Dog Gone (10)
Dog Gone 10 By Roofles
So the fact of the matter was...that I was lost. No matter if I look to the left. Right. Behind me or in front. It all looked the same. And I was truly beginning to hate this place with an undying passion of a thousand suns. "This is bullshit!" I shouted down one of the corridors. "Fucking bullshit!"
I had given up. Yelling cursing the heavens above, punching kicking and throwing a hissy fit. This whole thing was fucked up and I was in the middle of it all. I wanted out. "You can shove this whole thing up your ass pipe you running nose prick licking son of a tea bag wearing mother whore!" My face must've turned blue as I gasped for air like a fish out of water. This whole thing was bull. This whole place is shit. I hated this whole bullshit.
I crumbled agaisnt the wall laughing and crying at the same time. My body just wanted to quit. I wanted to quit. Give up on this whole mess of things. On life. It would be so easy just to sit here and not move. Not do anything. Give up and die.
My eyes felt heavy. So heavy that they finally collapsed under their own weight and the world around me fell dark. I breathed as evenly as I could as I rested back against the wall. My ears were straining to hear any sound around me. Some que for me to take. A sign. Anything. But the world around me was silent and once more I was alone...
"It's raining again?" Brutus frowned but his tail still wagged. The tail looked awkward on him really but I didn't have the heart to shorten it. I didn't do it with my old dog and I was about to change that for him. Most rotties had stubby tails but not my Brutus.
The skys were dark, cloudy but it hadn't started raining yet. He offered a paw up to the heavens as if to ask the gods to stop it from raining. His palm turned upwards and the first few drops of rain fell. One large drop hit his nose making him wince. Crossing his eyes he looked at it, lifting his uncropped dog ears. I smiled trying not to laugh at the expression.
"Even in summer it rains." I shrugged not paying it any mind.
Those hazelnut eyes caught my smile and as if it were contagious he began smiling, wagging his tail. "I don't mind getting wet," Brutus returned my shrug with one of his own. He was being as nonchalant as possible. Yet it was easy to see how he really felt about the water beginning to fall from above. He was easy to read no matter what he said. A dip of a tail here, a droop of his whiskers there. Like an open book.
"I rather not have the whole wet dog smell." I teased.
"You know you love it." He slurped my cheek and we shared a laugh.
Ducking into a small deli we got out of the storm. My shoulders were a little damp and Brutus shook himself once inside. It was empty except for the worker in the back. Brutus grabbed a booth while I ordered a footlong for us and a large drink. And a sugar cookie. I had one weakness in life and that was a bad sweet tooth. I didn't smoke or drink much; I worked out and kept healthy. The one reward I had for it all was a good old frosted sprinkled covered sugar cookie every now and then.
Brutus shivered frizzing out his fur. It stood on end before shaking again. It was his own fault for going shirtless. Even wearing a coat it kind of defeated the purpose always leaving it open as he did. I just shook my head as he looked up at me with those big puppy dog eyes. "Here." I unraveled the scarf I wore during the cooler days. It was one of my favorite. I lassoed it around his neck, tucking it in and rewrapped it again. Fixing it here. Then there. "Ok, nevermind." The middle was blacken but the end were a darker shade of the colors of the rainbow. Everything else I owned looked straight so I had to have some way of putting myself out there...without putting myself out there. Pride and all.
"No, no!" He pulled back nuzzling the scarf. "It's fine. I love it." He brought it up to his snout and took a sniff letting a deep growl out. I'm not sure why I blushed.
"Fine. Well maybe if we got you some black leather or something it'd work." I joked but it was lost on him so I waved it off heading over to get our drinks...
I sat up looking around. I had fallen asleep in the middle of the hallway. I had just planned on resting my eyes for a minute or two. And here I was dozing away when there was those that needed me. Yet still I didn't want to give up. How much did I want to just close my eyes again and rest. Sleep away this fatigue and weariness that had built in my limbs and body.
"I'm getting too old for this shit." I sighed as I felt the sores in my joints as I stood back up, leaning against the wall for support still laughing. Still crying. If only a little bit.
