RUSTY | frank castle

ONE

EDITED FEB 2022

"Come on, Rusty! Get 'em!"

Two men were situated in the training room, both of them in heavy jackets and trousers. There were so many more men who lined the walls, cheering on. The men in the jackets looked funny, sort of like those blow up sumo costumes. Though, this wasn't no costume. This was training. Sort of.

Rusty held an eager Dutch Shepherd's collar in her hand, the dog unsteady between her legs, excited.

"Go get 'em!" The men by the walls yelled.

Rusty leant down to whisper in the Shepherd's ear. "Come on, Lexi. You know what to do."

Lexi couldn't wait much longer, in a real-life situation she would be as still as a stone. But, with the men cheering her on, she couldn't stop the blood rushing in her ears. Her teeth were visible, her tongue hanging loosely on the side of her mouth. She wheezed a bark out of her throat in excitement.

"Steady. . ." Rusty told her. "Go!"

As soon as the pull was off her neck, Lexi was off, eyes locked on one of the men. Her light, agile body allowed her to cover the distance between her and the suited men so quickly, that when she jumped onto one of them, she knocked him down with her. 'Oohs' and laughs were heared from the audience as the man struggled against Lexi's tight grip. She heard no command to release, so she hung on.

The second suited man ran at Rusty, and she soon realised what the 'suprise' in today's 'suprise training' was. She was called in to test her dogs, but she didn't know both of them at a time. The Rottweiler that sat in the corner focused his attention on the running man, his ears tense and eyes locked. Rusty was about to be attacked.

"Fender, go!" Rusty yelled at him, and the young Rottie quickly obeyed. He wasn't as fast as Lexi but, with a jaw like his, he sure as hell had a bite. The man was close to tackling Rusty when he was knocked to the ground by Fender, who pulled at the man's protected leg. The men in the room cheered Fender on, giving him more strength to the bite.

"Ah, shit!" The dressed man soon shouted. "He bit through the suit!"

Rusty quickly realised, and called, "Fender, release!"

The dog obeyed, leaving the man on the floor and rounded Rusty's legs, before standing guard at her left heel. He looked up at her expectantly, his mouth agape as he caught cool air on his tongue.

"Lexi, release!" Rusty called to the other side of the training hall.

The dog quickly released her grip and ran back to Rusty, also circling her legs (and Fender), but heeling at her right side.

"Good dogs!" She called, ruffling their fur with a smile, throwing each of them a toy as their reward.

The men that lined the walls broke their formation and went on to cheer Rusty and the dogs. This was this marine squad's form kf entertainment and distraction from work. Rusty, Lexi and Fender were famous among the camp, it always seemed to cheer up the marines when they heard that 'the show' would go on that day. They loved it, Rusty loved it too.

Today, though, the colonel (who thought it was a good idea to brighten morale and provide training for the dogs) had set up the surprise attack. Rusty was happy with how the dogs dealt with the situation, Lexi stayed on and Fender was alert. In this line of work, anything could happen.

Fender enjoyed the attention of the marines while Lexi stayed close by, serious  as always, though she also enjoyed the attention of the men. Rusty laughed as man after man congratulated her on the show, giving her a slap on the back or a clasp on the shoulder. They treated her like one of them, not like any other woman back home. It was probably because of a certain man's protectiveness over Rusty.