Everything was quiet for the rest of the morning. There were barely any test that was done and the scientist were taking the insane Louie out for a while. They wanted to see how well he would do in the wild. I didn't agree to that at all. Lila and I were just sleeping the day away so that we could make our escape this time. Hopefully she will help me be free like I used to be. Several more years in this dump and I will pull my ears out!
Suddenly, I heard the sound of banging and scratching. I tossed and turned in my sleep, I was having another dream. I finally opened my eyes a little bit as everything was coming back to me. My vision was clearing up as I opened my jaws in a yawn. I was so tired that I wanted to sleep in a bit more but the noise was too much. I got up slowly and shook off. I was finally able to tell who woke me up. It was Lila! She was scratching and banging on her cage to wake me up. I looked up at the clock in the room that we were in and then I turned to her.
"Did you have to wake me up?" I asked, I was so tired from all of the testing from yesterday. I wanted a rest from the world at this point.
"Yes! You agreed to us escaping!" Lila purred.
"Do you have a plan to get us out of these cages?" I tilted my head to one side, looking at her. I was annoyed that she woke me up and I was excited at the same time. I wanted to leave this place and that's what we are going do.
"Well, I can pick locks. I've been doing that since I lived with the humans. I'm more of a wild Louie though." Lila replied as she picked at the lock on her cage. I watched and she was able to open up her cage as the lock fell on the floor. I flinched, I didn't want her to get caught. She finally leaped out of her cage and came over to mines. She picked at the two locks and she was able to set me free. I walked out of my cage and stood there, looking at the entire room. I then looked up at the clock on the wall afar from the table that we were standing on.
"Follow me, Dante. I can get us out of here." Lila winked, this made me uncertain that she would get us both out of here.
"Are you sure that you know the way out of this huge laboratory?" I turned and asked her, a concerned tone was in my voice.
"Yes, I know the way red eyes!" Lila teased me, she walked passed me and looked back at me. She was saying, "Follow me". I nodded slowly and swallowed. I then followed her slowly and carefully walked around in the lab. I was able to help Lila push open the doors to the other part of the building.
"Lila, this place is big, are you sure that we are not lost?" I asked as my heart was pounding fast. I didn't want those humans putting me back in the cage. I hated shots and needles. They hurt like hell and I'm very tender to that stuff!
"We are not lost, we barely left the room." Lila grinned at me. I swallowed again and followed her down the halls of the lab. She looked back at me from time to time, she wanted to check on me and I told her that I was alright. Once we were halfway to the next room, I heard footsteps. My ears perked up and I whispered to Lila.
"We've got to hide! Quickly!" I ran behind a huge metal object. My white fur was easy to see in the dark but Lila could hide very well from them. She followed me and we both crouched down, our paws tucked into our fur. My heart was pounding fast again, I was scared of being struck by another shot. The man walking down the hall was wearing a black coat, he looked like he was inspecting the place for something. Hopefully, he wasn't looking for me. I turned to Lila, she had her eyes closed as if she was saying: "There is nothing that you need to worry about, we'll be fine."
I rolled my eyes, by the time the man was gone, we both slowly rose up and slowly padded from behind the huge metal object. I led the way this time and Lila was behind me. She sneezed a little bit and I froze, hoping that she didn't distract anyone. I didn't hear anymore footsteps as we continued our way to the next door to the right. Lila opened the door and I followed her.
"Ah ha! I can smell the fresh air from here!" She shouted out loud.
"Shhh! I can smell it too! Keep your voice down, Lila. You have to remember, we are here for a reason and we want a reason to escape!" I whispered to her, Lila rolled her eyes and was trying to leap into something.
"Hey! Give me a boost, will ya?" She was trying to open another small door that led into the body burner. It was small place where dead Louies were burned.
"Alright, hold on!" I walked over to her and boosted her up to the door. She managed to climb in the burner and slide down in it. I crouched down and leaped in after her, the door behind me made a loud banging sound. When I was in the burner, I saw the head of a dead Louie. I freaked out and ran in circles, Lila watched me until she slammed her paw on my tail.
"Chiiiiiiiourp!" I yelped.
"Now who is the loud one?" She laughed at me.
"It's not funny! That hurt! You slammed your right paw on my tail!" I growled at her.
"Dante, there is no time to waste, remember? Let's get out of here! Albino's first." She snickered. I gave her a look. Who was she calling: "Albino?"
I leaped up to the other small door that led to the outside world. My body was halfway out, but I was stuck. I needed some assistance.
"Help me, Lila! I'm stuck!" I shouted out loud to her. Suddenly, I heard a car pull up to the lab. I was trying so hard to get out.
"What have you been eating?" Lila grunted as she was pushing me with all of her might. I was helping her out by trying to get myself out of the door and outside of the burner. The man turned off his truck as I watched him for one second before trying to get out of the burner room that we were in.
