More to Life

By the time they reached Humphrey's den Lilly had begun to shiver uncontrollably. He laid her down gently and ran to retrieve a spare caribou hide.

"H-Humphrey...so..c-cold." Lilly shivered as he draped the make shift blanket over her. Not knowing what else to do Humphrey slipped under the hide and got as close as possible to her. After awhile her shivering stopped but her crying continued. Studying her face intently Humphrey wondered why Garth gave Lilly up. She was beautiful, kind, loyal and would never do anything to hurt him yet he walked all over her. And only days ago they seemed perfectly happy with their relationship.

"Lilly, it's going to be okay." he whispered.

"Why didn't he show up Humphrey? What did I do wrong?" she wept.

"Okay one it wasn't your fault, and two...he left with another wolf." Humphrey said turning to face her.

"What wolf Humphrey?" she demanded. Humphrey bit his lip.

"I'm not sure..." he lied, his voice almost inaudible over the storm raging outside. Lying wasn't something Humphrey normally did, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Lilly that Garth chose Kate over her. For now he would keep that secret to himself.

"And Kate?" she whimpered. "I didn't see her..." Humphrey didn't even want to begin to think about her so he decided to keep silent. I would be doing more harm if I told her everything now anyways. Lilly began coughing violently causing Humphrey to jump and bash his head on the ceiling.

"Humphrey! I'm so sorry..." she said through sniffles.

"No Lilly it's okay." he half smiled rubbing his head. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Better as in?"

"Just better." she said softly. Humphrey felt Lilly's stomach growling.

"Well you can't deny that you're hungry." Humphrey said.

"Watch me." Lilly replied.

"Let me find you something to eat, will you be okay on your own?" he asked. Lilly nodded slowly before closing her eyes. "Don't do anything stupid." He added on his way out.

"Your one to talk, you should have seen yourself last night." Lilly scoffed.

"Don't worry, Salty already filled me in."

"I doubt he told you about the singing and dancing." she grinned slightly. "A few wolves said it reminded them of a mix between a fish out of water and a dying crow."

"Dancing? Singing? Wow that night is going to haunt me for awhile." he said shaking his head before ducking out of the den.

Sunlight still bathed the Valley as Humphrey picked his way through it in search of dinner. He couldn't help but revel at the beauty of his home. The storm had lifted and the skies were completely clear just in time for the sunset. Maybe I'll take Lilly up to watch it, I'm sure she'll like that. There was no place in the world he would rather be, other than curled up beside Kate of course. He spied two wolves, a male and a female digging into a fresh caribou carcass.

"Greetings Humphrey." the male wolf said as he approached.

"Connor, Lexy." Humphrey acknowledged flopping down beside the pair. Lexy and Connor were siblings and undoubtedly the best hunters in the pack. What they could kill in a day would normally take a party of 6 wolves a week. But they were extremely modest about their talent and were always willing to offer food to anyone who asked. The brother and sister had been friends with Humphrey almost as long as Lilly. They had even attempted to give Humphrey lessons on how to hunt. Of course that idea did not end well, Connor still bore the scars left from being trampled by caribou Humphrey had failed to kill. Since then he had never wanted to hunt again.

"You look like a zombie." Lexy said concerned.

"I would imagine this is what being a zombie feels like." Humphrey sighed. It was true Humphrey did feel dead. He could barely lift his head and almost couldn't keep his eyes open, the days and previous nights events had begun to take their toll on him.

"Have some of our caribou." offered Connor who nosed a thigh towards Humphrey. Humphrey thanked them and began ripping chunks of meat off and swallowing not bothering to chew.

"You two are great wolves you know that?" Humphrey said as he was stuffing his face.

"We try." They said in unison.

"You mind if I take some of this for Lilly?" Humphrey inquired nodding towards the caribou.

"By all means, and tomorrow if your free bring Lilly back here and the four of us can spend the day together. You know, like old times." Lexy said happily.

"I'll see if she is up for it." he smiled "Thanks again." Humphrey said a quick goodbye and raced back to his den.

"Never has much to talk about does he?" Lexy asked as Humphrey disappeared into the distance.

"Nope, but its better than your incisive nagging." Connor replied. Lexy became furious and started yelling incoherently at him, something about her being the favorite pup. Connor loved messing with his younger sister, nothing gave him more satisfaction than making her yell until she lost the ability too talk. It was the only way to get her to be quiet at times, which made her almost the complete opposite of himself he never did anything to draw unwanted attention. Lexy on the other hand would not stop jabbering until you paid her full notice whether you wanted to or not. But despite all of this Connor loved her because he knew she would always have his back no matter what happened. Also she was the only family he had after his mother and father disappeared inexplicably.

"Connor, are you listening to me?"

"If I said yes would you believe me?"

"No."

"Well there's your answer." Connor chuckled.

"What I was trying to tell you is that we should go on a trip to Glacier National Park again." She said ignoring the snide comment. Connor pondered the idea.

"Just the two of us? Cause that'd be more boring than watching grass grow, which is actually quite fun you should try it sometime."

"As delightful as that sounds Connor I'll pass." Lexy said returning to her meal. The wolves sat in silence as the light had begun to fade over the horizon.

"Could we invite Lilly and Humphrey?" Connor asked Lexy. She chewed her meat thoughtfully before answering.

"Sure." She said. "I've already asked Hutch and Astrid if they want to come."

"This is going to be awesome!" exclaimed Connor. "Just like when we were pups!"

"Yeah except you've become more of an idiot, if that's even possible." Laughed Lexy.

"Hey, who saved you from that grizzly last week huh?"

"Oh shut it Connor. You almost got yourself killed too."

"You really are impossible." Connor said shaking his head.

Humphrey raced through the thicket of trees ecstatic about his friends offer to hang out together. This was exactly what Lilly needed to take her mind off of Garth. His excitement was cut short though by what he found at his den, or more like what he didn't find. Lilly was gone.

"Where did you get off too?" he muttered setting down the meat. Suddenly a shriek echoed from outside of the cave. Emerging from his home he spotted Lilly high above the Valley floor a little too close to the edge of a sheer cliff for his liking. Humphrey's heart pounded in his ears as he began climbing up towards her.

"Lilly don't do anything you'll regret!" he hollered, struggling to clamber up the rocky wall.

"What's the point Humphrey?" she screamed back at him, inching towards the edge.

"What's the point? Lilly how can you talk like that?" Humphrey asked as he pulled himself over the cliffs edge. "Your family needs you, I...need you, I'm not sure what I would do if I lost my best friend..."

"You don't understand Humphrey." she spat at him. Humphrey flinched but began to move closer.

"Everything is gunna be okay, lets not be rash about this." he spoke in a soft calming tone, careful not to upset her any more than she already was.

"No I can't live without Garth!" she wailed. They were now only a foot apart for each other.

"There's more to life than this." he whispered.

"No, Humphrey…There isn't."

And with that she took one look at her friend and stepped over the edge.