Chapter 71: Unexpected Surprise

Glazing scrutinizingly at the corgi laying beside her, Calhoun raised another tan eyebrow his way.

"And I guess...Ralph had reached his own breaking point- and decided to imitate Turbo by running off to change," she connected, now seeing how the phrase was coined. "Thus 'going Turbo'."

"Exactly," Felix unhappily confirmed, his ears dropping low again. "Ralph was tired of being called -and treated- like a bad dog. I can't really blame him for wantin' to leave..."

His blue eyes blankly looking around at a lost for words, the orange corgi bit his furry lip.

"I can't believe he just went Turbo like that, though!" He expressed in forlorn astonishment yet again, laying his head back down on the platform in grief.

"Well, a selfish dog is like a mangy cat chasing a cautionary string," Calhoun told him simply, her voice serious and mysterious as she crossed her front legs delicately.

"I know, right?" Felix quickly agreed as he nodded- although a bit densely. He had no idea what Calhoun meant by that, but it sounded good.

Pausing just long enough to sigh, the corgi looked east to see that the sky was starting to lighten in color, the sun slowly approaching the horizon. The beautiful hues of the upcoming sunrise warmed him all over in moment of calmness, enough to stretch his back paws out in contentment...

Until he realized it was the start of the second day that Ralph had been gone.

So much could happen in one day, Felix well knew...So much could've happened to Ralph in one day...

And even though his scent followed down south, that didn't necessarily mean Ralph was ok...or that he was even alive at this point anymore...

His poor stomach churning at the horrible thought of anything happening to Ralph, Felix found himself feeling beyond remorseful- again. He tucked his back paws back under the safety of his belly and sighed once more.

"I can't help but feel partially responsible for this whole mess," he moaned miserably out loud, more to himself than Calhoun as he flopped his head back down on his paws. "Maybe Ralph wouldn't have run off had I just spoke up and defended him. But I didn't..."

Still sitting beside him on the caboose, the doberman felt her suppressed smile finally surface on her face. This corgi was too kind-hearted for his own good.

"Don't blame yourself too much, Felix," she told him softly, her voice the most sympathetic Felix had ever heard it. "Defended or not, being called a bad dog still didn't give Ralph a valid reason to run off like a rooster in a pack of wolves. He simply had a duty and needed to do it, no matter what."

"Well, that duty would've been a lot easier if I had just come to his aid...," the corgi pointed out, peering up at her with wide, depressed eyes. "Everyone deserves to feel wanted and to be told they're doin' a good job..."

"Well, maybe so," Calhoun settled as she stood up and peered over the railing, smelling the air for a moment. "But despite how much we may not like a job we have, it's still our responsibility to-"

Abruptly stopping in mid-sentence, the doberman froze in place. Catching Felix off guard, Calhoun's once relaxed body tensed up all over almost instantly as her usually narrowed eyes doubled in size.

Jerking her head to look behind her, the police dog craned her neck to peer into the cabin of the caboose, its unlocked door now slightly ajar at a small gush of wind. The interior of the train car was mostly dark, making it hard to clearly see was lurking just inside. An occasional, pasting streetlamp provided a brief light shining through the small windows, quickly gone before Calhoun could really focus on the cabin's contents.

Her inner instincts to investigate yet to remain cautious kicking in, the trained doberman precautiously ventured forward, a marked look of fear and growing shock surfacing on her face. Her small ears flapping at the great speed the train was going, she gulped as her nose pointed straight ahead in expertise- making her mentally deny the now strong smell it was picking up.

No...it can't be...

Beside her in his own frozen, silent stupor, Felix felt his blue eyes dance back and forth between Calhoun and the ajar cabin door. He had no idea was she had smelled or what she was so focused on now- but he had a hunch that it wasn't good.

Dramatically stopping in the doorframe to inhale deeply, Calhoun felt her eye twitch and her meaty muscles tense up. Her claws automatically began gripping the platform a little harder, her legs strained so much it was almost painful.

How she hadn't smell this before, Calhoun had no idea.

There, just to the left of the inner doorway and tucked beside some small, stacked boxes, was a huge, curled up, and thankfully sleeping mutated scorpion. Its horrifyingly huge stinger was curled up tightly on it's back as it dozed, it's long, sharp legs tucked safely underneath its equally long body. It was twice the size of the fairly decent-sized box it was resting beside- and was intimating enough to make Calhoun gasp quietly.

What?! How in the name of Lassie did we not wake this thing up before?! She mentally questioned as she slowly but wordlessly backed away from the doorframe. There is no way it hasn't heard or at least detected us being here...

Abandoning her unanswered inquires, Calhoun frantically looked down at Felix, causing her to sigh softly and shakily as she did. By the look of his puzzled, worried face, she could tell the easily excitable corgi still had no clue what was just on the other side of the wall he was perched beside.

For a split second, Calhoun seriously debated on whether or not she should even tell Felix about their tagalong traveler. She deep down knew he'd panic -and in turn squawk and freak out so loud it'd be sure to wake the creature up...

So maybe not telling him was in their best interest, she almost decided; they'd gone this long without realizing the scorpion was here with them and vice versa, anyways. And maybe they stayed quiet long enough, it'd stay asleep...at least until they could get off the train- even if that meant they had to make the next stop their exit point instead of pushing their pure dumb luck and saying aboard the train.

Biting her lip, though, the doberman also knew deep down that Felix deserved to know; his life was really in her paws now. If the creature did wake up and started to crawl out of the cabin, the poor corgi would have a heart attack just knowing the scorpion had been on board with them.

And if he knew, she then thought out, he could silently prepare how he would react if it were to wake up, giving him an advantage...

