Missing

Chapter one beyond the Territory

Cloud hid under a huge white fir tree, the wind blowing her beautiful white fur across her face. She stifled a laugh as Mick walked by. He luckily hadn't picked up her scent and seemed to be moving on to look for her or Jasper. At least that's what it looked like until Mick stopped and looked straight at Cloud. Cloud burst from under the cover of the tree and ran the opposite way that Mick had been walking, Mick hot on her paws.

Although Mick was running full out Cloud was still taking off ahead of him leaving a cloud of snow behind her. As Cloud slid around the corner of a thick clump of trees she ran into a startled Jasper almost knocking both Jasper and Cloud off a steep hill.

Cloud and Jasper both sighed a sigh of relief from the close call of almost being knocked over the edge of the steep hill. Their relief was short lived as Mick ran around the corner full speed loosing his balance and smashing into Cloud and Jasper sending all three careening down the hill like a giant snow ball. They screamed all the way to the bottom landing in a huge mud hole.

Cloud was the first one to start laughing Mick and Jasper quickly joining in. When they finally stopped laughing Jasper said, "Let's do that again!" Cloud let out a little giggled while Mick threw a mud ball at Jasper. Jasper ducked and the mud ball smacked Cloud flat in the muzzle.

Cloud jokingly said, "You asked for it!" and threw a mud ball at Mick hitting him on his left front shoulder.

"Mud fight!" Jasper yelled and the mud hole was filled with the sound of mud balls flying and splats as they hit their marks or completely missed. The three friends fell back into the mud hole laughing and giggling like crazy.

When they finally came back up for air Mick said, "How are we going to wash this mud off, it's the middle of the winter." Jasper replied by jumping out of the mud hole and into the snow scrubbing as much mud from her fur coat as she could and walking over to a small spring gushing from the side of the mountain to wash the rest of the mud out of her fur. Although she was wet and standing in the snow she didn't shiver…much.

Cloud and Mick followed and did the same as Jasper had just done. When Mick was done washing off, he shook all or at least most of the water off sending it flying onto Cloud and Jasper. Jasper and Cloud looked at each other grinning and shook off the water Mick had coated them with from when he shook off coating Mick with even more water than before.

Cloud and Jasper started walking off going back to their dins for what they hopped was some fresh caribou from the hunt the pack had planned that morning.

Mick shook off again and ran to catch up with girls as he yield, "Hey! Wait for me!"

When he caught up with Jasper and Cloud they headed down the trail for their homes as they walked they talked about how hungry they were.

Cloud said, "I'm so hungry I could eat a whole caribou leg."

Jasper said, "I'm so hungry I could eat half a caribou."

Mick proudly smiled and said, "I'm so hungry I could eat a whole caribou!"

Cloud and Jasper grinned at each other and said in a dramatic voice, "Oh no! He's so hungry he's going to eat us!" and ran ahead pretending to run away from Mick. Mick laughed and loped after Jasper and Cloud chanting, "I'm so hungry I'm going to eat you!"

When the three friends got back to the dens they were having such a good time they didn't notice the grim look on everyone's face, but after a few minutes they noticed the grim look on every ones face.

Cloud went up and asked the pack leader, Kate, "What's wrong….everyone seems, grim?

Kate replied with a worried yet strong answer, "The hunt this morning was not very successful, only one caribou was taken. The caribou are thinning. We might have to move the pack to an area with more food. We are trying to find a group that will go off the territory and look for a new territory with more food that does not have another pack already there."

Before Cloud could say anything else Kate said, "No you can't go, the group that goes may never come back" Kate gave the three friends a stern look to keep them from even thinking about leaving to go find another territory.

Cloud looked at Jasper and Mick with a look that told Mick and Jasper, "Let's do it!"

Jasper spoke first saying, "We should probably talk about this were no one else will hear us."

Mick quickly replied, "Are you nuts! We can't just go..MFF!" Before Mick could say anything else both Jasper and Cloud clamped their paws over Mick's muzzle, they didn't want the rest of the pack to think they were going to try to leave the territory to go find a new territory. They would be kept under their mother and fathers watch day and night because, "they were only pups".

Cloud resented being thought of as a pup, she was old enough too treated as a FULL grown wolf, NOT a winy little pup!

Cloud whispered in Jaspers ear, "Let's go to sharp point ridge, we could talk about…" Cloud looked around to make sure no one was listening and continued, "...looking for new territory."

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Soon Cloud, Jasper and Mick were walking up to sharp point ridge.

Mick spoke before anyone else could speak, "Are you crazy! The pack leader just told us not to go and what are we doing? Planning to go! If anyone even finds out that we're talking about going to look for a new territory we'll be under constant supervision for weeks! If not months!"

"Mick if you keep yelling like that, there won't be a wolf in the territory that doesn't know what we're planning to do!" Cloud replied.

