Years after the sudden evacuation of Lost River, scientists are curious to see how the wildlife population is surviving and thriving, wolves in particular. An isolated group of scientists travel back to Lost River, installing small live cameras into the abandoned town and the vast wilderness surrounding it. With permission from the rancher who refused to leave, they also place cameras in the isolated valley surrounding the cattle ranch. Then, they choose a two-year-old female dispersal named Autumn to focus on.
Autumn was first sighted in Amethyst Mountain in the Winter with another female one year older than her. The origins of the two are unknown, but it is unlikely they are related, based on their close bond and similar appearance. Autumn had a coat similar to the one of 992M "Twin" although Autumn's coat had a reddish tint. The older female, called Amethyst, had a reddish-brown coat, scars along her face, a bent tail, and a missing eye.
The two females hunted and survived together until late Fall, when Autumn dispersed and traveled alone for months. She finally stopped her vast wanders when she reached Lost River in early Fall the next year. Since she was already in the tracking system, she was the perfect wolf for the scientists to focus on. They wanted to see how a lone wolf would survive in the abandoned village, and if she would be able to form a successful pack.
Fall:
- After first settling into Lost River, Autumn immediately began to explore. The first place she went was to Lil' Yellowstone, where she fell into a hot spring and struggled to get out for several minutes. After recovering from the shock of her burns, she explored the geyser and other springs, before falling asleep near the geyser.
- After waking up, Autumn traveled West into the forest, exploring for a day or two until she finally found an elk herd. She easily killed an elk calf, and feasted on it. Surprisingly, she returned to the herd immediately after, and killed a second elk.
- After hunting, Autumn began howling, and moved towards the howls of other dispersal wolves. She finally found a pair of dispersal males from the Tumbleweed Pack. After a short time of courting them, Autumn turned her back on them, walked a short distance away, and feel asleep.
- Autumn woke to the sound of battling wolves. A pair of dispersals from the Desolation Pack were fighting a pair of dispersals from the Calamity Pack. A few moments later, the Desolation dispersals fled in different directions, the Calamity males chasing after them. The Calamity dispersals spent a long time howling their victory before returning to Autumn. While they howled, one of the Desolation males tried to return, but quickly ran away again.
- Autumn spent some time courting with the Calamity wolves, but then left in the direction of the Desolation wolves. She found the two of them regrouped farther away and up the ridge. She convinced them to engage in courtship with her, though Autumn seemed skeptical and hesitant.
- Of the two Desolation dispersals, they were both three years old. One had a black coat and one star diversity, and the other had a red-brown coat with 3 star diversity.
- Autumn spent a lot of time courting them, and finally decided to do a trial period with the red-brown one, though she seemed hesitant.
- Autumn and her trial mate, Desolation 36M, headed Northwest towards the old train tracks. On their way, they came across a mule deer, and the two of them hunted it down and killed it together. After feasting on it, they continued towards the railroad.
- Just as they reached the train tunnel, a pair of enemy wolves, Lucky 2F and Lucky 4M, attacked them. Both Autumn and Desolation 36M fought valiantly to drive them off, and finally defeated them. They chased after them, taking down the weakened Lucky 4M and killing him.
- Autumn and Desolation 36M slept near the body, and were awoken by the return of Lucky 2F. She fled, and they chased after her, easily killing her, too. After they howled triumphantly over her death, Desolation 36M expressed his interest in becoming Autumn's mate. However, she was still hesitant, and extended the trial period.
- After the pair rested again, they turned North, towards Midnight Mountain. While exploring the slopes of the mountain and moving down towards the narrow valley next to it, Desolation 36M again tried to become Autumn's mate just as the Midnight Pass Hunting Lodge came into sight. Once again, Autumn extended the trial period as she cautiously approached the cabin.
- Autumn and Desolation 36M entered the Taxidermy Lodge cautiously. Desolation 36M immediately left, pacing anxiously outside while Autumn remained inside for a much longer time. While she was inside, an enemy pack wolf appeared, but was quickly chased off without a fight by Desolation 36M. Shortly after, Autumn bolted out of the Hunting Club's cabin, and the two quickly moved to the East.
- As they were leaving Midnight Mountain behind, Autumn and Desolation 36M discovered an elk herd. Autumn attacked a weak adult elk, while Desolation 36M simultaneously lunged for the adult elk's calf. Autumn abandoned the mother elk and helped Desolation 36M take down the elk calf. After they feasted, they surprisingly chased after the herd again, targeting the mother Autumn had first attacked. After they quickly killed her, Desolation 36M ran in pursuit of a third elk, but Autumn called him back.
- The two began to return to the elk calf, but stopped as they noticed a male grizzly bear also moving towards it. Without hesitation, Desolation 36M attacked the bear, and Autumn joined in. When both of them were starting to weaken, Autumn retreated, heading back towards the adult elk and frantically calling for Desolation 36M. He finally abandoned the fight and followed her.
