Murder in the Flames

Prologue

The air was thick with the scent of smoke. It was unbearable, the big dog's nose was filled with it. No matter how many times he coughed he couldn't get it out of his lunges. Fear was pulsing through his body, but he forced himself to remain calm. After all, he was the Alpha. All around him humans screamed and ran, occasionally he had to leap out of their path. The Alpha ducked his head, sniffing at the earth, but all he could smell was they terrible smoke, slowly choking him. His eyes burned as much as his throat, he knew he needed to get away from all the burning human dens.

"Dogs!" He barked, holding back a cough. "Where are you?" He breathed in deeply, looking for their scent, but of course that just filled his lungs with more smoke. He pricked his ears at the sound of barking. He sprinted towards the sound, stopping at a pile of debris that seemed to have fallen off a burning human house. Behind it was a white German Shepherd, its leg and tail trapped under a heavy wooden piece that was beginning to burn.

"Frost!" He yelped. His mate whimpered, yet her eyes were calm.

"Help," she yelped. "I'm stuck!" The Alpha wasted no time, springing forward and nudging the heavy wood. He growled at the flames as if he could scare them away. Cautiously, he gripped the underside of the wood with his jaws, making sure to avoid the top burning part. He felt the heat of the near flames on his already dry nose, but he ignored it. Bunching up his muscles, he gave the wood a sharp tug. It moved slightly, and a whimper of pain escaped Frost.

He growled. How dare this fire put my mate in pain. The Alpha tugged again, this time harder, and in the split second he did so Frost yanked out her leg and tail and stumbled to her paws. He quickly let go of the wood and sniffed Frost's leg. There were no sign of any burn. Frost's white pelt was streaked with ash. "I'm all right," she said, giving his face a quick lick. Her tongue was dry, the Alpha noticed. They needed to get away from the fire. "My leg and tail hurts from being trapped, but you saved me before the fire reached them. Thank you, Flash." He nodded.

"We need to find the others," he barked. "And Sword. I have to see if he's okay, and then we all need to get out of here." Frost nodded.

"We can follow the cars," she barked.

"Good idea," Flash replied. They both ran, Flash leading the way. They ended up at Trip's human's den. "Trip!" Flash barked. "Trip!" There was a volley of barking, and Trip appeared in one of the windows, paws pressed up against it.

"He's trapped," Frost yelped, her bark ending in a whine.

"I have an idea. I've seen Gunner free Dodger from his cruel human's den before. Hold on Trip!" Flash barked. "We need a thin piece of wood," he growled to Frost. Frost's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Finding wood will be easy. Finding some that isn't burning will be hard."

"I know," Flash growled. He looked around, running over to a pile of rubbish. Some of the pieces looked charred, but a few were hardly touched. He poked around, wrinkling his nose at a piece of burnt rubber and grabbed the end of a wooden plank. Frost helped him, and they dragged it over to Trip's window. Trip had begun barking again. With a lot of effort, Flash and Frost managed to use the board as a leverage to slide the window up and open. As they pushed it up Trip growled, sticking first his paws then muzzle into the opening until he could scramble out.

"What happened?" Flash barked.

"My humans were so frantic to get away from the fire they left me," the husky snarled. He let out a few loud angry barks, then dropped his head shamefully. "I panicked when I found out I was stuck. Thank you for saving me, Alpha."

"No need to be so formal," he barked, at the word Alpha. "Any dog would do the same for you." Frost let out a yip, and Trip quickly thanked her for helping to save him. Flash imagined other dogs like Trip, locked in a human den and being burned alive. He shuddered. "We have to hurry," he barked. "The others might need our help." Just as he said this, he heard a loud bark, and the three dogs turned around to see Boots the Burmese Mountain dog, charging towards them.

"Flash! Frost! Trip!" He barked. "I'm glad you all are all right. The others are with Sword! We're missing Trickster and Oz," he barked.

"What if he's trapped? I know where Oz's house is," Trip barked.

"Or his humans took him," Boots barked, making Trip growl.

"I'd never leave you guys!" Came a howl. Peering through the smoke and soot, the four dogs saw Oz running towards them, long fur singed and sooty. "I got burned," he said, holding up a red paw. "But I'll live," he woofed, bending down to lick it. Flash saw blood on Oz's muzzle. Poor Oz. He must have really burned it. I'm glad he's alive. The thought of losing the calm and gentle collie was unbearable. He was always a good dog to go to if you needed help settling an argument.

Flash shook his head. "We need to go," he growled. "Boots says the others are waiting."

"You can lean on me, Oz," Frost offered.

"Thank you," the tricolored collie replied. Boots lead the way, dodging debris, flames, cars, and humans the best he could. They once saw a cat tearing down the street, but nobody gave chase. Flash was able to breathe easier as they went, leaving the worst of the fire behind. The Alpha soon realized that they were headed for the dog park. As soon as he smelled the other dogs, he heard lots of barking. Lucy was the first to greet them and cover them with licks.

"You're all right! You're all right!" she yelped.

"Lucy, back up," Flash barked.

"Yes, sorry," she barked, letting out a small whine and stepping aside. Flash spotted Sword, and the wolfdog nodded. Since Sword was a wolfdog, most were afraid of him. He was very wild, apparently gone through many different homes and shelters.

"You found Oz," he barked. "But no sign of Trickster." Trickster was his brother, who had run away from his human owners and found Sword.

"Yes, still no sign of him," Flash whined. Sword began to pace.

"He could be trapped somewhere. I'm going back where the fire is the worst to find him. Who will come with me?" he demanded.

"I will," barked Dodger. 

"And me," Bone barked. All of Sword's pack starting barking, saying them would come with him.

"Then my pack will come too. We won't leave a dog behind," Flash barked. Even if it's a scary wolfdog, Flash added in his mind.

"Thank you," barked Sword, before signaling his dogs to him with a flick of his ears. Flash let him take the lead, as they ran back towards the fire. His whole body howled at him to turn back and get to safety, but Flash ignored it. Together the dogs started a painful process of checking every human den and pile of rubble.

"Come here! I've found something!" Barked Gunner. The dogs thundered towards him, and Flash's stomach twisted. A dog body lay in the flames. Sword howled in despair. Not all of his body was in the flames, and the dogs were able to pull him out and stamp out the flames. It was undoubtedly Trickster. All the dogs began to howl their grief to the sky, before Sword finally silenced them.

"This fire has brought us nothing but tragedy. Why is the Earth punishing us?" he snarled, and nosed his brother's dead and burned body. Sword paused. "I smell blood," he growled, "and not from the burns." He then sniffed again. "And I smell dog." Sword flipped over his brother's body. There, on the side of Trickster's neck, were bite marks. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Trickster.... was not killed by the flames," Sword murmured, then rounded on the other dogs, snarling. "He was MURDERED!"

Accusing growls rose up among the dogs. "It was you, wasn't it?" Sword demanded, glaring at Flash. "You were afraid of him. You're afraid of me too. You wanted power so you killed him!" Flash was not about to let Sword accuse him of murder.

"I did not!" He barked. "I did no such thing! I'm an honorable dog, and you know it!"

"Then someone in your pack did," Sword snarled, hackles raised.

"Wait!" Barked Frost. "Let's not jump to conclusions-" her protest was drowned out by Sword's howl and an uproar of barks.

"Pack!" He snarled, after the howl. "Attack!"