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The deafening sound of gunfire blasted away in rapid succession for a full second.

"Marcus!" John heard himself screaming from the ground beyond the window, all stealth

forgotten. The secret of their position didn't seam to matter if Marcus was upstairs dead

or dying. "Marcus!" He shouted again, but received no answer. He ran frantically back

towards the window he had dropped out of. He stomped through the bushes that had caught

him and Lisa, and began the impossible task of climbing up the brick siding of the

apartment complex.

Looking up, the window seemed miles, centuries, even light years away. He let out a

wordless scream of frustration, then turned and looked at Lisa who was standing back away

from him. Her hands where wringing together nervously and her legs where jittering. She

was looking nervously back and forth between the window to the corner of the building that

would lead to the front door, the direction that she expected the gangsters to come

barreling around any second.

"Get over here!" John commanded. "I'll boost you up. We can't risk the front door

for anything, but you have to go up there and see if he's okay."

"Hell no." She said sharply. Rare flared brightly in John's eyes. "I'll send you

up there. He's your friend." She quickly clarified.

"Can you do that?" John asked almost frantically. Lisa walked over and shoved him

out of the way, then took her position.

"I may be a girl but I'm a coyote. I think I can handle you, pup." She lowered her

hands and joined them together so John could step on them. Without pause or hesitation

John stepped up onto the fur platform. With a sharp exhalation Lisa heaved John up towards

the window. He actually sailed a few feat above her hands and easily grabbed onto

windowsill. John made a note to thank her for it later, and kept in mind that she was in no

way as physically diminutive as she appeared. He pulled on the sill and quickly crested

over it.

"Marcus!" He said with a mix of intense worry, and grand relief. Marcus was

crawling backwards towards him, his eyes and gun pointed directly at the doorway. He was

still holding his jacket with the ammo in the front pocket in his left hand. The ammo in

the jacket slammed loudly against the floor as he claws his way backwards towards the

window.

"John." Marcus said without looking back. "Help me." His voice was horse, but as

strong as ever. John pushed himself the rest of the way through the window and hurried

into the main room towards Marcus. Even his determination to help Marcus couldn't keep him

from pausing when he looked through the doorway and saw the coyote lying dead with one

bullet through his chest, and one through his head. There was a splatter of blood on the

wall opposite the doorway, and more blood to the side of the coyote corpse.

"Holy shit." John coughed.

"Yeah." Marcus said nodding, pain evident on his face. "Killed the bastard, and

injured one of his buddies. Guess we're really screwed now. I should have killed all of

them so there'd be no one to report who did this."

"Did you mean to kill him?" John asked turning back towards his friend, his

determination to help keeping him from breaking down as he had earlier after their first

encounter with the coyote involving bullets.

"He meant to kill me." Marcus said in defense. "All three of them did. When your

faced with that there's not really intent to kill. You just fire, and if marksmanship is

embedded in your bones, death is just a natural result of your shots."

John only half heard the explanation as he looked Marcus over. There was a bullet hole,

and blood flowing from his right shoulder, and right thigh. "Why didn't you answer when I

called out to you?" John asked as he headed to the bathroom to get what medical supplies

they had.

"You ever fire a .45 five times within one second in a room as small as this with

Desert Eagle shots whizzing past your head? I didn't even hear you. I can hardly hear you

now."

"You think they'll be back?"

Marcus smiled wickedly. "Not for a while. Scared the shit outta them."

"Scared the shit outta me." John said. John examined the gruesome wound on Marcus'

shoulder. It was entirely exposed due to the wolf's lack of a shirt. The bullet had passed

through, and it didn't seem to have hit anything vital, not that John would know. "Can you

move your arm and leg?"

"Yeah, but it hurts. Baddly." His face was in a constant contortion of pain.

"Jonny!" Lisa said loudly from outside the window. "I see lights. We have to go."

"Lights?" John repeated. Then the sirens came within hearing range.

"We have to go." Marcus said hurriedly, shoving his gun into his pants pocket.

"Now."

"It was self defense." John said stubbornly.

"Against the Bores! We've been over this. The cops can't be trusted when the

Bores are involved." They could hear the cop cars pulling up in front of the complex.

"Damnit." John cursed. He threw the box of medical supplies out the window, and

lifted Marcus from under his legs and around his back. They could hear the cars squealing

in behind their apartment, and the doors opening as the cops exited their vehicles. John

growled a little and ran for the window. He turned at a sharp angle and leapt through the

hole into the darkness. Marcus made no sounds, but tensed up as they fell. John pulled his

way around Marcus and hugged him from behind. John hit the bushes first and was slammed to

the bottom of the huge evergreen styled shrubbery. Sticks scrapped him and jabbed him

fiercely, but within moments he knew he wasn't seriously injured.

