Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) (20 page)

Mhumhi put on a burst of speed, his injured
leg stinging as the wire caught and dragged on the street, and
lunged at the thing. His teeth caught it in the shoulder and it
wailed and whirled around to snap at him. He fell back, stumbling,
but before it could really focus on him Kutta bit at it on the
other side, so it whirled again, and again, squatting and wailing
from their combined assault.

"Come on!" barked Mhumhi, his blood rising, a
hot kind of rage filling him- he could see Sacha raising her bloody
head from the ground- good, good, she was all right, just like he'd
thought- but the thing had better pay for hurting her- he dug his
teeth in again and caught skin, twisting, feeling it rip, and the
thing shrieked.

It whirled, and he jumped back, waiting for
Kutta to bite it from the other side- but then he felt a jolt of
fear. Behind Kutta, who was now tearing at the thing's flank, was a
second one- a second creature, loping fast towards them, and this
one had all four legs working properly.

"Kutta!" he shouted. "Behind you!"

Kutta turned around and leaped sideways, but
the second creature bowled her over and she screamed- Mhumhi
slammed past the first one and bit the second on the nose, tugging
him, feeling its blood fill his mouth as he dragged it around off
of Kutta- then he squealed as well, because the first had started
to move towards him, only it'd tripped over the wire still trailing
from Mhumhi's leg- it was getting tangled in its blundering,
dragging Mhumhi backward-

Kutta whirled to her feet, one shoulder an
open maw, and drove at the second creature, driving it back with
its nose still dripping blood. She staggered towards Mhumhi. The
first creature was moaning and thrashing, getting more and more
caught in Mhumhi's wire, inadvertently pulling him closer. Mhumhi
realized that he was now tied to the abomination.

Kutta whined, and Mhumhi felt sick, looking
at the mess that was her shoulder. She came close against him,
panting, looking fearfully at the creature as it thrashed and
tugged Mhumhi closer.

"Gat away now," Mhumhi gasped, fighting to
stay standing. "I'm stuck- I can't get loose- you've got to run and
take Sacha-"

Kutta whined louder and then lunged at the
thing, raising her lips in a snarl. The second one lurched back
towards them again as its compatriot squealed from the assault.
Suddenly Kutta was trapped between them. Mhumhi's heart gave a
horrible seize and he twisted around, trying to break in
himself-

For a moment it was all a mass of thrashing
limbs and teeth, the silver wire flashing in the sunlight, the
smell of blood thick and strong in the air as it splattered on the
street.

Abruptly Mhumhi rolled free from the fray.
The wire on his leg had been snipped short- one of the strange
things' jaws had closed on it and severed it in an instant.

"Kutta!" Mhumhi screamed, because he could
not see her between the two thrashing gray bodies. He could not
even hear her screaming anymore-

Then she suddenly came towards him, leaping
high over their heads. The larger one tried to rear and snap at her
but fell over, its own hind legs now tangled in the wire as
well.

"Come on, come on," she gasped, tongue
dripping blood, and together they limped and ran forward.

"Sacha-" cried Mhumhi, and turned to dart
towards her small form.

"No!" screamed Kutta, and she grabbed his ear
in her teeth, dragging him away, "Leave her!"

Mhumhi was stunned. "How can you-!"

The two things were twisting- the malformed
one was still caught, but the second was freed, and it was loping
towards them purposefully, ripped up nose shining like a dark
badge. Mhumhi tried to limp towards Sacha but Kutta dragged him
back. The thing looked, too, following their gaze, and changed
direction towards where Sacha was lying still on the ground.

"Sacha!" cried Mhumhi, but Kutta was shoving
him back and back, and he could not understand why. "Let me go! Why
are you doing this!"

"Mhumhi!" said Kutta, and there was something
in her voice, something he knew he did not want to hear her say- He
pushed at her with his shoulder, willing her to let go, and she
did, and she spoke.

"Mhumhi, stop! She's dead already! She's
dead!"

Mhumhi screamed at her then, shoved her
aside, but Kutta caught him by the tail before he could go any
further towards the creature, which was now dipping its nose over
Sacha's body.