"Come on! Hurry!" I shouted to her, I was really trying to get outside and run away for good.
The man walked into the lab, he turned on the lights and dragged in a dead blue colored Louie. He tossed the lifeless Louie into the burner with us and he began looking at the controls.
"Let's put him on fire. I'm sure he will die a happy death." The man chuckled. He turned the knob to "ON" and was about to push the red button when his phone rang.
"I hear music!" Lila's ears perked up.
"That's a man! He's got a thing called a phone call!" I called back to her.
"Oh! Well hurry up! I don't want to be in here with two dead Louies!" Lila begged me to hurry but she wasn't putting her back into pushing me out hard and fast enough.
"Hello?" I could hear the man say from outside of the burner, half of my body was free. I was still trying to get out as fast as I could. Being stuck was really shitty and I wanted to get out so bad.
The man was finishing up his conversation and began to push the red button. Lila, who knew that the man was going to burn us up, bit my tail so hard that I was forced out of the burner as she leaped out after me.
"Chhhiiiiiiioeeeeeeerp!" I yelped when she bit me. I looked at her with a stern look in my eyes. I growled at her.
"You bit me! You fucking bit me!" I grumbled at her, I wanted to attack her so bad at this point, but since she was a female, I didn't bother doing anything to her.
"Well he was going to burn us up! Did you want to go down in flames? And look! We made it outside, are you happy now?" Lila fought back.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to snap at you, I just don't like it when others bite my tail! It hurts!" I replied.
"Listen, can I come with you, Dante?" Lila asked me. I looked at her and thought about it for a while before making my decision. If she comes with me, will she slow me down? What if she doesn't like me? What if I get her killed? I can't do it, but my heart is wanting me to say yes. I finally made my decision.
"Well... Fine. Alright, you can come. Just don't slow me down." I looked back at Lila.
"Yay! We are going to a new world!" Lila leaped up and down.
"Yeah, don't get too excited. We are on the run now and they will be having dogs chase after us." I warned her. She didn't seem to worry about what I was saying. She was braver than I am. Me? I'm a shy guy but with her around, I can't be that way now. I have to be strong and fight through this tough journey ahead.
The man who was inspecting the place met the other man in a gray shirt who burned the two dead Louies in the burner that we escaped from. He talked with him for hours about the place and he graded it.
"This place has a lot of work put into it. But there is an issue. Dead Louies. Why are they dead?" The man in the black coat asked. Even I would ask the same thing, but what did I know, I was already on the loose.
"Well, you see, we tried to help them live and give them surgery." The man lied.
"Hmmm... Okay. Well, please do me a favor and bury these bodies. This place is going to be shut down if I see one more dead Louie in this laboratory." The man in the black coat put his sunglasses on and left the big lab.
In the forest...
Lila and I were running to get far away from the lab as we knew that the dogs will soon be coming for us. We had no time to lose and we only had this one chance of escaping. My heart was pounding, the memories of the dogs chasing me before I was first caught and placed in a cage was too much for me to handle. I sped up the pace and Lila was right behind me. I was not going back! No way!
"So, Dante, where will we live?" Lila asked me. I could answer her question quickly.
"I don't know. There is no time to think about that. We must run and one day we will find a home." I quickly replied as I leaped over a rock and Lila did the same. Side by side we ran together now. When daylight started to come, we stopped running and began to walk.
"You know, we need a place to rest..." Lila panted. I was tired from running all night as well. There was no way I could continue on like this. I looked up at the sun, it was really bright as it rose up from the horizon ahead.
"We will get there, but yes. Let's rest." I answered. We both rested in the warm grass. Once the sun was up, we started moving again. I could hear the water flowing in the distance, we were near a river and food.
I sniffed the ground and lifted my head up and I opened my jaws a bit to get a taste of the prey that I could smell. The food that I've wanted to eat for a long time is here and it's near the river. Birds.
I quickened my pace as Lila followed me.
"You smell food?" She read my mind like a book. I smiled a little and spoke up.
"Yes, I smell breakfast. And it's near the river." I turned back to the sight of the river, there was a bunch of wild birds over there. I got closer and crouched down, I kept my paws tucked in as Lila copied me. I cannot believe she's never hunted before! Was she really a Louie that was born here in the wild? I shook the thought of it out of my mind as I prepared to leap on one of the bigger birds.
When I was ready, I leaped at a bird and caught it's neck in my jaws. I tightened my grip on the bird and choked it to death with my small sharp teeth. The bird stopped squirming and it went limp within seconds. I dragged the kill over to Lila, I wanted her to get a share of my perfect catch.
"Do you wanna bite, Lila?" I asked her, I started to rip meat from the bird's back.
