“Vegas! They should have doctors here, right?” Jess asked. The excitement in her voice faded quickly. The wheeler moved past some other wheelers that had been burnt like some of the food Alpha-male used to cook. And not all of them were empty; dead two-leggers were in more than one of the wheelers.
“Whoa what is this place?” Ben-Ben asked, shaking the packet off his muzzle. “I don’t like it,” he said needlessly. None of us did.
“We should leave,” I barked.
Jess jumped in her seat. “You don’t like it here either, girl? I need to get help for Zach, though.”
“Not going to happen here,” Patches said, putting her paws on the side clear viewer. Her tail was eerily still as if she didn’t want the evil of the place to see her.
“I see lights up ahead,” Jess said, bringing the wheeler to a stop. “Maybe the next city will have a doctor.” She began to turn the wheeler around.
“You have some nerve coming here, pig!” someone shouted off to our side.
“Someone say bacon?” Ben-Ben asked.
“You know what we do to cops here?” another voice asked.
“I’m not a cop,” Jess said softly.
I started barking, the voices were threatening.
“It’s a K-9 unit, I HATE dogs!” another voice said.
“That’s why you keep losing your bets,” the second voice said just as our wheeler was lit up with a fake burning disc.
Patches dived under her seat.
“I can’t see anything, Riley!” Ben-Ben said, still staring into the light.
I had turned my head. “Stop looking, Ben-Ben.”
“Oh...better. Many spots!” he answered.
“It ain’t no cop, Creighton. It looks like a kid and some dogs, maybe a baby,” the one who had shined the light on us said.
I think it was the one called Creighton that spoke next. “Alright, kid, I want you to come out of that car nice and slow. No funny business, no guns. You got me? And I see you thinking about trying to get out of here. There are at least five rifles pointed at you, we’ll fill that car with bullets before you can go fifteen feet. Are you willing to take the chance we’ll miss everyone with you?”
Jess was frantically looking around as if one of us might possess an answer to this problem. We all heard the familiar sound of multiple fire sticks being primed and readied for use.
“I’m not a very patient person,” Creighton said. “Never was and now that I don’t have to be to fit in, it’s gotten worse. Get the FUCK out of the car NOW!” he screamed.
Jess was fumbling with the handle to the door, she stepped out.
“Well shit, it’s just a girl,” the fake sun operator said.
“Keep your fucking eyes on the car, dumbass,” Creighton yelled. “Icely is going to want to see her. Who else is in the car?”
“Please, I just need a doctor for my brother, he’s sick,” Jess said.
The figure that had been approaching stopped and backed up a step. “Is he a zombie?” Creighton asked.
“What?” Jess asked and then answered when she realized what he was asking. “No, not a zombie, flu maybe.”
“Have any of you been bitten?” Creighton asked.
“No,” Jess told him.
“Then welcome to Vegas, you are now property of the Republic of Icely.” And then he laughed a cruel laugh as he waved some more men towards our wheeler. They all had fire sticks pointed at us.
The one named Creighton had a small light pointing inside the car. “A baby and two dogs, although one of them isn’t going to fair too well at the games.”
“I love games,” Ben-Ben yipped. “You think they’re talking about fetch, Riley?”
I doubted it, but I didn’t say anything. And how had they not seen the cat?
“You a good boy?” Creighton asked me through the clear viewer.
I bared my teeth at him. I would have bit him just for calling me a ‘he.’
“Ooh, we got a live one. I might actually put a few bucks on you. Steve? Gonna need you to come over here with the collaring stick,” he said to someone on the side of him.
Steve came over holding a pole with a loose noose of what looked like a tether hanging from it. I bared my teeth again, this time in fear.
The other side of the wheeler opened up and Ben-Ben hopped into the arms of a male two-legger on his side. Stupid dog, I thought.
The man shut the door before I could get out that way. And where would I go anyway? Zach was still in his seat, I couldn’t leave him.
“Bad men,” Zach said.
