CHAPTER 18 - AT LAST

Orlando, Florida, Thursday, 11:20 a.m.

Karl stared at the desert road ahead. He gently guided the steering wheel now and then. No cars or any sign of other people driving on this road. He, Quackity, and Sapnap had traveled for over a day straight. Switching the driver every so often. The wolf hummed the tune of the radio song, although it was trashy out here. It was still audible. 

There was nothing in sight for miles. Just an empty road and the desert around them. He knew they couldn't keep going forever, every hour was just another tug and the small hope they held. 

The duck and panda were sleeping in the back of the van. While Karl drove them onwards. But weirdly enough, the radio was abruptly growing clearer. The glitching began to fade out. Karl perked, hoping for another gas station, they were running low on fuel and needed a refill soon.

But what was coming up next, caught him off guard. A huge building sat in the middle of the desert on the right. He hastily slammed on the brakes and turned the music down.

"Dude, Sap, Quackity wake up!" He called, reversing out, off the road and onto the sand beside.

"What?" The panda was the first to ask. Karl saw through the front view mirror that Quackity was rubbing sleep from his eyes. 

"I think we have found it." The wolf took in a shaky breath.

"Actual?" Quackity got up, suddenly open-eyed, like he wasn't asleep just seconds ago. "Look." Karl pointed while the duck was poking his head in between the driver's seat and the passenger. 

"Dude, how the fuck are we gonna get in that" Sapnap called from behind them. "I don't know…" Karl trailed. But all three of them were thinking the same thing.

Karl's time travel. The wolf looked over his shoulder, Quackity and Sapnap were staring at him with the same expression. 

"No, I can't-" Karl started. "All of us know you can though." The panda reasoned. "You just need to fall asleep." Karl froze at his last words. The new vision power he stumbled upon was something he had never experienced before. He knew nothing about it or why.

"I don't know how to do it again though." The wolf put his hands together and spun his thumbs around each other. 

"All you have to do is fall asleep and hope it happens again." Sapnap shrugged. Hope isn't enough! 

Karl hadn't always just 'hoped'. He made sure he knew what he was doing when it was necessary. 

"C'mon, it's better than nothing." Quackity pestered. The time traveler blinked slowly and nodded his head wearily.

As Karl clambered to the back, he was going red from embarrassment. As he settled down, he felt the eyes of both his friends, watching him intensely. 

"Uh…" Karl silently motioned for the two to give him some space. The two caught on and quickly looked away apologetically. The time traveler flicked his tail.

The wolf sighed while lying on the makeshift bed they made in the back of the van. It was going to be hard to get to sleep when his heart was still thumping rapidly inside his chest. It felt weird to go into a slumber when what they had been looking for over a day was right in front of them. 

He closed his eyes with his back to Quackity and Sapnap. Both of their eyes burned into the back of Karl's head, it was hard to ignore but he just focused on his breathing.

Slowly, the time traveler's chest rose and fell. At last, a wind swept him away from reality. He felt his body go limp and his muscles relax. 

Although it was all blackness in his vision. Something threw him forward, and a gust of air blew against his body. And suddenly he was back in the van. It hadn't worked.

"Fuck!" Karl knew it was a hopeless attempt. "Karl? What's wrong?" Sapnap fled, his voice was echoing. 

"I told you it wouldn't work." The wolf turned to the panda and the duck. He only just noticed he was standing. When did he get up?

"Karl?" Sapnap stumbled onto the mattress and straight through Karl. Goosebumps trashed throughout the time traveler's body. He quickly whipped around to see where the panda was going.

Frozen with shock, Karl stiffened. His body lay, limp on the mattress, like he was still sleeping. 

Am I dead? The wolf trembled. Breaking out of his state of shock. His eyes never left his body, the body the panda was shaking by the shoulders.

"Karl! Wake up!" Sapnap fretted, just as panicked as Karl was. "Sapnap, I'm here, right behind you!" The time traveled answered his calls.

The panda swung his head around, his eyes hard to read. But they looked straight through Karl. 

