The Dog In Sheep's Clothing

Chapter Five: The Good Vs. The Bad

And in the second after Sarah ran that through her mind, she dug her foot into the dirt, she listened to the click of the safety being turned off from the gun behind her, and aimed her own weapon. "Be careful when aiming, have Cooper attack." The confident face on Officer Martinez's face faltered somewhat, "He's trained for search and rescue, not to be an attack dog." Sarah let out a sigh, "Trust me." The officer looked hesitant for a moment longer before finally speaking once again, "Cooper, attack." He watched as the dog he rescued lost hikers with, missing peoples and pets with change within seconds.

Cooper ran faster than he's ever seen him go before, opening and snapping his jaw around the leg of the beast. Martinez stared at the scene before him, before shooting the beast in the eyes while it was distracted, Sarah shot her round into the beast's heart. She and Martinez stared in awe as the beast let out a wail of pain, sparks flying out of the wound before the beast covered the wound with a fist, growling at them angrily. "Welp...at least we know where to aim now." The officer pointed out, Sarah merely shrugged in agreement. The monster dropped onto all fours before charging at the two, Sarah narrowed her eyes, "Bane!"

And just like that, out of the darkness of the night appeared Bane, similar to the other dogs, he was slightly injured, but due to having a longer coat of fur he wasn't as nearly as damaged. He let out a deep bark before ramming against the leg of the beast that Cooper wasn't on, causing it to fall. Sarah paused for a moment before she spoke up, cutting off the sounds of the monster as it struggled against the dogs pinning it down, "Flammable." And the officer blinked, "Flammable?-" "Did you or anyone else bring something flammable?" "Uh...well, the search and rescue unit carries around flare guns-" "Then go." "But-" "I'll be fine, so will Cooper, now hurry, they can only hold it down for so long." And with that Martinez ran off.

Sarah ran up to the beast and shot it directly in the spot where its twisted heart laid, watching as it screeched with pain. She observed the sparks that came through the hole in its clawed hands, it seemed to convulse as if it had been electrocuted, her thoughts were cut off as it suddenly shook the dogs off and kicked her right in the chest, she grunted as she landed on the grass, looking up at the beast that stood over her. She stared, her vision shaking as she knew the scene that was occurring was all too familiar. She shot her gun again, only to curse and sigh shakily as dread filled within her, it was jammed.

She held out her shotgun in front of herself horizontally as the beast swung down its claws at her, cursing as the shotgun began to bend at the beast's force. She let out a yell of something, of what she didn't know nor really care at this point. She kicked the beast in its jaw, but it was unfazed until Cooper, who was much faster, had just had better stamina than Bane had gotten up and grabbed onto its leg again, this time he practically mangled the leg as he went feral with his attack on the monster. She scrambled to stand up, once she was, she looked over at Bane, who was laying on his side, the only comforting thing she could see was the fast up and downs of his body as he caught his breath. She knew Bane probably wouldn't be able to continue on, she whistled and he picked up his head to look at her.

"Bane, down." and with that he simply blinked at her before letting out a small huff and laying his head back down. He had done his job, he had protected his owner and the others, now he could rest for a little while.

The dread that had filled her earlier dissipated as she heard footsteps approach, she ducked as the monster snapped at her, coming up to smack it in the face with her shotgun now turned from a long-range weapon to a melee one. "Hurry, she's over here." The first thing that came to mind was the thought of Martinez bringing up backup, but who? Her question did not have to wait long to be answered, as then not only did Martinez come back running in from the same direction he ran through, but so did Detective Moth, and there they held a flare gun. She grinned, which was simmered down slightly as the beast finally cut through her only weapon, she tossed it away and she stumbled a few steps back, now useless.

"What do I do with the flare gun Wolf?" "The heart" and the detective gave her a very confused glance, before looking at the beast and then raised an eyebrow, "You want me to land a shot on a moving target's heart?" Sarah rolled her eyes, "No I want you to shot it's foot, YES I WANT YOU TO FUCKING SHOOT ITS HEART!" The shout that contained a curse made Martinez flinched back slightly, not expecting the sudden burst of anger from the young woman. Moth gave her a hardened look, and Sarah's face softened in return, "Look, I know I'm asking for a lot here, but don't just do it for me, do it for the innocent people who have died from this thing, do it for Bane." And it's almost like a light switch went off in the detective's head, "Where's Bane?"

Sarah nodded her head over to where Bane laid, he was laying in a way in which he could quickly get up if his help was needed, but for now he tiredly glanced at the detective, his tail wagging lazily at the sight of them. Officer Martinez and Sarah watched as Detective Moth's face darken, and two things had happened in one minute of looking at them. One, the detective had turned so quickly it looked as if they could've given their whole body whiplash. Two, the beast was now screeching in agony, clawing at its chest as sparks shot out of the burn wound. Sarah stared at the smoke trail coming out of the flare gun, she changed her focus as the officer on the other side of the detective shakily raised a hand to point his finger at the beast.

She noticed just as the figure of the detective left the corner of her eye, they dropped the dark look on their face, their eyes tinted with the glow of flames as well as something that looked like curiosity mixed with terror. Red, orange, and yellow filled her vision, smoke filled her nostrils, she drank in the sight greedily as the sense of pride for getting some payback for her companion warmed her cold body. The beast had dropped to its knees, flames practically bursting from its heart as the hole in its chest grew wider and wider, instead of dropping its blood, it dropped its ashes.

A somewhat sadistic pleasure seemed to spread inside her alongside the warmth, despite it being cruel, to enjoy watching something, something living being burned alive, it made her feel good. She glanced over at the detective that lacked emotion on their face, but she knew, she just knew that deep down inside like her, they felt some form of satisfaction as well. Just like Officer Martinez, who was actually, and rightfully so, smothering Cooper in a bear hug, petting him harshly yet gently at the same time. She sighed tiredly, switching her focus back to the beast that had been burning her eyes, nostrils, and brain all the same with its horror.

She blinked at the fast speed in which the beast had been burned to its demise, nothing but its head left, those red pupils that glowed in the dark night only a few moments ago were fully dead, like the speed in which of how fast a lamp goes out once you pull its plug from the outlet. She continued to watch until the beast was fully disintegrated, then she finally blinked after what felt forever despite the human eye blinking every few seconds, practically unnoticeable due to getting used to it as it was a necessary function of life, of the human body. She dropped to her knees, her vision only being the sight of a pile of ashes and the scorched grass beneath it before everything went dark.

The detective who had been with Bane once they knew the beast was finally defeated had rushed over, carefully cradling the woman until her head laid upon her lap. "Martinezm, can Cooper walk?" "Yes detective." "Good, then get over here and help me get Ms. Wolf over here by tossing one of her arms around your shoulder." The officer nodded, pressing a gentle kiss to Cooper's head and walked over to the other two people, tossing one of Sarah's arms around his shoulder just as Detective Moth directed him to. The detective took her other arm and stood up, Cooper trotted over as well as Bane, who had a small limp, but was able to walk at a slow pace. Then they all left, only leaving behind a broken shotgun torn into two, the ashes of a monster, and a story to never be told to the public for the safety of humanity and everything created by God's hand.