Disclaimer: I do not own Lost in Blue, nor do I claim to.

Chapter 8: A Wolf for a Pet?

The wolf backed up with its tail between his legs and whimpering.

"Calm down, John! He's just a pup!" Summer said as she leaned over the scared animal and tried to comfort him.

"Just a pup?! He's a wolf, for crying out loud!" he shouted. The pup was cowering now. Summer leapt up, grabbed John, and held her hand over his mouth.

"Would you shut up?! He's not going to hurt anyone. Tomo got caught in the trap, and he was so little and cute that I just didn't have the heart to kill him. Now, I'll take away my hand if you promise not to yell anymore, got it?" John nodded meekly, and Summer did as she promised.

"But what about his family? Won't they follow his scent back here and attack us?"

"No," Summer said as she went back to the wolf pup. He wagged his tail as she patted his head. "He's an orphan. When I let him go, he climbed up the cliff and started nosing at something. I followed him up and found that he was pawing at some wolves. A male and a female, and a few other pups. I think that was his pack. All of them had deep claw marks on them. I think that the tiger killed them while they were defending their pups, and Tomo was the only one who escaped. When I tried to leave, he followed me. I think it might have been because he felt that I'm part of his pack now."

"Poor guy," John said. He was starting to feel sorry for the pup. It looked at him with blue eyes that were starting to turn gold at the edges. "What's wrong with his eyes?"

"Well, he's not exactly a pup. He's almost an adult wolf. Wolves are born with blue eyes that turn gold when they're adults," Summer explained as she ran her hands over the wolf's dark gray fur. It flipped its head back and licked Summer's face.

"He seems to think you're mom now," John said, stifling a laugh. The wolf looked at him. Pulling away from Summer, he came over to John, his head low and his tail wagging. "This is a good position, right? He's not going to attack me?"

"No, that's a respectful position in wolf language. Just reach out your hand and pinch the top of his muzzle gently."

John did as he was told and to his amazement, the wolf rolled onto his back with his light gray belly showing.

"Good. See, he's submitting to you. You're a rank higher then he is now."

The wolf rolled over again and licked John's hand. John giggled. "His name's Tomo, right?"

"Yup."

John rubbed Tomo's ears. The wolf leaned into it with his eyes closed and his tail wagging even faster than before.

"Is there any special meaning behind the name?"

"Yeah. It means 'companion' or 'friend' in Japanese."

"That's a good name for him," John said, looking at the canine, who was now laying down on his side, his tail thumping the ground.

"If we can train him properly, he might make a good hunting companion. He could even help us with moving if I make a travois," said Summer excitedly.

"A tra-what?" John asked looking up at Summer.

"A travois. The Native Americans trained their dogs to pull these sled-like things. They would put food, clothing, even injured people on them when they were traveling somewhere."

"Does that mean I can get out once in a while?" John asked. "I guess I'm starting to have a slight case of cabin fever."

"Once I make a travois and we get him trained, absolutely. I even have the needed building materials," Summer said, going out. She came back in with four sturdy logs.

"Where did you find those?" John asked. Tomo went over and sniffed curiously at the logs, found them to be uninteresting, and went back to John for some more attention.

"Up in the jungle. I'll tell you everything as I make this thing. Oh, I do need you to make some more rope, please."

"Absolutely. Tomo, get off me!" he yelped as the wolf jumped on him and started licking his face.

"Tomo!" Summer laughed as she came over and grabbed the wolf, pulling him off John.

"I think we need a collar for him."

"I think you're right!"

"Here, use this," John said, taking off his belt and handing it to Summer.

"Don't you need this?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. She looked at it. It was a woven black leather belt.

"No. These pants fit just fine without it. I only wore it because the teacher wanted us to."

"Well, then, thank you, John's teacher," Summer joked as she fastened the belt around Tomo's neck. "Hey, it actually fits him pretty good!" she exclaimed standing back to admire the wolf.

Tomo looked down trying to see what Summer had put on him. He shook his head and felt the improvised collar shift. He looked down again, but was still unable to see it. With a huff, he walked over to a corner and flopped down, lying in a position where he could see what the two humans were doing. Both of them laughed.

"Looks like he doesn't have the same opinion you do, Summer," John chuckled.

"Guess so. Let's get to work on the travois. In the jungle, there's all kinds of fruits and…"

Tomo's ears perked up as he listened to the two humans talk long into the night.

Fun twist, huh? I've always wanted to be able to have a wolf in the game, but the makers didn't program it that way. So this was the next best thing.