Broken Pieces

Chapter Thirty-Four

By Roofles

Gristle’s story was never told. He never wanted it to be.

Being born the runt of a litter along with a wolf like Mauler, he was always looked down on back then. Where Mauler had been Reese, Gristle had been PB. Mocked and ridiculed as PB had been for being born a runt. Where PB had endured it, trying to find a means of escape? Gristle had confronted them head on.

He wasn’t a man now, or then, or ever to back down from a fight.

For a below average sized wolf, Gristle tore into them with a ferocity that even Mauler had been impressed by. His biological brother still had his blood coursing through his veins after all. That’s what they said. Just like Reese and PB did. But there was one difference between Gristle and PB.

One of them was born a killer and the other wasn’t.

And it showed.

It showed in the most brutal and violent of ways as the Primal drug pumped through his system. Gristle’s heart hammered in his chest and the wolf howled at the rush it gave him as it made his veins burn. Overwhelming. It was overwhelming all he could see, think, or hear… was Red.

Red. It pumped through his veins.

Red. It burned in his ears.

Red. It made his vision change color and distorted the world around him.

“Run.” He wanted to say, wanted to shout. “Run.” Wanted to howl the words. “Run!”

And Alan did.

Gristle had told him, had barked at him because the wolf… the wolf wanted the chase.

The human didn’t need to hear his words for Alan knew, seeing the wolf like that, he needed to run. It was the one thing you were never supposed to do around a wolf. To run away. It was better to face them head on or slowly back away without ever turning your back. Aggression was key. To be loud as possible.

 Right now? There was only one choice in the “fight or flight.” To Run. To run as fast and as far as you could. That was all Alan could do.

There was no more talking. No more reasons or showing good will. There was no way to offer Gristle an olive branch as Alan had done with so many other carnivores over the years. Wanting to give them a chance, to not see them for what they were but who they chose to be.

Then, at least, it would be their choice if they attacked Alan and nothing more.

Primal stole that away from them. Stole the choice away as Gristle gave chase after the fleeing human before him. On all fours, he had turned into a feral-minded creature running only on his baser instincts as he hunted.

The need to hunt. To feed. To taste Red on his lips…

It was overwhelming, overpowering and even a wolf like Gristle who’d spent his entire life fighting against those stronger than him, could only give into it.

“Fuck,” was all Alan could say. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He said over and over again as he ran down the hallway being chased by someone on all fours. “This was not how I wanted to meet your uncle, PB!” He shouted out as he skidded to a stop and nearly slipped on the slick floor.

The sprinkler system were still going off and all Alan could do was check each and every door he ran past, trying to force them open in his haste. Several of the doors were locked and he had a nagging suspicion that someone had purposefully done this to him as the human ran from one hall to the next with a heavy body thudding behind him.

These locked doors were like a maze of tunnels. Guiding him somewhere. Not wanting to question it as he ran as fast and as far as his tired legs could carry him, Alan just followed along. Even now. His choice was taken from him. Unable to do anything but run through the maze laid out for him. The only favor he had this dark night was the fact Gristle had been knocked out by some powerful tranquilizers previously. The adrenaline rush he’d gotten from Primal was almost countered by the horse tranq they shot him up with.

It gave a human a chance a chance to fight a wolf. Like a sick game. A show. That’s what this was. Someone had drugged Gristle, only to drug him again. Over and over again. Uppers and downers. Lows and highs. Distorting his reality and messing up his body chemistry.

All so that Alan might have a “chance.”

There is no show without evening the odds, if only a little bit. Rigging the bet as it were. Every hallway Alan ran down had a camera watching him. It turned and swiveled, following after one then the other. Recording everything on it’s feed. A showcase that someone could sell to the dark web.

A sight that could change the balance of power once more.

Prey, running from a predator. As their ancestors once did.

A showcase, a gameshow, created by the very species that should be the most offended by it. Hares and rabbits. The lowest of the food chain had created this sick game to put others through the torture they had once suffered from. Usually, normally, it would take place out in the protective land that The Noble Hare’s owned. Cameras were mounted in the trees and brush. Recording everything that happened there.

Where there was “The Chase,” there was also “The Hunt.” Two different shows. One was openly held. “The Hunt” being the herbivores that would pay a small fortune that could easily buy a house in order to fulfill their sick dreams and fantasies of hunting a predator out in the wild.

A captured predator would be drugged up, stripped naked and let loose into these protected lands, away from the public eye. Then, the hunter would give chase. One was stripped naked and drugged; the other was armed to the teeth from the arsenal they were allowed to pick from. Not exactly a fair deal for the predator but no one seemed to complain. Whoever came out alive… well, even if the predator came out on top, it didn’t change anything. They would be forced to do it again and again until the “right outcome” came out.

“A taste of what we had to go through.” An flimsy excuse that no one believed or tried to rationalize further. Just needing some kind of justifying their sadistic desires to be fulfilled.

Then, there was “The Chase.” Another sick perverted game that the rich would hold. Placing bets on the captives and letting them loose. Watching from their safe high perches above as the prey ran from the predator below. Sometimes it was one of their own, other times it was those who couldn’t pay off their debts to the family…

Wolves could be so cruel, but it often overshadowed the cruelty of the other species and families, and The Noble Hares were not so noble in the end. Everyone had skeletons in the closet they wished to keep secret.

Alan broke through another door and came to a hedge maze. An open hedge maze that blocked his path with high stone walls on the outside. Slick and smooth, being impossible to climb out of. A cage. Alan might’ve escaped one but only ended up in another. The air was chill, and several spotlights had been turned on overhead, facing down towards him. Illuminating the scene below as a speaker box crackled somewhere above.

“Hurry, contestant! Get through the maze before you are caught!” The speaker box crackled out with some added fanfare that Alan chose to ignore. “Reach the escape, before it’s too late! Do not run late, or you’ll be someone’s… dinner.”

“That doesn’t even rhyme!” Alan shouted back as he ran through the maze. Cutting and moving through each corner as quickly as he could.

Alan read somewhere that if you placed a hand on the wall within a maze and kept going, you’ll eventually find the way out. He didn’t have such a luxury being chased! He ran as fast as he could and cursed every time an untrimmed branch hit his bloody, burned hands.

It hurt. Everything was beginning to hurt as Alan pushed on. Through the maze, running and turning and twisting and circling around before finding a stairs that led upwards giving him a view of the whole area. Alan didn’t have such luck to wait around and try and figure a way out. For even where he stood, he could see Gristle at the bottom of the stairs below.

Standing there on all fours was PB’s uncle. Or what was left of what they’d done to him. Growling up at him with bloody, drool covered fangs… it was impossible to see him as a man instead of just another wild beast.  

Alan could only imagine that someone had gotten in the wolf’s way with the amount of blood on his face and muzzle. It looked as if Gristle were a vulture that stuck his head into a carcass. The thought turned his stomach as the wolf ran at him.

Alan took a chance, took a gamble, and did something he was sure no one else would try. He jumped out, off the bridge, and onto the hedge maze. If he couldn’t get through it, Alan would try to get over it.

“Screw the fucking rules,” Alan just cursed. He was of his right mind and, sure enough, as he looked back, he saw the wolf leap out after him. Chasing him mindlessly, unable to stop the hunting instinct of a wolf.

