Now that Lucy knows that her current owner is a bad man who's endangering her and her friends, what will she do now?

This chapter contains animal cruelty as well as violence and horrific scenes. Viewer discretion is advised!

I do not own NCIS or its characters, including Lucy Dog.

Also, I've left an important message at the end of this chapter. It's vital that you read it!

I'd told my friends what became of Mulch. Everyone, even Charlie, held a vow of silent all through the night in honor of him. The next morning, Spike had suggested that we each speak about what we liked most about Mulch. Buttons was the first to say that he had been the strongest dog she'd ever met. Charlie said that he was a fantastic fighter. I ended it by saying how gentle he was on the inside and how much he cared for others even though he'd never showed it in fights. But I didn't mention about how his final words had inspired me.

Overtime, something changed. Usually the bad man would take at least two or four of us to go to fights each week. However, none of us were taken to a fight for a very long time. The bad man just kept us in our kennels and came to feed us once a day. He never took any of us out. Spike had said that he sensed that something had changed. Something that brought great worry towards the bad man. I didn't know what it was that had worried him, only that the bad man sometimes wore a covering over his mouth and nose when he came to give us food.

During that long time we were kept in our kennels, some of my skin started to fall off. Mostly due to that cleaning dust the bad man was covered in. Whenever he gave us food, some of it would rub off on me, making my skin really irritated. It had happened to my friends as well. Poor Charlie's fur had gotten so much on him that he became unrecognizable.

"I've never felt so uncomfortable in my own skin before" Charlie spoke out loud one night.

"Cheer up, Charlie" Spike told him cheerfully. "Your fur will grow back soon."

Buttons snorted. "If our owner ever bothers to care for our fur."

"Like he cares about us at all" Barley said sarcastically.

Spike stared at them softly. "He's our owner, guys. We shouldn't discreet him."

That made me growl. "That man is not our owner!"

Everyone turned to me with blank stares. "What do you mean?" Wheels questioned me.

I turned to them all with a bold look. "He makes us harm one another for other humans' enjoyment. Then he collects his own rewards while we're locked up like dogs in a shelter. No, this isn't like a shelter. This is so much worse! At least in the shelters I was at, the humans cared about me and the dogs. But this man, who brought us all here, he only seems to care about those dirty green papers!" My mouth started to drool. "You want to know what Mulch once told me? We dogs didn't become the loyal companions to humans because we had to. We became the loyal companions to humans because we wanted to. Because humans took care of us. So we in turn cared for them. And I know what a human who cares is like." I turned to Spike. "Have you ever had an owner before this man?"

He nodded. "Yes. When I was little, I belonged to a couple and their little girl. But, after all their stuff was packed into a large truck, I was brought to the owner I have now."

I looked across at the siblings. "Did any of you have owners before?"

"We belonged to a man who had lots of dogs, including our mother" Barley answered. "Then our current owner adopted us."

My gazed turned to Charlie. "You said that you had a family before. Ones who you'd risk anything for."

Charlie frowned. "That was a long time ago. I belong to this man now."

"No, you don't! None of us belong to this man. This bad man. He may have adopted us. But he does not own us. We own ourselves! Each of us is a living creature with minds of our own. Who says that humans are the only superior being in the world? Even if they're on the top of the food chain, that doesn't make humans anymore important than other species, including us. Dogs might have an unconditional loyalty. But that is only for those we love. And honestly, I hate this bad man who calls himself our owner. It's you all who I care about more than anyone. I say, we stand up against this bad man. Who's with me!?"

There was a long moment of silence in the barn. All of the other dogs looked at me with confused and awing stares. As if none of them knew how to answer.

"That's an impressive speech, Lucy" a tan female called Tin Can broke the silence. "But how do you expect us to rise against our own owner?"

"Yeah" Daisy added. "What if he punishes us for it?"

Even Wheels was against me. "A dog called Benji said that he was going to refuse to fight. Our owner took him away and we never saw Benji again!" I could suspected what the bad man did with him.

I tried my best to convince them. "But, we can't just allow him to continue to make us hurt each other. Do you want to end up like Mulch, to be constantly forced to fight until you can fight no longer?"

"What other choice do we have, Lucy?" Buck questioned. "This is our life. This is how humans see us. Pit Bulls are just best to fight." If only he knew that there was much more to life than fights. Too bad he never got to know so.

A few days after my outbreak, the bad man began taking us to fights again. But this time, it wasn't just the fights he took dogs to. Sometimes, he took a dog or two to a fight and returned with one less dog with him. Buck had been the first dog who was taken and never brought back. Charlie, who had been brought to the same fight Buck had been taken to, said that Buck had lost a fight against another dog. Then the bad man took him to a place called The Lake and came back without him. Remembering Mulch's warning about The Lake, I assumed the worst. The same thing happened to Daisy and Tin Can. They were taken to fights they'd lost and never returned. None of us were sure what became of them. But I had my suspicions.

