Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) (17 page)

"Most of us have had our homes searched,"
said Lisica. "Not to mention that many of us and our families have
now been displaced thanks to the Center Road dispensary getting
shut down. It's obvious that the police are far from caring about
what happens to us."

"Nor anyone else," said Sundu.

"But the rate of killing has been
increasing," said Lisica. "We've been hearing about deaths every
day- not just pups that are left alone- individuals leave to hunt
in the subway and never come back. Dogs vanish down dark alleys.
Big
and
small. If we want to protect our families, we've got
to figure out who's responsible on our own."

"So what? Get to the point!" barked the
short-eared dog, and now even Sacha shot her an irritated look.

"The point," said Lisica, "is that it's
between the police, and the domestics. We know both are capable of
killing. The police already hunt live hulkers in Big Park; it's no
stretch to imagine they would turn on their fellow dogs. After all,
the hulkers are running out."

Lisica stopped to glance at Sundu, then said,
"But there are some that think it is the domestic dogs, taking meat
to the hulkers that they serve. The evidence that supporters of
this theory have pointed out is the half-breed cull."

This seemed to carry a lot of meaning
throughout the shop; looks were exchanged, lips raised. Mhumhi
poked Sacha with his nose.

"What's that?" he whispered.

"Hush!" said Sacha. "Remember what she said.
Don't talk."

"Domestics are killers," snarled Sundu.
"We've known that for a long time. They'd have the city cleared of
dogs so that their precious hulkers are free to rut and breed
again-"

"Sundu," said Lisica, and Sundu shut her jaws
tightly, though her teeth still showed.

"We've got to take action," said Lisica, "but
the problem is that we don't know who our real enemy is. Before we
do anything, we've got to get more information on who's behind
these killings. So if anybody has anything, now is the time to step
forward."

With this she hopped down from the counter.
At once the crowd burst into a frenzy of loud barking and yapping
as all the other dogs tried to collaborate at once. The crab-eating
fox at their table turned eagerly to the short-eared dog.

"The arrest of the domestics- it's a
cover-up, isn't it? By the police? We know they're the ones
really
behind it."

"Of course they are," said the short-eared
dog. "Domestics are too stupid to know a dog's throat from his
asshole- half-breed cull, what rubbish-"

"I've heard enough," Sacha muttered to Kutta
and Mhumhi, nudging the still-sleeping Kebero with her foot. "We
won't be getting any more useful information out of this mess.
Let's sneak out."

Mhumhi was fairly ready to go himself, and he
slid down off the booth underneath the table, letting his rear legs
come last. The chillas, which had apparently taken refuge down
there, yipped in a startled way and huddled closer together. Mhumhi
tried to give them a friendly tail wave and rattled the table.

In front of him Sacha hit the leather with a
thud and then hopped down to the carpeted floor. Kutta followed her
off the bench with a great deal more grace than Mhumhi had,
especially considering she was carrying the heavy, groggy Kebero by
the scruff.

The other dogs gave them a wide berth, many
looking at Mhumhi's coat. They were almost to the door when Lisica
stopped them.

"Do you know anything, Sacha?" she asked,
suddenly materializing beside her. "You've been wandering lately,
haven't you? And your mother-"

"Pariah's dead," said Sacha. "For weeks. We
just got confirmation. So there's no need to pester us about her
anymore."

In Kutta's jaws, Kebero gave a startled
whimper. Mhumhi went to lick him, rather shocked himself by Sacha's
harsh admission.

"I'm very sorry," said Lisica, though her
tone was somewhat bland. "How…?"

"I don't believe it's your business," said
Sacha. "But she's dead. So if you were hoping to get at her by
inviting us to your little meeting- well, I'm sure that wasn't it,
was it?"

Lisica drew back, the fur on her back rising
a little. "That was never-"

"Don't listen to those
domestic-sympathizers," said Sundu, pushing through the crowd to
stand behind her. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were hiding her
somewhere."

Sacha laughed, showing her teeth. "You're
welcome to search for her, if you think that'll make your puppies
come back to life."

Sundu gave a terrible snarl and lunged at
her. Kutta dropped Kebero and leapt forward, arresting the golden
jackal with a sharp bite on the muzzle. The two of them reared up,
snapping, until Sacha gave a sharp squeal.

