The Story of a Lonely Wolf Chapter 19: Go Fish

"Good, I got the bleeding to stop," Sara said with a sigh of relief as she continued working on Toboe's neck. When she had first begun working she was getting all the dead and infected skin and muscle out of the body. He started bleeding badly and they were having a very hard time getting it to stop.

"Yeah, that is good. I thought we were going to lose him there for a minute," Drake replied as he worked on Toboe's chest. They wanted to get his neck and chest taking care of first because those were the most life threatening. Once they got him back to their office and stabilized him they would start on his front right leg.

"Man, he really got messed up," Sara replied as she flushed out the wounds with anti-bacterial fluid. "Whoever wanted him dead really must have hated him. A shredded neck, gunshot wounds to the left side of his chest, and right front leg. That's quite a lot of damage. He could be the worst I've ever seen."

"Yeah well, you haven't really seen much. You work at the office. People just bring their pets in to get checked out. You're not out on the streets like I am. You should see some of the animals out there, starved, shot, hit by car, sometimes all three. Toboe's case isn't much different from theirs."

"How can people do that to a dog? What did the dog ever do to them? Why do they have to treat them like that?" Sara asked getting a little angry, but still keeping her cool. She knew she couldn't work if she was mad. She had to be focused or she could really mess up something.

"Simple they are strays. People don't take kindly to stray dogs. They find them to be vicious and sometimes the animals are. But can you blame them? The people are so mean to them it's only natural that they would get angry and become vicious."

"Do they know that it is the humans who are making the animals vicious?" Sara asked as she looked over Toboe's neck again just to be sure she didn't miss anything.

"I don't think they do... and even if they did. I don't think they'd really care."

"How awful. Some people I swear," Sara replied.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. But you have to remember not all people are like that. Look at Cassi for example. Toboe isn't even her dog and she's paying for all this," Drake replied as he searched the area for the bullet. It really shouldn't have been that hard to find, but there was so much blood around that it was making it very hard to find.

"That's true. Thank God for Toboe that Hige found Cassi," Sara said as she began stitching up Toboe's neck. It was a big wound so it was going to take a lot of stitches and Toboe would probably be fitted with a cone so he couldn't scratch or lick the stitches, so they wouldn't get infected or pulled out.

"Yep," Drake replied as he continued searching Toboe's chest. "Bingo," he said after about 10 minutes of silence. "I found it and we were right about Toboe's breathing. The bullet had entered the left lung and the hole let the lung fill up with blood so no air could get in and that's why he was having so much trouble breathing."

"Well at least we found the problem," Sara replied.

"Yeah," Drake replied as he removed the bullet. "Hey, where is the machine? I'd like to suck out a lot of this blood. It will help Toboe greatly to be able to breathe normally again. I wonder why I never thought to use to suck the blood out while I was looking for the bullet?" Drake said while looking around the room with a little embarrassment on his face.

"Shoot, I forgot to bring it," Sara said with an 'oh crap' look on her face.

"How could you forget to bring it?" Drake asked looking over at Sara.

"I guess I just got caught up in the moment. You calling me, telling me I had to rush right over to save this dog. I just grabbed my purse and ran to the van. I didn't even think about anything else," she replied she was now very embarrassed.

"Oh well," Drake replied with a sigh and looked over at Toboe's brown face. "Sorry bud, but it looks like you'll have to deal with this till we get back to the office."

"Do you think he can make it over there?" Sara asked. She was new to the whole vet thing. She had just graduated collage and became a 'real' vet about two months ago so she was still learning new things. They taught her lots of things in collage, but there were some things she could only learn about while doing her job. Toboe was one of them.

"Yeah, he can make it back no problem. We stopped the bleeding so there won't be any more blood in his lung. He will be very uncomfortable, but I think he'll be ok."

"Good," Sara replied. She'd probably hate herself for a long time if Toboe died because she forgot the machine.

"Hey, do you think we should go see what's up?" Hige asked, "They've been in there for over an hour."

"No, leave them alone. They will come get us when they are done. It would be best not to bother them," Kiba replied as he watched Hige, Cassi, and Josh try to pass the time by playing a game of Go Fish.

"This game is really boring," Tsume said as he looked over Hige's shoulder. He wasn't playing. He'd never play a card game like Go Fish, but he figured watching was ok. It would give him something to do at least.

"Yeah, I know," Hige replied with a sigh, "But it's the only game Josh knows how to play."

"I'm surprised you know how to play, Porky," Tsume replied.

"Well, I didn't till a little while ago," Hige replied pretending he didn't hear the 'Porky' part of Tsume's statement.

"Yeah, mom and I taught him how to play," Josh said with a smile not taking his eyes off his cards.

"Would you like to play, Kiba?" Cassi asked looking up at Kiba who was leaning against the fridge. "It's not hard. I could teach you just like I did Hige."

