Housepets!

It is new story day my dudes! This one's extra long, and there's definitely so much more story I wanted to tell, so I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 1: The Forgotten Homeless

A chilly April wind blew through Terry’s fur as he lay at the edge of his pack, watching the stars glitter overhead and listening to the sounds of the pack members breathing. It was far past his bedtime, but he could still hear a couple of the adults chatting as they prepared to bed down.
Tonight, the pack had settled down among the rusted-out hulls of long-abandoned cars, just through the hole in the fence at the River Ridge junkyard, in the far back of the yard where even the night guards never bothered to go. Some of the adults had climbed into the torn-out plush seats of some of the cars that didn’t have any doors, but Terry was settled down in the dirt next to Kendra, the dog that had raised him since he was a puppy- well, MORE of a puppy. He stared at her now- she had some mastiff in her, her face sagging as she slept, but there were also hints of bulldog, doberman, and retriever. She was sturdy and thick, not like him- he didn’t know what breeds he had in him, but there was definitely a lot of terrier.
Terry’s stomach growled, and he flinched, rolling to face the other way. The search for food had been unlucky today- some of the adults had managed to find some by digging into the dumpster behind the burger place on Fifth, but they’d been chased off by a man with a broom before Terry had managed to grab some of his own. That made it three… no, four days since Terry had eaten. Not a record, by any means, but still not pleasant.
Someone started to approach, and he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut. “I don’t know, Bell… It’s getting harder and harder to find food. Maybe we should revisit some of the rejected options. The pack’s getting too big. Maybe we should split it.”
That voice belonged to Andy, one of the pack’s two leaders. Terry pretended to be asleep with all his might. Bell, the pack’s other leader, sighed quietly. “I know. But how can we pick who to kick out? We’re a family, all of us. Let’s try a different strategy before we go for the splitting option. Maybe we just split up during the day and meet up at night, instead.” Bell sighed, his deep voice rumbling.
“You know EXACTLY who I think we should get rid of. He’s just dead weight! He can’t exactly pull his weight, he requires constant attention… he almost got us caught last week because he was too slow to run away!” Andy huffed crankily. Their voices started to fade as they walked away.
“He’s just a puppy, Andy. He can’t help it.” Terry shuddered as Bell’s voice faded out of range, and he turned to press himself into Kendra’s body for warmth. Kendra didn’t like it when he did that, but she tolerated it if it was cold out.
Kendra’s arm lifted, and she gently pulled him in. “You were supposed to be asleep hours ago, pup.” She murmured quietly. “And you weren’t supposed to hear that.”
Terry put his ears back and murmured back, quietly. “You won’t let them get rid of me, will you? I don’t want to be all alone…”
“They won’t get rid of you. They’ve been having that same argument since we found you, over and over again. Bell always convinces Andy that it would be heartless to leave a pup like you defenseless and alone.” She rolled to her back, pulling him up to lay on her belly. “Sleep now. We had a big day today, and you need your rest.”
Terry nodded and lay his head down, listening to Kendra’s heartbeat. He didn’t sleep; he couldn’t stop thinking about Andy and Bell fighting over him. His stomach gurgled again, and he put his ears back, placing a hand on his belly and pressing down gently to muffle the noise.
“It’s okay, little one. We’ll go and we’ll get you some food tomorrow, I promise.” Kendra rested a hand on his back. “Now, please. Sleep. It’ll take the edge off your hunger.”
“Yes, Kendra…” He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him.

Whispers and rustling woke Terry, and he sat up immediately. Kendra was gone from beneath him, leaving him lying on the dirt. He stood, looking around. Bell put a hand on his arm and tugged him back down, shushing him. “Quiet, Terry. Animal control is coming. The junkyard owner must have spotted some of us. We have to sneak out.” He pointed toward the hole in the fence. “Out, and to the left. Quickly now.”
Terry nodded and kept low, dropping to all fours to crawl out through the fence, then immediately jumping back to his paws and turning left, following the stream of other dogs sneaking out. He could hear voices behind them, the sounds of animal control calling to each other as they swept through the junkyard looking for them. The sun was only just peeking up behind the city skyline as the last of them gathered in the bushes of a vacant lot not far away from the junkyard.
“That was close.” A female voice whispered. “Who was supposed to be on watch duty? They nearly FOUND us!”
The bickering started, with every dog accusing every other dog, until Bell stepped in and barked. “ENOUGH! It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. What’s important is that it’s getting harder and harder to travel unnoticed. From now on, we’re going to split during the day and meet up again at night, so we can hopefully manage to get a decent meal and a good night’s sleep for once. Split up. Half of you go with Andy, the other half, come with me.”
There was a general murmur, and then someone spoke up. “Which of you is getting Kendra and her extra baggage?”
Terry flinched. He knew exactly who the phrase ‘extra baggage’ was referring to. He put his ears back and tried not to notice as two dozen pairs of eyes not-so-subtly turned to look at him.
Bell sighed, rubbing his temples. “Kendra and Terry will be in my group.”
There was a clamber as everybody tried to volunteer for Andy’s group at the same time, ending when Bell reached an arm into the cluster of dogs and started pulling out dogs at random, counting to himself as he told each that they were to be in his group. Nobody looked too terribly happy about it. Once the pack was split fairly evenly- Terry noticed that Andy’s group was bigger than Bell’s- they split ways.
Kendra took Terry’s hand and led him after Bell’s group with a sigh. “Come on, little one. Let’s go find you some food. Maybe you’ll be able to eat today.”
Terry walked with Kendra in silence for a while before speaking. “Kendra? Am I… bad?”
Kendra looked down at Terry with a frown. “Of course not, Terry. Why would you ask such a thing?” She gave his hand a squeeze.
Terry put his ears back and watched his paws step around broken bottles and soggy receipts before answering. “Nobody wants to be around me. Even Andy wants to get rid of me. The others call me your extra baggage.”
Kendra gave a little sigh. “The others need to learn to shut up when they’re around you. It’s not that they don’t like you, little one. It’s just that you’re very small. You’re not as fast, and you can’t reach as high as the rest of us, so it can be harder to get by when you’re with us. They’re just hungry and frustrated. Life’s been getting harder since the city council decided to hire more animal control officers to try and get rid of what they consider a problem.”
Terry put his ears back. “... Us. They consider us a problem.”
She sighed and gave his hand a squeeze. “... Yes. From their point of view, we’re a problem. We get into their trash and roam the streets. They don’t mean anything by it, we just don’t fit into what they want for the world.”
“Why don’t we just let them? They want to put us in the pound so humans can come and adopt us, right?” Terry looked up at her, frowning.
She shook her head. “It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. You’d probably be okay if you got caught. You’re young and cute, still. But for an adult dog, the pound is the worst place to end up. No human wants to adopt a dog that’s already grown. If I, or Bell, or any of the other fully-grown dogs in our pack were to get caught by animal control, it would be the end of the line. The only way a grown-up dog leaves the pound, is in a box.”

This looks like it is going to be a very interesting story and I look forward too seeing where we go with it! I am also glad we will get to see how Terry gets tamed since that is obviously gonna happen with the name of the story. LOL

Chapter 2: Scrounging

Kendra gave Terry’s hand a squeeze and looked down at him. “You go ahead and go first.” She lowered herself and cupped her hands together to give Terry a boost, lifting him up to see into the dumpster they’d found.
Terry clawed at the edge and pulled himself up, looking in eagerly, then frowned and put his ears back, staring at the bottom of the dumpster with its sticky goop and a few stray papers stuck to it. “It’s empty. There’s nothing in here.”
Kendra frowned and let Terry back down, jumping up to peek over and into the dumpster. “Oh, no… did we miss garbage collection already?”
Bell shook his head, staring at the restaurant they were behind. Now that he was looking, he noticed that there were no cars parked behind the building, and there was no smell of food cooking. “No, I think this one just closed up.” He cursed under his breath, then turned and raised his voice, speaking to the other pack members waiting nearby, hidden in the tall grass of the vacant lots behind the building. “All right, we’re moving on. Head to the fast food strip before the morning rush starts. Remember to sniff-check any food you find before you eat it, some of the fast food places have started pouring cleaner in their waste to keep us from eating it.”
They started jogging, and Terry had to run to keep up.
The fast food strip was one of their last-resort locations; it was a long line of fast food places that had every kind of food imaginable, but because they all had drive-through service, there were always cars with people in them surrounding the buildings, which made it next to impossible to dig through the dumpsters without being spotted and having animal control called. It was also notorious for having contaminated food in the dumpsters; workers would often pour cleaner into the waste to prevent exactly what they wanted to do: dig through in search of food. In addition to all that, it was also contested territory; at least four other packs had claimed it as part of their territory, so getting caught there almost always led to a fight.
It was a long trek to get there; instead of following the road, they had to travel via back alleys and through overgrown weeds to avoid being seen. Terry stuck close to Kendra, but the others scattered, spreading out over two or three blocks to reduce their chances of being seen. There were only around ten in Bell’s group, making it easier to travel.
Kendra put her arm out and stopped Terry when they grew close to the row of fast food restaurants, shaking her head and pointing. “We can’t go out there, look. Animal control. Looks like they’re already picking up a rival pack.”
Terry put his ears back and watched ahead at the other dogs being rounded up into the big white truck. “What are we going to do, Kendra? We’ve already tried all the usual places for food.”
Kendra shook her head. “Let’s go find a safe place to hide and I’ll think of something.” She turned him around and pointed toward one of their hideouts a few blocks away. “Don’t worry, little one. I won’t let you go hungry today. I’ll get you some food, I promise.”
Terry nodded quietly and started off, crouching in the space between two fences as he walked. “It’s okay if you can’t. We’ve gone longer without food before.”
Kendra sighed and ruffled his headfluff. “I know, little one. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. You understand that not being able to feed you isn’t good?”
He nodded and focused on where he was going. “Yes, Kendra. I understand.”
“Smart boy. My smart boy.” She gave him a little smile and checked that the coast was clear before leading him through a hole in a chain link fence and up to the broken-off back door of an abandoned factory near the edge of town, reaching back to take his hand before leading him inside and then straight to the offices, stepping over scattered papers and around overturned chairs. The place was dark; the lights didn’t work, since the power had been cut, but the old cafeteria they entered was lit from dirty and broken windows. There was no food here, unfortunately; the place reeked of urine from some of the homeless humans they had to share the hideout with.
Bell looked around at the other pack members as they gathered, doing a quick head count to be sure everyone had arrived safely before speaking. “Obviously, the fast food strip didn’t pan out. The Northern Brigade got caught by animal control. That’s going to be a total no-go zone for weeks before animal control relaxes their watch on it.”
There was a general murmur from the gathered dogs. Someone muttered, “Could have gotten there FASTER if it wasn’t for the RUNT.”
Bell shot him a glare, then glanced over at Terry before answering. “If we’d gotten there sooner, we’d be the ones in the pound, not the Northern Brigade. But that’s neither here nor there. The question is, what are we going to do for food?” He looked around at the others, then sighed and righted a chair, sitting down and pressing his hands into his temples. “We have a few options. We can head out of town to the woods and try our luck foraging in feral territory. They don’t much mind dogs visiting, but if we go in too often, they’ll get irritated and fight. We can try downtown. It’s harder to move around unseen, but there’s a much better chance of finding food where all those nicer restaurants are. Or… We can split up. Every dog for themselves, or buddy system, and meet up with the rest of the pack once we’ve found food.”
The group started chattering among themselves. Finally, someone spoke up. “Kendra and her little fluffball can go off on their own. The rest of us are going to go try foraging.” There was a general murmur of ascent from the rest of the group.
Bell sighed. “Guys, you can’t just-”
“It’s all right, Bell. They’re hungry and frustrated.” Kendra spoke up softly. “I’ll take Terry, and we’ll try to find some food elsewhere. Humans are less likely to call animal control on one dog and a pup.” She put her arm out and pulled Terry in to stand closer to her.
Bell stared at them for a few moments, then sighed and nodded. “... Okay. Meet us back here at nightfall. This is where Andy and I agreed to meet up before we split up this morning.” He turned to the rest of the pack. “The rest of you, move out.”
Kendra waited until they were alone before she knelt next to Terry, looking him over and brushing some dust out of his fur with her hands. “Okay, Terry. It’s just the two of us. Where would you like to go? I bet we can find something to eat behind one of the grocery stores.”
Terry nodded, putting his ears back and nodding. “Okay, let’s try that.” He took Kendra’s hand as she stood up and started leading him out past some dangerous-looking abandoned equipment. He looked up at her and gave a weak smile, watching her look down at him and smile back. After a moment, he looked ahead and followed her into one of their hidden paths, wading through long grass and through a stand of trees to get across town.