"Let go-!" Mhumhi thrashed, struggling, and
Kutta fell down hard on her side. The creature raised its head and
looked at them.

"Mhumhi," gasped Kutta, rising up- Mhumhi
looked away, back at Sacha-

"Mhumhi, we have to go, we have to run, now,
while they're distracted," Kutta gasped.

It was opening its jaws over Sacha's
body.

"No," said Mhumhi. No, he had seen her- he
had seen her lifting her head- he had seen her-

"Mhumhi," said Kutta.

He turned and ran, ran behind her, ran
away.

Stain on the
Couch

They limped and staggered together through
the streets. Kutta's breathing was a harsh rasp beside him. He
could hardly hear it over the sound of his own hammering heart.

The sun was beginning to go down, coloring
the pale white plaster of the houses around them a sickly
yellow-orange. Mhumhi could still hear and smell the little dogs
returning around them from the dispensary, their low noises of
greeting and warning to one another, their reaffirmation of their
old, illegal scent-marks.

For some reason he could not see any of them.
He felt strange and blind. All the could really see were dark
shapes- teeth- Sacha's legs kicking-

Beside him Kutta coughed and fell down on her
side.

He stopped, trembling, and limped back over
to her. The wire was still clasped around his back leg, and it had
started to go numb.

Kutta breathed in a frothy way, lying there
on the ground with her eyes closed and her tongue hanging out, and
there came that terrible feeling in him again, seeing her weakness-
he jerked and snarled, opening his mouth over her wounded
shoulder.

But it wasn't just that, there was anger,
there was rage in him-

"Why did you make me leave her?" he shouted.
"You made us leave! We could have- she could have been still
alive!"

Kutta whined and did not respond. There were
bubbles around her tongue and lips as she panted. Another terrible
snarl came out of Mhumhi, and he convulsed and snapped his jaws
over her.

"It's your fault! You killed her! You didn't
go with her at first- you left her afterwards! Now she's-" He was
seized by another sudden convulsion, but this one took him away
from his sister, pointing back towards the way they had come. "We
must go back! We've got to go back and get her!"

His mind seized on this sickening point of
hope. Yes, yes, they could go back, there was still time, she was
still lying there, waiting for them, and the terrible creatures
would vanish like ghosts or bad dreams-

"She's dead, Mhumhi," said Kutta, without
opening her eyes.

Mhumhi whirled around and roared at her.
"STOP SAYING THAT!"

Kutta did open her eyes now, and she pushed
herself up slightly to look at him. "You know… you heard… you heard
what they were doing to her…"

Mhumhi growled and shook his head, his heart
hammering and thudding, because he did not want to think about it,
not about the hideous sounds of tearing and crunching and wet
sucking they had heard behind them, with their sharp canine ears,
as they had run away.

"She's gone," said Kutta. "She gave us our
last chance… she distracted them for us…"

"STOP!" screamed Mhumhi, and he fell on her
and bit her muzzle shut, snarling.

Kutta whimpered, and he felt her blood and
saliva in his mouth, and he was so full of rage that she would dare
even
whimper
that he thought he might kill her then and
there-

He opened his mouth and backed away,
stumbling on his injured leg, panting and drooling on himself.

Kutta, panting, was still looking at him, and
he wanted to cringe away from her yellow gaze. He could see the
marks his teeth had inflicted on her muzzle, more wounds to add to
all the ones she had already acquired. His tail was tucked tight
underneath his rump, and he was shaking, and now he did look away,
shutting his eyes tight.

"Mhumhi," said Kutta, "help me… I don't know
if I- I don't know if I can walk- we've got to get home- we have to
meet Kebero and Bii- and we've left a blood trail, Mhumhi, what if
they follow us, help me,
help me
-"

Mhumhi whined and shut his eyes tighter for a
moment, then he went around to her other side, crouching to push at
her shoulder. His sister got up, shuddering, the sticky fur on her
shoulder warm and wet against his. She leaned against him heavily,
panting hard, and then together they limped forward.