"Karl's speaking… But his lips aren't moving." Quackity's voice clawed through the silence, he was still standing behind the driver's seat. "It must have worked." He chuckled. Like it wasn't a big deal.

"You guys can hear me?" The wolf questioned, his heart still beating inside his chest. If anything, he was convinced the other two could hear his heart rather than his words. Both the panda and duck sat looking at one another. What else could they look at? They obviously couldn't see the time traveler's spirit.

"Yeah, we can hear you, but you're like really echoing," Quackity explained. His sentence reminded the wolf of their discord calls. Like they were talking about the audio on his mic back home. 

He suddenly had a wave of homesickness, they were so far away from his house, let alone the city. All they had was each other and a shitty van. He longed to be in his bed, curled up and his only worry was school in the morning. 

"Well, this is a bit fuckin' freaky." Quackity shifted. "But, if we can't see you, neither can the people in the building." He continued, staring intently at the back doors of the van.

"So, I just sneak inside till I find Dream and George?" Karl sneered. He grew annoyed at the fact they hadn't made a plan before he went into this state. Sapnap and Quackity shared a long glance.

"Basically." The duck confirmed after a painfully long silence. The time traveler guessed he must feel weird talking to nothing but a voice around him. 

"Wait, can you go through walls and stuff?" The panda sounded genuine with his question. Karl agreed too and weaved his way onto the mattress and to the double doors at the back of the van.

"Holy shit dude, you can see where Karl is stepping," Quackity called from behind him. Still standing in the driver's seat. Karl's ear flicked.

The time traveler extracted a hand and it collided with the metal doors of the van. "Nah I can't go through things." He looked at the appearing mark on his fist. 

They both can see anything the wolf does, but can't see him in general. Only the trails he leaves behind, or the sounds he makes. If he wanted to go through the laboratory, he had to follow a worker around.

"Look, I'll just follow a worker into the building, and I will go from there." Karl simplified the plans. However, he could smell Sapnap's worried scent coming off him.

"Alright, we will wait here for you, also here." Sapnap leaned over the wolf's limp body. It still gave him an uneasy feeling. The panda had suddenly taken hold of Karl's phone and his time travel stopwatch. And was blindly holding it up.

The time traveler grasped his belongings and slid them into his pocket. "Dude, it just disappeared." Quackity laughed. A new spark of hope lit up inside Karl. If they couldn't see things he was holding, it would be a huge advantage in the laboratory.

"Okay, look after my body while I'm gone." The wolf asked, opening the double doors at the back of the van. He hopped out and turned, even though he knew they couldn't see where he was looking.

"I promise I will not come back without Dream and George," Karl vowed. He has to get them back safely, even if it means risking his own.

"Good luck, call us when you need to," Sapnap called into the air. And the time traveler quickly set off at a hasty pace. He had a long way to walk, Karl had stopped their van pretty early to avoid getting spotted.

The sun boiled down on the sand below, smirking at Karl. It was a clear sky, with no clouds in sight. Just a bright blue stretching across the sky. Further, then the wolf could see. Abruptly, a seedling of worry buried itself deeply inside his brain.

He shot the thought out, walking faster. There was no room for doubts now, they were all far too deep to climb out. They had to rescue their friends. But, Karl realized, it was just him. He was set on a single mission. Weirdly, he felt vulnerable without his two friends by his side. He wished they could've tackled this together, as one.

By now, the time traveler was almost at the first gate wrapping around the building. He approached the front, a dirt road trailed off the main road and into what Karl guessed was the way to get in. 

He wasn't surprised when he saw multiple police surrounding the wall. They all held guns like guards. He quickly looked behind him to see if he left footprints in the sand. He cheesed when he saw dints across the sand leading to their van in the distance. Though Karl couldn't see their van, he sighed, at least he parked far away enough to not be spotted.

Sneaking past the guards, he walked up to the heavy entryway, rapidly, a black van was fast approaching him. His first reaction was to dash to the side. But he froze himself where he stood. The van took a dangerous swerve into the small dirt path leading to the opening.

