FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4: Danger Close

The sun rose over the peeks of Mount Takkara and bathed the park in its lively, amber rays, beating back the darkness of night where it would hide beneath the cover of the trees and the rocky outcroppings until it should rule again as the great yellow orb retreated behind the great Indian Ridge in the west.

Darkness fled into the deepest recessions of the den as the light slowly encroached upon it, reaching the eyes of Garth, but these eyes would not need to be stirred to life by the presence of light as they had not been closed long enough for him to drift away into sleep all night, much the same as it had been since the passing of his father two weeks ago. He knew not that he was an insomniac, for to him day and night blended together in an incomprehensible blur of time, but Lilly was beginning to grow considerably concerned about his health.

In a span of two weeks, he had eaten only but two bites of any meal that had been presented, had been completely deprived of sleep, hydration, and hygiene, something that he was particularly meticulous about, and refused to speak, no matter who it was that addressed him. He just lied there in the back of the den and stared blankly at the wall or at the floor, silent, alone. Often times Lilly would ponder what thoughts ran through his mind, if any at all, and more often times than that she would fear for his sanity. She had seen first hand where insomnia could lead, beyond the boundaries of normality to the unpredictable realm of the schizophrenics where all impossibilities to those who had a grip on reality became limitless possibilities for those who did not, especially when such impossibilities were the filling of voids that one felt needed to he filled in the absence of certain things that they desired, but have lost, or could have never gained without it. But then again, what did she honestly have to worry about? Garth was resilient. All he needed was a little bit of time to get his head around everything and to take that unpleasant journey on the road toward coping with his loss. Once he achieved this, he would be just fine. All he needed was a little time.

But then still, what if he wasn't as strong as she made him out to be? What if he either died or lost his mind? How could she live with herself if she sat back and watched as he slowly wilted under the crushing weight of his guilt and his grief under the mere assumption that everything would work out in the end, and it led to his demise? It was these troubling thoughts that had kept her up all night as well, though unlike her mate, she was restless. Throughout the night she had paced, lied down upon nearly inch of their den floor, watched him, tossed, turned, pondered by doodling in the sand with her claws, and had even grown so bored as to write little verses of poetry, but none of it possessed any meaning, for she was not trying to make sense out of what she wrote, but wrote as a means of attempting to make sense out of what she needed to do and would wipe them away as soon as they were finished.

One such poem remained:

Hope tells me that we will be fine, but hope knows no pessimism like the reality which plagues my mind.

She mulled over it for a moment longer then scattered the dirt until nothing remained and deposited her head upon her paws.

Silently she lied now, watching him intently with eyelids drooping so that they hung half closed, but she knew she could not sleep once the sun had risen, so there was no point in her staying like this. Time to start the day.

"Garth, I'm gonna go out," she informed dejectedly, for she knew there was no real point in telling him where she was going, and pressed herself up onto her paws.

Garth, as she had expected, remained silent, so she turned and walked slowly away. She paused for a moment to collect herself then stepped forth from her den into the world of Jasper Park, Canada where death and destitute turned to life and prosperity. She paused just outside of the mouth of the den and watched with a sigh, the pups as they romped and played. She gazed longingly at the mates and young lovers as they walked side by side, enjoying to the fullest what life had given them.

Lilly, much like Garth was experiencing with the recent loss of his father, felt loneliness fall upon her as she continued to watch the inhabitants of the park and sighed yet again. Having seen enough of what tugged at her envy, she turned her eyes down to her paws and began to walk. Down the hill and out into the public she padded, her head hung low so as to avoid the eyes of those who would stare at her and her ears flattened to ignore the whispers of those who spoke rumors through the grapevine or the sympathetic, yet empty apologies that everyone seemed so willing to hand to her as though they were as insignificant as a mayfly. She needed no pity, nor did she welcome it. That was not the way she was wired. Her life did not revolve around the sympathy of others, especially those who only pretended to care because it would somehow make them feel better about themselves.

