Gathering Storm
Snow slowly falls from the grey clouds above, the small crystal like substances land on the already blanketed forest floor. The clearing where the wolves have been training is now empty for many wolves are staying inside their improvise dens, content with sitting and keeping themselves warm.
All except for nine wolves and one human as they trudge through the snow towards Damon's look out point.
The Ghost hugs his Lynx rifle close; he is tempted to fire off a round to heat the gun and hold it against his body, but restrains himself from wasting precious bullets. He sighs as the thought passes through his mind as he grabs his coat with a free hand and tugs it closer to his body.
Thanks to the wolves, they had brought down almost a dozen caribou since they got there and allowed Damon to skin each one and use it to make a improvise coat. It wasn't easy; he chipped off a small bit of bone from the caribou kill and pain staking slowly peels off some thread from his old summer shirt. Then there is the fact that he has no idea how he is supposed to put the thing together, he only sewed once during basic training, and it was with rags, not animal hides. The result is a large, brown, smelly, and partially bloody overcoat that Damon wishes he can get rid of, but at the moment it is his only salvation from the freezing cold.
He hears someone sniffing him from behind, without having to turn to see who it is, he says, "Don't even think about it Talia."
The small she-wolf backs away from him and offers him a self conscious smile, "sorry," she said looking embarrass.
Humphrey walks a few paces forward and says, "Oh come on Damon, you got to admit you smell absolutely…delicious."
"Don't make me throw you up a tree," Damon replies.
The wolves laugh at this, but when they see that Damon isn't smiling, Humphrey suddenly becomes nervous as he gulps, "you're…you're not serious are you?"
"All I have to say is that I hope you know how to fly, because I won't be able to get you back down," Damon says in an all too serious voice.
Damon doesn't mean to be short tempered with them, but honestly ever since he made his coat, over a dozen wolves (including Humphrey) had tried to eat him, seeming to "mistake" him for being caribou.
Humphrey opens his mouth to say something when out of nowhere a large snowball slams against his head, causing the grey Omega to stagger a bit before collapsing on the snow, eyes rolling around in his sockets with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Kate smiles but rolls her eyes and says in a fake irritated voice, "my hero."
Damon turns and looks at the down wolf, frowning slightly. Who is able to throw a-
His train of thought is interrupted as a snowball slams into his face. He staggers back, slightly blinded by the pieces of snow that has fallen into his eyes and shivers as some of the particles falls inside his clothing. He is just now getting his barring's back when he hears a familiar young female voice shout, "Yes! Two direct hits!"
Damon rubs the snow off of his face. Meadow, he should have known, if she was human he is sure she would have been a tomboy.
The pup in question runs in front of Damon and begins jumping this way and that. Most of the pack members spend their time inside their dens, nice and quiet. Meadow however is like the wind, nothing can contain her or stop her and she seems to be immune to the coldness, Damon is sure it's below zero and yet here she is hopping around as if it is still spring.
Is she a pup? Damon wonders as he begins to size her up. She has in fact grown a lot since they have first met; she was about level with knee during the summer, now she is almost at the same level as his hip. Despite her growth she is still acting like that of a young puppy, something he has notice that is fading from the other pup's lives. They still argue and wrestle, but that is less frequent now, and it is mostly Meadow who usually starts the fights.
They're growing up, he thought, all except for Meadow, is it because of her Omega personality?
He ceases his thought instantly; no, it's because she's Meadow, its in her nature.
He comes to a halt when they reach the bottom of the hill where he has been observing the Feds for quite some time now. The pups are probably strong enough to follow them, but Damon prefers it if they stayed at the bottom of the hill, the thought of the energetic wolves playing close to a ledge is quite a haunting thought.
He turns to tell this to the pups but he sees that they already got into another scuffle and are now vigorously wrestling with each other. He notices Meadow is the more energetic and active one in the fight.
He shakes his head before looking to Lilly who simply says, "We've got it," and together she and Garth sits on the snow floor and watch the pups as they continue their antics.
The Ghost then turns to Kate who licks Humphrey awake. He gives an embarrass smile before licking Kate back, causing her to giggle a bit. Damon rolls his eyes before asking, "You coming or staying?"
"Coming," Humphrey says instantly as he jumps to his feet, eager to run up the hill. Kate rolls her eyes yet again, but lowers her body close to the ground in preparation to run and nods to Damon.
Damon makes sure that Lilly and Garth have the pups under careful watch before he turns and takes off in a dead sprint up the side of the hill. Soon Humphrey and Kate gives chase, but are unable to keep up with the human whose endurance and strength seems to outmatch just about any wolf. The Ghost keeps his head down and every so often jumps around a tree that's blocking his way. The snow slightly hampers his run, but he keeps his legs up, focuses on getting to the top and is conscious of any and all dangers.
