After Tod had tranquillised Ajani, he made his way to the fallen wolf. Reaching the wolf’s neck, he felt a high-speed pulse “Jesus, his pulse is racing! It’s a good thing we got to him when we did. Any longer, and he would have had a heart attack from the stress,” he then gently stroked the wolfs fur as Ed put the radio to his mouth. “Ellie, this is Ed. We’ve tranquillised the Ethiopian wolf, and we’ll bring him in as soon as we can. We should be no more than a few minutes as we are only about a mile into the forest”. The radio crackled again, “Understood, Ed. Everything is set up here, ready for our special guest. See you soon”. Once Ed had updated Ellie on the situation, he quickly went to Tod, who was busy putting a leather muzzle around Ajani’s snout “What can I do to help?” he asked. “Use the tools in the anti-trap bag and try to pull the trap open. Once it’s wide enough, I’ll free him and quickly bandage his tail. After that, we’ll put him in the back of the Land Cruiser and take him back to the research centre. Nodding, Ed went to Ajani’s tail and grimaced at the sight of a bear trap clamped tightly shut near the base of the tail, as blood stained the white bit of it. Looking closer, he gasped as he noticed rust on the sharp part of the trap “Tod, there’s rust on the trap. Could that mean it might have infected the poor guy’s tail?” Tod’s eyes widened as he quickly looked back at the trap “shit yeah, he could become infected with tetanus, which, if left untreated, could kill him.” Once Ed used the tools and got the trap open, Tod proceeded to quickly slide Ajani away from the trap and bandage the mangled, bloody tail before he rushed to his bag, took out a needle and injected the wolf. “Try not to move him around too much. If he’s had any infections, his heart rate could pump it around faster than we can cope with. This should slow his heart down to buy us and Ellie some time.” After they removed the trap from the forest floor and put it in the back of the vehicle, both men placed Ajani in a metal cage, loaded the cage in their Land Cruiser and began the short trip through the forest back to the human camp.
When they arrived at the base early in the evening, Tod gently placed the cage on the examination table. After they had waited a few minutes, a young woman in her late twenties with blonde French plats entered the room. “Hey, Ellie, meet our new friend and the newest member of the camp!” Tod said as he gently slid Ajani out of the cage and onto the cold metal table. Gasping, Ellie gazed in amazement at the young wolf in front of her “Oh my God, he’s beautiful! I’ve wanted to see an Ethiopian wolf for so many years. It's a shame it had to be in this situation, though. Poor guy. At least we are doing our job and protecting his species” “We saw rust on the bear trap, so it could be possible he’s been infected with tetanus, so I’ve given him a propranolol injection. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wolf so young, scared and stressed before in all my life,” Tod said as he stroked Ajani’s fur. “his heart rate was racing, and you could almost see it bursting through his chest.” Ellie reached out a hand and gently stroked the wolf's fur, too “I’ll do what I can. You and Ed better start the animal rescue paperwork, then head to sleep. I’ll let you both know how our special guest gets on in the morning.” “Thanks, Ellie,” Tod says, smiling at her. Ellie gave a smile back “It’s my job to help injured animals, just like it’s your job to help Ethiopian wolves. You’re a good guy, Tod. You’ll be the camp leader before you know it”
Early the next morning, a few miles from the human’s base, Jahzara groaned and slowly woke up. She hissed in pain as fresh waves of pain shot down her broken leg as she stretched all four of her limbs. She felt an even bigger and painful wave of guilt flood her as she looked at the makeshift splint that her best friend had made. She then looked around, a little confused at her surroundings, before she remembered she slept in a burrow because she went into the forbidden forest. Feeling her stomach growling in hunger, she stood up wobbly on three legs and hopped to the entrance of the small burrow. When she poked her head out of the burrow, she was momentarily blinded by the morning sun and bright light compared to the burrow. Once she got used to the light, she looked around and saw her brother, Raza, eating a large mole rat. “Morning, Zara,” Raza said with his mouth full as he tore a chunk of meat from his