Tooth And Claw (A VenturianTale Story) (Minor Ghost X Toast)

Homeward Bound - Almost

  Johnny Toast layed still as the rain pelted aginst his fur, making him feel cold, and wet. Luckily, Johnny Ghost remained by his side, at leasr somewhat better, and warmer.
  Toast thought about how Ghost had admitted that he loved him, and Toast admitted it back, but neither of them seemed to ever actually act on the feelings. Mentioning what happened that night almost seemed tabbo. He wondered what would happen if he brought them up in the morning...
  Toast stood up. Now was not the time to ponder, or to lay around. They needed to get back to Toast's house, or HQ. HQ was closer, Toast determined. He shook himself off, even though he'd just get just as much wet in a minute, and began to walk.
  Ghost's ears perked up. He watched his partner for a few moments before whimpering and chasing after him. The mud was slippery, and he nearly fell as he ran. The mud splashed against his brown fur, and the rain washed it off.
  Toast payed no mind to anything. He was focused on getting out of the forest. Ghost would whine and bump up against him, but Toast ignored it. He was on the scent of humans who had tracked through the are recently, so he knew he'd find civilization soon.
  Ghost really didn't like being ignored, but he growled and put up with it. Eventually, he caught a wiff of the track, too. He didn't understand why his human minded partner was so focused on it, though, as his wolf mind told him to stay away from people. But regardless, he trusted the older, bjgger, and stronger wolf.
  The forest seemed to become less dense as they walked on. This excited Toast, causing him to speed up. Ghost followed nervously and a lot slower than Toast. Soon, the trees were sparce enough so they could actually see the moon. Ghost took a few moments to howl at it, to Toast's disapproval. Toast just kept on walking, thinking about how awful being a wolf was.
  There was a brighter light just ahead that caused Toast to halt. Ghost bumped into Toast, but also stopped to look on confusion when he noticed the light. Toast sniffed the air, searching for the scent of humans; it was stronger than ever. Wagging his tail, Toast trotted off, leaving Ghost behind.
  Ghost ruffled up his fur, pointed his ears back, and tucked his tail as he growled. His eyes were wide as he backed away, wishing Toast would do the same. Toast didn't, however. He just turned back and watched in confusion. Ghost barked at Toast and got low to the ground, almost blending into the mud.
  Toast's ears went down in disappointment and frustration. He didn't see what Ghost did. Didn't smell what he did either. He walked ovee to Ghost and grabbed him by the neck and tried to pull him up, but Ghost resisted. He growled more and tried to pull his partner down as well.
  In Toasts second attempt to get his partner up, he heard something. His ears perked up immediately. He stopped and got low himself as he listened to the strange muffled voices.
  "I heard the noices from this way." The first voice said. It was distinctly female and sounded very certain.
  "Are you sure it was wolves?", a second male voice asked, "This is a hiking trail. It could be drunk teens."
  "It's wolves. I saw them." The female restated even more sure.
  Toast let out an instinctual growl. It was low, much darker sounding the usual. At the sound of this, the people seemed to stop, but only breifly. After the pause, there was a quick shuffling and the sound of a gun going off.
   The gun's bullet hit Ghost. He fell over, limp. He wasn't dead, Toast had discovered upon frantically sniffing him, just knocked out. Toast felt a wave of nervous rush over him as the female voice said "We'll get you home, wolfies." And he too was shot. Everything went to black for Toast...
  Could this be the end?