Chapter 34

Retracing

"Why are we going this way...you said Calico's main facility was the other way!"

Bolt walked along beside Mittens, who offered up no answer. Bolt sighed, getting frustrated quickly. This was not what he had expected. Everything had gone so well, so far...why was she leading him astray now?

Since the incident, and Mittens' promise at Bolivia, things had been okay for Bolt...considering the loneliness which now clawed at his heart every day. Mittens had told Bolt that Calico had his company's headquarters were located near a huge human city called Los Angeles, which Bolt had heard of, but otherwise had no knowledge of. Mittens had said that it was back in the States, along the south-west coast of the country, and that she would show him where it was. Since then, for the past day, they had variously travelled, using Bolt's vast reserves of powers, and human vehicles, back up through Mexico, and eventually back in the States, where Mittens had promptly thrown them off course, sending them off to the east, instead of north-west, as Bolt had expected. Initially, Bolt had not noticed. Every hour he spent travelling with the odd cat was another hour he spent without Penny...and it tore him apart.

The loneliness Bolt felt was agonising, and even Mittens could not stem the feeling of absolute solitude he felt in the absence of his person, and lifelong companion. It left Bolt in a state of dull depression. Even though he was determined to find Calico, and get Penny back, the time he spent alone, wandering the land, continued to tear at his frayed emotions. It left him distracted and moody, as his mind constantly forced him to re-live memories of times past, when he and Penny were completely unaware of the plot unravelling right in front of them. Because of this brooding depression, he had wandered with Mittens in sad silence for almost the entirety of the trip, and it had taken him until now to notice that Mittens was leading him in the wrong direction.

And now, his depression leaving him irritable, he quickly cut Mittens off, forcing her to stop. "Mittens, why are we going this way? I just saw a road sign saying Los Angeles is in the other direction...what's going on?"

Mittens stopped, looking up at Bolt. She sighed when she saw that it had come to the point where either she answered, or Bolt's moody nature caused him to break and start getting really angry, really quickly. "Look at yourself, Bolt. You're depressed. Don't bother arguing, pooch, you can't hide it. At the rate you're going, you won't even make it to LA without killing yourself in your depression."

Bolt growled at her in warning. "Don't avoid the question, cat. I still don't quite trust you, yet, now answer the - " He stopped when he got a better look at their surroundings, and realised that they were strangely familiar. "Wait...where are we?" He looked at Mittens accusingly, but she only grinned mischievously. This, it seemed, was exactly the reaction she had been looking for.

"Come on, dog, use your head!" she said playfully. "Think! Look around...you tell me where we are."

Bolt growled again, in no mood for these silly games...but Bolt decided to appease her. He knew he was never going to find Calico without her help, and if he wanted her help, he knew he was going to have to do things her way. Grumbling, he slowly looked around, taking in his surroundings more carefully. His mind slowly gained more of that awful sense of familiarity as he saw a long small road, with a row of shops and houses along it. On the opposite side of the road, where he and Mittens were, Bolt noticed a long park strip, that ran alongside the road as far as Bolt could see, trees and benches scattered along the strip of grass. And beyond that, Bolt saw the white, sandy beach, and finally the ocean, with the back-and-forth waves which always seemed to have that strange calming effect on him...

And as Bolt watched the waves, his mind finally put all the pieces together. "Wait a second, this is..." he looked at Mittens' whose grin only widened when she saw the recognition in Bolt's eyes. "This is Pentland Beach!"

"Hooray!" Mittens cried sarcastically. "Took you long enough, pooch. Okay, now for something a little trickier: Do you think you can figure out why I brought you here?"

Bolt looked at her, trying to scare her into stopping these stupid games with a nasty glare, and possibly the threat of a Heat-Vision blast. But Mittens just ignored him, forcing him to play. Sighing, he tried to think of why the cat would possibly bring him here. "This...this was the place where you first showed yourself...where you first attacked me!"

Mittens sighed. "Sheesh, you are a pessimist, aren't you? You always remember the terrible stuff. No, that's not why I brought you here. Try and think of something else, something...happier."

Bolt dicked back into his thoughts, this time running through his memory of when he had last come through here. It hit him fast, and hard. "Mindy..."

Mittens cut him off. "If you mean the German Shepherd you dated while you were here, then yes, that's who I brought you here to see."

Bolt stopped, confused. "What? 'Dated'?"

Mittens jaw dropped. "You're joking right?"

"What?"

"You mean..." Mittens looked at Bolt incredulously. "...you have no idea what dating is?"

"No!" Bolt didn't understand. What is Mittens on about?

Mittens just stared a Bolt for a few more moments, slack-jawed. Then she burst out laughing, rolling in the grass in mirth, completely unable to contain herself. "I tried to poke fun at you...and you have no idea what I was on about!" Her laughter grew louder.

