Chapter 67: Theories and Facts
The night's still silence was the only thing heard for a few minutes as Calhoun and Felix walked southward. Both of their minds were pounding with very different thoughts: the doberman focused on finding the bull mastiff heading down towards Sugar Russia; the corgi focused more on what Tam- er, Calhoun had warned.
"Hopefully Ralph didn't actually obtusely venture down to Sugar Russia...for your sake..."
That thought - especially the last stretch of it- had puzzled him greatly... and when he asked her why that was the case, Felix wasn't blind to the fact that Calhoun had danced around the issue in a way. She never really answered the question, Felix realized- which honesty worried him. A lot.
Why was Sugar Russia such a bad place, anyway? he pondered internally. Anyplace with the word 'sugar' in the title has to be delightful, right?..
The thought starting to bug him too much for him to have peace of mind, he finally spoke up as he trotted beside Calhoun.
"Wh- why is Sugar Russia so bad?" Felix mused softly, halfway wanting to hear the answer- yet halfway not.
Even in the low light, the corgi suddenly noticed the doberman's ears twitch- clearly debating on whether to tell him the truth.
Finally unable to ignore the wide-eyed, innocent corgi beside her, Calhoun sighed. Although very hesitant, she concluded he at least deserved a heads up, some warning...
Maybe he'll even be more protected that way...
Shaking her head hard, Calhoun forced her mind clear of any worrying thoughts- for growing, multiple reasons.
"It's where the mutated scorpions' breeding headquarters seem to be," she cautiously stated, her voice sharp and direct as she marched forward. "That place is crawling with them. You can't safely walk a few feet without seeing at least one- and if you do go a minute without spotting one, it won't be long before you run across some of the creatures' filthy eggs."
Gulping down the knot forming in his throat, the corgi shook for a second but somehow kept up with the doberman's long strides.
"O-oh, ok," he nervously replied, unsure of how to process such news. He couldn't manage the thought of any place crawling with such horrible creatures; it sounded like a nightmare in the making...one that he was going to possibly have to deal with eventually.
Pushing down the urge to yelp in fear, Felix redirected his mind to focus on keeping up with Calhoun's steady trot- finding doing so more difficult since his paws were feeling heavier and heavier with each step.
"W-why does Sugar Russia have so many of those...those things?" he stumbled out, somehow even afraid of saying the words out loud.
"As of right now, no one really knows," Calhoun replied, still staring straight ahead before her eyes narrowed a bit more. "But I do have my own theory about why fro-foo Sugar Russia is such a hotspot for 'those things'."
Beyond intrigued, the corgi by her feet raised his small orange eyebrows. "Really? What's your theory?"
"Well, Sugar Russia may look all frilly and cutesy and innocent on the surface," the doberman responded wearily, "but in reality, it's got quite the dark past that it's attempting to cover up... and it involves us animals."
Pausing long enough to look down the dark east and west road crossing they found themselves at, the doberman slipped across the path at seeing the crossing road was empty. Closely at her heels was the bouncing corgi.
"It was once the hometown of a horrible animal laboratory, ran by some crazy scientist, his wretched henchmen...and their fierce, monstrous dog that was trained to catch some of the smaller animals around Sugar Russia," Calhoun continued, shaking her head. "They'd catch all kinds of creatures- and abuse them, experiment on them, doing who did who-knows-what to them."
"That's just awful...," the corgi whispered, feeling his soft heart ache...and pound in a strange, familiar sting at her words.
"You're telling me. They messed up so many animals- more than anyone is even aware, I bet," the doberman mentioned, her own soft heart going out to the poor animals subjected to such terrible abuse. "And when that horrible scientist had run out of victims him in his own town, he resorted to trying to steal other animals from other towns. He was even brazen enough to try and break into various pet shops," she continued without skipping a beat, "including multiple ones around our town. But the wacko finally got taken out... by a guard dog... at one of the pet shops..."
Trailing off in her words and in her stride, Calhoun suddenly slowed down, coming in a startling halt.