There wasn't any point in running or jogging. I still hadn't a clue where I was. Where I was going even. I had a rough idea but in the end...nothing. No clear picture of my designation. All I really thought about was a black furred chest with spots, splashes and streaks of brown through it. A warm, strong able body that I could just hug and hold and rest against. Someone I could complain too about all of this. Whine to like a high school freshman. That someone I could just lean against for support after all of this was over and done with...
Strange. I couldn't even form a picture of the place I had been before and yet thinking of him... there he was. So vivid and clear. Even the brown little dots along his muzzle where his whiskers connected. Those hazelnut eyes and that stupid panting smile he always had on. His tail wagging behind him as he waited for some cue or position before hugging me. Cuddling up as I scratched his back and neck. Under his chin and behind his ears. Before just hugging his whole head close to my chest. Feeling that gruff breath escape him as he tried to pull away. Yet the second I let go he'd quickly worm his way in close again. Looking up at me with those large puppy dog as eyes as if to say "I can't believe you let me go."
But I wouldn't. I wouldn't let him go.
I gave myself a few good slaps and shook my whole body. "I got this. I'm an all-star. Ok maybe not that but I got this." Shrugging my shoulders and rolling them in their sockets as I kicked one leg out before another much like a cat would I imagine after falling head first into a puddle. That's how a felt. A wet rag, a puddle soaked cat.
"I got this." My voice was a lot somber than before. Quiet as I looked down at my palm. It was scuffed up, coarse like a laborers. These hands had never done hard work like this before. My fingers curled into a fist. My whole body felt like that. Coarse, crass. Far older than I was.
"I got this..." My voice didn't reassure me as I pressed onward. Passed the next corridor and through a set of doors.
Actual doors. Two large double hinged and locked doors. It was a relief to have something a little more...normal around. Even if unbearable peril was on the otherside I wanted nothing more than to reach them. To press against the metal bar and hear the familiar clunk as the hinges unlatched, pushing it open all the way and letting it slowly drift shut behind me.
An a few choice words came to mind. I had to look behind me just to make sure I was actually still in this place. The doors blended perfectly into the wall and, my heart fell, there wasn't a handle to grab. The world around me seemed to have taken a sudden turn down memory lane, and not my memory.
It looked like an old Mr. Roger's neighborhood. At least that was the first thing that came to mind as I turned back around. Perfect lawns one after another in almost cookie cutter houses. They had the white picket fence and mailboxes along the roadside with a perfectly paved sidewalk; with a deli and a super market and - and - and..."this is just so messed up."
I banged on the wall where the door was. Feeling every inch around it to find some handle or hook or hidden latch. There wasn't anything. "Let me out of here!" I banged on the wall over and over. I rather be in those tunnels with all that messed up shit than this fucked up place. I didn't even want to know what was awaiting me inside that perfect utopia of a setting behind me...
The walls had been painted so it resembled a landscape. Mountains and hills and trees with a grassy field leading up to the city. I followed it down where for a second I didn't even realize what it was. Grass. Fresh green grass was beneath me. I couldn't help but bend down and trace my hand through it. Plucking a single strand and bringing it up to eye level to make sure it was. It was.
I turned back to the town unsure of what exactly to do. Should I sit here waiting for someone to open the door or should I investigate further. Either way I was thoroughly lost and could only close my eyes and whisper a prayer for those left behind.
I thought the corridor and hallways before were silent. This place might as well be a ghost town. A shiver ran down my spine at that. First walking talking dogs. Then a secret government agency. Then those things back there...and now a ghost town. This really wasn't my day. I rubbed my arms trying to calm the goosebumps forming on them. This whole thing was asinine. This whole damn place.
"Hello! Anyone there?" I called out cupping a hand around my mouth. My grip tightened on my gun as I turned to the left and right. But all I got in reply was the unsettling sound of the wind blowing through the streets.
To be honest I half expected to see a tumble weed blowing by but that might show some sign that life had at one time been here. And even now, looking around, I doubted that to be the case. The lawns were trimmed, the fences were painted and the houses looked like they had been built yesterday. There weren't any cars or bikes. There wouldn't be any need for transportation when the supermart was only a few blocks away. The town felt larger than it was as I walked through the streets. If I lived here all my life it would've felt small but being here all alone made it feel like the largest city on earth.
