p style="text-align: center;"strongChapter 3/strong/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;" Diego woke up from a shivering nightmare. He hated to think of it. To get his mind of it, he first made sure Shira was alright, then he went off, not too far, to get some fresh air. He slowly walked through the cold terrain of woodlands and came accross the tracks of an animal, but not just any animal, it was an apes tracks. He hesitated to follow it, but he knew that 'it' might come back to haunt them again (read the previous chapter for more details) Since he was an excellent tracker, he went ahead to track the animal down./p
p style="text-align: left;" Shira then awoke much later. She stretched and yawned, but then she looked where Diego was. He wasn't there. She calmed herself down and thought em"He's probably just out on a hunt.. Calm down."/em She decided to walk outside the den cautiously, and headed toward where Ellie, Peaches, Luis And Manny were./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Luis Have you seen Diego?" She asked the three a little nervously./p
p style="text-align: left;" "I didn't see him this morning. He's probably around somewhere." Manny said calmly./p
p style="text-align: left;" "But, Dad," Peaches started to say, "wouldn't he stay with Shira the first day? I mean, he literally just got notified that he's a soon coming father."/p
p style="text-align: left;" "Peaches has a point." Luis said. "I wouldn't think Diego would just abandon his mate and cubs that soon after he found out about Shira's pregnancy. That is very odd."/p
p style="text-align: left;" "I have to go look for him!" Shira started to walk off./p
p style="text-align: left;" "No! It's too dangerous for you." Peaches exclaimed./p
p style="text-align: left;" "I'll be fine."/p
p style="text-align: left;" "Well, at least have someone go with you." Ellie suggested looking at Manny./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Oh brother." Manny rolled his eyes./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Manny!" Ellie looked at him unimpressed./p
p style="text-align: left;" " . I'm going!" Mannie and Shira started to walk off on the search for Diego./p
p style="text-align: left;" Meanwhile, Diego was still following the tracks, but he noticed they were getting a more stronger scent. That meant that he was getting closer! He looked behind him in shock. He was far away from home.. And Shira. He realized that he had to turn back. But, something jumped out in front of him./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Captain Gutt?!" Diego exclaimed and started to back up against a rock./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Aye aye. And where do you think your going, kitty." He put on a evil grin that was not appealing at all./p
p style="text-align: left;" "How are you still alive?" Diego asked becoming more angry./p
p style="text-align: left;" "That is none of your concern, tiny." He yelled./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Who do you think you are trudging into my herd's territory. And my ma-" He stopped himself before he said it./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Your 'What' now?" He pressed him toward the edge of a cliff./p
p style="text-align: left;" "It's not of your business!" Diego said./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Oh oh oh. Is it... Shira? I knew it. And you will never see her again." Gutt grabbed Diego and threw him over the cliff./p
p style="text-align: left;" Diego fell all the way down, yelling. He hit the bottom like a rock, but there was a layer of snow to protect him from death. He lay there, unconscious/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;" Diego woke up from a shivering nightmare. He hated to think of it. To get his mind of it, he first made sure Shira was alright, then he went off, not too far, to get some fresh air. He slowly walked through the cold terrain of woodlands and came accross the tracks of an animal, but not just any animal, it was an apes tracks. He hesitated to follow it, but he knew that 'it' might come back to haunt them again (read the previous chapter for more details) Since he was an excellent tracker, he went ahead to track the animal down./p
p style="text-align: left;" Shira then awoke much later. She stretched and yawned, but then she looked where Diego was. He wasn't there. She calmed herself down and thought em"He's probably just out on a hunt.. Calm down."/em She decided to walk outside the den cautiously, and headed toward where Ellie, Peaches, Luis And Manny were./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Luis Have you seen Diego?" She asked the three a little nervously./p
p style="text-align: left;" "I didn't see him this morning. He's probably around somewhere." Manny said calmly./p
p style="text-align: left;" "But, Dad," Peaches started to say, "wouldn't he stay with Shira the first day? I mean, he literally just got notified that he's a soon coming father."/p
p style="text-align: left;" "Peaches has a point." Luis said. "I wouldn't think Diego would just abandon his mate and cubs that soon after he found out about Shira's pregnancy. That is very odd."/p
p style="text-align: left;" "I have to go look for him!" Shira started to walk off./p
p style="text-align: left;" "No! It's too dangerous for you." Peaches exclaimed./p
p style="text-align: left;" "I'll be fine."/p
p style="text-align: left;" "Well, at least have someone go with you." Ellie suggested looking at Manny./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Oh brother." Manny rolled his eyes./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Manny!" Ellie looked at him unimpressed./p
p style="text-align: left;" " . I'm going!" Mannie and Shira started to walk off on the search for Diego./p
p style="text-align: left;" Meanwhile, Diego was still following the tracks, but he noticed they were getting a more stronger scent. That meant that he was getting closer! He looked behind him in shock. He was far away from home.. And Shira. He realized that he had to turn back. But, something jumped out in front of him./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Captain Gutt?!" Diego exclaimed and started to back up against a rock./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Aye aye. And where do you think your going, kitty." He put on a evil grin that was not appealing at all./p
p style="text-align: left;" "How are you still alive?" Diego asked becoming more angry./p
p style="text-align: left;" "That is none of your concern, tiny." He yelled./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Who do you think you are trudging into my herd's territory. And my ma-" He stopped himself before he said it./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Your 'What' now?" He pressed him toward the edge of a cliff./p
p style="text-align: left;" "It's not of your business!" Diego said./p
p style="text-align: left;" "Oh oh oh. Is it... Shira? I knew it. And you will never see her again." Gutt grabbed Diego and threw him over the cliff./p
p style="text-align: left;" Diego fell all the way down, yelling. He hit the bottom like a rock, but there was a layer of snow to protect him from death. He lay there, unconscious/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p