He helped Marcus off of him, then pulled himself free. A cop's flashlight beamed

out of the window and scanned the lawn below. John slipped under Marcus and hefted him

into a fireman's carry. The cop's light caught him as he hurried away. Lisa was already

gone, running far ahead. "Freeze!" the cop shouted. Marcus and John never even looked at

him. The cop disappeared into the apartment.

"Take a sharp right." Marcus said.

"Lisa!" John whispered harshly to the coyote ahead of them. She looked back and

saw John take a hard right. She turned back and headed towards them at an angle so she

wouldn't fall behind.

"The park's this way." Marcus explained. "We have to reach it as quickly as

possible." John was panting hard and sweating as he ran with all the speed he could manage

with Marcus on his back. It was only about two hundred yards to the tree line. They were

lucky in that their apartment was moderately close to the park. Twenty yards from the

trees the blazing headlights of cop cars caught them as they ran.

"Freeze!" The loudspeaker commanded. Again they ignored it, pushing their way into the

forest.

Don't shoot, don't shoot. Marcus pleaded mentally. His wounds where killing him

like nothing he'd ever felt and the last thing he needed was more of them. Luckily gunfire

never rang out and they escaped into the forest. They ran through the woods which seeming

like a thick primal forest in the dark of night. They weren't quite cats, but they did

have descent night vision an they were able to make good distance through the park.

Marcus looked back as he was jostled on John's heaving shoulders. "Down!" He

hissed. John hit the dirt, sending Marcus rolling painfully across the ground. Lisa

dropped quickly as well, and the beam of a flashlight scanned over their heads. Now that

he was listening, Marcus could hear the footsteps of the cops as they carefully made their

way through the forest, scanning back and for with their flashlights. At their current

course they would step on John within a few minutes.

All three of them suppressed their breathing and listened as the footsteps grew

closer and closer, and the light scanned over them again and again. Like a worm, Marcus

slowly slid his arm across the ground and into his pocket where he felt the reassuring

steel of his .45. Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins. He was already sizing

up how much damage he could inflict on the group of cops before he fell. He decided that

he'd be able to hold them long enough, using trees as cover, for John and Lisa to escape.

He started a series of three deep breathes, preparing the jump up at the end of the third.

By the end of the second, the cop's footsteps sounded like they were receding.

Marcus didn't move, he didn't breath. He listened closely, and even through his

ringing ears he could clearly tell the cop and changed direction. The flash light no

longer scanned overhead, and for the moment it seemed that they had been saved. They sat

in silence until they could no longer hear the cops footsteps. Craning his head, Marcus

couldn't see the roaming flashlight either. They couldn't stay there too long, or another

cop would inevitably come across them, but neither could they move too quickly or they'd

alert the closer cops.

Marcus slowly lurched to his feat. John and Lisa did the same. They came together

in a tight huddle. "We have to be silent." Marcus whispered below his breath. He grunted a

little, his wounds where burning. "Hold on a second." Marcus said. They held their breath

for a second and heard nothing. They looked around again and still saw no searching

flashlights. Leaning heavily on his left leg, Marcus stood. He looked, and for the first

time noticed that Lisa was holding the medical kit.

"Thank God." He said softly, and reached for the box. Lisa handed it over. Marcus

took it and sat down, leaning against a tree. He was breathing hard although he'd not been

running. He shook his head. "I can hardly see straight." He explained. "I've lost so much

blood." With the comment John suddenly noticed his back. He looked over his shoulder and

saw that it was entirely covered with coagulating blood, Marcus' blood.

"We've got to get you to a hospital." Lisa said.

Marcus didn't object, but he started working on the medical kit. He pulled out a

pack of gaws pads, and some medical tape. He held the gaws down hard against the wound on

the front of his shoulder, thankful that he had the durability and endurance of a wolf.

The wounds might have been the death of some lesser species. He fumbled with the tape for

a second before John and Lisa came to the rescue. They soon had his shoulder

insufficiently bandaged on both sides, but it was the best they could do. They removed his

pants and did the same to his leg. No one even managed any sexual comments in the tension

of the situation. Marcus reloaded the clip of his .45 with bullets from within the ammo box

in his jacket.

"There's a hospital on the east side of the park." Marcus said.

"Which way is that." John asked looking all around as if he'd see a sign.

Marcus nodded his head over his left shoulder. "Let me walk though. I'll need your help,

but you need a rest."

"I can handle it." John protested, but Marcus was already pushing himself to his

feat against the tree. John slung Marcus' uninjured left arm over his shoulders, and held

his own right arm around Marcus' waist. They started forward, slowly and silently. Marcus

limped at a descent speed, and without making any noise whatsoever. Wolf's are amazing

creatures. Coyotes and huskies aren't so plain either. The three of them moved through

the forest in a tightly knit pack, their senses on high alert. They went for what felt

like hours, made longer by the ponds and streams that they had to circumnavigate. Finally

though, they where able to hear, and see cars sporadically passing by, far ahead of them.

