Chapter 9:- Brooklyn Bridge Battle

It was round about mid day when Dodge, Scamp and Collette approached the Brooklyn Bridge. The magnificent architecture of the bridge, with all the steel welded together and the taunt wires supporting this monstrous contraption, was more alien than anything the two pups have seen in there short, sheltered life. The way it towered over all of them, consuming them in its shadow made Scamp and Collette a little bit nervous, causing them to hesitate slightly as Dodger confidently swaggered on. The kept up with Dodger and just as they got to the start of the bridge they all stopped.

"Ok, here we are Kids. Over that bridge and then were one step closer to getting ya home," Dodger beamed at the kids. They looked at the bridge, with all the cars bombing past them. "How long is it going to take?" asked Scamp. "Well if you two could car surf then not very long. But I highly doubt that you could, so we're going to have to cross on paw." Scamp groaned at the thought of this and asked for a quick break before they start. So they sat down in a shadow of a wall by the bridge for about five minutes.

The pups talked amongst themselves while Dodger just tried to relax for a little bit and mentally prepare himself for the journey back into the place where he never thought he would go again. Dodger took in his surroundings. There were the usual pedestrians and tourist milling about and taking photos, a food vendor selling greasy food while seagulls souring around in the air above (Dodger swore that he once saw two mice riding on the back of one once). All pretty normal, that was when he noticed two dogs on the other side of the road, looking at Dodger while pretending to not look and whispering to each other. The two dogs split up into different directions and Dodger made a mental note to keep his guard up.

"Right common kids, that's long enough. If we start now we can make it by tea time." And with that they started their trek across the bridge, keeping to a steady but relaxed pace. After about an hour they were approaching the half way part of the bridge. Although it was mid day the bridge was a bit more deserted of pedestrians than usual; but the three dogs still had to weave in, out and around legs in their walk. At this point Dodger noticed Scamp lagging behind a bit, head down and quiet. Collette didn't notice and just hummed to herself in her own little world, but Dodger slowed his pace to let Scamp catch up. When they were level with each other Dodger asked, "You doing alright kiddo?"

Scamp sighed and looked up at Dodger, "Dodger. Do you think I'm brave?"

"I don't really know ya well enough to say kid. Why?"

"I've always thought I could handle myself in any situation, like instinctively know what to do. But yesterday, during the storm... I just froze. On the spot. I couldn't think of anything. I was completely useless." Scamp huffed and looked at the ground in defeat.

"Common kiddo. You can't be like that. Yeah, you may have chocked out on your first run, but now way ya give up," chimed Dodger. Scamp tilted his head in confutation. "What do you mean?"

"Know body can get everything right first time, except for yours truly," Dodger not so humbly indicated to himself, "The way ya learn is through your mistakes, and believe me, I've made a few. As long as you build on that experience, you'll be able to run this town one day."

"But I was scared, and I didn't do anything. If I was half as good as my dad we wouldn't be in this mess. He'd be so disappointed in me." Dodger looked shocked "Why would ya think your dad would be disappointed in ya? You don't need his opinion to make ya happy. What's your dad ever done anyway?"

"He used to be a street dog, the greatest street dog ever," Scamp said in a sort of awe and amassment, as Dodger made a unimpressed scoffing sound and muttered under his breath "Mustn't have heard of me." Scamp continued "I've always wanted to be like him, but he would never teach me, so I feel like I should impress him, prove to him that I'm capable. That I can live up to him."

"Ya can't spend your life tryin' to please other people, that's the whole philosophy of why should I worry. And besides that, any decent dad wouldn't be disappointed in their son for being afraid. And I bet your dad is a whole lot better than mine."

"So what do I do now?" Asked Scamp. Dodger smiled at him, "You're gonna learn how ta be a street dog, and ya being taught by the best. And when ya see ya dad, he will be glad ta see ya and it won't matter what happened." Scamp seamed to brighten up at this, "You really think so?"

"Apsativaly posolutly!" exclaimed Dodger in excitement, causing a smile to light up Scamps face. The trio carried on walking and were almost three quarters of the way across the bridge when Dodger noticed something odd in the distance. There was a silhouette of a dog in the distance, just standing still as a statue, causing people to walk around it; "good thing the bridge wasn't that busy," Dodger thought. Then Dodger recognised this shape and when the pieces finally clicked in his brain he stopped dead in his tracks. Collette and Scamp stopped and turned round to face Dodger, "Is everything alright Dodger?" asked Collette.

