The Pack (16 page)

Shep felt his back legs give out and he slumped to the floor. Virgil killed, and Higgins, too — his closest friends, gone. Zeus's fury knew no limits. Every dog who'd so much as wagged a tail at Shep was going to be punished.

Shep set his jaw.
No more.
He placed his paws beneath his body and rose like a thundercloud. “No more,” he growled. He raised his muzzle and bayed at the ceiling, “NO MORE!” He felt strength run through him like lightning. He would defend this den until the last drop of lifeblood pulsed from his heart. He would make this right. He would protect these dogs. He would not fail them again.

“Get all the small dogs,” Shep barked to Daisy. “Hide them under the boat.”

“What about Oscar?” she woofed. The pup still cringed at her paws.

“I don't think he's going anywhere,” Shep barked. Daisy sniffed the pup, then wagged her knot-tail and bounded into the hall.

Shep lowered his snout so he was growling directly into Oscar's ear. “You want the pack to forgive you?” he growled.

The pup shivered and yelped in reply.

“Then you dig out that tunnel we filled to prevent the cats from stealing our food.” Shep nosed the pup. “You stay there, and if trouble strikes, you lead the dogs out that tunnel to safety.”

The pup raised his head. “Lead them?”

Shep looked the pup in his eyes: They were huge brown pools rimmed in black, expressing an endless misery.

“You can do it,” Shep yipped. He licked Oscar's head.

The pup whimpered, cringing. Then placed his paws under him. “I'll do it,” he woofed.

Oscar scampered out of the den, shrinking away from Callie as he passed her.

“That's your plan?” Callie woofed. She lowered her rump and scratched her ear. “We hide under the boat and hope the wild dogs think we've moved on?”

“No,” Shep barked. “You hide under the boat and I give Zeus what he came for.”

Shep organized his defense of the den. He knew that Zeus would expect a retaliatory attack — it was what Shep would expect an opponent to do. Zeus would therefore avoid whatever lair his wild pack had been using. He would most likely attack the boat again, in hopes of finding Shep returned from scenting out Honey. Even if Shep was wrong, he thought it better to be prepared than caught unawares.

Most of the bigger dogs had left with Blaze to attack the wild pack's den. Boji stayed behind to help care for the injured dogs from the first wave of attack, and Dover had declined Blaze's offer.

“I thought you might need another set of claws,” Dover woofed to Shep.

Shep left Boji to tend the injured and had Dover sniff over the whole of the den to identify any points of weakness.

“I need to know where the wild dogs can get in,” he instructed. “I don't want them sneaking up on me from behind.”

Fuzz, who'd been hanging in the shadows near Shep, boring into his fur with those grass green eyes, stepped forward. “Fuzz help,” the cat barked. “Help Shep-dog sniff out any secret holes. Help protect dog-pack.”

“You don't have to, Fuzz,” Shep woofed. “You can stay with Callie.”

“Shep-dog finally act with honor,” Fuzz meowed. “Fuzz always help dog who act with honor.”

“You're a good friend,” Shep said, tail wagging.

“Fuzz say nothing about friend,” he hissed, then meowed a short laugh and flicked his tail.

“Okay,” Shep yipped. “I won't beg for more than you're offering.”

Shep left Dover and Fuzz to scour the den for weaknesses, and began sniffing out the dogs who moped Outside. He dragged any that couldn't or wouldn't walk with him by the scruff back into the boat. Scenting Ginny and Rufus crouched under an overturned cold box, Shep stuck his snout under to bark at them and got a claw in the nose.

“Away, you rapscallion!” Ginny cried.

“Ginny, it's Shep!” Shep licked his nose where she'd scratched the skin.

“Shep?” A narrow white snout appeared from beneath the thick wall of the cold box. The shiny black nose sniffed. “By Lassie's golden fur, it
is
Shep!”

The poofy girldog wriggled her way out from under the cold box. “Oh, Shep, you wouldn't believe the mess that poor, misguided pup got us into.”

“Weren't you the dog who was guiding him these last suns?” Shep asked, cocking his head.

Ginny stiffened and her tail drooped. “Well, he went and led those wild dogs right to us. I never told him to do that.”

Shep licked Ginny's head. “Oscar's tearing his own fur out over what happened.”

