Into the Wild

by Anh Do

  Even the pain in my ankle seemed to disappear as I flew along with Puppy.

  ‘Let’s hunt some more, guys!’

  All the dogs barked with enthusiasm, and Eagle gave out a loud as we continued deep into the forest. In fact, we were now travelling way faster than we ever had before, probably because the dogs no longer had to wait for my little human legs to catch up.

  For the next few days, while my ankle healed, I rode Puppy whenever we travelled into the forest.

  At first, I thought I would tire her, but she seemed to have endless strength. As we raced along, I would fire off rocks with my sling, bringing down prey like never before.

  Most amazingly, once I could walk and run again, Puppy would still offer me her back. It seemed she had grown used to me riding her, and besides, we enjoyed being together.

  One day, while we were preparing to set off, Eagle suddenly leapt off my shoulder and started to flap wildly. This time, she didn’t drop towards the ground, but continued on dead straight.

  ‘Go Eagle!’

  As we all watched in amazement, she started to rise over the field.

  ‘Flap your wings!’

  She rose higher and higher into the air.

  ‘Go! Go Eagle, fly!’

  She got smaller and smaller in the distance until eventually I couldn’t see her anymore.

  The dogs and I waited to see if she would come back.

  Was that it? Had Eagle left us?

  We scanned the sky for a speck of movement that didn’t come.

  Eagle was gone.

  I felt a touch of sadness mixed with joy. I was happy that we had saved Eagle, and looked after her till she was big enough to fly off on her own, but I had grown to love her.

  ‘Goodbye, Eagle.’

  As I stood there in silence, it felt like a little sister had flown away.

  I didn’t think the doggies would feel as sad as me, but they whimpered and hung their heads low.

  Especially Puppy.

  ‘Okay guys, it’s just us again. Let’s go find some lunch.’

  Then, with some heaviness in our hearts, we headed off into the forest. We had only been hunting for a short while when suddenly I heard a familiar screech.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

  All the dogs started barking loudly, jumping into the air like crazy.

  Then, out of nowhere, something dropped through the tree canopy onto the ground right in front of us with a thump!

  A dead lizard.

  What the—?

  Suddenly Eagle burst through the treetops and landed before us.

  ‘Eagle! You’re back!’

  She looked at me, then down at the lizard.

  ‘Oh Eagle, you brought us food!’

  She flapped her wings and jumped up onto my forearm. She bowed and I kissed her on the top of her head. She liked that.

  She was a beautiful bird. She deserved the freedom of the sky . . . no matter how much we would miss her if she left.

  ‘Eagle, you can fly off and live with other eagles if you want to. You don’t have to stay here with us.’

  My heart ached as I spoke, but I knew it was the right thing to say. If she wanted to be with her kind, it was her choice.

  Eagle looked at me with her big eyes, then around at the dogs. She hopped off my arm and flew up to a tree branch nearby.

  She peered at us.

  Then she flew onto another branch further on.

  The dogs ran after her, understanding before I did that she wanted us to follow her. She flew from tree to tree, waiting for us to catch up before moving on again.

  We ran after her until we burst out onto a rocky outcrop where four big lizards were sunning themselves.

  Eagle had led us to food!

  That night we ate our biggest meal in a long time. As I sat there with my eagle, my wolf, and my four dogs, my heart was bursting with happiness. I realised that this was my family now. The dogs had become my brothers. Eagle was my little sister, and Puppy was my best friend.

  I loved them all so much.

  It had been a long time since I had been separated from my human family, and though they had not come back for me I still missed them terribly. But I didn’t have much hope that I would see them ever again. Still, the longing was not as deep as in the early days. So much time had passed that it got harder and harder to picture their faces in my mind.

  I looked at the marks on the car that night and even though they weren’t exactly right, they showed that something like four years had gone by. I was no longer a helpless little girl. I was now a hunter. A survivor. A leader of a pack of animals who had become my family.

  Was this going to be my life forever? I didn’t know, but what I did know was that I wasn’t going to lose a second family. I would do whatever it took to keep my pack alive.

  Still, as we sat there together, I could not help but remember a happy time sitting around a similar fire with Mum, Dad and Kate, toasting marshmallows over the flames. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could almost hear their voices, almost hear their laughter.

  For the first time in a long time, a tear rolled down my cheek.

  I was collecting berries on the edge of the forest the day after a great storm.

  The landscape looked very different now, having been thrashed by heavy rain and hail. There were broken branches everywhere, and rivulets of water running through the forest floor.

  All of a sudden, Puppy burst through the foliage and stood with her beautiful golden chest puffed out, her piercing eyes staring straight into mine. She carried something shiny in her mouth.

  I walked up to her and put out my hand. She dropped the object into my palm.

  At first I thought it was a shiny rock or piece of glass, but a moment later . . . I realised it was a locket.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  I knew this locket. With trembling fingers, I opened it. A photo of a smiling family looked up at me.

  My family. If I’d had trouble remembering their faces, here they were staring up at me, pleading with me, from this faded photo.

