Chapter 2 – A lonely omega
The train headed on up north where Humphreys life was now headed, the racket of the wheels on the track sounded like shields clashing together, constantly making noise. The squeaks of the carriages made their way into the air when the train altered speed, irritating the lonely wolf riding inside. Humphrey was lay on a pile of clothes which he took out of a case to make a bed, instead of sleeping on the cold wooden flooring. He laid there, his head resting on both his paws, with his ears down trying to block out all the noises coming from the train. Humphrey was asleep, he was dreaming of himself and Kate together before he left.
"Alphas and omegas can't be together Humphrey" said Kate, and with this Kate turned around and began to walk away into the blinding light. Humphrey could not move, he stood there stuck in his place and couldn't go after Kate, he tried to talk but couldn't, for no words came out of his mouth, as Kate was getting further away from him, tears began to well in his eyes. The blinding light turned into darkness and began to close in on Humphrey, startled he woke up from his nightmare into the early hours of the morning.
"Ahhhhhhhh" screamed Humphrey, looking around he realized he was in the carriage traveling away from home, and that it was all just a dream. "It was just a dream, all just a dream".
Humphrey stood up and stretched out, stretching his paws forward and arching his back. He walked over to the edge of the carriage and sat down at the open door looking out over the mountains. The sun was about to rise and the night disappear; the sky was a dark blue with few stars still present. The cold winter morning took Humphreys breath away and his breathing produced a white fog cloud which floated into the air.
The train was coming to a stop at a nearby station used for refueling, and Humphrey decided to take this opportunity to get off and leave. Once the train had come to a halt he jumped off into the field below and straight away ran into the forest to avoid detection from humans.
"Well this was a good idea" said Humphrey, "what to do first. Ah food, I'm very hungry"
Humphrey started to make a mental note of everything he was going to do in order to survive and first on his agenda was getting something to eat. He started walking cautiously, surveying the area looking for anything that was edible. Humphrey stumbled across a group of squirrels on the floor cracking nuts open to eat.
"Yes, dinner is served", with this Humphrey crouched as low as he could towards the ground, slowly approaching the unsuspecting squirrels; he got as far as he got without being spotted and was hiding in a bush. One of the squirrels came closer to Humphrey in search of more nuts. Humphrey being a clever omega found some and threw them out close to the bush. The squirrel noticed the nuts and rushed over to them; he picked them up one at a time and started to hit them against the rock, trying to crack them open. As the squirrel was distracted Humphrey seized his chance and lept out of the bush and used his claws to pin the squirrel to the ground, he successfully caught the squirrel and immediately bit its head, killing it. Humphrey looked down at the dead squirrel under his paws and smiled in his victory.
"Yessssss, I did it" shouted Humphrey, "my first kill alone, and without help, I wish salty could have been here to witness my victorious catch" he said in a sarcastic tone.
Humphrey was over the moon with his kill and was celebrating by dancing around and pretending to be an alpha, sticking his chest out. He picked up the squirrel in his mouth and started to eat it. It only took him a few mouthfuls but it replenished his hunger and gave him delight in eating his own kill.
"Dinner, check" Humphrey said to himself, "now, I'll keep heading up north and find somewhere to sleep come nightfall, and… figure out the rest later".
With a huge smile on his face Humphrey started to confidently walk on wards, the kill gave him motivation and he was well rested from his train journey, so he developed a bit of a trot and kept going through the cold winter's day.
-Kate-
Kate was lying on the floor in the same place she was before, she fell asleep during her grieving over Humphrey. She opened her eyes and brought herself to her feet, she looked around at the train track and the mountains, but nobody was around. She sighed and started to walk back to her parents den. She kept her head low, because she did not want to talk to anyone or let them see the tears flooding her eyes. As she walked back into her territory dozens of wolves walked past her not making any contact with her. She walked up the side of the hill towards her parents den, as she got to the top she walked inside only to find more pain and suffering. Eve, lily and Garth were all sat in the den silent, not saying a word.
"Kate" said eve as she went and hugged her daughter, "thank god you're safe"
Kate looked at her mum who had obviously been crying because of her red bloodshot eyes.
"Are you ok" asked Kate, "what's going on"
"It's your father Kate" said eve
"What, what happened" replied Kate
"Well" said eve, "after you left we was all stood in shock at what had been said, but Winston started to calm everyone down and stop us from fighting. During his speech there was a caribou herd which came running through. We all got out of the way accept tony, his back prevented him from moving and your farther covered him and protected him, in which he got trampled on"
"What" Kate said shocked, "is he ok"
"We don't know" replied eve, "we think he should be ok, he's just having a lot of trouble breathing, he's resting right now in the eastern packs den"
"Well why is he over there" asked Kate
"the den was closer than ours, I was worried for him so I wanted him treated as soon as possible" said eve, "common I'll take you too him"
Eve started to walk out the den with Kate behind, Garth and lily got up and slowly followed keeping their distance from the two wolves. They all walked silently not saying anything until they reached the eastern healers den.
"Go on in" said eve, "we'll wait out here, we don't want to crowd your father"
Kate looked into the den and entered not knowing what she would find. As she walked in she could smell herbs and medicine, very familiar to what her mum used. As she went further into the den she saw her father laying down on a bloody rag, he was covered in bruises all over his torso and his back leg was broken, because it was in a wooden stick splint, he had red over his mouth and on the rag where he had been coughing up the blood.
