It was only a moment after the high pitched sound started that most of the canines started howling. The ululating sound filled the dooryard quickly and spread through the surrounding wood like a siren call. While the whirr was just beyond the hearing of the people, the howl was an inescapable sound. Some of the people fell into old habits, following habitual pathways honed by years of living in safe homes surrounded by the normal sounds of human community. More than a few voices yelled for the dogs to quiet.

Swelling in volume, the howl stirred something much older in some of the people. Hackles rose, goosebumps spread, and a shiver raced down more than a few spines. For Lucky, his hackles raised between his shoulder blades, standing on end and causing him to look even larger. A fierce rumble started deep in his chest and he turned his attention to the council. “Something is coming, make sure everyone is behind the fence.” He was off almost before he finished speaking, racing toward the eastern edge of the dooryard and calling out to Ro and Clash, urging both outliers to come into the safety of the fenced dooryard.

We haven’t talked about how defense will work. Lucky thought. No one knows where to go or what to do.

He skidded to a stop, big paws splayed to grasp at the soil. Ro’s response had been drowned out by the yipping howls of the coyotes, but now that he had heard it, there were other things on his mind. The whirring sound that Lucky suspected was the skitterings coming again, grew louder. Again, it was coming from the southwest. It was too much to expect that there wouldn’t be a retaliation for the strange hovercraft that had fled the previous day. Still, a part of Lucky had hoped for a longer reprieve.

*CRACK*

The sound seemed to shatter the brittle moment and as the pieces of it fell, everything moved at once. The first gunshot had seemed singular and furiously loud, the ones that followed were no less loud, yet somehow they felt less violent. Several thunking pings announced hits. Lucky moved so that he could see what the people were shooting at. A dozen of the skittering scouts had turned onto the gravel drive. Even as Lucky watched, one of them went down in a shower of sparks. Behind that group was a second even stranger group of creatures.

These were much larger than the skittering scouts, standing nearly as tall as a horse at the shoulder. They moved with a sinuous waddle, four wide-splayed bulldog-like forelegs and strangely long hindlegs gave them a strange gait that swished their whole bodies from side to side. From the tip of their bluntly pointed nose to the tip of their tail, they were about half the length of a school bus. Black skin, gleaming red even in the shadows of the trees, was stretched almost obscenely tight over their muscles. The skin looked smooth, without texture or definition.

Lucky’s attention was so snared by the pawful of strange creatures that he almost didn’t notice the strangely garbed shapes on their backs. Each one had three figures on its back, each rider wore a bloated dull gray suit that covered every inch of them. A black face shield covered their faces, giving no hint to what lay within. Like the strange things they rode, these figures had six limbs.

The skittering scouts rapidly closed the distance between themselves and the chain link fencing, running headlong into it with a thunderous *TWANG* that could be heard clearly over the sound of the guns. The fencing bowed, the posts bending, but it didn’t yet give way. More bullets pinged and whined off the metal shells of the skitterings, a few ricocheting off into the wood. The skitterings continued, digging pointed legs into the dirt and shoving against the resistance the fence offered. A brilliant flash of purple-white light came from the frontmost rider on the first of the strange beasts of burden. The flash zipped toward the fence and when it impacted it sent something like lightning racing in either direction along the chain link.

Lucky threw back his head, reaching for [Intimidating Howl] he felt the skill click into place and poured everything he had into the sound. It burst from him with a nearly physical presence, rolling out away from him in waves of sound. The rest of the pack took up the call, though none could add skill, they added depth and fury to the sound.

**DA-DING!! You have gained +1 Intimidating Howl!!**

There was a series of strange plinking twangs as the chain link finally gave way. The gunfire was nearly constant, but so few of the skitterings were falling. Many of the people fled, scrambling almost over one another to get away from the skitterings as they surged into the dooryard.

The beasts behind seemed to slow as Lucky’s howl washed over them, losing momentum and giving the Pack a moment. “Focus on the ones hanging back!” Lucky shouted to the people with guns as he charged into the fray. Axel fell into step to his left and Val was on his right, both large dogs were just a half step behind him. Lucky could feel the thunderous beat of his paws against the ground, it was like the tock of a massive clock. His stride was eating the ground, he was moving in slow motion. He was there in an instant, it took forever.

He threw himself bodily into the first skittering he reached, his [Body Slam] skill clicking into place. The skittering went over on one side as Lucky bounced off of it, planting his feet and leaping toward another. Quigley fell on the one Lucky had knocked over and Axel leapt over for yet another. Lucky could hear the scream of bullets tearing the air, but he focused his attention on the bite in front of him. He used a third skill, [Bite], in only a few moments and his teeth sunk deeply into the forelimb of the skittering. He braced his body against the weight of the metal-bug and threw his head from one side to the other. The third direction change sent the skittering flying and sliding across the ground while its limb stayed in Lucky’s mouth. His growl was a thunderous rumble as he spat the mangled metal limb from his mouth. He immediately followed the skittering, grabbing hold of another leg and pulling. The skittering struggled against him, but Lucky was merciless, ripping off one leg after another until the skittering went still.

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Skittering Scout of Nalzhur!! You have gained 35 experience!!**

The big dog’s breath was heaving in his chest as he raced to his next target. [Breath of Light] clicked into place and Lucky exhaled gleaming radiance over a skittering and was almost immediately rewarded with the voice.

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Skittering Scout of Nalzhur!! You have gained 35 experience!!**

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Skittering Scout of Nalzhur!! You have gained 35 experience!!**

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Skittering Scout of Nalzhur!! You have gained 35 experience!!**

Quigley’s gray and white head popped into view as he skidded to a stop near Lucky. “Guns got most of ‘em. Intrepid and Calypso have the last one. Clash’s come in with her family. I think they dug under the fence.”

Everything was moving so quickly, Lucky was having trouble keeping up. “Take Axel and Intrepid, grab Cla-”

“-sh if you can.” The words tumbled from his mouth followed almost immediately by a yelp of pain. Something bright flashed in his eyes and the pain burned through him, searing directly into his chest. Quigley was no longer next to him. Instead Clash cowered just behind him.

**DA-DING!! You have gained +1 Interpose!!**

**DA-DING!! You have gained +1 Aura of the Shepherd!!**

Lucky stumbled, legs trembling. His breathing was ragged, chest pulling tight with every heaving breath. Clash whined loudly, her own fur blackened in places and damp with blood. He could barely breathe, but he reached for [Healing Howl]. He felt the skill click into place and he reached deep and howled. This one was a pale and sad imitation of his [Intimidating Howl] from before. It was weak and warbling, traveling only a few yards.

The blazing burn of moments ago faded into a warm glow that lingered. It didn’t hurt anymore, but he could still feel the blood flowing sluggishly down his chest.