Chapter Three:

Blue wiggled and writhed in his cage. He breathed quickly through his nose, his arms shaking. He felt like his entire back was on fire after those injections. It had only been a few months since his arrival and since then, Blue had been in constant pain.

The door opened and Blue quieted down enough to hear dinner being brought in. The man dumped the small brown pebbles in front of each cage. Blue's stomach growled, but he didn't lunge forward like everyone else. His breakfast was still in his bowl, waiting and untouched.

The man stopped in front of Blue's cage, and sneered. "Why aren't you eating?" He grumbled, kicking at the base.

Blue kept his eyes on the floor, not moving. "Hey!" The man grabbed the grilled bars, yanking it forward. Blue snapped, jumping forward, his teeth clamping onto his knuckles. He felt the top of his mouth burn sharply in pain, and Blue fell back, holding his mouth and groaning.

The man swore and spit on him, "Wait till I tell McClain this!" He growled and set the bucket of kibble at the door, out of reach of all of the other unfed, starving children.

b·l·e·u

He laid prone on his back, holding his mouth in his hands, spitting up blood occasionally.

He heard the doors open and in less than a minute, his Master was waiting in front of the cage. He opened the filthy cage and snapped his fingers twice. Blue moved immediately, knowing better than to disobey him.

Blue sat on the ground, his eyes looking at his hands as his Master pulled on the cold, blue gloves. Blue flinched, knowing nothing good every came from those things.

"Open your mouth," he ordered and Blue held his mouth open. His Master stuck his hand in and Blue gagged a bit. The man pressed hard against the top of his mouth, and immediately Blue felt a sharp pain.

He fell back, covering his mouth with his hands, wincing. "Just as I thought. The growth is complete. Take him to surgery." The man Blue bit grabbed is arm and dragged him to the room, despite Blue being perfectly capable of using his legs.

They tied him down as usual, and Blue was complacent. What he didn't expect was the silver device they put in his mouth that held it open. "Begin the procedure," his Master ordered.

Someone pushed two fingers into his mouth, pressing against his gums. Blue felt the sharp pain run through him and whined, but they didn't let up. They had some sort of hose in his mouth, keeping the blood and saliva from building up. Blue squeezed his eyes shut, his nails scratching long marks in the metal table.

The procedure had taken hours. Whatever was in his mouth was stubborn and didn't want to move. His Master ordered that they had to cut his gums open in order to make it easier. By this point, Blue was too exhausted and in too much pain worry about much else. They cut his gums open and kept pressing on his mouth. After nearly twenty more minutes and they began budge.

Blue groaned as two large white fangs finally slid over his teeth. His mouth was aching and his jaw hurt from having it open. They unstrapped him and took it off. Blue held his mouth in absolute agony, it hurt to touch anything.

Blue was ushered back to his cage once more. It was two more weeks before he ate anything else.

n·i·e·b·i·e·s·k·i

Blue realized his last days with his Master were approaching. They were letting up on tests, and just checking his vitals and other extremities. They had also bathed him and gave him his own room, with a slightly bigger cage. He was given clothes, but not like the people clothes that his Master wore. His was a bit messier, and still left him shivering at night They cleaned his teeth and cut his hair short, making him look presentable.

Finally, the day came where his Master entered the room with an unfamiliar man in tow. He was lean and had broad muscles. His hands were calloused and his eyes were dark. He had lightly tanned skin, showing that he hadn't been in the sun, but obviously wasn't a deathly pale like his master. He had a strange, rugged cut on the side of his face, that almost intimidated Blue. His knuckles were bruised bloody and black and brue, the evidence of a recent scuffle.

His Master walked over, and the man came behind him. Blue sat patiently in his cage, his eyes on the ground and hands clasped. "Good condition," The man noted, "An' young. S'he a fighter?"

"When he wants to be," His Master replied. "Set him straight and he'll do whatever you need."

"If he turns out weak, like that other one―"

"The last animal I sent was a bit of a fluke," His Master replied. "It won't happen again. Not with him. He's one of the strongest creations we have ever seen. Strength is a no-brainer. His durability is exceptional, endurance is on par to that of an Olympic athlete. If trained properly he could be a force to reckon with."

"Who else knows of him?"

"The staff is sworn to legal secrecy, of course. Other subjects, and the Providers, but they haven't seen him in six months ― probably wouldn't be able or recognize him in a few years."

The man sniffed, looking Blue up and down. "I want 'im shipped to my place. I can't have 'im on my plane."

"Of course," His Master conceded.

