by Anh Do
I wondered what to tell him.
‘I umm . . . got separated from my parents when the bombs started dropping. In the forest, I met a pack of dogs, and . . . well, we’ve been together ever since. I’m sort of . . . their leader.’
Rupert’s eyes went wide.
‘The dogs were lost too, and we became a family.’ I realised how silly the story sounded and waited for him to tell me he didn’t believe me.
‘That’s so cool,’ he said.
I was relieved he didn’t think I was crazy.
‘So where are they now?’ said Rupert.
My smile fell away. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I last saw them a long way back down the road, at the place where I was taken. That could’ve been the last time I’ll ever see them.’
As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt an awful heaviness in my chest and a lump started to rise in my throat.
‘So,’ I said, changing the subject, ‘what’s your story?’
Rupert shrugged and looked at the floor. ‘Not much of a story, I guess. I play . . . played a lot of video games – never had a brother or sister, and I’ve always been awful at sport. I can remember bits of my parents talking about trouble coming, but they didn’t really believe it, and I was too busy playing games to pay much attention.’
Rupert gave a little smile that quickly turned sad.
‘So it was all a bit of a surprise when the soldiers came to Monville and rounded everyone up into trucks,’ he said.
‘You’re from Monville?’
‘Yeah, why?’
‘I’m from Firwood. We were pretty much neighbours,’ I said.
Saying my hometown’s name for the first time in four years felt strange, like it was now on another planet. Rupert seemed to be thinking the same.
After a while, he frowned. ‘I’m sorry about the other kids, by the way – for the way they acted last night.’
‘That’s okay,’ I said.
‘I wasn’t trying to make fun of you when I howled,’ said Rupert.
‘You’re really bad at it,’ I said.
Rupert straightened up. ‘Wasn’t that bad, was it?’
I chuckled.
Rupert opened his mouth and started howling.
It was terrible.
‘It has to come from deep inside your stomach.’
I inhaled a great lungful of air and puffed up my chest. I thrust back my shoulders, opened my mouth, and unleashed a howl into the night . . .
As I howled, I heard something outside that made me suck the air back in and choke.
An answering howl!
It sounded like . . . but it couldn’t be . . .
Quick as a flash I sprang up to the window and looked outside.
There, looking up at me, was my pack!
As soon as they saw me, their tails started wagging hard enough to knock rocks off the piles. Zip ran in circles, Tiny’s tongue lolled out in a big grin, Brutus gave a happy whine, and Sunrise just stared at me meaningfully.
How do we get to you? Sunrise seemed to ask.
A shadow flashed across the bars and almost startled me into losing my grip . . .
Eagle landed beside the dogs. They were all here! They had found me. I couldn’t believe it!
My worry that I would never see them again vanished . . . only to be replaced by new worries. How are we all going to get out of here?
I pulled my head away from the window, listening, wondering if the commotion had woken Baldy – but no, his snoring continued.
‘Eagle,’ I said, in a low voice, ‘can you bring me Tiny?’
Eagle cocked her head at the little dog. The two of them had worked together in the past during hunts or when Tiny couldn’t make a jump crossing a stream.
But the cell window was much higher than any boost Eagle had ever given Tiny before.
Could they do it? Did they even understand what I wanted?
The big bird stared down at the little dog with her piercing eyes. Tiny looked at Eagle, looked at me, then ran around in a circle. Eagle moved her head . . . could that have been a nod? . . . then raised a claw and took him by the scruff of his neck. She began to beat her wings. Tiny looked down as his paws left the ground, then looked back up at the window. Together, they rose into the air.
I stuck my hand out the window.
It was difficult for Eagle to hover near the window. Her wings were wide enough that the tips of them kept brushing the wall.
I reached out as far as I could, crushing my cheek against the bars. Tiny’s worried eyes went past.
‘Drop him in my hand,’ I grunted.
A moment later a soft weight landed in my palm and I closed my fingers. I had caught Tiny!
I pulled him through the bars and dropped back down into the cell.
Tiny immediately leapt all over me. He jumped at my face and licked me frantically. I laughed and hugged him.
‘I missed you,’ I told him.
I realised Rupert was staring at us with wonder. From his cell, he had just seen a dog fly in through the window.
‘How did he get up here?’ he said.
‘Oh, I forgot to tell you,’ I said, happily squeezing Tiny’s silly face. ‘I have an eagle too.’
I scratched Tiny behind his ears as I thought about the key to my cell, hanging over the desk in Baldy’s office.
Over the years, I had developed a way to communicate with the dogs, a mixture of speaking and miming. Sometimes we just sensed each other’s needs.
I remembered a time back when we were still camping at the abandoned cars. One day I had found Tiny standing over a locked suitcase. He could smell something inside.
I had hunted around the cars nearby, and eventually found a key in a glove box. Tiny had watched with keen interest as I put it in the lock and turned it.
‘Click,’ I had said.
Inside the suitcase was a bag of pork curls. I gave the curls to Tiny and didn’t think much more of it.
Now I wondered if I could use this.
I picked Tiny up and took him to the cell door. I held him up so he could see the lock, and then mimed turning a key in it.
