This chapter is dedicated to tannahill_zoo for the two new dogs in this chapter, Nugget and Natcho, and for the votes!
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Breeze's PoV
Darkness. It was all around me, consuming me. Everywhere I looked, there was nothing but pure darkness. It was unnerving to say the least. I longed for nothing more than to be back at the show, safely cuddled up next to Storm on our bed in the van.
I knew that whatever I was in was moving; quite fast from what I could tell. I think that scared me more than anything else. I had no idea where I was, or where I was going.
The container I was in bumped and jerked me around as the road beneath became rough and in total disrepair. I was throw continuously against the cold, metal walls of my inescapable captor, something that made me feel sick and increasingly jittery as I thought about the heartless person who would do this.
No sooner than I had let out an indignant bark, the container stopped throwing me around and we became stationary. I had never been as scared as I was now; what, I feared, was going to happen to me?
A strong bright light momentarily blinded me as the door of the container was opened. Standing, almost silhouetted by the light, was none other than Jake. I involuntarily shivered at the sight of him; it was a shiver of disgust though, not one of fear. I was almost sure he was only using me as bait so that he could lure Storm here.
As I huddled defensively in the back corner of the metal box, a small yet powerful growl rumbled deep in my throat. It was a warning growl. Jake took a step back and another man took his place. In the man's hands was a long pole, a lead in an 'O' shape at the end.
The lead was put around my neck after a struggle on my part and I ended up being dragged out of the box due to my unwillingness to go anywhere near the scum stood behind the man. I could indistinctly hear Jake talking to the man holding the lead. He turned away from Jake, gave me a small pat on the head and kindly asked me to go with him. I took a tentative step forward, much to the man's delight. He almost squealed when I took even the smallest step forwards.
"Come on, girl... There's a good girl... Not much further now, we're nearly there... You're going to be sharing a kennel with two other dogs, I hope you don't mind...?"
"Stewart, are you talking to those blasted dogs again?", a voice echoed down the dimly lit corridor we were walking down. It startled me slightly so I quickly led down on the damp floor through fear. The tie around my neck loosened considerably, a hand found it way onto my head.
"Come on girl. I promise we're nearly there. It's just on the end of the row", a soothing voice told me. For some reason, I trusted this 'Stewart'.
I shakily got back up onto my feet and we continued down the row of vacant kennels. As Stewart had promised, we swiftly got to the end of the block where he left me in a rather spacious, airy kennel.
'This doesn't seem so bad. At least I can stay in some comfort until I'm rescued', I though, my spirits beginning to rekindle. Nose to the floor, I set off to explore my new, temporary home.
I had taken only one step forwards when a swoosh sound filled the kennel. A hatch at the top end of the run had been opened, two pairs of eyes were looking through the opening. For the second time in only a few hours, I feared deeply for my life.
As one pair of eyes came closed to the opened hatch, I saw that they belonged to what I would have said was Collie. The mysterious dog continued crawling through the hatch and I saw that it was indeed a Border Collie Cross. The collie looked at me, head tilted, tongue lolling out. I giggled indistinctly at the expression on its face.
When I looked up after my brief bout of laughter, I saw that the Collie Cross and in fact become two Collie Crosses. Stood side by side they looked fairly intimidating. However the relaxed stance each one carried was enough to reassure me that they were of no real threat.
The first dog stepped gingerly towards me. He seems almost as nervous as I was. I decided to talk to them.
"H...hi, I...um...come in peace", I said, wincing at my pathetic speech. Automatically, I lowered my head in shame. When I lifted it again, I expected to be confronted by the dogs as to why I was in their kennel. Instead however, I could see them both trying, but miserably failing, to stifle their laughter.
"What was that!? That was the worst peace-offering speech I've ever heard! No offence..." The first Collie said, chuckling while he did so.
"I'd have to agree. You don't have much experience with this kind of thing, do you?", the second one questioned. I shook my head.
"I'm Nugget by the way", the first Collie informed me. "But you can call me... Nugget".
"Really, Nugget. You pull that same 'joke' every time we get a new dog in our kennel. Change the squeaky toy would you", the second dog scoffed. "Take no notice of that one, he was evidently dropped on his head as a puppy..."
"Hey! I'm right here ya know Natcho. Don't talk about me like I'm...I'm...just some stuffed toy...", Nugget replied indignantly, a pout forming on his lips.
"Yeah, whatever", the one called Natcho muttered before turning to face me. "What's your name then?", Natcho questioned again.
I didn't say anything. No, I couldn't say anything. These two dogs quite obviously knew each other well, and I gathered that they must have been here a long time already. I suddenly remembered that I had been asked a question and hastened to answer my new kennel-mate.
"I'm Breeze. Um, where am I?" It was the only thing I could manage. It wasn't much, but it was something.
Natcho sighed, something that made butterflies swoon around in my tummy; Sighing was never a good sign.
"We're at a farm, but not a nice one I must add. It's where we get taken after we get stolen. Where we must wait until our owners give in to the blackmail and pay for us to be returned to them. We've been here for nearly a year now, our old owner refused to pay for us so we were just kept here and used as company for new dogs who come in. Then, if they've been here for about a we... ", Nugget answered, sadness rife in his voice, before he was interrupted by Natcho.
