Chapter 18- A Desperate Rescue

Sarina stepped over a thin rock and slipped. Snow had begun lightly drifting down over the rocks. Ice now consumed the rock faces. Sarina snuffled as snow dropped on her nose. She swung her head up in the direction of loud rock fall. Above an outcropping on the other side of the cliff, a large boulder broke free and slid down into the deep canyon. Sarina was getting closer to the bottom. She turned back and could not see the other wolves watching and yearning of her return. She sniffed again. James’s scent was strong and close. The river below was running fast with loud thundering crashes from the rapids. “James”! Sarina yelled. Her voice echoed in rhythm with the river’s crashes. She could hear no reply only her own echoes. “How stupid, he’s probably unconscious even I should know that”. She thought frustrated. She hopped down off a small rock ledge down onto soft dirt. James’s smell erupted in the dust. He was close by. Suddenly, Sarina smelled another smell; a human’s smell. She ducked down behind a small crashed boulder. “Why humans”? She peeked around the rocks edge and her eyes darted over to see a human in a white coat that was speaking with two other men in brown dusty clothes. On their heads was some kind of helmets with a light on them. One of the humans turned and his light shined in Sarina’s eyes. She backed up with her paw against her face. Their voices carried over and Sarnia listened in as much as she could. The human’s language was highly complex. Sarina only knew some words that humans spoke. “The expedition was noting but worthless, I didn’t find any other subjects in the caves”. The other human sounded angry. “That’s ridiculous! There should be more”! Another human stepped over holding something large in his arms. “Another wolf? Bring him down the tunnel and load him in the truck”. Sarina recognized the word wolf; her ears perked. She peeked over the edge and watched the human holding James in his arms start walking down a large tunnel. The other humans turned to each other. “You two, go and look around see if there’s anymore of them”. The two humans turned and strode off. The human in the white coat brushed the snow off and snorted before spitting in the lightly snow covered ground. Sarina climbed over the rock and watched the white coated human walk away. She then stepped inside the tunnel. Her feet padded in soft dirt turned to mud by the melting snow. Above her were lights strung along a long wire. The tunnel, as she went, became more and more thin. The ceiling became closer and she bumped into the lights. She sniffed; James’s smell was closing in now. She stared ahead to see the light shine on two large figures. Two humans; one carrying James and another passing by him. The other human slipped passed James’s carrier and began walking at Sarina. She quickly attempted to hide but it was too late. “Hey what are you doing here”! The human reached out and grabbed Sarina’s muzzle. She jerked away and bit his hand. “Ouch”! The human jumped up but slammed his head into the ceiling above. Sarina rammed her head into the human’s gut and knocked him back. He appeared to have been knocked out by his clumsy mistake and her attack had added to the temporary damage. She stepped over the unconscious man and began following the trail of James’s captor. She had arrived at the tunnel’s exit. She emerged outside were several humans gathered around and were helping the human captor carry James over to a large metal vehicle. Sarina crept down low and watched. The humans threw James into the back of the large vehicle. A loud thud erupted and the humans slammed a small metal door over the back side. “That’s all we got”? One of the humans burst out. “All for today, bring him to the lab”. Sarina watched in horror as the truck blew smoke and drove off up out of the canyon and out of site. She hung her head; all she could do was watch them take James away. She turned and headed back through the tunnel. In a few hours she would return to the pack and she would head to the sierra, her only victory over all the losses she faced.

 

Crystal gnawed at the bone picking off small bits of meat remaining. Shadow had his fill and was lazily was slumped over in the corner watching the snow fall. Crystal yawned and walked back towards him. “It will be several hours to the Sierra from here”. She nuzzled his face. “We did it Shadow, we made it. Shadow shrugged slightly and threw his arm over Crystal’s side. “This is only the beginning, we are part of this… this thing Chanoue has put in action”. Crystal nodded. “Well all that matters now is just us”.  Crystal shut her eyes and leaned against Shadow and he looked out over the snowy flakes. He slowly closed his eyes and rested against Crystal.