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Chapter 14: Last Time, Last Chance.

Humphrey turned to the den once more, took a deep breath of courage, then entered.

As he stepped inside, he found exactly what he had expected to see.

There, standing only six feet away from him, was his father.

He had spent such a great amount of time trying to forget his image that he had to remind himself whom it was that he saw before him, and as he saw that stern, grey face, and those empty, yellow eyes, the memories came flooding back to him and his blood became ice in his veins, but he had to show him that he was not afraid, so he put on a bold face.

But when his father saw this, he sneered and moved until he was only inches away.

"Save the courageous act for someone who will actually buy it," he said dryly and tried to step on Humphrey's tail, but Humphrey was ready for it and moved out of the way.

"You don't scare me anymore," he said, though his voice quivered slightly.

This caused his father to laugh.

"Then why are you shaking so much?" he asked evilly.

"Because I'm gonna do this!"

From out of nowhere, Humphrey saw his clone rush in from behind and leap upon his father, taking him immediately to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" Humphrey asked, too shocked to move.

His clone ignored him as he used his teeth and claws to maul his father, who screamed in agony. Then, just as soon as the attack began, it was over, as his clone used his teeth to rip out his victim's jugular.

"What's going on!" Humphrey demanded as the body of his father along any evidence of the attack, faded, "what was that all about!"

Humphrey's clone laughed evilly and turned to him with excited, red eyes.

Humphrey felt his heart skip a beat as he gazed into those evil eyes, and he took a step backward.

"You," he whispered in disbelief, his voice quivering, "how?"

The evil wolf chuckled sinisterly.

"Isn't it obvious, Humphrey?" he asked as he flashed Humphrey an evil, toothy grin, "I've been with you ever since you first arrived. It's all been me."

Humphrey felt panic begin to flood through his veins which urged him to flee.

"But why would you help me then?" he asked, shakily, as he retreated another step.

This caused his image to laugh.

"I was never trying to help you," the other wolf replied through the cracks of his laughter, "everything I did was to help myself."

Humphrey turned his head quickly to the mouth of the den, searching for a means of escape, but when he turned his head, he found that his image was there blocking the way out. This caused Humphrey to jump and retreat closer to the back of the den.

"You see, I've been scratching away at you for years," the sinister wolf mused, stepping toward Humphrey, "beating against that little wall you built between us, but the only time I could ever seem to get out was when you were in states of great mental or emotional instability, so I had to wait until the perfect time to make my move. I knew sooner or later there would come a time when we would meet as equals, and when you fell into this vegetative state," he trailed off with a laugh, "well..."

Humphrey felt his tail hit something hard and quickly turned, hoping that he had not backed into a corner, and found with great terror that he had.

He whipped his head quickly around to face the front once more as laughter emitted from the wretched beast, finding him to be pressing closer and closer upon him.

"Stay away from me," Humphrey demanded fearfully.

"You see, unfortunately, I did not predict that when you fell into comatose, I would be affected as well," he monologued, "It weakened me severely, to the point where I almost died; that's why I could not kill you in the fog, and that is why I could not kill you on the field. But this whole time I knew something that you didn't- the way out. Since I was not strong enough to make it out on my own, I needed to keep you alive until I could," the wolf seethed, gnashing his teeth as he drew within a few feet, "but now that you've passed the final test, I can finally kill you."

With a snarl, he launched himself at Humphrey, his teeth aimed at his jugular.

A&?

There was a great buzz of energy from those in the training program, as rumor had begun to spread about Humphrey's parents coming out to to possibly give the medical official consent to euthanize him. For some, those who leaned more toward a realistic standpoint, this seemed like the proper thing to do, as he was not showing any signs of improvement, and they doubted that he ever would; but for the majority of the group, those who still believed in him, there was a unanimous refusal to hear the verdict. Despite what the realists said, they continued to pray for his safety, and they continued to believe in him, because if ever there was a time for somebody to believe in what he was capable of, it was now.

