Dominant Species Ch. 61-62

Jesse's grin was wide as they led the Thunder Run to the middle of town. He was riding shotgun in the lead Jeep with Donald and two other wolves, dressed in desert camoflage with an AR-15 on a single point harness it was just like old times for him. Frank was their contact with Salmon Pack and Luke with North Fork.

So far, the run had been easy, they had moved through the outskirts of town without opposition. As they got closer, some people came out to see what was going on. Jesse would scream "FREEDOM!" and they would raise their fists as they went past. It was time to rid the town of the infestation brought by the former inmates of the prison.

Things slowed down a little as they got closer to downtown, as there were more vehicles in the way. Donald had the Salmon pack warriors dismount and shift, sending them to each side of their convoy to make sure they wouldn't be ambushed. They steered around the stalled vehicles near the Bank of Montana, and finally had a clear path to the City Hall in the main square of the town.

"Looks like we won't hit any resistance," the North Fork warrior said.

Just then, a volley of shots tore into the convoy. Donald jerked the wheel left as his windshield was shattered by multiple rifle rounds, and the trucks behind him also broke the line and headed for cover behind parked cars. Donald's maneuver caused him to hit the curb, and the combination of speed and turn rate made the Jeep unstable, and it rolled on its side. Luckily, the Jeep body was between them and the snipers who were on the roof and windows of the three story building ahead of them. Donald freed himself from the seat belt, then looked around. "Everyone all right?"

Jesse popped his belt and rolled out, taking a position near the engine for cover. "I'm all right."

Frank freed himself, moving to the rear of the vehicle for cover. "He's gone," he said. Donald looked up, one of the shots had entered Luke's forehead and left a fist size exit hole on the back of his head, there was no coming back from that one. He grabbed the rifles and extra magazines, plus his bag of explosives, and joined Jesse up front.

"They have us pinned down on two sides," Jesse said. "I count a dozen shooters in City Hall, and three more on top of the building to the left." He looked around behind them, they had gone too far into the street to get cover from parked or stalled vehicles. They were truly on their own.

Donald moved over to where Frank was at. "Pass along to the Salmon wolves they need to circle wide and flank these guys, get in the buildings and take them out. Tell them we're pinned here."

Frank closed his eyes. "They are on it. The trucks are somewhat protected, the humans are spreading out. They've got a few with scoped rifles that will go after the shooters we can see."

The next five minutes were tough on the attackers. There were a few good shots among the bad guys, and they had good elevated positions to shoot from. They were smart enough to shoot and move, and that made it tough for them to take them out. Jesse was getting nervous, being pinned like this never ended well. "We have to break out of this, boss. Any ideas?"

Donald looked down at the bag he had brought with; the homemade Claymores were in there, but instead of detonation cord they now had fuses. Four of them could make a difference. He took two out, and put his pistol and extra magazines in his bag with the remaining two. "If we can get inside, these charges will clear out an entire room, then we go room to room for the rest. We have to knock out the guys from behind." He looked at Frank. "Any progress on getting at these guys from the back?"

Frank shook his head. "The parking lot behind the building is almost empty, no cover and too far to run. They've lost a couple already, they are still trying to figure out how to get in there."

Donald looked at Jesse. "You stay here and provide covering fire. Frank, put these in your bag and shift. Tell everyone to give us cover fire while we make a break for it. When we get inside, we'll both clear the ground floor, then you go to the second and I'll go to the third." As soon as Frank was shifted, he took his bag in his mouth and moved to the back of the jeep. They were just about to give the order to go when a loud thumping sound was heard, quickly approaching. Donald looked up, the helicopter was back.

The moon was bright enough that he could make out the Huey gunship and the door gunners leaning out the sides. The firing slowed as both sides tried to figure out what this was. Donald was spurred into action. "It's our diversion, go go go!" He shifted, grabbed his bag and sprinted around the front of the vehicle as Jesse opened up, along with a number of the others in their team. Donald sprinted for the front doors as Frank ran for a ground floor window, both ignoring the bullets slamming into the ground around them as they ran. The helicopter made a low pass on the scene but didn't interfere. Donald ran up the stairs, shifting on his final jump, and stood in front of the double doors. He opened it and jumped through, his pistol in his hand as he looked for resistance and found none.

