Out of the wild

Disclaimer: POM is not mine. The plot of this Fanfiction, Double, Trouble, their family and some random characters along the way are mine.

Chapter 14! Finally!

Chapter 14: With two, but very alone

"They're gone!" Double panicked, running around in panicky circles before he was stopped by Trouble's paw.

"Don't panic!" Trouble said, trying to calm down his brother. "We… we just have to follow their tracks."

Double looked up, hopeful.

"Really? Do you know how to track, Trouble? Because I don't. I didn't pay attention in the lesson."

Trouble's calming expression disappeared and was replaced by an open-mouthed one.

"Oh. So none of us can read tracks," he squeaked. "I didn't think I ever needed that skill…"

"Well, apparently we were both wrong. Can we panic now?"

Trouble groaned, "No! The last thing we need to do is panic!"

"I'm panicking, I can't help it!" Double yelped.

"Panicking will not help us at all," Trouble said, patting his brother on the shoulder. He tried to get his wits together, but Double mucked it up completely by yelling the following sentence.

"I think panicking is very stress-relieving!"

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Meanwhile, with Pa, Ma, River, Flower and Weird.

"So, where are we going exactly?" Flower piped up while she was being tugged along by her father. "You know. After we've given up on our brothers and your sons!"

Pa stopped walking and Flower bumped into him. He turned around, looking quite angry. Flower, who didn't expect that, wrenched her paw away from her father's and jumped back, bumping into Weird, who caught her by the shoulders and kept her steady.

Pa advanced on his daughter, looking quite menacing and snarled, "I'll tell you again, girl! They – are – dead! We are following our path so we can live and I don't need my own daughter to tell me I'm a coward! Understand?" He stopped in front of Flower and leaned down to yell the last word into her face.

Flower blinked, but stood her ground. Mostly because she was held in place by Weird, but also because she had quite a lot of courage for such a small otter. She also stepped forward, almost stepping on her father's toes. Pa, now surprised, took a step back.

"Listen to me, daddy!" she told him forcefully. "We're a family! We're not supposed to just assume someone of our family is dead without checking or waiting for them! We were cowards to just turn tails and run off like we did! I say we go back now!"

Pa blinked, not used to being told off by a young pup. River was the only one to respond.

"Flower, I don't think there is anything to go back to." Flower started to protest, but River held up a paw to interrupt her. "No, look, Flower. When we went, one of those two-leggers came by. I think that as soon as the sun is above those trees over there," he gestured at some trees to their right. "A lot of two-leggers will be back and close to the burrow. If we go back now, we'll walk into them."

"Are you saying we should go on without even the tiniest bit of hope Double and Trouble are alive?" a dumbstruck Flower asked.

"We'll have to. We can go to Nutmeg's shelter. They can go with us that way. Give up on Double and Trouble, Flower…"

After a lot of protesting and a little crying, they went on their way to Nutmeg's clan anyway.

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With Trouble and Weird

"Double. Double, please let go of me. You know I'm not that strong. Carrying you like a baby will end in tears for both of us," Trouble mumbled, currently busy holding Double who was holding onto his twin brother like his life depended on it.

"No," Double mumbled into his brother's shoulder.

"Okay, but I warned you."

And Trouble toppled over to the ground.

"Gah!" Double yelped, immediately letting go when his brother hit the ground and jumping to his feet. "Why'd you do that?"

"I told you I wasn't strong!" Trouble mumbled while he climbed to his feet again. "So please, don't jump into my arms like that again!" He dusted himself off, but paused when he heard something. His ears perked up. "Do you hear something?" he whispered.

Double glanced at his brother like he wanted to push him off a cliff, but thought better of it and also perked up his ears.

"Ehm… do you mean that weird, thundering noise?" he mumbled.

"Yes. Where's it coming from?"

Double pointed. Both of them turned in that direction, screamed bloody murder and dove out of the way of a bulldozer that came crashing though the bushes and drove on, making trees crash down and ground be thrown this way and that.

"What was that?" Trouble squeaked, popping out of a pile of leaves and twigs.

"Let's not stay to find out!" Double said in a high panicky voice, after which he jumped out of his own pile of leaves and twigs and started to jog into the opposite direction of where the bulldozer was headed. Trouble took one last glance at the remains of their burrow, then followed his brother when he heard another thunderous roar of the bulldozer, making his fur stand on end and his feet move fast.

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End of chapter!I had a little trouble with Flower's speech… I don't really know how to SHOW she is a growing youngling, but also quick-witted and that she DOES care about her brothers, enough to go against her father…

Tell me what you think.