After being shooed away from the little girl by her father, the dog bounded across the yard and stopped to look back once he was a good distance from the human family. Now the girl's mother was helping her daughter to her feet, and the dog could see two men, one of whom was wearing a fancy suit and a mask exposing parts of his face, approaching the lifeless body of the rattlesnake. There was no sign of the other nine children the girl's mother was looking after; perhaps they went back into the building.
The dog sat upon the dusty ground and continued to watch the humans from afar, looking back and forth between the girl and her parents and the two men standing by the dead snake. So far no one was paying any attention to him. The man in the suit and mask nudged the dead snake with his foot and said something to the tall, rugged man standing next to him. After exchanging a few words with his masked companion the tall man knelt to the ground, carefully picked up the snake, and carried it away.
After the tall man left, the masked man walked over to the little girl and her parents and began to speak with them. The dog carefully leaned forward and perked his ears, trying to listen to what was being said. He couldn't understand everything the humans were saying, but he when he heard the girl's mother say the word "pound", his heart began to beat faster.
That word he understood too well, and it did not mean good news for him.
He remembered when he first arrived at the tall, scary building just outside the big city. The man and woman who brought him there after finding him in a dark, smelly alley called it "the Pound". The dog remembered what it was like there, and he liked it a lot less than he liked living in the alley. He was put in a small pen in a cold room with several other dogs, with only a threadbare blanket to sleep on. A fat, sour-faced man came into the room twice a day to feed the dogs, and judging by his rotten attitude he didn't seem to like dogs very much. Four times a day the dogs were let out of their pens to play in the yard behind the pound, but even that wasn't much fun for the dog; some of the bigger dogs would often take the toys he was playing with, and when he tried to fight them it always ended with him being taken back to his pen by an angry human calling him a "bad dog".
Sometimes single humans, couples, or families would come to the pound looking for a pet; a few stopped to look at the dog and even pet him, but in the end they always chose a different dog. According to the people working at the pound, dogs who were not chosen after a long time had passed were "put to sleep". The dog did not understand what that meant, but he did not like the sound of it.
That was why he escaped from that dreadful place, and there was no way he was going back.
The dog wondered whether he should try escaping through the hole under the fence and risk that gun-like machine shooting at him again when he noticed the masked man pointing a gloved finger in his direction. Soon the little girl and her parents were also looking his way. The dog carefully pulled himself to his feet and began to limp toward the fence when he heard a whistle and a voice calling to him.
Jeremy, Susan, and Emma turned their heads to look in the direction Maurice was pointing. Just as the Frenchman had said, the dog from earlier was sitting several feet across the yard from the four of them, waiting for their next move.
"You think we should call him over?" Jeremy asked Susan.
"I suppose we could try," his wife replied. "He doesn't appear to be nervous, but I'd be careful not to scare him."
Jeremy took three steps toward the dog, who responded by getting up and turning toward the fence. Sensing the dog might be trying to flee, the Bostonian slowly knelt to the ground on one knee and began whistling, snapping his fingers, and patting his thigh in an attempt to coax the dog to come to him.
"Here, dog! Here, boy! It's okay, I won't hurt ya. Come on over."
The dog paused on his way to the fence and looked back at the skinny, boyish-looking man calling to him. After a moment's hesitation, he slowly turned back toward Jeremy and began to approach him, head lowed in submission all the while.
Jeremy continued to whistle and call to the dog until the animal stood just inches from him. The Bostonian remained in a kneeling position so as to appear less intimidating and began to gently scratch the dog behind his ears.
"Hey, you're a kinda cute little fella, ain'tcha?" Jeremy crooned as the dog began to lick his hand. "You're such a good boy, yes you are!"
Emma was about to rush forward to pet the dog with her father when her mother stopped her.
"Careful, honey, he might bite you."
"But he's a good dog, Mama," Emma protested. "He didn't bite me, and he isn't biting Daddy."
"Just because he didn't bite you or Daddy doesn't mean he won't bite other people, sweetheart," her mother told her. "Sometimes even a friendly animal will bite if it feels threatened."
"Or if it is injured," Maurice remarked.
Jeremy looked up at the older man, a puzzled expression on his face. "What d'ya mean?"
"I couldn't help but notice zat ze dog was limping and holding his right front paw above ze ground." The European took a puff from his cigarette before clearing his throat to continue. "I'm guessing either zat snake bit him, or he injured it coming through zat hole under ze fence."
Jeremy and Susan knew which hole he was talking about. Shortly after the team's arrival at the base the previous day, Dell and Luke had discovered a hole under the fence near the upper right end of the yard. Fearing that wild animals would try to get in through the hole, Dell had placed a mini-Sentry next to it to keep them out until the hole could be filled in.
"I don't think that snake bit him, Spy," answered Jeremy. By now the dog was seated before him and allowing him to examine his injured paw. "I don't see any bite marks or nothin' on his foot."
"And if he did get in through that hole, he couldn't have done so after yesterday evening," Susan added. "The Sentry would have killed him."
Maurice sighed impatiently as he gently flicked his cigarette to rid it of the ash building up on its tip. "Well, whatever we're going to do about him we'd better do it soon. It's getting late."
Jeremy knew all too well what that meant. By now, the chill of night was completely gone from the dry desert air and replaced with the soft, balmy warmth of mid-morning. Before long it would be noon, when the sun reached its zenith and the sweltering desert heat the Badlands were widely known for began to take over. Jeremy looked at his wife, who immediately understood what he was thinking; it just wouldn't do for the poor dog to be left outside to bake in the sun.
"Still," Susan said hesitantly, "what if he has fleas or ticks? I don't want the base to get infested with those awful things. Also, do you or Spy know if any of the other kids are allergic to dogs?"
"I or one of the other guys could go into town with ya and pick up some flea powder and other stuff while you're busy with the Administrator," Jeremy offered. "And I remember Heavy, Snipes, and Engie tellin' me their kids have dogs at home."
"As does Damien," Maurice added.
Susan nodded. "Okay, so that leaves Violet, Nelson, Kevin, and Audrey. How about this: I'm going back inside to speak with their fathers and find out for sure, and we'll decide what to do from there. Alright?"
"Sounds like a plan," Jeremy replied, while Maurice simply nodded in agreement. The dog responded by wagging his tail.
"Does this mean he can stay?" Emma asked eagerly.
"We'll see," her mother told her. "As for you, I think you'd better come inside with me. You've been out in the sun longer than I'd like." Noticing the disappointment on her daughter's face, she added, "And don't worry about the dog; your father and Mr. Renault* will take care of him."
Emma nodded and reluctantly took her mother's hand. As the two of them started back toward the base, the girl looked briefly over her shoulder to see the dog watching her departure with sad, wistful eyes.
Poor doggie, she thought to herself. I hope he can stay …
*A/N: Renault is Spy's last name for this story, so yeah, Spy's name for MTO is Maurice Renault.