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Chapter 9: The Darkest Day

424 miles outside of Jasper

Dawn greeted the lone omega in a rather unpleasant manner the next morning, for as his eyes opened, they did so with a violent quiver of his body, as the temperature had fallen substantially the previous night, strange given the time of year. This anomaly had in turn brought about a thin layer of fog which had deposited itself upon his back, soaking his entire body to the bone. He cursed and pressed himself up off of the wet ground, embittered, cold, and miserable. His ears and pads were numbed by the chill and his breaths shot from his mouth in short plumes of mist which danced skyward until they dissipated somewhere above his head. He felt off, almost dizzy, in fact; he was still sore from last night, but only slightly as the cold had at least helped to numb his aches, his sinuses were swollen and plugged, and he felt weak. How he hoped that he hadn't fallen ill overnight. That was the absolute last thing he needed right now.

He sat down onto his haunches and wrapped his tail tightly around his paws, then cursed, shivering violently as he tried so perilously to ward off the bitter wind with his fur.

With a quivering breath and chattering teeth, he slowly ran his eyes over his surroundings, finding the sun to be sitting low above the mountain range to the east, rising slowly into the sky, and still hovering everywhere only inches above the ground he saw a thin layer of fog which reflected brightly in the orange rays of the morning.

He knew that he needed to find a dry place fast, but that task would be extremely difficult with the fog, as he was certain that it had covered everything, leaving only more frigid moisture in every crack, every crevasse, and upon every rock, tree, and blade of grass. He cursed his luck, bitter about the weather, but he knew that sitting here moping about it would not help anything, so he decided to get a move on. He shook his fur dry of whatever moisture he could, leaving him still wet and cold, then pressed himself forward, grateful at least that his motions came easier to him on this day. Seeking to bask in a more positive outlook, he took this as a sign that maybe his fortunes were about to change and that maybe, just maybe, today would be a good day.

A&?

An impenetrable silence had befallen Jasper Park as the sun rose to meet it that morning. No birds sang its praises as it rose so gracefully into the sky, no rodents scurried across the ground or amidst the trees to greet its life-bringing light; there was nothing, only desolation, for on this morning, the park was hurt, devastated by death and haunted by the ominous shadow of war.

Amina did not sleep that night; in fact, nobody did, each for their own various reasons, but for Amina, her night was plagued by pain and by guilt. Never in her life had she lost a patient whose death she could have prevented and now that she had she held herself personally responsible.

She thought that maybe she could finally cry herself to sleep the previous night and find refuge in the realm of her dreams where all would be right, where her whole family stood waiting with bright smiles and warm embraces, but she could not find such an escape, nor, as she soon realized, did she want to, for she knew that if she were to find such a place, she would wish to stay there forever; then when the inevitable moment came when the world she longed for faded into the world she knew, she would wake up and realize that it was all a dream, cruel and wonderful, sent to further drive home the awful reality of the present situation into which she had been so helplessly thrown. She would not set herself up for such pain and disappointment and thus greeted the rays of the following day with wide, bloodshot eyes.

It was a serene feeling, knowing that there was absolutely no hope left, and that there was nothing left to hold on to, and strangely, she was not too upset about it. Maybe she was just too tired to care, or maybe she was just tired of trying, but either way it worked in her mind, she knew that the course of the war would be run and there would be nothing anybody could do to stop it.

Which is precisely why they had to leave. It was what was best for them, even if what was best was not what they wanted.

With a groan, she found the courage to press herself to her paws, then began to make her way to the front of the den, staggering drunkenly as she walked, but when she was just about to enter the world beyond its walls, she paused and turned behind her, regarding the shelf-like ledge on its left wall, for in her current state she had forgotten that there were just two things that she needed to get.

She approached the shelf and fastened around her neck her medical supplies, then took hold of the slab. For a moment she studied it then slid it into her bag to accompany her supplies then began to take her leave.

As she finally stepped forth into the sun, she paused, took a breath of collection, then began on her way.

A&?

Humphrey's paws were caked in frigid mud and water, and the farther he walked, the worse it seemed to get, for there was just no end in sight. The land here was incredibly flat with few hills to speak of and any that he could find were either too shallow or in a poor location, so there was not a single place where he could find suitable shelter from the elements. And to make matters worse, he was beginning to suffer greatly from hunger. Luckily he still had enough energy to move about and maybe hunt if he could, but he knew that his energy was steadily diminishing and if he didn't use it conservatively, it would be quickly depleted and he would then likely die. He could not allow that to happen.

He moved slowly, taking a moment to rest, to think, and to plan every ten minutes or so, but thus far he was making no progress.

It was all so monotonous around here, everything was so uniform, and the farther he moved away from the town, the worse it seemed to get, so, with his options now pretty much gone, he decided to take a rather drastic point of action; though it truly was the last thing he wanted to do, he knew that he would have to move closer.

A&?

There were thirteen gathered in the center of the park, six omegas, three pups, and four alphas, one of whom they knew to be the spearhead of the operation; with the addition of Amina, the healer, there would be fourteen. They did not speak amongst each other, for nobody had anything to say. After all, what more was there to be said that had not been said already?