Frank took a running leap through his chosen window, landing in a large office area. He shifted, ignoring the cuts on his body from the glass as he did so. He pulled the pistol out and grabbed the bag of explosives with his left. Moving to the doorway, he opened it quickly and knelt down. A man with a rifle was running his way, sighting quickly he squeezed the trigger twice and the man fell. He ran over to him, pulling the rifle away and slinging it over his shoulder. He heard firing from a room down the hall, so he went that way.

Donald had moved down the hallway to his left, finding no one he reached the emergency stairway and climbed up to the third floor. His level and the roof had most of the snipers. As he reached the doorway, he heard the helicopter coming back, but this time it had started firing. He could almost feel the machine gun fire as it slammed into the building and burst through the windows, but he ignored it as he entered the long hallway. He heard firing from a conference room to his left; pulling the first charge from his bag, he cut the fuse down to just a few inches before lighting it. He opened the door, tossed it in and ran down the hall towards his next target. The explosion rocked the building, and the firing behind him stopped.

Frank moved to the stairway as he didn't find any more resistance. Running up a floor, he could hear several people yelling in the hallway behind the exit door. Smiling, he pulled out a charge and lit it. When it was nearly done, he opened the door and tossed it down the hall, then raced down the stairs to the landing. The explosion didn't disappoint, the fire door caved inwards from the blast and was penetrated in several places. He didn't wait for his ears to stop ringing, he just ran back up and through the door. The hallway was shredded, he counted four men dead and the fifth he shot dead as he ran past.

He had made it to the west hallway when a door opened ahead of him and a rifle fired four times. He felt pain in his chest and his right arm as he dove to the side, his pistol falling to the ground as his hand couldn't grip it any more.

There were shouts down the hallway as he pulled himself to a sitting position with his good arm. Ignoring the pain and the blood he was coughing up, he pulled the last charge out and lit the fuse. He could feel the life draining from him as he watched the fuse burn down. When it was almost there, he used the last of his strength to push himself forward and launch the bag down the hall with his left arm.

The explosion silenced the noises in the hallway, and he smiled as he bled out onto the worn carpeting. "Second floor clear... take care of my family... tell them I'm sorry... I..."

Outside by the trucks, Reggie felt the pain of the bond breaking as he processed the last words of his Pack warrior. He pushed aside the pain, the battle was still going on. The attack run by the helicopter had done serious damage to the men on the rooftops, and he needed to end this now. He ordered his men to attack. Instantly, wolves rushed forward through the empty parking lot, this time only sporadic fire greeted them. They entered through multiple doors and windows and kept going, shifting only when they needed to open doors or windows.

The battle only lasted a few more minutes before the wolves had taken down all the resistance. Reggie and Calvin moved to the area in front of the steps, the humans with them, as they met the warriors in human and wolf form who were now coming out of the building. They were being updated on the situation when Donald walked out the front doors, limping slightly as he moved.

The helicopter was now circling the square, so Reggie took his white T-shirt off and waved it over his head. "Put your weapons down," he told everyone and they quickly complied. The Huey circled once more, then landed on the roof.

There was no sound as the dead and wounded were carried one by one to the waiting trucks; in addition to Luke and Frank, two other fighters had been killed and another six were injured. Humans and werewolves alike stood to honor the fallen as they went past, and to encourage the wounded. Reggie had them all return to the trucks while the three Alphas stayed in front of the stairs at the front of the partially destroyed building.

It didn't take long for the men from the helicopter to join them. Three men, all armed with rifles and wearing flight suits, emerged from the doors as the helicopter waited for them above. The leader looked around before he walked down the stairs and stood in front of the three, while the other men stayed by the door.

