Spot and Smudge - Book One

by Robert Udulutch

  When she finished the chicken she unwrapped one of the brownies Liko had given her. It had become her favorite snack, and was infused with marijuana and a little LSD. As the cannabinoids and lysergic acid flowed through her system, wiping away the stress of the long day, she organized the pills for a few hours in the darkened back room of the clinic.

  Dalaja had to segregate the extra revenue items that Larry had ordered, and then break them down into saleable packages. If she didn’t have all of it to Liko early tomorrow he’d be extremely upset with her. As much as she wanted to finish, and avoid another darkened eye, she just couldn’t keep her head off the desk.

  Dalaja stood, yawned, stretched, and looked at her watch as she raised up on the balls of her feet. With her arms stretched over her head she said, “Fuck it,” and pulled a fold of her pink scrub bottoms from the crack of her backside. She clicked off the table lamp and walked to the back hallway.

  From her cage Smudge watched the doctor, and listened as she walked up the back steps. By the time the vet’s apartment door opened and then clicked closed, Smudge she had already started nipping at the bandages on her front paw. The only light in the back room was from the outside floodlight shining through the back door’s window, but it cast enough into the cages for Smudge to work.

  She shoved aside the temptation to just bash open the cage door as she carefully unraveled the bandage from her paw and pushed a loop of it through the upper grate of the cage door. It took her several tries but she lowered the loop of bandage down and around the protruding wire knobs that made up the latch’s release. She pulled the hanging end of the bandage back into the bottom of the cage. With her teeth and her paws she tightened the bandage, causing the handle to close and unlock the cage door. As it popped open she caught the bottom edge before it could bang against the other kennels. She paused to listen, and heard nothing from the upstairs apartment.

  Smudge jumped down to the clinic floor and turned to face the wall of animals looking at her from their cages. Good job, she said, now just keep quiet and I’ll find you some treats in a minute.

  She walked to the exam table and freed the wheel locks. As she rolled the table over to the cages one of the wheels squeaked and echoed loudly in the quiet of the clinic’s back room. She froze, listening again for footsteps from upstairs. None came and she locked the wheels again and leapt to the table top.

  She bit down on the metal loops of her brother’s cage door to unlatch it and he stepped out when she pulled it open.

  Nicely done sister, he said as he licked her muzzle, We ok?

  Smudge wagged and said, Aye lad, let’s do this.

  She head butted him, jumped down from the table, and ran to the small desk by the pharmaceutical cabinet. With a paw she pulled out its rolling chair and shoved it over to the back door.

  Spot had removed his bandages and gingerly leapt down from the table to join her. He nodded as he checked the time on the alarm panel near the back door. The alarm indicator was green, and below the clock the display said NOTIFY CHIME.

  Spot said, They should be ready.

  Smudge had jumped onto the chair and grabbed the door knob with her mouth. She twisted her head and pulled, and opened the door a crack which let in a bright sliver of light from the outside floodlight.

  The alarm panel chimed.

  Spot nosed the door open enough for him to slip through the gap. He stepped out into the light and stopped at the edge of the clinic’s rear walkway.

  Smudge came up next to him and let out a low, almost sub-audible growl.

  Six dogs slipped silently out of the shadows and followed the pups into the clinic.

  Smudge gently shouldered the back door until it quietly clicked closed as her brother nosed the chair back towards the desk.

  The upstairs hallway light came on, and as the vet’s slippered foot hit the upper landing the dogs disappeared into the dark.

  Dalaja came down the stairs and stopped on the last step to inspect the closed back door. She opened it and the alarm panel chimed again. She poked her head outside and scanned the back walkway as she twisted the outside door knob to make sure it was locked before closing the door again. She walked to the alarm panel, entered a code, and received a confirmation beep when the display changed to ARMED.

  She gave the dark room a look, and then turned to go back upstairs.

  Her desk chair rolled out of the shadows and banged against the door right behind her.

  Dalaja jumped, let out a squeaky gasp, and scrambled to hit the back room’s light switch.

