Chapter 52

While the wolves separated off into pairs and did their own thing inside the Soulscape, the party of three continued to move onwards through the snow. While the wind had not settled down, the snow had stopped falling. Now the only added snow they had to worry about was whatever the wind blew in their way. Trudging on, they made decent time down the highway. About once every hour and a half, they came across a new farm house that they temporarily used to warm up. Not being out in the cold and sheltered from the wind made sure that any issues of frost damage were completely neutralized. They only spent about five minutes in each house, though they did check all over them for motorcycle gear. If she was able to get protective wear, she would be able to just ride one of the wargs and massively accelerate their movement speed. A wolf could maintain a pace of about twenty to twenty five kilometers per hour. That was four to five times the fastest they could move, and they weren't even going nearly that fast!

Unfortunately, there was no one who seemed to have any gear for motorcycles or snowmobiles. It was unlikely to find any out here, especially on farm land. Maybe someone in Magrath had some, but it was not likely. Lethbridge was the place were it was most likely to be. And that was if nobody was using it as pseudo armor to protect themselves. With monsters roaming at large, people would probably make use of whatever they could. Hours passed, and the travel was more and more of the same until they finally saw Magrath on the horizon. After a quick check backwards, it was decided by the group to find a place in the town to hunker down for the night.

Given by the track record that they had for towns, Nat did not want to go deeper into this town. It had gone from Monster Ville to survivors holding out, back and forth repeatedly. If the streak continued, this place would be infested with goblins. Sure enough, as they entered the town, they found a bunch of goblins huddled around each other. They were so close to each other, that it must have been for warmth. Thankfully it did not look like they figured out how to light fires. Just imagine, three foot tall monsters with a violent attitude and a penchant for lighting things on fire. There would soon be nothing left in the world if that came to pass. Shattering the frozen monsters, the three followed the highway into town.

They went from building to building, checking to see if any seemed decent to hole up in for the night. It was not until the third building, a hardware store, that they felt satisfied. It only had a few side doors, and any windows on the building were up high next to the ceiling. As they went inside, they noticed many things that could be handy. Tools, building materials, even a kitchen sink! Okay, while that had absolutely no value right now, the standalone fire pits they had were fantastic. Grabbing one and a charcoal barbeque, they moved over to a corner that was underneath some of the higher up windows. Picking up some hammers, Nat threw one at the window above to break it for ventilation. Obviously, she first forced every canine into the Soulscape before doing this. As she threw it, she watched as it flew straight and true. Into the roof. Groaning at her poor throwing arm, she proceeded to chuck multiple hammers at the window. While there were a good few dents placed around the window from all of her misses, on the eleventh throw she finally took out the window. Even better, all of the glass fell outside, following the force of the hammer.

Happy that they could now warm up decently, Nat got the pack to bring out all of their supplies. Since they were inside with nowhere to anchor it, there just became a mound of pillows, blankets, and mattresses in the corner instead of in the usual tent. Settling down with a sore throwing arm beside the fire, just getting a plate of steak bites out to eat for dinner. She did not want to have to do anything with her arm that night, especially after failing to hit that window so many times. While Kali and Maia came out to rest with her, as well as most of the pups and Edwin and Lucille, most stayed inside the Soulscape. Luna had been particularly impatient after hearing everyone's determination for pups, and practically dragged Sol inside as soon as they were sure that the building was empty and safe. Nat did not worry about that too much though, as all of them seemed to be incredibly happy.

While they had the downtime, Nat got Kali to show her leg off. Taking the bandages off, Nat was impressed with how it healed. Nothing was visibly wrong, and when prodded Kali said she felt nothing. After a little bit of pushing, Kali finally tried walking about in the shop. She took it slow at first, but as time went on, she started moving faster and faster. Up and down the aisles she ran, a dumb but happy smile on her face at being able to move freely again. Ecstatic, she ran and tackled Natalie, nuzzling her and licking her face all over. It had only been a week ago that she had been trapped under that tree, alone with her pups and no way to provide for them. Natalie had been their saviour then, and the act made her ever grateful. So much so that she did not feel she could ever express it. Thankfully she did not have to, as the feelings of joy, and thanks fully transmitted across the bond straight to Nat.

Unprepared for the onslaught of emotions, Nat hugged Kali back, breaking into tears. Maia maneuvered her own way in, and the three of them just cuddled together in joy. At least until the pups all jumped on top worrying what was wrong as Nat had tears flowing down her face. After explaining that nothing was wrong and that it was cause the were happy, the pups all joined in and the giant nuzzling party continued. Exhausting themselves from the excitement, Nat quickly went and made sure Edwin and Lucille were fine and knew what to do. Now that they had a standalone thing, leaving the fire burning as they went to sleep did not seem like a bad idea, so long as the two lookouts knew what to do if something went wrong. Warm but tired, she crawled back into the mound of softness and fur in the corner before drifting off to sleep.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Zmal, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Ty, 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 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!