That Place 7: Leaving Together
#7 of That Place
That day started like every other, but I knew it wasn't going to go that way. How little did I know it wasn't going to go that way.
The lights came on, Tom tromped around booting dogs out into the outdoor runs, and that's when it happened. The pitt next to me had finally had enough and grabbed onto Tom's pantsleg, just above his boot when Tom went to kick him.
"You little fucking bastard! I ought to..." Tom started in, reaching down to grab the pitbull by the neck, and getting a bite on his glove for the trouble. It was a thick glove and I know he didn't bite all the way through, but Tom howled out anyway and grabbed the pit by the neckskruff.
"I'm gonna do you myself! Right now, you little fucking bastard! You and your kind have no place in the world, you piece of shit fighting dog. I'm gonna stab you in the heart myself, and make sure you HURRRRRT all the way!" Tom screamed at the dog at the top of his lungs.
"Like hell you will!" came Jimmy's voice from nearby. I hadn't seen him come up the aisle. "You do that and sure as shootin' I'll have your ass out of here, AND your job to boot!" Jimmy's jaw was set and his eyes glared. "You know full well you're not qualified to do that, and since Dr. Arneson is coming later..."
"Fuck that damed Kraut and his twit daughter. And fuck you too!" Tom roared, dropping the pitt outside and closing the door. "You think you can hold something like that over me, you little shit? Well... how about this? I'm gonna call your precious Dr. Arneson and tell her to come right now. How do you like THEM apples, Mr. I-Know-What's-Right? Matter of fact, that's what I'm gonna do right now, and there ain't a fucking thing you can do about it! Goddamned bleeding-heart pantywastes clogging up what should be done so very easily with their mindless bullshit keeping me from keeping the public safe from those motherfucker monsters and their crackhead owners..." Tom ranted as he tromped off and out through the door.
Jimmy sighed and looked at all of us, those that remained in the kennel. His lip quivered and tears welled up. "I'm sorry, pups... I guess.... I guess...." He swallowed hard and just opened my door, letting me out, then King next to me, then probably the others as I could hear the clattering inside. "I guess that's it then, for us anyways." King said in his low voice as the hose started cleaning out the kennel runs.
My ears drooped. I could see my mate down the row, and she didn't know what was going to happen this evening. Flash and Sleek knew, but they'd been expecting it for so long. Max had heard - how couldn't he have heard? - but I didn't know how he'd handle it.
I started going through them in my head. There was the pitt next door, my girl, three other pitbulls that were down the way, Sleek, Flash, myself, King and Max. 10 of us. 10 of 64 wouldn't see the sun rising tomorrow.
The door opened but I didn't go in. I watched as the others moved in and saw my girl, all the way down there, as she turned and padded back into the indoor run. How could I tell her? How could I let this happen to her... to all of us?
"It's alright, kid." King smiled a bit as he nudged the fence. "It'll be alright. I don't quite know what's been going on, but my master said something to Jimmy, and he seemed to have something up his sleeve. At least he did that day. Only time will tell if it'll help us or not."
"But... I was the one always holding out hope that I'd find... that WE'D find new homes here. The pitt always was telling me that it wasn't going to happen, and now... it seems it won't. I've been here long enough to see that Tom tends to get his way and steamrollers over anyone that he doesn't like. It's just..." I sighed deeply.
"I know, kid. I know. But even if you've given up hope for yourself, I remember that night with you and the others. Don't give up hope for them. It'll all work out. It should, somehow." he smiled a bit and then ducked down to head back through the door to the indoor kennel.
* * * * *
The day seemed to match my mood. It started out cloudy, and progressively got worse. At about midday, the rain started. First a little sprinkle that could be heard on the metal roof of the kennel section, then it'd let up for a bit, the sprinkle would get harder the next go-round, then let up again.
The hours wore on. In between the rain showers, which grew ever increasingly powerful, a few people trailed through but no one took any of us dogs to new homes, or reclaimed the few that had come in the previous day.
It seemed that time had slowed down. I didn't even bother to get up for most of the people, just remained laying down in my run, my soul so troubled I couldn't even think of how to unwind all the knots in it. Minutes seemed like hours, hours seemed liked days, the afternoon seemed like an eternity with me just waiting, hoping... worrying. It seemed like time was crawling and yet running at cheetah speed all at the same time.
