Chapter 16:-The daring escape

Roxett towered over Dodger, who was still winded from the hit. "Get up!" she yelled to the crumpled form on the floor. "What's the matter mutt?" she asked in a mock worried voice, "I expected more from the legendary Artful Dodger." Dodger shook his head," No more Roxett. I'm done," he panted. "I've got nothing left. You've taken away my pride, my strength, my hope and my friends. Just get it over with and kill me." Dodger lowered his head in defeat.
"No!" Roxett placed her paw on Dodgers bandaged ribcage and applied a little bit of pressure, enough the cause Dodger to scream out in pain, the sound echoing around the room. "You don't get off that easily. I will kill you, eventually. But you're going to suffer first. It was never going to be quick, mutt, not after what you done to me."
"It was me or them, Roxett!" Dodger tried to reason with her through gritted teeth. "Surely you of all people could understand that." She applied slightly more pressure to his rib cage. Dodger screamed again, kicking out with his back legs, but it was useless. "No one messes with us. No one escapes me!" Roxett screeched, lifting her paw from Dodgers chest, tears wetting his eyes.
"Aw, are you crying?" Roxett teased. She turned to her goons circling her. "Look at this everyone. The great Artful Dodger! The self proclaimed king of New York!" she gloated, "crying like a little puppy." All the other dogs laughed as Roxett slowly slinked her way back to Dodger. "Now, where should I start?" she wondered aloud. "Ah. I know." She moved towards Dodgers back leg, slowly getting her teeth around it, ready to clamp down and break bone. Dodger, unable to do anything, gritted his teeth and waited for the pain.
"Fire! Fire!" someone called, voice bouncing off the walls. Roxett and the other dogs all turned round as a panicked dog came running into the room. "Fire right next to th-" His words were cut off by a loud explosion, shaking the whole building. Debris started to fall from the ceiling as the structure creaked and cracked, like someone pulling apart the building. The back of the building stated to fall into the ocean.

After Dodger went into the building, Nancy stayed hidden, counted to one minuet then made her way to the back of the building, sticking to the shadows. She had a close call when a guard almost caught her going down a walkway, just managing to duck behind a stack of lobster crates. Slowly, she made her way toward her destination.
On the outside of the decrepit building, piled up again the wall, there stood a pile of petrol canisters next to a couple of old oxygen tanks. She noticed these from afar when she done her first stake out of the building, now it was time to put her plan into action. She grabbed one of the petrol canisters, unscrewed it, and carried it on its side, poring out in a line as she walked along, some splashing on her paws.
On the other side of the wall (the inside, but the roof collapsed, leaving it exposed to the nights chill) two dogs sat around a burning barrel, just like a stereotypical homeless person, casually chatting to each other. Nancy put the canister down and observed the two dogs, deciding how to distract them. Luckily, one of the dogs got up with a grumble, bid farewell to his friend and walked out the room. "Great," Nancy thought to herself with relief, "one of them I can take down." The dog, some sort of mix only a bit smaller than Nancy, sat looking at the fire as Nancy creeped up behind him with a plank of wood. He didn't expect the hit that that knocked him out cold, tumbling to the floor with a heavy thud. Nancy spat out the wood and apologised to the unconscious dog. At the same time she heard a cry of pain that could have only come from Dodger, it echoed like a ghosts wail throughout the night time air.
She pushed the body onto the dock outside where she left the petrol canister, picked up the canister and continued to pour a line towards the fire, stopping just short of the barrel. Dumping the canister on the floor she ran round the barrel and kicked it over, causing a horrible sound of clashing metal, making the dog she knocked out stir back into consciousness. The flames connected with the end of the petrol line, lighting up immediately. It started to travel down the line like a freight train traveling along a track. Nancy ran up the stairs onto the cat walk that led into the other room. The mafia dog who had been knocked out but regained consciousness looked around with a dazed confutation, the fire catching his eye. He looked at it for a moment as it trailed along the floor like tumbling dominoes, then shifted his view to the oxygen and gas canisters leaning up against the wall. His eyes widened with the realisation of what was happening. He scrambled to his feat and took of on a wonky, unstable run into the other room.
Nancy had crept along the catwalk undetected, looking down at Dodger, with Roxett lording over him, gloating to the dogs circled around them. Nancy silently padded down onto the ground floor and ducked behind a conveyor belt close to the circle of dogs. Peaking out from the side she saw Roxett leaning into Dodger, about to bite his leg, but before Nancy could react a dog came into the room screaming and yelling. "Fire! Fire! Fire right next to th-"
The explosion shook the whole building. Everyone looked around in panic as rubble and dust fell from the sky like snow, confused shouts echoed over each over as dogs scrambled in different directions in panic to get out of the falling building. Nancy took this opportunity, jumping on the conveyor belt and running along it, before jumping off into Roxett, tackling the big Doberman in the side and knocking her into a machine, hard enough to leave a dent in the panel.
"You took your time!" Dodger yelled over the noise, still curled up on the floor. "Can you move?" Nancy asked him. "I can't even stand," Dodger wheezed in pain. Nancy looked around, she noticed that the fire had started to spread into this room now, gaining more violent, growing almost. Then she saw a dust sheet on a old machine. She pulled it off, "here, get on." Dodger shuffled onto the sheet as fast as he could. Suddenly Nancy felt a bite sink into her left shoulder as she was thrown to the side by Roxett like a rag doll. She turned to Dodger, blood and foam drooling from her mouth, a crazed look in her eye where the reflection of the fire danced in them.
"Roxett. Get out of here. Save yourself," Dodger pleaded with her. But there was no response apart from growling, a rage built up in her so big that nothing could reason with it. She ran at Dodger, who curled himself into a ball. Just before she reached him, Tramp dashed from out the fog, jumped over Dodger, and met Roxett in a head on tackle, tucking his head underneath hers, and lifting up on contact. Roxett launched up into the air before crashing down on her back.
The fire had almost filled the whole room now, smoke collecting in the air as Roxett wasted no time in scrabbling to her feat, locking eyes with Tramp. Her lip curled up, exposing her teeth, her ears back and hackles raised, Tramp mirrored her. They paced around in a circle, growling, before Roxett finally charged. They clashed into each over, scratching and biting, fighting tooth and claw as the fire raged around them. Nancy limped over to Dodger, who was helplessly laying on the sheet. "We need to go Dodger!" Nancy yelled over the roar of the fire, picking up the sheet in her teeth and slowly limping of in pain. "What about Tramp! We need to help him."
"How?" Nancy asked. Dodgers eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that could help. The building had almost fully collapsed by now. Finally, he saw something. "Nancy! The net." Nancy looked at the net on the floor and followed Dodgers thought process. She grabbed the net and ran towards Tramp. "Tramp! Watch out!"
Tramp heard Nancy's calls and broke away from Roxett, blood oozing from fresh cuts. Roxett looked round confused, only to see Nancy charging towards her with the net flapping behind her. She tried to strike out and bite Nancy, but was too slow as the net began to ensnare her. Tramp managed to get hold of the other side, him and Nancy pulling the net. Roxett tumbled backwards, trying to struggle free, but only entangling herself tighter. Nancy and Tramp ran round a supporting pillar, that was still somehow standing, tying the net to it.
They ran past Roxett, who was rolling and struggling like a trapped crocodile, and back over to Dodger. The far end of the building had collapsed into the water and was now dragging the front end down with it. "Time to go!" Dodger yelled at them as Tramp took the sheet in his teeth and started to drag it along, Nancy limping behind. The building creaked, cracks started to appear in the floor as water flooded into the room.
"Wait! You can't leave me!" Roxett screamed manically at them. "You've killed me Dodger! My death is on you!" she howled as the pillar her net was tied too fell through a opening crack in the floor. Roxett's body being dragged along with it, into the cold unforgiving sea. Tramp and Nancy dragged along the sheet with all the energy he had left, Nancy limping beside him. The rumble of the building sounded like a menacing roar of some creature about to kill them. Big chunks of debris clattered to the ground, it was only luck that one hadn't fallen onto the three of them.
Nancy could se the exit. "Common guys, were almost there!" she yelled through the sheet in her mouth. They picked up speed, using every last bit of energy they could muster. "Uh, guys. We got a problem here," Dodger yelled from behind. The back part of the building tumbling into the sea was approaching them fast. Split wood and cracked concrete echoed as there undoubtable death approached.