"Welcome to Missoula, Captain." Donald recognized the double bar insignia and the Montana Air National Guard patches on his suit. He also recognized something more surprising- his scent. He wasn't human, he was a werewolf. "I'm Alpha Donald Ross of the newly formed Bitterroot Valley pack. This is Alpha Reggie Wolfe of the Salmon Pack, and Alpha Calvin Pierce of North Fork. What brings you here, Captain?"

He looked at the three and smiled. "I'm Beta John Kennedy of the Helena pack, but right now I'm representing the Air Guard under Colonel Michael Kent. I was doing my weekend duty when this hit, we managed to survive and get one of the old helicopters going. We were contacted by a ham radio operator who told us this town was under the thumb of a criminal gang, so the Colonel sent us to investigate. I take it that is why you guys are this far north?"

Donald nodded. "My mate's family is from here, and we ran into those assholes down in Corvallis as they were getting ready to rape some women. We rallied the towns and came up here to get rid of them. Thanks for your help, by the way."

John laughed. "The first pass we couldn't figure out who was the good guys, but when I saw wolves surrounding the building I knew you were fighting them. There's something satisfying about a weapons free run." He looked back at the two men behind him. "My gunners sure liked it. They are human though, as is my pilot and my unit."

The meet and greet was soon interrupted by the townspeople who had come out to see who had freed them from the grip of the criminals. There were medical personnel among them, who took the wounded to the hospital for treatment. Western hospitality being what it was, the park soon transformed into a picnic area as residents flooded in, bringing food and drink with them. It was a good chance for everyone to celebrate and get to know each other as the night was ending.

Captain Kennedy was first to break it up. "I have to get back to base before sunrise. How can I get in contact with you?"

Reggie talked briefly with the other two, then shook his hand. "Invite your Commanding Officer and his representatives to meet us in three nights in Salmon, land at the clinic there. We will have the leadership of the towns, civilian and werewolf, there to meet with you. Our goal is to bring peace and order to this land so we can keep as many people alive as possible."

"I can do that. Thank you, Alphas, and I look forward to seeing you again." He and his men went back into the building, and a few minutes later the helicopter took off and headed east.

"It's getting late," Calvin said. "We need to find places to rest for the night. Tomorrow we'll burn the dead, then we can head back home."

"You're staying with us," one of the women said. Sure enough, soon every wolf and human in their group had an invitation to stay with someone in town. Calvin smiled, this was exactly the kind of bonding they would need if the region was to take the next step. He walked with a family to the home he would stay in for the night, looking at the eastern sky starting to light up, and said a silent prayer of thanks to Luna for their success, and a plea to help the families of the dead.

Dawn broke on a different world than the day before.

--

"Alpha Josi, we need you again."

The young Alpha groaned, opened her eyes and looked at the wind up alarm clock in the corner of the clinic waiting room that had been converted into a staff sleeping area. Thirty minutes... she had only been asleep for half a freaking hour and it was almost sundown. She sat up, rubbing her eyes as her wolf searched for its mate; he was too far away, they had left for Corvallis and weren't expected back for a few more days. Reggie being gone left a hole in her heart that physically hurt; she had only been mated for a short time, but was addicted to him.

She groaned, then got up off the couch and walked back into the treatment area. She had been back there most of the night as a number of new wolves were making their first changes, and they needed an Alpha there to keep the new wolf under control. The Salmon pack had developed a model program for helping humans through the changes, as Doctor Marcus had personally bit over a hundred of the town's residents to save them from a slow death due to radiation poisoning. The treatment and training they had to develop was now being shared with humans turned by other packs under an agreement the three Alphas made.

"Where is the new turn?" None of her Pack members could look her in the face, they just moved aside and then she saw one of the people that had been sent south to visit the other Packs. The young woman wouldn't look at her, she kept looking at her hand which was holding something, a necklace, it looked like...

"I'm sorry, Alpha. We found your scent on a Ford Excursion outside Blue Dome on the way to Idaho Falls. There was a woman in the car."

Josi sank to the ground as her eyes picked up the detail of the necklace she had given her Mom for Christmas last year. "She was caught in the open, she didn't have a chance. We buried her, we thought you would want this back."

