Chapter 4: Wake

Rose continued running in the direction the confused teacher had pointed her in, out into a courtyard opening to a square with a parking lot. On the far side of the courtyard was her daughter, kneeling on the wetground.

"Penny! Did you find Bolt?" she yelled as she ran.

"Mom!" Penny turned to face her, and she had tears running down her face. "Bolt collapsed when he was running towards me! I had just found him, and now he won't wake up!"

Her mom was upset from seeing her daughter like this, and tried to console her, "Shhhh, it's ok honey, we'll take Bolt to a vet's and everything will be fi-"

"NO! I never should have left him like that at home. He was obviously terrified and chased after the van." Penny was distraught for once again causing Bolt hardship. When Bolt had run away, she had blamed herself the whole time. She should never have let them deceive Bolt, she had said. She held his fragile body to her chest, careful not to squeeze too much

"I know honey, it's ok, we'll get him help."

Penny shook her head, spreading tears out across the grass. "You're not getting it; it's my fault this happened. This is just like last time, and it's my fault!" Penny was sobbing now, hugging her dog to her chest.

"Honey, I'm going to bring the van around, ok? It'll only be a minute." Rose jogged away from her crying daughter, knowing she would never leave her dog alone and she was in no condition to walk through her new school with her dog in her arms.

Oh god I hope Bolt is going to be alright.

Humming.

And crying.

That was Penny. Why was Penny crying?

Bolt tried to open his eyes, but the light was too bright.

Am I dreaming? It feels like I'm floating. I have to find Penny.

"Ok Honey, Dr. Black will be here in 30 minutes, and then everything will be alright. Hey, is Bolt awake?"

Bolt tried to look around. The room spun, so he closed his eyes.

Light.

The light was right in his eyes. Why is it so bright?

Bolt tried to pull away, but he just felt so weak, like he was in some kind of nightmare.

"Well, he's responding. That's a good sign. But it doesn't look like an infection. And you said he seemed perfectly fine toda-"

The talking faded away. The blackness returned.

"-Yoo-hoo, Bolt, you in there?" Someone was pulling on his eyelids. Someone small. Someone squeaky.

"Rhino, you had better leave me alone before I eat you." His speech was slurred, probably because he hadn't tried to lift his head. That didn't work so well last time so Bolt decided against it.

"Bolt! You're awake!" Mittens was now in his face too.

Bolt tried to look around without moving. The room was still spinning. Was that the TV?

I must be on the couch. Wow I feel really horrible.

"Come on, lift up your head Bolt, you can do it!" Rhino was trying to lift his nose, and wasn't having much luck on getting Bolt to get up.

But he was making the room spin faster.

"Rhino stop that, you are making it spin." Bolt was barely speaking clearly enough to be heard.

"What? What does that me-"

The blackness rushed back in around his vision.

"Oprah, this is just the BEST THING EVER!"

The high-pitched wail hurt Bolt's head and he winced. He slowly pulled his eyes open to see a big, loud human on the TV.

"I'm going to strangle that hamster." His voice sounded less slurred then last time.

"Mittens! He's awake again!" At least his squeak wasn't as loud as the fat lady.

"This time let's give him his space, alright?" Mittens and Rhino again entered his field of vision.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Bolt made an effort to speak clearly.

"How do you feel Bolt? What happened?" Mittens said.

"I don't know, I don't remember. Oh, my head hurts."

"Take it easy, don't try to move."

"Where is Penny?"

"Over there." Bolt tried to slowly turn his head to face where Rhino was pointing despite Mittens' advice. The room spun faster, but Bolt managed to hold it together.

"Penny." She was sitting at the glowing thing again, probably making clicking noises too. She heard him and turned around and looked.

"Oh, Bolt! You're awake!" She ran over and sat in front of the couch to cuddled Bolt's face. "Bolt, I was so scared, I'm sorry I left you alone like that."

