"John! I know this may be a bad time to ask," Ghost yelled over the sound of gunfire, "But what's your plan here?"

"It's really, bloody simple!" John explained, "We find Shepherd and kill him! The bastard's not leaving here alive."

The old dog sharply turned left and hid behind some cover to avoid contact with the hostiles ahead. Ghost did the same, holding back the urge to lunge out and find the enemy's weak spot. He stayed low as he and John waited for their moment to move forward. Soon the commands and shouts from the enemy faded, leaving John to sniff out his target. "Do you even know where he is?" Ghost asked.

"I've been tracking his scent since I got here," The old dog said, "Even his blade had pierced Mac."

"Why him?"

"He is your general, am I wrong?"

"General of the 141."

"Same thing."

"And your goal is..."

"No soldier can act without his orders."

Ghost looked at John with a blank expression in his eyes, not really sure what he meant, but John did. The dogs came approached a door, and the old K9 pawed at it. "This is our stop."

"Great... How do we get in?"

Oh... Shit... "Hang on... I'm tracking his scent elsewhere... Wait here. He may still be in there."

"I'll be ready."

John took off ahead, following the scent deeper into the tunnels. It was long way down, and no enemies were in his sight. He found it a bit odd at first, but again, all could be fighting the chaos back there. Shepherd's scent lead into a room full of guns and ammunition. Sitting on one of counters was the general's .44 Magnum. The gun's here, where are you? Even without having a chance to turn around, he suddenly felt a swift kick to the ribs. John yelped and fell to the ground. Shepherd stepped over and began loading his mag, one bullet at a time. As he loaded one mag, he began talking, directly to the downed K9 or... Honestly, John was beginning to think that Shepherd was going a little crazy. "Five years ago," He began, "I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye, and the world just fuckin' watched."

John just stared at Shepherd. He partly understood what this guy said. Losing that many soldiers (or friends)... Just hurts, even though he's never felt that kind of pain of watching everyone around him die. With the K9 still downed, Shepherd placed one hand firmly on John's neck and his knee on the dog's hip, preventing any movement. With the other hand, he pointed the tip of the Magnum at John's 'stop'.

Before John could see the world Ozone was in, his death sentence was suddenly interrupted by a rumbles shaking the entire place. It even distracted Shepherd for a short moment before meeting heads with the scar-covered-Ghost. John leapt to his feet, and Ghost honestly tried going for his throat. But Shepherd had his hands pressed up against Ghost to prevent that from happening. With a tight amount of space in the room, John couldn't do much to help his friend out. "Ghost, let him go!"

"What-"

"Do it! Lead him out here!"

Ghost did so, and Shepherd struggled to get up on his feet. John and him exited the armory, and stayed off to the side. "On my go," John whispered, getting low and ready jump. Ghost did the same, snarling silently as he and the old dog waited for their moment. Shepherd stepped out, still startled by Ghost's appearance. John still remained silent, until both his and Ghost's ears raised at a piece of stone falling off from the ceiling, and the rumbling continued. "That doesn't look good," Ghost commented, a little worried.

Along with that, they heard barking echoing in the tunnel they came through. Those deep yips were familiar mostly to Ghost's ears, but John didn't like the sound of it. Then, running into the light was their runt, not expecting to see Shepherd aiming his gun at him and squeezing the trigger. Roach stood frozen, seeing a small trail of smoke aiming towards him, yet he didn't feel any pain. His cries were taken from him, instead coming from the mouth of John, who had taken the bullet for him. The old dog was fortunately hit in a nonlethal spot of his shoulder. But God, did it hurt!

John went down again, not able to stand anymore. Ghost finally lunged out, grabbing hold of Shepherd's shooting arm. He growled and screamed in pain, trying to get the latched K9 off of him. "Roach!" Ghost spoke, partly muffled, "Now's your chance! Kill him!"

