Nyla ➳ D. Dixon

Prologue

—🏹—

"There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life,
and beyond which life cannot rise." —  The Call Of The Wild.

What is a "Man's Best Friend?"

That's a great question, well one human would think that it's about a connection between a human and their loyal companion, mostly a dog, like me. But for me, it's the loyalty between us and our human companion.

My name is Nyla; I'm a Siberian Husky purebred for sledding and racing.

But that wasn't life for me. Nope it was actually the opposite; Hunting and surviving.

Today I met two idiots, one is a drunken moron while the other one is an angry grump.

And how I found them is nothing usual.

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It was late autumn when my family took us for a drive-The crisp Fall air blew through my fur as I took in the sunlight, the tall buildings and houses became scarce as it morphs into tall trees and fields.

The father stops the car as the daughter opens the door before asking, "Are you sure, daddy?"

"It's for the best, honey." He responds.

What does he mean by that?

With a sniffle, Honey grabs my favorite stuffed duck toy and tosses it out in the woods —   I chase after it. I grabbed it and ran back towards my family but only to see the car screech off, did they— no, they couldn't!

I drop my stuff duck, "Honey!" I chase after the car. "Wait! You forgot about me! Please, don't leave me!" I stopped when the car was nothing but a blur in the horizon.

I sniffle as I head back to my stuffed duck as I grab it by the teeth and hide under an abandoned den, I lay my toy under me and lay my head under it. "Well I guess it's you and me now." My toy squeaks as I press it hard under me.

◤──•❉🏹❉•──◥

It's been a day since I've been abandoned, I was tired, hungry and thirsty. I just continue on to find any source of food or water, so far I've had no luck.

While walking I failed to notice a pile of leaves, when I stepped on it my back leg was snared by a thin wire that really dug into my skin. I yelped in fear and pain as I tugged on it but it made it tight.

I waited for a few long minutes until I heard footsteps coming towards me. I slowly backed away when I saw a tall man trek towards me with a crossbow in hand. When he saw me, he muttered "Oh shit." With a thick southern accent.

I whimper while trying to back away but the wire limits my moment, the man bent down in front of me. " 'S alrigh'. I'm gonna remove this. Don' wanna break the skin." He then removed the wire from my back leg, I felt a trickle of blood down my leg. "Shit." He mutters when he suddenly picks me up in his burly arms.

He carried me out of the forest, my toy long forgotten in the forest and towards a shabby looking house —  Once inside I was hit with the stench of cigarettes and alcohol, I whined as I scrunch my nose. The man placed me down at the table and holler out, "Merle! Get yer ass down 'ere! I got somethin' to show ya!"

Then a man stumbles down with a bottle in hand, this must be Merle. "Tha hell's that thing?" He slurs out.

"It's a dog, dumbass." The man responds while grabbing a medkit. "She's got trapped in a snare, took 'er with me to tend with 'er leg." He noticed my collar as he took the tag in his hand and read it. "'er name is Nyla."

He then tends to my leg until it bandages up, I wag my tail as I lick his face, he grunts and wipe his face. "What're you gonna do with 'er, little brother?"

We both stare at each for a few moments, he let out a sigh while rubbing his face. "Guess we're keeping 'er."