Coyote Kids: A Simpsons AU Story

Chapter 2: New Friends

1 Year Later

Homer sighed loudly. It was a nice afternoon today, the sun was shining, the golden rays felt warm against his skin. Drops of sweat trickled down his forehead. He was wearing a bright green tee, a pair of silver pants, and a dark green backpack.

But he just couldn't feel happy today. Or any day. He stared down into the depths of the "canyon" he had come to grow so familiar with. New Grand Canyon. The truth had actually been made by man, because when EPA had blown up Springfield, it didn't create a crater like they had expected it to. So, in a panic, they had cleared out all the remains of Springfield and made a half-assed attempt at making a canyon by punching a bunch of holes into the earth, dropping some large rocks in there, and pouring a small lake in there. It wasn't very convincing, there wasn't even any wildlife. At least it looked better than...well...a huge crater.

Still, as much as it absolutely pained him to be here, Homer couldn't help but visit the canyon as often as a could. It reminded him of his family. His dear family, his children that would never grow up, that he had nothing to preserve the memory of, because it had all been lost in the explosion. My family that died all because I wanted a free donut...He shuddered. The images of burning buildings continued to plague his mind.

"Hiya, Homer!"

Homer turned to face where the call had come from. Standing there, was a tall, lanky, girl in her late teens with a frizzy Afro and warm brown skin. She was wearing a pale blue uniform with forest green jeans. She smiled and waved at him. This was none other than Bee Hart, one of the employees at a the Visitor Center for New Grand Canyon.

"Hello, Bee." Homer nearly whispered.

Bee was the only employee that seemed to recognize Homer as one of the frequent visitors of the canyon, and she seemed to take a liking to him. Which was strange, because there was nothing to like about Homer. He didn't even like himself. She wouldn't like me if she knew the things I did .

No one, not even the employees knew about what the government had done to Springfield. Homer never bothered telling them because, what was the point? It was all gone. They would never believer him, anyway,

Bee grinned. "Going for a walk?"

"As always." Homer responded.

"Alrighty! Have fun!" Bee walked back inside the Visitor Center.

"Thanks."

Homer began to make his way towards the hiking trail, where he would wander down into the depths the "canyon". It simultaneously managed to fill Homer with peace, sadness, and rage every time he visited it. It was a reminder of all the terrible things that he had done, and that had happened to him. But he felt he needed to be here. It was the closest he could get to spending time with his family. It was also a punishment.

As he descended into the canyon, the "rock formations" seemed to grow larger and larger, and the air became cooler and cooler.

"Awoooo!"

Homer stopped in his tracks. "What the hell was that?"

"Awoooooo!"

The sound echoed and bounced around. Homer glanced around the canyon, but he couldn't spot anything. He shrugged. "Probably just the wind." He turned to continue walking, but when he did, he felt something soft and honey under his shoe, and heard a small yelp.

"Huh?"

Homer looked down and lifted his shoe to find that he had stepped on...a puppy? Not just any puppy. A coyote puppy.

The pup stared up at Homer with big, glistening eyes, whimpering softly as it curled its tail around its butt. He was definitely a pudgy little fella.

Homer smiled and grimaced softly at the same time.

"Oh! How...cute. Heheh..."

While the pup was cute, Homer knew that if there was a coyote pup here, its parents probably weren't far away. And he didn't want any trouble with bigger coyotes. Did he want to die? Yes. But not by being ripped to shreds by wild canines.

He tried to carefully slink away from it. The pup continued to watch him with those big, creepy eyes.

Homer breathed in and out before finally turning to continue down the trail, but just as he did, he noticed yet another coyote pup sitting on a rock, watching him with an almost smug expression, wagging her tail from side to side. She had dark grey fur.

Homer sighed as he looked around and noticed a whole bunch of coyote pups began to surround him from all sides, staring at him with an assortment of expressions and fur colors. One was hunky and dark brown, with deep brown eyes and a large overbite. He looked kind angry. Another was grayish blue with small eyes and a big nose. He looked nervous. One of them was even white with red eyes. An albino. But one coyote pup came closer to him than all the others. A pale brown female with warm brown eyes and spiky fur, almost like a star.

Sadness crept into Homer's heart as he remembered how Lisa, his daughter, had had star-shaped hair. She always thought it was ugly, but Homer had thought that Lisa was the most beautiful girl in the world. He swallowed away the lump forming in his throat and glared down at the coyote pup, who stared up at him with wonder. Two other pups, light brown one with green eyes and a tiny pale one with blue eyes approached him as well, sitting down and staring up at him.

He tried shooing them away with his hands. "Go on! Shoo!"

The first pup merely tilted her head and sat down. The tiny one let out a small;

"Yip!"

She almost looked like she was smiling, vigorously wagging her tail.

Homer groaned. "Look, I don't have time for this! Go back to your mama...wherever she is."

He carefully stepped over the coyote pups and continued on his way. But as he did, he heard the sound of pitter pattering following him down.

He rolled his eyes as stopped he turned around and watched as all the coyote pups trotted after him, stopping where he stopped and gazing up at him.

"I told you all to go away."

"Yip!"

Homer snorted and started speed walking down the path, grumbling curses to himself. They're not gonna go away, are they?

He finally made it to the bottom of the ravine, and he sat down on a rock as he watched the giant puddle they called a "lake" glisten under the sunlight.

He pulled his back pack off his shoulders and reached into the side pocket, where he pulled out a can of Duff beer. He had been drinking a lot since his family died. He pulled the tab and the can opened with a small hiss. He lifted it to his mouth and took a large swig. Relief flooded his body as the cool, bitter liquid floated down his throat.

"Yip!"

Homer pulled the van away and glowered down at the coyote pups as they sat in front of him, watching him with curious eyes, wagging their tails. But he didn't say anything. He was about to reach into his bag to grab the donut he packed himself before the very tiny puppy suddenly jumped onto his belly with a yip, wagging her tail and planting as she pawed at his shirt.

"What the-no! Bad dog. Down!"

He gently shoved the puppy off his belly, and, shaking his head, pulled out the cheap, glazed donut he had in a baggie out of the backpack, and began munching on it. He looked up at the pups, who were no longer staring at him, but were now intently watching the donut, occasionally licking their jowls.

Homer decided to play around with this, and he began to move the donut around through the air. Everywhere he moved it the pups would watch. Homer smirked,  stood to his feet.

"You want the donut, huh?"

The pups wagged their tails.

"Okay then! Fetch?"

Without thinking, Homer flung the donut over tge lake, and immediately the pups began to chase after it, yipping and barking with glee. Homer's smirk quickly faded from his face as he realized that, in his stupidity, he had sacrificed his lunch.

"D'oh!"

Well, at least the coyote problem was over. With one last sigh, he quickly turned and fled up the trail, hoping the pups wouldn't follow.