Chapter 15: Through آگ کے, آگ and Ashes

Humphrey was beginning to get tired. This battle had done مزید than wear him out, but it was continuing to go on nevertheless. As he looked at the valley around him, all he saw was death and carnage. The wolves were slowly being picked off سے طرف کی the human reinforcements that were no easier to see now than they were before. He knew that something had to be done about this. He just didn't know what.

As he was looking around, his eyes fixed on Kenya, his sister, one of the only kin he had left. She was fighting gallantly and bravely, successfully holding her own against the humans with relative ease.

Then he spotted one human in particular that held his gaze. This one was easier to see, probably because his covering that made him appear invisible had been ripped and torn away in various spots around his body. He seemed to be the leader of the humans, their "alpha", Humphrey figured. He commanded his pack with a stern and demanding voice, with the humans never questioning him. He held his رائفل up, looking down the sight, and when Humphrey followed the General's aim, he was horrified as he saw that he was aiming at Kenya. Humphrey rushed to intercept and save his sister.

As the General was about to fire, a large بھیڑیا suddenly leaped up and grabbed his gun in its mouth. The momentum swung the two around, pulling the رائفل out of his hand and causing the General to fall to the ground, laying on his stomach. Humphrey recovered and leaped at the downed human who just as swiftly raised an arm and knocked him over his back. Humphrey flew over the General and landed hard on the ground. He felt no pain at the moment, only adrenaline as he stood up to face his enemy. And then the battle began.

As Humphrey recovered, the two faced each other, one encircling the other, never taking their eyes off their opponent. Both Humphrey and the General were dead focused on each other, not caring what was happening around them, not caring about the fact that the battle had stopped entirely as all eyes, both human and بھیڑیا were now watching them, forgetting about what had been going on just moments before.

The two continued to دائرے, حلقہ each other in a classic stand-off. All was quiet in the valley, and not a sound was heard throughout the entire territory as the tension built. Time ticked سے طرف کی slowly as everyone waited for the battle to get underway, waiting for the inevitable showdown that was about to ensue. The wind hardly blew through the trees, making little to no noise as it rustled the leaves in the smallest of ways. The sun, high in the sky, but just beginning to set as evening began to take hold. And a cloudless sky, casting no shadows, allowing for a clear view of the fight that would end it all.

The General suddenly turned and ran for his rifle, which was still laying on the ground, and Humphrey swiftly pursued, quickly catching up to him. As Humphrey neared him, he reached out and clamped his jaws down on the General's ankle, causing him to fall down, just short of the gun. Humphrey leaped clean over him and grabbed the rifle, tossing it into the bushes.

The General stood up and immediately pulled out his pistol that he had on his belt, pointing it at Humphrey. Humphrey rushed towards him, much too fast for the General to aim and leaped onto his arm, biting down and drawing blood. The General's grip on the gun loosed and it fell out of his hand. The General swung his arm around and eventually, Humphrey was thrown off, but not without tearing a large piece of the sleeve off of the arm.

The General turned to face Humphrey and as he did so, he tore off the rest of his sleeve on his right arm and tossed it to the ground. The two rushed at each other and just as they were about to meet, Humphrey skidded in between the General's legs. As the General tried to stop himself, Humphrey swiftly skidded around in a full 180 and then rushed back at him. The General, however, heard him approaching and whirled around. He reached out behind him, grabbed Humphrey with his hands and threw him over his shoulder, sending Humphrey flying over his back and crashing to the ground.

Humphrey rolled on the ground but used the momentum to stand up again. As soon as he was upright, Humphrey rushed at the General again, and the General did the same. When the two were around 10 feet apart, Humphrey leaped into the air and the General pulled his arm back to knock Humphrey down with a punch.

But when they met, it wasn't the way the General expected. As Humphrey flew through the air, he met the General's arm and when he did, he grabbed it with his mouth and the force of the impact caused the General to fall onto his back with Humphrey still clamped onto his arm. The General reached over with his other arm, grabbed Humphrey سے طرف کی the back of his neck and in one simple motion, tore him off of his arm, resulting in extreme pain, but he ignored it at the moment.

The blood oozed from the General's arm, but being the disciplined war veteran that he was, gave no care in the world, having seen what he had seen in his days as a soldier. This was nothing compared to what he had been through several years پہلے during the Gulf War, and he still had issues with it. All the bodies he had seen, and all the دوستوں he had lost. He was a soldier that never came ہوم from the war. But now was not the time to reminisce on the past. He had a job to do here, and he would do it to the fullest extent.

