Chapter eighteen: Hot And Cold Under The Collar
Chase stared, his brown eyes fixed on the distant patch of sand out in the distance. The cool chill of the evening air turned dark with the coming night, and he had to shiver slightly as a result of the ripple down his spine.
Yet as he watched he couldn't help but remember the afternoon, and tried to sever the ties with the nagging feeling beginning to tether itself to him.
And he kinda hoped it was just his shoulder beginning to bug him again. Hearing a noise though, he felt drawn to leave his place at the edge of the balcony and hurry over to the elevator.
But when he came down.. he was slightly disappointed by what he saw.
Crossing the floor quietly, he approached the windows next to the sliding doors and watched the light wind blow at the trees even in the darkness that was almost complete.
"Where are those guys?" Chase wondered aloud, maintaining a gentle stare outside.
"Out hiking at Big View trail, remember? They'll be back soon," Ned said as he walked up to Chase. Ned hoped the pair of pups would be returning shortly. Chase glanced back at him briefly.
"Yeah, but.." he trailed off looking back outside. "Shouldn't they have at least checked in by now?.. right?"
"Relax, Chase." Chester interjected, and both pups turned back over their shoulders toward him.
"I'm sure they'll call if they need anything." Chess continued, looking up from the game of checkers going on between Marshall and Zuma; with Skye and Rubble looking on with only partial interest.
But Chase just glanced back out the window, that growing feeling only remaining and even growing a little.
xxxx
The darkness had fully taken over the land in front of them, only because it sloped away from the fading sun's light; leaving in its wake an eerie silence other than the wind blown rustle of the bushes and branches set around them.
"Heh Heh,.. uhh I guess we better keep moving, huh?.." Rocky chuckled lightly, a nervousness coming over his slightly shaking tone. "Wouldn't wanna get caught out here in the dark.. alone.. right?"
"No. Should we get to our vehicles and head home?" Snowflake said, getting nervous.
"Uhh.. well this trail will lead us right back where we started.." Rocky mentioned. "As long as we always stay to the right, that's the way back to our trucks where we came in. So as long as we do that. We'll be on our way home in no time!"
"Good," the husky pup said.
Then turning front, Rocky shuttered.
"Oof! What a time to be without Chase and his light." He murmured as they both crept forward into the shadows. As they walked it almost became a sneak, with the lowering of their bodies and the hesitation of their steps. A barking howl made Rocky almost climb into Snowflake's paws, standing on his back paws as though he were about to lover's leap right into them.
"Hoo!" Crowed an owl in a nearby tree, then flew away.
"Heh Heh, um.. that.. didn't scare me." Rocky lied awkwardly, lowering his gaze to meet Snowflake's.
"Rrrriiiiggghhhhht. Shame we don't have owl eyes. Wait... can you see where we're going?!" Snowflake said nervously.
"Uhh.." Rocky's eyes looked out ahead of them and he had to squint slightly.
"Uh- sure!" The pup said, and even he couldn't tell if he was lying or not. "No problem! Come on,.. we gotta go this way."
"Green means Go." He called, plunging forward now.
If we could see anything green. He thought lightly. But then again we're naturally surrounded by it. Chuckling to himself, he dove down the right side of a fork in the path, even as a hanging object yawned and swiveled round for a rousing stretch.
xxxx
After running for some time, the two pups finally slowed. Then they both shuddered a gasp as flapping chirps scattered up across the skies above them.
"Wooph! Just bats!" Rocky breathed. But then a snap made them both stiffen up and Rocky stumbled off to the left, falling forward then fumbling up again. Leading them down a path, which the arrow sign told its story in one single icon across the one side of it.
xxxx
Every pup tended to their own activity, none of them really taking any pleasure in what they were doing. But all of them keeping quiet, while they engaged themselves since returning to the Lookout.
Dinner had just finished not long ago, and a certain German Shepherd remained stalk-still at the window, staring with an erect posture that almost could've fooled them into thinking he were a statue,.. or not even there at all.
Eventually Chester looked up again with a sigh.
"Is he still sitting there?" Chester sighed, dropping his head deeper into his paw, which braced it up off the floor. His eyes closed a little more and he almost thought his boredom would literally put him to sleep.
"Still there. Not that I blame him," Ned said before he started walking over to Chase.
Where could they be?! He thought. As his gaze wandered down, his ears only slightly laid back with the occasional twitch.
Ned walked over and put a paw on Chase.
"I know you're concerned, but they'll be okay. Snowflake is a careful pup," Ned said trying to cheer up his friend.
"But that doesn't explain why they're not here?" Chase protested. "They should've been back a long time ago! What if something happened out there? I mean we've seen that with our own eyes. Nothing good has ever come from being out there, especially recently.."
"Dude.. come.. on!" Chester barked, finally rising from his place among the pups. "You guys are rescue pups, not damsel-pups in distress, Rocky and Snowflake are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.."
