Dog Gone (16)

Story by Roofles on SoFurry

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Dog Gone (16) By Roofles

"And that's one small step for this dog and," Biscuit turned looking back at me. Our paws were locked as he helped me across. "One giant leap," I jumped and he caught me, spun me around and set me down. "For the Gravy." He licked my nose and I wrinkled it up and snorted back in his face. "That's the thanks I get?" He folded his ears back but was obviously enjoying himself.

I let go of his paw and waved my arms trying to keep my balance on the small tile in the middle of the pool around us. I don't know what the hell was going on but this is where the "yellow brick road" led us. To a damn swimming pool. The sides were blocked off by fences and testing it out they were apparently electrified. Biscuit had almsot reached out and grabbed onto it without even a second thought...I'm not sure how hes survived for so long. Cords ran into the water sparking that up with the life of death as well. But Biscuit had the brilliant idea of jumping on the tiles that were stationed in the water until we reached the other side as if they were stepping stones and we were just crossing a pond.

"Sorry I just don't like this whole electric eel thing." I said looking at the next stepping stone. Oh sure lets cross the water it'll be fine. Until we reached the half way mark and the water was flooded with an electrical current. And then the stepping stones began to fall into the water behind us. Making us race for our lives. Biscuit seemed to be enjoying himself. Again I wasn't sure how he had survived for so long. "It's really lost its fun when the whole element of death was added into it."

I jumped to the next one caught my foot on the edge and spun around waving my arms keeping my balance long enough for Biscuit to jump over and pull me back up. Our noses bumped and I folded my ears grumbling. "See. Not so bad once you get used to it." Biscuit said as if this was a pleasent outing between the two of us. Then he was always happy when he could rescue me from certain doom and peril, holding me tightly in his paws.

"Oh yes. It's just amazing." I blushed looking away and wormed out of his grip. I crouched down jumping to the next block then the one after and the one after, which wasn't planned. I was on all fours on the last one like a scaredy cat with his fur up. My teeth were chattering as I felt the humming buzz around me which was most likely was the cause of my rising fur. "This is madness."

"No this is- oof," Biscuit had followed not exactly aware that I had stopped and landed on top of me. I groaned under his weight as he grinded against me. He didn't get off just supported some some of his weight. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. All you had to do was ask, sug." He drolled in a southern accent sticking out his tongue.

"Bite me." I stood up slowly he only pressed more firmly into my rear.

"Now I didn't know you were into that." He grinned widely showing off his pearly whites. I swallowed looking at him with folded ears and a tucked tail. Biscuit winked and jumped by me. "Better hurry up before your a cooked sausage." I rolled my eyes as I followed, keeping them on that perfect rear in front of me. It seemed a better motivator than the inevitable doom that was slowly coming from behind.

I landed on the side and looked back watching the last three sink into the water. The electricity stopped and we were left in silence. Until Biscuit farted, an this time I could blaim it on the dog.

"Oh god, Biscuit!" I waved my hand in my face and made my way through the next door.

"Sorry!" But he was laughing. "I've been holding that in since a woke up."

"Disgusting," I laughed almost shutting the door in his face. He caught it and followed me inside. I turned around to chastise him some more and stopped feeling my throat tighten.

The walls were riddled with bullet holes.... And I didn't want to turn around. Just looking in front of me I could tell we were in a cafertia. There were signs covered in that red ink, red paint and red stains. Happy school lunch menu one read. And try carrots there crunchalicious. I hadn't noticed at first with Biscuit and all but the stench of blood, decay and death filled my lungs soon followed by gunpowder.

"Down!" Biscuit pulled my arm painfully as he yanked me to the ground. I heard the barrel spinning and the bullet falling to the floor even before the shots reached my ears. The machine gun fired in lines above us. I'm not sure why but I noticed that. How it moved side to side but not up and down. We could crawl...Spinning blades went up the center of the room nearly clipping the end of my tail. So crawling on the floor wasn't the best of options either I see.

