Drop it! [May2015]

There is this smell again! As quiet as possible Lab-Dog K78c gets up and approaches the door of his cage. His nose vibrates while he filters the known from the un-known. The stench of his rotting neighbours makes it hard to identify more than „alive, possibly human“. Nothing moves, no sounds reach his ears, but there is someone, he is sure. He weeps a bit, uncertain if it is a good idea to draw the attention of this unidentified intruder. But he needs food and water. His stomach hurts and he had to lick his own urin from the floor to stay alive. He knows, if he can't get out of his prison his dead will be inevitable. Again he weeps, just a little bit louder than before.
There a sound. A „flopp-klick“ and the the door swings open. A cone of light jumps across the room, blinding K78c, but he stays at the door, anxiously hoping it won't be one of „them“.

„Holy hell!“ with her right hand Peri presses her scarf against her face. It smells like dead, long dead in here. Slowly she walks in, with her flash-light in the left hand, she tries to figure out where the sound she heard, is coming from. The first cage she looks into, has the half decayed body of an odd looking dog in it. Peri has to concentrate all her will power to not throw up. The second cage is even weirder, a naked dog, but huge and with a flat face, seems to have eaten his own hind legs. A quiet, like crying sounding noise, almost gives her a heart-attack. She moves around and her flash-light hits the face of a shephard-mix, apparently still alive. „K78c“, she reads on his cage door. „Genetic modification study, male.“ Also there is a warning sign beneath „Don't open the door without guard and direct order from study chief“. She looks at him a bit closer now, the top of his right ear is missing and he wears something like a body suit. Their eyes meet and the dog weeps again. „How are you little buddy? You wouldn't eat me, right?“ She thinks about just opening the cage and letting him out, but after giving it a second thought, she leaves him where he is. The weeping following her through the door now really sounds like a crying infant. „Just give me a second. I come back, I promise.“ Peri always had loved dogs, back in the old times, before it all went to hell, she was just about to get her first own four-legged partner.
But K78c couldn't possibly know that. He was born here in this labratory and his experiences with humans, were feeding and the endless testing they did on him. He trusted no one and he certainly wouldn't trust this stranger, but he wanted to survive, he had to get ouf his prison. He screams as loud and enduring as his weakened body allows him to. As he is close to passing out the intruder comes back carrying something and the smell drives him nuts. Food! He jumps against the door, yowling, begging, blind from hunger and desperation.
Peri puts the bowls, one with water and the other with food she found, in the middle of the room, closes the door behind her and with her own can of dog food she climbs up on his cage. Opening it from up there, where she should be out of reach, for now. All she knows is, they're both hungry and maybe a shared meal, will help her finding a new friend. The dog shoots out immediately and has no eyes and no ears for her. Peri takes a few spoon fulls of this „Pedigree delight“ she found for herself and watches him. After a few bites he canes in the water, he even burps a bit, before he very loudly continues to eat his share. Peri is laughing for maybe the first time in three months. But the dog doesn't mind, or notice. Still, as far as she is concerned, this will be her new pal.
„Attack? Rex? Buddy? What would you want to be called fella?“ After he is finsihed he turns around and Peri feels like he is uncertain what to do next. They stare at eachother for a while, till he starts to growl. He ducks down and in one fast move he tries to attack her on top of his cage. Peri gives him a quick kick to his snout and he backs away. „That's what I thought. Humans haven't been your best friends so far, have they?“ Peri climbs over the other cages to the coat-rack with muzzles, collars and leashes. She takes one of each, the biggest ones, because this dog is really impressive in size, huge for a shephard, and smiles at her new friend: „Now welcome to civilisation, mighty doggy.“ She is very aware that he will just bite her arm of if she tries to put them on him. „What you don't know, my friend, in the water you just drank was quite a bit of the tranquilizer with your name on it. You must have been this way before, hm? But K78c is really no good name, i would be pissed too, if people would call me that.“ The dog wobbles a bit and has to sit down. „Ah the drugs work. I give you about half a minute and you sleep, when you wake up, it will all start to get better. I promise, I'll take good care of you. Max? Do you like Max? As in Mad Max?“ The dog lays down still growling. Peri keeps talking to him, as calm and monotonous as she can. „I will show you trees and meadows and there are still a few birds out there, we can hunt together. What do you say, doesn't that sound pretty?“
As soon as he doesn't move anymore, Peri jumps down, puts the muzzle on him first, just in case and then the rest. She is curious, so she opens his body suit. And almost instantly wishes, she wouldn't have. He has no furr on his flanks, just many old scares and some fresher looking wounds. Full of pitty she pets his huge, black head. „No wonder, you don't like me.“

