Chapter 2- Reality Check
'THINKING'
"HUMAN TALKING"
"ANIMAL TALKING"
Desmond's POV
"That took more time than it should have." I heard Vidic, one of my new owners grumbled as he walked briskly through the parking lot. "Now we're about an hour behind schedule. Do speed it up Ms. Stillman; we're a little pressed for time." He snapped at the nice girl human who was struggling to hold me up in one hand and a dog cage filled with a bag of dog food and a doggy bed in the other.
"Hey, I don't see you helping her out!" I bark at the older human. "Last time I checked, boy humans are supposed to carry things for the girl humans, not the other way around." I said, recalling the times I've seen boy humans hold the bagged items that their girl human companions had purchased at the pet store. "Besides, who cares how long it took? All that matters is that I'm finally out of that horrid place. Right?" I asked, tilting my head up to my second owner.
"I'm moving as fast as I can!" She snapped at the older boy human, not even acknowledging me. I look back down and see that we're approaching one of those big shiny box like things that have wheels on it.
"Well, move faster." Vidic stated firmly while getting into the shiny box-on-wheels. I heard my girl owner sigh before opening a door on the shiny box-on-wheels and setting the cage in the back of it. After closing the door, she then moved around the shiny box and opened another door before getting into it. She sat down in a seat and put me in her lap before strapping a belt around her. I heard a click and saw the belt tighten around my human.
'It's trying to hurt her!' I panicked for a brief second before my girl human loosed its hold. 'OK, she alright...phew.'
I then heard jingling. I snapped my head towards the noise and saw my other human with a bunch of keys in his hand. 'Wow...I totally forgot he was here for a minute." I thought before taking a look around the box that we're in. It did look half bad. It actually looked pretty good. 'I got to get a better look around' was my first thought before something roared loudly. I whimpered and shook a bit at the sound. I then felt something grab me and next thing I knew, I'm being pressed against something soft.
"Aww, is the little puppy afraid of the big bad car?" I look up to see my girl human owner cooing at me.
'Car? Is that what this shiny box is called?' I thought. All of sudden, we started moving! 'Oh my God! What's going on?! Am I going to die! No...I'm too young to die!' I clung to my human for dear life all the while having a mental break down.
"Pathetic." I heard my other owner scoff from the seat next to us. I look over to see his hands turning a wheel that was in front of him. 'Geez...what the hell is his problem?'
"Vidic, he's just a puppy! It's perfectly normal for him to get scared easily." Ms. Stillman argued.
"Just makes him more pitiful than he already is, if that mark on his forehead is anything to go by." That got me to growl. 'Seriously...what did I ever do to get on this guy's shit list?!'
"Oh?! You understood that?" he inquired, looking down at me out of the corner of his eye. My only answer was a snort. I hear my girl owner gasp. "Interesting." Vidic drawled, turning his vision back to the large window in front of us. I don't know if that was a complement or bad sign.
I turn to look out of the window next to the seat that me and my human are in. I see a lot of blurred shapes zooming past us...or are we zooming past them? I try to get a better look but my owner is still holding me in her not-so-tight-but-firm grip. I struggle a bit until she finally gets the hint and let's go of me.
"Hmm...What's wrong Desmond?" She asked worriedly. I answer by putting my face against the glass of the window. "You want to stick your head out the window? OK." Was the only warning I got before the glass started to slide down my face. I stumbled back a little but regained my balance quickly. I heard her giggling...well, more like felt it because her whole body was vibrating. I sniffed, feeling a bit dejected. I turned my head and went back to the window, sticking my head out. 'I guess I'll let I slide since you're my favorite out the two of you' I thought. No point in saying it, knowing she can't understand me. So why waste my breath.
"You shouldn't get too attached to him, considering the situation Ms. Stillman." I heard Vidic voice in an undertone. I look up at her and see sadness engulf her features.
"What's so bad about the situation?" I yipped at her. But my question landed on deaf ears.
"I know" was all she said before turning to look out the window and remaining silent
Two Hours Later
I woke up to the sound of movement.
'When did I fall asleep?' I wondered, still barely awake. But I quickly dismissed the question when I felt myself being lifted up, yet again. I was goingto ask 'what's going on' until I realised that the car had come to a complete stop and that we were getting out. That had me up and awake quick.
'Are we here? Are we finally at my new home?!' I speculated excitedly while taking a look a the area that was around me. I was still in Ms. Stillman's arms but she was more tense now. I wonder why. I then heard Vidic voice bounce off the walls of the dim lighted area that possessed many different types of shiny boxes-on-...I mean..cars.