"Dad, are you ok" asked Kate, "I'm so sorry dad, this is my entire fault, I should've just done what you said and none of this would have happened"
"Don't blame yourself Kate" replied Winston as he tilted his head very slightly up towards Kate, "you could not have stopped the caribou; none of this is your fault"
"I could have saved you" said Kate, "I could have gotten you out of there, and saved you both"
"Silence Kate" said Winston, "I don't want you to feel guilt over this, it is an act of nature and nothing more"
Tears started to pour from Kates eyes as she rested her head on her father
"Did you find him" asked Winston
"What" replied Kate?
"Did you catch Humphrey" said Winston, "did you tell him you love him"
"No" replied Kate, "I was too late, he's gone, and he's never coming back, he hates me"
"Hush Kate, he doesn't hate you, he loves you, he just can't stand to see you marry another" said Winston
"How did you know" asked Kate, "how did you know we was in love, you knew before I did"
"it's all in the eyes Kate, I've seen it before with your mother" said Winston, "your mother had the same look in her eyes towards me, and I saw the way you looked at Humphrey, and how he looked at you, even as a pup Humphrey loved you"
"He did?" Kate questioned, "Then why did you want me to marry Garth"
"I wanted you to marry Garth to unite the packs and prevent a war" said Winston, "but I never made you do it, we all have a choice Kate and you chose Humphrey, you chose love, and for that I'm so proud of you"
"But he's gone now, I've lost him" said Kate, as she once again started to cry
"Kate" said Winston, "when have you ever gave something up so easy, if you really love him, you'll see him again"
Winston coughed and put his head down to rest, and sleep. Kate stood up and left her father to rest, she left the den and started walking back to her parents den. On the way she saw salty, shaky and mooch all sitting in a circle with a berry in the middle, not playing at all, they was obviously upset about Humphreys absence. Kate reached her parents den and walked in to find lily and Garth sharing a kiss.
Kate stood there as a statue, shocked at what she had just discovered, she had no idea about lily and garth and was stood jaw dropped at the sight of them.
"Kate" said lily surprised, "what are you doing here"
"I'm here to see mother" replied Kate, "what's going on lily, you and Garth"
"Err, yeah me and Garth" said lily "I can explain"
"Please do" said Kate, "when did this begin"
"Well" said lily, "when you and Humphrey were taken by humans, there was a bit of a dispute between our packs, and to calm things down I offered to keep Garth company and show him around, and during our time…"
"Go on" said Kate
"Well, we just bonded a lot" said lily, "I was falling for him"
Kate looked at lily, and then to Garth, Garth stood up proud and calm, whilst looking Kate in the eye
"It's true Kate" said garth, "I love her"
Kate was shocked that her little sister was with garth, an alpha and omega, just like her and Humphrey could have been. She looked to the floor in knowledge that she lost her love, and now her sister has found hers.
"Kate" said lily, "please don't be mad"
"Mad" said Kate, "why would I be mad, my little sister has found her love"
A smile grew on lily and Garths face as they went over to Kate and hugged her. Kate returned the hug embracing them both, Kate and lily began to cry in happiness.
-Humphrey-
The sun started to set over the mountains, darkness starting to fill the air as it went dull and cold.
Humphrey was walking through the forest, slowly and tired, just as an omega would have done, he dragged his paws along the floor with his head down, exhausted from walking all day. He passed rivers, fields and old houses which have long been abandoned by humans.
"I'm, exhausted" said Humphrey, "I really need to rest guys", as he said this Humphrey looked behind him to find nothing, just his tail dragging along the floor.
"Oh, there's no one there" said Humphrey, "right then, I guess I can rest for the night".
Humphrey started looking around to find a den or anything he can rest in to make it through the night. Humphrey spotted a small den dug into a cliff side next to a pond, his ears flicked up interested in the potential rest stop. He slowly started to walk over to the den, sniffing around to catch a scent to see if anyone was around. He reached the entrance of the den and sniffed around but caught no scent of anyone, suggesting that it's not in use, he walked in to see that the den was a small area around 2x4m in length, just enough for one, or two wolves.
"I guess this'll do" said Humphrey
Humphrey sat at the entrance of the den looking out on the forest as it darkened. Humphrey looked up at the moon glowing bright and beautiful, reflecting up from the pond creating rays of white lights. Humphrey remembered howling at the moon with Kate on the train home, and knew he could never be with her, a small tear escaped Humphrey's eye and ran down his cheek at the thought.
Humphrey sighed and went back into the den to sleep, he stretched out over the floor trying to make himself comfortable and rested his head on the floor, he closed his eyes and fell asleep with ease, from his long day of walking.
-Kate-
Kate was walking through the pack territory looking for her mother; she walked past lots of wolves who all just smiled at her. She walked to the stream to see her mum having a wash in the stream.
"Mum" Kate shouted
"Kate" said eve, "what are you doing here surely you washed before your wedding"
"I did" said Kate, "I came here to see you"
"Oh" said eve, "well go on then, what is it"
"Well, the truth is, I love Humphrey" said Kate, "and I'm not going to lose him, so I'm taking the next train and going to find him"
Eve stood there, soaked with water all over her fur, just staring at Kate. After a while eve started to cry and hugged her daughter.
"What is it mum" said Kate
"Nothing" replied eve, "my daughter is all grown up now, and she's found herself a mate"
Kate started to smile, as did eve and they shared another hug.
"Go" said eve, "I'll tell your father, but promise me something"
"What" said Kate?
"Come home safe" said eve, "and bring Humphrey too, your father always had a soft spot for him"
Kate smiled and turned away from her mum, she started to run back towards the pack, she was determined to find Humphrey. As the sun set over jasper, the moon appeared and shone brightly over the valley. Kate looked up to the moon and knew that somewhere out there Humphrey was doing the same.
"I'm coming Humphrey…"