Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) (22 page)

"Here," whispered Kutta, and he heard her
claws scratching. He nosed up beside her and felt his nose touch
crumbling stone.

"It's the beginning of the cave-in," Kutta
whispered. "There was an earthquake. We've got to climb over this
part."

Mhumhi followed her over, his paws slipping
on the loose shale. At the top he had to squeeze past a shattered
part of the concrete ceiling, his back brushing up against it as he
crouched. His injured leg dragged and caused him a burst of pain,
and he had to stop for a moment, shuddering.

Kutta gave a soft whistle of encouragement,
and Mhumhi went on, slipping down the other side, hearing rocks he
had disturbed bounce and fall in the darkness.

When he reached the bottom, he felt a soft
wind. He turned towards it, sniffing. The smell of the creatures
was still very strong, but he also smelled something else,
something he was not familiar with. There seemed to be a broad
opening near him that the wind was blowing through. He turned
towards it.

"Not that way!" Kutta hissed, nudging him.
"That's the way that opened up. That's what Mother was afraid
of."

"Really?" Mhumhi said, sniffing again. "I
wonder where it leads…"

"Not now, Mhumhi," said Kutta. "Come over
here. The way into the sewers is just past here, but we need to
move some rubble out of the way first."

Mhumhi followed her over to another part of
the pile and heard her begin scratching at it.

"You didn't say we'd have to dig!"

"Only a little," said Kutta. "I know it's
narrow here- I can smell the sewers. Come on and help, Mhumhi, it's
hard to use my leg like this…"

Mhumhi went to stand next to her, sniffing
dubiously at the rubble. He could indeed catch a whiff of sewage.
He began to help her dig, shifting the larger rocks with one paw,
as it was hard to use both with only one good hind leg.

After a little while, his nose detected an
influx of cold, smelly air. He thrust his head forward and was able
to detect the beginning of large pipe, just barely big enough for a
dog to get through.

"We have to go through here?"

"It's not that tight of a fit," Kutta
replied, scratching away. "It's almost clear."

He heard more stones sliding from her
efforts. He sneezed. The air was getting very dusty from all their
efforts.

His sneeze echoed a bit, and then there was a
response: a moaning whoop. He felt Kutta freeze next to him.

"Hurry," he said, and then they both began to
dig, side by side. Behind them they heard paws thudding on metal
and that eerie chattering laugh echoing.

"It's clear, it's clear," Kutta breathed, and
she crouched and crawled inside. Mhumhi, panting, looked back in
the darkness as he waited for her to squeeze inside. The sounds
were coming in with the wind drifting from the large opening behind
them. They were very close.

Kutta's tail brushed past his legs, and he
squeezed in after her, gasping as his injured leg dragged uselessly
across the metal bottom. Behind him there were grunting and
snuffling noises- squeals- there was more than one-

The metal around them vibrated as claws
scratched at the pipe. Mhumhi felt a nose bump his exposed rear. He
tucked in his tail and heaved himself forward, heedless of the pain
in his leg. He bumped into Kutta, who gave a frightened squeal.

"Hurry, hurry," he cried.

She moved forward, agonizingly slowly- he
knew she must be in pain too from her shoulder, but there were
monsters
behind them. He felt the pipe shudder again from
their pawing, and then with a nervous chattering laugh one shoved
itself into the pipe.

Mhumhi felt its breath on his rear, heard it
snuffling and sniffing blindly for his presence. He nipped Kutta's
tail in his desperation to get away, and she jumped and dragged
herself forward. Behind them the creature gave a squealing whine
and made the pipe rattle as it withdrew.

"What's that, what's it doing," cried Kutta
in front of him.

"Don't slow down, keep going," he urged her.
"Keep going!"

She did, panting and gasping, and they
squeezed forward through the narrow circular darkness. The
chattering and moaning noises of the beasts faded away behind
them.

It seemed like another eternity that they had
to crawl together through that close pressing darkness,
occasionally feeling the pipe shudder again from far away, and
hearing the echoing sounds of moaning whoops.

Suddenly Kutta gave a little cry, and her
warm presence vanished from in front of him.

