CHAPTER 8

BECOMING A HERD

The remaining mammals thought for the worst for Ellie when they heard a mammoth sound. They looked to see an iceberg flying up in the air and crashing to the ground. Snow dust covered the entire place and once it cleared up, they saw Ellie lying on the ground, still breathing but her eyes were closed.

Brooke ran up to her. "Ellie, Ellie, Ellie! Are you alright, dear? Say something! Anything!" Ellie mumbled something, but the sloth couldn't understand her. "What was that? I can't hear you."

"You're standing on my trunk," Ellie said. Brooke looked down to see that her foot was on Ellie's trunk and removed it, letting the female mammoth breathe.

"Oh, you're okay! You're okay!"

Shira walked up to Ellie with a confused look on her face. "Why did you do that? You could've died trying to save me."

Ellie smiled at Shira. "That's what you do in a herd."

"You think of us as a herd?"

"I sure do."

" I don't like to admit this to you two, but we are the weirdest herd I've ever known," Brooke said.

"Well, they do say that honesty is always the best policy," Shira said, turning her attention towards Ellie, "Thanks, by the way."

"No need to thank me," Ellie said, "A herd always looks out for each other."

Shira smiled as she and Brooke helped Ellie up. "Well, We better keep going if we wanna get this kid home."

Soon the three females continued on with their journey, making their way to Half Peak. Little did they know that they were being watched by a saber up on the hill. She ran off back to her pack.

Sierra, who had just returned to the pack, looked to see that the pack was becoming anxious and impatient for Shira to return. Even Bailey was starting to go crazy. "Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on that mammoth!"

"Nobody touches the mammoth until I get that child," Sierra said.

"First, I'll separate the white meat from the dark meat, then I'll pick the juiciest pieces to eat first, then I'll-"

"Knock it off," Lindsey, a larger saber of the pack, shouted, "I'm already hungry, Bailey. Talking about meat is not helping."

"Save your energy," Sierra said, "Mammoths don't go down that easily. There's only one way to do it. We have to work together to take her down. First you have to place them in a corner. Make sure there's no way for it to retreat. Once you girls have taken her down, I'll go for her throat." Sierra evilly giggled as her eyes grew red as fire.

Meanwhile, the trio was traveling in a snowstorm, trying their best to keep going straight, but it was hard to do when the wind was blowing snow in their eyes.

"The wind's too strong to travel in!" Shira shouted.

Ellie looked at Cheril, who was warm in her trunk and was peacefully sleeping. She looked at the others and said, "Guys, we need to get Cheril out of this wind!" They all looked to see a cave and decided to go inside to wait out the storm. Ellie looked at Shira. "How much farther do we need to go?"

"Three more miles," Shira said.

"We'll get there by morning. I think it's best if we all get some rest." Ellie walked over to see Brooke drawing on the wall's with a small rock. "Brooke, what are you doing?"

"I'm adding sloths to the map," Brooke said, "Especially us hippie sloths. I want animals in the future to know that there were tree lovers in this world."

"If you want to make it more realistic and look like a hippie sloth, why don't you draw her meditating in a tree?"

"Good idea."

"Hey, why don't you make the hips a little bigger?" Shira said, "I always thought that Brooke looked a little plumped." Shira tooke the rock out of Brooke's paws and started making the hips look fat. "Perfect. It looks just like you."

"You have a heart of stone sometimes," Brooke said, "You know that, right?"

"Say whatever you want. I'm still gonna mention that you have big hips."

"Ha, ha, ha. I forgot how to laugh." Brooke snatched the rock out of Shira's paws and started scratching it up against the rock wall. She looked to see that some sparks came out of it and hit the twigs that were found inside the cave. Brooke had a look of excitement on her face. "I'm a genius!" She kissed the rock that made the warm fire happen.

Soon the three females were sitting around a warm, comfortable fire created by Brooke. Ellie smiled at the sloth. "Thanks for figuring out how to make a fire, Brooke. I will say that it was unexpected, but thank you for doing it."

"I would do anything for you all," Brooke said, "I suppose you will all have to refer to mean as Brooke, the Goddess of the Flames."

"Hey, Goddess of the Flames, your tail's on fire."

"What?" Brooke turned around and looked to see her tail smoking into flames. She started panicking and running around until Shira smacked her tail, causing the flame to go out. Brooke sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. From now on, I'm going to call you Shira darling." Brooke placed a paw around Shira's shoulders.

"Do you know what they call me?" Shira said, "They call me goddess of touch me and your dead meat." Brooke gasped, but Shira chuckled. "Ah, I'm just kidding, Brooke. Don't take everything I say so literally."

"Would you guys keep it down?" Ellie said, "Cheril's sleeping."

Suddenly, Cheril started stirring in her sleep, whimpering and saying things like not to hurt her and all that. She woke up, sweat pouring down her face and she started to cry. "No, don't let them get me! Don't let them get me!"

"Cheril, sweetie, calm down," Brooke said, "What's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I did!" Cheril sobbed.

"What was it about, dear? Do you want to talk about it?"

"My daddy and I were in the woods and then these sabers started chasing us. My daddy told me to run, but then one of them started chasing me and I kept running until I came to the edge of a cliff and then the saber pounced on me and that's when I woke up. It was so scary."

"Honey, it was just a bad dream," Shira said, "There are no sabers that are out to get you. You know why?" Shira knew this would go against everything she was told to do, but at this point, she didn't care. "Because I will be here to protect you."

"You will?" Cheril asked, still crying.

"Of course I will. We all will. We're a herd." Shira placed her paw over her mouth. She couldn't believe that she had actually said herd, but she ended up smiling. "We are definitely a herd."

"Can you sing me a lullaby?"

Shira widened her eyes. "You want me to sing you a lullaby?" Cheril nodded as Shira looked at the little human girl. "Alright. I don't see why not. This is a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was a cub. It always used to put me to sleep at night." Shira looked outside, knowing that singing a song would keep her mother's memory alive. She took a deep breath as she began.

Hush now, my little one

Your day is finally done

The stars are blinking in the night sky

Where all the shooting stars fly

The birds are all nesting in the trees

The fish are all slumbering in the seas

We must rest for a new day

In a place where we know is best to stay

Don't you worry, my dear

There is nothing to fear

I will help you sleep thick and through

Because I love you

Sleep well and have happy dreams

And let them all gleam

Quiet will come forevermore

Until morn.

Soon Cheril was asleep in Shira's arms. She handed the little girl back to Ellie, who placed Cheril in her trunk. Ellie smiled at Shira. "Thank you."

"Anytime. You know, Ellie, you're not such a bad mammal. You're okay."

"So are you, Shira."

Shira looked outside, seeing a cliff not too far away. "I'm gonna go outside and get some fresh air. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. Go ahead, sweetie."

Shira smiled at Ellie as she walked outside to the cliff. Thoughts swirled around in her mind. She had a feeling that she was making a big mistake. Of course she was part of a pack, but she actually got to know Ellie and Brooke and started to feel as though they were her true friends. She sighed as she knew what she had to do. That's when she heard rustling in the bushes.


WELL, HERE IT IS. THE NEXT CHAPTER OF MY POPULAR ICE AGE STORY.

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