Chapter 4 of "Wolves on Film," part of Alpha and Omega: The Series

Credit for Editing and Beta-Reading goes to Dancing Lunar Wolves.

Lilly and Garth made their way through the underbrush as they headed toward Tony's den. Behind them followed Lou with a camera and an assistant.

"I still don't get why the boss thinks we should keep a lookout for robots," the assistant said.

"You can find robots in nature," Lou said, "just like any other animal."

"But robots aren't natural, they're artificial," the assistant argued. "Ain't you ever heard of artificial intelligence?"

"Yeah," said Lou, "but where do you find the materials to make all those chips and stuff? Nature. So since the artificial stuff comes from nature, it makes sense that you'd be able to find robots here too."

Much equally philosophical dialogue followed, but it was all the same to the red and white wolves that walked ahead. Garth and Lilly were well-aware of the two humans following them, but this was one time Garth wished they would go elsewhere.

Finally, seeing his father's den up ahead. Garth turned to Lilly. "Okay, now I have to make sure dad doesn't get wind of any of this documentary business. You know what he's like when his back is acting up."

"He overreacts to stuff," Lilly said helpfully, though loudly. Garth was getting somewhat annoyed of how his mate seemed intent on saying everything loud enough for the cameras to catch. This time was worse, though, since she practically shouted in his ear.

After recovering, Garth nodded hastily, hoping she wouldn't add anymore. Luckily for him, even under the spotlight, Lilly seemed content with not talking too much and didn't say anything else.

So Garth continued, "Yeah, he's already in a bad mood. But as long as he stays in his den like the healers told him, we'll be fine."

"Then what's the problem?"

After Garth recovered from once again having Lilly shout in his ear, he answered, "The problem is that he doesn't like to be confined to his den. He'll look for any excuse to get out and back with the pack. So we're gonna have to check in on him and make sure he isn't trying to leave."

"Oh, okay!"

Garth felt like his eardrums were going to burst. He probably should not walk so close to Lilly, he thought, until the humans leave…

But now Garth looked over his shoulder at the camera crew and then back to Lilly as he spoke. "Actually, I was thinking I'd talk to dad since he can be, uh, difficult when he's in one of his moods. I figured maybe you could distract the humans. I don't want them following me into dad's den and letting him know what's up."

"I could do my turtle impersonations!"

Garth quickly put his paws over his ears. "Yeah, honey, you could do those."

Thankfully, Tony's den was practically right in front of them.

"Okay, honey," Garth said, "I'm gonna go see dad now. You distract the humans."

Garth quickly made for his father's den while Lilly turned toward distracting the humans. She barked to get their attention and then just sat there, wagging her tail like a dog. It worked; the humans now focused all their attention on her.

Meanwhile, in the valley, two humans were carefully laying out Candy's body. Nearby, Gary and Alexander Evans were surveying the whole scene.

"Okay, what are we doing?" Gary said.

Alexander Evans rolled his eyes. "Buffoon, it's obvious! See, we're positioning this helpless wolf here, while I've got some guys at the other end of the valley stirring up the caribou herd. So then there's a stampede and this wolf is caught right in its path. If it wakes up in time, it will try to run away, and we can film it as it tries to escape."

"And if it doesn't wake up?" Gary asked.

"Must I put all the pieces together for you? If it doesn't wake up, it will be mercilessly trampled by about a hundred caribou and die in a completely agonizing and brutal way… which also makes for good television. So either way, we get what we want."

One of the assistants signaled to Evans after they had positioned Candy in the right spot.

"Well, it's time for me to get out of here," Evans said. "That stampede is gonna start any minute and I have to be up there with the cameras to catch it."

Evans began to leave, followed by Gary. Realizing that Gary was right behind him, Evans immediately stopped. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked Gary.

"I'm going with you," Gary said. "We gotta get outta here before the stampede comes."

Evans shook his head in annoyance. "You're not going anywhere. I need somebody on the ground to cover the stampede close up. So you're staying with the wolf."

Gary's jaw dropped in disbelief. "But… but… I'll be stampeded by the caribou!"

"Not my problem," Evans said as he walked away. "You signed the waiver saying that we're not liable for any injury you may sustain."

"I didn't know we were so supposed to actually read that!" Gary cried.

"Again, not my problem," Evans said.

Garth stepped into his father's den, which was dark and cool compared to the warm day outside. In the middle of the den lay Tony, who was trying to force himself to his feet.

"Dad, are you trying to leave again?" Garth said knowingly.

"I can't take being cooped up here, Garth," Tony said. "I have duties to perform."

"You know I can take those over until you're feeling better," Garth responded. "But you need to follow the healers' orders and rest for a few days."