Dodger didn't respond and just stared blankly as the other dog started moving closer now, with two dogs behind it melting out from the crowd into view. A shiver went down Dodger's spine and his hackles raised as the dogs approached. "Kids, get behind me," he demanded in a level tone, scaring the pups a bit. "What's going on Dodger?" asked Scamp shyly. Dodger's voice got more commanding, "Behind me. Now."

The two pups did as they were told, crowding behind Dodger. The three intimidating dogs approached closer and then stopped about five meters in front of Dodger. It was clear to see the dog in the middle was in charge. It was a Doberman with black covering her body except under the chest and end of her legs and paws, that were dark brown. She had a scar going horizontally under her right eye. She stood at least three times bigger than Dodger and the most scariest dog the pups have ever seen, causing them to sink even further behind Dodger and squish into each other. The other two dogs were not as scary but by no means comforting, one was a dirty gray pit ball with a mean looking scar down its left side. The other was another male Doberman, though not as big as the leader.

"Who are they Dodger?" whispered Collette from behind him. "It's the Doberman that burnt down the house boat," replied Dodger, his voice like gravel. Finally the lead Doberman spoke, "Hello Dodger," she spat out his name like a bad bit of fish, "so nice to see you again." Scamp and Collette were so close to Dodger that they felt him twitch when she spoke, but Dodger held the image of tough and unaffected by her. "I didn't catch your name last time, I've been referring to you as something I shouldn't repeat in front of the kids."

The Doberman chuckled to herself, a cold and cruel chuckle. "Oh you charmer. I'm Roxsett," she smiled at him. With effort to try and keep his voice level Dodger said "What ya doing here?" It was more of a demand than a question. "I've got contacts all over New York keeping an eye out for you, mutt. You've managed to fly under the radar for a while but I knew you would pop up sooner or later. Once someone saw you, the word came back to me almost instantly. Luck for you I wasn't far away." Dodger's mind paned back the two dogs he saw conversing when they started their journey across the bridge.

"I thought you said this wasn't personal. With all the trouble you've gone through it feels pretty personal." Roxsett's cruel smile twisted into a sadistic scowl, "That was then, this is now. I don't like to leave loose ends, but I have some emotional attachment in this agenda. I can't just let some scruff bag, flee bitten mutt take my brothers and have him live. But that's enough talk." She started to stalk forward slowly, a deep growling bubbling from the back of her throat. Hackles raised and head hunched down close to the ground, piercing orange eyes unblinkingly staring them down. The two other dogs behind her followed her lead.

Dodger whispered to the pups behind him, "When I say run. Run. It's me they're after, not you two. I'll see you at the end of the bridge." The pups looked panicked, "Dodger no. We're not leaving you, we want to help," Scamp piped up. "If ya hang around kid ya gonna cause more problems than ya solve. Ya wanna help. Run." Scamp and Collette meekly nodded.

The three mafia dog's drew closer now, maybe only two feet away from them. Some humans gave curious or worried glances but no one stopped, they just gave a wide birth to the dogs. Typical New Yorkers, wouldn't let anything get in the way of their daily lives. "Get ready," Dodger mumbled to the kids. Suddenly, he sprinted the short distance between them and tackled into the side of Roxsett, who was caught off guard and didn't expect Dodger to make the first move, and she crashed to the floor. The other Doberman and pit ball stood shocked for a second before both jumping into the skirmish.

"RUN!" Dodger yelled to the pups, and they did. They ran as fast as they could, past the huddle of savage dogs and into the crowd of New Yorkers, who now took notice of the fight; but none of them wanted to do anything about it. To them the fight looked vicious. Dodger managed to shake off the other two dogs who jumped him and face both of them at the same time, while Roxsett got back to her paws. Dodger was a good fighter, thanks to the tough streets of New York growing up, and with a one on one could handle himself easy. But he could see he was going to be over powered by sheer numbers. The dogs scuffled, scratches and bite marks passed around, damage to all parties. There was too much going on to tell what was happening for sure, but eventually the scrum broke apart.

The Pit ball slammed into Dodgers right side while the Doberman clawed at his left, creating a big gash along his leg that instantly started bleeding and caused Dodger to stumble to the floor, with the Doberman on top. Dodger managed to reach the Dobermans neck and bite into it, taking a chunk of skin with him. The dog rolled of Dodger in pain, although it was just a flesh wound. He got unsteadily onto his feat, pain shooting through his entire body and faced the Pit ball charging towards him, teeth showing in a snarl. Dodger waited till the last second, then rolled aside just before the Pit ball could make contact. With his back leg Dodger tripped up the Pit bull, causing him to tumble over himself and role to the ground. Then Dodger jumped onto the Pit bull and pulled back his lips in a deadly snarl, a sound like a rumbaing volcano coming from his throat.

