The following morning, Kiba's pack had gone back to their spot in the abandoned pile of rubble that was once a building that sat in the graveyard. The morning air was crisp and cool against their skin.

Kiba was laying on his back with his shirt and jacket removed so his wounds could be treated. Toboe had found some herbs that were in the graveyard to help him. Luna was leaning against a tree, arms crossed, and her right leg crossed over her left leg. Her head hung down a bit and kept her eyes shut.

She was still shaken up a bit after witnessing Gramps dying along with Zali's pack being treated like slaves. Toboe pressed down on Kiba's chest, pressing down on the herbs.

"This should help his wounds heal a lot faster." Toboe said, leaning back after patching Kiba up. "It's typical. He never thinks first. Damn Kiba." Hige said, leaning against the wall with his hands behind his hands.

Luna looked at the tan mexican wolf for a moment without a word. "Couldn't watch that. Without doing something about it." Toboe said, bringing up the events earlier that morning. "Still, he shouldn't have butted in." Tsume scowled, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Tsume…" Toboe said, looking at the grey wolf. "We should leave while we still have a chance. Those assholes are making it clear that they don't want us here." Luna said, closing her eyes. After seeing all of that, she didn't want to stay there for any longer.

"But, we can't leave Kiba now." Toboe said, looking at the black she-wolf with a saddened glance. "Which is why we should've left yesterday." Hige piped in, keeping a cool composure.

Both Tsume and Luna knew that statement was a hypocritical one. Last night he had previously stated that he'd rather stay here than be with Kiba and them. "Psh, what ever happened to this place having more going for you than you thought?" Tsume said to Hige.

Hige turned his head in the other direction, seemingly not wanting to listen. Then, Kiba's eyes opened and he tried to sit up despite him being injured. "Let's go!" he exclaimed, only to get pushed back down onto his back by Toboe.

"Hold on a minute, you're not going anywhere with these wounds and an empty stomach." the red wolf said, his hands on Kiba's barren shoulders. Tsume and Luna casted their eyes over at Hige with similar irritated expressions.

"Well, I know someone here who's got a stuffed gut." Tsume says. "Yeah. Hige." Luna scowled, finding it very annoying that Hige was too selfish to save some of that food for the rest of them.

Hige leaned forward and saw the daggering glances from the two tougher wolves. "Hey, why the sour faces? Cole was nice enough to bring us food and you turned up your noses at it! It's rude to waste food! I had no choice but to eat all by myself, I mean someone had to do it." Hige said, pointing at himself with his thumb. Luna felt her throat tighten in irritation.

Hige was failing hard at trying to gain sympathy from the other wolves. He knew that they were hungry as well. He didn't realize that they didn't want anything to do with Zali or any of his pack as well as his attempts to woo Zali's mate.

"You know, you could've left us some…" Toboe said, looking down at the ground. "Well, you guys made the decision to leave, not mine." Hige replied, a frown on his face. "Did you have a nice time one your little date?" Luna piped in, looking back at him.

"Well, I don't know. Something about her was… kinda off." Hige answered, scratching his chin. Luna and Toboe both sigh at that. "So what do we do? We gotta do something." Toboe asked, not sure of what to do. Hige sat up enthusiastically with a big smile on his face.

"You mean, rely on Cole's hospitality for a while?" he blurted out. Hearing that really tested Luna's patience; she was about to blow up. "No like you finding us food! By yourself!" she yelled, giving him a death glare. "By myself?" Hige complained.

Tsume took a threatening step towards the stubborn tan, mexican wolf and he glared down at him. "Agh, alright. I'm going." Hige sighed, getting up to his feet. He then walked off from the others.

About a few minutes after, Toboe stood up from Kiba. "C'mon Luna. Let's go find more herbs for Kiba's wounds." Toboe said, walking up to her. She looked at him, a calmer look on her face.

"Alright. Let's go." Luna said, agreeing with him. She looked at Tsume for a second, and he looked back at her. "We'll be back soon." Luna said to him. Tsume only glanced away from her with a grunt.

