Humphrey was not dead, but was very close to it. Upon hearing the news that his parents were dead, his weakened corazón began to give out. He couldn't think straight, his eyes started to get heavy, and soon enough, he blacked out.
Humphrey's thoughts swirled around in his head, small pieces of this great puzzle that they had been chasing lining themselves up, slowly mostrando the full truth of what exactly happened that fateful day.
The flashback began and Humphrey saw his parents, his brother, and his sister. He heard everything around him, the birds, the wind. He was reliving that día in his mind.
It was an early summer morning. The air was just beginning to get hot and Humphrey was fast asleep on his sister's sleeping body.
The bright light of the rising sun shone into the cave, waking Humphrey up. He stretched and then nudged Kenya, wanting her to get up too, so they could play.
"Kenya," he said. "Kenya, get up."
Kenya slowly rolled over and opened one eye to look at her brother.
"What do tu want, Humphrey?" she asked.
"Come on, get up so we can play," Humphrey urged.
Kenya slowly getting up and joining Humphrey as they walked outside their den. They didn't stray far outside as was rule made por their parents.
It wasn't long before the rest of the family was up. Humphrey's grandparents, who were the leaders of the pack, arrived at the guarida, den shortly after.
"Are tu ready, Adam?" their grandpa asked.
"Yes, grandpa," Adam replied. "What are tu guys gonna do while I'm at alpha school?"
"We were thinking of going on an early morning walk," Martha, their mother said.
"Mom," Humphrey complained. "Kenya and I were gonna go over and play with Steven."
"It won't take long Humphrey," their dad, Gary, said. "We'll be back before tu know it. Besides, we might find a colina and I can teach tu how to logboard."
"Gary," Martha said.
"It'll be fun."
"Fun? Remember what happened last time tu tried teaching Humphrey to logboard?"
"That was a few months ago."
Martha gave her husband a dirty look.
"The oso, oso de started it."
"Gary, it's not safe. And I don't like it."
"You wouldn't."
"My parents would never let me do anything like that. That"s why they're training Adam."
"Well, have fun," Adam dicho as he followed his grandparents.
Humphrey and Kenya followed their parents to the edge of the pack territory, which was dangerously close to a nearby human settlement, however they wouldn't discover that until it was far too late.
They walked past the borders, through the woods with the cool wind blowing through the treetops above them. They walked at a slow pace, looking around and admiring the nature around them. They had gone no más than a mile when they reached a small clearing and decided to rest there, and then afterwards turn and go home.
Just when they were about to turn back towards the pack, Gary caught an unsettling scent in the air, carried por the wind. It was the scent of humans, though he didn't know it simply because he had never smelled one before. But he did know that something bad was about to happen, but before he could react, he and Martha suddenly felt a sharp pain in their necks and soon after, passed out.
The humans then moved to Humphrey and Kenya, who were backed up against a tree.
"Dad!" Humphrey shouted. "Help!"
One of the humans reached down and picked up Kenya who was screaming out for help. While his friend put Kenya into a cage in the back of their truck, the other human reached down for Humphrey who bit him on the hand.
The man jerked his hand back for a moment, and then quickly reached back down and succeeded in picking Humphrey up. Humphrey struggled in the man's tight grip, trying to get free but to no avail.
"Mom! Dad!" he called out. "Don't let them take me!"
He was forced into a cage like his sister, and then the humans got inside the truck and drove away. Humphrey's parents woke up just in time to see the truck driving off and began following it, but they couldn't keep up and soon the truck disappeared out of sight.
Inside his cage, Humphrey was terrified and he didn't know what to do. Suddenly, there was a large bump as the truck drove over a large rock and Humphrey's cage fell out of the back of the pickup. It hit the ground hard, and then rolled a few times, throwing him around the inside until it hit a tree, knocking him unconscious.
He woke up a día o two later in the middle of the night. The cage door had been pushed in, but in doing so, the locking mechanism had been destroyed making it easy for him to nudge the door open.
Once he was out of the cage, Humphrey felt cold, hungry, injured, but most of all, helpless and alone. He spent the night under the tree, deciding that in the morning, he would have to venture off into the woods and try to survive on his own.
Dawn woke him and as he got up, he felt más hurt than the night before. He slowly got up, grimacing in pain, and headed off into the forest. As the día wore on, he found comida in the form of some wild berries. Granted, they didn't taste very good and he didn't keep them down for very long, but it was something.
The siguiente día went for o less the same way. Dawn woke him, he moved through the forest, and at the end of the day, feasted on some berries. As the days turned into weeks, the berries became much más tolerable and his stomach had a much easier time keeping them down. What little injuries he had, healed quickly and he was doing fairly well on his own, until one night about a mes later.
The día went fairly well, but that night, a large thunderstorm moved in. The downpour was torrential and Humphrey could barely see the woods in front of him. Suddenly, there was bolt of lightning that struck a árbol that he was passing and within moments, it fell on his tail, crushing it and pinning him to the ground.
