So...this is the chapter. I am so sorry it took so long...but hopefully that doesn't matter. I've taken a slightly different approach with this chapter. It will reflect Hiccup's memories in diary-like form and the scene WILL switch between memory and current events. This chapter is dedicated to the people who died in the 1991 and 1999 M4 crashes.
In the last chapter, Hiccup and Astrid learn that the search for the missing wolf has been stepped up. The two of them cleared up his garden to reveal his mother's old dog house. Astrid reveals she's nervous about meeting the wolf, but Hiccup convinces her to do it anyway. Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless play for an hour before they take him home. Ashley (Tuffnut Senior) Thorston reveals to Hiccup that Spitelout will testify in his favour.
A big shout out to Anonymous Heavy on the Anon, EquinoxKnight01, Shadow-pen-artist, Roamerfromaofw, Tawny, Francesva and blazelight790, who reviewed my last chapter. Thanks guys! I do try to respond to you, although sometimes I forget who I have and haven't (anonymous review responses are at the end) :D.
Note: This story is written in British English and is also set in the United Kingdom, which has both a very different education system, and a very different legal system to the United States. The events in this chapter are loosely based on a true story (I'll explain at the end).
Disclaimer: 'How To Train Your Dragon' is owned by Dreamworks Animation and Cressida Cowell. Kent is a real county, Berkford is not a real town. The cover art was generously made by Francesva. I do not accept responsibilities for any misinformation provided in this chapter.
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The Escaped Wolf: Chapter 9
Monday 1 November 1999 (Italicised text: Wednesday 13 March 1991, 6-year old Hiccup)
Tuffnut Sr sat in his chair alongside the unconscious form of his best friend, Spitelout. He had spent countless hours sitting alongside him, but none had been more nerve-wrecking since Hiccup left for Wales a week ago.
In the immediate days following Spitelout waking up, a four-day power cut soon led to him falling back into his coma, much to his family's despair. To add to their misfortune, Spitelout hadn't given his statement to the police (or anyone else in the family), meaning that Hiccup was still not in the clear – which explains why the final week before the trial was the worst.
'Come on 'Lout, wake up…' he made an almost whimper-like sound, resting his hands on the arm rests. The sound of the heart monitor filled the room, a deafening silence leaving it empty in between. He was stable, he was alive, but only just.
On the other side of Berkford, Astrid and Hiccup's relationship had improved greatly. After meeting Toothless and helping Hiccup hide him from both Stoick and the police, she had struck a deal with their teachers so that any paired or group assignments would be completed by them together. Also, as Hiccup couldn't realistically show his face in school, especially after the near hate campaign launched by Snotlout, she made sure it would be her who delivered them. This meant that she was visiting them almost daily, not that Hiccup wasn't complaining.
This allowed her to visit Toothless, and Hiccup, more often, which in turn let them improve the dog kennel. They completely fixed it, replacing any broken or damaged parts and replacing the flooring. They gave him a water bowl and a second bowl for his dog food, which they took turns in buying; Hiccup could've sworn he had seen human food in there too. But none of this seemed to help, Hiccup had become more and more apprehensive, and even passed out once. It was in the build up to what he called 'Bloody Tuesday' – the day he would learn the course of his fate.
Today was 1 November, the day before the trial.
Hiccup, Gobber, Astrid and Thuggory were in Gobber's mobile home, an incredibly large vehicle capable of housing over half a dozen guests – and a wolf, perhaps. It had been Astrid's idea to bring Toothless along. Hiccup, of course, agreed; yet he was worried about how they would fit a fully-grown wolf into a mobile home without either Gobber or Thuggory noticing.
This was when legal confidentially came in handy. Using Astrid's landline, Hiccup explained everything to Thuggory before they left for Wales, and now on their way back to London, it seemed like everything was going great. The three of them had managed to hide Toothless throughout his duration in Wales, then for the first leg of their journey home. It was about 8pm and they had been travelling for an hour. The road had cleared from the previous rush hour, it was mostly quiet; unusual for the M4.
I'm sitting in the backseat of mummy's car. It's cool here. I get to play with my GameBoy which daddy bought me. It's great, he calls it eight-bid or something, but I don't care...it's awesome! So we're going back home now, that's all I know really. I didn't really want to...I was having so much fun in Wales! Mummy and daddy showed me where all the dragons slept and warned me not to go near them. That made me sad. I wanted to see the dragons. I wish I had a dragon...or a puppy.