"Well we could say the same about us." Chase quipped, beginning to stiffly approach his brother who met him in the middle with a similar demeanor. "And yet look what happened."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Chester questioned and they could tell this was more than just a question.
"Uh.. halloween night,.. the morning after, during our little camping trip? Shall I go on?" Chase replied, a certain amount of attitude growing in his tone.
"Chase!" Marshall gasped, standing immediately.
"Wait, wait, wait, you said you were all good about all that?" Chester went on, the two squabbling siblings unaware of the other pups by this point. "What changed? Realized you're not as cool about it as you thought?"
"Don't push me, Chess!" Chase growled, physically pushing his brother with both forepaws. Both shepherds snarled and prowled at each other, and every other pup backed down.
"Guys!" Marshall cried.
"What's gotten into them?!" Zuma wondered.
"Nothing good I guess." Skye murmured.
"Push you?!" Chester echoed, "oh you haven't seen nothing yet, pal!" His taunting tone was enough to send Chase leaping at him, but all it took was for Chess to catch Chase at the shoulders, making him grimace on contact, and shove him back. Chase hit the floor on his opposite shoulder to the injured one and tumbled over onto his other side. Chester stood defensively where he was, scowling; but as Chase began to recover himself to scratch his taped up shoulder, Chase's hard eyes caught his and he immediately softened. Realizing what he had done he watched as Chase shifted away from him to resume staring out the window, now with his ears laid back and his expression more like a glare.
Chester stepped back a few paces.
"I think I-.." Chester trailed, as if losing his thought. "I think I need some air." He finally finished, turning and walking sulkily away to exit through the side door almost exactly opposite where Chase sat.
And all the other pups remained where they stood, shocked by what they'd just seen. Marshall fell back to a sitting position as Chester left, and Skye, Zuma and Rubble simply watched him go.
Ned stood in shock at what he saw. Never had any of the pups been physical with one another, let alone in an argument.
Ned thought hard about everything the brothers had mentioned, and got both mad and concerned. He went to Ryder and Katie as his mind wandered.
'You BOTH should be ashamed! I've had enough of this stupid squabbling!' Ned thought, his mind laser focused on what he had in mind
"Everything ok, Ned?" Ryder's voice must have startled him, cause Ned instantly looked up when hearing it.
"Ah! Not really, where's the sheet tent? And Marshall's water cannons?" Ned replied, his face giving off a 'I'm sick of this nonsense' expression.
Ryder's eyes cocked over to Katie's and vice versa, then both looked back to Ned.
"Alright, what's wrong, Ned?" Ryder asked, assuming there was something.
"Chase and Chester. But I can help. Where's the sheet tent and Marshall's pup pack?" Ned retorted, his expression softening a little.
"Oh no.. not again." Ryder sighed. "Have you tried talking to them? After they've had a chance to cool down."
"I will, but given the situation, they won't be calm anytime soon. Anyways, my question…" Ned answered.
Ryder and Katie exchanged another look.
"Ok.." Ryder said, rising from his chair. "We can try to find what you're looking for.. though I think Snowflake or Rocky took the tent with them. 'Stashed it in their vehicle for safe-keeping, I think."
"Pup treats! You're right. Hmmm. What about a big bed sheet?" Ned suggested.
"I think I can find one that Rocky's got stashed somewhere around here." Ryder said. "You sure you got everything under control? I mean these two are really close brothers.. no matter how hard they fight."
"Yes, I have it under control," Ned reassured the boy.
"Alright, then let's go." Ryder said, beginning to walk down the hall of racks past Ned, heading towards the elevator.
Reaching the end of the shelving, right before the elevator, Ryder turned right and led them to a small corner of the underground storage unit which bore a different design than the rest.
"So, what is this place?" Ned asked curiously.
"This is Rocky's corner." Ryder said, waving a hand to the small cluster of shelving units with pull-out drawers. "It's a place I set up for him to stash his stuff, when he finds things to recycle. It's how he keeps everything so organized, and accessible at all times."
"Sounds nice," Ned replied.
"Rocky sure thought so." Ryder smirked, exchanging his knowing smirk with Katie's. Turning to open a drawer, he sifted through the contents, then switched to a different drawer.. About three drawers later Ryder's "aha" made it through the silence, and he stood up holding the material in his free hand.
"This should be it." He said setting the folded up material before Ned.
Ned then picked up the folded material and put it on his back.
"Thanks," Ned said before going back to the elevator.
"So.." Ryder said, cocking his glance over to Katie then fully turning her way. "Wanna finish what we started?"