"Umm no thanks. I think you, Hige, and Josh have the game mastered. I don't wan to slow you down any," Kiba replied. He didn't want to play a game like Go Fish either, but he wasn't going to be as rude as Tsume and say he wouldn't play because it was a five year olds game.

"Alright if that's what you want," Cassi replied as she eyed her cards.

"Looks like you're gonna lose again, Porky," Tsume said with a smirk. He didn't know if Hige was winning or not, he just like making Hige feel like he really was losing.

"Hey, I only lost six games and I've never played this before. Give me a break," Hige replied a little annoyed that he couldn't win.

"Hey, you and the kid bet right? Why not put that betting to good use and play a game like Poker instead of Go Fish?" Tsume asked. He didn't know how to play Poker, but he saw the people in his gang play it a few times and he knew it involved betting and it was a lot better then Go Fish.

"But I don't know how to play Poker," Josh said.

"Me either," Hige replied.

"What about you?" Tsume asked Cassi. "Do you know how to play?"

"Yes I do, but I'm not teaching my ten year old son to gamble. So forget the idea of Poker right now," Cassi replied.

"Awwww…" Josh said with a disappointed look on his face.

"Well what do we do then?" Tsume asked.

"Either play with them or sit and wait," Kiba replied.

"Yes," Cassi said in approval of Kiba's statement. "At least some men around here have some patience."

"I would have more patience if I didn't have to watch people play Go Fish," Tsume replied a little annoyed as he leaned against the wall. He was getting tired of looking over Hige's shoulder to see what he had because he already knew he was going to lose.

"If you don't want to play then you're just going to have to deal with it," Josh said to Tsume.

Tsume looked at Josh angrily and Hige almost dropped his cards in disbelief that Josh could say something like that to someone like Tsume. "Hey Josh," Hige said nervously.

"Yes?" Josh asked. He still hadn't looked up from his cards.

"You know you should really watch what you say and who you say it too," Hige replied.

"I do," Josh said.

"Well saying something like that to Tsume isn't really watching what you say…" Hige replied again.

"What do you mean?" Josh asked confused. "I watch what I say just fine. You told me Tsume acts tough, but he's really a big pushover… so why would I worry about saying something about him?"

At that moment Hige dropped his cards. They hit the table just as Hige felt his heart drop into his stomach and nervously and slowly looked up to see a very pissed off Tsume staring down at him. "It was just a joke."

"It was, was it…" Tsume asked angrily.

"Yes," Hige replied trying not to act scared.

"Scary or not, Josh. You shouldn't be rude to other people," Cassi said.

"Yeah, what she said… now, Tsume, let's not be rude... sit back down and relax…" Hige said hoping Tsume wouldn't loose what little temper he had left.

"Hmm…" Kiba said as he saw Cassi take a napkin off the nearby counter and a pen and dollar bill out of her pocket. What's she doing? Kiba wondered as he watched Cassi quickly scribble something on the napkin then pass it and the dollar bill under the table to Josh. She's hiding something from us, Kiba thought and walked over behind Josh to see what the napkin said.

"Huh?" Cassi said as she saw Josh had read the napkin and gave a small nod. "Well would you look at that!" she said and looked over the table and at Hige's cards. "Hey!" she yelled out just as Tsume was about to ring Hige's neck. Tsume could stand a lot of things, but one thing he couldn't stand was being downsized and he was about to show Hige just how much he hated it.

"What is it?" Kiba asked looking up from Josh to Cassi.

"Hey, Hige look!" Cassi said again.

"What?" Hige replied still staring up at Tsume.

"You won!"

"What?" Hige and Tsume both said in unison looking at her.

"Look, you won," Cassi repeated.

"I did?" Hige asked and looked down at his cards. "I did!"

"Awwww man…" Josh whined. "I didn't want him to beat me… six games... I had such a good thing going."

"Hey look Tsume, I won!" Hige said and looked up at Tsume very proud of himself.

"Did he really win?" Tsume asked. He had no idea how the game was played so he wouldn't know if Hige really won or not.

"Yes, he did," Cassi said happily. Good thing these guys don't really know how to play this game. If they knew how they'd see Hige lost again. They are really buying it as I hoped maybe this will save us all from Tsume's wrath, she thought to herself with a happy smile.

"Huh?" Kiba said as he looked over Josh's shoulder at a ten-dollar bill and the napkin with the scribbled words from Cassi on it.

Josh, this is going to get ugly. You and I both know Hige and Tsume can't play this game worth a darn. Here's ten dollars to say that Hige won so Tsume will get his mind off fighting with him.

"Oh I get it," Kiba said with a little smirk. This girl is good. Not only did she save Toboe from his wounds, but she saved Hige from Tsume, he thought to himself with a pleased smile.