"What's going on?" Winston asked as soon as he saw Curtis carrying Chiaki onto the property. "Is Chiaki alright?!"

"Too much. Our mate is unharmed." Curtis said quickly. "Have the others grab a few supplies, we have to get away from the city as quickly as possible. The top of the mountain is on fire, as is the inner ring of the city. The Ape King is gone."

They weren't the only ones fleeing the city. But no one was organized. Most were still in the city, trying to gather their families, find their mates, find their children, save their homes. They didn't know that it couldn't be saved, didn't know that the mountain they had built the city on was a volcano waiting to burst through the surface. Didn't know that this was only a tiny hiccup and the mountain hadn't even began its destruction.

Chiaki's family left it all behind. They gathered as much travel food as they could quickly, the small amount of pemmican they had made from hunting. That was it, wrapped in Chiaki's Winter clothes and stuffed into a lightweight basket with a bag of Spar. It was more than most would make it out with. Those who tried to take more, take everything, to wait and pack... So many would die. The families living in the outer circle had just a tiny amount of time, with no cracks in the earth forming under their feet. The rest of the circles quickly were ablaze. The inner circle, and anyone there were lost.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"SAVE HIM!" Rosa screamed as she pounded on Harvey's chest. "SAVE BART!"

The healer was already trying his best. Rosa's mate had protected her and their young sons from flying molten rock, shielding them with his body. His back was a mass of burns, the backs of his legs, ribbons of flesh.

"I am, I am!" Harvey said, as he wrapped medication against the males flesh with makeshift bandages. He'd cleaned them and removed as much damaged flesh as he could to give the wound the best chance of healing safely. But he had little supplies and even less time.

Somehow Rosa had gotten herself squeezed between the healer and Bart, tears wetting the chest of Harvey's clothing as she weakly pounded her hands over and over. She had a few angry looking red spots near her feet, dots from being singed in the eruption. Her pair of sons, the ones Bart has saved with her tried to comfort their mother, too young to understand what was happening. Her other mates were gone, so many of them had been in the inner circle of the city. "I can't loose him." She whimpered. "He's all I have left."

"You have your children." Harvey told her softly.

"My- my pups?" She sniffled. She'd lost nearly all of them too. Bart had saved her and two of her youngest... that was all of her family to survive. She uncurled from Harvey and hugged the tiny sons of Bart to her. Only two of them were left, from a litter of five. And Bart. Her only surviving mate. She had nothing else.

Harvey moved to the other hurt member of the group. "How are you holding up?"

The young wolf male, Shuu, a son of the Wolf King. His head was bandaged, hit by debris. And he had a broken arm. "Fine." He replied dejectedly. He was is shock from the events. Harvey had nothing more he could do for this one and moved on to the next.

Chiaki watched as Kimba limped a little as he walked, he'd tried to keep up with his fathers running through the forest and had caught a foot on a root. Just a small sprain, thankfully. It was the only injury her family had sustained in the past few hours.

Hours. Only a few hours had passed. They weren't nearly far enough from the black smoke billowing mountain. They had been forced to stop, females and children had to rest. Not enough males to carry them all. Many had lost everything. They were following the river downstream, heading towards the Rock Mountain Wolf Village. Chiaki had been there just before Winter, this was not how she wanted to see Huanhuan again.

They numbered less than one hundred. Five females, twenty-three children, and the assortment of males. Some, like Rosa, had lost nearly everything. Others, like Chiaki, had been saved the pain and heartbreak. Most though had suffered some loss to their families. One female was in bad condition, burned and saved by her nearly adult cub, he didn't know if the rest of their family had survived. The other two had lost a few mates and young. The rest of the group were bachelor males who had been able to leave the city quickly.

They had stopped for the females needed rest, the hurt needed care. For Harvey, who had been with the burned female and her son as they fled, to help people the best he could. At least half the group had some small injuries. Small burns, sprains like Kimba, or the mental pain of loosing a loved one. All would take time to heal. Bart and the burned female were the only two who were in danger, they needed to get them to a village where Harvey would have healing supplies and soon as possible.

Harvey came over to Chiaki. "Are you alright?" He asked softly, hand hovering over her slightly swollen belly. With the frayed nerves of all the males, he dared not touch any of the females. Only Rosa who had no one. He'd tended Rosa's small burns, but she had only hugged her children tighter to her.

Chiaki was the only pregnant female in the group, with most of the females still a season or so away from their fertile time of the year. "I'm holding up fine for the moment. No pain." She replied. Curtis had carried her away from the city, almost to the point of outpacing the rest of the males. In his snake form he moved the fasted out of them all. Panic allowed them to keep pace with him, and only Kimba's tumble had finally slowed them.

Eventually several groups had met up and now here they were.

They got moving again, slowly. Now with all the males helping, not just the mated ones, all the cubs could be carried. But with two members of the group in such bad condition, they had to move carefully. Carefully, but steadily. When they arrived at Rock Mountain Wolf Village, their group had grown by one more female's family and a few more young males. The people of the city had scattered in all directions, no one knew if any more would find their way to the wolf settlement.