That night. . .
"Watch this," Stormfast whispered. He emerged from the bushes and walked up to the two girls. "Hello, she-wolves! Name's Stormfast!" he announced. Stone, who was still hiding in the bushes, bit his lip as he watched his brother make him look weak.
"What do ya want?" said one of the females.
"Oh, I'm just walkin' around, thinking one of you she-wolves might wanna be my howling partner, eh?"
The two females turned away and huddled close to each other, whispering in each other's ears.
"Wow, this guy looks cool!" said Lisa.
"He also looks cute! I think you should go with him. Why not?" said the slightly older one named Winter.
Stone watched as Lisa walked up to him. He turned, and she walked by his side up the mountain. It was obvious that Stormfast was better at this stuff than Stone. What chance did he have against one of the top Alphas of the Eastern Pack? He knew it was now his turn to show off his moves. Better now than never.
"Well, Stone," he said to himself. "It's your turn. Stormfast made it look easy." He got out of the bushes and walked up to Winter. "Hey!" he called out.
"Uh, hi," she replied.
"Uhh, I was wondering. Do you... want to, uhh. Well, you know."
"Excuse me?"
"Do you... want to... uhh, go up Moonlight Howl Rock?"
"Umm, sure," said Winter.
"Let's say we howl into the moonlight!"
Later. . .
Suddenly, an out-of-tune howling noise rippled the sky, where everybody could hear. Stormfast looked up to a place near the summit of Moonlight Howl Rock.
"Dang, Garth! I thought you said you worked on your howls!"
Meanwhile nearby, Stone and Winter were covering their ears.
"What?! Garth?! Really?!" Stone couldn't believe it. "Excuse me for a sec," he said to Winter. "I'm getting some water." What Stone actually intended to do was smack some sense into Tony's son. He proceeded to walk through a path covered in vegetation. "Ow!" he yelped. In the span of a few seconds, he felt dizzy. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he got dizzier and dizzier until he passed out.
He then woke up in a tight space that was smooth on all sides. Everything looked alien. He looked through the little holes in front of him and saw a large, gritty, somewhat shiny, red object a meter away. The strangeness only meant one thing. "Stormfast!" he yelled. "Stormfast!" The yell was within Stormfast's earshot. The black wolf stopped howling.
"Stone must be in trouble! Umm... wait here! Sorry, Lisa!" He licked her cheek before running out of sight in the blink of an eye.
"Wait!" said Lisa. "Where are you—?" She couldn't finish her sentence. "Dang... He runs fast for a male."
"Storm!" Stone yelled again.
"Stone!" Stormfast yelled back. Stone distinctly smelled like fresh apples. He followed the scent until he saw the situation his brother was in. "Oh, gosh! This is a cage!"
"Get me out of here, dude!" Stormfast scanned the area for anything that might help. He began to panic.
"Uhh... umm..."
Just then, three aliens popped up from the edge of the clearing, carrying two more cages. Stone and Stormfast could hear wolves sleeping in them. Their hearts dropped.
"Dude!" said Stone to his brother. "If you don't let me out right now, I swear you'll never hear the end of it! LET ME OUT!"
"What the heck am I supposed to do?!" Stormfast screamed.
Stormfast had a choice: stay with Stone and get caught in order to comfort him or run away to escape the unknown horrors he might endure. Even though Stone was his best friend, he wanted to save himself. He didn't want to be chopped up and eaten, so he said something that would scar Stone for life. "Sorry, buddy..." Those would be the last words Stone would hear from him in a long time.
Stormfast ran. He ran as fast as he could, having no idea where he was going.
"Stormfast, YOU COWARD!" Stone growled.
"Sir?" said one of the humans.
"Just leave him," the other replied.
Later. . .
"Whoa!" Stormfast exclaimed. (*SPLASH!*) The black wolf slipped on a piece of mud and fell into a strong river. "*gag, gasp!* Help! *gurgle, gasp!* Anyone!" he screamed. He was being carried away in the strong current. (*thump!*) A large piece of bark bumped into him. There was a bunch of debris in the river. He grabbed the piece of bark and managed to put half his weight on it. He didn't want to put too much weight on it. Otherwise, his raft would break.
The river was freezing cold. Stormfast shivered tremendously. The river then took him toward an alien-made bridge. The shiny, red object from earlier moved across the arch. On the back of the noisy object were two cages.
He passed the bridge from underneath and thought to himself. Would Stone forgive him?