Home Before Dinner

Chapter 15

11:57 am

"This way! Come on, this way!" Mel woofed, taking the lead. Buddy and Chloe were right behind him. They were still running for their lives, unaware of what happened to Snowball and Daisy. Right now, they were a little bit more concerned about their well-being.

"Wait, hold up! We're not being chased anymore!" Chloe meowed, taking a peek back. Overtaking Mel for the lead, Buddy looked back at the tabby cat and asked, "Are you sure?!" All of the sudden, the dachshund tripped over something. Mel fell over him. A moment later, Chloe joined in on the pile, crushing the dogs underneath her. They laid there, panting heavily and struggling to catch their breaths.

Suddenly, they started moving.

"Um, what's going on?" Mel asked, his voice cracking with fear. On the bottom of the pileup, Buddy peered below him. Recognizing the object beneath his paws, he declared, "Guys, you're not gonna believe this but we're on a hoverboard." Clinging on to the top of the pile, Chloe struggled to hold on as she hissed through her teeth, "That's great, how do you make it stop?"

"Um, are we going faster?" Mel questioned, raising his head as he glanced at the other two pets. Sure enough, the hoverboard they were on was picking up speed. Panic immediately arose. "What did you morons do?!" Chloe exclaimed, her ears pinned against her head. Squirming all over the place, Mel howled, "How do you turn this darn thing off?!"

"I don't know, maybe y'all should ask the owner? I think he's right behind us," Buddy suggested, pointing behind them. A young adult male was chasing after the animals riding on the hoverboard, shouting. However, he was simply not fast enough as the device sped away with the pets onboard. Nothing was going to stop it.

"Ain't nothing gonna break my stride... nobody gonna slow me down... oh no... I got to keep on moving..." Tiberius rasped, taking one step at a time. The red tailed hawk had his wing wrapped over his aching side and his feet were slowly killing him. He was also completely out of breath. Taking another shaky step, the bird of prey collapsed on the sidewalk. Gasping for air, he wheezed, "I'm getting too old for this crap..."

Screams could be heard in the distance. Confused, Tiberius lifted his head. Strange, the screaming sounded like it was getting closer. Could it be a part of his imagination perhaps? The old hawk turned to his right just in time for a hoverboard to zoom by, taking him with it.

"Oh, hey Tiberius!" Mel yipped, waving at the hoverboard's latest passenger. Hanging onto the front of the machine for dear life, Tiberius screeched, "What the frick is going on?!" Struggling not to fall as they swerved left and right uncontrollably, Chloe muttered, "Good to see ya too birdbrain."

"Uh, we've got road work ahead guys," Buddy announced as they zipped by a sign. Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Mel murmured, "Road work ahead? Yeah, I sure hope it does." Looking down at the pug underneath her, Chloe swatted him on the head. When she lifted her gaze once more, she gasped in horror when she saw the open hole in the road up ahead. Digging her claws into Mel, the tabby yowled, "Everyone hang on!"

A chorus of screams broke out amongst the four pets as they rocketed through the construction site, heading right for the hole. The hoverboard showed no signs of stopping as it shot up a metal pipe that stretched up towards the sky. It conveniently hung over the hole. Frightened out of their minds, the animals clung to the hoverboard as it went up the pipe, all the way to the top. There, and only there, did it finally stop.

At first there was dead silence. Then there was a snort from Buddy, followed by a giggle from Mel. The giggles turned into chuckles and the chuckles turned into laughs. They couldn't help it, it just happened. The four animals laughed, even though they could have very well died right then and there. Reduced to giggles, Chloe went to climb off the dogs. It was then the group heard a low snap. The laughter ceased as they all looked.

The pipe was breaking.

"Oh no," Tiberius muttered. A moment later, the pipe snapped free. A cat, two dogs, a red tailed hawk and a hoverboard plummeted down into the hole below the street. The hoverboard smashed to pieces on the uncovered earth while the animals each fell into a different sized sewage pipe. Who knows where they might end up?