Chapter 38: Ready, Rookie?...
As he continued to gallop down the hallway after the group of police dogs ahead of him, Ralph was somehow able to briefly look over his shoulder...to see every one of the multated scorpions, hundreds of them, had flown out the doors and was following the troop down the dark hallway as well.
His heart feeling like it could burst from the physical pushing and adrenalin, the bull mastiff lightly tripped over his own huge paws a few times - but somehow didn't actually stumble and fall. He tried to stare straight ahead at the faint cluster of canine tails he could just make out a few hundred yards in front of him, forcing himself to focus on them and not the terrifiying, near deafening buzz that was looming now just above him.
He was starting to feel dizzy, however, when the lights in the corridor overhead began to flicker repetitiously on and off, hopefully lumatining the group of tails and the ground in front of him for a moment, then off it went again...before blinking back on again. The light short circuiting seemed to make the whole chase that much more difficult and terrifiying -something appearing like right out of a horror movie.
Every dog was happy with the lights finally blinked on for a final time and provided light constantly for them as the racing continued.
Sergeant Calhoun, the leader the group of the police dogs around her not too far ahead of Ralph, continued to stride down the hallway, her own chest pounding. She looked over her shoulder for a mere second...and was one of the first in her group to realize that the creatures were indeed following them.
She was horrified to see that hundreds of the scorpions were forming a threating brown cloud behind them, hunting them down as they had in the first place. But her fear increase even more when she saw in that same split second that they were starting to gain speed right above an unknowing Ralph.
In that moment, she knew had to do something.
Sure, she knew -and was still ticked- that no, he wasn't a real cop dog, let alone a Captain. And yes, he had outright lied to her and her troop. There were so many questions she needed him to answer: Who really was he? Where'd he get Markowski's vest? Why did he lie to them all?
Why was he so interested in her collar?
But Calhoun knew that, despite all those unanswered question, Ralph was still an animal that, despite his lies, still didn't deserve to die from a scorpion sting.
No one did.
He, maybe not deserve it, but still needed protection. And it was her duty to temporarily push aside any personal conflicts she may have and provide that protection for any one in need.
Besides, she wanted him to live long enough to get the needed answers to her questions.
"Ralph, ducked!" The Sergeant screeched to the bull mastiff behind her before turning her focus back on the ground in front of her.
When Ralph looked up, he saw just in time that a winged scorpion with an impressive sized stinger try to dive bomb him. But amazingly, he was somehow able to swing his whole body to the left, avoiding the creatures stinger altogether. The stinger, and creature attached to it, smashed into the floor - but instead of dying, it hit the ground with a force so strong that it crack the tile floor and got its stinger stuck inside it.
"Nice, Rookie!" Ralph was shocked to hear Calhoun call to him, sounding slightly impressed. "Now gain a little bit more speed and don't die!"
Now even more surprised, -yet, strangely determined and inspired- Ralph forced his large feet to keep going, one huge paw in front of the other, only in a faster notion. His head and empty neck bobbed forward and back, pushing his body harder and harder...
And he was shocked to peered over his shoulder to see the creatures were now ever so slightly further behind him.
Turning his attention back to the area ahead of him, he stumbled a little, but but manged to not trip on his feet as he continued galloping after the pack of pooches just ahead of him. He was starting to gain on them...and slowly, carefully was getting ahead to the looming, threatening scorpions.
Now just a little ways ahead of Ralph, Calhoun realized, now that the lights were permanently on, that they all were passing several hospital room doors as they sprinted down the long hallway, too many for her to even subconsciously count. She thought about darting into the first open door they came to, but realized that it was best just to keep straight down...the opened area hallway... and try to outrun the flying scorpions the best they all could, especially now that the hallway was providing them light...
But that was before she realized they were quickly running out of hallway.
The corridor reared to an end and curved to the right, leading to yet another hallway, although it was unknown in length since the light overhead down it were permanently turned off.
Calhoun temporarily paused in her graceful racing to adjust and lean her body to the left with great grace and agility. The pack around her did the same, clearing the corner with ease despite it being so sharp.
Ralph, however, wasn't so graceful.
He looked ahead just in time to see the hallway curved, and tried to slow down in his speed in order to make such a turn. But being a whopping 143 pounds and at moving at a hurling speed made it a little hard to slow down. Instead, he ended up skidding and slammed his brood shoulder into the far wall, with a force so strong it caused a slight crack in the wall.
Fortunately, Ralph was enough ahead of the flying scorpions to take a short second of shake off the crash. He quickly recovered and darted blindly after the fellow dogs somewhere ahead of him. The scorpions behind him hovered around the corner and raced after them as well.
The sharp turn and dark hallway quickly lead the group of animals to a large door... and to their horror, the door that was shut tight. Calhoun and the others immediately skidded to a stop right in front of it, peering up at the door in pure panic at the fact that it was completely shut.
Hearing the loud, bone chilling buzz behind her, Calhoun knew that there would be no way that her and her troop could fight off the all creatures; there were far too many of them...in a far too small, confined space...
The group was trapped...as all too real danger loomed behind them and was now getting closer and closer ...
At the thought and realization, Calhoun pressed her ears down against her head and sucked in a sharp breath as slight panic seized her...and as her mind threatened to flashed back to...to...
No, we can't be trapped! She mentally screamed at herself. No! No way am I going to allow us to die right here.
She snapped her ears back to the top of her head and shook her head, her signature scowl back on her face.
Whether they were trapped in a small, near-claustrophobic area or not...no, Calhoun wouldn't let her mind go there. Not now.
The firece Doberman Pinscher had not lead her troop -and even the tag-along Ralph- this far just to...die by scorpions right there before a closed door.
