The Life of Joey the Street Puppy

Chapter 3

"Momma? Is that you?" Joey looked around through the thick black smoke, squinting in the darkness. "Momma! Where are you?"
"Don't worry Joey. I'm here," Joey heard whispered from the darkness.
"But Momma! I can't see you! I'm scared."
"It's okay, Joey. You are okay. I will always find you. No matter what....." The voice trailed off into the darkness, and Joey was alone again.
"Momma? Come back! Momma!" Joey started running after the voice, stumbling in the darkness. He started to whimper in fear, when suddenly, he fell, seemingly forever.

Joey jerked awake, startled. He looked around to see what had woken him, and jumped up when he saw a human walking towards him. Growling softly, he backed into the corner of the small, sterile white room, stumbling on the soft blanket he was on. The human started speaking softly in its language, holding up its hands. Joey slowly walked towards the human's hand and gingerly sniffed it. The human simply stood there, looking at him after that. When it started to get awkward, the human put food in a small bowl next to Joey, and left.
Joey sniffed the food as well, but was too scared and sad to eat. When Joey decided to lay down, that was when he noticed. One of his front legs was gone. Joey felt his fear intensify as he tried to make sense of what had happened.
Did the humans eat my leg? Did they give me food to fatten me up, because they want to eat the rest of me too? No! I have to escape!
Joey frantically looked around for a way to get out of the room, but there was only one door, and the human had closed it when it left.
After what seemed like ages of fear, the human came back, crouching in front of Joey, stretching out its hand. Joey walked forward as if to sniff its hand again, but right before he reached the human, he shot towards the door, running as fast as he could with only three legs. As he ran out of the door he looked around for an exit, deciding to go right, as the human lumbered after him, shouting. Joey ran down the long, white hallway, limping as he figured out how to move with only three legs. Soon, he made it to an open doorway that led outside, and ran into the sunlight. He blinked, getting used to the bright light, when he noticed the tall, towering fences surrounding the building.
No, he thought, as he looked around frantically, finding no way out. By then, the human had caught up, and chuckled softly at the panting puppy.
"Bad Jermey," it said.
Who is Jermey, Joey thought, when the human suddenly lunged forward, and picked up Joey. Joey struggled, but couldn't get out of the humans strong grip. The human carried him over to a bunch of fenced kennels with many types of dogs in them, and placed Joey inside of one. Joey looked around this cage as well, but same as before, there was no escape, even if he did get out of the kennel.
Momma, save me!

                                 •••
Joey's mother slowly approached the fence, following her son's scent. When she got closer to the fence, the smell of dogs grew in strength, overwhelming her senses. She couldn't smell her son among the different scents anymore. She paced around the outer fence, looking inside. As she began to loose hope, she noticed many kennels in the fenced in area with dogs inside them. She ran towards them, looking through the fence desperately for her son. When she had checked a couple of kennels, one of the dogs noticed her.
"Hey. Who are you," the massive greyhound questioned.
"My name is River. I'm looking for my son, Joey. Have you seen him? He looks almost exactly the same as me."
The greyhound looked at her, and recognition soon appeared on his face.
"Oh yeah. I've seen a little pup that looks like you. He put up a big fight, running all over the place from the vet. It was quite hilarious," the dog said with humor in his eyes.
"Is he okay? Where is he? Why is he here?"
"Slow down, River. He's at the last kennel on the left. He is here because the vet healed him up. Umm... he... the vet did everything it could, but.... go see for yourself."
At this, River frantically ran over to her sons kennel, and gasped at the sight. Her son only had three legs. She had to get him out of there. No matter what it took.

Joey heard a soft bark behind him and turned around. Standing behind the fence behind him, was his mother.
"Mamma! You found me," he yelled happily, as he limped over, sticking his muddle through a hole in the mesh fence and nuzzling his mother.
"What happened to you," she asked, licking his face worriedly. Her eyes widened in horror when he explained.
"Don't worry. I'll get you out of there," she promised, as they snuggled together through the fence. Just then, the vet walked back outside and saw River, shouting in surprise. He quickly walked over to the fence, and opened it with a latch at the top, walking over to where River was.
She quickly shouted to her son, "I'll come back and save you! Don't worry! I'll come back," and she ran, as the vet chased after her. After a while, the vet came back, having lost track of her, and went back inside the building.
Joey looked through the fence, to where his mother had disappeared into the city, desperately hoping that she had told the truth, and that she would come back.