Chapter 3

"Mama, where am I going?" said Ethan who was asking a question to his mother in the middle of the afternoon where they were going with farmer Wilson and his father Baron, standing on the side of the road that lead them to their home, as leafs that were once bright green in the season of spring and summer were now orange and brown as they were slowly falling off from the trees and scattering across the ground.

October 4, 1915 Canada, Ontario

Today was the day Ethan would be adopted into the service of the military of the British empire and her commonwealth nations, during the summer of 1915, the rest of the pups in the litter of Baron and Cali were all adopted a few days after the meeting with the Major Tremblay and Lieutenant Lee except for Ethan as he was left with the family, during the season he went out hunting with his parents along with farmer Wilson and his son Michael, as well did some chores such as herding sheep and protecting stock from wild animals as well with running in the fields, in that time span Ethan's body started to grow as he was maturing through the months, his body was medium size compared to an adult labrador dog like his mother and father.

"You are going to be adopted into the military Ethan, but I am sure you will be fine." said Cali as she was a bit concerned with him being used for the war effort but fret not too much as she knew he would be treated well by his handlers.

"The Military? Is that what those men in uniform were?" said Ethan as he still had that red collar with that brass leaf tag around his neck as he remembered the day when two men in uniform came into his owner's property to see if one of the pups in the litter would be of good use in service.

"Yes, and I am sure you will do fine Ethan, I would listen to your mother." said Baron agreeing with Cali.

"Fine? What do you mean?" said Ethan turning his head towards his father as he was questioning his parents of why he was being adopted into the military instead of a family where he would protect stocks and hunting animals for their suppers.

"Son, there has been a war going on for a year, I believe . . . haven't you heard from our master about his two eldest sons?" said Baron as he answered his son now asking questions to his son as he said back "Well yeah but . . . I don't know them that much other than mom mentioning they were enlisted for something and the master sometimes read those letters privately or I didn't pay attention when focusing on other stuff."

"You weren't born yet when they were here. Last year during the summer we heard news that war had broken out between the Central powers and the Allied nations, the country we live in is part of the commonwealth of the British Empire, Wilson's sons . . . who were old enough to enlist for the military, and they are probably now fighting in a place called Europe." said Cali explaining what she knows of what's going on in the world.

"Europe? . . . where is it and how did this war happen in the first place?" said Ethan as he was asking questions again as he was a bit confused as Cali then answered his questions.

"We don't know that much of Europe, we . . . have only heard of it being far away across the ocean of what the humans call it, the Atlantic, and the war was somehow started when a foreign man assassinated some royal figure of a foreign country that was a member of the central powers and the assassin was part of a claimed terrorist group that worked with the country's government that was being occupied of the royal figure's country, it's very complicated to understand other than the fact being a war between groups of nations that hate each other." She explained with discontent with the way things are going on in the world, she had gotten this bit of information from the newspapers mr. Wilson reads form, as her son asking another question.

"Then when will it end then?" said Ethan wondering if the war would somehow end tomorrow so he wouldn't have to get involved in it, as his father would answer his question. "We don't know yet son, last year we heard from our master Wilson and his wife reading letters from the front lines where their two eldest sons would be staying, saying that they would be back before christmas when the war was over or when they thought because they haven't come back to visit, practically it would be soon be a year we haven't seen them and the longer this war takes, the much more the casualties stack up." said Baron explaining that wars can last longer in years and don't just end overnight, and when Baron mentioned casualties, Ethan was figuring out what he meant.

"Casualties? Do you mean th-" said Ethan as he was then interrupted by the sound of an engine of a automobile car in the distance, the vehicle pulled over by the road on the side where farmer Wilson and his dogs were standing, two men in uniform came out of the automobile, the same men that came and chose Ethan for service back in the month of June.

"Hello their Major Tremblay." said Framer Wilson greeting the men in uniform again after five months not hearing from them.

"Bonjour encore Mr. Wilson, how has the dog been doing these few months?" said Major Tremblay replying back to Framer Wilson's greetings.

"Oh please, call me Oliver, but anyways Ethan here has been doing well as you can tell, he has grown quite bigger I'll say." said Oliver Wilson as he pointed towards Ethan as the young chocolate lab still had that red collar with the brass leaf as the dog tag, Major Tremblay was quite amazed to see the pup has now grown up to be almost adult size dog as he examine him closely walking up to him.

