The two had just finished hunting a caribou and were busy eating when Humphrey suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine. He suddenly felt the instinctual need to check his surroundings and he eventually spotted something deep in the trees that made his blood run cold.

“Joe,” he said, not taking his eye off of what he was looking at.

“What is-” Joe began but stopped when he saw the frightened look on Humphrey’s face.

“Look,” Humphrey said.

Joe followed his gaze and soon he froze in fear too.

Deep in the trees, looking directly at them was the man from the zoo. He looked even more threatening without his winter jacket and hat. He looked almost as fit and healthy as Leyla. Even from a distance, Humphrey and Joe could make out what he was wearing. Accompanying the wolf skin vest, he wore a black t-shirt and two arm bracers on his forearms, both of which were also covered with wolf fur. He wore hiking boots on his feet and dark blue jeans. The strangest thing, he carried on his back. They couldn’t tell what it was at first because it was mostly obscured by his back, but then they realized it was the hilt of a sword.

The three maintained eye contact for what seemed like an excruciatingly long time. The man didn’t move a muscle. He just stood and stared at them and that was the most unnerving thing of all.

“Joe, run,” Humphrey said before turning and sprinting away in the opposite direction as the man began to run after them.

All of a sudden, a loud bang was heard, and Joe tripped and fell to the ground. Humphrey skidded to a stop and turned around to see him bleeding from a hole in his leg. Humphrey rushed back to help Joe, but noticed the man approaching ever closer. Joe struggled to get up and Humphrey supported him with his head as the two stumbled along as quickly as they could.

The man suddenly slowed to a walk for seemingly no apparent reason. The two got a fair distance away and thought they might actually get away, when they heard another loud bang and Humphrey felt Joe’s body go limp and fall to the ground. Humphrey stepped back in shock and when he looked, he saw a bullet wound located right in the middle of Joe’s spine.

He didn’t have time to grieve however, as the man was quickly approaching. Humphrey dashed off through the woods as the man holstered his gun and kneeled down by Joe’s body.

“Until we meet again, Humphrey,” he said, smiling to himself before picking up Joe’s body, slinging it over his shoulder, and walking away with it.

Humphrey wandered scared and alone through the far western region of Jasper for a little over a month until one day, he met a new friend. By this time in his life, Humphrey had gotten pretty good at living on his own and being a lone wolf had sort of become his thing. He knew how to hunt, where to find good shelter; life was fairly easy now.

One day, as he was peacefully wandering, he heard a soft female voice call out to him.

“Hey.”

He looked around him to see where it was coming from, but he didn’t see anyone.

“Down here,” the voice said.

Humphrey turned around and looked down at the ground. He was surprised to see a snake looking up at him. It was a viper, around four feet from head to tail with beautifully vibrant reddish-purple scales and a yellowish-orange underbelly.

“Whoa!” Humphrey shouted, jumping back.

“Please, don’t go,” she said quickly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Humphrey stopped for a moment and decided to give her a chance. He knew what it was like to be rejected.

“Alright,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m Viper.”

“That’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?” Humphrey asked.

“Yeah, I know,” Viper replied. “You saved me back there. At the zoo, I mean. You and your friend.”

“How did you find me?” Humphrey asked.

“Well, I have these pits by my mouth that I can use to let me see the heat coming off your body,” she explained. “I can make it so that you essentially glow in the dark.”

“Wow, really?” Humphrey said, amazed.

“Well, yes, but that’s not how I found you,” Viper replied, smiling. “I followed you from the zoo.”

“Wait, you’ve been following me for five months?” Humphrey asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” he wondered.

“Because...well, I was afraid you would react pretty much exactly the way you did,” she explained. “Us snakes are so misunderstood. Most animals run as soon as they see us when a lot of the time we just want to be friends. And that’s what makes a lot of us bitter. Some more than others, but the loneliness and rejection gets to us all eventually.”

“Oh,” Humphrey said, feeling guilty about how he had reacted.

“I just wanted to say thank you for saving me at the zoo,” Viper told him.

“Yeah, that really wasn’t part of the plan,” Humphrey replied.

“Either way, you saved me,” she said, “you and your friend. I’m sorry about what happened to him.”

Humphrey looked down in sorrow and the two were silent before Viper spoke up.

“You wouldn’t mind having a travel companion, would you,” she asked.

