Chapter 7: Return to Sawtooth Cave

As the majority of the Crimson Pack rushed off to fight the main attack force, the lobos guarding Oscar were easily dealt with. Stinky, Runt, and Oscar then turned and retreated back toward the Western Pack as the battle continued on.

Stinky, Runt, and Oscar relaxed in the pack for around a half hora until the rest of the pack returned. The Crimson Pack had been chased off, but everyone knew they would be back.

“Okay,” Stinky dicho to Oscar. “We have got to find tu a place to hide out. We cannot keep going back and forth like this, and we can’t find a way to defeat the Crimson Pack if we’re always back on our heels playing defense protecting you.”

“You’re right,” Claudette replied. “But where could he hide?”

“Shadow Forest,” Runt dicho after thinking for a moment. “Everyone still thinks that place is haunted. He can hide up in Sawtooth Cave.”

"Okay, Runt, tu and Martin take Oscar to Shadow Forest," Stinky said. "The rest of us will stay here and clean up. This last attack made quite a mess."

Runt, Martin, and Oscar left for Shadow Forest while the rest of the pack began to clean up the sticks and branches that were strewn around the valley. Some time passed when a commotion was heard down below. Stinky rushed to see what was going on and was surprised to see Steven and Mick in a heated argument, which looked like it was about to get physical any second.

Stinky ran down into the valley and got in between the two of them.

“Hey, hey! Stop it!” he yelled.

Steven and Mick backed away from each other.

“What’s going on?” Stinky asked.

“I was minding my own business,” Mick began. “When this punk started yelling at me for no reason.”

“Oh, come on!” Steven exclaimed. “You pushed me. When have I ever started a fight just for the sake of starting a fight?”

Stinky and Mick gave him a dirty look.

“Let me rephrase that-“

“Steven,” Stinky said. “Can I have a word with you?”

“Fine.”

The two walked away toward the edge of the valley and stopped.

“Okay, what’s going on with you?” Stinky asked.

“I’m sorry, Stinky,” Steven said. “I’m still a little shook up about what almost happened to Luke.”

“It’s okay,” Stinky replied. “Almost losing someone close to tu can be hard. Actually losing them is even worse.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Steven dicho solemnly.

“What matters is that we stay strong for those who aren’t here to do it for us,” Stinky said, reassuringly. “You need to be strong for Luke so that we can defeat the Crimson Pack and he can grow up in a safer forest.”

“Thanks, Stinky,” Steven said. “I really needed that.”

“Sure thing,” Stinky replied.

Meanwhile, Oscar, Runt, and Martin had nearly reached Sawtooth Cave. The air around them was cool, but not too cool. Evening was almost over, and night was approaching.

The three lobos were walking along at a leisurely pace when Runt began to speak.

“Oscar,” he said. “If tu don’t mind me asking,” he paused. “What happened to your pack?”

Oscar’s face turned solemn for a moment before he began answering Runt’s question.

“It’s okay, Runt. It helps to talk about it. It was around five years ago. Red lobos were already at a huge risk of going extinct and my pack was one of the last ones left. We lived in a large area quite far from here, outside of Jasper Park. I was a young, impulsive adult with a good group of friends and a small family; my mate, Jessica, and our ten-year-old pup, Ethan. Then everything changed.”

“One day, a human came to the pack. He was maybe in his early 60’s, but he was fit and strong. He had short, dark grey hair on his head and face. He also had brown eyes and a scar in the shape of a claw mark on the left side of his face, one of the scars going across his eye and he wore a vest made of lobo pelts.”

“He started tearing through our pack, killing everyone, one por one. I tried to get Jessica and Ethan to safety, but we got separated in the chaos. I hid in the nearby bushes and waited for him to leave. Once he did, I slowly walked back out into the pack and searched for Jessica and Ethan, and I eventually found their bodies.”

“I left soon after and wandered the forest, trying to get as far away as I could. I found myself in Jasper and decided to rest when I was attacked and captured por the Crimson Pack. And then I was rescued por you.”

“I’m so sorry,” Runt said.

“This human tu spoke of,” Martin chimed in. “You dicho he single-handedly killed your entire pack?”

“Yes,” Oscar replied.

“Runt,” Martin said. “The Crimson Pack dicho they served “The Wolfslayer”. That’s not a name tu give any old hunter. And the way Oscar described this human; what if they’re the same person?”

“You may be onto something,” Runt replied. “I’m beginning to think we’re getting involved in something too big for us to handle. And I’ve got a bad feeling that the Crimson Pack is only the beginning of it.”

Upon their return to Sawtooth Cave, the trio climbed into the once haunted cave and prepared to go to sleep, but with The Wolfslayer on their minds, it would prove very difficult to get any kind of rest that night.