Chapter 1
Part 1
Rocky lay awake. Lightning brightened the sky and thunder roared ferociously in the distance. The brick walls and the asphalt of the alley were darkened and depressing due to the rain that had fallen earlier that night. He was lying down on an old torn up mattress. It was at the very back of the ally that they lived in stuffed between the back three walls. The alley where they happened to live was just a mere branch of a larger system but they lucked out because their alley connected to one of the major ones that led out to the street. The main alley way was twice as wide and full of giant green garbage cans. Rocky was a three year old half wolf dog his dark grey fur was soaked and tangled though it was thin enough at some areas to see all the scars that told his stories countless times over. His eyes were a deep grey and his ears stood up slightly slanted. His muzzle was long; He had a broad chest and a slender body. He stood a foot and a half from the ground to his broad shoulders. He was still a pup but He had to grow up fast in a very harsh and cruel world.
For the past year he and his sister Floral had been traveling around from place to place. Until they reached the town of Vanstrack, California in which they now resided. Rocky had developed a problem of trusting animals but he distrusted humans the most. He had actually come to hate them. There was only one living being in the whole world that he trusted the most and that was his sister. He was very caring and protective of his sister; Floral was a year younger then rocky and had similar features to him as well but she stood two inches shorter than Rocky; her fur was a tad lighter but was still the all familiar grey her eyes were a soft brown.
Even though they looked alike, they had completely opposite personalities. Floral lacked Rocky’s distrusting attitude and was always kind and willing to help anyone she could. Rocky glimpsed at the clearing sky, the sun was slowly engulfing the horizon and then the land. He watched as the last of the stars began to disappear.
Floral opened her eyes and yawned. She looked up at Rocky “what‘s wrong?” She asked in a kind voice. “Oh your awake! Nothing just thinking, ” he said a little surprised but keeping his eyes on the sky the whole time. “Are you sure your okay? I want to be some one you can trust. ” She said trying to follow his gaze, she could tell something was wrong though she also knew he would never admit it. “ it is nothing I promise you come on let us go find something to eat” he said trying to change the subject. “Can I stay here I’m still a little tired of always walking around; I want to sleep some more” She asked looking at him with pleading eyes. “I… uh…” rocky hesitated for a moment and used the time to think. He hated leaving her alone but in the end he finally gave in “Yeah, sure just stay hidden and out of trouble I’ll be back soon.” With that he walked down the alley made a right turn into the larger alley, which connected to there own, and made his way toward the street. Vanstrack was a medium sized town with its fair share of torn up neighborhoods. The area where Rocky and Floral had settled in happened to be one. As Rocky walked along the heavily littered streets he noticed that there weren’t many stores around. There were multiple buildings on either side but a couple of them were abandoned. He was very happy with his decision of staying in the town instead of moving again.
Rocky searched around to find something worth eating. He ate a couple things himself, and then when he felt that he was good for he time being he grabbed half a hotdog and a couple of other small things; Then made his way back to the alley. As he turned into the alley Floral nearly ran him over “whoa look out Floral” he said, a little shocked. “Sorry, anyway, what did you get?” she said excitedly. Rocky dropped the food in front of her “here this some of the better stuff that I found.” With out another word she gulped it down then continued her running she even started to chase her tail she had gotten mostly dog in her genes rocky just sat back and thought to himself he noticed all the energy she had in her this morning. He tried to think of a way that she could lose some of it; one idea popped in his mind, though he didn’t like it very much, but it would make Floral happy and that’s the only thing that counted, “ Hey Floral come here for a moment” he said. She ran down the alley in almost no time “what did you want big brother?” she asked tilting her head in curiosity . “I was wondering if you would like to go to the park for a little while.” He said with a little regret
“Really you really mean it?” she asked, excited and wagging her tail. “Of course why would I lie to you?” he asked trying to smile. She was on her stomach the whole time this was happening it was a show of submission but she was also showing thankfulness

They slowly made there way to the park. It was on the other side of town, which was why Rocky didn’t like going because they had to cross over to the nicer area of town. As they walked the scene quickly changed from the familiar surroundings they were use to.
Instead of abandoned buildings with broken windows and boarded up doors to small nice little family homes. There were, predictably, many more people the higher class of vanstrack lived here, the people here were wretched but what Rocky hated the most were the kids. Some tried to come up and pet him but he growled at them. Floral was less aggressive and actually enjoyed the caressing touches of there small hands. One of the kids was brave and ignored Rocky’s warning growls and continued to reach out his hand. Rocky snarled and snapped. His teeth came down the boy’s hand; the taste of blood filled Rocky’s mouth. He let go instantly to let the kid go and he ran. His friends were laughing at the boy but were also terrified of Rocky and left him alone.
They were soon off and were crossing over railroad tracks when they caught glimpse of the park. There were a few trees near the street but near the back was part of the forest that surrounded the town. The park area was quite small scattered through it there were small play spots like slides and swings. The grass was a bright green and there was a small man made pond in the middle and fountains shooting up from the middle of it as they crossed the street and saw that the largest tree in the park was near the back. It was an old oak. They had no clue how all it might be. Rocky liked the spot already Floral ran off on the direction of the pond as he made his way to the oak it was cool underneath he found a soft patch of grass and lied down in it the sun seemed to race across the sky. Rocky would play a little with his sister and then go back to his spot under the oak. He watched, as she would jump at the ducks that were in the pond. Before they knew it the sun had almost completely disappeared underneath the horizon the sky had darkened and it started to rain. Rocky stood up and called out to his sister “Floral come on we got to go”. Floral ran up to him “do we have to” she asked with a small whimper “ ya we do its already poring we should go before it gets worse” Rocky replied “maybe we’ll come tomorrow” “really” floral asked happily “ya of course come lets go” he said kindly and then they walked home in the rain.