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Chapter 2: Life as we Know It.

Humphrey did not realize that he had fallen asleep until he felt the lively rays of the coming sun beating against his eyelids.

He groaned in annoyance and pinched his eyelids tighter together for a moment then slowly blinked his eyes open, ridding them of the spots that danced about in his field of view.

With a bitter sigh he lifted his head and took a moment to regard the land before him, finding that not much had changed aside from the addition of light and a few sparse shrubs.

"'Nother day in the life," he mused, sarcasm bleeding venomously through his tone.

With a shake of his head, he pressed himself to his paws and turned, but jumped back in alarm when he saw her standing before him.

"Kate?" he asked in surprise, "wha- but-"

"Yes, Humphrey," she replied, "it's me."

"But wh- what are you doing here?" he asked her in bewilderment.

She shrugged and rose to her paws.

"Oh, nothing," she replied with a cruel smile, "I just thought I'd come and tell you how great my life is going without you in it."

"But-" Humphrey stammered, "I thought-"

"You thought what?" Kate spat with a sarcastic chuckle, "that I actually CARED about you?"

She strutted over to him, circling his body slowly.

"How could I POSSIBLY love something as low and pathetic as you?" she asked him incredulously, "a weak, useless, annoying omega."

"You don't mean that," Humphrey said desperately, tears filling his eyes.

"Of course I do," she stated, brushing her tail under his chin, "all I ever did... the playing,"

"No," Humphrey denied, plugging his ears.

"the howling,"

"No."

"the whole 'I had fun' bit,"

"Stop it," he cried

"all of it was a ploy just to see how miserable it would make you when I decided to break your little heart, and boy was it better than I had expected! I mean I didn't actually expect you to leave, but all that was, was just a bonus on my end! Now I never have to see you again!"

"Shut up!" Humphrey screamed, pinching his eyes tightly together, "just shut up."

But when he opened his eyes once more, she was gone.

Humphrey panted and glanced frantically around the train car, but quickly found that he was alone.

Distraught by the episode that he just experienced, Humphrey broke down and began to sob, pulling his body tightly together and wrapping his tail about himself, seeking a form of self comfort in his own embrace.

A&?

Kate did not sleep that night, for she found that no matter how hard she tried, she could not stop thinking about what she had done, and how ashamed that she was with herself.

She betrayed her best friend, ripped his heart out of his chest and crushed it before his eyes then stood by and watched as he picked up what fragile pieces remained and disappeared like a cloud whisked away into nothing by the wind. How she hoped that he didn't really go through with it; God how she prayed that he would be in his den, but she knew that it wouldn't matter anyway. She knew that she couldn't face him after what she did to him. How could she?

What could she do?

Apologize?

Not likely.

What could she say; "sorry that I broke your heart, now let's shake paws and be friends like we once were."?

Fat chance.

That wouldn't fix a thing; nothing would.

Nothing at all could repair the damage that had been done, and it knowing this made her sick.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the scrape of paws drawing near and turned to see her mother approaching her from the back of the den.

"Morning, Kate," she greeted, her voice gruff, and sat down beside her, "how are you feeling this morning?"

"Sick," Kate replied dryly and slowly rose to her haunches, "you?"

"Bout the same," she replied with a single sniffle, "gah, I haven't drank that much in a long time."

"Yeah, you and dad were pretty lit last night," Kate mused flatly, trying to disguise her inner woe, "and where is he, by the way? I never heard him come in."

"He and I had a little bit of an argument last night," she replied, laying herself starkly upon the ground, "he stayed over at Tony's."

"Oh," Kate said, lowering her eyes to her paws, "would, uh, would you like some water?"

"Please," Eve answered stuffily and turned over onto her back, "there should be a *burp* gah, a bowl around here somewhere."

"I'll find it," Kate assured and rose to her paws, anxious to remove herself from the scene for a while, "you just lay still, alright?"

Eve nodded and draped the back of her foreleg over her eyes then pushed out a long sigh between slightly parted lips.

