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Shalion

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25,800 words.

SIZE MATTERS

by Shalion

CHAPTER ONE

Pets

Size Matters

By Shalion

A dog lay in the grass of a sultry front law which was luxurious in the thickness and vibrancy of the grass; not that the dog noticed anything particularly vibrant about the field of gray below the blue sky. The dog, like most dogs in America, was an unemployed freeloader. He was also somewhat wistful at times. His name was Moss.

Moss lay in the grass, sunning himself and enjoying the heat beating down on his black furred back. The heat sank into him, loosing the tension in his muscles from his head to his haunches. His mouth opened to pant and run cool air across his generous tongue. Moss stared down the lane and saw house after house, yard after yard, none of which he could visit despite the apparent lack of boundaries, but really it was the closest house that held the dog's attention. Moss watched the house raptly, in fact, for every so often, he would get a glimpse through the window or catch a scent on the wind of the object of his fascination.

Moss was four years old and he'd been in love for the last two of those four. Well, perhaps love was not the correct word for the feelings he felt for her, but since coming to sexual maturity, he'd had regular contact with only one other female in his life and he pined for her like he pined for nothing else, even his food dish. He wanted to rub against her, to smell her, to feel her body under his paws and chest. He wanted to screw her badly. But she would not have anything to do with him naturally. So he settled for laying on the grass and staring at her house in the mountains of free time he had available in his unemployment.

And there in the lower window, Moss saw it, or thought he saw it, a flash of yellow fur, a broad back and a thick tail raised high. Moss wagged his bushy tail furiously and sat up in rapt attention. But there were no more signs to come of the labrador bitch inside the abode. After several minutes, Moss lowered himself down with a sigh. "Adele..." he murmured under his breath.

When Moss tired of cooking his brains under the heat of the sun, he skulked to his hidden spot under the porch. Unlike the rest of the house, this secret place really was his own. None of the people who lived above ever came down here and Moss doubted that they could fit if they could. Moss and his limber thin frame had to crawl under several low beams as it was to get here. Sunlight filtering between cracks in the wood provided enough light to see clearly by and as part of his ritual of settling in, Moss turned about several times and swept the cool concrete floor with his tail. Then he sat on the floor and went through his collection.

Moss's collection was a product of years of hoarding bits and baubles that he happened to get his paws on and he thought that no one would miss. While Moss had stolen several things from his owners, he very much preferred to steal interesting things when he was out and about. Not only did he see many different items from those at home, but it was easier for him to get away with it too; Moss had been scolded for stealing many times as a puppy. But here among his baubles and trinkets, Moss felt a delicious sense fulfillment, even triumph. Each item was not only something interesting to hold and look at, but a memory of an exciting, usually fun time. Moss stretched out his paws, touching in turn an unopened Coke can, a pair of scissors, a fluffy cat toy, a broken dog harness, a pitch dark shoe partially chewed, a plastic toy flower whose batteries were long dead, several cans of dog food, a small, still working LED flashlight, and an obsolete plastic cellular phone.

Nosing among the items, Moss found a leather hiking boot and pulled it towards him like an old friend. He gnawed on the leather, working it with the grinding teeth in the side of his mouth. The action was soothing and the taste and smell of the leather made Moss think of campfires and rugged trails. He'd never gone camping before, but she'd told him about the time she'd gone. "Ah, Adele..." thought Moss to himself as he absently gnawed and salivated all over the tough old boot.

The sounds of footsteps on the porch above brought Moss around to his senses. He knew that he had to make a quick appearance or his absence would be noticed. The border collie dashed through the maze of support beams and squeezed through the entrance in the side of the porch, bounding to meet his owners.

Moss's owners were decent sort of people, though they weren't around much nowadays. There used to be a younger one who'd play more with the collie and take him on long walks, but that one had left over a year ago, a seeming lifetime to Moss, and now nothing very interesting happened at home. There were the fond pats on the head, the regular bowls of food of course, but the people who lived at home and spent much of the day away from it did nothing to enrich the life of their four legged family member. It was clear to Moss that he was expected to do nothing more than eat his dinner and be around for the occasional cuddle. Despite the fact that his indolence was expected, Moss did not want to lead such a life. He wanted things to do, places to see. And sometimes, he got the impression that his humans were just waiting for him to die, or worse, considering options for getting rid of him. He sometimes caught snatches of conversation from the middle aged couple, about things like "Travel" and "Rome" that usually ended with a question, "Well, what would we do with the dog?" So far, there hadn't been an answer to the question, but Moss was confident that he didn't want to know the answer.

Moss had started thinking about running away long before his conscious mind had even considered leaving an option. Among his collection was a backpack that fitted him - His humans had bought it to put water bottles on him when he still went out for walks and they thought he'd chewed it up long ago - another dog's collar and tags, portable food and water, and even about thirty-five dollars in small bills he'd taken from some man's wallet; the wallet itself was long since eaten entirely. Moss had collected all these items amongst other contraband as well, before he'd even considered abandoning his family. But now the thought itched in the back of his mind like a toothache, growing more persistent and urgent over time.

The fear mostly kept Moss from leaving right away, fear of the unknown, fear about what he knew about the life of stray dogs; which was almost nil, but what he did know was entirely negative. But the longing also kept his wanderlust at bay, the secret flame he carried for the bitch who lived in the house right next to his. Moss laid his lean frame down on the carpet in the living room where he usually slept, far from the loud snoring of his owners which irritated his sensitive ears. He let his brain fill with wanton imaginings of him storming into the neighboring abode, ushering a reluctant, but somehow eager female lab out of the door and with him into an adventure that their lives would become, forging their own destinies in a way that few dogs had the opportunity to do any more. Moss imagined himself touching her soft frame, of carrying her weakness and reassuring her. His thin chest would fill heartily with her praises of his masculinity and he would do to her everything his carnal desires beckoned him to do. Moss rolled over in his sleep and pawed at the air, her scent filling his nostrils. Soon surely, he felt, he wouldn't have to imagine anymore.

The next morning, Moss awoke feeling a certain conviction, an anticipation that today would be important. His penis was also hard and thrumming with need, but that was only an afterthought. When he stood up, it went away for the most part. His humans were already awake, he could hear them fumbling in the kitchen, boiling their bitter coffee and fixing their eggs and toast like they did most mornings. Moss stretched languidly, the ruff of his neck standing up as his toes extended. Moss did not waste time, sometimes she was out in the back around this time in the morning. Moss had to act quickly because she hardly spent any extended time outside of the neighboring domicile. Moss whipped past the feet and ankles of the humans in the kitchen and they didn't take notice of the black blur as it darted out of the dog door set in the rear door.

Outside, there was a refreshing blast of cool spring air, the winter chill had not yet left the nights. The scent of dew and other grassy odors unknown to humans was inviting, but Moss bounded down the patio steps and went directly to sit at the edge of the yard. There was no physical barrier between the yards, but there was an imaginary line here between the properties. Moss knew about the imaginary line, in fact, one could say he had an intimate relationship with it through two years of experience. Moss knew how to edge right up to the invisible barrier which prevented his free access to the next door neighbor's home, or any other home for that matter. He knew from trial and error, months and months of it. He wasn't bitter about the restriction of his movement, it was more a fact of life at this moment. The fact that he had to somehow overcome his inability to leave the property before his dreams of freedom and wild abandon could ever come true, and that he had yet to think of such a solution never dogged Moss. He knew instinctually that when the time was right, he would think of something. For now, he just went as far as he could and waited.

Many a morning, Moss took this pose and was disappointed when Adele fails to make a morning appearance. However, just as he'd felt this morning, today seemed to be special. The back door creaked open and Moss observed the hand of a man holding open the grey outer door. Moss's eyes fixed on the lower portion of the door and he watched in rapt attention as she sauntered out of it and gingerly stepped down the three concrete steps and onto the dewy grass, her heavy paws flattening the blades under her weight.

Adele was not immediately what the average observer would name as "handsome," "pretty," or even "cute." In fact, she was pretty far from any of those terms, except in the mind of Moss, and perhaps her owner as well. Adele was a yellow labrador retriever of only modest breeding - the shape of her ears and the texture of her neck fur said something in the way of Australian shepherd and her nose was delightfully collie-ish - and she was also tremendous. To state that Adele was overweight would have been akin to saying that a jet aircraft was a little noisy, or that cats were only slightly underhanded. There was at least three times more Adele wobbling down the steps than there should have been and there was at least five times more Adele than there was of Moss. But this didn't phase the young admirer at all as he watched fixedly at every movement of the bitch's vast, curvaceous body.

She waddled some distance away from the back door and made water discreetly by a large shrubbery that blocked access into the next neighbor's yard. Only after she had done this did she seem to notice Moss. She took her time in walking back over him, the width of the yard apparently a chore the way she carried herself with her careful steps. She knew he would wait however long it took her to get close enough to speak, Moss had never hid his affection for her, though as of yet, Adele had seemed far less interested in him. Her belly with its bowed out rows of tiny pink nipples, hardly larger than Moss's own, joggled left and right with her footsteps, bouncing below her knees and flooding the space of her undercarriage. It fell to the ground and spread out massively when she came to sit before him. Moss looked down at it, felt his cock twinge in empathy and lifted his eyes to Adele's waiting face.

Despite the fact that this was bound to be an important day, Adele seemed unaware of it. In fact, she gave off the airs of one who was only deigning to engage in contact because he was the only available participant. "I see you're up and early as usual, Moss."

Moss knew that this was a subtle jab at his pent up sexual tension. She could smell it exuding from him like a cologne, and she knew that while she was free to move about as much as she pleased (which was far less compared to Moss or any other dog for that matter), Moss was stuck on the inside of his imaginary line. Moss didn't care, he liked nothing more than being in the presence of the bitch he cherished and wanted to fuck so badly. "Good Morning Adele." He said politely and tasting the air about her added, "I hope you had a good breakfast... ground beef and peanut butter again?"

Adele closed her mouth sharply, but then relaxed, saying "Satin balls again. I think my human simply can't get enough of me." She said the last with a distinctive sigh, which was a source of hope for Moss.

"You know, Adele, I'd treasure you however much or little there was of you." Said Moss, but the instant he said it, he wondered if he were telling the truth. It was simply impossible for him to imagine Adele thin like himself.

"Flatterer, as always. That's probably the only reason I bother to come around here." Said Adele, who opened her mouth to breath again and the scent of her breakfast came wafting out on a hot breeze. "What would you do all day if I were't around?" said the rotund bitch, and then she answered her own question, "I imagine chasing birds up and down the yard, until you get zapped by that little toy around your neck."

Moss became uncomfortably aware of the weight around his neck that was his jailor. He stood and began to pace back and forth past Adele's seated form. "Like you said, it's just a toy. I can get rid of it whenever I like. Then we'd be able to go anywhere we'd like."

Moss didn't realize he'd let his tongue slip until he saw the pointed expression from the bitch next to him. "And what makes you think I'd want to go anywhere with you? I've got everything I could want right here. A soft bed, cable television, great food, and a man."

Man. The word grated on Moss's mind like an itchy infected tick. Moss paused in his steps. "You should say dog, Adele." Said Moss in a lower tone.

The plump female looked Moss haughtily in the face. "Victor and I have a special connection, you wouldn't understand Moss. You'd think that you would get it by now that we love each other. I don't want a dog, I want a man."

Moss shook his head. "It isn't natural. I hate the way he paws over you. Don't you see that he only sees you as a piece of meat, his plaything? He can't understand you the way that I can."

