III Chapter 24: The Truth
A/N: This chapter utilizes extreme amounts of profanity! You have been warned.
Alex was forced to attend to his "enemy". Amos told him to patch up Jake, while he conversed with Dale, Jake's father, inside.
The two boys were sitting at a picnic table in the backyard.
Alex recollected what the officer said to him. I know the facility, I volunteered there sophomore year. It's the same pound that Buster was at, but it's connected to a shelter and veterinary clinic. Since it's basically the only 'pound" in the city, the place is massive. It's in Pittsburgh though-
"Hey dickwad! You gonna bandage me up, or keep staring at me like that?"
Right, I forgot I had to attend to this douchebag. Lovely.
Alex got out the gauze and started wiping the blood off Jake's arm with some wipes. "So, Scoot did this to you, huh? What did you do to him?"
" I didn't do nothin, jerk! Your piece of shit dog just came up to me and bit me!"
Alex continued wiping the blood off. Jake was still bleeding pretty heavily.
Tod was standing near the entrance to the forest. Copper ran to him. He told Tod about what happened, and the lie.
Tod stared at the ground in defeat. But anger was overcoming him.
"I know, Tod. It's hard... But there is nothing we can do!"
Tod growled. "There is something we can do! We are going to show Scoot's owner that the punk is a lying prick! Come on!" Tod walked toward the two boys.
Copper stood still. "You seem pretty upset."
The fox laughed. "Ha! Upset?! I'm pissed!"
Alex finished up bandaging Jake. "There you are! Good as new!"
The other boy scoffed, and got on his feet. Until he saw Tod. "Sh- sh- shoot that fox!"
Alex giggled. "Oh, that's Tod. I don't think he's able to comprehend that you are the reason his son's getting killed!"
"What?!"
Copper glanced at Tod. "Maybe we should pull his pants leg up? Cap said he didn't bite him."
Jake backed away from the fox who was walking toward him. He tried to turn and run, but all of a sudden, the fox was pulling on the bottom of his jeans.
"Get off me, you stupid fox!" He kicked Tod off of him.
Alex noticed something. Jake's leg had no marks! "Wait, didn't you say that Cap bit you on the leg?"
Jake was furious. "What the hell are you talking about Slade!?"
The lightbulb went off in Alex's head. Heheheh. You are human garbage, Jake! What else did you lie about? He grabbed Jake's arm and pulled off the cloth, the bleeding stopped.
Jake screamed, which caused Amos, Dale, and Liam to come outside. Amos saw something, that made him walk back inside to grab a shotgun.
What Alex saw not only made him disappointed in humanity, but made him really want to assault Jake. "These aren't bite marks! These are knife wounds!" He threw Jake on the ground.
Dale was frozen.
Alex continued. "My dog never bit you! Cap never bit you! It was all a lie!"
Jake was now shaking in fear.
"Why?" Alex inquired. "Why would you want my dog to be put down?"
Now Jake's fear went straight into anger. "Because, your dumbass dog would not shut the hell up! You know how bad it is, having your veteran father yelling at you, because the damn dog reminds him of war? Not to mention, that dog was shit to begin with! Because he had a shitty owner... YOU!"
Alex fought back the tears. No, it wasn't sadness he was feeling. It was rage! He picked Jake up by the collar of his shirt and forced him to his feet. He was really going to make him pay.
"Fuck you!" Alex screamed, as he punched Jake square in the face, knocking him out cold.
Dale was fuming. "I will have you arrested for assault! I'm not going to let you get-"
Alex grabbed Dale's arm, and twisted it behind his back. The man was sweating bullets.
Alex whispered in his ear. "You killed my fucking dog. You call the cops, I'll make sure you have more to worry about than dogs barking." He shoved Dale against the house. "For a Vietnam Vet, you sure act like a pussy."
Liam was surprised. But deep down, he was impressed. His son was fighting back for something he believed in.
All eyes turned to the door, when Amos appeared, with his shotgun cocked. "What did I tell you about coming back here, rodent?"
Alex turned to where his gun was pointing. It was the fox. No, without Tod, I wouldn't have found out the truth.
The fox froze in fear. Amos put his finger on the trigger, when he felt his shotgun lower. "What are you doing, Alex?"
"I'm not letting you kill Tod!" The teen declared. "He latched onto Jake's clothes where I could see there were no bites."
Amos stared at Alex in disbelief. "You're defending the damn thing again?"
Alex sighed. "The poor thing doesn't know that they took his son too. Let him be."
Dale picked Jake up, and carried him home. Liam went inside. Amos gave up on trying to kill Tod, and went home.
Buster appeared out of the blue, and ran towards Tod, who was walking back to the forest. The fox didn't notice the hound. The boy wasn't having it.
Alex grabbed Buster by the snout and held his mouth shut. "If I ever see you hurting one of those foxes, I'm really going to punish you, you stupid mutt!"
Alex released Buster, which caused him to run back home.
Alex walked toward Tod, who was watching. He sat down next to the fox. Copper collapsed into Alex's lap. The three of them sat there, for what seemed like an eternity.
"You know what I'm gonna do, guys?" Alex stated. "I'm gonna get those pups back. Some way, somehow." He caressed Copper's forehead.
Tod seems to want a piece of the pie, so he nudged Alex. Alex understood, and rubbed Tod under the chin.
"It'll be okay Tod, I promise."
The fox decided to lay down against Alex's other side, and closed his eyes.
Liam walked out of his backdoor, and saw his son sleeping against a tree, with the two animals sawing logs in his lap. He hated the fox, but decided that Alex had a rough day, so he let them be.
Alex awoke a couple minutes later, his mind was racing. The pound has a security code that changes with the date. I thought it was a pretty simple math formula, I just gotta remember it.