Journey to Hope: The Journey Begins

Chapter 9

"Thank you all for joining me for a pack meeting today," Night sighed, "even after the recent losses today. We must keep going. Ruby has to be buried here, but we'll always remember her. She was almost old enough to be a trainee, and she would've made a good pack member."

The pack sat in silence with their heads hanging low in grief. Crystal looked up for a second, and then back down again.

"We don't know what attacked her, but we must leave before someone else gets attacked," Night continued.

Crystal looked over to River, who was shivering.

"What's up with River?" Crystal whispered to Honeycomb.

"I don't know," Honeycomb replied, "He must be very sad as well. He knew her well. It's very sad when pups die."

"Follow me," Night said before walking off into the bushes, which appeared to lead into the woods. The mongoose pack followed as instructed, still feeling heavy-hearted.

"You know," a she-mongoose named Shimmer said, coming up to Crystal while they were walking, "Flame was my mate, and Ruby was my pup."

"I know," Crystal sighed, "It'll be hard."

"Hey, River," said Willow, a young trainee, "Who was Ruby, and what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," River snapped, not making eye contact with his daughter.

Ruby was Willow's half-sister, and Shimmer had left River to be with Flame. No one knew what caused the break-up, but it was rumored to be an aggressive argument. River had always been known for being a bit mean sometimes when he was upset, even to his own family. Willow never called River "dad," hinting that maybe she didn't like him too much. River never got along well with anyone, anyway.

The pack walked on until mid-sun, and Crystal's legs were sore from all the walking. Suddenly, she smelled something strange. It was faint, so it was hard to tell what it was. But then it got stronger, and Crystal recognized the smell from her dream. Smoke.

"Smoke!" Crystal yelled. The pack turned to look around at her.

Lake looked at Crystal, and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything," he said.

"I do," Night said with a serious tone, "And it's getting stronger. Don't panic, follow me, and don't look back!"

Forest fire! Crystal thought before running with the rest of the pack. The forest was growing warmer, and the smoke was visible now. Crystal looked behind her as she was told not to, and Jasmine was struggling to run, as well as Bandit.

"Go on!" Jasmine shouted, "Shadow and Destiny have the pups!"

Crystal started to run faster. She leaped over a branch, but Jasmine and Bandit both tripped over it. Crystal didn't notice, and ran ahead. She was beginning to get tired, but she kept running for her life. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks.

My pups! She thought, her heart beating fast in her chest. She turned around and looked at the growing fire, and knew her pups were in there. She started to turn around, but Jasmine was running back into the fire.

"Jasmine, wait!" Bandit called before running after her.

The fire was starting to catch up to the trees now, and the pack was nowhere in sight. Crystal feared for her pups, Jasmine, and Bandit. She looked around, and there were her pups, being carried out by Jasmine. Jasmine dropped the pups.

"Go on! Take the pups, run!" Jasmine coughed.

"I can't leave you!" Crystal shouted, with tears in her eyes.

"Run!" Jasmine screeched. Crystal ran away with her pups, one in her mouth and one on her back.

Suddenly, Crystal got drenched with water out of seemingly nowhere. She could hear the sound of tall-standers shouting in the distance. Soon, the fire was gone. Crystal shook off. This wasn't the time to complain about getting wet. "You stay here," she whispered to her pups before running to find Jasmine and Bandit.

When Crystal found them, she felt like her heart stopped. Bandit was laying down, and so was Jasmine. Crystal slowly walked up to Jasmine. "Jasmine?" Crystal sniffled. There was no reply.

Crystal walked over to Bandit. "Bandit?" Crystal sniffed. Bandit also seemed lifeless. Crystal laid down in the grass, and started to sob as loud as she could. I lost them for real this time...