101 Dalmatians II

XIX - House of Horrors

00000

This was a nightmare.

Patch and his siblings continued to run down the hallway.

They did not dare to turn back.

The sounds they made were horrible enough. They did not want to have to look at them again. Not in the state they were in now.

They feared that their hearts would break and fail.

Their brothers and sisters.

And Precious.

Whatever has been done to them, it changed them.

And now their minds were gone and they seemed bent on tearing Patch, Pepper, Penny, Freckles, Roly, Cadpig and Lucky to bloody shreds.

"What's happened to them?!" Pepper cried. "Why are they attacking us?!"

"I don't know!" Freckles said, fighting to keep from panicking. "Let's just get out of here!"

They ran as fast as their little legs could carry them.

But they could not keep this up. Eventually they would tire themselves out.

Unfortunately for them, whatever cruel experiment has been done to their remaining siblings has also rendered their capacity to wear themselves out. It was as if their energy levels had spiked to massive proportions.

Roly panted and wheezed, trying to maintain his speed. He was running out of steam. His fear rose to desperation as he called out, "Guys! I can't keep up! Help!"

Patch, darted his eyes about, trying to find something to slow his mad siblings down.

I don't want to hurt them…

Seeing his portly brother begin to fall behind, beginning to cry out of sheer terror, Patch solidified his resolve.

Then he saw a bucket and a mop which apparently had been left and forgotten.

...sorry about this guys.

"Pepper! Help Roly!" Patch cried as he began a daring maneuver.

Pepper, knowing at once what was about to happen, doubled back, reached Roly and allowed him to lean on him for support as he quickened their pace.

Patch, very quickly, tipped the bucket with the mop inside over, spilling its contents, effectively blocking the mob of insane pups, and causing them to slip on the stale, soapy contents of the mopping bucket.

They hissed raspily and angrily.

In here!" Penny called, motioning to an open door. "Hurry!"

Patch and his siblings scurried in, made haste to close the door behind them.

Only for their attempt to do so to be waylaid by their mad siblings.

Over a dozen snapping, snarling maws squeezed in, blocking the door from closing.

"Close the door!" Patch cried, pushing with all his might.

"I'm trying!" Freckles exclaimed.

"This feels oddly familiar," Pepper said as he narrowly tried to avoid the snapping teeth attempting to reach around the door.

He kicked out and hit one of them in the mouth, causing a pained cry from the unfortunate pup.

"I'm so sorry about this you guys!" Pepper cried.

After much effort and maneuvering, and improvising with a large filthy towel, Patch and his siblings managed to push the mad pups out and shut the door.

The door was shut but the mad snarling and growling of the remaining 101 was heard from the other side.

Now it sounded like they were trying to bite and claw their way in.

"What just happened?!" Roly cried.

"Whoever took them must've done something to make them go crazy," Penny said, trying to remain calm. "And that weird sound must've set them off. We need to find it and turn it off."

"That might be a problem Penny," Lucky muttered.

"How do you mean Lucky?" Penny asked.

"There's no way out of this room."

Penny turned and she saw that Lucky was right.

The room that they were shut in appeared to be a patient room. The state was even worse than the hallway. It did not take a genius to see that whoever the caretaker was did not very much care for it when the place was still in business.

But what alarmed Penny the most was that there was seemingly no way out, other than the door which was now the only thing keeping their mad siblings out.

It didn't even have windows.

"So we're trapped?" Pepper said.

"Looks like it," Freckles said.

Penny was beside herself. "Did I just trap ourselves?"

"No!" Patch said sharply. "You saved us Penny. We'll find a way out, we just need to make one."

"How?" Roly asked.

Patch opened his mouth but soon realized he had no ideas at the moment. He quickly closed his mouth and furrowed his brow, rubbed his chin with his paw, trying to think.

He might've come up with something already if his thinking wasn't currently disturbed by the reality that his family had just been experimented on and then suddenly driven mad before his very eyes by an unseen enemy.

Including his beloved Precious.

Patch froze in place.

Beloved?!

Patch would not say it out loud but he had not considered very seriously of how much Precious had begun to mean to him.

And seeing what had been done to her disturbed him, almost broke his heart.

His mind was ravaged by fear and grief but also became hot with wrath, wrath against the monster in their midst, the mastermind behind it all.

They did this! Nero and whoever he's answering to! They did this to us! Did this to my family! And Precious! Curse them! Curse them!

"CURSE THEM!"

