To live or to die

At the view of what was happening, Iyya questioned herself about why she was stupid enough to make this choice of siding with a wild animal. Forgetting she was all ready to die a few minutes earlier.

Deep in her mind, somewhere and somehow, after she woke up and was still alive, held protectively in the wolf's hands, she had started to trust this wild wolf. Which was weird even for her.

She was always scared of wild animals. To be in this scenario made no sense. But nothing made sense in her life, anyway. It was the only rope she could hold on to right now.

She still adamantly hesitated in her mind. It was impossible to trust anyone again. She had promised herself not to entertain these kinds of feelings after her stepmom.

Being lost in her mind, she almost lost a bit of her balance on the wolf. And reality hit her again. After a bullet almost hit her in the neck.

Iyya as usual, involuntarily started to recite her survival words. It was like a ritual to call for help in her head that kept her alive. To live or to die in peace without more pain.

'I NEED TO SURVIVE.'

'I NEED TO LIVE.'

She felt sad at the thought of her life ending like this. After five years of misery. She was now going to die in the middle of nowhere for the crime of helping a wild animal.

She was trembling with fear, holding herself on the back of the wolf that was running at an abnormal speed. She raised her head to look at the wolf's face and say her last goodbye, but suddenly.

Everything around them stopped moving. Bullets, butterflies, birds, and trees, nothing. Everything stood still except for just the two of them.

As the wolf ran faster and faster, Iyya thought her mind was playing tricks on her, showing her things that did not exist, telling her she was safe and alive in a dimension that didn't exist.

She felt sad that even her mind pitied her enough to create an image that looked safe only for her and the wolf.

She looked in front and saw a thick forest that was now a kilometer away.

Then, suddenly, everything started moving back to normal. It was just a dream, she thought. She was grateful for the nice dream. It helped somehow.

Because in the following seconds, a gush of wind pushed the bullets past her. And reality was back. The wolf was still doing its best to protect them both from running away from the Park Rangers and away from bullets.

She did her best to not be a burden and tried to dodge the bullets, spreading her wings on the fur all over the back of the wolf and hiding her delicate organs from the bullets.

The wolf's whole focus was on survival.

They only needed to survive the kilometer and hide in the thick forest. And it would be less dangerous for them than it is now.

The place they were running through was open grassland, which gave the Rangers an added advantage to aim at them. It was easy to locate the wolf.

It was very black, with shiny gold eyes that shined through the grass and the movements it made. Every one of its paws that hit the ground would send an echo to the surrounding area, notifying other animals and birds of its movement.

Birds and insects flew away and small animals trotted through the grassland, making it obvious in the direction it took. The birds were flying, their wings making a loud noise.

Iyya's nose filled with the smell of dust, her body covered fully with dust. She tried to hold her breath, but they came uncontrolled. What had she brought herself into?

She is now on the Park Ranger's bad list. They were going to kill her too if the other wild animals didn't get to her first.

The sound of drones flying over and cycling them made Iyya's heart jump out of her chest. The drones were too close, which meant all the Park Rangers were aware of their current location.

They had to make it into the thick forest. It was their sole chance of survival.

And this would give them more advantage in this battle.

And luck was on her side for once. They made it to the thick forest. It was now within a few meters. Iyya let go of the fur on the wolf's back and raised her wings, flying above the wolf.

The wolf watched her fly above in a parallel direction and speed.

It started running faster and faster, still watching, and the faster it went, Iyya spread her wings and matched the wolf's speed. And before long, they had lost the car, gunshots, and the drones.

As they ran deeper into the thick forest. They stopped and hid under a huge tree for a few hours without making a sound. And after those few hours of hiding, it went quiet.

So quiet that Iyya fell asleep. Iyya did not know at what time she had slept again in her usual dream of the last conversation she had with her late mother.

“I want to spend my last moment with you. I need to tell you something, Iyya.” Anna spoke to her daughter as they both lay flat on the sandy white beach gazing at the Indian ocean.

“That would be great. What is it, mama?” Smiling, Iyya looked at her mother, Anna. And they stared into each other's eyes.

“She came back.”

“Who came back?”

“My first ever best friend that saved me years ago came back, and she set my dragon free, but she was too late. It is almost the end now.”

Iyya was already used to that kind of chattering and it hurt her to see her mother like that. Her mother's mind was sleeping off day after day.

“She found me and if she did, it means they found us. They found us, Iyya.” Anna turned her scared face away from her daughter.

“Who found us, mama?”

“The witches and werewolves that want to eliminate us on the surface of the earth found us.”

“Why would they want to eliminate us?”

“Because we are the strongest supernatural human beings to walk the earth. We are the only shapeshifters stronger than werewolves.

“We are weredragons. We are the last living dragons on this earth.”