Rat squeaking, human speaking

(This is mostly based off the song-)

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The sky was just beginning to lose its dark coloring by the time they got to the pack. The moon was beginning to soften its shine and the once black sky was now a navy blue pool above them spotted with faintly noticeable white dots.

Puddle and her pups had went down to a small hollow in the earth, Bandage staying behind them as he moved the small branches out of the way for them as they passed.

He motioned for Six to go through, which she was a bit nervous of doing, knowing what laid on the other side was a large pack of possibly hungry wolves.

Bandage noticed her uneasiness, and gave a small questioning look to her. "Rat coming?" He asked.

Six shook her head to clear her thoughts. Yeah, she was going, just... didn't want to become a late night snack. Slowly but surely, she passed through the bush that marked the entrance way it seemed like, being met with a pack that wasn't as large as she once thought.

There seemed to be about seven or so, not counting Puddle and her pups, or herself and Bandage. The reddish wolf from before was there, noticing her right away from where he stood next to what looked to be like the pack's alpha. He was a larger muscles beast covered in oak colored fur, white on his tail and belly with sharp copper colored eyes.

He stood on a log that jotted out of a pile of rock, perched with a gaze that felt powerful yet kind. They turned their heads when the new wolves walked into the clearing, eyes looking over them, before seeming to freeze and stare at the rat in the yellow raincoat. Six felt the hair on the back of her neck raise from the sudden fear that shook her.

Despite there only being a few wolves, the eyes of all of the predators surrounding her, all possibly hostile and-

Bandage padded to her side, gently nudging her shoulder. "Wolf pack smell fear," he whispered.

Oh, right. Forgot predators could do that... Six shook her head, calm down, deep breath, relax. She looked up to the wolves, who now seemed more curious than angry. Puddle stepped forward, letting out a small series of barks, the other wolves casting glances to one another.

The alpha seemed a bit off put as well, shifting his tail and ears every few heartbeats. Finally, he let out a bark. Bandage shifted slightly, the wrapping over his eyes hiding his glance.

"Wolf alpha doesn't think Rat can keep up," he mumbled. Six looked a bit surprised, all those worried looks because they thought she couldn't run fast?

"I can keep up. I'm as fast as members of my colony," she answered back. A surge of pride came from her when she spoke. She out ran a fox (with the help of some Nomes), she could keep up with some wolves with no problem.

Bandage spoke to the alpha for her, translating with what seemed like minimal effort. The alpha gave a small nod, before letting out a bark, calling for all eyes on him.

He got down from the log, beginning to make his way across the clearing, tail flagging for a heartbeat to call them to follow him. Maybe it would be better if he was given a name too, maybe... Chestnut? That sounded nice.

Puddle lead her pups to an older she-wolf, whose fur was white from old age. Brother and Sister greeted her, Sister jumping to attack the old wolf's tail while Brother reached up and tugged on her right ear.

Bandage smiled, before turned towards Six, noticing something about her. "Rat ready?," he said in a blunt tone. Six gave a small nod, watching as the wolves began to file out behind Chestnut.

"Wolf pack leaving now, come with!" He cheered his smile, running out to join behind Puddle, who was making her way through the bushes. Six followed behind, pushing past the shrubs, excited to final go out for a run.

Rats were known to be energetic creatures, playing, running, stealing things. Being stuck in one spot left the feral with a bit of pent up energy, use to running and racing after her cousins and rough housing.

A small snicker escaped her as she remembered when she tried to get Blueberry to play with her the first time they met. Pouncing on him and knocking him down, waiting on him to jump up and jump back at her; only to watch as he withered on the ground in pain while holding the spot between his hind legs.

Walking through the bushes for a few minutes, the pack came a halt, Chestnut standing up front, tail flicking as a sign to stop, turning towards the pack.

"Bark! Bark, bark, ruff," he yapped, before turn back around, walking off into a steady trot before quickening his pace, brown fur blending into the dark shadows around them.

The others followed behind shortly after, Bandage springing forward to join them. Six on the other hand, had a much more difficult time even keeping close to the other feral,not use to the much rougher terrain or even how fast these wolves were.

The rough rocks underneath her paws stabbed into her palms, sometimes nicking them when she landed. She let out another whimper as a stick jabbed into one of her paw pads.

She could barely see Puddle's tail (or was it someone else's?) in the distance and Bandage's small figure keeping between the pack and her. Now she saw what Chestnut meant by his statement.

She stopped for a second, slowing down to a prance, sitting down and looked at her paws. Red cuts and scraps decorated her soft pads, blood gathering on some of them.

Bandage came into the corner of her eye, she looked up to greet him with a small smile Through the wrapping around his head, he seemed to know it was forced.

"Something wrong?" He asked, sitting down, reminding Six of just how small he was to her. The top of his feather barely came to her shoulder, and his paws were barely the size of a pebble compared to hers.

"Staying caught up with you guys is hard. My paws are hurting and I'm not fit to run like that. How you're able to confuses me," Six answered, giving a small groan as she replaced her paws on the ground, a small shot of pain going through them. Bandage titled his head a bit.