  When the light came on the doctor saw Spot standing in the middle of the floor.

  With her hand clutching her chest she said, “What the hell are you doing out of your cage?” When she stepped forward and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck her fingers dug into his withers exactly where the Alpha had bit him.

  As she dragged him towards the cages Spot yelped, but it was mostly for effect as his neck wound had almost completely healed.

  Dalaja stopped when she saw the exam table had been pushed against the wall of cages and two of the doors were open.

  And then she heard a growl behind her.

  It was powerful and very low, she felt it as much as she heard it.

  The vet let go of Spot’s neck, straightened up, and turned around.

  Slowly walking towards her was a group of huge dogs baring enormous teeth under their curled up, quivering muzzles.

  Dalaja’s foggy mind couldn’t quite comprehend what she was seeing. She recognized Maximus, the hyper-aggressive massive black German shepherd owned by that odd Cooper family.

  She also recognized the Hogan’s black female dog, but Dalaja was confused by the way the dog was moving. As the pup walked she was flexing, and her neck and shoulders were expanding. The dog looked to have some form of specialized voluntary muscle hypertrophy. In just a few steps she appeared to have transformed from a normal fit dog into a pit bull on steroids.

  Most surprising, and terrifying, were the two huge coyotes and the row of three smaller coyotes behind them.

  Dalaja’s eyes darted from one to the other as she slowly backed up. She noticed one of the coyotes in the rear was carrying what looked to be a kid’s backpack in its mouth. The doctor closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head, trying to remember if she may have taken the wrong combination of drugs. She opened one eye at a time and not only were all the dogs still there but she noticed the lead coyote, who was almost as large as Maximus, was missing an ear. The other coyote was still quite formidable and had obviously been in many fights that had left a map of scars on its face and neck. Dalaja took a few big steps backwards until she banged into the kennels. She noticed all of the cats and dogs in the cages behind her were silent, and were just staring at her.

  The dogs stopped advancing. The Hogan’s smaller black dog, Spot, went to the desk chair and shoved it towards her. He barked once.

  Dalaja just looked at the dog, and then she noticed the bandages had been removed from his feet. He barked up at her again, and pushed the chair again with his nose.

  Smudge stepped forward, grabbed the leg of Dalaja’s scrubs, and started to slowly pull her over to the chair. The vet spun around and grabbed the edge of the exam table as her foot was lifted off the floor.

  A frustrated Smudge let go of her leg and jumped up onto the table. She snapped a crisp bark right in Dalaja’s face.

  It was louder than a dog her size should be able to produce. Dr. D felt her hair blow back and she stumbled backwards into the chair with a hard thump. The coyotes cackled and the sound crept right up Dalaja’s spine. She looked at the wild dogs and started to shiver. Terror took over and a voice inside her head that seemed very far away told her to run.

  Spot saw it cross her face as if she’d said it out loud. He huffed a quick snort just as she was getting off the chair.

  She made it one step before Max was in her path. He head butted her back into the chair and jumped up on her, placing a gi
ant paw on each of her shoulders. The chair rolled backwards until it banged into the desk. Max brought his snout within an inch of Dalaja’s nose and opened his mouth slowly as far as it would open. She tried to lean back but the chair would only let her go so far. His big white canine teeth grazed her chin and forehead as his jaws snapped shut. If he hadn’t pulled his head back at the last second he would have taken her nose off.

  Dalaja started to cry, her shoulders began to shake, and she wet herself. Some of it leaked out from the side of the chair and pooled on the floor. The coyotes let another round of chatters fly until One Ear shut them up with a look.

  Smudge came forward and bit one leg of her scrubs again and spun the chair in a small arc so Dalaja was facing the desk. Max pushed the chair from behind so the arms banged into the desk and pinned the doctor’s ample middle.

  As Max backed away Spot jumped up on the desk and nodded to the smaller coyote in the back row. The sentry brought the backpack forward and deftly leapt onto the desk next to her new alpha. She dropped the backpack, looked at Dalaja, and returned to the back of the group. Smudge huffed and the dogs circled around behind the doctor and sat down.

