Misadventures of a Very Bad Pet

Chapter 3

A/N: All alien measurements would be translated to human measurements in brackets. For example, (insert alien measurement here) would be replaced by [3 feet] or [5 hours] etc. Sorry if the explanation is confusing, it'll make a lot more sense when you see it used in the story :'D

As I sat there in my corner, I saw Not Dog facing me out of the corner of my eye. After a brief uncomfortable moment where Not Dog stayed completely motionless did I turn my head for a look. It was just sitting there, all three heads staring at me. 

Well, that wasn't freaky at all. 

"Yes?" I asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow at the thing.

All three heads tilted and three pairs of ears perked up. They were eerily in sync. Before I got too weirded out over this uncalled for staredown, the three heads all turned to look at something in front of my cage. I followed its gaze.

Oh. The food bowl.

"You... want some?" I moved over and picked up a pellet, a bit more cautious now after the incident with Sad Toad. Who knows, maybe Not Dog also has some hidden superpower that can murder me in one shot. 

The three heads stared at the pellet in my hand. The left head's nose quivered. The middle head's blue tongue poked out. The right head started to pant, jaws opening to reveal sharp jagged teeth. 

I think I can safely take that as a yes.

I tossed the pellet over. It didn't even make it a couple inches past the bars before Not Dog was on it. 

There was brief scuffle where all three heads all tried to snag the pellet for themselves. Left got it. There was a a couple crunches before all three heads turned to me again, waiting.

Welp. Might as well let Not Dog have the food. There was no way in hell I'd eat it anyways. Besides, the delay in Not Dog's breakfast was partially my fault. The rest of the creatures after me haven't been fed yet, though I'm sure Red and Orange would be back soon to finish their jobs. 

I started tossing handfuls of pellets into Not Dog's cage, and it happily shuffled around gobbling it all up. The bowl emptied quickly, and Not Dog settled down in the middle of its cage with a satisfied groan. It caught me looking, and its chunky tail thumped on the ground a few times.

I guess I made a friend today. 

The sound of a door sliding open caught my attention, and sure enough when I turned to look, Red came through. This time it wasn't Orange who followed, despite the similar coloring and height. I probably would not have noticed the difference if the other alien weren't covered in light purple scars. 

New guy was holding a tray full of water dishes and he branched off towards another aisle as Red came over to me for the food cart. I had no idea why they needed a tray of filled water dishes. There were literally bowls and a giant jug of water inside the food cart already. I decided not to think about that too hard, who knows what these aliens were thinking. I stared curiously at the new guy instead.

The new guy was really a sight to behold. He got scars on his face, some claw-like markings starting at his lower jaw going down as far as his chest. There was another shorter scar right below his left eye; if it had gone a tad bit up, that eye would've been gone. His arms looked like a scratching post that'd been brutalized by a gang of angry cats, and several more long claw-marks stretched down from his stomach to the back of his right leg. 

It took me a moment to realize that even his tail was somehow irreversibly damaged. When Red walked, his tail flowed behind him naturally, always shifting and undulating to match his body movements. New guy's tail was rather short and stumpy compared to Red's.