Behind her, Felix was gawking himself too much to notice she had stopped moving abruptly and ended up running straight into her steady back legs. Flying back onto his behind, the corgi shook his head hard to clear it of any extra fuzz flying before his eyes.
Looking up quickly, he saw Calhoun had turned and was staring wide-eyed at him... And even though they were still in low lighting, he could see a strong look of shock yet clarity upon her face.
"That was our pet shop!" Felix finally yelped to her, finding his legs again as he jumped up. "And Ralph- he was the one who, uh, 'took out' that robber!"
His words confirming where her mind was going, Calhoun couldn't help but gawk openly. That worthless bull mastiff actually served his petshop well and saved the animals there...including little Felix here?
"Thank goodness Ralph stopped him, too," Felix then shook his head- fully aware of how the outcome could've been very different. "'Cause if he hadn't, the nasty scoundrel of a scientist probably would've stolen us smaller animals- and experimented on us and abused us somethin' awful!"
Shaking her head in clear disbelief, Calhoun watched as a comical look of bitterness came upon Felix' face suddenly, an expression she didn't even know the corgi could make as he flattened his ears and narrowed his eyes. If his words weren't such a startling revelation to her, she probably would've ended up laughing out loud at his strong, hate-fill face under the glowing street lamp they were under.
"At least the scientist was hauled off to prison where he belongs," Felix hissed sharply- before melting into confusion. "But... the police shut down the lab that the scientist own, there in that Sugar Russia, right?... And replace it with an animal hospital and an adoption place?"
"Yes, the lab was shut down," Calhoun confirmed, still blinking as her mind tried to catch up with Felix' revelation about Ralph. But finding her own legs again, she backed up before completely turning around- her nose to the wind as she headed down south once more. Tossing her head for the corgi to follow, Calhoun continued.
"But...well, the scientist's villainous dog and the henchmen fled the lab and are still on the loose- and according to rumors around town, those low-down abusers were possibly dumb enough to have stayed in that very town," she hesitated before slipping out the truth. "And here's the thing, Short Stack: I personally believe that they are still doing experiments on animals in secret there in Sugar Russia, running a lab somewhere in the tiny town."
"What makes you say that?" Felix asked as he bounced after her, panting slightly at trying to keep up with her fast pace again.
"Well, think about it for yourself, Corgi," she answered, absentmindedly forgetting just how fast she was walking. "Do you think the fact that Sugar Russia used to have a full-blown animal experimenting lab -with some of its past employees possibly still in the area, no less- and the fact that same town now has the highest mutating scorpion population in the state is any mere coincident?"
"Wait- are you saying that the scorpions are mutatin' because of the crazy animal lab is still there in Sugar Russia? And it's still operatin' in secret?" Felix connected, his large ears flopping to the sides yet again as he shrunk down a bit. "That's- that's crazy... but makes so much sense! I completely agree with you! I think such a theory could be true, Calhoun! Why doesn't the police unit there in Sugar Russia get on top of that, and why can't they just search for-"
"Because they've been working their rear ends off trying to keep their city itself safe, genius," Calhoun cut him off with an irritated eye roll. "What with dealing with the mutated scorpions themselves there all over in the town, all of the K-9s and cops in general in Sugar Russia have been a little more than busy...
"Besides, it's an assumption, not a fact. That's why it's called a theory, Einstein-" she continued before she was cut off- although Felix didn't seem to notice much. They simultaneously had become aware that the road under their feet how gotten more uneven and rough suddenly, cutting into their paw pads unlike before.
For a brief moment, the two looked down and saw the road they were on had become seemly switched over from smooth to jagged- and that the road was now made of extremely worn pavement. In the soft glow of the tall street lamps, potholes and cracks were seen scattered across the path before them- making it a bumpy ride for those in any vehicle. Crumby bits of sharp concrete were littered on the side of the road where the two dogs were on as well, suddenly making the path a little more treacherous to walk on.
Peering just behind them, Calhoun's eyes saw a large, green road sign, one they hadn't even notice was there since they had been so busy talking. Walking backward to see exactly what it said, the doberman saw that the huge sign was a town sign- wishing travelers fare-wells as they left the town of Frogger and welcoming them into the bumpy, 'far-out' town of Asteroids.