Human’s had a luxury that was overlooked by several other species way back in the day. They had opposable thumbs. It allowed them to grab things. Something so simple was often forgotten and underestimated as Alan grabbed onto the hedge maze as Gristle leapt out after him.

Gristle might’ve been short for a wolf, but he made up for it with bulk. He put on a lot of muscle over the years. Too much muscle. It made him look like a classic meathead body builder that should’ve gone on stage to flex for the judges. Age hadn’t been kind to the older wolf and his body was beginning to lose the strength it once had.

But that thickness and weight remained.

Gristle’s gray furred body hit the top of the hedge hard and there was a startled yelp that ripped out of his bloody jaws as one foot caved through the top, bringing with it half his body. Struggling, the mindless feral wolf clawed out at the top of the hedge, snapping his jaws as Alan carefully made his way to the other side.

Snarls and growls filled the air as the wolf clawed out. Trying to grasp hold of anything and pull himself up. Without being of right mind, Gristle’s body didn’t know what to do. It had given up the thought of using its thumbs. Even running on all fours like a wild animal instead. His body was reacting to the drug, and it gave Alan a chance to slip away.

“Can’t believe that worked,” Alan a good ten minutes later managed to hop down near the exit. The doors swung open at his cautious approach and the speaker above spoke again.

“Well done! Well done!” It must’ve been automated as it talked without addressing anything that Alan did. “First obstacle, completed!”

“First?” Alan groaned as he looked down at his hands. They were shaking and burned from the pain. He wanted to stick them both into buckets of ice water and call it a night as he trudged forward.

There was a crash from behind him and Alan didn’t look back to see Gristle’s squirming body break through the branches and back into the open hedge maze. Alan hoped the doors would just close behind him as he jogged forward, picking up his pace to distance himself the best he could from PB’s uncle.

Alan wasn’t sure where he was in the building. All he knew was that he was on the first floor. The large windows along the right side of the hallway reminded him of that. They had bars over them. Each and every one of them were heavily secured and Alan didn’t even try to see if he could escape that way He could see claw marks on the glass and knew the glass was just as reinforced as his holding cell had been.

Those before him had been so desperate they had tried to claw their way out. Like a cage. Clawing and scratching until your nails broke and your fingers wore down to nothing but bone. Desperation was a strong emotion, and it could override ones senses, distracting them from the right and wrong choices to make.

“Sick,” was all Alan could say. “They give you a view of freedom, hoping you’ll take the bait. Only to waste what little time you have to  escape. Instead of playing their game… It must be on a good show,” he looked away from the bloody clawed up window. “A good show for them to watch as you…”

He gripped his chest, trying not to think of it any longer.

Alan was familiar with playing these kind of games. Over the years, he had begun getting used to seeing them. There was some sort of sick fascination by herbivores to try and mess with and fuck with a predator. To “poke a sleeping bear” was an actual name of one of the younger teenage games that herbivores would play.

To run up and hit or smack a predator and run away, seeing if they’d give chase. They, the predator, wouldn’t. They were a minority that was unfavorably viewed by the majority. Even if the herbivore started it, it would be the carnivore that would be prosecuted in the end.

And they knew that.

Salt and Pepper had to endure such things at school. Alan had wanted them to attend but was regretting his choice on the matter. Understanding why so many predators homeschooled.

“They claim they are weaker and helpless, that they are somehow the innocent party, only to go and do this.” Alan cursed, wanting to punch someone in the face for it as his anger built up. “I need to keep going. Focus on that later. Right now, I need to survive.”

The sound of his steps splashing against the water and his heavy breaths were the only thing he could hear as he ran down a darkly lit hallway and came crashing into the far door. Alan sprained his wrist, running smack dab into the door and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming in pain as he did so.

His eyes weren’t made for this.

Checking the door, it was locked. Cursing his ill-gotten luck, Alan began searching the surrounding area for a means of escape. Numerous doors all with strange marks and symbols were in front of him. He ignored them, not about to play this Alice in Wonderland bullshit with these fuckers as he went to each one randomly to check.

While a part of his brain told him to play this game in order to survive, his anger didn’t let him as it continued to boil over. Sometimes the hard approach worked and eventually Alan got lucky.

Alan finally found one that wasn’t locked. He pulled it open and was nearly blinded by the brightly lit room before him. Not caring what was inside, he jumped through the door and slammed it shut behind him just as quickly. He took a steady breath before nearly being knocked over.

A body crashed against the door behind him, shaking it’s frame and the ceiling above. The wolf had hit it so hard the wood had split.

Grabbing whatever he could around him, Alan piled everything up in front of the door. Blocking it from the wolf on the other side that had caught up to him. Gristle scratched and howled and tore into the door with his claws not even noticing the blood dripping from his forehead where he crashed into the door. Not caring about the pain that bit into his nails or the blood he left behind, the wolf scratched and scratched at the cheap wooden door. It continued to shake in it’s frame as Alan backed away, looking around to see where he was at.

It wouldn’t hold for long. Alan had recognized that instantly. These doors were colorful and marked with symbols but were otherwise cheaply made. Like the chair he’d been in the cell. It was a cheap recreation of something that you would see on a gameshow, a cheap replica that was made to be broken and replaced for laughs and kicks and giggles after they broke.

At the cost of his life. If Alan wasn’t careful.

“Where am I this time?”

“Welcome!” Another speaker crackled on the wall as the cameras above turned to face the human. “What we have here is a game that has been increasing in popularity over the past couple of years. The escape room!” It continued to crackle but Alan had already gotten the gist of what he needed to do from that. 

It was an exhibit, he realized. This room. Or a museum, it was hard to tell the difference. At least, it was made up to look like one. Somewhere with this mess was an escape route. With fake boulders and rocks, mounds of plastic grass and light fixtures behind them… it would be challenging to find.

“Huh,” Alan frowned at it. It reminded him of a storage room more than anything else. A place where you’d place the props in, not a place set up with props.

A storage room in the back with several pictures and sculptures carefully set off to the side with dusty cloths draped over each one of them. The speakers were automatic and seemed to react to someone coming into the room. This room hadn’t been set up in time.

“Meaning… what?” Alan wasn’t sure if he had the time to figure that out as the door behind him shook. “They weren’t prepared for me to come here… yet. Or someone else altogether. The room is in a resting state, which means the puzzle is already finished or…?” Alan looked around again.

Seeing the bones of various species, Alan had to wonder if they were fake or real as he made his way through the room. Carefully examining everything as he went.

The lights were on so someone had to be here recently, right? Did someone go before him or was this from the previous… event?

There was another security camera in the corner of the wall, and he couldn’t help but wonder if that was their goal. For him to run for his life, to end up in a well-lit dead-end room and wait for the wolf to break in and feast on him like some kind of-

“No. Dammit, fuck you and all your shit!” Alan flipped the camera off as he began looking around the room. “I am not your god damn toy to play with and get off on.”

There wasn’t much in the room for the means of weapons, but Alan had improvised in the past and planned to do so again. Pulling everything out of a large wooden armoire tucked against the wall, he began setting things up. The louds thuds and bangs against the door only motivated him onwards as Alan pulled out the shelves and tossed them onto the floor.

