FROM THE BEGINNING, Dr. Dexter Rune had ruined everything in Robo’s life.
He had first met Dexter at the puppy mill where he had been born. Puppy mills were very different from stores with adorable, well-cared-for puppies. Here, in run-down barns, mother dogs were kept in small pens, forced to turn out litter after litter of pups until they died of exhaustion.
For Robo’s mom, a gentle Great Dane with a majestic grace, life was particularly hard. She was sleek but large, even for her breed, making the pen even more cramped, and caring for her puppies more difficult. Over the years, her silky fur gave way to scabs. She tried the best she could to shield Robo from the realities of her life, but even she couldn’t hide the pain after Dexter arrived.
“I want that one,” he said, pointing to her. The puppy mill owner opened the pen, and loomed over her as she crouched in the back, hiding Robo behind her. “Come here, girl,” he said in a sing-song voice that even Robo knew not to trust. His mother wouldn’t budge, and finally the owner yanked her by the legs and dragged her out of the pen, leaving Robo shivering uncontrollably. Every night she would return with some new wound, and refused to talk to Robo about anything that happened for those long hours.
This went on for weeks, until one night they rolled his mother into the pen, bleeding and barely conscious. He immediately licked her head and whimpered.
“My darling,” she whispered. “Escape from here if you get a chance, by any means possible. Never let him get his hands on you.” She wheezed in pain. “Baby, I love you so much. I’m so sorry that I can’t save you myself.”
That night, Robo snuggled under her muzzle, and she kept him warm with her great gray paws surrounding him.
By morning, she was cold. The puppy mill owner threw her body in a dumpster.
The next day, Becca’s family showed up at the mill. Of course, they weren’t let into the dirty pens in the back. Instead the owner loaded all the puppies he could grab into a wheel-barrow and dumped them into a play yard, surrounded by a pretty white picket fence and flowers in baskets.
The other puppies, hungry and infested with fleas, could barely move. But Robo, remembering what his mother said, mustered up his last bit of strength to nuzzle the young girl and her parents. He was lively, nipped at her heels, and played with the red ball she gently rolled to him.
“Oh, you are just so cute,” Becca said, rubbing his soft gray ears. “I just want to love on you non-stop.” Her parents laughed, and pulled out a credit card to pay for Robo. Becca slipped a brand new pink collar on him and whispered to him, “I’m sorry, I really thought I was going to get a girl.”
She carried Robo in the crook of her arm as they got into the mini van. It wasn’t until he looked through the window that he saw Dexter screaming at the owner.
Though he was only a puppy, he knew he had won. Looking at the dust rising from the back of the car as they drove out of the farm, he made a vow: “Mom, I promise you, he’ll pay.”
Robo then fell asleep in the safety of his human pack’s embrace.
But the seed of rage was planted.
Life with Becca was wonderful. The love was intoxicating, making the pain of his mother’s death bearable. He was adored by all and treated as a member of the family. Even when he had nightmares about the puppy mill, Becca pulled him close while he howled in grief in his sleep.
Becca worked with him all summer, teaching him discipline and good manners. He eagerly learned, happy to make her happy, happy to be in good standing with his family. They did everything together—there were McDonald’s ice cream cones and dog biscuits, campfires, and swims in the ocean.
The anxiety, however, never really went away. Robo would sometimes marvel at the fact that he had been snatched from death and placed into the arms of those who loved him. It didn’t seem fair to all the dogs he had watched die, and he didn’t believe he was special enough to have survived.
That anxiety ended up being his undoing. He was always nervous when there were thunderstorms, hiding under the huge dining room table. Sometimes Becca would join him, pulling him into her lap and talking to him in her most soothing tones. But the fear was still there. The storms seemed so powerful, and he seemed so small in comparison. They all seemed small.
One night, there was a particularly bad spring storm. There were threats of tornadoes, and the family huddled in the stair-well, the radio blaring weather updates and the parents checking their cell phones.
He was terrified.
Then there was a crack of lightning and the door in the stairwell blew open. Robo bolted, slipping out of the collar that Becca desperately tried to hold onto in the dark.
He was blinded by fear and anxiety. The rain pelted him in the face. He ran over the broken branches, dodged the head-lights of cars, and could not stop until the next morning, when he collapsed from exhaustion.
He was lost.
Becca and her family put up posters, and checked shelters. Every night, her mother stroked her hair, while Becca cried and clutched Robo’s leather collar. Her father tried to tell Becca that none of this was her fault—that sometimes, things just happen. But Becca didn’t believe him. She couldn’t believe him. Instead, she vowed before going to bed each night: “Robo, I promise, I’ll find you.”
But for now, all she could do was wait. Because sometimes, what a girl wants and what life gives her are two different things.
Robo didn’t last a day away from home before he was captured, along with another gray dog called Unknown. She was as young as he was, and had deep scars covering her body. They were forced into a cage inside of a hot van, which drove for hours before stopping.
The cages were taken from the van and brought inside a mountain—a mountain that seemed to hide horrible secrets. Robo felt alone and scared, and he no longer had a human to help him through his nightmares.
Unknown was in the cage next to him, and would give him comfort—talking in low tones and telling him to not give up, to never abandon hope. He was meant to be something amazing, and they both had to live.
He believed her. And he grew to love her.
Then, Robo saw him.
Dr. Dexter Rune.
This time, Dexter was arguing with a woman who pointed at Robo. Robo didn’t understand, but he knew it was bad. He was then moved into a small room with only a desk and empty cages. Dexter, having recognized Robo from his heart birthmark, mumbled, “It’s about time.”
Then, for months, Dexter ran tests on Robo, injecting him with needles, and shocking him with electric pulses.
He clipped Robo’s ears to a sharp point, causing them to bleed for hours. No more did Robo have his “pretty floppy ears” that Becca would gently flip back and forth as she read.
Soon, Robo’s gray fur started to fall out from stress, and his only good moments were in his sleep, dreaming of Becca curled up with him.
One day, Robo woke to the sound of sirens. Humans in blue suits were swarming through the mountain’s laboratories, followed by people in black uniforms, armed with assault rifles. A woman in a lab coat ran over to his cage, unlocked it, and snatched Robo. She muttered something angrily as she started to run, but was cut off by a uniformed officer who yelled, “Stop”—a word he knew well. The women dropped Robo without any consideration, and tried to keep running, but the man tackled her, and handcuffed her hands behind her back.
Again, Robo saw his chance to survive. He scrambled to his feet and ran through the halls, trying to find any route to the exit. But it was all filled with smoke and chaos. He couldn’t see much—the only lights were the dim emergency lights in the halls. There were dogs everywhere, barking, whimpering and running. That’s when Robo found Unknown standing in the center of the chaos, her ears torn and her ribs showing. Her eyes landed on Robo, and both were happy to find each other.
They escaped together through a huge steel door, which was left open in the side of the mountain.
Unknown took him back to her pack in the city, which was led by a leader named Bone. Robo, who still mourned the loss of his mother, and now his human family, was not accepted instantly. But after consistently bringing back food and, with his huge size, protecting the smaller dogs and puppies, the pack accepted him—and then, respected him.
As he aged, he became wiser. Soon, he became the leader of Unknown’s pack. Bone was chased off, after breaking the pack rules by falling in love with an outsider stray. After announcing that true love was more important than pack loyalty, Bone left—and Robo took his place. Robo took it seriously, caring for the pack with the same dedication he had learned from Becca and her family.
But while he was patrolling his territory, he saw Becca. And
Becca found him. And his heart skipped a beat.
Surely this is a sign, he thought. Surely going back to Becca was meant to be. Surely this is my destiny.
And in a way, he was right.