After a few minutes, Damon stops when he finds himself on level ground and lets out a sigh. His eyes travel over the forest, the snow is undisturbed and the only sound that can be heard is the rustling of the pines as the wind blows in the high altitude lands.
Damon glances over his shoulder and waits for Humphrey and Kate to catch up with him. Unsurprisingly, it is Kate who trots in front of her mate, but what shocks Damon is that Humphrey is right behind her. He remembers the first time they travel up the hill together, he would be the first to the top, Kate second, and Humphrey last; now the Omega is almost enable to keep up with his Alpha love. Damon takes this as a sign that the grey wolf is definitely developing his muscle tone, who knows how strong he is now, Damon hopes that they won't have to find out in any forcoming battles.
Another minute later, the two wolves makes it up to the top and stands next to Damon panting. Except for Humphrey who again collapses and breathes heavily from the extreme run they just endured. Damon and Kate exchanges grins at the scene before continuing onward, knowing Humphrey will rise and follow them soon.
Following their daily ritual, the human and the wolf goes prone on the ground and crawl their way forward until they make it to the edge of the cliff. Damon lifts his scope to his eyes once more and focuses on the enemy base.
The twirling snow messes with his vision, but he is still able to make out the shapes of the base and its occupants. So far no major changes, the only thing that is different are the bonfires that are burning around the sentries positions. He watches the few Feds that are walking the perimeter as they keep an eye on the fence, but most seems more focus on keeping themselves warm rather than watching the outskirts of the fencing. Damon continues his scan until he sees that his primary interests are missing; one jeep and two trucks. Wolf scouts have reported seeing the vehicles on the move as they travel through the forest, but they report the automobiles seems to just go in circles before going back to the base, most likely the Feds own patrols, they must know by now that they are missing an entire squad of Diablos.
Damon is observing these patrols, hoping he can use them in some way that will enable him to enter the Federation base unknowingly and without causing a bloodbath…yet.
As they lie there, the comic relief in the form of Humphrey arrives, still breathing heavily, the grey wolf falls to the ground and let out a heavy sigh. Kate makes some pitiful whines as she snuggles next to her mate and licks his face.
Damon stares at them before saying, "Oh come on; he can't be that tired."
Kate turns to Damon and snaps at him, "He isn't build for this type of stuff Damon; he needs to be taken care of since he can't keep up with us."
Damon looks at Humphrey once more and locks eyes with him briefly. Still panting, the wolf winks at him and his jaws turns upwards in a subtle grin.
"Kate, he's faking so you can just baby him," accuses Damon.
The gold color wolf smirks at him, "sounds to me like someone is jealous."
Damon looks over her shoulder again at Humphrey who is now fighting hard to keep back his laughter. The Ghosts shakes his head as he goes back to observing the post, unbelievable, he thought to himself.
Soon Humphrey's breathing came back under control but Kate refuses to stop nuzzling him, which further irritates Damon. He's pretty sure the grey wolf is well aware of the discomfort he is putting on the Ghost for he keeps making loud licking sounds that would cause Kate to giggle and makes Damon feel uncomfortable. The small recon party stays in their position, occasionally lifting themselves up a bit and shakes of the snow that has built up their backs.
The wind changes direction and blows the snow towards them. The two wolves and one human begins to shiver from the gale, it isn't long before they all huddle together in an attempt to stay warm, however, they are getting hungry and Damon's jacket still smells of caribou.
Damon is cleaning the snow buildup off the scope for the eight times when he feels teeth sinking into his side.
The Ghost lets out a small cry before slapping a hand over his mouth and quickly gazes at the enemy camp. Thankfully it looks like none of the soldiers have heard Damon's yell over the blowing wind, allowing the Ghost to turn and scold the offender who happens to be Humphrey.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Damon hisses, "I'm…not…caribou!" in a loud voice that is a tone below shouting.
Humphrey smiles lightly, "sorry, I guess I'm growing delusional from hunger."
"Bite me again and hunger will be the least of your-" Damon stops talking when he hears it; the crutching of footsteps on snow.
Pinpointing the sound to be originating right behind them, Damon rolls his body before coming up in a crouch and pulls out the hand gun he keeps holstered in his pants and aims the pistol in the direction of the approaching person.
Humphrey and Kate join Damon, lowering themselves close to the ground, and bares their teeth as the unidentified vector closes in. They hold their breath when the figure comes barreling over the side of the hill, but they all let out relieved sighs when they see it is Garth.
The reddish colored wolf lets out a yelp before jumping behind a tree. A moment later, his voice floats over the wintery winds, "Don't shoot!"
Damon returns the gun to its original place while Humphrey and Kate lower their guards as well. Garth peeks out from behind the tree and approaches the trio cautiously.
"For a moment there I thought you would actually attack me," the red wolf admits when he joins the group.
"Only if you were a Fed we would have attacked," Damon said as he walks back over to his original position and looks through his rifle scope once more.