"Kutta?" Mhumhi squirmed forward and suddenly
his nose and forepaws encountered empty air. The remainder of his
body followed, slithering out with a painful
thump
a foot or
so down onto hard concrete.

"Are you all right?" said Kutta, coming to
nose at him. He blinked, for he was beginning to be able to see
again: there was dim light here. They had landed in a sort of
concrete trench in an area where the sound of rushing water was
very loud. He stood, shaking a bit, and looked through metal
railing to a vast, murky pool of water, lit by a few dangling
spotlights.

He recognized the place. It was the big
reservoir in the sewers next to the corridor where the hulker
children hid. Only they were at the bottom of it now.

"Come on, Mhumhi, it's just up some stairs,"
said Kutta, licking his face, and then turned to lead him on. "Do
you think those things are following us?"

"No," said Mhumhi, panting slightly. "I don't
think it could fit all the way into the pipe. I'm not sure,
though."

"Oh, that would be wonderful," said Kutta,
and coughed. "If they couldn't get through. I was afraid we'd have
to try and move the puppies right away."

"I don't know how you thought we'd do that,"
muttered Mhumhi.

"And that's another good thing," said Kutta.
"If the police try to track us, they're bound to run into some of
those things down here. That'll distract them. Distract them to
death, maybe."

"That's bloodthirsty, Kutta."

"I want to know what happened to Kebero and
Bii," she replied, tone cool, and he had nothing to say to
that.

They went up the spiraling stair, step by
aching step, until they finally rejoined the path they took through
the broken grate. Mhumhi thought the narrow concrete hallway looked
like heaven, especially since the door was hanging partly open and
golden light was spilling out.

"Maha!" called Kutta, breaking into a limping
run. "Tareq!"

Mhumhi thought he'd never been more gratified
to see anything than Maha's tangled head poking around the
door.

Kutta tottered up to her, tail wagging, but
Maha leaned back fearfully, her white-sided eyes wide.

"What's the matter?" Kutta asked, her tail
slowing. Mhumhi limped up beside her.

"We're covered in blood," he pointed out,
then addressed Maha. "Sorry, we don't have any food for you
today."

Maha looked at him, her eyes flicking over
him, and then her face screwed up and she gave a kind of wail.
Mhumhi flattened his ears and actually took a step back. She was
rubbing her face, which seemed to be getting damp and sticky, with
her forepaws now.

"Don't cry, Maha," said Kutta, wagging her
tail in an anxious way. "We'll get you some food soon. I hope
you've been able to eat something."

"'M not hungry," said Maha, the words muffled
through her hands as she continued to wipe at her face. Kutta gave
Mhumhi a worried look, and Mhumhi limped closer so he could paw at
her knee.

"Hey! Stop crying! We're all right, we're not
too badly hurt-"

Maha gave another wail and knelt to grab him
around the neck again. Mhumhi went stiff again as she buried her
damp face in his fur

She was saying something, but it was too
muffled to hear properly. Mhumhi looked back over at Kutta and saw
that she was grinning at him.

"Maha," she said, coming over and licking her
on her exposed shoulder. "Maha, let's go inside. I want you to help
with Mhumhi's leg."

Maha mumbled something again, and Mhumhi
said, "You'll see what's wrong with it when we go in, now get
off."

She let him go, sitting back on her haunches
to sniff and wipe at her eyes, and he breathed a long sigh through
his nose.

From within the room they heard the sound of
Tareq whimpering, rising to a crescendo. "Maha come back!"

Maha gave kind of watery giggle then, looking
slightly guilty, and stood up. They walked into the room
together.

Fever

The hulker puppies had made good use of the
new quilt. It was big enough to spread out over the entire floor of
the little room, making it soft and puffy, and there was still
enough left over to wrap Tareq up in in the corner. Mhumhi almost
felt sorry to bleed on it, but Maha didn't seem to care. She
watched him lie down with that same sad, frightened look.

"It's here, Maha," said Kutta, limping over
to nose Mhumhi's injury. "Do you see the wire?"

"Yes," said Maha, though she seemed hesitant
to look that closely. Mhumhi didn't blame her- every time he looked
at the swollen mess the area was it made it hurt even more.

"Try to get it off," Kutta said, swishing her
tail gently, and walked over the lumpy fabric to stand by Mhumhi's
head. "You're so clever with your hands, I know you can do it."