Chapter 3: To talk of Past Things

Terry sat back and watched the dumpster through a bush. They were waiting to see an employee of the supermarket take out the trash before they approached, maximizing the time they had to dig through it for food. After a few moments, his eyes drifted over to Kendra, and he put his ears back, looking at the ground instead.
He thought about the hurtful things other pack members said about him. He supposed they’d always said them; he’d just only started noticing a few weeks ago. “Kendra? Why…” he hesitated, trying to think of the best phrasing for his question. “Why did you keep me?”
Kendra’s ears perked, and she looked down at him for a few moments before putting an arm out and pulling him close. She always did that; he sometimes wondered if it was just to keep him from wandering off, rather than any emotional purpose. She gave a sigh. “When we found you abandoned and tied to a signpost, you were old enough to walk and talk, but not old enough to take care of yourself. The pack debated for days on what to do with you. You were so small and helpless, we couldn’t just leave you to fend for yourself.”
He looked up at her quietly, then back over at the dumpster. After a few moments, she continued. “Around that time, I’d had a pup that… didn’t make it. So they gave you to me to take care of. You’ve been with me ever since.”
Terry leaned against Kendra for a moment until she shrugged him off idly. When she did, he spoke again. “If… if the others let you keep me, why are they so mean to me now? Well… not really mean TO me, but… they say some not-very-nice things.”
Kendra sighed and shook her head. “They’re frustrated. The past couple years, the city’s been really cracking down on strays and ferals. They doubled down on animal control, and even started having the canine police double as animal control sometimes. We lose a pack member every couple of months, and they want something to blame it on, so they blame you. It’s not fair to you; it’s almost never ACTUALLY your fault when one of us gets caught, or someone chases us away from a hiding spot or a food source.”
Someone came out of the back door of the grocery store and threw a bag into the dumpster before going right back inside. Kendra stood up. “Well, that’s us. Let’s get you some food, okay?”
Terry stood up and silently followed Kendra, darting across the parking lot to the big green box. Kendra lowered herself down and cupped her hands together for Terry to step into, then lifted him as high as she could. Terry gripped the dumpster lid and scrambled up on top of it, turning to the other lid on the far side of the dumpster and hefting it up with a grunt. It swung up and open until it banged against the brick wall behind the dumpster, and Kendra jumped up to catch her hands on the edge of the dumpster and pull herself up.
Once she was atop the dumpster, she spun to put her legs inside and carefully lowered herself down, checking with her paws for any sharp objects before reaching up and carefully lowering Terry in. “Okay, you know the drill. Sniff check any food. If it smells like ammonia or chemicals, it’s had cleaner dumped on it. If it smells sweet, it’s probably antifreeze. Don’t eat anything unless I approve it.”
Terry nodded and knelt to the nearest trash bag, using his claws to rip it open. He started to dig through abandoned receipts and used coupons, then grunted and shoved the bag aside, going for the next one. “That’s a register line garbage.”
“This one’s the ladies’ room.” Kendra shoved her bag aside and broke open the next one. She started digging through it, then paused, sighing as she looked over at Terry. He busily dug down and pulled out a bag with bread visible inside, ripping it open and sniffing at it.
“It’s a little moldy, but it smells fine.” He announced, lifting it to Kendra.
After a moment, she shook herself out of her thoughts and did a sniff check. After a moment’s consideration, she nodded. “Okay. Grab it, and let’s get out of here. Take as much as you can carry.”
Terry nodded and gathered up an armload of bread, then reared back and chucked it, one loaf at a time, out of the dumpster. “Okay. I’m ready, give me a boost out of here.”
Kendra crouched and made her hand cradle, letting Terry step in before boosting him up to the dumpster lid. He turned and reached his hand in, giving her something to grab onto to boost herself out of the dumpster, then climbed down to the ground himself and started gathering up his thrown bread.
Kendra watched him for a moment, then helped him pick it up. “Let’s go eat in the bushes. You REALLY should have more than bread, but it’s so hard to find meat these days…” She directed the pup back to where they’d been hiding before. Terry nodded and took off running, struggling not to drop any of his prize.
She watched him go with a sigh and shook her head, mumbling to herself. “We can’t keep doing this. Something has to give up. This is no way to raise a pup.” She took off after him, pausing to pick up any bread he’d dropped. The best way to keep this place safe for future visits was to ensure nobody knew there had been any visits before.
In the bushes, Terry plopped down and excitedly started dividing up the bread between them. The mold was widespread; each loaf only had a few inches of edible bread available, but Terry ate happily until his scrawny belly bulged out, stuffed. He leaned back and patted his belly, looking up at the sky happily.
Kendra paused in tearing a moldy spot off her loaf of bread to count Terry’s ribs and look at his full stomach, clearly visible poking through his fur now that he was fed and full. She put her ears back and swallowed, tossing the rest of her bread out for the birds before standing up. “Come on, little one. Now that we’ve had our fill, we should go back to the meeting place.”
Terry hopped up, grabbing her hand. She started leading him back across town to the abandoned factory. Halfway there, she started talking to him. “You were so cute as a puppy. You know that? You could walk, and you could talk, but only just. Half the time, we didn’t know what you were saying. It was very cute.”
He looked up at her, frowning. He didn’t know why she was telling him this, but he was happy to listen. He was just happy to be with her. “Really?”
She smiled down at him and gave his hand a squeeze. “You didn’t seem to realize you’d been abandoned by some cruel human. You were happy and chattery. You rarely fussed. It’s been an absolute pleasure raising you, even if you never did really feel like my own pup.”
Terry smiled up at Kendra. “I know, you’ve told me that before. I never really felt quite like your own pup, but you did your best to love me anyway, right?”
Kendra looked down at him for a long moment, then looked up at the path to hide the fact that her eyes were starting to fill with tears. “That’s right, little one. I did my best to love you.” She blinked away the tears, resolute in what she knew she had to do.

Chapter 4: While Pups Sleep

Kendra raised her head to check that Terry was sleeping, then gently slid her arm out from under his head and sat up. It took her a few moments to extricate herself from the sleeping pup’s grip, but then she stood and started carefully climbing around the sleeping dogs packed into the old cafeteria in the dark, weaving carefully this way and that as she made her way out into the hallway.
Once she was free, she crept down the hall until she heard the voices she was listening for- Andy and Bell. They were arguing again, talking about how best to keep the pack safe or where to go for food now that the fast food strip was out of bounds. She knocked on the door to the office they were using, then pushed open the door to let herself in.
Bell turned to her and looked her over in the dim moonlight from the room’s single window, frowning. “Kendra. You should be sleeping.”
“Where’s the brat?” Andy looked behind her. “He’s usually hanging on your tail.”
“I left him behind.” Kendra spoke softly, pushing the door up and stepping closer. “I needed to talk to you without him.”
Bell frowned and gestured for her to sit on what was left of a desk. “What’s the problem, Kendra? What do you have to say that you can’t say in front of your charge? Normally you keep him close at all times.”
Kendra took a seat and frowned. “It’s… it’s about him, actually.”
“Oh, HERE we go. What’s he done NOW?” Andy snorted and turned his back. “Did he lead animal control here? Is he going to get us all caught?”
“He hasn’t done anything!” Kendra snorted defensively, reaching beside herself to pull Terry closer reflexively before remembering that he wasn’t there. “It’s just… I’m worried.”
Bell frowned and stepped closer to Kendra, looking her over for a moment before silently gesturing for her to continue.
She sighed. “Today, while we were eating, I realized just how skinny he is. I could see his ribs. I could see his stomach filling up as he ate. He was asking about how we found him, and why we kept him, and I realized… he doesn’t laugh anymore.”
Andy huffed. “So he doesn’t laugh. So what?”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. You remember how he was when we found him. He was always chatting and giggling and wanting to play… he doesn’t do that anymore. He doesn’t get to act like a pup.”
“Well… it’s hard to get by as it is.” Bell said like he was trying to reason with her.
“I know.” She nodded, fidgeting with her hands as she stared into the darkness. “That’s why I’m here. This is no place to be raising a pup.”
There was a moment’s silence, and then Andy spoke up. “What do you want US to do about it? We can barely take care of our pack!”
Kendra sighed and shook her head. “I need your help. I have a plan, but I can’t do it alone.” She paused. “I should back up first. Explain my reasoning before I tell you the plan.”
“Go ahead. We’ll listen, and we won’t interrupt.” Bell’s voice was stern, and he looked at Andy while he spoke.
Kendra paused, thinking about how to begin. “Well… He’s nearly an adolescent. We all know, at that point, no matter what, he won’t really have much of a chance anywhere. If animal control were to pick him up THEN, he’d spend the rest of his life in the pound, and it would be a short life. They might move him between pounds three or four times, but eventually, he’d end up going through the one-way door.”
She shook her head sadly. “I don’t want that for him. But it’s not much of a life out HERE, either. We’re SURVIVING. Barely. I don’t want THAT for him, either. He deserves a chance, a REAL chance, to be happy.”
Andy frowned at her. “So what? You got a magical rainbow unicorn hidden up your tailhole that can take him to said magical land where he can be happy?”
“Andy.” Bell spoke sternly. “Let her speak. She’s getting to it.”
Kendra shook her head. “No, no, he’s right. We can’t give him that. If he stays with us, he’s doomed. He’ll be on the run, struggling to survive, for his entire life. He’s already so scrawny… he won’t survive too much longer out here. Not with the luck we’ve been having. Not with the food we’ve been able to find. I was able to get him some food today, but only bread. Bread! He can’t survive on bread! He needs nutrients. He needs REAL food!”
“And the pack… They’re so mean to him. They blame him for all their problems, and I think he’s starting to believe it. He was asking about it today, asking me why the whole pack is always mad at him.” Kendra sighed. “And I can hear Andy always suggesting we get rid of him. He’s been saying since the beginning that we can’t really afford to raise a pup. I think he might be right.”
Bell turned to look at Kendra in surprise, frowning. “Wait, what?”
Kendra shook her head again. “Maybe, at one point, we COULD have raised him, and we could have been relatively happy, but those days are long gone. The city’s being too strict on strays right now, and too many businesses poison their waste to keep us out. We can barely fend for ourselves.” She seemed sad, on the verge of tears. Her ears were held back. “I made the decision this afternoon. We can’t keep him.”
Bell took a seat next to Kendra and patted her back quietly. “Kendra, are you sure about this? We can wait, see if things get better-”
“No.” She interrupted. “We have to do it NOW, while he’s still young. No human’s going to want a scrawny feral dog off the street. But a puppy… humans love puppies. If animal control were to get him NOW, I bet he’d barely spend a month in the pound, just long enough to get him healthier and make sure he’s had his shots. As soon as he was up for adoption, I bet he’d be gone, off to a new life as some human’s pet, happy and fed and able to play to his heart’s content. He’d probably forget all about us within a few months.”
Andy huffed. “I’ve been saying this for years. We should get rid of him before he’s too old to be gotten rid OF. It might even be too late NOW!”
Bell shook his head. “Andy, calm down. Can’t you see Kendra’s heartbroken? Stop and consider how she feels for a moment. We gave Terry to her because she’d lost her own pup. Now she’s going to give him up. It’ll be like losing her pup all over again.”
Andy paused to look at Kendra, then sighed and squatted in front of her, setting a hand on her knee. “I’m sorry, Kendra. I didn’t mean-” He stammered for a moment, then sighed. “I didn’t consider how this decision would affect YOU, personally.”
Bell waited a few moments, then took Kendra’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “How about you tell us your idea, and we’ll help you refine it. Once we have a viable plan, we’ll see to it that Terry’s safely in the hands of animal control.”

Most people who are in that situation that they are in now only think of themselves because they want to try to survive. Despite that I still think Andy is a complete jerkwad for being rude about Terry and having to deal with him in the first place and wish he would have a VERY close call in order to humble him.