Humphrey smiled.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he said. “It’s always nice to have company out here.”

As the two continued on together, they kept talking.

“I’ve never seen a snake like you in Jasper,” Humphrey said.

“That’s because I’m not from Jasper,” Viper replied. “I’m from a place very far from here called Africa. I was taken from my home and brought all the way over here and put in the zoo. I’d been living there for about ten years.”

“I know how you feel,” Humphrey said. “I was taken from my home too, quite a few times, actually. First when I was a pup, I was taken from my parents and never found my way back to them. I was accepted into a different pack and then years later, me and another wolf named Kate were taken by humans all the way down to Idaho. We found our way back home and we ended up getting married soon after. Most recently was about six years ago when our pack was attacked by humans. I was badly injured and passed out. When I woke up, I was in a house and then was brought to the zoo once I healed.”

“Wow, so you’ve been moving around quite a bit.”

“Yeah, I’ve never really gotten the chance to settle down,” Humphrey told her. “There was one period of around fifteen years when I was first brought into the pack, but that’s about it. Once Kate and I got back from Idaho, I thought that would be it, but then we had to go and have three pups and that was an adventure all on its own.”

Humphrey and Viper continued talking for the rest of the day as they wandered around Jasper. Night eventually fell and the two settled down near a tree with Viper resting up in the branches and Humphrey sleeping down at the base of it. The next day, Humphrey was awoken by Viper nudging him.

“Humphrey,” she whispered.

“What?” Humphrey asked groggily.

“There’s someone over there,” she said.

At the sound of this news, Humphrey immediately stood up and looked over to where Viper was gazing. Once he saw who the human was, he began to relax a little.

“It’s fine,” Humphrey said. “That’s just Leyla. She’s the person I told you about yesterday, the one who helped me when I was hurt.”

Humphrey stretched his legs before going over to Leyla.

“Who’s that?” she asked, looking at Viper.

“That’s Viper,” Humphrey said, casually. “She’s from the zoo.”

“Humphrey, what are you doing?” she asked.

“What does it look like?” he said. “I escaped.”

“I told you not to.”

“And I didn’t listen to you, because I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life in that place.”

“Humphrey, I-” Leyla began.

“You just left me there, Leyla!” Humphrey exclaimed angrily. “I thought we had a strong friendship, and then you turned around and betrayed me like that. Why?”

“I was afraid,” she said.

“Of what?”

“I was afraid that when the time came to release you back into the wild, you wouldn’t want to go,” she explained.

“Of course I would’ve gone!” Humphrey burst out, but then saw the look on Leyla’s face and began to rephrase. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said. “I still have a family to get back to, Leyla. They don’t even know I’m alive. For six years now, they’ve thought I’m dead. My pups are growing up without me, I have to get back to them.”

Leyla looked down in shame.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Humphrey. I still partially saw you as just an animal and I didn’t think you’d be able to make it on your own after spending so much time with me. I figured you at least deserved to be with other wolves.”

“Did you forget what I told you during the very first conversation we had?” Humphrey asked. “Did you forget my story? I survived for months on     my own when I was just six. With someone hunting me down on top of that.”

“I’m so glad you picked up on that,” a voice said.

Everyone turned and saw the man standing a few yards away, slowly clapping his hands. Humphrey’s eyes widened in fear and Viper slithered behind Humphrey’s leg to try and hide. Leyla, however, didn’t look afraid. She had a look on her face as if she knew this person and resented him.

“At last we meet, face-to-face, my friend,” he said.

“What is he going on about?” Humphrey wondered.

“Humphrey, I’m shocked. I’d have thought you were above being so rude,” the man said casually.

Humphrey’s eyes widened even more, and his mouth dropped open slightly.

“Who are you?” he asked, demandingly.

“You don’t know me, but I know you,” the man said. “I know you all too well. Humphrey, omega of the Western Pack, formerly of the Central Pack. Married to a beautiful alpha named Kate, and your three wonderful pups, Stinky Claudette, and Runt. I do believe you two fell in love on an unexpected trip to Idaho around, oh I don’t know, thirteen years ago. You have your mother’s eyes, my boy. Martha, I believe her name was. It’s a shame her and your father were too stupid to stay behind and not go with the rest of your pack when they ordered the evacuation. Who knows, maybe they might still be alive-”

“Stop it!” Viper shouted, slithering out from behind Humphrey’s leg. “That’s enough!”

