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Chapter 9: Public Enemy #2.

The wolf in the mouth of the den scoffed out a laugh and shook his head.

"Now is that any way to greet a guest, runt?" he asked sarcastically.

Humphrey scowled.

"What are you doing here?" he asked dryly as he watched the wolf with scrupulous eyes.

"You should know that already," the wolf replied venomously, showing his fangs, "you and I have got a little unfinished business to attend to."

Humphrey felt his heart rate spike when he heard these words and felt as though an invisible hand was squeezing his lungs, as he knew what it was that this guy wanted, but he was afraid of the consequences that would follow. Maybe he could talk his way out of this.

"Please," Humphrey implored, trying his best to remain calm, "it doesn't have to be this way."

"Oh but it does," the wolf seethed, as he stepped further into the den, "for you see, I'll not stand quietly by when I've been humiliated, especially not when it is by the likes of you."

Humphrey's body tensed and his paws began to tremble.

"Listen, Gauge," Humphrey began again, "I don't want to hurt you. Please-"

Gauge interrupted him with a sarcastic scoff.

"Please," he mocked, "you think that I'm afraid of you? You may have fooled everybody else with that little stunt of yours, but not me. You're just a pathetic omega, and pretty soon, if we're all very lucky, you won't be around to defecate on the alpha name again."

Without warning, Gauge leaped onto Humphrey with a vengeance, and ripped savagely at his flesh with his claws and tore him apart with his fangs.

Humphrey yelped in pain and tried to push his assailant away, but Gauge was too heavy, too strong, and too angry.

Gauge ripped and tore and beat him worse than he had ever been beaten before, but still Humphrey did not fight back, because he couldn't.

"Come on, tough guy," Gauge teased as he slapped Humphrey hard across the face, "get up and fight back."

Humphrey only lied on the ground and balled himself up tightly to protect his body from the relentless blows which Gauge rained so mercilessly down upon him, praying that this would end soon.

A&?

Lilly lied curled up in a tight ball, her tail wrapped about her paws and draped over her muzzle, and lying directly behind her, pressed tightly against her back, was Garth, who held her close to his stomach with his paws. Both of them shared bright smiles for, even though their bodies were asleep, their spirits were awake and alive, free to dance together in the realm of their dreams.

Their marriage was now complete, their relationship finally consummated by the most sacred and intimate display of love. From now and forever after, they would be one.

A&?

Finally Gauge withheld his paws and the blows ceased to fall, but Humphrey was by now in no state to be thankful, as he had long since lost consciousness. He lied limp on the floor of the den, pitched over on his side, bruised and bleeding from the many gashes which riddled his body. His eyes and face were swollen with baseball sized welts, his lips were split and bleeding, and at one point before he had lost consciousness, he had bitten a chunk out of the side of his tongue with one of his canines.

Gauge took a step back to admire his work, then smiled when took into full account the omega's condition.

"Let this be a warning to you, runt," he seethed between pants then began to take his leave, but as he passed, he stopped, and stomped his head one last time, "next time you will not be so lucky as to live."

With that said, he spat on him, then continued on his way.

Like a thief in the night he had come and gone; nobody had seen him come in and nobody would see him vanish into the shadows from which he had come. He took what he needed then disappeared into the veil of darkness like a spirit of the Damned, leaving in his wake only one witness, and one victim.

A&?

"So we've all come to an agreement?" Winston asked as he slowly ran his eyes over the other alphas before him.

Those who were reluctant before were still slightly hesitant, but they could not disagree with their leader's plan, as in theory it worked. Isolate the omega's training and terminate him if things go wrong. He would not pose a danger to the students, and if things got out of hand they would not have to deal with it. There really was no way that this could go wrong, so nobody offered objections.

"Then it's settled," Winston concluded in their silence, "everyone return to your dens and continue training as scheduled tomorrow morning."

There was a unanimous nod from the group then one by one they dispersed, heading to relatively the same place, but remaining distant of each other, as none of them really had anything to say.

Winston watched them disappear into the black cloak of the night then rose to his paws and began to make for his den. Many conflicting thoughts weighed heavily upon his mind as he ventured homeward, all of which revolved around the omega.

