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The cool, Saturday morning wind blasted my face as I came around a turn, running at full-speed as my teammates cheered me on.

"Go, Siara!" they screamed my name as I ran up a short, steep hill. I pushed myself up the hill, having only about 1600 meters to go until I reach the finish line.

"Rahhh! Let's go, Siara!" Ace, my crazy best friend, screamed, "you're in first! Don't let that femme pass you!"

I flew down the hill after I reached the top, the cheers from fans of all ages and teams yelling and cheering. My blue, mohawk hair flew in the wind as I panted heavily, entering the woods for the second and final time.

The cool, October morning was the perfect temperature to run, with it being a nice fifty degrees and a gentle, cool breeze. This Saturday morning was the annual Cross Country Region meet for the girls of the eastern region of North Carolina, with it being between five schools: Riverview High School, Jadeston High School, Rockypaw High School, Fauxfur High School, and last but not least, Canifur High School.

I panted heavily and flipped my hair to the side, my thighs burning as I glided over the uneven trail, approaching the edge of the woods. Okay girl, you got this! Only another..... 800 meters to go? I looked at the watch on my black furred wrist, which read 16:30 in minutes, as I passed the 800 meter marker at the edge of the woods. I picked up my pace, my lungs burning and my legs beginning to feel like jelly. I can't believe this! After all the sweat, blood, and dedication I placed into running, I'm finally in first place!

At this moment, I was supposed to be miserable from the pain I was going through, but I couldn't help smiling as I ran up another short, steep hill. And my time of 16:30! I have to beat my personal record of 18:30!

The cheering started up again as I rounded a sharp turn, now on even ground. On both sides of the course, spectators were screaming and cheering as I kept running, maintaining my fast pace. "Come on, Canifur High!" I heard a voice yell among the cheering anthros, "four hundred meters to go!"

I heard heavy breathing behind me as I drowned out the sounds of the crowd. Floof! This female behind me is catching up!

I picked up my pace, going slightly faster since I only had four hundred meters till the finish line. The cheers from the spectating anthros became more intense as the finish line came into my view, the male announcer commentating, "we have Siara of Canifur High School in the lead, with last year's winner Jamie of Riverview High School trailing behind by a few seconds."

I was tempted to look back at my opponent, but instead, I focused on the finish line and sprinted at the two hundred meter mark.

"We have the first and second place runners neck and neck!" the male voice announced over a loudspeaker, the sounds of screaming cheers now attacking my sensitive, feline ears.

Out the corner of my eye, I spotted the female anthro cheetah they called Jamie, who was now to the side of me. Jamie was a 5'8" female anthro cheetah, who had long, orange hair and orange fur with black spots. She wore a pair of red running shorts and a red running jersey, which were the colors of Riverview High School. I, on the other paw, was a 5'6" female anthro panther with black fur and bright blue colored mohawk-styled hair. I wore a pair of light brown running shorts and a light brown running jersey, which were the colors of Canifur High School. Riverview High was Canifur High's rival for the past four years, ever since Riverview High won Region for the past four years.

The female cheetah and I hated each other's guts from the first race. Our personal, bitter rivalry was dangerous to the point where we were almost disqualified at County for nearly tearing each other's heads off. Here, at this very moment, the high school that wins Region goes straight to the State Championship and right now, tensions were high. Riverview High will not beat us! Not this year!

"This year's race is gonna be extremely close!" the male voice announced over the loud cheers of the crowd, "Who's gonna win the 2020 Region meet for the girls?!"

As Jamie and I came within meters of the finish line, I felt her give me a rough shove from the side. Oh this female......

"BREAK THEM UP! BREAK THEM UP!" a voice yelled over the crowd as soon as Jamie and I crossed the yellow tape of the finish line.

Even though Jamie and I were both exhausted and panting heavily, we had our claws drawn and ready to tear at each other's face.

