Chapter 1: Slippery Slope
"Welcome to the uniting of the packs! You all need to split into groups of three!"
The four friends exchanged glances of disbelief. This group had NEVER been split up. The thought of it left them speechless. All eyes in the group turned towards Humphrey, looking to him for ideas.
"Okay, okay. Pssh. I guess I'll find another group..." Humphrey mumbled.
"No! Humphrey!"
The omega removed his friends' grasping paws from his leg. "Guys, I have to." He motioned with a nudge of his head towards the prideful wolf glaring down at them. "Winston says so."
The trio made their disapproval evident, but Humphrey gave them one last shrug of the shoulders and wandered off in search of another group.
"Kate!"
The golden furred newly-appointed alpha looked towards the familiar voice. "Humphrey!"
Coming to a halt before his long-lost friend, Humphrey smiled and questioned her, "You're back from Alpha school?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously." She straightened out her posture. "I'm a full-fledged Alpha now!"
Humphrey's eyes went wide. "I don't believe it! What did you learn?"
"Sorry, can't tell. If Alphas told Omegas all their secrets, there wouldn't be any Omegas." She smirked.
Humphrey sat down. "Oh..."
Kate swished her tail back and forth. "So, did you just come to be disappointed?"
"No!" Humphrey's smile instantly reappeared at the change of subject. "Actually, I'm the odd one out because you can only have a group of three. So... I was wondering if I could join your group?" He smiled hopefully.
Kate shrugged her shoulders. "Why not?"
"Yes!"
"But no one else. I'm saving a spot for Lilly cause she'll be late, okay?"
"You mean the one that ruined all our fun back when-"
Kate's death stare tore the words out from his mouth.
The grey wolf shivered. "Euuughhh... I swear, you get that from your mom."
Kate smiled and rolled her eyes.
"So she CAN smile!" Humphrey joked.
An unfamiliar voice floated towards the two reunited wolves, "Well, hello."
Humphrey turned his gaze to the towering figure of a wolf. His voice was smooth and fake, and to Humphrey, incredibly irritating. Humphrey growled in disapproval.
Garth looked down at Humphrey and raised an eyebrow.
Kate closed her mouth, which had been hanging open since the moment Garth's voice hit her ears. She rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. I'm..."
Garth brought his gaze to the golden wolf. "You are...?"
She cleared her throat, and straightened her posture. "Kate."
"Garth."
Humphrey played along, still slightly growling. "Humphrey."
Garth frowned at the omega. "Pleasure." He returned his attention to Kate. "I'm an Eastern wolf, and I figured I should come over here and meet some Western wolves. I mean, this IS the uniting of the packs."
Humphrey chastised Kate, "I thought you said Lilly-"
"Shh!" She returned to her flirtatious advances on Garth. "That's very productive of you."
"Thank you."
Humphrey rolled his eyes. Much to his relief, Lilly popped out of the bushes in front of Kate. The female omega was fixated upon her left paw. "I don't get it, do I have to squeeze the berries onto my claws to paint them?"
Kate drilled her eyes into Lilly's head and motioned towards Garth. Lilly pivoted on her half painted paw and nearly died. "I..." She scuttered her way behind Kate and hid from her embarrassment.
Kate laughed nervously, as did Garth. Humphrey continued to look as disinterested as he could.
Winston bellowed more instructions, "Now you must go on a walk with your group!"
Garth jumped up and began to jog in place. "Oh, awesome! I know the best trail!" He then trotted off, hoping his new friends would follow.
Humphrey smiled wryly. "Oh yeah! He's a keeper alright!"
Kate punched her childhood friend in the arm. "Shut up!" She followed after Garth, and Humphrey and Lilly had no choice but to follow Kate.
Garth's proud voice floated back to them, "So, I came upon this trail one time when I was dragging my kill back to the pack."
Humphrey decided tuning him out was better for his sanity. How could someone be so fake? He looked over at Lilly and noticed that she was watching Garth's tail flip around in a perfect circular motion. "Ya know, staring at a guy's butt isn't gonna make him like you more."
The white wolf lowered her head. "What got YOU in such a bad mood?"
"Hmph..."
Garth stopped. "Here we are! My favorite place to work out!"
Humphrey looked over the ledge they had arrived at and noticed it was a smooth slope down to a grassy field. Hmm... Maybe this guy likes to have fun after all.
"Kate, get on my back, and I can run down the hill," Garth offered, still with that same smooth voice.
Kate jumped in excitement. "Eeek! Okay!"
Humphrey chimed in. "Wouldn't it be more fun to just slide down the hill?"
Garth held out his paws in disbelief. "Well, then it wouldn't work out my calves." He was being perfectly serious.
Humphrey's face contorted. "Do you understand anything besides vanity?" He could feel the death stare coming from atop Garth's back.
Garth looked around helplessly. "What?"
Humphrey growled.
Kate sighed. "Just ignore him."
The tan wolf shrugged and turned around, preparing to jog down the hill. He yelped as his paws were swept out from underneath him, causing him to slide down the hill. Not because he chose to, but because he was pushed from behind. Kate tumbled off of Garth and cursed Humphrey for ever existing.
Kate
"Now can someone tell me the chemical formula for Calcium Phosphide? ... Ian?"
"Uhh... Ca-3 P-2"
"Good."