Then one day, I too was brought to my first fight in a long time. Only this time, I was prepared to do the right thing. The moment I was brought into the ring to face Barley, I'd laid down. "I'm not going to fight you, Barley."

Confused, my friend stared at me. "What do you mean? You have to fight."

"I surrender. You win." I turned on my side. Yes, this was it. I no longer wanted to do what my heart was against just to please a human who didn't deserve to have me or my friends. On that day, my loyalty towards that bad man ended.

When the humans surrounding us made disappointed boos, the bad man angrily wrapped a chain around my neck and dragged me back to his truck. "Stupid mutt. Do you realize how much you'd lost me. That's it! It's over for you."

Barley and me were taken back to our kennels. But the next day, the bad man took me out again. He also took Spike and Buttons too.

"Wait, you used my sister just two days ago!" Wheels barked a complain. "She got whipped out there. You need to let her wounds heal first."

"Shut up, you moron!" The bad man yelled at him as he took Buttons out.

"It's alright, brothers" Buttons told him and Barley. "I'll be back in no time." Wheels calmed down besides Barley, confident that his sister would return soon.

As I was dragged away with Spike and Buttons, I said my farewells to Charlie. "Things will get better, my friend."

He nuzzled me. "I wish I could believe that."

"Well, I believe in Lucy" Spike spoke up. "I believe her with all of my heart."

"As do I" Buttons added.

My face blushed. "Thanks you guys." I was so grateful to have such wonderful friends who trusted me with their lives. If only I could have protected their lives.

As we were taken to who knew where, Spike gazed out at the side of the road. "I've never been taken down these paths before."

"I wonder what sort of fights we'll have to be in this time" Buttons said worriedly.

I didn't say it, but I knew what I was going to do when we arrived at the fights. Just as I'd done the day before, I was going to surrender to my opponent. I was finished fighting to please the bad man. I was determined to never fight again. Little did I know that I was going to have go through another fight. One like no other I'd been in before.

We finally stopped in a field and parked right next to a long vehicle. The bad man got out and went inside it without a word. It gave me time to take a good look at where we were. We were right by a large body of water that included a bridge. There was also a long wired fence some distance away. Getting my nose intoned to it, I detected lots of different smells. Dog kibble, cage metal, an elderly woman some distance away with five other dogs covering her scent, and… Wait a moment. I knew that scent. I sniffed harder by the water. Yes, I was sure that I scented Mulch. And not just him. I could also smell Buck, Daisy, Tin Can and other dogs I was familiar with. Nine in total. But what could they be doing way out here. And where were they. I could only scent them by the water.

That's when it hit me. This was no mere body of water. This was The Lake. This was what Mulch had warned me about. Where dogs were taken and never brought back. Focusing on the most recent dog scent, Tin Can's, I could detect that it mostly came from a line that was going into the water. But her scent ended underneath The Lake. Confused, I tried to think of how that could be. If Tin Can had been brought here, where was she now? Her scent was strongest on that line going into the water. If she had been tied to that line, it could explain why it had her scent. And if the end of the line was under the water, then that meant…

The realization hit me at once. My worst fears having been realized, I'd turned to my friends. "We have to run!"

Spike was stunned. "What? Why?"

"He's going to drown us! He brought us here to throw us in the water. This is where the other dogs go to. He takes them here because they're not good at fighting. This is The Lake!"

Both of my friends exchanged nervous glances at each other. "You sure, Lucy?" Buttons questioned me.

"I know so! Sniff around. Smell anyone familiar?"

Both of them sniffed. Then gave me horrified looks. "I can smell Benji" Buttons spoke.

"Buck, Daisy, Tin Can and the other missing dogs too" Spike admitted.

I didn't want to believe it. But Mulch had been right. The Lake really was where the bad man took dogs who were never seen again. And now, he was about to be rid of us as well. I knew that the moment he came back out, he would toss our cages into The Lake where we would drown. There was no other option. We had to escape.

"Bang on the doors" I ordered my friends.

"Why?" Buttons questioned.

"If we bang on them hard enough, they might open." It was the only idea I could come up with.

And so, we pawed and hit our heads against the doors of our cages with all our might. But they wouldn't open just a crack.

I had just about given up, when a small white dog came tumbling towards us. "Why don't you undo the latchet?"

"Fin?" I questioned. "What are you doing here?"

"My owner brings me here sometimes to fish. It's quite relaxing. You might want to try it sometime."

Buttons snarled at him. "You foolish Poodle! He doesn't come here to fish with dogs. He drowns them! Don't you ever pay close attention?"