Class had been scheduled to resume today upon the arrival of Miles' replacement, but with the possibility of losing Humphrey weighing upon everybody's minds, the students performed so poorly that the day was passing along, wasted. It was so bad, in fact, that even those in the top of the class appeared as though they had not trained a day in their lives.

Winston observed this as he made his rounds through the training grounds, seeking to oversee how things were progressing since class had been postponed for so long, and found that it wasn't long before nearly all of the pups were subjected to some form of punishment by their instructors as an attempt to motivate them and enhance their performance, but even these physically grueling drills were so unorganized and performed with such a lack of luster that the instructors doubted they would get any results at all.

Winston paused as he ventured past one group in particular and then approached its instructor.

"Cail, what is wrong with the students today?" he asked the black wolf softly.

Cail turned his attentive, golden eyes off of his students, who were performing suicide laps, to Winston and sighed.

"Their hearts just aren't in it today, sir," he replied, "and I think you know why."

Winston sighed.

"Yes, I know," he replied, allowing his ears to droop slightly.

"They're worried about him, sir," Cail inquired, "and honestly, so am I."

Winston lowered his eyes to his paws.

"Why did I even suggest that he do this?" he muttered, lowering his head.

"Now don't go beating yourself up, sir," Cail said to him empathetically, "there's no way you could have known this would happen."

Winston lifted his head slightly and took a seat.

"I know that," he replied softly, "I just wish that it didn't have to be this way."

There was a brief moment of silence before Cail finally spoke.

"How's Kate holding up?"

Winston shook his head.

"She won't even look at me," he replied, dismally.

Cail nodded slowly and lowered his eyes for a moment, then lifted them once more.

"She'll come around," he assured, "after all, I doubt that his parents will want to give up on him so soon."

Winston nodded slowly and lifted his head.

"We should have told them sooner," he mused, "who are we to withhold such information from them?"

Cail nodded slowly.

"Well, sir, if I may, we are in a time of reform," he began, causing Winston to turn his head to him, "perhaps we could do away with this policy, too."

Winston sighed.

"You're right," he agreed, "I'll speak with Tony and-"

"And while you're at it, do a little reform of your own," a bold, young voice challenged, causing everybody in the group to turn to him.

"Jake," Cail barked in surprise, "mind your tongue."

The pup smirked, panting heavily.

"With all due respect, sir, shut up," Jake stated boldly, "I'll only be a minute."

Cail growled softly at the insubordinate pup as a warning to stand down, but Winston checked him by laying a paw on his shoulder, so he relented.

"You have something to say, Jake?" Winston asked the pup, "you have my attention."

The other students took notice to the confrontation and ceased to run then turned and filed in to a distance of about ten feet so they could watch.

"Sir, I understand that you are trying to lead a pack, but dammit, logic and reason are not the only factors to consider when making decisions between what is right and what is wrong, especially when we are talking about somebody in your own family," Jake scolded, "your daughter faces losing something that is worth more to her than life itself," he continued, "I mean, does your daughter's happiness mean anything at all to you? Or are real emotions alien to your ability of comprehension?"

Winston stood silently as the pup lectured him, but he met his words with indifference.

"Are you finished?" Winston asked, causing the pup to scowl.

"For now," he replied bitterly so as to assure the leader that he would not be tamed.

Winston sighed and took a seat.

"You're a smart kid, Jake," he began, "you always have been, but you're just a pup. I don't expect you to understand."

Jake scoffed.

"I think I understand this perfectly," he rebutted, "y-"

"Then you understand that the reason why I'm doing this is for the well-being of both Humphrey and my daughter," Winston interrupted firmly, "take a moment to look beyond the fact that Humphrey may die at a young age," he continued, "I know it's tragic, but tragedy is a part of life, Jake."

Jake opened up his mouth to offer protest, but his voice was cut off inside of his throat when his leader continued to speak.

"Instead of focusing on the aspect of tragedy alone," Winston continued, "look at the reasons why we are considering the option in the first place."

