Well, here's another chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 4

When Garth woke up, something didn't seem right. He was lying there, looking out into the plains. He couldn't quite understand why everything seemed so off. He stood up, and walked over to Humphrey. Garth stood over him, letting out a small sigh.

"What am I going to do now?" he groaned. Humphrey stirred and rolled over in his slumber. Garth walked over a few feet. Why does everything around here seem…different? He thought, looking around the open plains. It hit him like a tree in the gut.

"Where the fuck did the thicket go?!" he yelled. Humphrey groaned and opened an eye.

"Garth, what time is it?" he grabbed his side while he tried to sit up. "What happened?"

"You got rocked by a tree. I dragged you into a thicket for shelter, but uhh…the thicket's gone," he looked around. There wasn't a sign of any life save the grass and the two wolves for miles.

"Strange. And it didn't wake you when all the bramble and trees were ripped from the ground?" he remarked, looked at the holes in the ground where vegetation probably once lived.

"Well I guess not," he shrugged. "Can you stand?"

Humphrey stood up, with an inaudible groan. "Yea I'm good."

"Ok, good. Now let's get going."

"Where exactly are we going?" Humphrey shook his head. "The wind probably destroyed any tracks, let alone their scent, "he started heading north. Garth watched him stop and stare at the ground.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. They passed right by us within the last hour. And they took someone with them."

"Who?" Garth cocked his head sideways.

"Smells like a southern wolf. I'm not too sure though. Definitely nobody we know," he started following the tracks again. "Well, come on, we haven't got all day do we?"

They followed the trail. After an hour or so, the scenery started to change. They were following a river. The river was slowly starting to have more and more chunks of ice floating down it. Soon enough, snow was forming on the ground and ice covered the river. The trail never tapered though.

"Hey Humphrey, can I ask you a question?" Garth looked at the horizon.

"You just did," Humphrey nodded.

"If we do run into a pack of them, what exactly is our plan?"

Humphrey stopped and stared at Garth. "Well…huh," he trailed off in though. "Let me get back to you on that one."

Kate was silently crying. She already missed him. Not only was she unsure how long he would be gone, she wasn't sure if he would even come back. Kate knew Humphrey too well. He'd go above and beyond any reasonable command just to prove he was worth his Alpha title. Just like last time. Nobody told Kate until they were home that Humphrey wasn't actually on a mission to rescue her. He was supposed to come back with a team to take her home. Instead, he did it with Garth and Alyssa. That was another thing. She hated Alyssa. Not only was she crushing on Humphrey and trying to steal Humphrey from her before she was taken, she was almost certain something between the two happened while she was gone. Humphrey wasn't officially hers yet, nor would he have been since he was an omega, but after he was then she was all of the sudden interested. And since he wasn't born and Alpha, it wouldn't have mattered, he could have dated her. But he didn't. She was still mad at him for the rumors of things that happened between the two of them. She overheard that they kissed, howled together, slept together, and several other things.

"Humphrey sure did go to see what's wrong with Alyssa as fast as he could," she mumbled. I don't see what he sees with her. She's not ever going to be a real friend, and she never could be a good enough mate for him. She stomped her paw on the ground. Am I really that jealous? Why does it even matter? I'm the one who's married to him, right?

"Hey Kate! You mind if I step in for a minute?" her ears pricked up at the sound of his voice. It was Paul, her friend and ex-boyfriend. They dated when she was at Alpha school, but they had a falling apart. Paul cheated on her.

"Go ahead," she lay back down on the ground. Paul was a tall, strong wolf. He had red fur with white stripes under his eyes. He had a white spot on his side, but everything else was pure red.

"You doing ok?" he sat down by her. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I'm doing fine. Do you need something?"

"Can't a guy just check up on his friend?" he gave her a hurt look.

"Not when they don't talk for several months," she stood up and started walking out of the cave.

"Well it's not my fault I couldn't talk to you after you disappeared," He followed her.

"No, but we didn't talk for several months before that either," she looked him in the eye.

"I wanted to go out and find you, you know. I've wanted to be able to talk to you again for a while now," he smiled.

"Paul, no," she started walking down a dirt path. He continued to follow her.

"Wha-what?" he acted confused. "Am I not allowed to miss somebody as beautiful as you?"

"Thanks," she blushed. What are you doing Kate? Your HUSBAND is on duty and here you are flirting away with this guy?

"Hey uh, would you like to go hunting sometime?" he was looking at her. Kate made an inaudible gulp.

"Let me think about it," she plastered on her best smile and walked up toward her parents cave. Paul turned around with a slight smirk and walked away.

Humphrey and Garth were still following the trail. They decided to skip sleep tonight to see if they couldn't gain some ground on whatever was taking their friends. The moon was over their head, and the two were walking side by side along the frozen river.

"I wish that it wasn't so calm out right now." Humphrey looked up at the sky.

"Anything's better than last night," Garth shook his head.

"No, because last night nobody heard us coming," Humphrey winced as Garth's feet crashed all over the ground. "Or, at least they'd hear you coming,"

"Hey! I can be quiet if I want to," Garth challenged.

"Well then you should try it. We don't know where their camp is and if we walk right into them with the noise of a parade of elephants they'll be waiting for us." Humphrey chuckled. Garth's brow furrowed as he tried to walk more quiet. "Oh come on Garth, aren't you a hunter?"

"Well I'm also a fighter. I wasn't trained for stealth like you were. Caribou don't exactly hear the same way we do," he sighed. He was getting tired. "You think that we're getting close?"

"Shh…look up ahead," Humphrey pointed toward the bushes to their right. He could see a tuft of white fur caught on it. "I'll be right back."

"I'll be here," Garth sat on the frozen sand. He watched as Humphrey crouched down in the grass and seemingly disappeared. He never understood how he could walk so low to the ground.

Humphrey crawled through the bramble. He stifled a yelp as an inch long thorn went into his paw. He eventually reached an opening in the bushes. Peering through, he saw evidence of two very large things sleeping on the grass a few hours earlier. He noticed a smaller patch of flattened grass by a tree. He guessed that the southern wolf was tied to the tree while they slept. As he examined the ground, he noticed that the grass had a trial heading from where they slept. He crawled back out to get Garth.

After what seemed like forever, Garth thought he heard Humphrey coming back out. Almost like magic, he popped out of the ground. Humphrey motioned for him to follow, so he walked over toward him. Humphrey started crawling through the bushes again. After a slow, painful time in the bushes, he saw Humphrey waiting for him.

"Come on, they went this way," He pointed toward a trial leading North-east.

"Good work," Garth nodded. The two began their trek once more.

Well guys? Do you like the story so far? Tell me in a review what you'd like to see in the story.