Biscuit looking around the lunch table we found ourselves hiding behind. It had been tipped over on its side and at least provided us some cover from being seen. I doubted it would actually stop a bullet an the end was sawed off from the blade that had spun by. "Automatic turret. Two of them." He said rather proffessionally. Again he didn't really seem that shocked about the situation we found ourselves in. I really didn't know who Biscuit was I guess, the hell of a life he had before he met me or who he really was. I just assumed he was like me. But he was far more reliable than I was in these situations.

"Can you take 'em out?" I asked keeping my head down. I could see the laser sight pass over our heads as it scanned the room.

"Target Missing: Return to Standby Mode." The turrets could talk. Of course they could bloody well talk. Everything in this damn place seemed to be able to conveye communications through speech.

I could hear the turrets fold back up.

"They got some heavy armor in front of them." He looked back at me and for the love of god...he began acting it out again. "A plastic barrier in front with a little slit for them to look out of." He stuck his tongue through his fingers, making a rather inappropriate gesture as he described what he saw again with his paws.

"I see..." I looked away in disgust. There was bones underneath me. Blood on the walls and the remains of...something, in the corners. And that digusted me. I didn't like the idea of getting used to coming across mince meat. "Ideas?"

"Lob a grenade over?" He shrugged. Seemed logical enough so he took the small metal ball from his pouch and held the latch as he bit the pin off. He looked over the top of the table.

"Target Acquired: Fire at will." The artifical voice said. I could hear the turrets opening their arms and positioning themselves once more the red laser sight started at the center of the room, at the door we had come in, and slowly moved over to where Biscuit's head had been.

The grenade sailed through the air and I covered my ears and Biscuit covered me as if it had landed right next to us. I cowered against his chest waiting for the grenade to go off. The sound of an explosion. But nothing. I finally heard the sound of metal bouncing on the ground. And we looked at each other.

"It was a dud?" Biscuit blinked not even believing the chance of it.

"Target Missing: Return to Standby Mode." The turret refolded itself up. It took four seconds to open and two seconds to lock on to our position. It took three seconds however to fold back up.

I popped my head up before ducking back down. The gun fired even though it wasn't facing me. It fired a few feet to my right. I listened and waited. Two seconds for the laser to be above us. Another three for it to fold itself back up. To reposition from folding to firing took longer than I thought it would. However its first reaction wass to fire even if the target wasn't in its sight. It must have a massive ammo supply to have been programmed that way. Running it dry wasn't an option. However I got an idea of the rooms layout even in the quick glimpse I got.

There was indeed two turrets at the far wall with plastic riot shield like covers in front of them. There was doors on the sides but they most likely ended in death. Someone that was desperate or stupid would go for one of them. Not a bad idea, sick as it was. The goal was behind the turrets. The ground had several track marks as if a train was suppose to drive through any minute now; the blades seemed to be coming from those at least.

I scratched my chin thinking it over. I looked down at the ground and said a silent thanks. Dipping my finger into the blood I began to draw the layout of the place. Where every table was, the track marks and the turrets. I only needed to look one more time. I had got the general idea of the place. The opening in the plastic shields only allowed the turret rifle to rotate back and forth not in a full circle. So as long as we got behind them we'd be fine. The walls were also another trap. Panels had been built into all the corrisponding walls. Bodies were next to them as well. If one got too close to the walls they were dead. The only way was to go through the middle. But how long would it take the blades to move, to reload and how fast did they go?

"I got it!" Biscuit said tapping the door closet to us on the picture I drew. "Let's just hug the wall and make it into the door."

"I think I got an idea." I said not even acknowledging him. He smiled and wagged his tail. "Just give me a second to confirm it."

I took a bone on the ground, once more saying a silent thanks, and placed it over the tracks next to us. I heard the sound of it before I saw it. It was clear as glass and if it didn't saw through the bone in my hand I wouldn't had believed I'd seen anything at all. It blended perfeclty into the ground. Scary, and smart.

