Chapter 12
Bright lights flashed everywhere. Bolt looked around. He was in a room with no windows. He realized that there was an oxygen mask over his muzzle.
He could hear his own raspy breath. He was finding it hard to breathe.
He looked down. His leg was in a cast. It was hurting bad.
He looked at the machines on either side of him. There were a lot of them.
Bolt laid back and groaned. He sat there, wheezing.
Penny was crying with her face in her pillow. Her mother tried to comfort her but there was little she could say.
Mittens sighed. "After all that. We went all the way to Vegas to get him back. And now he's dying."
Rhino shook his head. "He's not dying."
"All because of me. He had to push me out of the way of that car. I mean…that's good, just…the him getting hit part."
"He's not dying." Rhino repeated.
"I just…I wish he had gotten his memory back sooner. I mean…now he has to die? It's ridiculous."
"It's ridonkulous! He's not dying."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Mittens asked.
"Because he's not dying." Rhino said calmly.
Mittens rolled her eyes. "And you know that…how?"
"He's Bolt. He is…immortal."
Mittens snorted. "Not when faced with the greatest enemy of all. American automobiles."
The phone rang. Penny's mother went to pick it up.
The family crowded into the room. Bolt was lying in the bed, asleep but out of his coma. His breathing sounded awful. With each breath came a wheeze.
Penny touched her dog on the head. "I thought I lost you Bolty."
She embraced her twice missing dog.
Penny stayed at Bolt's side for a long time that night. Bolt remained asleep.
She patted Bolt on the head.
The dog's eyes snapped open.
"Bolty?" Bolt barked softly in response. Penny hugged the dog. Despite all the pain, Bolt managed a smile.
In another room the veterinarian spoke to Penny's mother.
"He's in bad shape ma'am. He's got a broken leg and cracked ribs."
"But he's out of the coma. He's gonna live right?"
The veterinarian sighed. "Possibly not. The accident…it damaged one of his lungs. You may have noticed the wheezing. If we don't do surgery he will die."
Penny's mother gasped. "How much will the surgery cost?"
Penny's mother walked into the room with Penny and Bolt.
She informed her daughter of what the vet had told her.
"So can we afford it?" Penny asked.
"Yes. We're just gonna need to…cut back on spending a bit."
"So can I stay with him?"
Penny's mother shook her head. "You have the final exam's tomorrow. You need your sleep."
"C'mon mom! Which is more important?"
Her mother sighed. "Quite frankly…the exams. Now let's go."
Bolt watched the two leave. Suddenly he became aware of a rolling sound.
"Rhino?"
There was a squeaky giggling sound.
"Rhino I know it's you. Come on."
Rhino jumped onto the bed. "How did you know?"
"I know you Rhino." Bolt said. "And where is my lovely cat friend?"
"Right here wags." A familiar voice called. "And I think lovely was a bit over the top."
Bolt sniggered. "So when can I get up?"
Mittens and Rhino looked at each other. "Uh…you're gonna have…surgery." Mittens said.
"What's surgery?"
"Well it's…"
Rhino interrupted. "It's where they take a knife and slice you open! Then they do stuff to your insides!"
A look of terror appeared on Bolt's face. "They're gonna slice me open?"
"Yeah! With a big knife!"
Bolt whimpered slightly. "Is it okay if I'm freaked out by this?"
Rhino was about to respond when Mittens kindly shoved him aside.
"Listen wags. You don't have anything to worry about. Penny had one of these to take out her appendix…"
Mittens stopped, seeing that Bolt was looking even more terrified.
The cat sighed. "Okay. Do you feel like it's hard to breath?"
Bolt looked around with and expression of someone looking for a parasite.
"I am feeling a bit of tightness. Did surgery do that?"
Mittens sighed. "Listen. You have a…how do I explain this to a big baby? You have a big boo boo on your lung. It's going to kill you. But if they, as Rhino so colorfully described, slice you open, they can fix it and you will live. You want to live right?"
Bolt nodded, still wide eyed.
There was a silence between the three animals.
Rhino finally spoke up. "However if they screw up…"
Bolt fainted.
Penny got up early the next morning. She got on the bus after eating half of a breakfast, ready for her final exam.
She walked into the classroom, filled with half awake teenagers.
There was a long period of waiting and then the exam was passed out.
They were halfway through when the ground shook.
Everyone including Penny looked around. It was an earthquake. But a small one. The ground stopped shaking.
"Welcome to California." The teacher joked.
Suddenly there was another tremor. This one was more violent.
There was an evacuation alarm. Then an even more violent tremor.
The school building was old. It was eighty years old to be exact, not counting retrofitting.
Suddenly the roof collapsed. Penny screamed as she was thrown to the ground.
Bolt was jerked awake. So were the sleeping cat and hamster.
The building was shaking violently. Suddenly there was a groan and the lights went out. The power was gone.
Bolt looked around. "What?"
"It must have been an earthquake." Rhino said.
"Finally you say something that makes sense." Mittens said.
"An earthquake caused by Dr. Calico's undersea drill." Rhino finished.
Mittens rolled her eyes. "Hamsters."
Suddenly there was a humming sound and the lights came back. Emergency generators.
"Well that was fun." Bolt said.
One of the vets turned on the TV. Reports came flooding in about statewide power outages.
Penny opened her eyes. She was pinned under a section of the roof. She looked around.
The room was empty. Everyone had evacuated.
"Hello! Is anybody there?!"
No answer.
Bolt looked at the TV. The vet changed it to a local Hollywood channel.
"Right now no major buildings have come down, however we do have news that the Quentin Tarantino Middle School has been heavily damaged. Luckily all students have been evacuated. Actually…breaking news. One teenage girl is still unaccounted for."
Mittens turned to Bolt's bed. She gasped.
It was empty. Bolt was gone.