(Tsume, Kiba)

After Luna and Toboe had left, Tsume and Kiba were the only ones left in the hideout. Tsume did glance back at Luna silently before she and Toboe were out of sight. For some reason, Tsume felt his heart start to quicken just a bit when he saw her.

Even the way she was sleeping on him made him feel relaxed. He couldn't explain it though. He looked at Kiba, who's eyes were shut as if he was sleeping.

"You know, we wasted a hell of a lot of time because of you." Tsume scolded Kiba. Kiba only rolled his eyes at the grey wolf. "What the hell were you up to last night? I know you didn't get those wounds at the station. Not like I care or anything." Tsume said, looking away from him.

"I saw them… once before." Kiba said, speaking a bit hoarsely. Tsume looked back at Kiba as he continued to speak. "When I was still a pup. In the region where I was born. They blossomed all over." Kiba said, remembering the tragedy like it was yesterday.

"What're you talking about?" Tsume asked. "White flowers that blossomed only under the full moon. They were burned to ashes." Kiba replied, looking upwards. Tsume stepped forward at this. "What the hell brought this on?" he asked him.

"A fire raged across my land. It burned every single one of them in an instant. My friends were killed by a closed off route. I was the only one to survive. Why me? Why just me? I don't have a pack anymore. The only place for me now… is Paradise." Kiba finished, closing his eyes. Tsume listened intently, not sure of how to make of Kiba's past.

(Hige)

During this, Hige was away from the others as he tried to find food for them. He sniffed the air and believed to have found something. With excitement, he dug through the snow but only found a human child's toy.

He tossed it aside with a look of disappointment on his face. "Agh… if it was really easy to find food, then Zali's pack wouldn't have to do what they do." he sighed, walking onwards. Then, a delicious smell filled his nostrils and he sniffed the air with a grin on his face.

"Alright! I smell fresh mutton!" he exclaimed, following the scent. He runs for a couple of minutes before he finds the single mutton laying on the ground. What he didn't realize is that the placed mutton was just a lure for a trap.

The second he grabbed the mutton, a triangular shaped cage enclosed him, trapping him. The trap made a loud, mechanical sound that the other wolves could hear it.

(Luna, Toboe)

Luna and Toboe made it quite aways from Tsume and Kiba. The two of them had also heard that metallic sound of the trap closing. Right away, Luna and Toboe could feel that something wasn't right. They saw some orange trucks with the same triangular trap sitting on the back of them.

"Luna, something's wrong." the red wolf said, not being able to shake off this uncomfortable feeling. "I'm inclined to agree with you. Let's go." Luna said, taking off in the direction that the trucks were heading. Toboe followed her a second after.

(Hige, Luna, Toboe)

Hige, now panicking a bit, grabbed a hold of the bars of the trap. "Oh crap! Get me out of here!" he exclaimed, kicking the metal bars. He then shifted to his wolf form and tried to pry the bars open with his wolf fangs with a whimper however, he had stopped doing so.

He rubbed this jaw in his human form and winced a bit from the pain in his jaw. "Ahh… My fangs are too delicate for that." he said, rubbing his jaw still. Just then, Moss and some of

the other wolves in Zali's pack showed up.

Hige glanced over and a look of relief washed over his face. "Oh it's you guys. I'm glad you're here." he said. The three wolves approached the trap, standing at least a foot away from the tan mexican wolf.

"Looks like wolves still get caught in traps even today, huh?" Moss said, smirking at Hige's helplessness. Hige rubbed the back of his head and chuckled from humiliation. "Huh. Yeah, am I ever embarrassed." he said.

"Why are you so cheerful while you're still locked up in there?" Moss said sarcastically. "I'm sorry. So, you guys think you can let me out of here now?" Hige asked, holding the bars with both hands, giving a short smile while shutting his eyes.