I took another bone and placed it where the other had been. Several seconds passed by before it was cut in two. Interesting... "Throw another grenade." I said looking at him. And he popped one out tossing it in the air and catching it like some tennis ball. He pulled the bin and lobbed it over like before. Once more silence greeted our ears. Sure the turret opened up and turned towards us but the grenade didn't go off. I didn't get it. Some electrical interference? I doubt that could get in the way of a grenade going off. Once the fuse was lit there isn't really anything stopping one from going off. And yet two grenade duds? I doubted that.

"Save the rest of 'em and listen closely." I explained what I had learned although he just smiled and nodded. "We'll be safe the first time though, theres no need to rush...yet. We'll only go to the bench directly in front of us. Careful as there are blade tracks next to it. So once we're there get as close as you can to the table"." He nodded and I got a few more...parts to use.

The first thing to do was set off the blades on the ground. I placed one and tossed the other out. It didn't need to land on the blade track between us and the next table just enough to go over it so that it activated the trap. The second the blades passed by I was up moving and running low. I dived over the first blade and rolled past the second one as it went by; staying low to the ground I breathed feeling the muscle in my arms and legs tighten as the machine gun fired above me. It didn't dip down an the bullets just went over head. Simple and clean. I moved to the side and hid behind the table. Biscuit was already there waiting. Like I told him he had jumped over the table and moved directly to the next spot once the blade was by. Easy enough.

I let out my breath relaxing for the time being. I heard the turrets talk and begin to go back into that standby mode of theirs. My body reacted better than I had thought it would. If I was human...could I have done what I just did? The thought wasn't comforting. They made me this way so I'd use it against them. As simple as that I decided. For now that was the case. I wasn't about to give up though. Once I had my peaceful life again I'd rather be a weak human than a super dog.

I scoped the area out even though a door was right next to us. We could've easily just have gone into it but that would've been suicidal...I think. I wasn't about to risk it or take the easy way out. Not when there was someone elses life on the line. But I had this riddle figured out. I was confident I could do something, if only this. The real test wasn't about the traps or...well about overcoming them. It was all about moving forward. If you keep moving forward without stopping or hesitating even in the face of death you could get to the next safe spot and be fine.

"Just don't stop no matter what happens. Don't hesitate either. Just move to the next one." I said while showing the layout of it. I kept an eye on him though. He acted like an idiot but he grasped the situation far better than he let on. Seeing him in the middle of this I could see why he had survived as long as he did. He was defiantly hiding something from me. Or maybe he just acted like an idiot to put me at ease. To make this situation better than it was. Humans were funny things. Even when they know something was amiss they would choose to look away from it...because maybe the truth would be far too much to bare. An yet here I was looking at Biscuit in a whole new light as if he were part of this whole thing to begin with. One of them...

This time I jumped over the table. Hitting the ground I kicked off much like a pro swimmer would when starting the race. I was almost on all fours as I darted towards the table in front of me. The blades began spinning and I heard the turret wake up turning to face us. My whole body screamed to stop running forward. That I should go back or at least assess the situation but I couldn't. Even if I stopped for a second I'd be dead. So when I hit the table in front of me it was in a full bullrush. The table scooted back and I found myself panting against it. Clinging to its smooth surface as the machine gun stopped firing and the turret settled back down.

Biscuit was panting as well and he was holding his leg. There was blood on it. A long slash. I ripped the pad off my arm and brought it over and pressed it against his leg. I was reading far to into it. Biscuit was just a man like me. He wasn't some military expert or anything. An here I was thinking something so horrible about him and now he was injured... "Shit, sorry. Sorry. I'm so sorry." I could feel the tears running down my face as I panted pressing harder on the wound.

"For what?" Biscuit winced but kept smiling, wagging his tail. "I made a mistake. It was my bad."