Karl flinched but did not move from where he stood - at the edge of the path. The van pulled up and halted at the huge doors. Something beeped and the entryway heaved open. It took long seconds to fully open.

The engine reared up again and he knew that was his cue. The wolf flicked his tail, ran, and clung himself to the back of the van. He was standing on a small ledge at the back. They drew forward and the wolf knew it had officially started when the doors closed behind him. 

Karl made sure to note every detail he was passing, he needed to make sure where to go when Dream and George were coming out with him.

Looking around, the time traveler was in a garden. The van suddenly turned a sharp left and threw Karl off the back. The wind blew out of him, but he just got up and dusted himself off. Hoping no one saw the effect on the ground.

He was right when he thought he was in a garden. The dirt path drove right through the middle, with huge patches of plants on either side. When he took a deeper glance, these weren't just any of your usual plants like vegetables or fruits. They were unusual colors like blue and purple. 

Testing plants! It clicked in Karl's head, he figured all this -the garden- was only grown and chopped for testing. He quickly stepped back, not wanting to stay much longer in the same air as the plants. 

In front of him, was the path swerving to the left, the van must have taken that path to throw him off. Before the path turned though, was a pair of metal double doors. Smaller ones than the car-sized one, the one ahead of him was a normal size.

As he walked, the doors behind him opened like the first time. And a van was heading straight for him. In a panic, the wolf ran off the path just in time for the van to take a left further into the garden. 

But the movement must have activated a censor because the doors he was heading for were open. Karl took the chance and jogged inside. His heart was beating fast from the adrenaline, but he pushed on. 

He was now in a small room with lab coats hung across one side and a table with a sheet on it on the other. Before he could turn back, the doors behind him were already closed. 

Karl cursed under his breath and walked over to the door ahead of him. Shit! You need a card to get in. Next, he looked at the sheet on the small table. It was a check-in list. He ran his finger across the row of names until he spotted George's and Dream's.

They were checked in two days ago at 2:46 p.m. He sighed, they should've been here sooner, by now the two will be buried deep in the building. The wolf took in his options and thought deeply. And he got an idea quickly.

Taking a few steps to the door. He banged harshly with the side of both his fists repeatedly. Finally, the door opened aggressively, straight through him. He shivered at the feeling. He would never get used to that. It made his stomach twist in knots.

"For fuck sake, those guards better not be ding dong ditching us." The worker who the time traveler had almost forgotten about, was complaining. Karl didn't take note of his appearance but he did take the chance he had. 

The man had a lanyard with an ID around his neck. As swift as a deer, he snatched the lanyard and unhooked it from his neck. Just in time too, because the lab worker was looking for it at his chest.

The wolf knew he couldn't see it when he had a grasp of it. So, he slid the ID through the block bedside door handle and it accepted him.

Idiots. He smiled while walking out of the small room. But he realized when walking to his next obstacle that the previous one was tiny compared to what he was going to have to risk. 

Now, Karl was standing in a wide hallway with multiple doors on either side. How the hell was he supposed to navigate his way around when many people were traveling in and out of the doors.

To his delight, labels were stuck above the doors, although none of the workers needed them. Karl began to glaze over the different words. If anything, the time traveler could have easily mistaken this place for a hospital. 

The wolf was no doctor, but he knew some of the rooms and what they were said to lead to. His feet guided him forward causing lab workers to walk straight through him. He flinched every time, something about it would never sit right with him.

HOLDING CELLS. One of the very end signs read. His gut had pulled him to this door and it yearned him to go through it. Karl took a glance around, the workers seemed to be moving too fast or too busy to notice a door opening.

Now, he had the lanyard he stole around his neck like it was his own. He held it up to the scanner and it beeped in acceptance. He was in an open area. It only took him a few steps to see what the sign meant.

Straight ahead, a wall bulged out on the right side. He quickly jogged over, or his gut was dragging him to it. He got a front view of the room, and through the open glass wall, he could see Dream. His knees to his face, even without seeing his face, looked miserable.

