Chapter 107

Natalie woke to a warm breeze blowing into the tent as the sun rose above the horizon. Stepping out of her tent, there were numerous events that she noticed. Given by the warm wind that flowed along her skin, she first looked up to see if her suspicions were correct. And sure enough, a chinook arch slowly made its way across the sky, promising a warm day for the area. Hopefully. They were right beside the mountains, and that meant that the weather could change in an instant. She had seen it go from sunny and plus twenty all the way to zero and snowing in the span of fifteen minutes, only to revert back within an hour. It was almost completely unpredictable in this location, but the chinook was as good of a sign as any. Looking down, she found that Shannon was going through her morning exercises, and was already part of the way into it. She was not making that guess based on the current moves, but more on the sheen of sweat glistening off the exposed bits of skin. Realizing that her partners start to the day was a good idea, Nat walked over and joined in.

Nat did not even last ten minutes, trying to follow alongside Shannon in her movements. Her muscles were just not used to the strenuous motions and screamed in defiance due to the strain they were put through. Right as they were in the middle of a city, Natalie was made to open her eyes to the biggest mistake she had made since the whole wave swept over. Sure, she had been walking most days for hours on end, her leg muscles were fantastically toned. However, every other muscle on her body was horribly out of shape. It was a wonder that she had not sprained anything through all of the fighting that they had done. She was glad that Shannon had vast experience as a personal trainer, as her body was now seeming sub-par. The more she peeked at her partners physique, the more that feeling grew. Where she was average and capable of doing some basic exercise, Shannon stood out as an Adonis of beauty and fitness.

When Shannon finally finished her morning workout, she found food sitting nearby, with Natalie lying on the ground beside it, groaning in pain. Today was just cereal and milk, so since she did not have to worry about her meal going cold Shannon knelt down and started massaging Natalie's sore limbs. Light screams of protest came up from her beloved, but those slowly morphed into sighs of relaxation and relief. As she finished up relieving the tension in Nat's limbs, Shannon addressed the newfound elephant in the room. "You don't seem to be in great shape there hun. While I don't know how you have survived till now, I feel you need to be a bit more fit to continue living the life we have been." A groan, followed by a grunt of affirmation came up from the prone woman. "Want me to whip you into shape once we are done here in the city?" Another grunt of affirmation came up to her ears. Shannon picked up her bowl of cereal, now at the perfect amount of sogginess in her eyes. Before eating, she said, "All right. And don't worry, I won't let up until you are at a point I am satisfied with." And with that, Shannon dug into her breakfast.

Natalie was finally able to sit up five minutes later, and took the time to eat her food as well. Her movements though were much slower and deliberate than Shannon's, as her everything hurt. The days ahead looked bleak, as Shannon tended to hold herself up to high standards when it came to exercise, and it seemed that she would do the same for her. Regardless, this was needed. If Nat was not physically fit, while everyone else was, she would end up being the weakest link. She did not want to be the one dragging down her family just because she did not want to push herself. Pushing that aside for now, she focused on what was in front of her. Prepping for their travels today.

They were going to be pushing straight through the edge of downtown Calgary. This meant that they were likely going to be fighting their way along the streets, going block to block taking down and avoiding monsters. For this, every single male canine, save for Copper and Edwin, were going to be travelling outside along with them. Their hope was that their path would be relatively removed from general travel areas, as they were planning on passing through the train yard. But with these creatures able to pop up basically anywhere, there was no guarantees to their safety. Hopefully, no monsters would show up and they would be able to go up to the 12 Street bridge and cross over to St George's Island easily. However, they had to plan and prepare for the worst, which included the giant fifteen-foot monsters that had made an appearance inside Nat's dreams.

After all of the female canines were convinced not to pop out in case it was an emergency, especially Seeka, Nat felt ready to go. After all, tomorrow was the projected due date for when Seeka would have her and Scout's pups. While they all knew what happened when one of them died, Nat did not want to take a chance with the pups that Seeka was carrying. Would they be rebuilt with their mother's body as well, or would it act as a sort of abortion, robbing Seeka and Scout of the new family members they were excited to welcome to the world. In fact, before any of the females could come and help, Maia, Kali, and Lucille's offspring were considered the first line of reinforcement. While they had not quite gotten to their full adult size, and were still acting like rowdy teenagers, almost all of them were still larger than Scout. Once everyone confirmed they were ready for a long and tough day, they moved together across the train bridge, towards the zoo.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Selvaria, Viktor, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Lachlan, Adam, John, Nicholas, Jacob, Onean, Hades, Krimson, Jake, Neal, Sebastian, Ethan, Sir Hellington, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 50 patrons, which I will then spend more time each month writing some side stories and shorts that show other perspectives throughout my stories!

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