During his time in the military, the General became a very strong man and was even a professional bodybuilder for a time before he began his volunteer work. His work as a bodybuilder, however short it was, gave him an advantage over Humphrey since he could deliver a nasty right-hook and could easily hold up the full-grown omega with only one arm.

Humphrey struggled to get free from the General's incredibly strong grip on his neck, but to absolutely no avail. And in one singular act, the General hurled Humphrey away, sending him crashing to the ground and knocking the breath out of the wolf.

There Humphrey lay, trying to catch his breath. And as he looked around, he saw all of the other wolves, Rouge یا not, gathered around, united as one singular pack. And then his eyes fixed on one in particular. His sister, Kenya.

She was the one that he had done this for. The one he sacrificed for to protect. And she wasn't the only one. He had done this for everyone. Kate, Lily, Garth, Adam, his pups, everyone he ever knew and cared for. He had done this for them.

He thought of everything they all had been through, both good and bad, all that they had been fighting to protect today, and he knew that if the General won, if the General killed him, he knew that all of that would be destroyed. And he couldn't let that happen. And as he heard the General approaching, as he heard each step the General was taking, he knew only one thing. This. Ends. Now.

As the General took one مزید step, Humphrey suddenly turned and leaped upon him, high enough so that he was easily able to reach the سب, سب سے اوپر of the General's shoulder. He clamped down on the General, in between his neck and his shoulder. This caused Humphrey to سوئنگ, جھول up and over the General while still holding onto his shoulder. Soon, the مجموعی طور پر momentum combined with the force of gravity pulled Humphrey down to the ground and the General fell with him.

Humphrey was able to get up before the General, and with him still hunched over, Humphrey took this chance and leaped onto his back, biting the same spot on his shoulder. The General stood up with the بھیڑیا on his back and he reached around with his arms, trying to grab Humphrey, but he was in just the right spot so he was entirely unreachable. The General slammed his back into a nearby tree, trying to get Humphrey off. Unfortunately for the General, Humphrey held on.

The General then proceeded to turn and with his left hand, punched Humphrey in the nose, then reached over his shoulder with both arms, grabbed Humphrey, and flung him over his shoulder, and onto the ground. Humphrey and the General then, once again and for the last time, rushed at each other and when they were about to meet, Humphrey performed a classic spin out and safely skidded around the General.

The General, having never seen a بھیڑیا do anything of this sort before, was caught completely off guard and tripped over himself. Humphrey turned and leaped at the General who rolled onto his back and caught Humphrey in his hands, holding the بھیڑیا safely above his head.

The General tossed Humphrey aside and got up off the ground. Humphrey struggled to stand up, greatly weakened from getting crushed against the درخت and the bullet wound that was still hurting his side. Humphrey looked over at Kate, sorrow in his eyes. They both knew that he was losing and wouldn't be able to last for much longer.

The General noticed the two and soon put two-and-two together, coming to the conclusion that these two were mates. He smiled as he turned to face Kate and pulled a چھری out of a small sheath he had hidden on his waist. He tossed it into the air and caught it سے طرف کی the blade. Humphrey saw the General take out the چھری and began rushing over to Kate in a terrified panic.

Kate turned and saw Humphrey running toward her. Time seemed to slow as he desperately rushed to save her. The General raised his arm and threw the knife, sending it flipping, end over end, toward Kate. When Humphrey reached Kate, he knocked her out of the way and felt a sudden stabbing pain in his left side. He came skidding to a halt and fell to the ground on his stomach, then rolled onto his side. When the dust cleared, everyone was able to see the چھری sticking out of his side.

"Humphrey! No!" Kate yelled.

There was complete silence for a moment and then the wolves suddenly turned toward the humans again, growling and baring their teeth. In an instant, the entirety of what remained of the pack leapt at the remaining humans. Caught completely off guard سے طرف کی this sudden assault, the humans had little to no time to react and raise their weapons. The wolves leapt on them and the humans fired their rifles, killing a few, while simultaneously turning to retreat back into the woods where their trucks were waiting for them. The wolves pursued with unimaginable speed. All except three.

Kate, Adam, and Kenya all leaped at the General who was focused on trying to order his men to stay and fight. The three wolves attacked him with incredible speed. Kenya leaped onto his shoulder, Adam went for his legs, and Kate jumped on him, knocking him to the ground.

