[ESC] An Escaping Arrival

Ares Darkmyr and his wife Iliana Darkmyr slid a large black crate out from the back of their covered truck bed and carried it over to a cart, setting it down.

“I’m excited to see how she takes to her new home.” Iliana said, looking at her husband. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a single braid which hung down her back. Her soft brown eyes glinted in the sunlight, as if they were projecting her happiness. 

“I am as well and we will hopefully be getting a male for her soon. I’ve been in contact with a zoo who had a litter last winter that will be ready for separation in a month or so.” Ares said, rubbing at the stubble which had begun to grow on his chin. He usually kept a clean shaven face but had been slacking the past few days on shaving. 

“We should get her moving before the tranquilizer wears off, that was a bit of a drive and I’m sure she’ll be waking up soon and ready to be out of this crate.” Iliana said as she grabbed the cart’s handle and began to pull it.

Ares took up the rear of the cart, pushing it as his wife pulled.

Meanwhile inside the crate the creature had begun to stir as the tranquilizer wore off and she woke up. The animal gave a yawn, opening their long jaws wide revealing a row of canid teeth. She gave her furry head and neck a shake as she looked around, sunlight peeking in through the holes in the crate. Her movements were quiet as her caretakers had not yet noticed she had awoken.

As the two humans carried on their conversation taking the wolf towards her new home, the wolf was regaining consciousness and becoming more and more aware of her surroundings. Inside the crate she began to stir more, crawling forward and giving the gate a small push with her nose. She was still young and curious, having grown up in captivity her whole life she was relatively used to the humans and didn’t mind their presence. 

The young wolf had been born in a zoo and was raised there, for a time she had even gone around to educational events but as she grew she stopped going and instead spent more time in her enclosure on display for the humans. She was a year and a half now and had been purchased by Ares and his brother Perses to be added to Wolf Hallow Preserve. She was their first Alexander Archipelago Wolf.

While Wolf Hallow Preserve operated as more of a massive open land preserve with the various wolves all roaming the land together, they did have a few main viewing enclosures and a couple quarantine enclosures. 

Sometimes packs were moved into the main viewing enclosures from the open preserve for a new members integration, or if they had passed quarantine but were not yet ready to be moved into the open preserve, or if they would never be able to go into the open preserve, but times like that were few and far between. Ares and Perses preferred to have the wolves living as naturally as they would.

Right now, the wolf was on her way to one of the quarantine pens where all new arrivals went. The staff would keep a close eye on her and document their findings. Since she had been raised in a zoo she was only fed meat, unable to hunt for her food. That would be something she’d have to learn if she were to be released into the open preserve. For now they would offer her meat as well as small live prey to see if she will display hunting instincts and how well she’ll act on them.

As the wolf tested the gate on her crate she found it not to have been latched properly. It gave rather much when she pushed on it. She was restless and tired of being in the crate, she wished to be out. There were new sights and smells, sounds of other wolves who could smell her scent being drifted on the wind. They called to the newcomer and suddenly she called back, launching forward and out of the crate.

Iliana and Ares both jumped back in shock and surprise as the she-wolf leaped out from the crate. The door swung open, hitting Iliana in the leg with a strong force and she winced, instantly leaning over and grabbing her leg. “Oh shit..” She said, looking forward to the wolf who stood looking around at her new home. “Hey girl…” She said softly, hoping not to spook to wolf.

Ares went to move to Iliana’s side when she had bent over in pain but stopped himself, not wanting to scare the wolf. He instead walked calmly around the back of the crate to the opposite side of his wife. Perhaps they’d be able to have a better chance of corralling the wolf if they were on opposite sides rather than the same side.

However, the wolf had other plans she instead took off in search of the wolves whom had called to her. “Oh no..” Ares said and quickly pulled out his phone and called his brother to let him know there was a wolf loose on the main grounds and heading towards the preserve. 

Unfortunately for Ares and Iliana, the quarantine enclosures and veterinarian building were closer to the back open preserve, however it was also closer to the house where Perses was. The three of them were currently the only staff here as it was not the peak season so there weren’t any food court workers. Their preserve was a small one whose main focus was the study of the various wolf and canid species and helping grow the population for wild releases. However they were open to the public and often held education seminars. They also wanted to teach others about the species here.

Alexandria the wolf ran along the path, heading towards the calls of the wolves. Though unknown to her, she was also heading right towards the two houses where the Darkmyr brothers resided on the preserve. Perses was outside and ready for the wolf with a net.

Iliana had stopped by the veterinarian building and grabbed her own tranquilizer gun just in case it would be needed and quickly headed towards the houses hoping that the she wolf had taken that path.

As Alexandria made her way towards the houses, Perses caught sight of the wolf and quickly moved into action. He positioned himself off to the side in front of her, hoping that she wouldn’t notice him as he readied the net to throw it. He had not seen Ares or Iliana yet, hoping one of them would be here soon to help if things turned ugly.

Alexandria didn’t even notice Perses as she ran by him, though she definitely noticed the net as it was thrown on top of her and stopped her from moving. The wolf quickly went to the ground and began to struggle. Perses was at her side trying to calm the wolf as Ares showed up with the cart. 

“Take the crate off, putting her in will make it worse, we just gotta move her quickly to the closet quarantine pen. She’s had enough excitement for her first time out here.” Perses said as Ares had started to open the crate. His brother then quickly took the crate off the rolling cart and Perses moved Alexandria onto the crate. They then began to wheel her to the closest quarantine pen and were met by Iliana. She decided against the tranquilizer as the wolf had been caught and would soon be in an enclosure anyways.

Ares opened the door to the enclosure as Perses pulled the cart inside. Ares then shut the door, standing on the outside of the enclosure. Perses stopped the cart and lifted Alexandria’s struggling body off the cart and set her onto the ground, quickly trying to get the net off of the wolf.

Once the wolf had been released from the net she took off into her new enclosure. Though it was a quarantine one it was still rather large and had a few different dens both above and underground. It was also connected to a small building with an inside area. It was similar to a zoo’s enclosure just with a much larger outdoor area.

“Welp..we’re lucky that wasn’t as bad as it could have been” Perses said looking at his brother and his brother’s wife, shaking his head and laughing. “What a great first impression. She’s gonna be a rowdy one for sure.”

“I don’t know, I am a little worried, she came from a zoo and has no hunting experience. She’s already a year and a half old.” Ares said, looking at his brother and then his wife. He was hoping she’d take to her natural instincts when given the offer, but he wasn’t sure.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Perses said then thought for a moment. “When’s that male coming in? I know he’s also coming from captivity, but they’re at least one that live feeds right?” 

“They do live feed there, so the male will already know how to hunt, but they just in enclosures probably double or triple the viewing enclosures, nothing as large as the preserve. He’ll also have to adapt to more open hunting.” Ares said.

“Okay, but when’s he getting here?” Perses asked. “Once they’ve passed quarantine we could try introducing them, maybe he can help teach her to hunt as well.” He said, getting around to the point.

“Oh yeah…that is a good point.” Ares said, nodding. “They said a month or so, could be sooner though.” Ares said.

“Hmmm..that’s some good timing, by then she will at least be out of quarantine and hopefully at least being able to catch mice and rabbits, small birds. Anything really to get her started.” Perses said.

And with that, Wolf Hallow Preserve had their first Alexander Archipelago Wolf.