The Demon and the Child

The Pup that Didn't Bite

TW: blood, abuse, talk of dog fights

"Oh my god," Ethan laughed. "There's no way."

"You should have seen Mr. Croft," Roman said. "Virgil's uncle put his arm around him during the movie and his face went beet red."

"Okay, what are we, stereotypical middle school girls?" Virgil asked rhetorically, adjusting the bag strap on his shoulders so the small backpack wouldn't fall off. " We don't need to gossip about my uncle's relationship with our teacher, it's as weird as it sounds."

"It was fun though! We ordered Chinese food and watched some movies. Virgil and I were sitting on one end of the couch and Patton and Mr. Croft cuddled on the other side. Then we played some video games, but we weren't allowed to play Mario Kart after Virgil beat us on rainbow road."

"I told you I'm the best."

"So we just started playing board games afterward. Then it got late so Mr. Croft and I left but y'know it was a Friday."

"Well, I'm glad you guys didn't stay up too late otherwise we wouldn't be walking downtown," Ethan said. "You two would probably be passed out still."

"Probably, I already have a horrendous sleep schedule, don't need to make it worse," Virgil agreed.

"We should probably find something to eat soon," Roman suggested. "We've just been shopping and we haven't had lunch yet."

"Sure, what do you guys..." Virgil trailed off when he smelled something metallic and painfully familiar in the air.

The three heard high pitched whimpering coming from the alley. It sounded like a dog, but they didn't see anything so it must be hiding.

Virgil slowly and quietly walked inside, making Roman panic. He knew he wouldn't be able to get Virgil to stop, so he quickly followed behind.

A doberman was hiding behind a dumpster, a chewed off rope tied around its neck and it was bleeding from several gashes. It growled when they saw the three of them approach.

"Hey there," Virgil whispered, getting low and setting his crutches aside.

"Virgil," Roman warned, "be careful. Those gashes, it looks like it was in a dog fight."

"Do you think it ran away from its owner?" Ethan asked.

"I don't doubt it, I don't think the owner was a good person. I've seen dogs that have been forced to fight, those cuts and scars look like the poor thing came from somewhere like that. They look pretty young too."

Virgil ignored their whispering and tried to crawl closer, but the dog growled louder.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Virgil said, putting his hands up. "Easy now, you're going to be alright."

The dog tried to stand, but it's back leg was hurt pretty bad so it tried to keep it's leg up.

"I know, it hurts. I'm hurt too," Virgil tried to sympathise, though he doubted the dog understood him. He took off his bag and jacket and bunched up the latter, inching closer to the dog. He didn't want it to feel trapped, so he made it obvious that there was an open space for them to run if it felt threatened. "I'm going to help you, I promise. Roman, can you go get your car and pull up around here?"

"Are-are you sure?" Roman asked, looking between Virgil, the dog, and Ethan. Right now was the worst time for him to leave, Virgil couldn't walk and there were two potential threats in close quarters with him.

"Yeah, we'll need to take him to the vet. Please Roman?" Virgil gave him wide and begging eyes. There was no way he could say no to that.

Roman nodded, "Okay just... please be careful. I'll be as fast as I can."