Devastation

6. Captured

I stare back in shock as I then realize the details I dismissed before. The missing eye and messed up half mechanical leg, and most importantly, the "#1" tattooed on its neck!

I gasp and the creature does a toothy grin. Before I can speak, the creature— no, my dog licks my face, but her breath is rancid causing me to throw up.

"You've grown a lot... I missed you." She says to me.

I look at her, half terrified, half longingly. I've missed her, even if she's now colossal and terrifying. Her grip on me loosens the longer she looks at me. Maybe it's because she doesn't want to hurt me, or it's because I just threw up on her. She turns her attention to the cage with everyone else in it. I turn too and see that they are all looking at me. She growls at them and they look away. As for the bandits, they crowd in front of her feet, avoiding her gaze.

With a deep sigh, she then places me in the cage with the others and begins walking back to wherever she came from. After a very long time of being in that cage, I manage to fall asleep.

At some point I am lifted out and placed onto something. I feel a cool breeze brush my face and I open my eyes to see that I am on One's shoulder. She's walking toward a rather large makeshift city which I think could be the mutant base. Once we reach the entrance, One puts down the cage and a mass of mutant animals swarm over and begin moving the bodies. My group struggles against the mutants, but it's no use. They are quickly shoved individually into rusty cages, imprisoned.

I look at One. She is looking at me. My heart skips a beat and she tilts her head.

"Why are you afraid?" One asks.

"Aren't you gonna kill us?" I ask her, beginning to shiver from the cold air and fear.

"We don't kill humans unless they try to kill us. If they come peacefully, they become ours and get to live." One growls lightly.

I watch silently as my group was assigned to different mutants. I, of course was assigned to One, the alpha of the mutants. I've missed her a lot, but it is terrifying because now the roles are switched and she is no longer the pet.