Finally! It's done…This was by far the hardest chapter to write for this story so far, had to read back several times to make sure everything was perfect, I'm sure this chapter will answer but also raise many questions, thanks to those that have reviewed they motivated me to push through and get the chapter out and thank you TTP4F (Guest) for pointing out that mistake I will pay closer attention next time, NOTE: I will continue the author's note after you read the chapter, important info will be said so do not miss it! Enjoy!
Chapter 5: A change in POV
Andy's POV
"See wasn't that hard, you go first and Fay you go behind him to make sure he doesn't make a run for it, not that he will make it far if he does so anyways" McCabe yelled over to the others at the other side.
I sat down next to McCabe as we waited for them to make their way over to us, the wolf whose name I still didn't know was walking slower than a turtle over the tree and I was getting impatient, I saw him look down and the seconds later he unsheathed his claws and grabbed hold of the tree.
"Great can he possibly go any slower?" I asked McCabe who was also getting impatient.
I heard McCabe mumble something but I couldn't fully understand what he said so I shrugged it off and decided to just wait, what else could I do other than wait for them to make it over?
I looked back and saw Fay was saying something but they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying.
"I'm going to die" I heard the wolf in front of Fay yell.
I gave a small laugh as I saw he was truly terrified, maybe waiting isn't so bad after all he's kind of amusing me, I don't know why but I find it amusing when I see others terrified.
After being on the same spot for five minutes I saw him finally move forward again, I suddenly felt a strong wind and I saw the tree shift and both Fay and the grey wolf grabbed hold of the tree to prevent from falling off and into the depth's below.
"RUN!" I heard Fay yell panicked.
I saw they both started running as fast as they could towards us, when they almost reached us I felt another strong wind, stronger than the previous, the tree shifted and lost its grip and fell down, I saw McCabe rush to the side and quickly grab the grey wolf that had almost made it and I heard him yelp loudly in pain, everything happened so fast, in a matter of seconds to be exact.
"Andy quick help me pull them up" I heard McCabe yell panicked at me.
I was about to run up to him to help him but before I even had the time to get up I saw the grey wolf slip from McCabe's grasp and fall down into the depths of the canyon and towards the fast flowing river below.
I watched in horror as I saw Fay and the grey wolf plummet into the river and getting carried away into the depths of the forest by the fast flowing current, I stood there shocked not knowing what to do next and I'm sure McCabe was having the same problem as he said nothing but kept looking at the river below.
"Fay" I heard McCabe say sadly.
I looked up to him and saw a tear escape his eye and fall onto the ground below, no that can't be, I never imagined McCabe crying as he was always serious, showing little to no emotion but now he's crying.
"McCabe everything alright" I asked breaking the silence.
"What of course nothing is alright" McCabe snapped at me, I backed up a few steps from his sudden outburst.
"What now" I asked waiting for a response.
"I…I don't know, I never asked for any of this" McCabe yelled at me.
Now I was starting to worry about him, he never acted like this, I decided calming him down was the best I could do so he could say what to do next.
"McCabe…" I starting walking up to him and sitting down in front of him.
"…I know your worried about Fay but I'm sure she will make it, I never saw any other she wolf as strong and confident as her" I said putting a paw on his shoulder hoping it would calm him down.
"You're right Andy, I'm sorry…I wasn't thinking straight" McCabe said looking down.
"It's okay…What do we do now?" I asked hoping he would say the same as I was thinking.
"Hmmm…we have to find out a way to get down there and follow the river" He said explaining what we had to do.
"Exactly that's the same I have been thinking" I said laughing lightly feeling as if he read my thoughts.
And with that said we started with our first task, find a way down and follow the river until we get their scent to continue out way towards the north.
Winston's POV
"WHERE'S HUMPHREY" Kate yelled trying to run outside but got stopped by Hutch.
"Kate please calm down" I said trying to calm down Kate who was freaking out.
"How can you say that, Humphrey's out there with those dangerous wolves who are taking him unwillingly too an insane leader who's going to kill him…AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN" Kate yelled angrier than ever trying to get past Hutch who was still holding her inside of the den.
"Kate, your dad is right you have to calm down, going out there unplanned is like a suicide" Eve said in a soft voice trying to calm down Kate.
