Chapter 16: Exiled

About a 年 had passed since Humphrey was accepted into the Northern Pack. The Mysterious Man waited outside the borders of the territory, hoping for an opportunity to attack Humphrey. But it didn’t come. At least, not anytime soon.

For a year, Humphrey lived in relative peace in the Northern Pack, spending most of his days playing with Kyle and exploring the area around the pack, making sure not to stray too far from his new 首页 for fear of getting lost.

As the 年 progressed, the Mysterious Man returned to the human town to resupply on 食物 and other essentials. He knew he wouldn’t miss much as Humphrey hadn’t really done anything over the past nine months 或者 so. It would be another three before something happened that would, once again, change Humphrey’s life forever.

As fall began, Kyle had to go and start alpha school. Having only been there for a year, Humphrey was still considered and treated as an outsider 由 most of the pack, so he had very little, to no 老友记 other than Kyle. However, despite this newfound loneliness, he still lived a fairly good life as part of the Northern Pack.

One 日 in September, after Kyle left for alpha school, Humphrey hung around the pack for a while before heading out to a large 爬坡道, 小山 near where he was rescued a 年 earlier. He walked up the hillside and after reaching the top, looked out at the forest around him. He noticed a range of mountains that were relatively near, and just a day’s walk to the west, was the large valley he and Gary had seen the 日 Humphrey learned to logboard. It seemed so far away back then, but now it was so near. It really showed Humphrey how far away from 首页 he really was.

He looked out at the surrounding forest for a while 更多 until he eventually got bored and started looking around for something to do. He found, much to his delight, a rotten log lying on the ground. He pushed it over to the edge of the 爬坡道, 小山 and jumped in, riding it down to the bottom before pushing it back up so he could go back down again.

It had been a very long time since he had gone logboarding and doing it now went a long way to helping him cope with his current situation, especially the loss of his parents and his home. It reminded him of the good old days, back when life was simpler and easier.

He spent most of his 日 logboarding down the hill. It was beginning to get late when he decided that he should probably head back to the pack, so he went down one last time.

However, after he pushed off for the last time, he noticed Kyle approaching the 爬坡道, 小山 directly below him. Humphrey panicked and tried to steer the logboard out of the way in time, but it was too late.

Humphrey reached the bottom and slammed into Kyle’s back leg before continuing into a tree. Humphrey leapt out of the logboard before it crashed into the tree. He hit the ground hard, hurting his side.

Humphrey staggered to his feet, his side hurting when suddenly, he heard Kyle crying out in pain. Humphrey forgot about his injured side and rushed over to Kyle, who was lying on the ground, his leg broken from the force of the impact.

“Kyle!” Humphrey said, rushing to his friend’s side. “Kyle, are you-“

He never finished, as Owen came rushing out to see what was going on.

“Kyle!” he said. “What happened?”

Kyle took a moment before answering.

“Humphrey hit me with a log.”

Owen turned and looked at Humphrey for a moment before turning back to Kyle.

“What hurts?” he asked.

“My leg,” he said, trying to stand up. “I think it’s broken.”

Owen looked back over at Humphrey, a growl forming in his throat.

“I…I didn’t mean to-“ Humphrey began.

“Out!” Owen yelled. “Get out!”

He began helping his son back toward the pack.

“You’re banished. Forever. I don’t want to see 你 here ever again.”

Humphrey slowly turned around with his tail between his legs and walked away up the hill. The Mysterious Man continued to follow him. Once again, Humphrey had thought that he had found a good home. But apparently, he hadn’t. Fortunately, while he had been exiled, he wouldn’t be on his own for much longer, and his harrowing ordeal was almost over. As he laid down to sleep for the night, he had no idea that what he would find in the morning, would 密封 his fate forever.