Adele snorted and turned her nose from him, "I can understand him. When he puts it inside of me, he's saying that I'm better than a woman for him."

She said it deliberately to hurt him, and despite the fact that Moss knew this, it still hurt. The perversion had been going on for two years now, ever since Adele had become sexually mature. They did it inside the house naturally, and Moss had never seen it, but when she came out he could something smell Victor's human spunk on her. But he didn't need to smell it as Adele bragged about it. Moss lowered his head, "Adele... I wish you would understand. I've seen his eyes. He looks at you the same way you look at a plate of meatloaf."

Adele furrowed her brows and suddenly staggered to her feet. It took some effort and several seconds as she joggled her hind feet back into position to support her mammoth bulk. "You're just jealous. You're a small, pathetic little dog who doesn't know any better than to bark up an empty tree." The anger fell off her body and into Moss's nose, but it was a false anger, full of uncertainty and self doubt. The labrador's several chins and neck folds fluttered as she said, "You've been stuck in this little yard too long to know anything about anything, Moss."

"I may be stuck here for now, Adele." He said, balancing her anger by becoming calmer himself. He sat and wrapped his bushy tail about his forepaws. "But I am going to get out and then I'll see what the world has to offer."

Adele barked a laugh cuttingly at him. She took several precise steps away from him, turning her side profile towards him. Her bovine flank jutted towards Moss's nose, solid and heavy in appearance; Moss's member throbbed again in its sheathe. "I've already been there, with Victor. He's taken me places, on planes and trains and boats. There's nothing good out there for a dog on his own."

Moss met Adele's superior eyes with as much resilience as he could muster. "I don't believe you're being sincere, Adele. I know that there's more to life than being a house pet. Just like I know that Victor is wrong for you. You're more than a sock for him to masturbate with."

The fattened labrador responded with an intense growl and Moss knew he'd gone too far. "You're an ignorant, useless puppy and that's all you'll ever be, Moss. How about you go stick your nose up your ass where it belongs."

And with that, the chunky lab waddled off towards the alley and the many other properties adjoined between the suburban streets. Moss sat and watched her go until she disappeared around a large oak tree which was filling its manifold branches with a light covering of green. Moss sighed and roved around the back yard for a while, puttering between his invisible barriers like the ball in a game of Pong.

Adele did not spend long on her walk, in fact she spent less and less time wandering outside in the mornings when her owner released her as her weight increased; it was probably the reason he trusted her outside in the first place. Usually, when she came back from her rounds, she would talk to Moss about the other neighborhood animals he never got to meet, but right now, he could tell that she was still angry with him.

Despite walking painfully slow, Adele came back open mouthed and panting. She walked gingerly, favoring her left rear leg. Moss knew she got cramps in her hip when she walked. He'd told her to stretch before walking, but the bitch never failed in not heeding his advice. She stalked past him, increasing her speed a fraction, her whole bloated frame rippling as she did. Moss said nothing, but watched as she stomped back up to the back door and scratched it to be let back in. Moss's eyes narrowed as he watched that man open the door to let his pet inside. But after that scene, he could only feel sorrow for Adele's position and her inability to see the truth of it.

Moss was aware that the events of the morning so far were inauspicious, but he tried not to let that put a damper on his spirits. In the near entirety of his life that he'd known Adele, they'd had worse fights than this. Moss had actually attempted to bite Victor once, soon after he'd realized what their relationship entailed. Adele had intervened physically and they'd both suffered bites and scratches from the other. It was, in truth one of the contributing events that had led to Moss's restriction to the yard in the first place along with the departure for University of the young man who used to walk him. Adele's coldness towards him had been slower to heal than her wounds, but their friendship had recovered in time, and it was Moss's opinion that it was deeper for the experience regardless.

With Adele shut away, likely for the rest of the day, Moss walked back onto the porch and ducked his head inside the dog door. Immediately from the sounds inside the house, or lack thereof, he knew that his owners had already finished eating and had gone for the day as well. Moss was not too disturbed in missing his humans' departure, though he was not particularly looking forward to the rest of the day at this point. Moss crawled his way inside and walked past the dregs in his bowl from last night's dinner, not feeling like eating at present.

Moss had explored every inch of the two story house in his time. He did not bother going upstairs, as all of the doors were shut against him and there was nothing of particular interest in the rooms anyways. There was not much interesting downstairs either, but Moss decided to while away some hours watching television. Moss did not know what most of the buttons on the remote did, but he had figured out the power button as well as the channel and volume controls. Moss turned the set down to a low volume, which was far more comfortable for him and began to channel surf. Moss liked the nature specials best, but he also lingered on the food network at times. Moss did not watch the food preparation shows, which were largely useless for him, lacking hands, but it did have several programs with hosts exploring the local food cultures in various cities across the country. It was a vicarious experience of going to the places he and Eric used to visit when he still lived with his parents up until two years ago.

Moss felt attracted to the city, and in truth, though he admired nature, he also feared it and he suspected that he would not do well in a truly wild environment, even if he took every advantage with him when he left. Moss also did not know where the wild was. Everywhere he'd gone in the world so far had had a road. Humankind was ubiquitous and the border collie did not really want to divorce himself from it, despite the appetite for adventure beating in his chest.

Moss couldn't sit still for more than two hours and decided to go back outside. For a while, he watched the light traffic go by in front of the house, about one car every ten minutes or so. Then he watched the birds. Once a local cat strutted past the yard on the sidewalk. It was a tabby who knew Moss. It said nothing, and Moss had nothing to say to it, though it knew that Moss was helpless to chase it. Soon that encounter was past as well. Moss searched the entire property for any interesting items that might have blown in, and found nothing. Then he crept under the porch and spent some time fondling and playing with the items in his collection.

Moss was opening and closing the lid of a small wooden box with his nose when he heard shouting from next door. It was probably too faint for a human to hear, but Moss could hear the raised voice of a man from inside the house, though he could not make out the words. Moss crept under the porch and stuck his head out through his entry way. A door slammed and there came the whimper of a dog, Adele. Immediately, Moss's hackles rose. Moss saw the large yellow furred form of Adele walk away from the back door of her house and sit down a short ways away. Inside the home came several curses from the human called Victor.

Moss stood frozen in indecision for several moments. Then he decided that he could not sit and watch while Adele was obviously distressed. He emerged and trotted towards her and she did not notice him until he'd gotten so close to his perimeter that the plastic box on his collar gave a warning buzz. Moss reflexively took a couple steps back, there was still about four dog lengths distance between him and his cherished one.

Adele turned her head at the tiny but audible buzzing noise. The fat of her neck squished against her cheek and face as she turned her head. "Go away, Moss. I'm not in the mood."

Moss sat down helplessly, cursing the device around his neck for the umpteenth time. "I want to help you."

"It's none of your business, Moss!" barked the heavyset labrador turning her broad back on him. She lowered her ears and jutted her tail stiffly out behind her; where it poked out from under several rolls of collapsed fat, that is.

"It is my business." Countered the border collie. "I care about you and I'll wait here as long as it takes."

Adele snorted, but said nothing. And then it seemed that the bluster went out of her like a becalmed gale and she sagged, her body becoming a furry sack of mash. She sighed hurtfully. She sniffed, then said, "I'd just really appreciate it if you'd give me some space right now. I need to think about things by myself for a while."

Moss was initially conflicted between his overriding desire to comfort her and take away her pain and his experience with her personality over the years. Adele was smart, at least as smart as Moss felt he was in most ways and she had a strong independent streak he knew. "Okay, I understand. But would you do me a favor?"

Adele lifted her head again, but she couldn't turn it all the way back towards Moss with the girth of her neck. One hazel eye, partly closed by a fat cheek looked back as she said, "What?"

"Come and see me later, when you figure things out." Said Moss before getting to his feet.

Adele said nothing and the collie went around to the far side of the house where he sat and heaved several deep breaths. The sympathy he felt for Adele and her unknown plight was like a weight in his thin chest. And his feelings were further aggravated by the fact that it had to have something to do with Adele's lover Victor. Moss bit his naturally dainty jowls, torn between anger that Victor had scorned Adele and made her upset and sadistic glee that maybe this was a sign that their relationship was not as perfect as the bitch next door had wanted him to believe.

Moss had to steady himself and push his warring feelings deep down so that they wouldn't show and more importantly so that Adele would not catch a whiff of his excitement that her and her human's relationship might be crumbling. It took a long while and in fact, Moss had to retreat to his secret cache for a time before he was sure that he could control himself. The fantasies of him and Adele beating a track on their own towards the city pulsed more strongly than ever. Moss, a street savvy hunter and gatherer, master of his destiny and Adele, his corpulent queen able to idle in the lavish luxury he was able to provide for her and the bearer of his puppies. Moss pawed hard at the ground and arched his back in savage pleasure at his imaginings. So close now! If only he could persuade his idol to his way of thinking.

The hot blood eventually ran out of him after over an hour of tossing and rolling in the secret dark of his cache. But it lay boiling just under the surface of Moss's facade ready to explode again at a moment's notice, or so it felt to him. Moss was called to attention by the roar of an automobile and its tires rolling up the driveway. His owners were home and Moss had to make his dutiful appearance.

Moss played his part as pet for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. He only nibbled at his dinner, a different hunger suffusing his body from the hot point of his loins. He rehearsed what he would say to Adele when she came to him in his mind, over and over, scene after possible scene. And he knew she would come. Despite the fact that she had access to the other nearby pets of the neighborhood, there was only one dog she'd known since she was a puppy herself and only one who knew her at least as well as her lover did.

Moss exited the house as soon as it was reasonable for him to do so without causing alarm in his humans. The collie laid down on the back porch and prepared himself to wait the rest of the night if needed. He watched the moon and stars drift by.

It did take longer than he had been expecting. But there was the characteristic creak of the next door house's back door opening. Moss saw a bleary eyed man, clad only in boxer usher out his bloated dog into the night with the ankle of one bare foot and Adele trudged guiltily out before the door slammed shut behind her. Moss lowered his head casually and watched her without moving from his place.

The fattened lab waddled some distance into her yard and did her business. Moss noticed that she moved with a slight wobble to her step, as if she weren't feeling well. Then she sat down in her yard looked up at the sky and released a thin belch which was followed by a sob that rocked its way through her softened torso. She then laid down for a while and Moss could see her clutching her distended belly with her knees and four paws. She was taking deep breaths and on each intake, her belly appeared huge and round, clad in white belly fur, not entirely unlike the moon. Her paws were minuscule against its vastness and she kneaded the doughy, heavy flesh. She gave another thin belch and only now did Moss realize that she was dreadfully overfull. The sheer size of her tummy disguised the distention, but looking closer, and knowing her shape as well as he did, Moss could see the increased roundness of her abdomen, the slack of the skin taken by an engorged stomach.

But still Moss waited for her to approach. Eventually she did come, walking slowly to and then past the invisible line as if it weren't there, which Moss supposed it really wasn't for her. She sniffed the ground and then lifted her head and spotted him. Moss sat up, but otherwise did not move. Adele seemed to consider him for a moment and the proceeded towards the porch, clamoring up the few steps with her heavy, awkward figure. She sat down on the wood boards and then collapsed heavily onto her fat flank, letting her swollen belly spread over the wooden surface. Moss swallowed at the sight of her and flexed his paws against the smooth surface.

Adele didn't look directly at him. "Moss." she said flatly.

Moss cocked his head, looking down at her. "You don't seem well, Adele."