Back in the forest, the chase continued. The humans were shooting over their shoulders as they ran, but this resulted in poor accuracy as they had to continuously turn their heads to avoid running into any trees. دیا this topographical advantage, the wolves suffered little, if no casualties whatsoever. While the humans were professionally trained to have a high level of endurance, it was nothing compared to what the wolves had, who could run for miles and miles on end without tiring.

Because of this, the humans were gradually beginning to tire and were slowing down as a result. The wolves were catching up and the humans began to run مزید than shoot. The rifles were still very much full of ammo, but at the moment, the humans gave no care in the world to completing their mission. They cared only about reaching the safety of their trucks which were still camouflaged in the depths of the forest.

The trucks drew nearer and nearer as the humans came closer to their escape. They rushed towards them and quickly opened the doors, hopped in, and immediately started them up, while others jumped in the back and took up cover fire. The engines roared to life and the tires skidded as the trucks left the forest at full speed and left the forest at full speed, leaving the wolves victorious, in a بادل of dust.

The General was still struggling in his fight against three enraged wolves. Two were leaping at him while the other was clamped onto his shoulder, still. Then, in a very painful, yet تیز رو, سوئفٹ effort, he grabbed the one on his shoulder, tore it off, and threw it into the other two. The General's shoulder was oozing blood. He was tired, weakened, and مجموعی طور پر sick of this fight. He decided that this was a waste of his time and took this chance to turn and run into the forest, but not before picking an item up from the ground as he escaped. Kenya, Adam, and Kate stood up and watched as the General retreated back to safety.

As the forest quieted down, Kate heard the familiar sound of wheezing that she had heard before when Humphrey had been shot. Only this time, it sounded much worse. The wheezing was مزید pronounced, and the breathing was almost nonexistent. It was around this time that the rest of the wolves began to return and when they did, they all gathered around their wounded comrade. Humphrey was struggling to breathe, مزید than he had been when he had been shot.

"Humphrey!" Kate shouted and rushed to his side. "Oh my gosh," she کہا as she looked at the چھری that was still stuck in his side.

Kate reached down and grasped the چھری between her teeth. Humphrey howled in pain and Kate let go and looked at him. She reached back down, took hold of the چھری again, and pulled it out in one تیز رو, سوئفٹ motion. Humphrey cried out once مزید and Kate spit the bloodied چھری out onto the ground. She laid down on the ground اگلے to him as Adam and Kenya approached. They too, got down on the ground with their brother.

"Kate," he کہا weakly, but then passed out.

Humphrey was only out for a منٹ یا two this time, much shorter than last time which had been a half-hour at least. But in those two minutes, he relived his entire life.

He saw his mother and father. He saw Kenya playing in the ماند, خلوت خانہ with him. He saw the truck that took him and Kenya away from his parents, and he saw his parents falling behind all over again. He saw the درخت and the storm, and he saw Kyle as a young pup again rushing to help him. He saw himself getting banished. He saw himself entering Jasper for the first time. And then he got to meet Kate all over again.

He saw his many years of life in Jasper. And then he saw that fateful night at the Moonlight Howl when he and Kate were taken to Idaho. He saw them meeting Marcel and Paddy again. He saw the camper and the gas station. He saw the ravine where he saved Kate. He saw their chase with the bears and he saw them riding down the mountain on a logboard. He saw the two of them on the train, finally howling together for the first time.

He saw the wedding and the stampede. He saw the دن his pups were born and he saw them grow. He saw their journey to find Runt when he was taken سے طرف کی King and the Rouge Wolves. He saw the games his pups had participated in. He saw their adventure at Sawtooth Cave when they met Daria. He saw their vacation when they had to return to Idaho to escape the hunters. He saw himself as he turned and rushed back at them to protect his family. He saw his fight with them, and he watched as Kate running back through the forest to rescue him. He saw himself limping back to his family afterward. He saw the blizzard and he saw him and Kate seeking refuge in the برداشت, ریچھ cave. He saw their escape and سیکنڈ encounter with the bears. He saw his pups being chased سے طرف کی King again and he watched as he and Kate protected them, and he saw the battle with the royal bears against the Rouges.

And then he saw that one Father's Day, not a ماہ پہلے when Runt asked such an innocent سوال that sparked this entire ordeal. He saw him and the group leaving to find his parents. He saw their short stay in Owen's pack and he saw his reunion with Kenya. He relived the pain of his wounding سے طرف کی the humans and he saw his reunion with his old pack.

