Coal Amongst Gold (Air Buddies FanFic)

Deep in the Dark

Darkness. Everyday from dusk till dawn, everything is just darkness. When was the last time the man open that door? 3 days ago? It's hard to tell...

I can hear him coming. The thumping of his boots as they come down the hall. Wonder if he'll feed us this time, if there even is an 'us' anymore.

The sound of the door knob turning is unmissable.

Light. Light consume the darkness of the windowless room as the shadow of a man extends across the ground.

I take the time to look around, and I don't like what I see. In the corner, a pile of poop the man refuses to clean up. In the rear, two dishes. One barren of food, and the other full of dirty polluted water. At the door, the man who has a noticeable stench of alcohol. Worst of all... Just right of me is the bodies of my last two siblings. Cold and lifeless for, what I could only guess is, two of the three days we were locked in here.

6 pups were born into this darkness. Who would've guessed it would be the runt who survived the longest? I'm so consumed by my sorrow, I barely notice the man speaking.

"Shit, two more of ya' dead. Just what I needed..." He looks over to me before walking over and picking up the bodies of my kin with no respect or tact at all. He walks back out closing the door as he surely goes to dispose of my siblings like trash.

I might as well be trash, he treats us as little else. I close my eyes, waiting for darkness to consume me once again. It never came.

I open my eyes, and see something that takes my breath away. I see a sliver of light through the door. I could hardly believe it. I race over and nose at the crack, slowly moving the door till I can just about squeeze through.

The man has passed out on his recliner, already having disposed of the last of my litter.

This room is disgusting, there's trash everywhere, piles all over, but something gives me hope. One pile leads up high enough to reach an open window. I slowly creep over, not wanting to awaken the monster of a man.

The climb up the pile of trash is a slow one. It's extremely unstable, and full of highly fragile object that would surely wake up the man, but I press onwards slowly and steady.

Soon enough, I'm at the top. I climb out of the window and jump to the ground below. I had only seen the outside once before, after my first escape attempt.

I see a cluster of lights in the distance, a neighborhood, and my current target. I run, despite my hunger and thurst, I run as quick as I can. I'll find salvation in sanctuary of that neighborhood, I just know it.

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Half an hour. I've ran for half an hour. I can't run any longer. But I'm here.

Water. I need to drink. I can here a sprinkler, and I follow it.

A house, I'm at a house now. I see the sprinklers. I try to walk, but I'm already dizzy, dehydrated. I'm almost there. Just a little more, I need to drink.

I fall over onto the cold sidewalk.

This is it, this is how I die. Dehydrated, with water mere inches away. Mere inches...

There is no closing door... yet the darkness consumes me yet again...
Darkness...

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"Dude, is he gonna be ok?" I hear something...

"...only just got to him in time..." There it is again... but it's different...

"Hope he's ok... looks awful..." It's not a sound... It's a voice... multiple voices...

"...waking up..." I open my eyes slightly... I see five yellowish... no... It's more golden... five golden blurs...

"What's... what's... happenin'?..." I slowly try to sit up, but I fail at first.

"Take it easy. You need to rest." One of the blurs has spoken, but they aren't blurs anymore. My eyes focus and see pups. Larger then me, four guys, one girl.

"Who... are you?" I manage to get up in a sitting position. I look over the five. One with what looks like a scarf or something. One with a silver chain. One with a bow. One with beads. One with black marks under his eyes.

"I'm Mudbud!" The scarfed one says.

"B-dawg." The one with the chains.

"Rosebud" The one with the ribbons.

"Buddha" The beaded one.

"Budderball" The dark marked one.

"What's your name?" The now named Mudbud asks.

"I... never received one."

"You don't have a name?" Rosebud seems surprised.

"You have one now. Look at your collar." Budderball slides some ring of leather over to me. There's a small metal circle on it with writing.

"Bubbles, my name is Bubbles..."

"It's suites you bro." B-dawg says.

"You should get some rest, you're still recovering. We need to head to our bed aswell. Namaste brother." Buddha says, as he walks away.

"Sweet dreams." Rosebud calls out as she follows soon after him. The other three leave as well. I'm still thirsty, but not dangerously so.

I look around a bit, and see that I'm on a couch wrapped in a blanket. I see the pups going up the stairs.

Was this... is this going to be my new home?... is this my new family?...

I look at the collar and lay back down.

I'll protect this new family from the same fate as my last... even if it means they'll hate me for it...

I close my eyes.

Once again, all I see is...

Darkness...