"Umph..." she grunted as she bent her thickened torso again, clutching at her slab of an abdomen. "He fed me again since this afternoon..." Adele swallowed and lowered her snout until it touched the ground. "I had to force myself not to throw up again."

Moss forced down a growl, though he didn't know what she was talking about. "I don't understand."

The hog of a lab shook her head, opened her mouth, closed it and still said nothing.

Moss lowered himself onto his belly and crawled forward. He touched her flank gently with his paw, the pads sinking into the soft surface and electrifying him, even as he said sincerely, "Please tell me what happened."

"Victor..." said the lab, turning her head, but still failing to meet Moss's blue eyes. "He's been feeding me more and more satin balls lately."

"I know." Said Moss who had noticed the change in her diet. But Adele had never seemed anything but content with the change, even as she visibly put on several pounds since the start of the new regime.

"I like them. Satin balls are very tasty..." Rationalized Adele. She became more animated and then winced at some pain in her gut and fell back to rest on her side. She looked away towards her house as she said from the floor, "...He wants me heavier, you know, a lot heavier."

Moss felt a cold pinch in his spine. He did not dare express how he truly felt about the corpulent lab's size. Fortunately for him, she continued.

"He keeps telling me he wants me to weigh 300 pounds. He weighs me all the time and charts my 'progress.'" She said the last word with painfully conflicting emotions.

Moss kept his paw on her, maintaining the physical connection. She was warm and surprisingly firm under the first couple inches. However, he did not have a good head for numbers. "How much do you weigh now?" he asked innocently.

Adele lifted her head slightly at him, inspecting him with one eye peering back over the round horizon of her shoulder meat. "About 221, but I can't imagine doing 300. I'd... I'd be barely able to move..."

The labrador bitch lowered her head to the floor again and Moss got up on his elbows again. He shifted his paw lower, towards the great tank of her belly and began to stroke her. Despite the obvious pain she was in, she seemed to welcome his touch. For moss, it had been a long time since he'd had physical contact with her, and Adele had actually put on a lot of weight since then. It was like touching her again for the first time, her great belly had a different consistency from before. The heavy mass of connective tissue was both pliable and firm and the sense of its weight was undeniable. "You shouldn't go along with his plan for you if you don't want it. I'd hate to see you miserable later on."

Adele flexed her legs to either side of Moss's lean prone body. One of her paws briefly brushed against his side and the collie's hackles rose in excitement. "It's not that simple." She had to take a deep breath, but added, "Victor's my owner and I want to make him happy. I owe him a lot for taking me in, for caring for me." She swallowed again, "I decided a long time ago that if putting on weight made him happier, I'd do it."

She recited her conviction with the air of a mantra she'd repeated to herself many times. Moss wondered if the fact that following Victor's wishes also meant satisfying her obvious appetite had anything to do with her decision, but he also wished that Adele was talking about himself when she said it. "So you've been putting on weight for years now." Moss changed from stroking her belly to moving his paw in big circles across its curved surface. "What's changed now?"

Adele didn't immediately answer. Instead she lurched an inch or tow closer to Moss with her slug-like torso, the belly fat rippling across the surface of the porch as the skin readjusted itself due to friction. Moss got the hint and sat up, putting both paws onto the swollen paunch. He began to knead the clotted flesh, and the bloated labrador whimpers slightly beneath him. He did this silently for a while, trying his best to soothe her. Eventually, she spoke again.

"For the last week or so..." she bit her lip and Moss saw her hug her belly a little more tightly with her knees and then relax again. "Victor, when I've eaten my fill of satin balls, he..." Again, she had to pause for breath. Moss didn't stop his movements; he felt as though he could massage her aching tummy all night long if needed. "He's, he's been forcing more down my throat after I've already eaten..."

Adele's voice grew thin as she finished her sentence and that did give Moss pause as he imagined what she was telling him and found a renewed rage welling up inside of him at the indignity heaped on his beloved. Moss resumed his ministrations, as more words came tumbling from the labrador's shaky lips.

"He does it slowly, first hugging me in one arm. He's so strong, I can't resist, even if I tried. If I try to keep my mouth closed, he opens it by pinching my jowl against my teeth until it hurts. Then he puts a ball in the back of my mouth and tilts my head up until I swallow. It makes me feel sick because I'm already full, but he won't lower my head until I swallow. Then he does it again, and again, until all the balls he's made are gone..."

Moss was closing his eyes, trying not the let the anger and sorrow he felt transfer to his movements. It was just as he'd said, Adele was only a sex object to Victor. She was not a lover to her human in the true sense of the word, merely an aide to his sexual deviancy. Her pain and eel being meant nothing ultimately to the man next door. But Moss knew that he had to be careful at this point with her feelings. He knew she must be in a fragile state, having her confidence broken like this. "Did you end up throwing up?" asked Moss as mildly as he could. Perhaps getting the whole story out of her would be like drawing poison from a wound.

The huge bitch shook her nose slightly, still lying her head on the ground. "I don't usually throw up, even when he packs me full to bursting. But earlier, I was feeling so awful after he force fed me again, that I made myself throw up." Her breath hissed through her teeth. "I thought maybe, if he thought that he was making me sick..." she chuffed and was silent for a little while. Moss moved higher up on her body moving from her tummy to her flanks in long parallel strokes. He should have felt her ribs somewhere, but instead he only felt dense meat under the softer upper layers. "But really, I only wanted petty revenge. I made a big mess and I should have known he'd throw me out."

"Did he force feed you again after that?" asked Moss, already knowing the answer. Though his instinct was to be ginger with his touch, he pressed his full weight into the prone bitch instead, knowing that she needed a deep massage to feel anything at all.

Adele's whole body quivered. "I wasn't expecting it. I thought... I thought that since I'd thrown up, he'd leave me alone for at least a little while. But instead, he only saw my missing Calories that he had to replace." She sniffed long and hard. Shaking her head against the porch, she said, "Why is he doing this, Moss? Why's Victor changed?"

Moss paused in his movements, feeling an ache in his muscles now for the activity. He showed his teeth in a nervous snarl before getting off of her. He walked around her prone figure and laid down before her head, facing her. He made sweet eye contact with her before he said, "Adele, I don't think that he's changed at all."

The bitch's eyes widened. "After all that, how can you say that?" She rolled her forequarters, sitting up on her elbows now, but still allowing her belly to flow freely out to the side.

Moss took a deep breath before plunging on, "That man is only escalating what he's been doing for years. He's probably gotten bored with how things have been and wants more now. I've seen things like that on TV." Moss added the last with authority, he got most of his information about humans and the larger world from the television.

Adele chuffed, "Moss..." she began sliding reflexively into her condescending teacher's voice, but some thought gave her pause.

Moss launched himself into the gap, "He's only been feeding you those satin balls for the past year hasn't he?" Moss lifted a paw and gestured at the quantity of labrador expanding behind Adele's head, "And you've put on half of that weight only in the last year."

Adele opened and closed her mouth, not sure how to respond.

Moss, feeling a rush, added, "Do you really think he'll ever be satisfied? Even if you did get up to 300 pounds?"

"Stop it, Moss!" cried Adele as several wet tears slid down either side of her snout, darkening the fur.

Moss realized he'd gone too far, even if he felt he was speaking the truth. He turned his snout away from her, "I'm sorry."

Adele bristled in front of him, shaking with several half sobs. Either side of her snout was darkened with lines of wet fur. "Victor is my life." She said after a while. "I don't have any other."

This, Moss had to counter. "You do, Adele. You have choices. You don't have to suffer these indignities. You don't have to sit here and swell up like a balloon."

The fat bitch scoffed, "And what would these other choices be? To become a stray? Die on the streets? Shall we both run off and become homeless fugitives?"

It hurt Moss more than he could say, because after all, that was exactly what he wanted. "It's not as hopeless as that. We could figure out a way to survive. And we'd be free."

"Yes, free to die cold and hungry." Snapped Adele. She tapped her paw on the porch for emphasis and this set her drum of a belly rippling.

"Please, just think about it a little." Pleaded Moss, reaching out his paws to touch hers, but she recoiled from them. "We're both healthy. We're not going to die immediately and there's plenty of food to scavenge. I can learn to hunt. We both already know enough about humans to avoid and take advantage of them."

Adele cocked her head at the border collie, looking at him as if he were an especially bizarre species of insect. "I can't believe you're actually considering this, Moss. I don't know about you, but have you gotten a look at me? I'm not exactly built for the rough life. I can't even walk more than five blocks without needing to sit down."

"That's just because you've been sedentary too long. Once you're out there, you'll build more muscle. I've seen that on TV." Again he beamed at her, trying to infect her with some of his energy. "And really, Adele, you're better fit for running away than I am. I mean you won't need to find as much food as I'll have to for a long time."

"Ha, ha, Moss" said Adele dryly, but she didn't seem as upset as before. "I understand that I have a lot of reserves. But seriously, where would you even go? You would be on the run constantly, there would be no stability in your life."

Moss cocked his head slightly. "Maybe, maybe not. I mean, if we can find a sustainable source of food and a good place to shelter ourselves, we can build a home. Not a human home, but we could make it ours." Moss lifted his paw and turned it over in air, "And maybe the stray life wouldn't be as secure as pet life and maybe it'd be more dangerous too. But we'd have our freedom."

For the first time, Adele looked uncertain. "I'm not sure that freedom is something I want. I've only ever had someone to take care of me. What if I don't want to give that up?"

Moss swallowed and had to think for several moments. Liberation was something that Moss craved from deep inside and he had trouble imagining what it was like not to want it. But when his eyes fell on the bitch's distended tummy flowing over the ground, he knew how to respond. "If you want someone to take care of you, then you should stay here. You should stay here and let that man pack you full of meat balls every day because ultimately that decision is the same as deciding to let yourself get to 300 pounds." Moss felt a pinch of empathy in his heart when he saw her hurt reaction, but he felt the need to keep going. "When you do weigh 300 pounds, Adele, you won't have a choice but to let him take care of you. You'll need him to bring you your food and water. You'll need him to shelter you and put you somewhere soft to lie down. You'll need him to clean up after you because goodness knows how much you'll be able to move then, but it won't be far. And he'll continue to use you as his sex toy because you won't have any choice, because you need him."

Moss expected the bitch across from him to lash out again, but she did not immediately. Instead a look of shame came over her face. "I know..." she said hoarsely. "That's all true, but there's no other way."

"There is!" insisted Moss. "We can leave, start a new life together. Please, Adele. I can't promise everything will be nice and perfect on the street, but anything has to be better than what's waiting for you here."

The breath caught in the fattened dog's throat. "Moss, do you realize what you're asking me? You want me to leave everything I know behind and the man whose been my lover since I knew what love was. Victor... Victor wants me to be something I don't want, but I can't just forget about all the good times we've had."

Moss gritted his teeth, hating the hold that human had on her heart, but he kept that hate bottled inside. "Keep those memories inside." He said, gesturing with his paw towards her chest. "Cherish them, but remember that he isn't good for you now. Leave the past in the past." Moss took a deep breath and added, a little shakily himself, "I miss Eric. I remember the day he took me from my mother and my brothers and sisters. I remember how he made me feel special to be his friend and partner. But Eric grew up and left me behind. If... If he ever comes back, he'll be different and I'll be different. I can't have the past again. But I still remember."

The heavy lab was quiet for a few breaths. "I... I didn't know you felt that way about him leaving."

Moss cocked his head. "What can I say? He was my boy, and I was his dog. There are plenty of movies about it."