"You could've lost your leg!" I nearly shouted looking at him wide eyed. He flinched for a second, blinking a few times while looking at me then smiled again and wagged his tail. "You go over the table this time. I'll go from the side." We couldn't both go over it. The table was only big enough to hide behind having been sawed in half. It wasn't design for multiple dogs. Or maybe it was. Some sick game to see who would throw the other one to the wolves in order to save themselves. Using someone as bait to lure the turrets away, activate the traps so you could make it out alive.

"But I didn't." He laughed a bit but it was clear he was in pain. "I still got all my legs and arms and tail and ears and snout. It's all good. Really." But I wasn't crying over that. I was glad he was ok, and the cut on his leg would need to be treated once we got the chance. The thing was...I had actually, for a second, stopped trusting him. For a few seconds I thought Biscuit was in on this whole thing. And that thought alone scared me.

"I'm so glad your ok, Biscuit." I clung to him as if afraid he'd disappear right there and then.

"We only got one more. Here...let me see if I can't get a layout this time." He looked over for a second or two and ducked back down as the turrets fired. "Ok so here's the thing...its the exact same as when you look. There's the two turrets, the door and another table." He was gesturing everything again...which made me laugh. He just looked so stupid when he did it.

I nodded and wiped my cheek. "Let's do this then. Go over the top. I'll go over the side."

"Why don't I go over the top and then you wait here and then when it calms down again you go. That way we both go over the top and things will be a lot safe. For the both of us." He shrugged as if it was just a thought that came to mind.

"Tht sounds...smart." I blinked a few times and laughed. I hadn't even thought of that. "Sorry if I had thought of that then maybe." He licked my nose and placed the bones and was already jumping over again.

I waited for my turn before following. It was a lot smoother and my body reacted as it did before. My mind almost went blank as adrenaline filled my system. My body touched the ground and was off and I even found myself jumping over the blade spinning across the floor, bending backwards and sliding as the spray of bullet turned and cut over me as if it were some limbo pole. "I got this time." I said not even waiting for a response. I chucked a handful out and jumped over the table and kicked off again.

The two turrets were just to my right and for a second I almost went around them. But I turned and jumped up on a nearby chair and grabbed onto the plastic barrier and pulled myself up and over landing behind them. I turned and looked at the contraption. Single barrel mounted guns. They had a bit more work than the things I had seen in tv shows and movies. More bulky where the handle should've been with a scope on top. I didn't see why the scope was needed. Without it they could just fire as they had without anyone knowing but...what kind of test would that have been. I reached out as if to touch it but felt my fur stand up again as it had with the water from before. Their bullet littered the floor in small mounds and the string of bullets going into it hung down from the ceiling, coming out of a small hole in it.

"Don't go around them." I said loudly in the silent room as the turrets shut off again. "Go over them." I looked to the right where a body was. I'm not sure how it died but the dog had tried to go around it. The one directly at my feet must've done what I had but then touched the turrets. Poor thing. So close and this is what he got from it. "Can you move with your leg as it is?"

"It's fine, I told you that arleady!" Biscuit called back. I could see his ears poking up from behind the table.

I didn't dare watch as he tossed out the body parts and made his way over. I was looking down at the grenade by my feet. It sent a shiver up my spine that they could still be active and for whatever reason delayed. The air around here did feel a lot more...excited, lively than before. Maybe there was some kind of interference. The dog landing next to me pulling my thoughts away and I found my tail wagging.

"Shall we?" I said offering my arm and he took it. And with that we both skipped up the stairs. And from behind I could hear the same robotic voice as before telling us goodbye.

"What now?" Biscuit had said my thoughts aloud as I tended to his wound. It led into a hallway that again looked far too much like a school for my tastes. The lights flicked on above us confirming that at least we were going in the right direction.