"Stop!"

Kutta backed off, giving Sundu a hard stare.
Sundu still snarled.

"Sorry," said Sacha, looking up at Sundu.
"Shouldn't have said that. I'm a bit tired of people ragging on my
dead mother, that's all."

"Sundu, let it go," Lisica urged, from
underneath a table- she'd darted there, out of the fray. "Sacha
wouldn't lie."

"You're made of a lie," Sundu said, glaring
at Sacha. "You suckled from the teats of a killer."

Sacha snorted. "Let me tell you something,
jackal," she said. "Were some of your friends and family killed
during the half-breed cull? Well, so were our mothers' puppies. Her
original
puppies."

"Your mother was barren," snarled Sundu. "A
barren, filthy domestic thief!"

Sacha's eyes thinned, and for a tense moment
it looked like she might start the fight up again, but then she
looked back at Mhumhi and Kutta and said, "Let's go. I need to get
the stench of scat out of my lungs."

Sundu rumbled, but the crowd of little dogs
around her was starting to press in closer, many of them looking
angry, and she seemed hesitant to make another move. Sacha turned,
her short tail poking straight up, and hopped through the broken
door. Kutta followed, shooting a final dark look at the jackal, and
Mhumhi, his tail tucked tight under his belly, picked up Kebero and
went last.

They retreated a good ways from the shop,
turning several street corners, and then Kutta said, "Sacha, you
owe us an explanation."

Mhumhi put down Kebero. The puppy was
trembling and whining, and Mhumhi wasn't much better off himself,
panting and drooling.

Sacha turned around to look at her. "I don't
know that I do."

"You never told us about- about her puppies!
And what's the half-breed cull? And how did you get
invited
to such a meeting? They were talking about going against the
police!"

"Keep your voice down," said Sacha. "And as
for the last one, that's easy. The little dogs have always thought
of me as one of them. And Lisica- she wanted to use me, of course,
for our connection to Pariah. I thought I made all of that clear in
there."

"In there!" exclaimed Kutta, her tail rising
in her anger. "Yes, in there, when you spoke about our mother
being-" She stopped and looked at Kebero.

"Sorry," Sacha said. "I thought you two
would've told him." Her tone was cool as she looked up at Kutta.
"Apparently you did not. Well,." She turned to look at Kebero. "Our
mother's dead."

Kebero whined and put his ears back. Kutta
actually growled.

"
Sacha
!"

"He needed to be told," said Sacha. "He's
told. I don't know how pretty and pleasant you wanted it to be, but
her being dead isn't either. Let him cry for her. You should have
let him cry for her a long time ago." She looked at Kutta again.
"You should have let Mhumhi cry for her. You are the one who
dragged this out. You are the one that lied, Kutta."

"I didn't lie!" said Kutta. "She could have
been- she could have been alive!"

"She could have been," Sacha agreed. "She
could have abandoned us. Those were your choices! Death, or
abandonment! But you
lied
to our little brothers!"

"Sacha," Mhumhi whined, unable to keep quiet.
She ignored him, advancing on the trembling Kutta.

"I know you've been hiding something from
me," she said. "I know you've been putting Mhumhi in danger. For a
mother you should have known didn't exist! You let him believe she
might come back! Whatever it is you've been doing- I don't care
what your excuses are- you
used
him. Your little brother.
You should be protecting him!"

"I was protecting him!" Kutta snarled. "I was
trying to-!"

"Don't you dare ever growl at me again," said
Sacha.

It got deathly quiet. On the ground, Kebero
shook, pressing himself against Mhumhi's forelegs.

"Sacha," said Mhumhi, "it isn't her-"

"It's very well her fault."

"No it isn't!" Mhumhi tensed, suddenly
feeling a burst of anger. "You talk as if I would be too stupid to
see on my own, that I wouldn't realize- I'm not a puppy! I believed
what I wanted to believe!"

"Fine," said Sacha. "Fine! Then you should
have known better too. Dragging this out for Kebero-"

"Don't you mean, dragging it out for you?"
Mhumhi said. Sacha went stiff. He felt the urge to back off, to lie
down for her, but he quelled it.

