T.S.L.o.W. Ch. 6

Chapter 6-
Going Our Separate Ways

“I don’t need her. Filthy vermin. I can find them by myself.” Caleb muttered to himself, trying his best to walk through the immense amounts of snow on the forest floor. He managed to walk two miles away from the cave. By then, a blizzard started, but he didn’t care. Caleb thought that as long as he was as far away from Sarah as possible, that he would be perfectly fine, “I can’t believe she betrayed me like that. I trusted her, and she betrayed me.” Caleb was infuriated with Sarah. But at the same time, he had mixed feelings about leaving Sarah But his rage overpowered his guilt, and he just kept walking. The sky was pitch-black. Caleb yawned. It was too late to find another place for shelter, so he just found a dry area under a large tree and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Sarah stayed in the cave, alone. She felt too guilty and regretful to even stand, let alone walk. She just stayed there and she too fell asleep.

= = =

The next day, Sarah woke up, her back aching. She looked over to the bed they made for Caleb the night before. Of course, it was empty. She finally decided to get up and she began to leave. She didn’t bother to take her things for she knew she wouldn’t need them. She took one last look around the small cave as she took her last steps outside. The air was warm. There was a light powder of snow, and she could see the sunrise on the other side of the mountain range. It truly was a sight to behold. Sarah stood in awe at the amazing as she started walking. She walked for about three hours until she hit a fork in the forest path. She saw two trails, both leading up the side of a large plateau. A thick layer of trees separated the trails. Sarah looked at the two trails, confusion on her face. Then she noticed large boot tracks on the right trail. Sarah knew right away that Caleb went that way, so she took the trail to the left. She disappeared into the thick woods.

= = =

It was about 11 A.M. when Caleb woke up under the tree he found before. He stood up and stretched while trying to recall the direction he was going. After mulling over the events that occurred last night up to the point he fell asleep, he remembered which way he was going, and began walking. After about two hours, Caleb could hear his stomach growling, and he realized that he hasn’t eaten or drinken anything in anything in weeks. He looked around for something to eat, but there was nothing in sight, so he just kept going.
Then at about 2:30, Caleb could see figures in the distance. Caleb tried to look closer, and he saw the one at the head of the group look in his direction and point at him.
“There he is. Get him!” Caleb heard the stranger yell. Suddenly, three foxes charged at him. They were all in uniform and they had machine guns. Caleb’s heart was racing. He didn’t know what to do. Without thinking, he ran in the other direction, only to be stopped by five more foxes. He tried running into the woods, but he tripped on a rock and knocked his head on a tree trunk. His vision was blurred and it was becoming hard for him to see, added on to the fact that he couldn’t move either. Caleb saw the group leader come up to him. He pulled out and cocked a pistol, then pointed the gun toward Caleb’s head. Caleb could suddenly see the faces of all his family and friends. He could see his mother, his father, his brother. The last face he saw was Sarah’s. Caleb saw filled with regret. He felt like he betrayed and abandoned her as a friend.
“I’m sorry Sarah…” Caleb whispered as a single tear ran down his cheek. He closed his eyes. He knew this was the end. He heard a loud gun shot, but much to his surprise, he wasn’t shot. He barely opened his eyes to see the fox’s body sprawled across the snow-covered floor. Caleb tried to look around more, but he blacked out.

= = =

Ever since Sarah woke up, she’s been hiking on the same path. She hasn’t eaten or drinken anything since her neighborhood was bombed. Sarah never forgot that day; the day she lost her home. The terrifying memory haunted her since the bombing occurred. She looked at her mall wristwatch.
“Ugh, 2:45.” Sarah hasn’t taken a single break since she started hiking that morning, not to mention she was famished, “I’ve been walking on this path for six hours straight. I’m surprised that I haven’t fallen asleep by now.” She rubbed her eyes. She was extremely tired; more than she has ever been. Her arms and legs became sore and began to grow limp from exhaustion, but she pressed on. She was hoping to find civilization so she had a place to sleep, but those were bleak times. There were probably no cabins within miles of her location. She continued hiking for two more hours until she couldn’t walk anymore. Her feet were burning and her lags were giving out. Eventually, she just found a tree and fell into a deep sleep.

