Town of the doomed souls

Chapter 1

'Whose dog is this by the gates? The white one?' asked Andrew the moment his colleague entered the room.

'Good morning to you too,' grumbled the old officer, taking his sit.

'Good morning' stumbled the young man, also dropping into his chair by the window and looking expectantly at the bulky policeman he had to share the study with.

'Damn it! Would I ever wait till I retire at last? I'm sick of it! It's Sodom and Gomorrah early in the morning. Could I ever be pensioned off in peace?!'

Andrew waited until Mikhalich (as everybody called him here) finished his usual morning speech. He knew that it was no good to interrupt. He got used to this daily morning routine throughout the month he lived in this little town.

'Damn those lags. Why couldn't they just keep still in the damn colony?'

At the very moment Andrew's patience was at the verge to explode Mikhalich stopped to arrange his papers on the desk and lifted his head.

'What have you asked?' he sighed heavily.

'The dog. Whose dog is it?'

'What dog?'

'The dog that is here every morning, the large one, snow white.'

'The large and white?' repeated Mikhalich thoughtfully 'Don't know, haven't seen it.'

'How could you not? It's here every day... That's strange.'

'I don't know what you are mumbling about. You should have asked about the breakers.'

'What about them?'

'What about them?' mimicked Mikhalich with a squeaky voice and fishing out of his pile a sheet of paper he passed it to the young man. 'We got report this morning. Two jail breakers on the loose. We are combing the woods. The order is to depart in thirty minutes. Oh, by the way there would be definitely dogs here!' remarked he caustically.

Andrew said nothing. He got already accustomed to the communication manner of the old retiring officer. Mikhalich regarded Andrew as a young man who had a lot to learn despite his rather long service record and treated him like his own son. And as a grateful son, Andrew was forced to listen to the grumbling of the old investigation officer along with his advice and guidance.

An hour later, Andrew stopped the car at the edge of the forest noticing the cordon from afar. Cart road was wet from drizzle. If the rain gets heavier, it would be difficult to drive out of here after "ZILs" that brought a recovery team. One can only hope that this pursuit is not for long. However, as it is known from the experience those kinds of searches only end with the onset of the pitch darkness.

Andrew was about to get out of his car when something white flashed ahead. He flicked the wipers and peered into the rain mist. There against the gray horizon right up the hill that obscured the track from view was a snow-white spot of a dog. It was the same dog he asked Mikhalich about. Again it seemed strange that he knew nothing about it.

Andrew came to this little town a month ago and stepping out on the porch of his new home in the first morning, he saw a white dog. It was sitting in the grass outside the gates regarding him with a tilted head and a tongue lolled out.

'Hello, fellow. What are you doing here?'

The dog did not move an inch but for the eyes that followed his every move while he locked the house, opened the gates and started his car to go for his first day at work.

All done, he was surprised to find it on the same spot surveying him closely. But can dogs survey at all?

'Where is your master, boy?' Andrew stepped to the animal that stayed motionless still. 'Or should I rather say girl? And a pretty one!'