Dark Fangs: Forbidden Fugitives

Chapter Five

It had been strange, Drake thought as he woke, falling asleep in an old manner, a place he knew nothing about. 

     Night and sleep had not been kind to him: He'd had awful dreams about the Indominus Rex through out the night, and his mind had wandered too far on the subject: He'd woke wondering if she remembered him, and if she'd broken out of her cage to find his new house. He thought it might have even been possible for there to be a kind of connection between them, when, really, the monster had barely seen his face.

     What if, though. If I try to go see her again, will she remember me then? Will she be awake? Will she try to kill me? Drake wondered, rolling onto his side to glare at the dull gold door knob. 

     He didn't want to think about her being a blood-thirsty death-machine, but that was what in truth she was. She was a brutal, maniacal animal, and there wasn't anything Drake could to to domesticate or calm her. He knew it too; had her cage door even been loosened, or her muzzle and chains weak, she'd have tore through them and butchered him on the spot.

     I gotta stop thinking about Indominus. He thought, lifting himself out of bed to stretch. I'll just go see my pets. They should be here now! 

     Rushing out of his room, Drake only had to run down a long, broad and dark hallway to get to the front door. In the space around it, he saw two cages, one greyhound-sized and one quail-sized. They were silent inside, as the rest of the house--Drake's parents were not yet up.

     Drake almost burst out laughing in delight, but kept his voice down for his parents. Swifty and Coco! Drake crouched to unlock their cages, and immediately his dog--Swifty, a black and white female Greyhound Border Collie hybrid--barked a bright greeting, clawing the cage mesh.

     "Shhh! Come on, outside!" Drake said in a gleeful whisper, letting his dog and Cockatiel out through the magnificent front door with him.

     Outside, his sweet male Cockatiel--Coco--trilled on his shoulder, raising his sharp wings. His glassy black eyes stared adoringly into Drake's cobalt hues, as if he wished he could disappear into the vivid blue pools.

     Swifty yipped and howled and barked with feverish elation, sprinting around the grassy yard, to the wall and back to Drake, her lengthy Collie tail lashing. In the pacific atmosphere, her ebony and snow colored Collie coat gleamed. Her body took after her Greyhound side, larger, taller, and leaner with a shorter coat, but her head had maintained a more Border Collie-like shape, if a little longer and narrower. Her ears and tail almost matched that of a Border's, her tail just lengthier and less plumy. Her ears and ankles were feathered like a Collie's, and her paws were agile and swift. 

     Drake smiled, his facial feature seeming to glow as he watched his young, quick dog zoom like lightning around the yard. He'd been given Swifty by his best friend who'd owned a young female Border Collie. She'd accidentally become pregnant with a Greyhound's litter, and her puppies were practically given away for their impure blood. Drake had never had a better dog; Swifty was smart, caring, and the most lovable dog he'd ever been around. It was sad to him that dogs without the right blood were practically thrown away.

     "Swifty!" Drake glanced down and saw a hunk of tree bark, and picked it up before tossing it across the yard to Swifty.

     "Hey!"

     A cross voice shattered their friendly aura. It was Drake's Father, staring from the upstairs--third floor--window, in the room which Drake's parents had taken to theirs.

     Drake made an apologetic face at his Father, and Coco screeched on his shoulder defiantly. "Sorry...Did the barking wake you?"

     "Yes, it most certainly did!" Stephen snapped. "Go...go play in the jungle or something! Your Mother and I are trying to sleep!"

     Drake couldn't help a smile poke through his apologetic face. "Sorry! Will do!" He started for their front gate, and Coco flitted off his shoulder to fly above his head. Swifty yipped, abandoning the bark Drake had thrown for her and sprinted on long limbs to catch up with him.

      Maybe it won't just be the jungle I play with. Drake thought mischievously. Maybe a new member of our little band will be made today.