Dogs & More
Ch 1 Wild Dogs
Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones landed hard on a grassy slope.
"Ow!," Jeff said grasping his right hand with his left.
"Jeff! Let me see," Bogg asked moving toward his partner quickly. He reached for Jeff's hand as he caught sight of something moving on his left.
"It's okay, it's almost stopped bleeding already," Jeff said as Bogg tightened his grasp on Jeff's hand. But Phineas wasn't looking at Jeff's hand any longer. His eyes were on the two wild dogs that were approaching them, heads lowered, in hunting mode.
Phineas glanced around and noticed the fencing that surrounded them. He scanned the immediate area around them and saw a man struggling to stand up not six feet away from them. The dogs had been hunting him, but now Bogg could tell they were excited by the smell of Jeffrey's blood.
"Bogg, this is a cage in some kind of zoo," Jeff said, still not aware of the danger.
"Find the door and help this guy get out too," Bogg ordered as he removed his vest and wrapped it around his forearm. Jeff could hear the fear in his voice.
"They're just dogs, Bogg," Jeff started to say, but one of the dogs growled low and Jeff froze, suddenly understanding that they were in danger.
"Move slowly," Bogg whispered and Jeff moved toward the man and helped him to his feet.
"How do we get out?" Jeff whispered, and the man motioned to a gate about twenty feet behind them.
As one, the three of them moved toward the gate, Bogg taking up the rear, backing up so he could still face the dogs. They got to the gate and the man, clutching his chest with one hand, pushed a button with the other. An alarm sounded, and Jeff hoped it would bring someone to let them out.
The dogs seemed to know that they would soon lose their prey and advanced faster. Suddenly there were 4 other dogs. As the gate opened, the first one jumped forward and Bogg shoved his leather-wrapped forearm into its jaws. As Jeff helped the man out through the gate, two other dogs jumped toward Phineas. He pulled his arm out of the middle of his vest, leaving it in the first dog's mouth, and swung his fist at the muzzle that was closest to him as he backed quickly the last few remaining steps to the open gate. Jeff was already out and grabbed his belt, pulling him hard from behind with all his strength. He fell through the exit as another one of the dogs sunk its teeth into his leg, ripping it open. The zoo employees heaved the heavy gate shut and Bogg and Jeffrey collapsed on the cold floor.
Jeff lay next to Bogg for a second, out of breath.
"I'll get the first aid kit," he heard a voice say and one of the workers ran away from them. Jeff sat up and looked at his partner. Bogg was still lying beside him. He was very pale and soaked with sweat.
"Bogg?" Jeff asked uncertainly, then his eyes fell on the blood-soaked clothing on his lower leg.
Jeff's expression suddenly became serious as he moved toward Bogg's leg. Then he started taking charge. "Okay, just lay still. Let me take a look," he said as he pulled off his sweatshirt. But as he went to wrap it around the area with the most severe bleeding, he realized he'd have to pull off Bogg's boot first. He pulled on it hard and it came off easily, the dog's teeth had shredded it in parts. He wrapped the sweatshirt around Bogg's leg and put pressure on the wound. The bleeding immediately slowed and within a few minutes was stopped. Jeff calmed down when he saw that the bite wasn't as severe as he'd thought at first. The boot had absorbed most of the force of the bite.
"I've got the first aid kit," one of the zoo workers said as he knelt beside Bogg's leg and began to care for the injury. "Jerry, check on Don," he ordered the other worker who had responded to the call for help. Jeff watched as this second man tended to the victim he had helped escape from the dogs.
"Are you okay?"
The worried tone of the rescuer startled Jeff and he glanced at him and saw that he was looking at Bogg. Jeff looked at his friend too, and noticed he was still very pale and sweating. He moved over and put his hand on Bogg's shoulder. "Bogg?" he asked worriedly. He glanced at his leg, it had stopped bleeding. He had seen Bogg injured much worse than this and not react this way. "Hey, talk to me, okay?" he shook his shoulder and leaned down in front of his partner so he could look into his eyes. Bogg didn't look very good at all.
Phineas looked up at Jeff and suddenly seemed to awaken. "Yeah, okay," he said.
"You alright?" Jeff asked again.
"Yeah, I'm okay. That was close," he whispered, breathing hard.
"You'll need a few stitches, the vet can do it here or I can take you to the hospital," the man said to Bogg.
"The vet'll be fine, I don't like hospitals," Bogg answered.
After the ambulance had taken away the man who collapsed, they helped Bogg into the veterinarian's treatment room and Jeff sat beside him as the wound was stitched up.
"Only 6 stitches, you were very lucky," the vet said after he finished.
"Yeah," Bogg said quietly.
"You'll need to stay off it for a few days, and I'm going to give you an antibiotic. Those wild dog bites tend to get infected. This isn't the first one I've treated."
"Can you take a look at Jeff's hand too?" Phineas asked.
Jeff looked up, startled, he'd forgotten all about his hand. As the vet looked at it, he realized how good it felt to have someone worry about him. He glanced up at Bogg and smiled.