The boy who answered the question returned his head to his desk and closed his eyes.
The only way that Kate's expression at this moment could be described is by using an example from the movie. When Kate's mother tells her that if Garth gets out of line, she wants Kate to go for the neck and not let go until the body stops shaking. THAT'S the expression on her face right now.
Kate looked around at the classroom full of people. Oh... My... God... I am in the middle of a bunch of hunters!
She wanted to howl for help, but she dared not move. Her alpha training kicked in. She decided it would be best to take in her surroundings. So, she discreetly pivoted her head like an owl, to look behind her. Good! There was no one behind her. In fact, everyone was facing away from her, towards the hunter at the front of the room.
The sleeping boy brought his head up and sat up for about five seconds, before dragging his stool back a few inches and reclining against the back wall. Through the hair that covered his eye, he noticed the wild expression painted on his classmate's face. He turned to face her. "Uhh... Yes?"
"I... Uhh... It..." Kate was perplexed. A hunter had just spoken to her!
The boy sat upright, pulled an ear bud out of his ear, and brought all of his attention to the blonde girl that was staring at him. "So, what's your name?"
"K... Kate."
The boy appeared surprised at the revelation of her name, but he quickly returned to his former expression.
The priceless expression never left her face.
The boy smiled at Kate. "I'm Ian."
She couldn't believe she was small-talking with a hunter. "H, H, Hi."
A short silence ensued, and Ian broke it. "Okay, you got me genuinely curious now. Why are you staring at me?"
Why isn't he trying to kill me? Kate softened her expression. "Sorry, I just... What's going on?"
The boy laughed. "I'm not the one to ask." He lowered his head and looked down at Kate's feet. "You're not wearing any shoes..."
Kate looked down at her paws and-
WHAT? Her ability to stifle screams was beginning to amaze her.
She had feet! She wasn't a wolf! She was a hunter! Now it made sense why they weren't attacking her, but...
She nervously spoke up. "Umm... Would you believe me if I told you that I'm actually a wolf?"
Ian gave her a slight smile. "I'm probably the only person in the entire school who would believe you."
School? Like alpha school?
Ian continued, "So, what, like some magic turned you into a human, and now you're here?"
Kate nodded her head. She wanted to cry. "One moment, I was just sliding down a hill with my friends, and the next moment, I'm here."
He looked up into Kate's eyes from his slouched position on his stool. "Well if you're telling the truth, then that's pretty fucking awesome, so I'm going to just trust you completely. Or... play along. You're choice. So you were born a wolf?"
Kate nodded and began to sob. "But what about my frien-"
"Shh Shh shhh..." Ian wrapped his arm around her. Thank god they were in the back of the class and the lights were dimmed. "Shh... Don't worry. I bet they're here too."
This obviously didn't do anything to soothe her, so he stroked her long hair. "What's wrong?"
She kept her face buried in Ian's shirt. "I just don't know what to do, and I'm an alpha, I should know exactly what to do..."
Ian pulled her head away from his body and looked her in the eyes. They were golden, just like her hair. They were intoxicating. "I, Uhh..."
Kate giggled. "That helped." She sniffed and wiped away her tears. "Now, where can I find my friends?"
Ian cleared his throat and regained his focus. "Well... we wouldn't want to bring too much attention to you, so you might wanna wait until this class ends."
Humphrey
"AAAAH!"
Every eye turned to Humphrey, the kid who just randomly screamed in the middle of class. He heard murmurs of "turrets?" followed by snickers.
"Hey dude, why aren't you wearin' shoes?"
Much to his dread, Humphrey noticed that he did not have paws. He had feet... hunter feet. He looked up at the hunter who had addressed him. "I, Uhh... Dont know."
They all laughed.
Hey! That got them to laugh!
Why the hell was he here? He was JUST sliding down the hill with Kate, Lily, and Barf. And now he was being stared at by a bunch of hunters. And he had feet, so he was a hunter! A HUNTER! None of this made sense. He must be dreaming. So, he decided to have some fun with the dream. "Well, why are you so ugly?"
Garth
"So, you gonna join the football team?"
The super-tan, hugely built, brown-haired dream of a high-schooler responded to the hunter standing before him. "Uhh... Sure?"
"Good! Cause we need you! By the way, my name is Mr. Zark. I'm coach of the football team, AND your English teacher."
What was going on? Why were these hunters interacting with him? Where was Kate?
"Where did Kate go?" He observed his audience and noticed that every female hunter was staring at him. He smiled, then continued. "She's got blonde hair and she's really beautiful." Again, no response. "Is there any other wolves in here?"
"What the fuck you talkin' bout man? How high ARE you?"
Garth sat there, silently, receiving lustful stares from the females, and jealous glares from the males, not knowing what to do.
Lilly
Lilly peered out once again from behind her curtain of white hair. They're still staring at me! The tears began to form as her nerves gave up. The hunters had been talking about her for what seemed like ages.
"Why is her hair white?"
"I saw her eyes, they're purple!"
"She's so weird..."
"Some sorta goth?"
Lilly was confused out of her mind. She was surrounded by hunters, in a strange place, and her sister was gone. Everything was terrible!
It must be a nightmare! Get me out of here! Get me out of here! PLEASE get me out of here!
RRRRIIIINGGGGGG!