So they all grouped together in the center of the park, but all remained distant of each other save the pups who remained pressed tightly to their mothers' legs.

Nobody knew what fate lay in store for them beyond the borders of their home, for Jasper was all they knew, and nobody had any idea as to where they would be going. A few theorized that they may head in the same direction as Lilly had when she fled the park yesterday and seek to find her, but others, for the thought had crossed their minds as well, knew that such a course of action would likely lead only to further unrest, as they doubted that she had any desire to see any of them at the moment.

Their ceaseless chain of thoughts was finally broken as Amina entered amongst them, but like all of the others, she had nothing to say.

With her eyes low, she moved between the bodies and came to rest before Eve, who greeted her only with a nod, which she returned then lowered her eyes.

"We're all here," she asked, moving her somber eyes over the solemn gathering before her.

There was no verbal reply, only a unanimous nod amongst them.

Eve replied with a nod of her own, then pointed her nose to the west.

"Let's move."

A&?

From the outcropping which lay just outside of the den, he could see everything: the hills, the trees, the blood which still stained the grass of the battlefield, and he could see them as they made their plans to depart.

He wondered exactly when he had allowed it all to go so wrong and how he had allowed things to get so bad, but he knew exactly why. She was right. All he was, was a pup, an immature, wrathful pup who accepted no blame for anything that had gone wrong, but over the course of the night he had done a lot of thinking, and he realized that his eyes had been shut pretty tight to not have ever seen this coming. One could say that he was a new man, reformed, broken down by the carnage he had created and reborn from the ashes, but others, still, could validly claim that he was still the same, at least by what he would show them, but inside, he knew that all he was, was a wolf with nothing left to do in this world but to seek penance for what he had done before he was taken from it by battle, as he knew he certainly would be.

He no longer blamed them for wanting to leave, and honestly now welcomed their departure, as he did not want them, Eve especially, to see what would happen, what he had planned, but he would never tell anybody this, nor would he seek pity from those beneath him. No.

He had to make everything right again, and there was only one way that he could do that- one way...

A&?

To his great delight, the fog finally began to dissipate as the sun slowly warmed the earth, but to his great dismay, he knew that the temperature would not likely climb much higher than it already had. On the bright side, though, at least his fur had finally dried, but his paws still felt as though they were frozen solid, as the warmth had done little to affect the dew point thus far.

He came to rest at the foot of the hill over which he knew laid the town and stared up at it apprehensively, trying to find the courage to go on.

He sighed and closed his eyes, reaching deep within himself in search of such valiance, but he just did not know if he could find it.

"You're nothing but a coward, you know?" a familiar female voice teased, causing Humphrey to open his eyes and turn behind him.

And there she was, standing before him now with a cruel and condescending smile spread thinly across her lips.

Her presence caused Humphrey to scowl and to emit a low growl which rumbled deep in the base of his throat.

"What are you doing here?" he asked bitterly, "shouldn't you be f***ing your new mate right now?"

This caused her to laugh.

"Oh believe me, we've done that already," she assured with an evil smirk, "he hurts me when we do it, but you know what?" She leaned in close. "I kinda like it," she whispered.

"Of course you do," he retorted abrasively, "I should have expected as such from you."

"Is that right?" she scoffed.

Humphrey nodded and his eyes narrowed.

"Yup. And you know I used to think that you were better than that, but oh well; a whore is a whore is a whore."

Her eyes narrowed as well.

"And cowardice has no cure," she replied.

"And what is that supposed to mean," he demanded.

She smirked.

"Well lets think about it this way," she began, circling him, "all you've ever done is run from your problems, just like you're doing now."

"Leave me alone," Humphrey demanded, turning away from her, but she followed, refusing to allow him to escape.

"You loved me, but I didn't love you, and you couldn't handle that, so rather than accepting things for what they were, you ran away in an attempt to escape it, but what good has that done you? You can't hunt, you can't fight, you're slowly starving to death, you fell out of the train, and now you can't even find a suitable place to stay." She laughed. "This whole ordeal has been almost like some sort of a bad joke."

Humphrey began to growl softly.

"You can't survive on your own, you know that, and you can't escape me, because like it or not I'm still a part of you, and like it or not, you still need me."

"That is where you would be wrong," Humphrey replied sternly, "I don't need you anymore; I don't need anybody. I chose this life, and this is the life I will lead. I will make it, I will survive, and I will be better off without you, now leave. me. alone!"

There was a brief moment of silence as she digressed.

"Suit yourself," she replied, "but don't say I didn't warn you."

Then just like that, she was gone, seemingly vanished into thin air.

Humphrey took a moment to look around, expecting a trick, but when he saw no signs of her, he lowered his guard and turned to regard the mountain yet again, only this time, he gazed upon it with eyes which burned with the fire of determination.

"I'll show you," he mumbled bitterly then took his first step toward ascension.

A&?