Next thing I knew, I was being dragged away by three of my teammates, while Jamie was being dragged away by hers in the opposite direction. "Calm down, Siara!" Emi, the female anthro wolf of my three teammates, exclaimed as we walked towards a light brown tent at the top of the hill by the road, "no need to fight that cheatin' cheetah." Emi, compared to me, stood at about 5'9" with long, black hair and white fur. She, along with the other two teammates, wore brown sweatpants and a brown, short-sleeved shirt that had our high school's name on it. We all, also, were 16 to 17 years old, just juniors in high school.

"Yeah, she's most likely going to get disqualified this time," Rainey, the female anthro fox of the group, said in a tired tone, "if she doesn't, I'm afraid I might wring her neck." We all made it to the brown, open tent, with all of us sitting on the ground under it. Rainey stood at 5'2", having short, red hair and orange colored fur. "You ran your race so well, even your mohawk says it all!" Eve, the female anthro tiger, laughed. Eve stood at 5'4", with white hair and black fur with white stripes, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The tigress held a mirror in my face and I saw my bright blue colored mohawk, which was swept up as if I had used gel.

"Haha! You look boyish!" Emi giggled as I laid back with a smile on my face.

I felt physically exhausted from the race and my anger toward that female cheetah evaporated as I relaxed in the grass.

"Good job out there!" I heard a familiar female voice yell out.

I sat up and looked to my left, seeing a female anthro golden retriever running over to the tent from across the closed off road. I stood up with the help of Emi and immediately, I was bear hugged by the female golden retriever. This female was my crazy friend Ace, who decided to tag along for the trip to watch me race. Ace stood at 5'10" with rainbow colored hair and dark gold fur. Different from the rest of my teammates, Ace wore a white t-shirt and a pair of black yoga pants since she wanted to run with me for my warmup.

I let out a weak laugh and lightly hugged the female golden retriever back. "So, the female cheetah is being disqualified," she told me, fumbling with something in her pocket, "and your finish was just purrrrrfect! You beat that cheetah by a nose AND a foot!" She mimicked the way I say perfect as she pulled out a black and white photo, which had the photo of me and my rival crossing the finish line. Even from the photo, you could tell that Jamie was slightly taller compared to me. I, indeed, crossed the finish line before the female cheetah by a whole foot! And my nose, of course.

"I'm proud to announce the conclusion of the Varsity girls race with our winners!" the male announcer still sounded excited, "with Fauxfur High School finishing in third place, we have two schools who finished extremely close."

"Well, we gotta go to the starting area," Emi ran off, along with Eve and Rainey.

"In second place, with a score of 26," the announcer held a dramatic silence as the surrounding tents had anthros listening closely, all of them on edge, "Riverview High School!" Loud cheers came from the surrounding tents, including Riverview High's, who were the furthest away from us.

"In first place, with a score of 24.......... Canifur High School!"

Ace lost it and bear hugged me again, squeezing the life out of me. I was still exhausted from the race to the point where I was too tired to celebrate.

"Our top five runners are as follows," the male announcer began to read off the names with a pause in between, "Siara of Canifur High School with a time of 18:30, Liska of Fauxfur High School with a time of 18:48, Halie of Canifur High School with a time of 19:00, Emu of Riverview High School with a time of 19:06, and last but not least, Selena of Rockypaw High School with a time of 19:10." After the names were read aloud, Ace finally released me from her deadly embrace, which left me lying in the grass gasping for air. "Floof! Sorry!" the female golden retriever helped me up and led me back to the tent, "forgot you were an exhausted panther!"

After she sat me down under the tent, she produced a water bottle to my paw and immediately, I snatched it away and used my claw to cut a hole in the bottle. "Ah!" Ace had a delayed reaction, "you were that thirsty?!"

I downed the water bottle in less than a few seconds, "hell yea, you know I was!" I felt a little regenerated and I stood up, brushing grass off my black fur and fixing my mohawk.

"Oh no, I have to go!" Ace glanced at her watch and panicked, "I have a swim meet in an hour!"