“Fuck your game. Fuck your rules. I plan to play as I see fit.” Alan rolled his shoulders, let out a breath and got ready.

Nails, boards, whatever he could find he threw onto the floor after breaking them down from the random props around him. That person out there was more animal than man right now and Alan could use that to his advantage. Just like the hedge maze. He’d apologize in the future when Gristle wasn’t trying to rip his throat out. They, he, Gristle… wasn’t thinking. They were out of their freaking mind and Alan hoped this would work as he broke several things and scattered them around on the floor.

They were cheaply made and even Alan found it easy to snap boards over his knee.

Even a wild animal would avoid danger while hunting. Alan had a sneaking suspicion that the wolf outside wouldn’t. They were so drugged up; they were banging their head against the door trying to get in. It wasn’t a pleasant picture to paint but Alan wasn’t about to complain as he knocked several more things over and created a hazardous mess within the room before opening the armoire up to hide within.

Then he paused, getting another idea.

Just as the door was busted in behind him.

The middle of the door broke from the repeated impacts and the top was pushed in on itself as the gray furred wolf clawed and bit its way into the room. Gristle might’ve been shorter than a lot of the wolves back home, but the stocky build and strong muscles of the canine was enough to force its way into the room.

It’s ratty pelt of gray fur caught on the metal racks and poles and lightings Alan had pressed against the door. Like spikes they stuck out and the wolf didn’t even try to avoid them, jabbing itself on them as it pulled and pushed its way into the room on all fours. Like a charging horse into a stake wall, Gristle ran into them without a care for any sense of self-preservation.

Ironic, really, as The Menagerie was built on the idea of protecting and preserving life.

Fueled by the scent of fresh blood, the feral animal jumped into the room. Only to land on top of the broken boards and nails Alan had scattered around. They poked and pierced Gristle’s paw pads and feet, tearing his pants further as the wolf yelped out in pain. Thrashing around wildly as he fell on another trap.

Alan felt like some primeval hunter setting and laying traps down for a predator to fall into. Or prey. Hunting the hunter. He was keenly aware he was the bait in this sick game and planned to use that against the predator. Smearing and rubbing his blood around.

The scent was strong, it urged Gristle on. Through the pain, through the traps. Wanting it, needing it! To taste it on his lips. Red. Blood was such a strong, alluring force that Gristle’s body wouldn’t let him stop. Forcing his wounded body through the cluttered room and over the jagged shards of broken glass and pieces of the marble statue Alan had shoved over. He, it, this feral animal walked through it all. Pushing it’s body past whatever pain it experience towards the armoire at the far end where that alluring, intoxicating scent was wafting from.  

Gristle could smell it. His feral mind telling him that the fresh blood was coming from there and the wolf ran towards it at full speed. The wolf’s side bumped into something, and it tore his shirt open, making his side burn with pain as red spilled from the wound. The metal cut into his thigh and still the wolf ran forward at ever increasing speed.

At the speed he was going, Gristle couldn’t even come to a stop as the armoire shifted forward as the wolf’s body smashed into the front of it with enough force to rock it backwards. One of the doors opened and Gristle pushed his snout inside, forcing it further open to find it. To find his prey. There it was. The scent of it. The scent of red dripping from the shirt that Alan had been wearing.

His mind couldn’t comprehend or understand where the rest of the human had gone. The scent of red was right in front of him, and the wolf gave into it, sniffing and biting, tearing into the fabric as Alan grabbed the side of the armoire from his hiding spot and tilted it forward.

The entire thing creaked, and the front legs began to snap under it’s immense weight being put on them before the entire thing collapsed on top of the wolf’s body. With another loud startled yelp, the wolf’s hind legs stopped moving as the massive dresser broke over their body. Crushing him like an ant under a boulder.

“Sorry,” Alan ended up apologizing anyways as he tip toed past the twitching wolf and walked towards the door at an ever-increasing pace. Careful to avoid the crude traps he’d put out for Gristle. “Fuck your escape room if I just take out the killer.” Alan wanted to laugh but it caught in his throat as he heard it.

Alan heard the body behind him shift and move and hoped Gristle wasn’t about to burst out like some sort of alien horror movie from the back of the wooden cabinet. It rocked and shifted as the wolf tried to fight against it, lifting up slightly and giving Alan all the encouragement he needed to get out of there.

He’d tell someone where Gristle was after all this was over, Alan promised as he climbed through the door and left him behind.

Deciding to check the other doors, it wasn’t exactly hard to figure out without the fear of a wolf jumping him from behind. The symbols were easter eggs.

“A little on the nose,” Alan scoffed as he counted them out. “Let’s see. It’s always a Sunday and… there, the thirty first day. Easter.” The human smiled as the door clicked and easily opened at his touch.

All the other rooms must’ve been dead ends then he could only figure as he stepped inside and shut the door.

Alan barely caught his breath, jogging down the hallway, before another noise made him stop. From the way they’d originally come, he heard the sound of flat feet slapping against the covered tiles. Alan held his breath as he slowly, carefully, made his way down the opposite hallway and away from Gristle and whoever that was.

In a way, Alan hoped that his bloody hands would help lead whoever that was after him to follow, instead of towards the trapped wolf... A thought he’d soon regret as the sound of those webbed feet picked up and began running to catch up.

“Come on!” Alan wanted to cry as he pressed forward. He was shirtless, his hands were burned and covered in splinters, the blisters popping and tearing and bleeding…. He was bleeding and now other people were chasing him in this hell? “What did I do to deserve this? I mean, what specifically?”

The room at the end of the hall had the light on and was unlocked just like the storage room had been. The sprinkler system wasn’t on in here. These places with the lights on seemed to be almost safe havens from the toxic flood of water pouring down in the other rooms.

And, sure enough, there were more cameras in this room.

“At least it’s not a dead end this time...” Alan said only after shutting and blocking the door to the best of his abilities. It wasn’t like the storage room. It was a long hallway with plenty of windows on one side and plants between each one.

He decided moving a couple of the heavy potted plants over was the best he was going to do before jogging down the hallway towards the other end. His sides were beginning to hurt from all the running, and he had to slow down to catch his breath.

Along the wall to his left were several portraits of rabbits and hares. Each wearing fancy outfits and ridiculous hats to fit their oversized ears. They looked like the Mad Hatter and Alan was playing Alice. It would’ve been comical and something Alan would’ve joked and talked with Reese about if they had just come for a visit instead of… this.

“Reese,” Alan heart hurt just thinking of the wolf.

He wanted to apologize to him. To jump on him and hug him and kiss him and apologize for everything that had happened. He was regretting so many things. Maybe he should’ve been more understanding? Accepting of Reese’s new position rather than…

“No,” Alan shook his head. “This isn’t the time for that.” Alan would only be able to apologize for all this after he got out of here alive and that thought alone helped carry his steps towards the other door instead of succumbing to the fear inside.  

From one hall, into another, and into another. It felt like tunnels. Alan realized that’s what these were. These halls all connecting to each other were like tunnels, corridors in a maze. The entire building was like a hedge maze. The hares had built their buildings above ground to look like the ones underneath and it was a confusing mess as Alan ran towards wherever the light was at.