She swallowed as bile began to rise in her stomach then sighed.

How she wished things would just go back to the way they used to be, back before the death of Tony when everything was simple, and how she missed the little things like his eyes and his laugh and the way he would try to act like he wasn't staring at her whenever she walked past and how she would stop and tease him by smirking, swinging her rear and her tail invitingly, and then would call him a dirty horndog for gawking. But he would only smile and laugh, knowing that it was all in good fun, and that they would one day mate, but only when she was absolutely ready.

These thoughts carried her all the way to her destination, previously undetermined, and when she found herself inside of Kate's den, she felt surprise and at the same time, was not surprised at all, for she frequented her sister's den whenever she felt as she did now.

"Kate?" she called softly, lifting her head.

"Sorry, Lilly," Kate said, obviously in a hurry, "I can't talk right now, I'm late."

"Okay," Lilly sighed and began to turn away, but when she was about to take her leave, Kate, upon seeing how upset she was, stopped her.

"Lilly, what's the matter," Kate asked her, causing the white she-wolf to stop and turn.

"It's fine," she replied dejectedly, "I know you're busy, so I'll just be-"

"No, Lilly," Kate interrupted, "I can stand to be a little late."

Lilly nodded and lifted her eyes.

"Now tell me what's wrong," Kate said, sitting down.

Lilly sat down as well and kneaded her paws, keeping her eyes fixed upon them.

"It's Garth again," she replied sadly, "he's getting worse, and... I..." she began to get choked up and had to pause in order to regain her composure, "I'm just so scared that I'm gonna lose him."

Kate placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be alright," she said to her softly, "no need to fret."

"Kate he's stopped eating," she cried, "he won't drink anything or say anything; all he does is lay there alone and there's nothing I can do to help him because he still refuses to even look at me."

Kate rubbed her shoulder.

"Would you like me to try and talk to him?" she asked softly.

"Kate he won't-"

"Lilly, look at me," Kate interrupted, "I'll go and talk to him after my shift, okay?"

"Well, but-"

"In the meantime, you are going to take a break," she continued, "you're gonna stay right in here and you're gonna get some rest. You look tired."

"But-"

"I love you, sis," Kate said and gave her a quick hug, "now stay here and wait until I get back."

Without another word, she turned and walked out, leaving Lilly alone.

Lilly opened her mouth to offer protest one final time then closed it and conceded to her sister's demands. Kate was right. She needed a rest and some time to herself to clear her mind or else she would be in the same boat as her mate. She sighed and turned, walking toward the back of her sister's den where the light was not so intense and laid herself down where she would remain and hopefully catch up on a little bit of sleep.

A&?

"Sound off," Cail bellowed, running ahead of his group.

"Sound off," they replied breathlessly, running behind him, Humphrey in the front so that he may be motivated by those behind him.

"Sound it down."

"Sound it down."

"What's the matter?" Cail asked, running.

"What's the matter?" they repeated uniformly.

"Are you tired?" Cail asked them.

"Are you tired?" they reiterated.

"Are you tired?" Cail asked again.

"Are you tired?"

"You betcha," Cail answered.

"You betcha," they repeated.

"Real tired," Cail said.

"Real tired," they groaned in response.

"Hey you," Cail called.

"Hey you."

"I'm tired!" Cail yelled

"I'm tired!" they replied.

"Pull over," Cail said, continuing to run.

"Pull over."

"Take ten."

"Take ten."

"I'm tired!"

"I'm tired!"

Though the students in training were breathless from their run, they sang loud and proud.

"Alphas! Alphas! Alphas, alphas, alphas!"

And like this they continued to run, under some of the most ridiculous cadences and songs that Cail could muster.

Humphrey had never run so much in his life and he was certain that the others hadn't either, for what pup just goes out on a six mile run at the crack of dawn just for the hell of it? He couldn't think of any.

His paws were so sore that felt as though they would fall off, but he dared not slow down because if he did, the others in the group would snap at his paws, as this was what Cail had instructed them to do. He grunted and heaved with each laborious breath that he took and his tongue hung limply out of the front of his mouth.

