Heart of a Warrior (ON HOLD)

Savior or Enemy

I paced the cage that I had long since stopped trying to break out of.

Left. Turn. Right. Turn. Left. Turn. Right. Turn.

Again. And again. And again.

It was a simple cage really. Chain link fence with a concrete floor. 1 foot between each cage and each cage was 6 feet by 10 feet. A towel on a pvc dog bed and a simple nylabone. There was a 3 inch hole in one part of the cage where a food and water bowl could be slid in and the door was padlocked because I'd escaped one too many times.

If you numbskulls still haven't figured it out- I'm a dog. A Belgian Malinois to be exact.

No I'm not in a pound or a shelter or anything like that. I'm a military dog. Well I was. Kinda still am.

It's complicated.

My partner was killed in action. A sniper. 2500 yards away. No one saw it coming. I loved working with him I trusted him and he trusted me. We never had a doubt that the other one was watching our back.

I was good at my job too. I was the top dog that the base had ever had. But after my partner was killed I had given up and decided that these humans were responsible for his death.

They tried matching me with a different partner but I attacked anyone that came too close to me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and noticed that the man's footsteps had gotten closer.

I watched as he pushed the bowl of food under Olive's fence. Olive was a black lab that was a narcotics dog and my "neighbor". She was a little too happy for my liking.

The man, Chad as I learned his name was, walked over to me and stopped in front of my cage.

He was a volunteer here and was in charge of feeding our block of dogs. He sighed holding my bowl as he looked at me.

"How we doing Dodger?"

I had stopped pacing and my entire body was tensed.

"I brought your favorite: chicken and rice."

My ears perked towards him at those words but I remained still. He had yet to put the bowl down and my coat rippled as a shivered in anticipation.

He squatted down and pushed the bowl through.

I immediately started to gobble up the food but kept a wary eye on him. His hand began to sneak through the cage to try and pet me. I snapped at him and he jerked backwards, causing him to lose his balance and fall over.

I snorted as I internally laughed at him. Stupid guy couldn't even keep his balance on two legs.

Loser.

I finished the food and stepped back as Chad looked at me.

"Your partner's family is coming today. If you don't behave with them and they don't want you, you're done. Do you get it?! They're going to kill you!"

My ears went flat and I peeled my lips back as his voice rose.

He took my bowl and all of a sudden threw it against my cage.

"I've given you everything I have! And you still treat me like I'm an enemy! I'M DONE WITH YOU!"

I launched myself at the door snarling and barking my head off. I didn't have a clue what he was saying but his tone was challenging me.

"I HOPE THEY KILL YOU YOU WORTHLESS MUTT!"

After he stormed out and I stopped barking. I went and laid on my bed and drifted off to sleep.