Remainers

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.