Chapter 5: Family Matters
Humphrey woke to the bright sunlight streaming in through the entrance of the den. He opened his eyes, but squinted as the sun was in the line of his sight. Humphrey yawned and slowly got up and stretched. A shadow passed over the cave as something blocked out the light of the sun.
Owen entered the cave and approached Humphrey.
"Sleep well?" he asked.
"I've had better nights," Humphrey replied.
"Come to me once everyone else is up." After saying this, Owen turned and left the cave.
Not too long after, Kate began to wake up, and it wasn't long before the others were up, too. Humphrey led them outside where Owen was waiting.
"Come with me," he said. "We have a lot to talk about."
Owen led them into his tanière, den and they all sat down and Owen began telling them about Humphrey's time in his pack.
"It happened many years ago, when I was much younger, and my son, Kyle was just a pup," he said. "There was a terrible storm one night and the suivant day, Kyle wanted go out and see the damage because he heard a large crash of thunder just outside the territory. So, I let him. Not ten minutes later he came back, saying that there was a loup pup stuck underneath a tree. So, I gathered three of our strongest alphas and followed him into the woods. When we got past the arbre line, sure enough, we saw a young pup with his tail pinned underneath a arbre that had fallen during the storm."
"We quickly came up with a plan to free toi from the tree. All four alphas would lift one side of the arbre while Kyle pushed a rock underneath to hommage it up just long enough for him to pull toi out. Once toi were free, we could see that toi were seriously injured. So we took toi back to the pack and raised toi back to health. toi lived peacefully here for a an ou two. That's when toi started getting mischievous."
"One day, toi were out on your own beyond the territory. Kyle stayed behind for alpha school. It was about mid-day when I told him to go and get you-"
"That was the biggest mistake I ever made."
Everyone turned their heads to see another loup standing in the entrance way of the den. Kyle was much younger than his father and had bright tan, almost yellow fur. But the thing that was most noticeable was that his back-left leg was deformed, as if the leg was broken, then re-healed in an irregular position.
"Dad sent me to go and find you," Kyle said. "I went past the arbre line and stood at the bottom of the colline looking around for you. Then I heard a noise coming from the hill. I looked up and saw toi sliding down the colline in a log. toi were already almost at the bottom and I couldn't get out of the way. toi hit me with so much force that my leg was broken and then toi jumped out of the log before it hit a nearby tree. It wasn't long after, that we banished you. Thankfully, once my leg healed, I was actually faster than before. Hunts are much easier for me than for anyone else."
"So," Owen said. "Why are toi here?"
"I'm looking for my parents," Humphrey replied.
"Your parents?" Owen a dit in surprise. "Humphrey your parents are dead."
"Do toi really know that?" Kate asked.
"No," Owen replied. "But it's best if toi just accept it and go home."
"I'm going anyway," Humphrey said. "I set out to find my parents and that's exactly what I'm going to do. No matter what, I'm going to find them."
"Fine," Owen gave in. "We'll send toi with some of Kyle's hunt. You'll need it. But just know that you've sealed your fate and the fate of everyone with you."
"Your concern is touching, but I've got a family to find." Humphrey said.
As the morning came to an end, Humphrey and the group set out from the pack with Marcel and Paddy carrying the rations in their golf bag.
They traveled for a few days with Stinky leading the way and they soon ran low on food. One day, Stinky gave some alarming news.
"I smell humans."
A feeling of worry passed over the whole group as they'd all had their share of unpleasant experiences with humans.
"How far, Stinky?" Kate asked.
"There's a whole town not too far down that colline over there," he replied.
"Okay, let's find another way around," Garth said.
"Wait a second," Humphrey said.
"What is it now?" Kate asked him.
"I smell something. Something I haven't smelled in years. Not since-" he stops, and his eyes suddenly shot wide open and Kate noticed this immediately.
"Humphrey," she said. "Please don't do this again."
But it was already too late. Humphrey ran down the colline towards the town.
"Not again," Marcel said. The group hurried to catch up to him as the sun set.
Humphrey stopped at a chain-link fence around a small backyard. There was a small dog house in the corner with a name plate above the doorway that read, "Lizzy".
Kate came running up behind him. "Humphrey, it's not sûr, sans danger to be out in the open like this," she urged.
"Yes, Kate," he said. "I remember what happened last time."
"Then toi know that we can't stay here, Humphrey."
"Humphrey?" a dit a voice from the other side of the fence.
Everyone stopped and looked at the dog house as a dog slowly emerged from the entrance. She was a bit smaller than Humphrey and she had both purple fourrure and eyes. She was wearing a collier with a chain attached to it. The chain was no doubt tied to a stake inside the dog house, as she couldn't reach the fence.
"Wait a second," Humphrey said, approaching the fence and looking at the purple dog. She looked almost nothing like a dog, resembling a loup plus than a dog.
"I know you," he said. There was silence as Humphrey racked his mind, trying to remember who this was. Then it hit him.
"You're my sister," he said.
"Humphrey? Is it really you?" the dog said.
"Yes, Kenya. It's me. I'm here," Humphrey said, his voice quivering.
The group stood in amazement, not believing what they just heard.
"I thought I Lost you," Humphrey said. "What happened?"
"What happened?" Kenya asked. "After we Lost our parents they took me to this town where I was put in another cage. And then a few days later a human came in took me here. He calls me Lizzy, but I don't know why."
"Are toi okay?" Humphrey asked.
"I'm fine. It's an okay life. He's constantly telling me what to do and giving me this cheap excuse for food. Humphrey, I want to come with you. Can toi help me?"
"Of course," Humphrey said. "Marcel, Paddy. See if toi can get her free."
"We're on it," they replied.
The two flew over the fence and landed in the yard. They went into the dog house and before long, the stake was out.
"Now we just need to get toi on the other side of that fence," Humphrey said.
He looked around, looking for something to use to get Kenya out. Then he saw the perfect tool. He turned back to Kenya.
"I have an idea," he said. "You might want to get out of the way." Then he thought of something. "Actually, toi know what?" he said. "Go into your house thingy."
"You mean my dog house?" Kenya said.
"Um, yeah, we'll go with that," he said, then ran back up the hill.
Once he was at the top, he yelled down to the others to get out of the way. He ran over to half of a hollowed out log and pushed it down. Then he got in and rode it down the colline towards the fence. Humphrey jumped out in time before it crashed through the chain link fence into the backyard.
Kenya looked out the dog house and seeing the logboard, she turned to Humphrey.
"I should have figured you'd do something like that," she said.
"Really?" Humphrey said. "How'd toi know?"
"Humphrey," Kenya said. "You're Dad's son."
"Fair point," Humphrey agreed.
Suddenly, a light turned on inside the house as the owner was coming outside to investigate the noise.
"Come on, let's go," Humphrey said, and they ran off into the woods. As they got out of view of the lights of the town, Humphrey couldn't have been happier to have his sister back.
Special thanks to:
Ben15delas for the character of Humphrey's sister.