Roach stood there, tail tucked in between his legs. He had his eyes focused on two things. There was a grey-hair shepherd laying bleeding at his feet, and then there was that Shepherd, who had given orders to harm his friends. He shot his own kind, and it felt like he couldn't really do anything at this point. His paws quivered, and he didn't know what to do. Shepherd finally threw Ghost into the wall next to him. With all three dogs still in their place, he grasped his bleeding arm. Ghost was stunned, barely able to focus on his target. John looked at Roach. Why isn't he doing anything? What's wrong with him?

Then he saw his body language. His ears were back, tail curled between legs, and he was nearly in a sitting position. He was in shock of what he was witnessing. "Roach, c'mon lad," John whined against the pain in his shoulder, "Don't let it get to you that easily..." Roach glanced at John, shaking still. "Don't give up on us, runt..."

Roach's eyes nearly widened. Am I giving up? He loosened the tension in his body a bit, now eying Shepherd. His muscles were too weak to attack him at this moment. Though seeing the condition that this place was in, he knew he didn't have enough time. Almost everything was falling apart, and Lord knows what's causing it. Do it, you fool! It's what you've... Trained for. Roach's ears were raised, having quick moments of his training sessions. The main key was just to get angry and vicious. But he's struggled at doing it because he never thought he'd be living his life taking living souls. He never thought he'd be in this position right now.

But being vicious was something he needed to do everyday.

Right now.

Roach finally snarled, showing his teeth and letting foamy saliva ooze from his mouth. His front paws stood firmly, and he was suddenly very still. He wasn't shaking anymore, and this caught Shepherd's attention. Finally, taking this opportune moment, Roach lunged forward, barking loudly once and aiming his mouth towards the general's throat. Shepherd pointed and pulled the trigger, but saw that nothing came out. He could do nothing but feel as the runt's teeth sunk deeply into his throat.

Deeper and deeper, (Dats what she said-) and he could no longer feel reality touch his finger tips. Roach ripped the blood and flesh out of Shepherd's throat, and John laid there satisfied, sighing, "That's my, pisspup."

Roach panted heavily and shook off. Ghost finally stood up, getting his sight back in order. Then they heard voices coming into the tunnel. Roach and Ghost stood in front of John, ready to defend him. "Roach! Ghost!" The voices shouted, and the two standing dogs lowered their guard as they saw two handlers and another one of those 'non-hostile' soldiers step from the shadows. The uniformed man examined John, who tried desperately to stand up, yet failed. He was taken into his arms as the rocky fortress shook violently this time. "Shit... We've gotta move!" More stones broke from the walls and ceilings, a sign that this place was going to fall apart.

They humans lead the way back to where they should've been before, seeing that most of their enemies were deceased or wounded. They had lead the dogs to a cliff, where waiting ahead was a copter that had been waiting for them. Even from this distance, Roach could see Mac, half awake and eying fearfully at his two comrades. Ghost suddenly yelped, feeling pain was a piece of rock landed and bounced off his hip. "Ghost!" Roach heard the cry from Ghost and ran along side the half-limping dog. They got closer and closer to the copter, and saw that the humans were jumping on. The own carrying John nearly fell over due to the weight he was carrying.

Seeing that they had to jump, Roach did so, making it on. Ghost leapt, yet only managed to get half of his body on, while the other half dangled outside. He began slipping, and he nearly had his elbows overboard until Roach reached and latched onto his collar, "I've got you, Ghost!" Along with some human help, both got Ghost back onto safety. Before the hatch door slid closed, Roach caught a glance of what was causing the entire place to fall apart. There were other choppers, firing missiles at the fortress they were held hostage in. Ghost sighed, sitting down, "Damn..."

Roach looked around the chopper, seeing that Yuri, Archer, Royce and Marco made it out okay as well. Obvious Jesper was... Elsewhere, and Marco didn't seem too pleased about it. Roach looked over and saw an open spot next to Mac, who wagged his tail at the sight of seeing that everyone was okay. The runt laid next to his elder dog. "Are you alright?" Mac nudged Roach a little.

"Y-Yeah," Roach answered, "I'm just glad the worst is behind us."

"Hmph." Mac rested his head on top of the runt's, "For now, Roach. For now."