But she saw through his disingenuous grin. "But this is life, not a movie, Moss. Not everything on TV is for real. You have to actually get out in the world and see some of it." She shook her head, "You still don't realize what's out there, what it means to be starving and homeless, to have no one to care for you. You haven't seen dead dogs and cats rotting forgotten in alleys and gutters." She sniffed, pulling in a draught of air. "How am I supposed to trust you with my life when you can't even get out of this yard?"

Moss clenched his pads, scratching the wood under him. He took several breaths through his teeth, searching for the words he needed to convince her to trust him, but he could not find them. With her waiting, questioning eyes on him, he became sure that the time for words had past. Moss got up and pointed his nose down at the prone, corpulent bitch. "I can leave whenever I want. Just watch." And before she could respond, he had bounced down the steps of the porch and bounded to the end of the yard, where the invisible line waited.

"Moss! What are you doing?" barked Adele as she sat slowly up, great belly still resting on the ground where she sat.

Moss hesitated at the edge of the line. In his eyes, he could almost see the blades of grass parting for the invisible line of force which communicated with the jailor around his neck. "They can't control us, Adele. Not if we don't want them to." He took a step forward and now the box on his collar gave the familiar warning buzz. He turned his neck back to look at the female with whom he wanted to share his life and found the strength he needed. "It's just a matter of wanting it hard enough." Moss rushed through the intangible barrier with a heedless enthusiasm, however, his stride was still broken by the pinch of electric current that bit his neck like an angry rottwieler. He staggered, caught himself and forced himself to keep walking despite the pain. Another shock bit him five seconds after the first.

"Moss! Stop that!" barked Adele from the porch as she struggled up to her feet. But Moss kept walking, jerking every few seconds as the shocks rocketed through his body. It was not long before more than his neck was hurting. The electricity seemed to spread through all the muscles of his body, making him twitchy in his movements. But Moss pressed forward with the conviction to prove his point to Adele. He did not look behind him as he marched on the most painful walk of his life up the alleyway between the suburban homes.

Moss did not want her to catch up with him right away, but he was more handicapped than he realized with the repeated shocks to his body and Adele was hurrying as fast as her bloated body could after him. He ignored her barks until she bumped rudely into his hindquarters. Between her weight and his herky-jerky movements, he was forced to sit down.

"What do you think you're doing, Moss? Go back home."

"I can't." And he gasped as another shock racked across his body.

"I can't stand seeing you do this to yourself. It's stupid." Said Adele. "Stop being so stupid!" Her voice rose and her lips were trembling after she spoke.

"It's not... ugh... stupid. I know what... ah... I'm doing." Struggled Moss, though he could not help flinching at each of the shocks prompting him to return to his yard.

"What you're doing is hurting yourself. And for no reason. Please go home. We can't do this."

Moss took a couple deep breaths, trying to immunize himself against the regular electric bites. "We can, if we want. We could even leave... tonight." Said Moss steeling himself against each pinch. "This collar will run out of... batteries sooner or later." The collie took another deep breath. "It's only pain, after all."

"Moss..." said Adele as she sat down heavily beside him. She looked at him, her eyes moving over his face. Her nose flared, taking in his scent as if for the first time. Moss wanted her to see his determination and tried to express the love and conviction he felt for her through his eyes. Eventually, she sighed out her nose. "You're still an idiot."

Moss recoiled at her statement, but even as he did, she reached forward and grabbed the shock collar's box in her front teeth. When she pulled, its metal prongs came away from his skin, making it impotent. Moss, still numb had his head jerked up and away by the labrador's impressive strength. The collar was lifted up painfully past his ears, but then was gone as the heavyset bitch flung it off into the night darkened alley. He was staring with even more awe than before at Adele's plump face as it came level once more with his own. "How? Why?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes at him. "All that time watching TV and you never learned how a shock collar works? You still have a lot to learn about the world, Moss."

Moss didn't feel chastised by her comment. Rather he felt only elation at standing for the first time in the moonlit alley, alone with his love. "Will you come and see it with me?" he asked, canting his nose towards the darkened end of the alleyway yawning before them both.

Adele looked backward, her neck fat creasing cutely at the side of her face. "Maybe... maybe I need some time away from Victor. I'm not promising that I'll leave forever."

It was practically everything he wanted to hear from her. "I love you." Said Moss before he knew what he was saying.

Adele snorted and turned her nose away shyly. "I know you do, Moss." She sighed.

But Moss was not deterred by her rebuff. "Stay right here, I have some things to get before we go." She lifted a brow at him, even as he bolted to his feet and was already half turned to go back to his cache. "I have some supplies I've been saving."

"You've been planning for this?" asked Adele incredulously.

"Planning for leaving." Moss clarified, "I didn't know exactly when, but now seems as good a time as any."

Adele slowly grinned at him, "Well, at least one of us is prepared. Don't expect me to carry a sack filled with Coke cans and old shoes though."

Moss smiled nervously back at her and bounded away, his paws feeling as light as air as he went back to his cache for the last time for some hasty packing and sorting.

CHAPTER TWO

At Large

The first night was actually very easy. Moss loaded himself down with everything he thought would be remotely useful and dragged it out from under the porch and back to Adele. He brought more than he knew he could carry, hoping to distribute some of the load to the heavyset lab. Moss had his backpack, mostly loaded with loose nicknacks, and while Adele was too broad for a regular dog's apparel, the broken harness Moss had scavenged proved to be adequate to strap around her shoulders in a makeshift vest. Moss had a number of metal clips to attach several sundries and smaller containers to her on either side. Moss was careful to balance her load on the scavenged harness and he didn't put too much weight on her, figuring that she had enough to carry around as it was. Adele still complained about the way the harness bit into her soft, fatty shoulder meat though as they walked.

They did not go very far. Adele was unused to walking except around the block, and Moss himself was carrying so much in his back pack that he had to let out the buckles that kept the flaps down on either side just so they would close. Though the pack evenly distributed the weight across his back, it was still hard to carry. Moss felt that he had only brought the essentials, but he was sure that he was going to have to leave more things behind before they moved too much farther. He wondered idly if this was at all the way Adele felt, carrying around the massive load of her body everywhere.

"We should stop and see someone before we leave the neighborhood." Said Adele, after about half an hour of walking.

Moss knew almost nothing about the occupants of his own neighborhood, but was still hesitant, worrying that Adele might be getting cold feet. "Who were you wanting to see?"

"Oh, one of my old friends. She'll want to know that I'm leaving." Adele spoke without looking over at Moss, and the scent coming off her breath made him suspicious.

"Would you mind telling me about your friend?" asked Moss innocently.

Adele hesitated, turning her head slightly away. "You need to promise not to say anything mean about her."

Moss was taken aback. "Mean? Why would I be mean?"

Adele sniffed, the sound was hard because she was breathing more heavily than before. "I know you don't care much for cats."

Moss's stomach lurched. "Oh..." Of course, Moss had never met a cat he'd wanted to do anything with other than chase. But at the same time, he didn't want to offend the bitch beside him on their very first night together. "Is this cat a good friend then?" he asked awkwardly.

"I've known her for at least half my life, though that's only three summers now." said the waddling labrador, perking up again. "We share a lot in common, and though we don't really hang out obviously, we've found it... mutually beneficial to remain in contact with each other."

Moss was surprised by the way Adele talked. He'd gotten the impression over the years that Adele did little more than stay at home, eat, get fucked by a horrible man and go on occasional vacations with him; presumably with more fucking involved. He realized just now though, that he really had no idea what she did do out on her walks or what kind of life she had outside Victor and himself. "What sorts of things do you have in common with this cat?" he asked strategically.

Adele let out a snort of laughter to the side. At her flanks a plastic water bottle and small bundle of nylon rope rattled together. "Well... You'll notice one thing right away." Moss looked at her mystified, but she refused to elaborate. "We also have an interest in human things. She spends a lot of time in front of a computer and I... well I have Victor."

Moss disliked her use of the present tense, but did not feel it was worth mentioning. "Well, it's hard not to get involved with humans as a pet." said Moss noncommittally. "What's this cat's name?"

The bitch next to him tossed her head slightly, saying, "Well, her humans call her 'Muffin,' but she prefers to go by Lady amongst us."

"Ostentatious name, sounds like a cat alright," thought Moss, but he said, "Alright." he cocked his head a little higher from under his burden and added, "Do you want me to come with you to meet this 'Lady,' or would you rather I wait for you?"

Adele honestly considered it for several steps down the quiet alleyway. Moss took the opportunity to study the way the lab bitch's obese body moved in the moonlight, the way her flesh jiggled and rippled with the impact of each step and the swaying of her loose chest meat. Her belly was round and titanic, but nearer her crotch the ligament bifurcated the pink skin and white fur into shallow sacs that bounced freely and filled the space between her meaty haunches. Moss knew that if Adele did bear him puppies, these sacs would engorge and hang heavy with milk. But for now, her belly was unproductive, filled only with a small personal sea of fat. Moss started a bit when she did answer finally, "I think you should come with me. Lady is more than just a friend. She's also a matriarch in the cat community, even if she might not look the type."

Moss, who had no idea what good qualities would be for a cat matriarch said, "Okay, but what's that to us?"

The lab bitch threw her head at him and looked sidelong with incredulous eyes. "I know you don't like to think about them, but cats get around. They might not run in packs, but they love to gossip to each other. If I'm to be up and heading out into the world, I'd rather have an in with the local information system than just wander here and there completely blind."

Moss had not even considered trying to do more than try to live by trial and error. Adele, was far more savvy than he realized. Rather than carrying her weight, it seemed that she was perhaps more prepared for what was coming than he was. It made Moss feel ashamed of himself. But he couldn't wallow in self pity, after all, he'd been starved of interactions with the neighborhood animals since his adolescent years. Moss decided he'd do what it took to learn more about the world around him, no matter if the source was cat or squirrel or human or whatever. And he'd start by leaning on what Adele already knew. "Tell me more about cats. I'm interested now." said Moss without a trace of sarcasm.

Adele, as it turned out was happy to share. Cats, at least those that were allowed out of their homes seemed to occupy a strangely fluid world between stray and pet. "Cat's don't usually form the type of strong bonds with their humans that we usually do." said Adele to an unsurprised Moss. They had no central structure that would have resembled anything like a pack, but what they did have was a gregarious network of individuals that stretched for miles or more as far as the labrador knew. "It's kind of hard to describe, but certain cats are viewed as more important, or wiser than others. And females tend to bond together more than toms. Their gossip reaches the farthest."

"And what exactly do they talk about?" asked Moss, trying to imagine this queerly organized rabble in his mind.

"Oh, ordinary stuff for the most part. Who's having kittens with whom. Who's encroaching on who's territory. Humans of course. But sometimes interesting things as well. Lady, as I've said holds some weight in the community. A lot of it was due to her organizing the arrest of a teenage cat killer who was terrorizing the neighborhood two summers ago."

Moss raised an eyebrow. "And how did a cat manage that?"

"Trickery and communication, two things cats excel at. Lady used herself and several of her kits as bait over the course of many weeks to try to lure the killer out. Once she identified him as a young teenager, she set a trap, using one of the local german shepherds, Rocket, I think he was called. I believe he lives rather far away. But anyways Lady lured the kid into Rocket's yard with his knives and the shepherd was able to subdue the kid long enough for the owner to call the police. Everyone thought that the kid was there to kill the dog."

"Sounds like Rocket did most of the hard work." said Moss.