Lockers lined the walls and doors with room numbers between them. It was silent, ghost like and eerie. I peeked in the first door not even surprised to see several desks facing the blackboard where the teachers desk sat in front of. There was a dog inside with a paper in front of him and a pencil. He wasn't moving though. Just staring forward. Unblinking. Unmoving...

I moved away shivering. No words could truly express how glad I felt that he hadn't looked over at me. I'm honestly not sure what I would've done if that had been the case. Even so I kept close the Biscuit as we made our way down the hallway.

I walked lightly feeling each step before putting my full weight down on it. I half expected for pressure plates along the hallway but unlike the other room this place seemed normal enough...except for being a haunted school in an evil underground facility runned by wackjobs.

Biscuit tapped on the window and shivers ran up my spine. "What are you doing?" I hissed pulling him away from the window. I knelt down and looked inside. Likewise there was a dog frozen in place. Looking forward as if he had been stuffed and mounted in that postion. Again he didn't look our way.

"I was just checking it out." Biscuit said kneeling down next to me. "I've always hated high school."

"It wasn't so bad." I mumbled standing back up once I was properly away from the window. Not that I really remembered my high school experience. Just that it wasn't that bad. But on that note... "How much do you remember of your past?"

"Not much." He stood up and walked over. "Bits and pieces mostly. I remember the past several days before I joined this place. Then the weeks of standing around doing nothing on guard duty. And then the whole change thing."

"What happened?" I asked keeping the corner of my eye on him.

"Well it started off getting our yearly flu shot. Fully covered. However it wasn't really a flu shot." He said resting back against one of the lockers. "Next thing I know i'm in a holding cell with a bunch of other guards and some other people from some town or something. They said that it was for our saftey but never said why they had locked us away. The people who got angry and violent were the first to go. Taken away never to be seen again. After that they slowly took us away one by one. They didn't come back either." He tapped his chin thinking about it. It looked as if he was thinking over what kind of dinner he would want that day.

"And when you were picked?" I asked looking around again.

He shrugged. "Took me away, pumped me full of drugs and dropped me in a giant vat butt naked." He was gesturing again but I wasn't even looking. He even made a little sploosh noise when he said he had been dropped in. It was the first time I thought of what he might have looked like as a human.

"So...what did you look like, I mean before the change." He looked over at me and smirked my ears folded back at that.

"Why the sudden interested? The idea of me naked floating in a tank getting you aroused?" He stood up a bit more straight and flexed his arms. "Like some of this beefcake?"

"The only thing beefy about you is your head." I rolled my eyes and shook my head. If he wasn't such a meathead I would've thought he was. Arrogance is such a turn off. Even so it wasn't like I was about to push him away when he hugged me from behind, leaning against me as we walked down the hallway.

"This place is boring." He whined after several minutes of silence. We had turned down another hallway and headed up a flight of stairs. Just more classrooms I didn't have the heart to investigate. I didn't reply to him so he began amusing himself by naming off the numbers on the wall.

"54510. 54511. 54512." I stopped at that doorway and looked up at the numbers. 5.4.5.1.2. There was something about those set of numbers that jarred my memory and I found my paw pressing against the door and heard the creak of its old wooden frame as it open for us.

The room was empty and was but just another classroom. There was a teachers desk with a fake plastic apple on it and several sets of chaired desks in front. In the very center, where all the dogs had been sitting, was a pencil and paper. Scrawled all over it was the same numbers as the door was that just now slammed shut.

We looked over not even surprised at the turn of events. The blackboard in front of us lit up and a clip began to roll of more propaganda. It wasn't so cartoony as it was scientific. Like something you would, ironically, show in school. The video seemed as old as this place was. The edges were ripped, yellow stained and showed the clip reel still. The scientists on it were talking about how societies thrived when the masses were obedient to those in power. That conformity was the way to go and free thought was a bad thing that only hurt the progress of mankind.

