He ran day and night trying to escape the horrible memories and pain of losing yet another person dear to him. Images of Mary's broken body haunted him now along with Sherlock's jump. John ran until he almost collapsed of exhaustion, and when he finally halted his pounding paws he found himself next to a small stream.
Lowering his weary head to drink from the water John gulped down the icy water not caring that he would probably throw it all back up.
He had laid down and was about to drift off to sleep when he heard the first scream, his eyes flew open and his ears stood straight up as he lifted his head trying to pinpoint the location of the sound.
Another scream cut through the air to his left closer this time and he surged back to his feet and took off towards the sound. He wound through the trees and brush as fast as he could, paws flying every way as a third desperate scream resounded in the still forest.
John came over the crest of a small hill and found the source of the screams, a young boy was being attacked by a wild dog. The little blonde boy was trying to get away from the dog but he had clearly fallen several times in the attempt to escape and the black dog had bitten his arm.
John surged forward, ramming into the dog and knocking it away from the boy as he lifted his teeth in a savage snarl.
The dog lunged for John's throat with an equally savage snarl, John was faster though and snapped his teeth around the mangy dog's neck snapping it with a rough shake.
The dog whimpered once and went completely limp, only then did John drop it to the ground.
John turned to see the little boy clutching his heavily bleeding arm in fear, the child's wide green eyes were rimmed with unshed tears of pain.
John stepped carefully towards the boy as he tried to assess the damage, he lowered his nose to the boy's arm sniffed once then looked him straight in the eye.
The child whimpered and reached out a hesitant hand to touch John's large black nose. John leaned into the touch and closed his eyes briefly.
John reopened his eyes and knelt down beside the child bending his neck and great back so that the child could ride on him. It took several minutes for the boy to find the courage to climb on but once he did and had a good hold on John's fur, John started moving, following his nose to track the little boy's wandering path back to where he belonged.
It took him the better part on an hour to reach the outskirts of a small village. As he trotted along the little road through the middle of town trying to find the local doctor John realized the child was starting to lose consciousness.
John headed straight for the closest door to him and started scratching at it desperately. A young woman opened it and screamed in fear briefly, then saw the child on John's back and gasped.
"William!" She snatched up the little boy who was beginning to slide off John's back.
The instant the child was off of John's back he turned away and bolted leaving the terrified woman clutching the child and screaming for a doctor.
He couldn't take anymore human contact, it was too painful.
John ran on again stopping once in a while to drink from creeks and puddles, resting briefly before continuing.
He had just gotten up after several restless hours of sleep and was wandering along when he heard gunshots.
Alert and ready for trouble John loped forward looking all around him for the source of the disturbance.
Shouts and more shots rang out ahead of him and John ran up a hill and looked down, below him sat a large train yard where he saw what was going on immediately; a gang of robbers were trying to steal a shipment of freshly printed money and they were attempting to shoot their way out of the place.
John could see five men in masks and at least ten police officers in various places crouching here and there. The police officers couldn't get through the robbers defenses and the robbers couldn't escape without leaving their prize behind.
The robbers had taken refuge behind a stack of massive shipping crates and were shooting over and around them at the cops when they had openings.
The police were behind their own crates and were scrambling to figure out how to get the robbers out without killing anyone.
John however was in the perfect position to strike the robbers from behind so he crept down the side of the hill while he hoped no one noticed him. He lowered himself to as close to the ground as he could in order to minimize his chances of being shot or seen.
He crept up right behind one of the robbers and just as the man raised his gun to shoot at the cops John lunged forward and snapped his massive jaws around the mans leg and shook, snapping it like a twig.
The man screamed like a child and dropped his gun towards where John was, but John was already gone onto the next robber who also got a nasty bite to the leg.
Now all the robbers were screaming and pointing at John who let out a snarling howl as he released the man's leg.
John drew himself up to his full height and howled again, this time baring his bloody teeth and taking a menacing step forward.
The remaining three robbers looked at each other, dropped their guns and ran towards the police line screaming bloody murder.
John looked at the two robbers he had bitten, sniffed once, and walked around the crates towards the police line.
His appearance clearly terrified the four police officers who weren't busy handcuffing the robbers.
They all screamed and went for their guns again in a panic, but John was gone by the time they had their guns up and ready to aim. All that remained as evidence of his interference were the two giant bite marks on the robber's legs.