Garth gives a small grunt at this before saying, "are you almost done? The pups are starting to freeze and I lost all feeling in my toes."
The Ghost looks over at Garth who is indeed shaking from the weather as well as Humphrey and Kate. Damon sighs wearily before saying, "Alright, you guys head back to the Alpha school; I'm going to stay here and continue my observation."
"But you're going to freeze up here," protests Humphrey as he walks back over to Damon. He follows the human's gaze and squint a bit trying to see the human base; he gives up and asks, "What are you looking for anyway?"
"I'm looking for the roving patrols," explains Damon, still not looking away from his scope, "I think I figured out a plan of action, but in order for it to succeed I need to make sure the vehicles drive along the same route every time of every day."
"Oh…alright," replies Garth, "but I hope this doesn't means you have to stay up here for hours on end and freeze your tail off."
"I'm not afraid of freezing," Damon said as he looks at the grey wolf next to him, "I'm afraid of getting eaten."
Humphrey groans a little, "Oh come on! How many times do I have to say I'm sorry? It only happened twice…or thrice if you include that time I jumped on you when you were behind the bushes."
Damon isn't sure if the wolf is trying to get him wild up on purpose, but he turns to give Humphrey a strong berating when Kate interrupts "Guys! I think those vehicles are coming back!"
Damon's head snaps back around as he looks down the improvise road that leads the way into the Federation held valley. Sure enough, a line of three vehicles are parading down the road, Damon could barely see them through the snow, but their head and rear end lights help him to locate them. He watches them for a time before angling his scope downward to look at what he came here to see. Just like the past patrols, they drive along the same runts, unchanging and far more predictable.
Damon lets out a sigh; his plan seems almost sound now maybe he should wait a few more weeks to ensure everything is truly in place before making his strike. He starts moving away from the ledge, but as he crawls, his sights went high and he is looking in the bed in the back of one of the armored trucks and he freezes.
"What is it?" Kate asks after noticing Damon has stop moving. The Ghost didn't answer; instead he crawls forward once more and looks back down to make sure the snow isn't messing with his vision. He focuses his attention on the two militarized trucks, focusing the scope so he is sure he is seeing things correctly. To his horror, the back ends of the trucks are full of Federation soldiers. Damon switches the sight back to the base and scans the perimeter; there are a full number of guards. He focuses on the barracks; he can see through the tents that there are still soldiers in them. Damon feels his blood becoming ice cold as the revelation takes over.
He withdrew his eyes and rests his chin on the rifle as he thinks over what he has just seen. The look on his face worries the wolves until Kate steps forward and asks once again, "Damon, what's wrong?"
The Ghost lets out a weary sound before looking at her and says, "The trucks are full of soldiers, yet there is still a full number of troops in the base, do you know what that means?
All three wolves shake their heads, unsure what Damon is getting at.
Damon sighs before looking at them and says, "It means, they have somehow gotten more men."
Now he got their attention. All three of their eyes widen and their forms begin to tremble and Damon knew it isn't because of the cold.
"How did they get more men?" Garth asks, "I thought you said they couldn't get in or out of the forest."
Damon nods his head, "They could have flown in, but we would have heard the choppers, they couldn't have driven in, there's no suitable road for miles and surely Canadian civilians would have seen them." Damon looks down as he says, "I don't know guys, all that I do know now is that we are in a lot of trouble."
The group falls silent as the snow falls and slowly begins to build on their backs but they didn't pay attention to it, all they could feel is a kind of numbness setting in as they think through the recent developments.
Their agonizing wonderings are caught short when they hear a scream originating from behind them back in the wolves own territory.
Garth jumps to his feet, turns around and shouts "Lilly!" before taking off down the hill. Humphrey and Kate leaps forward as well and starts running back down the hill. Damon picks up his rifle and runs after the wolves as well; for once they are able to outrun the Ghost. Damon runs through bushes, branches and jumps over boulders, occasionally tripping whenever the snow changes direction and blinds him, but he keeps pushing himself forward. As he nears the bottom he can hear shouting and something, something large, is growling and roaring.
It's not the Feds, so who or what is it?
As he gets to the bottom his question is answered. Lilly and the pups are running and dancing out of the reach of a menacing large grizzle bear. The brown bear is huge, almost as large as a car, its maw is open, the claws on its paw looks sharp, foam seems to be gathering in its mouth and there is something like a menacing gleam sparkling within its eyes. It's the middle of winter and the bear is the one attacking, Damon knew it must be hungry and it appears the creature has a taste for wolves, young and old.
The pups are trying to back away from the monster but it keeps advancing on them, determine to make one of them its lunch. Lilly however isn't letting that happen; she darts forward, nips the bear and retreats in an attempt to draw the grizzly away. It worked for a while but then the giant carnivore leaps forward and before she could move, Lilly is swatted by a massive paw and is slammed against a nearby tree. She falls to the ground, unmoving.