He did not trust Humphrey entirely, but at the same time, he trusted Kate's sense of judgement, and he did not want to kill Humphrey because he was now a part of the family, but if it came to it, he would do anything to protect his daughter from harm. He knew that the training must be completed so as to give to Kate the right with which she was born, but at the same time he feared what consequences the training would hold; after all, if he was as tough an adversary as he was now without any training, there was no telling just how powerful he would be once his training was complete. If something were to go wrong, would he even be able to contain him, or would they be at the absolute mercy of his wrath and have to pray that they were lucky enough to be spared of the bloodbath that would ensue?

He sighed deeply and allowed his thoughts to be subdued to digression, as wrestling with his thoughts was a rather exhausting task, and he flattened his ears against the top of his skull, far too tired to have to contemplate such stressful matters at present.

So he allowed the tranquil whisper of the night to carry him the rest of the way to his den, but as he approached, he felt a sort of disturbance in the air and a strange sense of uneasiness crept slowly over him, causing the fur on his back to bristle involuntarily. Something was wrong, and if it had anything to do with Humphrey, he knew it would not be good; and to make matters worse, he had left him alone with Kate.

Throwing all caution to the wind through fear for the safety of his daughter, he rushed into the den, but as he entered, he was tripped and sent toppling to the ground. Quickly, though, he was up on his paws and whipped around to face the adversary which had knocked him off of his feet, but was quite surprised with what he saw, as it deviated severely from his previous expectations.

Humphrey lied on the floor close to the entrance, badly beaten, but thankfully still alive, as his chest could be seen rising and falling slowly with each frail breath he took. And even stranger, was the absence of Kate.

However, Winston would not have to make deductions of his own for much longer, as the sudden disturbance of being tripped over seemed to bring the omega back to life. There was a soft groan and a subtle jerk of his body as it slowly began to reboot itself, but Winston wasn't going to wait. In a flash he was beside Humphrey, but not to comfort him or offer assistance, no; his mission revolved more so around interrogation.

He sat down, took Humphrey's shoulders into his paws, and pulled him in close, almost pressing his nose into his.

"What happened here?" he demanded, shaking him violently, "where is Kate? Speak!"

"I- I-" he stammered weakly, his head hanging limply before him.

"Where is she!" Winston charged, as he used one of his paws to jerk Humphrey's head up.

"Dad?" a voice called cautiously from the mouth of the den, which drew his attention to its source, "dad what's going on? What are you doing?"

"Kate!" he cried in relief and slowly lowered Humphrey to the ground then pushed himself to his feet.

"Dad what did you do?" Kate demanded sharply as she brushed roughly past him and moved quickly to Humphrey's side.

"Kate it's not what it looks like," he replied evenly as he moved in beside her, "I found him like this, and when I found that you weren't here, I assumed the worst."

She disregarded his words for the moment and focused all of her attention on her afflicted mate.

"Humphrey," she called as she gently ran her paw over his head, but he was unresponsive to his name

"Humphrey," she called again, "look at me," but again the results were the same, almost as though he didn't even know his own name or where he was.

She blinked away a veil of tears and began to study him deeply, noting how he lied half awake on the ground, but at the same time remained completely unaware of being so, and when she took into full account the severity of the damage which had been done to his head, she began to grow deeply concerned.

"Dad, we need help right now," she said to him desperately.

Without a word, Winston turned and rushed out of the den, heading quickly for the class healer's den and leaving the two of them alone.

"Humphrey, please," Kate implored, as he slowly lost consciousness again, "you've gotta snap out of it. Please Humphrey!"

But he did not reply, only continued to lay upon the ground, alive, but seemingly dead in his brain.

"Come on, Humphrey, you can't do this," she pleaded, "you've gotta wake up."

It was at this point that Winston returned with Mary, the class healer, and nearly everybody else in the camp, as the commotion Winston caused as he hied to her den had caused quite a stir in their curiosity, for, in lee of everything that happened already today, what could possibly be going on now?

Kate turned to Mary with watery, desperate eyes.

"Please, you have to help him," she begged.

Mary moved quickly to his side as Kate backed away to give her some room to work, then began to work over him She could tell just by his appearance and his labored breathing that he was severely damaged, but she would not know the extent of hi injuries until she checked his vitals, his wounds, and his reflexes. However, this task proved more difficult than she had initially anticipated, as his reflexes were nonexistent and his vitals were faint and nearly so, but he was still alive, so that was at least something.