As he finished this statement, his voice began to grow noticeably weaker.

"He has to be fed through a straw, Jake," he carried on, his voice now low and strained, "Mary has to clean the feces from his fur with rags. My daughter is slowly going over the deep end and all I've been able to do is watch."

He cleared his throat and regained his composure.

"I don't want Humphrey to go any more than you do, but we have to think about what is best for him," he stated, drawing near to the conclusion of his argument, "even if that means letting him die." He paused as anger became evident upon his face. "And don't you worry one bit about Gauge," he seethed, "we'll see that he pays dearly for what he has done."

Jake's jaw remained locked for a moment, then fell slack in the company of a sigh.

"I'm sorry, sir," he apologized, lowering his head, "I was out of line."

Winston raised his paw dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, son," he replied, then lowered his paw to the grass once more, "just don't make a habit out of this, alright?"

Jake nodded, flattening his ears.

"Yes, sir," he said with a slow nod.

"Winston," Eve's voice suddenly cut into the air which caused the group to turn to her, and upon moving their eyes to her they found her to be approaching with Jack and Mary following close at the rear.

Winston met their presence with a sigh and turned back to Cail.

"Do what you can," he instructed, then moved past him to greet his party.

"Where is he," Jack demanded flatly, disallowing a greeting to take place.

"Follow me," Winston replied monotonously as he turned and began to lead them toward the den in which Humphrey lied.

A&?

Everything that she was about to do went against her common sense; but she was desperate and because of this desperation, her ability of rationalization was non-existent. She was not about to let them take him from her, and she was going to do whatever it took to make sure that they couldn't.

Her determined scowl faded to a face of common normality as she entered the den, where she found Mary to be preparing for her visitors.

"Oh, Kate," the older female greeted in a tone which betrayed discomfort, "I didn't expect to see you here so soon."

"There's been a slight change," Kate lied, "my dad sent me to inform you that he would like to speak with you in his temporary den to discuss this matter further."

Mary stopped what she was doing and focused her attention on Kate.

"What would he like to discuss?"

"Probably just the gist of what is going on," Kate began, "you know how he is with details."

Mary sighed and lowered her head.

"Alright," she digressed in a tone which hinted annoyance, "if he says so."

Kate nodded as Mary approached and turned to follow her out, but upon reaching the mouth of the den, she stopped.

This caused Mary to pause as well.

"Aren't you coming, too?" she asked.

"I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye on him," Kate replied, "just to be sure nothing happens while you're gone."

Mary sighed.

"Kate, I know what it is that you are trying to do," she began sympathetically, "but you must-"

She did not want to raise her paws against their healer, but she had been given no other option. With guilt nagging at the back of her mind, Kate punched Mary square in the side of her head and dropped her like a fly.

"I'm sorry," Kate apologized sincerely as she began to drag her around the back, "but I have to do this."

A&?

Only by a miracle did Humphrey manage to duck the evil wolf's attack. At first, the omega was petrified with fear, but at the last second his instinct of survival kicked in, and he came back to life. His body seemed to act before his mind could tell it to do so and he rolled out of the way with only a mere second to differentiate between life and death. There was a curse from the attacker then a pained snarl as his chest and head smashed into the wall, and he fell to the floor, slightly dazed.

However, he recovered quickly and shook the pain away with a growl, then turned to see that Humphrey had already fled from the den.

This caused him to smile maliciously.

"Alright," he began menacingly, "let the games begin."

He pulled himself to his paws and took off after Humphrey, who had, in this moment of absolute desperation, found speed the likes of which he never thought he could reach and put a distance of one hundred fifty yards between himself and the thing which sought to destroy him.

Humphrey knew that he would not stand a chance against this beast. He knew nothing about fighting, as he had only been taught one defense mechanism before everything happened and he doubted that such knowledge would do much to help him now. This beast was a ferocious killer, a monster without reason, or soul, or mercy, and Humphrey knew that if it caught him again, he would surely be slaughtered.