I could do something... bite Tom, try to run, try to get away. I'd known the way we got here and the railroad yards nearby. I'd seen enough of that when I was over there with my boy to be able to get away a decent ways along the tracks before anyone could really catch up with me. And by now the hayfields would be tall enough for a dog like me to hide...
But I couldn't. I couldn't just leave her here to face the unknown alone. I had to keep her safe, and protect her, too. She was my mate... my future... our puppies' future, even though there wouldn't be puppies in the time we had left here. Same with Flash and Sleek. They couldn't leave without the other, as it wouldn't be right. Somehow... some way... we'd have to get out together.
By the time I'd gone through all that in my mind for the 80th time, it was evening. I looked up and the sun was setting outside.
Tom came tromping up and sneered at the pitbull. "You're going to feel it tonight, you little fucking bastard. It's not like they say, that it's just going to sleep. You'll feel fire burn through your veins. Every bit of your insides is going to melt from the inside out. You'll feel like you want to breathe but can't. Every bit that makes you live is going to shrivel up and DIE, just like you should have before you were even born you waste of space!" By the time Tom finished his voice was a low, growling grunt.
"Now, Director Dolphin, is that any way to be speaking with a lady present?" a feminine voice rang out from the other end of the kennel.
"Who the fuck....?" Tom growled and turned about swiftly. He then noticed who it was, starightened up and stammered "Oh, Miss Arneson, I didn't see you there." Tom tried to plaster on his smile but it cracked as she walked up to him.
"That's DOCTOR Arneson to you, DIRECTOR... and if that little display of antagonistic machismo is any indication of what's been going on here, I'd be hesitant to call you that too much longer." Her stern features stood out, magnified by her black hair, tied neatly in a knot at the back of her head.
"Well, I'm sorry if that offended you, DOCTOR...," Tom started letting his natural sneer show through "... but this isn't a nursery school classroom, nor a nice and tidy veterinary clinic where bluehaired old ladies bring in Fido and Froo-Froo for their weekly grooming. This is the real world, little lady, where there's animals so dangerous they don't deserve to live. And some that should have never been born in the first place. So you do your job and I'll do mine." He grunted. "JIMMY!" he bellowed down the hall.
"Right here!" Jimmy popped around the corner, back to his normal self it seemed.
"Show the good DOCTOR around, and you take care of what needs to be done. I've got to get over to Collinsford for a pickup. Seems someone over there has some high-value horses that they're just not tending to properly...." Tom's voice was severely condescending at the end and he laughed as he passed out the door.
We could barely hear the truck roar off over the rain beating heavily on the roof. "Why would he care about horses?" the vet asked Jimmy.
"He doesn't. He just usually intimidates the owners enough to pay big fines... and most of the time they don't pay attention to what's written on the citation, so whatever he collects above the amount he cites them for goes to his own personal retirement and beer fund." Jimmy frowned and rolled his eyes some.
"And no one tracks down that fraud?" she asked, curiously.
"Well, a couple have tried, but no one's been able to pin him to anything yet... Just like his abuse of animals, which I'm sure your dad has told you about. Like this little guy here..." Jimmy reached through the wire and scritched the skull of the pitt. "Tom was about a hair's breadth from either throwing the pup against the wall, or giving him a heartshot right then and there, out of spite."
"He's not qualified, is he? I mean..." the vet asked, stammering.
"Oh hell no. He doens't even do proper inventory... but..." Jimmy stopped, seeming to want to say something, but then changed the subject slightly. "Did your dad tell me much about me?"
"Not really... he said you're a good person and to.... How'd he put it? Overlook some peculiar things I might see here regarding how you care for the animals? I don't know if I quite understand it but..." she shrugged.
Jimmy sighed. "You'll find out in a bit. But come... we better get things set up. I'll tell you some things while we get ready."
Jimmy and the vet walked back down the aisle, chatting politely about her college classes, her dad, his dad, this-and-that. I whined.
"I told ya, kid... end of the line for dogs like us." The pit tried to smile but could barely manage.
"I just... I hope it's not like Tom said when he was growling at you," Flash spoke up from across the aisle as Sleek just whimpered softly.
"I'll bite 'em. That's what I'll do. I'll bite 'em a lot and get out of here somehow!" Max growled as he stood by his gate.
"Please don't. For all that's good, please don't do that Max," I whimpered, almost in tears. "Jimmy's done nothing but show us kindness and make things better. I know I've not been here that long but a person like that... please don't hurt him."