Adele chuffed out of her jowls, "Well, you can't expect a cat to take on a full grown human. Besides, the way I look at it, we each have our strengths and weaknesses and it's alright to take advantage of what the other's got. Lady was the one who figured out who the cat killer was. Rocket did his part willingly, or so I'm told, to catch the teenager as well. It's as simple as that."

Moss, still trying to keep an open mind said, "I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right." panted Adele haughtily. "Now we need to cut through this house's yard and come over two streets..."

Like many houses in the neighborhood, the home of Lady was not divided by fencing in the front or back, only on the sides. By the time that Adele waddled into the rear yard under the cover of some large shrubs, Moss could tell by the way she sagged that she was weary already. Moss himself did not feel too much better, weighted down as he was. "How are we going to find this Lady?" asked Moss. Despite the lecture, he was still not enthusiastic to having this interview or risking the possibility of having Adele's mind changed by another old friend who might not see things as Moss did.

"That's not hard." said Adele walking slowly up the yard in the open. "She usually sits on the porch right here and she's not hard to sp- Oh, Hi! Good evening."

The heavyset lab walked forward with some renewed vigor, and Moss stepped gingerly behind her. Following her glance, Moss looked ahead and found what must have been Lady. She was indeed not hard to spot.

Lady was an orange tabby who laid resting on a dusty old pad that was well worn in. From the lines about her eyes and the faded hue of the fur on her face, she looked severely aged in Moss's eyes, perhaps as old as ten years. She was also immensely obese. The cat had the look of a basketball that had been partially deflated. She was round, far more of a true sphere than Adele. The cat's ears brushed against several rolls sprouting behind her skull, far more developed than Adele's, and her face was pudgy with puffy sagging white cheeks with a pronounced bubble of neck meat that expanded below her chin. The face could easily have been ugly, but the yellowed grin that spread on it at the sight of Adele trundling towards her made it jolly instead. Moss's expert eye took a renewed interest in the cat and he quickened his step, admiring the cat's unique figure and how the fat had developed, matured and deepened on it.

Despite the severity of the cat's size, she rose for Adele, heavy belly falling to her ankles and demonstrating for Moss who was in fact more obese between the two friends. Moss hung back as they greeted each other, rubbing whiskers; the collie observed the change in contour of the cat's neck wattle as she lifted her head. "Adele. I haven't seen you in over a moon. "You've been eating well at least, ha!"

Adele shyly turned her face away as she laid down below the porch. Now the cat was above eye level for her. "It's... harder for me to get out here. You understand."

"Naturally." agreed the rotund feline. "You're man is a demanding lover, isn't he?"

Moss winced for Adele, but the labrador bitch was surprisingly impassive, saying only, "He is demanding. And that's primarily why I'm out here tonight."

"Ah, you're running away then." Said Lady, eying the supplies Adele had strapped to her. Then the cat titled her head and upper body past Adele's vast figure and looked at Moss. her cheek pressed against her nonexistent neck as she turned her face slightly. "And with that young, trim rapscallion no doubt?"

Adele crushed Moss's spirits when she said, "It's... it's not like that. He's only coming along to help. To keep me safe."

Moss was surprisingly hurt by the way she made it sound now as if leaving were her idea. The fact that she didn't want to acknowledge their relationship yet was also painful, but expected. Moss decided that he ought to have more of an impact on the conversation. He approached where the cat sat slouched over her mammoth tummy. Getting close enough to smell her now, Moss was lightly surprised to detect lingering traces of the feline's heat. She was out of estrus no more than a week or two. Moss wondered if even now she were pregnant, though it seemed rather foolish to allow oneself to get that way, given her condition. Absorbing this information in a second, Moss emerged from the shadows, saying "I'm... I'm Moss. I'm a long time friend of Adele."

The obese cat shifted her forepaws so she could turn her globular forequarters more towards Moss. "Oh yes, Moss. She's mentioned you before." Moss's tail wagged with renewed fervor, but paused when she added, "You're the one who keeps barking up an empty tree."

Moss had to struggle to control himself as he received the barbed comment. Lady was lucky her extreme obesity ameliorated itself towards Moss, or he might not have been able to tolerate having his life long devotion reduced in such a manner from a cat. "I feel the cat may only be lurking in the high branches." Replied Moss, thinking himself rather witty to match her metaphor.

"Oh yes, of course, my dear." Said the cat graciously and she shifted her forepaws again to turn back to Adele. Lady either could not turn her head very far with her non-neck, or did not like the feel of her round cheeks being pressed by the heavy ruff nearly encasing her head. "Are you sure about leaving? Life on the street is very difficult for large dogs. And your owner will come looking for you too."

"I know." Said the heavy bitch beside Moss. "But I feel that I have to do this. The situation back home is... bad."

Lady nodded slowly, her chin disappearing and reappearing from the swell of hanging neck meat under it. Behind her, an incongruously thin tail began to lash back and forth. Moss arced his neck slightly to observe the way the fat of the tail head and lower back piled over itself in rolls and heaped on the ground and from under this the tail poked out. "You don't need to say anymore." Said Lady, unaware of Moss's observations. "If you feel you need to leave, then that's what you have to do."

Moss felt a great sense of relief as Lady said this and Adele bashfully accepted her friend's blessing. "I... I was hoping that you could put out word that we're heading out to the streets, Lady. Maybe some cats out there can give us good advice as we make our way."

"Of course." Said the corpulent matriarch. "I'll spread the word. But don't expect every cat to go out of their way to help you. There's not a huge amount of love for dogs among us either." The cat yawned then, a gaping maw with yellow fangs in the middle of a swollen, over fleshed face and body to Moss's eyes.

"Maybe we can do a little to help fix that." Said Moss, though he did so mostly for Adele's benefit.

Lady turned her head a little towards the collie for a moment, again squishing her engorged cheek between her face and her ruff. One eye partially closed for her, she said, "My advice to you would be to look after your sweetheart. She'll be needing your help more than any cat out there." She turned back to Adele, restoring the symmetry of her face, "No offense, my sister."

Adele chuffed a short laugh. "I am well aware of my limitations."

Lady seemed to beam for a moment and looked past the bloated lab and into the night. "Oh, I wish I could join the two of you at least for the first leg of your adventure; I've been so bored lately. But my last batch of kittens has wrecked my body as you can see."

"I think the last several dozen tuna steaks has more to do with the wreckage than your kits, Lady." Said Adele flashing a grin up at the seated cat.

The feline huffed raspy laughter from her bloated body and she touched a thick forepaw to the forward swell of her tummy which fell to the floor directly under her. "Indeed, but even now I'd not trade my diet, even to be a skinny dainty thing again." The cat rested her paw on the floor, loading it again with her more than considerable weight and licked her chops in a luxurious way. "I'm quite comfortable actually."

This seemed to give Adele pause for some reason. Moss spoke into the silence. "Adele says you are a matriarch. Does that mean you have a lot of offspring out and about we might meet?"

Lady again huffed that disquietingly breathy laughter. "I don't know how many you'll meet, but I've produced enough freeloaders that you'll probably run into a couple. Don't expect any favors of them just for mentioning me though. Most of them have taken off since their milk teeth fell out and I've not seen hide or tail of them since."

"Oh, is that how things are with cats?" asked Moss, whose natural inclinations made him feel that children ought to develop strong bonds with their parents, though he was aware that many pups were sold off by humans at a young age.

Lady sighed, the breath expanding her round flanks by a visible margin. "We don't miss our children, if that's what you're asking, young dog. I'm luckier than most. I have several of my brood in my conclave. They help keep me informed and help me move information around."

"They also keep her well fed." Said Adele brightly.

The overlarge cat purred deeply, the sound resonating strangely in the fat filled depths of her body, but it was not an altogether friendly sound. "Two jabs is enough for one night, my sister. Or have you mentioned the incident with the chocolate to your friend here, hm?"

"Oh, he doesn't need to know about that..." said Adele hurriedly as she ratcheted her heavy self up to her four feet.

"Far be it from me to enlighten him to your special interests." Said Lady languidly. She yawned again and lifted herself with effort from her sitting position. Moss noticed the way the cat's feet bent under the weight of her hindquarters, not unlike a kitten who was still learning to walk on her toes. With her belly already hanging down to her ankles, this further decreased the clearance between belly and floor. However Lady seemed to notice him watching and shifted her waddle into a slightly more dignified and straight-footed bearing.

"Thank you for everything, Lady. I hope we meet again." Barked Adele back at the porch, already moving away.

Moss was watching Lady's rump with the shape of her wide flanks framing the thick, rubbing haunches and belly visible between the lowered fork of the legs when the cat stopped and spoke quietly without turning. "You like this don't you." It wasn't a question.

Moss gaped in surprise, but answered in the same hushed tone. "I don't underst-"

The cat cut him off hurriedly, "You like the way she looks, and the way I look. But don't start thinking that she'll get to look like me. You need to help her drop as much of that as quickly as possible if she's going to be living on the street."

Moss didn't bother to feign ignorance, but he didn't reply either. The cat resumed her waddling, rocking her belly back and forth to make her feline gait back to her pillow.

"Moss?!" barked Adele, at the end of the yard now.

"Coming!" yipped the collie in response and he trotted after her, still thinking about the cat's words.

The two canines made it as far as they could that first night. Despite resting a while at Lady's, Adele couldn't walk as far away from Lady's as they had from their homes to the fattened feline's abode. Her hip started acting up and she began to limp, which was when Moss suggested they stop. To tell truth, though, Moss was little better as his heavy load dragged him down. But more worryingly, Moss was also thin. Zigzagging between the ends of the yard for the last two years had not done anything to support extra muscle tone on his lean, long-legged collie frame. In contrast, years of heavy lifting had bulked Adele's body under the deep fat, which Moss could sometimes see the tone of when she moved in particular ways. Despite her sedentary lifestyle, there was a muscular, strong hound under the many layers of excess. Moss wondered if those would peel off faster than he built muscle or not. But then, he did not really want them to peel off at all.

The cat's final words haunted Moss as he walked with his beloved, looking now for a place to hunker down and hide, likely for the entire day. Moss had marveled at the cat's obesity, he had to admit. The species boundary had been approached and ultimately crossed without concern in the first seconds of devouring her with his eyes. The cat's frame, if anything, seemed more suited to the oval shape Moss found ideal; cats had less bone and muscle and were more limber than dogs. The Lady had read Moss's mind in chastising his fantasy of applying the cat's features to the one with whom he could actually have a sexual relationship. But the Lady was right. For Adele to have the same shape as the cat, she'd have to gain far more weight, and Moss was aware of the scaling issue. The corpulent feline was much smaller than Adele. The same "fatness" on the lab would render her surely unable to walk.

Moss thought about these things as he walked numbly beside the bitch's swinging flanks. It was Adele who found a suitable hiding place. With breath catching in her throat, she tossed her head towards the side of the alleyway they were traveling through. "Look... there." She breathed.

Moss was slow to respond, wrapped in thoughts. When he looked up, Adele was already clamoring down a steep slope and disappearing out of sight. "Adele!" barked Moss in sudden panic. He jogged to the side of the alley, the contents of his backpack jangling. He looked down and saw the yellow labrador standing in thick grass at the bottom of a trench running partway down the alley. Moss studied it and noticed a pitch dark hole at one end, a concrete tube.

"It's an old irrigation canal." Said the fatty lab as Moss gingerly pawed his way down the steep slope. He had to catch himself at the bottom as the weight of his pack threw him off. "I doubt anyone will see us here, and we can hide in the tube if we hear anyone."

