PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXXII Part III

Their head was pounding, rhythmically reminding them of the corner they had painted themselves into.

Shie jumped when Canna's paw slithered across their hip. "We can take a break," she suggested.

They let her pull them in closer, to support their swaying and grieving. "No, this is serious. We need to keep moving, stop pretending like we're not about to die."

She frowned at the sudden snap. "You don't know that..."

"No, I don't, but it sure doesn't improve our odds if we waste time sitting around."

The frown turned into a light scowl. Ah, damn it.

"Hey, I didn't mean for it to come out like that." They wrapped their rough paws around her. "I'm sorry."

She exhaled as they leaned into her fluffy hair. The bloodhound felt like she should speak, but just shared the moment instead.

Asahi stared blankly as the group hurried through the corridor. Idly eavesdropping on the couple's conversation while their head was filled with thoughts of what exactly they'd do when they got home. The student stopped their meandering when Ace bumped their shoulder.

"So, uh, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!" Asahi said, lowering their voice as soon as they remembered to keep quiet.

"You're with the volunteers that're trying to patch Catches-" he sighed, "catch Patches, right?" Asahi nodded. "So then what was the plan when you get this close to him? You guys have something you can do, right?"

While Asahi put their digits to their chin in thought, Toez tried speaking to the two dogs just in front of him. "They're- I mean, we're supposed to just call the people who can actually take care of it."

"... And what do you guys do?" Ace asked.

Asahi shrugged, emphasizing a confused frown. "Probably just run..?"

Canna pat Shie's back, one final reassurance before they waved the group forward and into the custodial closet.

"After you!" Asahi whispered to Toez, gesturing him forward.

Shie took a moment to pat Canna, then went about pouring over the contents of one of the quarter-dozen shelves lining the walls. For a "closet" the room was large and well-stocked.

"Oooooh!" Asahi exclaimed, immediately darting over to a janitorial cart that seemed to be older than the school. They poked and prodded at it for a moment, then turned to look at the rest of the room. "Do we have a screwdriver anywhere?"

"... Why?" Ace asked, bemused.

"So I can fix up this car!" Asahi said.

"Um, you mean cart?"

"Yeah," Asahi put their paws in their vest, "cart, that's what I said."

Toez sighed, and handed Ace a flathead, frowning all the while. The coonhound flipped it so that he held it by the tip, and gestured with the handle towards Asahi.

"Thanks!" The student smiled widely, immediately crouching down and adjusting the loose wheels on the yellowed plastic hunk.

Ace watched the student while away at the thing, asking for things like duct tape and extra wedges of wood that were lying around. "So, do you take woodshop?" his floppy ears suspended as he tilted his head.

"Oh, um! Yeah!" they beamed, and shook their head, "No! I do work on cars, or, I try to!"

"Huh," Ace put his slick paws on his hip. "No shit?"