Flashback

Chase had lived on the streets of adventure city with his mom and dad ever since he was born. They lived in a makeshift shelter made from plastic and metal scraps that they had collected around the city. It's located in an alleyway between a residential building and a post office, their makeshift 'house' is hidden behind an unused dumpster so that the people living close by wouldn't notice the dogs living there. The last place they lived was behind an apartment building but unfortunately, a resident caught them living there and called animal control, but luckily they all got away.

Chase is lying down in their 'home' on an old torn-up stained piece of a mattress that his mom found a couple of weeks ago. He heard footsteps outside followed by a familiar voice.

"Hey Chase, It's just me." Chase's mother said before pushing on a piece of plastic to get into the dog house before it snaps back to its original position with a wobble.

"Mom!" The young chase exclaimed excitedly as his tail began wagging rapidly. He stood up and took a step forward toward the adult German shepherd and gave his mom a hug. They tightly embrace each other, Chase nuzzling into her fur before they both let go and Chase returned to his mattress and she laid down next to the mattress resting her head on it next to Chase's head. The plastic started to bend again and another German shepherd appears through it, he was holding on to a roughed-up paper bag with his teeth before he placed it just inside the shelter.

"Dad!" Chase exclaimed happily again standing up with a wagging tail. Chase's mom lifted her head to look at the adult German shepherd as a warm loving smile appeared on her face.

"Hey buddy! Hello sweetheart." He says lovingly referring first to Chase and then his mate. He had a happy smile on his face.

"Hello Thomas" Chase's mother replied to the adult German shepherd with the same smile resting across her lips, now laying her head back on the mattress and still looking at her mate, she was lost in his amber eyes.

"I found some food for us." He said as he tipped out the contents of the roughed-up paper bag using his snout, Out of the bag fell a half-eaten hot dog, a couple of apples, and a single dog bone-shaped dog treat. Chase started bouncing in excitement and his tail wagging uncontrollably as he stared at the food and then back at his father with an excited open-mouthed smile, before Chase could even speak up his father opened his mouth.

"Yes Chase, you can have the treat, but you need to eat the hot dog first so you can grow up big and strong." Thomas said, Chase didn't mind eating the hot dog in fact he was happy to do so as he was really hungry from not having lunch today. He quickly jumped off his mattress and started devouring the hot dog. Thomas moved over to his mate and rolled the two apples in front of her paws.

"And for you, my Jessica, two crisp apples." Thomas said as he was admiring her black and brown fur, before locking gaze with her staring into her beautiful sapphire eyes. Jessica then lifted her head off the mattress and took a bite out of the apple before rolling the other apple towards Thomas.

"You need to eat as well Thomas." She said in a caring voice before she took another bite of her apple.

"No it's all yours, I had two apples on the way back after finding them." He responded and then attempted to roll the apple back to Jessica, but he was unable to as Jessica blocked that apple with her paw.

"Well then it couldn't hurt to eat one more." She said with a loving but insisting voice as she stared deep into his eyes, clearly implying that she knew what he was trying to pull. Without saying another word Thomas began eating the apple. Jessica took another bite of her apple before resting her head back on the mattress and staring into Thomas's black fur, it reminded her of the night sky, but even without any stars to look at it brought her peace and calm.

Chase was just taking the last bite of the hot dog, before even swallowing it fully he quickly turned toward the pup treat and carefully picked it up between his teeth and jumped back on the mattress walking around in a circle before finally settling in. He took a bite of the pup treat and thoroughly enjoyed it before taking another and another before eventually it was gone. He looked to his left through a small tear in the plastic to see the road with only a couple of cars passing by, looking a bit higher he saw the night sky, a big ocean of stars as the young pup saw it. Before he knew it his eyelids fell heavy and closed.

The next thing Chase knew was Jessica screaming something he failed to understand as he had just woken up, Chase felt a tension in his neck as he noticed he lifted off the mattress he looked back to see Thomas lifting him and quickly running out of their home alongside Jessica. Chase heard footsteps quickly closing in behind them, Thomas suddenly jerked to a stop but Chase did not, he was flung into a pile of garbage bags. He ended up between two bags, he quickly turned around but was still stuck between the bags he saw Jessica struggling to break away from a catch pole that was wrapped around her neck, Thomas was struggling as the other man's catch pole caught him by the hind legs. Chase was struggling to get out from between the garbage bags push after push he inched closer, and with one last big push he managed to get out but fell and struck his snout into the ground. He quickly got back on his feet to see that his parents were already in two separate cages, and the two men in dark-green jumpsuits carrying the cages just rounding the corner as Chase ran with all his might after them. Just as he rounded he saw the cages being placed in the back of the truck.

"MOM! DAD!" Chase yelled as he saw his parents in the truck.

"Chase!" He heard both scream as the doors shut. The engine started and slowly faded with the rest of the ambient noise. He lost the truck after it rounded the corner but he kept running for what felt like hours pushing through crowds and crying out for his parents before his world started to blur and he collapsed.

He woke up late in the evening, He found himself on the corner of an alleyway between a restaurant and what looked like an office building. He quickly stood up and started frantically looking around. A man saw the frightened pup and approached causing Chase to run into the alleyway and take a left, then a right, then another right, and so on until he found himself exhausted. Chase slowed down to a crawling pace letting a few tears escape and kept wandering through the alleyways before a raindrop struck him on the nose. He looked to his left and saw a tipped-over cardboard box and slowly made his way to it getting some more drops of water striking his fur. Once he made it inside he just laid down and cried, he cried, and cried, as the rain fell faster and faster and lightning lit up the sky followed shortly by a loud boom. Chase was usually scared of the lightning and thunder but now he just kept crying like there was nothing else in the world except him in this cardboard box. After some time he fell asleep from the mental exhaustion.

He woke up the next day to find the wet cardboard box collapsed on top of him, his brown fur was damp. When he looked up into the sky he saw only a couple of clouds along with a bright shining sun. He stood up and slowly walked out of the box and looked around to find himself in an alley he had never seen before. He was lost but what did that matter to a pup without a home... without a family. He slowly started walking to nowhere because what else could he do.

Weeks later

Chase had been living alone on the streets for weeks. Thanks to his dad he knew how to find food but he still struggled as he was still just a little pup. He had been moving around the city looking for his parents ever since the day he lost his whole world, he was starting to lose hope. He was walking along with a crowd, stuck in his thoughts he didn't notice the crowd disappearing around him until he heard a truck engine coming towards him, he looked to his right to see a white truck quickly approaching and he froze in fear as any thought in his head disappeared. He closed his eyes waiting for it all to be over, but nothing ever came no pain, no nothing.

"Am I dead?" Chase thought to himself before he opened his eyes to reveal a young boy standing in front of him holding one hand up stopping the truck.

Flashback ends

Chase was in tears again, lying in his bed he rolled over and his eyes locked on the clock hanging a little distance away on the wall.

12 am

"Midnight! Have I been in here for that long?" Chase thought to himself, but quickly found himself too tired to care he hadn't slept well in weeks so it was understandable why he felt so tired, before he knew it his eyes fell shut and he was asleep. The broken pup was finally sleeping.

A/N I'm sorry for the shorter length of this chapter, but I assure you that the next one will be longer, but I hope you still enjoyed it. Your feedback means a lot to me, so please let me know what you think!