Chapter 12

Rescuing Rico

Part Three

Wolves in the Warzone

The group had been marching for hours. Without more soldiers on their team the chances were that they would die sooner than morning could come.

It did not make the situation any better when the group heard a howl coming from nearby. Fortunately for them it was only a small pack of wolves. The not-so-fortunate part was when Kowalski said that the wolves were probably going to die soon as they were too thin and certainly not in good condition. Marlene started sobbing. Will this trully happen to them? Will we be facing the same fate? she asked herself. Maybe coming here was not such a good idea. But she had to help.

Skipper hugged her. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to keep them alive. And if they stay alive, there will be a bigger chance that we will. I feel it," Skipper reassured her. She smiled weakly and then looked at Kitka.

"Kitka, could you please find a stream?" Marlene said. Now she understood it better. If the wolves get water it would mean water for them too and if they hekp them, maybe, just maybe, the wolves will be on their side. A pack of hungry and thirsty wolves could kill them, but a pack of befriended wolves could ally them.

The falcon nodded and then flew off. It took half an hour, but she returned with a wet beak. Good news. "Kowalski, Skipper, Private, Johnson, Liliean, Kitka found water!" Marlene shouted. They turned to look at her in awe. "Kitka lead us. Skipper do you think we have sleeping darts?"

"Yeah, I intended to use them on Rico if he ever went berserk, but I guess you can use them. May I ask why?" he replied. She smiled and whispered "Allies are better than enemies", then she walked off with Kitka in the lead. "Oh..." he just muttered and called his team.

The wolves were put to sleep, which did save their energy, but not the soldier's energy. Carrying them was hard even though the wolves were about as light as a wolf plushie.

Kowalski thought that putting such weak wolves to sleep could even kill them. However, when the wolves showed signs of some sort of movement, he changed his mind. Besides, he thought that maybe they could well be a more freer version of a dog if he managed to tame them. And that could lead them to Rico. He suddenly, felt ashamed. Selfish. He was here to help, not to ask for stuff in return.

Private smiled as he looked at the wolf he was carrying. It could end up be-friending him. Then he gulped as dark thoughts clouded his mind. Or it could die before it opened it's eyes again. Marlene smiled at him. "Don't worry, show it care and it will want to live longer, like with humans, you know?" she said. Private nodded. No need to be worried, no need to be worried.

The rest of the men were also confused. Not so much as worried as Private had been, but confused by the fact that they didn't know the outcome. Or the proper purpose.

An hour later (because flight is faster than walking), they reached a stream. All for men, Marlene, Kitka and Liliean were so happy to find water. Kitka soon landed beside Lilean who was slowly lapping water from the stream. Marlene layed down her still sleeping wolf then filled up a container with water and then added some purifier. Skipper, Manfredi, Kowalski and Private, lay down the wolves they were carrying and started drinking. For a while the group calmed down and rested.

Then however, the wolves woke up. Five of them in total, three females and two males. At first they were confused, but then confusion turned into agression. Some of them, the strongest, started biting and scratching. Then something odd happened. The caracal kitten slowly walked up to the wolves, tail low, her cute eyes holding a scared expression. She stopped and looked at them. On eof the wolves, a female, started licking the kitten behind her ears. The kitten started to get a little less tense. Then the female suddenly started following her to the stream. The rest of the pack folloed and started drinking the water from the stream.

Then the kitten lead the same female over to the soldiers. She looked at them and back at the wolf, meowing softly. The female wolf moved closer to Marlene. Marlene kneeled down and looked into the wolves eyes. The wolves seemed to be scared. "Don't worry," she whispered. "We won't do anything to you. We just want to be your friends." Private joined in too, reassuring another female, who held the same expression.

Then Skipper and Kowalski came up with something. "Why don't we feed them with the rest of out food, we can hunt, they can't, not in their condition," Skipper said with a chuckle. "You and Private stay here along with Liliean, me, Kitka, Kowalski and Johnson will find food." Marlene nodded. As much as she wanted to be with Skipper, Skipper's words were reasonable to some extent. Besides, Private, Liliean and the wolves were good company.

So that is what happened. Marlene and Private started trying to befriend the wolves, by feeding them and if they gave permission, stroking them, whilst Skipper and his group set off to hunt.

In a desert land you wouldn't find much food, or wolves, but as much as the wolves seemed strange in that way, the fact that they survived here, meant that there was some food. In the end, it was mainly Kitka who foudn some food. Five desert rodents, two small fish and some item that was on the sand. Johnson found some plant that was edible, not very tasty, but it kept a person going. Skipper found some young birds, but he was reluctant at killing them, so they flew off. After that Johnson started calling him 'Softie' and 'Hippie' which extremely bugged him. Kowalski just chuckled and continued minding his own bussiness. Though not even he knew what his bussiness was.

They returned, two hours later, which made Marlene want to scold Skipper for worrying her so much, but that would not be a good idea.

The wolves were now lying by a newly lit fire, by the side of each one of the soldiers. They did end up being friendly, sometimes to the extent where they let the soldiers stroke them.

Private decided to call his wolf friend Ashly, because her fur was bright red and her belly was a very pale yellow colour. Also because she had her temperament to include. She was one of the wolves that scratched the soldiers. Kowalski estimated that the wolf was a bit like a young adult, or even just teenager. She had energy, cheekiness and could get angry. But above all,she favourited Private.

The female wolf that favourited Marlene was now by her side. Marlene decided to call her Silver, because of her fur that was tinged with greys and silvers. The name Silver had also sounded like a wise name, and Silver was calm and slightly wiser looking than the rest of the wolves. Silver and the other wolves all seemed to be still quite young.

Then there was Bolt. The black, grey and white wolf had be-friended Skipper, after a lot of play fights and some ham. He was brave and courageous, so it kind of made sense that he prefered to be near Skipper than the rest. He did seem to find the bird incident amusing though, since Skipper could have sworn that the young male smiled when the five soldiers talked about it. For that Skipper glared at him for ten seconds until he decided to solve it by pushing the wolf to the side. The wolf somehow managed to return it to him, so Skipper started to repect him.

Kowalski was favoured by an intelligent, cheeky little female that he soon name Daisy. The name was simple but sounded quite fitting for a wolf. Daisy was a gold and sandy coloured female with blue eyes. She somehow managed to get to his stash of cookies that he had kept and even managed to open the tightly shut container. This was intelligent. She also once stole a notebook that he carried. But she returned it to him quite soon. At a price. A page was torn and the cover had some wolf saliva on it.

Johnson was left to be with one that was rather secretive. Black fur, redish-brown eyes and a menancing smile. When he was put to sleep he looked inocent, but that was only a cover. He liked stealing and he didn't exactly favourite Johnson. He did get on with him better than with Skipper, Private or Kowalski, but he prefered to wander around Silver and Marlene. Marlene had her own wolf in care now though, so the responsibility was up to Johnson. Luckily, soon Johnson's wolf started to get a little more friendly, sometimes even brining him a dead rat. Johnson started to call him Demon Killer, but the rest called him Shadow. Both names were fitting.

Now all the soldiers needed was to find Rico.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, sorry for the delay. I just wanted to add in something that would cheer people up, and wolves sounded like a type of animal that would fit. And, I know, wolves do not exactly live is deserts, but some might get lost there, besides what else could be loyal enough to be-friend our soldiers. I am planning to get the wolves to help with finding Rico, but I don't think it would make much sense putting all that in one chapter. Please review and to be continued...