Chapter 2 – Requiem for the Alphas
The alphas have been out on a search for caribou for nearly three weeks now, and they were starting to have doubts if they were going to find any food before the harsh cold of winter sets in.
But Kate and Garth were leading the hunt, and they soon lead the other alphas to the Rockies, the only place they haven't looked yet, and as the sun was setting and the skies were beginning to fill with thick clouds, their hopes for caribou were high. And they luckily found a small group of five caribou grabbing a drink of water from the lake, and they knew that this would be enough for the pack for a while, so they can't fail.
"Alright. Candu, you take some of the alphas, and ambush the caribou from the right; Hutch, you take the rest of the alphas; Garth and I will come in from the middle, and we'll have them completely cornered," Kate demanded in a hushed tone, as they all hid in the bushes, and Candu and Hutch followed Kate's demands and lead their assigned wolves away…but Fleet was confused.
"W-what about me? W-what do I do?"
"Fleet, you scout the area and check for any oncoming predators; we're counting on you, so keep your eyes peeled," Kate replied firmly.
"Alright," Fleet sighed in disappointment since he wanted to do much more for the hunt, but he knew not to disobey a professional alpha like Kate, so he brushed it off and reluctantly went off in a different direction to watch for predators.
"Are you just being hard on him because he's hitting on your daughter?" Garth asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Why would I be mad at him at all? He makes Claudette happy, and that makes me happy; plus, I don't want my daughter to be sad if her possible future mate and my possible future son-in-law doesn't return home safely, so I'm going to keep him away from the danger as best I can," Kate explained quietly, "now, be quiet and focus on taking out those caribou."
Kate and Garth waited in the bushes to wait for any signs of the other alphas closing in on the caribou, and it wasn't long before they saw Candu and Hutch's teams slowly sneaking through the tall grass without being noticed by the caribou, which is good. Humphrey and Lilly's mates looked at each other with determined faces and nodded before starting to carefully creep themselves.
Meanwhile, Fleet was up on a rock ledge, overlooking the area, and he could see the alphas closing in on the caribou, but the longer he stared, the angrier he became.
"'Go and watch for any predators, Fleet'…puh…if ya doubt me that much, then why don't'cha just send me back home?" Fleet growled while mocking Kate, and he paced back in forth on the rock ledge in frustration. But as he kept moving, he started knocking smaller rocks and pebbles off the edge.
The pebbles had fallen down in front of a cave entrance, but the entrance was at a slant, so the debris fell down into the cave depths…and they awoke whoever was slumbering inside, as the creature awoke with a growl.
But Kate, Garth and the other alphas were too busy sneaking up on the caribou to care about Fleet, and they were all so close to coming in for the kill…but just when they were about to pounce, the angry roar of a cougar rang through the air; the caribou all immediately became spooked, and they suddenly scattered while actually trampling a few unfortunate alphas.
"Oh, no…" Kate whimpered, "RUN!"
But just when the other few mobile alphas were about to turn and run, more cougar growls and roars, and it started to rain within a flash of lightning and crack of thunder. And to make matters worse, Kate's cry for help called in numerous cougars…and they all looked REALLY aggressive and hungry.
Kate, Garth and some of the other alphas started to scatter, but two of the cougars come in and pounced on some of the trampled alphas, and their screams of terror and pain soon filled the air; the other alphas couldn't help because they were no match for the cougars.
"FLEET! FLEEEET!" Garth called out since Fleet was frozen atop the rock ledge ever since he saw the multiple cougars come out, but as Garth's vision became blurred by the now fierce-pouring rain, a cougar jumped out from his blind spot…and that was the end of Garth.
But Kate seemed to be the only other wolf that was still able to dodge most of the cougars, and she was sprinting up the mountain to scold Fleet for not watching for predators like he was supposed to, but then she saw a cougar sneaking up on the frozen Fleet.
"FLEET, LOOK OUT!"
Kate's call suddenly able to snap Fleet from his trance, but by the time he finally noticed the large cat, the cougar suddenly pounced…but then Kate stepped in between them.
Claudette suddenly woke with a scream, and she ended up rapidly breathing, but as she looked around, she found that she was still in her father's den with her dad and brothers, as the storm outside was still pretty bad, and that it was all just a nightmare…but it all felt so real…it really felt like Garth, Kate, Fleet and the rest of the hunting team were all killed by cougars…Claudette was scared to death and so confused as to if her nightmare was actually real.
But Claudette's little freak out had also woke Humphrey and her brothers, but they all seemed groggy and careless since Claudette woke them up so early.
"Ugh…why did you wake us up, Claude?" Runt groaned while plopping his head back down and closing his eyes without a care.
"Give her a break, Runt; she just woke up from a nightmare. Wouldn't you want support if you had a terrible dream too?" Stinky asked firmly to stand up for his sister.
"I-I'm not even sure if it WAS a dream…it felt way too real…like a warning," Claudette added in a whimper while placing her head back down and tried to hide it under her front paws.
"Would you like to tell us what happened?" Humphrey asked softly, and sat next to his daughter while putting a reassuring paw on her back.
It took Claudette a minute to think, but she soon sat up and took a deep breath in and closed her eyes.
"I had a nightmare where…the alphas were about to take down some caribou on their hunt, but the…things took a turn for the worse…there was a cougar attack."
