Chapter 144
As they came out, they saw that the canines were cautiously watching each direction out of the destroyed entrance. Upon hearing that they had seen no movement, Shannon took some time to make sure that the child was properly cradled and supported in her arms. She had worries for how the kid may be doing health wise, but this was not the time or place to check. If anything, the number of patients she now had to watch out for was thirteen, with Nat acting as an advisor for the first twelve. However, this was the first patient she had in a while of the human variety, where her knowledge and speciality were needed the most.
Meanwhile, Nat started to check over the canines one by one, making sure all of their wounds from the fight were not too damning. The actions of the kid stung, but it was not like she was too surprised. All throughout her life, intrapersonal connections had been a hard part for Natalie. She had been told numerous times that she was hard to approach, that she scared off others who were interested in being friends. Shannon had been an outlier, having fallen for her because of that, rather than in spite of. She couldn't remember how often that people seemed to be working up the courage to confess to her, before turning away without saying anything. There were always people that seemed to be fine with them though, besides the obvious exception beside her. Her parents, her mentor during her internship, and most recently was Bryden, her former boss down in Waterton. Them, and every animal that had followed her parents back home after being rescued. For some reason, none of them had an issue with her looks, and loved to cuddle up beside her or play games together with her.
Nat took a bit longer to finish up, seeing how she had five bodies to worry about, rather than one. However, Sol and Bryden were forced to return to the Soulscape to recover. Unlike the other three, they both had wounds which impacted their ability to move, some of which were still lightly bleeding. As a wonderful bonus, none of them had any traces of black energy inside of them. Once that was all good, the five of them, plus their unconscious passenger, headed out of the gas station.
As they came out, they noticed that the sun had finally started to rise above the horizon, showing how early in the day they had actually started. Normally, this would have been when Natalie would wake up, and everyone else would still be asleep. Collectively, the pack agreed that getting out of the city would be far more important than getting in breakfast. Shannon countered that, getting the wolves inside to get food, before swapping with the three that were outside. Meanwhile, she would eat while on the move, as would Natalie. Since the kid was not awake at the moment, food would have to wait for them.
Having a basic food plan in place now, they all started walking up the highway, as it would be the fastest way to get north of the city and continue where they wanted to go. Today, the canines had eggs for breakfast, while Natalie and Shannon had some breakfast burritos. They made sure not to eat too much, to make it so their travel for the day would not be uncomfortable. After about fifteen minutes was when they switched out, having the three minorly scraped canines take their time resting and eating back in the Soulscape. The hard part was who would switch out with them. Scout was an obvious choice, given by how he was one of the most coordinated with his shifted form. The question was who else to get out here.
In the end, they had three others come out in addition to Scout. Emily and Ash were two of them, being surprisingly graceful in their shifted forms despite having barely any time in them. Their mates had given them extensive notes and pointers during the time they were nursing, but even that seemed to little for this much of a change. While Nat was trying to figure it out, a giggle came up from Maia and Kali through the link, before they explained that they had been guiding the two of them through everything since they had first gotten the forms. Knowing they had that amount of teaching, all surprise that was felt was now lost, as those two were thorough in anything they did. The third addition was Spirit, under the agreement that as long as he did not alert anyone to their presence. He still ran around like a squirrel hopped up on caffeine, but he did so in a circle around the group. He even brought up every track that he came across, but it was hard to tell if they belonged to that group they wiped out or not.
As they walked north on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, they came across a building, split between a sports hall of fame and Tourism Red Deer. While it was not necessary, they agreed to take a slight detour, just in case the office had some maps. While everyone moved up to the entrance, making sure that they were not going to get ambushed, Spirit went and did a quick lap around the building. By the time he had caught back up, the others were at the front entrance. It was busted up, but not like the gas station had been. There was no bent metal, only smashed panes of glass, implying that the people who broke in were human. Once Spirit reported that he found no monster tracks around the building, they all moved in, a bit more at ease.
Inside, the whole place was absolutely ransacked. Shelving was tipped over, the registers were clearly busted open, and barely anything was left. Just a couple post cards that said to come visit Red Deer. Everything else was either gone or damaged beyond repair. The map area itself had a couple torn maps, as well as two pools of dried red blood. Clearly, they had not been the only ones wanting maps, and people had been violent in their desire. Seeing that there was nothing worth acquiring, they carried on their path northwards, in hopes of finding Nat's parents.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Selvaria, Viktor, Saganatsu, Eeleater, John, Jacob, Onean, Neal, Sebastian, Ethan, Sir Hellington, Adam, 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!
Feel free to join us all on my Discord! https://discord.gg/b8gRkD4