Stand Together

Corbin had been horribly scared at first when the world had gone black for him but, with a bit of time, he had started conquering that fear, at least, most of the time.  He was too much of an optimist and with the help of his family had started learning how to use his other senses to compensate and find how to play and learn even without sight.

Thus he had been able to fall into a deep sleep, fully confident nothing would happen to beware of.  Peaceful sleep, the feeling of family, and a fuzzy sheep around him.  In the world of slumber, he felt something shift but, he could ignore it.  Some presence that had been pressed up against him had left but, he was comfortable and felt nice.  A slight bit of awareness grows as he feels Haydee’s lick and finally he cracks open an eye.  There’s nothing to see of course but habits don’t end so quickly and his sleepy mind has to be reminded again it was normal to open his eye to darkness.

After a few seconds, he realizes it's still night and dad isn’t next to them.  Glancing up at Haydee it's as if he can still see her, really he’s listening to her breathing and soaking in her scent.  She urges him up and Corbin mumbles a sleepy ‘what's going on?’

The question doesn’t need a full answer though, her scent and breath express fear and her urge to follow.  Biting her tail upon the suggestion he’s surprised by the urgency but this is clearly not a time for questions.  Running along the boy eventually scents the coyote, dad, and the blood on one of the coyote's maw, unaware though of who it belonged to.

About the time Haydee was speaking, Corbin was already releasing the tail, keeping up his gait and much to the coyote's surprise the young boy launched himself into a tackling attack against it. Corbin bit around what he hoped to be the neck but, instead, he got an ear.  Its breath turned towards the black and orange pup so he darted away.  Corbin yipped in startlement more than pain as he felt the coyote's teeth graze his back but it did little more than steal hairs and leave small streaks of blood.  Close but no real damage was done.  The coyote had never expected a blind young child would be capable of getting an ear but now it knew better.

Would Corbin have been more intimidated if he could really see the scene before him? Maybe?  Probably not.  The boy wasn’t one to worry about minor details like odds when the more important concern was family needing help.  The coyote lunged forward and Corbin listened to its approach, darting away.  The coyote got another surprise as his sheep Rocky charged in with a challenging baah and slammed its head into it.  The coyote stumbles away as it now had a food source cracking two of its ribs.

Word Count: 500
Total: 1616 / 1500


"Corbin"