Chapter 9: March to Glory and Death

The plan was discussed thoroughly, yet swiftly amongst the wolves because time was not on their side and they could hear the humans trying to silently move through the trees, growing ever closer.

"So," Humphrey said. "Do we all know the plan?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Okay, good. Let's go!"

After these words, Humphrey began to lead a small part of the main pack back into the territory. As they walked out into the open from behind Kate and Humphrey's den, the sunlight shone onto their faces. When they walked back into their home, they found, that the humans had not yet made it through the forest. The sunlight streamed through the trees as Humphrey, along with Kate, Garth, and about 15 other alphas, marched through, eventually reaching the edge of the woods where they could hear the sound of barking dogs.

They continued into the woods without stopping and sure enough, found 20 dogs of different breeds lying in wait, baring their teeth and snarling viciously. Behind them stood the angry townspeople, all armed with guns.

The fight was now on. The dogs leaped at the small group, who quickly evaded them and went straight for the humans. The humans immediately raised their weapons to fire, but the line in front was almost instantly knocked down by Humphrey and the others. The humans fell into the line in back, who stumbled a bit before getting some shots off.

The wolves were unharmed and rushed back into the group of dogs with a flurry of teeth and claws. One of the German Shepherds pounced on Humphrey who turned and grabbed the dog that was on his back and threw it down to the forest floor. The humans rushed to help but were held back by the wolves that were holding their own quite well, as many a rifle was the victim of a vicious tug-of-war between a wolf and the human holding it.

Humphrey looked around and saw that, as expected, they were, for the moment, hopelessly outnumbered. He knew that they wouldn't be able to hold out much longer if they didn't retreat soon.

The wolves regrouped in a line, slowly backing up with the enemy in front of them and the pack to their rear. The dogs pounced again, this time with the wolves leaping up to meet them in the air. A few of the wolves were successful in pinning the dogs to ground, only to be either killed or wounded by the humans.

Not that the humans didn't have a few losses of their own as a couple of dogs were killed as well in the counterstrike. This enraged the humans as most of these dogs were their pets, causing them to lash out in anger, firing their weapons without even aiming. One bullet, however, struck Kate in the leg. Seeing her wounded, Humphrey charged at the human and clamped onto his leg, causing him to fall down and hit his head on a rock, instantly killing him. After, Humphrey immediately rejoined the group so as not be surrounded by the humans. He rushed to Kate and helped her up.

The sounds of the battle echoed through the trees as the sounds of guns and many a snarling creature. The battle lingered as Humphrey and the group held them back for as long as they could to give the rest of the pack time to execute the rest of the plan. After ten minutes or so the time had come to spring the trap. They began to lead them back towards the rest of the pack so that they could finish this, once and for all.