He wakes up, in his mind is still the image of the intruder and the feeling of being in the middle of a fight. As quick as his, still a bit woozy head, allows him to, he gets on all four. His eyes, ears and nose are overfloated with all kinds of strange and mysterious impressions. Entirelly puzzled he doesn't know where he is, where are the walls, what is this wide thing he is in now? Is this dead?
„Oh you're up. Good, I was starting to worry a bit. For a half-starved you are really heavy. Was quite the challenge to get you out of there. But I thought you might like a change of scenery.“ As expected the dog jumps instantly towards Peri, barely held back by the leash she wrapped around a tree. Still smiling she carefully offers him another bowl of water, inch by inch she pushes it closer towards him, till he can reach it, but not her hand. „I took the muzzle of, don't make me regret that.“, she says starting to doubt her own ability to judge. After a few rough days in which she keeps him tied to the tree, feeding him, watering him and every now and then giving him a bit of his tranquilizer to check on his wounds, she thinks it is time to take the body suit off and make him more comfortable with her. They have to leave soon. „So my Maxy, today is a big day for you. We're going for a walk.“ So far she had never touched him, when he was awake and she still considers it to be an unnecessary risk. She had found a chair, she uses now to keep him at distance, while she wrapps the leashe from the tree around her wrist. Max still keeps his impressive behaviour up, but somehow he likes this one. So far she had only hurt him when he attacked. He doesn't do that anymore and she keeps feeding him, also he very much appreciates the air in his slowly regrowing fur. Growling and showing off his teeths he watches her and the chair she keeps between them uncertain what will happen next. „Come on, buddy. Come on Maxy, here we go.“

Peri pulls a bit on the leashe and makes two steps away from the tree. The black shephard doesn't move. „Come on, we go for a walk. Dogs do that. Trust me, it will be fun.“ She has to drag him the first steps, but he starts to get it and soon it is an almost harmonic picture, the young woman and the black dog, with the chair in between.
The first day they only get to go around their camp. Maxs nose up in the air, entirelly focused on her and what she could be doing next. The second day, they go a bit further and a squirrel she shoots and allows him to eat, turns out to be huge leap forward in their relationship. The third day he is even smelling around a bit, taking the focus off her for a few seconds here, a few seconds there. Not much, but Peri takes it as a sign of progress. The fourth day she had him tranquilised over night and put the muzzle on him, she dared to leave the chair in the camp and it went surprisingly well. He only attempted to bite her twice. „I'm sorry, but you will have to wear this thing for a few days now, we're leaving Maxy.“ All her belongings fitted in the little trolley she had stolen from some Walmart somewhere and modified, to suit her needs. She draged it, making jokes on Maxs behalf: „If you were a gentleman you wouldn't allow me to do this for myself.“ Every now and then she feels like the dog understands her. Perfectly timed, he made a little grumpy growl, as if it was an attempt to laugh at her bad joke. „Laugh all you want, in a week or so, I'll make you drag this. One usually needs to work for food, you know? Looking good alone, won't help you when you start to get older.“
They had no fixed destination, they just needed to stay moving. Since the big fallout it was crucial to not be findable. For officials they would be two rabid beasts on the run. For the raiders a welcome diversion and probably a meal.
They come across a supermarket on the outskirts of a city, the half blown away shild identifies as „***v*lly“, unsure what to do with her new partner, Peri decides it is best to leave him out here, with her trolley. „You have an eye on our stuff Max, just quick in and out, no worries, I'm back in a sec.“ Following her instincts she takes the muzzle off him. He allows her to do that by now and only wears it when they are walking and she couldn't keep an eye on him the entire time. It is still a bit risky, but they had agreed on that he gets a treat when he doesn't attempt to bite her and it was working. Max is an exceptional smart dog and Peri again and again amazed by his apparent comprehension skills. She looks back over her shoulder and enters the deserted and looted market.