"Dream!" Karl called almost instinctively. He was still in a half-astonished state that he was seeing his Alpha for the first time in what felt like years. 

At once the blonde peered up. Like he was desperate for a call to his name. But, his ears and interest only perked for a few seconds before he curled into a ball again.

"Dream I'm here! You're not hallucinating!" The time traveler cried for him to reply. The Alpha looked up again. 

"Karl?" Quietly, his voice was shaking. 

"Yes, I'm here, you just can't see me." He replied. Dream blinked. Karl knew he must sound weird to the lab workers. The wolf walked with the ID card in hand but realized it was a pin to get in. "Do you know the pin to get into your room?" He asked.

"No, can't you just go through things?" Dream questioned. He took a full interest in the conversation now. But something was tugging at the Alpha's worries. And Karl couldn't get a grasp of it.

"No no, it's not like that, there's no time to explain. We need to find George…" The wolf saw the room next to Dream's. Karl wondered if it felt like a room or a holding cell to the Alpha. 

"He isn't in his room, they took him for the mating process." A pang of guilt hit Karl for Dream. His voice was cracking and holding back tears, he looked defeated. 

Suddenly, a horrid stench hit his nose. It made his eyes water. The time traveler had to take a pace back, Dream was still in his rut. He hoped it wouldn't make their situation harder.

But his worries were blinding him to the real situation. The wolf thought about it and should have thought of it sooner. George is in the forest!

"Where's the forest?" Karl blurted. Dream was still half stunned as if he had lost a loved one. "Forest?" The blonde only managed to choke out. 

"Look, we just need to find the pin to" 

"Who the hell are you talking to Alpha?" Sternly, a lab worker made Karl jump.

"I- No one-" Dream stuttered, but stopped. He looked straight at the wolf like he could see him perfectly. Then, he put his gaze on the lab worker.

The time traveler watched the blonde's pupils thin, concentrating on the man beside him.

"Tell me the pin to get into my room." Karl realized what Dream was hiding behind those eyes. He was manipulating the worker. 

"Seven, two, nine, eight." The lab tester replied instantly. Dream motioned his head that it was his cue. Karl cheesed as he wandered passed the man, he felt slightly sorry for him. He had spoken like a robot, and it worried Karl.

"Seven, two…" The wolf mumbled as he walked up and put the digits in. It beeped and let the time traveler in. "We have to hurry," Karl confirmed, Dream must have snapped out of his state, his pupils were round once again. He was standing at the other side of the door.

Karl felt a new confidence surge through him with his Alpha at his side. Together, he felt stronger and had better chances to find George. But he knew Dream was running alone, with only the wolf's spirit beside him. Either way, the two were jogging around the room, looking in all directions to find any signs. 

But, the original worker who had finally snapped out of his daze realized what was happening. "Hey! Alpha get back into your room at once!" 

The wolf glanced at the blonde, he didn't receive one back, but they both broke into a sprint. Karl cast a glance down on his chest to look for his lanyard, as they were approaching a door hurriedly. 

When he looked down, his clothes had changed. But his lanyard was gone, he suddenly panicked, wondering if he dropped it or lost it in his pockets somewhere. He halted right before he could crash into the door and went to motion his hands down to search his pockets. But they were locked behind his back.

What the hell? He spun his head around to put light on what was restraining him. He jumped when he saw an unfamiliar tall man holding cuffs on his wrists. He had messy brown hair and wore the same lab coat as all the others.

The time traveler saw pointed ears on his head, but before he could identify anything else, a voice distracted him. "Karl? Do you have a card thingy?" 

At first, the wolf thought it was the tall brunette man talking. But it was Dream. However, as soon as the Alpha spoke, the man and the cuffs whisked away. And his clothes changed back to his original clothes.

"What? Oh, yeah." Karl struggled to get his mind straight again. There was no time to be imagining things when he was against time to save his friends. 

