(Captured)
Rose was the first to wake up early in the morning. She felt better after a few scrapes and bruises. Her head did ache a little bit from where she was hit in the head.
She couldn't get comfortable anymore so she got to her paws and stretched them out as far as they would go. Everybody was still sleeping, or so she thought.
The shepherd mix walked up the stairs, hearing each old step creak underneath her paws. She went up the dock and saw Dodger sitting alone on the dock, staring at the city.
The sky was gray and muggy this morning, punctuating their moods.
Rose sensed that something wasn't okay, so she decided to help him by talking with him.
"Dodge?" she said, walking up to him. Dodger's half-flopped ears pricked up and he turned his head to look behind him. "Oh, I thought you were asleep," he said, watching her as she sat down next to him.
"I couldn't get back to sleep. Why're you out here by yourself?" Rose asked. Dodger lowered his ears back a bit.
It looked like he was struggling with trying to find something to say. "I've been thinking… Things haven't been working out. Being the leader of this gang, it's a lot harder than it looks. I'm… not sure if I'm right for it," he admitted, eyes downcast.
Rose's ears pricked up and she looked at Dodger in surprise. But she came around and said, "Yeah, it has been hard," she said, looking up at the sky, "Looks like we got some rain coming. It's getting harder and harder to get happy these days,"
Rose gazed at her old buddy, wishing that he was back to the way he was before. But Rose knew that he'd come back to the way he was when they were much younger.
"Rose, I trust you to get us through whatever is happening. We look up to you," Dodger said, giving Rose a warm feeling. She had faith in him.
"Rose? Would you take over as the leader? Not permanently, just… until I can get my head straight. You've been the most sensible out of any one of us. It's better this way," Dodger suggested.
Rose was floored by this suggestion; She didn't want to take that from him. He had much more confidence than herself.
"Dodger… I can't. You're the leader for a reason. It wouldn't feel right if I just took over for you," Rose replied, watching the hope fall from his face.
"C'mon, Rose, I know you can handle things around here. You can take care of the gang," Dodger said. Rose was reminded by Kaiden, the one dog she wanted to protect.
"I did have someone who looked up to me to take care of him. He's dead; It's my fault that he is gone. If I take charge, it's just going to happen again. I can't take that chance again," Rose explained, looking down with both ears dropped.
Dodger glanced over to her, remembering who she was talking about. She was talking about Kaiden. He didn't think that Rose still had scars from that after all this time. He could understand exactly how she felt.
"Okay, I understand," he said, sounding disappointed but he didn't want to go deeper into the matter. Rose gave the terrier a nuzzle, feeling touched that he believed in her enough to give her that position.
"I can help you with anything. I'm always on your side aside from looking after the gang," Rose said, relieved that Dodger dropped the suggestion. "Maybe you can stay as my second in command? Make good use of your authority, especially after the way you broke up that fight between Rita and Francis," Dodger offered.
Rose smiled and wagged her tail gratefully. "Sure, Dodge. Things will get better soon. I promise," she told him.
Later that morning, the gang went out in Fagin's scooter. They stop at Bowery St, where Fagin dropped the dogs off.
"Alright, where to, Dodger?" Francis asked, awaiting Dodger's instructions, "I bet we can try out one of my performances,"
Dodger grinned, seeing that Francis had an obvious liking to showing off. "Yeah, you've got a point there. Gotta put you in your best work," Dodger agreed.
Francis' corkscrew tail was wagging. "I'll come with you, Dodger. What about you, Rita? You gonna bring in some serious loot?" Rose asked.
"You know it. If there's time, I'll bring in some food," Rita said with a wag of her tail.
"Sounds like a plan. You gonna come with us to Coney Island later?" Dodger asked. "Yeah, they got the best hot dogs around. You can't say no to that," Rose agreed.
"I'll take that offer," Rita said, giving the two dogs a familial nuzzle before she jumped towards the traffic and out of sight.
Dodger sent Francis out with an energetic Tito and loyal but often absentminded Einstein, in hopes of finding any loot or food like Rita.