The pain was so terrible that he didn't even have the strength to try and free himself. So there he lay, with the rain drenching his grey pelaje, piel coat, all night and into the siguiente day.
Humphrey was beginning to lose hope when he heard someone running through the forest. As whoever it was, emerged from the trees, Humphrey could see that it was another lobo pup, about a año o two older than him, moving amongst the trees.
"Hey!" Humphrey called out.
The pup stopped and looked over at him, then ran over to where he was pinned beneath the tree.
"Are tu okay?" the pup asked.
"Can't say that I am," Humphrey replied. "I am actually in a staggering amount of pain."
"Who are you?" the pup asked.
"Humphrey," Humphrey said. "Who are you?"
"I'm Kyle," Kyle answered.
"Where's your pack?" Humphrey asked.
"Not too far into the forest," Kyle answered. "My dad's the leader."
"Can tu go get him to help me?"
"Sure. I'll be right back."
Kyle ran off back into the woods, leaving Humphrey to wait for his new friend to return with help. It wasn't long before he returned his father and three other alphas.
They swiftly formulated a plan to free him and soon put it into action. Two of the alphas got on one side of the árbol and the other two got on the other side. Then, they simultaneously lifted and they were able to hold it up just long enough for Kyle to grab Humphrey and pull him out.
Once Humphrey was out from underneath the tree, they could see that he was más injured than they originally thought. His tail was crushed and bleeding and he couldn't mover it. He was so weak, he could barely even stand up. Kyle's dad, Owen, spoke with the other alphas and they eventually decided to take him into their pack and raise him back to health.
They slowly carried Humphrey back to their pack and for the siguiente year, he lived and played among them as if he had lived there his whole life. He became so comfortable, that he had all but forgotten about his parents o anything else that had happened that day.
One morning, he went outside the territory, to the large colina near the tree. The colina was clear of trees, but Humphrey found half a rotten log and pushed it up the hill. Once he was at the top, he hopped in and started riding it down the hill. Once he was at the bottom, he pushed it back up, and then rode it down the colina again. He continued this routine for a few hours.
When he went down for what he decided to be the last time, he saw Kyle coming out of the forest. But it was too late. Humphrey had already reached the bottom and Kyle couldn't get out of the way in time. The log hit Kyle with full force, and then ran into a tree. Humphrey leaped from the log before it crashed into the árbol and as he landed on the ground, he heard Kyle screaming in pain.
Owen came running through the forest moments later. Everything was explained to him and he immediately banished Humphrey from the pack.
Humphrey had no choice but to turn and walk up the colina with his tail between his legs as Owen helped his injured son back home.
The rest of that day, Humphrey slowly moved through the woods, ashamed of his foolishness. After he was over the hill, the forest continued on. He spent the night out in the open, cold, hungry, and wanting to go back to his own pack. Only problem was, he didn't know where that was.
He woke the siguiente día to a cold morning mist. Humphrey got up and began walking through the woods. It wasn't long before he saw two figures through the trees, but they were obscured por the mist.
"Hey!" one of the figures called out. "Who's there?"
Humphrey was so excited to see another lobo after what happened the día before. He ran up to the two lobos who looked very surprised to see such a young pup out on his own.
They took him to their pack leader, Winston. Humphrey stood inside the guarida, den while Winston talked to Cando and Hutch, the two lobos that found him. While they were talking, a young, female alpha pup, about the same age as Humphrey, came out from behind Winston.
"What's going on, Dad?" she asked.
Humphrey looked over at her and immediately, he fell in love.
Winston turned to his daughter, Kate.
"Pack business, that's all. You'll know when you're older," he said. "Now go back to your mother."
Winston and the others continued to talk for several minutos and eventually decided to leave Humphrey with Winston and the siguiente day, Humphrey was excepted into the pack.
Over the years, he got to know Kate más and they became good friends very quickly. He also formed an omega group with a few other lobo pups he had befriended, Salty, Mooch, and Shakey.
As the years continued to progress, Humphrey grew into a strong, if a bit rebellious, omega. Him and Kate got married after working together to get back to Jasper after they were taken to Idaho por humans. A few years later they had pups and adventure after adventure followed them everywhere they went, until one Father's día that changed everything.
Humphrey slowly opened his eyes as his flashback ended and he regained consciousness. He woke to find his side soaking wet and he soon realized that Kate had been crying and she was still laying down siguiente to him.
He slowly sat up, startling her and everyone that was there.
"Humphrey?" Kate slowly said.
"Kate?"
"Humphrey!" Kate shouted, overjoyed that he was still alive. She was so happy that she jumped up onto him.
"Ow! Ouch!"
"Oh, right," Kate said, smiling. "Sorry."
Humphrey looked at her, and then at everyone else.
"What?" Kate asked. "What is it?"
"I remember what happened. I remember what happened the día we lost our parents."
Meanwhile, they had sent Marcel and Paddy ahead to return to Jasper and let the pack know they were alright. But when they arrived they found complete chaos. Jasper Park was under attack. The Rouge lobos had returned. And they had returned with a vengeance.
