Chapter 5 All the rules change
"Almost got it." Humphrey grunted pushing the boulder against the last section of cave that remained open to the wasteland. Kate lowered her head and heaved with him slamming the rock in place leaving only a small point to crawl through to access the den. Humphrey backed up and scratched his head saying, "Oh that was not fun." Kate nodded tiredly and said, "God I'm going to sleep well tonight." Humphrey chuckled turning to look at the setting sun and said, "That's good considering what's out there."
Kate nodded again and asked, "Have you seen Lilly? We all need to be inside within the hour." Humphrey shook his head and explained, "No, she may have gone to find Garth." Kate cocked her head and questioningly asked, "Garth? Why would she do that?"
Humphrey shrugged and said, "I'm not sure, but she'll be back before too long." Kate made a face staring down at the valley and said, "Wherever they are they need to hurry." Humphrey nodded in agreement staring at the sunset and muttered, "She's a smart girl, I'm sure she'll be fine." Kate sighed and told him, "I know but she's my little sister, I just want her to be safe." Humphrey gave Kate a lick on the cheek and told her, "We should wait inside the den; the creatures should be out by now." Kate bit her lip and muttered, "Alright but if she doesn't make it back soon I'll kill her."
Humphrey raised an eyebrow and herded Kate into the den waiting until she had squeezed through the narrow opening before following her himself. Humphrey crawled through the confined tunnel coughing as he clambered out of the passageway and into his den where he found Kate expectantly waiting. She sat down against the wall and jokingly said, "The last time I was in here on a normal occasion was when we had that sleep over as pre-teen wolves."
Humphrey chuckled sitting down besides her and winking as he said, "Those were the days, not a worry in the world." Kate laughed and said, "Yea but my mom almost killed you when she found out we spent the night together." Humphrey rubbed the back of his head and murmured, "It was worth spending the rest of the night in that tree."
Kate giggled and teased him, "You would have spent longer up there if my father hadn't come along and bailed you out." Humphrey joined her laughing and snorted, "Oh you would have saved me." He waited expectantly and finished, "Right?" Kate winked and said, "Don't count on it, it was quite funny." Humphrey pretended to look horrified as he whined, "She could have killed me."
Kate rolled onto her back holding her sides laughing as Humphrey watched only slightly amused. Humphrey huffed and indignantly looked away from her and said, "Your mother is evil." Kate shook her head still smiling and said, "She was not." Unexpectedly Kate sniffled and said, "I'm going to miss her."
Humphrey abandoned his weak attempt at humor and gave her an awkward hug saying, "We all will, we'll miss all of them." Kate nodded and rested her head on his shoulder and asked, "Do you think Jasper will ever recover from this." Humphrey took a deep breath and truthfully told her, "Yes, it will… But not in our lifetime." Kate nodded sadly as if she had been expecting the answer and murmured, "At least I have you."
Humphrey smiled a little and joked, "Well I'm not much you know." Kate rolled her eyes pushing him onto his back and kissed him lightly before saying, "You're such a bad liar." Humphrey snorted again and sarcastically said, "And you're an omega." Kate giggled looking down at him lovingly when a small cough came from the den entrance.
Humphrey looked over Kate's shoulder and blushed as he saw Lilly containing a laugh staring at them. Kate turned and quickly jumped of off Humphrey and said, "Oh good, your back." Lilly nodded still holding in her laughter as she casually asked, "So what have you two been up to?"
Humphrey now bright red beneath his fur responded to quickly, "N-nothing." Lilly smothered another giggle as Garth unceremoniously clawed his way into the den. Kate sighed in relief giving her sister a small hug as she said, "Well I'm glad you both made it back, where did you go anyway?" Garth dusted himself off and held out his paw in which there were a small pile of bright purple berries.
Lilly answered for him, "Gathering some food, no water unfortunately but the berries should help." Kate eyed them and asked, "Any meat anywhere?" Lilly snorted and said, "No sis, you'll have to become a vegetarian." Kate's face turned sour as she picked out a berry and muttered, "Kill me now…"
Humphrey slapped her on the back encouragingly telling her, "It's not so bad, I mean…" Kate gave Humphrey a withering glare in which he only smiled wider at. Lilly popped one of the berries in her mouth and chewed absentmindedly as she announced, "These were the only things we could find, they were growing on a bush in the entrance of a cave. Shielded from the blast lucky for us but there the only food for miles."
Humphrey gingerly popped one in his mouth as well wincing as he said, "Yea I'm with Kate, we need some real food." Garth also plucked one of the berries from the pile and quietly muttered, "Forget about it, we won't survive another day like this." Lilly shook her head and whispered in his ear, "We'll make it, come on don't give up. For me?" Lilly pleaded with bright round eyes causing a small smile to appear on Garth's face as he kissed her lightly on the cheek.
Kate and Humphrey exchanged surprised glances as they suddenly understood. Kate abruptly stood up and asked Humphrey, "Can you help me move one more of the rocks into the cave entrance, we don't want any unexpected visitors." Humphrey nodded in agreement scrambling upwards to help move the small boulder.
Lilly and Garth watched the couple with amused faces as Lilly asked him, "Do you want to get some sleep?" Garth nodded and curled up next to her and said, "Yea, I'd rather not listen to Humphrey's snoring." Humphrey turned from pushing the rock and muttered, "I do not snore." Garth rolled his eyes and pulled Lilly closer to him both wolves happily cuddling together.
