I Among Dogs

Chapter 17: Learning Self-Defence

It had been a few days after my sleepover at Mackenzie's home and over the course of that time, my friendship with the collie was slowly but surely getting better. Not a day went by without Bluey coming home from school telling me about Mackenzie telling her and the others about me and how "cool" I was. It was almost like he idolized me like a celebrity.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought as I continued along the road, not too far from the Heeler's neighbourhood. Chilli had forgotten a few things from when she went shopping and was busy with work and so was Bandit, so I offered to pick up the things for them. The store, or shop as they referred it to wasn't too far away so I didn't see any issues with the task.

At least that's what I thought until a roadblock ahead of me stopped me in my tracks. The road ahead was blocked by a few police cars, an ambulance and a regular car with the front slightly dented, the bus stop shelter it seemed to have collided into was a whole different story. Among the scene, I saw two dogs conversing with each other, one of them in what was evidently a police outfit, possibly an interrogation on what caused the crash.

I do remember having crossed this part of the road so the crash must've very likely happened when I was in the store and with the amount of vehicles present along with the crime scene tape, no one would be able to go along said road for a while.

Looking around for an alternate path, my eyes stopped when I looked to my left to find a walkway between two of the buildings, almost like some kind of alleyway. Now normally I don't go through alleyways, especially for shortcuts, but another look around the area left me with no other option, so with my fingers clenched around the handle of the grocery bag I held, I proceeded inside.

I should be thankful that it was midday, the sunlight providing enough light inside the alleyway which made me feel a little safer. The said path seemed to stretch for possibly three rows of buildings but I doubted that any crazed person would spring out in the middle of the day, that would be too easy for them to get spotted.

"Well, look who's still alive..."

I immediately froze in place as a voice in a very icy tone rang out, like a wolf cornering a rabbit that it was ready to kill. But what made me freeze for longer was that the voice sounded familiar... Feminine...

No, it couldn't be...

"HEY! Don't you know it's rude to ignore a lady?! Turn around and greet my girlfriend, monkey!"

Another voice screamed out at me from behind, this one was more masculine but not as familiar as the former. Not wanting to escalate any hostility, I turned around and was met with two faces I thought I would never see again.

It was Hailey and that great dane, Daniel, the one she had deliberately stood me up for as some sick joke, both their faces in a snarl of disapproval.

"I thought I told you that you weren't welcome here." The husky growled as she and her mate slowly started to approach me.

"W-Woah woah, please, I don't want any trouble." Immediately my hands were up defensively as I quickly started to back away, fearing what these two were going to do to me next if they got close enough.

"Yeah, well neither do we, but then you came in and that's when our troubles began." Daniel quipped up, getting closer to me than Hailey. This wasn't working, I had to be smart with what I said next.

"L-Look, I'm sorry I crash landed here, really. But just take it easy and maybe we can talk things ou-"

I was immediately cut off the second I felt Daniel's hand against my chest, pushing me up against a nearby wall.

"You know what the CPIA should've done with immigrant scum like you?" Hailey took a turn to speak again, it was in that very tone she had used right before she had slapped me, all the while, Daniel's muzzle was just inches away from my face, it felt like he was going to bite me at any second.