And with that, the female anthro golden retriever gave me a quick hug before running off in the direction of parked cars. If only I didn't have to stick around for the meet. And a swim meet on a Saturday?

"The Junior Varsity girls race will begin in one minute," a different voice announced. I quickly stretched and reached into my bright blue gym bag, pulling out a pair of brown sweatpants and putting them on over my shorts. I jogged into the direction of the starting area.

"Runners take your mark," an older male anthro wolf, who appeared in his mid-thirties, stood in the middle of the wide open course and in front of forty females, who look ready to bolt. He held a revolver that shot blanks in one paw, and his other paw was in the air.

The starting area was a wide open field, with trees to the sides and a downhill which headed the beginning of the race. There were fewer spectators as well, assuming that most of them left because they only wanted to see the Varsity race. I stood by a tree, watching the start and the starting area.

The male wolf held the revolver in the air, "set!" the gun fired off a blank and the runners were off, nearly trampling the male wolf as he ran out of the way.

With the loud howls and cheers of the remaining spectators, I took a shortcut through the woods and ran out to the mile marker. When I reached my destination, I found more spectators there that wore the colors of the different schools. In a few minutes, the big digital clock read 6:30, and the lead runner was coming around the bend.

The lead female wore a grey running jersey and a pair of black shorts, the colors of Rockypaw High School. As she passed by, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked back, seeing a female anthro border collie, who was wearing a dark blue running jersey and black yoga pants.

"Hey!" we both exchanged a gentle hug as a few more runners started passing by.

"You did great!" the female complemented as we watching the runners pass by, "I'm glad Jamie got disqualified." The female border collie went by the name of Jacee, and she looked worn out and tired. She stood at about my height of 5'6", her fur color a mixture between white and brown splotches, along with long, brown hair.

"Yeah, me too," I commented, watching the runners. I really do hate that cheatin' cheetah! She's done it before! I shook the thought out of my head and directed my attention back to the runners.

"Go Emi and Rainey!" I cheered as I saw them pass by, "Go Eve!" I looked back at the big digital clock, which read 7:00. At least they're getting faster. I looked up at the sky, seeing what appears to be dark clouds rolling in from the east. Wait a minute....... It isn't supposed to storm until tomorrow evening.

"Guess it's going to storm us out," Jacee sounded a little bummed out, walking away from me. I quickly followed, making our way back to the tents near the road. "Yea," I said as we walked towards a dark blue tent, which had a few other female anthros sitting under it. I had to admit, I was bummed too. I just hope the storm holds off a bit longer.

"I don't want it to rain! Then we'll all have to get on the bus sweaty AND soaking wet!" one of the females whined, getting a dark blue hoodie out of her blue drawstring bag.

"Oh, quit your whinin'!" Jacee sneered when we reached the tent, ruffling the female lion's already messed up green hair. The dark green fur colored Fauxfur runner grunted as the first flash of lightning flashed across the sky. Following that, the whole meet was immediately canceled as it poured down rain, the wind bending trees and nearly blowing tents away.

In less than a few minutes of it storming, I was with my team on the yellow Canifur High School bus, all of us soaking wet with muddy feet. I sat in the back with Emi and Rainey, while the rest of the females sat in either the front of the bus or in the seats in the middle. With there only being seventeen female runners, including myself, the bus felt empty.

"Let's clap for Siara!" the female hyena in the front, Sadie, stood up in her seat at the front of the bus, "our fastest runner AND our first place winner of this race!" All the other females clapped, looking back at me and chanting my name. A loud, violent clap of thunder, followed by the ground shaking, caused the whole bus to be filled with yelps and silence soon followed.

"Well, victory girls," a thirty-three year old female snow leopard, dressed in a green raincoat and sweatpants, walked onto the bus, "settle down and get comfortable. It's going to be a long ride."

The female anthro leopard, Miss Sacho, sat down at the wheel of the bus. The bus started up with a beep and soon, we were off onto the road. When the bus got onto the highway, the storm began to get worse. The heavy rain assaulted the windows as well as the strong wind pounding the moving bus.