  Have you forgotten us, Gwen?

  Tears dripped onto the locket.

  I knew what I had to do.

  I felt a rush of emotions as I packed. Exhilaration, sadness, longing and fear all mixed up together.

  I was not packing for a day, or a few days, or even a week, which was the longest we’d ever ventured away. I was packing for forever.

  I filled backpacks with water bottles and sticks to rub to make fire, and all the dried meat we had left. I gathered warm clothes and knives and scissors, and a tent that I’d found.

  We all carried backpacks, except for Eagle and Tiny.

  I had no idea how long it was going to take to discover what had happened to my family, but I wasn’t going to stop until I had an answer. And if they were alive out there, I wouldn’t give up until I found them.

  I remembered that day we had found Eagle. I thought I had seen something from the mountaintop that looked like an aeroplane flying north.

  ‘Okay doggies, we’re going on a big trip. Over the mountain to the other side.’

  They looked at me quizzically with their big doggie eyes, not knowing exactly what was going on, but sensing that something was about to change.

  ‘You guys up for it?’

  They wagged their tails.

  ‘What about you, Eagle?’

  She bowed her head against my cheek.

  I looked around at the line of cars, many of them now rusted, some even with plants growing out of them. This quiet road had been my home for the last four years. It was all very familiar, but I wasn’t sure I’d miss it.

  I guessed there was only one way to find out!

  ‘Okay then, you lot – let’s go!’

  The trip was easy at first. We were covering terrain we knew well, hunting creatures we had hunted before. But then our pack climbed over the mountain and descended into a valley where we had never been bef
ore.

  Entering the valley was like stepping into a different world. There were strange plants, thicker foliage, and all the animals were bigger. The insects, the lizards, the rats . . . I thought the snakes we’d been catching were huge, but now we encountered eight-foot pythons!

  It was a good thing that meat was plentiful, because we were walking long days and needed the energy.

  One warm evening, when we were just settling down for the night, the dogs began to bark loudly. They seemed almost panicked. After a moment, I felt it too – there was something strange in the wind.

  Being with my pack for so long had taught me to feel what they felt. I had learned to trust my instincts and developed a sixth sense myself. Whenever there was danger nearby, I could feel the tips of my ears go cold. And, right at that moment, they were freezing.

  Suddenly the air filled with a thunderous stomping. I spun around to see a wild boar erupt from the brush and crash into Brutus.

  I ran towards him, but something knocked me over from behind. I hit the ground, rolled, and found myself staring up into the face of another huge boar, its long and sharp dirty tusks pointing right at me. It grunted and started running towards me while I lay there defenseless.

  Suddenly, a golden, snarling shape landed atop the boar. As Puppy’s fangs sunk into its neck, the beast’s grunt turned to a high-pitched squeal. Puppy wrestled it to the ground in a spray of red mist, and its squeal halted abruptly. She backed up, jaws dripping, eyes wild.

  I had never seen her look more like the wolf she truly was than at that moment.

  I quickly turned to see Brutus, Nosey and Zip fighting the first boar. Nearby, Tiny was yapping fearfully. He was normally so brave, but these were big predators for a little chihuahua – a kind he’d never seen before.

  Then, behind Tiny, the undergrowth rustled ominously.

  ‘Puppy,’ I panted, ‘help Tiny!’

  Tiny sensed the threat as well, and took off just as a third, smaller boar charged out of the brush towards him. It snarled loudly and started gaining on the chihuahua.

  Puppy tore after them both, but I could see she would never reach Tiny in time.

  Finally, just as the boar was about to thrust his tusks into the chihuahua, golden wings swooped down and lifted the little dog high into the air.

  Eagle had picked up Tiny by the shoulders!

  The boar slowed, confused at seeing his prey lift into the air. This gave me just the chance I needed to catch up. I wasn’t even thinking, but, acting purely on the instinct to protect my pack, I roared and leapt onto the boar’s back, flinging my arms around its thick neck. It shook me violently and tried to buck me off, but I held on fiercely, tightening my grip around its throat.

  ‘Arrrgghhhhh!’ I yelled. The boar staggered sideways under my weight and toppled, landing half on top of me, kicking its legs at the air.

  Puppy soon began circling us, snarling, ready to dart in and finish the job.

  ‘I’ve got this!’ I told her, and I squeezed with all my might.

  Four years of hunting and running and climbing had forged in me a deep strength. After a struggle that seemed to go on forever, the boar finally went still as its life drained away. With my last bit of strength, I shoved its heavy body off me. Puppy came to my side.

  By now, Brutus, Zip and Nosey had managed to overpower the first boar, which turned and ran off squealing back into the cover of the thick brush.

  Brutus was a bit bruised but seemed otherwise unhurt, despite bearing the brunt of the attack. Thank goodness for his solid build. Still, he was grateful for the pats I gave him.

  ‘Good boy, Brutus. It’s okay now.’

  He looked up at me.

  ‘Yes, I saw,’ I said with a smile.