He saw their return to Jasper and their plight with the Rouges. He saw himself rallying the two packs together against the humans and he saw the long and difficult battle that had followed. And finally, he saw his fight with the General, and he lost, and now here he lay, dying. Humphrey saw all of this, his entire life, in only a small bit of time.

Humphrey woke up and knowing that his time was almost up, didn't waste a moment in saying his good-byes.

"Kate," he said, weakly. "Kenya, Adam. I need to tell آپ all something."

They all looked at one another and knew that what Humphrey was about to say was going to be important. So Kate turned to her sister.

"Lilly, go get the pups," she said. "They need to be here."

Lilly immediately turned and ran off back towards the rocks where they had left the pups during the battle.

"Kate," Humphrey کہا again.

"Shh," Kate hushed him. "Lilly's getting the pups. آپ can tell us then"

Lilly soon returned with the pups, and upon seeing their dying father lying helplessly on the ground, they immediately rushed up to him.

"Dad?" Runt said.

"Runt," Humphrey said. "I don't have much time, so let me speak."

He looked at Kenya first. They had been separated at an early age and went many years without each other, but eventually, they were reunited. She was his little sister and as the older brother, it was his job to protect her, and he had certainly done that.

"Humphrey," she said, beginning to cry. "I don't want آپ to go. I just got آپ back, I can't lose آپ again."

"It's too late for that," he replied softly and calmly. "But before I go, I want آپ to know that آپ were the best sister I could ever hope for. There's something I want آپ to do for me. I want آپ to stay strong, and don't be afraid to turn and run when things get hard. Can آپ do that?"

"I'll try."

"Adam."

Adam slowly walked towards his brother.

"You were the strongest out of all of us," Humphrey said.

"No," Adam said, trying his best to keep his composure. "You were the strongest, Humphrey. Today آپ proved that. آپ stepped up when no one else was brave enough to do it themselves. Mom and Dad would be proud."

"I need آپ to do something for me, too," Humphrey said. "Look after her. Look after both of them."

"I will," he said.

Humphrey then turned to his pups. "Stinky, Claudette, Runt," he said.

The three of them slowly walked up to their father, who they would never see again after this day.

"Stinky, Claudette," he said. "I've watched آپ grow, and from the moment آپ two were born, I knew آپ both would be great leaders, and I know آپ will defend this pack from many dangers that are yet to come. Runt, I taught آپ everything I know. Now it's time for آپ to use it. Just try and stay away from trees."

Everyone smiled a little when he کہا this, but the smiles quickly faded as Humphrey let out a great cough followed سے طرف کی even مزید wheezing.

"My path ends here. But yours lies beyond this. Draw strength from each other and follow your heart. It will never never fail you."

His time was up, but he wasn't leaving until he کہا the most important of good-byes.

"Kate," he said.

"Humphrey." She stepped up and laid down اگلے to him, tears began to roll down her face again.

"Ever since I met you," he began but was interrupted سے طرف کی a bout of coughing. "When I first laid my eyes on you, I felt something. Something special, and I think آپ did, too. Since that دن we've had so many wonderful adventures together."

Humphrey paused for a moment.

"And I wouldn't have had it any other way."

Kate suddenly looked up and in an instant, her eyes welled up with tears.

"Oh, Humphrey," she said, not being able to hold it back any longer. "I love you."

"I love آپ too, Kate," he said. "I had a great life, and I couldn't have wished for a better person to spend it with."

Humphrey used his dying breath to utter these final words, and when he did, he was finally at peace.

In the moments that followed Humphrey's passing, the valley was filled with absolute silence. There was no wind in the trees, no sound of birds. Just silence. It seemed as if the entire valley had fallen silent in response to his death.

But the silence did not last long. Suddenly, two things happened. First, a loud noise was heard, coming from the forest and one of the wolves fell to the ground with blood oozing from his side. The سیکنڈ thing that happened was that a figure swiftly appeared, coming out of the forest in a menacing, fast-walk. Soon his face was revealed in the sunlight. The General emerged from the forest, his body bloodied, and carrying his pistol which he had picked up from the ground when he had first retreated.

Kate looked up, the sorrow in her eyes now replaced with pure, unchallenged rage. She began to rush the General, but Garth and Winston rushed in front to hold her back. She struggled to break through, to get at the General who had killed the only one she had truly loved in life. But she could not and they slowly were able to force her back toward the cliffs while the General picked up Humphrey's limp form slung it over his shoulder, and then retreated back into the woods with his trophy. As the General left, Kate collapsed into her father's shoulder and burst out in tears as Humphrey truly was now, gone forever.