Remainers

A Path of Loneliness, Part 2

The truck hummed quietly as Nick drove down the dirt road whistling an old tune that neither he nor Caleb could put a name to. Caleb glanced through the rearview mirror, watching Hope as she attended to the puppies with a rather sour look on her face.

"You know, dogs might not be able to communicate with us, but they can tell when we're not having fun," Nick called out from his seat. "The least you could do is avoid wearing such a heavy frown."

Hope rolled her eyes, but she tried her best to at least avoid openly showing her displeasure to the coyote pups. To be fair, it wasn't as if they were the ones who forced her to sit in the back of the truck like this. She glared at the back of Caleb's head. At this point, she was convinced the only real talent he had that she lacked was his silver tongue. Well, she understood that the dogs needed to be looked after, so it wasn't as if she was particularly stubborn about it either.

Hope glanced down at the coyote pup that was just to her right. It seemed to be the smallest of the lot, and it had a spot on its hind leg that was a little lighter than the rest of its fur. Hope ran her hand along the dog's back, stroking it gently. The dog let out a soft growl as she continued to stroke him, and its tail began wagging up and down. Despite herself, Hope felt the corners of her mouth turn up into a grin.

Almost immediately, she snapped to the window separating her and the driver's cabin, where she caught Caleb watching her with a slight smirk on his face. Her smile fell immediately, giving him a malicious scowl before turning her attention back to the pups. She had come to appreciate having Caleb as a partner over the two years they'd known each other, but he really could get on her nerves every once in a while.

The journey continued, and Hope found, surprisingly, that it was rather easy to keep watch over the pups. They were fairly well-behaved, and while one would occasionally attempt to pull on its leash, it didn't take much effort from Hope to get them to stop. They seemed to quickly catch on that she wanted them to sit quietly, and eventually that was what they did. It was fairly satisfying for her to see them sitting patiently on the truck bed, eagerly watching her to see what they'd do next.

Hope recalled that back in the past, humans supposedly used to keep dogs as pets and teach them all sorts of tricks as a form of play. After pulling out the required information from her knowledge banks, Hope decided to try one out on one of the pups. She turned to the pup with the light spot and held out her hand. "Shake!"

The dog wagged its tail and put its left paw in Hope's hand. She felt a rush of satsifaction, even though she certainly wasn't the one who taught the dog how to do that in the first place. She started to understand why humans used to keep dogs as pets, at least a little bit.

She found herself idly playing with the pups for at least a few more hours, until the truck slowly stopped in front of a large forest, its trees dotting the surface of a large hill. Nick parked the truck on the side of the road, and the three remainers climbed out of the truck and unloaded the dogs.

"Watch out!" Nick called out as one of the pups charged forward. "They're fairly energetic after being forced to sit still for so long. If you're slack on their leashes, they're going to get away from you."

"Wait, are you saying we're not there yet?" Hope asked incredulously. "Why'd we stop here, then?"

"We can't drive vehicles into forests," Caleb explained. "Lack of roads is one reason, but even one car can have a big impact on a forest's biome. It's just better for us to go by foot."

Hope rolled her eyes. "Fine. I guess it can't be helped."

With twelve pups, the three remainers each took four leashes, two in each hand. Hope looked down at the puppies she was handed, who were desperately trying to escape their leashes and run off into the forest. She held them back as much as she could, but it was fairly difficult considering they were running off in different directions.

"Hey! Stop that!" she growled as she pulled on the leashes. "You guys didn't hand me the rowdy ones on purpose, did you?"

Nick laughed. "It's just a part of being a dog. Let them tire out for a bit and they should be easier to manage."

Hope sighed. "Alright. Let's get this over with."

According to Nick's notes, the dens the coyote pups were taken from were about ten miles deep into the forest, meaning it would take quite a hike before they'd be close enough to start releasing them. Hope looked down at her pups and wondered just how long she'd have to spend with these hyperactive animals.

"You know, it might make things easier if you called them by their names," Nick remarked. "Just yelling at them isn't going to get their attention."

"They have names?" Hope seemed surprised.

"Sure. Would have been hard to wrangle them at the relay tower otherwise. Erin gave them their names." Nick bent down and inspected each dog carefully. "This one's Zwei. Here's Funf... That's Sechs... and this little guy's Acht."

"German numbers?" Hope suppressed a smirk. "That's a little uncreative."

"Well, it's not our job to be creative. Besides, it's not like we were keepin 'em for long."

Hope sighed. "Okay, then. Zwei, Funf, Sechs, Acht. We're going to go home now, so no running around, okay?"

The pups yipped as if to respond. Hope nodded, satsified by their reply. "Alright. Let's get going."

The three remainers walked into the forest, twelve energetic pups pulling them this way and that. Nick seemed fairly adept at steering the dogs where he wanted them to go, but for Caleb and Hope, it was a little bit tougher. The slowly made their way through the forest paths, trying their best to keep the pups on track.

As they walked deeper into the forest, the ground began to slope up as they began to climb up the hill. The ground was starting to become uneven as walkable paths started to disappear, and Hope started to struggle with her footing. Suddenly, one of the pups she was holding suddenly started off on a dash, and the force was so surprising that she ended up letting go of its leash. The pup dashed into the forest while Hope struggled to keep herself from falling and letting go of the other pups' leashes.

"Wait!" Hope called out, but the pup didn't listen. Nick and Caleb, who were a little bit ahead of her, came back down the hill when they heard her shout.

"What happened?" Nick asked, somewhat alarmed.

"I lost one of the pups," Hope explained. "It ran off into the forest."

"That's not good. The pups aren't old enough to survive on their own yet." Nick glanced down at the remaining pups. "So it was Zwei, huh... well, he's an energetic one, for sure."

"I'll go after him. You guys go on ahead of me."

"You sure? It might be faster if we helped you."

"No. It's my mistake, and I'll make up for it. Just go on ahead."

Nick tried to insist, but Caleb stopped him. "Once she gets an idea in her head, there's no stopping her. Don't worry. She'll be fine on her own."

"Alright. Try not to take too long, okay?"

Hope nodded, and as Nick and Caleb walked away, she looked down at the three dogs still left at her side. She looked down and took stock of their appearances, just to make sure she would be able to recognize them. One dog had a slightly darker coat than the others; that was Funf. Sechs had fairly long whiskers, while Acht had a white streak down its tail. That one that was missing was Zwei, so he was the pup with a light spot. Now that she knew which pup was missing, she was ready to go hunting.