They were able to pass through several more
dusty streets this way, panting into each other. Mhumhi felt the
eyes of smaller dogs on them, smelled their fear at the awful sight
of the pair of them, but again he could not really see them. He was
seeing Sacha's body, the distorted shape of her head and the jaws
opening over her, Kutta's yellow eyes staring at him…

They reached their house. Mhumhi could barely
remember how they had gotten there. Kutta slid against him,
gasping, and he pushed back, muttering at her, "We're almost there…
almost there, Kutta, then you can rest… we've got to go through the
door."

They limped to the door, and Mhumhi pawed it
open. The interior of the house was dark and still, but there was
something harsh and unfamiliar about the scent. Mhumhi felt
sick.

"Kebero!" he barked.

Beside him, Kutta slid from his shoulder and
onto the floor. She was coughing again. He spared a fearful look
for her, then left her and limped up the stairs, his paws slipping
and scraping for purchase on the wood.

"Kebero! Bii!"

The bedroom was dark and empty. He put his
nose down and sniffed- he could catch their scents, they had been
there not long ago, but they were not there now.

He went to look in the bathroom. It was
empty, the toilet hole a yawning pit- not even a fly or a
cockroach, since Bii had come.

He dragged himself back down the stairs.
Kutta was still lying near the open door, and suddenly the sight of
it frightened him. He limped over to catch the handle in his teeth
to pull it shut.

The harsh smell was strong downstairs, and he
followed it, unwillingly, to the couch, where there was a giant
fresh piss-stain on a ruined cushion. The scent told him what he
needed to know: it had been made by a member of the police. Their
home was marked.

What had Liduma said, just earlier that
day?

"
They're asking for Pariah by
name.
"

"
If I were you, I would find a new home.
Soon
."

He looked at Kutta, but she seemed to have
fallen into an uneasy doze, her breath rasping, and he did not want
to disturb her. Rather, he was almost frightened to go near her. He
limped into the kitchen, where in the dim light he could see all
the open cabinets gaping blackly at him, mocking him. He had to
investigate every one, knowing that he would find them completely
empty, that each confirmation would drive the stabbing pain deeper
into his chest…

The kitchen smelled like Sacha. Of course it
did, it had been her favorite place in the house. There were things
she could climb on, with her short legs; she could stand on top of
the counter and be taller than all of them. He reared up painfully,
his one good leg trembling, to sniff it. The sink was bathed in her
scent. She liked to lie there. She had liked to lie there.

He felt a whine rising in his throat, and
quelled it. He wanted to call for her, to cry. But he did not want
to wake up Kutta. He got back down on three legs and limped beside
her, intending to lie down, but almost as soon as he did he got
back up, shaking, because he knew if he closed his eyes he would
see Sacha's legs kicking, the jaws opening. He began to pace and
limp around the empty house.

His head was drooping low, and a shaft of
moonlight was coming through the window and dazzling his eyes, when
he heard Kutta speak.

"Mhumhi."

He looked at her. She had rolled up from her
side and her head was up. Her breath still rasped when she
panted.

"Where's Kebero and Bii?"

Mhumhi looked at her, then away; he did not
know what to say to her.

"They're not here?" she said. "They're
gone?"

"They're not here," said Mhumhi. He looked at
the couch. "The police were here."

Kutta looked towards the couch too, sniffing
the air. For a moment she shifted and tried to get up, her feet
slipping and sliding on the smooth wood floor, but she fell back
down and started coughing. Mhumhi stared at her.

"Kutta…"

"I'm all right," she said, when she had got
her breath back. "I'm just very tired… The police either arrested
them, or they ran away. We can track them when I've got some
strength back. You should sleep, Mhumhi…"

Mhumhi gave a little whine.

"What if the police come back here to arrest
us? What if-" He stopped himself, but he knew she mirrored his
thoughts, for her ears had gone back. What if those creatures came
and tried to get in?

"We can't go anywhere- at least I can't," she
said. "I'm worried about your foot, Mhumhi, it looks bad. I wonder
if Maha could get the rest of the wire off of it."

"We didn't feed them tonight," Mhumhi pointed
out. Another worry to add to the pile.

"They'll be fine. Maha catches rats
sometimes, and I know they've eaten insects… they can eat about
anything. They've got that new blanket, too, so they'll be warm
down there."