Before he could do anything a great force rammed him in the side, making Dodger fly into the air, only to come crashing back to the concrete, sliding a short distance along the floor and stopping just before the road. Dodger's entire body ached and his head was spinning and he had blurred vision. He closed his eyes to try and stop that. Roxsett towered over his crumpled body, her big stature engulfing Dodger in her shadow. Dodger's breaths were heavy and laboured. "So. The Artful Dodger, greatest street dog in the world reduced to this." Roxsett mused to herself. "I want you to look at me," she spoke to Dodger, who still had his eyes closed. "LOOK AT ME!" She dug her claws into his right side, causing Dodger to scream out in pain and open his eyes. He stared right into Roxsett's with a sense of doom in his eyes.

"Yes," Roxsett smiled, "This is exactly the look I wanted from you. I want you to realise that you're about to die at my paws. Slowly, in agonising pain." She moved her face right up to Dodger's till they almost touched noses, "And I want you to know this is your doing," her voice becoming louder and louder, "When you killed my brothers!" She through her head up and let out a high pitched cackle sounding almost like a witch. She abruptly stopped and looked down at Dodger, drool coming out of her mouth and dripping onto him, "Any last words mutt?" she spat.

Dodger mumbled something incoherent, a week sound emitting from him. Roxsett moved closer towards him, tilting her head so he could speak into her ear. This time she heard what Dodger said, "Sucker." With new unexpected energy Dodger targeted Roxsett's neck and tried to bite it. Unfortunately, her reactions were quick; moving her body to the side and Dodger sinking his teeth into her right shoulder. Roxsett cried out, staggering backwards trying to escape Dodger's grip, but it was too strong.

Finally Dodger let go and limped as fast as he could towards the road. Using all his remaining strength he managed to jump onto a slow moving car roof. It cruised along with Dodger looking behind him at the three humiliated Mob dogs and the surrounding pedestrians, and smiled to himself at his impressive possum playing. He hunkered down, trying to find grip on the roof and using all of his diminishing strength to stay on there, for the rest of his short journey to rondevu with the pups, painting heavily and in pain but still alive.

Scamp and Collette ran the reaming distance of the bridge as fast as they could, neither of them dared to look back. They were both exhausted, their legs and paws aching and they were panting heavily. They scrabbled into some shrubbery on a grassy area next to the pavement, then they collapsed to the floor, just laying on their side with their chests moving up and down rapidly. After a few of minuet gulping down air, Collette asked through pants "Do you think they got Dodger?"

"Don't know?" was all Scamp could manage to say. "But I don't think so. Dodger's too smart for those dogs." This did little to calm Collette. "What if he was over powered? I mean, there were more dogs there than for a fair fight. What if he's dead?"

"Don't bet on it," came a crocked voice from behind the shrubbery, making the pups jump. The bushes rustled then parted as Dodger crashed his way through them and then into the small opening the pups were in. He looked bad. He was limping on three paws and had cuts all over his body. Blood seeped into his dirty white and grey fur and matted it into a tangle. "Dodger!" The pups yelled in excitement, finding new energy in his sight, jumped up and began to hug him, causing dodger to wince in pain. "Ow Ow Ow! Watch it kids. You'll ruin my good looks." The pups backed away and apologised. Then decided to take a look at his wounds.

There was a deep cut on his right flank, scratches and bite marks all over his body and legs. There was a little blood coming from his left ear and even a small chunk missing from his tale. As well as a scratch on the left of his muzzle and maybe even a couple of cracked ribs. All of this didn't give the pups much hope.

"How does it look?" Dodger asked, legs starting to shake from supporting his own body weight. Both the pups were reluctant to answer. "Um... It doesn't look too bad," Scamp lied unconvincingly. "Well it feels worse than that." Dodger tried to laugh it off but ended up coughing violently. "You need help. Isn't there anyone?" Collette asked desperately. Dodger closed his eyes and tried to think. "Uh... OK, OK, I've got somewhere in mind. I don't want to go there but I ain't got any other option," he sighed before coughing again and turned to the pups, "I know a dog who would be able to help. She lives about 6 blocks from here. That's where we need to go."

Dodger took a couple of limps forward (not putting pressure on his right paw) before letting out a yelp of pain. "Can you make it?" Scamp asked. "Ain't got much of a choice. But I need you to help me." Collette and Scamp each went one side of Dodger to balance him out. They took the majority of his weight between them. Dodger's head began to spin and a painful drumming sound started to echo inside his mind as they headed off slowly and unsteadily towards their new destination.