  He was surprised to see the lanyard across his chest again. The wolf shook his head and swiped the ID across the block on the door. It beeped and unlocked. 

"Holy shit…" Dream echoed beside him. In front of the two, was a massive caged forest. The Alpha had obviously not seen this side of the building. But Karl knew exactly what was going to happen. 

The last time he saw this forest was when he rescued George from the mating process. And it looked like he was going to have to do it again.

"George is in there. We have to get him out before…" The time traveler swallowed the lump clogging his throat. 

"How are we supposed to find him in that?" Dream interrupted, realizing their situation. 

"I know where he is," Karl reassured him. The same place as last time. "Go to those metal double doors." The wolf directed to the doors to get into the glassed jungle. He quickly jogged not far away from the blonde. 

To his relief, it was an automatic door, letting them in. The grass beneath them seemed weirdly realistic. The metal entryway clanged behind them and instantly made them jump.

"Okay, I think I know where-" Karl started, but was cut off by a large alarm waving off all the walls. His tail hair stood on end, and his ears caved downwards. Everything turned to a shade of flashing red. Next thing he knew, when he tried exiting through the doors he came from, they had locked them shut.

The time traveler couldn't think straight, or what to do next. But his phone vibrating in his pocket was the thing to bring him out of his shock. He felt the blood pounding in his ears, everything felt so much louder than before. 

He got a grip on his phone, Sapnap was calling him. He answered at once. "Karl!" The panda had a scratchy audio, but he sounded just as panicked as himself. "Karl, they found us!" 

The wolf's worst worry was finally coming to action, hitting him hard. "Look, I have Dream, we are finding George now, can you hold them off?" Karl yelled over the repeating sirens. He blurted out whatever he could, they just needed a little more time.

"Hurry!-" Sapnap pleaded, and he hung up. But not before Karl could hear a gunshot in the background. The time traveler let out a shudder. He hoped it wasn't one of his friends who would take the bullet. He hastily slid the device back into his pocket. Awaiting his next obstacle.

"Karl, I can smell George!" Dream howled. While the wolf panicked over Sapnap and the situation. He had forgotten about the Alpha at his side. 

"Go! I'll follow you!" The time traveler encouraged the Alpha. With no time to spare, both of them broke into a long sprint. They took up the ground like it was nothing. As they ran further and further into the forest, Karl wondered how deep this jungle really was. They were bound to run into the back wall sooner or later.

Dream's pace seemed to never falter, determination flooded around him. The wolf couldn't smell George himself, but he guessed the Alpha's rut guided him. But over time, Karl was running out of breath and energy, he hadn't gotten enough sleep for this.

He knew the blonde must feel like he was on a solo mission after all. The wolf hoped it was harder to spot just Dream, rather than two people. Inside, the time traveler could sense the blonde's worries. It was like they were leaving a trail behind him.

As they ran further and further, Karl's eyes watered at the wind slamming in his face. He was convinced his heart thumping in his chest was louder than the alarms around them. 

But, the wolf pricked his ears, listening over the alarms. At last, he heard George's shrieks of terror. It made Karl's heart drop, even at the fast rate it was going. 

Behind Dream, the time traveler could barely see the Omega under an all too familiar man. The lion. But this time, he seemed more aggressive than the last time he saw him. 

Karl could smell the brunette's scent as he ran closer, something wasn't right. Throughout the red flashing lights, Karl could see the lion had his head buried in George's neck. The Omega was fidgeting relentlessly under his grip. Then Karl realized. He's marking George! The time traveler forced himself to run faster and past Dream, but he was too late.

From the opposite side to the Omega and the lion, guards were swarming in through a different door. Dream was pulled to a stop by guards coming from behind them. Restraining him from going any nearer to rescue George.

"George! We are here!" The blonde howled, grasping the Omega's attention. 

"Dream!- Hel- Help me!" He cried. It shattered Karl's heart into millions of pieces. The brunette was attempting to lift the lion off himself, but the Alpha was no match for him. He could only look longingly at Dream as the lion showed his fangs, ready to bite down. 