“Well, he should!” yapped Rufus as he squirmed out of his hiding place. “I nearly lost my tail tuft to one of those mongrels!”

“Every dog makes mistakes,” Shep woofed. “Some lash out at their friends in anger, like Oscar. Some are afraid to make hard choices, like me. Some steal kibble when they know every dog is starving.”

The squaredog lowered his snout. “Yes, well,” he grumbled.

“Now's the time when we need to stick together,” Shep woofed. “Can I trust you to sniff out any pack members that are hiding? We need to get them all inside the den.”

“Inside the den?” Rufus cried. “We'll be shredded to kibble in heartbeats trapped in there!”

Shep nipped Rufus on the scruff. “Don't let fear keep you from being a part of the pack,” he woofed. “I have a plan.”

Shep returned to the boat and scented out Dover and Fuzz.

“The den's as safe as it ever was,” Dover woofed. “There are the two ways in on the crushed floor, then the door in the rear window-wall in the main den, which was busted open and is now just an empty frame. Also the holes on the bottom floor under the boat, but the wild dogs won't use them.”

“Fuzz check in walls,” the cat meow-barked. “All safe. Found one bug. Bug eaten.”

“Should we start setting up defenses inside the boat?” barked Dover. “Like we did in the kibble den?”

“If my plan works,” woofed Shep, “we won't have to worry about the wild dogs getting into the den.”

Dover sat and scratched an itch on his neck. “If it's not too much of a bother,” he snuffled, “might I ask what exactly your plan is?”

“I'd tell you,” Shep yipped, grinning, “but you'd only say I'm crazy.”

“Can Fuzz help?” meowed Fuzz, waving his tail.

“Not with this,” Shep replied. “But you can help Ginny and Rufus collect any stragglers. Remember, every dog has to be inside the den.”

 

The sun was beginning to fall in the sky. Shep figured Zeus would attack again near sunset, though he couldn't be sure of anything. He had to set his plan in motion now, whether Zeus was there or not.

Shep bounded down the streets back toward where he'd crossed the canal to find Honey. He loped down the steps to the dock, leapt onto the tree trunk, which was still jammed into the wall, then began hopping up and down. Small ripples shimmered across the canal, becoming larger and larger waves.

Come on, come on …

Shep then sprang from the tree into the water. He spread his legs out to produce the largest splash possible, then paddled madly for the dock.

You've got to be hungry … a big thing like you …

Just as he pulled himself fully onto the dock he saw it: two bulbous eyes glittering, a ridged snout sliding through the water.

“Come and get me!” Shep barked, then scrambled up the steps.

The water lizard floated still as a stick.

Shep jumped back down onto the dock. “What, I'm not tasty enough for you?”

Maybe he didn't smell tasty enough. Shep took a deep breath, then bit his own tongue. Lifeblood gushed into his mouth. He spat slobber laced with the stuff onto the beast's snout.

“Like that?” he barked.

The monster's eyes flashed. Shep smelled an eerie scent — the water lizard was excited.

Shep spat again, this time on the dock.

The lizard lifted its snout out of the water and smashed it down onto the platform. Shep was thrown from his paws and landed on his side. The dock angled down toward the water, where the lizard floated with its long, tooth-lined mouth open wide. Its tongue slithered in its jaws.

Shep began to slide toward the beast.

“Oh, no, you don't!” he howled. He slammed a hind paw against the monster's bottom jawbone, giving himself the pawhold he needed. He flipped himself over and clawed his way back up the dock.

The water lizard hissed, then began climbing after him.

It's working!

Shep sprang off the dock onto the stone of the canal wall and bounded up the steps. The water lizard struggled to pull himself onto the dock. The platform rocked with the effort of the gigantic beast, but the lizard managed to drag itself entirely out of the water.

For a heartbeat, the madness of Shep's plan shocked him to stillness. The water lizard was three stretches long at least, with jaws longer than Shep's forelegs. Shep had woken something worse than his worst nightmare and then spat on it.
Callie's going to chew my ear off for this one.

Shep bolted up the steps, barking at the water lizard the whole way. The beast was surprisingly nimble on land, and was quickly hoisting its vast bulk up the steps after Shep.

At the top, Shep took off at his fastest pace, and even then, the water lizard nipped at his tail. The thing raced behind him, its flipper-paws slapping the stone like shoes. Shep's heart was in his throat, his paws burned on the hot pavement, but he pressed on, faster and faster.