"Don't leave the park right away." John said. "I'll take a look around first." When

they reached the abrupt tree line, John set Marcus against a tree. He crouch low and moved

quietly to the end of the trees. Carefully he leaned out from behind a tree and looked

down the street to his left and right. He saw nothing of concern in either direction. No

cops, and no Bores that he could tell. The hospital was directly across the street. He

returned to his friends quickly.

"It looks good, but we have to go quickly." John said. "The cops'll have our names

from the landlord soon, and once they report it we won't be able to get you help, Marcus."

Marcus slipped on his jacket which he had stubbornly held onto the entire time. "You're

going to look funny walking in there shirtless, bloody and scrapped up like that."

"You can't go in there alone." John said.

"I have to." Marcus argued back.

Lisa stepped forward. "When I said there was no one else I could trust, I guess I

sort of lied. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I've got a friend who I can trust

above anyone else. He's at 716 on Fourth. I'll help Marcus in, then lead you to him where

you can get a change of clothes then come back and pick Marcus up." Marcus and John looked

at her and mauled over her plan.

"One second." Marcus said, and pulled John aside. "Should we trust her?"

"I don't know. You seem to be better at this. What do you think?"

Marcus didn't say anything as he thought the whole situation over. It made him

sick to his stomach. "I think we have to trust her."

"As sick as it makes me feel, your right." John agreed. They broke their

consultation and turned back to Lisa. They told her that they had decided that they had no

choice but to trust her and her "friend" that she was so sure of. Marcus pulled the gun

from his pocket and handed it to John along with the ammo.

"I'll be in trouble if they find that on me. You take it until I get out." Marcus

said. John nodded. Lisa pushed her way under Marcus' left arm, and started to help him

out of the woods. John watched worriedly as the two of them made it to, and then across

the street. They made their way to the ER reception room. Behind the counter was a chubby

female fox.

"What's the emergency?" She asked blandly looking back and forth from one battered

fur to the other.

"Gang shooting on our street. We were unlucky enough to be outside." John

explained. "I was shot twice, once through my shoulder and the other through my leg. I

think I just need to be stitched up, but I'd like to see what a doctor thinks."

"What about her?" The receptionist asked, unfazed and unaffected by John's story.

"Her?" John asked, looking over to Lisa and remembering how beaten she looked.

"I fell running from the gun fire." She said quickly.

"Well your both handling this very well." The receptionist congratulated them, and

John had to wonder if she was sarcastic or not fore her tone gave little indication either

way. She probably thought Marcus and Lisa where lovers, and Marcus had beat Lisa and she

decided to shoot back before regretting it and helping him to the hospital.

"We live in the ghetto." Marcus said as if it explained everything.

"Do you have insurance?" Marcus did, and the woman gave him some paperwork to work

on and a pen to do it with. "Go take a seat."

Marcus and Lisa nodded. Lisa helped Marcus to a seat in the empty ER waiting room.

"Go get John to that friend of yours." Lisa nodded and started to leave. Marcus caught her

hand and turned her around. "Remember what we did for you." Marcus voice was cold and sharp

like the steel of a razor.

"Did you kill Jason?" Lisa asked, her voice the female equivalent of Marcus'.

Marcus nodded. "Then you've done more for me than anyone else ever has. I won't forget it,

I promise." She turned and left Marcus to his paper work and his scattered thoughts.

Within a few minutes a nurse came and called for him. He wasn't done with his paperwork,

but he left it, and his insurance card, with the receptionist and followed the nurse

through the white wash hallways. As he limped down the hall he felt more and more uneasy.

This is not good. he thought. I'm injured, and trapped in this building. If the

cops find out I'm here there's no way I'll escape. I left John with someone we have no

real reason to trust to be taken to someone we don't even know. This is entirely awful.

Still he followed the nurse. What choice did he have now? At the very least he could get

patched up. She led him to one of the many identical rooms and sat him down. She left him

there to wait for the doctor. The last time Marcus had been to the emergency room he'd

been unconscious, so he wasn't sure if he was experiencing the normal workings of the

place, or if he should be worried that something was amiss. The sun would be rising soon,

and he hoped to be out of there before that happened, and back with John.

He tried not to think of the long term, because whenever he did it was all bleak

and bad. Deal with it as it comes. He told himself. Deal with issues when they reache

you. Don't anticipate the future ones. It was hard not to anticipate in a situation like

this, but if he did he'd likely kill himself before the Bores or cops ever caught him. He

knew he'd never do that for various reasons. Too much pride for one, too much courage for

another, and he'd never leave John alone in this mess. The doctor helped distract him a

few moments later.

