Chapter 2: Who We Are
"That's a nice name." Alisa responded when the stranger unexpectedly told her his name.
"Thank you. That's…." He hesitated for some reason.
"That's very kind. Something I don't see much of anymore."
"I have question for you. About… your story." Humphrey asked, finally making eye contact with Alisa. Humphrey's were cold. Dark. No more hope left in them. No more fire.
She raised her head.
"What happened back there?" He asked.
"Well, me and my partner- no not in that way, if that's what you're wondering." She said, a small smile forming on her lips.
"I wasn't." He smiled back.
"But go on."
"Me and my partner came here searching a new home when our camp was raided by, well, probably the same assholes you saw back there. We took off to the road, when we encountered that small town. We decided to search the convenience store, in hope of some food. As we were, those assholes caught up to us. Must have followed us. They started banging on the convenience store front door, so ran out the back. Some guy was already there, so I…" She started choke up.
"You left your partner behind." Humphrey completed her sentence for her.
"Yes. I did. And they killed him. And shot me. I locked the doors to the back and the room I was in…" Tears started for off her eyes.
"I heard a lot of conflict out the back, and that's where you came in."
"It's ok. You did what you had to do to survive. We are just survivors in this world." Humphrey said.
"I have lived in a populated camp all my life. I never really saw the outside until a week ago. How about you Humphrey?" She asked, comforted by his words.
Humphrey hesitated to talk about his past.
"I… I've had a complicated past. I'm really not ready to talk about it." He said, his tone darkened.
"Fine." Her tone turned sour.
Silence passed.
Humphrey got up from his spot and sat beside Alisa, who was surprised by this action.
He didn't say anything.
"Here. Look." He handed her picture with a blond wolf smiling sweetly at the camera.
She observed it.
"That your wife?" She asked.
"Something like that…" He responded, putting the picture in his pocket again.
"I honestly don't remember much before the bombs fell. I was only seventeen. I have been so consumed in this world with surviving that honestly forgot. Forgot all but my objective. To get to jasper city." He explained, staring into the fire.
"That would mean your thirty-eight now." She responded.
Humphrey didn't say anything, just nodded.
"How old are you Alisa?" He asked.
"Thirty-four. You got four years on me." She smiled.
"I guess so." He smiled back.
"Anyways, I have been on the road for a long time." He said.
"Are you trying to find your wife?" She asked.
"She-… isn't my wife." He said, frowning.
"Then what is she then?"
"Just someone important to me."
"I need to get to Jasper City. That's where I heard she was. When I was taking refuge in Toronto, I heard on a ham radio that there was a settlement forming there, so I took off. That was over a year ago." He explained.
"Do you think she is still alive?" Alisa asked.
The question panged his heart.
"I hope so. I honestly hope so." He responded, hope dwindling in his voice.
A little awkward silence passed.
"Thank you, by the way. For saving my life." Alisa said.
"Don't mention it." Humphrey responded.
"Do you usually save people like that?" She asked.
Humphrey shrugged, and yet out a noisy yawn.
"No. I don't." He responded.
"What made me any different?"
"I don't know."
"Well thanks anyway." She said, giving him a small hug.
Humphrey didn't know how to respond. He never had anyone show him any kind of affection like that after the blast. He had honestly forgot how it felt to have a kind, warm, genuine interaction with another wolf. It felt good.
She let go, and yawned.
"If you're tired, go to sleep. You're going to need to all the energy you can store if you're going to survive out there." He said.
"I'm…. Going to be coming with you, right?" She asked, unsure and worried that her new companion would abandon her.
"You sure you even want to? It will be a dangerous road, and we still got a long ways to go." Humphrey responded, looking at her in her eyes. They were dark and piercing but in a strange way, a calming brown that reminded him of the bark on trees before the blast.
"It's better than going out there by myself. Right?" She asked.
"Yeah. It is."
Humphrey pulled out a sleeping bag from his backpack. It was torn, worn, and sooty, but it was still a sleeping bag that provided warmth.
He handed it to Alisa.
"For sleeping."
"What about you?" Alisa asked, as he lied down on the concrete ground, shifting uncomfortably.
"I'll be fine. You just get some sleep." He said, turning his back to her. The fire was again, just glowing embers now. They dimly illuminated her and Humphrey.
She obeyed, and slipped into the sleeping bag, using the backpack as pillow.
While she closed her eyes, she pondered why he had chosen to help her. Why he came at such a right time. Why he knew how to comfort her using just words.
Then she realized it.
Maybe there was someone watching from above.
Humphrey opened his eyes, and rubbed them, getting up with a sore and stiff back that stretching didn't seem to help too much. That's what he got for sleeping on the concrete. He looked to the side and noticed Alisa still sleeping.
He crouched down and shook her shoulder.
"Is it time already?" She mumbled, yawning.
"Yes. Get up, we have to get moving." He responded.