Moss tested the ground with his paws, nodding with approval. "The ground's dry."

"They haven't used these things in years, not since they expanded the plumbing system." The heavyset lab threw her large rump down on the ground, back facing Moss. "Now get this silly thing off me so I can have a rest."

Observing her round, globular shoulders and imagining the way they feel, Moss was happy to oblige.

They both dropped into heavy sleep that lasted past daybreak and into the late morning. They got up, had did their necessaries and returned to the ditch. Adele didn't feel comfortable traveling during the day, thinking she was too conspicuous and Moss had to agree, though he was worried about the pace they would make traveling only at night and their meager food supplies, especially compared to what he imagined the lab's previous daily intake was at home.

Moss sorted through his pack during the morning, looking for things to discard, but found it hard to let any of his items go. Adele sat near him and where he had the contents spilled over the bare ground near the mouth of the concrete tube, still yawning darkly even in the light of day.

"You can get rid of that." She said, gesturing to a pair of dog booties. "There's only two of them, not four."

Moss shook his head. "What if we cut our pads one of these days. We'll have to wrap it and we can put one of these on the wrapping so we can still walk. It's part of first aid."

"Hm... then what about that?" said Adele.

"The toilet paper?" asked Moss in alarm. "We only have a bit of gauss in the first aid kit. That can be a substitute."

"We can find T-P anywhere, Moss" sighed Adele.

"Well it is rather bulky..." said Moss reluctantly as he placed the stained roll aside from the rest of the collection.

"And that." Said the bulky lab, pointing again. Moss could almost swear she was grinning slightly

Moss gasped. "Not the cell phone! I can't leave that behind."

"What good is it to us? And its batteries are dead surely." Said Adele cocking her head.

Moss took up the old model cellular phone in his paws, cradling it like a child. "You don't know what I had to do to get this."

"It's junk, Moss." Said the bitch pointedly.

"I can find a charger for it. It's like the second most common form of cell phone, well before all the new smartphones came along." Said Moss, not listening.

Adele sighed raggedly, "Keep it then, but don't expect me to carry it around."

After a few more of these exchanges, Moss could tell that the fattened female was getting annoyed with his excuses to keep each item she pointed to in turn. Moss was torn between defensiveness of his collection and feelings of guilt in putting her in a bad mood. "I think I'll work on this some more later." Said Moss finally and set about sweeping the items back into his pack that hadn't been discarded.

"Suit yourself." Said Adele dully.

It was as Moss was closing his pack that he heard the dull rumble of thunder. He cocked his head up, the sound quite queer from his experience. "Maybe there'll be rain..." he said raising his nose to test the air with his moist snout.

"I doubt it." Said Adele groaning slightly.

"Why's th-" started Moss, but was interrupted by another peal of the odd thunder, but looking around now, he now saw that the source of the racket was in fact the bloated yellow lab. Adele was hunched over, head down and opened mouthed. The grumbling, groaning noise was more loudly admitted by her open mouth and she whined softly over it. Moss looked at the fattened canine with loving concern. "Hungry?" he asked

She must have seen no use in hiding it now. "Like you can't imagine."

Moss began nosing through his pack. "That's alright, I've got some dry rations in here."

"Umph... No, don't." Said Adele, wincing again at her pangs. "I don't want any."

Moss looked up from his bag, a plastic baggy of dry dog food dangling from his mouth. He let it drop as he spoke. "Why not? I thought you were-"

"I am!" barked Adele. Air hissed as she sucked in a deep breath through her nose. "But I can't eat every time I'm hungry, not anymore. We're never going to find enough food for me to eat like I have been." She sighed forlornly. "I'll... just have to get used to it."

Moss said nothing. What she said was perfectly true. For all Moss knew, she might be able to eat their entire food supply in one sitting, and then where would they be? Moss's fantasy for his and her life together was seeming little closer than before. "It won't always be like this." He said consolingly, "When we find a place to settle down, we can concentrate on eating more regularly."

"Ohh..." moaned the hungry lab. "Please don't talk anymore about food, Moss." She turned her head away and then looked into the concrete cylinder. "I'm going to lie down for a while." The labrador bitch squeezed her big self into the passage, which was not quite large enough for a man, but still let her pass through without too much trouble. However, her tummy grumblings seemed to be amplified in there and as Moss waited outside, he imagined the stirring of a ravenous beast inside the darkness of the pipe.

The bright middle day and its warm sunshine put Moss to sleep as well and he lay in the ditch on a mattress of tall grass through most of it. The evening came and Adele had not yet emerged from the pipe. Every now and then Moss still heard the complaining of her great gut from within, directed at him like a speaker and all he wanted to do was to satiate it, somehow. Knowing that Adele would not want to move until nightfall, Moss climbed out of the ditch, leaving his heavy pack behind. His dexterity greatly increased when he was relieved of the burden. Once on top, he had himself a quick wee and then sat down, thinking about the most productive use of time between now and when they could move again.

Moss was not as concerned about himself attracting attention. He was an average border collie for one, and also he was quite sure that his owners would not react at all in the same way to the knowledge of his absence as Victor will to Adele's. Moss was slightly concerned about the lengths the man might go to to recover her, but was mollified with the thought that one man couldn't check every single alley and ditch, and they'd gone a considerable distance already. Moss licked his nose, feeling its dry texture and decided to sniff down a source of water.

Moss knew that any tap on the outside of any house would suffice, but decided that he could be less conspicuous. Moss crept along the alleyway and then cut through a backyard, moving at great speed now. It was exhilarating being able to move unhindered by weight or boundaries. He felt his heart thud in his chest and his leg muscles burn and was surprisingly happy. He let his tongue loll out the side of his mouth as he tore across an empty road and back into the cover of vegetation. The sprint cost him though and he sat down in the shade, running cool air over his hot tongue. He rested for a while and when he caught his breath, he had to force himself to remember what he was doing in the first place.

As Moss sat puzzling, his reverie was interrupted by a voice from overhead. "Hey, dog."

Moss looked up and saw an orange, slit-eyed face peering down at him from onto of the wall at his back. Moss leapt to his feet, back hair bristling and was half ready to start barking before he gained control of himself, remembering the encounter with Lady less than a day ago. "S-sorry." Said Moss and wiped a bit of excited drool from the side of his mouth on the fur of his shoulder.

The cat had started, but hadn't fled at least. Though behind it, Moss saw its tail lashing. This cat appeared muscular and trim and thus was hardly more interesting visually than a living chew toy. "You had me going for a second." Said the cat.

Moss put two and two together. "Did Lady send you?"

The cat grinned, but didn't reply immediately, instead recomposing himself and then set about licking down his own ruffled fur. Moss was able to smell now that the cat was a tom. "Dear Old Mom. Big as a house, but as sharp as they come." Said the cat. "Yes, she's already got together a little powwow and told us to see you off out of the neighborhood."

"How kind of her." Said Moss dryly, sitting now.

"You're lucky you're traveling with that dame, mutt." Said the cat above. "Mother dearest wouldn't have given you two shakes of her fat ass if you'd come alone."

Moss was quickly growing impatient with the cat, but was curious about Adele's history with Lady. "Well, they share at least one thing in common."

The feline hissed laughter. "You really have no idea what they've done together, do you pup?"

Moss closed his eyes, pressing the anger down. "I won't... unless you care to enlighten me."

The cat only hissed louder, fanged mouth gaping with humor. "Far be it from me to educate you. I don't have the time. Let's just say that there are some humans who'd be very unhappy to know they'd been outsmarted by a pair of overweight house pets."

"Humans?" muttered Moss, and added more loudly, "What do you mean?"

The cat moved from licking his shoulder to a foreleg. "I told ya, pal-o I don't have time for stories. I'm just hear to lead you to a nice little bit of scavenge that happens to be on the edge of our territory. Ought to fill up your bitch good one last time before you two hit the road."

Moss could not help growling to himself at the way the cat spoke about Adele. "Thanks, but I don't think we'll need your help. We're doing just fine as we are."

"Really?" said the cat cocking his furry head down at Moss, "Your cow has woken up half the neighborhood with her tummy growls. I was just there with my sisters. We scattered to look for your daydreaming ass. S'pose its my bad luck that I found you."

Moss couldn't keep from lashing back. "Are you always this unpleasant? Your mother had much better manners."

The cat rose and began to walk to the edge of the wall, poising to leap off. "Hey, I never said I took after my mother." The cat stretched clearly displaying his muscles. "Hm, I definitely didn't inherit her figure either..."

Moss thought that Lady must have a lot of muscle to move around with her bulk, so her son probably had more in common than he realized, but he didn't feel like imparting this wisdom to the cat. "Just lead the way, cat." Said Moss, realizing that if the cat's story were true, he'd have a hard time tracking down Adele now.

"The name is Pat, not that I'd expect a mongrel like you to remember it." Said the orange cat as he fell lightly to the ground and began to run along the sidewalk. Moss followed briskly behind.

"You'd be surprised. I'm trying to keep an open mind, Pat... for Adele's sake." Said Moss jogging long legged behind the running cat.

"Well... that's easy to say. Time will tell if you're really cat-kin." Said Pat.

The sun fell quickly, filling the suburbs with comfortable shadows broken by pools of bright light, like oases on the street, or more like eyes as the dog and the cat, both more comfortable in the night avoided them. Moss eventually wound up at a place where the roads frequently ended in culdusacs and then sometimes simply ended at a tall concrete wall that seemed to bend oddly and stretched ever onward between the houses. "Is this the end of your territory?" asked Moss

The tom, whose kind was not built for long jogs, replied between heavy pants. "The end... and the end... of the neighborhood too... After this is... the ghetto."

"The ghetto?" asked Moss worried. "I don't think that's a great place to go."

Pat threw Moss a disgusted look of contempt over his shoulder, "Maybe not for... humans, but for... dogs and cats... Well, I hear it can be a new start... on life."

"Have you been there?" asked Moss.

Pat snorted. "I like my dinner too much... to hang out there. Ask... Lilly. She's a hunter."

Moss didn't ask more, the cat's tone getting more savage as he tired out. At last though, they seemed to reach their destination, which was an unassuming home little different from the countless others they'd past. Moss followed Pat into the shadowy back yard whereupon the orange tom promptly collapsed onto his belly, leaning his back against the fence separating this property from the next. Moss didn't have to ask where to go next, however, as his eyes focused sharply on the source of grunting and slurping coming from behind the house.

Moss already had his suspicions before he approached the garbage bin which lay on its side and was wobbling madly. "Adele?" asked Moss.

The noises ceased and someone grunted as they backed up with difficulty out of the overturned container. It was Adele and to Moss's contentment her mouth was smeared with grease and flecks of char. "Oh, hello Moss." She greeted, moving her large figure around the waste bin. "Sorry I didn't wait for you, but I was starving."

Her body belied her statement, but the contrast was only admirable to Moss's nonpareil of the world. "What is this?" he asked sniffing about the air and already half knowing from the greasy smell of meat.

"The remains of a backyard party. Seems this family isn't fond of leftovers, which is good for us, eh?" said Adele, much more chipper than she had been. "Come and eat something. You really should try to put some meat on your bones." She said winking at him.

