Today's the day. Friday. The same day that the gang and I execute our plan. After school, that is. Dylan, Dolly, Trent, Fergus, Hansel, Roxy, Snowball, and I all planned a meet-up at lunch together to go over the plan again. Also, thanks to his intellect, Dawkins will be helping us in the sense that he set up a camera near the Barkman's home, in case Miles' dad came back. He'll be using the camera with the help of his tablet. We had everything all planned, now all we needed to do was communicate with each other.
Once lunch hour arrived, we all met up at the same lunch table from before. We wanted to make sure we all knew each step of the plan, that way nothing would go wrong.
Dylan got the conversation started by asking, "Colton, can you repeat the plan for us again? Just so that we're clear on what to do."
"So, Hansel, Roxy, and Snowball are going to lure Miles' dad away from his home and have him run to the designated spot I've placed for him. There, Liam and his fellow officers should be able to arrest him once we've got the evidence. Speaking of which, Dylan and Dolly will be joining me to look for stuff inside the house that'll prove Miles' innocence. Fergus will sneak us in there so it's not obvious that we snuck in. If anything goes wrong, Trent will be our bodyguard and keep Miles' dad away from us in enough time for us to sneak out. And to make sure we're aware of where Miles' dad is, Dawkins will be watching from a surveillance camera. Is that clear enough?"
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, with an additional "You got it, C-Town!" from Fergus. Looks like we're all ready.
"Remember, guys. We're not doing this for anyone besides Miles. He's suffered enough. We can save his life." I added.
I placed my hand in the middle of the table, to which everyone responded by putting their own paws in the middle.
"For Miles, okay? 1, 2, 3!"
"For Miles!" Everyone yelled.
We were all committed to saving Miles and to make sure that justice was served. We were going to place the real Camden Town Killer, Christopher Barkman, in prison.
Once the bell rang that marked the end of the day, we met up at the entrance of the school so we could all go to 101 Dalmatian Street afterwards. We had to pick up our supplies that we were going to use, as well as talk to Dawkins about his role in the plan. We all met up and walked to 101 Dalmatian Street together, where we saw all the pups already there since Delilah and Doug had their rare days off today. They didn't know about the plan, nor did we want them to know because they would've prevented us from going through with it. It didn't matter if we got punished later, but we had to do this now.
After getting all of our stuff ready, we headed out to the home of the Barkmans. Dawkins was ready and placed in position. We exited swiftly, or so, at least we thought.
"Where are you all going?" Delilah asked, with a puzzled look on her face.
"We're, uhh… going to play an extreme version of hide-and-seek! Yeah…"
Dylan gave a poor excuse, but it's better than anything I had in mind. Hopefully, Delilah wouldn't question it.
"Okay, then." Delilah said, still confused. "But don't stay out too late, alright? And be safe!"
We all agreed and then ran out of there as quickly as possible. She was onto us, but she seemed confident enough to trust us. Little did she know that instead of being safe, we were placing ourselves in a whole lot of danger.
The walk to the Barkman's home wasn't long, but we started to feel the nerves settle in as we approached it. We knew that we were placing ourselves in the hands of danger, since we are facing up against a murderer. If anything did go wrong, which Heaven forbid that happens, one of us could risk losing our lives. Hopefully, that doesn't happen. We're about to find out, though.
"Okay, Dylan, Dolly, Fergus, and Trent? Follow me to the back of the house. Hansel, Roxy, and Snowball? Wait here until I tell you the signal. Dawkins, can you hear me?"
I received an on-ear headset to get in communication with all of the other guys. Liam, like he did with the tape recorder, provided it to me.
"I hear you, Colton. The camera's all set on the lamp post."
"Good. Come on, guys. Let's go."
It was an open backyard, so the five of us could sneak in easily to the backyard of the home. We had to do it quietly, though, because we could still see the shadow of Miles' dad inside the home. If he had heard us, we would have already been screwed. Luckily, he didn't. Step one, complete.
I asked Dawkins again if the camera was ready, just to double check. After he confirmed, I let out a quick sigh before asking something through the headset.
"Ready?"
