Chapter 6
Mittens observed the blood splatter.
"He was hit by a car." Rhino announced.
"How do you know?" Mittens asked.
"Think about it. He disappeared in the morning. Cars headed for work. If they're late they go fast. He was in the road and he was hit. Fast."
Mittens paused, staring at the proud hamster. "You know…you're quite a detective. Good job."
Rhino saluted. "Shall we find the stricken dog?"
Mittens smiled. "Yeah. Just hope he isn't too stricken."
Bolt stared at his reflection in a store window. "Wow. I look good."
Garcia rolled his eyes. "Yep. You're a TV star."
Bolt shrugged. "Maybe this is like a mid life crisis and I'll change."
"You think you'll be able to find you're home there?"
"It's on my collar. Unless they moved it's unlikely."
Garcia nodded. "You realize that you have a bruise the size of a golf ball on your head."
"Yeah."
"Do you remember how you got it?"
Bolt shook his head. "I was in a pet carrier. I was bleeding all over myself. And...I ran away at the first chance. Ended up here."
Garcia was about to speak when he noticed a truck pull up. Ohio State Animal Control.
"Uh Bolty? I'd love to talk more about you're past but we have trouble."
Bolt saw the truck and grimaced. "Yeah, we should go."
He began padding in the opposite direction. Garcia followed.
Suddenly there was a large man in front of them.
"I'm too young!" Garcia shouted. In seconds the two animals were in the back of the truck.
The truck bumped along the road. Bolt and Garcia were in seperate containment cells.
Garcia was lazily bashing his head into the door. Bolt was putting every muscle of his body into trying to open his door.
Bolt sighed. "Stupid door. WHY-WON'T-YOU-BREAK?!" He said, punching with each word.
"It's a solid metal door. You're an amnesiac mutt. It won't freakin break." Garcia said.
"You seem calm."
"Calm? You know what happens in these places? They go for the handsome ones. The ones like you. But ones like me? We never make it out."
Garcia was no longer calm. "This vacation sucks."
Bolt and Garcia were put into seperate rooms. One for cats, one for dogs.
Bolt growled as the man carried him in.
The man placed the dog into the dog cage and closed the door. He stared at the dog and frowned.
"I know you."
Bolt rolled his eyes. "More TV star crap."
The man's eyes widened. "You were in here before! With that black cat! You're the one who blew up Ester's truck!"
Bolt frowned. "What?"
The man turned and exited the room.
The other dogs stared at Bolt. "What are ya in for?"
Bolt shrugged. "Being a dog on the street at a certain time."
The brown dog growled. He was big. He got up and advanced on Bolt.
"No crap. That's what we're all in for. What are you really in for?"
Bolt frowned. "What do you mean?"
The dog chuckled. "Kill anyone? Piss on somebody's lawn? Stuff like that?"
Bolt shook his head. "No. I'm innocent."
"We're all innocent. But I didn't ask you what you didn't do. I asked you what you did."
Bolt frowned. "What?"
"You told me what you didn't do. I want to know what you did do."
Bolt shook his head. "I didn't do anything."
The dog slammed his paw on the floor of the cage. Bolt jumped.
"Now you have to have done something. How old are you?"
"I have no idea."
The dog laughed. "He doesn't know!" He turned to the other dogs who laughed out of fear.
He stopped laughing. "What are you a friggin retard?"
Bolt shrugged. "Who knows?"
The dog growled.
The man was explaining the situation to the other workers when he heard snarling from the dog cage.
He walked into the room. There was a badly beaten brown dog in the corner of the cage.
Bolt was staring up innocently at the man. "He started it."
Bolt was shoved into a private cage with the cats. Good. Now he was closer to Garcia.
The man walked out.
"Hey! Garcia!" Bolt hissed under his breath.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I beat up a dog." Bolt said calmly.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Garcia snarled.
Bolt shook his head. "Never mind that. Listen. I've been here before. The guard recognized me."
Garcia's jaw dropped. "You honestly think I care about that right now. We have to get out of here. Then we can talk about your life."
Bolt looked at the lock. He recognized it.