As frustrated as I was at Fin for not putting the obvious pieces together, another idea came to mind. "Wait, Fin. You said something about the latches?"

The tiny dog turned to me. "Yeah, if it's turned a certain way, the cages open."

Hope sparked in me. "Could you turn our latches so we could get out?"

He sat down grumpy. "Why would I do that? If you guys get out, my man will not like it."

"Fin, he's going to kill us. Don't you care? Besides, if he drowns us for not being good in fights, who says he won't do the same to you one day? For all we know, he's using you for his own gain. And once you have nothing left to give him, he'll throw you in The Lake along with the rest of us." I didn't think the Poodle was much use to the bad man other than company. But it wouldn't have surprised me if Fin was drowned too one day.

Even though he didn't seem convinced, Fin sighed. "Fine. I'll unlock your cages. But you guys are on your own from there. I'm not getting into trouble just for you Pits' sake." With his snort snort, he flipped each of our latches over and moved them to the side.

Once they were moved, me, Spike and Buttons stepped out of our cages. For the first time in so long, I walked freely outside. My legs begged to just take off running. But I had to give one last glance back at the little Poodle. "Fin, I know that we haven't really been friends. But I wish you the very best for what's ahead."

"Just get out of here before I change my mind" Fin said. "And Lucy It's not that I don't like any of you. I just never had a human all to myself other than my man before. You would understand if you had a human of your own too."

There was more I wanted to say to Fin, but I knew we didn't have time to say long farewells. My friends and I had to get away from here as fast as he could. I didn't know where we were going to go. Maybe we would run wild and free like our ancestors. Maybe we would find a shelter to take us in. Wherever we would go, at least we had each other. And anywhere was better than where we were.

Suddenly, the bad man came out from the long vehicle. When he saw us out of our cages, he yelled. "What? How did you all get out?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Fin called out before dashing through the window to the front of the truck.

Feeling a protective urge, I turned to my friends. "You guys run. I'll distract him."

"But, what about you?" Spike asked worriedly.

"Just run!" I then leaped out of the truck and charged at the bad man. Tackling him head first, I collided with his legs. When he fell to the ground, Buttons and Spike ran for their lives. I had both of his legs locked with my front ones. No way he was going to capture my friends.

Bang!

Suddenly, a horribly loud noise rang through my ear drums. I looked up and saw the bad man with a small thing in his hands. From what I'd seen from watching TV with my previous owners, I recognized it as a gun. I'd never seen one in real life before. I only knew that a loud crack sounded when someone pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bad man fired to gun again. This time, it was followed by a yelp. Oh no! Spike was hurt. Forgetting about the bad man, I turned to run. But then…

Bang!

Another gun fire. I then felt an unbelievable amount of pain near my ribs. I looked and saw a bad gash of blood dripping from it. Ouch! Something had gotten inside of me and it was causing the worst type of pain I'd ever felt. I then looked towards the bad man. He was pointing the gun at me. He also had some of my own blood on his shirt. It must have splattered on him when I was hit. Had that been caused by him? Was the gun he held causing my wounded gash to form? It had to be so. I didn't know who else could cause so much pain.

When he aimed his gun at me again, I ran without looking back. He'd fired the gun once more, but it only made some nearby dirt fly out. Fearful for my life, I ran where my friends had headed. I quickly found them hiding behind some bushes. Spike was lying down and had a large gash in the back of his neck. Buttons was standing over him.

"Spike, you okay?" I asked as I walked over to them.

Spike coughed up blood. "I'm not… I'm not going to make it."

I gave him a shove with my snort. "That's not true. You just need to get up. Come on! We don't have much time."

Buttons turned to me. "Lucy, you need to go."

I looked at her in disbelief. "What? No! I'm not leaving you. Either of you."

"You're hurt. You need to get away while you still can."

"Buttons is right" Spike added as he coughed. "Head for the fence. You'll have a better chance at getting away."

"Then, you guys come with me" I urged them. "We can escape together."

Spike shook his head slowly. "It's too late… For me…"

We then heard footsteps coming towards us. "He's coming" Buttons spoke worriedly. "Go, Lucy. I'll distract him while you run."

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could they think that I would ever leave them like this? "I won't leave you guys. Buttons, you promised your brothers that you'd return to them."

She made a disappointed frown. "They'll understand. If I could save just one friend, it would be worth it."

"Just go…" Spike added. "This our fight. A fight we choose to be in. So make it count and go."

I stood there motionless. I didn't want to leave two of my closest friends to fight the bad man. When Mulch had fought him, he lost. There was no way they would beat him, especially against a gun. But all of my instincts were yelling at me to run. Run and never look back. And the bad gash I had was urging me to get away now. But I shook it off.

"This was my plan" I spoke up.