Everyone was in position, ready for the plan to commence.
"GO!"
3rd Person POV:
"Get to throwing!" Snowball said, commencing the plan.
At the same time, Hansel, Roxy, and Snowball threw a barrage of eggs towards the home in order to get Miles' dad out of the home. They kept going, showing no signs of stopping until they got him outside.
Meanwhile, inside the home, Christopher Barkman was relaxing, enjoying the thought of not having his son in his life anymore. The so-called nuisance was no longer a burden on him and everyone hated him for "killing" people all around Camden Town. It felt good for him to get away with murder.
"I've got the blood of innocent people on my paws, and everyone thinks it's his fault! That lowlife is never going to get out of prison. Feels good, really good."
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard thumping and cracking coming from outside his home.
"What the hell?" He said in a gruff voice.
He looked outside to see a couple of kids, almost teenagers, throwing eggs at his home. A Husky, Rottweiler, and Pomeranian were all throwing eggs towards his home. He felt himself getting frustrated, to which he responded by going outside and trying to get his paws on them.
"HEY! YOU LITTLE BRATS STOP THAT OR I'LL GET MY PAWS ON YOU!"
"Run!"
Roxy yelled, ending the barrage of eggs and starting the next part of the plan, the chase. The three made sure to run away as fast as possible, but not too far because they didn't want to lose Mr. Barkman's tracks.
Speaking of Mr. Barkman, he got so angry that he decided that he was going to chase them on his own. But not before making one more decision. Before he ran out, he grabbed the gun that was placed on the table beside him. It was the same gun used as evidence in the trial. It was the same gun used to murder Colton's parents, Tatum, and many other innocent lives. He had gotten ahold of it and he was going to use it one more time.
"Time to use this bad boy again."
He placed it on his waist and chased after the three young dogs, making sure to catch up with them. He didn't care if he got them dead or alive, he was going to make them pay for defacing his home like that.
Back to 1st Person POV:
It worked! They were able to get him out of the house. It took him a while to get out though. Not sure why that happened, but nonetheless, he's out of the house which gives us a chance to sneak in.
"Alright, Fergus, it's your turn. How can you let us in without him noticing?"
"Uhh, that's easy. Just use this window."
He opened a window which was located on the side of the house, next to what appeared to be the kitchen.
"I'll just close it when you guys get in, that way he doesn't notice that it was opened in the first place."
Well, that was anticlimactic. I was expecting some sort of secret entrance to the home, but an open window works. Looks like I gave Fergus the easiest job of all.
"Alrighty then. Dylan and Dolly? We're going to look for evidence. Trent? Make sure that if Miles' dad does come, you're at the front door waiting for him."
"You got it, Colton."
"Let's move!"
The four of us snuck into the home using the secret entrance, err, window as fast as we could. Inside, we could already tell that the home was not being taken care of. It smelled horrendously, dishes piled up in the sink, beaten up furniture, and an appearance that made the house seem almost abandoned. The kitchen could've been enough evidence to prove Miles' horrible living conditions.
We took photos of the kitchen before moving on to other parts of the home. Dylan, Dolly, and I searched different rooms to find any evidence, while Trent waited at the front door to bodyguard for us. We discovered so much evidence that it was sad to see how many ways Miles had been tortured by his father. Miles' room was the worst. All that was in there was a mattress, a raggedy blanket, a pile of clothes, and a bat. The bat, we assumed, was Miles' method of defending himself from his dad's abuse. The room itself was bleak and looked similar to Miles' jail cell. The stench it was giving was almost as bad as the house's overall smell. That wasn't even the worst part we found though.
"Colton, look at this."
Dylan took me to a certain part of Miles' room, where I found the most shocking thing of all. Blood. Pure, dried-up blood.
"Oh my gosh."
"Do you think he did this to him?" Dolly asked in a sad tone.
"I don't know. He could've been hurting himself, but we're going to take pictures anyway."