Kate moved slowly to the mouth of the den, collected the bowl, then began to move down the ramp, but her head wasn't where it needed to be and when she ran into her father, she nearly fell off of the overhang and would have had her father not caught her scruff at the last moment.

"Kate," he asked worried, releasing her scruff, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, retrieving the bowl with her paws, "just getting mom some water. She's a bit under the weather if you know what I mean."

"Yeah." Winston stated slowly, "did she tell you?"

"About?"

"About our little disagreement last night," Winston answered.

"Oh yeah," Kate replied, though awkwardly, for she did not really wish to discuss such matters, "she did."

Winston nodded.

"So she told you that we may be getting a divorce?" he asked.

Kate's eyes widened.

"No, she didn't tell me that," she said worried, "what did you two fight about that was so bad it put a five year marriage at stake?"

Winston sighed and hung his head in shame.

"It's my fault, really," he admitted, "I should have known better."

?&?

The loneliness killed him and relinquished him at the same time, for he needed the solitude to really think about his actions and what the future may have in store for him, but most importantly, it gave him time to cool down. However, with all of the good things that the destitute provided, the negatives that were included in the package were right behind them to drag him down. Yes, the seclusion gave him a chance to think, but that didn't necessarily mean that all of his thoughts were productive, and in all honesty it gave him a little bit too much time to think, so he slept little during the night and was restless during the day, tormented by his ceaseless thoughts.

In an attempt to pass the time, or to occupy his mind with something besides why he was here, he would pace the floor, count the boards on the ceiling, search for bugs in the hay, or try to find shapes in the clouds, but none of these activities were permanent remedies for his mental ailments.

And still he had not the slightest idea where he should go, but there were two places that he knew he would never go. The first was back to Jasper because he knew he would go mad watching her romancing about with him, and the second was Sawtooth, where their adventure began. He would not return to the place where he would be forever reminded of what could have been, which is why he deliberately avoided the car behind him and tried his best to block its presence from his mind entirely.

He was then greeted by a low rumble in his stomach and lowered his eyes to it with a sigh.

He could not recall the last time he had a decent meal, quite possibly before they were captured, and now found himself in quite the predicament. How was he supposed to get food? It wasn't like he could just hop off the train anytime he pleased to grab himself a snack then jump back on, and there certainly wasn't anything in here to eat. What was he to do? How much longer would he have to wait, and more importantly, could he last that long?

Something then caught his eye- a small shadow that moved just on the edge of his peripherals, and he immediately turned to it, but not in time to actually see what had stirred his attention. However, curious, he kept his eyes fixed on the spot where he had seen the movement and watched intently, hoping to catch the culprit in motion again. It did not take long for the thing to stir, as a tiny bulge began to slide along the surface of the hay, and this time, Humphrey was ready. Quickly, he leapt in and shot his paws into the hay, scattering it and throwing it aside as he searched for what moved inside of it, but he missed.

Frustrated, he lowered his eyes and ran them about the hay again, trying to relocate the thing with which he shared his temporary residence, and when he heard rustling to his right, he snapped into action. He threw hay aside again and this time, something jumped out of it, a medium grey mouse which hopped onto his foreleg and scurried frantically down his body and into the shadow of the corner.

Humphrey, having seen the potential for a meal, was now determined, and crouched low, hoping to catch the mouse by surprise. He crept slowly toward the corner, taking careful deliberation in where his paws fell, and as he drew near the corner in which the mouse had hid, he paused, his ears erect and open so that he may detect even the faintest of sounds.

He heard the scratching of its claws on the floor and tensed to spring, but as he prepared to launch himself upon the mouse, it scurried quickly between his paws. Humphrey moved to intercept it, but was too slow and slammed a paw down in frustration then turned and gave chase, but the mouse slipped easily between a crack in the rear end of the car, escaping from harm.

"Damn it," Humphrey cursed in aggravation, for that was his first attempt at a hunt, and he failed miserably.