Whipped - Drake Merwin x OC

The Carrot And The Stick

Bright lights, and running towards them, was
all that mattered right now in the world to Howard Bassem. He could make it, a few more steps, a few more...
Howard's feet hit blacktop and he was blinded by brilliant white lights. The car screeched and came to a stop.
The thing chasing him was nowhere in sight.

"Howard?" The driver - Panda- exclaimed.
Panda was leaning out of the window, his arm nearly reaching the outside handle of the car.
"Panda! I'm so glad to see you, man. We-"
Something dark and swift leaped and caught Panda's arm. He screamed.
From inside the car, a dog barked frantically.
The car lurched forward. It narrowly missed the canine tormenting the driver. A few other dogs swarmed around Howard.

No, not dogs, he thought. Coyotes.
The car door opened with an audible groan and Panda tumbled out, a coyote wrapped half around him.
A loud bang and a stab of orange light.
But the coyotes didn't stop.
Another shot and one of the dogs yelped in pain. Drake staggered into view, a frightening figure even with his undignified gait.
The barking grew frenzied and pained.
Finally, the pack retreated into the blackness, out of sight- but not out of mind.
Howard shuffled closer to the headlights, but then remembered. "Orc!" He yelled. No answer. He tried again and again, but nothing.

Nothing human. A voice like wet gravel, but with an eerie high-pitched tone, spoke up. "Give us female," it demanded.
Howard frowned. Nothing human spoke like that. Nothing human he'd met, at least.

"What female?" Drake asked it. "Do you mean..." He trailed off, looking sad.
Slowly, on all sides, figures approached.
"Who's out there?" Drake called.
A mange-eaten coyote with a scarred muzzle that seemed to give him a sinister grin stepped into the circle of light.

"Give us female," it said again. Howard nearly gasped when he realised- it could speak!
"Lana?" Drake asked, hesitating. "Or..."
"Healer female," the coyote snarled. "Darkness say: bring female."

"Oh, she's here all right. But I'm not giving the female to you, she's going to heal me. She has the power and I want my arm back, you mangy mutt," Drake spat at the dog.

Howard felt it was time to speak up. "Drake, you want her to heal you, right? And Mr, um...coyote...you're supposed to take her to some other dog called Darkness?"
They both glared at him, looking frighteningly similar for one singular moment.
"OK," Howard said shakily. "I think we can work a deal."
                                         ~
"I'm so sorry about your house, Astrid," Edilio said to her. "You can stay at the firehouse with me and Sam and Quinn if you like."

Astrid tried and failed to summon a smile. "Thanks, Edilio, but I think Petey and I are going to stay with Mother Mary and Brother John for a while."

The three of them- Astrid, Edilio and Pete- were in the mayor's office, or rather what was left of it. Since Lily had disappeared, they'd taken to meeting in here- despite the ghost of the girl's presence seeming to linger. Sam had been against it of course, but logical arguing was Astrid's strong point, and of course she'd won.
"Where is Sam? And why are we here?" Astrid asked, realising that her boyfriend hadn't yet shown his face.
Edilio looked uncomfortable. "Sam has something to show you, and something that Little Pete shouldn't really see."
Sam opened the door and said hello, then,"I think L.P. should sit with Edilio in the other room."
Astrid frowned. Sam was an open book, and right now he was sad and weary and concerned. "That sounds ominous," she simply spoke after a few moments of deliberation.
Sam's expression didn't contradict her.

She managed to get her brother to move, though not without a struggle. Edilio stayed with him.
Sam had a DVD in his hand. "Yesterday I sent Edilio to get two things from the power plant. The first was a cache of automatic weapons."
"Machine guns?"