About an hour later, they were all once again gathered in the gate room. Tony had also volunteered to remain behind on the ship, so his name had been removed from the lottery as well. The little pieces of paper with names were placed in a military helmet that Winston was holding.
"Listen up," said Winston. "In this hat are the names of everyone in this room. Tony and I have excluded ourselves. If anyone else wishes to do so, speak now."
Nobody spoke.
Winston continued. "If you're name is chosen, you will go directly to the shuttle." Winston sighed. He knew what he had to say next. The two people he had chosen. It pained him to say the two names, but he had done what he thought would be best and fairest to the pack. "Garth has pilot training, and he can fly the shuttle, so I have chosen him as the shuttle's pilot."
Everyone looked at Garth, most with envoy.
"And secondly," said Winston, "Eve has the best medical skills. Her knowledge of healing will make her invaluable on the planet. She will also go."
Eve looked at Winston with shock. She felt furious at him that he had not chosen their two daughters to go.
Winston continued. "If you're name is not chosen, you are to remain in this room until a have word that all who are going are onboard the shuttle. Does anyone have anything to say?"
Nobody said anything. They all just stood there waiting. Winston then shook the hat a little and reached in and pulled out the first name. "Claw," he said.
Claw slowly walked out of the crowd and began heading towards the shuttle.
Winston pulled out the next name. "Salty."
Salty started to walk out of the crowd, but Humphrey stopped him for a moment and gave him the Kino. Salty nodded, as he understood, and then hurried after Claw.
Winston pulled out the next name. "Scar."
Scar sighed with relief and hurried off to join his girlfriend, Claw, on the shuttle.
One by one the names were read off, until they were down to the fifteenth and final piece of paper that was pulled out of the hat. Winston read it. "Kate."
Kate looked around at everyone who had not been chosen with a pained expression. Humphrey and Lilly were two of the many people who had not been chosen to go, her little sister, and the wolf she secretly still loved. She would never see them again.
Kate began to move out of the crowd when suddenly Garth spoke up from behind Winston. "I'm not going without Lilly."
Everyone looked at him.
"Garth, they need you to be the pilot," said Winston.
"I don't care. I'm not leaving without Lilly."
"Her name wasn't drawn," said Winston sadly.
"Damn it, you're her father! Do something about it!" argued Garth.
"That wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Get on that shuttle. That is an order."
But Garth wasn't about to back down. "Go ahead, court marshal me if you want to. I love Lilly and I won't leave without her."
"I'll stay," Kate said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. "Lilly can have my spot on the shuttle. I'll stay on the ship."
"Very well," said Winston, impressed and proud at what his daughter just did.
Lilly walked up to her big sister. "Kate, you don't have to…"
"I want to," said Kate.
Lilly hugged her sister. She then walked over to Garth, and after a few seconds, she through her arms around him and kissed him passionately. He kissed her back. After about ten seconds they broke. "I love you too, Garth," she said.
"I'm sorry… for everything," said Garth.
"I'm sorry too." Lilly kissed him deeply again.
"Come on," said Garth after they broke the kiss a second time. He and her started heading to the shuttle.
"That's fifteen," said Winston. "We're done here."
Down in crowd, Candu couldn't accept it. "You can fit more people on that damn shuttle!" he shouted angrily.
"That's enough, Candu," said Winston sternly.
Candu growled and stepped out in front of the crowd and turned to them. "Come on, people! If we don't do something about this, we're all dead!"
Before Candu could say anymore, Hutch walked up behind Candu and whacked him in the head with the butt of his machine gun. Everyone gasped as Candu fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Anyone else have any objections?" asked Hutch loudly.
Nobody said anything or even moved.
"Thank you, Hutch," said Winston.
"Sir."
Winston turned to Eve. "Its time for you to get on the shuttle."
Eve looked at him and then walked over to Kate. The two embraced, tears in their eyes. "I love you, sweetheart," Eve cried.
"I love you too, mom," said Kate. "Dad did what he had to do. Don't blame him for this."
"Thank you for what you did for Lilly," said Eve. "My brave daughter."
The two embraced for half a minute before Kate reluctantly let go because she knew her mother probably never would on her own. "Go, mom," she said.
Eve reluctantly walked away from her eldest daughter. She walked back up to Winston and they kissed one last time.
"I love you, Eve," said Winston.
"I love you too, Winston," said Eve. She slowly turned and started heading for the shuttle.
As soon as the seventeen wolves were onboard, the shuttle disengaged from the ship and took off towards the three distant planets. Everyone else who was trapped on Destiny watched it fly away from inside the observation deck.
Humphrey pressed a button on the mobile computer screen he had found. He began to get footage from the Kino he had given to Salty, who had sent it out into the vacuum of space while getting on the shuttle. "The Kino is sending back pictures… There it is." He held up the screen for everyone around him to see. On the screen was the outside of the ship. Now they knew what it looked like. It was big, triangular in shape, with curved sides.
"That's the Destiny?" asked Kate in amazement.
"Uh huh," said Humphrey.
They all watched the video until the Kino was out of range and the pictures stopped coming.
"Thank you for that, Humphrey," said Tony. "I never thought I'd get the chance to see her from the outside." He then turned and walked out of the room. One by one, other people began leaving the room too, going off to do whatever before they died. Before long, Humphrey and Kate were the only ones left in the observation room, sitting on one of the benches, staring out the big window. Kate leaned her head against Humphrey's shoulders. This surprised him, but he let her.
Humphrey broke the silence. "That was a really brave thing you did back there, giving up your spot for your sister. I don't know if I would have done the same. I guess it's just one of those things you don't really know about yourself until you're actually faced with that situation."
"I'm sure you would have if it was for someone you really cared about," said Kate. "You're one of the kindest people I know."
"Thanks," said Humphrey. He sighed. "I never thought I'd be in a situation like this. Waiting to die. I think knowing that it's coming is the worst part."
"I know what you mean," said Kate. "It's like the worst kind of sinking feeling right in your stomach."
"Exactly."
"Humphrey… I just want you to know… I still love you," said Kate.
Humphrey looked at her in surprise. "That's not what you said before."
"Forget what I said before. We were both angry then. But since we're about to die, I just wanted you to know. I love you."
Humphrey nodded. "I love you too, Kate," he said. "Since the day we broke up, there hasn't been a day gone by that I haven't thought about you."
Kate smiled. They both hugged each other. Then they pulled away slightly so they could see the others face, and then they kissed, long and passionately.
After about a minute they broke the kiss and breathed. Humphrey then wrapped his arms around Kate as they continued to look out the window at the approaching star.
"Well, these are our last moments together," said Humphrey. "Is there anything special you wanted to do before… it happens?"
Kate looked at him. There was one thing she wanted to do.