Most of the buildings around me were soon forgotten. They were bland, cookie cutter houses of some twisted stepford housewives show. What really caught my attention was the large tower jutting up from the center of the town, or what I could only assume to be the center. It was mainly composed of windows and yet as I looked at it I couldn't see inside. In fact they appeared to be more like mirrors than windows reflecting an artificial sky above me. I wondered how many birds had flown into it but once more looking around, there wasn't any sign of life. Human or other.
"Hello?" I called out again. There was only the sound of the wind. Which seemed to chill my bones. I rather have the air around me stagnet than in motion. There was probably a giant fan somewhere around here that was blowing or some air system to circulate the constant flow of air. Either way it was all too apparent how fake it was in this underground like dome.
From the wall I had come from all the way up to the center where the tower went into to the other side of this crater sized hole. That was the only conclusion I could come to. It was a dome. I read once about a biodome in France that showed several different ecosystems. This must've been one of them, I laughed uneasily. An ecosystem of the 50s or 60s or something. Not like I was alive back then and I doubted hollywood had gotten it right.
My footsteps carried me towards the tower without me even thinking about it. Looking to my left and right I only saw the same houses. As far as I knew they might've been a hollywood set. Cardboard cutouts to seem as real as possible but fake, empty on the inside. The silence only concreted those thoughts. I heard the military did weapon tests on such settings but everything was perfect, untouched. Freaky, unnatural. Once more I was wishing I was back in the corridors now, seemingly, far behind me.
I passed the supermart and looked inside. The shelves were filled, the windows clean and above all else there was an open sign. An open sign as if there was someone here to shop. My stomach growled and I found myself rather conflicted. The food, from where I stood, looked real. Packaged and all. I didn't want to, my gut was telling me not to, but my stomach only growled louder and the idea of having something in it won over reason as I pushed the door open.
The bell rang above me which almost made me pull the trigger on the gun still tightly gripped in my hand. My heart was racing; wide eyed I looked around expecting to see one of those...things crawling towards me again. But it was empty, silent and that only seemed to further unnerve me. I stayed to the side making sure the whole store was in front of me, visible. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure there wasn't some little girl demon child standing in the middle of the road telling me to come play with her or some god only knows shit like that.
I opened the bag and began shoveling supplies inside. Focusing mainly on anything packaged, after thoroughly inspecting several of them first. Making sure there wasn't any needles holes or hidden blades inside.
The first bite of the rice crispy treat made my knees wobble. It was so...damn good. The water from before might as well have been mud in comparison to this. And on that note I found myself over by the chilled goods searching for drinks. I found several vitamin waters...odd as that was a rather new drink for this historical setting. Then again this whole place was odd. I put several bottles inside the bag and drink half of one down. It fell from my loose grip as the sound of the bell tolled behind me.
My heart was in my throat and I was on all fours even before the door had opened. I was around the corner with the pistol in hand aiming it at the door. It slowly shut and there wasn't anyone or thing standing there. Yet the cold chill running down my spine told me I wasn't alone.
I kept my back to the glass as I slowly scooted around towards the back door I had noted the second I had come in. There was sound of...sniffing on the ground and movement around the corner. Whatever it was was literally following my tracks. Thankfully. I pushed the back door open, thanking all the gods above that it didn't have a bell, and ducking out the back as I ran for it.
I didn't dare look over my shoulder as I quickly closed the distance between me and the tower. For whatever reason I found it far more alluring than the supermarket or houses around me. My feet skidded to a halt and I turned around gun trained as I heard the sound of feet behind me. Having heard it so many times before it was clear that it was the sound of paws on cement.
There, running on all fours, was a dog. A yellow lab. His tongue out, tail wagging as he came towards me. I trained my gun on it not trusting it for a second. "Stop right there you flea ridden-," and it did stop. And my voice did as well.
It was still several paces away. Wagging with its tongue hanging out.
"Good boy." I said slowly, articulating far too much for each of the two words.
"Hi." It barked it's voice felt like someone hit me with a two by four.
"Shit, it talks. Of course it flipping well talks." I muttered just staring wide eyed at it. "Everything in this god forsaken place talks."
