PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXX Part III

The halls were eerily silent, ringing with every footfall or distant sound. A quiet trepidation flooded the school, welling panic in Toez's chest and slowly convincing him that he was better off ditching everyone and saving himself.

"So what the heck is even going on?" he finally asked, leading the two clueless cats into what he hoped wasn't a trap, "Why are you guys even here?"

"Oh," Pandora whispered back, "me and Milk were just looking for the library, we wanted to sign up to the club after we saw fliers for it, but..." he gestured with a thumb behind himself, "we saw those two when we were heading there, and the poodle practically yelled at us to run."

Milk silently nodded, affirming the story.

Wrapping his paw around the handle of one of the rare wooden doors in the school, Toez paused to elaborate. "I meant more like, why are you at the school?"

Pandora scratched at his cheek. "Well, it's going to sound silly, but my school doesn't have a book club, so-"

"To help stop this," Milk interjected. Her gaze was levelled downward, off into space, and a strange conviction crossed her face. It was almost as if, for a single sentence, she became a different person. Her eyes fluttered up to the others, and her steely frown eased as she began to apologize. "And, also so I could see how dogs are. I think you guys are kinda cool..."

"Not sure if I get the appeal," Toez replied, combing back a bang, "and by 'this' do you mean Patches?"

Milk nodded as Toez fumbled open the door, pushing at first rather than pulling and embarrassing himself. The wolf was caught off guard by a sudden "Hey," coming from a boston terrier just a little bit into the room, standing over a blood-splattered but seemingly fine husky lying down in one of the highly uncomfortable beds that populated the nurse's room. Toez had only been here once before, and he's pretty sure the place sucked so that dogs like him wouldn't try to fake illness all the time, not that it stopped him.

"Woah," Pandora began, "More dogs."

"Th' heck is wrong with all of you?" the terrier sassed, placing his blanche paws at his hips. "Can't you see I'm busy trying to save someone's life?"

Toez leaned forward, trying to glimpse any open wounds, but finding nothing aside from the alarming dots of blood covering the dog's vest and blue shirt. "What's wrong with the husky?"

"I am not a husky!" the bedridden dog interjected, glaring at the pink wolf with eyes full of spite, "I'm an alaskan malamute! And nothing is wrong with me- I told you, just let me leave!"

Pandora took a step towards the hu- alaskan malamute, trying to be assertive towards the older dog. "You guys need to come with us now. The dalmatian is in the school, he'll kill you if he finds you!"

The malamute smiled widely, eyes sliding towards the boston terrier with a 'told you so' sort of smugness Toez immediately found offputting. "See?" Using the momentum his confidence brang, the malamute kicked his legs up, sitting up and then placing his feet on the floor. "He's here, and I can stop him if you'd just let me!"

The terrier frowned, pressing against the malamute's chest with a paw. "Listen, Urchin-"

"Urcher!"

"Urcher, right. Listen- none of us are first aid certified so just-"

"I am!" the fluffy dog interrupted again, flaring the collar of his winter coat and pressing against the gesture. "And I don't need to be a vet to tell you that I'm fine. The blood isn't mine."

Taken aback by the statement, the terrier allowed the malamute to stand up. His shock had only abated after the brunette cat had snapped out his trance, standing in front of the door and raising a paw in defiance.

They exchanged stares of bemusement and anxiety. After a huff, the malamute looked about the room, adjusting the collar of his fluffy winter coat. With an unchanging expression, he reached out, grabbing a dusty wooden broom leaning against the tiled wall. He held it like a sword with a practiced swirl of the tool, appraising the implement with indifference.

"W-What are you doing?" the cat sternly said.

Urcher sighed, holstering the broom over his shoulder and shutting his eyes. "I don't know if I can beat him, but I can buy everyone time; please move."

"What?!" Pandora stammered. "A-Are you going to fight him?"

The terrier took a step back as the malamute brushed past the small cat. "Are you serious? We need to get out of here!"

The dog almost laughed in response. "We got put back together by those cats before, right?" he said, looking at the brunette, "If I get hurt- or even die, they'll be able to put me back, I'm sure of it."

"I don't think that's how that stuff works!" Toez exclaimed as the dog swung the door open, "Why don't you just stay with us and-"

Before he could finish, the strange student closed the door with a slam, frightening Toez and startling the rest.

The boston terrier gave a lingering exhale before expressing his exhaustion with breathy words. "Sorry about that guy, I should've tried holding him down or something." He extended his paw towards the closest person- Pandora- and gave them a shake. "Name's Cliff, by the way. So what's all this about a dalmatian?"

"No time to explain," the brunette interrupted, awkwardly accepting the paw shake, "we need to bring a first aid kit down the hall as soon as we can, a dog named Luna is in serious trouble!"

"Aw jeez, that does sound bad. I think there's supposed to be a first aid kit on the wall somewhere?"

Toez cocked his eyebrow, "It's, uh, right behind you."

Seemingly not hearing him, Pandora spoke up with much of the same. "It's right behind you, actually."

"Oh, hah," the terrier exclaimed back to Pandora. "Thanks, hard to be perceptive when there's a guy kicking and screaming right next to me."

The wolf frowned, "Oh come on," he said with his nasally voice, "I pointed it out first."

"Hm?" Cliff said, looking to Toez, "Sorry, what did you say?"

The pink furred dog huffed. "Nothing."

With the white and red metallic box in paw, Pandora brushed himself past Toez and Milk, opening the door. "There's not a moment to lose, I know the way to her; follow me!"