However, she was still troubled deeply by his lack of responsiveness, but she wasn't going to make any verdicts until she knew for sure what she was dealing with.

It wasn't long, though, until she noticed the severe damage which had been done to his head, and it was at this point that she knew what was wrong.

She shook her head slowly from side to side and turned to Kate.

"You'd better go," she said to her softly, "I need to speak with your father alone."

"I'm not going anywhere," she argued, refusing to take another step, "tell me what is wrong with my husband!"

Mary sighed and lowered her head then lifted it to meet Kate's eyes.

"He is suffering from severe brain damage," Mary replied, straining to speak as such words were torture as they passed over her tongue, "if he doesn't succumb to his injuries, he'll likely slip into a coma, one of which will most likely be permanent."

The news hit Kate like a ton of bricks and caused her heart to fall right out of her chest.

"No... you're lying," Kate accused as tears began to well up in her eyes, "don't say that to me!"

"I'm sorry, Kate," Mary said morosely, "I wish I was."

Tears began to stream like two rivers through the fur on her cheeks and she began to shake.

"Which one of you sick bastards did this to him!" she screamed to those who had gathered, "huh? Who!"

The sudden outburst caused the group to take a step back, but they otherwise remained silent.

She growled and began to approach them, bent upon tearing them apart one by one until she found the one responsible for her husband's condition, but Winston intercepted her.

"Move!" Kate snarled as she tried to force her way past him, but he held her firm.

"Listen Kate," he demanded sternly, "I'm sorry about this, but losing your head won't make Humphrey better. We will get to the bottom of this, but you've gotta give it time."

Kate tried to push past him again, but was steadily beginning to lose her will to fight, and after about another minute of trying to push past her father, she collapsed onto her haunches and began to sob hysterically.

Winston stepped up to her at this point and pulled her in close to his body to provide comfort for her and she buried her head into his shoulder.

"Shh, Kate," he crooned as he gently stroked the back of her head, "it'll be okay."

Kate choked on her tears and nuzzled her head deeper into his shoulder, continuing to cry, calling Humphrey's name softly into her father's fur, hoping that somehow, some way, he would hear her and come back to her.

A&?

Humphrey walked alone through the wilderness, lost, confused, and afraid. He had not a clue where he was, how he had gotten here, or why he had come in the first place, but he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of familiarity with the ghostly silhouettes of the trees which hid beneath the eerie cloak of fog around him; he just couldn't quite put a paw on why, as he was certain he had never seen this place before.

In a futile attempt to locate himself, or at least navigate so that he could, he looked skyward in search of aid from the sun, but all he could see was more fog; in fact, there was not even the distorted, yellow apparition which he was used to seeing in conditions such as this, which gave the appearance that there was no sun at all, but that was not possible. How could there be light if there was no sun?

He had no further time to contemplate such an anomaly, for from somewhere among the mist, he heard a soft cry.

The cry startled Humphrey at first, as he had expected himself to be alone, and felt his heart rate begin to spike.

"Hello?" he called nervously as he strained to peer through the fog, "is somebody there?"

But there was no reply, only more cries.

This disturbed Humphrey slightly, as he had always feared the things he could not see, but his curiosity drove him to search, as he knew that there was clearly somebody else here and it sounded like they needed his help.

He attempted to pinpoint the direction from which the cries came, but it was impossible to do so with the fog, as it seemed to make the sound come from all around him.

"Where are you?" Humphrey called again, but only received more crying in response, "I can help you, but you have to tell me where you are."

There was a rustle to his right, which caused him to jump, and the cry grew louder for only a brief moment before it faded again.

Humphrey froze to the spot and stared at the place from which he was certain the sound had come, but after a moment, he regained control of himself and turned to his right then continued on, slowly, searching for the owner of such distraught sobbing, but with the fog he could hardly see three feet in front of his nose.

A twig snapped from somewhere to his left, causing him to gasp slightly and whip around in that direction in case the other inhabitant meant him harm, but again he saw nothing, only heard further rustling as it moved through the woods under the cover of the fog.

