Part of the Plan (Book 2 in the 'part of' series)

Chapter 42 Tracking, the human way

Chapter 42 Tracking, the human way

Randall's POV

They were too long. Nobody came back once they had left to check out the wolves in the forest. The thoughts which ran through my head were about as dark as the room we were in. I couldn't see too far forward, even though I could see pretty well in the dark. Lowell and Oran had opted to hold my hand whilst the twins were between Abilene and myself.

The noise of a hungry stomach pulled me from my dark thoughts and I looked down to Oran. He was a little bit of a picky eater, we had been attempting to make him try new foods. It wasn't the greatest since he didn't eat too much today. I chuckled lightly. We were all leaning against the wall of the tunnel.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Abilene. She was more nervous then she was letting on. She wasn't used to this. We had two attacks within two months. Abilene was the caretaker of the pups since Channon and Channing were born. It was a surprise for everyone but she took on the role immediately. Some packs don't have caretakers anymore, thinking that the parents should be the ones looking after the children all the time. I understood that, but it isn't as though the parents don't get enough time with their kids. It's like working a job at the same time.

"Would this help?" Channon held up a device. It was a phone. I had seen Aiden use it quite often. It was a smart phone, nothing like what Ralph had. I held my hand out and he put it in my palm. It was sleek and smooth, I touched the one button that was on the front and the light came on, showing the time as 5;26. We had been here for quite a while.

"Do you know how to use it?" Lowell said curiously. I shook my head and crouched down, so that the children could see what I was doing.

"Not in the slightest." There was a picture of the forest behind the clock. I recognised the place immediately, it wasn't too far from our house. I swiped my index finger up the screen and it revealed four dots and a number pad. "Trust Aiden to have a password."

"What's the point in that?" Channing huffed. "You can see the texts on the homescreen anyway.''I nodded along with what he said but focused on trying to guess the numbers. After a few failed attempts I looked at the others with a pleading expression.

"Try 1237." Oran whispered as he leant on my shoulder. I looked at him slightly confused for a moment before putting in the numbers. I turned to him with surprise as icons appeared on the screen and the background changed to a familiar wolf's silhouette. "It's his birthday."

We made noises of understanding as I searched through the phone. I didn't know what half the buttons did, so I was hesitant to click on them. Though when I saw a feature called "Smartwatch" I felt a spark of hope in my chest. Aiden had shown us his watch a few times. It was something that I was rather jealous of, I wanted to know how much I slept or how many steps I took in a day.

"What can you do with that?" Abilene asked in confusion. She was watching over my shoulder as well as the others. Abilene was a quiet soul, she didn't really talk unless she had to.

"We should be able to find it." I explained to her. "You can do it the other way around, like when Aiden lost his phone." He had done that at least three times since we had met him. I clicked a few different icons, not knowing what any of them were, until a map came up. There was a dotted line on the map which went for about half a mile or so. "We had to have built the tunnels this way didn't we?" I huffed and looked up to Abilene.

"Yes." She simply said. "Are we going to them?" I looked from the children to her and then back again. "We can't leave them alone." Her voice was stressed. It was very nerve wracking to hear it coming from her.

"No, of course not." I shook my head and stood up. "Kiddos. You gotta listen to us alright? This is very important." I squeezed Oran's hand lightly as I spoke. "This is important, so if we tell you to hide?"

"We hide." They called back, even Melina said it quietly.

"If we tell you to run?"

"We run."

"What do you do?"

"Stick together." I nodded in satisfaction as we started to walk again. We were following the dotted line. We tried to be as silent as we could. The noises from any wolves had disappeared. I didn't know if that was a comfort to me or not. It could mean that our pack had resumed their human forms because the enemies were defeated or it could mean there were no wolves alive anymore.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts and marched on. There was one destination on my mind. A source of comfort, my brother and his boyfriend. They wouldn't be separated, not unless something drastic came up. The others would be with them too. They would be able to handle themselves, but we had strength in numbers.

It took a while to walk back down the tunnel. The tunnel was rather large and long, it had twists and turns going in every direction. We had to double back on ourselves a few times. The kids and Abilene had one way to get out. We weren't going that way, the walls of the tunnel were unfamiliar.

Sometimes, I was jealous of the children's height. Lowell was the only one who had to duck slightly as I practically had to crawl. It wasn't pleasant but eventually we got to an opening. It was getting dark at this point. It wasn't pleasant being in an unknown part of the forest. Some people would think that we knew every nook and cranny of the woods off by heart since we live there and go on patrol. In reality, it's probably the opposite. Each tree starts to look the same after so long.

"Stop." Abilene whispered hurriedly. "That's not our territory." Her eyes looked cautiously at the phone and to the road in front of us. "They'd know as soon as we step foot on it." I huffed lightly.

"So what are we going to do?"