The group moved slowly toward their western border, each individual struggling to find the courage to go on, as they never thought that they would actually be forced to leave their homes. They all ambled along, their minds and their bodies weighed down significantly by the sheer gravity of everything that had happened. They knew not that their minds had wandered, that they moved mechanically now, for the monotony of the group's silent and somber trek had lulled them all into a hypnotic trance, and they knew not consciousness, but were oddly aware of the changes which occurred before them such as when Eve halted at the final scent mark which claimed the West as theirs. Like a light switch being flipped from the off position to the on, they all lifted their heads and eyes and looked slowly all around them, recognizing immediately where they were, and once said recognition was found, all eyes turned to Eve.

She stood silently before them, her back facing them so none could see the tears in her eyes, but she knew that she had to be strong to lead this escapade, so she stood firm, took a breath of collection, then continued on without a word or second glance.

The others in her company were hesitant, allowing her to move a whole fifteen feet before the first wolf found the courage to follow. She started off slowly, almost shuffling her paws at first, but her act of daring seemed to invoke bravery amongst the others, as, one by one, they began to follow her.

Six wolves crossed the border before Amina did, but she did so at a rate much slower than the others, for she realized that there was still something she needed to do. Three feet on the other side she stopped and turned to regard the West, catching the eyes of a male who walked behind her.

"Is everything alright?" he asked her softly, ready to offer comfort if need be.

Amina nodded.

"Tell Eve not to worry about me," she said to him, causing him to cock his head, "tell her that there was just one thing I had to do. I'm sure she will understand."

The male nodded.

"We'll leave a scent trail for you," he replied, causing Amina to smile softly.

"Thank you," she thanked then turned away.

"Good luck!" he called after her.

A&?

The town was much more lively in the light of day, as Humphrey could see from the crest of the hill. From his point of vantage, he could see the things that humans called automobiles rolling slowly down its streets or out onto the long roads which spanned on beyond the horizon to destinations unknown. He could also see the tiniest forms of humans as they roamed from building to building, partaking in whatever strange activities humans did. There were some out on the water in some sort of bizarre motorized water craft, doing what, he did not know, but at least they had not traveled close enough to cause concern. They stay on their side of the lake and he stays on his and all would be well. That was his theory and he was going to stick to that, at least until circumstances arise which would disprove his way of thinking.

But he did not wish to continue thinking in such a manner, so he brushed such thoughts away and replaced them with ones which were more productive.

The landscape on this side of the hill was quite similar to that which was on the other, but this one had many more rocks and nooks, under which he knew a den could be dug if he were to look hard enough, but he could not just jump straight into this, no; there was much to consider when searching for a suitable place to dig a den.

He knew that if he was going to make this alien land his new home, he needed to make sure that his den would last. It needed to be in a place where the bitter winter wind would not blow directly in upon him while he slept, while remaining open so that he did not scald during the day, but at the same time, it needed to be in a place where the rain could not reach him, as he had seen in the past dens get filled with water during a storm and he was not really up for drowning in his own home, so it needed to be elevated, or at least dug at an angle with the back higher than the front so as to allow drainage.

He took a moment longer to assay the land beneath him, as a birds eye view would help him substantially in getting a decent lay of the land, then began to make his descent, hoping that finally his fortunes were about to change.

A&?

"You know, I can remember the first time your mom and dad left you in my care," Amina began, tears stinging her eyes, "they said to me 'keep an eye on her, Amina, keep her safe.'"

She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"And I promised them that I would never let anything happen to you, and that I would always be there for you, but now it looks like I've gone and broken that promise and I'm sorry."

Her voice became choked in her throat as the tears began to flow.

"I'm sorry I keep letting you down."

She began to sob softly, lowering her head, but after about five seconds or so, she took in a deep breath and regained her composure, for even in her death, she did not like to cry around her granddaughter.

"I don't know how we ever let this get so bad out of hand," she began, "I never was an advocate of the Alpha Law, but your grandfather was so stubborn and he insisted that this was the way it would have to be." A pause. " And it all seemed to work so well that we eventually became blinded to the truths which were placed before our eyes. We failed to see what true pain this law caused, but you did. You knew that it was wrong and you spoke out." With watery eyes, she smiled. "And I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you for standing up for what you believe in."

She turned to her side and ran her eyes down to her medical bag, then produced the slate and studied it meticulously for a matter of about three minutes before she lowered it to the ground upon Kate's burial place.

"Do me a favor and keep this safe for me, will you?" she asked in a shaky voice, "I can't hold onto this any longer, your memory belongs to future generations now." She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Teach them the lessons we've learned now so that nobody else has to ever experience this again." She choked as she fought back her tears. "C-could you do that for me?"

There was no answer, only silence as absolute as the grave before which she stood, but she had expected this, as she knew Kate's spirit would remain no more on Earth, so in the silence she basked before speaking again.

"Thank you," she thanked softly, "for taking me on the adventure of being a grandmother. It really was the greatest experience and joy of my life to watch you and your sister grow up into the beautiful wolves you are, and I thank you for all of the love you shared for me." She paused for a moment. "I gotta go," she said almost in regret, "I love you, Kate."

With watery eyes, she bent down and softly kissed the slate, then slowly pulled back, and without so much as a second glance, she turned and walked slowly away.