Moss had not had the opportunity to eat table scraps in what seemed like an age. Even Eric had not been overly generous. But once he poked his head inside the bin, the reek of greasy burgers and hotdogs was overwhelming and he had to withdraw at first. It was meat, yes, but so very rich that Moss could hardly stand it. Not wanting to let Adele see him hesitate, however, he quickly steeled himself, thrust his head in and plucked three patties out of the discarded aluminum tray inside the bin. Grease pooled alarmingly at the bottom of the tray, cold, cloudy and disgusting in appearance. Moss took his scant pickings and marched several steps away to eat them in the grass. The burgers were surprisingly good, though they were very salty for Moss.

"Delicate eater, huh?" mocked Adele, standing in her bloated glory.

Moss looked up from his prize. "I'll get some more when I'm finished with this." He said, feeling it might be imprudent to mention he could barely stand the smell inside the container. "Please help yourself."

The fattened bitch lifted an eyebrow at him with scrutiny, but decided to shove her forequarters back into the bin where she proceeded to chop and hoark down the the remains of the party food.

Moss was chewing and swallowing the meat patties, listening to the sounds of Adele gorging herself, when he remembered that there were supposed to be more cats around here. He looked around seeing nothing at first. Then he noticed a pair of shining eyes in the dimness. The eyes were attached to a silver black tabby and as their eyes met, the cat stirred and padded towards the seated collie. "Are you Lilly?" asked Moss.

The cat paused, seeming nonplussed for a moment. "Lucky guess, dog. Or did Pat tell you?"

Moss shrugged. "He mentioned a Lilly, but I suppose there must be more cats around here than just you."

"Actually, my other siblings have already left." Said the tabby. "Mother only asked us to find and bring you here." The she-cat sniffed, "Mother is not our Alpha or human, and we aren't used to taking orders frequently."

Moss was surprised that the cat phrased her response in very doggish terms. "But you all took her orders this time?" he countered."

The cat half-grinned, displaying white teeth. She could not have been more than a few years old, perhaps even younger than Moss himself. "Think of it more as returning a favor and you'll understand better where we're coming from."

Following the tone of her explanation, Moss said, "You seem used to talking with dogs. And also, I don't suppose you stuck around just to give me this explanation?"

"No I didn't." Said the cat, her green eyes mildly alarming as they reflected light from distant street lamps. "I'm the only one here right now who happens to spend time outside the gated communities, and I'm to accompany you two into the ghetto until you either acclimate yourselves, or decide to return home."

She spoke perfunctorily for a cat, with no roundabouts or snide remarks thrown in. Moss wondered if she were being polite, or simply did not care enough to say anything other than the basic facts. "I don't have any intentions on returning here." Said Moss, rousing some of his dignity.

"Yes, well, you're not the only one in the party are you?" She said, one eye opening roundly in the dark, a glowing green sphere.

Moss grunted, becoming aware again of the pig-like, but ever so attractive sounds coming from behind him. He bent his head down, broke off a chunk from a patty and briskly swallowed it. "Do we have a choice in whether you'll accompany us or not?" he asked not raising his head.

The cat considered this for several moments, cocking her head. When her eyes leveled out again, she said "Not really. I'll just follow you if you won't have me in the group. Though it'll be far easier if you let me walk with you."

Thinking about Lilly's earlier comment, Moss asked, "And what is Lady giving you in return for this favor?"

The cat's eyes brightened at this. "Ah, I see you're not as slow as most dogs. But you're still far too blunt. Maybe I'll share my reasons before I leave you... though maybe I won't"

Moss smirked sardonically to himself. This was definitely a she-cat after all. Moss ate some more and then addressed the cat again, who seemed to have settled down, curling her body up into a silver-black ball. "Why don't you tell me why going to the ghetto is a great idea."

The cat spoke with half lidded eyes, "I thought it would have been obvious."

"Try me." Said Moss tearing into his last meat patty.

"The humans there are poor and they are desensitized to the sight of dogs running around without leashes. There's good garbage and scavenge and none of the bins are locked. You're more likely to be shot than have animal control called on you." Said Lilly and she cocked he head again, "Do I need to explain more?"

Moss hardly wanted to display more of his ignorance. "How is that last part good again?"

"Obviously, you've never had to deal with animal control." Said the cat haughtily. "Trust me when I say that you're better off dodging a potshot from some grumpy old man than trying to evade a group of humans actively looking for you."

Moss's shoulders drooped. The last thing he wanted was to be upbraided by a cat less than half his size. However, it seemed that for now there was no way to be rid of her. Adele certainly would be on the cat's side. Moss scooped up the last patty he'd taken and ground it between his teeth. He swallowed, then said, "I don't expect there will be much food around?" Moss was imagining an asphalt covered hell with dilapidated buildings crumbling and filling the landscape.

"Oh, more than you would think." Said Lilly. She reached up and brushed her whiskers. "A good mix of scavenge and wildlife actually. It's far better than the inner city at any rate. You might even find enough to keep your bride happy." They both looked back to where Adele was still slurping and swallowing behind them, albeit at a slower pace now. "Well, maybe almost enough." Lilly corrected quietly.

Moss, still hungry, got up from the grass and approached Adele's bloated rear end. Her plump loin was a deep shelf above her tail and she had a cute roll that bulged over the base of her tail, where her tail head should have been. Moss sniffed the air about her, sampling her parfume. Adele's mix was a saturated, thick kind of odor and it made Moss feel warm with desire for her, imaging all that fat warehoused and processed inside of her. Despite this, he only tapped her haunch with his nose. "Adele," he said quietly. "I'd like to get some more."

The bloated bitch did not immediately respond, not until Moss had tapped her several more times with jabs of his snout. Then she lumbered back out of the bin. The hair of her jaw and double chin was sticking out at odd angles, saturated with grease. When he looked at her, her eyes were mildly distant. She belched before she spoke. "Oh, I didn't see you..."

That's alright. I know you were bus-" Moss let the word trail off as he saw inside the upturned bin. The big tray of meats that had been congealing in there was completely empty, licked clean of grease even. Furthermore, the bags of buns were also absent, or rather relocated somewhere close, moist and dog shaped nearby, Moss suspected. The plastic wrappers of the buns were tossed about the interior and the grass floor at the can's mouth like confetti. There was not anything obviously edible left. Moss wasn't sure how to feel. Mostly what he felt was shock that Adele was even capable of such a feat.

The lardy lab sat down heavier than usual, her abdomen was, if anything rounder than it had been last night. "Oh, Moss, I'm sorry, I'm so... ugh..." she moaned and then slowly collapsed onto her side, taking shallow breaths.

Moss was taking in the side of her rounded body, spread out haphazardly over the ground, as if for him. Really he didn't miss the meat at all. It was worth it to see his queen spread out in her glory like this. He was about to start consoling her, when Lilly strutted up out of the deeper shadows to inspect the raided bin.

"Did she really eat everything in here?" said the cat, arcing her neck to see inside with wide pupiled eyes. "Sheesh, she's a bigger pig than dear old mom."

Moss tore his eyes away from Adele's swollen sides. "You shouldn't talk that way about her, especially if you're going to be tagging along with us."

"What?" the cat hissed incredulously. "Mum freely admits she's a pig. She likes being a pig. Don't hold nothing against her. Don't hold nothing against the round bitch here either."

"Don't call her a pig!" growled Moss, hackles rising.

"Stop... urp... fighting, Moss." grunted bloated canine from the floor. "I am a pig."

The anger drained out of Moss and he crept to Adele's face, her ruff framing her wide cheeked face beautifully. "No you're not. You're..." But Moss froze, unable to think of how to continue.

"...A pig." finished Adele. And then she sighed, turning to rest her face on the ground and peer into the middle distance. "Maybe I should just stay here. I don't know what I'm going to do when out there when I can't fill my belly regularly."

Alarm bells rang in Moss's head. He crawled on his belly until he was close to her grossly obese form, heat spilling off of it in gluttonous excess. He put his paw on her leg, stroking up and down the thick forearm. "I don't think you mean that."

The labrador bitch chuffed ruefully, "But it's the truth. I can't control myself. If I'm going to keep behaving like this, then I deserve to go back home."

Moss's pressed his paw into her so she could feel it. "Don't compare what he was doing to you to this. No one can blame you for eating like you've been eating the last couple weeks. But he was and still is wrong to have been forcing you like he was."

Adele opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it again, biting her lip. From her cavernous innards came a grinding noise as her stomach churned the newest excessive deposit. The yellow bitch closed her eyes as if in pain.

To Moss's alarm, a silver black shape hopped lithely up onto Adele's prone form. The morbidly obese lab was like a hill under the small, lean she-cat. "She's not nearly as soft as mom." said Lilly, pawing at the yellow fur and fat supporting her.

"Stop that! Get off of her." growled Moss, sitting up.

"Stop it Moss." said Adele again. "Lilly is one of Lady's oldest kits. Don't disrespect her."

"Yeah, don't disrespect me, mutt." echoed Lilly, sitting down after turning around a couple times. The cat rose and fell softly with Adele's shallow breathing.

Moss was shaking with anger, but once again had no choice but to keep it to himself. "Adele is going through some tough personal issues right now and I'd appreciate it if you gave us a little distance." said the collie all but grinding his teeth together.

"Nah, I think I like it here." said Lilly casually. She tapped a forepaw on the burgeoning beast below her. "Hey, what's it feel like to have a whole dumpster inside of you?"

"That's it!" said Moss getting to his feet.

"Moss!" yipped Adele, rising her head and bunching her fatty ruff against the side of her face. "You really need to get over this thing you have with cats, or we're not going to get very far at all!"

"But she's insulting you!" half barked Moss, mindful that they were still trespassing.

The big dog shrugged, rocking Lilly where she sat. "Cats like a good joke. Water off a duck's back, you know?"

"Water off..." baffled Moss, never having heard that particular expression before. He shook his head and said, "I still don't like her abusing you like that."

"I ain't abusing you, am I sweetheart?" said the silver-black cat as she rubbed a paw into the meaty mattress supporting her. "Like I said, my mum decided to be a great big whale too and I don't care one way or another."

Moss's anger was barely controllable at this point, but Adele spoke before Moss could bark again. "See? She's well meaning. It's just the way that she talks."

Moss, shaking a bit, forced his head away. Every instinct was telling him to chase away the source of these wisecracks and ingratitude. But Adele would be furious with him if he did. Moss thrust his claws into the turf and forced himself to be silent.

"What's wrong with the way I talk?" asked Lilly

Adele chuckled, rocking the cat slowly atop her perch. "Moss is just sensitive about me."

"What're you, mates or something? I thought you was dating that human."

The heavyset lab did not answer right away. "Lilly, how about you save that question for a few days. It's all... rather complicated right now."

The tabby hissed laughter. "Sweetie, there ain't nothing complicated about a quick roll and romp. Any she-cat could tell you that."

Moss got up and left the two. He could not stand to be anywhere near the cat right now. He went over to where his pack was haphazardly discarded behind the trash bin, undoubtedly dropped when Adele had tipped the container to get at the food. He busied himself with strapping it to his body and then got up with a small grunt. Behind him, the two females continued to talk, but Moss forced himself not to listen because he was sure that it would only upset him further. When he was done he walked past them both once more as he made his way to the end of the back yard. There was an alley there, however, unlike those before, there were no properties on the far side, only a tall concrete wall.

Moss was studying each direction of the alley when Lilly yowled from behind. "Hey Mutt! That way's a dead end. We have to take the street to the road exit to leave the neighborhood."

Moss sighed raggedly. "Of course, how silly of me." he growled and then peered with greater concern at the overstuffed bitch, still lying prone of the grass. "Are you alright to move, Adele?"