Chapter 5: Betrayal

Kendra sat up, watching the sunrise through the window. She had her ears held back, knowing what she had to do. She hadn’t slept a wink last night after speaking to Bell and Andy. They had stayed up most of the night, discussing options and devising a plan. They were going to do it today.
As the sky started to lighten, Terry started to stir, sitting up and rubbing his eyes blearily. “Mmmph… morning…”
“Good morning, little one.” Kendra reached down and ruffled his head, forcing a smile onto her face. She had to act like everything was normal. If he suspected anything, he might stop listening to her, and make this harder than it needed to be.
He yawned and stretched, his fists reaching skyward before he stood up and looked around. “Oh… everybody’s already gone.”
She nodded and stood up after him. “I know. You looked so cute sleeping, I told them to go ahead without us so you could finish. I thought we could go out on our own today again, like we did yesterday.”
He looked around, then nodded. “Okay. That’s okay, it worked out. We got all the food we wanted.”
She nodded. “That’s right, little one. We got all the food we needed. Let’s go, then.” She reached for his hand, and he took hers, starting to follow her.
She smiled down at him and led him outside. “So, where would you like to go? Anywhere. What kind of food do you want to try to get?”
Terry looked up at Kendra with a smile on his face. “You pick. I picked yesterday.”
Her face softened, and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You’re so good to me. Tell you what, how about we go down to the park before we start looking for food?” She started leading him there.
He frowned, following her. “The park? But you said we should never go to the park. Humans don’t want stray dogs anywhere near their pups.”
She smiled down at him. “You remembered. That’s true, I did say that. But it’s just the two of us, and it’s early in the morning. As long as we don’t bother anybody and we don’t stay too long, it should be fine to go for just a little while.” Her hand squeezed his just a little tighter as she led him down a pathway she hadn’t gone down in a long time.
He looked at her hand, then up at her. “Kendra? Are you okay? You seem upset.”
She shook her head and loosened her grip, smiling down at him quietly. “No, no, I’m okay, really. Let’s go. I’ll let you play at the park a little while before we go and find some food for the day.”
He stared at her a little strangely, then looked forward at where they were walking. “Okay, Kendra. You’re the boss.”
They walked together until the park came into view. The playground was a little on the small side, only a handful of swings and a slide, but the parkland was sprawling, trees and grass and sidewalks going halfway around a lake. Kendra scanned the sidewalks, but didn’t see what she was looking for, so she took a seat on a bench and gestured to Terry. “Go play.”
Terry looked at the playground, then climbed up on the bench next to her, leaning into her and smiling up at her. “I don’t know how to use that stuff. I’ll just sit here with you.”
She hesitated, then put her arm around him and held him against her side, forcing a smile. “Of course, little one. Stay close to me.”
A breeze ruffled their fur, and she sat there, listening to the waves from the lake and keeping her head on a swivel. After a few minutes, she saw what she was looking for. Bell showed himself, just for a few moments, looking at them, then ducked back into the brush again. That was the signal that the plan was in motion; she would just have to wait for the second one, and keep Terry distracted until then.
“Hey, Terry… look at me, little one.” She released her hold on him and looked down quietly. “I want to tell you a little story.”
Terry sat up, his ears perked, and looked at her. “Okay. I like stories. What’s it about?”
“Well…” Kendra began, looking down at the pup’s eyes. They were so bright, but older than his years. She hoped it wasn’t too late to fix that. “It’s about a pup, and his mother, and how one day, they had to say goodbye.”
“That sounds like a sad story.” His ears drooped a little.
“It is a sad story, at first, but then it gets better.” She turned to sit sideways on the bench, facing him, and began. “There was once a little pup. His name was… Perry.”
Terry gave a little half-smile. “Like my name. Perry. Terry.”
She smiled down at him. “Yes, just like your name. Perry lived on the street with his pack and his mother, but times were hard. Mother often had a hard time finding food for Perry, and she couldn’t bear to see how skinny and hungry Perry was. So, at long last, Mother decided that she had to send Perry away.”
She held up her hands and gestured with them, making a bowl. “So, she put Perry in a magic ship, and said goodbye to him, and sent him sailing off across the sea. Of course, Mother knew that she would miss Perry, and she desperately wanted to go with him, but she knew that the boat could only hold one, and that after the boat sailed, Perry would be in a better place. At first, Perry was angry with Mother. ‘How could she send me on a journey like this all alone,’ he cried out to himself. ‘I still needed mother to keep me safe and to teach me to take care of myself!’ But it was no use; Perry was already sailing the seas, and Mother was gone. After a long while, Perry’s magic ship came ashore in a magic land, where there was as much food as Perry could eat, and as much cool, clear water as Perry could drink, and the warmest, softest beds Perry could imagine to sleep in. There was never any trouble to put Perry into danger, and nobody would ever be needlessly cruel to Perry. It seemed like heaven. Perry was so tired from his journey that he went straight to sleep.”
She lay out her hands flat and mimed sleeping, then opened them again to imitate a rising sun. “In the morning, Perry met the king of this new land. ‘You are welcome here,’ said the king, ‘but you will have to follow our rules for as long as you live here.’
“‘But what are the rules,’ asked Perry. ‘I don’t know them!’
“The king was kindly, and he smiled down at Perry. ‘The rules here are simple. Do not bite anybody, or take things that are not yours. You must be clean, and clean yourself at least once per week. Most importantly, if I ask you to do something, you must do it. Follow these rules, and you will live here happily for the rest of your life.’ The king said to Perry.” Kendra did a deep voice for the king, doing gestures and hand motions that the king might have done.
“And so, following the rules, Perry lived happily for many years. Of course, he did sometimes miss Mother, but he didn’t resent her for what she’d had to do. He knew it was for the best, and that she did what she did because she loved him, and wanted him to have a better life than she could give to him herself. The end.” Kendra finished the story and glanced up. Bell was back, gesturing for her. That was the second signal. She could hear a van pulling up just out of sight in the parking lot.
“Bell’s here!” Terry pointed, and Kendra gave a smile.
“Yes, Bell’s here. He’s here to tell me where we’re meeting up tonight. You wait here while I go and talk to him.” She climbed off the bench and started to walk off, then turned to look back at Terry, tears in her eyes. “Hey, Terry… be a good boy for me, okay?”
“Okay, Kendra!” He called after her, watching her run off to stand next to Bell. They disappeared into the brush together while Terry watched quietly, kicking his paws off the edge of the bench idly. Seconds after Kendra had vanished from sight, a loop on a stick slipped around Terry’s neck and drew tight, keeping him from running away, but not tight enough to cut off his air.
“Got ya, little fella.” A voice on the other end of the stick spoke.

Chapter 6: The Pound Clinic

The human held Terry by his wrists with one hand and slowly waved a strange machine along his back, up and down, up and down, until it beeped. He smiled and wrestled Terry back into the kennel next to the table he’d been on, ignoring Terry’s snarling and scratching and trying to bite, though he seemed rather deft at avoiding the bites. All the while, he spoke in what he probably thought was a soothing tone. “I know, I know, I’m the big scary guy holding you here, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” He locked the kennel door and picked up the machine with its strange wide, flat paddle and its handle and its lights. He set it in a cradle, then typed into the computer next to it, frowning at the screen before picking up the phone and tucking it under his ear, inputting a number.
Terry had no choice but to sit in his kennel and glower at the man as he listened to the phone for a moment, then hung it up and picked it right back up again, putting it under his ear and typing in the number again, frowning. After listening for a moment, he hung up the phone and sat back in his seat, spinning it slowly to face in the direction of the kennel and giving a little groan, stopping the slow spin once he was facing Terry.
He was quiet for a moment, the clock ticking, and then he chuckled. “Look at you, such a scary face. I know, you don’t want to be here. You’re a little mad that we got the drop on you.” He watched Terry glaring at him for a few more moments, then stood up with a sigh and crossed to a cupboard, opening it and pulling out a shiny two-chambered metal bowl.
He filled one side up with water, and the other with some dry cereal he scooped out of a container on the side of the counter, adding a little bone-shaped biscuit on top before crossing to Terry. He placed the bowl on top of the kennel and stood in front of it for a moment before speaking. “Back up, I’m going to open the door.” After a moment of Terry not moving, he sighed and started undoing the lock. “You won’t be able to squeeze out around me, you know.”
As soon as the kennel door opened, Terry tried to bolt through, but the man put a hand on Terry’s chest and gently, yet firmly, pushed him back, placing the bowl on the kennel floor and pulling his hand back. He had it locked again before Terry could get back to the front of the kennel. “Here. Food, and water. Eat.” He smiled at Terry, then took a few steps back.
Terry looked down at the bowl with its dry cereal and its water. He picked it up, then, looking the man in the eye, scooped some of the cereal out with his hand and threw it through the bars of his kennel onto the floor. He repeated this two or three times, until that side of the bowl was empty, then tilted the bowl to pour the water out through the bars as well. His mess made, Terry snorted and let the bowl drop noisily onto the kennel floor before turning his back to the man and scooting to the back of the kennel.
He sighed and shook his head, starting to clean up the mess. “You know, you’re going to be here a while. You’re going to get hungry. You’re going to get thirsty.” He was quiet for a moment. “I promise, we’re not going to hurt you.” He stared at Terry through the bars for a moment. “I know you can understand me. They said you were screaming and cussing at them from the back of the van the whole way here.”
Terry snorted and refused to look at him. A woman wearing a white coat entered the room, closing the door behind her. “How’s our new little friend doing?”
The man turned and gestured at him. “About as well as can be expected. A male juvenile, emaciated. Clearly been out there for a while. BUT…” He walked over to the computer and tapped on the keyboard, bringing back up the information he’d had up a moment ago. “He has a chip. The number on it has been disconnected, and I don’t have high hopes for the address leading anywhere either. He refused food and water when I tried to give it to him.” He gestured at the half swept-up mess on the floor.
The woman nodded, looking over his information before turning to the kennel. “He’ll come around. He’s just upset that he’s been caught. You have to remember, these dogs aren’t like the housepets you’re used to back at the regular vet clinic. They’re wild. Some of them have lived on the street their whole lives. They think of us as the bad guys, trying to take them from their friends and family. He’ll come around. In the meantime…”
She crossed to another cabinet and pulled out a metal bottle, filling it a little over halfway with water before opening a drawer and adding some powder from a box with a scoop. She put the lid on and gave the bottle a heavy shake before adding a tiny padlock to the lid. “Use the nutrient mixture. For a pup his age, three scoops of nutrient mix B in three-quarters a bottle of water. He’ll be able to suck the water out when he gets thirsty, and it’ll give him nutrients when he does, so even if he keeps refusing to eat, he’ll at least have SOMETHING in him. The bottles are spill proof, can’t be opened without removing the lock, and won’t fit out through the kennel bars, so he can’t just throw it out like he did with the kibbles you tried.” She showed him how the bottle didn’t spill when inverted, then crossed to Terry’s kennel, opening it and swapping the bottle for the bowl before he could even get himself turned around.
“He’ll probably drink it once he’s alone. He can’t hurt himself in there, so just leave him be. Check on him every half hour or so for the rest of the day. Refill his bottle if he needs it. No more than two total of the nutrient mix per day, or it could send his body into shock. After that, just plain water. You can rinse the bottle or even give him a fresh one if he needs it. I’ve seen some of these dogs do some strange things with them in the name of rebelling.”
“Yes, doctor.” The man took the bowl from her and tossed it into a plastic bin labeled “dirty dishes” that was by the door. “Anything else?”
She glanced around with a frown. “Pull his immunization records and have a look at them. If you can get him to let you, draw some blood so we can run tests and check for any diseases he may have caught out there. We need to get him caught up on his shots before we can even think about putting him back into the general population. Send a letter to the address you got from his chip to see if anybody responds. If nobody comes to claim him in two weeks, we’ll start prepping him for adoption.”
“Yes, doctor.” He watched the woman leave, then sighed, sat down at the desk and started typing. Every now and then, he would glance up at Terry.
Terry snorted at him, picking up the bottle and throwing it at the door to his kennel angrily. When it bounced back to him, he flipped it over and tried to dump it out onto the floor. Again, it failed to go anywhere, and he glared at it, hesitantly raising it to his nose and sniffing at it. It had a funny smell, so he snorted and tossed it at the kennel door again, scooting back as far as he could in the kennel and glaring at it.
The man sighed. “You know, Terry, this would go much easier for you if you’d just let us help you.”
Terry scowled at him. “I don’t NEED your help. I NEED you to put me back where you found me. Kendra’s probably worried sick about me! She told me to wait for her, and now I’m not there, and she’s probably missing me, and… and…” His voice cracked, and he blinked back tears, refusing to cry in front of his captor. After a moment, he turned around to face the other way again, hugging his knees.
The man gave him a sad look, then sighed and returned to typing on the computer.