"What is this bullcrap?" I turned away from it looking at the middle desk. There were arm straps and leg buckels on the chair. As the clip continued to roll a pair of robotic arms lowered from the ceiling both of which had long needles attatched to them. The jabbed at where the dog would've been and injected the air inside, having long since been drained of whatever fluids had been in them. The went back up into the ceiling and the video behind us rewind and began to play again.

"Looks like they made them watch the same thing over and over again." Biscuit shrugged. "Some ancient Chinese torture device."

"More like old school brain control." I said inspecting the desk a bit more. One of the straps had been gnawed on until it ripped. There was a wire mesh inside the strap that had also been chewed through. There was blood and white fur still on the other side where it must've dug into the dogs wrists as he tried to escape.

"The military uses the same methods...kind of." Biscuit said smartly. "You see they wake you up several times in order to break you down before they build you back up. I bet they kept the dogs awake through out the whole process." He turned back towards the door. "Shall we."

I stayed there for a second looking at the spot where the dog had been. I'm not sure why this room had attracted me to it. But here I was, standing here, as if paying my respects. "Yeah let's get going." I muttered turning away from the spot dismissing it from my mind.

We headed down the hall following the lights above. Though I already know where it was leading us. Of course, the science lab. When I opened the door a trip wire pulled and I jumped back gun up and ready. Something moved and a cassette player was pushed. "I was in charge of educating the newborns." It was a females voice, young and possible attractive. We peeked around the corner looking at the blackboard that had lit up like a screen.

It played an old faded photo of a woman. She looked like an actress. Her hair was all dolled up and she wore nice diamond earings. It continued to play as the voice went on. "The newborns were like blank slates that were waiting to be molded. It was my job to do so. They were the easy ones." I didn't like the sound of that as we closed the door behind us.

"The dogs that had gotten away were another story. They needed to have their mind wiped and rewritten. It took several trials and errors before I found a method of doing so." Her voice stopped and I could hear the distinct sound of her sipping a drink. "The ferals and other failed experiments were beyond saving. So I sent them to the gym. Where jocks and brutes belonged." I'm glad we didn't come across that place. I could already picture a twisted butcher circus.

"Heh, that's where you would've gone." I looked at biscuit who was inspecting a beaker.

"At least I wasn't a nerd." He said lifting his nose up. "I would've tossed you in the trashcan so many times."

"Only because you secretly liked me." I shrugged and we shared a laugh even though the voice kept going on about the experiments.

The cassette stopped and another voice sounded above us. It was the same voice as before but cropped and altered by a machine like a singers. The words were recycled and I could only assume they were pulled from previous tapes.

"It isn't polite to talk over a lady." It said. "Douglas Coldsteen."

Biscuit looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"That's my name." I shrugged as if it didn't mean anything to me. But I held onto it like a precious gem. My name. My full name. I had it once more.

"Error in data base. Name not found." The voice cracked and static sounded. "Searching data banks...searching...found data, Biscuit."

"That's my name." Biscuit said wagging his tail and pointing upwards. I rolled my eyes but felt my gut pull at that. If Biscuit was indeed a guard at the facility then they would have his info, his data or least his name. But they had nothing as if the data was corrupt. But it wasn't. That info was missing as if someone had deleted it from the files.

"Of course it is." I laughed, a fake laugh something a reporter would do when a famous actor made a poor joke during an interview. But it fooled him. It would've fooled national television.

"Its rude to talk over a lady." It said again but the voice was so artificial and each word had a different tone to it. It was impossible to tell if she was mad or not.

"Look, Stephany is it?"

"Confirm."

"Stephany, we've met several of you...doctors before and they all tried to kill us. So Sorry if we're not the most respectful." It was clear from the way I sounded just how annoyed I was with these scientists.

"Clarification: I am not a doctor. I am a scientist. A common mistake for lesser beings - people." She corrected herself although the disdain in her voice was clear and it was easy to see her true feelings on the matter. "Your presence here indicates that Dr. H. Fray has been terminated. You knew him as Alpha though."

