Chapter 6 Pit stop

The journey south had started out with optimism in all four wolves hearts expecting each minute to see another wolf or sign of a place to rest and forget the terrors that had crept into their minds. But as the hours flew by none of these had come to be.

Humphrey panted heavily breathing in the heavy air that seemed to be thick with dirt and grime his paws throbbing trying to keep pace with the rest of the group. Kate trotted further ahead of the three and called back, "Nothing yet, I don't see anything that could resemble a place to find food or water."

Humphrey just nodded too tired to comprehend her words and intelligently respond. Lilly didn't seem to be faring any better as her once pure white fur was caked with mud and grime turning her into a light brownish wolf instead of the angel she once represented.

Kate dropped back to where her tired lover was stumbling forward and licked his cheek before saying, "Hang in there a little longer Humphrey, we'll find a place to rest before too long." Humphrey raised his head and struggled to say, "N-nights coming again, n-need to hurry Kate…" Defeated by the effort he dropped his head as Kate sighed wishing for once that the omegas seemingly boundless energy and playfulness would resurface.

As the four helped each other along the sun was indeed setting and the group was wishing more than ever not to repeat the events of the previous night. Kate sucked in a sharp breath and muttered, "The moons starting to come out, the light will be gone in a few hours maybe more if we're lucky."

Garth rolled his eyes and muttered something incomprehensible as Lilly futily attempted to shake the grime off her fur. Humphrey lifted his head up to stare at the moon and murmured, "The moon was always there to symbolize the start of rest and relaxation, love and joy. Now it's only the grim reapers way of foretelling the end."

Kate gave a sad smile and playfully hugged Humphrey saying, "Oh don't talk like that, sure things may be bad but they can only get better now." Humphrey dully nodded and murmured, "What if they don't?" Kate pulled away with a sly face and whispered, "Well I'll make them better."

Garth coughed unceremoniously and announced, "Well one way or another we need to stop and rest, dark or not it won't matter if we're dead from exhaustion." Kate reluctantly slowed to a stop looking back and replied, "Alright… We'll find somewhere to rest."

The omegas both sighed in relief as Garth nodded approvingly and said, "We'll go another mile or so ahead into the trees and see if there are any rock outcroppings we can use to hide in." Humphrey and Lilly both groaned in defeat as Kate laughed amused and said, "Ok just a little further then."

Humphrey and Lilly trudged forward again bleary eyed, struggling to keep up with their alpha counterparts when suddenly Kate gasped and yelped, "Humphrey we've been here before." Humphrey looked up half dead and muttered, "What?" Kate dropped back and shook his shoulder saying, "Look to your left."

Humphrey turned staring off the hillside and through the trees and yawned saying, "So what it's a road?" Kate agitated nipped his ear to wake him up and said, "Remember the roads. The gas station may not be too far." Humphrey slowly processed this information and struggled to say, "Gas station? Somewhere to sleep…"

A dreamy look appeared on his face as Kate nodded vigorously and said, "Yes Humphrey, we can rest there." Lilly sighed in relief and asked, "How much further sis?" Kate bit her lip looking at the moon and answered, "We can make it with some time to spare but we need to hurry. It can't be more than a few miles."

Garth trotted forward towards the road and yelled, "Let's go, maybe we can find some food to." At the mention of food Kate's stomach growled insistently as she bit Humphreys tail to get him moving again. He turned with a confused look on his face and whined, "Oh come on don't do that."

She bit him again causing him to yelp and run to catch up with Garth. Kate shook her head laughing inwardly and said, "What a faker." Running to catch up with the group she reflected on the events that had caused them to use this same path to get back to Jasper. Now they only wanted to get away.

She remembered painfully that after being shot at by the gas station owner she had tried to leave him, she knew that it was a bad choice and it would end up killing him but she felt that it was the only way. But when she had jumped across she had hesitated. Humphrey had run through her mind and she knew she couldn't leave him but it was to late, she had jumped to far and the hesitation meant she had missed her mark.

