Taken

Chapter 5: The Aftermath

"Please behave and let me put this on you." Dobby whispered to me pleadingly in a squeaky voice once he was close enough so that only I could hear his words. "If you don't behave, both of us will get into big, big, BIG trouble."

A slight shudder went through his elfish body as he seemingly recalled something unpleasant that must've happened to him. With a sound that resembled a cross between a sneeze and a huff, I blinked at him and flicked an ear as I remained standing on the dog bed.

"Thank you." He told me quietly as he bent over to clip the leash onto my collar.

My lips began to curl up in the beginnings of a cruel snarl as the leash was attached to my collar with a confirming click; but, when the thought of punishment crossed my mind, my lips twitched as they re-covered my teeth. I had to guess that Dobby had interpreted my earlier response to mean 'okay', so I was forced to behave like I was fine with being leashed like someone's pet.

"C'mon, girl. It's time for you to go back into your cage, now." He said in an annoyingly almost cheerful tone with a gentile tug on the leash to get me walking.

I've been degraded to a dumb, trained dog. I thought angrily. I went from one of the top students in my grade to... this! I had to force my body posture to remain relaxed as I begrudgingly allowed myself to be led from my warm, soft bed and toy and past the other scientists. I could feel their eyes trained on me as I walked by, causing unease to prick at my skin. I was never a fan of being the center of attention, and that was especially true now. Once we stopped in front of the open end of my cage, I was almost too eager to get back into the small space. The sooner I get in, I reasoned. The quicker they can take me back and leave me alone! I found myself doing what I called the 'tippy taps' as I impatiently waited for Dobby to take off the leash. This earned a quiet laugh from him.

"I know, girl. I know." He whispered. "I wouldn't like being on a leash, either."

There was a click and Dobby stepped back and began to wind the four foot long, black leather lead into a neat, tight coil. Mr. Fat Glasses handed what looked like a large sheet of plywood to Band Lady and instructed her to approach me. As she moved closer, I found myself backing up as a barely audible growl rumbled in my chest. As I inched closer to the cage's opening, Ginger and Hummingbird, who were also holding large plywood sheets out in front of them, slowly closed in on me from both sides. I let out a full blown snarl as their plywood shields brushed against my fur. Not wanting to be touched by anything, I snapped uselessly at the temporary plywood walls as I was still being forced to back up thanks to Band Lady and her plywood shield that was still moving towards me.

Finally, my hind paws touched the sand within my cage and I quickly backed myself into the cage, not wanting the plywood to touch me any longer than was needed, I managed to turn around and enter the cage without any further prodding from Band Lady.

"Subject is confirmed to be in the cage." Hummingbird noted. 

With that, I was sealed into the cage and braced myself as the robotic base that the cage was on elevated the cage (and me) up off of the ground with the push of a button from Ginger. Once the cage had stopped moving, Mr. Fat Glasses came over and peered at me before he turned his attention to the other humans in the room and gave orders before he left through the double sliding glass door that was apparently keycard-activated with Band Lady's notes on me tucked under his right arm. After Mr. Fat Glasses left, Dobby began to pick up the toys that I had scattered and Hummingbird, Band Lady, and Ginger wheeled me out of the room, back down the hallway, and back into the dark, dimly-lit warehouse-type room where all of the others were kept. 

I was pushed back into my slot beside Megan and under the heat lamp, and the three scientists moved a little ways up the row; ignoring the less-than-pleased responses that they illicited from each creature that they passed before they stopped in front of one of the cages towards the end of the row. After Hummingbird looked at the clipboard that was attached to the cage, he nodded to Ginger, who carefully lifted the cage from its base and placed it onto a wheeled cart that Band Lady had retrieved. The cage's occupant, a fiery red bird with orange eyes and a solid black beak let out a fearful-sounding squawk and pressed its wings tight against its shaking body. I sent my condolences over a private link to the poor bird as it was wheeled towards the door before I took a quick sip of water from the bowl in my cage and walked over to the area of the cage that was directly under the heat lamp. I began to fashion a sort of bowl-shaped 'nest' from the sand.