Chapter Ten Battle
She knows about horses, Aly thought, mulling over this new development as she laid the saddle and hackamore down against the base of a tree so Chase could have a break from the burden of carrying them. Aly spared a glance over her shoulder before returning to her thoughts and preparing their lunch; Chase was grazing about ten feet away and Kate had disappeared from view in the direction of the creek. Same as always, Kate was running away, this time from the question. She ran from the police, she ran from her past, she ran from any questions about her past, she ran, continually ran. Chase's head rose from his grazing and shot her what could only be an exasperated look. Aly chuckled softly to herself and corrected her thoughts, ALL of us run from the police, all of us run from our pasts, all of us run from any questions about our pasts, we run, always run— Chase blew softly through his nostrils and returned to his grazing. Aly shook her head, a smile ghosting her lips as she pulled some turkey jerky and trail mix for Kate and her to eat out of a saddle bag.
Aly sat herself down and braced against the tree trunk and waited for Kate to return somewhat impatiently. Politeness hammered into her head since she was small told her to wait for Kate to come back before she ate, but if Kate didn't appear within the next minute or so she was going to forego proper manners and eat her meal. Trying to distract herself form her hunger, she looked around the clearing. It was beautiful, the tall majestic trees, the lush grass with spatters of wildflowers in it, the tree limbs scattering light-motes in the air, and of course the stallion grazing, whom looked as though he'd stepped from a child's fantasy. Like the horse your knight-in-shining-armor would ride up on or like a dark unicorn appearing to save the fair maiden (minus the horn of course).
Aly rolled her eyes at her own musings; she'd long since stopped believing in the fairy tale that the perfect man would ride up, sweep you off your feet, and gallop off with you into the sunset, and if there were any unicorns in the world, they too were horrified by what people were doing to each other and to the earth itself to show themselves to the world. There are only two things in life you can count on, Aly thought, horses and yourself. Not your dream guy, not friends, not your family, because in the end, they never show up when you need them most, or leave you when you need them most. Aly felt guilty about thinking the last part, but it was true so she pushed it to the back of her mind, and stood up, and checking her watch. Kate had been gone for over ten minutes. Washing her hands shouldn't have taken that long. Aly took a step forward, to make her way across the clearing when Chase's head shot up, his ears pricked in the direction they had come from.
She froze, and that's when she heard the disruption to the normal sounds of the forest; the sound of their loud followers crashing their way through the underbrush. The followers that had probably spooked the deer earlier in the day. Aly was diving for the slingshot hooked over the saddlehorn as the 'somethings' emerged from the brush about twenty feet from her. Chase screamed a warning as he reared up, pawing the air with his front hooves. Whether the warning was to her and Kate or what had been tailing them Aly didn't know, as Aly yelled for Kate to run.
The only thing Kate could be thankful for at the moment as she stood, her legs locked in fear, was that it wasn't a police officer looming in front of her, gun and handcuffs at the ready. Though she was really beginning to think a police officer would have been preferable.
The 'something' stood in the form of dog, a cross between looked like a Great Dane and something smaller, meaner, and much more deadly. Kate back-pedaled as the brown-and-white patched dog advanced on her, growling menacingly. And for the second time that day, she was distinctly aware of the fact that she was unarmed. This isn't a police dog, Kate thought, and that made the pit that had been forming in stomach turn to lead. If the wild, hunger-driven eyes didn't express it, the lean, muscled body that had not an ounce of fat on it told the story; this dog wasn't somebody's pet or a police dog that could be called off from its attack. It was wild, feral, and answered to no one but its pack and its own hunger.
Instincts that had kept her out of jail for many years told her to run, but she was cornered effectively, with the creek behind her and the dog between her and where Chase and Aly were. I have absolutely nowhere to run, Kate thought, filling with dread at the very notion. That was something she'd always counted on, being able to escape any situation by running away, not out of cowardice but out of necessity. And now she couldn't; the dog would be on her within seconds and judging by the saliva dripping from the corner of its mouth, it clearly was not adverse to eating a human. She took another step back, the water from the creek now running around her worn hiking boots, but the dog then began to pace forward slowly, the growl still rumbling from deep within its chest.
As she stood there, water rushing around her ankles, heart beating loudly in her chest, minutes slowly ticking by, the dog inching closer every second, Kate began to realize that she was going to die. She couldn't expect any help from Aly or Chase, because judging on the sounds coming from the clearing on the other side of the brush, there was a fight going on. And she had a feeling she knew who was losing. The dog's yip of excitement, probably in anticipation of its coming meal, brought her back to the situation at hand. I just hope its quick, Kate thought, gulping at the mental image of her being torn apart limb by limb. It certainly wasn't the way she'd have preferred to die, or in this case, be killed.
