Rain began to pour down as the pups drug the rabbit back towards the den, as if mourning it's death. The pups were forced to stop to take a breath every few meters due to the large size of the rabbit.
As they approached the cave, something felt… off.
It was too quiet.
It was as if the only sounds in the world were the pitter patter of the rain and the panting of the pups.
As the cave finally was in sight, the cubs stopped, unable to take their eyes off the sight in front of them.
Rivers of blood mixed with the rainwater, flowing down into the small creek that had seemed so cheery just the day before. The tainted water reeked of death.
There were signs of battle everywhere, with chunks of fur scattered around and broken arrows wedged into the ground.
Humans had been here.
A torn uniform of some sort lay on the ground, with an insignia of what appeared to by two birds holding an arrow.
Ash examined the insignia, noting it down within his memories.
Motioning to the other two cubs to hide, Ash approached the mouth of the cave carefully before peering inside.
Luckily, there were no humans inside, but what he saw was much worse, something he couldn't have imagined in his worst nightmares.
A pile of bodies was heaped up inside the small cave, almost reaching its ceiling. It was the wolf pack.
Every last one of the adults was there, along with two cubs.
But this wasn't the worst part.
The skin had been stripped off from the wolves, leaving horrible, bloody scars all across their bodies.
Ash recoiled in horror, and the deer feast from yesterday came rocketing up from his stomach.
After hurling, he backed away from the mouth of the cave in horror.
Both he and Roth were in shock from the horrific sight.
^They're… they're all dead.^
A whimper sounded from somewhere deep in the cave, catching Ash's attention. He bolted to the back of the cave, where he found the bruised and broken body of Mimosa, barely clinging to life.
Her legs were twisted unnaturally and her ribs were caved in, as if something had thrown her into a wall.
She looked at Ash with pleading eyes.
She wanted to die, for her suffering to end.
All semblance of the once energetic pup was gone, replaced by this tortured animal craving for an end.
As Ash looked on, helpless to do anything to save her, her labored breaths became more spaced, until she stopped breathing altogether.
^I will kill them.^
The only thing left in Roth's metaphorical eyes was rage. These bastards who killed their family would pay.
Ash, on the other hand, still seemed too shocked to respond. Everything he had experienced in this life was now gone, save for Oak and Fern, who were still hiding outside of the cave.
'We can't let them see this. We need to go somewhere far away, or we will be caught and killed too.'
Ash slowly walked out of the cave, casting one last glance back at the family that had raised him. He hadn't been overly close with them, but they were still his family.
After walking back to the pair of cubs, who seemed to be terrified by the blood running down the clearing in front of the cave, he grabbed the rabbit and began pulling it away from the cave.
The other two cubs looked at him in confusion, and Oak began walking towards the cave to see what was wrong.
Ash quickly lunged forwards and grabbed Oak by the scruff, pulling him back away from the cave, but he seemed insistent on entering the cave, fighting back with all his might. Fern began walking towards the cave as well. Ash couldn't stop them from seeing the sight that would surely give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.
As soon as the cubs reached the mouth of the cave, they stopped in shock and horror at the gruesome sight in front of them.
Fern ran forwards, nudging the skinned corpse of their mother with her snout, but received no response.
After a minute of mourning, Fern and Oak seemed to understand why Ash tried to stop them. The three pups walked back to the rabbit and began dragging it through the forest, going somewhere, anywhere away from the hell that had become of their home.
None of them had the appetite to eat the rabbit then, but they also didn't know when they would be able to catch more food, so they couldn't give up on it.
'So… humans have killed and skinned our whole family.'
^We should kill and skin the humans.^
'Well, the humans were able to slaughter our entire family. The adults were no joke, those things are bigger than humans. The humans left behind arrows, so they probably don't have many if any guns, but that doesn't explain how they were able to wipe out all the wolves without many of them dying. We only saw a small amount of clothing and other signs of injuries to humans, so they either cleaned up and took care of their injured, or the battle was completely one-sided. Either way, there isn't much we can do to them, even after we grow up.'
^How then? We can't just walk away after they killed our entire family!^
Ash pondered for a while, but he couldn't think of anything that would have them avenge their family. Their opponent was of an unknown power, but was much stronger than even a pack of wolves. There was nothing that three little pups could possibly do.
For now, the three young wolves could only focus on surviving in the wild without the care and protection brought by their family. Revenge would have to be put off until they grow strong.