Chapter 5
The World We Live In

Darkness spread far and wide, and the only source of light was from a pure white circular tower I was standing on. An earthquake shook the tower and threw me onto my tail as I started sliding towards the edge. I tried to grab on to anything I could find, but there was nothing to hold on to. The only thing I could do was to brace myself for the endless fall.

I reached the edge of the tower and found it had a thin rim and desperately hung on despite the high chance of falling off. Gravity at this point was my enemy as I was now hanging by the thin rim staring into the eternal abyss. Four eyes opened and gazed at the eternal darkness until it found me. Out of nowhere rows of serrated teeth revealed themselves, even the smallest of the fangs inside the terrifying jaws could make my own accursed fangs look like baby teeth.

To it I was probably nothing but a speck, only to be blown away for entertainment. The four eyed beast shook the tower I held on to with enough force to make me wonder how I was still hanging on in the first place. Finally my grip failed me and I fell into the row of fangs screaming at the top of my lungs.

I shot up from my slumber as my body experienced its own personal earthquake while I gasped for air to renter my lungs. My first thoughts went to wondering if it was a dream or not. What I had just experienced felt like something more, it was too vivid, too clear, and I remembered each detail so perfectly it was almost as if I had lived through it. A breeze passed by causing me to reach for my blanket only to find it missing along with my bed, and the entirety of my room. The only things that greeted me was the sight of worn down sofas and other miscellaneous furniture accompanied by the sound of a running engine and the howling wind as it passed by

It came back slowly and painfully. Every word I had said to her, how I broke her heart, how it was for the best. I shook myself; even though its only been a few hours it felt like years since that moment on our front lawn I can't keep thinking about what I just did especially when it was for her own good.

"It's okay," I said to help myself calm down "it's fine."

At that moment I heard my own stomach growl at me desiring food. With that in mind I climbed up the stack of boxes and located a sunroof which I was able to climb through. Dawn's morning sun rose in the sky and blanketing me with warmth as I saw my destination's buildings come into view from where I was. I took a deep breath and exhaled as this would be my first day in the life of a stray.

"Welcome to San Francisco, Fen." I said aloud to myself

Living in the same area as mom wasn't going to be the best idea so I decided that I needed a change of scenery. Somewhere new, somewhere I could start again. It was early in the night when I had left mom's place so the first chance I got I stowed away on a delivery truck that was bound for San Francisco.

After a quick errand to retrieve my board I was back on the roof awaiting for my chance to get off the ride. As soon as the truck pulled into a warehouse I jumped off the roof and landed on my feet. Unfortunately, I had all but forgotten about my condition, messed up my landing, and crashed into a box of Styrofoam. Normally I could take jumps like that, heck I've taken on worse jumps but my feet were still recovering after all luckily everyone was too busy with the machinery to notice my slip up. Without making any more noise than i already have I made my way out the opening the truck came from.

I had a feeling that breakfast wasn't going to come easy in these parts, so I needed to be at the top of my game. Keeping that in mind I set down my skateboard and kicked off in the direction of the nearest possible food source.

Slowly but surely the city was beginning to wake up resident by resident, and that includes the ones who dump out the trash every morning. Luckily for me I found my first target which happened to be a worker of a fast food place slowly tapping his feet to the beat of his headphones.

I skid my skateboard to a halt, put up my hood and went to work "Excuse me sir, but do you have any food in there?"

My sudden appearance seemed to have thrown him off as he screamed bloody murder "Don't scare me like that. Hmm you aren't the regular, but oh well I'll never understand how you guys work. Here you go." Much to my surprise he handed me a box as if he knew I'd be here

"Thank you so much!" I accepted the package from him and set off to find a nice place to eat.

Settling down in an alley not to far off from where I met the fast food worker I opened the box to find an unfinished chicken dipped in gravy with a set of stale fries. In my position I had no right to complain, food was food, after all dogs were basically designed to eat anything anyway.

My meal was finished at a record pace, with nothing left but the bones of the chicken. I leaned back and set my sights on the sky above me, unable to help but think about what mom would be doing at this time. On normal days like today mom and I would set breakfast at the table, pancakes extra fluffy eggs extra white. I felt my mouth water at the thought especially since i could eat at least six of mom's pancakes. I shook my head as an unfamiliar scent caught my nose.