“You know that?” Even in my fear I was able to wonder at what more knowledge he possessed.
“Not too hard to figure out good or bad, I’m a baby, not stupid.”
“Sorry, your talking is new to me.”
“Babies know more than anyone realizes, they’re just not developed enough physically to express themselves either through body language or speech.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him as the one they called Steve placed his hand on the door handle.
“You be a nice, fella, okay?” Steve said, trying to soothe me with his voice. Much like Zach said, it was not difficult to see the malice behind his words.
I started a rumbling growl deep in my chest. I bared my fangs and made sure that I had long lines of drool hanging from my mouth.
“What the fuck kind of dog is this?” Steve asked, looking around.
The one called Creighton came around. “Looks like some kind of Bulldog.”
“Pit bull?” Steve asked, sweat coming from his brow. “He looks like he could rip my arm off and feed it to me.”
He was nervous. I could smell it all over him, good.
“Hey, little girl, you calm your dog down or I’m going to put a bullet in his head,” Creighton said, turning to Jess.
“No!” Jess said, running back towards the car. “I’ll calm her down.”
“Oh, she’s a bitch, fitting.” Creighton said. “You got a minute to put this collar around her, Icely doesn’t like to wait.”
I was still growling and barking at the men outside when Jess came in the door she had got out from.
“Riley,” she said softly.
I turned to her, my fear and adrenaline still rushing through me. I turned to her still barking savagely, I wanted to lunge, I wanted to attack. We were in danger!
“Riley girl,” Jess said softer.
“Shoot the fucker,” Creighton said to Steve.
“I might hit the baby,” Steve said.
“Yeah…and I give a shit,” Creighton said.
“Wait!” Jess screamed. “I just need a minute, she’s scared. Just back up a little, give me the damn collar. I’ll get her to come.”
“Give me the keys,” Creighton said, being careful not to stick his hand anywhere in the car. Jess handed him the janglers, Creighton took the collar device from Steve and handed that into the car. “You’ve got two minutes.” And then he stepped back a few paces.
“Girl,” Jess said.
My eyes were blazing, my ears were pulled back. “Need to fight!” I barked at her. I watched out the front viewer as the idiot Ben-Ben was running around and through the legs of our captors.
“Riley, they’ll kill you, please come out with me. We have no choice. I’m so sorry I got us into this.”
Water was flowing from her eyes. We were in trouble, and I knew getting shot with a metal bee was not going to help fix anything. I was trying to get my anger under control; the fear was going to be another thing. I was scared for myself, but it was the safety of the pack which affected me the most.
I turned to the baby.
“Live to fight another day,” he said.
I pondered for a moment the wisdom of his words. “How can you know that?”
“Thirty seconds!” Creighton yelled.
“Riley, please,” Jess said.
I turned back to face her and placed my head down as she wrapped the tether around my neck. “Come around front,” she said as she positioned the pole so that I could get into the front and out.
Creighton pushed Steve to grab the pole as Jess stepped out with me in tow. Steve ran up quickly and grabbed the pole. He jerked it around, twisting the rope around my neck, I yelped from the pain of it.
“You’re hurting her,” Jess pleaded.
“Lucky the bitch isn’t dead,” Creighton said, coming up and grabbing Jess by the arm. “Steve, put the mutt in the kennels. I’m taking her to see the boss.”
I turned just enough to see someone reaching in and grab Zach before Steve pulled me forward. I bit down on the pole; it was a lot harder than the sticks I used to fetch for Alpha.
“This is a strong one,” Steve said.
“Yeah, but she’ll never beat Thorn,” another man said.
“I’ll take some of that action,” another spoke up. They were all laughing and having a good time, but it was an evil fun to those who weren’t on their side.
I ripped on the pole, pulling Steve to the side.
“Fuck me,” he yelled.
It was just enough that I was able to see Patches slink away from the car while none of the two-leggers were paying attention.