‘Click,’ I said.
Tiny’s ears pricked up. You need a click? He looked this way and that.
I pointed off down the corridor. ‘The click is down there. But you have to be . . .’ I held my finger up to my lips, a sign I taught the dogs for hunting. ‘. . . quiet.’
I set Tiny on the floor and he squeezed through the bars and scurried off down the corridor, his radar ears swivelling.
Tiny came to an open door and found the source of the snoring. A two-leg was slumped over a desk, asleep.
Then Tiny noticed something hanging on the wall above the desk. His tail twitched – he hadn’t been too sure what Gwen had wanted, but now that he saw it, he was certain. It was a whole ring of clicks!
With the two-leg right there, he had to be very careful. Tiny had learnt quickly that not all two-legs were like Gwen. Not all humans could be trusted.
There was another chair to the side of the desk, with a couple of books piled on it. Tiny padded softly into the room and looked up at it. He tensed, focused, and sprang up onto the chair.
He landed messily – his paws came down on one of the books and it slipped away under him. As he slid down onto his stomach, the book fell off the chair, hitting the floor with a thump.
The two-leg stirred. Tiny froze, his little heart thudding in his chest. For a few seconds, he dared not move . . . but then the snoring started again.
Tiny got up, careful not to make more noise, and looked at the desk. He didn’t want to knock over any more stuff, but he couldn’t see what was up there. Still, he had to take the risk.
Tiny jumped, landing close to the two-leg’s head.
Tiny walked over to the keys, his claws tapping treacherously on the desk. The clicks were hanging off a nail in the wall. It would be simple enough to reach up and grab them.
But as he pulled them towar
ds himself, the clicks started to jangle! Tiny froze, his teeth still clamped on the clicks.
Careful as he could, Tiny drew the clicks off the wall. They jangled even more as they came loose! The two-leg stirred again and coughed. Fearing the worst, Tiny ran to the edge of the desk and jumped off.
He landed on the floor with a thud and a clank. The man’s eyes opened!
Tiny watched with growing fear as the man grunted and looked around. He seemed to blink at the place on the wall where the clicks should be.
Then his head fell back as he started snoring again, this time at the ceiling.
Tiny dared to breathe again. Stupid two-leg! How could anyone sleep so deeply? Then again, Tiny was very stealthy and clever – despite knocking down books and jangling the clicks, of course.
Tiny padded over to the doorway and made his way back down the corridor to the cells.
Gwen’s scent grew reassuringly stronger. Finally, he reached her cell and slipped through the bars. When she saw him with the clicks in his mouth, she gave a warm exclamation and scooped him up.
‘Oh, Tiny,’ said Gwen as she hugged him. ‘You clever, clever boy.’
I know, purred Tiny. Very clever indeed!
Rupert couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘Oh my God! Your dog is so smart!’
‘Ssh!’ I hissed.
‘If they find you out of your cell, you’ll be in so much trouble!’ Rupert whispered.
‘That’s why I’m not going to hang around waiting to be caught,’ I said irritably.
I found a key that fit snugly in the lock, turned it, and the door swung open. Tiny trotted out into the corridor, keeping watch as I walked over to Rupert’s cell.
‘Do you want to come with me?’ I said.
Rupert looked uncertain and fearful.
‘Or,’ I said, ‘you could stay here and smash rocks.’
‘I’m coming,’ he said.
I unlocked his door and he opened it carefully, trying to avoid any squeaking.
‘What about the other kids?’ I said. ‘Shall we go and get them too?’
Rupert edged out into the corridor nervously. ‘We can’t.’
‘Why?’
‘They’re weak and starving. There’s no way we’ll be able to sneak them all out together. Even if we make it to the forest, how would we feed them all?’
‘We can’t just leave them here to be slaves.’
Rupert frowned thoughtfully. ‘If we free the adults first, maybe they can help us with the kids?’
‘The adults? What are you talking about?’
‘Oh, you don’t know?’ said Rupert. ‘Further along the mountain, they’re using adult workers to build a big compound. My mum and dad are there.’
His parents were close by? If that was true, maybe my own were there too!
I quickly reached into my shirt and pulled out my locket.
‘These are my parents,’ I said. ‘Have you seen them?’
I tried to keep my voice steady, but I was desperate for the answer.
Rupert frowned at the photo. Every second until he answered felt like a year. Eventually he said, ‘Ah . . . yes, I have.’
I almost screamed with excitement. I couldn’t believe it. I began shaking. My parents – after all this time! So close by, and I hadn’t even known.
Since I’d been captured, my only thoughts had been getting back to the pack, but now I was flooded with a hundred memories of my parents and my sister.
My mind started swirling with thoughts of Mum and Dad, of how they would have to let me keep the dogs, and when this whole thing was over, we’d all be together, all of us!
‘Are you sure?’ I said.
Rupert gave a little nod.
‘What about her?’ I said, pointing at my sister. ‘Have you seen Kate?’
Rupert coughed. ‘There’s no kids over there. She would be in this camp if she was anywhere, and I haven’t seen her. I’m sorry.’