It's pupils were like that of a normal dogs but they were cloudy, a milky white swirled in those dark voidless black eyes. "Hi." It barked again still wagging it's tail. It sniffed several times at me. "Hi." It said again each time made me feel as if someone had punched me in the gut.
It was blind I realized as it stared at me, yet not at me. Just the general direction I was in.
"Where did you come from little guy?" I knealt down a little bit making sure there was still good distance between us.
"Hi." It said again. I see I wasn't going to get anywhere with it. I looked to my left and right as I slowly got back up half expecting to see an owner. Or zombie coming my way. Between two of the houses was a knocked over garbage can and the contents had been dragged out. An I doubted it was by raccoons...
I lifted the bag I still had in my hand and regretted eating and drinking as I did. What if it lost it's sight because of something in the food? Looking back at it, really looking at it, I could see on it's head several scars.
"Um...come here, little guy?" I crouched down a bit offering a hand. It bounded over happily. I scratched its head and neck as I set the bag down to feel on top of it's head.
There were several stitch marks and I could feel several scars under the fur. My gut dropped and I was glad it couldn't see as the look of horror that must've crossed my face. It's fur, from a distance, looked to be the same bland yellow beige but looking at it close up one could tell they weren't the same color. Stripes of fur might as well have been glued onto it skin. Neatly, well done as it was it still wasn't the same thing as a normal dog. It was a frankenstein dog.
Stitches covered its body and moving its fur to the side I could see several patches of different colored skin. It looked like someone had taken several yellow labs, chopped them up and then like a sick puzzle tried to piece them back together. Only ending up with this one. The top of it's muzzle was different from the bottom and it's paws had to have consisted of several different dogs. The front two were larger than the back even.
"Um...good boy." I said again standing back up. "I'm going to go over there now...so you stay here or something." I turned my back but kept an eye on it as I headed onwards. It wagged it's tail innocently 'watching' me go before following with it's bounding almost gallop like run.
I wasn't sure if it was better to have this thing with me or not. At least I wasn't alone now. It ran around me in circles always looking in my general direction. It tripped a bit over it's own paws but still smile and wagged. I smiled back and waved at it, even if couldn't see. The smile on my face was a bit..twisted though, forced.
I was sure I had shut the door behind me when I left the supermarket. Positive in fact. The front door it could've pushed open but the back door needed a bit more finesse. It would've had to turn the handle and push it open. It was smarter than it looked...then again it looked rather dumb as it ran back and forth.
"Play? Play? Is it play time?" It circled around as if chasing its tail before stopping and looking at me that tail never stopped wagging.
"No, it's time for me to work now. I need to find someone." Desperately needed to find. At least it wasn't always saying hi now.
My feet came to a stop and it stopped with me. I covered my face with a hand trying to calm down. I was shaking, sniffling like a big baby. I wanted to find him already. I just wanted to find him. Was that so hard to ask? I just wanted to find my dog.
My knees seemed to give as I crumbled. I still covered my face unable to bear it. The whole weight of everything, all of this was slowly sinking in. Hitting home and I couldn't help the hot tears leaking from my eyes. "Damnit all." I cursed trying to wipe them away. "Stop already you...stupid stupidness." Yet they continued to flow. I had cried more in this one day than I had in my whole life. I was such a big baby...
Scratchy, coarse fur rubbed against my other hand. "Play?" It spoke softly unsure of what to do, afraid that it had done something wrong - worried over my well being.
I hugged it tightly. "Play?" It asked again as I cried against its neck. It seemed to help to have someone, anything to hold.
"Not yet." I answered wiping my eyes and getting up. I was such a sap for dogs it wasn't funny. "We're going to go find my friend and then we'll play."
It barked at that wagging it's tail rapidly. I really was pathetic, as I walked towards that tower. It kept nuzzling my hand running around me saying random things that didn't even seem to have meaning or purpose. Such a simple thing. To be so happy to have someone else with it now...I could understand the feeling though as I pressed on. I had someone I wanted to be with now. I never had it before...and by god I wasn't going to lose it.
"Welcome," an artifical female voice said above us as the automatic doors opened. Fresh air was sucked out rapidly. It was cool, air conditioned.