He neared the boat, his tongue lolling from his mouth, foamy spittle lining his jowls, and scented the wild dogs.

Right on time …

Shep pushed his legs even harder, giving every last drop of energy to his speed. He burst like a Car onto the open plaza surrounding the boat.

Zeus stood on top of the boat, a silhouette against the fiery clouds. Beneath him crowded a mass of wild dogs, yipping and snapping and jumping on one another's backs.

“Zeus!” Shep screamed, his bark strained.

The horned shadow of Zeus's head turned. “The King of the Yappers returns!”

The entire pack of wild dogs launched toward Shep, and he sprinted straight into that mass of muzzles. When he could see the whites of the nearest dog's eyes, he turned and sprang onto a pile of wreckage.

The wild pack had a heartbeat to react, but most had no idea what to make of the gigantic lizard lumbering toward them. Then the beast opened its jaws. The wild dogs understood.

With a chorus of shrieks, the wild pack exploded like bees from a hive. The lizard tore into the fur of the nearest dogs and lifeblood rained down onto the stone. Fear swept over the dogs like a sickness. They scrambled into buildings and down alleys, whimpering and crying like beaten pups, anything to get away from the horrible monster.

Shep looked up from the mayhem of dogs and lizard. Zeus remained on the boat. Shep skirted the edge of the buildings and ducked into the crushed floor. He clambered up the steering counter, then pulled himself through the tangled beams of the ceiling. Just as he emerged onto the windows over the main den, Zeus tackled him.

“Thought you'd gotten rid of me?” Zeus snarled.

Up close, Shep saw that his friend was striped with scars along his muzzle and flank. “Fought your way to the top, did you?” Shep barked.

“Worried your way to the bottom, I hear,” Zeus snapped. He lunged at Shep, catching the edge of his scruff.

Shep dove onto his shoulder, then hit Zeus in the chest with his forepaws, throwing the boxer onto the slick surface of the windows.

Zeus sprang to his paws. “It's all about decisions, Shep,” he snarled. “I'm not afraid to make the hard choices.”

“Like the decision to betray your friend?” Shep growled.

Zeus howled and jumped at Shep's head, fangs slashing. Shep feinted high, then rolled, scraping his claws along Zeus's exposed underbelly. Zeus cried out and fell against the windows, then hopped to his paws.

A strange roar rose up from the street. The wild dogs ran in circles, some bolting for cover, others attacking the lizard with little success. The monster seemed to be calling for something.

The monster cried again, its bizarre voice ringing around the walls enclosing it. Shep saw something disturb the debris floating in the canal near the bottom of the ramp. Two more water lizards slithered out of the deep, trailing ribbons of weed and refuse from their spiked hides. A smile crawled across Shep's jowls.
I command a whole
pack
of monsters!

Shep swiped at Zeus with his fangs, catching him unawares while he was staring at the advancing lizards. Zeus yelped and stumbled back. Shep ran for the crushed floor, hoping to jump down and better direct his scaly soldiers. As he was about to drop down the rear wall, he felt fangs catch his hind paw.

“Not just yet, friend,” Zeus growled. He pulled back, dragging Shep across the windows. Broken glass cut his skin.

On Zeus's next tug, Shep slammed his other hind leg into Zeus's snout, forcing him to drop the paw. Shep swung his head around, flinging his rump away from Zeus, and clawed Zeus's exposed flank.

Shep stumbled across the windowed floor, pain shuddering up his leg. Zeus fell near the boat's edge, panting. He licked his side, and the slaver that dripped from his jowls was red with lifeblood.

Horrible snapping sounds rose up from the plaza. The lizards feasted like they hadn't eaten in suns. The wild pack wailed in terror. It was a gruesome sight. Shep wondered if even his worst enemies deserved such a fate.
What have I unleashed?

A howl rose up from a street near sunset. It was Blaze. She bounded into the plaza, tongue lolling, but her stance was fierce. She was ready to tear every wild dog apart. Then more howls, barks, and cries: The whole of the fighting force burst into the space! Hulk, Panzer, Mooch, Paulie — all his strongest fighters tore into the wild pack as if they were toys. And then Shep saw him — little Fuzz, perched on Hulk's shoulders. The cat must have gone after them.
I swear that crazy hairball must have read my mind.

