Journey to Hope: The Journey Begins

Chapter 2

Crystal awoke from her sleep. She sat up, hoping it was all a dream, but found herself sleeping in the sand where the pack had laid to rest for the night. She was almost certain that Jasmine and Bandit were dead. Crystal's hope from the day before vanished, and she felt upset at the possible loss of some of her best friends.

No, it's not possible, she thought, shaking her head.

The pack had found bushes the night before, and had taken shelter in them like dens. Crystal felt cold under the bush, and longed for the warm sunlight. But her small pups were snuggled against her, fast asleep, and she knew she had to let them be until the rest of the pack woke up.

Crystal laid her head down in the sand. It was more comfortable than she had expected. But she missed her home, where her friends and family were living easily without many dangers. Now the pack had to work together to fight for survival.

Suddenly, she heard Night talking to the pack.

They must be up already, Crystal thought.

She nudged her pups awake gently with her nose. Snow and her sister, Lilac, opened their eyes.

"Wake up, it's time to get up now," Crystal whispered.

Snow stood right up, but fell over with a loud squeak. She stood back up, but Lilac laid her small head down, closing her eyes again.

"Pups, the pack is awake. We must go out."

Snow started to run off, but Crystal was quicker, pushing her back to her sister.

"You must stay with me. The outside world is dangerous," Crystal cautioned, standing up now. She watched her pups closely as they left the bush.

Crystal was greeted by the warm sun shining on her coat when she came out of the bush. It felt good, especially after shivering all night.

Sure enough, the pack was gathered around outside. Her mate, Lake, noticed her, and walked over to her.

"Good morning," Lake greeted, with a cheerful smile.

He's happy, she thought in disbelief.

With all of the chaos the day before, Crystal figured that he would be at least a little bit stressed. She was stressed, especially with her belief that Jasmine and Bandit were lost, hurt... or worse. Crystal shook her head to try and clear herself of that thought.

Maybe Night said something that made him perk up, she thought.

"You thinking?" Lake asked, with the intent to be nosy.

"It's about Jasmine and Bandit. They're both really good friends of ours. Jasmine is expecting his pups, you know that."

Lake hesitated. "You can't be sure they're dead, Crystal."

"And you can't be sure they're alive," Crystal argued.

"Let's not argue," Lake said, "We're wasting time. Night is talking to the pack. It's pretty important."

"I missed it," Crystal informed, trying to get Lake to explain to her what was happening.

"Well, come listen. You'll catch on."

Crystal sighed, and made her way over to where the pack was. She took a seat next to a mongoose named Honeycomb.

"Oh, hey, Crystal," Honeycomb greeted, "You're just in time."

Honeycomb was another friend of Crystal's, who was in fact half-breed. Her father was a yellow mongoose, and her mother a banded mongoose.

"We have to make this journey," Night declared, "It's for the best. We can't go back, our old home is destroyed. We must seek a new one."

What journey? Crystal wondered. She wanted to speak up, but she figured it would be rude to interrupt.

A mongoose named Pinecone spoke up. "We could always go past the other side of the beach and see where that takes us."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous to just go and not know what we're running into?" A small pack-member trainee named Dawn argued.

"Y-yeah," a mongoose named Flame stuttered, "Right! M-makes sense!"

The mongooses started to call out, shouting out their own opinions at random. It started to eventually cause a racket.

"Silence!" Night shouted, and the mongoose pack hushed immediately at his demand.

"We may not know where we're going, but we need to leave, and use our wits. We need to journey our way to hope, and see where we end up. It's all we can do," Night said, with a bit of both hope to succeed and fear to fail in his voice.

Crystal was worried. It sounded very dangerous, but she knew there wasn't a choice.

"Follow me," Night ordered. The mongooses once again followed his command. Crystal also started to follow, her pups walking by her side.

The sky was starting to cloud up, blocking the sun and making their surroundings dark and overcast. The air was turning cool, and the warm sun was no longer shining on their pelts.

Crystal looked up. I hope it doesn't rain on us, she thought, not wanting to get wet.

"Halt!" Night ordered. The pack instantly stopped in their tracks at his command.

"Why the sudden hold-up?" a mongoose named Destiny shouted from the back of the crowd. She was a curious individual, and her impatience often erupted at the most inappropriate moments. Her mate, Oak, hushed her with a look that silently said "be patient."

"Over there," Night observed, "Who are they?"

Off in the near distance, there were two mongooses, but they were too far away to be recognized.

Jasmine and Bandit, Crystal thought, but she was only hoping for this rather than knowing. Night shouted out their names, and sure enough, the mongooses perked up their heads and came rushing over.

And there they were, the ones Crystal swore she'd never see again. A sense of strong relief rushed through her, knowing her friends were alright.

"Are you two hurt?" Shadow asked.

"Bandit cut his paw yesterday, but I healed it up," Jasmine said, with a proud tone in her voice.

"Let me look at it," Shadow instructed.

Bandit lifted his paw. Shadow studied the cut, which was now nothing but a faint scar running across his paw pad.

"It looks alright. He should be fine," Shadow informed.

"Alright," Night said, "Let's continue."

The mongooses followed their leader once again. Crystal sighed, knowing they had a long journey ahead of them.