The doors slid shut behind us with a be-boop. "Welcome Ms. Blaq." The voice said above us. The badge around my neck felt hot for second before it was but a metal lump again. "Specimen #607." It also said which the dog barked at. "Did you enjoy your walk?" The last word was static as if the program had to select the word rather than speaking it.
"Walk!" It barked.
I ignored the voice watching as the lights around us slowly flicked on one by one. In sets of two, each one on opposite walls like small space globes of the moon. The last lights flicked on louder than the rest, outlining a metal door I could only assume to be an elevator. There was plant life in here, possible artificial, but otherwise it was just an empty room with a door. So there wasn't anywhere else to go.
I slid the badge through the slot and the green light flicked on. The dog with me pressed a paw on a slot at the bottom that lit up at it's touch. The doors opened and we went inside.
There wasn't any controls and as the doors shut an extreme case of claustrophobia set in on me. It was a metal tube with nothing in it. Like a cage. "Designation?" The voice asked above us.
Crap. I didn't know the right terminology for it.
"Home!" The dog barked jumping up.
The elevator shifted and we began to ascend further, higher into the tower. Only a few seconds passed before the door opened again.
"Viewing room." The voice chimned above us.
I was more than happy to get out. Again lights flicked on as we entered. It was dark in here even with the lights. That was until the main set flicked on and I saw a replica of the city around us before me. There was a small bed that the dog walked over to rest on.
The massive table before me had a small model of the city. Every house I passed by and even the supermarket. The middle was blank and only one word was scrawled there. Olympus. The mountain of the gods... I didn't like where this was going.
There were several flags stuck all around the town. Touching the closest one it lit up and the whole display darkened except for several houses around the flag I touched.
"December." A voice spoke above me. "Experiment 98. Mary Glokin Students." The voice switched over to a females. "The subject of house 180 was allowed to have free reign over the adjoining houses 179, 178, 181 and 182. They were given expensive outforms while the other houses had to wear used scraps. The other four houses were removed of electricity, food and water and had to come to the main house for such luxuries. They would work and do the chores for the main house and were rewarded with food and water. It wasn't until the thirteenth day of the trial that the occupance began showing signs of noticeable change. The other house families would have to strip off their clothes and were doused with hot soapy water. The other families were then not allowed to join them at the table but had to dine in the break room away from the main house. On the seventeenth the amount of food was lowered to scraps of food and were served in bowls on the ground. Even the water was served in this manner. On the twenty second the father of the family took house 182 daughter and-,"
I touched the flag again and the voice turned off. I swallowed loudly in the now silent room as I reached over to touch one of the other flags.
"July." The male voice spoke just as the artificial female secretarys had. "Experiment 17. Norman's study. Several houses in district twenty were grouped up at one of the main facilities. The participants weren't able to see each other, seperated by sound proof dividers and rooms. One subject was hooked up to electrodes. The other was given a dial. They were told to finish the experiment by turning the dial until it reached max capacity. All subjects did as they were told even when they showed signs of distress at the screams from the intercom from the next room. Experiment a success. Charred remains removed."
I touched the next one that was in the middle of the street. "An incident occured," there was a male voice that sounded far too familiar. It was far too...gentleman like. "In June. Several male residence attacked, mugged and raped a Ms. Cortell. We decided it best to delay rescue. None of the houses in the vicinity called for help even though it was clear what was going on. The crowded neighborhood did nothing. An interesting turn of events at just how many people there were, that had watched the show just outside. Police were sent an hour later. It was too late for Ms. Cortell. Body removed. Subjects detained, punished and...removed from the society."
I slowly withdrew my finger not looking at the flag that was still lit up. The voice continued. "In this controlled society it took place showing that it is human nature, rather than environment, that was the cause of the incident. Experiment concluded a success."
This whole place was just one science lab in the end. I took a step back and heard a crunch under my foot. There was a piece of paper on the ground. Picking it up I read it over.
"Once in a lifetime opportunity. Who needs to worry about another World War? Come to our Utopia! A place away from the laws and dictation of man and the rules of an unseen power. Where everyone is equal and free to live as they please! Room, board, food, water? All expenses paid for!"