At this, Garth lets out an enrage howl and attacks with Humphrey and Kate following close behind. The grizzly swings it paws again but the wolves invade. Garth sprints forward and buries his teeth into the predator's chest. The bear growls and smacks Garth away. The Red wolf lies in the snow, stung by the blow as the monster closes in and lowers its jaw to claim its meal.
Suddenly Kate rushes forward and locks her jaws onto the monsters neck and squeeze down. The monster snarls as it rolls over, nearly crushing Kate as she is dislodge from the animal. The golden wolf tries to rise to her feet but is knocked over by the bear once more; it stands and looks ready to flop on top of her when Humphrey jumps in. He jumps as high as he could and grabs the bear with his teeth clamp on its upraised paw. The bear gives a mighty wave and the grey wolf is thrown across the forest floor, he skids across the ground upon landing before finally crashing against a nearby rock.
All his friends are down and the pups are still in danger. Damon didn't want to get involved least he wants the Feds to discover them, but he has no choice as the grizzly looks around as if deciding which wolf it should eat first.
The Ghost didn't give it the chance; he goes down on one knee, prays to God that the Feds won't hear and lets off a round. The bullet explodes from the muzzle and flies forward. Damon has aimed at the grizzly's heart, but in the time he had fire the bear moved. The bullet strikes against the side of the beast, causing it turn and roar at Damon.
The Ghost attempts to pull back on the bolt to load in another round when the grizzly charges. For an injured animal it is fast, it covers the ten yards between itself and Damon in a single sprint. Damon raises his rifle but the bear is upon him, he jumps out of the way and lands with a crunch.
The Ghost attempts to rise back to his feet but he feels something huge and powerful grabs the neck of his jacket and starts to swing him around. Damon slips out of his caribou jacket and is sent flying. He flies through the air for a moment before slamming into a tree and lands at its base in a painful heap. He coughs up some blood as he stands on shaking limbs and gazes at the grizzly as it chomps down on his coat. The bear spits it out, realizing its nothing more than fur and turns to Damon, the only source of meat closest. It roars again and charges forward once more. The Ghost went for his pistol but found the holster empty, it must have fallen out during Damon's flight. He curses before withdrawing his knife and crouches as he waits for his near ton foe to come upon him. The grizzly is drooling, baring its teeth while it raises its razor claws, getting ready to cleave Damon. The Ghost goes down and makes ready to charge forward and strike at its chest just like what Garth did earlier when a brown mass shoots out of nowhere and trips the bear. The grizzle roars before falling short of Damon and lands with its maw still open into the cold snow.
Damon looks up and he feels dread taking over. Standing over the downed bear from behind is Meadow, her jaws slightly bloodied after burying her teeth into the grizzle hard thigh. They lock eyes, her brown ones are sizzling with excitement and victory but as they stare at each other, Damon sees the bear move slightly.
"Get out of there!" Damon shouts but it's too late.
The bear rolls over and before Meadow could move, it kicks her. She flies at least a yard away and crashes with a whimper. Seeing her getting hurt, a young pup that has practically been apart of his family for the past few months, Damon feels his vision going red as he lets out his own roar and charges.
The bear is on its paws again and rushes forward to meet Damon. The Ghost doesn't think as he rushes the bear, heading for its chest. The bear stands on its hide legs and throws its paws but Damon is ready this time. He dodges the right throw, ducks under the other paw and jumps forward. After seeing Meadow getting hurt he changes tactic, he didn't go for the heart as he originally planned, instead he shoots his hand upwards and buries his blade into the grizzle's neck.
The massive monster lets out a ear splitting scream of pain as it stumbles, but Damon hugs its body with his other hand as he tries to bury the knife deeper into its jugular. Suddenly the paws close in on Damon, but before it could cut him Damon rams his body against the bear and pushes the massive creature off its feet. It lands with a heavy crunch in the snow as it begins thrashing, trying to throw Damon from its chest. Damon hangs on to the matted fur with his one hand while he twists the knife with the other.
The bear lets out a roar as it attempts to roll over, but at that moment, the fallen and knocked out wolves begin to recover, Humphrey sees what is happening and runs over and bites down hard on the bear's right paw. Seeing what he is doing, the other three wolves rush forward. Kate helps Humphrey and bites down on the same paw his teeth is lock on and tries to pin it to the ground. Garth and Lilly got the right foot; they bite down and pull it to the forest floor. To their surprise, the other pups run in as well, Max and Ann jumps on the left paw while Talia and Devan got the left foot. Soon with their combined power and weight, the wolves keeps the bear on the ground, keeping it from rising or thrashing around.