breakfast, blood lightly staining the white around his mouth “I got you breakfast” Jahzara looked to where Raza was pointing and saw a mole rat similar in size to the one he was devouring. She licked her lips as she hopped over to it and started to eat it. The taste of her breakfast offered only a little comfort to the roller coaster of emotions she’d experienced. After tearing some more meat from her mole rat, she looked over at her brother and noticed how his usually clean, tidy fur was damp and dirty and looked like he hadn’t groomed himself that day. As she looked up at his face, she could see the exhaustion and tiredness in his eyes. Swallowing the meat in her mouth, she took a deep breath. “Raz, are you ok?” Her ears fell against her head as she heard her brother give a big, heavy sigh. “What do you think, Jahzara?” he said. She heard the irritated exhaustion in his voice. “Be thankful you got to sleep in that warm and dry burrow and didn’t stay awake all night in the cold and rain so no one would get in the burrow and attack your little sister” Feeling even more guilt fill her body, her ears droop “Sorry, Ra-” “Just eat your food, Jahzara,” Raza replied flatly as he tore another piece of meat from his food before looking at her leg “How’s your leg doing?” She went to reply but remembered she had a mouthful of food. “It still hurts a bit, but AJ put this thing on it, and he said you taught him how to do it, so that helps a little, I guess” Raza crawled over to her as he inspected the handywork Ajani did. Raza looks at it with a proud smile “I did, and it looks like he did a very good job. Unfortunately, a broken leg can’t heal on its own very well, so I got to take you to someone I know can fix your leg” “Who is it?” “Someone I know and trust. That’s all you need to worry about. They might be a little scary, but I know they will help you,” Raza answered before he stood up. Jahzara winced as she heard all his joints crack and pop, indicating just how uncomfortable he must have been last night. Raza looked back at Jahzara as he lowered himself down to the forest floor “Need a lift once you’ve finished your breakfast?” Jahzara fought not to tear up again as she remembered Ajani had given her a lift the previous day “S-sure,” she replied softly with a sniff. Once she finished her breakfast, she climbed on her brother, much less gracefully than she was used to. Raza looked around momentarily as he got his bearings. Jahzara saw his ears turn as he listened for any threats. After figuring out the right direction, he began the walk towards the location where his friend would hopefully be, hoping they could help Jahzara.
A few miles later, the silence of the trip is disturbed again. “Raz, are we there yet?” Jahzara called out as her brother carried her to his friend. Raza sighed as his ear twitched “Zara, you asked that 5 minutes ago! Just be patient. We’ll get there when we get there.” The two wolves continued their journey. Jahzara noticed how Raza seemed to know exactly where to go. The longer she watched her brother, the more the urge built until she had to ask. “Hey, Raza… how do you know where you’re going? Have you been here before?” She got a sinking feeling in her gut as she saw Raza's ears go down, and he gave a big sigh. “Jahzara, just drop it! I just do ok!”
Both wolves continued the rest of the journey in silence until they came to the edge of the forbidden forest; only this time, they were on the other side. Allowing Jahzara to climb off onto the ground, Raza turned to face her, his face deadly serious and in no mood for jokes or sassy comments. “Jahzara, you need to listen to me. Behind me is where my friend is. It’s VERY important you stay on my back at all times and do not leave me unless I say it’s ok to do so. Once we get to my friend, I’m hoping he will be able to help you and get your leg fixed. You will most likely find this place scary, but you need to trust me. I would never take you somewhere or do anything with you that I wouldn’t do or haven’t done before and know it’s safe. Do you understand? Things will make more sense when we get in. Are you ready?” Jahzara gulped as she looked behind her brother at where they were going. Raza had never broken a promise yet, so as far as she was aware, he was telling the truth, and as long as she stuck to him, she’d be ok. “I’m ready, Raz. I trust you,” she answered back with a deep breath. She then clambered onto her brother’s back and held on as they made their way to the final part of their trip.
