STRAYS

Chapter 1

The hours dragged as he lay in that carriage, whining to himself. Compass didn't understand it-he couldn't understand it-by now, he expected to be running freely in some meadow with his family, kissing them with affection and sounding that mighty, booming howl malmutes make that would make it official: he was home. It was all supposed to be just like a child's daydream. What happened?

The razor-like wheels shredded against the track again, the ear- splitting noise reminding Compass of the dreadful place he was. He slugged his heavy-built body off the brittle, dry wooden flooring, moving over to the open carriage door to get a glimpse of where the train had taken him now. Hopefully, it would be somewhere far away from Alaska, and with any luck, this new place would be so different that Alaska would seem like some strange nightmare that couldn't possibly be real.

"CRASH!"

The screeching of tires and the frantic blaring of police sirens exploded from the city that stood before Compass. His  claws instantly dug into the floor, his neon blue eyes bulging from his face in a moment of split terror.

He had to swallow his fear.

This was the life he had to get used to now: the life humans had forced him into. And with the engulfing smell of food drifting to his nose, he would have to be stupid to avoid the city.

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Compass lived up to his name,
cutting swiftly through the streets in search of some territory to mark as his own. As the night began to shadow the streets, he began to feel somewhat safer as the humans returned to their strange concrete boxes for the night. The moon glowed luminously in the inky black sky, seeming to stare at the desperate and insecure dog. Compass kept his beautiful blue eyes locked onto it, and he had convinced himself that the moon was some sort of force that made evil humans return to their homes. Whenever it showed itself, humans began to disappear! He wanted to forget about humans. Tracking down a safe, isolated environment to do that became his one priority. He was done. Done with all those years since he was a pup, showing up door to door at all houses, hoping he was some family's missing dog. He still had headaches from the times people would scream, "Get that dog away!", or "It'll hurt the children!"(that one hurt the most).

New York City was partially emptied of human life now, except for the occasional group of loud, boisterous teens or the janitors. The dog stopped to rest by a bulky trash can, nestled at the back of an alleyway. The faint glow of advertisements floated into the alley, lighting the dark monochrome. Compass tried to eat from the trash can, though this light made him painfully aware of his human company.

"Oh, come on!" Complained a voice from the shadows. "I leave for five minutes, and some big, stupid dog barges in and steals MY food?''

"Who goes there?" Compass faltered anxiously, obediently dropping the burger. His eyes scrolled around desperately for the owner of the voice, and his naturally built-in fear of the unknown made the experience all the more terrifying.

A violent orange streak dashed past him, and just as Compass was about to bound away in terror, the exit was instantly blocked!

Cornered...shamefully cornered...shamefully cornered by an innocent ginger cat. The malamute felt his anger clott in his chest. All the drama over nothing?

over when a trickle of blood scrambled down the cat's face.
"My god, I'm so sorr-"
Apologising? He hadn't already forgotten he was on the dog-eat-dog streets, had he?
"Now, go back to your owners so they can see what happened you!" He cursed, secretly wishing he could fix what he had done to the poor cat. Why should other animals suffer just because of how he was feeling?
A chuckle slipped from the cat's mouth, his tongue slowly licking up a little blood.
"Owners?" He fell into complete frenzied laughter, rolling about on the floor. This freaked Compass out a little, the blood-splattered body looking like a dead corpse was rolling around. "You're funny, dog."

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Chapter 3:

Compass remembered where he was. He could walk away now and forget this weirdo cat. But another blurr caught his eye, sat on the roof of a building like a statue. Compass suddenly found himself staring into two massive, glowing white milky eyes like two moons staring down at him.

"Blaze! What the hell is this?"
The piercing voice yowled.
The creature then slid off the roof as if by accident, limply falling to the ground but landing on four dainty white paws.
Compass felt her dense, bristly fur scrape past his leg and watched on curiously as she tended to her brother.