"Since when does my son get to tell his father what he can and can't do?" Tony snapped. "What do those healers know, anyway? So what if this dang back is giving me some problems. That's the same as always."

"But you know it sometimes gets really bad," Garth said politely. He knew not to take his father's outbursts personally.

Tony tried to push past Garth. "Well, laying around isn't going to make it any better! It'll just give me bed sores. Besides, I need some fresh air!"

Garth quickly blocked his path and gently tried to lead him back to where he had been laying. "But, dad, you'll feel better if you just take it easy."

Tony pulled away and continued toward the entrance. Garth internally began to panic as he though his father might actually get out and see the cameras.

"Nonsense, Garth," Tony said. "I as fine as I ever was– Oooohhh!"

As they both should have expected, the contest between them had put too much strain on Tony's back. Garth quickly grabbed him and helped him lie back down.

Outside the den, the men heard Tony's scream and Lou began to focus his camera in that direction. Lilly realized that she needed to do something more than sit and wag her tail, so she ran up to the assistant and began to playfully nip at his shirt, grabbing it and trying to drag him away from the den.

"Ah, help, it's trying to eat me!" the assistant shouted. This caused Lou to turn the camera toward him and Lilly. "Get it off me!"

"No way!" Lou responded. "The boss said that if any of us get attacked and mauled by the wolves that our first priority is to make sure we get it all on film. Besides, you signed that waiver, too."

Lilly let go of the man's shirt. But she had gotten what she had wanted; the camera was focused on her. Now she had to figure out what to do with the spotlight.

Lilly backed up and thought for a moment. Finally, she fell to the ground. "What am I?" she asked.

Down at the far side of the valley, Alexander Evans was carefully combing his hair in preparation for filming. A number of cameras were in front of him, while below him on the valley floor, his assistants were busy trying to frighten the caribou herd into action. Finally, after much prodding, the caribou began to move.

"Okay, quickly, quickly, turn on the cameras!" Evans yelled. In response, the cameras were quickly turned on.

Evans now tried to put on his best "nature host" persona and spoke into the cameras. "Just as we've been filming here," he said, "by complete coincidence, a caribou stampede has broken out."

Behind him, the cameras caught glimpses of the assistants down below running around in order to scare up the caribou. "What do you mean, complete coincidence?" one of the camera-men said. "We can still see some of our guys down there!"

Evans rolled his eyes and sighed. "We'll edit them out in postproduction, nitwits! Honestly, I'm the only person who knows how to make a documentary here!"

He then resumed his role as host. "Now, we just managed to discover that a lone wolf has been caught in the path of these raging animals. If he doesn't get out of the way soon, he won't possibly be able to survive."

The humans now safely out of the way, the provoked caribou charged down the valley, on a straight path toward where Candy lay.

Kate and Humphrey were walking along one of the ridges above the valley. Just as with Lilly and Garth, two humans and one camera followed closely behind. Kate kept her head down, trying to ignore and avoid the camera as much as possible.

Humphrey on the other hand, was playing up the attention. Whenever he got the chance, he looked over his shoulder and did funny faces for the camera.

"We have to stop these humans somehow," Kate said quietly. "They're disrupting everything in the valley."

"Oh, come on, Kate," Humphrey said. "They're not that bad! Other than you and your dad, everybody's really taken to the spotlight! I mean, I can barely get a moment in it myself!"

He then flashed another funny face at the camera.

"No, I just have a bad feeling about these humans," Kate continued. "I'm not too keen on human campers in Jasper at the best of times, but these humans, actually watching us, every moment of the day… Don't you think that's kinda creepy?"

"Ah, you're just being paranoid, Kate," Humphrey said. "I guess it comes with being an Alpha and all. You don't know how to relax and go with the flow like… an Omega!"

When he said these last two words, Humphrey turned and threw out his forelegs in an "I'm so great" pose for the camera. Kate responded by elbowing him, knocking him off balance and causing him to lose his balance. Realizing what she had done, Kate quickly grabbed him to help him get steady, but Humphrey was already too far off-balance and ended up just pulling Kate down with him.

The camera-man laughed.

"Finally," Humphrey said from under Kate. "Do you know how long I've been trying to get a laugh out of these guys? I was beginning to think humans were born without a sense of humor!"

Kate just shook her head in disgust and embarrassment as the two wolves got up. But before they could continue their conversation, they were interrupted.

"Kate, Kate, you gotta help!" shouted Sweets as she ran toward them. "Candy's gone missing and I can't find her anywhere!"

That's when they heard the sounds of a thunderous caribou stampede tearing through the valley, followed closely by screams – Candy's screams. Candy had regained consciousness but was apparently she was too weak to escape and could only yell for help as the waves of caribou approached her.