Damon could tell the colossus meat eater is getting tired and weak, not wanting the fight to draw out any longer, Damon withdrew his blade and slams it back into its throat. He repeats the process over and over again, digging out the blade and shoving it back in, each time fiercer than the last. Soon Damon is stabbing with a cold pent up fury; he is starting to breathe harder and harder as he continues to slash at the monster's throat. It isn't long before he is yelling at the top of his throat, yelling out of fury for the monster's attempt to take his friend's lives, for picking the wrong day to fight a Ghost and for being dumb enough to try and take Damon on. Blood splashes the ground and stains the Ghost's clothes, but it wasn't until he stabbed the bear a dozen mores did he realize it is no longer breathing.
Damon on the other hand is breathing heavily, his fingers feels as if they are cracking as he untangles them from the bear's matted fur and unwraps them from the knife. He slips off the massive body and falls to the snow covered floor, feeling exhausted. The wolves drop to the ground as well, none having ever to go through such a grueling and violent experience. Max got back onto his feet, stumbles towards a near by bush and starts to upchuck his breakfast. This causes a chain reaction to happen; soon Talia, Devan and Humphrey started losing it and throwing up as well.
Damon groans at the disgusting sight and looks away, that's when he sees Meadow still lying in the snow. He curses lightly and starts stumbling over to her. He feels his stomach drop when he sees the blood matted on her fur.
He slides next to Meadow and begins inspecting her for wounds. He is relived to find that she is mostly unharmed; the blood must be from the grizzly.
Unsure how to treat a wolf, he flips her on her back, hold her head skywards and check if she is breathing. Tiny puff of mist is being produce in the frigid air and he is able to find a pulse on her neck. He determines she is merely unconscious, gingerly he pickers her up and holds her in his arms as he makes his way back to the other wolves.
He is glad to see that the barfing fest is over; they are now lying in the snow, no longer caring if the freezing matter buries them. He notices that the two wolf couples are together and nuzzling each other affectionately while licking at the wounds each other has sustained. He smiles when he sees the pups looking disturbed at this, especially when Humphrey gives Kate a sloppy lick, causing Devan to turn around and mutters, "gross."
Damon walks forward, some of the pups gasps and begins to whimper when they see Meadow limp in Damon's arms before he says, "She's all right, just knocked out."
The wolves let out held in sighs and begins to smile happily when they realize they just had their first full victory. Damon smiles slightly before saying, "Alright, time to head back to the dens before anything else happens; let's roll."
The Ghost leads the way while the confuse wolves follows close behind, still wondering what he meant by "roll". Damon looks back at the mutilated bear and realizes he had left his knife and rifle, but he'll retrieve it later, first he has to get the pups to safety, especially Meadow.
At the thought he looks down at her and finds she is breathing normally, he smiles as she sleepily snuggles closer against his chest which must be warm. That's when he realizes he no longer has his coat, but at the moment he isn't feeling cold, maybe it's because of the recent adrenaline rush he just went through.
As they walk the snow continues to fall but now not as much as before, now it has become a lazy drizzle that seems to be falling rather peacefully in the afternoon lights. The snow covers their tracks, even if the Feds heard the gun shot their trail will be long gone and hopefully the sound was bounce around the hills like an echo, making it harder for them to pinpoint the exact location of the wolves.
Damon is so envelope in his deep thoughts that he didn't notice Meadow woke up until he hears her gasp. He looks down at her to make sure she is all right but she jerks away from him, almost causing him to drop her. When he regains his footing, he looks down at her and asks, "What?"
Her eyes are wide as she says, ""uh, nothing, you just scared me."
He gives her a curious glance until she finally says, "you're, uh, covered in a lot of blood."
Damon stops walking and looks down at himself. He didn't realize it but he is indeed covered in what look like to be gallons worth of blood. He sniffs the air and smells the aroma of blood originating from him. He then hefts Meadow up a little as he moves one hand closer to his face and felt something moisture grace his fingertips. He shivers; it definitely looks like he is covered from top to toe in bear blood.
He looks back down at the young wolf in his arms and knows he must really look menacing, especially with his scared up face.
"Sorry," he mutters to her as he continues to trudge back to the clearing.
"It's alright," Meadow says, "did you bring the grizzly down then?"
He sees the grin beginning to form even before he said "yes."
Her smile widen as she asks, "So how did I do?"
He gives her a hard look and says in a stern voice, "You were reckless, careless, and overconfident. You weren't paying attention and you didn't make sure the threat was neutralized until it was almost too late. Do something like that again and I might consider having you stay put back at the dens until you're an elderly old wolf."
Meadows eyes widen a bit, but she drops her gaze and looks down no longer looking at Damon.
The Ghost is silent for a moment before he starts talking in a genuine voice again, "In other words…you acted with the efficiency of a regular Ghost."
Her gaze shoots back up as she looks at him again as he continues, "Though it was stupid and juvenile," he looks her in the eye, "It was what I would do if I was in your position, what any Ghost would do. We protect each other to the very extent of our abilities…such as what my team has done for me."