"Hmmm, yes . . . almost a big dog in a few more months from now which is good, however . . . I want to see if he can obey some commands, you wouldn't mind showing me yes?" said Major Tremblay as he stood up to look as Oliver in the eyes, Oliver replied back to his question, "Yes of course I will show you, let's do it on an open field where we can demonstrate." he said as the three men and the three dogs moved to the open field where there was grass everywhere as well as a stream of a river, Oliver Wilson had some two items with him, a rolled up newspaper of the Globe which had news guidelines of the war going on in Europe along with other stuff in Canada and the other a bone that dogs chew on.

"I'll throw the newspaper first," said Oliver Wilson as he grabbed out the newspaper and gave attention to Ethan. "Here Ethan . . . Fetch!" Oliver then threw the newspaper about 10 feet or 3 meters away from him, following Oliver Wilson's command Ethan ran faster to get the newspaper and bring it back to him, his legs sprang forth to the newspaper, picked it up with his maw and back to where Oliver was, as Oliver threw the newspaper, Major Tremblay checked the time calculating on how long it would take for the Lab dog to retrieve the item and bring it back to his master who was in command of him.

"That was 13 seconds," said the Major. as Ethan returned with the newspaper in his maw to Oliver. "Very good timing, have you trained him very well?" said the Major again asking a question to Oliver, "Well, yes we have been, watch him go for the dog bone as I throw it over that river." said Oliver as he threw the other item on the other side of the river where there was dry land, Ethan like before sprint forward to retrieve the bone, he then jumped into the river stream with a splash, luckily the river stream wasn't going wild and he dog paddled to get to dry land to retrieve the bone and paddled back to the other side where everybody was there.

"About 20 seconds, not bad for a retriever I'll say." said Major. Tremblay giving credit to Oliver for his training with Ethan, "Thanks, we have been doing this routine for over the summer and Ethan has become a very obedient dog." said Oliver Wilson as he petted Ethan on the head and rubbed his ears with his fingers that felt good for Ethan as his tail was wagging like crazy.

"Can you throw the newspaper again like you did, I want to time it again." said Major. Tremblay asking a request to Oliver Wilson, as Wilson replied back with a "Sure thing." as he threw the newspaper again towards the open field but this time the Major. grabbed something out of his concealed strap by his side, in his right hand was a dark metal rectangle with a brown wooden handle at the bottom and backside of the object and was pointing at the open field where Ethan was running towards the newspaper.

Oliver and all the three dogs out there didn't know what was going on until there was a loud noise like a thunderous clap.

*BANG!*

As Ethan was grabbing the newspaper with his maw, a bullet was coming right at him with a Buzzing noise that hitted 10 inches away from him with a Sting on the ground as both noises shocked Ethan resulted in a yelp and jumped, exactly the right time Major. Tremblay fired his firearm which was an American-issue colt M1911 pistol, Baron and Cali barked and growled with hostility and anger towards the major who was pointing the gun at Ethan's direction and Oliver who was shocked with the noise from the firearm with his ear ringing, he then turned his head toward Major. Tremblay with a disgusted look on his face as he was displeased with the major for what looked like an attempt killing of his dog being shot from him.

"Are you mad! What was that for!" complained Oliver. "Is this how you treat dogs like that?" Oliver said again.

"I am sorry about that, and yes, we do intend to do that with the dogs in service." said Major. Tremblay as he was pointing his pistol down, to explain how dogs are trained in the military. "You see here dogs are going to be sent into the frontlines whether their roles is to be a guard dog, patrol or scout dog, mercy dog and messenger dog, they will encounter some firefights on duty, like soldiers they need to be trained to be prepared for what awaits them on the front lines." said the Major explaining the details of what dogs must go through and the requirements of the process, Ethan hearing all of this was a little bit shocked that dogs like him are being treated like this and is a little bit afraid of what war is like as he has never knew what it really was like, even though he had heard gunfire before when hunting with Oliver and his son during the rest of the summer as Oliver was about to explain.

"Well you could have told me if he had any experience with the sound of guns shooting as we went on hunting." said Oliver as he calmed down abit.

