The cougar lunged onto Deidre and slash and tore at her side. Deidre and Hogarth screamed, Hogarth in fright and Deidre in pain as vicious beast made a gash on the girl's side. Rover yapped with great fright and scurried father behind Hogarth.

"Go away!"
Hogarth heaved a heavy Branch at the cougar's head to stop him from attacking Deidre, stunning the huge beast. This gave time for him to get Deidre to her feet and make a run of it. "Deidre, hold onto me and RUN!" The two kids sprinted as fast as they could, trying to get farther away from the dazed cougar. It wasn't long before the cougar steadied himself and rushed after the children in hot pursuit.

Hogarth, Deidre, and Rover ran as fast as they could, adrenaline pumping though their veins from the fear. They ran in zigzags to try and throw off the enraged animal, but it didn't work. Deidre was in great pain, blood pouring from her wound in large quantities but she hold on to Hogarth and kept running. They eventually ran into a cliff side, and tried to flee in another direction, but were too late. The cougar already caught up with the kids, being only 10 feet away. Deidre and Hogarth knew they were cornered.

"Deidre, get behind me." Hogarth pulled her behind her to shield her from the enraged animal. Rover hid behind Deidre and rolled up into a shaky ball. Hogarth was scared, but he tried to feel brave for Deidre's sake. He reached  for the branch he carried. The cougar made his move and swat at the boy. Hogarth swung the stick at him but the big cat knocked it out of his hand forcefully, the Branch skidded out of Hogarth's  reach. Now Hogarth didn't have any thing to defend himself or Deidre from. He stood still, shielding his injured Friend, knowing he couldn't do anything to fend off the cougar.

He knew that this could be it, but suddenly he heard thundering stomps that sounded somewhat familiar.
"That's Giant.....he's coming", Deidre mumbled, getting weak from blood loss.
"I don't know if that is, Deidre, but it dose sound like it." Hogarth took off his jacket and wrapped it around Deidre's wound to stop the bleeding. Rover started to bark excitedly hearing this loud steps that sounded like they were getting nearer.

"Shh, quiet, Rover." Hogarth tried to calm the dog down so that he wouldn't agitate the cougar. He could tell that the cougar was a little spooked by  the noise but still was focused of the kids. Hogarth scooted closer to the cliff wall, holding Deidre tighter.
"Hogarth, look....He's here...he'll save us.." she pointed and Hogarth looked where she was pointing to. That's when he saw something he couldn't believe. It was the iron giant towering over the trees, and he was back. Hogarth blinked his eyes several times and pinched himself to see if he was dreaming, but he wasn't. He really was seeing Giant.

"Giant! Giant! Over here!" Tears start to form in his eyes and he was laughing with joy but briefly forgot the cougar who was about to make his move on the kids. Giant heard his friend's voice and spotted Hogarth and Deidre.
"Hogarth. Deidre." He could see the cougar and knew they were in danger. It was they the cougar stared to lunge at the kids. Hogarth screamed and braced himself for the animal to tear into him, but Giant smacked the animal aside with his hand and the cougar slammed again a tree, knocked unconscious.

Hogarth opened his eyes and saw the knocked out Cougar and Giant staring down at Hogarth, happy to be reunited with his best friend.
"Hogarth", he groaned with joy and Hogarth rushed towards him. Giant picked him up with his hand and held him near his face. Hogarth hugged that huge face, sobbing with joy, heart overfilled with happiness.
But that happiness quickly faded as Hogarth looked to see Deidre still badly hurt, unconscious from blood loss and was instantly worried for his friend. Rover laid by Deidre side, accompanying  her. Deidre needed help. Fast.

Hogarth urgently turns towards Giant urgently.
"Giant, my friend Deidre is Down there badly hurt. I need you to get her to town so she can go to the hospital."
Seeing his injured friend, Giant immediately understood.
"Deidre. Need. Help."
He reached his hand with Hogarth on it. Hogarth rushed to her side and gently lifted her onto Giant's hand, with Rover scampering on. Giant lifted his hand steadily but quickly.
"Come on, Giant. We have to hurry! Deidre may not make it. Let's go!"
With that, Giant moved quickly towards Rockwell. Hogarth held onto Deidre, scared that she could die in his arms at any moment. He had gotten a friend back, but he couldn't lose another one again, not the   He cared about very much. He just couldn't, because he didn't know how he would deal with that pain all over again.
"Hang on, Deidre. Just hang on. Me and Giant won't let you die on our watch, I promise."
Hogarth gently kissed her pail cheek, wiping a strand of hair out of her face. Soon enough, Giant had made it to Rockwell, Hoping they made it on time.