"Grab the materials from the back seat and the dog then bring them all up to the room next to Subject 16. Park the car while you're at it." He instructed to three boy humans who were all dressed alike in white suits. "Come along Ms. Stillman; we have plenty of work to do" was all he said before he turned, heading towards a big gray door.
I took my eyes off of Vidic and turned to see one of the boy humans were trying to make a grab for me. I snarled at him, prepared to bite if I had to. That is, until I was pulled back out of the guy's reach.
"I'll take him up." I heard my girl owner say to the boy human sternly. He just nodded stiffly and turned around and walked back to the car we got out of.
"Ms. Stillman! Today please." My other owner's said impatiently.
"I'm coming." she called to him. Turning around from the boy human, we made our way towards Vidic who was inside a little room, tapping his foot with his arms crossed. Wow...can you say BITCH?And I'm not talking about my mom.
We walked into the little room and the doors closed behind us with a "ding". Then the room jerked and we started going up. If it wasn't for my owner's tight hold on me, I would have jerked out of her arms. 'I really need to stop getting scared so easily' I mentally chided myself.
"I swear, you can be slower than a turtle on its back at times, Ms. Stillman." Vidic ridiculed in monotone. "Keep that kind of pace up and you might find yourself out of a job."
"Hey! She's doing her best. Cut her some slack would ya!" I bark at him. He just raises an eyebrow at me. 'I'm really starting to hate this guy.'
"Do I make myself clear?" He says firmly.
"Yes sir." She says just before the room stops moving and the doors open with another "ding".
We walk out into a hallway with many gray doors. I notice, as we pass by that all the doors have numbers on them. We start to slow down and I feel Ms. Stillman tense up even more, if that's even possible. We finally come to a stop in front of one of those doors with the number on it.
'One...and seven. That's seventeen.' I quickly read the number on the door before it slid open. Behind the door was a stark white room that was so white, I had to blink a couple of times to get my eyes to adjust. When I could finally see, I saw that the room had my doggy bed in it already along with a huge gray rug that had a ball and a teddy bear on it. There was a doggy bowl with food and water in it over to the side.
'How the hell did all of this get up here before we did?!' I questioned in astonishment. As I kept looking around, I felt myself being lowered down to the ground. As soon as my paws hit the ground, I took a few steps into the room to get a better look.
"Welcome to your new room Mr. Miles" I heard Vidic say from behind me. "We hope it's to your liking." I could heard him say with false sincerity.
"I guess it's OK." I said with shrug of my shoulders. "A little bland for me but I'll live" I joked, turning around to face my owners. What I saw made my face drop and my heart beat faster. They were closing the door and leaving me in here by myself! I ran back to the door but it closed all the way right before I got there.
"YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME IN HERE! ALONE!" I barked and whined as I tried to scratch through the door.
"Now, now Mr. Miles. Be a good boy for daddy and try to be quiet." I heard Vidic say with slight amusement through the door even though it was a little muffled.
'FOR DADDY!? Yep, it's official...i hate this guy with a burning passion now.' I thought heatedly.
"Have a good night Mr. Miles." Was the last thing I heard from Vidic before I heard his shoes walking away.
'The hell I will.' I thought bitterly.
"I'm so sorry Desmond" I heard Ms. Stillman whisper, sadness and guilt lacing every syllable, before I heard her shoes tap away from the door and everything became quiet.
"What is she sorry for?" I said out loud to myself. "What have I gotten myself into?! No, calm down Desmond. They're going to come back and get you in the morning. There's no need to get paranoid. Everything is going to be fine. Everything is going to be perfectly fine." I muttered to myself as I paced back and forth over the rug.
A loud snort sounded through the silence causing me to freeze. I looked towards the left wall, where the sound came from, slowly. What would have turned me pale if I was a human wasn't the fact that the wall was see-through, but what was on the other side of the wall.
In the room next door to mine was a large dog, or what I thought was a dog, because all of the bandages and stitches were really disfiguring whatever it was. Me and it made eye contact and my heart stopped. I could tell I looked terrified by the way my fur was standing up, my eyes wide, and my body shaking slightly. It smirked at me then smiled, showing me its teeth...or...what's left of them!
'WHAT TYPE OF FUCKED UP PLACE IS THIS?!'
End of Chapter 2 (TBC)