Darkness was all Ajani could see. His body felt numb, and his brain was foggy and confused. His ear twitched as the steady sound of a beep filled his ear every few seconds. Where was he? Was he dead? Was Jahzara ok? Did Raza find her? Groaning, he attempted to open his eyes but shut them quickly as white light surrounded him. “I knew it. I’m dead,” he thinks as he cracks open an eye. Once he managed to open both eyes fully, with great difficulty, his view was blurry. The only thing he could make out was the orange blobs that were his legs. As he went to open his mouth for a yawn, he realised he couldn’t. Groggily, he reached up a paw to his long snout and felt something tight on his muzzle. He assumed it was the brown thing the human had tried to place on his face before he bit his hand. He groaned softly as he shifted to a more comfortable position and rested the bottom of his muzzle on his front legs. After a short nap, his ear flicked as a door opened and closed. As he opened his eyes and groaned, he saw a female human with blonde hair in French plats slowly approach him. His breathing and heart rate started to increase. He didn’t recognise this human from the forest, but if she were anything like the other two, he would be in for a rough time again. As Ajani’s breathing and heart rate increased, Ellie slowed and stood a few feet from the scared wolf. “Hey there, little guy. I’m Ellie. My friends found you trapped in the forest, so they brought you to me to make you feel better!” she said softly. Ajani obviously couldn’t understand anything she said, but something about her soft tone made him relax a little.
On the other side of the base, Tod and Ed were sitting at the table in their office, filling out the paperwork for rescuing an injured animal. Ed groaned as he flung the paper down on his desk and rubbed his eyes “This paperwork is so shit! Look! In your own words, describe what happened.” He reads off the paperwork before looking at Tod “They’re going to read your report as well, so what’s the point in me doing one too?” Tod sighed and looked at the in-depth multi-page report he had written and then over to the brief one-paragraph his colleague had done. “Ed, it’s our job. If no one documented and gave accounts of each animal we rescued, we’d lose our funding, our rescue and research centre would be shut down, Ethiopian wolves would die or be captured by illegal poachers, and we’d lose our jobs. Yes, it’s somewhat annoying we have to do this admin work, but I’d rather help animals and spend a few hours doing paperwork afterwards than not help the wolves and do the job I love. Count yourself lucky you’ve even seen some wolves. Some people join the EWCP research program like us and never get to see one” “Ye, I guess you’re right,” Ed said as he sighed and tried writing his report in more detail. Tod gave a soft chuckle before he stood up and looked out the window. He sighed as he admired the view of the trees and wildlife surrounding the base. As he scanned the treeline about 100m from the base, his eyes caught sight of something orange and furry in the trees. He grabbed his binoculars and looked through them at the orange furry thing, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat. “Holy shit,” he whispered as his breath caught in his throat. Ed, finally working on his report, looked up at his friend “What?” Tod was still in shock “I can’t believe it… After all this time!” “What is it, Tod?” Ed said, slightly irritated at his friend’s lack of description skills, but before he got an answer, Tod was already rushing out the door. “EdtellElliewegottwomorewolvesontheway!” he shouted at Ed, who gave a surprised look before shrugging and going to Ellie.
Jahzara’s heart pounded so hard she swore it would leave a permanent dent in her brother’s back as they slowly emerged out of the forest into the open. Raza, ever vigilant, double-checked the clearing to ensure it was safe from any threats before advancing. “Raz, I’m scared”, he heard from behind as he kept moving forward. “Trust me, Zara, we’ll be ok.” He replies softly, “This is the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program research centre. I know for a fact they’ll be very pleased to see us” Both wolves continued to advance before they arrived at a large metal fence. As they walked closer, Jahzara noticed a hole in the fence. Her jaw dropped as her brother skilfully slid his way through the hole and into the grounds of the research centre. Once fully through the hole, Raza slowly walked towards the building in the centre. As they carried on, both wolves looked left and right to see many vehicles lined up, such as Land Rovers, Land Cruisers, Jeeps, and small cars.