"Can Rat smell Bandage?" He asked.

"Of course, everybody can," she said back. What kind of question was that?

Bandage smiled slightly, getting up. "Close your eyes."

Reluctantly, Six closed her eyes, met with a blacked sea behind her eyelids. "Rat doesn't need eyes to see. Paws hear through ground," he explained, Six feeling him padded around her.

He was right, she could make out a few things. She could feel the wolves ahead of them, and distant animals scurrying around to get away from the predator animals.

"Rat just like wolf. Wolf has four legs, so run fast and jump high!" He chirped, running around her in a joyful burst of speed, despite his injured leg, jumping and bumping against her.

A light dawned in Six's head. Did Bandage not even know he wasn't a wolf? Or a raccoon, or whatever animal he thought he was? Did he understand she wasn't like his family?

She couldn't speak though, not wanting to shatter the boy's world just in case. She remembered how... confused and hurt she was when a rat named Sterling told her, even with how obvious it was.

"Rat run right by Bandage. Bandage help," he said. Six rose to her paws, reluctantly agreeing to go with him after not seeing herself getting out of this.

Bandage started to run off, paws uncurled and open to the stones and twigs under them. "Hey, wait for me!" Six called, beginning to follow after him. She slipped into a pace she was used with, able to pick up speed much more easily to where she was running behind Bandage, who in turn was a foot or so away from a wolf's tail.

Not as fast as them yet.

The air whipped passed her, bangs sweeping to the side as she ran. Her coat's hood was pushed back by the gust of air from the sprinting, paws light as a feather as she kept up behind them.

It was so... nice. She could feel the ground under her reverberate as the pack thundered in front of her. To not worry about wanting to show off to these other creatures. The night air was clean and crisp, the smell of rain cleansing the forest around her in a pleasant scent.

The path was well beaten under them suddenly, realizing they had come to a path the pack used constantly by the looks of it, no dust or pebbles flying back in her face.

The strange rat bounded forward, actually catching up to the point she had past Bandage and was working on passing Puddle. The other feral child let out a small yip of surprise as he saw a yellow figure go past him. By the stars, he didn't expect her to move that fast all of a sudden.

Already, she had passed Puddle, the wolf glancing over with mild curiosity at how swift and agile she was compared to a pup her age and size.

'Faster, faster, faster.' Six could hardly feel the ground under her when she pushed herself forward. This felt so freeing, to finally feel like she was running somewhere - anywhere - where she didn't have to worry about her problems.

A place where she didn't have to worry about Marigold or Frost or Velvet, or...

Blueberry.

Six could feel herself losing her speed, falling beside Puddle, who looked to her with concern as they continued their run. Six looked to her, before shaking her head.

She left him back there with that bag wearing rat, there was something not right with him, she could feel it. It felt like when that static stone started acting funny, only...

Wait a minute...

Six came to a skidding halt, paws being scraped from sliding just an inch or so. The static stone, Blueberry, the other rat, it made sense now.

"I have to get back to him," she mumbled under her breath quickly. Bandage stopped by her, looking over with confusion as to what made his friend stop.

"Rat?" He asked. Six looked up to him, before anything could be said for certain, she had to make sure.

"Bandage, what happens when the static stones go crazy?" She asked.

Please, please, don't be something too dangerous.

Bandage seemed to pale, before clearing his throat. Oh no...

"Static stones go funny when... static monster is here. Static monster... hurts human monsters, catches them and go back to static stones. Human monsters no signs again," he said.

Six forced herself to follow back a curse. She had to get back.

"Bandage, can you take me to the warren?"

Bandage looked a bit confused, but nodded his head. The sound of paw steps made the two look, seeing Puddle's eyes filled with concern. Bandage let out a few yips at her and she seemed to give a nod to him, a small bark escaping her as she turned and left back to chase after the pack again.

Bandage padded forward. "This way," he told her, before picking up the pace, beginning to run the other way. Six followed behind him as quickly as her paws could carry her.

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Finished - Apr. 6th, 2021

Another late update, sorry! Next chapter is going to be a lot better, I swear, I just needed to get Six to go 'ding' as to what is going on.

Plus, I really wanted to write something like Wolfwalkers in this book, but I can never justify the brilliance of that movie, so enjoy my poor excuse of it.

Also, thank you guys again for 1k followers and over 4.5k reads on Signal!

Enjoy my attempt at drawing something but failing.

Hope you all enjoyed!

Take care!

* June 14th, 2021 *

Finally rewrote this stupid chapter, yaaay. Thing has been bugging me from the moment I first made it, so hopefully this is better.

I wanted to add the scene of Six getting to howl with Bandage and the pack, but we got to get this show on the road for the final stretch.

Also, thank you for almost 7k reads! It's amazing to see that many people read the description and went "sure I guess" or however they found this. This is incredible, thank you all so much for the support!

Hope you all enjoyed!

Take care!