Sniffer sat up. He couldn’t stand up because he thought his ankle may have been broken where the Spylore landed on him. His display had triggered, but with the panic and fear, he had ignored any warnings being displayed. He pulled himself to a sitting position. Tears ran down his cheeks as he looked at Tiddles and reached out, stroking him fondly. “You did it, boy. You saved me and the town.”

Tiddles was covered in blood, and Sniffer glanced over his body. Apart from a couple of minor scratches and his previous wound that had been getting treatment, he did not even look as though he had been injured. Tiddles sat and nuzzled into Sniffer's shoulder. “Hey. I don’t need to be covered in that thing's blood.” He said, smiling at him.

Tiddles pulled back, realising his state for the first time. He turned to look at a snowdrift against the side of a nearby building and headed over. Unceremoniously, he dove into it and began rolling around. Sniffer watched as the snow started to melt from the heat coming off his body. The previously pure white snow turned pink as blood began to be cleaned off his fur.

“You need a trip to the river,” Sniffer called over to him. Tiddles turned, tilted his head sideways, and then headed off towards the river with a nod.

Stevo came out of the building where his rope crew had been positioned. He walked up to Sniffer, and before he could say anything, Sniffer said, “Nice shot.”

“Pure luck, I was trying to hit its body,” he replied with a grin.

“Shit, glad you didn’t hit it in the body,” Sniffer smiled.

“Let’s get you up,” Stevo said.

“Hang on, let me check my messages. I am not sure how damaged my ankle is.”

Warning – your right ankle has been sprained. He breathed a sigh of relief at the message. “Just sprained. I thought it may have been broken,” he said, offering his arm to Stevo.

Stevo grabbed him and helped him to his feet. Sniffer gingerly placed weight on his ankle.

“Nope, that is not happening.”

Stevo grabbed him around him, and Sniffer draped his arm over his shoulder.

“Let’s get you indoors at least.” He said.

Holland had come out of the other building and was busy ordering some of the townsfolk around who had filtered out of the main building onto the street. Several had walked up to where the body of the Angelore lay, gawping at its corpse. Sniffer had witnessed the fight at close hand, but the damage to its body that Tiddles had inflicted was horrendous. Bite marks were visible all over its back, and the pool of blood which now coloured the snow-covered street around it was significant.

“Shit,” Sniffer said, hopping to face the other direction quickly.

“What?’ Stevo said, spinning to maintain his hold.

“The other fucking Spylore. We need to check that it is dead.” He said.

Lying about seventy feet away was the still form of the other Spylore that the Angelore had hit.

“Holland!” Stevo bellowed.

Holland turned and looked, overhearing the panic in Stevo's voice.

“The other one needs checking.” He shouted.

The chatter from the people on the street changed silenced.

Holding one of the crude spears, Holland moved towards the Spylore, calling three other men with him. They approached it cautiously with their spears pointing at the body. The tension was palpable as Holland prodded it sharply with his spear.

“It is dead.” He shouted back up the street.

“Thank fuck.” Sniffer said, letting his breath out, not realising he had been holding it.

“Can we get you inside now?” Stevo said.

“Yeah,” Sniffer said, smiling.

They made their way past the growing crowd and entered the central building. Martha was still inside fussing around the children being kept off the street away from the dead Wild Ones.

“Oh, poor dear.” She said, grabbing a chair and helping Sniffer sit down. “Here.” She said, turning and holding a large pot of coffee. She handed Sniffer the cup and poured the hot liquid, filling it for him.

Sniffer took a deep swig of the bitter coffee and sighed, feeling the hot liquid burn down his throat. “Thanks, Martha.” He said.

Inside the building, several adults were busy cleaning up from the mess Tiddles and Spylore had created. Sniffer noticed that there were at least three bodies in the corner of the room, which had been covered with blankets, and that there were several injured townsfolk sitting around being cared for as best as people could.

“Has anyone got Doc?” Stevo asked.