"Yeah. He kind of...blew up." Biscuit said looking up at the ceiling, leaning against one of the tables. He jumped as he knocked a few things onto the ground from the tables. "We didn't do it." He quickly said I think he was talking more about the things he knocked over than the exploding man.

"Clarification: Dr. H. Fray killed himself due to an extreme depression set on by the mutation during his change. What a pity." Her words were as empty as the artifical voice she used.

"We didn't ask." Biscuit rolled his eyes yawning loudly.

"Do you know where Brutus is. One of the subjects here that was brought in with me. Number 621 or something around there."

"Searching...unable to find or detect said subject. Maybe your information wasn't correct, not that I would be surprised." I actually felt insulted by that. Stupid machine.

"A rottweiler." Biscuit said rather bored. "That's what you mentioned when we first met." He said answering my unspoken question. "There aren't like any rottweilers in the facility after the first Generation was an utter failure they decided not to do that breed again."

"Rottweiler's detected in full facility. One."

"Location?"

"Location in sub section - I'm not telling you." At least I knew here was here in the facility still.

"What about his status? Is he alive?"

"Amusement: He is alive but wounded. Possible death imminent in the hour unless aide is given." I kept my cool.

"What do you want for you to tell us where he is?" My hands tightened into fists as I spoke.

She didn't reply at first. "How about killing the dog with you? That way you will be alone until you find your dieing friend. An then when he is dead you will be alone. I will supply you with a means of killing yourself as I did Dr. H. Fray." She might as well have been laughing.

"Pass." I waved my hand in front of my face. This stunk worst than Biscuit had.

"Confusion: You do not wish to find your dear dieing, in pain, slowly draining of all life friend then?"

"Not at the cost of Biscuit." I rolled my eyes.

"You have searched this facility ever since you got here in order to find your friend. I have the information you required to do so in order to save him. And you will not go to such lengths? How...disappointing. You turned out far more boring than I was hoping for."

"Sorry to disappoint." I sat against one of the tables as well. Looking around the science lab.

"Conclusion: Terminate boring subjects." The walls opened up and more turrets were lined up.

We both ducked down covering our hands waiting for them to fire. But nothing. The turrets had opened up but stood there motionless and lifeless.

"Error. Unable to connect. Malfunction. Mal...fun...ct..ion...." Her voice slowly died above us and I looked up as if a miracle had just happened. It basically did.

Unsure what to do we kept our heads down until the blackboard flashed and turned off revealing a room behind it through the glass panel. It was like a one way mirror and on the other side looked like there was a super computer. One of the old school models that took up a full room in order to work. There was a bed in the corner. The side rails came up and blocked whoever was in it was covered over by a glass panel.

But all of this was lost on me as I looked at the dog holding a cord in his paw. It looked like it plugged into the wall. The electrical cord. To shut down the super computer...all you had to do was unplug it. That was rather anticlimatic and so was the fact that the rottweiler had done it.

"Brutus." I got up a bit before being pressed down by Biscuit. "Brutus!" I called out but the dog didn't seem to hear us. He looked our way lifting his ears a bit but shook his head as he dropped the cord.

I watched him walk over to the bed and reach down to the bottom and type a few things into it before lifting the panel up and above. I could see air rushing into the vacuum space and an old gnarled gray arm reach up towards the dog before falling to its side. He looked down at the person with such cold eyes that even I felt afraid. He turned back and began heading out of the room.

I got up even though Biscuit tried to hold me down and ran over to the window banging on it. "Brutus! We're in here! Brutus!" I yelled pounding on the window. But the dog didn't stop as he kept walking and left the room.

I was already bolting out the door and ran into the hallway with Biscuit hot on my heels. I looked over panting, wide eyed as the locker closed behind him. He looked over at me and blinked a few times. Wide eyed.

"Brutus-," my voice caught in my throat.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked his fur slowly standing up. An my heart fell.