- Once they returned to the elk carcass, Desolation 36M again approached Autumn, asking to be her mate. This time, she lovingly licked his muzzle, a sign of affection and acceptance. Now he was officially her mate, and would spend the rest of his life with her. They would stay through the Winter, side by side, and in the Spring would raise their litter together. Now that the scientists knew Desolation 36M would be around to stay, they needed an official name for him. Thinking of his red-tinted coat, they called the handsome wolf Ember.
Winter:
- Autumn and Ember stayed by the meaty cow elk carcass as more snow fell and Fall turned into Winter. It wasn't long until Autumn was pregnant, expecting their pups. Now the pair had to establish their own territory to protect their future pups from the harsh world and the rival wolf packs.
- Beginning where they were up in the Northwest mountainous areas, the two began stealing land from the enemy wolf packs, working their way towards Blade Mountain. Once they reached the mountains and claimed them, they turned South.
- While moving downhill and South, Autumn and Ember encountered a peculiar glass house, and cautiously went inside to explore it. While they were investigating, two rival wolves from the Van Winkle Pack attacked them inside the house. The battle was very intense, with the fighting wolves mostly inside the house and occasionally popping out into the snow before returning to the house. Finally, one of the Van Winkle wolves succumbed to their wounds and died in the walkway of the house. Autumn chased the other one away.
- After a few minutes, Autumn realized Ember wasn't following her, and returned to the house to see what was wrong. She discovered that he was stuck in one of the rooms, unable to find his way out. She carefully helped him navigate back to the walkway, and led her mate back out into the snow. Once he was free, they continued Southwest, towards the Lost and Found.
- After claiming the Lost and Found, the pair once again slept to regain their energy. Although they were steadily claiming territory, they seemed to have no interest in rushing or hurrying to get good land. Instead, they calmly wandered along, stopping to explore human landmarks.
- Autumn and Ember started at Alison Acres, working their way West and claiming the old town. On their way they passed Floppy's enclosure, and briefly stopped to stare in puzzlement and wonder at the strange moose. Then they continued on, stealing the remainder of the town and the dam from the Lucky Pack. They turned North, claiming the Unspoken, Grant's Glen, and the Back Forty.
- While in the Western forests, Autumn and Ember caught the scent of an elk herd, and followed it. On their way, they spotted the two Calamity dispersal males. Autumn and Ember attacked the dispersals, chasing them away. Not long after, they discovered the pawprints of Ember's brother, the other Desolation dispersal. Autumn decided not to hunt him down and chase him away, but instead calmly ignored him and continued to the elk herd, where she and Ember killed a cow elk.
- After their hunt, the pair doubled back and turned East, crossing over the mountain ranches and into the valley where the rancher lived. They claimed much of that land, including the old valley town, the Temple Rocks, and bordering right up against the cattle ranch. Then they turned North, connecting their territory to the Lost and Found once again.
- Autumn and Ember had an incredibly huge territory that they had claimed. It stretched from the Blades Mountains down to the Lost and Found, encompassing the Temple Rocks and bordering the cattle ranch, reaching as far down South as the camera system reached, brushing the edge of the Unspoken, and easily containing the Back Forty and the town. Even with the original thin branch from where they had started to their main territory gone, they still had an unbelievably vast land. For a successful, established pack, their territory size was no huge feat, but for a simple pair of mates just only expecting their first litter of pups, it was unheard of.
Late Winter/Early Spring:
- Winter was beginning to melt into Spring, and it was nearly time for Autumn's pups to be born. In addition to keeping their territory strong, the pair now had to begin thinking of where would be a good site to give birth to their pups. They patrolled Blade Mountain, refreshing their markers, and had to waste time and energy returning to their Western border every other day, as the Lost River Pack relentlessly severely weakened or completely took over the edges of their territory.
- However, Autumn and Ember's pre-pup life wasn't all work. They spent a lot of time exploring the town of Lost River, spending hours roaming the streets and even entering human buildings where the door had been carelessly left open. At one point, Autumn slept inside a human building. Although Ember gradually went into more buildings for longer, he was still uncomfortable in human residence, and spent the night outside when Autumn slept on a human bed.
- After a long battle of trying to maintain their Western border, Autumn finally submitted a little, allowing the Lost River Pack to claim the very edges of their territory. However, she made sure that everything just inside was very strong.
- Although they had already discovered several dens, the two continued searching for more suitable denning sites. They seemed particularly interested in tree dens.
- Although she didn't officially choose a den, Autumn seemed to turn her attention to one den site under the roots of a tree North of Alison Acres. She often returned to it, searching around it. Fortunately, one camera was situated right near the tree den, giving scientists a perfect view of the activity that would occur in the unaware wolves' lives.
- Autumn began to bring small human items back to her preferred tree den. First came a bottle of Geyser Tonic, which she had been spotted carrying around for a while, only putting it down to sleep and howl. Next she quickly deposited a coffee mug next to the Geyser Tonic, and left, returning a day later with a pick-axe. The latest item was a maraca. All of these strange human items were grouped into a small pile next to one of the roots.
- Although Autumn had yet to move into the den and vanish under the tree, she was heavily pregnant. Both wolves, and the watching scientists, knew that it wouldn't be long until the pups came.