I took a picture of all the blood stains located on the wall, along with all of the other stuff that proved Christopher's neglectful ways. We also kept with us the bat, a belt we found outside of Miles' parents' bedroom, and a box that was locked to hide a gun inside. We knew it was a gun inside because next to the box was some ammo, which we took as well. It could've been the same gun that Miles' dad used to murder. It gave me chills knowing I was holding the same weapon that killed my parents and one of my friends. Either that, or it was a completely new weapon. Regardless, it was not looking good for Christopher.
"Hey, we've looked everywhere besides one place. The attic. Should we check inside? There might be some things in there too," Dolly recommended.
"Yeah, let's go check, Colton. We might strike gold there," Dylan said.
"Alright, let's go in there then."
Christopher couldn't keep up with the three dogs, but he really wanted to get them in trouble. He wanted to see them suffer, whether it was his doing or not. He didn't want to waste any bullets on them either, so it was a matter of if he wanted to continue chasing them or not.
Then, he remembered something. As he was chasing the three dogs, he found a surveillance camera on his lamp post. He doesn't remember when they installed it, but he could use it to prove that they committed the vandalism. That's what he would do. He went back to his house, which Hansel, Roxy, and Snowball were unaware of because they believed he was still on their tracks. When they reached the dead-end, they noticed Miles' dad wasn't chasing them anymore. They were clueless to his whereabouts.
"Where did he go?" Hansel asked.
The three looked around but they couldn't find him, so they split up to see if they could find him somewhere around the neighborhood. Hopefully, he didn't go back to the house.
Unfortunately, their worst fears came to life. In fact, as Christopher rounded the corner to the direction of his home, he immediately noticed shadows in the window of his attic. Three shadows. Two looked to be canine figures, while the other seemed more human-like. He may have been a danger to society, but he wasn't stupid. He connected the dots. The vandalism, the sudden surveillance camera, the shadows in his attic. It was all a set-up!
"They're onto me! Those brats, they were working for someone!"
He became even more furious now knowing he had been tricked out of his home. He pulled the gun out of his waist, and was only focused on one thing and one thing only.
"Time to kill 3 more worthless lives."
He was going to kill the human and two dogs inside of his home. He was going to kill Colton, Dylan, and Dolly.
Immediately, he pulled a trigger in the direction of the surveillance camera. He was able to knock out its power with one single shot. Unfortunately for the gang, the camera also provided the connection which allowed Dawkins and Colton to speak to each other through the headset. Now that the camera was broken, the connection was too.
"Colton? Colton?! OH NO!"
Back at 101 Dalmatian Street, Dawkins was panicking as his camera was no longer in use, plus he couldn't get in contact with Colton. He didn't know what happened specifically, but he knew it had to be the work of something bad. He yelled so loud, it caused him to get the attention of Delilah and Doug.
"Dawkins, what's wrong?" Delilah asked.
"They're in trouble! Colton, Dylan, Dolly, they're all in trouble!"
Dawkins yelled in hesitation, worrying about his siblings. Delilah and Doug became worried and didn't waste any time trying to rescue them.
"Dawkins, where are they?" Doug asked in a strict tone.
"At the Barkman's home!"
Immediately, Delilah and Doug left the house and ran in the direction of the Barkman's home, leaving Dawkins to take care of the little pups. Delilah knew that something was up and she should have followed her instincts. She was going to make sure she punished her two children and her possible future child when she saw them. All she and Doug cared about, though, was making sure that they got out of there unharmed.
Back at the Barkman's residence, Trent was standing guard at the front door. He wasn't expecting Christopher to come back, he figured that he would be in the hands of the law by now. Just to make sure, however, he stayed cautious. He wanted to make sure that his friends were safe. It's what Tatum would have wanted. If Miles' dad was going to attack, he wanted to be ready for it. After all, he's a strong jock! Who would defeat him?
Well, his question was answered after he heard the front door being struck open forcefully. Trent was shocked to see Miles' dad appear in the front door, not looking too happy. Trent was about to make his move on Mr. Barkman, when he felt a stinging pain across his face and in his head, followed by him falling to the ground. He whimpered in pain as he realized, noticing the gun in Mr. Barkman's paw, that he had been pistol-whipped.