It was a tiger with glasses and entirely lacking a smile or humor. "Gun wounds?" he

asked without any kind of introduction. Marcus nodded. "I don't care how you got them.

I'll be honest, I probably won't believe whatever you tell me anyway, but my Hippocratic

oath means I'm gonna help you out. Any problems with that?" Marcus shook his head. In

fact it was perfect. The less conversation the better. The doctor had him remove his

jacket and then his pants. He quickly ripped all the bandages from their spots and

examined the wounds.

"Good news mister...Grodd." He said, looking at the papers in his hands to attain

Marcus' last name. "Neither of the wounds are serious. Have you ever heard of the term

flesh wound?" Marcus nodded. "Probably from Monte Python. Anyway, that's all they are.

I'll stitch them up for you and you'll be outta here nice and quick, which I'm sure you

want as much as I do. Now, I can numb the sites if you want."

Marcus shook his head. "My insurance isn't that good."

"Indeed." the doctor agreed. "I'll be right back to sew you back together." The

doctor came back and sewed Marcus' wounds shut, then put bandages over top of them. He

left Marcus alone in the quiet room, to sit in stinging silence. Within twenty more

minutes, as the air started to gain some light, John came through the door. He was wearing

a new pair of pants, and a black greenish hoody. He had a sack of clothes with him, and

Marcus managed a broad smile of relief when John came towards him apparently unharmed.

"No problems?" He asked.

John shook his head. "He seems like a good guy. Big ass bear. Intimidating,

although I'm sure not to you. I never really got if that was confidence or idiocy."

"Neither, it's just nature." Marcus struggled to his feat. "Help me into the

bathroom, then we can go." John helped Marcus into the bathroom, and then shut the door

behind them. "We can talk in private here." he said. "So...what do you think?"

John walked across the small, sterile bathroom and sat on the sink counter. He

shook his head sadly. "It's all so fucked up." Marcus nodded his agreement. "I guess we

need to drop everything and get out of the city."

"Dropping everything will be easy for me." Marcus said. "I've got nothing but two

crappy jobs, and you, and your coming with me. You have school though, and a lot of money

put into it."

John shrugged. "That doesn't mean much if we both get killed for it. No, I'll drop

school and work and leave with you."

"We need a car. Do you think Lisa can get us one?" Marcus asked.

John nodded. "Probably."

"You think she's trust worthy?"

"Yes." John said confidently. "I think if she wasn't she'd have screwed us over

while we were separated."

"I don't think we should separate ever again unless we absolutely have to in order

to survive." Marcus said. "As far as we know, we are the only people we can trust until

Lisa proves herself without a doubt to be an ally. We need to stick together as hard as we

can. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Where is she now?"

"At Bill's house. We can walk there in a few minutes." John looked at the bandages

on Marcus' shoulder. "How's it feeling?"

"A lot better now. I can walk fine, probably run okay too." Marcus flexed and stretched

his injured arm as if to prove his statement. A little pain leaked onto his face, but he'd

handle it well. "I'll be fine in a couple days. Wolves are tough as hell, and I'm sure as

hell not gonna be the exception to that rule." he moved closer to John and rested a hand on

his shoulder. "You're handling this extremely well."

"Thanks."

"Now lookout, I got to pee." They both used the toilet, and John gave Marcus the

clothes provided for him by Bill.

"I don't know what he had canine sized clothes for. The dude's easily you, me, and

Lisa combined."

"Damn." Marcus said imagining the man.

"Damn." John agreed. "Marcus..." He slowed his speech a bit, suddenly nervous. "Why

did you...How did you do all of this? How did you handle all of this so well? How did you

come out of a three on one gunfight without any serious injuries? What happened to you to

make you like this?"

For the first time in his life, Marcus was ready to answer that question. "When I

was twelve," Then he stopped abruptly as there was a knocking on the door.

"Marcus Grodd. Are you in there? This is the police." The knocking turned into

pounding when no one answered.

"Fuck!" Marcus cursed. "They got my name and tracked me here. Damn it. Damn it."

He was looking around franticly, as was John. There where no windows, no alternative

doors, and no escape. He felt like the walls were closing in around him like some twisted

Egyptian trap. Marcus looked to John, truly panicked for the first time sense all this had

started. John was slowly reaching into the bag he had been carrying. He carefully drew out

Marcus' .45. His eyes were sad, and worried. Marcus heart was pounding. Could he shoot a

cop? Would he shoot a cop? He grabbed onto the cold steel and turned towards the door,

numb from head to toe.

"We have to survive." He whispered, and grabbed onto the door handle.

Sorry there's no sex. I was gonna try and slip in the blowjob in the bathroom at the end, but that would make Marcus and John seem like idiots, and sex is never worth the value of a character. And for all you anti-cliff hanger fans out there, sorry but it was just too perfect a place to end it. lol. Hope you enjoyed it.