“Yeah, someone has headed over already.” Someone replied.

As he did so, Doc came running into the building. She saw Sniffer and a look of relief came over her face. “Ok, let me see all the wounded.” She said in a strict voice. She then harried around the room, triaging the injured. Sniffer saw little Jez lying on a bed not too far away. He looked as pale as the snow outside, and there was a sheet tied around his arm that was soaked through with blood. His mother was on her knees by his side, holding his hand and crying.

Doc checked him over and applied a bandage, checking his pulse and giving him a once-over. She placed her hand on his mother’s shoulder. “He will be ok. He has lost a lot of blood, and I need to get him to the surgery to stitch his wound, but it does not look like it has caused too much damage to his arm. It looks worse than it is.” She said. A new torrent of tears came from his mother.

“Stevo, can we get some men to start getting the wounded to the surgery, please?” she asked.

“Sure.” He replied.

Stevo walked back outside, calling up the street to the crowd, ordering several of them to come and move the injured. Following Doc’s strict instructions, they hurried back inside and prioritised moving the wounded to the surgery. “You also need to get there,” Doc said as she walked past Sniffer to head back herself.

“I will be over later; it is only a sprain.” He replied.

“You better.” She said as she left.

Sniffer sat solemnly watching the scene around him. Now that the adrenaline had stopped, he felt drained. He honestly thought he was a dead man not a few minutes earlier, and to be sitting now drinking a coffee felt strange. He held the warm cup in his hands and let his head drop.

“You ok,” Martha asked, walking up to him.

“Yeah, I will be fine.” He said, looking up smiling.

She patted him on his shoulder, smiling warmly.

A little while later, after the initial chaos had calmed and the bodies and injured townsfolk had been removed from the building, Stevo came back. “Doctors orders.” He said, offering his arm to Sniffer to get up.

“I am not brave enough to argue with her,” Sniffer said.

“Nor me,” Stevo replied.

Stevo escorted Sniffer to Doc’s. The remnants of what must have been surgery were visible on entering the Docs. There were bandages and sheets soaked in blood from Spylore's injured victims lying outside of the surgery door. Her beds were full, and a couple of extra camp cots had been brought in for the patients to rest on.

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“Next.” She called out of the door to the surgery area.

Sniffer stood wincing in pain and then hopped into the room, closing the door behind him. Elizabeth turned and looked at him, “You are a fool.” She said, anger in her eyes.

“What do you mean?” he replied in surprise.

“They told me what you did. When I mentioned the net, I never meant you to be the bloody bait.” She said.

“And who else would it have been? Holland.” He said, snapping back.

“No.” she paused. “I mean.” she fell silent for a long minute. “You know what I mean.” She said, staring at him. Her eyes burned into his own.

“What’s done is done.” He said, smiling weakly at her.

Doc walked over to him, throwing her arms around him, and Sniffer gasped in pain being knocked by her and then stood in frozen shock as her lips connected with his. It was a hard, passion-filled kiss, and Sniffer just stood dumbfounded. He felt like he would explode at the warmth of her lips against his own, melting away any defence he had ever had. Doc let go and turned away, clearing her throat. “Sit down over there so I can check your leg.” She said, pointing and not turning back.

Sniffer did as asked and sat on the chair, carefully lifting his ankle to rest on the stool. Doc bent down, not meeting his eyes as she checked his ankle. “It is only sprained.” He said as she carefully pressed and prodded.

She removed his boot and sock and applied a salve before bandaging his ankle. Once she had finished tying the bandage, Sniffer said, “Elizabeth.”

She turned and looked at him. “Thank you for caring.” He said. He reached forward, pulling her towards him, and this time, he kissed her. Their lips met, and the passion was shared, their tongues finding each other as they embraced tightly.