"Stop," Cail finally ordered and the students came to an immediate halt, but they did not dare fall to the ground as was their desire, as they had learned through excessive physical strain what happens if they were to act without instruction or leave their paws before given permission.

They all stood, their heads low, and panted deeply, not a one with any kind of energy left in their bodies, but at least they were finally back to the training grounds, as they could see now that their heads began to regain comprehension of their surroundings. Humphrey felt dizzy and his parched mouth cried for water, but he remained firm because if he messed something up, he, and everyone else in his group, would be punished.

"Students," Cail said to them, his own breath short, but hardly as short as theirs.

Each of them lifted their heads to their instructor and waited for what he had to say.

"You are lucky," he said to them, "because you've completed your conditioning for the first period of training and we will now be moving into fighting and defensive skills."

The students seemed to brighten up upon hearing this, but for Humphrey, his main source of joy was the knowledge that the hard stuff was over; though fighting was not one of the things he looked forward to after the result of his first, and last, fight. He also wished that they would have been allowed a short period of rest, but it didn't appear as though that was going to happen.

"Do we have any volunteers?" Cail asked his students, "after all, I know there's at least one of you in there who would like to sock me in the jaw."

Everybody turned glances between each other, but not a one of them stepped forward, so Cail decided to take the liberty of choosing for them.

"Good man, Humphrey," he said with a smile, "thanks for volunteering."

"Huh? What?" Humphrey stammered, perking his ears and turning to face the instructor.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya son," Cail assured, "I just want you to try to hit me, now come on."

"Okay..." Humphrey answered hesitantly and stepped out so that he stood before the black alpha.

"Make your move anytime you feel you're ready," Cail said.

Humphrey nodded and waited for about two seconds before he took a jab at the alpha's muzzle, but in a flash, the alpha swept his forepaw beneath his so that his punch missed to the outside of his shoulder, but the momentum still carried him forward, and it was at this time that Cail wrapped his foreleg around Humphrey's and pulled him close to his body and delivered three quick, but intentionally light shocks to his ribs and side of his face. Once this was accomplished, he swept the omega's legs and threw him to the ground. This entire process was completed in a matter of a second and Humphrey did not know what had hit him until his back struck the ground.

"The key to most forms of fighting, students," Cail began, returning to a normal stance, "is knowing how to use your opponent's attacks against them."

The others who watched nodded intently, turning eyes between Humphrey, who was just now beginning to take to his paws once more, and their instructor.

"Now, I do understand that being on the offensive can be advantageous given the circumstances, but such circumstances can almost never become present without a solid defense to counter your opponent's offense. Humphrey, if you would be so kind as to repeat what you did earlier, but do so at a slower pace."

Humphrey seemed hesitant but did as he was told, though he felt his face heat up under the spotlight in which he now found himself. He took another swing at Cail, but he did so slowly this time, about half the speed at which he had swung on his first attempt.

"Now stop right there," Cail instructed, causing Humphrey to arrest his paw's momentum just before it made contact with the alpha's face, "once they've reached this point in their strike is when you need to begin to make your move, so, continue Humphrey. Using the foreleg opposite from the one the attacker is using," he continued as Humphrey once again began to move, "sweep your paw beneath the swing so as to deflect it away from your body, push up a short way, then begin to wrap your leg around theirs and pull them in." He then demonstrated and once Humphrey was pulled in close to his body, Cail gently jabbed him in the ribs twice then the back of his jaw. "And finally, swing your body around, take their legs out from under them with your own, and they'll fall like a tree."

The other students nodded.

"But how would you get out of that if someone were to try to do it on you?" Mark asked.

Cail turned to him.

"An excellent question," he mused, "and brought up just in time."

He then turned to Humphrey.

"Humphrey, I want you to do to me as I had done to you, but be ready for my counter," he instructed.

Humphrey nodded, though nervously, for he feared what the instructor may do to him, and readied himself.