As they got closer and closer, the main door suddenly flung open, and Tod rushed out, skidding to a stop, as dust flew up from his shoes in a small cloud. Raza felt his sister’s legs snake around his body as she looked up at the human. It was the very same man who had shot her best friend the previous day. “Raz… that’s… that’s the human that shot AJ!” Jahzara whispered as both wolves and human stood still. Raza slowly began to sit down, causing his back to slope, and Jahzara began to slide off. In a panic and fear, she gripped his neck, almost crushing his windpipe. “Jahzara! Let go! I’m going to go up to him,” Raza said, half whispering, half hissing. “No! He shot AJ! Don’t leave me! He’ll shoot you too!” she whispered, voice cracking in sadness and fear. Seeing his sister would be very unlikely to let go and his air supply was running out, he quickly reached up, grabbed her front legs and pulled them apart before spinning around and looking into her tear-stained eyes, still holding her paws firmly. “Jahzara, I promised you no one here would intentionally hurt you. If you trust me, you’ll let me go closer to him. You know in that head of yours I know what I’m doing, and I wouldn’t be doing this if I thought it was unsafe or it would put you at risk. You know, if he even tries to hurt you, he won’t get very far.” Sensing his sister relax slightly, Raza released her paws, turned around and slowly walked towards the awaiting human. Time seemed to stand still as the human and wolf stood still and stared at each other, just a few feet apart as both tried to read the eyes of the other. Jahzara stared wide-eyed as the human slowly lowered himself to one knee and raised a hand towards the orange wolf before him. Raza, feeling more confident, slowly moved his head towards the outstretched hand a few feet from him. Hesitating briefly, he allowed Tod to place a hand on his head, his ears slowly going down against his head as Tod gave it a ruffle. With no words spoken, Tod slowly embraces Raza in a hug, who, in return, places his muzzle on the human’s shoulder and then a front leg around his back.
The sound of two out-of-breath humans was heard from behind as Ed and Ellie burst onto the scene, making Jahzara take a few steps back out of instinct. Both humans froze at the sight in front of them, unsure what was more amazing. Two living, breathing Ethiopian wolves turning up at the centre out of the blue, making the total number of wolves on their site three, or the fact that their colleague was hugging one of them, and the wolf seemed to be just as comfortable returning the hug. After a few moments, both Raza and Tod released the hug. “It’s good to see you again, Raza”, Tod whispers to the orange wolf Raza looks at the humans behind Tod before whispering back, “You too, Tod” Ed, Ellie and Jahzara stood there dumbfounded. “Tod…” Ed began, trying to piece together the scene in front of him. “What… what the heck…” Tod looked to Raza, who gave a nod. “Guys, do you remember I’m always on about how I saw and rescued an Ethiopian wolf in the past? Well, meet Raza. The wolf I rescued years ago” “Hello”, Raza said, simply, waving a paw and making the two humans' jaws drop to the floor. “You… YOU CAN TALK?!” Ed suddenly shouted, making Jahzara back up another step. Tod gave an amused chuckle “Yes, he can talk. As for HOW he can talk?” he looked down at Raza, a curious look on his face “Raza, how CAN you talk to humans?” “No clue. Just like you talk to each other, I guess,” The wolf replied, shrugging before looking over at Jahzara “As for why I’m here? I’m here for two reasons. Number one, I believe you have my sister’s best friend in your research centre, and we would like to have him back.” Ed walks closer to Tod and nudges him “Hey, Tod, do you think he’s on about that teen wolf we found in the trap in the forest yesterday?” Tod looked up at Ed before going down to Raza and back up to Ed again “Ed, your intelligence is frightening sometimes” “Considering the wolf you’ve found happened to be orange like me and my sister, and I am here because I think that wolf is in your centre, maybe I am here to bring him home? Or I could just be here to sneak into your base to learn about myself,” Raza remarks, making Ed widen his eyes and Tod chuckle. “What’s your second reason for paying us a visit, Mr Ethiopian Wolf?” Ellie piped up, obviously unsure of how to address Raza. Raza chuckles a little before he looked at Ellie “First off, it’s Raza, not Mr Ethiopian Wolf, but thanks for being respectful. Second of all, I’m also here because my younger sister, Jahzara, broke her leg yesterday, and from my personal experience, I know and trust that humans here can fix her” Ellie gave a soft gasp and looked at Jahzara, who was sat with her leg off the floor “Well, Raza, you're in luck. I’m the centre's doctor and medic, so if you and your sister will allow me, I will be happy to fix her leg.” Raza gave a nod before he hopped out of Tod’s lap and trotted over to his sister. The three humans marvelled at the way the two wolves communicated. As they watched, they saw the younger wolf's ears go down, and she started to back up before her brother placed his paws on her shoulders to calm her down. After a few moments, both wolves slowly returned, Raza’s earlier calm, relaxed mood now replaced with a tense, protective and observant mood.