"Hey that looks like him over there." I looked up to see two large stray dogs pointing in my direction; maybe it would be best if I didn't stick around

After a quick check to see if I had everything with me, I bolted in the opposite direction of the dogs. One quick peek back revealed that not one of the two dogs gave chase to me. Still I quickened my pace, who knows what might have happened if I chose to stay. As I looked behind I failed to see what was in front of me and crashed into a hairy wall which threw me off my feet and onto my tail.

"Well boys it looks like we've got a little boy lost and alone." I looked up to see a bulky stray dog imposing his shadow on me without really trying

I tried to remain calm and properly asses the situation "I'm just passing through no harm done so, uh, how can I help you guys?" It was official I'm already dead someone plan my funeral; I'm thinking some blue roses on my grave would do nicely.

"You see boy, its unwritten rule that this is my gang's turf, and you just got food from one of our sources." After I was picked up and held to the wall I mentally slapped myself, I was so hungry and sleep deprived that I forgot to pay attention to scent markings, this was dog basics

I still had the advantage of them not knowing I was a dog so I had to play this off subtly "Look we're all dogs here so why don't we all calm down first then talk about the issue here." I paused for a moment only to realize I had given away my only advantage; how I was stupid enough to accomplish this I'll never know.

"What do you mean dogs?" The leader lifted my hood to reveal my canine nature "Looks like we have a pet in our midst, and a well taken care of one if that coat and collar says anything. What's the matter mommy and daddy's food too good for you now?" He threw me to the floor out of disgust

"I'm sorry I took some of your food, I was just passing through please I don't want any trouble."

"Too bad pet, you've found it."

The cracking sounds his knuckles made were signs that he was ready to deliver a punch. In order to avoid harm, I grabbed my board and used it as a shield to absorb the impact of the punch intended for me. The leader recoiled in pain causing the rest of his dog gang to surround me. Two came from behind and one attacked up front, leaving me virtually cornered. On instinct I dropped to the floor and allowed the dogs to collide above my head.

Before they could fall to the ground I rolled out of harms way and broke out into a sprint. Judging by some of the dogs' frames some of them could out run me and I wasn't about to take that chance. I threw my board ahead of me then jumped on and looked back to see a frustrated pack of dogs.

"Well? Go get him you idiots!" the leader yelled after punching one of his subordinates in the head

I exited the alley as my board ferried me to safety with my coat flapping in the winds. For now I was safe but I was now a wanted dog, I may have just arrived here but the smart thing to do would be to relocate into a new city. It's not like I had anything to leave behind here anyway.

As I gained speed, a thought had occurred to me. I was in San Francisco, a city built onto the side of a slope, and if this city was known for its slopes why was I riding my skateboard? A quick glance ahead showed me I was too late in this realization as my board approached a steep hill. Try as I might I had already gained too much momentum and it was too late to turn back now. However before I could unwillingly ride through the slopes of San Francisco one of the dog gang members latched onto my coat and was now a passenger on for the ride.

"Boss I got the dog!" Hey foolishly yelled out unaware of the fact that we were just on the brink of the slope

I shot him a crazed look as my board began its decent and yelled at the top of my lungs "Hey let go! This thing's important to me!"

"Not gonna happen, the boss wants you so he's going to get you." He replied continuing to be blissfully unaware of our gaining speed; all it took to change his perspective was a look ahead to see a steep slope that lead to a busy street lined with people "STOP THE FREAKING BOARD YOU IDIOT!"

I started to panic as my board began to gain speed "I DON'T KNOW HOW!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW HOW!?"

"I JUST DON'T KNOW ALRIGHT GET OFF MY CASE!"

"HEEEEELLLLLP!"

The sheer speed that I was traveling caused my eyes to water. I was traveling too fast to turn or stop properly and to make things worse I was headed for a busy street of people. There was no way to avoid them, I had to go through the busy crowd whether they liked it or not.

"LOOK OUT! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I yelled as a warning to the ones ahead of me

They were smart enough to move out of the way, but unfortunately for us they did nothing more. Even when the gang of dogs passed through them they still continued to go about their business as if nothing was wrong. At times like this I wondered how the world continued to function when this is what they did in times of emergency.