"What do you think? Should we let the guy out?" Moss asked, looking at the lackey to his right with a furrowed brow. "These brats have been nothing but trouble since they first came here. They've been meddling in our business for too long." that wolf scowled, glaring at Hige.

Hige was conflicted by this exchange of words. "I uh…" Hige began, unable to form a sentence. One of those trucks that Luna and Toboe had seen was driving in his direction. Hige felt his heart jump into his chest when he saw that truck.

"L-Look, I'm sorry." Hige said. Moss and those two other wolves didn't budge, only stared at him with sinister grins on their faces. "C'mon, let me out! What's your problem?! Are you going to sit there and watch me die?!" Hige shouted, becoming more agitated by the second.

"Why should I? You five stuck your noses where it doesn't belong. Especially that high strung bitch that you have with you. I'd say, saving you isn't worth our time." Moss said nonchalantly, still smirking at Hige.

Hige gritted his teeth and spat back at Moss, "Oh is that right?! Well, I wouldn't want to hang around good for nothing dogs anyway!" That insult struck a nerve in Moss. "What?!" he growled, anger written all over his face.

Hige wasn't submitting to Moss's anger; he only backed up and clenched his fists together. "You're not wolves; nor even dogs! In fact, you're lower than humans!" he shouted.

"You little-!" Moss yelled, grabbing Hige by his hoodie with a tight grip.

Moss then swung his fist into the center of Hige's stomach, causing the tan mexican wolf to freeze, rendering him motionless. Not a second later, the tan mexican wolf fell unconscious.

He laid down on his right side in his wolf form, his mouth hanging open a bit.

That orange truck pulled over in front of the trap. Someone then stepped out of the truck and noticed Hige. "Hey, caught one right off the bat, huh?" one said. "Yeah, a big one too." one of the wolves with Moss said.

"He looks too wild to control. I'd be better to just put it down." the human said. However, there were a couple of pairs of ears who had heard the whole conversation. It was Luna and Toboe, who were hiding behind a short brick wall and the two of them watched this entire scene unfold.

Luna felt her heart jump into her throat at what the human said. Toboe felt his stomach twist and his eyes widened. "Oh, no! What're we gonna do, Luna?!" Toboe exclaimed, falling backwards into the snow. "We gotta tell Tsume and Kiba! C'mon!" Luna exclaimed, pulling Toboe to his feet by grabbing his hand.

The humans had loaded Hige onto the back of that truck and they began to drive off while Moss and the other two wolves just watched him being carried off with hateful glares. They knew what they were doing; and they didn't care that Hige would be killed by these humans.

Luna and Toboe were sprinting towards the hideout, breathing panicky. Both of them felt their hearts jump out of their chest with sheer terror that Hige was going to meet his death by those humans. There was no time to waste.

Kiba, having put on his shirt and coat, gets to his feet with a pained groan. Tsume looked at the injured white wolf with a furrowed brow. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked Kiba.

"I'm fine. I can move now." Kiba replied, slightly hunched over. Toboe and Luna came running into the hideout, seemingly out of breath. The two wolves saw that Kiba had the strength to actually get back up.

"Kiba, are you alright?!" Toboe asked, more panicked than concerned. "Yeah. Sorry." Kiba said. He noticed that it was just Toboe and Luna that had returned. "You two are by yourselves?" Kiba asked.

"Where's Porky?" Tsume asked, hand on his hip. Luna turns quickly in the grey wolf's direction, her emerald green eyes widened in sheer, profound panic. "That's why we came back here! He got himself captured in this huge trap! A-And the humans took him away!" she stammered, clenching her fists together.

Kiba sucked in a sharp, sudden breath from Luna's words. "He's just gotta fool the humans who caught him. He'll be able to get away then." Tsume said. "But he can't! Those wolves who live here knocked him out! They're gonna kill him!" Toboe corrected, his arms halfway raised and his fists clenched.

Tsume's expression changed drastically when he heard that. "Why the hell would they do something like that?!" he growled, baring his teeth a little bit. Kiba's teeth gritted tightly as anger rose in his chest; those wolves have gone too far this time.