At least giving him a heads up about what is inside the caboose will hopefully motivate him to keep his snout shut, Calhoun mused wearily, and that can help us stay safe for as long as possible.

"Ok, listen to me closely, Felix," the doberman finally whispered, her voice barely heard as she tiptoed over to where the corgi stood. "There is a...er...sleeping mutated scorpion just inside the doorway here. But if we-"

"WHAT?!" Felix screamed loudly in horror immediately, his eyes about to bulge out of their sockets as he gawked at her news. "A-a scorpion?! We've been ridin' around with one of those things right next to us?!"

"Shush!" Calhoun hissed in response, peering over to quickly make sure that the scorpion wasn't stirred awake...and regrettably seeing that it was wiggling around a bit more than before.

Her eyes sharply narrowed, she growled back at corgi, somehow making him panic more. "There is no need to lose our heads if-"

"We're gonna lose our heads?!" The corgi interrupted her as he howled in fear, his ears wildly sticking out at the sides of his head as he began frantically shaking. "This is it! We're goin' to perish before we even find Ralph!!!"

"Get ahold of yourself!" Calhoun spat out loudly without thinking, now forced to use her paw to loudly slam Felix' wide, screeching mouth down onto the platform- not caring as he squealed in pain for a moment. "You're. Going. To. Wake. It. Up!"

At the sudden mixture of loud, disturbing noises and now close, strong rumbling under its sleeping quarters, the mutated scorpion was shaken awake as if on cue- and not happy at being awakened from its nap.

Scambling forward to the doorframe, the creature hissed in anger at seeing its moving, breathing alarm clocks out on the platform. Catching both Felix' and Calhoun's immediate attention, the scorpion's eyes started to glow an eerie, familiar neon green as it already started to raise its deadly sharp stinger in defense.

"Look out!" Calhoun screeched as she shoved Felix to the side, causing him to go skidding underneath the low railing.

Scrambling backward herself, Calhoun barely missed getting impaled by the creature's sharp stinger as it struck it forward. She plastered herself up against the railing on the opposite side of where Felix was, ignoring the feeling of sharp pain shooting up her hurt leg.

Disliking that it had missed it's desired target, the scorpion turned to hiss angerly at the doberman- before hearing dog nails scraping frantically behind it. Turning towards the sound, the creature focused its attention on a vulnerable Felix, who was gripping his nails as hard as he could to hold on to the platform. His back half was hanging dangerously off the platform, just moments away from slipping right off the caboose and underneath the train's wheels.

Taking advantage of his helpless state, the mutated beast crawled towards the corgi - and was all too ready to strike him right between his wide, terrified eyes...

When Calhoun courageously leaped forward and grabbed the scorpion by the top of its tail. She bit down hard enough to drag the creature backwards- but reframed from chomping down too hard, afraid of breaking its tail in half...and thus exposing herself to its potentially deadly venom.

The creature a safe distance away from Felix, Calhoun then attempted to swing the scorpion over the railing- but underestimated just how heavy the creature was. After she had successfully gotten most of it over the short railing, the flailing creature swung down and latched onto her chest with its many pairs of legs. Losing her balance, the doberman ended up toppling over the side of the train railing completely.

"Calhoun!" Felix screamed in horror as he watched the doberman go plunging towards the ground, the creature's tail still clutched in her mouth. As he heard them crashed onto the tracks now behind the train, the corgi gasped and scrambled with everything he had to get back onto the platform.

Once all of his paws were safely and firmly back on the caboose, the terrified small dog raced over to the railing at the tip of the train. There he saw that somehow Calhoun - amazingly mostly unharmed- was staggering to her paws on the tracks...and that she still had a firm grip on the scorpions' tail as it wiggled around angrily.

Felix watched for a moment as she tried to place a firm, crushing paw on one of the scorpions' strong pinchers- her attempts made futile as the creature twisted and turned, clearly unhappy at being restrained in her mouth. It pinched and ripped her fur harshly, causing even the tough Calhoun to wince and buckle slightly.

His orange fur standing up on his neck, Felix felt himself panic even more as he stood frozen of the platform. Calhoun and the scorpion were getting further and further away from him- or, in contrast, the corgi was getting carried further and further away from them. The train holding the small dog just kept chugging along the tracks, unaware that it lost two of its wrestling passengers along the way- and didn't seem to care that it was creating a gap between the doberman and the loyal corgi.

The distance between them growing by each passing second, Felix trembled unlike anytime he had before. He knew he faced a huge decision: stay in safety on the train that was hopefully going to lead him to Ralph...but practically abandon Calhoun to fend for herself in the process...or jump off this moving train, risking getting killed doing so...and if he did survive such a jump, surely to be killed by the mutated scorpion as he'd go and help Calhoun.

His ears flapping desperately in the wind, the corgi raced over to peer over to railing near the caboose's small ladder, almost instantly feeling sick at seeing the dusty ground blur together. Instead of focusing on just how fast the train was going, he felt his head unwillingly turned back and forth. One moment he was looking at the ever-growing-smaller and still struggling Calhoun; the next, looking in the direction the train was heading, southbound towards where the guard dog of his petshop apparently was...

"The pet shop is depending on you to find him, Felix!" The corgi screamed at himself, nearly enough to cause him to back up on the train- only to instantly feel his gut stabbing at him.

But that doberman needs you more! His mind started to argue forcefully, making him take a hesitant step forward. Even if you can't save her, it's your duty to protect her!

Feeling himself starting to heave, Felix allowed his eyes to narrow and his teeth grit together. His ears now plastered up against his head, he dug his claws a little deeper into the platform.

Now get ahold of yourself and go save her- and that's an order!!!

Holding his head up courageously high, Felix decided right then and there a crucial fact.

He was not about to ignore his gut and mind again.