His first warning was the snarl as it pushed forward, then pain as it latched onto his shin.  The razor-sharp teeth clamped down and punctured deep into his leg.  It shook its thick, well-muscled neck, shredding his flesh and snapping a bone.

Sam’s rifle fired even as Allistor was falling backward, trying to bring his own weapon around.  The canid’s head exploded, a cone-shaped spray of blood coating the grass behind it. The creature fell back down to the grass, twisting and tearing Allistor’s leg as it went.  Allistor screamed in pain, looking at the torn flesh and broken bone as he writhed on the ground.   Sam came running up and fell to his knees next to him.

“Shit.  That’s bad.  We need to cut off the blood flow or you won’t make it back.”  He unclipped the strap from Allistor’s shotgun and wrapped it around his leg above the knee, clipping the two ends together.  Then he cinched it as tight as it would go.  Allistor grunted in pain again, but he didn’t complain.   Max sniffed at the wound, then gave it a tentative lick, causing Allistor to nearly pass out.   Sam shouldered the dog aside.  “Don’t help, Max.”  He was half-grinning as he worked.  Happy to see the dog alive.

“Leg’s broken, but it’s just a fracture.  I can see the break.  If you don’t lose all your blood, you’ll be fine.  He took his shirt off and wrapped it around Allistor’s calf and shin, using the two sleeves to tie it off.  “Let’s get you into the truck.  I’ll run you back, and we can return for this stuff later.

Allistor shook his head.  “This is good enough.  Give me some of that jerky you made.  I’ve got water in my ring.  It’ll be good enough to keep me going while you hook up the trailer.  Let’s get this done.  I’ll sit here and keep watch while you work.

Sam nodded, pulling some jerky out of his own ring and handing it to Allistor.  He stomped off toward the trailer, grabbing hold of the tongue and pulling it forward with a little effort.  A minute later it disappeared around the other side of the garage and Allistor could hear him hooking it up.

Max had chosen to stay with Allistor, lying next to him in the grass and whining.  He kept sniffing at the injured leg and looking sadly at the human next to him.  Allistor, still in a lot of pain, petted the dog to reassure him.  It helped relax him a bit as he scanned the tree line.

The sound of the Corvette engine firing up was music to his ears.  Sam let it run for a minute or two, then he pulled it up onto the trailer and shut it off.   There was a bit of clanking and clanging, followed by the sound of first one ATV, then the other being started up and driven up into the trucks.