He grunted in pain as he said, "You monster. I'm going to hurt y-"
Christopher pistol-whipped him again. The blunt trauma was enough to knock out Trent, for good. Christopher spit on him and let out a small chuckle at the useless attempt of trying to attack him. No tiger or living creature was going to stop him from getting a couple more murders in.
"Shouldn't have done that, little kitty. Now I'm going to kill your friends, for sure."
He left Trent's unconscious body there, heading up the stairs towards the attic.
The three of us continued to search through the attic for anything we could find. Strangely enough, I tried contacting Dawkins to see if everything was okay but he never responded. I assumed that Liam and his buddies caught Miles' dad and placed him in custody by now. Dylan, Dolly, and I still rummaged through the attic to find any evidence, though.
I found something that made my heart drop. Not because of how surprising or shocking it was, but because of how sad it was.
"Dylan, Dolly, come look at this."
It was a family portrait of the Barkmans. Miles as a young wolf pup, along with his betraying father and his now-deceased mom. They all looked really happy. Especially his mom.
"Aw man, that's hard to see," Dolly said.
Dylan added by saying, "To think that this was once a happy family. Everything went bad quickly."
I stated, "Don't worry, you guys. We're going to get Miles' dad in jail so that Miles can have the happy life he's been wanting."
"Are you sure about that?"
No… it can't be…
I turned around to see my worst nightmare, Miles' dad standing a few feet away from us. He had a gun in his paws and an evil smirk on his face. He locked the attic door, there's no way out for us to escape. I was scared. Genuinely scared. I looked towards Dylan and Dolly and they had the same look of fear on their faces too. We huddled together in fear, feeling each other's shaking as the murderer got closer to us.
"Look at you three, pathetic and useless little kids. Reminds me of my own son. You know what the only difference is? He got out alive. You three are going to die."
He cocked his gun, ready to fire it at us. I didn't want to believe that I was going to die, especially not with Dylan and Dolly. They didn't deserve to die. I led them to the position we're in now. I guess it wasn't going to matter though, if we died, we were going to die together.
"Don't worry, I'll let your parents know what happened to the three of you."
At that moment, my fear disappeared. A new emotion had taken over. Anger.
"No… they won't."
Dylan and Dolly looked at me with shock as I spoke up, Mr. Barkman also seemed surprised but still held a look of evil on his face.
"They won't know what happened to their son. You know why?"
I approached him slowly, rage coming over me.
"BECAUSE YOU KILLED THEM! I LOST MY PARENTS BECAUSE OF YOU! You talk about suffering like you're the victim, but the reality is the real sufferers are everyone who's lost someone because of you! I'm never going to be the same again after I saw my parents' dead bodies! You want to kill me?! Fine! Kill me, then! Don't kill them though!" I pointed in the direction of Dylan and Dolly. "They still have a family to live for. They deserve to live. I don't have anything. If you want someone to kill, kill me. But I just want you to know something. Everything that's happened since your wife died is all your fault. All. Your. Fault."
The loud sound of a bullet firing rang out, followed by a stinging pain around my waist. I saw blood pouring out. He shot me.
"COLTON!"
I heard the two siblings yell before two more bullets firing rang out. He hit Dylan and Dolly.
"NO!"
I winced in pain as I tried getting to Dylan and Dolly. They were still conscious, but in a lot of pain. Dolly got shot near the waist like I did, but Dylan got shot in the leg.
"No… Dylan, Dolly, please…"
I could only say that as I felt silence overcome me. Everything faded to black as I let the darkness and overwhelming pain take over. The last thing I saw was a teary-eyed Dolly and a horrified Dylan.
No! Did our favorite characters just die? We'll find out in the next, and maybe last, chapter.
So, you're probably surprised to see two chapters within the same week. Well, what can I say? Yours truly has found a lot of free time in college, surprisingly. Again, any free time I have in college, I'm going to dedicate towards finishing this story. I'll try and write the chapters ASAP to avoid any more waiting. Could be this week, this month, or even later. It depends on how much free time I have to write.
Once again, thank you for reading this chapter and for sticking with me throughout a long time!
I don't own 101 Dalmatian Street, only my OCs. Bye! Peace, love, and stay amazing!