A young woman, about 20 years of age, was walking through the streets in the dark. The lack of light didn't bother her, as the golden Labrador Retriever at her feet was her eyes. The dog wore a bright yellow jacket and the girl was chattering aimlessly to it. "And when we get home you can have a nice biscuit," she murmured. The dog kept looking back at her as though he was listening as he guided her on the familiar route back home from the shops, his mind on the pork chop he knew was in the shopping back swinging from his mistress's other hand.
Down the dark streets he led her, the lack of street lights no bother to him. The pavement was greatly shadowed by the tall, forbidding buildings all around. This was not a particularly prosperous area of London.
A crisp packet, blown along in the breeze, rustled as the young woman stepped on it. She began to speak faster to her dog, trying to keep out the unnerving silence, and he whined as he picked up her anxiety.
A black shape exploded out of the alley, barking furiously. The young woman started, then screamed as her dog's lead was wrenched from her grasp. What she couldn't see was a small group of shadowed figures, jeering as they held her dog away from her to allow the black dog to turn on her. Its jaws closed around her leg and she screamed again, overcome with terror as the unseen animal attacked her. The men watching cheered.
Letting go of her leg, the black dog jumped up against her chest; it caught her off-balance, and she fell backwards. She hit her head against the wall of the building behind her and went limp. One of the men dragged the dog away from her and another kicked her; when she did not move, he forced the dog back into the alley and into the back of a van. The man who had been holding the woman's dog let him go and they drove away with a screech of tyres, leaving the dog to lick his mistress's wounds to no avail.
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Hmm I seem to like dramatic beginnings. Anyhow, I'm sorry for being a day later than I said I would be, but it's here now. I hope you like it and the next chapter will probably be at the weekend.