Sliding down the muddy cliff face she had thought that if she died it would mean that he would never know how much she loved him. She couldn't stand that thought. A paw snapped Kate out of her trance as she yelped and shied away from Humphrey who chuckled joyfully at her reaction.

Raising an eyebrow he playfully remarked, "Did I scare you babe?" Kate screwed her face up distastefully at the name and replied, "No you didn't, a coyote can't scare an alpha." Humphrey smiled chuckling at her remark and said, "We spotted the gas station while you were daydreaming." Kate mockingly rolled her eyes and said, "I was not daydreaming."

Humphrey chuckled walking into the woods causing Kate to bound after him attempting to have the last word. She chased after him calling for him to slow down but he eagerly darted trough the trees causing her to take a much longer route. Without warning she emerged onto a hillside and shocked looked around at what remained of the gas station.

The fence remained partially intact but part of it lay crushed on the ground burnt by the blast. The once green grass was now blackened and brown. The gas station itself remained almost completely intact despite its boarded up windows and cracked walls. The paint gave the building a lonely look chipped and scarred as if it had never been used in the first place.

Humphrey came by her side and said, "We finally made it!" Kate nodded and whispered, "It really doesn't get any better does it, this is all that it'll be." Humphrey put a comforting paw on her shoulder and said, "No no no, it'll get better I promise. Before long we'll be out of the blast area and we can start over."

Kate nodded unconvinced and walked down the hillside crawling through the spot of the fence where she and Humphrey only a few days ago had used to escape the mad hunter that had attempted to kill them. Humphrey only moments after following her through said, "I never got to properly thank you."

Kate looked back confused and asked, "For what?" He smiled and sincerely answered, "For saving me from getting shot." Kate stopped and slowly said, "Why would you thank me, I-I tried to leave you afterwards." He shook his head and ran his paw through her mane saying, "That's true but you still saved me and I know you would've come back. At least I hope you would have."

He snickered playfully as Kate rolled her eyes smiling. Humphrey regained his composure and said, "Lilly and Garth are looking around the area for anything dangerous. Garth said we could have the honor of exploring inside." Kate absently nodded trudging forward through the debris that littered the ground. There was shrapnel from exploded gas pumps and remains of the sign that had once stood high above the building. Memories of a lost world.

Picking her way through it all Kate squeezed through the door frame and stared at the interior. Humphrey quickly joined her and looked around whistling softly as he stated, "Wow this guy was prepared."

Kate nodded and observed the stacked boxes of food and counted of the list of survival equipment he had. "Look he has food water and even a gun." Humphrey sniffed the shotgun and said, "I'd rather stay away from this thing considering how it nearly killed us before." Kate nodded her agreement and muttered, "I'd like to know what happened to him though. He had everything he needed."

Humphrey shrugged and said, "Well as long as he's not home we should see if there's any way to get some of that food out." Kate nodded when a shrill screeching sound pierced the air causing Humphrey to yelp and instinctively hide behind her.

Kate stared at him amused and said, "Is this your version of ladies first?" Humphrey nodded and squeaked, "What was that?" Kate snorted and pointed to where a TV sat in the corner static buzzing onscreen.

Humphrey breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh thank god, I thought it was something dangerous." Kate rolled her eyes again when the TV emitted another loud screeching noise and a fuzzy image appeared onscreen.

Both wolves shared a confused look and crept closer to the device watching when suddenly it cleared and color and pictures appeared and began to play. The screen showed a young man pointing at a wall with a map of the world being displayed on-screen. Some of the countries however were red while others were shades of orange and yellow. The only landmass that was green was the North and South Pole.