Patch blinked. He looked about and saw his siblings staring at him, shocked by his sudden and angry outburst.

Penny was aghast. "Patch!"

Patch felt ashamed and humbled. "I'm...I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"No Patch!" Penny exclaimed. "Your ear."

"My ear? What are you-?"

Patch stopped when he felt something warm and sticky run down the right side of his head. He touched it with his paw and when he looked to examine, he saw red, sticky blood.

He gawked at the sight.

And then he felt a sharp stinging pain on the tip of his right ear.

He looked about the room, looking for something, a reflective surface so that he could examine himself more clearly.

He found what he was looking for.

A broken mirror, laid up against the wall.

He ran to it.

"Patch wait!" Penny cried.

"Patch don't!" Pepper shouted.

Patch looked into the mirror and although the glass was in pieces, he could see a light trail of blood on the side of his head and he could also see, following that trail, that a small chunk of his ear was missing.

It looked like someone took a bite out of it.

"How-?"

And then he remembered.

Precious, in her maddened state, lunged at him, mouth wide open.

Pepper pulled him back by the bandana, out of harm's way.

Precious' needle-like teeth snapped shut and it seemed that Patch evaded her bite.

But now it was clear that he did not escape completely unscathed.

Precious' aimed for his face, but got some of his ear instead.

Patch grimaced and gritted his teeth as new pain shot up in his injured ear.

"Ow," he said sharply.

"Are you ok Patch?" Cadpig asked worriedly.

"It's alright," Patch said. "I had worse."

"Oh your poor ear," Penny said, approaching her brother.

"It's ok Penny, like I said, I had worse."

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

That terrible cry snapped the pups out of their shocked stupor.

The sound that followed was heavy scratching and biting on wood.

"They're trying to get in!" Pepper cried.

"We need to find a way out of this room! Fast!" Lucky said.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"The walls!" Freckles shouted. "This place is old! The walls must have weak spots! We can claw our way out!"

"Good idea Freckles," Patch said. "Let's do it."

00000

Pongo, Perdita, Ryder and Thunderbolt looked round the corner of an old building and with growing horror, they saw it.

St. Francis' Mental Institution, an abandoned madhouse. It looked like it had not been in use for some time.

But the smell made it clear that it had been a front for transporting dogs lately, and even though it had been hours later, the smell of the Pongo's puppies were still fresh.

And something else, the foul smell of something that had been rummaging in the sewers and yet, the familiar smell was still there, faint but plain as day.

Perdita was the first to recognize it. "Patch!" She cried. "And Penny! Lucky! My little Caddy! Pepper! And Roly! Freckles too! They're here!"

"Be brave Perdy!" Pongo consoled.

Perdita sobbed bitterly but her sorrow soon turned to wrath. "Whoever did this, I will...I will…"

"Perdy, please!" Pongo exclaimed. "Calm yourself, we need to keep our heads if we're going to save our puppies, and we will."

Perdita was breathing heavily. But then she took a deep, calming breath. "Yes...yes…of course."

"They may already know we're here," Ryder said. "Sneaking in may not be a priority. But just to be on the safe side, Thunder and I will enter through the front. Pongo's, I recommend the back door if you can find it."

Thunderbolt gulped. "Ryder...I don't know…"

Ryder looked pointedly at his brother. "Do you want to save Patch or not?"

Thunderbolt looked stricken. He was shaking.

Perdita shook her head.

Pongo looked sympathetic. "If you're not up for it Mr Thunderbolt, there's no shame in it. This will be dangerous."

Thunderbolt shook his head. "No. No. I can do this. I have to do this."

"Actually," Ryder said. "I think I have a better idea. You're not a fighter Thunder, not like me. But you can bark long and loud. Find a vantage point and keep watch."

Thunderbolt opened his mouth to protest. "But-!"

"No Thunder," Ryder said sternly. "If you can't keep it together, you'll just get in the way. Stay here and bark once if there's trouble. Bark twice if you see the pups. Got it?"

Thunderbolt lowered his head shamefaced. "Yes...I got it."

Ryder nodded. "Good."

The Pongo's watched the unbrotherly display with pity and sadness.

And disgust.

While what Ryder said was true enough, how it was put was most unkind.

But addressing it would have to come later.

Rescuing their puppies comes first.

00000

"Ow!"

"Stop fidgeting Patch!" Penny said, as she continued to clean her brother's wounded ear. "I need to staunch the bleeding, or else it could get infected."

"That hurts!"