As Jahzara got close to Ellie, the blonde human got down on her knees and slowly extended a hand. After her last encounter with humans and remembering what they did to Ajani, Jahzara was very cautious. When she reached the human, Jahzara gave her hand a quick sniff. With slow movements, Ellie reached down and went to pick up Jahzara’s leg. Jahzara was still cautious, however and pulled her leg back and took a few steps towards Raza. “Zara, it’s ok”, Raza whispered to her “I promise you they will make your leg better” After a brief moment, she took a deep breath and allowed Ellie to hold her leg. Once Ellie started to inspect the leg, she gave a surprised gasp as she inspected the Ajani-made splint. “Wow… I have to say, Raza, this splint is very well done, and even though I haven’t looked at the actual leg break yet, I’m sure this splint has helped in her recovery” Raza looked to his sister before he replied to Ellie, “Well actually Ellie, that splint was done by her best friend Ajani, who I believe, your friends rescued yesterday.” “A wolf did that? Now way!” Tod pipes up as he observed the scene unfolding before he turned to Raza “Hey Raza, can she understand us like you can?” Raza turned to his sister “Zara, can you understand what the humans are saying?” Jahzara shook her head. “Well, Raza, can you tell her that we should head inside, and I’ll remove the splint, do an x-ray of her leg, check the damage and put the leg in a plaster cast so it heals properly. Afterwards, she can see her friend” Ellie said as she continued to inspect the cast. Raza nodded before he turned to his sister again “She said we should head inside, and she’ll remove the splint, check and fix your leg before letting you see your boyfriend” Raza’s smirk grew as he saw the faint blush appear on his sister’s cheeks “First off, he is not my boyfriend, and you fucking know that!” Jahzara said as she glared at her older brother “Secondly, I won't be going anywhere with her unless you are with me!” “I’ll let them know that”, Raza said before he turned to the humans “My sister wants you to know that she is happy to come with you and get her leg checked out, but she wants me to be with her the whole time. She also says she will be happy to see her boyfriend after her leg gets fixed” All the humans chuckled before Tod took charge “Alright, everyone. Raza, you follow Ellie with your sister to the med bay and Ed and I will see you all later. Ellie, you know what to do. Ed, you and I will have to do another load of paperwork”
All the humans nod and start to go to their designated jobs. As Raza picked up Jahzara and began to follow Ellie, she whispered in his ear, “What did you tell them?” Raza failed to stop a smirk which grew on his muzzle “I told them you're happy to go with them so long as I’m with you, and once your leg is fixed, you’ll be happy to go see your boyfriend” “That’s fine the- RAZA YOU PRICK!” Jahzara growled as she smacked his ear with her good leg “YOU FUCKING KNOW ME AND AJ AREN’T BOYFRIEND AND GIRLFRIEND YET!” Raza’s smirk only grew “Yet? Do I need to have that special talk with the pair of you soon?” “Shut the fuck up or I’m telling Malik you and Msalit are mates!” she growled. “First off, that’s got as much of a chance of happening as you learning to hunt effectively by Malik. Secondly, are you sure you want to say that and make his day?” As they approached the glass doors of the centre, he saw her in deep thought. “Yeah, I guess you're right, that would be mean of me…” she said. Raza gives a triumphant hum as they enter the research centre and followed Ellie “Well then, I suggest you and AJ better get together soon then to make my… urges to take the piss out of you go away” Jahzara let another growl escape her throat as she leaned forward and nipped her brother’s ear hard “You are so fucking lucky I got a bad leg, or you’d be dead!” Raza simply chuckled and followed Ellie down the corridor towards the med bay, confident they would be able to fix his sister's leg and he, Jahzara and Ajani would be able to all go back home to the den the following day, providing Ajani was well enough.
