Journey to Hope: The Journey Begins

Chapter 8

It had been six days since Jasmine's pups had been born, and the pups were starting to move around a bit. Bandit watched Smoke closely. Smoke wiggled his tail, sneezed, and then placed a paw on his sister. Aww, isn't that sweet? Bandit thought. 

Jasmine was sleeping once again, and Bandit tried his best to be quiet. Bandit decided he wanted to say something to Smoke. He knew that Smoke was a bit too young to understand, but Bandit wanted to get the words off of his chest. Bandit walked over to Smoke so he could see his tiny, closed eyes.

"Hey, Smoke," Bandit said with a deep exhale, "I want to tell you something."

Smoke squeaked and twitched his whiskers.

"When you're sad, I'll cry with you. When you're moody, I'll feel for you. I'll always be there for you, because you just being here makes daddy proud," Bandit whispered to the tiny pup.

Suddenly, the little pup blinked open his eyes and looked up. Bandit couldn't believe it. Smoke did hear him after all! Bandit wanted to tell Jasmine that Smoke had opened his eyes, but he decided to let Jasmine sleep for a little bit longer. Bandit laid down and closed his eyes. Maybe I could use a nap myself, he thought to himself before falling asleep.

When Bandit woke up, he noticed that Jasmine and the pups were gone. They must be outside, Bandit thought before stretching, standing up and leaving the den.

"They're not ready yet!" Jasmine shouted, "They're far too young to travel!"

"I'm sorry Jasmine," Night sighed, "But a leader must keep his word. We must keep going. There is not enough prey to keep us going for much longer. We would starve out here."

Bandit had just walked in mid-conversation, but he knew what they were talking about. The pack must be getting ready to leave, Bandit thought, feeling nervous and looking at the tiny week-old pups.

"Oh, Bandit," Jasmine cried, "There you are! Please, you must help me carry one of the pups."

"Smoke," Bandit answered as soon as Jasmine was done speaking, and walked over to Smoke.

"How do I carry this pup?" Bandit asked with a confused look on his face.

"Never mind that, Bandit," Crystal said, "I can carry Smoke. I know how to carry pups because I have my own."

Just as she said that, Snow poked her head out from behind Crystal's leg. "Hi," she squeaked.

"Oh, hello," Bandit said.

Snow was still a little pup, but she could do a little bit of walking on her own now. Lilac walked over to the tiny, gray-furred pups and laid next to them. Lilac was little, but she was big compared to Jasmine and Bandit's pups.

Honeycomb came up to Crystal with a worried look on her face. "Hey, has anyone seen Flame?" she asked.

"Flame? No, haven't seen him," Crystal replied.

"Nope, me neither," Bandit said.

"I'll go ask the leader if he's seen Flame, and maybe he will tell us where to look," Crystal told them before running off.

"Hey," Crystal said to Night, "Have you seen Flame?"

"Who, Flame? No, I haven't seen him. In fact, no one knows where he is. Do you think you could go look for him? He wouldn't have gone far."

"I'll go do that right now," Crystal promised.

Crystal walked up to the bushes. She looked around for a bit. She didn't see any signs of Flame. She looked all around camp, and couldn't find him.

Maybe he's by the river, Crystal thought with a shudder at the idea of getting wet. But she had to go find Flame.

While she was walking, she remembered she hadn't seen River, either. Now she was looking for two mongooses. Suddenly, she heard someone shouting "help!"

Flame! Crystal thought while running towards the noise. When she found Flame, he was slouching over and breathing heavily, looking at his baby pup, Ruby, who appeared to be scratched up and bleeding.

"What hap-"

"G-go get some help, now!" Flame shouted with tears in his eyes. Crystal ran back to camp as fast as she could.

"Shadow-" Crystal shouted before accidentally crashing straight into the old mongoose, knocking him down.

"Crystal, what gives? You could have gotten me hurt!" Shadow scolded, but his facial expression changed when he saw Crystal's worried look.

"Flame's pup is hurt! We have to help her!" Crystal gasped before running off towards the pup. Shadow followed as fast as he could. When they got to him, Flame was sobbing.

"What in the name of the Brightfields happened here?" Shadow gasped.

"I-I don't know," Flame stuttered, "S-she is not breathing."

Shadow walked over to the pup and studied her for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Flame, but... your daughter walks with the Brightfields." Shadow sighed in a teary voice. Crystal's heart sank at those words, knowing what that meant. She couldn't help but cry herself.

Flame had an angry look on his face before running off into the woods.

"Flame!" Crystal shouted while running after him, "Wait!"

But Flame was nowhere in sight. We're going to have to continue without him, Crystal thought to herself with her heart heavy, and his poor little pup. Anyway, who could've done such a thing?