"Where'd they take him?" Tsume asked. "We don't know! Luna and I ran back here after finding out what they were going to do!" Toboe stammered. "Why didn't you two warn us by howling?" Tsume scolded, pointing a finger at them, "And you two should've followed them, not come back here!"

Luna pushed him back a bit in her defense. "What the hell do you expect us to do?! You two wouldn't have known about this if we didn't come back!" she yelled at him, more scared than angry. Kiba then limped towards the front doorway, wanting to find Zali's pack.

"Let's go." he said, a hand on the frame to support him. "Where to?" Tsume asked. Luna and Toboe also looked at the white wolf. "The city." Kiba said with a pained grunt, walking out of the hideout.

Luna looked at Tsume and Toboe for a second before following him out of the hideout. Kiba was limping badly, showing that his pace was very slow. "This is taking forever!" Tsume growled in an impatient tone.

He then grabbed Kiba and threw him over his shoulder. "Hey! Knock it off!" Kiba shouted in protest. "C'mon! They're gonna kill him if we don't hurry!" Luna exclaimed, starting to run into the city. Tsume and Toboe quickly followed her into the city.

The three of them ran in their wolf forms through the city. Kiba was laying on Tsume's back. Tsume was ahead of the black she-wolf and the red he-wolf.

They reach an alleyway in their human forms so that they were out of sight of the humans. "Tsume, put me down! I can walk on my own!" Kiba shouts to Tsume. Tsume looked back at Kiba before stopping to set him down.

"Alright, let's get a move on." the grey wolf says, rolling his shoulder to stretch it out. Kiba used the wall to help himself stand up. Luna looked around for a second and saw Zali's mate walk down another path, her hood over her head.

"Hey, look!" she exclaimed, pointing in her direction. The second she saw the four rogue wolves, she made a run for it. "That's the lady from yesterday!" Toboe says, seeing her as well.

Kiba was the first to run ahead of Tsume, Luna, and Toboe without an issue. They follow the white wolf into the path where Zali's mate headed down. Zali's entire pack was standing at the end of the pathway.

The pack turns to look at the group of rogue wolves with smug smiles on their faces. "Well, well, well, it looks like last night's beating didn't sink in." one of the wolves said with a snicker. "Seems like this high-strung bitch here didn't learn a lesson either." Moss commented.

Luna felt her blood boiling when Moss addressed that insult towards her. "You want to start something with me, asshole?!" she growled, "Go ahead and try something. I dare you!"

Moss didn't hesitate to grab Luna by her jacket like before. Both of them had their fists raised up, ready to punch each other. Luna breathed hard and her eyes were bulging in anger.

"Moss, let her go. Now." Zali said from behind the pack. Everyone looked behind them and saw the older grey wolf standing a foot from them. Tsume didn't like that Luna was getting grabbed and threatened by Moss. Honestly, it made him feel… protective of her.

Tsume marched towards Moss, who still had a hold of Luna tightly. "Let her go right this damn minute." the grey wolf threatened. Moss growled in defeat before throwing Luna back, making her stumble back a few feet. She almost lost her footing when he did that.

"You mean you ordered this?" Tsume snarled at Zali. "Ordered what?" Zali asked in a puzzled tone. "Cut the shit! You did this!" Luna barked at him.

"What're you talking about?" Zali asked, not understanding the situation. "Is it true what Luna and Toboe told us? That you sold our friend to those humans?" Kiba asked bluntly. Tsume growled softly, his patience on a razor thin edge, "Just how low will you mutts sink!"

"What's going on here?" Zali asked, lifting his head a bit. "Hell if I know." one of the wolves says nonchalantly. "That guy said to kill him! Luna and I heard you tell those guys to kill him!" Toboe blurted, pointing at Moss.

Zali's eyes widened in shock as the truth unfolded. "Moss!" Zali shouted, now pissed off. Kiba ran towards Moss in order to attack him but was pushed back roughly by Zali.