"Well if you hold still, it won't hurt as much!"

"Where are we again?" Roly asked.

"We are in the ventilation system," Freckles said.

In their desperation to escape the room they had trapped themselves in to escape their feral siblings, Patch and his siblings had clawed through a weak spot in the ruined walls.

After much digging and climbing through the inner walls of the old, abandoned hospital, the pups had managed to find their way into the air vents.

For a few short minutes, after making good ground, they stopped to catch their breath.

Penny spat out some blood and soot as she continued to tend to Patch's ear.

"Ok, I think I got it," she said.

"What do we do now?" Lucky asked.

"We find whatever is controlling our family and turn it off," Patch said.

"How?" Roly asked. "We don't even know what it is or where it is."

"Shh," Penny said. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Pepper asked.

The pups were silent for a moment, trying to hear what Penny was hearing.

It was faint.

But they could hear it alright.

That high-pitched whine, like that of a dog whistle from Hell.

"It's that sound again," Cadpig exclaimed in distress. "That sound before the others went wild and attacked us."

"Precisely," Patch said grimly. "We need to find the source and turn it off."

"I can find it," Penny said confidently. "I believe it's this way."

Penny strode off and the others followed.

"What about Nero and his dogs?" Lucky said. "Isn't it odd that we haven't seen him or any other dog since coming here?"

The others paused for a moment.

"That's a very good point," Pepper said anxiously. "Why haven't they tried their luck with us already?"

"Maybe to stay out of our family's way," Freckles said. "I mean, they were pretty crazy back there."

"But Nero is definitely here, Roly smelt him here and the scent was fresh, right Roly?" Patch asked.

"Yes. I'm certain of it."

"Then he may be waiting for us," Patch said. "I don't know how many dogs he has at his beck and call, but all the same, we must try and save our family."

"We are so in over our-!"

"Be quiet Freckles!" Penny snapped. "You know talk like that isn't helpful! Now get a grip! One way or another, we are going to save our brothers and sisters!"

"Sorry," Freckles said meekly.

"And Precious," Lucky said.

"What?" Penny said.

"And Precious, we are going to save Precious too, right?"

Patch stared at his brother. "Of course we are. One way or another, we're not leaving this place without her."

Pepper grinned mischievously and much to Patch's embarrassment, he started saying in a sing-song voice, "Patch and Precious, sitting in a-!"

Penny sat on his head, shutting him up. "That's enough out of you."

00000

"Oh Pongo, this place is like a maze. How will we ever find our puppies?"

"They can't be far Perdy. We just need to keep looking, keep smelling them out."

Perdita looked about, smelling the air. Her nose wrinkled at the awful stink of the place. It was difficult for the Pongo's to find anything in this awful place, what with the smell of refuse and chemicals disturbing their smell.

"Pongo, I am frightened," Perdita said. "I am frightened of what must've been done to our puppies since taken to this awful place. How frightened they must be."

"Be brave Perdy. I've no doubt that they are afraid Perdy, but we must stay on. We will save them."

"Aww, how perfectly sad. Has someone lost their little ones?"

The Pongo's looked down a narrow hallway. The voice came from that dark room at the end of it.

"Who's there?!" Pongo demanded. "Show yourself?!"

"Where are our puppies?! Tell us!" Perdita almost screamed.

"In here, with us," The voice jeered. "Come in, come in. Don't be shy."

The Pongo's did not move. They did not recognize this voice. It was dripping with insolence and cruelty. Could this be the Nero whom the mystery dog spoke of? The one Tommy spoke of? The dog that sought revenge against their son?

"Are you Nero?" Pongo called out. "The one who has been troubling our family all this time?"

There was a pause.

"Well well, you're smarter than you look. But how do you know that name? Did my idiot brother mention it? Or was it that loudmouth Tommy? Or…" There was a pause.

And then a menacing growl as though Nero knew something the Pongo's didn't. "...more loose ends."

"Enough!" Perdita shouted. "Tell us where our puppies are now if you don't want me to deal with you as I did your brother!"

There was yet another pause but it dragged on longer than the last.

Perdita suspected that she may have gone too far and her fear for his pups overcame her reason as she bolted towards the open room.

"Perdy! Wait!" Pongo shouted as he ran after her.

Once they came into the room, they found it was pitch black, no light save for what leaked in from the open door.

Until it closed.

"No!" Pongo shouted. "We're trapped!"

"Not quite," Nero said.