Max sits there just waiting and watching, sniffing, listening. His impatience grows. Something smells wrong. No certain sound or smell that could tell him what is going on, but the general feeling of danger. Like back in the old days, shortly before they came to take him out of his cage and to the torture chamber. He starts chewing his leashe. First more or less just to calm his nerves, but sooner more and more serious: he needs to follow her. His instincts tell him to hurry and he does. Twitching, jerking and biting till the stupid thing comes off. He runs into the the doors Peri had disappeared behind and stops. „Ha, you little bitch. You're straying days are over pretty kitty, say 'please let me live' to your new masters. And you better try to make us like you.“ Noises from someone kicking, glass breaking or something. Max can't define exactly what he is hearing. But the smell, he smells fear, from Peri and sweat and alcohol and at least two other people. As quiet as possible cursing his own claws for their „click“ on each step he takes, he follows his nose through the racks. There, three men and Peri on the floor beneath them. They are hurting her, he sees it, feels it, like they are doing it to him and identifies the strangers with „them“ from the labratory. All his years of fear and pain wash over him as he jumps in the middle of the scene. Too quick for them to see him coming. „Crack!“ snapps the first throat. The other one tries to reach for something, but Max snapps at his left leg and pulls him down. Peri doesn't wait for her rescue, as if she just had waited for her dog, she pulls together all her left strength and kicks the skinny, dirty guy as hard as she can. It doesn't do much, other than agitating him and keeping him focused on her instead of Max. The tortured dog bites to kill „Crack!“ the second throat spills its blood allover him and the floor around them. The dirty guy keeps hitting Peri, in a fatal false estimation of the situation he doesn't notice the red and black jaw behind him. „Crack!“ sink huge dogs teeth in his neck.
Peri lies there paralysed waiting for Max to kill her too. But he doesn't. He sits there looking at her and as she slowly starts to get up, shaking from terror and pain she hears him think, clear as day:
„I won't pull your trolley.“

a reply to: Peeple

Two Stars and a Flag For You! I liked this very much!
Well written!
Very Well Done Indeed!!! Syx.

a reply to: SyxPak

Thank you. It was fun to write.

a reply to: Peeple

Despite years of pain, he can still feel love. And despite the gore your story is poignant and uplifting. I love your superhero dog!
S&F

I really liked the concept of Superhero Dog!!! It's a very "Mad Max" kind of world you've created here, and to survive, someone would need a Max-the-dog!

Well done. S&F

- AB

a reply to: Peeple

Reminds me of "Plague Dogs"! Nice story and I think all my dogs were super heroes! They sure made my life better!

I enjoyed this Peeple.

I didn't expect a super hero dog my first story into the entries! Great job. I enjoyed it, and it's right up my reading alley. My eldest daughter writes and draws in a forum art/writing community about wolves. Your story reminds me of the super heroes in those contest entries.

If i could suggest - concentrate on more defined paragraphs and breaking up your text. To make for easier reading.

S&F

CdT

Well? Doesn't seem finished to me. You can't simply cut the story off after their first real moment of mutual understanding.

I'll be waiting for more.

a reply to: DiggerDogg

Yeah well this was for the short stories competition, so i tried to keep it short.
But it's good to know i left someone wanting more. Maybe. Did you digg it dogg? Didn't see any new stars or flags? Not good enough?

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: DiggerDogg

Yeah well this was for the short stories competition, so i tried to keep it short.
But it's good to know i left someone wanting more. Maybe. Did you digg it dogg? Didn't see any new stars or flags? Not good enough?

a reply to: Peeple

Well Peepol, I wouldn't put too much stock in stars and flags. Those are just gimmicks to keep people entertained. But I starred and flagged the thread anyway because you made me feel guilty.

You see, us dogs are not treated as well as we should be. Humans don't understand loyalty like we do. You can kick a dog, beat him, and he'll still look at you with the same adoring eyes. He'll still come back and sit at your feet hoping you'll pet him or feed him.

Dogs can never hate. You can only confuse us. Dogs never blame you for the bad things you do, they just wonder why you do it.

But humans can be awfully wanton sometimes, and some of us poor doggies just end up turning feral.

Just the other day, I was at a gathering. Some little kid saw me and must have thought I looked interesting, so he came up and smiled at me, and scratched my ears. I looked back at him and smiled, but when he saw my eyes he quit smiling. Something made him scared or nervous of me, and I don't know why. I would never bite. Maybe I'm just too feral, and my eyes look mean now.

Such things can make a dog very sad. But luckily us dogs don't stay sad for long.

a reply to: DiggerDogg

Perfect answer, considering the topic of this thingy. Now I am very impressed.