That was disappointing, but not enough to stop a surge of excitement rising up inside me. Not only was I going to get out of this place, I would rescue my parents as well! Then we could work out what to do about Kate. Together.
A thought stopped me. My pack was very good at survival, but this was completely different. This was going on the attack, and we would need to be sneaky. Half-blind Zip and excitable Tiny would need to be sneaky . . .
I looked at Tiny, who was clearly still pleased with himself for getting the key.
We could do this.
‘I need to get my dogs,’ I said. ‘Then we’re going to free the adults.’
Rupert went pale. ‘But how can we do that? There’s only the two of us.’
He seemed a bit flighty. Freeing the adults had been his idea, but now he didn’t want to follow through? Hesitation could be the difference between bringing down prey and becoming prey yourself.
Was Rupert going to slow us down? Maybe . . . but it didn’t matter, I needed his knowledge.
‘Come on,’ I said firmly.
I picked up Tiny and walked off down the corridor. After a moment, Rupert followed.
We reached Baldy’s open office door. He was still in there, snoring away. The other offices were dark under their closed doors. I motioned for Rupert to wait.
‘What are you doing?’ he mouthed at me.
I crept into the office. It wasn’t hard to find my sling.
Baldy hadn’t bothered to move it from where the soldier had tossed it, which was good for me – there was no way I was leaving without my sling.
I snuck out of the office and quietly shut the door, using the set of keys to lock Baldy in the room.
We went down the stairs and made our way towards the entrance.
I began to make out the bumps and humps of kids slumbering on their dirty mats. I felt bad for leaving them, but I knew we would be back.
I went to the entrance door. I still had the keys, but I couldn’t find a lock on our side.
‘It’s padlocked from the outside,’ whispered Rupert.
I heard a scratching and sniffing coming through the door. There was a low growl, which I instantly recognised.
‘Sunrise!’ I hissed. ‘It’s me! We can’t open the door.’ I tapped on the door where I thought the padlock would be, although I wasn’t quite sure how that would help my dogs.
Suddenly, there was a heavy impact against the door, and it shook in its frame. A second later, another blow came, and I recognised an accompanying grunt as Brutus.
They were trying to smash in the door!
‘Back up,’ I whispered to Rupert.
The thuds came repeatedly, and I hoped my dogs wouldn’t hurt themselves. Nails began to shake loose, and the frame splintered. The noise echoed through the whole place, and I heard kids begin to murmur. Some of them sat up and rubbed their eyes.
There was an almighty and the door crashed to the floor.
I ran to them, overjoyed, and threw my arms around my family. Nosey and Zip ran up to nuzzle their way into a big group hug. Zip couldn’t contain himself and started barking his foolish head off. I hushed them. I knew this was no time for reunions. We had to get moving.
We heard a thump upstairs and shouting sounded from every direction outside.
‘Come on!’ I said.
I got to my feet and ran out the door. My pack circled around me, and I glanced back to make sure that Rupert was following. He looked nervously at Brutus, who was running by his side, and Brutus looked back at him.
Who is this guy?
I looked around. There were wire fences up the hill, mounds of rubble along the building, and a big field full of dark shapes. Torches flashed from multiple directions. I didn’t know which way to go.
Follow me, Sunrise growled.
She bounded off to the side. I picked up Tiny and ran after her as fast as I could. It felt good to have the wind whip through my hair. My nostrils flared to take in fresh air.
Torches grew rapidly closer, bobbing up and down as soldiers jogged a
long. Sunrise reached the wall and sped off along it. As the rest of us followed, I heard footsteps on the scaffolding above. They were coming at us from all sides!
Did Sunrise know what she was doing? We came to a shed, and Sunrise ran behind it. I followed and saw a glimpse of her tail disappearing through a hole under the wall.
I dived after her, releasing Tiny just before I hit the ground. The little dog shot forward from my hands and through the hole. I landed hard, but there was no time to be winded. I dragged myself on my belly through the dirt. My hands felt grass on the other side, and I pulled myself up.
I turned as Nosey, Brutus and Zip burst up from the hole one after another. The soldiers’ shouting grew louder on the other side.
‘Rupert!’ I hissed.
Rupert’s hand appeared, reaching out. I grabbed it, but I couldn’t pull him through.
‘My leg’s stuck!’ he yelled.
‘Quick, dogs!’ I shouted.
The dogs ran in to clamp down on Rupert’s sleeve, and we all backed up together. He glanced up terrified to see so many teeth pulling on him – but they only held him by his clothes.
A moment later we wrenched him free, and he slid out of the hole onto the grass.
Rupert staggered to his feet, gasping.
‘Into the forest!’ I said, and together, we ran for the trees.
I was used to the forest at night, but Rupert wasn’t. As we ran, I heard him cry out, bumping into branches and rocks. I dropped back and caught his arm.
‘I’ll guide you,’ I said, ‘but we have to move quickly.’
I steered him around obstacles and pushed him pretty hard. He kept saying things like ‘Whoa’ and ‘Ouch’ – but I needed him to keep moving.