"Would you calm down and please tell me what in the world you're on about...please!" Bolt was growing more confused by the second, and he did not like it. It took time, but eventually Mittens calmed down, stifling her laughter, although she continued to break out into occasional fits of giggles.

"Sorry, pooch...but you have no idea how funny that was. But never mind, I'll explain it to you later. Now, where's this Mindy character hiding?"

Bolt physically winced at the last memory he had of Mindy. "You hurt her, remember? Pretty badly, too! I had to leave her, but she said she had to go to the vet to get her leg checked out. That would be the best place to start." His voice was hard...he had completely forgotten about Mindy's involvement in the incident in the alleyway, and now that he had remembered, he was feeling particularly sour towards Mittens. Mindy was the only other animal Bolt could really consider anything close to a friend...and Mittens had nearly killed her! "Come on," he finally said roughly, heading off down the street, looking for the local vet.

"Bolt," Mittens said slowly, carefully. She was obviously trying to avoid sending him into a rage.

"What?"

"There's another reason I came here, you know. I...I came here to try and..." she struggled for words, looking to Bolt like she was trying to grasp some concept she did not fully understand. "...I wanted to find this Mindy, and apologise...for how I hurt her. I'm seeing now that everything I did was wrong. I know I can't possibly make up for many of the things I've done, but I least want to try."

Bolt did not stop walking...but his sour mood faded slightly. Bolt could not tell for certain, but to him, there was no sign of dishonesty in the way Mittens spoke; she really wanted to make amends for the harm she caused. "Let's just find this vet...then we can worry about your apologies." His mood may have brightened a little, but anger still seethed inside him. He was never happy these days...not without Penny.

"And while I'm on the subject..." It seemed Mittens wasn't done. "...I want to apologise to you, Bolt. I tried to hurt you...hell, I even tried to kill you. But now I see that I was wrong...and I'm sorry. I really am."

Bolt now could not help but feel mild admiration towards the cat who had only just a couple of days ago been one of his most hated enemies. Bolt knew, from experience, that it took guts to apologise to someone, especially when the matter was as serious as this. It took serious courage to admit you were wrong when the matter was about life and death. He said nothing, but inside, he started to like Mittens a little more.

But as Bolt looked around the beach-side town, he could find no trace of a vet, or Mindy, anywhere. His hopes of finding her had just started to fade when Mittens stopped. "Hey, isn't that the little psycho-dog that hangs around with the Shepherd all the time?"

Bolt stopped, looking at Mittens, and then following her raised paw. She was pointing down an alleyway, where Bolt saw a small Jack Russell Terrier climbing through an overflowing dumpster, obviously looking for a meal. It took Bolt a few moments to work out what Mittens meant...Zippy! Bolt's heart leapt at the sight of the hyper-active little dog. He may be annoying, but Bolt knew that he would know where Mindy was. He immediately ran towards the little dog, leaving Mittens in his wake, to catch up. "Hey, hey Zippy!"

Zippy turned upon hearing his name, poking his head out of the dumpster and looking around wildly. When he saw Bolt, he stopped, recognising him instantly. "Bolt! Hey, there, you're back!" He instantly jumped from the dumpster and sprinted towards Bolt, the two of them finally stopping just feet from each other. "Didn't think I'd ever see you back here again!"

"I didn't think I'd ever be coming back," Bolt replied, giving a knowing look at Mittens as she caught up, coming up beside him.

Zippy instantly changed, growling at Mittens on sight. "What do you want, cat?!" he barked forcefully. "Get outta here!"

Bolt couldn't help but give a small, half-hearted laugh at the situation. "Easy, Zip...the cat's with me."

Zippy looked at Bolt, as if he was trying to determine if he was sick. "You sure about that, Bolt? You can never trust a cat." He threw a dirty look at Mittens, who hissed in return, seemingly ready to pounce.

Bolt looked from one to the other, before stepping in. "Take it easy, you two! Zip, I came here to see Min - " He stopped himself when he remembered that no-one but him knew the German Shepherd by her proper name. "Uh, I mean, Mud. You know where she is, Zippy?"

Zippy proceeded to simply ignore Mittens as he talked to Bolt, although he did throw her the occasional suspicious look. "As far as I know, she's still in the vet. I haven't heard anything from anyone about her. And trust me, Bolt, I've asked. I don't know what happened to her, but whatever it is, it can't be good. Bolt, you reckon you could help me find out what..."

But Bolt was no longer listening. He had noticed movement in the alleyway ahead of him, behind Zippy. Looking over Zippy's shoulder, he saw two men talking animatedly to each other, apparently arguing. They were cloaked in shadow, and were wearing balaclavas over their heads, but something seemed vaguely familiar about them to Bolt...he just could not quite pin it down.