He pauses to let the words sink in before continuing, "You need a lot more training, but one thing is for sure; you don't need a lesson in knowing about teamwork and commitment."
Meadow smiles at him and snuggles closer to his chest, causing the Ghost to chuckle a bit as some of her fur tickles his chin.
It is at that precise moment that they arrived back at the clearing. The wolves of the pack are still huddle within their shelter, but when they smell the scent of blood, their curiosity egged them to take a look. Almost all of them let out a gasp when they saw Damon and the wolves approaching, all covered in the blood that the wolves have smelled.
Winston breaks apart from the group of wolves and approach them; his face a contortion of fear, anxiety and anger.
Damon gulps slightly as he approaches, the small recon group stops short and Winston stops in front of them. It isn't long before Tony hurriedly arrives bringing up Winston rear and gave Damon his usual scowl.
Winston slowly begins to breathe through his mouth, signaling how peeked his anger is before hissing out the words, "What…happened?"
"Uh, well sir, you see-" Damon tries to speak but before he could finish the small black wolf known as Max shoot forward with a big cocky grin and practically shouts loudly at the speed of a hundred miles per hour, "It was awesome! There was a grizzly bear, and it went nuts! It was just us and Lilly when the monster attacked us! It came out of nowhere! At first we were scared out of our minds until the others came and tried to kill it but it almost killed them and us too! It almost ate Meadow but Damon stop it and we all helped killed it! It was awesome!"
Stun silence followed until Winston looks up at Damon and says, "Damon…please tell me this pup is exaggerating."
The Ghost shifts his weight around until he finally says, "well…that would be one way of explaining what happen."
Tony is staring to shake with unmistakable fury, "YOU TOOK OUR CHILDREN AND CUBS TO FIGHT A GRIZZLY!"
Damon holds his ground and says defensively, "First of all, they came on their free accord, I didn't forced them, and secondly, if I knew we were going to run into a bear I would have stayed in my den."
"I wouldn't," voices Max.
Devan smacks Max upside the head as he leans in and whispers in the black cub's ear, "Not helping."
Winston walks towards Damon and asks, "Is Meadow injured?"
"No," Meadow answers for herself, "I just like being carried," the cheeky grin she gave Damon is enough to make him flush so he bends over and put Meadow down, much to her displeasure.
Winston ignores them as he inspect the other wolves, in particular his children. They are all covered in blood as well from Damon's crazed stabbing, making them look as if they're the ones bleeding.
"Are you hurt?" he finally asks Lilly, his one daughter he is always concern for.
"Just a bump dad, nothing too bad," she replies.
"And how did you sustain this…bump?" Winston asks cautiously.
"Uh…" Lilly said looking uncomfortable, "the bear may have hit me against a tree."
"
What?" Winston hisses out as if he is having trouble breathing.
"Sir," Damon said as he steps forward, "she was in charge of watching the pups while I did my scouting, she should be praised as a hero for risking her life to protect the pups, a huge achievement by my standards."
Winston stares at Damon before looking to Lilly who is looking down, appearing to be bashful, "is this true?" he finally asks.
"Well…I was watching the pups and I did try to stop the bear I suppose," she said with a slight grin.
Garth nuzzles her neck as he says, "there's my brave little Omega," which causes Lilly to smile yet become embarrass at the same time.
Tony walks forward and gives Damon a hard stare as he asks, "I hope for your sake your scouting was worth it."
Damon replies in a serious tone, "Yes it is sir," he looks to Tony then Winston, "in fact I need to speak to you two about that soon."
The two Alphas could tell that Damon has indeed made a major find but before they could sat anything further, an Alpha steps forward and says, "Winston, if they did bring down a bear, do you think we could, um, well as you know it's been a while since we had fresh meat…"
Winston sighs as he nods, "yes, yes, take some wolves and bring back what you can."
"I'll show you," volunteers Humphrey which surprises the gathering of wolves, Damon is quick to recover as he nods his approval, glad to see Humphrey gaining some backbone now.
"I'll go too," Kate says, the mates smile at one another before turning around and heads back the way they just came, with a bunch of hungry looking wolves in tow.
A lot of the pups have surrounded the ones from the scouting party and demands for their accounts of the events, however before they could reply, Hutch walks forward and says, "Yes, fighting a bear is exciting, but we need to get back to training now, pups fall in!"
The young wolves all groans a bit before falling in, Winston however stops the five pups who were with Damon, "If you are too tired, then you may rest here."
Almost everyone is shock when Meadow is the one who answers, "No thanks sir, I feel like I can go on for miles."
That I can believe, Damon thought as he remembers Meadow ability to go on for hours on end without losing any energy.
Winston smirks as well but says, "If this is what you wish."
The wolf nods while her friend's nods as well, quite obviously exhausted but if an Omega can go on, then so can an Alpha.