But he also knew that he could not run forever, as this beast was part of him. It knew him almost as well as, if better than he did. It could find him anywhere and he knew, with great fear, that it was only a matter of time before he did.

He had to come up with a plan while he still had time, but his mind was so fried by fear that the only thought he could focus on was the possible whereabouts of the thing which pursued him. He dared not look back, because he feared what he would find, and he dared not stop, no matter how much his body begged him to.

But he should have been prepared for what lied ahead, for out of nowhere, at a distance of about twenty yards before him, the monster materialized with a smile.

Humphrey gasped and slammed his paws into the ground in an attempt to stop himself, but was traveling too fast and lost his footing. His paws caught and buckled beneath him and he became airborne for a moment before he slammed to the ground on his side and bounced painfully to a stop at the monster's paws.

Fueled purely by adrenaline, Humphrey's body was able to ignore the pain from his fall and before he had come to rest for even a second, his legs were flailing as he attempted to flee; but a heavy paw arrested him and rolled him over onto his back.

Humphrey panted with eyes wide with terror as he stared up at the wretched beast.

"Going somewhere?" it growled, pressing down hard on his shoulder.

Humphrey grimaced as its paw drove into the tender flesh on his shoulder and began to thrash about and gasp for air as panic overtook him.

The beast smiled cruelly down upon him then snarled as its teeth flashed toward his jugular.

A&?

A deliberate sluggishness carried Winston in the direction of Mary's den, as the albatross he bore for what Humphrey's parents would have to see and consider weighed heavier upon his neck than any other he had ever donned before. Jack and Mary followed close behind, both with anger, sadness, and concern blended upon their faces, and Eve held the rear.

Absolute silence carried them on their way, but this silence possessed a voice which spoke louder than words, as it allowed the true gravity of the situation settle in upon them. For most of their journey, they had tried to evade the severity of their situation by focusing their thoughts elsewhere. Now, though, they could not avoid it, as the eyes of the students and instructors which silently stared at them as the sauntered passed were the things which spoke for the silence and so pressed the weight down upon their shoulders. All they could do was lower their eyes to their paws, Jack and Mary out of anger, and Winston and Eve, out of shame.

Time seemed to drone on forever in this moment, as everything around them seemed to have lost its sense of life. The wind did not blow, the birds did not sing or fly overhead, and the wolves who stood aside stood and watched with the empty attention of a child's porcelain doll.

Finally the torment of judgement subsided as their trek led them beyond the boundaries of the training grounds, though they could still feel those blank stares drilling into the backs of their skulls, and then came to an end as they veered off toward the nesting area where they would be shielded from view. Still, though, the silence remained.

They sauntered on through the desolate nesting area until finally the healer's den came into view, but there was something different which they were not used to seeing, and upon gaining a closer inspection, they found that a barrier of sticks had been built in its entrance to deny them access to its interior.

Winston saw and his blank face melded into a scowl.

"Dammit, Kate," he muttered.

Eve, Jack, and Mary each took on expressions of their own to express their shock and all four of them picked up their pace to a brisk jog until finally they arrived at the foot of the barrier.

A&?

Kate panted as she stood inside the den and studied the obstruction which she had built.

It was sturdy, as she had taken the time to be sure that she braced it firmly into place, but she knew that it would only stave them off for so long, because she had been severely pressed for time and henceforth had to work quickly.

The lighting inside the den was dimmed significantly by this barrier, as it only allowed thin rays of sunshine to percolate through narrow gaps between the various sticks and branches, but still allowed enough to be able to see the inside of the den with proper concentration.

Satisfied that her job was completed for the time being, Kate turned her eyes down to Humphrey, whom she had left undisturbed during the entire process, and sat down protectively at his side.

"I won't let them get you," she promised firmly as a scowl of determination etched itself into the lines of her face, "you can count on that."

A&?

"Kate, what in the hell do you think you are doing!" Winston barked through the barrier as Eve and the other two stood at his back.

