out of here. Take them to the Northern Pack and don’t come back until I give the word."

The rest of them gathered near where the grenade had exploded, watching the plume of smoke rise. Nothing happened for a moment, until the smoke parted around Viggo as he walked through it. Following him were a couple dozen men and they quickly began to wreak havoc on the pack.

The নেকড়ে soon tried to counter the human invasion, but without success. One নেকড়ে leapt at Viggo from the side, trying to catch him off guard as he continued to make his way into the pack. Without even averting his gaze অথবা slowing his pace, Viggo casually reached to his side, pulled the pistol from his belt, and shot the নেকড়ে who had leapt at him. Many other নেকড়ে attempted to attack Viggo, all suffering the same fate.

As Claudette and Runt watched the chaos continue around them, they wondered what they were going to do. This sudden onslaught of humans was ravaging the pack and they seemed unstoppable.

“There’s just too many of them,” Claudette ব্যক্ত as she noticed আরো humans প্রদর্শিত হচ্ছে up from the forest. “We’re outmatched. We need to retreat.”

“I’m not leaving anyone behind!” Steven declared.

“Really, since when?” Lisa asked.

“Since right now,” Steven replied. “Don’t ask me why, but I’m suddenly feeling selfless and heroic.”

Claudette and Runt began leading the entire pack in a mass exodus out of the valley. They headed in the opposite direction that the humans were coming from, going west toward the back part of the pack, before turning north to meet up with Kyle and taking refuge in the Northern Pack.

As the pack was retreating, Lisa and Runt got separated. He ran back for her and when he found her, she was badly limping as she had been shot in the hip. Runt couldn’t see how bad it was in the darkness and began helping her out of the pack.

The Dawn of Destruction, as the নেকড়ে later called it, was always remembered দ্বারা the Western Pack. The দিন they were driven out of their own প্রথমপাতা and the দিন they vowed to take it back. It was later considered দ্বারা many to be the true start of the Final War.