Suddenly, a pained cry, then a furious scream rang out, followed by a thud that could only be of hoof on bone. A terrible keening wail rose through the air, and the dog's head swung about, turning back towards its pack. Kate bolted, taking advantage of the dog's momentary lapse in attention. She ran past the dog, sprinting for the clearing before she realized that her choice in direction was probably not the smartest.
Before her lay her lay a battlefield, with the fight still very much taking place. The meadow was torn and trampled in places, with blood splatters across the blades of grass, and the limp, unmoving bodies of those who'd fallen. The center of the clearing was a swirling mass of browns, greys, tans, reds, and whites with the fixed color being the jet black stallion who lashed and struck out with almost supernatural speed with his hooves at the swarm of dogs that attacked him from all sides. And that's when Kate noticed that Aly was nowhere in sight. Oh no, they didn't get her, did they, Kate asked, dread beginning to fill her entire body.
A howl came from behind her and Kate spun around to face, once again, the menacing form of the dog that she'd just gotten away from. The dog crouched down, the muscles in its back legs and back taut in preparation for the leap it was about to make at her.
"Duck!"
Kate obeyed without thinking. Something small and round whizzed over her hunched form and struck the dog square in the nose. The dog yelped loudly, blood spurting from its nose, as it bolted into the bushes, heading back in the direction of the creek. Kate wheeled around, confused as to where the voice had come from, glancing all about the clearing when finally her eyes came to rest again, at the shifting, constantly moving center of the clearing. What she saw surprised her.
Aly was facing away from her, standing back to back with Chase, managing to dodge to his flying hooves while fending off any dogs that came too close to her or to her horse. Relief flooded through Kate until Chase and Aly's positions changed in the middle of the ring surrounding them. Now, Kate could clearly see Aly's face, and any relief that she'd felt about Aly being alive vanished.
A jagged, freely bleeding gash marred Aly's right cheek, the blood running down her face to drip onto her already blood-stained shirt. Her entire left sleeve hung in torn, ripped shreds, with blood covering all visible parts of that arm. There were rips and tears on other parts of Aly's shirt and Kate didn't even want to imagine what condition her legs were in. But Aly continued to stand her ground, never faltering, for a mistake now would mean an almost certain death. She wielded a knife in each hand, the slingshot apparently not being used any longer, but there was something off in the way she was holding the knives. Kate couldn't really place it until one of Aly's movements brought her hands into view of the sunlight. The glint of the blade, was dulled and hidden by the blood flowing over it, and the hand that gripped it.
Kate looked on, dumbfounded, as Aly proceeded to use the hilts of the knives she carried to land carefully placed raps on the heads of the dogs that launched themselves at her. She was aiming to disable, not to kill, like the dogs were, or even Chase. What the hell is she trying to do, Kate wondered, just as Aly's head snapped up, meeting her gaze. Aly looked at her, looking just as confused as she felt. But Aly's look of confusion quickly turned to one of anger.
"Don't jus' stand there! Get up the damn tree 'fore ya get yourself killed!" Aly yelled, just as one dog took advantage of her distraction to jump at her face again. Aly yelped, but before the dog could even touch her, Chase delivered a lethal blow. His hoof connected with the side of the dog's head, just along the jaw-line, and with a sickening crunch, the dog's neck snapped as its head hung at a awkward, unnatural angle. One of its pack members came out of the fight, sniffing the dead body carefully, licking it once before raising its eyes. That gaze found Kate in its line of sight. The dog bared its teeth, jumped over the corpse, and ran arrow straight for her.
Kate needed no more prodding than that. She ran for the nearest tree, making a flying leap at the lowest branch, and swinging up onto it once her hands gripped it tightly. Teeth snapped loudly below her as she continued to scramble up the tree, only glancing back once towards Chase and Aly before resuming her task of getting up higher into the tree, but part of her was fighting how much of a coward she'd become within the last few weeks, and the guilt of leaving Chase and Aly to fend for themselves.
Aly'd barely had the chance to unhook the slingshot from the saddlehorn before she was completely surrounded by the dogs, all which came up to her waist, looking like mixtures between something huge, and something that was extremely blood-thirsty. Not a good combination. One latched onto her left arm and she could feel the shirt as well as her skin tear as she struggled to free herself from the sharp, dagger-like teeth and the crushing power of the dog's enormous jaws. The dog began pulling her down towards the ground and another helped by jumping on her shoulders and biting down across her right shoulder blade. Aly could feel her collarbone beginning to crack under the pressure and the pain was nearly unbearable. Tears wavered across her vision and all she could see was a blurry outline of another dog that was preparing to make a leap at her face.
