Trying to make up for lost time. I need to write some more.
Three days had passed since the fox attack. Savage occasionally sent scouts to check on the human encroachment. Meanwhile, Sean and Sierra were becoming closer. It was nearly impossible to separate them. Razor sat off to himself, watching the other pups playing. He was becoming more and more powerful. He was already as big as Hutch. Salty hung out with the pups, entertaining them with his antics.
The day before Savage's pack was supposed to go home, Humphrey called Mooch, Salty, and Kate aside.
"I say we go ahead and have some fun. Get everyone together. We're going to the hill."
The wolves split up, telling everyone to come to the clearing. When they were assembled, Humphrey spoke.
"I had an idea. Since we have food for the next couple of days, I think we should all have some fun. First, I need everyone to get into groups of four. Mooch, Salty, and I will be interspersed throughout. Then I want everyone to follow me. When we get to a specific spot, I'll tell you what to do next."
The wolves split up. Salty got with Sean, Sierra, and Fang. Humphrey grouped with Aatu, Emily, and Razor. Kate, Buck, Hutch, and Ashley grouped up. Hutch, Mooch, Buck, and Rowel grouped together, and so on. The groups walked across the territory to the giant hill. Humphrey led them all to the top and, with the help of Mooch and Salty, broke down a hollow, dead tree and broke it in half.
"Aatu, Emily, Razor, I want you three to come over here. Razor, since you are the biggest, I want you to sit in the back. You'll provide jump power. Aatu, you need to sit in front of him. You will provide wind draft. Emily, you are copilot. You sit right behind me. I'm in front. Everyone else, I want you to figure out who goes where. Watch us first."
The four wolves mounted up, the younger looking apprehensively at Humphrey.
"LAUNCH!"
The group pushed off. The log slid down the hill. As they approached a rock, Humphrey yelled, "90 degrees right!" They turned to the side and zipped past the hazard. "Aatu, stand up on your hind legs! Provide some drag!"
"Yes, sir!"
Aatu stood up, wobbled, and fell on his butt.
"Try again," Humphrey instructed.
Aatu tentatively stood up again, this time bracing himself to avoid falling. The wind whipped through his fur.
"Sit back down. Razor, hit the ground…NOW!"
Razor smashed his muscular shoulder into the ground, sending the log sled flying up into the air. They landed with a thud on top of a rock ridge. At the end of the ridge, they flew off and splashed down in the creek.
"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Aatu yelled.
Emily shook herself dry. "That was pretty fun."
"No kidding," Razor said, licking his shoulder. "Just no more smashing my shoulder like that. Got to find a new way to do that jump thing."
The team walked back up the hill.
"You've all seen how we did it. Now it's your turn. Break down a hollow dead tree and split it. Go down the hill. Try racing, two logs starting side by side. Just have fun," Humphrey said.
Aatu and Razor were already breaking down another log, ready to go again.
"I say we race Salty and his team," Aatu said.
"Good idea," Humphrey said mischievously. He walked over to Salty. "What do you say our teams race. Take a rundown first, just to get a feel for it and give your team some experience. Then come up and we'll race."
"You're on, man."
Salty took his team down the hill next. When they came back up, the two log sleds were side by side, ready to race. Kate came over to start the race. The two teams lined up.
"Ready, mount, RACE!" she said.
The two teams shot down the hill. Sierra immediately slammed her hind legs into the ground and shot her team's log high into the air. They came down right in front of Humphrey's team. Humphrey, Emily, Aatu, and Razor all hunched down and shot forward, edging around Salty's team. The logs came up side by side. Razor slammed his shoulder again, sending them flying into the air and sending dust and rock particles up into the air. Salty's team spun out of control as they choked on the dust. Humphrey's team shot forward, Aatu standing up at the last second to slow them down before they hit the creek. They jumped out just before splash down. Salty's team rolled down the rest of hill and land in the creek.
"Man, what was that?" he said.
Razor shook the dust out of his fur and looked over at Sierra. "Sorry, but I had to make sure we would win."
"It's ok. I challenge you to a rematch."
"Not before the other groups go. They have to get a chance, too," Humphrey said.
"Ok. We'll wait."
"Man, Humphrey. Did you really have to teach him to slam that hard? One of us could have gotten hurt."
"I know. I'll talk to him about it. We need to find another place to do it. This course is too short."
"You ain't kiddin'."
Meanwhile, the other groups were just finishing up. Kate walked up to Humphrey.
"I think we should probably take a break from all this. It's getting kind of late."
"Good idea. Come on, Salty. Help me gather everyone up. We need to clear the logs out of the creek. Shouldn't be too hard."
"Alright. I'll get Rowel to help get the other pack's members to help out too," Kate said.
They cleaned up the mess quickly and went back to the cave. No one noticed the strange wolf that lurked in the shadows cast by the fading sun. No one saw him grin evilly.
Finally got this chapter written. Here you go.