At least he knew they were leading towards a possible exit.  

Every room with the light on didn’t have the sprinkler system active. Safe rooms, in a way. Every dark corridor or hallway, however, did. The water rained down over him and stung his eyes but little else.

Alan didn’t understand why the water wasn’t affecting him. He’d heard and read studies about the effects of Primal after his neighbors Primal den exploded in the trailer park he’d grown up in. The bear was a mess of a man and scared the shit out of Alan, even when he wasn’t on something. Alan wasn’t an idiot and would rather sleep outside, away from the trailer park, than anywhere near that man or those who came knocking on his door.

That was usually where PB came in. The wolf gladly joining him out in the fields, in a tent, instead of being there. With family. With those people. Just the two of them, looking at the stars…

Never would Alan think that PB would take the stuff. Not after everything the two of them had been together. What PB had seen and heard Alan tell him about the stuff. It was… it was inhumane.

Primal had an unusual affect on carnivores. It was far stronger, more potent and the effect more drastic and volatile than it was on the other species of the world. As if it somehow tapped into their predatory side. As if made specifically for them.

“But, that doesn’t make sense. Even humans are predators? We hunt and fish and all that as well. Why doesn’t it affect us?” Alan had to wonder, to think about as he continued to read the studies about it years before. “What then does it draw out from a wolf that it doesn’t bring out of a human?”

Every one of them seemed to be biased, those studies. Painting with a broad brush, marking down everyone who tried or used the stuff as predators, criminals, drug addicts and nothing more. As if drugs were somehow limited to one group of people.

Even back then, Alan had seen such studies as speciest and anti-predator.

Being dosed in the stuff and walking away unphased left Alan more uncomfortable than if it did affect him. This drug had specifically been made to target predators. To target herbivores. To target everyone that wasn’t human.

“Terrifying… this world is so fucked up.” Alan sighed, trying to wipe the liquid off his body as he walked down another tunnel like hallway.

He shivered from the cold, dripping with the tainted water, and hoped he’d find something to wear soon as he opened another set of doors. It was a large open room, used to showcase the main exhibits. A podium had been set up on a stage in front of him. Looking like an entirely different building than the one he had just burst out of.

There were banners strung up on the walls, massive portraits of some stuffy suit older hare with a scarred face and the name “Barnes” written everywhere. The entire thing looked like a celebration or an announcement of some sort. Alan could only figure this part of the building had been rented out for some politician or party, unlike the gameshow he’d somehow escaped from.

Alan didn’t try to keep up with the news as much as he used to. It was just too depressing half the time.

Looking around, Alan didn’t see anyone else there. Which was odd in itself. There were signs people had been here recently. Steaming cups of coffee, knocked over chairs, scattered papers and even several coats that had been left behind in their haste. To leave, or escape? Alan wasn’t sure which.  

Those in the room hadn’t even packed up before they had taken off running. Like a startled herd in front of a predator…

Alan wanted to call out but was afraid to do so as he walked over towards the side where a ladder had been set up. There was a balcony above and a thought of climbing up before a noise from the back caught his attention. A rattle of metal chains possibly? The shift and shaking of a door? Every step he took made him wince. The metal ladder dug into his hands, making it impossible to climb without risking further injury. He’d have to check this floor first.

“Just hope it’s not permanent…” Alan sighed, walking back into the room.

He’d have to get his entire hands bandaged after this. Alan wasn’t sure how he was going to get through his day without the use of his hands. The idea made him laugh softly, shaking his head. Already thinking about getting out of here. Being back at Wolf Street with The Pack and his new family. It was blind hope, but it was something he clung to as he walked into the room, looking around.

There was another speaker box to the side that activated at his close proximity to it.

“Welcome to the stage! Now that you ran for your life, it’s time to fight for it-,” the speaker didn’t even manage to finish before Alan swung a chair into it, cracking and breaking the machine. He dropped the chair to the ground and flipped it off again for good measure.

“Fuck. You.” Alan grumbled as he headed towards the middle of the room. No one was here and so he planned to do a little searching.

Alan searched the pockets of the coats for a cellphone to use. The ones he found didn’t have any kind of connection and were quickly tossed aside. He found wallets and even money clips but nothing he could actually use in that moment. Every cellphone didn’t have connection and he, frankly, didn’t have the patience to wait to figure out if he could fix that.

You know you were in deep shit when a gold, diamond studded locket was useless to you. Alan scoffed tossing it aside and not caring when the glass cover broke.

Tossing it onto the ever-growing pile, Alan heard a noise from behind. Turning around quickly, he stared at the two large doors set up on the far side of the room. The entryway. Alan had specifically moved away from them and was now glad that he had done so. Something was hitting against it. A thud that resonated and echoed around the room. Every time it hit; Alan winced from the loud noise it made.  

Thud, thud, thud it echoed around the spacious room.

Alan swallowed, taking a careful step back before accidentally bumping into one of the metal folding chairs and knocking it over. It hit the nearby chair and the noise made him wince as the sound bounced around him. Filling the room with sound before an eerie silence fell over the room as Alan held his breath.

The silence that fell was heavy. It made Alan sweat, and he could smell the funk of his body from the long days being trapped here, unable to shower for the past several. The silence was like a weight and made his legs turn stiff and heavy, unable to move as he stared at the doors. Waiting… 

Then, abruptly, that silence was broken. A loud bang from the twin doors where a fist dented the metal from where it hit on the other side. The doors had been locked but shook in the metal frames as whoever, or whatever, was on the other side tried to get in. Shaking and banging and slamming their bodies into the door.  

A loud sound of a fist connecting with the heavy metal doors and Alan didn’t even try to sneak away as he turned around and broke into a full sprint as the doors behind him burst open and whoever was there fell inside.

There massive body fell on the door before being stepped on, walked over, as other bodies came into the room. Flooding into the room like a red sea of bloody fangs and blood-soaked bodies.

A horrible sound of a whale crying out echoed behind him and Alan covered his ears as he ran around the stage that had been set up and towards the back of the room. Hoping and praying there was somewhere he could escape from or somewhere to hide. There was no chance in hell he was going to fight those people.  

A set of doors built his hope as he came crashing into them. Grabbing the handles, he shook them violently, trying to get them to open. His hopes came crashing down just as quickly as they had been built up.

“Holy fuck, please open up!” He banged on the door, pleading with anyone inside the room. “There’s a crazy whale men in here with me!” Alan pleaded and begged as he banged on the door.

There was a shuffling sound and movement on the other side of the door. For a split second, Alan held his breath. Wanting to smile and burst into tears as they’d surely open the door for him.

They never did.

The door remained firmly shut and Alan banged on it again, cursing them and their entire family before turning around as something ran smack dab into the stage. Whoever it was were so large it shook the entire stage and the banner that read “Barnes” fell down from above, draping over their black and white marked body as the large orca stepped around, staring at Alan. It’s chest rose and fell with it’s heavy breaths.

It's body was soaked from the sprinkler systems as it stumbled towards him like a drunkard on the street in the middle of the night after being kicked out of some bar. A drunk mugger with a dark look in those dilated eyes. A drugged up, drunk, mugger… Wanting more than just his money.