"It wouldn't serve any purpose," King woofed. "Even if any one of us were to get out, by some means, the rest of us would still be here. I've only been here a couple days and would proudly call any of you my kin. And that's one thing they can never take away from me, no matter what."
"I guess that's it, then," I barked. "We're all kin to each other..." I turned and smiled to the pitt. "Even you, you cranky loudmouted pessimist."
"Really? You'd..... defend me?" the pitt asked, astonished. Everyone within our end of the kennel nodded. "After all I've... said? How I've been?" He seemed genuinely surprised. Everyone again nodded.
"Even with how you teased me and told me there was no hope to be had. You tried taking that away from me, but I guess you were right all along... we are going to die here. But we may as well die with a bit of honor and dignity left instead of fighting those who helped us, and hurting those who care for us."
"Well... I guess.... since you put it that way...," Max stammered a bit. The pitt nodded.
* * * * *
And so it was. One by one, those of the 10 were led down the aisle. None balked, a few barked farewells. My lady howled for me and I barked back. Flash and Sleek walked together, side by side to their destiny. Max went without any blood shed. The pitt was after him. The Dane nodded to me as he was walked past.... And then it was my turn.
Jimmy came to the gate, tears in his eyes and his breath shuddering. "I saved you for last because... well... for some silly reason, you're so very special to me." I nuzzled his hand as he clipped the leash on my collar. We walked down the aisle, past the dogs that were to remain - remain for how long, I wasn't to know, but they would be at that place longer than me.
Jimmy led me past the all-metal door, and the red light was on. I could smell the fear scent all the way from the turn in the hall, but instead of taking me in, he led me to the introduction room.
"I figured...." his tears were falling greatly and he sniffled. "I hate this, but I figured I'd give you some fun before we... before..." I licked his face to tell him it was alright. I felt the cool slickness and the pressure under my tail as the tapered buttplug, as I came to know it, slid into me. Jimmy tried to get me to hump, but I couldn't.. I just hugged him and licked his face.
How could I tell him how much his tenderness meant to me, and how he so willingly included the other dogs. How he cared so much for them meant the world to me, as though he were canine himself, defending us against Tom and others like him.
He just held me there for awhile until there was a knock at the door. "Jimmy?" her voice called out.
"Ok... we'll be there in a minute," he called back and sniffed the snot out of his nose, drying his eyes with the collar of his t-shirt.
I knew what was meant. I knew what he had to do. I knew what I had to do. I nuzzled his hand and stood, waiting. He pet my head and then opened the door. Through the steel door with the window, past the doors to the outdoor kennel runs and into the door with the red light still on.
Fearscent seared my nostrils along with the sight that burned itself into my eyes. The room seemed larger because a roll-up door had been opened into what looked like a garage bay. There were black plastic garbage bags there, and I swore I could see cat fur pressed up against the sheer plastic. But that wasn't the biggest thing. There, one by one, lay the rest of my... well, you couldn't even call it a group anymore because it was just me. Each dog laid on its side, legs extended, as though they were just sleeping sprawled out on the lawn or something. All in a row arranged by size to take the least space. From the pitbulls to the huskies, Max, then a gap for me, my girl, and then King the Dane were all laid out on the cold, damp concrete.
My heart was beating so fast I figured it'd leap out of my chest and I started shaking as the door closed shut behind us. I looked up to Jimmy, and his eyes were full of tears. The vet and him lifted me onto the metal table. The cabinet with the vials was open, and one of the bright pink ones lay on a rolling cart next to a syringe filled with the same color fluid.
"It'll be alright," I heard Jimmy say, his voice cracking as his lower lip quivered.
"A buttplug for this one too, Jimmy?" the vet looked curiously at him.
"He's special..." Jimmy managed to croak out as he cradled my head in his arms.
The vet found a vein in my foreleg, and I let her. I had to be good, for Jimmy's sake at least.
"Just think of your girl... think of what it was like when I treated Max... it'll be alright... it'll be alright..." I heard him whisper to me as she pushed the plunger.
I felt weird almost immediately, like the world was swirling around me. I couldn't keep my eyes open even though I really wanted to. I tried my best to look up at Jimmy, but I couldn't. Try as I might, I couldn't stay awake. Through the cobwebs and fog clouding my brain, just before the heavy curtain of blackness enveloped me, I thought I could hear Jimmy hiccupingly say. "It'll all be alright, you'll see...."