Josi's mouth was open as the woman approached and placed the necklace in her hand. She looked at it and the emotions took her, she sobbed loudly as she fell to the ground. The Pack members all reacted to her emotions, some coming to embrace her while others shifted and howled their loss to the skies.

Josi's only family member was gone, her mate was too far away to sense, and no comfort was enough for her as she wailed her grief to the room. Her Pack did its best, but ten minutes was all the time she had to grieve as another human was making the change. Josi got up, wiped her eyes and went back to work.

When she had another break, she sought out Jessie, the young woman who had gone to Idaho Falls with one other. Taking her hand, she led her into a small examination room where they could have some privacy. "Thank you, Jessie, for taking care of my mother." She touched the necklace she now wore around her neck. "She was all I had left, but at least I know." It took a few moments before she was able to look at her eyes, there were tears in them. "What is it like out there?"

"It's bad, Alpha." She looked at her feet, then back into Josi's eyes. "The closer we got to Idaho Falls, the worse it was. Cars in the road, in the ditches. People dead in the cars, in the ditches, pretty much everywhere. The desert sun had cooked everything pretty badly; if it wasn't for your scent on the car, we wouldn't have come within ten yards of it. We decided I should come back and tell you while he continued to Idaho Falls. We could smell the burning from there and see the glow on the horizon. I don't know what he will find there."

Josi closed her eyes, then opened them. "I guess we'll find out in a few days. Come on, there are people who need help, and you need some food and rest." She led Jesse off with her arm around her shoulder, providing the love and support needed from her Alpha Female.

They had almost made it back out to the reception area when Tammy broke through on the mental bond. "Alpha Josi, I need your help! It's Robert, something's wrong, his wolf is growling at everyone!"

She turned and ran back towards the rooms, wondering why a mate wasn't enough to help Deputy Stevens complete his change. She saw her Pack members backing away from the open door; moving between them, she let her Alpha power precede her, she needed to squash this before someone got hurt.

The wolf standing protectively over Tammy's wolf on the floor was huge, as big as Reggie. He was silver with black and white highlights, his eyes were a glowing green, and he glared at Josi as she entered. Josi expected him to cower as her Alpha powers washed over him, but the opposite occurred. He growled louder and let his own influence out.

Robert was an Alpha.

They pushed back and forth, both posturing as their wolves fought for dominance. Josi sent to Tammy to shift back to human form, but before she could change she was pinned to the floor. Robert had his jaws on her neck, and she immediately stilled and presented her neck and stomach in submission. When this happened, Josi felt her bond with her break as it reformed to her new Alpha.

Josi backed out of the room and closed the door, thinking that some time alone with his mate might be enough. Sometimes you needed to deescalate the situation, she didn't want to fight with a newly turned wolf. She could hear the growling had stopped and the sounds had turned into those of a mating; Tammy was howling in pleasure as she was taken in wolf form. Smiling, Josi walked back to the front. "At least I'll have some help after he gets through his basic training," she smiled to herself as she sat down again.

"Alpha Josi, we need you again!" She let out a huge sigh and got up. No sleep was in her future, evidently.

---

Candice looked around the storerooms in the basement of city hall, and the rapidly filling nature of them. She had pushed aside her desire to mate with Duane because she had an important job here in Corvallis; it was up to her to get people organized. As soon as the buses had left, she called a meeting of all the residents still alive on the steps of City Hall. They knew about werewolves, some of them were receptive and some were hesitant, but all quickly saw the wisdom in using their time to be prepared.

Just as they had done in her Pack, she divided the people into groups and sent them into town to collect what they could. The grocery store downtown took all the canned and boxed food they could find, power had been out way too long to risk the stench of opening a refrigerator or freezer. In these rooms, they were collecting clothing, boots, tools and anything else that might be of use. She was happy at the collection of gas powered machines collecting in a screened in area; the water pumps and small generators could come in very handy. Drugs and medical supplies were being collected at the drug store across the street.