“Seriously?” Alan shoulders fell as he just stared at the blood-soaked orca.

Alan had seen enough horror movies to know just how bad this was as he reached over and grabbed the first thing he could. Another one of the metal folding chairs tucked against the wall. Folding it up, he lifted it the best he could and warned “the fucker” to stay away from him.

Alan would at least go down fighting.

Words didn’t work. Threats didn’t work. Nothing worked as the large orca stumbled towards him. Alan had never thought of an orca as a predator before until that moment. The empty look in those dilated eyes with a gaping mouth full of teeth told Alan that, to him, he was nothing more than a minnow and would only be an appetizer to the massive marine mammal that closed in on him.

Alan brought the chair down with all his strength against their head. It dented inwards as it smacked into the side of their face. The orca barely flinched, and Alan was lifted up off the ground by one of their webbed hands. Easily lifted and hoisted up and slammed against the wall as they stared at him with eyes void of emotion as the others began piling into and filling the room around them.

There were so many. Sharks and orcas that sniffed at the clothing, bumped into the stage and filled the room with bodies. There was a sickening splat of something that fell from above and they swarmed whatever it was. Biting and tearing into its flesh, attacking each other for more.

A horrible feeding frenzy as Alan clenched his eyes shut.

He kicked out at the man. Kicking their softer underside. At their neck and face, biting the hand and trying to punch in one of their eyes. Whatever he could do to fight the orca off. Nothing he did matter. No matter the damage he inflicted or pain he must’ve caused seemed to register as the bruised and battered face orca just stared at him with empty eyes. Standing there before…

Before their mouth opened to a row of sharp teeth and Alan screamed as pushed a foot against the top of their lips and one on the bottom, trying to keep it far away from biting into him.

There was a popping sound and Alan didn’t recognize what it was at first. Not until the second shot fired and the side of the orcas head exploded outwards, and Alan was dropped to the ground as the orcas body fell heavily onto his side with his brains blown out and spread across the floor.

“Shit. Holy… holy shit…” Alan swallowed, looking up to see who had shot the man. Who had saved him.

“Hurry up.” A voice snarled at him, firing several more shots into the crowd. They threw something else at them. A wet sack of something that made a horrifying sound as it landed with a loud “splat” on the ground, dripping red. Creating the chum these hungry marine life hungered for.

Fresh bodies, spilled warm blood, were soon turned into a feast for all those there. Like a feeding frenzy, the sharks and orcas went at it before biting and snapping at each other. Distracted by the warm Red spilling out. Attacking friend and foe alike as they hungered for more.

“Stupid fish.” The man huffed out before turning on Alan once they others were distracted.

From the shadows a feline’s paw stepped out. With dark gray fur, Bosch walked out from the side entrance he’d come from holding a smoking gun in hand. He holstered it, walking over to check on the orcas before glancing at the human sitting there next to the dead body.

“There you are,” Bosch voice was as cold as his face was. “I’ve been looking for you.” The feline flashed his fangs. “You’d be surprised how hard it is to find someone in this place.”

“I-I figured.” Alan swallowed, forcing his shaking legs to stand on up. “The fuck is happening…?” He asked without expecting an answer.

“Doesn’t matter. We’re leaving.” Bosch motioned for Alan to go first. The human didn’t dare question such an order and, on shaking legs, walked forward. Alan nearly fell over. Bosch didn’t try to catch him. The feline keeping his distance, refusing to touch him, and Alan noted how the feline an arm’s length away from the human dripping wet with the Primal laced water. “Hurry the fuck up. We do not have time to dawdle, or I will shoot you and leave you for them to eat next while I escape.”

“R-right, sorry. Sorry, sir.” Alan said out of habit and Bosch ignored it. The jaguar was limping slightly but was trying not to let it show. Alan noticed it but didn’t bring it up, instead asking, “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I assume you saved me for a reason…?”

In a flash, Bosch drew his gun. The gun barrel pushed against his wet, bare back and Alan was forced forward from the force the jaguar had used to push it against him. The threat was clear. Bosch wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger if Alan delayed them further.

“I have a reason for everything I do.” Bosch answered and gave him another shove from behind with the gun. A cold, metal reminder that he was still a prisoner here. Even after Bosch shut and locked the doors he’d come out of, the jaguar never took the pistol off the human. “Be lucky I heard you making the racket you were, or you’d be fish food… now hurry up.”

“I was slowing down for you.” Alan just said, speaking louder now than he had before. The jaguar gave him a sideways look and a low growl. “You’re wounded… where… where did you get that?” Alan asked as he looked at the bloody knife mark.

A feral-minded animal wouldn’t have used a knife and Alan was beginning to question the jaguar’s motives even further than he already was.

“It’s just a scratch,” Bosch snarled.

“Just a flesh wound, huh?” Alan couldn’t help himself. The look he got told him the jaguar either didn’t know the reference or really wasn’t in the mood for this right now. “Uh, right. Sorry. I’m just nervous. When I get nervous I-,”

“Stop. Talking.” Bosch voice was low and the growl building up in his chest only grew louder as he stepped closer to Alan, using his body alone to shove him up against the wall. Still, without touching him. “Do you have any idea the danger you are in…. well?” Bosch snapped when Alan didn’t answer, and the jaguar shoved the barrel of his gun underneath the human’s neck.

Alan licked his suddenly dry lips, glancing at the gun before looking at the jaguar without a word.

“Well?” Bosch snapped angrily, his teeth snapping inches away from Alan’s face.

“You said not to talk.” Alan said and the jaguar lifted a hand as if to smack him in the face for the remark as he pulled the gun away.  

Alan expected it. Expected the retaliation from the disgruntled predator. Bosch did not expect the jab the human gave him to his wounded side. Alan giving him a cheap shot when the jaguar was distracted, punching as hard as he could right in the knife wound that Logan had given the feline. The pain shot up through the jaguar’s body and made Bosch stumble back, coughing blood as he cursed several times from the pain that radiated from that spot.  

Bosch took one step before finding he couldn’t move his other foot. Alan had stepped on it and with his full weight, shoulder checked Bosch into the far wall. Lifting his foot just as he hit the jaguar in the chest, knocking Bosch backwards into the wall. In the same motion, Alan went for his gun.

The fear of being touched by the human covered in the drug was all Alan needed to get Bosch to recoil from his touch, afraid to get infected as the others had by it. It made it easy to knock the gun out of his hand.

The jaguar hadn’t expected it. Or expected the human to run for it after disarming him. Bosch half-expected Alan to go for the gun after it fell. He didn’t. Alan just ran for it.

“You little shit,” Bosch winced as he stood back up, holding his side. His wound had reopened from the surprised attack. The jaguar forced himself to move and ran after the fleeing human the best he could, limping all the way. “Get back here! I’ll break your fucking legs once I catch you!”

Alan had gambled that Bosch wouldn’t shoot him and was glad for it when he didn’t. Still, he doubted he could outrun even a wounded jaguar and was hoping to run into someone else as he shouted back at Bosch.

“Fuck you, you barbed dick prick hole!” Alan said as loudly as he could. His voice bouncing and echoing down the tunnels and through the rooms and into the hall as he continued. “I would never go with a lying prick like you!”