Chapter 7: Morning Checkup

Terry snorted as he heard the kennel door open and close. He heard running water, then shaking, and the kennel opened and closed again. After a moment, the man’s voice sounded behind him. “Good morning, Terry. How are we feeling today?”
“Leave me alone.” He kept his ears held back and scowled at the wall.
“Oh, you CAN talk.” He chuckled and walked across the room to set Terry’s old bottle in the dirty dishes bin. “It’s been three days, I was starting to wonder if you forgot how.”
Terry snorted and turned to snatch the new bottle that had been placed in his kennel. He scowled at the man before turning back to face the wall.
“Heh… Thirsty today, are we?” He chuckled and turned to the computer, starting his morning paperwork.
Terry scowled at him, then looked down at the bottle in his hand. He tilted it back and sucked on it a little, pulling some of the bitter liquid out and swallowing it. “... tummy hurts.”
The man looked up. “I bet it does. You haven’t eaten anything since you were brought here. You wanna try? Or are you just going to throw it on the floor again?”
Terry glared at him, then snorted with a huff, turning away. “Let me out.”
“Afraid not, kiddo.” He stood up and walked over to the cabinet with the bowls and selected a small bowl, filling it with the dry kibbles from the container at the end of the counter before walking it over to him. Terry slid to the back of the kennel so he could open the door and slide in the kibbles, and the man continued. “You’re in really poor shape. Malnourished and skinny far beyond what’s healthy. If we were to let you go, you wouldn’t survive very long.”
Terry snatched the bowl and scooted toward the back again with a scowl. “... better dead and free than alive in a box.”
The man watched Terry quietly for a moment while he started to eat, then sighed. “I know you don’t understand this right now, but it’s a good thing that you’re here. We’re just trying to help you.”
The woman walked in, grabbing her white coat off a hook and setting her purse under the desk. “And how’s our guest today?” She walked over and peered into the kennel at Terry while she was pulling her coat on. “Oh, he’s eating. That’s good, that’s very good.” She turned and started washing her hands in the sink. “I want to give him that first round of innoculations today. You’ll have to hold him, since he probably won’t hold still for me to do it. Then, we should try him on the indoor exercise area. By himself, of course. I don’t want him near the other dogs until we get him vaccinated fully and get his weight up.”
“Yes, Doctor.” The man turned to her. “He’s got the nutrient slurry in his drinking water right now, plus the kibbles- I only gave him a small amount. He was saying that his stomach was hurting, and I didn’t want to upset it any more.”
“Oh, he’s talking to you? That’s good. He’s barely said a word since they brought him in here.” She turned to the kennel and stuck a finger through the bars. “Hey, Terry. Wanna talk to me today? I’m a veterinarian- a doggy doctor. You can call me Sophie.”
Terry glared at her, then turned his back, tossing the empty kibble bowl over his shoulder at her, where it clattered against the kennel door. She sighed and grabbed a clipboard off the wall, scanning it over and starting to chat with her assistant, going over their schedule for the day. After a few minutes, she glanced over at Terry again. “Go ahead and do up the bolts on the door. I wanna let him out to stretch and try to get some proper measurements on him, now that he’s started to feel a little calmer about being here.”
The man nodded and stood up, walking to the door and sliding a bolt into place high up on the doorframe, where most dogs would be hard-pressed to reach it. Once the door was secure, the vet crossed back to the kennel and unlocked it. “Okay, Terry… wanna come out and see us? You can stretch your legs a little bit, and we can measure you and see how tall you are and how much you weigh…”
Terry slowly turned and stared at her, hesitantly putting his hand through the space where the kennel door had been before inching closer and putting his legs through. Once his paws were on the floor, he stood there for a moment, then suddenly took off running, going straight to the door and jerking on it, trying to open it frantically. When that failed, he turned and ran for the window, banging on the glass to try to get out that way.
The vet watched calmly as Terry tried various options to try to escape the room, from throwing things at the glass to once again trying to pry the door open. Once he’d exhausted all his options, he put his ears back and backed himself into a corner, glaring at the two humans and growling threateningly at them. Once he settled in, she approached gently. “Feel better? Wanna come with me?”
He nipped at her, and she pulled her hand back just on time to avoid being bitten. “Oh, I know, it’s scary, isn’t it? But I promise I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to see how tall you are. Can you do that for me? Can you let me get a little look at you?”
He scowled up at her and pressed himself further into the corner. She backed off, going to the countertop and grabbing a biscuit out of the jar before coming back and holding it out at arm’s length. “Hey, look at what I have, Terry. It’s some food. I’ll let you have it if you come out of there and let me have a look at you.”
Terry turned and stared at her, then stared at the biscuit. He snatched it from her hand and bit it in half, chewing on it quietly for a few moments. When he’d determined that he liked the biscuit, he slowly started edging out of the corner. She smiled at him and pointed at the scale against one wall. “I just need you to stand on that little box, as big and tall as you can, okay? I won’t even touch you, I promise.”
Terry looked over at the scale, then back up at her, then hesitantly walked over and stood on it. She stepped closer to look at the display. “Thirty-eight pounds, six ounces.” She announced, then carefully started lowering a bar down until it just barely touched the top of Terry’s head, watching the scale it was sliding along. “Two foot, eight inches.” She pulled the bar back up to its ready position, frowning. “That’s both way lighter than he should be at that height, and way shorter than he should be at that age.” She sighed and shook her head. “I blame malnutrition. He can’t grow without nutrients.”
The assistant walked over, marking the measurements down on a clipboard. “Well… He’ll always be a little small, but he’ll start growing again once he’s been getting fed regularly.” He set the clipboard aside. “Do you want to do the inoculations now, since he’s already out?”
The vet shook her head. “No, we’ll do them later. I promised him I wouldn’t touch him, and I want him to trust me, so I should keep my promise. Let him roam around for a while, just keep an eye on him and make sure he’s not getting into anything he can hurt himself with. I have to go check on some of our other patients. Make sure you’re doing up the door bar after me.” She started toward the door, pausing and looking down at Terry. “I’m leaving now, Terry, okay? Scott here is going to let you walk around for a while. I know it’s no fun being in that kennel all day. If you can behave, you won’t have to go back in for a while, okay?” She waited for Terry's nod of understanding, then let herself out.

I can only imagine how hard this is for Terry at the moment and wish that he could realize everybody just wants to help him. I can't see him ever forgiving Kendra for abandoning him to Animal Control though and that is kind of sad.

Chapter 8: Going Home

A piece of kibble bounced off Terry’s cheek. After a few seconds, another hit the tip of his ear; a few moments later, another hit his nose. He grumbled and sat up, glaring at the dog in the kennel next to him. He’d been moved out of the tiny kennel in the office two weeks ago and into a much bigger one he could stand and walk around in, though his kennel had a lock on it so he couldn’t get out and wander like the other dogs could. “What?!”
She grinned down at him. “It’s your lucky day. I heard the humans talking. There’s someone coming to pick you up today. You’re getting your very own human.”
Terry huffed. “How lucky for me. Maybe they’ll forget to lock me up and I can get back to my life. No more humans to poke me and stuff me in boxes or give me bad-tasting water.” He flopped back to a laying position and resumed staring at the ceiling.
The dog in the kennel next to him snickered and sat on her cot, watching him. “It was medicine. They put medicine in your water because you wouldn’t eat. You’re too skinny, kid, they were just worried about you.”
Terry’s face soured, and he waved her away. “Leave me alone.”
“You know, you wouldn’t have to have a lock on your kennel if you would quit going rabid every time one of them tries to get close to you. They just don’t want you biting anybody.” She leaned over, trying to get a look at his face and snickering. “Little mister sourpuss.”
Terry rolled over to stare at the floor on the other side of his cot instead, grumbling. “Don’t you have somebody else to annoy?”
“Nah.” She leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “I got literally nothing to do.”
The door to the kennels opened, and the attendant called inside. “Everybody, back in your kennels. Best behavior. We have a visitor.” All the wandering dogs scrambled to get to their assigned kennels, closing their doors behind them and sitting on their cots. Some of them whispered to each other as they waited.
A few moments later, the door opened, and the vet’s voice sounded, talking to someone. “-so glad you’re willing to give him a try. I’ll admit, he’s probably going to be difficult. He’s certainly been giving it his best to be as difficult as possible since we brought him in. I won’t lie, he IS going to bite you. He’ll probably try to run away.” She came into view, carrying a dog carrier and some other equipment and talking to a man.
Terry recognized the man. He’d been here to see him a few times since he’d been here. He’d always seemed kind, sitting outside of Terry’s kennel and watching him for a while before leaving. He was smiling now, and spoke to the vet. “I know, I’m prepared for it. He’s not the first stray I’ve rescued. I’ve got a perimeter collar set up- the non-shocking kind, of course- and a room prepared for him in my house, complete with a bed. I’m ready for anything he might dish out.”
The vet nodded and handed the man the carrier, starting to undo the lock on Terry’s kennel. Terry glared and growled at the vet warningly, raising his hackles to try and make himself look bigger. “Don’t you come in here. You stay away from me!” He snarled, holding his hands out with his claws exposed in preparation. He tensed his muscles to prepare for his attack.
The vet stared at him for a second, then sighed and opened the door. “Come on, Terry. Do you have to be difficult EVERY step of the way? Just be nice. This man’s coming to take you home with him.”
Terry snarled and tried to squeeze out past her. When she blocked him with her leg, he retreated against the wall and scowled at her, baring his teeth. She rolled her eyes and stepped closer. When he went in to bite her arm, she grabbed him by the scruff and flipped him upside-down, taking a knee and tucking his body and arms between her leg and one arm. He snarled and struggled, trying to free himself as she slipped a cagelike device over his muzzle, clasping it behind his head and carefully adjusting it to fit firmly, but not too tightly.
Once it was on, she let go and let him scramble back to his paws. He snapped his head toward her arm to bite her, but the cage blocked him from putting her arm into his mouth. He grabbed it and tugged at it angrily, snarling as she sighed and pinched his scruff again, gently guiding him out and into the carrier the man was now holding. He glared out as the door closed, and he felt himself being carried out into the room he’d seen so many humans come and go from.
The vet’s voice sounded. “If you have any problems with him that you can’t handle, go ahead and bring him back. He’s kind of aggressive and not that easy to work with.”
The man chuckled. “I think he’ll calm down once he’s had time to get used to me and figure out what’s going on. You said he’s been on the street for a while?”
“As near as we can tell, he was chipped as a puppy and abandoned shortly after, so he’s probably been on the street as long as he can remember.” The vet confirmed. Terry stuck his fingers through the mesh on the carrier and pressed his face against it to try and see out. He was sitting on a countertop. After a moment, he threw his weight toward the edge, hoping to knock himself down and smash open the carrier so he could get away.
The carrier tipped, then suddenly stopped and tipped back the other way as the man’s hand appeared on the carrier’s side and his voice sounded. “Then of course he’s not going to take lightly to being re domesticated. It’ll be rough going for a few weeks, but I think I can get him on friendly terms with me. He just needs time to figure out that he’s safe with me.”
There was a moment’s pause as the computer tapped away, and then the attendant’s voice sounded. “All right, that’s it. His chip number’s been updated in the database with your contact info. If he gets away, then he’ll be brought back to you as soon as he’s caught.”
“Thank you very much. I’ll be sure to call if I have any questions or concerns.” The carrier suddenly lurched as it was lifted down off the counter and headed outside.
Terry shifted toward the carrier’s front as he smelled fresh air, then back again when the sun burned his eyes from the sudden shift from dim light to direct sunlight. After a moment, the view changed to some car upholstery as the carrier was loaded into the back of a car and secured with the safety harness. “Okay, okay, settle down, little guy. It’s not that far of a drive home, and then you can get out. I know, those mean people locked you up.”
The door closed, and Terry was alone in the car for a moment before another door opened and the man climbed in somewhere ahead of Terry with a gentle grunt. He adjusted some dials before starting the car, and a cool breeze started filtering into the carrier from somewhere Terry couldn’t see.
Terry snorted and pressed his face against the carrier’s mesh, snarling a little as he tried to see what was going on, and then he lurched a little as the car started to move. He huffed. “I’m just going to run away as soon as you let me out of here. There’s nothing you can do about it.” He tugged at the cage around his muzzle angrily. “You’re wasting your time.”
The man chuckled from somewhere toward the vehicle’s front. “Well, if that happens, then it happens. At least you’re not in that smelly old pound anymore, right?”

Looks like the beginning of Terry's new life is about to start. I figure he will be much more happier once he gets used to everything and less likely to want to run away which I am sure he is planning.