Suddenly a memory came racing back to him. He had opened this door before. From the outside. But this couldn't be much different.
He reached his paw out of the bars and began prying at the door. Just slide the latch and the door would open.
It worked. He pushed the door open.
Garcia was watching him from his cell. "Bolt! Get me out!"
Bolt smiled. "Garcia. You haven't been very nice to me lately."
Garcia laughed nervously. "I'm helping you get home. Don't let me die here, come on."
Bolt shrugged. "Okay. But be nice."
He reached up and unlatched the door. Garcia jumped out.
"Ah! Freedom!"
Bolt looked around. The other cages seemed to all be empty.
"Not much business, killing cats?"
He padded into the dog cage area.
"Bolt?" One of the dogs asked. "Let us out!"
Bolt smiled. "I'm just the new guy. I can't do that."
The dog's eyes pleaded with Bolt.
"Oh what the hell? That dog face gets me."
He unlatched the door. The dogs mobbed out and into the hallway.
"So much for stealth." Bolt said.
Suddenly someone grabbed his neck. It was the big brown dog. He was beaten up. And he was mad.
"I'm gonna bash your pretty boy face in."
Bolt kicked him in the stomach and ran. Garcia ran too.
The guards were aware of a rumble coming from the hallway.
"Oh crap."
The dogs came storming in. Lloyd got in front of the door to block. Then he became aware of the raw force of the approaching dogs.
He screamed. The dogs stampeded past, and over him.
Bolt looked back. The big brown dog was catching up. He accelerated and put some distance between himself and his pursuer.
"Garcia! You see anything?"
Garcia noticed a bus stop coming up.
There was a bus seconds from pulling in. He grabbed Garcia by the neck and rushed across the street.
The dog glared at his targets. They had reached the bus stop. The bus slid into a stop. They were hidden.
The bus was there for only a moment. Then it pulled away. Bolt and Garcia were gone.
Bolt laughed triumphantly. He and Garcia had stowed away in the luggage compartments.
He looked at Garcia. He was glaring at him angrily.
"What?" Bolt asked innocently.
"You hurt my neck." He hissed. "Why does everything you touch hurt?"
Bolt shrugged. "Maybe I'm a mafia dog. Like a hitdog or something."
Garcia arched an eyebrow. "Really. Cause you would be good at it."
Bolt closed his eyes. "If that's what I am, then I'll thank you later."
Garcia sighed. He laid down on the floor of the bus.
"What do you do for a living Garcia?" Bolt asked.
"I used to be a…legitimate businessman."
"You were in the mob?" Bolt frowned. "Do the cats even have a mob?"
Garcia shuddered. "It's basically a bunch of big cats who tell everyone else what to do. They just call it a mob because there freakin morons.I had started a family. I needed to keep them safe. Cats in the neighborhood…thinking they were superior to everyone else."
He paused. "I was younger. I was stupider. I was desperate. I joined them."
"And?" Bolt asked curiously.
Garcia chuckled. "I was approached by the boss one day. He tells me I'm such a friggin moron that he can't keep me on. I was so scared. Usually when your usefulness is at an end you end up at the bottom of the river.
Well I was lucky. He knew my father so he let me live. He gave my family protection."
"And was that the last you heard from them?" Bolt asked.
Garcia nodded. "A while later I heard that one cat had padded into another cats territory. The gang split apart and killed each other. There are maybe…three or four of them left."
"Geeze. Got out at the right time then?"
Garcia nodded. "But you know...I don't want to be seen as one of those stray criminal cats. I'm a family feline."
"Where is this bus headed anyway?" Bolt asked, looking around.
"Who knows? We could be heading to friggin Japan for all I know."
Bolt calmly opened the compartment door.
The bus was speeding down a highway. Wind immediately began rushing at the two animals. "Shut the door you moron!"
Bolt slammed the door closed. "We're in Indiana."
Garcia chuckled. "Every time I start to warm up to you, you do something stupid."
"How about the Challenger? Why did you have to open the trunk? We had a ride to California!"
Garcia sighed. "I'm going to sleep. You are free to insult me while I'm asleep."
Bolt rolled his eyes. "Cats." He lay down and slept.