Alan said whatever he could think of. Using his anger to expand his vocabulary even further out as he shouted and yelled and talked as loud as he could. Making as much noise as possible. Trying to get others, even those shark and orcas, to hear him. Anyone right now would be better than facing the jaguar alone.

Bosch seemed to have a strong sense of self-preservation and Alan planned to use that to escape.

That was until Alan took a wrong corner and ended up coming to another locked door.

“Got to be kidding me!” Alan grabbed the door and shook it. “I hate this place,” he sobbed, resting his forehead on the cool metal door. “Dammit. Dammit! Reese… where the fuck are you when I need you most…?”

To his surprise, there was a click from the other side and then the door opened inwards. Alan fell against the person and grabbed hold of them tightly, not wanting to land on his face. The texture of their body was strange, the clothes feeling almost like rubber. They didn’t have fur or skin or anything he’d ever felt before. The man was wearing a tight-fitting leather armored suit with a metal mask and twin cannisters on the side of it.

Alan realized it was a gas mask as he tried to pull away, looking up into the masked muzzled face staring down at him. Seemingly just as surprised to see him as Alan was to see them.

A hand shot out and grabbed his arm tightly and Alan winced as he was roughly pulled into the room and the door was slammed shut behind him just as the jaguar turned the corner.

“Open up!” Bosch shouted from the other side, slamming against the door to try and force it open. “This is the FBI. Open. The fuck! Up! I will not lose my hostage!”

The man in the leathered armored body suit was already fixing a chain around the door before backing away from it as the jaguar opened fire on the other side. They quickly pulled Alan out of the way and around the corner, giving them some space from the line of fire. Their body was completely covered, and water dripped off their suit as they turned to look back at Alan who backed away from them, running into the wall behind him.

“W-who?” Alan swallowed, trying to find his voice as the person crouched down in front of him. Their masked muzzle bumped against his nose and the raspy sound of their breaths filled the room.

Were they sniffing him…?

“Packaged secured,” the man said as he tapped the side of one of his pointed, covered ears. “Damaged but safe. Bringing back to the pick-up zone.” They stood up and turned back towards the hall they came down.

“Uh…” Alan wasn’t about to just follow them and stood there dumbfounded as the man looked back at him.

“Sir?” They said and Alan just pulled back when they reached out. “Oh, right…” And the man lifted up his arms to fiddled with the edges of the suit he was wearing. After some work, he pulled the mask off and took a heavy breath before shaking out their dark brown furred face, able to breathe again without that tight fitting mask on. The wolf smiled at Alan. “Hey there, Alpha-mate.”

Alan just stared, dumbfounded at them. “Uh…. Who?”

“Burt.” The wolf said, bending down on one knee before him. “I’m Ernie’s brother.” The door rattled from the hallway they’d come from but the two ignored it as the jaguar yowled with fury on the other end. “I don’t think we’ve met before…”

“You have got to be kidding,” Alan cracked a smile before laughing, unable to help it. He was so tired and exhausted from all this. “You’re parents named you Burt and Ernie?” He was so tired and exhausted, wounded and injured and… Alan just laughed. Unable to do anything else, he laughed at the stupid joke.

“Well, it’s Bergstrom and Ernest.” Burt shrugged a shoulder before standing up and putting his mask back on. Making sure every edge of the suit was properly sealed and secured. “Can’t risk getting wet.” He nodded towards Alan and the human was sure Burt had winked at him. “Let’s get you home to big alpha before he gets any more pissy… the others will take care of this… bury this mess.”

Alan snorted at that, glad to follow the wolf now, limping slightly as his exhaustion caught up to him. “Big alpha? Seriously? If Reese hears you calling him pissy…? Even I can’t protect you from his wrath.”

“It’s my job to protect you, Sir Alpha-mate.” Burt nodded towards him before leading the way. Making sure the coast was clear before allowing Alan to follow. “And… uh, let’s not tell Alpha I called him that. Okay?”

“You aren’t wrong,” Alan chuckled, glad to be back. He’d see Reese any minute now and then this nightmare could be over. Alan doubted he’d ever leave Reese’s territory after all of this.

He could go home. Home. The word brought tears to Alan’s eyes. He missed them all so much. He was going to call Ralph and tell him what an idiot he was. He’d call Togo and Clem and set up a movie night. Alan would check on Barrett and see Salt and Pepper again and just…

“I just want to go home…” Alan tried not to cry.

“Yes, Sir Alpha-mate. Understood.” Burt nodded. He paused for a second, lifting up his arm to stop Alan from proceeding forward. Looking around the corner, Burt motioned for Alan to follow after making sure the coast was clear. He checked every hall before going forward. It was a slow pace, but they were at least making progress. “We need to regroup with the others… The Marina is going bat shit insane in the other rooms. They tore into The Cackle. The hyenas didn’t even see what hit them! Poor bastards. The team just arrived. Their circling the building now. Securing the area for you.”

“Are you here to kill them…?” Alan was afraid to ask, to know the truth of The Pack.

“Our first and primary objective was to find and secure the package, you.” Burt nodded towards him again. A habit he seemed to have. Taking his eyes off the hall to look at Alan as if he’d never seen a human before. That, or maybe it was the fact Alan looked like an absolute mess.

“Right. Right… I just want to see Reese.” Alan closed his eyes, taking a breather and taking another step forward. “Let’s hurry. I don’t think that man back there will just let us go. I don’t even fucking know if he works for the FBI or the government or what anymore. There is so much going on here.”

“Yes, understood.” Burt nodded. “Let’s-,” the wolf didn’t even get a chance to explain their escape route as there was a massive crash from behind them. The door behind them was torn off its hinges and came crashing into the hallway.

The two stopped, exchanging a look before Alan was motioned to proceed ahead.

“The others will be here shortly, go. Go! I’ll cover you.” Burt told him as he pulled out twin pistols that looked dinky and small in his large, gloved hands. The wolf struggled to place his finger over the trigger as he stepped in the way and lifted them up, pointing at the way they’d come from.

They could hear the swarm of bodies spilling into the hallway, like crashing waves they smashed against the walls and rushed towards them.  

Alan didn’t question why the wolf was carrying guns that might’ve been too small for Alan to use. He wasn’t even allowed the chance to make a joke as the entire hall shook around them as if an explosive had gone off in another room. Whatever it was, it was coming straight for them.

“GO!” Burt shouted as he opened fire at the first shark that turned the corner. Popping them in the head before filling the next with lead. Firing until the clips ran dry and he popped two more in.

“Right-,” Alan turned to go but was soon lifted off his feet.

The wall next to them exploded and he was tossed off his feet as if an explosion had gone off. Landing on his arm, Alan rolled over dazed and confused as he sat up to see what the fuck had just happened.

There was a bull standing there in front of him. A very large, very angry looking bovine that was glaring down at him, snorting. Breathing heavily and panting as he stood there, Bernie’s mouth hung open slightly as his nostrils flared trying to suck in raspy breaths of air as if he were suffocating, desperate for oxygen. Drool dripping from the front of his thick cow lips. Bits of the wall were falling off his large, dark brown furred body and Alan was almost thankful to see the bovine until the bull blinked.