"Sorry mr. Wilson, I tried to tell Major. Tremblay that it sounded like a bad idea to just fire your gun at a dog's direction." said Lieutenant Lee explaining that he didn't like the idea either as the major opened his mouth again.

"But, I am just too stubborn to see how everyone can operate as a soldier in times when the unexpected is bound to happen." said the Major. With all said and done they took Ethan with them to the car to head back to the military headquarters in Quebec and be ship down to Britain to go under training before Ethan said his good-byes to his parents.

"Mom, Dad what if I don't want to go?!" he said in a panic tone as he thought of the details explained from the major Tremblay. As he was worried about what awaits for him.

"Son, there is nothing we can do, otherwise the master wouldn't be happy with us if we just bite the Major in the butt for what he did." said Baron as Ethan again made a complaint saying "But what if I don't see you guys again?" he whined to his parents as he was getting in the car and had his head and paws over the door of the car as if he was about to jump out in refusal to go with the men, his mother calmed him down for comfort.

"Ethan, we know it's very hard for you in the state of what's going on, but no matter what happens, we will see eachother again, either in this life or the next, we know you can get through this, as you were brave enough to face that bear while protecting Michael from harm." said Cali as Ethan remembered back when he protected Michael when he and the farmer's son got lost in the wilderness for two days, it gave him confidence that he would make it out alive if, no matter what was coming at him.

"Okay . . . Goodbye Mom and Dad, I love you." he said to his parents as his parents said back to him "We know sweetheart, we love you too." said Cali again as a tear came down from her eye as the car engine started up and Oliver came over to talk to Ethan for the last time.

"Thank you Ethan for protecting my son, I hope you know that even if we may not understand each other, perhaps you can meet my sons Adam and John give them protection or company if you like, I'll be sure to send them a letter mentioning you, good bye." as he petted him on the head and backed away from the car as it was being driving by Major. Tremblay and Lieutenant Lee sitting in the passenger seat holding Ethan by the leash, the car pulled over and turn back into the opposite direction, Ethan had his head looking over the road where his parents and his former owner were as he then lost sight of them in the distance.

Ethan hung his head low as he felt bitter sadness as he might not see his parents again even if he might make it, but he knew that it would be time for him to be adopted, just not the way it happened but must get over it and accept this new life even if there would be uncertainty ahead.

Ethan had woken up to find himself in a cage in a room filled with other dogs in cages as well, he felt a little bit of motion sickness as the room felt like it was bobbing up and down, where were they going to taken him?

October 13, 1915, amidst in the Atlantic ocean.

'BARK' 'BARK' BARK' BARK!'

The room smelled of metal, wood, and a mix of that tobacco smell as well as the cold breeze of the sea coming from a round window, he was in a lower shelf of rows of cages filled with dogs of all sorts of breeds such as Labrador Retrievers like himself including other breeds like other Retrievers, Terriers, Newfoundlands, Leonbergers, and Elkhounds, most of whom were males while there was a few females here and there, most of them were still asleep while others were awake as they were whining or barking.

"HEY! Where are we? And where are we going?!" shouted Ethan as he had so many questions, one of the dogs in the cages replied back to him. "Beats to me son, at least where we are, we are on a ship." said an old Leonberger who was about 4 years older, his cage was across a gape away from Ethan that assembled a pathway, uncertain where they are heading, another dog right next to his cage, a terrier with green eyes answered Ethan's question.

"We are heading to Great Britain." he said in an accent that was different.

"Great Britain? Is that . . . where the war is?" he said turning towards where the dog was in his cage, as he was wondering if they were just heading into the war so early.

"No lad, it is part of Europe and it is one of the most powerful empires in the world, I heard it from one of the humans before I came here." said the terrier again explaining everything to Ethan.

"We are going to be trained there for the war effort." he said in a excited tone as if they were going to embark on a great adventure.

"Whats got you so excited?" asked Ethan as if it was alright to be excited for going to war.

"My mother comes from that country as I am part Irish Terrier and Ireland is part of that country, by the way my name's Aidan, and yours bee?" said the Terrier as he introduce himself to Ethan.