I'm gonna die at sixteen, Aly thought, as her knees gave out under the weight of the dog that had pinned her shoulders. She felt the dog ripping at her left arm release it, then quickly bite down again, this time further up the arm, into the upper arm muscles. Aly quickly stopped trying to free her arm, for any attempt now would rip the muscles. Suddenly, the pressure on her right shoulder and collarbone was gone and through her rapidly clearing vision, she saw Chase, glorious in his fighting state, shaking the dog by the neck, until she heard a crack, and the stallion swiftly dropped the now dead dog, just like a puppy whose gotten bored by its chew toy.
More dogs jumped and attacked Chase. He wheeled and lashed out with both hind legs, catching one brindle-colored dog across the ribs before he launched himself back at Aly. Aly closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was coming next. All she heard was a yelp and the teeth that had trapped her arm were gone. She jumped up to Chase's side, knocking aside a brownish-red dog that had the intentions of hamstringing Chase's back leg. The stallion, in turn, pummeled one dog into the ground that had decided to try to latch onto her good arm.
Somehow, she'd managed to hold onto her slingshot, and she put that in between her teeth as she released the knives on both of her wrists simultaneously. The knife in her left hand was already slippery with blood, as result of the bites on her arm, and she nearly lost her grip on it. She now stood back to back with Chase, having to duck beneath his deadly hooves when he aimed for a dog that was coming at her, and protecting him from any dog that tried to get him from behind. She was aware that Chase had massive lacerations across his back, running like a fountain of blood off his sides, and her heart twinged at the fact that she couldn't help him with those right now. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this situation, and in the back of her mind, there was a voice that said that they might not get out alive.
The only bright point, albeit a very dim one, was that she was going to die with her horse at her side, which if given the choice, was how she'd always wanted to go, ever since she was little. And now she was probably going to get that wish. I hope its quick, Aly thought, not really thrilled with the idea of being torn and eaten alive. The sight of Chase rearing out the corner of her eye snapped her back to attention. With the fighting in such close quarters, he'd never do that because it ran the risk of one of the dogs gutting him, unless he was planning on using a high level dressage movement, one originally used in battle. Called the courbette, a horse rocks back onto its hind legs, perfectly poised with the front legs tucked against its chest, and then leaps forward into the air, all four feet off the ground at once. The courbette called for extreme strength, stamina, and extensive training to be accomplished, which was why so few horses in the world could do it. It was a move favored by mounted officers to clear the pathway in front of them during battle. Now, Aly just needed to stick with Chase when he did this so they didn't get separated. He might be able to manage by himself, but there was no way that she could.
Chase launched himself skyward, scattering dogs as he went, and Aly followed in his wake. The stallion landed (on top of one unsuspecting dog), spun (breaking the dog's back), and with a massive jump, came down right behind Aly, where he resumed his back to back fighting. Aly smiled grimly at Chase, who almost seemed to be enjoying himself in some way. Chase's courbette appeared to have made the dogs a bit more apprehensive about them, and although the dogs were still shifting constantly, circling them, they were picking their attacks more carefully.
It was impossible to count exactly how many dogs were in this pack, as they never stopped moving long enough for one to make a proper estimate, but Aly knew there were at least four dogs down, but there were definitely much more than that attacking her and Chase now. And who knows how many more are after Kate, Aly thought, then suddenly blanched because until this moment, she'd forgotten about Kate. Unarmed Kate. There's no way she's alive, Aly thought miserably. So even if she came out of this alive, she'd have the guilt of another death on her conscience. Her eyes began to tear up, blurring her vision, and she hastily scrubbed a hand over her eyes to rid herself of the tears. One dog, chocolate brown with one splotch of white over its eyes, seized this opportunity and jumped at her face.
Aly staggered back, but the corner of the dog's mouth grazed her cheek, ripping the skin as it went. The pain was instantaneous, and Aly let out a pained cry that echoed oddly across the clearing. Chase screamed in rage at the dog who'd dared to harm her, and he wheeled on his haunches, letting his front hooves fly as the dog came into range. Aly was vaguely aware through the pain of the dull thud of Chase's hoof as it connected with the dog's foreleg and the high-pitched wail that accompanied the sound. The dog dropped out of the fight, favoring its right leg as it limped off away from the raging black stallion.
She resolved not to get that distracted again, even if she'd lost Kate, because it wouldn't do her any good to get herself killed too, not if she could help it. The battle continued and she mechanically warded off attacks using the hilt of her knife, hardly even noticing the biting pain coming from the palms of her hands as the knife blade sunk deeper and deeper into the flesh. Even though she was fighting for her life, and Chase's, she couldn't willingly kill any of these dogs. It wasn't their fault for this, not really. They were governed by their instincts, and those instincts told them they were hungry; they weren't trying to kill them out of evilness, they were living according to their natures. Unfortunately, Aly thought, their natures also tell them that humans are fair game. Literally.