She got up, and before she could stand, yelped in sudden pain. He immediately supported her.
"That leg is still healing. I'm going to have to carry you again." He said.
"How are you going to carry me and the backpack?" She asked.
He thought for moment.
"This might be bit awkward, but, I can wear the backpack in the front, and tie you to my back with the rope I found in the back." He said.
"Sounds good to me."
He grabbed his backpack, and wore it on his chest, tightening the straps so it couldn't fall off.
"Give me the sleeping bag." He said as she handed it to him, and he placed it in the bag, zipping it up.
He crouched down.
"Alright. On my back." He said as she crawled on his back, getting herself in good position, wrapping her arms around his neck. She lay her head on the back of his neck and head as well as she wrapped her legs around his lower abdomen.
He took a rope and secured it around her back and bottom, and around his chest, behind the backpack, tying it not too tight, but tight enough so she wouldn't fall off.
"That feel comfortable?" He asked, looking at her from behind.
"Good as it's gonna get." She laughed a little.
"I haven't heard someone laugh for three years." He smiled.
And with that, the two set off down the apocalyptic landscape of the new world.
About three hours later, full of talking to distract them from the dark depressing landscape and the soreness of the leg bloody bandaged leg Alisa had, it had started to storm.
That was one thing about that apocalypse. When it stormed, it stormed. Dangerously. Acid rains, and winds that could drag cars across a road constantly beat down the already deformed earth.
"You see that? Storm clouds." Humphrey pointed out to Alisa, turning so she could get a good look at the dark grey and black clouds in the distance. They were no different from all the others, these ones just had thunder forming in them, briefly lighting up the blackness within them every few seconds.
"How long do we have before they come here?" Alisa asked, a little bit of worry lacing her voice.
"I'm guessing about twenty minutes." Humphrey responded, pulling a thick rain jacket from the backpack.
"I save this for special occasions. I guess it's yours now." He said as he handed it to her as she reached around him to grab it, and put the jacket on. It was extra-large, and covered the entire length of her body and more. She slipped on, the sleeves flying in the wind due to the progressing winds.
"You're going to wanna bury your hands in each other, kind of like your praying!" He started yell because the intense winds grew with every passing moment.
Alisa pulled up the hood, which completely covered her face. It was more like a cloak then a hood and jacket. She buried her hands, interlocked, and connected the sleeves, like Humphrey said. When she was done, she took the connected hands buried them in the gap between his back, and her.
"Good! Now bury your face on my jacket! Your gonna want to completely protect yourself from the rain!"
She again did what she was told, and buried her muzzle against his jacket, the hood protecting her completely, and enveloping her a cold dark.
"Make sure to tuck that tail in all the way sweetie!" He said, as she tucked her tail in the rain jacket.
That last comment made her feel warmer.
She was now completely covered by the acid rains and wind that was about to come for them.
"What about you!?" She yelled, concealed by the cloak.
"Don't worry about me! I can handle myself! You just worry about not getting that rain on you! It will burn like hell!" Humphrey yelled as he started trudge forward, putting his hand and arm in front of his face to protect himself from the rain and wind.
A half an hour later he was battling the storm. His arm stung. His whole body burned like his face as the rain started to seep through his clothes. Still he trudged forward. The winds threatened to send him flying, but he refused to let them best him. Thunder and lightning constantly boomed.
Through gritted teeth he yelled:
"You doing alright back there!?"
"Yeah! How about you!?" She responded, muffled by his jacket.
"Could be better!" He said, and still trudged forward, going as fast as his legs would take him with all of the resistance he was battling.
After the while, he thought he saw what looked like a checkpoint.
A searing flame of hope emerged in his chest.
The check point said
JASPER
In rusted out green on the sign above the booths.
Then he actually started to laugh in joy, despite all the pain he was in.
Behind the checkpoint, through the grey fog and rains, the black silhouette of a huge, once thriving remains of a city stood in the grey horizon.
"We made it!" He laughed as the he made his way to the checkpoint and past.
The city was just on the horizon, but he couldn't get a good look at it through all the conditions.
He had hoped desperately that Kate was there. Somewhere in the bowels of that destroyed and forgotten city where he had grown up.
"Were gonna make it! Just hold on a little bit longer!" He said at Alisa, grabbing her arms locked around him in joy.
"You doing ok back there!?" He asked again.
"I'm doing fine! Just don't let me drop damn it!" She said in a silently happy tone.
For the first time in a long time, Humphrey was genuinely happy.
Something he hadn't of been in long time.
"So that is Jasper city?" Alisa yelled through the harsh winds, raising her head slightly to see what he was seeing.
"Yeah!" He said.
"Well, what remains of it anyways?" He chuckled.
"Well I'm sure there will be enough of it for you to recognize!" She said in comforting voice that warmed his heart.
"Thank you for saying that." He smiled.