Rolling her eyes once more, Calhoun prodded back forward. At least she knew exactly where she and Felix were now, she mused. Asteroids was a large town right before the smallish city of Whack-a-Mole-Village... and Sugar Russia was just the next town over.
Pausing to sniff the air for Ralph's confirming scent, Calhoun inhaled a deep breath- and found herself not surprised that it was still leading down south...
But she was surprised to find the mastiff's distinct smell wasn't quite as infuriating to her as it once was.
"There's not enough evidence to point fingers at anyone or any specific place yet," she finished telling the corgi by her side as she stubbornly began following down the less smooth road. "Despite all the research being put into finding out what is causing the mutated scorpions, there are no specific, true sources or reasons found yet. All we can determine as of right now is that those creatures are caused by some experiencing, that they are dangerous, mutate at alarming rates, some act as explosive devices, that they inject some sort of unidentified medicine as it's posion, and that they all completely die when submerged in water. That's it. The why's and how's haven't been quite answered yet."
A look of seriousness on her long face, the doberman stomped over a group of loosened pebbles on the road, her strong, resistant toe pads bearly even feeling the bits of rocks.
Pausing to dance around them himself, Felix shuffled after her- the doberman ignoring his wincing and moaning behind her as the sharp pebbles poked into his feet.
"You're still so smart to make that connection," Felix glowed out loud to her as he paused to shake some of the protruding pebbles from his soft paws. He watched them go flying for a moment before rushing to close the physical gap being made between him and Calhoun.
"Hmm...keep you goo-goo eyes in your head there, Casanova," she snorted and rolled her eyes in response- yet couldn't help but good-naturedly smirk down at him. "I'm just basing my theory on what I've heard through the grapevine. Apparently, the pooches over in the K-9 unit of Sugar Russia have come up with a similar theory that could be true as well... And they are trying to focus their efforts on it, doing the best to prove it to their human commanders, in fact."
Clearing her throat, Calhoun shook her head- a rare look of sympathy coming across her face. The look of softness on her face and the warm glow of the streetlamps above made her facial features even more distinct and gorgeous in Felix' opinion.
Looking down to meet his eyes for a brief moment, the elegance doberman painfully continued.
"That poor city's K9 unit. As strong and capable as they are, they have pretty much given up all hope and effort in keeping the mutates at bay in their tiny, fragile town...Which is why we put in a request for one of their canines to help us out in Arcadia, where the mutates are streaming to." She sighed softly- before her soft face was overtaken by her trademark, tough dog scowl yet again. "Instead, what we 'got' was that stupid, collar-stealing burn bag you tentatively call you friend."
Before Felix could wince in his place, the doberman stopped abruptly yet again- the sound of faraway human voices and a new smell of burning oil starting to fill her senses all at once. Swiveling her head around to try to identify where the smell and voices were coming from, she looked to her far left- and after squinting considerably, she saw something large and long and inanimately still. Beside said object were multiple humans outlines as well, rushing around and even climbing on top of the still object.
Stepping off the road and onto the grassy area beside her, she squinted that much more ahead- and finally the object's faint outline became what looked like a lifeless train. The long, large locomotive was apparently sitting still on a track running south- and the people operating it were clearly and rapidly getting it ready to finish its journey.
"Look! A train!" Calhoun told her male companion, who was cocking his head around in trying to figure what the object was as well. "We can hop on the tail end of it where no one will see us and get out on the stop just before Sugar Russia. It'll save us a day and a half of a journey, if not more."
A corgi wiggle overtaking him, Felix smiled widely as he bounced after her, already starting to trot towards the caboose.
"That's brilliant, Tam- er, Calhoun!" he quickly corrected himself, silently pleading that she didn't notice he had almost said her first name.
When she did nothing in reply but give an eye roll, the corgi just continued to beam excitedly.
"Ooh, and the train ride will save us from having to walk on such a rough road," he commented with a wide smile, his small paws already thanking him. "My dogs are barking something awful!"
And for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, Sergeant Tamora Calhoun actually laughed out loud.