A howl from the opposite end of the clearing dragged Aly's attention toward the direction of the creek. And what she saw was an unscathed, alive Kate with her back facing Aly, and huge dog that was about to make a meal out of her. Working swiftly, Aly threw her slingshot into the air with a toss of her head, shoved the knives back into their sheaths, caught the slingshot on its way down, and aimed the weapon, the slug already loaded.
"Duck!" Aly yelled as Kate did just that, and the slug slammed right into the dog's nose. If she'd pulled back a bit harder on the slingshot she could have made the ammo go right through the dog's skull, but she was glad she didn't. The dog wheeled about, running for the bushes it had emerged from, blood streaming from its nose. She was drawn back to her own battle when from the corner of her eye, another dog leaped for her badly injured left arm. Aly turned, dropping the slingshot, and released the knife from her right wrist just in time to rap the dog between the eyes. Dazed, the dog stumbled back a few steps, during which Aly took the opportunity to get out her other knife.
The dog, recovering from Aly's well placed tap, got a running start, but this time, she was ready for it. The dog, running full-tilt for her, leapt at her from the side, but Aly used the dog's own momentum against it, and as it came closer to her in its jump, she thrust her hip out, clipping the dog mid-jump. The dog staggered on its landing, and that moment of unbalance was all the time Chase needed. He took out the dog with one well-placed kick to skull. Aly took this slight lull in the onslaught against her to see where Kate had run off to. Well, she hadn't.
Aly saw Kate, standing exactly where she'd been standing before, now with a look of shock and confusion on her face. What in hell is she doing, Aly thought, wondering why Kate hadn't started climbing up a tree or running in the opposite direction. And Kate just continued to stand there, frozen in place, frozen in shock.
"Don't jus' stand there! Get up the damn tree 'fore ya get yourself killed!" Aly yelled, knowing once one of the dogs currently attacking her and Chase caught scent of Kate, that Kate wouldn't, couldn't stand a chance. Now another dog, this time a steel-gray, jumped at her face, and Chase executed it with the same efficiency he'd been displaying the whole fight. But this time, one of the now dead dog's pack members removed itself from the fight to sniff the corpse carefully, licking it once before raising its head and finding Kate about twenty feet away, straight ahead. The dog made a bee-line for Kate, who now swung into action, running for the nearest tree, and vaulting onto the lowest branch. Good, she's safe, Aly thought relieved, as Kate began clambering up higher into the tree.
Suddenly, just as swiftly as they'd appeared, the dogs halted in their attack. Not disappeared, or even surrendered, just stopped leaping for herself and Chase, now just circling them out of range of Chase's hooves, watching them as if appraising the situation. And that's when Aly realized how exhausted she truly was. The adrenaline that had fueled her was now leaving her body, and she began to feel dizzy, her world turning a murky shade of greyish-black around the edges. A glance downward told her why. Without even noticing, she'd acquired a bite to her right calf, and there was a dark stain around the tear in her left pant leg. But that wasn't the problem, or not completely. Aly was standing on a dark patch of earth, the grass torn out in clumps, leaving a bare area of dirt where she and Chase had been defending themselves. She dimly acknowledged that it was her blood she was standing in, her's and Chase's, and that was probably the reason why her world was beginning to spin, making it harder and harder to see and for that matter, stand upright.
As Aly slowly got weaker and weaker, the dogs continued to circle her and Chase, almost like vultures lazily waiting for their prey to die. But at the same time the dogs were calculating, calculating whether it was worth the fight, calculating the weakest link in the two creatures they were pursuing. Aly could tell this, despite her barely being able to stay conscious, and she knew the dogs would reach the same conclusion she had. She was the weakest link. The weakest link in the fact that she was smaller, weaker, and much less deadly than Chase, and that she was the chink in the armor of the nearly invincible Chase. Hopefully the dogs aren't smart enough to figure that out though, Aly thought fatigued, knowing Chase would go crazy and not think about what he was doing if the dogs managed to get hold of her, and that could possibly be his downfall.
But the dogs seemed to come to an agreement, and with one yip from a russet colored dog, who, now that the dogs were finally standing still long enough to be able to take more than a passing glance at them, had the air of being the leader, the pack surged forward. As the dogs rushed in on them, Aly was aware that she wasn't strong enough to last another attack, and as one dog, faster than the others, barreled into her midsection, she knew that there probably wasn't anything she or Chase could do to stop it.