A&?

Kate's ears flicked into attention as she heard her father's words penetrate the obstruction and she rose to her feet, but remained by her mate's side.

"You're not taking him away from me!" she yelled defensively, "I won't let you!"

"Kate, you're being completely irrational!" she heard her father say, "take this damned thing down and let us in!"

"No!" Kate refused, "if you want him, you're gonna have to come and take him from me!"

A&?

From around the backside of the den, Mary, their healer, slowly regained consciousness. Her head throbbed with pain as she slowly lifted it and that was when faded words began to penetrate her ears. For a moment, she could not recollect what had happened to her, and could not recognize where she was, but when the final moments before her blackout came flooding back to her, she realized what had happened and felt new life begin to fill her body.

She picked herself starkly up off of the ground and turned to where the front of the den was located and moved toward it under cross words from Winston.

"What's happening here," she asked as she rounded the front to find Winston, Eve, Jack, and Humphrey's mother, Mary, standing out front.

"Mary," Winston exclaimed when he heard her voice, which caused the others to turn.

It was at this point that they saw the swelling on the side of her face.

"What happened to you?" Winston asked, concerned, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied, "but your daughter's got one helluva right hook."

Winston growled and turned to the barrier once more.

"Kate, I am giving you ten seconds to start taking this thing down, or I'm gonna do it myself!" he yelled.

It was at this point that the healer saw what Kate had built.

"She did this?" Mary asked to Eve and Humphrey's parents and only got a nod in reply.

A&?

Kate growled.

"Come and get us!" she screamed, stomping a paw onto the ground.

She heard a snarl and curse from beyond the barrier then heard rustling and snapping as her father began to rip at what she had built.

The structure shuttered and shook as it was beaten on, but so far did its job. However, she realized when a hole about six inches was punched into it near the middle, that it was not quite as strong as she had previously calculated.

She felt desperation overpower her as the hole grew slowly wider. This wasn't going to work. She had to find a way to warn him, but how?

A&?

With one last, desperate struggle, Humphrey managed to free his foreleg and shield his throat from the monster's teeth.

He cried out in pain as he felt the beast crunch down on his leg, but this small sacrifice, he knew, saved his life.

The demon growled in frustration and released Humphrey's leg to try again, but its anger blinded its judgement. It moved too quickly and henceforth lifted a significant amount of its weight from Humphrey's shoulders, which allowed the omega to roll and throw him off.

Humphrey wasted no time and leapt to his paws, then began to sprint away again.

His leg was in immense pain, but luckily was not shattered to splinters by his enemy's teeth, and was therefore still useful. The pain slowed him slightly, but the adrenaline and terror which coursed quickly through his body allowed him to ignore the majority of the throb, because his life was at stake.

"Get back here, you son of a bitch!" the monster yelled as he picked himself up and began to give chase once more, "I'll kill you!"

As Humphrey continued to run, he felt the ground beneath his paws begin to tremor, then up ahead he saw a massive rock wall spring forth from the ground. Startled, Humphrey slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop about fifteen yards from the foot of this wall and turned quickly to flee the other direction, but found his evil self to he standing there waiting.

"You cannot go back, Humphrey," it seethed, "your will to live will not allow you to retreat after having come this far."

Humphrey's eyes flashed around for a means of escape, but found that two more walls began to rise on either side of him, trapping him inside with only one way out.

The evil wolf saw and smiled cruelly.

"It's over, Humphrey," he growled, "make this easy and I promise I will kill you quickly."

Humphrey's body began to tremble.

"No," he refused, "I would rather die than simply lie down and quit! Not when I've come this far!"

"Suit yourself," the evil wolf replied with a smirk and took on a fighting stance, "After I destroy your soul and your home, I'm going to reward myself by ripping that pretty little face off of your mate."

Humphrey snarled when the evil wolf made mention of harming Kate and charged at him.

"Over my dead body!" he screamed and leaped in at him, his teeth bared.