In response, the labrador belched again, the sound was high pitched and short, as if there were not much room left for gas in her well used reservoir. "I guess I'll have to be..." she said uncertainly and began to ratchet herself up to her feet. Lilly hopped lightly off her flank, a mildly annoyed expression on her face.

"Watch your footing." advised the cat as the swollen flanks loomed above her. "I don't want to get squished."

Moss was quickly becoming numb to the cat's comments. "Are you sure you're alright to go? Your gums look a little pale." said Moss, eyeing the slightly uneasy way that Adele was shifting her great weight.

She swallowed. "I'm alright, Moss, stop busying yourself about me." Her belly released a thick sound not unlike a meat grinder, but her stance improved as she spread her paws and straightened her legs.

"If you say so." said Moss, feeling like his mouth had already gotten him into into trouble on multiple occasions this evening. He followed Adele and Lilly to the street. The lumbering lab walked with a heavier waddle than usual and Moss saw that her belly had become rounder and firmer than usual, which seemed to be hampering her gait. Moss shuddered slightly and his mind went to where the small cat's had already gone in imagining what it must feel like to have all of that food inside you at once. Moss could have eaten more, but he was far from hungry and he did not grudge any lost portion for himself it it meant that it wound up in the belly of the lovely bitch whose wobbling rump rocked side to side before him. Adele walked right past where her own makeshift harness lay in the grass. Silently, Moss scooped this up and threw it on his back with a twirl of his neck. She could not have avoided seeing the blue nylon straps, thought Moss and concluded that this said more about Adele's current condition than any words. Moss shouldered his added burden with silent resolve as he followed the others.

Lilly led them down the street to a main neighborhood thoroughfare. It was a wide street, divided in both directions by a center island punctuated with trees and shrubs. It was clean and orderly, though this really only meant that two dogs and a cat wandering alone would be more easily noticed, especially when one of those dogs looked more like a yellow land seal than a proper canine. Adele huffed and puffed as she trundled the burden of her body along. She had fallen some distance behind Moss and Lilly now, even though Moss was now carrying all of their baggage alone.

"We need to stop and let her rest." said Moss as they came onto the main lane. Up ahead, Moss could see the exit to the neighborhood, the road led through a big opening in the concrete walls onto another, even broader road beyond.

The cat did not answer immediately. From her body language, Moss did not think she wanted to stop now; indeed, he imagined that this distance they've gone likely seemed trivial to the feline. However, there may have been the influence of Lady which held her tongue. Lilly answered while still looking straight forward. "We really ought to get into cover before we stop. Past the road, we'll be much less likely to be noticed."

Moss sagged under his heavy pack. What the cat said made sense, but at the same time, he could not stand listening to Adele wheezing increasingly far behind him. "What if she can't make it that far?" insisted Moss worriedly.

The cat snickered, "I'd be more worried about yourself, carrying all that crap on your back." The she-cat cocked her head back at the rotund lab following them, "Your girly friend just has a belly ache from eating like a cow. She'll be aright."

"How can you be so cruel talking about her?" asked Moss quietly, "I would have thought with your mother the way she is..."

The cat's head snapped towards Moss as the continued walking, the road only a few dozen yards away now, the end of the neighborhood and the beginning of the ghetto. "You, mutt, have no idea what its like having her as a mother, you don't even understand us cats." The cat hissed alarmingly and added, "And I ain't being cruel. I just say things as they are."

Moss felt that he wasn't getting anywhere with Lilly. He stopped with the pretense of lifting his leg on a bush and let himself fall behind. Moss waited and eventually Adele caught up with him. He took up stride beside her, walking with annoying slowness to match her waddling pace. "How are you holding up?"

"It's been... barely more than half... an hour, Moss." huffed Adele in visible pain. "I don't want you... to worry about me."

Moss noticed that she did not really answer his question. He let his eyes fall to the ground for a bit, the road, and their future ahead presumably, was approaching with painful slowness. He concentrated on the sounds of her breathing, her heavy footfalls and the groaning, tearing noise still emitting irregularly from her behemoth abdominal cavity. "But I do worry about you, Adele. Lilly wants us to make it at least across the road ahead before we can lie low for the day. Do you think you can make it?"

To Moss's surprise, Adele answered testily. "Of course I can make it!" She threw her head towards him, but winced, as the sudden movement seemed to cause her pain. "Don't start thinking I'm... helpless." She breathed. "It's just this bellyache. It's just... urp..." The bloated lab gave another shallow whistling belch, followed by a long gasp for breath. "Ah shit..." she sighed and stopped.

Moss came around to face her and watched the yellow bitch's fat rump sink down to the floor, her belly squishing against the ground like a water balloon. "Don't press yourself." Said Moss.

"I'm not pressing myself!" growled the heavyset canine. "I can walk... farther than this. It's just..." But she failed to finish her sentence.

Someone else finished it for her. "'Cause you ate enough for six dogs in one sitting. I'm still surprised you ain't burst like a piñata yet." Said Lilly, walking towards the two canines from farther ahead.

"You need to stop-" started Moss, but Adele interrupted.

"Don't, Moss."

"You don't need to take that from her." Snapped Moss.

"You don't understand... I don't mind." Huffed the obese dog, still catching her breath.

"Why don't you mind?!" yapped Moss, infuriated at the situation.

"Because I deserve it!" said Adele and then she sobbed once quickly. Moss stood stunned, staring at her. The yellow bitch sniffed and added, "We're trying to get away, and now I've gone and eaten so much I can hardly move."

The cat came among them and sat near Adele, almost touching, but said nothing.

"Why did you eat like that back there?" asked Moss both because of anxiety about their pace and out of morbid curiosity."

Adele took several breaths, seeming to calm down some now, but still breathing heavily. "I just... couldn't stop eating, not until it was all gone. I thought... I thought..." she sighed raggedly. "Back there, I realized that this might be the last time I'd get to eat as much as I wanted. I was... I am afraid of how hard our lives are going to be out there. I'm afraid of how hungry I'll get." Adele closed her eyes and lowered her nose, but no tears came.

"Maybe should have thought about that before leaving on this little journey of yours." Remarked the cat, tail lashing back and forth.

"We had to leave." Said Moss firmly. "Staying and thinking about it wouldn't have helped." The collie shifted his tone, nosing close to his dear one, "But I understand it's difficult thinking about the change, about how much harder our lives are going to be, but only at first. We'll adapt, Adele. We'll learn. We'll find enough food to keep us both satisfied."

"That's the problem, though." Whined the plump bitch, "Enough food to satisfy me is already too much. I've been eating too much food almost my entire life. I... I don't even know how much is normal."

"Honey, normal is however much you can find for yourself out there. You're not going to need to worry about portion control." Said Lilly.

Adele shuddered and sobbed once more.

"Don't make it worse for her." Said Moss.

"Just speaking the truth, mutt." Said the cat getting now to her feet before stretching her back and flexing her claws. "Are we just about done with this break now? The night ain't going to last forever."

"Adele needs more time..." said Moss, but the fattened lab began to rise despite him.

"...We can... go..." she huffed, grunting against the heavy bulk of her body.

Moss was mildly concerned for her, but understood the need to get going. The cat had not been joking about that at least, Moss could smell the dew in the air and knew that sunrise was not too far off. Moss wished he could help her somehow though as she plodded along achingly slowly, but his own pack and Adele's harness were already a wearying burden. Both dogs shouldered their respective burdens as they followed the cat out of the walled neighborhood and into the larger world beyond.

Lilly lead them across the road and they found shelter under a large fallen tree in an empty lot. Moss undid his straps and stretched creakily from underneath the heavy load while Adele flopped her heavy self down and fell almost immediately into a heavy breathing doze. Outside the walls of the neighborhood, Moss was struck by the disorder of the adjacent "ghetto" or so Lilly had called it. Eric had never taken him to places like this when they had gone on their trips together. Already, there were stronger odors and the scent of humans was less strong. Under the tree were the scent of animals, many of which Moss had never had the chance to sniff before.

The cat watched him as he snuffled about the low cramped space under the fallen tree, her back pressed against the warm wall of Adele's tummy. "You should settle down for the day, mutt. Conserve your energy."

Moss cocked his head around at the silver-black tabby. "There will be all day to sleep." he said off handedly and pressed his damp nose into the odiferous loam once more.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Whatever floats your boat. This bitch here behaves more sensibly though." said the feline, now arching her spine against the soft, round swell of the labrador's paunch. Adele's breath gradually quieted and she fell from a panting doze into a heavy sleep.

Moss left them both under the tree and extricated himself, watching the sun rise from behind the hills. Behind him lay the city, where Eric had sometimes taken him, but where Moss had no intention of returning to himself. Across the road, a high stone wall separated him from his previous existence bottled up in the yard, they had moved down a ways from the entrance to the vacant lot. On the opposite side of the lot a broken down chain link fence gave way to single story houses and more twisting residential avenues. The smell of rust and oil floated to him on the breeze. Moss was also doubtful of this direction, the neighborhood was hideous and in disrepair compared to the place he'd come from, but he could not think of a better alternative, aside from finding new human owners to take them in. Moss wondered if he could learn to view this place with the same relish that the cat obviously felt for it.

As the sun creeped higher, Moss did find himself weary and crawled into the hollow, curling up and spooning with the unconscious Adele, in so much as he could hold her large body to himself. The feel of her excited him and he wanted to do more than simply lie next to her, but he was afraid to give in to his urges for fear of pushing her away from him. They were still not very far at all from their old houses after all. Moss satisfied himself with the smell of her fur and her warm fatty bulk against him, rising high in the sheltering confines under the old tree. He also contented himself with the surety that the opportunity would come soon for him to fulfill his desires.

Adele slept like a stone the entire day. Moss wondered if he could even rouse her if he wanted, but he did not try. He liked watching her sleep, she seemed even larger and heavier than she really was and her belly made cute bubbling noises frequently as it gnawed on the feast she had stuffed herself with. In fact, Moss did not really dislike the way her orgy of glutting made her behave. He wished that he could supply enough food to eat like she had as often as she was willing, though he knew that was impossible. The sight of her rising bulk calmed and worried the collie at the same time. He wondered if this was the biggest Adele would ever be as she surely would be if they were both to be going hungry. The fact that he would starve long before Adele would seemed like a hollow concern at the moment.

It took a while for Moss to notice that Lilly was absent. The cat had rested on the opposite side of Adele's bulk and there was barely enough clearance for Moss's head over the girth of the labrador nearly filling the space under the tree on her side. Moss only noticed by the fading feline reek as he got up to make water against the base of the fallen tree. Moss assumed that the cat had abandoned them, naturally, but he was not too concerned. He wanted to be alone with Adele and he thought that a lack of jabs at her weight could only do her good. Maybe she would even learn to appreciate her size as he did.

Under the tree, Moss fondled the unconscious labrador, who was as good as dead to the world still. When he tired of that after a long while, he crawled to his pack and opened a small tin of meaty dog food, pulling the tab with his teeth. Adele's nose snuffled in his direction, Moss noticed, but she did not budge past the reach of her neck. Moss ate slowly, savoring the moist food and aware that what he had packed would not last long. After seeing her eat last night, the collie knew for certain now that the bitch next to him could indeed eat all of the packaged food he had scrounged and have room for seconds. The thought gave him a useless erection that persisted stubbornly as he bent his head to eat in the dim confines under the old tree. Moss was considering options that might allow Adele to get enough food given what he knew of the world, but was coming up empty when a voice startled him.

"Having a good time without me, I see."