Toby Episode 9: Wilderness Hunt

by Marauder138

After his father Rex is badly injured on a manhunt, Toby is encouraged to take his place. But Toby take a much more personal stake in the chase than he should: In his quest for vengeance, he soon finds himself in a similar position to a familiar villain. Their pursuit seemingly come to a premature end, Toby sinks into despair. But help comes from an unexpected source.

1. Prologue

"There he goes! After him!" yelled Chief Scotty. He was running as fast as the ankle-deep snow would allow, following his dog Rex through the woods on the trail of a criminal they had just caught up with. The chief was armed with a nightstick in case things got too close for the Smith & Wesson revolver on his hip, which he would use if things got too close for the Winchester rifle on his back. He also had a knife if things got so close that even the nightstick was out of the question.

Rex followed the scent and the tracks left behind by their quarry. His eyes were wide and alert, and his nose and mouth were puffing white steam like smoke from a train. His paws pounded the snow as he chased their target. His tongue lolled out of his mouth, but not from exhaustion; it was an inbred trait for bloodhounds to let their tongues hang so they could pick up more scent, and therefore more accurately follow a trail.

Their quarry looked back for an instant to judge the distance between himself and his pursuers, saw that they were gaining on him, and put on an extra burst of speed.

Chief Scotty followed Rex, his heart pounding like a drum in his chest. He had to pull his knees up high in order to maintain a speed relatively equal to Rex's to keep from losing the dog, and his heavy boots made that difficult. He willed his tired limbs to go on, pushed the aching and burning aside and focused on their target. Then the toe of his boot caught a branch that was buried beneath the snow and he tripped; fortunately, the snow cushioned his fall.

The criminal heard the grunt of surprise and knew that one of his pursuers was down. Looking ahead, he saw a corner and took it, hooking his hand around the edge to lessen the arc of his turn. The instant he was behind the corner, he pulled a stainless-steel cylinder from his right coat pocket.

Chief Scotty quickly picked himself up to continue, but his knees buckled from the exhaustion. He looked up just in time to see their target round a corner, followed seconds later by Rex. Bang! The distinctive crack of a gunshot tore through the air, but Rex's barking could still be heard. For a moment, he thought that Rex had caught their target and was now holding him down. Bang! Another shot rang out, this time followed by a short, sharp yelp. Chief Scotty was instantly up and running toward the sound's point of origin. Rounding the corner, he saw that their target had kept going and was now several dozen yards away. But Scotty didn't attempt a shot, even though his target was still within easy reach of his rifle.

He turned away and started calling for his dog. "Rex!" There was no reply. He tried again, louder this time. "Rex!" No answer. Then he spotted a patched of snow that had been stained red. He hurried over to it, discovered there was a smear of more red snow that led into a small crevice in the cliffside. He ventured into the crevice and stopped dead in his tracked. "Rex!" he cried. The chase forgotten, he dropped his gear and rushed to his dog's side.