Rita, Scamp and Collette stood at the entrance of the docks as they watched the building plummet into the sea. After Tramp managed to shake their pursuers, he caught up with them, That was when they heard the explosion shake the whole dock. He told them to wait at the entrance while he helped Dodger and Nancy, before giving his children a comforting smile and saying, "I'll be right back," before running into the collapsing building.
As they saw the building crumbling and sinking into the sea, with nothing but a pile of rubble left of it, they all looked on with fear and horror. Scamp sniffled, trying to fight back tears that were watering in his eyes. "are-are they alright?" Collette whispered as she pressed herself up against Rita's leg. Struggling to find words, Rita mouth just moved up and down, before muttered "I don't know. I just don't know kid." Hypnotised by the flames dancing in the night, Rita's breath quickened, a crunching pain in her chest made it hard to stand, her legs began to shake. "Not again," she mutter in a shaky voice. "Please not again..."
The smoke climbed higher into the dark sky as they started to lose hope. Scamp sunk to the ground, openly crying now, Collette coming over to support him, also with wet eyes. "Hey... Look," Collette gasped. In front of the flames they saw a lump of dark silhouettes strikingly dark among the orange, red's and yellows in the background. The pressure in Rita's chest deflated, the pups raised with hope. They ran to the figures as they got closer, Scamp and Collette running right into the warmth of their father and Rita running over to Dodger, curled up on the sheet, everyone's tail wagging with more joy than any of them have felt before.
Nancy let go of the sheet as she collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, Rita was by her side in an instant, followed by Tramp. "Hey, sister, you ok?" Rita asked with concern as she sniffed over Nancy, noticing her coat was covered in concrete dust mixed in with blood from the bite mark on her shoulder, and stank of smoke (as they all did). Nancy nodded, "yeah, I'm good," she strained as she spoke, "just a scratch."
"You did good," Tramp smiled down at her. "Yeah, she did," Dodger said as he dragged himself along the floor to be next to her. "Could have been a bit faster," he laughed, turning into a painful wheeze. "I'll keep that in mind for next time," she chuckled, embracing Dodger. "Oh god, don't let there be a next time," Rita sighed. They all laughed, the pups only just prying themselves of Tramp, who was also covered in a couple of scratch marks, ash and dust coated into his fur. They walked up to Nancy and rubbed up against her, then did the same to Rita. "What do we do now?" Collette wondered aloud. "Do you think you can make it back to yours Nancy?" Dodger asked. She nodded, Rita helping her up. "You can go on the sheet? I'll pull the sheet," Tramp offered. Nancy accepted, "move over scruff ball," she shot at Dodger as she settled down next to him. Tramp took the sheet in his mouth, Rita picked up the other end and with a nod, they set off to Nancy's.