  Dalaja swiveled her head around to watch them encircle her and realized she couldn’t roll the chair back without bumping into one of them.

  Max and One Ear leaned in close behind her and their hot breath washed over the back of Dalaja’s arms. She crossed them in front of her chest.

  Spot held down the backpack and unzipped it with his teeth. He poked his head inside and pulled out the tablet. He hit the power button and while it started up he nosed it gently until it was in front of Dalaja.

  Through streaming tears she weakly said, “I don’t understand…How? How is it you can…”

  She trailed off and stared as Spot navigated the tablet’s screen and opened several files. He spun the tablet so Dalaja could read the first one.

  Spot looked at her for a long while and Dalaja just stared back at him, crying and shaking her head slowly. Spot put his paw on the tablet, pointing to where he wanted her to start reading. She continued to stare at him and he barked once and tapped the tablet again with his paw.

  Dalaja flinched, but continued to stare at Spot. He tapped on the tablet again and One Ear leaned forward and put her chin on the terrified doctor’s shoulder, growling lowly into her ear. Dalaja looked down at the tablet and One Ear withdrew.

  For several minutes Dalaja watched wide-eyed as Spot flicked through the screens with his paw. He kept toggling between a graphic that showed an overview and sub windows that showed details. It was very clear what he expected her to do.

  He raised his paw like he was going to shake. He slowly showed her the top of his foot, and then turned it over to show her the pads on the bottom as he flexed open his toes.

  Dalaja finally understood and looked up at him, horrified. She shook her head and said, “There’s no way. I can’t. I mean, it won’t work…this is madness.” She began to cry again and turned away with her eyes shut tightly. “I can’t,” she groaned.

  Spot looked up at the clock and then looked at his sister. Smudge nodded and leapt onto the desk. She lunged forward with lightning speed and bit Dalaja. The doctor cried out and grabbed her shoulder. The skin wasn’t broken but the pain was sharp and sobering. Smudge jumped down from the desk and Spot leaned over the tablet, his face a few inches from Dalaja. She stared at him, holding her shoulder and understanding Spot wanted her full attention.

  He stepped back and nosed into the backpack again and came out with an empty supplement container. He dropped it into her hands.

  Dalaja stared at it, her lips quivered but no sound came out. She noticed the canister was smeared with grime and feces. It smelled horrible, and could have only come from one place.

  “How did you?” she croaked, “From the kennel? You have to know I never wanted to hurt them.”

  Dalaja broke down. Her shoulders heaved and tears flooded her eyes. She howled in great sobbing gasps, “I don’t understand, I don’t understand any of this, WHAT’S HAPPENING?”

  Spot shook his head as he backed away and said to his sister, This isn’t working.

  Smudge nodded, and yapped a quick bark.

  One Ear went from the floor to standing on the desk in front of the vet in a heartbeat. Dalaja blinked and thought for a second it had been an illusion. She had never seen an animal move that fast. One Ear put a paw on each side of the tablet and locked eyes with the doctor. The huge wild dog bared her teeth and emitted a long slow growl that worked its way down Dalaja’s back and wrapped around her bladder. She groaned again as she tried to control her shaking, and her bowels.

  Dalaja was afraid of Max’s size, and the oddly muscular Smudge, and the chillingly calm Spot, but deep down she still knew they were domesticated dogs with a bred-in fear and respect for humans. This killer had an entirely different look in her eyes. It was a look Dalaja knew existed, but had only seen in her nightmares.

