Chapter 40: The (Attempted) Escape -Part 1

(A/N: When I chose to use scorpions as AU Cy-Bugs, I did so thinking scorpions lay eggs. Well, surprise surprise, they don't -of course / Xo So I'm just hoping everyone goes with this and the next chapter- and to remember these are multated scorpions as well lol ;) )

He couldn't tell if it was fate, coincidence, or a mere temptation that Calhoun's collar had come off. Or that she hadn't even noticed that it had. Or that it had hung directly above his nose, nearly begging him to take it.

But Ralph honestly didn't care.

The good dog collar, his good dog collar, was there...and he only needed to peer up at it a split second longer to decide what he wanted -and needed- to do.

-O-O-O-O-O-

His lungs still burning from running earlier, Ralph quickly back out of the dark hallway and carefully made his way around the sharp corner leading to the other hallway- somehow without skidding and running into the wall in the process.

He quickly tip toed down the first hallway the group had gone down at the beginning of the chase, suppressing the urge to run faster and draw unneeded attention by his heavy footsteps.

Maybe it was his conscience bothering him, or the nagging feeling he was being watched, but Ralph couldn't help but keep involuntarily peering over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him.

Calhoun's command to get help and lead the officers to the group of scarred people mentally screamed at him, reprimanding him for just abandoning them. Her screaming was enough of a distraction to the bull mastiff that he tripped and nearly landed flat on his face.

Oh, I can barrel down the hallway without tripping, but I can't merely tip toe without falling? Figures, he growled mentally as he picked himself back up.

Ralph figured he deserved the ill timed, nearly painful fall...and his imaginary scolding, however, what with him out rightly abandoning the police dogs and not getting them any help and all.

Well, all that, and he had manage to steal Calhoun's collar in the process.

As he continued his attempts to tip toe, the dog's mind started to wonder...to the looks of the scarred group of people huddled in the room now filled with flying scorpions...to the people outside, waiting for the dogs to return to show them where the scorpions were so that the fire fighters coulf go in and save their loved ones...to the look of determination and heroicness on the other dogs faces...to the possible look on Calhoun's face if she ever found out Ralph had stole her well-earned collar...

Ralph quickly shook all such thinking off.

He wasn't trained to help those people! He was not even supposed to be on the force of Hero's Duty, anyways!

And he wasn't a "hero"- well, now he was, with Calhoun's good dog collar being his. He was now a good dog and a hero, as far as he was concerned.

With or without helping those innocent people, inside and outside the hospital... the others dogs coukd help those people, especially with Calhoun leading them.

And sure, Calhoun would eventually figure out that her collar was missing...but there'd be no way for her to know that it was Ralph was the one for sure that had taken it. And even if she did figure it out, he'd be long gone by then...

Back at his snug little petshop...in a brand new bed and all the duck flavored treats he could eat...with newfound respect from Mr.Litwak...from Felix...from Gene...

And all in less than 24 hours.

Ralph felt himself smirk despite having the collar in his mouth.

Sure, he still felt a little guilty for fleeing the scene...but the pending look on Gene's face when he came strolling up with that good dog collar was enough to corrode that guilt away.

Yes, things were finally going his way! He just had to...get out of the building as soon as possible..and alive.

The army green, camouflaged collar hanging safely in his mouth, the determined bull mastiff tried to remember which door he and the others had come through in the first place. He pasted many of them, all of them still closed- thankfully indicating that they weren't the one.

At one point in walking down the long stretch of hallway Ralph realized he was now coming up to several doors that were open...yet none of them felt like the right one. They all, like the hallway they connected to, had their lights on; the first room he had exited had had it's light off.

It could've flickered back on, though, Ralph...the dog reasoned with himself as he leaned in to one particularly lit up room with an ajar door. He took a deep breath, trying to retrace in his mind if this room smelled familiar as he stared blankly out the room's glass window...

...When he heard a now all-too familiar hiss.

Ralph flipped his head quickly to see a multated scorpion had coming crawling out from behind a flipped over, abandoned hospital bed. The creation hissed at him threateningly, even more so than any other the others had before.

The bull mastiff quickly backed away. "H-Hey, hey, little buddy...I'm not gonna hurt you...I'm just leaving now ok...?" He was nearly cut short when several scorpions appeared as well, hissing viciously towards him.

They were about to fly towards him when a loud clash was heard, followed by the sound of a glass window breaking.

Ralph -and the scorpions- peered up to see a fire fighter appeared at the now broken window in the room. The man was decked from head to toe with his fire fighting gear on, plus a few extra peculiar gear to protect himself from the scorpions, Ralph guessed.

"Hey!" a voice belonging to the man shouted. "I found some of the scorpions! Kill the lights in Room 105, Luigi!"

Ralph ducked back into the hallway, yet remained close enough to peer into the room so he could see what they were about to do. Although the room now had no light, the sun windowstreaming through the window provided enough light for him to see what exactly was happening.

The scorpions hissed up at the man outside the window right before a sudden rush of water from a hose was heard, then it finally shot into Ralph's view as it hit one multated scorpion hard.

Ralph watched as the creature shook violently for a moment before the spots on its back and its eyes turned from green to a deathly, almost hypnotized blue. The scorpion buckled to the ground, continuing to get blasted with water until it slowly stop shaking all together and the blue glowing faded.

As the creature laid dead on the floor, the stream of water was directed towards the other scorpions, all now screeching in protest as they tried to frantically escape the blast. Some even tried to fly up and away, but were lowered to the floor as the water aided at them slowly killed off their strength to fly.

Slowly, one by one, the creatures all lost their glow and laid completely still- all within a few seconds of being sprayed.

"Alright, that's all of them in here!" The fire fighter called out towards one of the others outside. "No sign of any other life in here, either. Let's move on to the next room, boys!"

Once all was quiet again, Ralph cautiously stepped into the room again. He eyed the scorpions on the ground, and saw that as they laid still in a shallow puddle of water, Calhoun's words were true.

Water was a fast way to kill these monsters quickly.

Ralph peered over at the broken window, and realized that if the post was clear, he could jump up and crawl through it and make his escape that way. He watchfully creeped into the room, and was ignoring the fact that his feet were getting wet when a bright green glow flashing brightly suddenly caught him off guard and made him jump.

He nearly collided with the far wall as he back as far as he could from the glowing, which he quickly realized was coming behind the flipped over hospital bed.

But water is leaking over there, too, Ralph thought as he shook. Shouldn't it be killing the scorpions back there as well?

The caution curiosity getting the better of him, Ralph made his over to the bed and peered around it...and his jaw almost hit the floor when he realized that the glow was going from a sea of pea-sized round scorpions eggs.