“Oh,” the man said, chuckling to himself, “a snake. Well, this should be good.”

“Answer the question,” Viper pressed angrily. “Who are you?”

“I’m your worst nightmare,” the man answered. “You managed to get away last month when I attacked you and your friend, although by this point in our long, long history together, I’m not surprised.”

“And exactly how long is our history?” Humphrey asked.

“Longer than you can remember,” the man said. “And I mean that literally. This may be your first time meeting me, but I’ve known you your whole life. I was there the day you were born, and I’ve been following you ever since, always lurking in the shadows.”

“What do you want with me?” Humphrey asked.

“Now, now,” he said, smiling. “You must be patient, Humphrey. It’s something I’ve learned to be quite good at.”

“Enough of your games, Viggo!” Leyla shouted. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh, Leyla,” Viggo said, turning to look at her. “Always the fiery spirit. I’ve just come to finally get acquainted with our friend, here. It’s been so long, I was beginning to get afraid that we would never actually meet.”

He then turned his attention back to Humphrey.

“I do hope we’ll meet again soon, my friend,” Viggo said. “In fact, I guarantee it. But, I have other things to tend to in the meantime.”

“Stop!” Leyla said. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Oh, am I?” Viggo said, confidently. “The two of you can’t take me. With her, maybe,” he said, pointing to Viper, “but I still doubt that.”

With that, Viggo simply turned and walked away. Humphrey turned and looked at Leyla.

“Are we really letting him go?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Leyla replied. “He’s right, we’re no match for him.”

“How? It’s three against one.” Viper said.

“That doesn’t matter,” Leyla said. “You don’t know what he’s capable of. He’s destroyed entire wolf packs single-handedly.”

“Who is he?” Humphrey asked.

“His name is Viggo,” Leyla replied.

“Yeah, I got that.”

“Viggo Thanatos.”

“I’m sorry. What?” Humphrey said.

“Thanatos. It means ‘bringer of death’,” Leyla told him. “He’s my brother.”

“If he’s your brother, why does he have a different last name?” Humphrey asked.

“He doesn’t,” Leyla replied. “His real last name is the same as mine; Johnson. He just prefers Thanatos because of its meaning. And to wolves, he is exactly that. Humphrey, please listen to me when I ask you to come back with me. We can have a fresh start and pretend like this whole zoo thing never happened.”

Humphrey thought for a moment before replying.

“Alright,” he said, “I forgive you, and I’ll come back to your house with you on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You never lie to me again,” he said. “You never try to bring me somewhere where you think I’ll be safer. I want to stay right here with you.”

“Deal,” she replied.

“But Humphrey, what about your family?” Viper asked. “I thought you wanted to go home.”

“I do,” Humphrey replied, “but if this guy’s telling the truth and he really has been following me my whole life, then maybe it’s best if I stay away from them. They’ll be safer that way.”

“Are you sure?”

“I hate to do it, but they already think I’m dead, so that makes it easier,” Humphrey replied regretfully. “Now come on,” he said as he began to follow Leyla through the woods.

“Uh.”

Humphrey stopped and turned and looked at Viper who hadn’t moved.

“Viper?” he said. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know, Humphrey,” she said.

“What? It’ll be fine,” Humphrey reassured her.

“I’m sorry, Humphrey,” Viper said. “I’m just not comfortable around humans. I don’t mean to be rude to your friend-”

“No, I completely understand,” Humphrey said. “Just be safe, Viper.”

“I will,” she said. “I promise.”

Viper turned and slithered away as Humphrey and Leyla watched.

“Where’s she going?” Leyla asked.

“She’s not coming,” Humphrey replied. “She’s not all that trusting of humans. She hopes you understand.”

“That’s alright,” Leyla replied.

“I’m sorry too, Leyla,” Humphrey said. “I know you wanted to try and keep me safe. I know you were just trying to be a friend.”

Leyla smiled.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Humphrey and Leyla began walking back toward her house. Viper curiously followed behind them all the way back to the house, rethinking Humphrey’s offer for a moment. She liked him. She liked his company and she felt bad about just leaving him. She ultimately stuck with her choice but hung around the general area out of loyalty to her new friend.