Also on-screen hundreds of yellow circles with three black triangles appeared all over the continents as the man said, "Nuclear strikes all along the earth have been recorded and even more are on the way. Scientists have marked this as world war three and some even speculate it will be the last war humanity ever takes place in. Residents are advised to evacuate to remote areas as some of the bombs are biological in nature and several have even witnessed people and animals changing into monsters. Be wary of them, they seem to prefer the dark and even more dangerous ones have been sighted that are massive in scale. Most importantly stay out of abandoned structures!"

The man continued to speak as Kate struggled to form words saying, "Biological, nuclear? World war three… What does any of this mean? And the creatures are humans and animals?" Humphrey scratched his head and replied, "Well I guess that's what the bombs were, they change people and animals into those monsters." They both turned back to the screen as the man finished, "I repeat, all residents MUST remain inside. The cities will be dangerous at night and some structures will even be dangerous in the daylight. Remain in your homes and beware of dark rooms. Daytime is your only option for gathering supplies."

Kate shuddered leaning against Humphrey for comfort as she whispered, "What have they done?" Humphrey shrugged uneasily and replied, "They changed the world, it seems like daytime is our only time to travel. And if we don't find somewhere to hole up before dark then we die…" Kate nodded peering through the broken boards and glass of the gas station and said, "Hopefully this is enough to keep them out..." Humphrey nodded looking around as the TV repeated itself the man saying the same things over and over a permanently looped relic from a dead age.

Humphrey pulled himself up and told her, "We need to make sure we have some food and water though, we haven't eaten or had anything to drink for a full day and I can barely think at this point."

Kate groaned joining him as he pushed open one of the doors leading deeper into the building. Carefully creeping inside they both sighed simultaneously as Kate said relieved, "It's a closed bedroom, that means that we have somewhere to hide and block the door so if they get inside we have a chance." Humphrey flopped gratefully down on the bed moaning as he said, "I've never been so comfortable in my life."

Kate smiled and said, "Well there's still one or two more rooms to see now get up." In reply Humphrey buried his head in the blankets and began snoring soundly. Kate rolled her eyes and left the room saying, "Omegas…"

Kate looked around walking through the deserted living area and pushed her way through a set of double doors that swung inwards and revealed a dark shadowed gift shop. The abandoned trinkets and junk that littered the walls and isles seemed to be watching her as she walked further into the room.

Kate's paws began to get sweaty as she stood in the center of it all searching for something useful. Spotting the counter she strode over to it and clambered on top of it sniffing for traces of food or drink. Finding none she stamped her paw jumping from her perch when something stopped her. She turned and looked to see a strange machine sitting in the corner labeled Soda fountain.

Staring at it uncomprehendingly she muttered, "What's a soda?" Trotting over to it she stood on her hind legs and bumped one of the metal sticks protruding from the machine. Instantly a green liquid sprayed over her as she yelped kicking away from it.

Shaking of the sticky gunk she carefully pressed each one until finally she got one she recognized. Clear clean water erupted from one of the nozzles as she gulped it down re-hydrating and pushing back the headache and pain that throbbed in her mind.

Satisfied she reluctantly pulled away from the machine and said, "Much better." Feeling like a new wolf Kate bounded out of the room eager to share her new discovery with Humphrey when she realized the door was stuck.

Starting to feel the fear creep back into her she pushed against it harder this time groaning with the effort. The door refused to budge. Kate backed up and saw that the hinges had been jammed, the door was no longer able to be opened from either side.

Backing away confused she remembered what the man on the screen had said, "Some structures will even be dangerous in the daylight. Remain in your homes and beware of dark rooms." Kate shook her head and realized that the room she was in now had been boarded up only pinpricks of light shining through. It was close to pitch black."

Pounding on the door now she screamed, "HUMPHREY HELP!" Hearing scrambling on the other side of the door she heard his muffled reply, "What's wrong, I can't get the door open!" Crying she replied, "I-think something's in here with me… It jammed the door shut."

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Sorry for this being so late but I've been busy here and the next chapter should be out soon enough. Also reviews are greatly appreciated and help get me going again so thank you if you decide to leave one :)