Blossompaw's Escape
Part One: The Capture
"What was your life like before being captured? You mentioned you had twolegs," Blossompaw asked Chance. The dog let out a contemptuous snort.
"It doesn't concern you,"
"I'm curious," Blossompaw whined. Chance seemed to relax as his shoulders drooped.
"You sure are persistent. There isn't much to my story anyways. I just had owners, I lived in nice neighborhood, my twolegs had another dog too, her name was Via,"
The way Chance spoke about Via it was clear she meant more to him that simply another dog living in the same den.
"Do you miss your home?" she continued.
"Of course, but there was a reason I was captured by the white coats. I ran away from my home. Via came with me but she..." he stopped abruptly. His muscles tensed as he visibly searched for something to say. Blossompaw changed the subject because clearly he was uncomfortable.
"I had a dream last night, my father visited me. He told me not to give up so easily. There is something important I have to do, I think," she murmured. Chance blinked at her, waiting for her to continue. There was nothing left to say.
"The food pellets themselves were too soft to securely jam the hatch open, but if we found a harder object it might work," Sylvester pointed out. Mylph rolled her eyes.
"Tell me, Sylvester, do you see many objects that look hard and inconspicuous in our cages?" she sighed. Blossompaw frowned as the animals discussed various ideas for escape. After she had told them all about the dream sent to her by her father the idea of escape no longer seemed so far fetched. If Starclan had decided it was their destiny too escape, then they would find a way.
"What about the long needle?" Missy questioned.
"What long needle?" Talia barked in confusion. Blossompaw caught on to Missy's idea.
"The one they prick us with, the one that makes us sick? It might work, but how would we get a hold of it?" Blossompaw questioned. Missy shrugged at the obvious dilemma.
"I can get it for you. The white coat always sets the needle now to write her notes. I could hide it in my jaws," Chance offered.
"Be careful," Blossompaw cautioned. His single working eye gleamed at the prospect of danger. Even his blind eye seemed bright than normal. Blossompaw was still concerned, if the white coats caught him he could get hurt. Or if he pricked the inside of his mouth with the needle his sickness might get worse. His symptoms were only coughing right now, but Blossompaw new coughing could be deadly. The clan had lost many due to the lethal green cough.
"Be careful," she repeated. Chance understood what she meant and gave a slight nod. When the twolegs entered the room to collect the animals for the daily testing Chance made himself as noticeable as possible so he would be chosen. The male twolegs always selected animals that were noisy or moving. The female picked animals that cowered in fear. She was strange, and dangerous. Blossompaw suspected there was something not quite right in her mind.
"May Starclan light your path," Blossompaw called out to Chance as his cage door was opened. The white coat wrapped a leash around his neck and walked him to the labs. The door closed, locking the others inside to wait anxiously for the selected ones returns. Blossompaw felt queasy, and this time it wasn't because of the sickness. After what seemed like days of agony the door finally reopened. Chance was being walked in on the leash again, he kept stumbling every so often but other than that he seemed unscathed.
But did he get the object?
Once the twolegs had opened his cage Chance turned to face Blossompaw. He opened his jaws a spit out the metal thing with disgust. The other animals cheered at his success.
"This better work cause I ain't doin that again," he grumbled while keeping it hidden from the unsuspecting white coats.
"Hurry, cause a distraction," Blossomapw ordered. They needed to twolegs attention occupied with someone else so Chance could jam the hatch open. Mylph quickly began hissing and spitting. Talia barked up a storm and Missy wailed like she was being clawed to death by a badger. The three twolegs turned and shouted at the three to be quiet. It gave chance enough time to pick the needle up in his jaws and place it between the hatch and the door. If it worked the door would look closed, but it wouldn't latch.
When the twolegs turned back Chance was staring innocently up at them. They left the room oblivious. Chance immediately pawed at the cage door until it swung open, Blossompaw was holding her breath as the dog jumped out, free at last.
"Now, the question remains, how do I open the other cages?" he frowned. That was an important question. They hadn't thought that far into the plan, or risk being to hopeful.
"It shouldn't be to hard, the twolegs open the cages in a few seconds without much difficulty. Try pushing the little lever on the outside up with your nose," Blossompaw suggested. Chance obliged and her hatch clicked, she threw her body weight against the door and went flying out of the cage. Her blue eyes were alight with liveliness. Then she settled into focus, they hadn't escaped yet. Quickly the dog and cat began opening other cages, letting out as many as they could.
"Shhh!" Blossompaw hissed frantically as the freed animals began jabbering. "Be quiet or you'll wake the white coats!"
They weren't listening, they were too excited. Chance stood on his hind legs to reach the cages higher up, but it was a slow process.
"Shut up or we'll get caught!" Blossompaw tried again. This time a few listened to her, but the way they even moved created a ruckus. In a dead silent night their breathing made a loud noise. "Hurry," she prompted Chance, whose reply was simply a snort. Suddenly noises sounded from the hallway, grumbling and murmuring echoed against the dense walls. The door to the animals holding room creaked open and one of the white coats stood there, rubbing his eyes.
Then he saw the panicked faces and glowing eyes staring up at him. He let out a startled shout and began lunging for the loose animals.
"We have to run, now!" Chance ordered. Blossompaw was rooted to the ground, there was still animals trapped inside.
"We can't leave them!" she argued and came to life, rushing to open other cages. Chance dragged her back by the scruff and the other two white coats came to the scene, awakened by the commotion.
"You'll be captured, it's too late for them," Chance snarled as he set her down. Blossompaw risked a side long glance behind her. Sylvester was still in his cage, his mouth open with pleas.
"Don't leave me!" he cried. Blossompaw turned away with a sickening feeling and bolted from the room with Chance hot on her heels. Once the herd was in the hallway they began to scatter.
"This way!" she shouted for them to follow her. They quickly regrouped and sprinted towards the exit. The glass door was only fox lengths in front of them. They would make it, the outside was within reaching distance. Blossompaw could almost smell the fresh air, and feel the breeze on her cheeks. She swore she already heard birds cawing. And then she ran head first into the door, and it didn't budge. Chance stood on his hind paws and threw his body weight against the door, but to no avail.
"No, we can't have come this far just to be trapped at a dead end," Blossompaw howled with anger and frustration. She could still see Sylvester's eyes in the back of her mind, hurt and betrayal as they abandoned him.
"Break the door!" she commanded and stepped back to allow the bigger the dogs a go at the door.
"On the count of three," Chance ordered and stepped back to get a running sprint.
"Hurry," Blossopaw urged as the twolegs spotted them. They were holding tools of a sort, to probably try and capture the animals with.
"Three!" Chance growled and the row of dogs charged forward. The sound of them hitting the glass was like a clap of thunder. It was enough to scare the white coats back a few paces. Again the dogs lined up and rammed into the doors, this time they had some leeway. The locks on the doors were broken from the pressure and they swung open.
Blossompaw was almost...hesitant to escape. And then she was running out into the open, faster than her paws had ever carried her. She was leading the pack, they trusted her to guide them to safety. The big dogs created a barrier in the back so no one would fall behind. It was like they were a clan, moving together. A fluid river in motion.