With that, Hutch leads the way while the pups follow close behind. Damon smiles as he watches them go as they sprint off into the forest.
He turns to face Winston and Tony but at that moment he hears Meadow shout, "See you later Damon!"
The Ghost turns just in time to watch Meadow's tail disappear behind a tree. When he looks to Winston again he sees him talking to Lilly and Garth, "-get some rest, I'll wake you when the food has been retrieved."
"Thank you dad," Lilly says before she yawns and begins to lean on Garth. The Alpha smiles before helping his mate walk over to their den.
Now Damon is alone with the Alpha leaders who turn to him and they stare at each other.
Winston finally sighs as he looks up at Damon, "I can tell by that look on your face that you have found something important."
"Sir, yes sir, maybe we can talk in my cave while I get ready," Damon suggests.
"Ready for what?" asks Tony.
"War."
It didn't take long before Humphrey and Kate returns with the bear carcass, as smelly as it can get, but all that the wolves cared about at that moment is the thought of fresh meat.
Upon their return, Winston went to his daughter's and son-in-law's den to wake them for dinner. When he enter he found them snuggle close to each other, making him feel slightly embarrass and irritated to see his daughter sleeping with someone that isn't part of the family, or at least Winston's family.
He clears his throat to get their attention. Groggily they awoke and both their eyes widen when they see Winston standing there. Self-consciously Garth puts a centimeter between himself and his mate but didn't move any farther than that. Winston sighs, his daughter is married and mated now, it's time he accepted the truth.
"Humphrey, Kate, and the others have return with the bear meat," Winston finally chokes out.
"Oh, alright, thanks dad," Lilly says as she and Garth rises.
Winston notices they are both clean and are no longer cover in blood, "did you roll around in the snow?" he asks.
"Uh, no," Lilly says with a nervous laugh, "uh, we…licked each other clean," she said with a shy grin.
Winston has to work hard to keep his breathing under control, they're married, it's alright for them to do that, with that thought, Winston leads the way out of the den with Lilly and Garth following close behind.
Outside the wolves have already dug into their meal, tearing and feasting at any piece of meat they could find.
"Now, now," Winston says, trying to control some of the anarchy for food, "make sure you save some for the pups."
Garth and Lilly met up with Humphrey and Kate who are rolling around in the snow as they try to get the dry blood off their hides.
"Hey, check out what I found," with that Humphrey ran over to the carcass of the bear and returns with what looks like the skin of a caribou…a caribou skin that was stitched in the shape of a coat.
Lilly giggles as Garth says, "Hmm…it does look familiar…except for the teeth marks that weren't there before," at this Lilly starts laughing hysterically and it wasn't long before Kate joins her.
Humphrey gives an embarrass smile as he replies, "Well what can I say? I got hungry and I'm a growing pup."
"For some reason, it's easy to see you as a puppy, an adorable one," Kate comments.
Garth rolls his eyes just as Tony went by. Kate knew he was the wrong person to ask but he might be the only one that could answer at the moment, "Tony?"
He stops and glances at her, "yes Kate?"
"Have you seen Damon? Do you know if he ate or if he would like to try some bear meat?" Kate asks, concern if the human is hungry, then he might not get anything considering how fast the wolves are devouring the bear.
Tony seems to sneer as he answers, "The human already ate his strange food and he went to sleep, he should be waking soon."
"Oh, was he as exhausted as we were?" Lilly asks.
"No, he's 'preparing' himself for his so called suicide mission," Tony started walking away when his son Garth jumps in his way.
"What?" he questions, "Dad, what do you mean by suicide mission?"
Tony merely shrugs, "he says so himself, he might not return, so he's having one last nap before going out later tonight to infiltrate the soldiers territory, at least that's what he told me," with that the old Alpha makes his way towards the feast.
The four wolves are left there; stun as they look to one another, jaws agape. Without much warning, Garth starts walking towards Damon's den; the others follow close behind, leaving the jacket behind in the swirling snow.
They enter the den just in time to see Damon place on one of his newly claimed vest, he is now clean and wearing a black attire similar to the one he wore when they first met. Without turning around, he says, "Hello guys, how are you?"
"How are we?" asks a slightly vexed Kate, "What's this we're hearing about you going on a suicide mission?"
Damon chuckles lightly as he kneels and starts examining the 2010 submachine gun, "I take it that it was Tony who told you this."
"And are you?" asks Lilly in a slightly calmer voice.
Damon takes an empty water bottle that's end has been torn off and stuff with pieces of paper. "Well that depends," he finally says as he places the strange bottle on the top of his muzzle, "if my plan work, then I can get out without causing a massacre, if not…then yeah it might be a suicide mission."
Damon didn't turn to look back at the wolves as he ties the bottle to the gun's muzzle using some strips of clothing to keep it intact.