“What about this little fuck?” one of the men asked of Ben-Ben who was following happily behind. “Should we just feed him to the others? No one would bet on this little rat dog.”
Steve was sweating from the exertion of trying to rein me in, his speech was labored. “No, those little terriers can be ferocious. Maybe we can have some sort of small dog fight. If nothing else, it’d be fun to watch.”
“Your call, boss.”
“I’ll take him if he’s not too big a pain in the ass.” Creighton replied. “Just drop him at my house, I’ve got to take the girl to Icely.”
I could see where we were heading. They were like the small animal shelters that the two-leggers used to put Patches in when she would go see the animal doctor. Maybe a little bigger, but the one we were heading for, it didn’t look like I’d even be able to stand.
“Vick, Matt, go grab the kennel keep it in place while I wrestle this fucking demon into it,” Steve said.
I could tell he was getting tired, but we were close to what the two-leggers called a kennel. One of the two-leggers was close to the front of the kennel, and I was going to let him know what I thought of that, teeth first. The other one grabbed him by the arm, though.
“What are you, a fucking retard? Get back here with me.”
The rope pulled tighter around my neck. I was having difficulty getting any air, and I was starting to see black spots in front of my eyes. The spots got bigger as Steve pushed me into the kennel. I stopped fighting as my eyes began to close, my tongue hanging out.
“Not so fucking bad now, are you!” Steve screamed at me as he released the rope and slammed the door shut.
I had some small amount of satisfaction as I lunged up against the door and he stepped back.
“Stupid mutt,” he said as he wiped his brow and walked away.
I was right. I could not stand in the small enclosure…or even turn around for that matter. Right now, that was alright, I was exhausted. I could not see Ben-Ben, Jess, or Zachary; the cat I did not figure I would ever see again. My neck had just stopped hurting, and my breathing was not as labored when a couple of different two-leggers stopped in a bigger wheeler. They came and grabbed my kennel and threw it in the open back of the machine. They didn’t say anything, and I was too tired to bark at them. When we stopped, one of the men pulled my kennel out of the wheeler and let it slam to the ground. My whole body jolted as I hit the hard ground.
Once the pain subsided, I realized that I was next to way more than seven other dogs. They were all in different sized kennels like I was. I caught all sorts of snippets of conversation, ranging from ‘I’m hungry,’ to mostly ‘I’m scared’; though some were threats about tearing another’s throat out. I shivered from the savagery of the words. I slept.
It was long moments later, and the burning disc was coming back up. My throat hurt so badly; I just wanted some water and to be able to stretch my legs. They hurt so bad, not being able to stand was worse torture than the time Alpha-male had made me get in the indoor water holder. He had said I was dirty and that I needed a bath. I had let him know in no uncertain terms what I had thought of that! And right now that memory sounded like bliss.
I could hear dogs on the other side of whatever building I was in beginning to howl. After a while I saw the reason why. The two two-leggers that had brought me here were giving food and water to us. One was carrying a stick that had blue electric sparks shooting out from the end, the other had the bowls. I almost cried when they finally got to my kennel.
“You gonna be a good girl?” the one with the stick asked. “Otherwise I’m gonna shock your mangy hide.”
The end of the stick pulsed in blue, didn’t need to be as smart as a poodle to figure out that stick was dangerous. I pushed as far away from the end of it as I could.
The other man opened my door and hurriedly pushed my food and water in, spilling most of the liquid onto the bottom of my container. I rushed ahead before he got the door shut, I almost got to feel what that stick felt like, but I had been going for the water not the man.
“Fuck that was close,” the man said as he fell on his backside.
“Dip wad, the dog wasn’t going for you, look,” the other said, pointing to me as I lapped at the water on the floor.
They fed and watered the next two dogs and then left. I was just finishing up the water, which was not enough, when I turned to the food. It was meat and I almost tore into it before I realized what it was.
“Hey, hey, new dog!” the brown dog next to me was shouting out. “You going to eat that? Because I will.”
I wasn’t EVER going to eat it, but how he thought I was going to get it to him eluded me.