"And what do you suggest we do before they kill Humphrey maybe have a little girls chat and then go over there and pick up his dead body" Kate snapped at Eve who then looked with a hurt look at me.
"KATE THAT'S ENOUGH, THAT'S NO WAY TO SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER" I yelled angry and disappointed of her behavior towards her mother.
Everybody in the den was looking shocked and disappointed at Kate for being so cruel to Eve who was only trying to help her, I looked at Eve and she stood up, passed by Kate and gave her a quick hurt look before walking outside of the den.
"Mom I-"Kate started sadly but got interrupted by a hurt Eve.
"Keep it Kate" Eve said hurt and continuing her walk outside.
Everybody kept looking at the den entrance until Eve was gone out of sight, Kate was looking at the den floor her head hung low in shame, but the reason we were all here was because we had a meeting going until Kate began freaking out over Humphrey who was taken.
I cleared my throat to get the attention, when I saw everybody had their attention focused on me I decided to continue with the meeting.
"Let's continue our meeting shall we?" I said seeing everybody nod and sit back down in the middle of the den in a perfect circle.
Hutch sat back down on the right of me, Tony sat down left of me with Gust sitting down next to his left, Garth sat down next to Gust and next to Garth was Lilly and Kate sat down next to Lilly and Hutch.
"So now that everybody's settled where were we?" I asked trying to remember what we were discussing before Kate interrupted it.
"That McCabe and Andy took Humphrey, Sir" Garth replied clearly in pain.
Garth wasn't looking so good he had three long cuts on his right side that had recently closed and also teeth marks around his neck that were visible, Reba told him to get rest for his wounds to heal faster as he was still weakened from his injuries but when he heard about the meeting he insisted on participating much to Reba's dismay.
"Yes, thank you Garth" I said smiling at Garth for paying good attention at the meeting.
To be honest Garth is more of a help now than Kate is, even tough he's injured he does his best to hide it even though it's easy to read off his face that he's in pain but I admire him for his perseverance.
"Now tell us what happened before we were able to get there?" I asked looking at both Garth and Kate.
Garth looked at Kate who lifted her head up, she looked at Garth who nodded and then she looked back at me.
"Ok…I went hunting for the pack together with Garth and Cando, when we had caught our caribou Garth had decided to wait for Hutch's team but I had told Humphrey I would get back to him as soon as I could so I said to Garth I was heading back and I would meet them at the feeding ground in ten minutes" Kate said but stopped to regain her breath and then continued.
"When I was almost at our den I smelt the scent of another wolf that I didn't recognize as being someone part of our pack, I kept walking until I saw the entrance of our den, I stopped when I saw a black wolf I never had seen before, I hid behind a bush trying to listen to what he was saying when I suddenly heard something from behind me" Kate said but stopped again to regain her breath and then continued for the second time.
"I looked behind me but saw nothing, when I turned back around I saw a female snow white wolf standing there looking at me, I started growling and crouched down ready to pounce on her when I heard someone behind me say 'sleep well' before I had time to react I felt something hit me at the back of my neck and next thing I saw was blackness" Kate said clearly angered by the way she got knocked out.
"The black wolf was McCabe, the snow white wolf was Fay and Andy probably knocked you out, he has light brown fur with brown eyes" Garth said explaining to Kate who was who.
"Then when I started to regain consciousness I heard Humphrey ask me if I was ok and I asked him what happened but when I stood up and looked around me I saw Andy standing a little distance in front of me and Fay sitting next to McCabe who was standing at the den entrance with Humphrey opposite from him looking scared" Kate said sadly with a tear escaping her eye.
"I-I never saw him that scared as he was then" Kate said quietly sobbing.
Lilly walked closer to Kate's side and pulled her in a hug in an effort to comfort Kate.
"Don't worry Kate, Humphrey will be fine, I'm sure Humphrey misses you as much as you miss him but you have to be strong" Lilly said comforting Kate.
"Yeah you're right Lilly…I'm sorry" Kate said sadly wiping her tears away.
"It's ok Kate" Lilly said while hugging Kate.
"Ok…thank you Kate, Garth could you tell me how you ended up there?" I said to Garth who nodded back.