Every time Bernie blinked, his pupils seemed to expand, and Alan backed away slowly from them. Water dripped from Bernie’s cow lick and his eyes trained in and focused on the Red of Alan’s blood.  

“Sir Alpha-mate!” Burt shouted from the other side, getting swarmed and forced away by those coming from the hall. “Just. Run!”

“Oh, you have fucking got to be shitting me.” Alan could barely get to his feet, ears still ringing, as the drugged-up bull charged him.

The halls were too small to dodge the bull’s charge and Alan ended up jumping into the very hole that Bernie had made in the wall. Alan felt the tip of the bovine’s large horns nick his side and felt the sting of it as warmth ran down his abs. Landing hard, Alan broke his fall the best he could with a roll and landed on his stomach. On all fours Alan moved, getting up halfway into the run and bolted towards the far door as the bull roared behind him with an extremely loud, if comical, moo.

Alan threw open the doors that Bernie had originally broken through and found a scene out of, well, he wasn’t even sure what.

The sprinkler system had kicked on in the room and there were dozens of herbivores on the loose. They might’ve been dressed in fancy suits and wearing expensive jewelry, it didn’t change the fact they looked as if they had just broken out of a zoo. Climbing over each other as if trying not to drown as they cried out in very animal noises, unable to use words any longer. The sprinkler system continued above them as the human backed away from the scene.

“Maybe… I’ll check another room?”

Alan looked behind him at the bull, then back into the room filled with drugged up politicians, bureaucrats, and others from high society that Alan had thankfully never had the misfortune of bumping elbows with. Until now.

With the bull on his heels, the human ran through the Menagerie of people as he aimed for the far door, and hopefully an escape. Alan wasn’t sure what happened to Burt. Maybe the wolf was holding off those in the halls and prayed for his safety as he ran for it through the chaos.

Alan was almost there until a horse kicked a doe that ended up jumping right into the human’s path. Alan tried his best to catch her, but her flailing limbs and wide-eyed expression made the startled human toss her to the side as if a fish had just jumped out of the water and onto his lap.

Surrounded by feral minded people, Alan was nearly lost in the crowd and trampled on as the bull charged back into the room. Like bowling pens, they were knocked out of his way and only Alan had the right mind to move before being smeared against the wall like the poor gazelle ended up as.  

Bernie crashed into the far wall and Alan decided it was best to go the way he’d come in hopes of running into any more wolves. With any luck he’d be-

Then a dark gray furred arm grabbed hold of him from behind. Wrapped in a protective cloth, Bosch wrapped the arm around his neck and picked Alan up off his feet. Holding him place as he huffed and panted against his ear. Panting heavily, the jaguar dragged the kicking and struggling human out of the room.

“I don’t care if your damaged any longer!” Bosch snarled as he choked Alan from behind, dragging him further away. “You have no idea what I had to give up because of this fuck show!” The jaguar growled right against Alan’s face. Bosch didn’t even hesitate to fire on one of the rich bureaucrats that tried to follow after them. The gun fired and Alan looked away as the squirrel fell over. The bright flash and loud sound created even more chaos as everyone before them tried to run away from the shot fired. Running away in a blind, feral panic as they trampled and stepped over each other to escape.

The safe room, turning into their grave.

“Stop! Just stop! They’re still people!” Alan shouted at the jaguar who fired two more times. Taking out anyone who dared to draw too close to them.

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!” Bosch snarled out, spittle dripping from his fangs. “You have no idea what I lost tonight. The people I lost tonight… I will NOT walk away here empty handed! I will take you, control the Alpha like I did the previous one and that’ll be that!”

The jaguar pulled Alan up out of the hole in the wall and into the hall, dragging him as the feline walked backwards towards the backup exit he had already secured. Bosch mentally marking off each of the escape routes that were currently blocked. He ran out of chum and feed to throw from the top levels to the first floor to distract those of The Marina.

Like a feeding frenzy, the sharks had gathered on the first floor in the “waters” below. There was so much red, it could’ve been an ocean. Bosch had stayed above where Barnes and Logan had been. Watching and observing until he found a rather particular find in the chaos he’d help sown and create.

A lone human wandering around the main stage. Bosch had spotted his prey and knew he could at least come out with something after all this, if only he could secure Alan and bring him in..

“A-alpha?” Alan choked out, unable to breathe. Everything was growing dark and no matter how hard he struggled, the jaguar wasn’t easing up. Bosch was so much stronger than he was. Even after all of his training and practice… Alan was only human.

Bosch was a predator. A trained killer. Alan was nothing more than another target to him and the jaguar was merciless as he held the human that struggled against him.

Bosch knew not to go down to the first level. That was where the sprinkler system were going off at. It was dangerous there without being covered and protected. That was why he had the mind to hunt down and take out that wolf from before. Rip off his mask and push them into the spray of water and watch them go mad with everyone else.

The jaguar was feeling a little mad right now himself, eye twitching, and his face cracked into a cruel smile as he dragged Alan away. Like a kill. A jaguar taking their prey away from other predators before feasting on it.

Alan tried to punch at the wound he had seen earlier but Bosch had learned from his mistake and made sure to keep out of Alan’s weak flailing hits. Covered and protected now, Bosch didn’t even worry about the Primal water coating the human to infect him.

“Not this time…” Bosch could’ve easily snapped the human’s neck if he had wanted to. There was no point in having a dead body. He knew Reese too well. The wolf would want to confirm if Alan was alive or not. It would be far too risky to try and trick him.

And after Bosch had lost so much to this failed mission… he needed to at least bring something back to show for his efforts. Or else.

The human would make for a perfect prize, along with the USB drive.

He needed Alan alive to control Reese after this fuck show. The Marina would’ve lost a good quarter of their people here tonight. The hares would retaliate in kind and then The Cackle? Bosch didn’t even want to think about them right now. They were dredges of society as it was. Small and useless. No one would miss if they simply vanished. The others? The others he could use.

Bosch could use The Pack like he had done previously. Get them to fight the other gangs and keep the artificial peace in the city.

Just like before. Whatever the cost it took.

This was nothing new. Just a minor setback. Bosch would have to find a new team, recruit them, blackmail, or extort them as need be as he’d done with Gristle. Using PB’s medical bills and coming to the wolf at his lowest point, when was about to lose everything. Showing up at the wolf’s door one day and giving him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Bosch preferred that. A means of control. Having something to use against them, to keep them in check. Gristle had been an easy mark. He’d have done anything for his nephew after The Pack had kicked them out. They were lone wolves with no where else to turn to.

He wished that was the case with the others. Money was easy to get. Finding and exploiting their weaknesses on the other hand took time and effort. Each and every one of them needed something to keep them leashed and behaved. TO keep them under his control. To play his game, to follow the script he wrote out for them… With the information Bosch would get from the USB drive, he would have plenty of blackmail material on a number of people in positions of power.

It was just a matter of time before he’d start all over again.

“Next time… next time I won’t get so close.” Bosch swore as the human in his grasp went limp and nearly lifeless. He had to make sure he hadn’t accidentally killed Alan, checking his pulse. Unresponsive but alive at least.

His anger was beginning to get the best of him and the jaguar needed a stiff drink after the job was done. It wasn’t like him to get distracted like this.