The guards holding Dream back were putting him in cuffs and leading him away. Karl stood between the Omega and the blonde. He froze, he needed to pick one, Dream or George. The wolf was running out of time, and he needed to choose soon.

Without knowing, he found his hands pulling out his time travel stopwatch. The hands of the clock ticked calmly like it was letting Karl know it was at his side. 

Thinking quickly, the wolf had an idea flick into his mind. His tail hairs bristled at the thought, but it was the only one he could come up with in such a short time. He desperately needed a different option, but there was no time.

Karl took a long needed steady breath. Glancing down at the stopwatch, he fiddled with the hands, setting it to a different time. He pressed a few buttons and blew a breath of good luck over it. He looked up, determination filling him from tail tip to his ears.

"Stop!" The time traveler protested. Facing George and the lion. Like it was a command, time felt like it slowed down. His worry about what he was about to do whisked away when the lion buried his fangs deep into George's neck. The Omega let out a heartbreaking wail that could easily shake the walls.

Karl hastily lined up his aim. Winding up his arm, he felt like he had all the power of the world in one arm. The stopwatch clung in this hand before it was thrown into the air. It traveled like lightning compared to every other movement.

The wolf watched in awe as all his powers flew across the sky. He was risking his entire world for his friends. But he didn't mind, his friends were a lifetime. And the watch was bound to break sooner or later. He secretly wished he didn't have to risk it so early on. There were so many things the stopwatch had for him that he hadn't learned yet.

He was chased from thoughts when the stopwatch finally came down and hit the lion's back with a bang. Suddenly, time seemed to unfreeze itself. The Alpha undug his fangs from George's neck and roared in surprise.

The stopwatch had bounced off him and hit the ground. Karl stared with terror gripping his heart. Had he not set the clock far enough? He was going to lose it without saving anyone.

Abruptly the watch spun around and around in one spot. Forming something that looked like a mesmerizing spiral as it went. The wolf sighed a small relief, it was forming a portal. As it continued to spin, faster and faster, it became a blur of gold and white.

By now, everyone including the guards escorting Dream away had paused to watch the situation unfold right in front of them. 

Finally, a portal opened just above the watch. It continued to spin increasingly faster. The lion that was once towering over George was struggling to get a grip to stay from getting sucked into the portal.

"George! Come to me!" The wolf howled. The portal was making the grass and nature around it sway aggressively toward it. Even the Omega's hair was whipped in his face. He was desperately clawing the ground on his stomach to get away from the opening.

The lion was howling in surprise from the sudden pull of air, dragging him into the portal. Like invisible arms, they seemed to grip the lion and drag him closer. Both his feet were trapped inside the opening, with no way out.

He was grabbing anything through a shock of terror. Grass, a handful of dirt, anything. A small bang of sympathy hit Karl, but he shook it off. This was what the lion had coming, but the time traveler cheesed that maybe it was a bit much.

Karl could only watch nervously for George. The Omega had gotten further away but was clawing the ground the same as the Alpha not far behind him. His cat tail was huge and bristling in fright and the wind. 

Blood was rushing out of the Omega's neck. The mark that the lion left was growing swollen. He looked pale, paler than usual. And his desperate attempts to escape were growing weaker and weaker.

The Alpha behind him was attempting to bring George down with him. Everything was happening so fast Karl couldn't keep up. Though at last, the lion's chest was sucked in, and only his arms and up were left. Any sympathy the time traveler had for the lion vanished.

Throughout his shock to grasping anything, the Alpha could get his hands on. He managed to grab Karl's stopwatch, burning relentlessly in circles. But now it was in the hands of the lion as he disappeared into what could be infinity.

The wolf froze in shock as he watched his stopwatch disappear with the lion as the portal closed right behind him. The only trace of it was a slight twinkle around the area. 

"No…" He mumbled. His powers, his life, and his world were gone in the blink of an eye. Just like that. Everything that mattered to him sat in that stopwatch. He used to tell himself that he was better off without it. Or it didn't mean much to him, he was just lucky to have it.