"Uh . . . my name is Ethan, well I can understand that you are excited." Ethan replied back to Aidan answering his question as Aidan said back to Ethan. "Oh sure I am lad, I have heard stories that my mum told me about the country when I was just a pup, long ago." he said telling him about the whereabouts of Britain and Ireland.

"There is still is not much I know about the country because I haven't been there my entire life but all of us mutts here are going to see the sights and-"

*BBBBBRRRUUUUUU*

The sound of the ship's horn went off, signaling land oh as they heard a human shout out from the upper deck. "Well, it's about time we are almost there." said Aidan as Ethan said back to him.

As the ship was being docked on the ports of Glasgow as it took for hours for the cargo ship to go through the river stream into the city ports, Glasgow is to be know as one of the largest cities of Britain.

The dogs were then taken out of their cages where they were out of the ship by sailors and into the docks where they were then fed with their meals and drank from their water bowls, after they had their meals, they were then put back in the cages by men in uniforms who were there handlers that would place them in the trucks or as the military calls them Karriers.

Aidan and Ethan were of the last dogs to be place into the trucks by the handlers to leave off the Glasgow port at once and into the city that it was called, as Ethan and Aidan were the last dogs in their cages to be place into the truck along with the two handlers aboard, they get see the sights of the urban city and how it was different than the rural farmland to Ethan.

Union Jack flags were out waving back and forth to show citizens of the country who were patriotic supporting the troops for king and country they say.

People, most of whom were civilians, were off busy with their daily lives while there were men who wore black uniforms and helmets that had a comb like shape on top of their heads patrolling the streets keeping law and order to the city as Ethan and all the dogs in the military truck pass by from street to street.

They saw many civilians were in outside restaurants enjoying their meals, and cups of tea and waiters gave out their orders while either of them having conversations with one another or just reading a newspaper that showed news reports of what was going on in the war, they spotted a boy who was of 13 years older wearing a woolen jacket and wearing a brown flat cap hat on his head was carrying a newspaper called the daily telegraph that read about the war in europe and all over the world.

As they pass by 10 blocks of the streets, Ethan spotted what appears to be an industrial factory with with big rows of buildings and what appeared to be big chimes where smoke was coming out of.

Ethan heard one of the handlers speaking to each other about the factories. "Is that where they make our equipment, sir?" said one of the handlers who sounded like a young man in his late teen years and early twenties.

While both of them had a distinctive accent then people like Major. Tremblay have yet different between each other. "Yes, yee be right lad, they also make weapons and ammunition for all of us as well, the pounds the government collects from the taxes and war bonds go into those factories so that we all have our equipment we need to defeat the huns, and their central power allies." said the other handler who was older than the young man asking the question.

"Well then, I hope the war doesn't end yet, I always wanted to come and visit parts of Europe and maybe even the world." said the young man again as he has ambitions to see the world before the older man replied back to him.

"Sure ya can lad, and hopefully we will get to pull back the huns to where they came from. Ay, have ya heard the news from the frontlines or the press?" he said asking the young man about the news of current events from which he replied back with a "Uh. . . no?" he said dumbfounded as he was clueless of the subject at hand.

"Well laddy, the huns are at it again." the other handler said as the young man asked him of what does he mean? "Did you mean the Germans already have conquered Paris?" The young handler said guessing at his best as the other handler immediately said back.

"No laddy, they have killed one of red cross nurses at Brussels yesterday, a woman named Edith Cavell, she was one our nurses helping our comrades and brothers in arms as well as helping them escape from enemy lines until she was discovered by the Germans, and then they executed her for crimes of helping our boys escape." the older handler explained everything he knew of the event to the young man, or what he thought he knew as the media is treating the execution of Edith Cavell as propaganda as truth be told, she too nursed the wounded soldiers on both sides of the war and didn't show resentment to her executioners.

"Good lord, we have to better to put a stop on those Germans from doing such atrocities." replied the young man as they continued on discussing about the war going on, Ethan wondered if the Germans were really that savage as every human being he has been around with says so.

And he would have thought of will he go out to kill Germans? Surely not as dogs like him were being used for other services but what if it does come down to it, would he?