There was no time to think about that as of now as the road ahead met with the river under the golden state bridge. I wasn't experienced enough to stop at this speed so I have two options presented to me. One I could accept my fate and fall into the river, but I never really learned how to swim. Two I could try to stop even with my inexperience, but if I failed I could sustain injuries that I had no means of treating.

Against my better judgment I attempted to stop my board by shifting my weight around to make the board turn slightly to the side and skid. Everything was turning out just as planed, I was slowing down and I was regaining control over my board. When I came to a complete stop I breathed a sigh of relief, I was lucky enough to escape that unharmed. Even the dog behind me was fine, tired and panting like there was no tomorrow sure, but still fine.

"Quick he came to a stop, get him!" the leader yelled, I had completely forgotten about the rest of them; nuts why can't I catch a break!?

Once more I kicked off to send my board on its way, but the tires were damaged due to my stunt and my board more of a hindrance now. There was no time to complain the gang was hot on my trail, I picked up the board and ran into a nearby alley. If I couldn't lose them with my board I needed to be a little more creative. They may have the numbers and home-court advantage but I could still blend it with a crowd if I could find one thick enough.

They alleys were shady, maze like, and the smell of garbage polluted the air. If I wasn't careful I could end up in a dead end, and have to backtrack which could lead to bumping into one of the gang members. Maybe I didn't think this through enough, I wasn't as well versed with this town's ins and outs as the other dogs so this could be a little problem.

"I think I spotted him over in this alley. Come on he's headed towards a dead end we've got him now." Scratch that I definitely made a mistake, what in the world was I thinking?

I was stuck; my feet were already starting to kill me and I didn't know how much longer I could remain standing much less run. If they caught up with me who knows what they'll do. Not adding to the pressure at all was three alleyways all going in different directions. I had to choose but I wasn't sure which one would be my road to salvation.

"Over here." A deep and masculine voice called out from the direction of a nearby door decorated in graffiti to look like a mural of a wolf howling at the moon with swords pointed at the wolf

I hesitated at first "Who's there? Come out so I can see you." a voice through a door didn't exactly sound trust worthy

"I'm afraid I have no time to explain to you who I am, or what I want. Actually what am I saying, I have all the time in the world. You however do not." I rolled my eyes, I just 'met' the voice and already I didn't like him "We may have just met but think about this. You have the group of dogs behind you with guaranteed hostility and you have me the one who extended his hand to assist you. Now ask yourself which is the lesser of two evils?"

I blinked in surprise "How did you know about them?"

"Again you're running out of time. Its no skin off my bones if you decide to wait a little but if you want to avoid a few cuts and bruises come inside and you'll get out of this experience." I was not particularly ready to trust the voice but what choice did I have?

I took a step forward but I felt my coat hold me back, a quick turn around showed me the leader had caught up to me with his gang in tow "Where do you think you're going? We still haven't settled our differences yet."

There was no time to react, the boss punched me in the face and sent me tumbling into a sack of garbage next to a worn out dresser with the mirror still intact. Using the dresser I propped myself up only to see a black eye already forming on my right eye.

"Aw does the poor pet have an ouchy?" The gang leader held my board in his hands then snapped it in two "now there's no more running away."

I watched in abject horror as the pieces of my skateboard hit the ground and scattered. One of mom's last gifts to me broken and in pieces, and all I heard was laughter directed at me. There was no way I could take them all on, I was all alone. While I was stunned with fear the boss grabbed my by the collar and undid it after taking a quick look at it.

"Fenrir Rodriguez?" he laughed a little bit then threw it at the floor and stepped on it, no doubt scratching the name plate "Say good night Fenrir." That's the second gift he ruined

I felt my blood begin to boil as his foot remained on my collar. I followed the instincts inside of me and with one swift motion I kicked his stomach hard enough to take away his breath and bring him to his knees. Instantly I felt the waves of pain come off from my foot but I had to grit my teeth and bare through it. Once I was dropped and the first thing I did was to push the boss off my collar and grab it. With my collar in my hands once more I made a dart towards the door and stepped inside as I redid my collar.

"Ah so you've come at last." The voice said to me with a smug tone "Right this way Fenrir."

End of Chapter 5