Finally, Mittens shove brought him back to focus. "Hey, Wags, you awake?"

Bolt shook his head, looking at his two companions to notice that both were staring at him expectantly. "Yeah, I'm fine. There's just something about those two me over there that..." He stopped, his eyes bulging in horror as he pieced it together. He looked back, checking to make sure he had not made a mistake. But his worst fears were confirmed...those masked men were wearing Calico-issue body armour.

Those were Calico's men! And as Bolt looked, he noticed that they were now staring right at him, hands going for their weapons. Calico's men had found him...and they were here to kill him!

"MOVE!" he roared, actually grabbing Zippy and hurling him aside, moving himself just as the two men grabbed their pistols and fired, bullet impacts kicking up small plumes of dirt all around Bolt as he dived behind the nearest bin, using it for cover.

"Damn it!" Bolt muttered to himself. "How'd they find me?" It did not make sense, Calico had everything he could want: Penny, and the Father. And after the explosion at Bolivia, Calico must have assumed that he had been killed in the blast. So why were his men still chasing him?

Bolt simply cast the question aside as he heard bullet pinging off the flimsy bin, some going clean through it, bullet holes snapping into existence all around him. With Mittens and Zippy still out in the open, he knew he had to do something, and fast. In the end, he could come to only one conclusion...and hated it. He was going to get himself killed! But in the end, he knew there was no other way, so he gathered his courage, took a deep breath...and ran.

Pouring his power into his legs, Bolt dived out from behind the bin and charged the two thugs intent on killing him. Despite his speed, they saw him and tried to shoot him, but Bolt was too fast, they simply could not aim accurately at something going that fast. Within seconds Bolt had reached them...and he showed no mercy. The first thug suffered Bolt hind legs to his chest. The kick blasted him off his feet, where he collided with a brick wall head-first, breaking his neck and sending him crashing to the ground, dead.

Bolt used his momentum from kicking off the first thug to launch himself into the air, driving his body straight into the second man, who tried to get one last shot off, the gun sounding like a cannon as it went off right next to Bolt's face. But the shot flew wild, and Bolt landed heavily on the man, shoving him forcefully to the ground, the gun snapping from his grip as he yelled out. But before the man could do anything more, Bolt's jaws snapped down on his neck, and the man fell silent...the assassination attempt foiled, once again.

Sputtering, trying in vain to get the foul taste of blood out of his mouth, Bolt made his way back towards the alley entrance, looking for Zippy and Mittens. When he was able to see the park where he and the others had been standing when all hell broke loose, he blanched, horrified. Mittens was there, almost in exactly the same place Bolt had last seen her, seemingly recovering from the shock of the moment. But what had Bolt so horror-struck was Zippy. He just lay there, in the exact spot he had thrown him before...he was not moving. Bolt turned to Mittens, who was looking at him, the same picture of horror on her face. "Mittens, is Zippy okay?"

He got no response. Mittens just continued to sit there, staring at her. Then: "Bolt..."

"Mittens, don't argue! If Zippy's hurt he'll need help now! Now is he okay or not?"

But Mittens was still focused on Bolt. "Bolt...your leg..."

It was there that Bolt realised that Mittens' look of horror was because of what she saw on Bolt, not Zippy. It was also then, as the adrenaline rush from the near-death fight began to subside, that Bolt felt, with shocking suddenness, an agonising, burning pain in his left hind leg. Yelping and whining with the sudden pain, Bolt slowly looked down at his hurting leg. His eyes went wide. "Oh, no..."

The dirt-ridden leg had now turned a dark, slick shade of red, absolutely covered in blood. The source was a small hole in his leg, just below the hip. Bolt nearly fell into shock as the realisation hit him: He had been shot! And then the next after-effect of the wound began to show itself...as Bolt started to feel weak and dizzy, the blood loss already beginning to take its toll.

"No...no...not like this..." Bolt tried to move, but the pain in his leg was excruciating. With a feeble whimper, he collapsed to the ground, his vision beginning to fade at the edges, his body starting to feel terribly cold as he start to shake uncontrollably. To Bolt, the message his body was sending him was obvious...he was dying!

Dimly, he registered Mittens coming up beside him. But he was already starting to slip in and out of consciousness, and as such did not hear whatever it was she was trying to tell him.

"No...I can't..." The last thing Bolt saw before his vision faded completely was a large, blurred shadow...a figure, a human of some sort approaching him. As Bolt, at long last, fell from consciousness, knowing he would never return to the waking world, only one final thought, one last word, escaped him.

"Penny..."