  One Ear inched closer, looking down at the doctor until her spit dripped onto the terrified doctor’s nose. In One Ear’s hypnotic assassin’s stare Dalaja fell into a horrible tunnel. In these deadly eyes Dalaja understood that she was now prey, and that what came next was being torn to pieces. On One Ear’s breath, and in her smell, and in her low grumbling Dalaja felt what hundreds of helpless animals had as they resigned themselves to their inevitable end. This wild thing brought to the surface the debilitating weaknesses and insecurity Dalaja fought to suppress every day. This beast owned the dark corners that scared the hell out of Dalaja. This perfect murderer was everything that she feared. Equines, bovines, her mother, Liko, they didn’t compare. This animal was purposely built to be the top predator in its environment and it was at home roaming in Dalaja’s nightmares where killing and eating living things happened. Dalaja’s imagination took over and she clearly pictured herself lying on the clinic floor with her blood spraying across the room as this animal happily called the pack to start eating her alive. She saw her toes and intestines being removed as she helplessly looked down her body to watch it happen.

  Spot carefully observed Dalaja’s face as she stared at her executioner. She didn’t blink, her mouth was cracked open, and her lower lip shook. He had never seen the moment of human death up close, but he assumed it looked something like this. Spot could see on her face that her mind had been ripped to pieces by this killer’s stare. We wanted her compliant but not shattered and useless, and for the second time he was impressed with One Ear. He could tell the big wild female hunter knew she had accomplished her goal. One Ear’s growl faded away and she gave Spot a look and backed off without him saying a word.

  Dalaja slowly turned her head and looked at Spot. Her look conveyed what he wanted to see, that she was more afraid of this animal than anything else she had ever encountered and she understood that somehow One Ear had been manipulated by these black dogs. Dalaja knew she was not getting out of this clinic tonight without doing whatever she was told to do.

  “Yes,” was all her quivering lips could manage.

  Smudge jumped up and used her mouth to pull open the doors of the medicine cabinet next to the desk. She rummaged around in the stacks of pill bottles with her paws and her snout. Some of them dropped onto the floor as she pushed them out of the way. She found what she was looking for and dropped the bottle onto the desk. Spot nudged it in front of the doctor.

  Dalaja picked it up and looked at the label. “Yes,” she whispered again as she shook out three of the amphetamines, “I suppose we are going to be up pretty late.”

  Smudge nosed the bottle of water and it rolled across the desk until it was stopped by the tablet. Dalaja locked eyes with her for a long while as she chased down the pills with a few big gulps.

  Smudge broke her stare, and hopped down to lead the sentries to stations at the front of the building where they could keep an eye on the parking lot. When she came back to the treatment room Spot and Dalaja were leaning shoulder to shoulder o
ver the tablet. Her brother was deftly tapping and tracing his paw around it.

  For the next hour they reviewed the files, and at one point Dalaja pointed to an area she wasn’t understanding and they went back and forth on it for a few minutes. It wasn’t long before she was touching the tablet more often, and by the end of the hour she was flying through the screens more than Spot. She had taken out a legal pad and was furiously scribbling notes as they frequently nodded, argued, and then nodded again. Most of the debates seemed to be over Spot’s micro-suture diagrams, which she ended up redrawing. Eventually she leaned back in the chair and put her pencil in her mouth.

  “Okay, just the two of you?” she asked.

  Spot nodded, and Dalaja got up from the desk and took the tablet and her notes to the operating area. She propped the tablet up on the instrument tray and checked a few of the diagrams again as Spot leapt up onto the table next to her.

  Before Smudge joined him she pushed the rolling table over so it was in view of the operating table and locked its wheels again. She then called Max over and had him jump up onto it. The massive black shepherd landed heavily on the table, sat down, and looked down at Dalaja. She gave him a strange look before turning to Spot with a raised eyebrow.

  Spot leaned over the tablet, opened a text window, and quickly typed into it.

  The doctor read it, looked at Spot, and said, “There’s absolutely no need for your hairy insurance policy and I can’t work with him hanging over my shoulder. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid.”

  Spot stared at her.

  Dalaja looked at him for a moment before she said, “I see, well please explain to Maximus that your hearts will slow down, it doesn’t mean you’re dead.”

  Spot nodded, and grumbled softly to Max.

  She turned to face Max, carefully slipped a surgical mask around his massive snout, and said, “You can watch but you have to keep this on, and stay quiet.”