Chapter 50: Exhaustion
Ralph paused to catch his breath as he panted heavily, his lungs feeling like they could bust at a moment's notice. His large legs and build-in strong muscles now felt like jello- but his feet were the ones that screamed in pain the most. The large toes pads ached and burned after running so far and so hard... over such a bad, long road back there...
In a patch of overgrown, soft, refreshingly amazing feeling grass, Ralph collapsed momentarily onto the ground for sheer exhaustion. He tried to allow his spinning mind to get caught up as well.
Mutated scorpions...the ambulance...the exploding scorpion...Sergeant Calhoun... Arcadia... Felix... Mr.Litwak...
Everything and everyone he had met he done, seen, or even subconsciously missed in past many hours ran like a movie film through his mind's eye. It all was almost as exhausting as all the physical running he had done that day.
He had no idea how far he had run, or for how long. He didn't even what to guess what time it was- although it felt like hours since had run from the exploding ambulance.
All Ralph knew was that the crazy hospital, the police station...and possibly the whole town of Arcadia... was somewhere far away from him.
All I wanted was this good dog collar, the mastiff huffed as he weakly sat back up on his hindquarters. I didn't ask for all this.
At the thought of his precious prize, Ralph anxiously dropped the good collar from his dry mouth onto the ground to examine its condition.
The tags it had were little less shiny than before, mostly due to dirt and mud stains it had got on it from the racing Ralph had done to escape the scene of the explosion. The strong, fabric material of the collar itself was now slightly frayed on the edges, making it look years older than it actually was...
But overall, Ralph's new collar had survived the events that had transpired... almost better than Ralph himself had.
It even looks kinda cool like that, he decided as he peered at the collar from different angles, beginning to like what he was seeing. It looks like I, a good dog, have survived some crazy stuff...which I have.
Sure, he had sort of been the one who had caused most of that crazy stuff, but no one needed to know that part.
Despite feeling so weak, a smile appeared on Ralph's lips.
I really have lived to tell some great stories about this collar...if I can just live long enough get back home, that is...
His heart dropping a bit to the dirt ground beneath him, the mastiff looked up above him- to see that the sun was no longer overhead. It now was far west, right about to set. What was left showing of it set the sky on fire, in flames with beautiful pinks, oranges, and yellows. If he hadn't been so extremely tired, Ralph probably would've taken the time to appreciate the sunset's beauty...
Until he realized that the end of the first day of the bet he had made with Gene was drawing an eventful end.