The man turned to his Master, his eyes narrowed, "And if this thin' is a 'fluke', John, I won't hesitate to burn this place down, with you inside." He poked his Master in the chest and Blue jumped, launching himself at the cage. He had to protect his Master at all costs ― that was his duty.

The man turned and raised an eyebrow at Blue's small, snarling form, his fangs glinting and dangerous. "Good reaction times," He noted, almost appraisingly. "Let's just hope you can keep it up." The man left without another word, and a minute later, so did his Master.

b·l·o·u

Blue sat alone in his cage as the door opened again. Two big burly men stepped in, dragging a crate behind them. Blue watched, slightly unsettled, as they picked his cage up, and dropped in the crate. It made a small thump, and Blue turned around, confused. He moved around, hitting the wall, seeing if he could knock the cage and the crate over.

His Master stepped in the view of the crate and Blue stopped moving. "You are being transferred to your next handler. Until you are returned back here, he will your new Master. If your Master dies or is compromised, you will return here and await instructions. Is that clear?" Blue nodded silently, looking back down. "And, don't die."

The two men put the top on the crate, leaving Blue in total darkness.

b·l·u

It had taken Blue a few hours to discover the water and food they had left in crate. It was in a squeezable bottle. Blue, being a thirsty, young child, seemed to forget that he was trapped in a crate with no way out. When he saw the bottle of water ― or, rather felt it as it had bumped against his leg ― he guzzled half of it down. They were never allowed to have that much water ― maybe a little here and there, but never that much.

After two days passed ― or at least seemed like two days ― with movement outside the box, but nobody making an attempt to look inside, Blue began to worry. He had ran out of water, and the food he was given was nearly gone. He didn't know where he was or when he would be let out ― if at all. He tried to call out, pushing against the side, but nobody heard anything. It didn't illicit anyone to investigate, or even check inside. Blue was trapped inside a box with no way out. If he tried to escape, his Master would find him and kill him, but if he stayed there, he might rot away.

Blue didn't like the idea of slowly dying ― he didn't like the idea of dying at all. Even during his trials, even when getting injected with thick substances that his Master told him would 'make him stronger', and 'make him better'.

Blue never wished for death. He wanted to live and survive, despite the hours of agony he spent wailing and being in the throws of a bad injection. Even when Blue faced infection from being disciplined ― like the knife in his thigh and hand ― Blue still survived, and his Master marvelled at his resilience.

Blue did not want to die. Not in a cage or a crate or on a metal table or anywhere. Blue wanted to live, he wanted to go back home. He wanted to survive whatever his Master threw at him because Blue knew that if he lived, if he made his Master proud of him, maybe he would let him go back home. He wanted to see his Ma again and he wanted to hear her call him her 'baby Blue'. He wanted her to hold him and kiss him on the forehead and tell him that everything would be okay. Blue wanted all this so that when he came back, he could be able to get her the house he promised ― the big one with that the Pirates bought, He wanted to make his Ma happy, and in order to do that, he had to stay alive.

It had been nearly a week before the box was opened. Blue was lying on his back, tired and hungry. The first ray of light hit the side of the box, and Blue squinted, covering his eyes with his arm. All it took was five minutes for the top to be lifted and the box turned upside-down.

Blue let out a shout, hitting the cage and the asphalt roughly, He looked around, squinting and confused. A man behind him blew air out of his nose, bending down to lean into Blue's cage. Blue backed up as far as he could go, surprised. It was the same lightly tanned man as before, the one that threatened his Master. "Just in time, too. The event starts in 20. Get him ready."

"Yes, sir," The other men said. Someone opened the door, and someone else tilted the end corner where Blue was cowering.

He hit the ground and growled, moving to stand. "Where am I?" He demanded, and the other men immediately began pulling out weapons, pointing it at him. Blue looked at them, confused.

The man turned around, his dark eyes narrowed. "You don't ask questions 'round here," He growled, in a swift move, he grabbed Blue by the throat and held him to the wall. Blue gasped, clawing at his arm, trying to pull himself up ― trying to breathe. "I'm only going to say this once. If I have to 'gain, I won't wait to put a bullet in your head. You are mine now ― you're my property, you're my dog. You fight for me, you do as I say, when I say. People get to ask questions, pets don't. You aren't a person, you are a dog. Is that clear?"

Blue nodded quickly, his words reminded him of his old Master, and it scared him. "Say it."

Blue gasped, his eyes coming in and out of focus and tears fell from them. "Ye-Yes. . . M-Master." The man smirked and dropped him. Blue hit the ground, forehead first, his hands too slow to stop him. He coughed badly, rolling on his back, his nose bloodied and probably broken from the collision.

"Master," He mused, grinning. "I like the sound of that."