Chapter 12: Lost

The bus driver was trying hard to get everyone back to the hotel safe, "Hang on guys! I can't see clearly in this damn weather." He was driving like all hell was breaking loose. A lot of bumps on the road, the passengers worried, thinking with that kind of visibility that they would have an accident or something. Jamie had a confused expression written all over his face, hard to tell whether he is angry or sad.

Peter noticed his little brother facial expression, he placed a hand on the young one's shoulder, "Hey, it's gonna be alright, they'll be fine." Jamie didn't show any kind of reaction to what Peter was saying to him, all he was thinking about were the animal's condition, how were they in this weather? Are they safe?

"Yeah Jamie, they're strong and smart, they'll find a way to get back to us." Hope reassured. (That still didn t go well.) Jamie looked away from his siblings, "We shouldn't have left them there, they won t stand a chance. We should've waited longer." He said coldly.

"You wouldn't know that Jamie, it was dangerous out there." Peter said. Jamie narrowed his eyes, "And I suppose you would've known?!"

"Jamie I'm not saying it was right to leave them there, but what choice do we have?" Peter replied.

"I wouldn't have given up that easily." Jamie said coldly. The shuttle finally arrived into the Cody's entrance, where lots of hotel staff are ready to assist the passengers back inside the hotel. The head of security was the first to arrive at the scene. As soon as the bus doors started to open he quickly got in, "Everyone! Please follow me! we're gonna go in groups of five. Now, form your group, then walk towards me."

Bob was the first to stand up, "We'd like to go first." The man nodded. Bob and Laura gathered their kids and went out in the cold towards the hotel, the winds were really strong that day, if it weren't for the staff, it would be very difficult just to get out of the hotel, more or less, get back in. It took them nearly thirty minutes, to get everyone inside the hotel.

Everyone was in a state of panic and dismay, "Why the hell would you let us out there while a storm is approaching!?" One person screamed out in anger. "What were you thinking? We have kids for Christ's sakes!" Everyone had their personal complaints.

The manager of the hotel was having trouble trying to calm the people inside, "Everyone! Please! Calm yourselves!" which proves ineffective. Then a woman approached him, based on the way she dresses, it looks like she is part of the hotel staff.

"Sir, this just came in from the fax." She gave the piece of paper she was holding in her hand directly to the manager. The manager curiously took a look at it and began reading. After a few moments of reading, the manager gave out a huge sigh, "It's alright, they were only an hour late." He crumpled the warning note that was sent to them, apparently late.

The crowd still going nuts over the matter, with one last once of voice, he grabbed the microphone by his side and screamed out, "Everyone please!" This caught the attention of everyone inside, then he continued, "Calm yourselves! Alright!?" The crowd was finally quiet, ready to listen to what the manager has in response. "Good. Listen, I know what everyone's thinking about this incident. But! believe me when I tell you, we didn't know what was coming, we had problems with our communications as well, even San Francisco had these problems. I just received their warning note, which came an hour late, apparently."

"So what should we do?" one woman from the crowd asked.

The manager gave a huge sigh, "As of now folks, there is nothing else we can do. We just have to wait until the storm clears out. In the meantime, nobody goes out of this hotel. Not until me and my staff says that it's alright to go, is that understood?"

From the crowd, nods were seen by the manager, he took it as a YES. "Alright, everyone get back in to your respective rooms. Again! Nobody leaves this building unless I say so."

As the crowd scattered and moved to their respective rooms, the manager gave out a huge sigh of relief, "Well, that went better than expected."

"What do we do now? Sir". A member of his staff asked him. "The only thing we can do, wait out the storm and keep everyone inside this hotel safe." The person gave a quick nod and went downstairs to help the others. Then the manager took a deep breath, "God help us." As if it was a whisper.

(The Seaver 's Room)

As Bob and his family entered there room, it was clear that there was tension rising among them, especially Jamie.

"All right guys, I know what you are thinking right now... and...I just wanna say-." But before he could've finished, Jamie just dashed into his room and slammed the door shut. Bob them turned to his other children, "Pete, Hope, I know what all of you are thinking, because that same thought has been running through my mind since the blizzard struck. I didn't want to leave Chance and the others behind, but what choice do I have? You were also in danger. As much as I wanna try and save everyone, I could only choose a few, in the end I chose you." Bob began to feel as if he was about to cry, then Hope gave her an unexpected hug.

