ROBO GROWLED IN FRUSTRATION. They had reached the bottom of the mountain, near the gas stations, barbecue huts, and flea markets of Jasper, Georgia. But when he tried to scale it with his robotic legs, he kept slipping on the wet granite. This was the fifth time he had failed to make the leap.
He howled with rage, and smacked his head into the rock in frustration. His pack looked at him, silent as mice, casting glances at each other.
They’re scared. Even Savage is scared of me, Robo thought.
Robo felt another shudder of hatred and frustration, and he smashed his paw into the mountain’s rock. The rock shattered into pieces, as if it had been glass. Robo felt a swell of his unnatural power. This time, he took a great leap—and made it over the ledge. He landed on his stomach—hard. He pulled himself up, and was able to easily scramble to the ridge.
He looked down on the pack, proud of himself and satisfied. The dogs looked terrified. Even Savage did, with his tail tucked between his legs. They know what I can do with my power, Robo thought, before scrambling to help them finish the climb.
“Don’t just stand there! Let’s keep moving!” Robo looked up, and saw the sun already halfway across the sky. They had stopped earlier to rest—the puppies were barely making it—and now they were late. He twitched his ear, signaling Savage to follow.
Finally, they came upon a plateau large enough to hold his pack. Robo sniffed its boundaries. This would be a perfect place to set up camp at least for a night, if only the pack were not so easy to see, so exposed. Robo kept walking the edge though, looking for a trigger for old memories. Suddenly, he noticed a pile of rocks on the edge. Strange. Robo carefully sniffed around it—algae, Cheetos, and then…yes. The faint scent of humans from long ago. Quickly, he used his robotic legs to move the boulders. Savage and the rest of the dogs started to help.
He knew there was a passageway behind the rocks—a deep, dark tunnel. As the dogs peered in, there was no light except for the bright, red glow of Robo’s mechanical eye.
As Robo walked deeper into the tunnel, he knew he had found the perfect home for his pack. The humans will never, ever find us here. And if they do, it will turn out very badly for them. He stopped in front of a massive steel door.
As the dogs huddled around him, Robo looked at the door, He wondered if there was a way to go around it. He then realized they didn’t have to get around it. They could go through it.
The scientists had implanted a laser in his left shoulder, embedded in the metal plate. All he had to do was…
Turn. Laser. On.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he could hear the dogs gasp and scurry away from him. From his shoulder emerged an intense beam of red light that cut through the door.
Robo directed the light into a perfect circle. After a few minutes, he and Savage rammed the circle of metal with their paws until it fell inward into a room.
Sniffing the air, Robo crawled through first. As soon as he entered, he knew he had met his destiny.
With Savage by his side, Robo entered a massive auditorium. To the left and right of the floor were rivers of water; six cooling pipes feeding into these streams. There were three hallways that led to warehouses, secret rooms, offices, and laboratories filled with abandoned equipment, laptops, monitors, and cages.
Robo paused at the cage he realized had been his. He couldn’t help shuddering.
“This is our new home,” he said firmly, as Savage explored with him. “How fitting,” he said with determination. “The humans will reap what they have sown.”
When he returned to the auditorium, he found a hallway directly opposite the entrance.
Down the hall were three passageways, and as he and Savage explored, they found another set of steel doors. Behind those, Robo discovered the main control room, filled with monitors and wall-to-wall screens bolted directly into the granite bedrock of the mountain. In an adjoining room, catwalks were suspended over a pool of acid. Robo laughed bitterly, now understanding why it was there.
“The best way to get rid of evidence,” he said bitterly to no one in particular.
Robo examined a series of large touchscreen monitors for clues. Within minutes, Robo had the security files with the compound’s passwords and had turned on the fortress’s massive power generator. With another swipe of his paw, he filled the room with light: the blue glow from the monitors.
As Robo surveyed the screens, one suddenly switched to a news report about a Husky—that Husky.
He and Savage watched her running to get the puppies. They watched her get hit by a car, the car flipping over, gasoline leaking, and the small explosion.
Then, they watched her survive, running away from the scene, two puppies safely in her grip. As Savage murmured in amazement, Robo realized what this meant.
One of the scientists in Dexter’s lab must have captured her—and then given the Husky powers as well.
To stop him. To end him.
And to think he had cared about her fate. That he had actually been worried that the humans had been unkind to her.
Robo’s eye narrowed, and his lip curled. “CLAW!” he howled.
A huge gray and brown Mastiff lumbered up the stairs and to the control room to Robo, his tail down.
“Yep, boss?”
Robo lifted his paw to the video on the screen. “See that Husky?” he growled into Claw’s ear. “I need you to go back to the city—and kill her.”