A Path of Loneliness, Part 3

Hope began chasing after the missing Zwei, veering off the dirt road into the forest where he disappeared. It was a little tough, what with three pups running around her, and she couldn't run as quickly as she could while also pulling them along. She quickly stopped and looked down at the three pups running around her legs. If she wanted to do this efficiently, she needed to get these pups to listen to her.

“Funf! Sechs! Acht!” She called out in a sharp tone. The pups immediately turned their heads when they heard their names, and waited expectantly to see what would happen.

“Okay, it seems like you'll respond to your names, at least,” Hope sighed. “Now then, how do I make sure you don't run off in different directions?”

As Hope pondered her options, she noticed Sechs sniffing around under a nearby tree. She found it odd and walked to the tree to see what the pup was smelling, but couldn't see anything of note. On closer inspection, however, she noticed a bit of dampness at the base of the tree, which seem to pique the interest of the other dogs as well.

“Hmm,” Hope hummed thoughtfully. “Could this be Zwei's urine? I don't know if these pups know how to track by scent, though...”

As if in response, the pups suddenly began walking deeper into the forest. Hope was uncertain if she should let them do as they wished, but ultimately she relented and followed them as they meandered through the woods. The dogs walked slowly but surely, and she started to feel as if they seemed to know where they were going.

After about five minutes of that, however, the pups suddenly stopped and sat down. Hope tried to get them to move, but they seemed reluctant to. It was a sudden change. She couldn't get them to stop moving earlier, but now they seemed too tired to keep walking.

She sighed and sat down on the ground. Well, if they needed to rest, the least she could do was let them do it. She wondered if they might have been hungry as well, and took out a piece of jerky from her pack. The pups perked up the moment they saw the jerky, and she split the jerky into three pieces and fed them separately.

As she watched them bite into the jerky, she suddenly got curious about something. She could tell them apart fairly well now, but she still didn't know much about them, including their genders. She picked up each one of them and quickly inspected them, just to make sure she knew if it ever came up.

“So Funf is a girl,” Hope observed, “and Sechs and Acht are boys. According to what Nick said earlier, Zwei is also a boy.” It wasn't relevant information right now, but at the very least she knew a little bit more about them. The pups, only slightly bothered by being suddenly picked up, went right back to eating and then fell asleep, laid out all over the ground.

Hope didn't want to wake them up, even though she was worried about Zwei, so she decided to let them sleep for at least half an hour before waking them up again. She passed the time by using some leftover materials in her pack to tie the leashes firmly to her right hand. Hopefully, this would keep the other dogs from running away.

It didn't take long before the pups woke up again, and Hope immediately got ready to go hunting for Zwei again. However, she encountered an unforeseen obstacle: the short nap meant the pups had completely forgotten the scent of Zwei's urine. Hope sighed. She thought she'd finally found a lead, only for it to be dashed almost immediately.

With no other recourse, Hope began searching through the nearby area, calling out Zwei's name occasionally as the other pups sniffed around aimlessly. Hope thought about going back to find where he last left urine traces, but she worried that they'd tire out before they got much further. As she continued making her way through the large forest, she noticed the sky slowly start to change color. This was bad. If she took any longer to find Zwei, it might get too dark to find Caleb and Nick.

Still, saying that wouldn't make finding Zwei any easier. As Hope wracked her head to figure out what to do next, she suddenly felt a tug on her wrist. She looked down to see Funf and Sechs straining their leashes, and their low growls began to fill the forest air. She moved to a defensive position and pulled out a knife with her spare hand and slowly walked in the direction the pups were growling at.

It was a clearing in the forest with tall grasses and bushes dotting the place. Being cautious, Hope avoided stepping into the grass, but before she could take a step back, a snake darted from within a nearby bush and bit into her leg. Hope immediately reciprocated with a swift cut with her knife that left the snake dead. Sighing, she rolled up her legs and inspected her leg. Two puncture wounds slightly above her ankle. Thankfully, the snake wasn't a poisonous one, so it was nothing but a flesh wound. Well, she didn't need to worry about being poisoned anyhow, but it sure was annoying that she got caught off guard so easily.

She glanced down at the snake that had attacked her. To her surprise, she noticed it had a wound that wasn't from her knife. So it was aggressive because it had already been hurt? She inspected the wound a little closer. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like the snake had been bitten by something.

The shape of the wound sort of reminded her of something. She remembered how earlier, she had been bitten by one of the jumpier pups. The bite mark on her finger then looked very close to the bite mark she had found on the snake.

A dark thought surfaced from the back of her mind. What if Zwei ended up in a fight against this snake? There was a strong possibility that not only had that happened, but also that Zwei might have gotten injured as well.

Hope immediately rushed into the grass and began searching for Zwei. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any sign of him inside the grass, so she quickly began scouring the nearby area, hoping that he hadn't wandered too far away from the area. The wound was fresh, after all, so it could only have happened a matter of minutes ago.

As she circled around the area where she was attacked by the snake, the pups began barking again. Hope swiftly drew her knife, but she soon realized that the pups were not barking in response to another threat. A short distance away, napping under the shade of a true, was Zwei. Hope felt like an iron weight was lifted off of her shoulders.

Hope quickly ran up to Zwei and checked him for any wounds. Thankfully, there only seemed to be a small bite mark on his ankle, which she quickly bandaged up with some cloth she had on hand. As she did so, Zwei slowly awoke and let out a pained howl. Hope finished wrapping up the wound and lifted him up into the air.

“Well, then. I hope that teaches you not to run off like that.”

Hope picked up Zwei's leash, then looked up at the sky. Unfortunately, it was starting to darken, and it was clear that she would not be able to catch up with Nick and Caleb before it became fully night. Well, there wasn't much she could do about it now; at least she had her pack on her, so she could camp for the night without worrying.

Hope took the pups' leashes and tied them to a nearby tree, keeping them from breaking off on their own. She felt a bit bad for the pups, who disliked being tied up, but she didn't need them running off while she was setting up camp. She put together a makeshift tent using some foraged sticks and some cloth she had on hand and made some space for a campfire a good distance from the pups. It wasn't as sophisticated as how Caleb normally did it, but it was good enough for her in any case.

Once she was done, Hope turned to address the pups, who were now getting especially antsy. She felt a little bad for them, and it was still light out for the time being. She could let them run loose for at least a little bit, so long as they stayed close by.

She suddenly called out each of the pups' names, one by one. “Zwei! Funf! Sechs! Acht!”

The pups were alarmed at first, but quickly stopped and looked up at her eagerly, waiting for her to do something. She let out a reluctant sigh.

“All right. If you promise to listen when I tell you to come back, I'll let you free for a bit. Okay?”

The pups yipped as if to respond to her question. Hope doubted they actually understood what she said, but considering they'd done a good job of stopping and turning around when she called their names, she felt like she wouldn't have too hard a time keeping them from running off.

Hope led them into a nearby clearing and undid their collars. The moment they were free, the pups zipped off, running through the grass and into each other. As they frolicked about, Hope sat down near a tree and watched them intently. Thankfully, the pups were a little more behaved this time around, and didn't venture too far from each other. As she watched them hop about, she felt a warm sensation coming from within her chest. She felt a little uneasy, but at the same time, there was a little happiness there as well. Hope was glad that Caleb wasn't around; she knew she'd absolutely have to suffer another one of his smirks if he was.