Jasper spoke up next, "Come on, let's focus on what we came here to do…"

Mick interrupted her saying, "That's exactly what I'm doing! Convincing you two that this is nuts and that we should leave it to Tara and the other Alphas to deal with! I mean were still just pups! And, and we're also Omega's! Omegas are only supposed to be funny and keep the peace in the pack! Not go and find new territories with more food! The Alpha's are having trouble just finding someone to do it. How are little Omega pups like us going to help! We would just cause more trouble because they would have to send search parties looking for us. We may even end up dead! Can either of you find a better reason to go?"

Jasper replied, "We could have fun and…um…uh…"

Cloud finished the sentence for Jasper, "We would be saving the whole pack from starvation; we might even be able to find out where all the Caribou are going and bring them back so that we didn't even have to leave the territory."

Jasper continued to prove Clouds point even more, "Yeah and think of all the elder wolf's, they wouldn't be able to make the journey to a new territory, they could die! Do you want to be the one of the Omega's that saved the wolf pack, or the wolf that "could" have saved the pack from starvation?"

After a few moments Mick mumbled, "I still think it's a bad idea…"

Cloud and Jasper both slightly chuckled at how stubborn Mick was; he would never admit that he was wrong.

Cloud, Jasper and Mick went back to talking.

Jasper stared talking, "So what direction should we go?"

Cloud replied, "Maybe we should go out the northeast side and follow the river, we would have water to drink, and we would have more prey to catch near the river as we searched."

Jasper replied, "Good point but I think we should head north, it seems that there is more large game in that direction, plus we should be able to find some Squirrels or something to eat, they seem to live everywhere. Plus we'll probably come across some streams or creeks on our way. We'll probably even find some good dry dens to sleep in at night; if we were by the river most din spots would be wet."

Cloud replied, "Good point and since its approaching fall we would have to deal with the ice from the river if we followed the river."

Mick replied, "I think we should head south, it's warmer and if I were a caribou with that matted looking fur I would go to a place where I didn't need that horribly matted coat."

Both Cloud and Jasper didn't listened to Mick's response because they knew that the caribou wouldn't go south, it was to warm in the south for caribou.

Cloud went on, "So we're going north, agreed?"

Jasper quickly replied, "Yes!"

Mick sighed and said, "I guess so…." Cloud looked at Mick and smiled, he was…funny… Jasper noticed how Cloud looked at Mick and how she smiled at him with a glimmer in her eye, but just as quickly she looked away shyly. Mick didn't notice. Jasper wished she could be in love with someone, but sadly she'd never fallen in love….

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Mick broke the silence, "So when are we taking off?"

Cloud replied, "It'll have to be soon, but how soo…."

Cloud stopped and her eyes widened, "RUN!" she yelled and took off down the hill, going the opposite direction as the dens, north. Jasper and Mick took off after as quickly as they could, they had never seen her look so serious or run so fast before.

As Jasper and Mick gasped for air trying to catch up with Cloud they here'd her yell over her back, "Run faster he's gaining on you!"

Jasper yelled back, "What are we running from?"

Cloud slowed down till she was running next to them and said, "That!" pointing behind them with her head. Jasper and Mick looked back; there was a foaming mouth diseased wolf staggering after them at an amazingly fast speed.

Cloud, Jasper and Mick didn't need any more encouragement; they flew ahead edging away from the diseased wolf. As they were running they all started to get cuts from the sharp rocks on the ground and numerous other things. Jasper soon cut her right front paw badly on a sharp rock, this didn't slow her down a bit, it sped her up if anything.

Just as they left the territory the sound of the diseased wolf chasing after them disappeared. When they finally stopped they were gasping for air.

Cloud was the first to talk, "We're beyond the territory!"

Mick quickly spoke to, "Where are we? And how are we going to get back to the pack?"

Cloud replied, "We're not going back to the pack, at least not yet…. This is a great chance to get a head start on looking for better territory."

Cloud started to slowly walk north, Jasper quickly following her.

Mick sighed and yelled after them, "Where do you plan to sleep tonight?"

"In a den of course", Cloud yelled back.

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The next morning

Kate quickly kept heading in the direction of the fading scent of the three missing wolves and a fourth wolf that didn't smelling right that Kate couldn't find out why smelled wrong. Suddenly just as she was coming to the end of their territory Kate and Humphrey came across a dead foaming mouth diseased wolf, it wasn't anyone from there pack and wait! Was that blood spots? Yes it was! The two small spots of blood belonged to Mick and Cloud; the bigger spot belonged to Jasper.

Kate quickly spoke to her mate Humphrey, "Go back and tell the pack to stay in their dens at all times. I'll follow the blood trail and try to find…" A tear fell from Kate's muzzle,"…the bodies..."

Humphrey comforted his Kate before he left for the dens, "I'm sure she's fine, she must have cut herself on something sharp, she'll be fine." Humphrey quickly headed off to the dens before he started to cry, this would only worsen how Kate felt about loosing their only daughter, Jasper. No one could survive a bite from a foaming mouth wolf, no one…

Watching Humphrey leave Kate started to follow the blood trail till it slowly disappeared, she gave up looking for them when she completely lost their blood and scent trail. Kate knew she didn't want to see any of what was left of their diseased ridden bodies, especially her daughters, Jasper.

Kate cried as she walked home knowing she would never see her daughter again….

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