Humphrey swallowed hard and took in a quivering breath then continued onward, moving at a slightly faster pace.

Then suddenly out of the fog he could begin to see something take shape, but he could not quite identify what it was. He drew closer, though slowly, and watched with undivided attention as more and more of it began to form before his eyes.

To him it looked like a hill, a short, wide hill with a tree on top of it which leaned over slightly at an angle with bare, drooping branches which hung low to the ground like a thousand fingers.

It was slightly haunting, seeing this large, dead tree before him, but it looked as though beneath it, carved from where some of its roots were once buried, was a den inside of which he could seek refuge until the fog dissipated.

He approached it cautiously, keeping in mind the strange noises that he had heard earlier, for he did not wish to intrude upon whatever strange thing lived here just in case it was hostile, but at the same time he moved with a bit of spryness in his step because of this as well, for he would desperately like a place where he could hide from it.

Then suddenly as he drew near, the sobbing ceased and all fell silent, almost too silent for his comfort. He paused outside and stood near its mouth, peering intently inside, but the darkness inside of the den was too great for him to see anything which may lurk within its walls.

He feared this den, for radiating from within it was some unknown presence the likes of which made him feel a deep sense of unease which was enough o make his skin crawl, his fur bristle involuntarily on end, and his stomach to twist into knots.

Something moved within the den, as he could hear the faintest of scrapes then he heard the sobbing begin once more.

Humphrey swallowed, debating upon whether he should go inside to investigate or listen to his fear and run as far and as fast as he could, but his conscience, regretfully, would not allow him to abandon anybody in their time of need, so he took in a deep breath and took a step inside.

He could feel his heart pounding against the inside of his chest as he entered, so loud, in fact, that he could hear it drumming inside of his ears, even over the haunting sobs. His breath quivered and his stomach was wound so tight that he thought he would be sick, but he could not turn back now.

The remainder of his tail followed him into the den and he paused, straining his eyes to see, but in vain.

"Hello?" he called softly, "is- is there somebody there?"

The sobbing only continued, so Humphrey pressed forward, though at a painstakingly slow rate of progression, for he did not wish to startle whatever it was that was in here.

The cries grew louder as he continued on, and he knew that he must be getting close, but what bothered him was that he could not yet see, nor smell even, what it was that he was dealing with.

He gulped and then came to a stop, so frightened now that tears were beginning to sting his eyes, but he would not leave, not while he could help somebody if they needed it.

He heard another faint sound of movement and then suddenly the den began to light up as sunlight from a hole in the roof began to bleed in, but it was only enough to brighten the den slightly, just enough to begin to make out its interior; but that was not Humphrey's concern.

He took this opportunity to look down, and when he did, he saw a pure black wolf lying on the floor, wrapped up in a tight ball.

It was almost as though this wolf was completely oblivious to his presence, as it only continued to cry, its sobs echoing softly into his ears.

"He-hello?" Humphrey called to it softly, hoping to get its attention, but it made no response.

He gulped.

"Uh.. y-you know that the whole not talking this is kinda creepy, right?" he asked shakily.

The sobs stopped then and the wolf began to stir, causing Humphrey to step backward slightly, then it turned to face him.

What he saw stunned him, a beautiful female wolf with a petite face and stunning blue eyes. Wistfully she stared at him as he stared back, her ears perked in curiosity and her head cocked slightly to the side.

"H-hi," Humphrey said to her nervously, but then the strangest thing happened.

The wolf's eyes blackened and sunk into her skull and she screeched loudly then leaped to her feet.

Frightened, Humphrey screamed and tried to run, but he was too slow to elude the monster which he had found and he was taken quickly to the ground.

This was it, he thought, he was dead.

He closed his teary eyes and awaited the pain which he knew would surely be dealt as his body was slowly ripped apart... but it never came.

His contorted face relaxed slightly and he chanced a peek at the monster by peeling one of his eyes open slightly, but what he found when he opened his eye was something which differed entirely from expectation. He found that the monster was suddenly gone and that he was in a place which completely differed from the one in which he had found himself previously.

He opened up both of his eyes, panting hard, and patted himself down just to make sure that he was in fact still alive, then laid flat out on his back, sucking air in and out of his lungs, thankful that he was alive.