Chapter 65: Rhythm of the Night

Seconds after stating her harsh, clear order, Calhoun stoically straighten up and continued to stomp past the corgi. She pushed forward, letting the overhead streetlights to lead her down the path.

Behind her laid Felix, still cowarding close to the pavement. But as he tried to slowly stumble to his paws, he found that his fluffy corgi short legs felt as if they were a jelly mush.

Giving up in trying to stand up, he finally just sat still his bottom, his large ears each flopped over to an askew angle. His blue eyes doubled in size as his soft corgi heart fluttered softly at one word.

Tamora, he mentally repeated, his racing mind struggling to comprehend just how he was feeling...

"Tamora," he mouthed so softly as an awestruck smile appeared on his corgi face...

Tamora, he permanently imprinted on his emotional, gooey mush of a heart, pounding in his small chest at a steady, rhythmatic pace.

That was no doubt the most beautiful name he had ever heard; it was almost like an odd lullaby, a strange symphony strumming at his heartstrings.

The name was so soft yet tough, so delicate yet strong, so gentle yet stern...

So beyond completely perfect for the doberman companion he was now getting left behind by.

Suddenly snapping back to reality -and somewhat gaining control over his emotions- Felix turned to overly gush how great the first name was to his pooch companion...

To realized said companion was more than a few streetlights ahead of him now. She was on the move, her strides long and easy...and fast.

Spinning on his heels, the corgi tripped over his paws and did his best not the face-plant the ground as he stumbled up to catch up with Calhoun...

Who he decided he would start secretly calling Tamora in his mind only.

"Wow...That's an awful gorgeous first name you got there!" Felix drooled as he stared up at her, now blundering along by her side. "It's so beautiful and fits you so well! Where did your owner even come up with such a beautiful name? It sounds like it's French, or-"

But his gushing was cut short when the doberman abruptly froze in place, her eyes wide and ears up in rapt attention.

"Can it, Short Stack!" she hissed suddenly- and the corgi could tell it was not because she was beyond irritated by his flattering.

Staring intently ahead, Calhoun stretched her long neck forward a bit. Gravely sniffling the air for a split second in time, her point ears flattened immediately, becoming practically glued to her head.

She must have smelled and heard something, Felix knew...something nearby. Something hidden in the dark. Something potentially dangerous.

Something possibly big and strong enough to eat the corgi- or worse.

Something possibly big and strong enough to hurt Calhoun...

Hardly able to fathom such a horrifying line of thought, the corgi quickly decided it'd best to obey the cut-throat doberman's orders instead of question them. He pursed his lips together and flattened his own ears, crouching low to the ground and peering off into the direction she was so fixated on.

All he could see, though, were pitch black shadows bearly making outlines on the pitch black road before them. The sidewalk they had been walking on had cut off and turned a sharp corner, and the streetlamps that had been lighting up their path on the sidewalk abruptly ended, making the street even a few feet ahead of them in dark and eerie in the night. All there was lighting the road itself was a few lonesome, adjacent stoplights near by, one barely provide any light as it dimly blinked red over and over above the desolate roads.

Such an eerie, unilluminated scene wasn't enough to deter Calhoun's sharp glaze, however- in fact, if anything, it made her already sharp eyes all the more intense and wide.

In such low light, she couldn't distinctly see just what was there on the roadway ahead...but her well-trained nose could certainly smell different odors- some strong, some weak.

In fact, there was an odd combination of different scents in the still air, ones that were definitely burned car parts and some that were of burned medicine...and a very faint smell of something else.

But there was one smell that worried Calhoun the most. One that caused her eyes to widen and her shoulders to tense. One that made her short fur stand up in end, nervous and even slightly, dare she say, fearful.

All at one smell she could identify from anywhere.

Giving the corgi beside her a look that demanded that he stayed rooted in his place, the doberman cautiously tiptoed forward- her legs ready to pounce and attack any scorpion that dare came her (or her helpless male companion's) way.

Precariously stepping off the safety of the lit sidewalk and into the stygian street, the brave pooch eyed around her. At seeing no bright headlights attached to any cars lumbering down the path, she bolted across the way. Her sleek form quickly disappeared within a few mere seconds, her shiny, jet black, perfect fur and figure quickly getting swallowed by the black night.

No longer able to see her, Felix quickly filled with an overwhelming sense of dread. Shaking in his spot under a bright streetlight, he leaned forward, straining as hard as he could to at least see Calhoun's faint outline- but failing to even see a tiny bit of her now as she got further and further away.

Gulping back a worried yelp, Felix' once calm heart started pounding so loud his large ears could easily hear it- and he didn't fancy the shaky, uneven rhythm it beated at now.

Ahead of him, Calhoun seemed to sneak across the two-way road and deeper into the night. As she did, the definite smell of some type of scorpion got stronger and stronger in her sensitive nose- as well as the distinct smells of burning fumes, metal, tires, and medicine...

And somewhere as she crossed over the grass median in the road, there was the very faint but very unmistakable smell of one dog Calhoun swore she would kill.

Her stance a little bit less intense, less on guard and more angry than anything else, the doberman continued to harshly sniff the air as she marched forward...before her eyes slowly got more adjusted to the low light.

Able to see a bit more clearly, her straining eyes landed on a large blog of something close to the other side of the road. A manged, metal, charred blob.

Forced to come to a halt before the object -which Calhoun quickly figured out had once been large medical van, an ambulance even- the deep smell of one-time burning exhaust fumes and gas overwhelmed her nose...as well as that faint other smell of a certain dog.

"Short Stack!" she called loudly over her shoulder, startling -and relieving- Felix beyond belief. "You better get your tail hide over here quick!"

Sniffing the burned up car again, she laid her ears back in repulsion- and slight apprehension.

"That worthless colleague of yours may be nothing but crispy bull mastiff ashes right now!"