Humphrey quickly turned his attention back to pushing the rock into place to seal the tunnel murmuring, "Lilly and Garth, who would have thought." Kate slammed her shoulder into the rock sealing the den as she replied, "Well it does explain a lot." Humphrey rolled his shoulder and asked, "Like what?" Kate turned to look at the cuddling wolves as she explained, "Well first off why Garth followed her, and also why Garth kept looking at her during the marriage."
Humphrey nodded understandingly saying, "Ok then…" Kate lowered herself to the ground and told him, "I'm just as surprised as you are, but they do seem happy together. Garth certainly did seem like he wanted to get away from me at every chance he could." Humphrey chuckled and said, "Thank god for that." Kate tossed an amused glance at him and asked, "What are you standing there for?" Humphrey confused tilted his head and said, "I'm sorry?" Kate rolled her eyes and asked, "Well are you going to sleep with me or not?"
Humphrey blushed and stammered, "I-I." Kate snorted and teasingly said, "Oh come on, I don't bite… Much." Humphrey scoffed and muttered, "Much!?" Shaking his head he lied down next to Kate wrapping his forelegs around her chest and pulling her closer to him.
Kate playfully nipped his paw causing him to yelp unexpectedly. Kate snickered and curled up into his chest. Humphrey sighed and nibbled her ear saying, "What am I going to do with you?" Kate answered quietly, "How about go to sleep?" Humphrey made a face and closed his eyes glad to be with her as the darkness of the cave and the snoring of his companions lulled him to sleep.
CRACK The sound pierced Humphrey consciousness awakening him to the danger. His eyes shot open unsure of where he was as he searched the darkness groggily processing his surroundings. Deciding it was merely his imagination Humphrey squeezed Kate tightly holding her close as he attempted to fall back asleep. CRACK The sound came again forcing Humphrey to shake his head and mumble, "What was that?" Kate stirred and whispered, "Nothing love, please let's get some sleep."
Humphrey debated with himself for a moment when he heard the sound again followed by scrambling just outside the den walls. Now fully awake Humphrey shook Kate insistently and whispered, "S-Something's outside." Kate groped for his paw and pulled him back onto her yawing as she said, "They can't get in, we barricaded the den." Humphrey listened intently breath stuck in his chest as he nodded looking around the pitch black environment seeing Lilly and Garth still cuddling together. Humphrey sighed in relief and turned to look at the barricade when his eyes went wide in shock.
His gut turned inside out as he hissed, "I can see stars!" Kate nodded and mumbled, "Yea so?" Humphrey shook her awake and replied, "WE BARRICADED THE DEN, THEY CAN GET IN IF THEY DIG IT WIDER!" Kate shook her head bolting upright as she heard claws scraping against the rocks. She raced over to Lilly and Garth yelling, "GET UP, THEIR HERE!" Garth woke up first jumping up and stuttering, "W-Whats going on?" Lilly rubbed her eyes and said, "Yea Kate." Kate pulled them over to Humphrey and pointed at the widening opening where claws could now be clearly seen clearing away the rubble.
Lilly let out a shriek covering her mouth as Garth protectively pushed her behind him. Humphrey did the same with Kate as he attempted to stay calm saying, "We'll survive this, we made it through the blast and we are not dying to these… THINGS."
A disgruntled hiss was heard from outside, the monsters clearly wanted to taste flesh and were willing to do anything to get it. The darkness of the night made accurate seeing impossible, but the scene was still one of nightmares. Claws and disfigured humanoid heads could be seen clawing and attempting to get through the rocks and feast. Kate began hyperventilating as she pulled Humphrey against the wall with her as she kissed him saying, "If we die, we die together."
Humphrey covered a sob and hugged her tightly saying, "I love you Kate." She embraced him back and sobbed, "I love you to Humphrey."
Garth and Lilly backed up with them also sharing a kiss as the couples waited for death comforting each other until their final moments. They waited for what seemed like ages. The scraping of rock and stone abruptly stopped. Humphrey terrified held Kate protectively and thought, "This is it…" Expecting teeth to sink into his body he turned away from the cave entrance sobbing with Kate.
Nothing, no pain. No blood, Humphrey felt nothing. Gingerly Humphrey opened an eye and turned shaking with fear staring at the rays of sunlight that spilled through the cave entrance. He collapsed onto Kate and kissed her feverishly. Kate opened her eyes and seeing the light kissed him back loving and crying she broke the kiss and said, "Were alive."Humphrey sniffled and said, "We are, we're still alive."
Lilly and Garth hearing this saw the daylight and tackled each other in joy. Humphrey helped Kate to her feet and they stumbled over to the entrance of the cave. Humphrey shuddered peering through the meter wide hole as he muttered, "Another moment and we'd be dead." Kate climbed out of the den and sadly said, "I half expected to wake up on the train." Humphrey joined her leaving Lilly and Garth kissing in the cave as he saw the decimated landscape remained burnt and blackened.
He shook his head lightly kissing Kate on her forehead as he said, "I'm sorry, but we need to get moving." Kate sniffled wiping away her last tear as she asked, "Where to?" Humphrey closed his eyes saying, "To where the humans used to live, we need to find food and a deserted city is a good place to start."Kate nodded and sadly murmured, "I'll get Lilly and Garth and tell them where leaving Jasper and heading south. We can't stay another night here."
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