"When Kate had gone back to Humphrey I had waited several minutes with Cando until Hutch arrived with his team, we had dragged the caribou's towards the feeding grounds and I sat there waiting for Kate but after ten minutes she had still not arrived so I decided to see what took her so long w-" Garth said but I stopped him.
"Take it easy Garth, take a deep breath and then continue" I said making sure he wasn't tiring himself out as he was still weak from his injuries, he nodded and did as I said before continuing.
"When I was almost at their den I could hear distant growling and I heard Kate yell something loudly, I started to wonder what could be going on so I started running and yelled 'Kate everything ok' making sure everything was fine" Garth said but stopped to breathe, he coughed and groaned in pain from the cough.
"Garth you ok?" Lilly asked worried as she went back to Garths side.
"Y-yes, I'm fine Lilly" Garth said rubbing his neck and flinching several times as he went over his wounds on his neck.
"Maybe you should lie down" Lilly suggested.
"No, I'm fine really, thank you Lilly" Garth said giving Lilly a quick kiss on her cheek.
I saw Lilly nod and she sat down next to Garth their pelts touching each other.
"When I got there I was going to ask what was going on when I saw Kate and Andy fighting, I was going to help Kate when suddenly Humphrey yelled 'Garth behind you', when I looked behind me I saw McCabe and I stepped aside just in time before he could pounce on me" Garth said stopping to breathe and then continued.
"During the fight he eventually got the upper hand and scratched me across my side as you can see" Garth said pointing at his three long cuts at his right side.
"And rammed me head-on into my right side knocking me onto the ground, I tried to get back up but was unable to, I looked over to Kate and saw Andy knocked her out, I looked back at McCabe who was next to me, before he grabbed my neck with his teeth he told me I was going to die, die for what I did to him…" Garth said with a tear falling from his muzzle.
I felt bad for him, if only McCabe knew what really happened, he had no choice.
"…a-and Humphrey saved my life…he was chocking me when Humphrey said something and he let go of me…I-I…" Garth said with tears running down his muzzle.
"…if it wasn't for Humphrey I wouldn't be here right now…that's the reason why I insisted on being here, he saved my life and now I want to help, help getting him back home" Garth said determined.
"Thank you Garth…that's it for today, tomorrow morning we will continue this meeting, your all dismissed" I said standing up and motioning for Garth and Kate to follow me.
I walked outside and sat down in front of my den looking out over my pack, seeing wolves talking and playing together, young and old just having a good time, it made me smile seeing the pack at peace, I turned around looking back at Kate and Garth so sat down behind me waiting for me to speak up.
"Kate…Garth…" I said looking at them.
"I know you two want to help, tomorrow we will discuss how to get Humphrey back, whatever gets decided you two are staying here to-" I said but got interrupted by Kate.
"What, I'm not staying here, I'm going with whatever team they choose to get Humphrey back-" Kate said angry but I interrupted her.
"QUIET! Do not interrupt me when I'm speaking" I said with a soft growl.
"Your attitude today Kate has really disappointed me, go back to your den and stay there until I say you may leave it, if I hear you disobeyed my orders I will have to reconsider my choice of future head alpha…you're dismissed" I said angrily at Kate.
Kate stood up, nodded and walked away heading towards her den not saying anything, I looked at Garth and he still sat in front of me with a shocked look on his face.
"So as I was saying you two are staying here to watch over the packs" I said finishing what I wanted to say.
"But sir, why do we have to stay to watch over the packs?" Garth asked confused.
"Because me and Tony are heading north to talk with the head alpha and since you are injured and Kate isn't her usual self I'm sending Hutch and your dad will probably send Gust with the rescue teams to find Humphrey" I said explaining to him why he had to watch over the packs together with Kate.
"Understood sir" He said standing up.
"I know you want to head out to help find Humphrey Garth but for now you have to recover…go get some rest you'll need it for tomorrow…" I said to him, he nodded and started walking to his den.
"…oh and Garth…" I said making him stop and look back at me.
"…Thank you" I said thanking him for everything he did today.
He nodded and continued his walk, I looked over my pack once again before walking into my den seeing it was empty, I walked back outside and decided to search for Eve before going to sleep.
Chapter redone, Humphrey d Omega.