Zali punches Moss in the jaw as hard as he could, knocking him to the ground hard. "This is my pack!" Zali yelled, looking back at Kiba. He then glares down at Moss, fists balled up.

"Why in the hell did you sell out their friend?" Zali asked Moss. Moss stands back up and rubs his chin. "He's an outsider. That's why." he replied, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Zali, isn't it you who's been selling out your friends?" another male wolf asked, much to Zali's shock. "What?!" Zali exclaimed, his eyes widening. "You know it's the truth! You don't even do a dog's work!" that same wolf chastised him.

Zali was now angry that his own pack had the nerve to say this to him. "Is that how you really feel?" Zali said, "I always thought, as the alpha of this pack, I did what I was supposed to do in order to protect this pack. I even had to suppress my own feelings in the process."

Luna's eyes slightly widened when Zali spoke. It reminded her of her own father, who was also a strong alpha. He'd talk similarly like Zali.

"Yeah, well none of us sees you as the alpha anymore!" Moss shouts, throwing a hooked fist at Zali. The punch was strong enough to knock Zali onto the ground. That abrupt attack caught Kiba and them off guard, causing them to jump a few feet.

Zali's entire pack then started to beat him off blow after blow with their fists and their feet. The four other wolves just watched in disbelief as Moss and them beat the hell out of their former leader. Luna wanted to help him but she'd only get beaten too.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Cole exclaims, gripping the sides of her head, unable to listen to her mate getting beaten the way he was. To their surprise, Moss and them actually stopped beating on Zali. As much as this pissed off Luna, she knew trying to fight Moss again would only get her in more trouble.

"Where… where have they taken their friend, Moss?" Zali asked Moss, coughing in between his words. "I don't know. I don't know." Moss spat, turning around to walk away. The rest of Zali's ex-pack turns around and walks away from Zali without remorse.

"Zali!" Cole shouts, kneeling down to her mate's aid. She helped him sit up and his face screwed up from the soreness in his body. After that dispute with the way he utilized them to survive in this dying world made them lose all respect for him.

Zali then looked up at the four younger wolves through his blackened eyes. "If you plan on giving up on Paradise, now might be the time." he tells them stiffly. Kiba gazes down at Zali with a courageous facade, showing that he wasn't afraid of any of that.

"I don't have anywhere to go back to. The only thing that I can do is keep moving forward." Kiba replied with confidence profound in his voice. "Even if hell is where we're heading towards." Tsume says, grabbing the attention of Kiba, Luna, and Toboe. "You people may have given up on finding Paradise but there's no doubt in my mind that we won't." Tsume finished, not tearing his gaze away from Zali.

Needless to say, Kiba, Luna, and Toboe were shocked by the sudden confidence coming from the alleged, stubborn and arrogant grey wolf. Neither of them believed that he'd ever say something like this. If he hadn't said those words, they wouldn't have believed it at all.

Zali pushes himself up to his feet with little to no issue. "Zali?" Cole said in concern. He glances over at his mate with an assuring grin. "I can still run." he said, turning around to run in the direction that his ex-pack ran down. One by one, Kiba, Tsume, Luna, and Toboe ran after him in pursuit of finding Hige.

Meanwhile, that same truck that took off with Hige was heading in the direction of where they'd potentially put him down. They drove on the outside of the city. The human with the blonde hair glances back at the tan mexican wolf.

"This one looks to be pretty strong." he says. "Yeah, but it's a royal pain to tame dogs that big. If it went crazy, it'd be impossible to control. Killing it ain't such a bad idea." the brunette haired human replied. Just then, Hige suddenly wakes up from being knocked out. He felt the rumbling of the truck as he woke up.

"Yeah, I almost feel sorry for it." the blonde haired human replied, resting his hand on his shoulders. From behind them, both failed to notice Hige, who was back in his human form, trying to get their attention by yelling. However, they were unable to hear him.