“Nothing personal,” he’d tell his mark after plugging them. It was just a job to him. A job. “A job…” Bosch cursed thinking of Logan, even now. He blamed this human in his grasp. Wanting to tighten his grip, just a little more.

It would be so easy to kill Alan…

Bosch turned the hallway without glancing back, still watching the hallway in front of them. He pushed the side door open with his back into the stairwell and began making his way down the steps towards the secured exit. He had a car parked already and, double checking, had the keys in his pocket and the USB drive in the other.

Opening the underground parking lot, Bosch dared to look behind him to make sure the coast was clear. He had a nagging suspicion that something, someone was following him. Every time he looked, no one was there. His nerves were beginning to get to him and Bosch just cursed, blaming Logan for that.

He made sure that Logan couldn’t follow him. Not this time. Maybe he’d gone too far? Maybe now Logan would realize his mistake following a predator. Bosch chuffed at the idea, knowing that stupid human would end up back with the lions.

“If he survives…” Bosch paused at that. His gut twisting at the idea before shaking it away. “Nothing personal. Just a job. A job. This is just a job…”

Dragging the unconscious human into the underground garage with him, Bosch double clicked the beeper and the car flashed off to the side. A nice SUV that could barrel through the gate if needed. The front of it had a large grill guard that he planned to use to break down the garage door and run anyone over if needed during the escape.

Bosch made sure to double check that the garage sprinkler system was off. He didn’t have the equipment on hand to deal with getting dosed with Primal laced water. Not wanting to risk it, he had even abandoned Bernie and the rest of his team to this place. He had gotten one of the targets and was planning to leave it at that.

At least one idiot survived…

“Sir!” Dozer waved over from where he’d been hiding. Behind one of the cement pillars, the large, and wounded, rhino limped out to join him. “I made sure to secure the area.” The rhino said lifted up his bloodied, bandaged fist. Bits of fur and flesh were still on them. “The wolves have finally shown up. No sign of The Pride, yet…”

“The Pride won’t be dining with us tonight,” Bosch snarled back. He didn’t add more onto that. Not wanting to admit to himself that Logan had ruined that side of the plan. The human warning and convincing Sloan, The Mane, not to participate in this fight.

Bosch thought pissing all the major gangs off and gathering together for one blood bath would be easy. He hadn’t foreseen his own people betraying him like this. Too many unforeseeable variables had ruined everything. It would take a lot of work and a lot of editing; he thought touching his pocket to make sure the USB was still there.

He’d get Shryl to look into the videos. She’d find all the juicy details within these recordings for them to use and abuse at their leisure. They just needed to get out of here.

“What about Logan? Who the hell is this? The human from the café?” Dozer asked, pointing at Alan. “Or a new member?” The rhino sniffed at him.

“Don’t touch him. He’s covered in the stuff.” Bosch growled, trying to spit to the side as if to get the taste of it out his mouth. He was still bleeding from where Logan had injured him. A feint to his mouth while getting his side… if Logan hadn’t been so soft, Bosch would’ve been the one bleeding out in the room above. “This here? Is our insurance for the future.”

“Oh, smart. Smart move, boss man!” Dozer laughed loudly, making the jaguar cringe. Bosch held the side of his head, trying to remain clam. “I just don’t get why the wolves are using those dinky rabbit pistols.” The rhino snorted, shaking his head. “Was easy to take the ones out that came sniffing around down here…”

“They’re most likely trying to frame The Noble Hares. Use their weapons and leave only the dead behind. They’ll kill everyone here, blame them, and walk away free of blame.” Bosch shook his head. “That’s just like Reese to do… brutally efficient, even if it cost him lives on his side. All to make sure the bigger picture is perfect.”

“Who?” Dozer asked. “You know him, sir?”

“It’s nothing.” Bosch growled with a shake of his head.

“What? Come on boss man, tell me! Do you know the Alpha?” Dozer was loud and boisterous as ever as he took a heavy stomping step forward. “I promise not to tell anyone!”

“Out of everyone, why did you have to survive…?” Bosch growled lower as he stepped to the side of the rhino and unlocked the vehicle. Anyone else would’ve picked up on his tone not to mess with the jaguar right now. Dozer didn’t.

Placing Alan in the back, Bosch slammed the door shut about to tell Dozer his orders before something caught his eye.

The light above reflecting off the car door caught his attention and the jaguar looked down. Crouching lower, it was then he noticed the tires of the vehicle. They were flat. Just like the other two on the other side. All four tires had been cut. Each one was flat, and Bosch couldn’t risk it as he jumped back to his feet.

“You said there were wolves down here…?” Bosch dared to ask, glancing at Dozer.

“Yeah boss, some wolves. I knocked them out and tossed them over,” Dozer turned to the side trying to recall where he dumped the bodies.

“Idiot. Where there is one wolf, there is more! Watch out-,” Bosch tried to say but the cut in his mouth made it hard to speak and it turned into a snarl as the wound reopened and bled.

“What?” Dozer looked over in confusion. The rhino missing the warning.

The sudden action of moving made Bosch’s side ache and the jaguar winced. The briefest of moments was all it took for his guard to slip. Dozer was staring off to the side, ears perked up as the jaguar held his bleeding side. A final farewell from his former partner. Bosch didn’t even see the set of hands that came out from behind. Just as how Bosch had grabbed Alan, so too did these leather-bound hands grab the jaguar from behind. Grabbing around the back of his neck and squeezing until Bosch thought his eyes might pop out of his skull.

They were large. Larger than Bosch’s own hands were, and the jaguar was taken off guard for the third time that night. A first in his life and possibly the last. The person easily lifted Bosch off his feet and pulled him away from the vehicle. As if waiting for him to place Alan down, safely out of harm’s way, before coming out of the shadows… after stalking him this entire time.

Bosch got the instinctual fear that this man, this wolf, had been following him. He was unsure for how long and that, alone, scared the jaguar. This man, this wolf, had been following the jaguar and Bosch never picked up on it. They had been waiting.

Waiting for the perfect opportunity before pouncing…

“D-Dammit,” Bosch cursed as his claws sprung in and out trying to rip the arm off of his throat. The arm tightened, threatening to break his neck if he tried and the jaguar was left struggling.

“B-Boss!” Dozer jumped into action just as two other wolves moved in from behind. The smaller of the two went low, the larger of the two went high and the rhino found himself caught as they locked his legs and arms up. “You fuckers.” He snorted and stomped his feet. “You gimp suit wearing fucks!”

The rhino struggled against them as the hand around the back of Bosch’s neck tightened and a voice spoke ever so softly, in no more than a low growl.

“It’s so kind of you, to bring my mate back to me. Hand delivered…” A voice growl, low and deep against the side of the jaguar’s face making the feline’s fur stand on end. Bosch could see from the corner of his eye, a muzzle with fur as black as night, slide next to his own.

“R-Reese…” Bosch glared at the smiling, fanged muzzle that parted open and a cold laugh rumbled from The Alpha’s chest void of any kind of humor or levity.

“If you remember my name. You should’ve remembered. Not to touch my things…” The wolf warned before slamming his face against the vehicle. “And now. You pay the price.”