"What are you doing?" Humphrey finally asks after eying the strange object for quite some time now.
"It's a silencer, or supposed to be," Damon explains as he holds it up and swings it around in a various moves, testing to see if the tied clothing will hold the bottle, "the bottle and pieces of paper should silence a gunshot and hides the muzzle blast, but this improvise one isn't top notch, hopefully I can find a better one once I get inside."
"Where did you get it?" Humphrey asks next.
"I made it, used some torn up paper from the bag, an empty water bottle and the clothing is from my summer attire which I hope I won't need soon," Damon replies.
"And what did you mean by inside?" questions Garth, "Inside what? What are you planning?"
"The plan is right behind you in the snow in front of the den," Damon said as he started looking through his gear for various different objects.
Garth follows his directions and looks to find a picture of the Federation base drawn in the snow. The map is covered by various lines, x's, and other symbols that Garth couldn't decipher.
"So…" Garth asks as he continues to stare at the strange drawing, "what is it exactly you are planning?"
"I'm going to infiltrate the camp," explains Damon as he laces on his boots tighter, "find a radio and call for help from my pack in the south, destroy the ammunition dump, and kill Estrada."
"The Human Alpha?" asks Humphrey to make sure he understands correctly.
"More or less," Damon answers as he checks his spare pistol.
"But Damon are you sure you can do it?" Lilly asks slightly in fear.
"I don't know, admits Damon, but I know one thing for sure, the Feds are growing stronger by the day, I don't know how but they are," he places the pistol in his holster and check the rest of the equipment on his web gear, grenades, ammo, and…an empty sheath.
He looks up at the wolves and asks, "Did one of you bring back my knife?"
"Uh, yeah, I think so, let me go check," with that Humphrey turns and takes off running out of the den.
Damon reaches into his bag and pulls out the bloodied Ghost mask. He walks to the entrance of the den and begins rinsing it with clumps of snow, slowly but eventually wiping away the red stained matter.
Kate finally sighs as she walks over and asks, "Damon, take one of us with you, what's the whole point of training us to fight if you weren't going to let us help you?"
"I trained you to fight so you can protect yourselves and your pack if there's ever a danger that threatens the pack just as the Federation is doing now," Damon explains.
When he wipes away the final remnants of the red stain, he is staring at the ghoulish face of his ghost mask. The white boned face with eyeless sockets stares back, with three slashing running across its face in the same positions as the scars that now marks Damon. Damon stares a moment longer before placing the mask over his face and places it where his eyes can see out of the eye holes.
When the Ghost turns around, he sees the wolves, his friends, are slightly frighten by the mask, this pains Damon slightly but it's a small price that has to be paid in order to live up to his reputation.
Humphrey returns with Damon's knife hanging from his mouth, his jaws drop at the sight of Damon in his mask. Damon pretends not to notice as he walks over, picks up the knife and places it back into his sheath. Damon lets out a small sigh as he walks back into the cave and retrieves the submachine gun he was working on and shoulders it.
"Do you need the gun you used today?" Humphrey ask referring to the Lynx.
Damon shakes his head, "No, I'll be close enough to use my other weapons," he says as he turns and looks to the wolves. He lets outs a sigh, he's about to leave them, and maybe not return, the only companions and friends he has since he lost his team all those days ago.
The Ghost walks towards the wolves, bends down and hugs each one. He hugs Humphrey who places a paw on his shoulder in an attempt to mimic Damon's movement. The Ghost then moves on to Kate who nuzzles him. Next is Garth who bumps his head against Damon's, causing the Ghost to smile. Finally he comes up to Lilly who licks his face and says, "Meadow's going to be upset to hear you left…and might not return."
Damon sighs as he hugs Lilly again, "I know…tell her I'm sorry, and I'll miss her, Max, Ann, Talia and Devan," he leans back and stands before look at all the wolves in front of him, "and I'll miss all you guys too."
They stand there facing each other for a while before the wolves moved as one and jump on Damon in a great big dog pile. Damon lets out a small laugh as the wolves' crawls on top of him before he rising back to his feet and rubs each of their heads. He looks outside and see's the sun going down, he sighs wearily before standing and says, "I better get going if I want to get there before midnight."
With that, he rises, he gives the wolves one last sad look as he walks off towards the dense forest.
"Do you need your coat?" asks Lilly.
"No, the color will give me away and I'm pretty sure Humphrey ate most of it by now." This causes the wolves to laugh while Humphrey wears an undignified expression.
"If you survive, when do you think you will return?" calls Garth.
"If this goes well, then I should be back tomorrow before supper time," Damon says as he nears the tree line.
The Ghost is about to disappear into the foliage when Humphrey calls out, "What'd we do if you are…killed?"
Damon stops, ponders the question before looking over his shoulder and said, "then it'll be your turn to continue the war," with that Damon ventures into the forest and disappears into the greenery and wind blown snow.