  Nosey and Zip also sported a bruise or two, but they didn’t seem to notice as they barked after the fleeing boar.

  Meanwhile Puppy stood tall, chest puffed out, fangs dripping blood. She surveyed the situation, making sure the threat of danger had gone.

  I looked at her standing there, so strong and majestic. Her golden fur had often reminded me of the morning sun and she had just saved all of us, arriving like the first rays of light after a cold dark night.

  The Puppy I knew was no more.

  From today onwards, I would call her . . . Sunrise.

  I had never felt like this before, either. As I looked the arms and legs that I’d used to take down a wild boar, my heart beat out of my chest with something like pride. In that moment, I felt more wolf than girl.

  I looked around at the scene before me.

  One enormous wolf, two dead boars, four brave dogs, and an eagle in a tree with a chihuahua sitting next to her, barking excitedly.

  It was a strange time to laugh, but I couldn’t help myself. A chihuahua in a tree!

  ‘Come down, Tiny!’ I called, reaching out my arms to catch him.

  ‘Eagle, can you bring him down?’

  Eagle gripped Tiny’s scruff tight in her claws. With a few flaps of her enormous wings, he was once again safe on the ground.

  The other dogs walked up to him to make sure he was okay, but Tiny simply yapped at them. Of course he was okay – he wasn’t scared for a second!

  I walked over to my wolf.

  ‘Puppy, from now on, I’m going to call you Sunrise. Is that okay?’

  She lifted her head proudly.

  ‘Yes, it suits you better than Puppy. You’re not a puppy anymore. You are most definitely a Sunrise.’

  I patted her on the head.

  ‘Come over, everyone!’

  All the dogs ran to me and I put my arms out as wide as I could. We cuddled each other tight.

  It was the first time we had suffered a serious attack and we had survived it together.

  We were a family. We were each other’s protectors.

  The boars were the most difficult things I’d ever had to cut up and cook, but they were worth it. Much better than snake or forest rat by a long shot.

  They also gave us many days’ worth of meat, which was fortunate, because we were now moving through the deep belly of the valley where it was very tough going.

  The further we travelled, the thicker the vegetation became, and I often had to cut through branches crisscrossing before me like a web of sticks. Still, there was nothing that could stop our pack. Day by day, inch by inch, we trudged onwards.

  I was always on the lookout for signs of humans but saw nothing.

  Once a day I would head up a tree to the canopy, just in case there was anything to see. Mostly I was greeted by rolling treetops and the distant slope at the other side of the valley, but little else.

  Then one day I heard a rumbling above.

  The dogs tensed their ears in worry, perhaps suspecting another wild boar stampede.

  ‘Wait here, everyone,’ I said quickly, and went up a tree as fast as I could, brushing aside leaves at the top to get a glimpse of the sky and . . .

  Far above, flying north, was an aeroplane.

  Now I knew for sure I was not the only human alive. Somewhere to the north, there were others. Maybe people weren’t too far away after all. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. And what would it mean for my pack?

  I looked down at the ring of panting faces waiting at the bottom of the tree. How would people react to a huge wolf, four scrappy dogs and a fearsome bird of prey?

  We had been travelling for a full month, and were getting very tired from walking every day.

  Then one morning, Tiny’s ears perked up, and I knew he had heard something. A moment later I heard it too. I stopped dead in my tracks. I listened intently, trying to filter out the birdsong and rustling forest from whatever it was. There! A low rumble some way off. Not from the sky this time.

  It sounded like an engine.

  The dogs looked at me, also hearing the strange noise and sensing my excitement.

  ‘Guys! That sounds like people.’

  They didn’t understand, so I pointed at myself.
<
br />   ‘People like me! Come on everyone, let’s go!’

  I ran in the direction of the rumbling, dodging around trees and slashing at anything in my way. I had to reach the sound before it stopped! What if it was a plane engine revving up, and they were about to take off? The thought spurred me on.

  The tree line gave way suddenly and I burst into a clearing. My dogs scattered around me, blinking in the sunlight.

  I had not seen another human being in years. I came to a halt and stared. Nearby, next to a rumbling brown truck, two men dressed in green were digging holes in the earth.

  They stopped digging and turned to us in surprise.

  Wolf moved to my side and the other dogs huddled closer too. A call from above told me Eagle was circling overhead. My ears felt cold again. Was it just because excitement was making me nervous? I couldn’t tell.

  ‘Hello, little girl,’ said one of the men. He wore a cap and had a big moustache. ‘What are you doing here?’

  I opened my mouth, but only a strange croak came out.

  Sunrise gave a low and threatening growl. The men glanced at her nervously, then back at me, frowning.

  ‘Can you talk, girl?’ asked Moustache Man. ‘Is your wolf trained? Who are you?’

  I cleared my throat and tried again.

  ‘I . . . my family . . .’

  ‘What is your name?’

  My heart beat loudly in my chest and a string of images rolled through my head – Dad carrying me on his shoulders, Mum kissing me goodnight, Kate by my side as we watched movies from the couch . . .