“Hey, new dog, I’m talking to you!” the brown dog said, his earlier disposition changing to aggression.
“What do you want?” I asked, fear growing in my gut.
“Well I want your food and then I want to rip your insides out through the hole I tear into your soft underbelly,” he replied.
“Why?” I asked, most likely whining.
“It’s what we do…we’re fighting dogs. The humans cheer at us while we do it. Winners like me get to eat more of the losers like you.”
Now I knew where my bowl of food had come from.
The brown and black dog was laughing at me. “I’m going to be eating you later. I hope you taste better than you look.”
My bowels seized up, my legs were cramping. I was hungry, thirsty, and scared. I buried my head under my paws trying to drown out the misery around me. I could hear the mean dog possibly yelling at me, or maybe somebody else, but I didn’t care. I don’t know how long I was like that. I had given up thinking I was ever going to get out of there.
The burning disc was almost out of sight when the big wheeler came back. They grabbed the brown and black dog and then grabbed me. We were next to each other, separated only by our kennels.
“Your humans aren’t going to save you,” the dog said to me. “Maybe I’ll just eat you after I kill you, I like my meat warm.”
“Why would you do this?” I asked him.
“Because the humans want me to, and they like it.”
And he seemed happy with that answer. He never stopped looking at me the entire ride. Our kennels were dropped into a big pit made with hard, white ground; there was a small wall around the whole thing, I thought I could jump it, but everywhere I looked there were two-leggers…and most had fire sticks. The brown and black dog was put down on the far side of the pit. My crate was dropped hard, my head bounced first off the bottom of the kennel then the top.
He was being held at bay as one of the two-leggers who had given me water had his hand wrapped around the dog’s collar.
“I’m going to kill you!” the dog was barking, his front legs lifting off the ground, the human struggling to hold onto him.
“Thorn! Calm down!” the man shouted.
The other two-legger quickly unlatched my door and ran towards the wall. When he realized I wasn’t coming out of my kennel he came back and lifted the back of it so I fell out like biscuits from a box. Gruff laughter came from the humans all around me.
“Look at that dog!” someone shouted. “He ain’t gonna fight! I want to put twenty bucks on Thorn!”
My face was dirty from scraping against the ground, my legs hurt as I tried to stand on them. I fell over when I realized I couldn’t even feel them.
“Make that a hundred on Thorn!” the man shouted.
My legs felt like I was at the animal doctor and he was sticking many, many stingers into me. I used my face to push myself back up, wobbled on my legs, and took a couple of tentative steps. I almost fell over again but was able to stay up.
A loud voice came over the entire crowd, warning them that they only had two more minutes to place bets, whatever that meant. I circled around, looking for Jess, Zach, or Ben-Ben—maybe even Patches, I was that scared. When I didn’t see them, I tried to see if there was maybe a way out.
“Don’t even think about it!” Thorn was shouting. “I’ll rip your hind legs off before you can leave this circle.”
“You ready, boy?” the two-legger asked as he rubbed Thorn’s side. “Go make me some money.” He let go of the collar.
Thorn charged at me, almost at full speed before he was halfway across the circle. I had never ‘fought’ another dog before. I had postured plenty, barked even more, but never anything like this. I was scared.
“Throat or belly? Throat or belly?” Thorn was asking himself as he pulled closer.
I was finally able to start feeling my legs. I was scared, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t do what it took to survive. I lowered my whole body, the fur on my back bristling. I pulled back a snarl to let Thorn see exactly what he was charging into. I saw something in his eyes, but he was already committed. I sank lower.
“Look how scared that stupid dog is!” someone was shouting.
Thorn leaped when he was in range, so did I, but as he went high I surged low. I caught him in his mid-section like he had threatened to do to me. His forward momentum pulled him past me. My mouth was full of his fur, skin, and blood, I had ripped a piece of him clean off. He yelped loudly as he rolled into the dirt past me.