'Pfft, lovebirds,' Gobber sniggered, glancing backward towards the two teenagers, who had disappeared behind a curtain near the back.
'Yup,' Thuggory agreed, 'Shame you never got any o' that.'
Gobber growled in protest, 'I did too! The ladies were all over me...I mean, who could resist this?' he stuck out his prosthetic arm for emphasis. 'Told 'em I was in the bomb disposal unit.'
It was Thuggory's turn to snigger, 'Like anyone would believe a fat lump like you.'
The mobile home swerved slightly, as Gobber moved his arm over to whack him. 'I'll have you know, I was quite skinny back in the day.'
Thuggory undid his seat belt, then stood up. Once he was safely out of Gobber's reach, he turned and smirked, 'Back in Victoria's Reign.'
Gobber rolled his eyes, then focused them back on the road. Travelling at 80mph while in a mobile home isn't the easiest task in the world, thankfully he had been doing it for years.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the vehicle, Thuggory sat himself partially in Gobber's sight, while making sure his upper body wasn't. 'So kiddies, how's Toothfull?' he chuckled at his own joke.
Hiccup deadpanned him, his legs resting under one of the vehicle's not-so-comfortable sofas. His hand was gently resting on Toothless' back, while Astrid cooed at the wolf who she had begun calling 'my cute ickle puppy!'
The vehicle swerved again and Thuggory gripped onto the side of the sofa. 'Gobber! Slow down now!'
Gobber laughed at him, 'Slow down? I'm only going 100!'
Both Astrid and Hiccup glanced at each other, worried looks plastered upon both of their faces. Astrid moved her legs out from under the sofa and went to confront Gobber. Hiccup was about to join her, but a concerned whimper from Toothless stopped him. 'It's okay, bud. Gobber's just being stupid.' He lolled his head back, memories replaying in his head.
Mummy's car moved quickly from one side to another...it scared me. Mummy started shouting at Daddy, I don't like it when that happens. Something is wrong. Why did Daddy do that? He's never done that before… I look outside – I can't see much...Mummy says it's called bog...or fog...makes it harder to see.
Gobber chuckled, slowing down to a more reasonable pace of 60mph, much to the relief of the three other humans. He also moved into the slow lane, where he should have legally been anyway – allowing Astrid to take Thuggory's place on the sofa.
'Remember Gobber, it's much easier attending court alive – it's crucial, in fact.' He sat back down in the front seat, buckling his seatbelt. 'How you got a driver's license I'll never know.'
'He stole it!' Hiccup shouted from the back, making the two men laugh. Gobber looked up at his mirror, then stole a quick glance behind him. Was that a tail? He glanced back again, frowning.
'Gobber look out!' Thuggory yelled, firmly grabbing the older man's concentration.
'Stoick look out!' Mummy yelled. I looked up in fear, I've never heard Mummy shout like that before. The last thing I saw was her bright green eyes, wide with fear. A bright orange light surrounded us, then I shot forward and cried out my mummy's name. The bright light made me close my eyes.
A large orange lorry swerved uncontrollably from the fast lane, pushing itself through two adjacent cars. The tail of the lorry skid its way into another lorry, just 40 feet in front of Gobber's mobile home. There was a bang...and everything slowed. The two monstrous vehicles emitted a bright yellow glow, nearly blinding the driver behind them.
Gobber shot his foot down on the brakes, then hard turned right into the fencing. The mobile home overturned, the roof ramming into the burning mass of metal, petrol and rubber.
Astrid gasped, staring downward towards the second sofa, which had now become the floor. She vision was blurred, her hearing muted, she was dazed.
'Astrid.'
She thought she heard a sound coming from below her, but it felt so unrealistic. She was in a bad dream. All she had to do was close her eyes and…
'Astrid!' She jumped out of her days, her eyes widening in panic. She felt a pair of hands push her upwards towards the seat, then pull her back down again, into Gobber's chest. Before she knew it, she was laying against the tarmac surface of the road. Completely and utterly powerless. She tilted her head, her vision going hazy again as a second explosion erupted from the overturned vehicles.