Without any prior warning, Cail lashed out at him, his paw traveling at only a slightly slower speed than it would if this were real, but Humphrey, for the moment, locked up as he had not expected the action to be made so quickly, and the result was not pleasant for the omega. Before Cail could realize that the omega had locked up and make any attempt to redirect his paw, he brought it slamming into the side of Humphrey's muzzle with such force that the omega was sent toppling to the ground, bringing about laughter from Gauge.

Cail immediately regretted what he had done and moved quickly over to Humphrey to check on him, but stopped when he heard the snarl.

Everything fell silent at this moment, for such a snarl was so sinister, so evil and so wicked that it froze the blood in their veins. All eyes glued themselves upon Humphrey as he rose to his feet. His lips writhed back to the roots of his fangs and his tongue flicked between his clipping teeth. His muzzle, now sporting a baseball sized welt, was wrinkled almost up to his eyes, but that was not what frightened them. What struck fear in them, Cail included, was the haunting and inexplicable change in his eyes. It was unlike anything anybody had ever seen. His eyes, blue before he hit the ground, were now beginning to turn bloodshot, but they knew it not to be from tears, for his pupils began to dilate and his irises began to darken until they themselves became red.

Quicker than anybody could blink an eye, Humphrey leapt at Cail, his fangs and claws bared with only one purpose- to rip, to tear, and to destroy the one who had hit him. It was nothing short of a miracle that Cail managed to duck away before Humphrey could light into him, and as the omega landed, he whirled quickly to face him, his hackles raised on end. Without hesitation, Humphrey attacked again, swinging his paw at Cail, but Cail began to counter by pushing Humphrey's paw to the side and attempting to land a strike to the omega's face, but, completely unexpected to any present, Humphrey countered his counter by catching the alpha's paw and then landed a forceful blow to his face.

"Go for help," Rain pleaded to Jake, who stood in awe beside her, for she knew that this could get out of hand quite quickly.

Cail's head jerked back with the blow and when it began to rock forward, he just managed to duck a second attack, sliding under and administering an uppercut to Humphrey's chin.

Humphrey shook the blow off and then took another before landing a strike of his own to Cail's eye which slashed the skin beneath it to the bone.

Cail knew right then that he was in serious trouble and needed to end this quickly before somebody got seriously hurt, or even worse killed, so he blocked strike after strike, buying his time until finally the opportunity that he sought presented itself.

Humphrey sprung at him again but this time, Cail stood firm, waiting until the absolute last moment to move aside, causing Humphrey to snarl and land just beside him, his back and neck exposed.

Wasting no time, Cail whirled to face the omega's back and brought his paw slamming down onto the back of Humphrey's head, striking perfectly the spot where the spine meets the back of his skull.

Humphrey didn't stand a chance, for as soon as the alpha's paw made contact with the back of his head, his legs buckled and he fell to the ground almost as though struck dead.

Cail stared down at Humphrey's unconscious form for about thirty seconds then slowly lifted his eyes to find that the disturbance had drawn a crowd. All who gathered, students and instructors alike, gazed on in awe at what they had just witnessed and began to mutter amongst themselves about what they had seen. Cail stood for a moment longer, listening to the murmurs, and used the side of his paw to wipe away at the blood which poured down the side of his face, then, without a word, he lowered his head and turned away to take his leave. As he reached the gathered mass, he experienced no hindrance, as they all parted like the Red Sea.

He cleared the crowd and began to stalk slowly away toward his personal den, but after a few paces he heard Erik's voice call out to him.

"Cail!" Erik called, running up to him, "Cail, what the hell happened?"

Cail did not even bother to stop, for he felt the need to get far away from everybody at the moment.

But Erik was persistent and followed him all the way back to his den.

Cail entered and laid down silently in the back, facing the wall.

"Cail," Erik began again, "what happened back there? Are you all right?"

"I can't teach him," Cail said solemnly, though remaining inert.

Erik cocked his head to the side.