Chapter 9: Bathing and Biting

The carrier lurched as it was removed from the car and carried a short distance, then placed down. A key jiggled in a lock, a door opened, and then the carrier was picked up, carried a few steps, then turned in a full circle to the sound of a door closing. The scent of a dog filled the air, as well as the scent of the man carrying the carrier; this must be his house.
A voice sounded excitedly, sounding like it was getting closer. “Dad! You’re home! Is that him? Is he in there? Can I see?”
The carrier suddenly lurched upward, apparently held high in the air, and the man chuckled. “Settle down, settle down. Yes, he’s in there, but I don’t want you crowding him. He’s scared and nervous, and I don’t want him to bite you. Remember, we talked about this? We’ll have to introduce him slowly?”
“Yes, dad.” The other voice sounded, seeming more subdued now. “I remember.”
“Good. Now… I’m going to start him off with a bath and a flea treatment. I know the pound said they already did a flea treatment, but I’d rather give him another to be safe.” The carrier started moving again, navigating the house. “Will you put up that gate we got at the end of the hallway? I don’t want him to have free roaming of the house until he’s settled in.”
“Okay, dad. I put that stuff in the bathroom like you asked.” The voice called out.
“Thank you!” The man turned around for a moment, bringing the carrier along for the ride, and then a door closed and locked before a light turned on and the carrier was set down. The man hummed to himself quietly as he did something out of sight, and then the sound of rushing water sounded, quickly turning to the sound of water filling something. After a few moments, the door to the carrier opened.
“You can come on out. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” The man’s voice was calm and soft, like he was trying to be soothing. Terry snorted and pressed against the back of the carrier.
After just a few moments, the carrier started to tilt. Terry yelped and tried to grab on, but he slid out and onto the floor anyway, glaring around to see what he needed to bite in order to protect himself.
The man closed the carrier and set it aside, smiling gently at him. “See there, that’s much better, isn’t it? No more cramped carrier?”
Terry backed away from the man and looked around. He was in a bathroom. It was clean, but not well-decorated; what wasn’t covered in blobs of various shades of earthy green and brown was stainless steel with the exception of the toilet, the bathtub, and the sink. The bathtub had water running into it that was steaming slightly- warm, but not hot.
After a moment, the man reached down toward Terry, and he snarled at him, scooting back against the wall and threatening him with his claws. He seemed unperturbed, scooting toward Terry a little more and reaching for him. Terry grabbed his arm and tried to bite him, but the face cage stopped him. The man smiled. “I’m just going to remove your muzzle. It’ll feel better after I do, I promise.”
Terry snarled at him again, trying to scratch him, but he didn’t react aside from giving a faint grimace. Once Terry stopped, he resumed reaching forward, going to the side of Terry’s head to reach behind him. There was a click, and the face cage fell away. “There now, isn’t that better?”
Terry touched his face to feel that nothing was blocking his muzzle anymore, then lunged forward, digging his fangs into the man’s arm as hard as he could. The man flinched and grimaced, but didn’t yell or shout or try to fight. He just held still and let Terry bite him, still smiling calmly.
After a few moments, Terry hesitantly stopped biting and looked down at the four little puncture wounds on his arm. He could taste them bleeding- bitter and metallic, and he put his ears back, looking up at the man. He continued to smile at him as he gently scooped Terry up and set him in the bathtub, turning off the water. “Did it help? Do you feel better now?”
Terry tilted his head and looked up at the man in confusion. The man grabbed a bottle and popped the lid open, tilting it over his hand to squirt some gel into it, then reaching toward Terry and gently going around his neck with the gel, spreading it evenly around his neck before grabbing a cup. He didn’t seem to expect Terry to answer; he just kept chatting at him, calmly explaining what he was doing while ignoring the open wounds on his arm.
“This is shampoo. It has a chemical in it to kill fleas. I’m putting it around your neck so that the fleas don’t run to your head to escape when I pour this cup of water on you.” He used a plastic cup to scoop up some water and dumped it carefully on Terry’s back, watching it soak into his fur before going back to the bottle. “Now I’m going to scrub you up really good to get rid of any fleas you might have, and to get all that built-up dirt out of your fur. It’ll make you less itchy once you’re all clean.”
Terry put his ears back as the man started to rub him all over, the gel creating a foam of tiny bubbles as he started scrubbing at him. “... I bit you… you’re supposed to be mad. You’re supposed to yell and kick me and chase me away.”
The man paused and looked at him. “Did you want me to do all that? Do you want to be kicked?”
Terry hesitated, then shook his head quietly, pulling his ears back and looking up at him curiously.
“I know you only bit me because you were scared. You were worried I might be trying to hurt you.” His voice was still calm and understanding. “But this doesn’t hurt, does it?”
He shook his head quietly, looking down at the water. It was murky and dark gray now, instead of clear. He guessed all that had come off of him.
The man smiled and resumed scrubbing him, occasionally dumping another cupful of the murky gray water on him and starting over with the shampoo. The water kept getting darker and darker; a couple times, the man let the water out and refilled it, always checking that the temperature was right. Finally, he declared that Terry was clean enough and lifted him out of the water and onto a mat, carefully coming around him and scrubbing him with a towel. Once he was done, he left the towel draped over Terry and sat back to look him over. “There now, doesn’t that feel better?”
Terry put his ears back and pulled the towel closer. It was warm, like a blanket, and he rather enjoyed it. The man smiled. “Oh, you like that, do you? That’s called a towel.” He reached to ruffle Terry’s ears, and Terry stepped back with a growl. He pulled his arm back. “Okay, we’ll work up to that.”
He smiled and started cleaning up the mess. “I’m John. You can call me John, if you like, but I hope that one day you’ll come to call me dad.”

Chapter 10: Collar and Carpeting

John finished clipping the collar onto Terry’s neck and smiled down at him. “There’s a good boy. Here, you’ve definitely earned it.” He reached into his pocket and offered Terry a biscuit.
Terry stared at it for a few moments, then snatched it away and scurried off to the corner of the room to start greedily eating it. John chuckled and stood up, putting the towel over his arm and unlocking the bathroom door. “Okay. I’m going to leave the door open. Feel free to explore a little bit when you’re done with your biscuit. I’ll be nearby, so call me if you need anything, okay?”
When Terry didn’t so much as look at him, he sighed and turned to leave the room, leaving the door open as promised. Terry watched him go, then hesitantly stood up and started walking toward where he’d gone, pausing at the doorway. Right at the door, the floor switched from tile to carpet. Terry had seen carpet before, but never nice, clean carpet like this. He bent down to feel it, expecting it to be slimy and filthy, but instead it felt dry and soft. After a few moments, he stepped onto it, flinching at the strange texture on his paws.
After standing a moment in the hallway, he started wandering up and down the space available to him. There were four doors in the hallway, including the one he’d come from; they were pushed up, but not latched, so he COULD go inside if he chose to. Some photographs hung high overhead that Terry couldn’t see, hidden behind their shiny glass. One end of the hallway ended in a wall; the other opened up into a large room that he couldn’t get to, because there was a child gate in the way.
He frowned at the contraption. It was a wooden frame made of two squares connected by a pair of posts with a latch on one that would hook into slots on the other and hold firm. A plastic pattern of crossing diagonal lines connected in a large, single piece filled in the middle of the frame, preventing his passing. He could hear voices from somewhere not far beyond the gate.
“He’s going to need a lot of attention for the first few weeks, maybe even months, so you’ll probably be mostly on your own to entertain yourself.” This voice was John, what he ACTUALLY sounded like and not that sickly-sweet voice he’d been using to talk to Terry. Terry frowned.
The other voice, the one Terry had heard through the carrier on his way in, answered. “I know, you told me that already. He didn’t grow up around people and isn’t going to like it here at first.” There was a pause. “Can I see him? Is he done with his bath?”
John’s voice sounded again. “I want you to wait to try to see him for at least a few hours and let him get settled in, first. I haven’t even shown him his room yet. And remember, for the first few days, at least, I don’t want you trying to get close to him. You can talk to him through the gate if you like, but he’s jumpy and skittish and he probably won’t want to talk to you. Don’t go shouting for him or talking his ear off, just be calm and gentle.” He paused. “If you sit on the couch in the living room, though, you might get to see him through the gate. He’s probably exploring right now. But be quiet, okay? I don’t want you to spook him.”
Terry snorted and turned away from the gate, walking back down the hall. He selected one of the doors he hadn’t been through and shoved it open roughly, stepping inside. This room smelled like dog; he guessed that it belonged to the owner of the other voice he’d heard. There was a monogrammed basket set centered on the far wall with a blanket hanging out of it and halfway across the floor toward the door; various strange objects that Terry guessed were toys lay everywhere, and there was a dresser and a desk, the drawers hanging open and stuff sticking out haphazardly.
Terry picked up an object he recognized as a ball and glared at it. It was partially covered in fuzz, with some of the fuzzy covering worn off, and was moist. He dropped it again with a grunt and left the room, leaving the door open and ignoring a soft, excited gasp from the direction of the gate. It took Terry a few moments of staring into the bathroom across from the room he’d come out of before he decided to explore one of the other rooms. He turned down the hall and paused, looking left and right. Left was the direction of the bathroom on the other set of doors; right was where the dog’s room had been.
He turned left and shoved open the door, hearing it bang against the wall inside with a satisfied snort and a nod before going inside. This room was neat and tidy; it smelled like John. There was a large bed centered on one wall, neatly made up. A large bureau faced it on the opposite wall; if Terry stood on his tiptoes, he could see a door behind it that led into the bathroom. The closet door was closed. A table on the end of each side of the bed had a little holder for a cell phone, and one side had a book sitting on it, but there was otherwise nothing much to see here.
Terry huffed and left the room, shoving open the door to the last room and stepping inside, glaring around. This room was also neat and tidy, though it had no particular scent. He frowned and slowly stepped forward into it, staring at the big pillow that made up the center of one wall. It had a folded blanket and a smaller pillow sitting waiting on top of it. A dresser stood against the wall that had the door on it, with some books on top. Off to one side of the room was a wooden box that stood about as high as Terry’s hip, with no lid on it.
Terry frowned and walked over to the box to look inside. There were a handful of objects, similar to what had been in the dog’s room, though less plentiful, inside, though these ones looked brand-new instead of well-used like the ones in the other room had been. He stared at them quietly, then gave a startled gasp when he heard someone enter the room behind him. He spun around and stared up at John, putting his ears back, growling, and baring his claws. “G-Get away from me!”
John put his hands up calmly. “Don’t worry, I won’t come any closer. I just wanted to see how you liked your new room.” He gestured to the pillow. “You didn’t strike me as a basket type, so I just got you a regular pillow instead. I can get you something different later, if you like.” His gaze shifted to the box. “I’ll take you to the toy store some time after you’ve started to settle in and let you pick out some stuff. It’s just the basics in there right now, a bone and a rope and a ball, that kind of stuff.”
Terry leaned back over the edge of the box and dipped his hand inside, grabbing the first thing he found and straightening, throwing it at John. “I don’t want your GARBAGE. I want to LEAVE. I want to go back to my pack! I want Kendra!”
John caught the thrown squeaky bone and slowly lowered himself to the ground, sitting on the floor and eyeing Terry quietly. “Who’s Kendra? Is she your mother?”
Terry snorted in derision, glaring at John. “No! She takes care of me because I don’t have a mother. The pack put her in charge of making sure I get fed and don’t get caught by animal control.”
“Seems like she didn’t do a very good job.” John commented, looking over Terry. “You’re very skinny, and you’re HERE.”
Terry snarled and threw something else from the box at him. “Don’t you say a WORD about Kendra! She’s nice!”