Hiccup seemed to wake with a start, the fire blinding him temporarily, he reached upwards to try and free his leg when the most excruciating pain flared throughout his body. His mind froze and his arms locked onto his damaged limb, before he let out a scream of pure pain. He couldn't take it. He was going to die.
I can't move. Daddy is screaming, Mummy is silent…I don't know why. Nothing was wrong a second ago. My head hurts…my arms hurt...my whole body feels like it's on fire…I can't take it anymore. I cry for Mummy, she doesn't answer. The door opens and Daddy grabs me, taking me away from the car. I look back and call for Mummy again. She doesn't answer. I clung to Daddy's shoulders and cried when he left me to go back to the car. Another car comes near us...and I hear Daddy scream Mummy's name.
A wet tongue ran itself along Astrid's face, her sensory memory seeming to ignore smell of canine saliva. She touched the wolf worriedly, giving him a stroke, before a heart-shattering and earsplitting scream sounded from Gobber's mobile home.
It took her a few seconds before her eyes widened in realisation. 'Hiccup!' She bolted upwards, her legs carrying her towards his cries. She felt the adrenaline course through her body, firing up every muscle to its fullest. Her target in sight, dangling backwards with his left leg trapped under the vehicles sofa, she jumped forward.
Only to find herself colliding with Gobber's chest once again. She bounced backwards, landing harshly on her backside. Another loud bang, and her view of Hiccup is blocked by a sea of fire. Her vision become blurry again, forcing her eyelids closed.
Gobber gently placed Astrid's unconscious form back on the tarmac, before turning to face his mobile home. 'Oh no…' he whispered, seeing the dark form of a wolf – the escaped wolf, jumping into the flaming wreck. 'What's he…?' Gobber span around as the first blue lights began to appear. He stared at a police officer, who was running towards them, and pointed to the vehicle.
I watched as Daddy ran away…disappearing into the evil cloud. I wanted to be with him...I wanted to help Mummy...but I can't. A bright light shines in my eyes. So I covered them. I heard a loud screech and felt myself being pushed over. It was another car. I cried.
Astrid's eyes opened slowly, and she sat up. She rubbed her head a bit, it was throbbing quite badly. Her scan of the area revealed Gobber and a police officer standing in silence, concerned looks painted across their features. Her eyes followed their gaze and she gasped. Hiccup! He's still in there!
She tried standing, but only managed to fall over. Rubbing her sore backside, she tried getting up again. No success. She sighed in defeat, Hiccup was gone...there's nothing she could do to stop–another scream from inside. 'He's still alive…' She tried standing again, this time managing to balance herself. She began to approach the fiery red death, but something made her stop. 'Is that...Toothless?'
A small black figure, led by a tail, appeared from within the furnace, dragging along a body behind it like it was a piece of meat. It was hard to see through the flames, but the body was clearly burned, not completely, and his leg…Astrid gasped, and screamed out the name of the boy the wolf was dragging by his leg, 'Hiccup!'
Another explosion, and Astrid was knocked off her feat. She hit the floor, her world falling into darkness a second time.
I didn't stop crying. A weird big woman came up to me and picked me up. She took me away from the danger, away from the red wall of death. I cried out for my Daddy. I cried out for my Mummy...
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So...yeah. That was...it. Did I over do it?
Notes and such: Okay, so there are three real events in this story. The first is the four-day power cut that did actually happen in Kent (during Summer 2009), the second is a huge car crash that happened on 2 November 1999 on the M4 motorway (in Berkshire, a real place), luckily no mobile homes were involved...the third is a similar (a much greater one), also in the Berkshire section of the M4 in 1991, and yes, there was really a man who got out of his car and ran to tell other cars to stop (although he was mostly ignored). Luckily, he didn't have a child with him.
Also, I have NEWS! I can announce today that I will release a second fic (not a sequel) titled 'Oneshots that Escaped the Wolf' (or something stupid like that), which will feature a series of one shots based around this story. Should come out once this story has been finished.
I hope you can find the time to review, even a small message is appreciated. It really helps to keep me motivated. Mistakes, pray tell. Missed/wrongly used apostrophes? Used the wrong homophone? Spelt something wrong? A sentence doesn't make sense? You know I like it when you guys tell me.
-CGJ