Humphrey, Stinky and Runt were actually taken back by Claudette's nightmare, but they immediately denied it being a sign at all.
"I-It was just a dream, Claudette; it's not real and it never will be," Runt reassured, but he still felt a little uneasy.
"Runt's right; it'll all gonna be ok, so just go back to sleep," Humphrey added gently.
"Wait!" Stinky suddenly shouted, and he raised his nose into the air when he started sniffing a new scent.
"What is it, Stinky?" Humphrey questioned, but the second he asked, Stinky's eyes shot open with shock.
"It's Fleet."
But just before anyone had a second to think, one of the omegas suddenly rushed in, and he looked horrified.
"Humphrey, it's Fleet! He's returned, injured!"
"Oh, no! Fleet!" Claudette screamed in terror, and wasted no time in running out to the rock ledge and frantically searched around through the harsh rain for her love. When she was joined by the others, she gasped with she saw Fleet limping slowly towards the den, as his front left leg looked crippled and was bleeding badly, and many of the other wolves were surrounding him; sprinting down to her love, Claudette was terrified to know if Fleet would make it, but by the time she and the others got down there, Fleet had finally collapsed in exhaustion.
"Fleet! What happened?! Are you ok?!" Claudette asked in a panic, as she, her father and brothers all crowded around him.
"Cougars…attacked…the rest…" was all Fleet could mutter before his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.
"Quick, someone get him into the den!" Stinky demanded, and a beta soon came in to gently scoop Fleet up onto her back, and she walked up to the den with the help of two more betas to keep Fleet balanced on her back.
Claudette and the rest of her family soon followed the betas carrying Fleet into the den, and they carefully laid him down at the back, where it would be the warmest spot from the cold wind outside, but Claudette only continued to panic inside, as she started to whine a little and lie down by her unconscious lover's sighed.
"Will he be ok?" Humphrey asked one of the betas.
"We're not so sure; all we can tell is that the bite was fatal enough to shatter his leg bone, and he's lost a lot of blood. But if he ever does wakes up, we'll need to make sure we keep him well hydrated," a female beta explained sadly, and though Claudette never looked away from Fleet's half-dead expression face, she heard every word from the beta too, and that's when tears started to leak from her eyes.
Not wanting to impose on family matters, the other betas soon left the den, and Claudette's father and brothers felt pretty worried for Fleet and even worse for Claudette.
"She said 'if', Dad…'IF' he ever wakes up," Claudette sniffled.
"Don't worry, Sis; Fleet must be REAL strong if he was able to walk all the way back-OW!" Runt tried to reassure, but Humphrey put an end to his inconsiderate statement by harshly bumping his shoulder.
"What Runt is TRYING to say is…Fleet would never give up, especially not when he has someone like you to live for; he'll be ok, Claudette. He WILL wake up, I promise," Humphrey explained softly, and that cheered Claudette up enough to slightly look at her father and brothers…but it wasn't enough to make her smile.
A gentle roll of thunder echoed outside, as the storm had finally died down, but the gentle sound of remaining raindrops on the leaves of the trees only made Claudette want to shed more tears.
"C'mon, guys, let's give your sister some space," Humphrey demanded quietly, and Stinky and Runt completely understood, so they both followed their father outside to leave Claudette and Fleet alone.
But as the silence was prolonged, Claudette's eyes began to burn from her salty tears, and there was also a burning lump in her throat that she had repeatedly tried to swallow, but her worry for Fleet just never made it possible. So, with no other options, Claudette leaned forward and gently started to caress her tongue over Fleet's wound; she tried her best to be gently, but she wanted to clean all the blood away.
Meanwhile, Humphrey, Stinky and Runt were all sulking their heads with guilt since there was nothing they could do for Claudette and Fleet…but they were also pretty scared and confused.
"Fleet's leg looked HORRIBLE. What do you think happened?" Runt soon asked.
"I smelled cougar on Fleet, and he even kept muttering something about being attacked by cougars," Stinky pondered out loud.
"I think the better question is—where are the others?" Humphrey asked slowly, and Stinky and Runt's suddenly went wide with realization.
…
"Do you…do you think they…?" Stinky tried to ask, but didn't dare want to speak the possible outcome of what happened to the other alphas…especially not his own mother.
"They're gone," a soft voice piped up, and the boys looked to see it was a depressed Lilly walking up to them, "a search party was sent out shortly after the first sight of Fleet's return…but after a while…they never found the other alphas…"
"So…you're saying that Kate's…" Humphrey started matter-of-factly, but Lilly answered his lingering question with a slow nod while starting to cry.
"No…Kate, no…" Humphrey whined while joining Lilly in her sobbing over the death of their mates, and this also sank into Stinky and Runt, knowing they would never see their mother or uncle ever again.
And just like the first time he thought he lost Kate, Humphrey lifted his head up and puckered his lips to howl a sad song into the air, and Lilly soon joined him, along with Stinky and Runt; it wasn't long before the rest of the pack started to howl to add to the requiem for the lost alphas, and as their sad song flowed into the den, where Claudette cried over Fleet, she soon started to howl too, but not just for the loss of her mother, but also to say her prayers for the survival of her love.
I warned you, didn't I? Things are probably going to get pretty depressing in later chapters, so buckle down!
Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!