Several minutes later, they breathlessly separated. Doc’s eyes shone so brightly, and they both had flushed faces. Sniffer felt as though he was floating. Doc coughed slightly, “I better go check on my patients.” She said. She was standing and heading to the door. Sniffer grabbed her hand as she passed him, holding and squeezing it gently. She turned and smiled, the brilliance sending Sniffer's head spinning. He slowly let go, and she left the room.

A short time later, one of the men from the guard came and found him, "Hey Sniffer, Holland would like to see you if you are able?" he asked. Doc had given him a crutch, and the man helped him as he hobbled to the Brickhouse.

He walked inside to the beaming smile of Martha. She had such a charming personality, and he could not help but grin back at her. “You got a drink going?” he asked.

“For you, of course,” she hurried off to make one.

“Sniffer, come in,” Holland called through his office door, hearing his voice. “Please take a seat.”

Sniffer went in and sat down; Martha hurried in moments later with a drink for him. “Thanks.” He said.

“So, what is the plan now?” Holland asked.

“Well, I still need to clear out the den. It should be an easy enough job with a single Spylore and cubs. Although I need a few days to heal up a bit first, and I will take a couple of the townsfolk if that’s ok?” He said.

“Of course, you can. I am sure Stevo will be up for it, and he can get one of the others to come along.”

“The cubs aren’t an issue, but the Spylore, I may need support with my ankle the way it is.”

“No problem at all, whatever you need.”

He said, “The beast will do the business, but I need help luring it out. The men must know the risks of approaching a Spylore by its den with young.”

“I am sure any townsfolk will gladly help after what you have done for us. Without your guidance, I do not think we would have ever got through it.” Holland replied

“It is not an experience I think many would have known how to deal with. Dealing with an Angelore was a first for me. Their sightings are so rare to have a whole township to be able to vouch for their existence will go down in folklore.” He said.

“I just hope we never have a repeat incident ‘ever’ in the future.” Holland emphasised ‘The town will heal; it will take time, but they are a hardy bunch.”

“Once I have cleared the den, I will probably head on.”

“I will be sorry to see you go if you do. I know the whole town would love it if you and the beast would stay.”

“I am sure the beast would like that. He has been getting fed many treats, but I have business elsewhere I need to attend to. I may have to stay until Spring, depending on the weather.”

“Well, the house is yours for as long as you want it, and if you ever did decide to come back and stay, there are some empty properties in a decent state that you could have.”

Sniffer finished his drink, “I will plan to head out in a few days, so Stevo and whoever has time. I better head back as I am under doctor’s orders to rest.” He said and started to get up to leave.

“Your payment,” Holland reached into a desk drawer and withdrew a pouch.

“I haven’t finished yet?”

“It is near enough for my liking,” Holland pushed the pouch into his hand.

“Thanks.”

“I will speak to Stevo and ask him to come and see you.”

Sniffer walked outside, weighing the pouch in his hand. He slowly made his way back to Doc’s. Due to his injury, he had been instructed to stay at the surgery rather than the small house he had. When he returned, Doc and Fika were busy cleaning up the mess from earlier.

"The beds are all full here. I will go back to the house," he said to Doc.

"No, you will not." she snapped at him, "you are going nowhere else until I say you are fit enough."

"I will need another camp cot, and I also need to have Tiddles with me," he argued.

"Tiddles and you can stay here with me," she said.

Sniffer stammered. "With you?"

"Yes, you bloody fool, with me," she replied.

Sniffer stood open-mouthed, not able to think of a response.

"Fika, can you please show Sniffer upstairs to the accommodation," Doc said.

"Follow me," Fika replied.

Sniffer followed Fika to the back of the building, where there was a staircase. "Up there," she pointed.

Sniffer hobbled up the stairs, leaving his crutch at the bottom and using the walls to support his weight as he hopped up. On reaching the top, he was greeted by a door; opening it, he entered a room that was open-planned apart from an area where he assumed a bathroom was. There was a kitchen, dining room, large double bed, and lounge area. The room was decorated and was one of the most pleasant rooms he had ever been in. He was impressed with the room, and it looked well-used. Across the top of what would normally be a dining room table were a multitude of books, and hopping over, he saw they were all medical-based. The books sat on a notepad, and Doc had been making precisely formed notes about various ailments and cures. He read through several of them. Eventually, hopping over to the large window that looked out onto the rear of the property.