"You hungry, Rose?" Dodger asked, grinning at the mixed breed. Right as he said that, a loud rumbling came from Rose's stomach.
"Guess you're right on that one," Rose chuckled. "Let's see if we can find anything to keep us going in the meantime," Dodger said, turning towards a dumpster that was filled with good food.
They were behind a restaurant; That meant that the humans working there would often toss out their left overs from what they didn't serve.
Dodger leaped into the dumpster while Rose awaited his return, wagging her tail. She couldn't wait to see what Dodger would find for them to eat.
"Anything good in there?" she asked eagerly. "Um… how about… Oh! Bingo!" he called from the inside of the dumpster.
He arose from the dumpster with an uneaten chicken in his jaws. Rose's jaws instantly watered the second she saw the chicken.
Dodger jumped out of the dumpster and landed in front of Rose. He put the chicken down on the ground. "Bon appetit, Rosie Posie," Doder said with a smug grin.
The two dogs started to eat the chicken. They didn't care what it was; Food was food.
"Dodger?" Rose asked. "Yeah?" Dodger said, licking his muzzle. "You think Francis was impressed with how we saved Fagin yesterday?" she wondered.
"For sure, Rose. You and I would do the same for any of the gang. They would've done it too," Dodger replied. At this point, they had gained the admiration of the sophisticated bulldog.
"You're a good leader, Dodger. Nobody would doubt you, not even for a minute," she said, giving him a bow.
"And you're a good second in command. Why don't we check in with Francis and the others?" Dodger said after they finished the chicken.
"Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Maybe we oughta give Francis our apologies for how we treated him on his first day," Rose said as they walked out of the alleyway.
"Yeah, looks like we got his seal of approval for sure," Dodger chuckled, walking beside the shepherd mix. Rose gave her old friend a grin.
They make it to the next street, hoping to find Fagin and the others. However, as they made it to the first alleyway of that street, Rose caught a scent that made her blood run cold.
She couldn't put her paw on it but it didn't seem good. Dodger had walked ahead, hoping that Rose would follow. "Dodger, we need to-" Rose started but was cut off by a metal rope tightening around her neck.
Rose instantly struggled against the threat. Looking up, she saw it was the dog catcher. He had looped a catching pole around her neck and tightened it to where she could barely breathe.
"D-Dodger!" she howled in distress. Dodger heard the distress call and immediately turned around and hightailed it back to that alleyway.
Dodger saw the dog catcher pinning Rose to the ground with the catching pole around her neck. She was struggling to get up, her paws were scraping across the concrete.
She looked up at the terrier; The look in her eyes showed she was in agony and her chest was expanding visibly. Dodger growled at the dog catcher before charging at him, leaping forward and biting his shirt.
He wasn't about to let this human take Rose. He would do anything to protect his own.
Rose then looked passed Dodger and saw another dog catcher coming with a second catching stick. "Dodger… look out!" she gasped, losing her breath.
Dodger froze and looked over his shoulder, but it was too late. The second dog catcher wrapped the wired noose around Dodger's neck, holding him secure.
Dodger howled and started flailing about, growling deep from his throat. His heart pounded hard in his chest as he watched Rose getting dragged away to the dog catcher's van.
"Rose! Rose!" he cried. He desperately wanted to get Rose to safety, but he felt horrible for messing up. He couldn't bare the thought of anything happening to his sweet Rose.
Both canines were thrown into the dog catcher's van and the catching poles were removed from their necks. They were forced into crates that were in the back of the van and the dog catcher's closed them, then they shut the back doors.
This was the scent Rose had caught. There was a fear closing in on him, making every instinct he had screaming at him to escape with Rose.
The only light that came through was from the windows on the van doors. Dodger pressed his body against the wires of the crate so Rose would feel assured.
Rose glanced at Dodger through the crate, fear was in her hazel eyes. "Dodger, what's happening?" Rose asked, sounding panicked. Both ears were laid back.
Dodger swallowed, trying to regain his composure. He needed to keep her calm despite being scared himself. "I don't know, Rose. But we'll get out of this. I promise," he told her.
They had gotten warnings about many street dogs going missing off of the street. They couldn't help but fear the worst.