"It's okay dad, we understand. I guess I can just say as a person, we can't avoid getting hurt, especially after an event like that." Peter closed in on them, "She's right dad, like you said, we can't save everyone, but that doesn't make it any better for us, we still ended up losing Shadow and the rest. The best thing we can do now is hope for the best. In the meantime, I think we should give Jamie some time alone."

Bob nodded in response, "Don't worry guys, we'll find them. As soon as this storm calms down, we'll head out and look for them."

(Somewhere in the blizzard)

Shadow was having a hard time navigating through the rough blizzard, with Delilah and her pups close behind them. "Don't worry kids, we're almost there, we're close, I think." Shadow said. However, the blizzard didn't make it easy for them. It would be easy to get lost in such conditions.

The first thing on Delilah's mind was how they were going to get to Chance, it felt as if everything was going against her and the pups. But still, she continued to hope, after all, it brought her to Chance a year ago. She guided her pups into the blizzard.

"Shadow, where is he? Are we close yet? I don't think the pups will last another minute in this storm!" Shadow glanced at her, "I can't tell, I can barely see anything in this storm. I can't even give out a bark, my throat aches."

Then it hit her, a bark, she thought, "That's it!" She took a deep breath and gave out a loud bark, one of the loudest she could muster. She tried harder, but moments pass, no answer was given.

"Delilah, save it, we must keep you and the pups safe, and it ain't gonna happen unless we get out of this storm." Shadow said. For Delilah, it's hard to give up, "We have to try Shadow, I won't give up." She continued to bark louder, waiting for an answer.

"I admire that spirit of yours Delilah, but sometimes we have to do what's right and right now, the right thing to do is to get out of this storm and find shelter." Shadow explained, Delilah showed a look of sadness and defeat, then Shadow continued, "We're not gonna leave him behind, we can look for him when the storm clears up." She realized he was right and gave out one last bark, she waited, then after a few moments, she faced her pups, "Kids! We're gonna find our own shelter for now, the storm's getting worse, we gotta keep you safe!"

"What about Papa and Aunt Sassy?" Diva quickly asked. "I tried to reach him honey, so far, we don't have any other choice, we could die out here, we need to find shelter."

Buffy approached his mother, "I'm not leaving without Papa." He put his foot down. Delilah stared at him, "Now's not a good time to play the ringleader Buffy, I don't wanna leave too, but I don't want us to die either. I don't wanna make mistakes that will cost us our lives." Buffy bowed his head in defeat. Delilah and her pups approached Shadow one more to find a temporary shelter for them.

Suddenly, a bark was heard, echoing through the blizzard, Delilah stopped in her tracks, her ears listening closely, then the bark was heard one more. "It's Papa!" Jessie screamed out. Delilah began to bark again. The baka began to grew louder, as if they were getting closer to each other, then she heard it.

"Delilah!" Chance screamed out. She barked loudly, "Chance! Over here!" Out of the blizzard, a shape began to form, Delilah knew who it was, she motioned for them to follow.

They met once again, Chance have his wife and pups each a nuzzle, "Come on! Let's get out of this place!" He led them through the blizzard, from his point of view, they saw a cave, they quickly approached it, Delilah and the pups were the first to enter, followed by Shadow and Chance.

As they entered, they were greeted by Sassy, "What took you guys so long?" Shadow didn't know what to say, same old Sassy, he thought.

The animals laid down to rest, the pups slept between the adults to keep themselves warm."We're gonna be fine guys, as long as we're together, We're gonna be fine." Chance said.

Everyone else were slowly falling asleep, except for Buffy, his mother's words kept running again and again in his mind, "Now's not a good time to play the ringleader Buffy. I don't wanna make mistakes that will cost us our lives." He looked away from the others, he sniffed, a single year felt out his eye, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault." He whispered.

Alright, now that my hectic schedule is over, I have the whole summer to try and finish this story. I won't deny I had a little writer's block though, Again, thanks for all those who show their support through adding this story onto their favorites list and posting reviews. :). For that, I have an announcement! As of now, I have been working on my Lion King story, that's right! Although, it won't be entitled "Lion King" if that's what everyone's thinking. As of now, I can't give out any details about it, wouldn't wanna spoil the surprise. Since I owe you for the late release, I'll give out the title. Stay tuned for, "The Chronicles of the Lion: The Lost Souls". Oh, and don't forget to leave a review guys, let me know what you think about this newly released chapter.