Mistakes

Tyrece didn’t feel like following his friends into the forest behind his house, but he couldn’t refuse the offer.
His friends had went to explore the forest in hopes of finding one of their little brother’s lost skateboards along with going away from all of the stress of the city life. There wasn’t much of space for at least 7 people to hang out in one spot, especially if there wasn’t any cellphone reception in the middle of a forest. There would be some improvising involved in escaping the hustle and bustle of Skylight City’s loud cars and rude citizens.
Tyrece grabbed his black leather jacket, though it wouldn’t protect them from the cold of late fall. His fur was growing as winter came, though, and he could afford to wear less cold-protectant things. He grabbed a black pair of pants and searched his closet for a pair of boots to wear. Once he was all settled, he grabbed his phone and earplugs as he walked out the door.
He could hear the mumble of various people talking near his house’s back door entrance, automatically knowing that his friend Marcus would greet him first. He matted down his hair and pulled his tail out from his pants to make himself look more presentable and respectable to the crowd he would soon walk into. He stuffed his hands into his deep pockets, almost able to feel all the way down into the area above his knees.
Tyrece turned a corner that revealed to him the backs of many people. One of them happened to turn around, hearing Tyrece’s boots scrunching over the leaves and sticks on the ground. “Oh, Reece is here.” The bear said, wiping off a bug on his red jacket. He looked slightly tired, almost dozing off in the chair that he had found. The rest of the group turned around and greeted Tyrece with a grin, welcoming him in with daps and handshakes. He took their welcomes with a slight grin, making sure to keep his cool.
Quiri, one of Tyrece’s cousins, stood up first and stretched his arms and legs whilst letting out a small howl. “Well, I’m ready, who else?” he murmured, wiping his head through his short white hair. The rest of the group nodded and stood up, doing almost the exact same thing that Quiri did.
“Tyrece, you know this forest better than anyone here, bro, so you can lead.” Quiri said lazily, yawning. Tyrece couldn’t back down his decision, as he was right. Tyrece knew the forest like the length of his claws. “Alright.” He answered, moving his hands out of his pocket.
They had trailed into the forest along a path that Tyrece knew would lead to a higher point in the area that could overlook just a little part of the suburban skyline. There was a little bit of flat land in the clearing that could allow the 8 of them to sit down on the smooth grey rocks, but he doubted they would sit down and instead lean back onto the sturdy trees that were numerous in the forest. They had to climb a hill that was marked by a shopping cart from a local store that had been sitting there for years, and turned around a large gated circle that held about half the mosquitos in existence. They made sure to avoid that, especially the canines, as they were the most susceptible to diseases from tick bites.
They went up the final slope and Tyrece moved out the way to let the others scatter. “This is it; if you want to go up any farther you’ll hit the back of the Bill’s Goods parking lot. You must be real if you want to go up there though, the gators will probably beat your ass in a heartbeat for stepping in their territory.” Tyrece said, swiping mosquitos from around him, getting a little angered.
“Why are you so dull this morning, Reece?” one of them asked curiously.  “I’m not feeling it today.” Tyrece answered, sitting down on a rock near a large tree.
He wasn’t lying. He had been through a lot in the past week, from a break-up with someone he truly liked, and to lose a basketball match to the lizards, of all people (at least it wasn’t the bunnies). He just wanted to chill out where people would respect how he was feeling right now and not judge his emotions. He felt like he could have been falling into the wrong crowd, but he shook off the thought. These people were practically his family.
The group had sat playing music and games on their phone for quite a long time after they first settled down. Tyrece had dozed off along with Marcus, the bear in the red shirt, who had been exceptionally tired. Quiri and the others had been able to stay up because of their fast paced music, repeatedly thumping their ears with on and off beats.
Quiri snickered. “They’re actually asleep. The sun is about to go down too, I think we should pull a prank and leave them here.” He said smiling, showing off his deviousness. The others laughed quietly and stood up to sneak off back down from where Tyrece had left them, laughing louder as they crept down at the possibilities of what would happen when they woke up. “What if they couldn’t find their way out until the morning? Hah!” one of them said, snickering even louder than before.
They had been gone for half an hour now, and the sun was now completely under the horizon. Marcus had been busy snoring off to dreams while Tyrece fought in his sleep to stay upright. He finally fell over on the rock and bumped his head on the grass, immediately waking up to the darkness of the forest. He cursed under his breath, swearing directly at Quiri who had obviously planned this. Tyrece was a wolf, however, and that granted him the ability to see at least a little in complete darkness.
He jogged over to Marcus, shaking him violently to wake up. “Hey! Hurry up and get up, bro!” he whispered loudly, not trying to attract anything that could be watching. Marcus’ eyes lifted open slowly, and he opened his mouth to a maw full of saliva. “That’s nasty,” Tyrece started. “But we’ve got to go, quick. I know you can’t see, so I’ll get out my lighter and get you a way out.” He said.
Marcus didn’t respond but just stood up, yawning and almost roaring out in him waking up. Tyrece couldn’t imagine him waking up after hibernation. He would probably blow all the snow away in a 50 mile radius of him. “It’s getting cold every second.” Tyrece mumbled.
Suddenly, as he was looking around for watchers, Tyrece tripped over a tree root. His reflexes kicked in a bit too late, making him drop his lighter and fall down a slope. His leather jacket felt like it had torn open, and his pants ripped apart on the sharp rocks. He stood up right as he stopped sliding, brushing off his skin and feeling a lot of cuts and bruises, cursing. “Marcus, are you good?” he called, and waited for an answer.
“You’ve got a fire.” Tyrece heard from somewhere beside him. He cursed for the third time in one day, almost slapping himself on the neck for the amount of swearing he was doing. The fire behind him was fueled by scattered twigs and grew towards a tree.
“Get it out!” Tyrece screamed. He didn’t want to be stuck in a forest that was going to catch on fire, that wouldn’t be the way he would die-to his own paws. He had to resort to using his boots to step out the growing fire, but his efforts were in vain. The fire grew around a dry tree, spreading its blaze up the bark of the tree and soon to the branches, ever so fast. In his rage, Tyrece kicked the tree with all of his leftover force, but even that wouldn’t help him.
He had given up. He looked around to find a way to escape the fire that surrounded him, unaware of where Marcus disappeared to. By the time he found a tree opening, fire was spreading to it and he couldn’t risk losing fur to flames, or he could get hypothermia. He had no options, and almost started to cry as fire enveloped the woods around him completely.
He could feel a heavy weight on his shoulder immediately. In his sorrow, he thought it was just him being in a near death situation, but this force was wrapping around his neck and almost choking him-warm, furry hands that were noticeable by the fire. He screamed, but nothing came out as he was shoved into a nearby tree. Only a pair of yellow eyes greeted them as he was soon knocked out by a fierce punch to the face, knocking him unconscious in the inferno.