Maha did seem a little cheered by this
compliment. She knelt down and tucked her tangled hair behind one
of her rounded ears.

"It looks really tight," she said. "I can't
see the other end…" She went to touch Mhumhi's leg and hesitated,
looking over at him.

"It's all right," said Mhumhi, who was trying
not to pant openly. Her nervousness was catching. "Just get it
off."

Maha gingerly lifted up his leg so she could
look at it more closely. Mhumhi gave a little grunt and licked his
lips. Kutta licked his face and ear, soothing him.

"I see the other end!" Maha said
triumphantly. "It's wrapped under, but I can unwrap it- I think-"
She reached for the cut-off end and gave it an experimental tug.
Mhumhi yelped, raising his head, as the wire pressed against his
sore flesh.

"I'm sorry," said Maha, and she tried to move
it again. Each movement brought fresh pain to Mhumhi, and he whined
and shook. Kutta went to lay down with her head on his neck, trying
to hold him still.

"It's not working," said Maha, dismayed.
"It's hurting him too much- wait!" She suddenly bounced to her hind
legs and ran around to one of the high shelves. She returned to
Mhumhi's side with something skinny and black in her paw.

"What's that?" asked Mhumhi, trying to raise
his head again, though Kutta was blocking him with her body. He
could see flecks of his blood on Maha's hands.

"It's a clipper," said Maha. "I think it's
little enough. i want to try."

She knelt down again and lifted his leg, and
he put his head back down, mystified by what she had just tried to
explain to him.

He felt a sharp pain, and tensed and
whimpered, and she said, "I almost got it, Mhumhi!" and Kutta
licked his ears more. The pain intensified, and he gave a sudden
thrash and a wail.

"You must hold still, Mhumhi, you're making
it worse!" Kutta urged, biting lightly on his ear, and he tried,
though his whole body shuddered from the effort.

"I got it!" Maha suddenly crowed, and there
was a very loud
snick
and suddenly the pressure around
Mhumhi's leg was gone.

He whined and Kutta got off of him so he
could sit up. Maha showed him the circular wire, covered in blood
and fur and broken in the center.

"I cut it off," she said, sounding proud, and
went to put it on the shelf up with the other things.

Mhumhi looked at his leg, which was aching, a
pins-and-needles sensation filling his paw. The area where the wire
had been was just a dark yellow gash, bleeding freely and almost
too tender to lick, but he curled to do so anyway, whimpering with
pain and relief. He could feel his paw again.

"Do you feel better, Mhumhi?" Maha had
returned, and she went to sit next to him, looking shy. He looked
up from his ministrations and licked her forehead, making her
giggle. Kutta's tail was wagging madly.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right," she said,
and went to give him a fierce nuzzle, nearly knocking him over. "I
thought- I thought you'd lose the leg, or something!"

"Yes, well," said Mhumhi, not really wanting
to think about his leg anymore, "how is your shoulder?"

"It's all right," said Kutta. "It's closing.
It makes my whole leg hurt a little, though."

"And your- and your muzzle?"

"That never really hurt," said Kutta. "Don't
worry about it."

Mhumhi hesitated a moment, then went back to
licking his leg.

"Kutta," said Maha, "what happened? How did
you both get so hurt?"

"Hm, well," said Kutta, looking away
uneasily, "we just got in a fight with someone. Oh, and Mhumhi got
his leg caught in a wire."

"Who did you fight with?" asked Maha.

"Just a big, mean dog," said Kutta.

"It wasn't a dog," Mhumhi. "It was a monster.
Two of them. Actually, there are more than two."

"Mhumhi, I don't want to scare them!"

"They should know, so they don't try to-
don't try to run up and talk to them," Mhumhi said, feeling a
different sort of pain than that in his leg. "You have to stay away
from them. Big gray monsters. Little tiny tails. They laugh like
hulkers."

"Oh!" said Maha. "A hyena?"

"You know what it is?" said Mhumhi, startled.
"What did you call it?"

"A hyena," said Maha, looking a bit abashed.
"Tareq's mother told me about them. Big lumpy gray animals that
laugh. She said if I saw one I should run away, same as if I saw a
dog."