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Quincy tugged on the leash, husky nature wanting him to go, to run. Sunny was better trained, but she kept looking at Cassie, trying to encourage her to walk faster. Unfortunately, Cassie couldn’t think of a worse idea than running through the bad part of the city with a backpack full of seeds, so she forced them to keep to a casual pace. Less than a mile to go to the rendezvous point, then merely a day’s ride to reach the camp. She could do this, she could handle...
There were people ahead. Well, there were people everywhere, hurrying past, but the two guys hanging out made the hair on the back of Cassie’s neck stand up. It was how they were watching the crowd, looking for something specific. Her instincts screamed that they were looking for her, and she trusted them, turning down the nearest alleyway to get away. With her dogs happily pulling her along, she sped up, planning to break their sight when the alley turned, hoping the muscles she’d built over the years would let her outrun any random muggers.
A barricade loomed in front of her. It wasn’t tall, she could probably climb it, but she couldn’t do that with two dogs or the backpack. She wanted to scream, but didn’t bother. She’d been on enough hunts to know; she’d been herded.
A steady tapping made her turn around. Three burly men were approaching, two with long knives, one bouncing his baseball bat as he walked. She recognized him; he’d been following her. They all wore identical awful grins. “Well well boys, look what the cat dragged in!”
It wasn’t funny, but all three laughed. Cassie kept scanning the walls, looking for a way out. Sunny’s growl next to her knee broke her paralysis. Right. She wasn’t alone, even now. “You see these dogs? They’re Bitch’s. You don’t want this heat.”
They laughed harder. The same man with a bat spoke. “Why do we care? They’ll make sausage just as well as studs.”
Fear made Cassie’s hands work fast, the shakes vanishing as the routine of getting the chains off took over. If things went bad, at least they could run. “Bitch will kill you for that.”
THAT made them pause. One of the men in the back muttered, pointing at Cassie’s neck. The leader snarled at him. “No, she ain’t an SOB, but she’ll be our bitch. That collar makes a good handle, girl.”
Cassie took another step back from the pointing bat, and the world went sideways. Her face hurt, her arms hurt, and from the ground she saw the three men approaching. “Sunny” she gasped, then coughed. Sparing a hate-filled glance to the pile of bricks that had tripped her, Cassie tried again to make the dogs run. “Sunny, get” she managed, before coughing again.
Sunny lunged forwards, grabbing the leader’s arm. Cassie didn’t see how, but Sunny pulled him to the ground harder than she’d fallen, the bat flying into a wall. Struggling to her feet, Cassie saw Sunny going in for another bite. Quincy, meanwhile, upset about being left out, sat on his haunches and screamed.
“Sunny, guard.” Cassie managed, caring mostly about getting her away from the knives of the two approaching men. “Quincy, guard!” she followed, pointing in front of her. The dogs complied, but slowly, the friendly Sunny growling at the three men, Quincy still making a noise that was more a yell than a bark.
“Shut him up” the leader shouted, drawing his own knife left-handed.
“We’re going to hurt you for that” one of the thugs said, approaching Cassie’s dogs.
Her thrown brick caught him in the shoulder. It didn’t seem to slow him down, but it made him look at her. The dogs took that as the sign to attack. Both charged, grabbing a leg each before the thugs could react. He hit the ground and started screaming, his torn jeans clearly providing little protection. It was his buddy who came to his rescue, lunging in to slash Sunny. Cassie’s vision went red. She hefted a second brick and charged him, swinging it at his outstretched arm. She missed, but he drew back, giving her a second to recover. “Sunny, Quincy” she shouted, pointing. “Hurt.”
The dogs were so fast. Not being enlarged, and with a direct order from her for encouragement, Cassie registered them more as blurs than animals. The streak of blood down Sunny’s side didn’t slow her down, but she wasn’t a husky. Quincy hit first, leaping at the last minute to impact a thug’s chest. He bounced off and continued, charging the leader while Sunny grabbed the thug on the ground and started dragging.
But Quincy wasn’t fast enough. The leader’s boot caught him in the ribs. He screamed, husky voice cutting through the afternoon air, and Cassie charged, leaping over the thug with injured legs who still hadn’t stood up, brick in hand. The leader swung at her, but she wasn't there for him. She ducked under his arm and grabbed Quincy, pulling him back as Sunny ran forwards to protect them.
And then Sunny started growing. Blood splattered Cassie’s face, and Sunny bellowed in pain, the sudden expansion stretching her limbs and joints to their limits. Everyone froze, watching the monster.
The leader ran, dropping his knife in panic as he tried desperately to get away. Sunny bounded after him, predator instincts reacting the only way she could.
“STOP!”
And Sunny ran right into the wall instead of turning. Picking herself up, she turned to face Cassie, who fought the urge to freeze. She’d never been face-to-face with one of the monster dogs without Bitch around to control them. “Just like she does it” Cassie thought, “Not forceful, like there’s no question you’ll be obeyed. This isn’t even as large as she can get, I can do this. I hope.”
“Come!” she shouted, and miraculously, Sunny stood up and walked to her. “Down”, though, got a forceful headshake and pointed look at the two thugs, trying to crawl away against the alley wall. “You two...get away, please. I don’t know how long she’ll listen.” The first one struggled to his feet, but the second stumbled when he tried. Eventually his friend helped him, pulled him up onto bloody legs, and half-carried him down the alleyway. Sunny watched them go with evident disappointment. Gathering her courage, Cassie walked to her, then, carefully, reached up to scratch the side of her neck. Sunny leaned into it just like always. “Good girl. Good, calm girl, let’s stay right here.”
It was maybe a minute later that Cassie heard the familiar sound of paws on pavement. Bitch rounded the end of the alleyway, Bastard at a full run under her, and a couple of the other Sons followed on their own mounts. “Sunny, down! What happened?”
The dog knelt, and Cassie relaxed. “Muggers. The dogs...the dogs held them off, but they cut Sunny and were threatening us, and then when they attacked again they kicked Quincy and I couldn’t”
“Breathe” Rachel ordered as she dismounted, and Cassie obeyed, shutting up. “Are you hurt?”
“No, this is mostly from when you made Sunny grow. How did you know?”
Quincy clearly had most of her attention, hands running over his sides. “We heard this clever boy calling for help. Doesn’t feel like there’s anything broken, but I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Good. I’ll...ow.” She swayed, suddenly realizing how little of the blood on her was from Sunny. That’s right, she’d fallen. The cuts on her arms really hurt. “Oh. Maybe some of this is mine.”
“People are so bad at answering questions” Rachel spat. “Can you make it until we rendezvous with the team picking up medical supplies?”
“I...yeah, it’s fine, it just...looks bad.”
“Then mount up. And Cassie. She listened to you. Good job.”
Cassie’s head seemed to clear with the words, and she put a bounce in her step as she climbed on Sunny’s back. The dogs howled with joy as they left the city, and Cassie let herself join in, their voices echoing off the last of the buildings on the way home.