Tracker "The Killer"

CHAPTER 3

Everyone cheered as I walked to my place. More people cheered when they saw a pitbull come in. He looked strong, but slow. I figured I could beat him.

"Monster Truck vs The Killer!" the announcer shouted, "3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" The pitbull bolted toward me. I ran around the ring, but the pitbull was a lot faster than I thought. He quickly caught up to me and jabbed his teeth into my thigh. He tossed his large head side to side and I fell to the ground.

"BOO!" some of the people yelled.

"Fight back!" Rob shouted at me. I bit the pitbull's eye. He ripped a chunk of flesh off my thigh and smashed my head into the ground. I felt dizzy and he went for my throat. Rob called it off.

"Monster Truck wins!" the announcer said. It took a couple men to pry Monster Truck off me. Rob picked me up by the scruff.

"No food for you." he said. He brought me to my cage and threw me in. I yiped in pain. Rob left.

"That looks really painful." Buddy said.

"Probably because it is." I said.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You know what happened." I said. Buddy stared at me in confusion.

"You seriously don't know?" I asked. Buddy shook his head.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"My owners owned this place, but they got a divorce. The wife took care of me, but after the divorce, I never saw her again. The husband brought me here." Buddy explained.

"Well this has got to be the worst place to be." I said, "The humans bring you to a small arena and make you fight with vicious dogs."

"To the death?"

"Sometimes."

"Can't the dogs just refuse to fight?"

"If you lose or don't fight, you don't get food."

"That's awful! Why are humans doing this?!"

"I don't know. It might have something to do with green paper."

"We have to get out of here!"

"There's no way to escape."

"There has got to be a way!" Buddy started pacing around his cage, looking for an escape. A man walked in and grabbed Buddy out of his cage.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!! I DON'T WANNA FIGHT!!!" Buddy yelped.

"Woah! Calm down, Buddy!" the man said, "Do you wanna treat?"

"Buddy!" I woofed.

"Don't let them take me!" Buddy whined. The man walked away with him. I scratched at the metal bars and howled. Buddy wasn't ready for this. He was too innocent. Another man came in and got a large black dog.

"You better go easy on him!" I growled at the dog. He snapped and snarled at me as his owner dragged him by my cage.

"Come on, Reaper!" his owner said, pulling him out of the room.

"Buddy vs Grim Reaper!" I heard the announcer's muffled voice through the door, "3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" I knew Buddy didn't stand a chance. He was just a yellow lab puppy who had such an easy life. I heard him yiping in pain. I couldn't take it. I had to do something. I ran forward and smashed my body into the metal bars. It was painful, but I kept doing it until the cage fell over. I didn't know what to do after that so I started chewing on the bars until my gums bled. By that time, it was over.

"Grim Reaper wins!" the announcer said. I hit the floor, exhausted both physically and mentally. The door opened and in came Buddy's owner holding Buddy in his arms. I was happy to see that Buddy was still alive, though he was pretty torn up. The tip of his tail was missing.

"What in the-" his owner said when he saw my cage tipped over.

"Hey! There's a problem with one of the dogs over here!" he called. All the dog owners came into the room.

"Wow..." they said.

"Dumb dog." Rob said, grabbing my cage to lift it. I bit his fingers and drew blood.

"Ouch!" he said, pulling his hand back.

"That's what you get!" I growled.

"You wanna play?" Rob asked. He pushed my cage over with his foot and unlocked my cage door.

"Rob vs The Killer!" one of the men laughed. Rob lifted the door up and I bolted out and went for Buddy's owner. I bit his leg and he dropped Buddy. I stood over Buddy and snarled at the dog owners. Just then, Grim Reaper and his owner came in. I lunged at Reaper and dug my teeth into his throat.

"STOP!" Buddy barked, "LET GO OF HIM!" I let go and looked at Buddy. Reaper's owner kicked me in the ribs and I fell down. Rob grabbed me.

"What is that dog doing out of its cage?" Reaper's owner asked.

"Robert let it out." a guy said.

"Why do you gotta be such an idiot, Rob?"

"I know how to handle it." Rob said.

"Clearly not. He nearly killed Grim Reaper."

"It's not my fault your dog is weak." I tried to squirm out of Rob's grasp.

"Put your dog away!" Rob lifted my cage up and put me in. Buddy was put in his cage too.

"This is exactly why we keep the dogs on leashes." Reaper's owner said as he locked Reaper into his cage. Everyone left the room.

"Why did you tell me to stop?" I asked Buddy.

"You were going to kill him." he said.

"He tried to kill you."

"He didn't have much of a choice. He needs to eat too."

"But he's savage."

"He started out like us though."

"Please tell me you didn't just let him win."

"I tried to get away at first, but then I found out that if I lay still then they'll call him off."

"Not always." I said.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Because I've killed dogs before. Their owners didn't call me off."

"I don't understand. Don't their owners care about them even a little bit?"

"They only care if you're a good fighter."

"But I don't wanna fight."

"You either fight or you die whether it be from another dog or from starvation." Buddy lay down and sighed.

"This really is a terrible place." he said, "There's gotta be a way outta here."

"I wish there was."