Thank you so much for the reviews. I hope this format is better it seems to be working out the best. I am trying to keep eveyone in character so please let me know if I'm doing a bad job at it. Hope you like it!
The next town wasn't that far away but it took a good amount of time for the group to get there and Tala was the reason why. She was having a very hard time keeping up with the rest of the group on only three legs.
Toboe had turned into his wolf form and fell to the back of the group to help the half breed. Kiba noticed that they were lagging behind and reluctantly slowed his pace.
The town was coming into view, so Toboe changed back into his human form and grabbed Blue's scarf that was tied to Tala's collar.
As soon as they had reached the town Hige went over and asked a few townspeople that had passed them if there was a vet in town. He bowed a quick thank you and came trotting back over to the group holding a small slip of paper.
He handed the paper to Blue "Here's where the vet is."
Kiba then stepped in "Blue, you and Toboe take Tala there, the rest of us will go and find some food and check out the town. We'll meet back here in an hour."
Everyone nodded and the new trio headed to the vet.
As they walked through the town Blue, Toboe, and Tala felt very uneasy. The town had narrow dirty streets lined with run down brick buildings. A potent smell burned the wolves' noses and smoke from several trash can fires made their eyes sting.
Everything around them seemed to be as cold as the stares they were getting from the people they walked past. Whispers followed behind them and a shiver made its way down Tala's spine.
"Something isn't right here." She whispered to her companions.
Blue took a look around; most of the stares were directed at Tala. Their eyes made Blue's skin crawl. She picked up the pace.
"I know what you mean. It's like they've never seen a dog before."
Toboe didn't like the feel of this place either "I think the sooner we get out of this place the better." he said, trying to stay calm.
Blue looked at the piece paper in her hands and compared the number that was written on it to the number on the door in front of them.
"This is it." She shoved the paper into her pocket and knocked on the door.
Their keen ears could hear movement inside the house. It took a few moments, but the door finally opened.
A short, slightly round, grey haired man quickly ushered the three strangers into his house. He stuck his head out the door and looked around, before pulling it shut and locking the many deadbolts. He closed the curtains and gave one last peek between the navy colored pieces of fabric before addressing his visitors.
The room they were in was very small. Bookcases littered the walls, and there were a few well worn, overstuffed, chairs placed around a roaring fireplace that provided the only light in the room.
The man pushed his thick black framed glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose and shuffled over to a staircase opposite the fireplace.
"This way, please." He said motioning the three of them to follow him.
The stairs were narrow and steep, so Toboe carried the injured Tala and Blue followed close behind. At the bottom of the stairs, was an exam room with a very homey feel.
The walls were painted a rich dark green and covered with shelves that held numerous books. The floors were a deep brown wood and an elegant but thread bare rug dominated the center of the room. The only things that gave this space away as an exam room were the heavy smell of antiseptic and the shining stainless steel counter and exam table.
The man put on a white lab coat and his demeanor completely changed. I'm Doctor Peaberry, everyone just calls me Doc though." He said with a grin.
He took a step over to Toboe, his warm grey eyes focused on Tala. She looked him in the eyes with her ears forward and tail wagging. Doc gave her a friendly pat on the head.
"And what do we have here?" he asked.
"Her name is Tala, and she um…" his eyes darted nervously to Blue.
"She got hit by a car." Blue said, walking up behind Toboe and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, put her down over here and let me take a look." Doc answered, motioning to the reflective table in the center of the room.
Toboe did as he was told and put Tala down carefully on the table. Tala wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible so she sat on the table, holding up her injured leg.
"So it's her front leg that seems to be the problem then?"
Blue and Toboe nodded. Doc stood next to the injured wolf-dog and began scratching her ears. Tala closed her eyes reveling in how good it felt. Ever so carefully he reached down and moved her injured leg. Tala let out a loud yip and pulled her leg back in toward her body.
"Oh so you're one of THOSE kinds of vets."
She always hated it when the vet would come to her house, and while she was eating the bone they gave her they would stick her with a needle. It always ruined the treat.
Tala shot Doc a 'what did you do that for' look, and Doc turned to Blue.
"This is an old injury." He said with a suspicious glare.
"It happened about two or three weeks ago, and your town is the first one we have come across that had a vet."
He glared at Blue again before rattling off a number of questions: Has she been panting, spitting up blood, trouble breathing…
At Tala's prompting Blue answered no to all of his questions, and Doc refocused his attention to the injured dog in front of him.
"As far as I can tell the only problem seems to be the leg and a few minor cuts and scrapes."
Doc gently began to completely extend the broken leg. He was trying to make it as painless as possible but a whimper or two crept into Tala's throat.
He looked into her multicolored eyes "This is going to hurt." He twisted her leg and snapped the bone back into place. Pain tore through Tala's body, as she yelped and snapped at Doc's hands.
"Tala!" Toboe yelled, surprised at her actions
The Doc chuckled "It's okay, normally I get bitten. Hand me that wrap on the counter."
Toboe picked up the box he motioned to and brought it over to him. Still holding onto Tala's leg, Doc used his free hand to take out a roll of gauze. Before he could even come close, Tala bared her teeth, giving him a low warning growl.
He stopped and looked into her eyes "Calm"
Tala heard his voice echo in her mind but he never opened his mouth. She cocked her head to one side and stared at him confused.
"Good girl." Doc said, this time out loud, and began to wrap the broken leg.
Tala wrinkled her nose in thought "There's something weird about this human."
Once the gauze was on he wrapped Tala's leg in a black quick dry cast. The cast went from her elbow to her wrist, supporting the broken bone while not hindering her movement. She stood on the table putting weight on the leg.
Tala was elated to discover that it supported her and no longer sent waves of pain streaming through her body. She wagged her tail and licked Doc's cheek.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"My, your very welcome." Doc said and patted her on the head.
Tala froze and every one of her muscles started to tense "Did he just read my mind?"
Doc handed Blue a very small medical saw, which he had pulled out of the left pocket of his lab coat "Now I am assuming that you're not sticking around here, so in about 3 weeks use this to cut off the cast."
Blue thanked him and put the instrument safely into her pocket "About payment…"
Doc cut her off before she could say another word "No need. It's not every day that I get to treat a wolf."