Bolt feebly stuck out his tongue to lick Penny's face and she leaned in so he could get a few in. Bolt felt Mittens and Rhino cuddle into his side. He felt very tired, and wanted to get some sleep.

"I'll be OK Penny, now that you are here."

Bolt calmly closed his eyes and drifted off into real sleep.

"Oh, was Bolt awake?" said Rose as she walked into the room to check in with Penny.

Penny sighed. "Yah, he was for a bit there. He even licked my nose." She smiled sadly at this.

"That's great, honey. When the blood work gets back we'll find out what's wrong with him. Doctor Black said he'd put a rush on it, and even do some of the work himself. We should have some news by tomorrow. Come on honey, you need to get some sleep."

"What should I do with Bolt? I can't just leave him down here alone."

"Alright, we can take him up to your room." Together, they shooed the other animals away from Bolt, and Rose helped Penny pick the ball of white fur up as softly as they could. They took their time and slowly walked up the stairs to her room.

As Penny entered her room, she thought of Bolt's face as he begged to get on the bed. "Mom, I'm going to put him on my bed, he likes it there."

"Alright honey." They added an extra small blanket and a few pillows around the sick canine.

"Goodnight." "Night mom."

Penny quickly changed and got into bed. Mittens had followed her into the room and snuggled up beside the sick dog. I guess Mittens is worried, too.

Good night Bolt, get better soon.

"Oh, my head…"

Bolt awoke to a dark room. He looked around and realized he was on Penny's bed. He still felt very tired, so he didn't feel much like moving around. He did unleash a large dog yawn, which awoke Mittens who was lying beside him for some strange reason.

"Bolt, you're awake? That's great!"

"Shhhh, keep it down! Penny is still sleeping."

"And after all that he's still worried about Penny's sleep", Mittens said to herself. "So what happened to you? We've been sitting here wondering what went on. The last thing I saw you do was run out that window."

"Yah that was pretty brave wasn't?"

"You can say that again! You didn't even hesitate, and all because Penny got into a van."

"What's a van? I've heard you talk about it before but I don't really get it." The cat just looked at him.

"I keep forgetting you don't know all these things. You must have lived a really sheltered life on that show." Bolt just chuckled. Mittens continued, "A van is a name for those bigger cars. Not the really big ones, or the kinda big ones, just the blocky ones with the extra seats. Remember cars? People use them to get around."

"Right. I have no idea why I didn't think of that."

"So what happened to you out there? Why are you sick?"

"I really have no idea. First, I chased that 'van' to a strange place filled with kids in rooms sitting at tables. Then-"

"Are you talking about a school?"

"A school… What kind of evil is that?"

"All the kids go there, I don't really understand it but it seems everyone has too-"

"That is terrible! They lock all their kids in prison?!" Mittens just looked at Bolt for a second.

"It's not a prison, they play and sit at those desks, I saw inside one once. But it's normal, and I was honestly wondering when Penny would go. We've been here for a long time and all she does is hang around at home. Well, and play with her toys."

"So, uh, she didn't need saving from some evil prison?" Mittens shook her head. "Well that makes me feel stupid."

"I can imagine. So what happened when you were there?"

"Well the place had force fields instead of doors! Like that thing up there that lets you see outside. I thought I spotted Penny through one and-"

"Wait wait wait. Force fields? You don't mean glass doors do you?"

"Uh, now I feel more stupid." Bolt was already getting more tired; Mittens could hear it in his voice.

"It's OK, continue with your story."

"Well, I saw Penny through a glass door and charged into the room. I stepped on something on the floor, that's where I got this cut." Bolt lifted his paw to show mittens the gash on it.

"Ouch"

"I don't really feel it; the rest of me feels worse. Anyways, I realized it wasn't Penny when I jumped up on the desk. Then I realized it must be some kind of trap, and I turned to see the evil henchman blocking the door."

