Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Ice Age characters. They belong to Twentieth Century Fox. All lines in bold are either from any of the Ice Age movies, any of the Lion King movies, either Brother Bear movie, or from a song that will be specified at the beginning of the applying chapter.

Chapter 9

Diego's P.O.V.

"NO!" I scream as I jolt awake.

I wake up from a nightmare of when my father died. I was only eight weeks old when it happened. Shira comes running over to me.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"It's nothing. I just had a nightmare, that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Shira's going to make a good mother, especially with skills like these.

"My nightmare was about when my father died," I sigh.

"I'm sorry about that, Diego," Shira comforts.

As I lift my head, I notice that the rest of the herd has already left. The two of us begin to walk back towards the cave.

About halfway home, I smell something strange in the air. Stopping in my tracks, the smell comes to me suddenly. It is a scent I haven't smelled in over twenty years. Shira begins to growl beside me, but I comfort her. Laughter is audible not very far away. I carefully put myself into a non-threatening stance. No sooner after I do this, does a human child pop out of the bushes. His small tuft of black "fur" on his head flops over his eyes as he runs. When he sees me, he cringes in fear, but I have a few tricks up my sleeves. I put my front left paw over my eyes.

"Where's the baby? There he is!" I grin.

The kid laughs, and I know this is the herd's human, Pinky. He is about six now, in human years, now, but he still has the same spirit. Pinky runs over to me and I carefully stand up. His arms wrap around my neck as he brings me in for a hug. I place a paw on his back, and embrace Pinky.

When he is finished hugging me, Pinky moves over to a small tree. He begins to climb up, laughing the whole way.

"Where's your dad, Squirt?" I question when he reaches the top.

Pinky, aka Squirt, motions for me to join him. Fortunately, he is in a small tree, because tree-climbing is not my thing. I hurtle up to the branch Pinky is on, and settle down beside him. Pinky comes closer and rests his back on my chest. Like most young children, he is soothed by my heartbeat. Within a few minutes, Pinky is snoring, which tells me he is asleep. This is very weird. Humans don't generally leave their children alone. A soft plodding is audible from the tree. After I raise my head, I notice Manny about 100 feet away.

"Shira, can you go get Manny?" I whisper.

Shira dashes over to our mammoth friend.

"What's up?" he asks.

When I don't say anything, he lifts his head to see what I'm holding.

"Pinky came back," I respond.

"Where's his dad? Humans don't generally leave their children alone very often."

"That's what I am wondering."

Pinky begins to stir and that's when he notices Manny.

"Manny! Diego found me!" Pinky laughs.

Manny grabs Pinky and sits the human child on his large, furry shoulders.

"Where's your daddy, Squirt?" Manny asks.

"I don't know. We were playing a game, but then he pushed me into the bushes. Now I found you!"

"Manny, take the kid back to the herd. Shira and I will go investigate."

My wife and I go about 600 feet before we find the human camp. There, the scent of blood suddenly comes rushing into my nose. I begin to rush forward knowing something is up. Shira follows behind me, her hackles rising. I reach the clearing first, and look around. What I find startles me. You know that my discovery must be bad if it scares a saber. All the humans in the area are surrounded by blood. Each one has claw marks on different parts of their body. My old pack has been here.

"This is horrible, Diego," Shira shudders.

"Let's get out of here and tell Manny," I say.

Author's Note: Not Diego's old pack! Pinky came back to the herd, but under bad circumstances. Will Diego tell the human child that his old pack members killed the tribe? Read the next chapter to find out!