"What?" he asked confused, "what do you mean?"

"I mean he's too dangerous to train," Cail replied bitterly and again wiped blood from his face, "a wolf like him could kill somebody and not even realize that he had done it until he wakes up from his blackout to find the blood coating his paws."

"What are you talking about, Cail?" Erik asked.

"I hit him," Cail replied, turning his eyes down to his paws almost as though ashamed by their actions, "something that shouldn't have been an issue, and if it was it should've been one that I could have handled without having to do what I did, but I think that I triggered something and for a moment there it seemed as though he became somebody else."

"Well... that's what happens when people get pissed off," Erik tried to reason, "I mean look at Miles."

"Erik his eyes turned red," Cail growled, lifting his head and turning to Erik, "and not just the white parts, but his whole damned eyes. You should have seen him. He was ferocious, almost unstoppable. If anybody less experienced had hit him as I did, they would have been killed."

By this time the other alphas began to congregate around the mouth of his den and then finally began to file in, causing Cail to rise to his feet.

"Cail, what was that all about?" Dakoda asked, receiving agreeing nods from the others behind her.

"What has been done with Humphrey?" Cail asked, dodging the question, and turned his eyes between each of them.

"Nothing at the moment," Miles replied, "he's still unconscious, but why does that matter?"

"We need to quarantine him," Cail replied, "at least until we know he has reached a stable condition."

"Cail start making sense," Dakoda demanded, "what are you talking about?"

"Humphrey is a danger to everybody in this program," he replied, "and I know it sounds crazy because he seems so docile, but I pissed him off today and he quickly became one of the toughest opponents I've ever had to fight."

He paused, moving his eyes over the crowd, but they remained silent, so he continued.

"For those of you who still may not understand the gravity of the situation, he could have killed somebody today," Cail stated seriously, "We were just lucky that he attacked me, because if he had attacked one of the other students, they wouldn't have stood a chance because as soon as his anger spiked, he lost his head and his aggression became uncontrollable. He's fast, he's strong, and above all else, he probably has no idea what he is doing until he calms down and wakes up."

The others, for a moment, only stared at him, more than likely still trying to comprehend everything that they had just been told, then after a span of about thirty seconds, they came back to life.

"W-what should we do?" Erik asked him.

Cail sighed and lowered his head, almost as though in thought, then lifted it again.

"One of us needs to haul ass back to headquarters and get Winston," Cail answered, stepping forward determinedly toward the mouth of his den, and causing the others to step out of his way, "and the rest of us need to put the omega in a secure environment for observation then we need to address the students because they're probably rioting over what they just saw."

The others followed him out, nodding curtly as they listened.

"So who wants to go?" he asked them, his eyes fixed on the students in the distance, all of which were crowded around Humphrey.

"I think you should go," Miles answered, "after all, you are the one who would know the most about what happened."

Cail nodded in agreement.

"Alright, but I want you to be in charge of watching him, Miles," he replied, "if he starts asking questions, just avoid them and if that doesn't work, just think of something, but don't let him out."

Miles nodded.

"As for the rest of you, shut down operations for now," he instructed, "at least until we get things straightened out."

"But what about the students?" Erik asked.

"Keep them under control and tell them what is going on, but not to the same extremity as I did when I explained the situation to you," he replied, turning to her, "we want this to be as simple and as calm as possible."

Erik nodded.

"We'll do everything we can," he replied, then turned forward once more.

"Alright, good," Cail replied, casting a glance to the East, before turning to them once again, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Alright," Miles replied, placing a paw on his shoulder. However, when his eyes fell upon the gash, he scowled slightly. "That looks like it hurts," he commented, "you wanna get that looked at before-"

Cail interrupted with a shake of his head.

"Nah, I'm good," he replied, "just keep an eye on him until we return."

Miles nodded and lowered his paw.

"Well, good luck my friend and God speed."

Cail nodded.

"Good luck to you, too," he replied and then took off in a dead sprint toward the main grounds of Jasper Park.