Lights were lit and the Rottweiler Nero was seen standing atop a high platform, far outside the Pongo's reach.

The Pongo's gazed upon him and were startled to see that he was missing an eye. And even from the distance, they could see that there were tiny scratch marks on the borders of the empty socket.

The wound looked less than a day fresh.

Nero noticed that they were staring and grimaced.

"Yes, I do have your son to thank…" Nero pointed to where his right eye should've been. "...for this."

The Pongo's gawked. "Patch did that?" Pongo said disbelievingly.

"No," Nero said. "I still had my eye, though it was longer useful to me, but it was the good doctor who finished the job when he saw that I failed. I believe the one who scratched my eye was Lucky I believe."

Perdita gasped sharply. Lucky? Our Lucky?

She'd feel proud if she wasn't so frightened for her children at the moment.

Pongo was equally shocked. But then he remembered their purpose for being here.

"This is your only warning Nero! Let our puppies go and let us leave peacefully or you will regret it!"

Nero smiled. "You can leave at any time, but first you have to go through...them."

"I've heard enough!" Perdita shouted angrily, spittle flying from her teeth. "Where are our puppies?! Where have you hidden them?! Tell me?!"

Nero smiled a sickening smile. "Why look closely my dear, they're right in front of you."

Another set of lights were turned on, beneath the platform Nero stood on.

"Children!" Perdita exclaimed in sharp relief.

There they were, 93 Dalmatian pups all standing in an orderly fashion, standing upright and yet appearing to be asleep.

"Children?" Perdita said.

Pongo knew something was wrong. Something had been done to them. The thought chilled him with fear. But that chill was done away by his great anger.

Pongo snarled. "What did you do to them?"

Nero laughed. "It's not what I have done, it's what the good doctor has done. Don't bother asking me, it's not like I know how he did it."

"Did what?!" Perdita shouted.

She would not get her answer.

An eerie high-pitched whine echoed in the room.

And then the maddened growling began.

00000

Ryder searched one room after another, smelling all the while. He was getting close. He just knew it.

"Where is that miserable Nero hiding?" Ryder said.

For that matter, who is hiding here? Who is behind all this? And just what are they that they'd have the power to have a traitor in Scotland Yard? Whoever it is would have to be considerably wealthy, not just well off, I mean wealthy. And also they'd have to have a certain manner about them that they'd be able to get their hooks into someone, to make them subservient to them. Someone who knows how to be convincing, intimidating even. Not just anyone can shake up a man of Scotland Yard.

Ryder had a lot of time to consider it. He had names, means, opportunity but none of them had the motive to go to the lengths that this mastermind had apparently gone to to take the Pongo's puppies.

The only person he could think of who had the means, motive, and opportunity would be Cruella de Vil and she's a non factor, given that she not too long ago been committed after her mental breakdown upon her greatest defeat and loss.

If not her, then who? She has no living relatives. Or anyone close enough who'd go to the trouble on her account. Most of her associates would prefer as little to do with her as possible.

Something caught Ryder's nostrils.

It assaulted his senses.

Sweat. Hot breath. Pheromones. Blood.

Rage.

Unfettered rage.

And an insatiable desire to rip, tear and kill.

This felt familiar.

Neville. The last time I sensed this kind of savagery was before I killed him.

But this time, this was coming from many others. Dozens. Almost a hundred.

Ryder's blood ran cold.

No, it can't be.

Ryder sensed something else. A sound, a high-pitched whine like that of a dog whistle that just didn't sound quite right.

And also the sound of cries of pain and distress.

And insane snarls, growling and howls.

They sounded very young.

His heart threatening to burst, Ryder took in the direction he hears all this.

Who in all of creation could be capable of such an abomination?!

00000

Dr. Seville smiled gleefully, his yellow teeth shining in the gaslight.

"This is all coming together so nicely."

He holstered his tranquilizer pistol, which he had just used on the Pongo's.

They laid unconscious on the floor, bloody gashes and bite marks all over their bodies.

Both of them had been riddled with tranquilizer darts.

Their attackers, the 93 Dalmatian pups also laid unconscious, but not because they had been tranquilized but rather they had been stunned to unconsciousness.

Dr. Seville held a remote in his hand. It appeared to be some kind of transmitting remote.

He smiled. "Funny how simple it is. Put a microchip in their necks, transmit the right frequency and they'll bend to my will.

Nero stood by his side, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

The utter shock, the dumb confusion, the very emotion on their faces as their own children attacked them. Delicious.