"And we'll finish it" Buttons said as she unexpectedly dashed out from the bushes and charged towards the bad man.

Bang!

Another gun fire followed by a loud yelp of pain. No, not Buttons too! "Go, Lucy! While he's distracted."

At first, my legs were frozen in place. But then Spike shoved me. "Go…" Watching his eyes become whiter, I knew what was inevitable. So, I did the hardest thing I'd ever done. Turning my tail on them, I ran.

Bang!

Another gun fire had managed to hit my back. This one hurt just as much as the first. But I ignored the pain and kept running. Behind me, I could hear angry shouts from the bad man. Followed by several barks from two different dogs. And more gun fires. I didn't have the heart to look back to see what had happened.

Then I heard my companions calling out to me. "Run, Lucy!" Spike's voice shouts.

"You can make it, Luc!" Buttons encouraged me. That was the last thing I heard from my friends before another gun fire rang out behind me, hitting my rump. But I just kept running.

When I made it to the fence, I'd managed to crawl through a hole that was big enough for me to get through. Once on the other side, I continued to run straight towards a road. I was so scared that I didn't notice the large truck coming towards me. Thankfully, it make a sharp turn and stopped roughly on the side of the road. Oh dear. I caused them to crash. Guilt seeped through me. I hope nobody got hurt because of me. Had I not been on the run, I would have rushed over to the drivers to give them apology licks.

I hadn't made it that far on the opposite side of the road when my body felt heavy. The gashes on my body made from the gun fire were really starting to hurt now. I could feel so much blood dripping from them. I was so woozy that I didn't have the strength to stand and ended up collapsing.

As I laid bleeding out in the woods, I thought about Spike and Buttons. Did they get away from the bad man? Or had they'd not survived their gun shot wounds? Oh, it was all my fault they were shot. I'd encouraged them to come with me for the promise of a better life. And they got shot as a result for believing in me. I also thought about Charlie, Wheels, Barley and all my other friends I left behind. Would our owner be so angered by my escape attempt that he would toss them all into The Lake as well? All of those painful thoughts mixed with my gun wounds brought an overwhelming sense of weakness. I felt as if all the life in me was slowly draining away. Looking at my surroundings, I breathed in the fresh air and scents of woodland all around me. If this was to be my final moment, at least I was in a comfortable resting place.

The snapping of twigs startled me. What? Who was there? I'd lifted my head to find three humans approaching me. Were they part of the fights? Had they'd come to finish what the bad man started by ending me? I did scent gun smells on them. Perhaps they were ordered to put more gashes into me.

But oddly, the white haired man knelt down to me and offered me his hand. It didn't smell like the bad man or any of the humans from the fights. Up close, I saw that each of them had a shiny thing sticking on their belt. The only humans I'd ever heard that had shiny things on their belts were the bad humans my mother told me about. The ones who took her first owner away and put her in the shelter. And yet, this man didn't have any smells that the bad humans from the fights did. He smelled mostly of wood and tools. Nothing to indicate that he was bad.

I tried to stand up. But my wounds hurt so badly that I could feel them deep in my inner core. The last thing I remembered was the white haired man putting his own jacket around me and lifting me into a vehicle. When they started moving, I was so tired that I'd passed out in the backseat. I thought to myself well, at least I'll die with something warm and comforting around me.

Hey, hey, hey! Don't you shed a tear on me. My story doesn't end here. No, this tale is only halfway from over. I'll admit though, this was probably the saddest moment of my life. And that wasn't just because the bad man shot me. But because I'd lost two of my closest friends. I'll always remember Buttons and Spike, as well as Mulch and every other dog the bad man harmed. Course, no matter how much bad this crazy world has, I find that there's a whole lot of good to make-up for it. That's what I learned after I was shot, which led me to be introduced to the kindest humans I've ever met.

I am so deeply sorry if any of you were heartbroken from reading this chapter. Especially those who favored Spike and Buttons. It was hard for me to write about them getting shot. But I wanted the two dogs who didn't survive their shot wounds as well as the nine dogs who'd been drowned to have their own names and backgrounds. They were victims too, after all.

Also, I think that the reason why the bad man shot three of his dogs instead of drowning them like he did the others is because those three were trying to escape him. But, what do you think? Please, give me your thoughts.

I absolutely love the scene where Gibbs sucker punches the cruel dog owner repeatedly and put him in the hospital. I know that it probably wasn't the smartest move. But still, that guy deserved it for all the animals he abused.

P.S. Considering the amount of animal suffering that you have all just witnessed here, I'll just give you guys a small suggestion. Have you seen the movie Arthur the King? It's based on a true story about a dog who traveled through mountains, jungles and rivers to find his perfect home. You may want to check it out. The movie is very heartwarming and perfect for all animal lovers. Might make you cry tears of joy though.