= = =

“He’s waking up. Give him some space.” Caleb heard an unfamiliar voice say as he slowly regained consciousness. He awoke to find three wolves looming over him.
“Huh…where am I?” Caleb asked as he tried to sit up, only to be stopped by one of the wolves.
“Whoa, take it easy. You hit your head pretty hard. You should probably stay in bed for a while.” The stranger said, “You’re in a cabin. You’ve been out for a good three hours. When we found you, we also found an old log cabin, and the man who lives here let you stay ‘til you got better.”
“Well, who are you?” Caleb asked.
“I’m Colonel Grand.” The wolf answered, “I’m a commander for the Wolf Military. These are my soldiers, Hunter and Breaker.” He then handed Caleb a small folded up piece of paper, “Here, just in case you need my help.” He finished as he stood up, “Well, I think our work here is done.” With that, Col. Grand left with his two comrades. Caleb fell back into the uncomfortable bed. Soon, Caleb was able to stand up, and he got out of the bed. He was about to leave, but something caught his eye and he stopped to look over his shoulder. He saw an arctic white wolf asleep in a small reclining chair. He had snow white fur, which was darker in many spots due to his old age.
‘I should probably stay a while longer.’ Caleb thought to himself, ‘This wolf has shown me great hospitality. I should repay him somehow.’ So Caleb decided that he would stay outside until the wolf woke up. He sat on a nearby log in front of the old cabin. He looked up into the night sky. It was dark blue with a purplish tint, along with hundreds, maybe thousands of stars. Caleb had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He was amazed by the vast amount of stars clumped into one area.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Caleb was startled when he heard a voice behind him. He quickly turned around to see the old wolf standing behind him, “Sometimes I feel like I could just sit out here and look at them forever.”
“Yeah…” Caleb muttered, “So, who are you?”
“No, sir, the question is, who are you?” The strange wolf stated.
“Oh, well my name is Caleb.” Caleb answered.
“Well, nice to meet you, Caleb. Name’s Joseph; Joseph Herring.” The wolf introduced himself as he sat down next to Caleb.
“Hm, seems familiar.” Caleb pondered and tried to figure out what the name possibly meant.
“So what’s a young man like yourself doing out here?” Joseph asked.
“Well what’s an old man like yourself doing living out here in the first place?” Caleb joked.
“Touché.” Joseph said. Caleb just chuckled, then he just sighed.
“Well, I’m running away from the Fox Military. I’m what you would call a refugee. They bombed my neighborhood and so I left, and well, here I am.” Caleb explained.
“It seems that’s not the only thing bothering you.” Caleb just sighed again and put his head down.
“Well, I had a friend, and she was a fox. Her name was Sarah, and she was my best friend for a long time. After we were bombed, we decided to leave. Eventually, we made it up here, and one night we had to make camp. Once we got all situated, I asked her a question, and she finally told me that the war is real. I just got so angry and irritated with her. The last thing I said to her was ‘Stay in here and rot for all I care.’ After I said that, I just left. We’ve been separated ever since.” There were several moments of silence.
“Do you believe in illusions, Caleb?” Joseph suddenly asked.
“Not really. I mean, I’ve never actually thought about it much.”
“Well I don’t know about you, but I believe that the biggest illusion of this world, is the illusion of separation.” Joseph explained, “Things that people think are different are actually one and the same. Now what do you think is different between you and Sarah?
“Well…everything.”
“Wrong! In truth, we are all connected; All parts of the same whole, but we live as if divided.”
“Hm, I’ve never really thought of it that way.” But before Caleb could even think about it, he heard a disturbingly familiar sound. But Caleb hasn’t heard it in so long, he couldn’t remember what it was.
“Is that your friend, Caleb?” Joseph asked, pointing to a fox in the distance. Caleb turned to see who it was.
“No, that’s…” He suddenly remembered who it was when he saw the fox had a gun, “Oh no…”