Bit-ter Memories

Chapter 2

It only took you a week to notice something very weird was going on. Other than the seemingly normal weirdness of Smokes and the other rescues. The bitties behaved rather strange sometimes.

If it was you tending to the bitties out front, then they were all relaxed, even unusually friendly. This included the troublemaker breeds. You had been bitten only once so far and that was because you had accidentally squeezed a Raspberry too hard. You had apologized and made an effort to be as gentle as possible despite the blood. You hadn't been injured since. Very few fights broke out and Cindy was mystified.

Yet if it was Tyson, the front was utter chaos. He was constantly being bitten. Well, that's normal! Not if the more docile ones are doing it too. Have you ever seen a sleepy, quiet Softy bite someone? It happened to Tyson, multiple times. The many, many times he had fallen into the pens seemed almost like it was on purpose. Like he was being pulled into the pens and attacked.

How had Cindy failed to notice any of this? Should you even bother bringing it up? She had to know it was happening. It made you wary of Tyson, if only for the fact that the bitties didn't seem to trust him.

"Ow!" You snapped out of your musing, sticking your now bleeding finger into your mouth. There went that record. There was a very smug looking Edgy standing near the floor you had been mindlessly scrubbing. You nearly forgot you were cleaning a mess some jerk made in the Edgy pen. You warned them not to just reach in there and poke them. But no. Why would they listen to you?

"Heya sweetcheeks. Ya might wanna 'ead on ta da back. Think I 'eard mama callin' fo ya." Really? You hadn't heard anything. Did Cindy need help with the rescues?

"Did Tyson do something dumb again?" You muttered to yourself, dusting off your pants. You remember her asking Tyson to check on them while she cooked.

"When does he not?" The Edgy muttered.

"True." Ugh. You did not want to pry poor Bomber off of him again. You climbed your way carefully out of the pen, noticing that the bitties made sure to stay out from under you. It was nice, since you know they give no such leeway to your coworker.

You set out towards the back with determination. First stop was the kitchen. No dice. Where had Cindy gone? You could see the trays of food sitting on the counter top. Maybe she went to help Tyson. You quickly made your way down the hall. You could faintly hear Cindy's voice drifting over from the back.

"Smokes no!" Was that a scream? Oh god.

"SMOKES, THIS IS HARDLY APPROPRIATE!" Was that Tango?

***

This was not what you wanted to see. You sprinted into the rescue room, looking around frantically. The other rescues were in their feeding pen. Coconut was missing, while Tango, who looked absolutely appalled was trying to pull himself up to the ledge one armed. Bomber was curled up under the small table. It looked like Cindy was feeding them first today, judging by the food on the table. There was an awful lot for only three bitties....

"OH! THAT EDGY WAS RIGHT! MISS _____! PLEASE HELP!" What? Okay, you'd think about that later. Right now Cindy needed help. You followed Tango's gaze to see the reason for their panic. Cindy seemed to have opened Smokes' crate, which was a terrible idea and was now on the floor, struggling with the bitty who was literally half her size. Smokes had pulled her down, grasped her around the hips and was trying to pull off her pants.

Great.

"Boss, why?" You sighed, making your way over to the struggle. How had he taken just her shoes and socks off?