The evil wolf smiled and stepped out of the way, allowing Humphrey to land, then turned and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him to the ground.

Humphrey rolled to a stop and picked himself up quickly, raising his hackles and gnashing his fangs.

This caused the evil wolf to smirk.

"You'd be almost frightening if you weren't so cute," he teased then charged at him.

He swung his body wide then drove in from the right, attempting to land a blow to the omega's face, but Humphrey did something which the beast did not expect.

Humphrey swept his paw beneath the blow, diverting it harmlessly off to the side, then wrapped his leg around the monster's leg and pulled it in close and delivered three forceful blows to its ribs and the side of its face. The evil wolf snarled with pain as the blows landed and attempted to escape, but before he could, Humphrey swept his legs out from under him and flipped him over onto his back where he landed with a growl.

However, this enraged the beast, and before Humphrey could attempt to capitalize on the miracle he had just mustered, his evil self rolled to his paws and lunged at him, throwing tactics to the wind and swinging blindly.

Humphrey dodged these swings by leaping backward and realized now what he should have known from the beginning. The madder he made this part of him, the more careless it became. Perhaps he could use this as a way to defeat it.

"Come on," Humphrey teased as he jumped out of the way of a fourth blow, "can't you do any better than that?"

The beast growled and swung at him again, but again, missed.

"Is this really the thing I've feared for my whole life?" Humphrey taunted then cackled at the beast, "why?"

"Hold still you son of a bitch!" the evil wolf demanded, swinging at him.

"Woah! You almost had me there!" Humphrey commented as he felt the wind off of the blow which missed his face by only a few inches.

The evil wolf snarled then screamed as it leapt at Humphrey, but this time the omega was too slow to avoid it and was tackled.

The two rolled on the ground, one struggling and fighting with all he had for his life to break free and the other, snarling and snapping as he attempted to destroy the thing which had disrupted its plans for so long. Fur flew in the company of blood and pained yelps rose from both parties as torsos were gashed and limbs and ears were bitten. The pile flipped over and over as the two struggled to put an end to this once and for all. A grey wolf latched onto the other's throat and began to bite down, but released it with a howl of pain as the other raked his claws down his stomach and the pile flipped again. The ferocity with which each of them fought could not be matched by any other wolves doing battle, as the sheer hatred that the two shared for one another was so great that it had become almost a tangible thing between them.

Each of them hurt from the multiple wounds which had been inflicted upon their bodies, but they would not allow it to be their demise. One way or another, the one whom they fought was going to die.

There was a great outcry as one wolf's paw was bitten down on, followed by a snarl as the afflicted wolf sank his fangs into the scruff on the other's neck. This wolf growled and gouged the other's face with his claws, causing him to release his neck, then flipped so that he was on top and punched the one on the bottom square in the jaw. The other wolf yelped then choked as his neck was pressed down upon by a heavy paw, which he tried to remove, but could not. The wolf which stood overhead laughed as he slowly choked the life out of his enemy, but cried out in pain as a knee was brought up into his wolfhood. The other wolf took this as his chance and gained leverage then stood over his enemy, who writhed with pain.

"Die you son of a bitch!" he yelled and latched his teeth onto his enemy's throat.

There was a loud gasp then a snap as the wolf's jugular was torn out. Blood squirted from the hole in his throat like a fountain, painting the victor's face crimson, and the afflicted wolf struggled on the ground as it choked on its own life. Suddenly there was a great gust of wind, followed by a violent quake beneath his paws and from behind him, a white light appeared, through which he could hear the faint sound of a familiar voice.

"Don't worry, Humphrey," the voice said, "I'm coming for you."

The victorious wolf took not the time to ponder what was happening, as he knew he had not much time and made a mad dash for the light, leaving the other wolf to die alone.

His eyes could hardly stand to look and his body could hardly stand the searing temperature, so bright and so hot was the light which shone before him, but he continued to run for it and finally with one last leap of faith, he dove headlong into its heart.