Tracker "The Killer"

CHAPTER 2

"Get up and fight, lousy mutt!" Rob shouted.

"Is there anything to really fight for?" I thought to myself. I laid motionless. I closed my eyes and thought of my mom. She wouldn't want me to give up. I struggled to my feet and bit onto the other dog's leg, but the dog didn't let go so I bit down as hard as I could and the dog yiped in pain. I was finally free. I looked around at the open space and was ready to get out of there. I tried to make a run for it, but the dog grabbed onto my hind leg and flung me back. I slammed into the ground onto my back and the dog towered over me and I went for his throat. I got a pretty good grip and I didn't let go. Rob cheered me on. That was the first time he had done that and it made me feel good on the inside. I pushed the dog onto his back and still didn't let go of his neck. The dog struggled and flailed around. His nails dug into my side and I jumped back. The dog immediately got up and tried to attack me again. I ducked and he tripped over me. He did a somersault, but got back up on his feet and jumped onto me and dug his teeth into my back. I struggled to stay on my feet, but then I decided to roll over on top of him. It got him to let go and since he was on his back, I went for his stomach. I tore him apart there until his guts spilled out and he stopped moving. I stepped back and Rob put a leash on me and he gave me a big piece of meat.

"Good boy! Good boy!" he said. I quickly learned to like dogfighting.

I was brought to an old building that was practically falling apart. Rob put me in a metal cage. There were other dogs in cages. They were in bad shape. I looked at the dog in the cage next to me. He was barking at me savagely. He had a crazy look in his eye. He must've had some sort of horrible disease. I stayed in the back corner of my cage and waited for Rob to come back. He didn't come back until the next day.

"I bet $50 my dog can beat yours." Rob said to another man.

"Which one is yours?" the man asked.

"This one right here." Rob said, patting my cage.

"That scrawny little thing?" the man laughed, "You're willing to bet 50 on that?"

"Yep. I'm feeling lucky."

"Alright. You're on." I was brought to another room. It was like a small arena. There were people around it, shouting and exchanging money. On the other side of the room was a German Shepherd. He was barking and lunging at the edge of his leash. I could tell that he really wanted to kill me. I coward behind Rob. All the men laughed.

"Tracker vs Destroyer!" a man shouted, "3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" Rob let go of my leash and jumped over the barrier into the crowd. The German Shepherd ran at me and I ran away. He chased after me as people cheered and laughed. I tried to jump over the barrier, but the crowd pushed me back.

"Get back in there!" they said, "Take it like a man!" I ran away looking for a way to escape. I ran at the barrier and then took a quick turn away. The savage dog ran into it and then I got an idea. I ran at the shepherd and he chased me and then got him to run into the barrier again. He looked a little dizzy, but he still chased me. I just needed to do it one more time. I ran at the barrier and jumped off of it as the dog ran into it. He fell to the ground and I fell onto him. I took this opportunity to go for his throat. The German Shepherd's owner came into the ring and pried me off of him.

"We have a victor!" the announcement said.

"Call him The Killer." Rob said.

"The Killer wins!" the man said. Rob came into the ring.

"You're gonna make me rich!" he said, kissing me on the mouth. I purposely sneezed in his face to show him how gross that was and instead of beating me, he just laughed. He picked me up and carried me out of the ring.

"That dog's amazing!" a guy said.

"I didn't think he was even a fighter!" another guy said.

"How did you train him to do that?"

"That's one smart dog!"

"He had me fooled!" one guy came up and patted me on the head.

"I've never seen a fighting dog this nice." he said, "He isn't growling or anything!"

"Yeah, but he's a killer at heart." Rob said.

"I know. I saw that and I still can't believe it!" the guy said, "There was like no warning!" Rob set me down and grabbed my leash. The crowd surrounded me and took turns petting me. I wasn't comfortable with so many people around me. Destroyer's owner came over and squatted down to pet me.

"Hey there, scrawny dog!" he said, petting me, "You're a special one aren't ya." I snapped at him and he jumped back. The crowd stepped back.

"Yep, he's a special one alright." he laughed, nervously. The crowd laughed.

"They shouldn't be laughing at me snapping at someone." I thought. I snarled and barked at them. They just laughed some more and Rob brought me out of the room. He threw a slab of meat into my cage and I went in after it. He shut the door behind me.

"Eat up!" Rob said, "You deserve it." After a couple weeks of fighting, I became better at it. One day, a dog about my age appeared in the cage next to me. I looked at him when I woke up.

"Hey, what's your name?" he asked. I just looked away and ignored him.

"Mine is Buddy." he said, "Real original. I know. So how long have you been here?" I turned my back toward him.

"Long enough to become one of them I guess." he said, "Come on, you're just a puppy like me. You don't have to pretend to be one of those big dogs." I didn't move so Buddy spat at me. I snapped at him.

"Well I got a reaction out of you. That's a start." he said.

"Leave me alone." I growled.

"Don't you ever get tired of it?" he asked, "Wouldn't you rather be free to do whatever you want?"

"That's not an option." I said.

"Please don't-" He shut his mouth because Rob and a couple other men walked in. The dogs in the other cages started barking.

"Ready to go, Tracker?" Rob asked me. He unlocked my cage.

"Now's your chance to escape!" Buddy whispered. 

I pushed my cage open and followed Rob to the fighting arena.