"Ahem"

"What? Oh, right. Not an evil lair. I forgot. I guess it wasn't a trap, must have just been a misunderstanding."

"You figure?"

"Ha ha! Enjoy your laughs cat. The Green Eyed Man and all his henchmen will get what's coming to them eventually."

"Now I'm concerned on a number of levels." Then she noticed he was trying to keep a straight face. She smiled at him and his façade broke into a few quiet laughs.

"In all seriousness, I had really believed Penny was in danger. I don't know what triggered it, but I just had to save her from the moment I saw her get into that van. And when I was in that 'school' with the glass doors, I started to believe I was a super dog again. I guess I just really want that hero feeling back, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it Bolt. It was a really important part of your life for a long time, and it's hard to let that kind of thing go." Her voice got quieter. "It took me a long time to adapt to the streets after I got left behind."

Bolt gave her a sad smile. "Anyways, I ran out of that room, thinking the school was a diversion. Some guy had been chasing me the whole time, but he was slow and I lost him around a corner."

"Applied a little zoom-zoom super speed?"

"Hah, no. When he tried to round the corner he fell flat on his face." Mittens cracked up at his, she tried to keep it down but it was hard. Bolt just didn't have the energy for a real laugh.

"What is all the yammering about? And you said I was bad…" Rhino had stuck his head out of his house. "Oh Bolt, your awake!"

"Keep it down Rhino, Penny is sleeping after all."

"Oh okay, yeah. Hey, how are you feeling Boltie?"

"Damn tired, I hurt all over and I barely feel like moving. We were just talking about what happened to me."

"And? What happened after you got away from that guy?" Mittens seemed interested in the rest of the tale.

Bolt told them the end of the story. Bolt held up his wounded leg. "My paw still feels a little odd, I can't really describe it."

"That sounds terrible! What did they do to you!?"

"Calm down Rhino. I'll be fine, I already feel much better than earlier. I felt like death warmed over before."

"Well, and then what happened? I want to hear the rest of the story!"

"Not much else to tell, Rhino. I remember seeing Penny's face. I remember some flashes of things. There was some fat lady on TV yelling about something? I dunno, it's all really fuzzy. I do remember you trying to lift my nose Rhino." The hamster laughed and shrunk back at this.

"Yah, we had you on the couch. Penny sat with you a lot, and Rhino was watching TV. Penny was really upset, Bolt. She cried a lot. Then they brought you up here and everyone went to sleep."

"Mittens sat with you the whole time, she seemed worried."

"Well, yeah. We didn't know what was going to happen! If you had died, who would I play with?" Bolt gave Mittens a smile, appreciating her lame attempt at affection.

"I'm still really tired guys; I think I need more sleep."

"You get back to bed Bolt; Mittens will fill me in with the rest of the story."

"Short version: Bolt is stupid."

Bolt chuckled. "Yeah, that sums it up. Night guys, see you in the morning."

Mittens cuddled into Bolt again, obviously still worried about losing him.

It's great to have such good friends.

Author note:

At first I didn't like how this chapter turned out, but I got a ton of input on it from my beta readers. If you enjoyed this chapter, blame Hihey9989, Carl Minez and Ihmehlmenn. Their input was invaluable, and I'm looking forward to their input on the rest of the story.

It'll be about 3 days until I post chapter 5. I had some trouble starting it, and I think it needs a ton of beta work, but I'm confident I can whip it into shape so you guys can enjoy it. Keep your eyes open for it.

You can email with questions, comments, criticisms, attaboys and death threats, or leave them in reviews. The link to my email is in my profile. I am powered not by food and water, but by reviews and comments. So if you want me to live long enough to post chapter 5, post a review, and email me or PM me with any questions. I live for approval.

Until next time I leave you with The Questions: Will Bolt recover from his injuries? What is in Bolt's body and what will they do? What will happen when Rhino tries to pull Bolt's eyes open again?

Find out next time!