It was accompanied by several pictures, bright colorful wholesome families smiling and laughing with the sun high in the sky. I tossed it on the table turning to leave. Another light lit up and the room darkened. I turned to see that it was the middle of the table. Where the tower would've been.
"Conclusion." The male voice was the same as before but sounded a lot older. "The residence has fullfilled their obligation and no further need is required of them. They will be collected and harvested and will go to be apart of the new generation. Genetic material is, after all, required." It was followed but a cruel laugh. "Housing and food will remain available for when we introduce our next evolution of mankind into a society setting. As long as we have clearance that is, heh." The voice laughed softly before cutting off. It was the same voice at the table that had interrogated me. The same as the young male from before. But it was twisted now. Colder, more lifeless. Less human.
"Social experiments are to be conducted for the future generation." The voice caught me off guard and I looked over to the dog having forgotten about him. "Studies of human life and culture to be reviewed, processed and bettered for the next in line." It's voice didn't seem to be it's own. More of a recording than anything else. "In the hopes that once humanity wipes itself out that the next race will take over. In the hopes that the next group will do better. Achieve what mankind could not."
The sound of the elevator slowly drew my attention the gun at my side drawn forth, aimed. Even before the door was opened a shot fired. The gun shot right out of my hand. I rubbed my wrist at the sharp pain and looked at who was inside. My heart fell and any hopes I had vanished.
"Good evening, Mr. Coldsteen. I hope you've been enjoying the show. After all," he stepped out adjusting his glasses in the process. He wore a large white labcoat over a fine suit without the coat. "I had it all arranged for you. My guest of honor." He mocked. Four soldiers crowded out of the elevator behind him, making sure not to touch him as they moved passed. Two of which were dogs. Both of whom grabbing my arms but I had all but given up any resistance.
"What the hell is this place to you..." I was going to ask what this all was but it came out accusing as if he were the one responsible for all of this. I wouldn't be surprised if he was.
"The next step." He said shrugging his shoulders.
The golden lab ran up and licked his hand. He bent down and scratched behind it's ears before peeling the flesh back. It didn't wince but I did. Pulling back as its skull was exposed. He took a small lense from where its eye should've been and put the skin back. Patting it afterwards. "Funny thing," he spoke scratching the dogs head who wagged it's tail. "They really don't like having camera's around. Too many people would ask questions if they could see just what went on here." He showed me the small device he had in his hand. "Doesn't mean I haven't gotten around such means. Rules are, after all." He walked over tapping the flyer I had read over. "For sheep."
His eyes were cold as he looked down at the city. His finger was over the flag that had been in the street. Where the female had been attacked. Beaten. Raped. And murdered. "Sheep." He said again withdrawing his hand and tucking it into his pocket. His other hand went into his coat and he pulled out a rather large syringe. He tapped it several times making sure it squirted the clear fluid inside.
I didn't even cry out as he drove it into my neck. I could see just out of the corner of my eye the clear fluid draining out of it. He pulled out his other hand as he withdrew the syringe. The whole world began to spin and my legs felt like jelly. The dogs held me tighter as I hung in their grip.
I felt a soft cloth wrap around my neck. Looking up I could see the dark rainbow pattern of the scarf I had worn days? Weeks? Months? Before. It smelt of him. Of my Brutus.
"I think this belongs to you." He said leaning down a bit to get into eye level. "Don't worry," he patted my face. I didn't feel a thing as he slapped my cheek. "You'll soon see your...friend again. Heh, then again I don't think you'll want to afterwards." And with that my world blacked out. I wasn't asleep, I could barely hear the world around me. Feel myself being dragged but my thoughts couldn't collect, couldn't make sense of it all.
In the elevator; up or down I wasn't sure. There was the sound of barking I remember that much. Dog's scratching at cages as they snarled and growled. But the longer they dragged me the more I felt disconnected to the to world. As if my body was just floating away. I couldn't feel anything, see anything and felt as if I was standing still. As if I was just having a bout of vertigo. But I knew that I was being dragged, moving. Yet my mind just couldn't wrap around it. And in the end it was just easier to disconnect. To close my eyes and just not try to fight it...