Salvage

Two

November 6th, 2015

It's my third day in Washington, and still raining. Subject Group W seems to be settling in well, all things considered. Agent Myers didn't make any trouble, and kept organized notes, which is always good. Group W does not seem to have suffered unduly from his mistakes, but I am determined to rectify them regardless. After my welcome interviews I've pegged Subject W12 as the unofficial leader, and the most confident.

Canine subject 124 has gone missing, and W12 came to me asking for help searching the area. He would not allow Agent Myers to install a location chip in the canine. Trying not to say I told you so.

The youngest subject is still worrisome. In her records it says she occasionally reports hearing voices, but since she moved in with Subject Group W, these reports have stopped.

Hopefully the older kids aren't convincing her to hide symptoms of schizophrenia.

***

Home sweet freaking home.

Aurora shifted into first gear and eased her little Toyota into the parking space outside her house. It was a quiet, residential street, and her own house was well protected from prying neighbors by a tall, wild wall of honeysuckle and other greenery.

She stayed in her car for a moment, and let the song on the radio finish. Was all love so poetic, or were the artists just making things up, embellishing to sell some dream of a kind of love that never actually happened?

The song faded, and Aurora let out a gusty sigh. She had to go inside at some point. The wind began whipping her short, voluminous blonde waves into a frenzy as she started towards the house. 

Turning her collar up against the wind, her boot heels crunched on the gravel as she crossed in front of her car and began making her way down the little muddy path towards the side of the house. Her chipped, splintered door was in the far back corner. As she went to push her key in the rusty lock, a strange, high pitched whine caught her attention.

Frowning, she tucked the key back into her pocket and followed the noise around the back of the house, boots slipping in a particularly thick patch of mud. There, scrabbling at the wire netting covering the garden bed, was an absolutely enormous dog.

In fact... she was almost sure he was a wolf.

It had the coloring of a husky, with soft white and black fur. It was huge, though, larger than any husky she'd seen, and it was wounded. Its leg was bleeding, and every few seconds it would struggle, flail its paws to attempt escape, or bend its neck to try chewing its way out. Every time it moved, it would let out a sharp, whining whimper that broke her heart.

Swallowing hard, she edged forward. There was no way it was a wolf. It was just a large, fluffy, cuddly husky, she told herself as she stepped closer. 

"Calm, calm down. I'm friendly, see? I smell nice? I just bought some snacks. Would you like a snack?"

With a whine of pain and impatience, his large nose lifted towards her, sniffing delicately at her fingertips and palm.

Aurora waited as he tested her scent. After a few tense moments, his tongue swiped out and curled against her palm.

"Good dog." Her fingers sank down into the fur of his neck and found a collar, with tags that still looked fairly shiny. Looked like a proof of rabies vaccination, and a bone-shaped tag that simply said Vader.

"Vader?" Aurora said tentatively.

The dog immediately responded, trying once more to scrabble upright, and yelping as the metal pierced his leg deeper.