Shep looked over at Zeus, whose horror showed on his muzzle.

“Smell it, Zeus?” Shep barked. “I'm not just King of the Yappers. I'm King of Every Dog.”

Zeus turned his snout slowly, a growl gurgling in his throat. “All hail the mighty king,” he snarled.

Zeus jumped at Shep's head, and Shep sank his teeth into Zeus's neck, throwing him down onto the boat. Shep felt like lightning crackled through his muscles now that he had his pack behind him. Zeus rose again, and Shep slammed him down, slashing Zeus's hide with his claws. A third time, Zeus struggled to his paws, hobbling a stretch away from Shep.

“Such a mighty king you are.” Zeus's barks dropped from his jaws like slobber between pants. Lifeblood drizzled from his jowls. “Finish me off, Shep. Finish me once and for all.”

Zeus stood, one forepaw lifted off the glass, the raw, red meat of it exposed. He closed his eyes and shut his jaws. The last light of the sun shone on his nose. “Good-bye, friend,” he moaned.

Shep could down him with a single swipe of his fangs. He was that powerful. And it would be the right thing to do — Zeus had killed so many. No dog would challenge Shep. He was that powerful. He could also let Zeus slink away with his life, and no dog would question him. He was that powerful. He commanded water lizards, he defeated his greatest enemy, he
was
the Champion of the Great Wolf.

“You've done terrible things, Zeus,” Shep barked. “But my killing you won't make up for that.”

Zeus opened his eyes. His nose dropped, and his sit loosened. A hind leg slid across the slick surface of the boat.

Shep continued, “You have, however, lost the right to live with any other dog. And if I smell you again, I
will
kill you.”

Shep turned his back on Zeus. He looked down at his pack of fighters, who were organized and precise. They drove back the water lizards, then finished off what remained of the wild dogs. The fighters tore apart the wild pack, which was nothing more than a horde of untrained and vicious fools. What had he been so afraid of? Those wild mongrels had nothing on his pack of well-trained warriors.

This is why the Great Wolf never killed the Black Dog
, Shep realized.
The Black Dog was never a threat to a true pack.

Shep barked, and his voice echoed around the plaza. His pack gazed up at him with awe. The surviving stragglers from the wild pack scampered off into the shadows, yelping and crying.

“The wild dogs are defeated!” Shep bellowed. His pack howled with him in celebration.

A siren rang out.

Shep couldn't believe his ears.
A siren, a human siren?

A wild dog came racing down the street back into the plaza. “Humans!” he shrieked as he bolted past.

Some of the pack turned to smell what the wild dog had been running from, tails lifted.

“Master?” Bernie yipped.

It took several heartbeats to register in Shep's mind — humans? But the humans had abandoned their dogs.
They left us to be eaten by the storm
. How could the humans just come back?
And why now, when my pack is finally coming together?
The humans couldn't have planned a worse time to show up.

A point of red light sparkled on the pavement. “The Red Dot!” Waffle barked. “Get the Red Dot!” He ran toward the spark. Just as he reached it, he fell over. Shep thought he saw a metal tooth in Waffle's neck.

The siren blared again — this time, much closer. Flashing red lights pulsed across the buildings. The lifeblood throbbed through Shep's body. These humans were not their masters — these were the men in black who'd raided the fight kennel! These men were not coming to help the dogs — they were coming to hurt them.

“Every dog!” Shep howled. “Into the boat!”

Shep pulled what dogs he could reach up onto the hull with him, while others raced for the crushed floor to get inside.

“Shep!” Zeus whimpered. “Please help me, too.” He lurched toward Shep, his hurt paw dragging on the glass.

Shep thrust his shoulder against Zeus's side. “I've got you,” he woofed.

Zeus snapped his fangs around Shep's scruff and hauled Shep over, dropping him on his back. Shep hit the floor so hard, the wind was knocked out of him.

“Not good enough for your pack, but always available for your pity, is that it?” Zeus stood over Shep, growling, ready to attack. His bark was a hysterical scream.

Suddenly, Zeus fell limp, his head hitting the windows like a coconut from a tree. A metal dart jutted from his throat.
The humans!

