While the rest of the herd deals with their little saber infestation, Diego was still hauling his kill for about 2 hours straight and he was getting exhausted.
"Aw man, why couldn't you guys graze a little closer to home?" He asked the deer carcass even though he knows he's not going to get an answer.
He looked ahead and saw that he still had a ways to go, but he was getting closer to home.
"Alright, maybe another few hours and I'll be home." He said to himself.
He grabbed hold of the deer and started dragging again, but as he was walking, a thought popped into his head.
"I wonder if Shira is still mad at me." He wondered.
He thought for a minute of two, and then he remembered something from his past.
"Well if she is, hopefully this will cheer her up. Remember what dad said; if a woman is mad at you, then you're screwed, but she won't stay mad for long if you kill and bring something good to eat." He quoted in his head.
And he knew what he was talking about, anytime his mother would get mad he would make it up to her by bringing home something large. No matter what the situation is, one time when he accidently forgot their anniversary and she gave him the cold shoulder for 3 days. But luckily he made it up to her by bringing home a large ox he and his friends had taken down, and let's just say that's it hard to stay mad at someone who brings home over 400 pounds of raw meat, sophist to say she forgave him and they had a little 'make-up' time after Diego and his siblings had fallen asleep.
"Oh yeah she's going to forgive me." He thought.
He continued to walk, but then he remembered something else; the talk he and Ellie had a few nights ago, and he knew that she was right, sooner or later he was going to have tell Shira how he really feels about her, his only fear is that she doesn't share those feelings.
"Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." He thought.
Meanwhile, the herd was not faring too well; Roark and his pack were still holding them hostage, waiting for when Diego returns and everyone was getting restless, both captors and hostages.
"Man I'm starving; can we just have one herbivore?" Zeke asked.
"No." Roark said.
"Oh come on, look how many there are, I don't think that one missing is going to make a big difference." He said.
"Think about this, if you kill any of them, they'll all go crazy, if they all go crazy we'll lose control, and if we lose control, we lose Diego!" He shouted.
Zeke and several others who were standing near him were shuttering at his outburst.
"Do I make myself clear?" Roark asked.
"Transparently." Zeke said frightened.
Meanwhile in the group, the herd was just as anxious as the sabers were.
"Why are they just standing around?" Eddie asked.
"You heard what they said, they're going to wait for Diego and attack him when he gets back." Crash said.
"Hey don't talk to me like I'm stupid." Eddie said.
"Well next time pay attention." Crash retorted.
They both started to argue, then it quickly escalated to fighting, but then Ellie broke it up.
"Will you both stop it?" Ellie scolded.
"She's right, we are in a crisis situation, if we don't do something Diego and the rest of us are going to end up dead." Manny explained.
"So what do we do?" Sid asked.
"We need to come up with a plan to overpower the sabers." Manny said.
"I don't if that's going to be easy, even with a few; sabers are still pretty strong in a group." Shira said.
"That's why we need to organize and take them by surprise." Manny said.
Not a few feet away, Roark was still listening to Zeke complaining about food, but then he started to hear whispering, so he turned around and saw Manny talking to the others, and instantly he knew something was going on, so moved closer, but made sure no one saw him, but he could hear what Manny was saying.
"Alright, so we need to create a distraction to get their attention, Sid that's where you come in." he said.
"What, why me?" Sid asked.
"Because you have a tendency to get people's attention, even if it's not wanted." Manny explained.
Sid didn't respond, he knew that Manny wasn't going to let up.
"Okay, when Sid causes the distraction, we jump them by surprise and subdue them, and when we get to Roark we'll…" He was about to finish his sentence, but was interrupted.
"What, you'll do what to me?" Roark asked.
"Manny and the others jumped when they realized that he was right behind them.
"You know Mammoth; you should really lower your voice when talking around sabers, we have very keen hearing." He explained.
"Look, you can't keep us all trapped forever." Manny said.
"I'll keep you all here for as long as I deem it necessary, and besides, you should be happy that my boys and I are dining on you right now." He threatened.
Everyone was a startled at his threat, but then Roark spotted Shira and smiled.
"Although I won't be some of you, but I will be enjoying you." He said with a smirk.
Shira instantly knew that he was addressing her, and Manny and Ellie knew it too, Ellie got front of Shira and looked turned her head to look at her.
"Okay, if things get bad, just get behind us." She instructed.
"Ellie, I can take care of myself." She said.
"I know you can, but remember, we got your back." She said.
