Chapter 42: The Hunter
"Where in the name of Boxers is Ralph?!" Macro hissed for over the tenth time as he scratched his golden furred ears in frustration.
Mac rolled his eyes that were as dark as his fur coat. "He's probably not coming back, that coward of a mutt!"
"Give him time, guys!" Little Maddox called out optimistically from her place by a young nurse, who was cradling a crying baby. "He'll come back! I know he will."
Calhoun, laying down by a little sick boy who was gently stroking her head in order to calm down, quietly sighed. "He better, pup."
She turned to the right of her to see the patients, doctors and nurses, and various of kinds of humans, were still hundled together, as close as they could possibly be to the corner. And to her left, were the mostly inactive scorpions.
Most of the scorpions were still at rest, thankfully, but the others were still scurrying around, up every wall and in pretty much every place in between. They mostly and fortunately left the unnoticed people and pooches alone- not that that matter much. The dogs were ready and positioned to protect any of the people if the time called for it.
The group of police dogs sat in a large, half circle of sorts around the people, forming a protective barrier between them and the multated scorpions at bay all around them, shielding the humans if need be.
The people inside the protective barricade were mostly calm, now comforted with the police dogs there to pet and guard them. Their shaking had lessened now, but it was still holding on to the possible fear of the multated scorpions being disturbed or at being noticed by the deathly creatures.
The little boy beside Calhoun stifled a weak cough and pulled his legs into his hospital gown, shivering slightly. Calhoun wiggled a little closer to him and laid her head up on his knees.
The child smiled slightly and rubbed her head gently, causing Calhoun to close her eyes briefly. Getting stroked by a child always proved to calm, not only the child down, but also helped her as well.
She allowed his hands to run smoothly down the back of her neck, onto her police vest-
And that was when Calhoun first noticed it.
There was nothing around her neck.
She bolted to sit up straight and pulled her head back so sharply it almost caused a crook in her neck.
No, she was just so stiff for all the recent tension that she just couldn't feel her good dog collar around her neck anymore.
She had to be mistaken...she still had her collar on. Didn't she?
But when Calhoun looked down and couldn't see the slight glow of the multated scorpions' neon spots reflecting off her shiny tags, she knew she wasn't mistaken.
Her collar- her well-earned collar- was gone from her neck.
It must've snapped off somewhere, she thought, somewhere by the broken door. It's probably still over there now...at least, it better be...
Her eyes flashed in possible steam right before they narrowed.
"Maddox, scoot over this way a little more," she commanded to the pup closest to her. "I've got to check something real quick."
As the small german shepherd complied, Sergeant Calhoun then carefully made her way over to broken, splintered door was, using her agility and slender body to slip around many glowing scorpions without disturbing one.
As she examined the area by the door, the glow of scorpions provided her enough light to see that her collar was no where in sight.
She sniffed the splintered wood of the door, one particular large chuck indeed containing traces of her collar...and Ralph's distinct mutt smell.
Calhoun narrowed her eyes as her ears flattened up against her head in anger at a sudden thought.
He was so fascinated by my collar for some reason...and now that it's off my neck...
No...he wouldn't be dumb enough to actually do that, would he?
She shook her head, small ears slapping her face with great force.
He's dumb enough to try and sneak onto a police force and to lie -to ME- about being a Captain of Sugar Russia's K-9 Unit, remember. ..
That fraud must be indeed dumb enough to even try and steal my collar from me as well...and to probably abandoned us to die here as well.
Calhoun could physically fill her eyes harden.
She could deal with her good dog collar being stolen; she could just gain another one after this mission was over, as she had several times before when it snapped off and was losted during a mission.
What she couldn't handle, however, was the absolute disloyalty he was displaying...not only towards her and her troops, but to these innocent people as was.
Ralph wasn't coming back...he had stolen her collar for whatever reason and took off with it, making her feel sick in her stomach.
And the very fact that that Ralph mutt found the mere fabric necklace for a dog as more important than the very lives of others- it made Calhoun madder and hotter than a disturbed hornets nest on an August day at noon.
The disloyalty...the selfishness...the sheer ridiculous thought that he could actually get away with something like that right under the nose of a well-trained sergeant...
It was too much for Calhoun to swallow or ignore.
She had somewhat forgiven the mastiff for lying to her and the troop to sneak on the force somehow, given her fullfilled his duty to retreat back to the officers and lead them to where her and the other dogs remained...but now...
That mastiff needed to pay for he did...and Calhoun was personally going to make sure that he did.
Eyes flashing red with sheer murder, the sergeant flipped her head around towards the others.
"Maddox, come with me. We're going on our own missions," she called softly and calmly as she slipped carefully underneath the shreds of wood of the door into the dark hallway.
"But what about the others?...and the people?...and the scorpions?" Maddox asked as she carefully stepped over the creatures as she approached her leader.
"You worry too much," Calhoun groaned outloud to her as she rolled her eyes. "The others and the people we'll be fine as long as nothing disturbs the scorpions...and they'll all be fine, long enough for you to get the people and lead them back in time and as fast as you can. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" The pup answered softly as she slipped through the door as well, her one floppy ear grazing the splintered wood as she met Calhoun at the end of the short hallway. "But...may I ask just one more question, ma'am? If I'm getting the officers,...then what's your mission?..."
The two dogs stood still for a brief moment before Calhoun took off in an all out sprint, quickly followed in suit by Maddox right before the doberman growled her answer over her shoulder while staring determinedly ahead of her.
"I've got a bull mastiff to kill!"
-O-O-O-O-
As she quickly retraced her steps down the hallway and into the waiting room, Calhoun's mind was still reeling over finding -and near killing- Ralph. She made her way around the chairs and the large desk, growling with renewed anger when the bull mastiff's scent was picked up by her highly trained nose...but was quickly was frustrated when none of the smells she was picking up were a fresh scent from him.
She abandoned sniffing the waiting room desk and chairs and switched to sniff the baseboards the dark room, mumbling when they too proved to be unhelpful.
A sudden clash heard in the room startled her, causing her to freeze up on the stop. Her head and ears turned towards the source of the sound, Calhoun knew immediately it must be a stray scorpion.
Her eyes narrowed as far as she could make them so she could see better, the doberman cautiously made her way over to a group of waiting chairs, where the source of the sound had come from.
A sudden movement, followed by another clash and yelp of the creature before her made Calhoun freeze again. She watched as the animal of sorts flipped around and tried to frantically get away from the object that it crashed into, but only ended up bumping into another object, causing the creature to trip and fall.
Taking a deep smell, Calhoun realized that whatever that creature was, it was no scorpion.
She cautiously crawled closer and closer to it, unafraid of whatever it was lurking in the dark for her. Her eyes never left it as the animal before her picked itself up off the ground and blindly shook it's head gently.
Once she was in pouncing distance, the sergeant fixed her eyes on the now still creature ...and leaped, sharp, front paws first as she dove towards the creature and attacked it dead on.
The creature yelp as it slightly grazed past the chairs and hit the ground hard all of a sudden, desperately squirming as it tried to escape the pinning of the animal on top of it's throat...
when the lights in the room suddenly flickered back on.
Sergeant blinked down at the animal beneath her paws to clearly see just what exactly the creature was for the first time...
And came face-to-face with the biggest, bluest, more scared corgi eyes she had ever seen.