As they pass on Ethan and Aidan saw some propaganda posters, one of which had what appeared to be a human, male to be precise with a a big mustache and a white cap on top of his head, he had an arm and hand pointing out towards the direction of where you would be standing in front of the poster if you were there, with words in the language the humans call english saying "Britons "wants you" join your country's army! God save the king" like all the other posters he had seen back at home the day before he was shipped off.

He also remembered he had seen a poster like this but different, which had the images of lions, where there was one lion with a big main that was the alpha male of the group of lions, and others were of four beta lionesses.

Three hours later

Along the way down to the south of the country, Ethan and all the dogs in their cages rested as there was nothing else to do but looking at the farmland and urban sights of the city or hear what the humans were saying mostly about their lives or about the war, the truck had stopped for a moment, and with that Ethan had woken up opening his brown eyes, hearing some humans which were the ones in the front seat speaking with another human checking in on them, after that, the truck passed in which was an entrance of a gate where there was another human in uniform like all the others were only he was wearing what appeared to be a dish hat on him as well there were fences across the land, that stand as barriers, so that nobody would get in, only the personnel that was of service to the military or the government can get in, as the truck drove into the fields where there was a facility.

"Hey Ethan, do you hear that?" said Aidan as they started to hear what appeared to be barking going on.

"Yeah, is this it?" said Ethan as the truck parked in while the handlers stood up and open the plank wood that blocks the cages from spilling out behind the truck.

Ethan and Aidan were then out of their cages when the men in uniform brought them out, they were then lead by the handlers to the open fields of grass where there were they had opticals and a great view of the english channel, the total of dogs present where up to fifty dogs which was considered a handful, the place was known as Shoeburyness, Ethan and Aidan were then put in a fence kennel where there were other dogs in it.

"Well, this place isn't so bad at all." said Aidan as he kept calm with the other dogs until one of the dogs in the other kennels were growling viciously to each other than having a bit of a dog fight going on, luckily a few of the uniformed men came into the kennel and stopped the fight with their dog snatcher poles before any dog was injured.

"You can say that again." said a feminine voice with an accent that sounded like the humans that live in this country as well it sounded elegant, Ethan and Aidan turned their head towards the dog that said that and it was revealed to be a female dog with black and white fur all around her and was fluffy but not too much, she had a black mask that was covering the right side of her face and eye where it is and on the other side of her face all of it was all in white as she had the standards of the breed of dog she was known as and had light blueish eyes.

"And who might you be miss?" said Aidan as he greeted her when she replied back. "My name is Amity, I am a Border Collie, and what might you two be form?" said the dog revealing her name, and then asked the two dogs of their names and where they came from.

"My name is Ethan, and I come from Canada." said Ethan answering her question while Aidan did the same after. "Names Aidan, and I to come from Canada, but my mother and father had come from Ireland before I was even born."

Ethan then asked Amity a question about her. "By the way how long have you been here, and what was your life like before the Military came and took you away from your family?" he said where Amity then answered.

"I was born up in the north of England were Scotland and Britain meet in the border, that's where the name of my breed of dog comes from," she said continuing on with her background.

"I was born into a litter of pups six months ago in a farm where my mother and father worked herding sheep, I was put in here a three days ago when the humans took me, when . . I -I arrived here, they put me into an operation so that I can be fixed and they put me here for my recovering from it." she said as her mood turned from greeting new dogs in a friendly way to distraught. "What do you mean?" said Ethan as he was curious if all the other dogs like him and Aidan were going into an operation before being trained.

"It means I can't have any pups of my own when I am mates with someone, they do it so that no dogs who are working with the humans in this war cannot carrying any pups as it would require a lot of resources in the field to do so and . . . It was something that I too wanted to have pups, but now it looks like I'll never get that chance." she sighs and then continued on. "You two will have to get fixed as well as the others, it's just that they haven't had enough time to do that for you two." she said and Ethan then said back to her.

"Well . . . I am sorry about, but I think you won't be alone if you have enough friends like us, right?" said Ethan trying to brighten things up a bit for Amity which did help.

"Well . . . thanks I would really like that since I don't know much of these dogs as some of them just come across the country or other commonwealth countries." she said back before continuing on, "but will we even survive this war?" she said to Ethan in which he replied back.