Chapter 11: Gate Enemy

Terry could smell something cooking from beyond the gate as he wandered up and down the hallway, pacing and looking for a way out. He couldn’t reach the gate’s release mechanism- it was on the other side of the gate’s netting; he couldn’t open the windows in any of the rooms, because they were locked and the locks were far overhead. His options to get out exhausted for now, he grumbled and plopped down on the floor next to the gate, glaring at the open room beyond.
A furry face slowly inched around into view of the gate from beyond the wall, and Terry snorted, immediately turning to face the other way. The unknown voice chuckled. “Aww, don’t be like that. It’s not so bad here, you’ll see. Dad’s nice, I promise.”
“He’s NOT my dad. And I’m not staying. As soon as I can find a way out, I’m gone.” He sneered.
“Mmm. Maybe not so soon as you think. Have you tried messing with your collar yet?” There was a thump as the other dog plopped down on the other side of the gate. Terry snorted and put his hand up to the collar, tugging at it. He found a little box on the side of it, and explored it with his fingers.
“Yeah, that thing. Dad used that on me when I was new here, too. It goes off with a loud alarm if you leave the yard without Dad’s permission. It’s really annoying and it kind of hurts your ears, and it doesn’t stop until you come back in-bounds.” He chuckled. “I was convinced I wasn’t staying when I first got here, too.”
Terry snorted. “So I just have to pretend to like it here until he takes it off of me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Or figure out how to take the collar off.”
“Sure, you COULD do that. Or you could just give it a chance. It’s nice here. I have food, toys, friends- I don’t have to worry about it raining on me!” His tail wagged with a gentle thump, thump, thump.
Terry snorted and turned to glare at him through the gate. He was brown, Terry could tell, with floppy ears. He seemed to be of mixed breed, just like Terry, but Terry couldn’t tell if they were the SAME breeds. He supposed it didn’t matter- a mutt was a mutt. “So I guess I can’t count on YOU to help me escape this place.”
“Afraid not. I was really excited when Dad told me I was getting a new brother. I’m not gonna let him just LEAVE.”
“Let’s get one thing straight- we are NOT brothers. I’m a kidnapping victim, and you’re an accomplice. I have to get back to Kendra. She’s probably worried SICK about me.” Terry huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the wall.
There was silence for a few moments, and then the other dog spoke up. “You know, it smells like Dad has dinner almost ready. I’m excited for our first dinner together. I wonder what it’ll be. Lasagna, maybe? No, no, Dad says we have to keep it simple, because your body’s not used to eating regularly. So… burgers, maybe.”
“I don’t know what dinner is, and I don’t care. If you’re not gonna let me out of here, leave me alone. I need to think about how I’m going to get out of here.” He grumbled and turned to face away from him again.
A few moments later, a pair of human hands suddenly hooked him under the armpits and lifted him up toward the sky. Terry yelped and squirmed, trying to bite, but not being able to get a good angle on the hands carrying him. The house flew by in a rush, and he found himself being dropped into a booster seat for human children, and a buckle done up around his belly before he was pushed up to a table.
John grinned down at him, walking around from behind him to have a look. “Sorry about the baby seat. I was worried you might try to make a break for it, so I had to get creative. We’ll only use it these first few days… unless you need it to reach the table.” He looked him over, then waved at a different spot at the table. “You can sit here, Barry.”
The other dog climbed up and grinned over at Terry. “Oh, by the way, Dad’s coming to take you to dinner.”
Terry snorted and watched John leave the room, then looked down and started fidgeting with the buckle holding him in place, trying to undo it. It didn’t LOOK that complicated, but he couldn’t quite get a good enough angle on it to work it. A few moments later, something made a gentle, muted clunk noise, and John chuckled. “Terry, don’t play with that.”
Terry looked up at him with a scowl, then looked down as John pushed a plate toward him. It wasn’t terribly full; there were several foods that Terry didn’t recognize on it, but one that he DID recognize: fries. He’d had lots of fries in his life; they were the most common food to find in trash cans and dumpsters. He looked down at the food, then up at John, giving a distrustful grunt.
John smiled at him and sat down in front of his own plate, nodding over at Barry, who also had his own. “Dinner is served. Nothing special, just burgers, fries, and some broccoli. Terry, you only got half a burger, because we don’t want to have you eat more than your stomach can handle. We’ll work you up to having a full serving, okay?”
Terry reached out and pulled the plate toward him, sniffing at everything on it and glaring at the two others at the table. His ears went back as he really buried his nose into the food. It SMELLED fine; he couldn’t detect any signs of tampering, at least. He looked up to see John and Barry starting to eat theirs, then looked back down at his own. After a moment, he picked up one of the fries and took a tentative bite, sucking on it and letting it sit on his tongue to see if he detected any odd flavors that could be poison.
When he found none, he put his arms around the plate protectively and started scarfing the food down, taking huge bites that he barely chewed before swallowing, glancing around possessively.
John chuckled at him. “It’s okay, Terry, slow down. Nobody’s going to take it from you. You’re safe here.”
Terry snarled at him, hunching over his plate, then resumed eating until, seconds later, the plate was empty. He licked at it, cleaning off all the juices and salt, then looked around at the other two, still eating. Barry seemed a little concerned, but John just chuckled. “Hungry, were we? It’s okay, we’ll get you to where you don’t feel like you need to scarf it down like that. I promise, nobody’s going to take your food away from you.”
Barry frowned. “Did I used to do that when I first came here? I… don’t really remember the first few days.”
John laughed. “You did, actually. Probably even worse than that. It’s okay, he’ll stop once he realizes this is a safe place.”
Terry scowled. “I won’t be here that long. I’m not staying.”
“Of course not, kiddo. Of course not.” John smiled warmly at him.

I'm glad that John isn't arguing with him that he is going to stay and will like being there because at this moment he just wants out. However I know at some point that Terry will realize that living there isn't too bad and come to love it there.

Chapter 12: Bedtime

Terry snorted, sitting in the hallway against the wall on the far side from the gate. His belly felt full, too full; he wondered if he’d eaten his supper too fast. He’d figured out how to use the water tap in the bathroom and drank his fill of cold, clean-tasting water, and now sat there, brooding. He used the word “brooding” in his head because he didn’t like to think of himself as the kind of dog who would pout.
Some time later, John’s voice sounded. “Barry, I’m going to put your brother to bed. Once I’ve got him in his room, do you mind moving the gate to be sure he stays there?”
Barry gave a distracted-sounding grunt of confirmation, electronic noises from a small flat box he was holding continuing. A few moments later, John stepped over the gate and stood facing toward Terry. “Hey, bud. It’s bedtime. Come on, let’s go.”
Terry felt his hackles raise as John approached, and he growled. “Don’t you DARE touch me!” He climbed to his paws and backed against the wall.
John paused and gave a kindly smile. “I’ll tell you what. You go in your room on your own, and I won’t touch you. Deal?” He walked down the hallway and pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms, the one that had been clean and nearly empty.
Terry glared at him for a moment, then at the door, then at John again before stepping forward and going into the room. John smiled and stepped in after him, closing the door behind them. “Good boy.”
Terry bristled. “Stop calling me that.”
John chuckled. “Okay, get to bed. I’ll tuck you in. Do you need a story? There’s a few storybooks on top of your dresser.”
His eyes wandered to the books on top of the dresser, and he sneered, making a mental note to destroy them as soon as he was alone. “No, I don’t need a STORY.” His voice was dripping with contempt as his eyes snapped back over to John. “And I’m not going to bed. I’m not tired.”
John smiled at him, that big, fake smile that almost betrayed slight annoyance behind his eyes. Terry took pleasure in noticing the struggle to keep his annoyed tone down. “Yes, you are going to bed. You live here now, and here, we have rules. Such as this: Puppies have to be in bed by eight o’clock.”
“Good thing I’m not a puppy, then.” Terry crossed his arms over his chest and scowled back. “I’m six years old. That’s practically a grown-up.”
“Hmm… no, that’s not a grown-up. You’ve still got a lot of growing to do before you can call yourself a grown-up.” John sat on the floor next to the big pillow and started unfolding the blanket. After a moment, he looked over at Terry and patted the pillow. “Come on, lie down. I’ll get you all tucked in and cozy in your new bed. You’ve had quite a day, and you need to sleep.”
“No.” Terry stomped his paw. He meant it to look assertive, but as soon as he’d done it he realized it looked more like a tantrum. “I’ll go to sleep when I darn well please.”
“You’ll go to sleep now.” John reached for Terry, chuckling. “Come on, I can see your eyes drooping. I know you’re tired.”
Terry slapped John’s hand and stepped out of reach, scowling. “They are NOT. I’m not. I can stay awake for DAYS.”
There was a pause, and then John gently grabbed Terry by the collar and gave him a tug, putting a hand on his back once he was closer and guiding him to stand on the big pillow. “Lay down.”
“No.”
“Yes. Now.” John’s voice went from vaguely amused to firm and commanding. Terry’s ears went back, and he hesitantly lowered himself down to sit on the pillow. “Good boy. Now lay down.” John’s hand gently pressed against Terry’s chest, pushing on him until he lay back and set his head on the smaller pillow.
“There we go, that’s a good boy.” John pulled the blanket up to cover Terry up to his neck, tucking it in around his edges to make a tighter fit, keeping him snug. “Last call for a bedtime story. You want me to read to you?”
Terry snorted. “Just go away and leave me alone.”
“Okay.” John stood up and started toward the door. “I’m going to leave the door open, and my door will be open tonight while I sleep. If you need me, just call for me.” He opened the bedroom door, revealing that the gate that had been at the end of the hallway was now set up in the doorway instead. John stepped over it, turned off the light, and walked away.
As soon as he was out of sight, Terry snorted and kicked off the blanket, sitting up and glaring around the room. He suspected John knew he wouldn’t actually go to sleep, but wanted him restricted to this room anyway for some reason. He stood up with a grunt and started walking around the room, looking at things. According to John, everything here belonged to Terry now. He scowled and stuck his hand in the wooden box with the objects in it and pulled out a rope that was tied into a knot at either end, with the ends beyond the knots frayed into soft tassels.
He turned the rope in his hand and stared at it in the dim light, trying to think of what use it could possibly have. After a few moments, he hesitantly raised it to his mouth and gently dug one of his fangs into it, then shook his head and threw it back in the box with a snort. “Stupid.”
He turned his attention to the dresser. He knew what a dresser was; there were dozens of them in the landfill that the pack sometimes visited in search of food or shelter, but he’d never seen one that wasn’t broken in some way. He stared up at it, eyeing the books on top; he wanted to rip them up just to show John that he wasn’t impressed with being given THINGS in exchange for his freedom.
After a moment, he grabbed the bottom dresser drawer and tugged on it. It slid open easily, and he glared at the inside. There wasn’t much in there, just a little box with a picture of dog biscuits on it not dissimilar to the one John had given him after his bath. Terry assumed it, like the thousands he’d seen in trash cans and dumpsters across the city, was empty, and climbed up onto the drawer, pulling the next one out. This one was also empty, with nothing at all in it. Terry barely noticed as he climbed up and started to pull out the next drawer. He hadn’t quite gotten it open before something grabbed him under the armpits and suddenly lifted him up.
“Whoa, now, let’s not be climbing on the furniture like that. It’s dangerous. You could tip it over and hurt yourself.” John flipped Terry around to look at him with a smile. After a moment, he propped Terry up on his hip and reached over to grab one of the books off the shelf. “Here, is this what you were after? You wanted one of your books?”
Terry snorted and looked away. John chuckled and walked back across the room, setting Terry back down on the big pillow and tucking him in again. “All right, all right, mister grouchy. We’ll have a quick story then.” He sat on the floor next to Terry and opened the book. “Once upon a time…”

It does seem like Terry is coming around to the idea of that being his new home. I knew at some point that he would start to let his guard down but I didn't think it would be this quick.

Chapter 13: The Fifth Day

Terry yawned heavily and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He glared across the room at the pillow that was supposed to be his bed, which he had shoved up against the wall until it bunched up every night since he’d been here, only to find it fixed later in the day. Instead, he was sleeping in the middle of the floor, far away from where the bed was supposed to be so if John checked in on him he would know that Terry was intentionally rejecting the bed, and not assume that he had rolled out of it.
He stumbled to his paws and made his way to the restroom, drinking some water out of the spigot and taking care of business before his came out to the hallway, running his hand along the wall as he rubbed his eyes with the other hand, planning to park himself by the gate and glare at John and Barry as they went about their days until breakfast time. Instead, the wall stopped before Terry found his path impeded. He paused and blinked, grabbing his hand in the air where the wall had been, then turned around.
There was no gate at the end of the hallway. Terry stared blankly at the space where it normally was before slowly turning to look around himself. He was in the open room he’d been staring at for days from the end of the hallway, and now he could see it clearly. There was a big, comfy-looking sofa against one wall, facing a strange box against the opposite wall. A couple small tables sat at either end of the sofa with a few small items on them. Some pictures hung on the wall. Terry could see the dining room to one side, with another room beyond that he’d never been in.
Movement drew Terry’s attention, and he looked closer at the sofa. Barry was sitting on it, staring at him and quivering, the little noisy box in his hands. Terry suspected that he was dying to come at him, but had been told he wasn’t allowed to. Terry snorted and took off exploring, going into the room beyond the dining room. There were lots of little doors inside, but there were latches on all of them that were low enough that he could reach them, hooking pairs of doors together so they couldn’t open.
He lost interest in that room quickly, and explored some more. Beyond the room with the cabinets was another room that had three exits; the door he’d just come in through, another that led to the room with the sofa, and another that led to a small room that had voices coming out of it.
Terry frowned and pushed on the door. It swung open slowly, and Terry went in, looking around. The room had bookshelves covered in thick books and a desk. In a chair at the desk was John, who was speaking in some kind of jargon to some faces on a screen in front of him. One of the faces interrupted. “John, you seem to have a visitor.”
John trailed off and turned, then grinned. “Oh, hey, buddy. Come here.” He put his hand out and gently took Terry’s, pulling him closer before picking him up and putting him on his lap.
Terry squirmed and gave a mumbled protest as he was picked up, but John chuckled. “Everybody, this is Terry. He’s the rescue I picked up earlier this week. Terry, say hi! This is my boss and coworkers.” He pointed at the faces on the screen.
Terry looked at them, then squirmed to get down. John let him slide down onto the floor and chuckled. “Go hang out with Barry for a little while. I’ll be out soon to get you some breakfast.” He watched Terry leave, then turned back to his screen. “Anyway…” He resumed speaking jargon, and Terry grumbled, going back into the room with the sofa and looking around. There were three other doors in that room; Terry ignored Barry’s excited quivering and walked to one of them, twisting the knob to open it and look inside. There was a tiny room inside filled with coats. He closed the door and turned to the next closest door. This one was different than all the other doors he’d seen; it had a window in it through which sunlight was shining.
Terry’s ears perked, and he reached up to grab the knob, then grumbled when it wouldn’t turn. He scowled at it. Barry’s voice spoke up. “You can’t go out there. Dad says you’re still likely to try and run away.”
Terry snorted at him. “Well spotted, genius. Next you’re gonna tell me that water’s wet.” He tried the knob again, then scowled and turned to the other door. It was in a weird place, on the wall that separated the four rooms he’d just gone around it in. When he opened it, there was a stairway beyond, going down. He stared into the dark, then started forward.
Barry jumped up. “Hey, wait! I don’t think you’re allowed down there!”
Terry turned and glared at him. “Get away from me.” He stared at him for a moment, then turned and resumed walking downstairs. Barry hesitated at the top of the stairs, seeming conflicted, then started to follow him.
The air downstairs was stale and slightly musty; the carpet stopped at the landing, leaving a cold concrete floor instead. There wasn’t much there; in fact, there weren’t even walls. The edges of the room were just insulation and wooden supports. A few plastic boxes were stacked in one corner, and there were some machines under the stairs that hummed away and radiated gentle warmth, and two more machines along one wall with a plastic basket next to them and a couple large bottles on a shelf behind them.
“Those are the laundry machines.” Barry pointed at the machines against the wall. “Dad sends me down here to switch over the laundry sometimes. I think it’s creepy down here.”
“I like it.” Terry declared. “It reminds me of the places my pack and I camp out sometimes. Abandoned buildings and places like that.” After a moment, he remembered that he was supposed to not like Barry, and glared at him. “Why did you follow me down here?”
“I was worried you would hurt yourself.” He reached out for Terry. “You’re my brother, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Terry jerked away. “We are NOT brothers. I’m a hostage. You’re either my captor or working with him.” He stomped away to the other side of the room.
Barry sighed and followed him. Once he got to the stack of plastic totes in the corner, Terry turned and pointed at them. “What’s all this junk? Torture devices to try and keep me in line?”
Barry glanced at the stack. “Christmas decorations, mostly. Nothing that’s gonna hurt you.”
Terry scowled. “I know Christmas. That’s when the humans come out in huge groups and yell at each other, fight over sales, and show each other their fingers. Lots of lights, obnoxious music, and paper in the garbage making it harder to find the food. I hate it.”
Barry stared at Terry like he’d just personally offended his entire family. “Excuse you, Christmas is amazing. We sing songs, grandma comes over, there’s cookies and presents, and we eat HAM!”
Terry snorted and turned to walk away again. “Whatever. It just makes life harder for everybody, and it shouldn’t exist.” He started back up the stairs. He liked it down here, but not if Barry was going to be down here with him. He decided to come back down later when he could be alone.
At the top of the stairs, he was greeted by John. “Oh! There you are! Exploring, are we? Come on, it’s breakfast time.”