Nero licked his chops, savoring the suffering of his prey.

"Come Nero," Dr. Seville said. "We are returning to Deathshead."

Nero frowned. Have things gotten so bad that we'd have to go back to that dreary place? Hmm. Scotland Yard must be closing in on the traitor.

Dr. Seville called out. "Roderick! Maxwell!"

A tall, strong man with stone-cut features and slick black hair emerged, followed by another man, not quite as tall but strong as well and hairless.

"Prepare my boat," Dr. Seville commanded. "Put the dogs in, including these two adult Dalmatians."

"Where's my money?" Roderick said haughtily.

Dr. Seville glared at him. "You'll get your reward soon enough. Now do as I have said."

"I've been doing what you have said all along!"

Seville shook his head. "I did not tell you to kill Detective Wilkinson or your partner, did I?"

Roderick scoffed. "That was a freebie, I did you a favor."

Seville frowned deeply, the skin on his skull drawing tighter, giving him a more cadaverous look.

And Roderick realized too little too late that he had gone too far. He opened his mouth to apologize.

But he was silenced when he saw the good doctor make a movement with his eyes and brow. He was giving a silent order and Roderick felt a hot, stabbing burn in his neck.

And then his entire body went rigid as he felt a pain throughout every inch of his being that he had never known.

Maxwell had stuck him with a stun baton.

"Well done Maxwell, now if you would be so kind as to chain him to that pipe please. And then take the dogs and prepare them for transport."

Maxwell nodded in obedience. "What of the building?"

Seville smiled evilly. "Leave that to me."

00000

Patch and his siblings looked down through the air vent duct in growing horror.

They had heard a terrible noise.

A cacophony of dreadful sounds.

Snarling. Clawing. Screaming. Pleading. Cursing.

Laughing.

Patch knew that laugh.

His skin suddenly felt too tight and his hairs stood on end.

"Nero," he had whispered.

By the time they reached the duct, it was already over.

Seeing the condition of their mother and father, and seeing the ones responsible, it nearly broke them.

"Mum," Cadpig said despairingly. "Dad."

Lucky bit back his angry growls. "Turning our brothers and sisters on our parents? How dare they. How…" Angry tears leaked from his eyes. "What are we going to do?"

"Is that him?" Freckles said. "That man in the white coat, is he the one behind all this?"

"It must be," Patch said. "He ordered that man to attack the one on the ground."

Penny gasped. "It's him, he's the one who killed Detective Wilkinson."

"Which one?" Patch asked.

"The one being chained to that pipe, the one that man just...what was that thing he stuck him with?"

"I think it's called a stun baton," Freckles said. "It's got some kind of electric battery in it. I didn't think they were real."

"Ok," Patch said. "But who's the mad scientist?"

"No idea," Pepper said. "Freckles?"

"Never seen him before in my life." Freckles' brow furrowed in thought. "I've seen pictures of many veterinary experts but I never saw him in any of them. I'd certainly recognize that face." He shuddered.

"He looks like a walking dead man," Cadpig said fearfully.

"Never mind that," Patch said urgently. "We need to follow them. Didn't you hear what he said?"

"They're leaving," Lucky said hopelessly. "And they're taking a boat I think."

"We have to get on that boat!" Penny exclaimed, dread climbing in her voice. "If we miss it, we'll never catch them!"

"But we don't even know where it's going," Pepper said. "Deathshead? I don't like the sound of that. Not one bit."

Deathshead. That certainly spelled trouble for the Pongo's. And wherever this terrible doctor meant to take them and whatever his plans were for them were terrible for sure. What has already been done to the captive pups was horrible enough.

"All the same," Patch said. "We need to go. Or our family is doomed."

Patch's injured ear, where Precious had bitten him, which had been staunched, began to reopen.

Blood oozed out of the wound and in the most inopportune time, it dropped and fell through the air duct.

Patch and his siblings noticed at once and gasped silently.

Down the drop of blood fell and hit the floor below with an almost silent splash.

Dr. Seville did not hear this of course.

But Nero did.

He heard the sound with his sharp ears and investigated.

Among the unconscious pups and the Pongo's, Nero found a tiny droplet of fresh blood, splattered as though it had fallen from a great height.

He looked up and noticed an air duct directly above him in the ceiling.

By then the pups already fled, but Nero suspected something was up all the same.

His eyes narrowed and he smiled deviously.

"Come Nero," Dr. Seville commanded softly. "We are leaving now."

To be continued...