The garden area was cut back, and he had never seen out of the back before. It was well cared for and not overgrown, although covered in a deep layer of snow. This was Doc's home. He moved over to a large sofa. The material faded and warm, but it was very comfortable on sitting down, and he lifted his ankle, lying back against the soft cushioning. While waiting for Doc, he counted his payment, 'Eight stacks per Spylore, so that was sixty-four stacks,' he thought, including the one still at the den. When he finished counting, he had one hundred and twenty-eight. 'What the hell?' he thought. He had been paid double. Sixty-four stacks alone would be a small fortune to many; one hundred and twenty-eight on top of his savings, he would have made him positively rich if he didn’t waste it on nectar. Then he realised he hadn’t had nectar in over a week and hadn’t missed the headaches it caused. 'Maybe it is a good time to cut back.' he thought.

Eventually, some form of normality started to return to the town. The Spylore and Angelore parts that Tiddles hadn’t eaten were thrown on a fire in the town centre and burned to the cheers of townsfolk. The victims had also been buried, and in total, the town had lost thirty-one people. The centre, which had looked like a war zone with all the damage to the buildings and the street where it had been torn up, was gradually cleared. The Keefir that had bolted from the corral were rounded up, and one of the families that had left had returned after finding the going too tough trying to reach the next town over. Overall, things were slowly getting back to normal. They still had guards out every night, but Sniffer did not think a single Spylore would return while the cubs were at the den.

Doc had been mothering Sniffer, and he had been thoroughly enjoying being pampered. Never mind sleeping each night next to such a beautiful woman, Tiddles had made himself at home downstairs and would sit in the back room with a couple of the patients still being looked after by Doc and Fika. One of them was Jez, who had slowly been recovering, and Tiddles had been keeping near him when he was not out patrolling and hunting for his food. Tiddles had free rein of the town, coming and going as he wished; everywhere he walked, he got patted, praised, and most of all, fed treats.

After a week of mothering, Sniffer could finally start walking on his ankle and bear weight. He still had a limp, but it was manageable, and he had met with Stevo and another man called Mitch to discuss visiting the Spylore den. He had been at the township much longer than he ever expected, and he was enjoying his time, particularly that which he was spending with Elizabeth. They had become very close, and their romance had blossomed. Tiddles seemed to be growing exponentially, and he needed a new truck; he was thinking of one of the ex-military ones he had seen at several factories.

"I need to get out to the den," he told her as she dressed.

"You really should not be doing much on your ankle yet," she replied.

"I am going with Stevo and Mitch; they will be doing any grunt work. I am just the guide," he said.

"You better hadn't either." she said.

"I will be careful, I promise," he replied.

That morning, he went to the Brickhouse to speak to Holland. “Morning,” he said as he walked in; Tiddles was not with him. He was more than likely off getting treats from someone again. Martha looked up, giving him her usual huge grin.

"The usual?" she asked.

"Yes, please."

"Holland is out at the moment," Martha said, passing him a steaming cup of coffee.

"It is ok. I was only going to let him know that I am planning on going to the den today with Stevo and Mitch and finishing the job," he stated.

"I can tell him if he is not back before you finish your coffee. He should not be too long, although once he gets talking, he can be quite a while," she said, chuckling.

Sniffer laughed with her. He finished the coffee and, standing, thanked her before leaving to find Stevo and Mitch.

A short while later, once he had located them, Sniffer whistled for Tiddles. In minutes, he had arrived, bounding around the corner towards him and looking like the happiest beast in the world. “Last part of the job today, boy," he said to him. Tiddles released a low guttural growl in response, and the four started towards the river.