"Stop pretending she didn't mean anything to
you."

Sacha stared at him a moment, then lowered
her tail, and laughed.

"I will, when you stop pretending we meant
anything to
her
."

"Sacha-!"

"Let's take Kebero home," she said, turning
around. "He's had enough. We can talk more later."

Mhumhi opened his mouth to reply, but a
sudden whine from Kutta stopped him. She was looking at Kebero, and
with a glance at Mhumhi, went to pick him up by the scruff
again.

Mhumhi had little choice but to follow his
sisters back to the house. The walk was near-silent, aside from
Kebero's occasional whimpers.

When they got to the doorway, Bii met them.
The bat-eared fox was panting hard, blood dripping from his
tongue.

"You're back!" he said. "I've been looking
for you- the police keep coming by- I thought you'd all been
dragged before the tribunal."

Kebero kicked and squirmed, twisting from
Kutta's grip so that he dropped to the ground. He ran to huddle and
lick at Bii, whining.

"What happened to you, Bii?" Kutta asked,
licking her chops.

"What happened to him?" asked Bii, in a
worried way, for Kebero was near-knocking him over in his attempts
to get as close as he could. "Oh- and I only bit my tongue while I
was running around."

"He needs some comforting," Sacha said. "Take
care of him a minute, while I talk to my siblings. When we return,
you can discuss where you were this morning."

"I was afraid to come back in with all the
police!" Bii protested, putting his paws over Kebero's back. "I
didn't know what to do, so I went to lie low somewhere else…"

"We'll discuss it," said Sacha, her eyes
thinning. Bii pressed his jaws together, but seemed to take the
hint. He got off Kebero and coaxed him into the house.

"Let's go," said Sacha, and Mhumhi and Kutta
now exchanged a confused look.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere far away from his bat-ears," said
Sacha. "I'll tell you what you want to know, though I expect it'll
only make things worse."

"You were off on
me
for not being
honest," muttered Kutta, falling in step behind her.

"I wasn't doing it to lead anybody through
sewer muck," said Sacha coolly, and Kutta got quiet. Mhumhi put his
ears back, though he was also somewhat impressed. He wondered how
much they really had left to tell her.

There were a great number of new dogs- likely
those that had been evicted from their homes- starting to wander
along the normally deserted Food Strip Street, so Sacha had to lead
them far to find a quiet area. Eventually she stopped in a quiet
alley with nothing but a series of blue dumpsters.

Mhumhi was chilled, for he recognized the
place, but there was no reason for him to feel frightened- he
hoped- as there was no hulker here now.

Sacha sat down on the warm asphalt with a
great sigh.

"All right. I'll tell you about our
mother."

The
Pariah Dog

"How can you know things about her that we
don't?" Kutta said, almost jealously. "She never talked about
herself…"

"She did to me," said Sacha. "When I was the
only one. She never shut up, back then. She was still out of her
mind."

"Out of her mind?" Kutta repeated, but Mhumhi
thought he understood.

"From her… puppies."

"The half-breed cull," said Sacha. "It was a
domestic thing. Before we were born. They were very concerned about
it. Domestics can interbreed with a whole lot of the big dogs, you
know, even though they don't do it now. The wolves… the coyotes…
the jackals, too." Sacha paused to snort. "That golden jackal- I
don't doubt she knew some half-jackals."

"Wait," Mhumhi said. "Half-breed cull- you
don't mean to say that- that they killed…?"

Sacha looked at him. "Finish your thought,
Mhumhi. Yes, there was a big group of domestics that decided to get
rid of anybody who wasn't pure-blooded. It was done in two or three
days, I think. They marked all the homes beforehand and then came
in all at once in a gang and killed them."

"But why would they do that?" exclaimed
Kutta.

"I don't know," said Sacha, glaring briefly
at the ground. "Domestics have always had strange thoughts… when
more than two of them get together they can come up with peculiar
ideas… I think they were frightened that they'd be bred out, that's
all. There were a lot of hybrids… they did very well. Maybe in a
few generations there would've been no domestics left. And then who
would've looked after their precious hulkers?"