"Don't worry, Martha, I'll get you to shelter!"
"Emma, I'm s-so c-c-cold…"
"Emma, this place isn't for meerkats. Go back home before Martha dies!"
"Shina, I only wish I could, but mother and father would never accept us again; we've run way and put our family to shame."
"Emma, Martha is slowly freezing to death. Go home where it's safe; save your sister, please!"
"Emma… Shina… Please…."
"Martha, don't worry, you'll be okay!"
"Don't say what you know isn't true, Shina…"
--
The gray wolf opened her eyes and looked around the small cave. She looked to her right, where she saw a young brown meerkat that had orange stripes on her back sitting beside one that looked just like her.
The wolf heard the older of the two meerkats crying softly. She quickly got to her feet and went over, fearing the worst.
"Please, Emma, please don't tell me she's…"
"No, not yet, but we need to find help, Shina. We need to find help by the end of the week… or else she will… will…"
"Don't worry, Emma; we'll find help if it's the last thing we do! C'mon, get on my back."
The gray wolf lay down on her stomach with her legs underneath her. Emma picked her younger sister, Martha, up off the ground and climbed up on Shina's back.
Shina stood up and dashed out of the cave, running quickly, her brown eyes flashing in the light of the full moon.
--
"Sid! Sid!"
"Oh, hey Diego!" Sid waved slightly at Diego, who was running towards him, looking quite angry.
"Where's Peaches?" Diego asked angrily. "Manny and Ellie can't find her and you're most likely the one who took off with her."
"I haven't seen Peaches at all today, Diego. Have you asked Crash and Eddie?"
"We haven't seen them at all today, either."
Just as Diego said this, two opossums and a baby mammoth came running by them. Crash and Eddie were screaming, "Wolf" while young Peaches was just following them.
Diego looked in the direction they came from and saw a silhouette walking in the herd's direction. "Sid, go back to the village," Diego stated. "Tell Manny I'll be there soon."
With that, Diego took off towards the silhouette while Sid turned and ran in the opposite direction.
As he got closer, he saw Crash and Eddie were right; it was a wolf.
The wolf was running quickly; she looked almost afraid.
Then he noticed the small animal on her back, holding on to her fur.
Diego skid to a stop just as the wolf noticed him and began stopping.
"Please help us!" the meerkat on the wolf's back pleaded. "My sister, she's ill, s-she needs help! Please!"