Chapter Thirty Six

D.K. snarled and pawed the ground anxiously, twitching like druggie desperate for his next joint. I recognized hesitation in his body language, which was a relief. His head may have been void of common sense, but even he had to realize that we couldn't cross a backyard filled with land mines. For a second, I thought he would just turn around and lead us home.

Of course, I should have known better than that…

D.K. did turn around and run, but it wasn't the way we'd come. He led us back around the side of the house, stepping with far less hesitation than I thought was necessary. I, personally, flinched a little every time I put my paw down, expecting it to blow me to little wolf-y Amber chunks. Luckily, it seemed Zeke only stored dangerous weaponry in the backyard.

D.K. stopped halfway around the house, right below a window. He growled at it, and then turned to look at the rest of us. I glanced at it as well, and something tickled my sensitive ears so that they perked up to listen closer. It was there, so soft that a human could never have picked it up, but it was not above my keen wolf senses. A buzz, like there was a swarm of bees hovering just behind the glass. Except, the noise wasn't coming from behind the glass- it was coming from the glass. I peered closer, and saw a web of metal fencing attached to the windowpane. A single long, black cord was attached to the ends of every one of the wires, explaining where the buzz was coming from. I shivered a little while D.K. studied the window. Zeke had obviously been preparing for this day for a long time if he'd gone to the trouble of electrifying his windows.

Now, I know that werewolves are unnaturally strong. We can shrug off bullet wounds and not even have a mark the next day. Fire can burn us as easily as it can anything else, but we'll heal from that ridiculously fast too. None of that gave me much comfort, though, because I had no idea how a werewolf's body would react to electricity. Like the land mines, though, the windows wouldn't hurt us unless we jumped up and touched them.

Surely, I thought, this would be where D.K. gave up. Going through the backdoor would blow us to pieces, and going through the window would fry us. Surely he had to see that keeping this up was pointless.

To my dismay, though, he took a step back and motioned with his nose towards Tyler. The massive black wolf stepped forward, and his alpha jerked his nose toward the window. A horrible feeling formed in my stomach when I realized what D.K. was doing, but Tyler didn't even give it a second thought. He faced the house, took three steps backwards, and then charged forward and jumped. His gigantic body went straight through the glass, and even tore through the thick metal mesh on the other side. I saw sparks fly where the fencing touched him, and I smelled burnt fur, but he didn't let out so much as a whimper. Then his tail went through, and we lost sight of him inside the house.

With a bloodthirsty howl, D.K. jumped in after him. Kaylie went next, and then, knowing I had no other choice, I followed.

The inside of the house smelled like grease and smoke. Not cigarette smoke like D.K.'s house, but machine smoke. I found myself in a bedroom with the lights off. Metal and pieces of wire were scattered all over the shelves and floor, and- I had to do a double take. Was that a race car bed? It didn't matter. I could hear sounds of a fight already coming from the hallway. Whether I liked them or not, I was obligated to help my pack, so I ran after them.

There was dead gremlin in the hallway, and I nearly tripped over him in my rush. It was the green haired one I'd seen at the computer store. I stepped over him, but froze when I heard the sound of gunshots. One of my wolves, I wasn't sure which, yipped in pain. Adrenaline surged in my veins, and I charged further into the house.

I came around a corner in the hallway and found myself in the living room. A panicked G-Nome was trying to flee, and ended up colliding with me, knocking us both to the ground.

“Freaking flea bag!" he shouted, scrambling to untangle himself from me. Out of instinct, I snapped at his face, but he landed a kick in my stomach, winding me. He got back up and ran, but a shadow chased after him, jumping over me to get into the hallway. That shadow had been Tyler, I realized, and a couple seconds later I heard the gremlin scream.

Getting back to my paws, I gave the room a quick look. Kaylie was lying on the floor a few feet away from me, her blood staining the carpet. She must have been the one who had been shot. She wasn't dead, though- far from it. As I looked, she got back to her paws and shook herself before running through another door on the other side of the room. She wasn't even bleeding anymore. A loud crash came from the room she'd just gone into, so I followed.

The tension in the next room was so thick I could have swam in it. D.K. was in there, facing off against Zeke. The G-Nome's leader was backed against a wall, a gun in one hand and a cattle prod in the other.

“Stay back!" he said, waving the gun towards me and Kaylie. He tried to give us his patronizing smile again, but it wasn't convincing. “These aren't silver bullets, but they'll still hurt like hell if I put one in your brain."

D.K. growled, and Zeke gave a weak laugh. “Sorry, Dalton, I forgot. You fuzzies don't have brains."

D.K.'s hackles rose, and he took a step forward. Zeke jabbed the cattle prod at him, and the wolf leaped back with a yelp when a spark shot from it. Kaylie snarled, and Zeke turned the gun on her.

“You've already been shot once, right, Fluffy? You want another?"

To give Kaylie her due credit, she didn't back down. I don't know if she would have really tried to attack the gun toting gremlin or not, but she didn't get the chance. Tyler barreled into the room then, charging straight past me and Kaylie. It happened so fast that Zeke couldn't react in time, and before he knew it he had Tyler's teeth buried in his side.

Zeke screamed and fired his gun. The bullet struck Tyler in the back, and I knew without looking that it had to have broken his spine. With blood dripping down his side, he made a run for the door. Kaylie moved to stop him, but ended up getting the cattle prod in her face. He ran out the door without giving me a second glance. That was his mistake.

I took off after him. I don't really know why I bothered. D.K. was the one who wanted to fight, not me. Even with Tyler out of the picture, that still left Kaylie and D.K., and I'm sure they would both be more than happy to take down the leader of the G-Nomes. So, why did I go after him? Maybe it was because I actually wanted to.

Zeke ran through the living room, jumping over his dead gang members, and opened the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. I stopped short, just inside the door, and watched him in disbelief, sure that he was going to explode at any second. Instead, he ran across the yard, his feet stepping in an erratic pattern, and hopped the fence. I blinked in surprise, but then realized what he'd done. He had planted the land mines, he knew exactly where they were, and so he'd simply sidestepped them all. Going after him this way was a death sentence, but I didn't have time to go all the way back to the window we'd come through. He'd be long gone by then. I cringed when I thought of how D.K. would react when he found out I'd let our target escape. I got the distinct feeling that a slap would be letting me off easy this time. Unless…

The idea was crazy, but I had no better alternatives. My heart raced as I charged out into the backyard. There was no time for fear. If this was going to work, I couldn't afford to hesitate. I replayed the memory of Zeke escaping in my head, and put my paws where I'd seen him put his feet. I flinched with every step, convinced that I was about be barbecued. To my own amazement, though, I reached the fence without setting off a single bomb. Zeke's scent was still all over place. I knew exactly where he'd gone, and I knew I could run faster than anything on two legs.

Ready or not, Zeke, I thought as I hopped the fence, here I come!

NEXT TIME: Oh yeah, here we go! Amber vs Zeke, to the death! This is gonna be awesome. This is gonna be... so... FREAKING... AWESOME!!!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Remember, be here tomorrow for a new chapter, or just head over to my website HERE for the entire thing!