Terry has REALLY had a hard life that didn't have any sort of bright spots in it now didn't he? I do hope he will bond with Barry so they can become a proper family and he lets John in as a father.

Chapter 14: Escape, Almost

Terry huffed and slid off the couch onto the floor. He’d explored the house a dozen times over since the gate had been taken down the last few days, and had started to get used to the idea that Barry and John were going to be around him for the time being, though he still didn’t enjoy the thought that they both felt they could just touch him whenever they felt like it.
He’d also started to get used to John’s strict schedule; meals came at certain times, bedtime came at a certain time, and there were no exceptions. What he hadn’t started to get used to was the idleness. Barry spent a good portion of his time staring at his little box- a thing that was apparently called a Nintendo, which had a screen on it covered in sickeningly bright-colored images- and John spent most of the day in his office, doing whatever he did in there. Terry had learned that he wasn’t really allowed in there unless he needed something. This left Terry all alone, trapped in this little box, most of the time.
After a few moments staring at the ceiling, he sat up suddenly and looked at Barry. Barry didn’t seem to be paying attention to him. Perfect. Terry stood up, moving slowly so as not to draw Barry’s attention, and walked toward the door to the outside. He’d seen Barry work the lock on the door once, when he’d gone out to fetch some paper from the box outside on the lawn, and was reasonably confident that he could imitate it. He checked Barry one more time, to be sure he wasn’t looking, then reached up to the lock. He could barely reach it, even standing on tiptoe, but he managed to slowly turn it.
The click of the lock disengaging seemed loud- Terry flinched and looked toward Barry, but he didn’t react. He took a deep breath and sighed in relief, turning to the other lock. This one was lower, and he could reach it easier, so it was easy to just turn it to the disengaged position, releasing the doorknob to allow it to turn. It barely made any noise. Terry gave a grin and glanced one last time over at Barry before turning the knob, moving as slowly as possible, until he was able to pull the door back. It made a gentle sucking noise as the airtight seal was broken, then swung open.
His tail wagged gently as he got a muzzle full of fresh outside air, breathing in the stink of car exhaust and the scent of chlorophyll from the lawn. He glanced at Barry. If he had noticed, he didn’t care; his eyes were still glued to his tiny screen. Terry stepped outside and slowly pulled the door shut, intent to not get Barry’s attention when he was this close to freedom. The door closed, and he released the knob slowly and backed away, his hand hovering over it as he took a deep breath, waiting to see it open and for Barry to be there, letting him know he wasn’t allowed to be outside. It never happened.
Terry grinned, pleased with himself, and turned to look around. He was on a small porch, barely more than a staircase leading down from the door to the sidewalk, with railings along the stairs. The sidewalk led down and around the corner to a driveway where a car was parked. Everywhere else, all the way down to the road, was grass. Not the best, greenest grass that there was, but pretty nice, and slightly in need of a mowing.
He climbed down the steps and stepped into the grass, enjoying the feel of it on his paws. A few blades got between his toes, and he snickered. He was in a pretty good mood, now. He’d gotten out, and seemed to be just fine to have done so. He started walking toward the road, looking around to try and get his bearings. A few steps before he hit the road, though, a piercingly loud sound hit his ears, obnoxiously high-pitched. He cried out and covered his ears, looking around for the sound. It seemed to move with him; after a few moments, he realized it was coming from around his neck, from the little box on his collar. He grabbed it and covered it, trying to muffle the sound, but nothing helped.
Desperate for the sound to stop, Terry stumbled back a few steps. Immediately, the noise stopped, and Terry gave a whimper, rubbing his sore ear. After a moment, he shook his head. “Hnng… that was LOUD…” He started to walk forward again, and the shrieking noise instantly started again. He yelped and stepped back, stopping the noise. After a few moments’ experimentation, he found that whenever his neck got further than pretty much where he was standing, the noise would start again. He scowled and moved along the edge of the grass, occasionally stepping forward to see if the noise would start again. It always did.
After a while of going sideways, the noise started again anyway without him having stepped forward, and he yelped, stepping back the other direction and looking down. There was a line where the grass went from a little long to neatly trimmed; when Terry moved over that line, the shrieking alarm would start. He scowled, looking along the border it had formed, all the way to a tall privacy fence around John’s house. He snorted and turned around, walking the other way and pausing near the other side of the privacy fence on the other side of the house.
He stared at the imaginary line where he guessed the boundary would be, then slowly tested his idea by leaning forward until the shrieking started again. He backed off with an annoyed grunt, rubbing his sore ear and plopping down on the ground, frustrated.
“All done figuring out where your boundary is?” John’s voice sounded. “Get the idea?”
Terry scowled up at him. “That’s a sick joke, you know? Letting me get out just to do THAT to me?” He huffed. “I thought I was finally free.”
John sighed, squatting down to get closer. “I’m sorry, Terry. I know this must be frustrating for you, but it’s for your own protection. You’re not used to having someplace safe to stay, and you still think we’re your enemies. I promise, once you’ve settled down a little bit, we’ll get you a regular collar and take that one off.”
Terry snorted up at him. “You gonna tell me to come back inside now? Sit around doing nothing?”
“No, I think it’ll be all right if you stay out here a little while. You’ve already discovered that you can’t really go anywhere.” He stood up and looked around. “It’s nice out. It’s not supposed to rain. Maybe you can run around and get out some energy. Or you can lay in the sun. Pout under the stairs. It’s up to you, really. I just have to warn you, if you get dirty, you’ll be getting another bath before dinner.”
He huffed at him. “I can’t do what I want, I can’t eat when I want, I can’t go to BED when I want…” He groused crankily, counting off on his fingers. “I can’t GO where I want…”
John ruffled his ears. “That’s the price of having a home, I’m afraid. Sometimes, we have to do things we don’t like. We have to have a routine. We have to have rules.”
Terry snorted and leaned out of John’s reach. “I don’t WANT rules and routines and houses, I WANT to go back to Kendra. I WANT my PACK!”
John looked a little sad. “I know you do, kiddo… but that life isn’t healthy. You weren’t going to survive much longer. You were far too skinny. You weren’t getting the food you needed.”
“Just leave me alone.” Terry huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Go back to staring at your little box with people inside of it and let me be.”
John sighed. “Okay, well… just try not to make a mess out here, okay? I promise, this place is nice if you just give it a chance.”

I am glad that John isn't giving up on him yet and I do hope that he never does because Terry has been out on the streets for a while before he was adopted. He must know that someone with Terry's history wouldn't be easy to get to trust him and think of him as a father.

Chapter 15: Play

Barry gave an annoyed grunt and lowered his little screen to glare at Terry. “Could you stop fidgeting?! If you’re bored, go play with your toys or something.”
Terry snorted. “You’re making some of those words up.”
He snorted and turned to look at him. “No, I’m- which words do you think I made up?”
Terry scowled and repositioned himself on the couch to face Barry, rolling his eyes. He held up his hand and counted off on his fingers. “Bored, play, and toys. Those aren’t real words, you’ve made them up to try and confuse me as part of your sick mind games to try and keep me here.”
Barry scowled at him for a second, setting aside his tiny screen. It beeped for a few moments, then shut off, the screen going dark. “... Bored? You know, as in, not really sure what to do with yourself? Feeling kind of aimless and restless? And play? As in, entertaining yourself? Toys, the things Dad put in your room for you?”
Terry huffed. “You can make up meanings for them, but it doesn’t make them real words. Like if I make up the word hargenflargen and say it means the feeling of cleaning pebbles out of your pads after walking on them all day.” He tilted his paw up to show his pad, wiggling his toes. “It doesn’t ACTUALLY mean anything.”
Barry frowned at him. “Terry… I know you’re young, but you SHOULD know these words. Most pups know those words by the time they’re… well… less than half your age.”
He snorted back at Barry, rolling his eyes. “Well, sorry, I didn’t EXACTLY get to do normal housepet puppy things, I was busy looking for food and shelter.”
Barry jumped down off the couch and grabbed Terry’s hand. “Come on, I’m gonna teach you how to play.”
Terry snarled and snatched his hand back. “Don’t TOUCH me.” After a moment of glaring at Barry, he snorted and slid down off the couch. “Whatever. It can’t be worse than sitting here staring at the outside where I SHOULD be.”
Barry rolled his eyes. “How charitable of you. Come on, let’s go to your room.”
“It’s not MY anything. I’m a hostage here, not someone who HAS things here.” He followed him, scowling.
“Oh, right, right, of course, how silly of me.” He went into the room Terry had been sleeping in and turned on the light, looking around and then walking over to the box of random items, looking inside. “You haven’t even TOUCHED any of this stuff!”
“That’s not true!” Terry scoffed. “I touched it. I just didn’t know what to do with it, so I left it alone. Like Kendra always said, if you don’t know what it is, don’t mess with it, because it could be dangerous.”
“Oh, yeah, this stuff is SUPER dangerous. That’s why we left it all alone in a room with a puppy.” He rolled his eyes and reached into the box, coming back out with the rope. “Especially this, this thing could end your life in SECONDS!” He tossed it to Terry.
Terry stepped aside and watched the rope sail gently past him and bounce off the floor directly behind where he’d been standing. “I don’t appreciate the sarcasm.” After a moment, he picked up the rope and turned it over in his hand. “What IS this thing, anyway? I mean, I know what a rope is, but… it’s so short.”
Barry snickered and stepped toward him. “It’s a TOY! You’re supposed to play with it! That’s really meant for two people, like a dog and a human, or two dogs, but you can play with it by yourself.” He took the rope from Terry and held it up to his mouth. “The idea is that you grab one end in your mouth, and a human grabs the other end, or another dog grabs the other end, and you pull on it in opposite directions until one of you has to let go, or you both fall over. Then, you grab on again and start over!”
“That’s stupid. It’s like fighting over a scrap of meat, except you can’t even eat it afterward.” Terry crossed his arms over his chest.
Barry frowned. “Are you… hungry?”
Terry stammered. “Well- no, not at the moment. John gave us breakfast an hour ago, but that’s besides the point!”
“Well, there you go. Let’s see, what else is in here?” Barry turned back to the box and leaned over to look inside. “You got a ball.” He held it up, turning it in his hand. “You can play lots of games with this. Toss it to someone. Play fetch. Throw it to yourself. See how high you can bounce it.” He tossed it toward Terry, and Terry dodged it with a scowl.
“Stop throwing things at me.”
“You’re supposed to catch it- never mind. Let’s just see…” He bent down and held up a rubber bone. “Looks like you got a chew toy. Smells like bacon flavor.” He dropped it on the floor and dipped his hand back into the box. “Not much in here. Dad’s probably planning on taking you to the pet store and letting you pick some out tomorrow when he doesn’t have work.” He pulled out a different, larger rubber bone, giving a squeeze. It squealed in his grip. “Looks like you have a squeaky bone. Aaand… that’s it. A ball, a rope, a chew toy, and a squeaky bone. A good, strong set of the basics.”
“Uh…huh.” Terry gathered up the items and dropped them back in their box.
“What, you’re not going to play with them?” Barry nudged him, then jumped away from Terry’s nip.
“No. I don’t want your bribe. I WANT Kendra.”
Barry sighed and rubbed his temples. “Look, kid, you’re not- you know, what, fine.” He grumbled and sat down. “Come here. Sit with me.” He patted the space next to himself. When Terry didn’t move, and just crossed his arms over his chest, he sighed. “I won’t touch you, I promise.”
Terry sighed and moved to sit against the wall with Barry, keeping his distance. He fidgeted with his fingers for a moment.
Barry looked him over quietly for a few minutes. “Tell me about this Kendra. Who is she? How did you meet? What’s she like?”
Terry gave an excited little smile, his eyes lighting up. “Oh, Kendra’s my caretaker. She’s kind of like a mom, but she doesn’t like it when I call her mom, so I just call her Kendra. The pack gave me to her when they found me as a puppy, and she’s raised me ever since. She’s warm and soft, but not so soft that she lets me snuggle into her all the time. She protects me from danger, keeps the pack from getting too mean to me, and taught me everything I need to know about staying out of trouble on the street. She tells me stories sometimes, and makes sure I don’t stay up so late that I’m tired the next day when we’re looking for food. I love her so much.” His tail wagged gently, then started to sag. “She told me to wait for her on a bench, and then the mean people from animal control got me. I bet she’s worried sick. It’s been more than a whole moon since then.” His ears drooped a little, and he stared at the carpet.
Barry sighed and reached over, giving Terry’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll take care of you for a while, and then maybe one day you can go back to her. Okay? But for now, we can’t let you leave. You’re too skinny.”
Terry looked down at himself, barely skin and bones, and then over at Barry, with his much-healthier body weight. “... Ugh… fine.”
Barry gave a smile and got up, leaving the room and leaving Terry alone. After a few minutes, Terry glanced at the door, then leaned over and put his hand in the box of toys, pulling out the rubber bone. He sniffed it, enjoying the salty, meaty scent that Barry had called “bacon,” then carefully put the corner of the bone in his mouth and started to nibble on it.