Oddly enough, no one was talking on the bus. Was I the only one alive? I looked to my right, seeing that Emi had her earbuds in her canine ears and her IPhone in her paws, texting someone. I shrugged my shoulder and looked past Emi, seeing Rainey in the other seat beside us. Judging by how Rainey using the bus seat as a bed, I assumed she was sleeping soundly. I peered over the seat in front of me, spotting the sleeping Hannah and Heather, the latter laying her feline head against the window. As I scanned in front of me, I saw that all of the female cross country team was asleep, only leaving me and Emi the only ones awake. I looked over at Emi and saw that I spoke too soon, for the female wolf was drooling on the black screen of her phone. Great, she fell asleep. I looked out the window, barely seeing outside because of the rain. Huh? I caught something forming in the clouds. I squinted my eyes at the eerie cloud formation in the sky, trying to get a better look. The dark, black clouds formed what seems like.... A skull? Or was my imagination playing tricks on me again? I blinked my eyes and the black skull disappeared, dark grey clouds being the replacement of the black clouds I've seen. What?! I shook my head, starting to feel frightened. I know I saw it! A flash of lightning cut across the sky, which make me jump and scream.

"Jeez, Siara," I heard Emi mumble, "calm down, it's only a storm." I looked around the bus again, seeing that the rest of the anthros were asleep, excluding the bus driver, Miss Sacho. The rain, out of nowhere, pounded the windows and outside the bus even harder, making it nearly impossible to see outside the windows.

"Hey, I'm stopping the bus until the storm lets up," Miss Sacho spoke aloud as I felt the bus slow down. The bus soon pulled over onto the bumpy shoulder of the freeway, coming to a complete stop. Surprisingly, none of the others awoke. Outside was pitch black, as if nighttime hit, and the rain continued its assault, the wind rocking the bus from side to side.

"Miss Sacho?" I asked aloud, standing up as I looked towards the front of the bus.

No response, not even an ear twitched on anyone's head. Nothing but silence inhabited the atmosphere of the bus, and now darkness was beginning to fill the bus from the front like water filling up a glass. No! I looked over at Emi, only to see her staring at me with solid, black eyes. I let out a scream and jumped, now standing in the soft bus seat. All the other females, including the bus driver, were standing in their seats, looking towards me with hungry, black eyes. They all levitated in the air and slowly started floating towards me. "AHHH!" I screamed as loud as I could, trying to jump over the female wolf beside me. That attempt failed, for something held my tail and legs in place.

I looked down at my feet, seeing black liquid seeping up my black, feline legs. I felt my arms get pulled back, literally sticking to the window behind me. I wanted to close my eyes, but my eyes wouldn't close, nor could I look down because my head was then pulled back. "You are one of us," all the possessed anthros chanted as I was forced to see them close in on me.

I felt something tightening around my throat, making it harder for me to breathe. I felt like I was drowning as the darkness closed in on me. I got one last look at the anthros before I stopped breathing, seeing nothing but black.

"Hey, hey!" I felt something slapping my face, "Siara! Wake up!" I moaned and slowly opened my eyes, seeing a familiar female face looking down at me. Ace!

"Are you alright?" the female golden retriever asked, "you sorta passed out when I bear hugged you..." I found myself laying in the grass, the sun shining brightly in my face.

"Yea," I sat up slowly, holding my head. Ugh, I feel like crap. Ace eventually helped me over to the tent, "you need some food and water. You gave me a heart attack!"

She sat me down as I could barely speak, and immediately I found a granola bar and a water bottle thrown onto my lap. I attacked both the bar and bottle viciously, devouring the bar and gulping down all of the water.

"Jeez!" Ace exclaimed, "you could have told me how exhausted you were!"

I laid in the grass under the tent, feeling refreshed with the sun off of me. I shrugged off my little nightmare, taking it as an insignificant dream.