Shep stayed low, hidden by the raised lip of the boat's shell, and crawled, belly to glass, until he reached the ceiling of the crushed floor. He heard the barks and cries of his packmates caught on the plaza. There was nothing Shep could do, though, against a man in black.

He dropped down and crawled into the main den. The hand lights of the men flashed through the windows — Shep had mere heartbeats to escape. What dogs had made it into the den cowered in the dark.

“What do we do, Shep?” ChaCha whimpered. Mr. Pickles and several other old timer yappers trembled beside the girldog.

“Follow me,” he yipped.

They shuffled through the staircase-hole to the lower floor where the kibble room was. Callie lay in the dark between the shell of the boat and the street below.

“The others have gone,” she yipped. “Oscar's leading them out.”

“You go, Callie,” Shep woofed. “There are more dogs to sneak out.”

Callie stood, then dragged herself up into the room. “No, Shep.” Her voice was weak. “I have to wait here and hope the humans find me. I need medicine.”

Shep waved his nose for ChaCha and the other dogs to squeeze through the window hole. There were so few of them —
How many had been captured?

“Callie, come with us,” Shep woofed. “You don't know these humans. You don't know if they'll help.”

“I know that I'm not going to make it without human medicine,” she said, coughing.

“We'll figure something out,” Shep barked. “Boji might know something.”

“Boji's done every thing she can,” Callie woofed, licking Shep's nose. “I can't run with the other dogs and you can't carry me the way Honey lugged Fuzz around.”

A blur of black fur burst into the room. It was Fuzz, and he leapt onto Shep's neck, screeching. “Hurry, Shep-dog!” he hissed. “Humans in boat!”

“Down the hole, Fuzz,” he barked. “I'll follow.”

Fuzz nodded his pink nose, then dropped into the dark.

Shep licked Callie's head. “You've made up your mind then, you stubborn yapper?” It was like he was gnawing off a part of himself, to leave Callie behind.

She wagged her tail. “You'd better go.”

“I'll come find you,” he woofed. “The humans will give you medicine and then I'll rescue you.”

Callie grinned, then panted gently. “We'll meet again,” she woofed. “I'll be that yapper on the other side of the wall, remember?”

“Shep-dog! Move tail!” Fuzz hissed from deep under the boat.

“I'll come for you,” Shep woofed. “Even if it takes a cycle, I'll find you!”

Shep thrust his head into the hole in the floor. The window was made for yappers, not big dogs. Shep shoved one shoulder through. He scratched at the pavement and pushed with his hind legs.

He heard the humans' voices more clearly — they were getting closer to the bottom floor. Callie moaned, hoping to draw them to her.

Shep shifted his chest and drove his other paw and shoulder through the hole. He wriggled his rump and dug with his hind paws.
Almost there!

He collapsed into the cramped space beneath the boat. The ceiling crushed his back — he had to lie sideways and scuttle through the hole, dragging himself with his forepaws and pushing with his hind legs. He tried to calm his breathing, but it was dark, dark, dark and the space seemed to be getting smaller.
What if I get stuck?

Lifeblood raced through him. His head began to swim.
No
, he grumbled to himself.
After every thing I've been through, I will not die in this cramped cave.

He pushed on. He heard the humans behind him. He heard Callie give a happy little yap. Then silence. Shep asked the Silver Moon to watch over her. Then he shoved himself forward.

 

It seemed like he'd traveled a million stretches, but he finally began to smell fresh air, then his paws felt the edges of the cave. Shep pushed himself out into the night.

The cats had dug the tunnel starting from the buildings behind the boat: Shep stood deep inside the rubble that stretched away from the canal. He could barely scent the water.

“Shep?” It was Oscar's tremulous yap. He crept out from the shadows into a sliver of moonlight. When he saw Shep's muzzle, his tail began wagging and his ears pricked up. “Thank the Great Wolf, you're here!” The pup leapt at Shep's muzzle and licked him again and again.

In between Oscar's kisses, Shep sniffed the air. “How many others made it out?” he asked.

“Me, Boji, Daisy, Rufus, Ginny, Dover, and Snoop.” Oscar waved his snout and the seven stepped forward — dark shadows in the darkness.

“And Fuzz,” Fuzz meow-barked, hopping down from a ledge.

“There were more,” Boji woofed, “but when they heard that the humans were back, they ran to rejoin their masters.”