"I think you've to her enough, Nugget. You don't want to scare the poor thing, do you?
Like I said earlier, take no notice of that one, Nugget doesn't know what he's saying", Natcho heckled.
I was confused but decided to ignore the last part of the conversation. Instead, I thought about what else I had been told. I deduced that there were only two things that could happen now.
So I was stuck here until either Storm turned up(which I was sure he would), or until Jake got handed a wad of stinking, dirty money. Basically, he would win no matter which way I looked at it.
Nugget and Natcho seemed to sense my distress and anxiety and quickly came over to me to offer me a small bit comfort. They reassured me that everything would be alright even though I didn't believe them; the uncertainty in their voices told me that they didn't believe their words either.
Before any of us had a chance to say anything else, a voice called to us from the other side of the hatch. I was quite apprehensive as to what would greet us on the other side, but Nugget and Natcho both reassured me that we were only going to be let outside, in to an outdoor run. They knew better than I would so I followed them through the open door.
True to their word, the two Collie crosses lead me through another open hatch, straight in to a large outdoor run. I was slightly confused with the treatment I was being given; I was a stolen dog after all. I thought they would treat us badly. Nugget seemed to read my thoughts and swiftly answered my silent question.
"Jake doesn't know that Stewart built this run for us. He never bothers with the dogs after they're brought here. Stewart really cares for us all, I never understood why he goes along with all this. Just wait, he'll come sit with us in a minute. He usually brings us toys and treats too!", he said casually, almost like he had been forced to repeat the same thing time after time.
About five minutes later, a smiling Stewart did indeed come in to the run with us, his arms laden with toys and treats. Nugget and Natcho greeted him with a warm affection that reminded me of Lily. I always greeted her in the same way. 'Pull yourself together, Breeze. Now is no time to fall apart. Be strong!', I repeatedly chanted to myself.
Stewart made his way over to me. He crouched down to the floor when he was a few steps away from me and, avoiding eye contact, he held out his hand for me to sniff. I was strangely heartened by his natural ease with dogs. It was perplexing as to how someone like Stewart ended up working for a man like Jake.
I unintentionally sat down, tilting my head in confusion. 'Great, now you've turned into Storm. He always did this! Thanks a lot, Storm...'. I heard a choked laughter coming from Stewart's hunched over frame. He was rolling around on the floor...laughing at me!? He was actually laughing at me! The nerve of some people.
Without thinking about it, I pounced on him, helped eagerly by Nugget and Natcho, and began to give his face a vigorous licking.
"That'll teach him to laugh at the expense of my confusion!", I vociferated to the other two. By now, they too were laughing at the man who sat in a dazed heap on the floor, his face covered in slobber. "Mission accomplished, I think!"
The mood of the outdoor run suddenly changed though as a definitive howl of a dog's pain split through the air. I stopped and looked around for the source of the cry, but all that met me was the desperate cries of a dog clearly suffering.
I looked over at Nugget and Natcho; both had their heads lowered towards the floor and they looked quite unfazed by the venomous sounds that were ringing in the air. Stewart too seemed unfazed by the now pitiful whimpers of the despairing dog, who was clearly in an abundance of pain only moments ago.
Stewart got up and left silently, without even a backwards glance at us. I took this as my opportunity to get some answers.
"What's going on here? What is this place?", I snapped virulently. "And I want you to tell me the truth, not just 'I'll find out soon enough'!", I added, as Nugget tried to interrupt me.
Natcho sighed again; the butterflies in my tummy began to dance once more.
"This is a Dog Fighting syndicate . They steal dogs and use them to fight if the owners don't claim them. You have a week to be bought back by your owner..."
"...or you end up in the ring", Nugget finished, shuddering as the unspeakable words came out.
"But..."
"We never had to fight because, no matter what Jake or Stewart did, we refused to so much as growl at any other dog. They soon became sick of being patronised by the other members for having two completely useless dogs", Natcho answered, even though I hadn't fully asked the question.
"He kept us though, because if we had been thrown out, we could've gone back to our old owners. Even if it's clear they don't want us...", the two Collie crosses both broke down in tears at the thought of their abandonment, and the fate that they had succumbed to.
"So this is it then, you've just given in to letting innocent dog go off to fight and die? We're dogs; We're strong. We're survivors. And I know that I, for one, am definitely NOT about to go and die, merely for the entertainment of a few bumbling idiots!"
"But what can we do Breeze. Let's be honest, we are only three dogs. There's no way we can overpower them", Nugget asked in near desperation.
"You wanna get out of here, right?", they both nodded. "Then it's sorted; we're gonna bust our way out; we're going to escape!"
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A/N
Hey readers!
Just so you guys know, all the chapters called 'The Great Escape' will be told through Breeze's PoV.
There's only going to be 7 chapters left, *cries and hugs comfort blankie* (yes I have a comfort blanket , OK? OK.) But then I'm gonna go right through this book, edit all the chapters and make the ones that need to be longer, longer.
Anyway, until next time!
Muddy paw prints,
Storm xx