"I guess I have no choice, right? I have to eat something." She muttered as she rolled her eyes. We both chomped down on the meat and ripped up the bird, piece by piece. I slurped up the extra meat that was hanging outside of the bird's neck and swallowed it. Lila was really starting to enjoy the meat, she looked at me and giggled when she saw the way I was eating. My ears perked up as I turned to her.
"What is so funny?" I asked.
"You! You are tearing up more of this bird than I am right now!" She laughed while pointing out the facts.
"I was hungry. Did you want me to leave you the back of the bird, there is still a lot more of it left." I pushed the huge bird to her.
"Nah, I'm full. I don't have a huge belly like you do." She pushed the huge bird back at me. I shrugged and finished up the rest of the bird, I tore at the meat and swallowed the rest of it fast.
"You are such a good hunter. Can you teach me how to hunt once we get up that hillside?" Lila asked me, her eyes were sparkling.
I swallowed as I replied to her.
"Of course, once we get up the hillside and far away from danger, I will teach you how to hunt." I nodded and continued to eat the rest of the bird. Once the bones only remained, I kicked dirt on the bones to hide our scent.
"What are you doing, Dante?" She watched me kick the dirt on the bones.
"I'm covering up our scent. We cannot have any dogs smell us here. If we get caught, it's back to the lab with us." I reminded her again. Lila turned towards the lake.
"Are we going across the lake?" She was asking me a bunch of questions lately. I looked at her and smiled.
"Yes, we are swimming across the lake. Come on, follow me." I beckoned her to follow me but Lila didn't move.
"Well, I don't know..." Lila whimpered.
"I thought you wanted to travel by my side? After all you saved me from being stuck in that lab!" I called out to her.
"I do. But..." Lila started to speak, she looked down at the water.
"Don't tell me that your tailless self cannot swim!" I laughed.
"I CAN SWIM!" She shouted at me. I stopped laughing and spoke up again.
"Then get your happy booty in!" I chirped to her. Lila swallowed hard and looked down in the water and then she looked at me.
"Fine..." She growled at me. I swam up to her and grabbed her as I pulled her into the water. She quickly gasped from air as her head popped up from under the water, she gave me an angry glare.
"What? You said, fine." I giggled at her. She splashed me with water as I kicked water back at her.
"Come on! Stop wasting time, you said that we had to go, right?" She looked at me.
"Yes, I did say that we have to go." I smiled and swam across the river. The water flowing nicely as I made it across, I helped Lila out of the water as we looked up at the hillside. I smelled more food. But I was too full from the bird that I ate. I wasn't about to hunt again.
"Oh boy, that was a tough swim." Lila panted, she looked back and saw something coming from afar.
"What is it, Lila?" I turned to her.
"Is that the dogs?" She perked her ears up and looked at the tiny things coming towards the lake.
"Oh no!" I gasped, I ran off as Lila ran after me.
"What will we do, Dante?" Lila looked at me, I can tell that fear was in her eyes and in her heart.
"We must keep going! We cannot let those hunters follow us any further! We must escape!" I turned and said to her as I ran. Looked ahead again and Lila quickly followed after me. I dashed towards a tree and climbed up on it. Lila had stronger claws than I did as she was able to climb up after me and move right passed me. I struggled to get on the branch as Lila helped me up.
"Thank you, Lila. I thought I would be dead." I panted. I heard the sound of the men shouting and talking. Their dogs were with them as I looked down, I couldn't believe that they caught up to us that quick.
"What are we going to do?" Lila whispered to me. She was too scared to think about anything that would help us stay out of sight.
"Well... We should wait up here. The dogs cannot see through the leaves that well. Besides, they would have to cut this tree down to get us out." I replied while looking down at the dogs.
"They must be dumb if they think that they can just bark at us." Lila hissed at the dog.
"Lila! No! We don't need to attract their attention!" I put my tail over her mouth. She took a deep breath.
"Okay, then what will we do?" Lila asked me the same question. I rolled my eyes.
"Listen, Lila, do not panic. We will get out of this." I explained.
I hope you're right, Dante." Lila rubbed up against me with her head. She purred and licked the side of my face. I was so surprised by the sudden kiss that she gave me. I started to blush.
"Oh shucks, you didn't have to do that." I chuckled.
"It's for the best."" Lila smiled at me as we watched the dogs bark, once the sun was in the middle of the sky, the men went back to the lab with their dogs.
I climbed down from the tree as Lila landed on top of me.
"Ouch! Watch it!" I grunted, I was able to get Lila off of my back.
"Sorry." She shyly grinned.
"No worries. Just be careful." I told her as I continued to walk ahead, she was behind me the whole way again. Nothing was going to stop us. Even if we have to run through snow, fire and lightning. We will make it out alive.
To be continued...