Chapter 6: Home
Kam arrived back home to find the soldiers still gone. He told Chris of the Russell Pond events, while waiting for dusk. As the sun set behind the mountains, the soldiers returned with their captives. Nobody that was with the alpha came back.
The three actual bears were held at a distance with a plant fiber noose around their necks tied to a pole so they were kept safely in place. The human werebears were walking freely. The children werebears were carried by adults though not always their family.
The bad feeling Kam had, since shortly after the bear showed up. about his father got worst. In his mind and likely the beta's it was known more bodies would be found.
The beta took charge of the situation. The bears locked in the cells to likely be killed. The humans given clothes and food. The pack responded with dinner in the street. Everybody sharing what they had with the werebears. Cellphones were shared for phone calls.
Those that wanted to go back to or had cars back at Beaver Pond, were given a lift to there in the pack bus. Those that were hiking through on the trails, were given supplies to continue, if they wished.
The soldiers had buried the torn clothes and hid the personal objects that survived. These were retrieved by the bus driver, distributed to those that owned them at the pond, and brought back to those that stayed with the pack. Once all object were returned, each remaining person was given a ride home.
Meanwhile, the beta and some soldiers went with Kam to retrieve the Russell Pond stuff. When they got there, the police and ambulance were gone. Kam led them to the scene, where everything remain as it was. They gathered the dead and the knife.
Kam stayed behind as they left. He transitioned into wolf and took the pond trail loop to the other end of the campground. Once there, he went to the place the bear exited the woods and started to backtrack it to his father. He continued a long run mostly down hill to Tripoli Road.
The beta was waiting for him in the woods by the highway on ramp, as this was the most convenient spot to meet. Cell service worked and the bear had to pass nearby. The bear went under the highway on the road and along it to the river.
There on the rocky shoreline Kam and the beta found the bodies. If this were summer, this place is a popular swimming spot so he got lucky they had not been removed. A quick call later and the bodies were loaded on the bus.
The beta took care of the family notifications. Kam told his mother who was already mourning the lost.