Kate knew what she had to do. Cameras or no cameras, she had to save Candy. So, without another word, Kate literally sprang into action, launching herself off the ground with the ease of an Olympic athlete. She twirled perfectly in the air and glided down toward the valley below. All she needed to do was ricochet off enough rocks to maintain a safe descent, get to Candy and get out. All in a day's work, really.

That is, until a sideway twirl of hers gave her a perfect view of the camera intently scrutinizing her every move. This so preoccupied her that she did not notice the low-hanging tree branch which soon enough made contact with her skull and sent her falling to the ground.

But her misfortune was not over yet. Instead of flying over the slope down to the valley, she was sent tumbling down it, hitting rocks and trees as she went. The experience was made all the more painful by the fact that the momentum she had stored up was causing her to speed down the slope at an incredible rate. Worse of all, however, was that she was heading toward a small cliff. If she fell off that cliff, not only would landing on the valley floor almost certainly break a few bones, it would also put her right in the path of the caribou stampede.

"Kate!" Humphrey screamed in terror as he saw her speed toward the cliff.

Lou and his assistant were watching in disbelief as Lilly lay on her back, waving her legs above her wildly. "It's a turtle who fell and can't get up!" she said proudly. "Get it?"

"I think we've got a mad wolf on our hands," the assistant said. "We should get out of here before it attacks us again!"

"But the boss says we have to keep the cameras focused on these wolves to see how they responded when–" Lou was quickly interrupted by the sound of the caribou and Candy's screams. He quickly turned his camera on that.

Lilly heard the sounds too. She stopped her impersonation and rolled right side up, looking to see what was wrong. She saw Candy and expected to see Kate swooping to the rescue at any moment. But Kate did not come. She was not going to come, Lilly realized. So, with a look of determination in her eyes, Lilly jumped to her feet and ran toward the valley. The humans followed.

As Garth came out of his father's den, he expected to see Lilly still fending off the camera with her turtle tricks. Instead he came face to face with Winston.

"Winston, what are you doing here?" Garth said in surprise and alarm.

"I'm here to have a talk with your father if that's alright," Winston said. "He's not giving you too much trouble, is he?"

Winston tried to peer over Garth's shoulder into the cave, but Garth quickly stepped back into his line of vision. While normally he would have been appreciative of his father-in-law's sympathy, Garth couldn't let Winston speak to Tony and let slip about the camera-crew.

"Um, well, the healers say it's best if dad doesn't worry himself with pack business for a while," Garth said. "If there's anything that you need to talk with him about, I can handle it for him."

Winston smiled. "No, Garth, that's alright. I just thought I'd come see my old friend and have a nice little chat. I'm sure he'd appreciate the company. I know how he hates to be cooped up in his den like this."

Garth smiled nervously and quickly tried to think of a comeback. "Um, yeah, but I really think he should just rest for now! I don't want him overdoing things!"

"Now, Garth, I won't be debating him," Winston said, more forcefully this time. "It's just a friendly chat!"

But before this could go any farther, these two also heard the noises from the valley and looked down. Anxiety took hold of them as they saw Candy in harm's way.

"There's a wolf in trouble down there and that stampede is coming quick!" Garth said.

But Winston then caught sight of a lupine blur jumping from caribou to caribou. He began to relax. "Oh, but it looks like Kate's already taking care of it."

Garth now noticed that neither his mate nor the cameras were anywhere to be seen. And then he noticed that the blur jumping on the caribous' backs was more white than tan.

"Um, Winston," he said, "that's not Kate…."

Winston and Garth looked at each other in alarm and then back to the valley as the full horror of what was happening dawned on them. "Lilly!" they shouted together.

Lilly jumped from caribou to caribou through the herd. She was showing more graceful agility than anyone had ever seen from her. What no one realized was how exhausting it was. For an Alpha like Kate, it was no problem to do this – just a part of the job – but an Omega like Lilly would tire themselves out before long. And that's what was happening.

Lilly sat on the caribou for a few seconds catching her breath. Even with the adrenaline rush that came from having the cameras on her, she had to admit that this was not easy. But she knew she had no time to lose because the caribou were coming closer and closer to Candy with each second. So she looked around to find a near-enough caribou that she could reach with little effort. She saw one running not too far away and she decided to go for it.

Using all of her strength, Lilly launched herself off the one caribou and toward the other. However, without an Alpha's training or stamina and having weakened herself considerably through the exertion, Lilly came down too short and missed the caribou completely. A split-second later, she was blindsided by the next caribou and fell down into the stampede, disappearing into the cloud of dust the caribou were frantically kicking up.

What happened to Lilly and Kate?

Read on.