"Man, I always hate having to watch them die." the blonde haired guy said. "Yeah, let's just toss it in the incinerator. "Hey, c'mon! Look back here!" Hige yelled loudly.

Then, the five wolves ran in front of the truck as they found it driving towards the incinerator. They were a mishmash of different color wolves. Dark grey, grey, black, white, and red. The second the driver saw them, he yelled out in shock as the truck started to swerve violently before falling over with a loud crash.

Hige opened his eyes to see his friends surrounding the cage that he was in. He sighed and sat up, the back of his head throbbing a bit from the violent crash. "Dammit… When are you guys going to be gentle?" he groaned.

"You should be grateful that we're saving your ass. Don't expect us to come to your rescue every time you get captured." Luna said, crossing her arms. "She's right, Hige! You're lucky to be alive!" Toboe agrees, putting his hands on his hips. "C'mon, you can get yourself out of there, right?" Tsume asked.

"Yeah, well, the barbaric stuff just isn't my thing." Hige replies, closing an eye. The pack stands in front of the cage in their wolf forms. Kiba bites down on the bars and does his best to bend the bars so Hige could get out.

Luna's notched wolf ears flickered at the sound of the driver's side door opening. The pack looks up at the human who crawled out of the car. The human sees the pack and immediately pulls out his gun. "You damn dogs!" he shouts, firing the gun at them.

Then, Zali jumps at the humans in his wolf form with his wolf jaws opened all the way. He bit down on the human's shoulder, making him drop the gun while the rest of the pack made a run for it after Hige crawls through the pried bars. Zali jumps down from the truck and rejoins the pack.

After a while, the six wolves made their way back to the graveyard that they stayed in the previous night and early the next morning. They go through that same tunnel that would lead them out of there. They needed to leave Zali's city right away because that chaos could lead to some trouble.

Once they reached the subway part of the tunnel, Zali stopped in his tracks. He didn't dare take another step forward. "This is as far as I'll go. From here on out, you five are on your own." Zali said, making it clear that he wasn't going with them.

Luna glances up at the older grey wolf sympathetically and asks, "Why don't you come with us? That pack of yours doesn't seem to want anything to do with you anymore." Zali glanced back at the black she-wolf with a grin.

"You're right. But I can't leave this city behind. This is where I'll live the rest of my life now." Zali replied respectfully, "I don't know if the place you're looking for is real or just a myth. But what I do believe that there's some that do make it to the real Paradise and there's some that don't. I'm convinced of that. You five will find out soon enough if it does exist beyond this road."

Zali had spent a little bit of his life in this city and he's grown accustomed to the living conditions of this city. He didn't want to leave all of that behind. Who could blame him?

"You don't seem much like a wolf." Tsume said. "Tsume." Kiba scolds him. "A wolf protects its own. It's not natural for one wolf to look after another pack." Tsume continued, making a good point.

"You're right. It looks like I have fallen." Zali said with a chuckle. Just before the pack left Zali, he looked down at the black she-wolf. "You, along the way, find yourself a good mate to help you along your journey. Find one that will respect you and take care of you. Your father would be so proud of you." Zali said, making quick glances at Tsume.

Luna was a bit stunned that he would say this. And the fact he was looking at Tsume made her wonder if he's predicting that they'd eventually end up together during the journey ahead. She smiled at him and replied, "I will." And she remembers that Zali and her father used to be friends, so she could take his word for it.

Kiba then runs down the incessant tunnel with Tsume, Luna, Hige, and Toboe running behind him. Zali could only watch as the pack ran down the tunnel, their images getting smaller and smaller.

"Flowers are clever things. Even if it looks like they vanish, they never really go away, y'know? Like a pack of wolves. As long as there's a moon, flowers will never die. And neither will us wolves." Zali said to himself with a smile.

The pack of five wolves run together down the tunnel in their wolf forms, a mishmash of white, grey, black, tan, and reddish brown. The wolves would never, ever die. Along with the flowers as long as the moon is alive.