"Thought you'd never ask!" Katie smiled. Then returning to where they had been before Ned's arrival, they picked up the book they were looking through. And began to laugh at the memories of the younger versions of their pups, all bounding around the pages about the shenanigans of their youth, which the memories drew up once again. And they continued to finger through and point out particular moments and laughed some more.
xxxx
As they kept running, it got darker. Snowflake suddenly realized this after a while and whined.
"Rocky,.. PLEASE tell me we're getting closer to our vehicles! It's so dark!" Snowflake said in a concerned voice. She hated dark places she wasn't familiar with.
She soon hit a wall that turned out to be Rocky, who had suddenly halted mid-stride.
"Ya know.. we should've reached them by now.." The mixed breed ventured, a sneaking suspicion working it's way into him as he said this.
"You mean we're lost?!" Snowflake said, now starting to panic a little.
"Hoo!" came the sudden howl in the night.
"Ahhhhh!" Snowflake screamed as she jumped into Rocky, hugging him. She looked around, but saw nothing but an almost pitch black forest.
"Rockyyy! I'm scared! I don't like the dark! We need to get home!" Snowflake exclaimed in a shaky voice. Not only that, her body was starting to shake too. To say the husky pup wasn't having fun was an understatement.
Rocky cried out and jumped himself, with the sound of the night. And as soon as Snowflake had leapt onto him, he began to tremble with the embrace that vibrated against him.
"W..what are you talking about?.." the mixed breed stuttered. "W-we're not-ahh!" Another call cried out from the night sky, taking on a hoot of a yowl and it peeled interest away from the initial spook.
"Hoo-hoo-hoo!"
"What?" Rocky realized, as his fear began to melt away to confusion.
Up above them, likely in a tree, two golden eyes blinked; starting the tension of fear all over again. A fluttering sound brought the eyes floating down toward them, landing merely feet from where they stood hugging each other..
"Hoo-oo" the little voice came again.
"Hoo hoo!" A deeper sound of the same like came closer and soon another, much larger set of eyes came to land beside the first. They seemed to embrace because the eyes both closed affectionately, then looked back at the two pups.
Rocky and Snowflake, by now, we're shaking once again; waiting to see what was gonna happen next.
Suddenly, like a twist of fate, the clouds made a hole in themselves to let the moonlight through, long enough to light part of where they stood enough that the two sets of eyes became shapes which finally stepped into the light.
"Hoo hoo!" The little owl hooted.
"Little Hootie?!" The pups gasped.
"And momma Hootie, too." Rocky realized.
"Thank goodness! Moonlight, and a friendly sight!" Snowflake sighed with relief, as she stood up and looked at the two owls.
"So what are you guys doing here?" Rocky wondered. "Shouldn't you be cozied up in your nest right about now?"
"Depends. Some owls are nocturnal, some are awake during the day, others awake at dusk or dawn. So, it's different for many owls," Snowflake remarked.
"Oh, you're right." Rocky realized. "And usually these guys are asleep around now.."
"Hoo-hoo-hoo." Hootie beckoned, flapping up to gently peck at the tip of Rocky's ear.
"Ow! Hey!" The mixed breed protested, even as the owl flew off toward a split in the trees.
"Do you want us to follow you?" Snowflake asked kindly.
"Hoo hoo!" The little owl replied, nodding.
"Huh,.. I guess that's a yes." Rocky thought. "Come on!" Then racing after the two owls, the pups' fears slowly began to fade.
"I'll contact Ryder. He must be worried sick about us" Snowflake said, before pressing her pup tag.
"Hello? Ryder? Come in!" Snowflake called out into her tag.
xxxx
Ryder and Katie had just reached the top floor of the Lookout when his pup-pad rang. Seeing the icon displayed across it he only slightly rushed to answer it.
"Snowflake? Is that you?" He asked.
"Hello? Ryder? Are you there?" Snowflake asked through the pup pad.
"I can hear you loud and clear, Snowflake." Ryder said. "Go ahead."
"Rocky and I are still on Big View Trail. We are okay. Little Hootie and his mom found us and we are heading to our vehicles. We may be a bit late coming back though," Snowflake explained.
"I had the feeling you were held up for some reason." Ryder mentioned. "I was almost gonna call you,.. but I guess now I don't need to. Are you sure you don't need me to at least send Skye out?"
"No. Rocky and I are going to follow Little Hootie to our vehicles. If we need help, we'll let you know," Snowflake reassured him.
"Ok. Then I guess we'll see you when you get back.." Ryder said. "Drive careful!"
"We will. Tell the others we said hi," Snowflake replied, before hanging up.
"You don't know how happy that'll make Chase." Ryder said, then the call dropped, leaving Snowflake and Rocky to exchange quizzical looks.
"Okay…" Snowflake said, looking at Rocky. Then both pups turned and raced off at the beckoning calls of their nocturnal guides.
Here and back again!(Probably the simplest Author's note I've ever done, seeing as how I've got nothing to say as of right now. Lol XD) Enjoy! Thx!