6th Grade « Acorn Stories
Tale of an Outcast
By Spencer
"My whole world consisted only of the pain in my right foreleg and the snarling yellow eyes of the huge wolf facing me. Kill and establish pecking order and don't fall down was my train of thought. If I showed a sign of weakness, the numerous other wolves would rush in and I would die. DO NOT SHOW PAIN, I thought. Kill and become alpha wolf. My anger rose until my wounded leg was just a nuisance and in a blur of red, I struck. Blood, warm blood, bubbled onto my face. I liked the feeling. I loved it. I threw back my head and howled.
I am alpha wolf. The pack, my pack, is a group of timber wolf outcasts: shrewd ones. Our old leaders couldn't stand it, so we are strangers, enemies, and this is our story. My old leader was a huge wolf over 160 pounds. (needed a diet, too). The Indians called him "No Soul" for his ferocity, but I called him "No Brain" for his IQ. One of his "best ideas" was to raid an Indian camp. I took an arrow to the ear and still wear the obsidian or hematite, whatever it's made out of, as jewelry just to have a souvenir.
I wish I were a human. My new pack howled and I returned the call. Now they would get the leadership they deserved, from me. To eliminate the competition, we have to kill off the other packs. They scorned us, now we pay them back in blood. Then for the small tribe of natives, they have to go too.
Blood, the syrup of life, the purpose of a wolf. Now it covered my feet and the snow beneath them, it filled my jaws and soaked my ears. The last pack was gone, the one that had struggled to be neutral, but had not tried hard enough. Dead, my old pack. I felt no regret. They were a problem and I dealt with it simply. Now the natives are my problem. They have been monitoring wolves closely and know of our intelligence, but thankfully not in depth. If we attack today we can win, we can.
I was lying to myself but my brain was too tired to realize it. All of them dead, my whole pack, every one, even my second in command, and he was tough. But hide stands no chance against arrows and only I made it out alive. Now there was sadness. It came in waves, with the biggest one yet to come, but I knew it was there like a darkness waiting to envelop me. Now I have no pack, no friends, no army. I am alpha of nothing, leader of a nonexistent tribe. 
5th Grade