But the truth was, he felt like nothing without his powers. They made him feel like he had something in this world. Without it, he was nothing, no one.

"George!" Dream yelled, sprinting past Karl. For a few seconds, the wolf had completely forgotten about the real problem. And was just standing amongst it. 

The others didn't seem to notice what the wolf had lost. He felt like crumbling down, forgetting all this and grieving for an eternity. But what he had in front of him made him have to wait. The red flashing lights, the sirens, and the tension were all too much to ignore. 

He took a breath and put his cares aside. When he looked over back at George, Dream was helping the Omega to his feet. He looked barely conscious. Leaning heavily against the blonde. 

Suddenly, the guards sprang back into action, like they had almost forgotten their jobs. Karl panicked, they were all heading straight for the two. "Dream! George! We need to get out of here!"

George looked confused for a second. "It's Karl, follow my voice!" The wolf high-pitched exclaims above the continuous sirens. The sound was slowly making his ears itch. 

Karl could have sworn he saw a twinkle of light spark in the Omega's eyes. But he blinked it away. Blood was still oozing out his neck and now onto Dream's shoulder. Now the wolf was getting concerned for it, it had been bleeding for well over than it should be normally.

The guards were now tail lengths away from Dream and George. "Run!" The Alpha yelled, giving the Omega half his strength. The two bolled straight through the guards behind them and continued to run. Catching most of the lab workers off guard.

As Karl struggled to keep up with the pair. He could have sworn they were one, an Alpha and Omega side by side was a strange thing to look at. It was like a three-legged race, with their arms over one another and against all odds. 

But when the workers caught up with them, George had grown his strength and was able to run on his own. Now Karl was right behind them, even though they may not know it.

As they ran further through the forest with the workers right at their tails. Throughout the red flashing lights. Up ahead were a set of metal double doors, in some miracle were open. As the three drew closer, they began to shut.

It seemed to be their only chance of getting out of the cornering jungle. So Karl forced his legs to push faster, and right through Dream and George. The goosebumps marking his body didn't stop him though. 

When he got close enough, the Alpha and Omega had pulled to a stop behind him. But the wolf hurtled himself in between the doors. He held his breath as he scrambled his feet on one side of the door and his back pressed against the other. Prying it open for his friends.

"Go!" He blurted through his loss of breath. His legs held straight, if his knees buckled, he might as well be crushed to his death. Dream and George hurriedly squeezed through the gap Karl provided.

Right behind them, guards were piling up, sketchy of the strange, barely open door. His friends were waiting for him on the other side, though it was mainly Dream making George wait.

"Dude, you guys go I'll catch up!" The wolf wailed. The two looked at each other had dashed away. Karl grunted, making sure his friends were out of sight for the guards before going any further.

The wolf took in a shaky breath, it moved the doors slightly. But, he managed to roll out of the way with his legs still straight. He hit the ground and the doors slammed shut right behind him. That he swore made the ground shake.

Without looking at them, he knew the guards were looking for someone on the other side of the glass. The wolf only got to his feet and jogged away before he made any more of a scene than necessary. 

Karl followed his friends' scent. As he half-jogged, his head finally began to pound with a headache. The flashing red was much more vivid than in the forest. And it made his eyes burn.

When he made it to Dream and George, they were standing, half hiding beside a door with STAIRS plastered above it. Karl scrambled to get a hold of the lanyard. It beeped and opened.

As the three locked themselves in the stairwell, they looked to spiral up forever. Karl sighed, finally getting the impression they were safe for now in this small room. But he realized with a curse.

"Fuck! Sapnap and Quackity!" He groaned. Quickly regretting it his head began to throb again. 

George slightly perked in front of him. "You mean they are here?" He heaved. Dream stayed silent. Only focusing on the next step in front of him.

"Yes, they are in a van but we need to hurry. They have been found." Karl flicked his tail. George didn't reply, but they all did pick up the pace.

The wolf just hoped they would be in time, and come back to the panda and duck all alive.