“Did you see that?” someone asked.
Another shouted. “Get up, you stupid fucking mutt, or I’m going to lose all my money! This shit is rigged!”
Thorn’s breathing was labored, and he was in pain, but he wasn’t out of the fight. I warily moved in closer, circling his form. He matched me movement for movement.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” I told him.
“You bit me!” he barked.
“Oh, I didn’t just bite you, I tore a piece of you off,” I snarled threateningly.
“The humans told me you would be an easy kill!” he was shouting.
“They lied,” I said as I still circled him.
“They’re not even fighting, I should get my money back!” someone was complaining.
I watched Thorn’s back legs. He was compressing them, getting ready to spring. He launched, I moved to the side as his saliva-coated teeth and mouth slid past. I turned my head slightly and caught him mid-flight, my fangs sinking deeply into his soft throat.
“No!” he whispered as air from his shredded throat rippled around my maw.
His legs were scrabbling. He was a big dog, and I thought he might be able to pull free; so I began to shake my head back and forth, sinking my teeth even deeper almost to the point where they were touching. The tighter I squeezed the less he moved. His tongue rolled out of his mouth and he was still when I opened my jaws and let him fall to the ground.
I noticed for the first time that all of the humans around me were quiet. And then a small applause broke out, but that was overshadowed by the groans of those that had lost money.
“That bitch killed my Thorn!” the two-legger said as he approached, fire stick in hand.
The same extra-loud voice sounded again. It seemed to come from everywhere, “Stop, Isaac, the dog won fair and square.”
“But!” Isaac started.
“Bring the dog back to the holding pen and give her some more water. If anything happens to her on the ride back, you’ll be in this ring next.”
Isaac looked as mad as She-alpha did when I had torn a very small piece out of her couch. I didn’t know why she was so upset, you could barely even see it.
“Get in the fucking kennel!” Isaac shouted at me, threatening me with his metal bee sender.
I started walking away from my kennel, not exactly towards the man…but not away either. I could smell the fear pouring off of him. I wanted to hurt him and that scared me, too, I had never wanted to hurt a two-legger before—not a living one anyway.
“Not going to tell you again, mutt! Get in your kennel!” he shouted.
I kept walking until finally I was past him, not going too close. He might be afraid of me, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt me, and I needed to stay strong so that I could get the others out of here.
“Brent, she isn’t getting into her kennel. She needs to be put down,” Isaac shouted to the voice.
Then the voice overhead laughed. “Oh, she’s getting into her kennel alright, her new kennel!” The crowd roared as I walked into the much bigger crate. I could stand and turn; there was even a small fake fur I could use as a bed.
“That’s Thorn’s!” Isaac shouted.
“He’s not going to need it anymore,” the overhead voice said.
My heart was pounding, but I laid down trying to make the two-leggers believe that I was calm. I don’t know why that seemed important at the time, but it did. Isaac rushed over and closed the door with the end of the fire stick then placed his foot against it before reaching down with his front paw and locking it.
He jerked the crate into the air with a grunt, rocking me back and forth.
“Treat her right,” the voice said. “That comes from Icely himself.
“Wade, help me with this stupid mutt,” Isaac said to the other man that was at the dog pen place.
I was back in the wheeler and then back in the small building with the rest of the dogs.
“The bitch beat Thorn,” One of the dogs said, sounding surprised.
Isaac came back a few moments later carrying two bowls. “Here you go, fucker! I don’t care what Icely says, you bite me, and I’ll kill you. What do you think of that?” He was shouting and spittle was flying from his mouth.
I laid my head down in indifference.
“No meat for you! I will never give you a piece of Thorn!” he shouted as he pushed in the bowls. Thankfully not much water spilled as he slammed the door shut. He stared at me a few more moments through the opening on the side. I shut my eyes and pretended to go to sleep. When he finally left, I drank the water greedily and then sniffed at my food; thankfully, it was the dried cardboard ball bits that the two-leggers called dog food…and it was delicious.