"Well uh . . . I know things are pretty unsettling for me as well and wish this war would already be over with, so that we can live in with a family, but we can't just lose hope with the way things are going, is that right Aidan?" he said trying to look on the bright side of things as he turned his head back towards Aidan where he said back.

"Oh, sure thing lad, being all doom and gloom won't make things better for us in the long run." said Aidan as he agreed with Ethan and this social conversation and lead to gaining new friends in bonding relationships.

*BARK!*

It wasn't until a dog barked loudly to get all the dogs attention in their kennels Including Ethan Aidan and Amity.

"LISTEN UP HERE, ALL OF YOU BITCHES AND MUTTS." barked an English Bulldog sitting on a wooden crate, so that the dogs would see where he was, he spoke in an accent similar to the older handler that on was on the truck with Ethan and Aidan were in being transported to side of the country and his tone was much more harsh and authoritative as he continued to speak.

"Welcome to Shoeburyness, the first dog training school experiment, You have been selected here as the British army's first experimentally service dogs, I am sir Caddock, your drill instructor and don't take me as your friend as I am going to be harsh on you so that you be prepared for what's coming, each of you will serve a role whether it be messenger dog, mercy dog, scout dog, sentry dog or guard dog, when you ready to be sent to the frontlines, you will be faced with an enemy who does not care about the lives of others, as many of you have heard the rumors from the humans we serve with, it is our duty to serve our humans as they serve Great Britain and her commonwealth nation subjects, we will begin our daily routine in 0600 hours that is all." said the english bulldog as he step down from the crate as he was done with his speech.

Ethan and his friends were to be trained in the morning, they will no longer be dogs living the simple life of a house dog or frame dogs as they would trained like soldiers.

"Ethan . . . Ethan." said a feminine voice, Ethan then found himself laying on a wooden floor, he blinked his eyes open to focus on his surroundings to see that hay was everywhere on the floor and looked up to see two dogs that was his parents.

"Mom, Dad?" said Ethan as he was waking up too see that he must have been back home and it was all just a dream.

"Oliver's children are outside Ethan, won't you like to come play with them?" said Cali telling him of what was all the laughing of children were coming from the outside.

"Wait! Wasn't there a-" said Ethan as he was cut out from his father Baron answering his would be question.

"The war just ended six weeks ago, Ethan." said Baron as he continued on. "Matter of fact, Adam and John are here as well, they are just having a conversation with their Pa." he finished.

Ethan, as he was a bit turned off and confused but he accepted it as he was in a good mood to play with the children out in the fields as it was a beautiful day as the grass was green like never before and the birds were chirping like singing a song and sun was bright.

It must have been an alternative reality of that the war was still going on and this reality is so pleasant that Ethan thought that it was real to him.

*KA-BOOOOM!*

It wasn't until he had seen an explosion go off at the farm shed, another went off right where he was in the field.

He then woke up from his dream to see that it was nighttime and he was in the kennel with Aidan and Amity who were just sleeping peacefully seconds ago until they woke up to hear the noise of explosions going on as it woken up all the dogs in their kennels, they wondered what was going on if the war had suddenly come to England.

BOOM! BOOM!

They turn their heads to the direction of the sound going on which was at the direction of the open fields and what revealed to them was fire going on in the distance, the fire was so bright that it emitted a glow of light that brighten the sky a bit and gave out an outline of a shape of cone cylinder on its vertical side about the fires going on.

"I have heard of those, they're called Zeppelins, one of the humans said that the Germans use them for strategic bombing and I think where they are bombing is . . . London." said Amity as the dogs watched the show going on in the distance.

Clearly what they are indeed facing off against an enemy who doesn't have regardless for life and they, the dogs would be helping the allies in their effort of facing them.

Happy Veterans day/ Armistice day / Remembrance day, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter here folks, I was originally going to publish this chapter on Battlefield 1's release day, but things were in the way and so Veterans day would have to do, anyways I hear by that the final chapter to this story would be publish at the end of 2019 or some where around that time, we will see how things will go by in the mean time I am going to take a break from writing till January or February so enjoy this chapter if you will, and just to let you know that I am not portraying the Germans as war criminal brutes, you will get to see just how atrocious both sides of the war were like. Oh and I have taken the Liberty of changing Esther's name to Ethan.