"Thanks." She said with a smile.
"Now it appears that if things are going to go smoothly, we need to make a few changes." Roark said.
"What kind of changes?" Manny asked.
"We'll obviously we're going to need a little leverage so you all don't do something stupid." He said.
He looked around and then he got a wicked idea.
"And I know just the thing, Rico round up the young ones, children to teenagers." He ordered.
"Yes sir." Rico obeyed.
In mere minutes, Rico and several other sabers were moving in and separating children from their parents and families, including Peaches and Louis.
"Hey what's going on?" Ethan asked.
"I don't know." Peaches responded.
All the children and teenagers were being separated into their own group and the sabers started herding them off. Manny tried to intervene, but he was blocked.
"Hey get your filthy claws off my daughter!" Manny demanded.
"Mom, Dad!" Peaches shouted.
Peaches and the others were herded away and Manny and Ellie were terrified.
"What are you going to do to them?" Manny asked.
"Nothing, at least not yet." Roark said.
Manny didn't say anything; he just stared in the direction they were taken with utter disbelief.
"Like I said, leverage, any of you try to be a hero, we'll personally kill your children right in front of you!" He shouted.
"You're heartless!" Ellie said.
"I've been called worst." He responded.
Roark walked away, leaving everyone with in a state of dread.
"What now?" Shira asked.
"I don't know." Manny said.
"Hey guys, we got another problem, I can't find Granny." Sid said.
Just a few feet away, all the young ones were brought to the very place they called their hang out spot, what was once a place of leisure was now a place or terror. All of them were forced into a group with a few sabers watching them like hawks.
"Okay this is just went from bad, to worst." Ethan said.
"What do we do now?" Peaches wondered.
"What can we do?" Louis asked.
"Maybe we can try to rush them, take them by surprise." One of the teenagers suggested.
"Are you crazy, that'll never work." Another one answered.
"Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas." He retorted.
They both started arguing, but then one of the sabers yelled.
"Would you punks just shut up!" He yelled.
They quickly stopped and backed up; meanwhile the sabers were getting anxious.
"Aw man, I'm starving." One of them remarked.
"We'll don't get any ideas, if Roark finds you tried to eat one of them he'll skin you alive." Another said.
"Well what does he expect leaving us here with a buffet?" He said.
"Did he just call us a buffet?" Louis asked.
"I think he did." Ethan said.
They all gulped as the two sabers continued their argument, then finally one of them caved.
"Okay fine, we'll eat one of them." He said.
"Yes, alright let's have eat." He said licking his lips.
The kids were freaking out, but luckily the other one stopped him.
"Not one of the Mammoths, eat one of the smaller ones." He said.
"Like who?" He asked.
"How about him?" He suggested pointing towards Louis.
"The molehog?" He asked.
"Yes, he's small, Roark will hardly notice." He said.
"Are you kidding me, he'll barely make a mouth full." He said.
"We'll it's either him or nothing." He retorted.
"Fine." He said.
They both walked towards the group and one of them grabbed Louis with his paw.
"Louis!" Peaches said.
"Aw man I don't want to die!" Louis shouted.
"Oh this isn't good." Ethan said.
The saber brought Louis closer to his face and sniffed him and then he gave him a quick lick to taste.
"Yuck, he tastes like dirt." He complained.
"We'll I do spend a lot of time underground, how do you I think I was going to taste like." Louis said.
The saber just glared at him and he stopped talking.
"Just stop complaining and eat him." The other said.
"Oh come on man you don't want to eat me, I'm all bones, got no meat on me." Louis said.
"I'll be the judge of that." He said.
"Please don't eat him." Peaches begged.
"Shut it Mammoth." One of the sabers said.
"Ow!" The other saber shouted in pain.
The other saber turned to see that Louis had bitten his comrade on the paw and that allowed him to escape.
"Why you little." The saber threatened.
"Grab him." The other said.
The both tried to catch Louis, but luckily his small size allowed him to out maneuver them.
"Louis, you got to get to get out of here." Peaches said.
"What about you guys?" He asked.
"We'll be fine, just go." Ethan said.
Louis looked worriedly and Peaches, who gave him a pleading look.
"Go Louis and get help." She said.
Louis nodded and he when he saw the sabers coming after him, he quickly dug a tunnel and escaped underground leaving the sabers perplexed.
"He got away." One said.
"Don't worry, what can one puny molehog possibly do?" The other asked.
Peaches looked at the hole and whispered to herself.
"Good luck Louis."