Looks like Terry is now softening and almost ready to be tamed and will just need a few more days at the most. I am glad he now feels comfortable playing there after everything!

Chapter 16: Going Out

Terry grumbled and gnawed on the rubber bone. He’d already managed to make it pockmarked with indents from his teeth over just the past day or so. He paused, staring at it, then tucked it under his bed and stood up, stretching and yawning. He’d been feeling increasingly groggy and lazy since lunch; his brain felt like it was floating on a cloud.
After a few moments of trying to stretch the grogginess out, he decided to go for a walk around his room. He couldn’t help but give a giddy little giggle at the thought- HIS room. All his. After a few moments, he remembered that he didn’t intend to stay, and scowled instead. He wandered to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer to look inside. There was the box with the picture of dog biscuits on it; he picked it up and blinked.
It felt heavier than he’d expected; he gave it a little shake and listened to it rattling. “There’s something in there.” He mumbled to the empty room, then tilted the box this way and that to find the top. He picked at it, his fingers too thick and sluggish to get it open at first before he finally managed to slip a finger under the flap and rip it open. It didn’t open all the way, but it did open far enough before the flap ripped for him to see inside the box. He tilted the box to peek inside with one eye.
The box was full of dog biscuits, not dissimilar to the one on the package. His ears perked, and he fumbled his fingers through the hole he’d made to pull one out, popping it in his muzzle and munching on it.
“I wondered when you’d get around to finding those.” John chuckled as he entered the room with Terry’s carrier in his hand. “Why don’t you grab a couple to take with you, and then you can get in your carrier. We’re going out to a couple places. One of them will be the pet store, and you can pick out some more toys. Some that you picked out and like.”
Terry eyed the carrier with a scowl. “I don’t wanna go in the box.”
“I know, it’s probably a little cramped in there. I’d let you just walk, but you’re still a little too bitey for that.” He gently nudged Terry on the back to urge him in, and Terry grumbled, ducking his head as he crawled inside and took up a spot against the wall, holding onto a fistful of biscuits. John closed the door and did up the latch, gently lifting the carrier.
“Barry, come on, we’re heading out.” He called, carrying Terry in the carrier out to the car. Terry peeked through the gaps in the carrier to watch Barry following and climbing into the back seat as John did up the buckle over the carrier. “We’ve got two stops today, okay? The second one is the pet store so your brother can pick out some stuff.”
“Okay, Dad.” Barry did up his seat belt. “Did you remember to change his collar to tether mode? It’ll go off if you didn’t.”
John chuckled. “I’ll do it from my phone before we leave.” He closed the door, then climbed in the front seat, messing with his phone. After a few moments, Terry’s collar beeped, and the car started moving. “And we’re off.”
Barry bounced in his seat excitedly, watching out the window. After a while, he pointed up front in the passenger seat. “Why’d you bring that?”
John glanced at him in the rearview mirror, then over at the passenger seat, where the muzzle the shelter had put on Terry was sitting. “Oh, that’s just for your brother, in case the sedativ- I mean, in case he starts feeling bitey. I don’t want anybody to get bitten if he’s not behaving himself. You gotta remember, this is all new to him. He’s going to be nervous, and it might cause him to act out. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad dog, it just means he’s scared and wants to protect himself.”
“Ohhhh.” Barry sat back in his seat. After a few moments, he suddenly sat forward again. “Hey, wait a minute! You never said where we were going FIRST, before the pet store!”
John chuckled. “That’s true. You wanna take a peek inside the carrier, see how your brother’s doing? He had some biscuits when I put him in there.”
Barry nodded and leaned over, pressing his eye against a hole in the side of the carrier. “Um… it’s hard to see. He’s either sleeping, or just REALLY relaxed.”
“That’s not surprising, really. He was fighting off sleep when I went to get him in the carrier.” The car slowed to a stop.
Barry peeked out the window, then squeaked. “Wait a second, this is the VET!”
John chuckled. “Well spotted. I know the shelter vet already gave him a once-over, but I wanted to get him checked a little more thoroughly. Those shelter vets are underfunded and don’t always have the proper equipment. Plus, since we’re here, I scheduled you a quick check-up as well.”
Barry snorted and started undoing his buckle as John came around to get the carrier out. “Traitor.”
John snickered. “Oh, hush. You’re not even getting any shots this time. It’s just a checkup. Be a good boy, and they’ll even let you go at the candy bowl.”
Barry grumbled and got out of the car, following John inside and holding his ears back. “This was supposed to be a fun shopping trip with my new little brother.”
“It will be! We just have to do this first. Besides, I put sedatives in his lunch and they’re not going to wear off for another hour or so, so we couldn’t go to the pet store now if we wanted to.” He approached the reception desk. “Appointments for Barry and Terry Wright?”
Barry huffed and walked around the front of the carrier to peek in the grate. “He’s awake. He doesn’t look happy.”
John chuckled and walked over to the waiting area to have a seat, holding the carrier on his lap. “No, I imagine he’s not all that happy. He’ll be okay.”
Barry snorted and scooted up into a seat next to John.
Terry stuck his fingers through the grate at the front of his carrier. “Lemme out.” His voice sounded tired and sluggish. “I’ll fight ya.”
John gently lifted the carrier to face the grate toward him and looked inside. “Hey there, bud. You have a nice nap?”
Terry scowled and threw a biscuit at him, watching it bounce off the grate, chipping off a piece of it, which he picked up and threw again. It bounced off John's nose.
“Aww. Someone’s a little cranky. Don’t worry, you won’t have to ride in the carrier every time, just until I can trust you not to try to run off or bite people.”
“I’ll bite YOU.” He glowered, sulking in the back of the carrier and almost causing it to tip out of John’s grip.
“I’m sure you will. Remind me how well that worked to get what you wanted the first time?”
He glared at him for a few moments, then turned and faced the back of the carrier with a huff. “Whatever.”
John set the carrier back down on his lap, patting it gently on top. A few minutes later, a man came out and checked his clipboard. “Barry and Terry?” He called out.

I must say that John has the patience of a SAINT to put up with the way Terry constantly acts and not give up on him. I'm thinking he should be praised for it since Terry desperately wants out and will do anything to get sent out of the household.

Chapter 17: Pet Store

Terry scowled and shook his head as the last of the grogginess slowly faded, tugging at the muzzle. John smiled at him from the opening to the carrier. “Hey, bud. You wanna come on out? We’re at the pet store.”
He glowered at John, then slowly started scooting toward the front of the carrier. John smiled and backed away. “There you go… come on out, that’s a good boy.”
Terry climbed out and scrambled out of the car, standing on the pavement for a few seconds before he suddenly took off running. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he was going away. Anywhere, any direction. He could figure out where he was and where he was going once he was away from John and Barry.
He hadn’t gone too far, though, before the high-pitched shrieking noise started screaming from his collar. He yelped and covered his ears, stopping in his tracks; he noticed that a few other dogs a ways away also grimaced and turned to look at him, covering their own ears. After a few seconds, the alarm stopped, and Terry put his ears back, looking around and turning to look as John approached him. “Sorry, bud, I should have warned you. Your collar’s tied to my phone. If you get more than thirty or so feet from me, it sets off the alarm. Can’t have you running off.”
He scooped up Terry and gently plopped him into the basket of a shopping cart, pushed toward them by Barry. It had a solid bottom with a cushion on it instead of the normal grate pattern Terry had seen in shopping carts pushed around by homeless people. He wondered if that was because it was made for having dogs ride in it.
“Let GO of me.” He snorted, slapping John’s hand away and plopping down on the cart’s bottom, crossing his arms and sulking.
John smiled down at him understandingly. “I know, you were hoping this was your chance to get away and go running back to your little street dog friends. Sorry to disappoint you. How about I take that muzzle off of you, and we go buy you some toys to make up for it?” He reached down and took off the muzzle, walking back to the car and tossing the muzzle into the passenger seat before locking the doors.
“I don’t WANT toys. I WANT Kendra. I WANT my PACK!” Terry snorted crankily. He was mad that his escape had failed, felt woozy from the sleep medicine, and a little sore from the unspeakable things the vet had done to him. He rubbed his arm where the vet had stabbed him with a needle and withdrawn some blood.
“I know you do, bud. But one day you’ll understand that this is for your own good.” He pushed the cart into the building. “Before we pick out some toys for you, there’s some more boring stuff you’re going to need to pick out. You’ll need a collar, and we should get you some extra covers for your bed…” He counted off on his fingers like he was checking a list. “Of course, you’ll need a bowl, and you can pick out a flavor of kibbles, because the bag we got before we brought you home is almost empty already… you need a toothbrush and some toothpaste, Barry will help you pick that out… oh, and you need a tag.”
Barry gently tugged on John’s shirt. “Dad, can we get antler chews?”
John chuckled. “We’ll see. It depends on what all we end up getting for your brother.” He turned down an aisle and paused to look at a display of collars. “Hmm… what color do you want, Terry? They have pretty much any color you might like.”
Terry scowled. “Why would I CHOOSE a color for something you’re going to put around my neck to keep me someplace I don’t want to be?”
John chuckled and leaned on the cart. “Because we’re not moving from this spot until you do. Pick wisely. You’ll be stuck with whatever color you choose until you grow out of it.”
Terry crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at John grouchily for a few seconds. John looked back with a bemused smile, leaning his cheek on his hand and raising an eyebrow. After a few more moments, Terry huffed and looked down. “... Green.” He mumbled.
“See, I knew you could do it.” He reached over and selected a green collar and matching leash. “Now, let’s go get you some covers for your bed.”
He wandered into the next aisle and gestured to a selection of big pillowcases. “Care to pick a couple? They have solid colors, patterns, pictures…?”
Terry turned to look at them, intent on putting up a fight, but then he saw the pillowcase with the monsters on it. He blinked and stood up in the cart, leaning over the edge to try to reach it. Barry followed his gaze, then grabbed the case off the shelf and handed it to him. He looked at it, tilting his head. Some of the monsters were on four legs, others were on two. Some looked fierce, some looked dopey, some looked passive. “What is this?”
John chuckled. “Oh, that’s just some dinosaurs. Big old lizards that lived a long, LONG time ago.”
Terry hugged the cloth to himself, ignoring the feeling of the packaging sticking to his fur. John grinned. “Oh, you want that one, do you?” Terry nodded quietly, and John smiled. “Okay. Pick out another, and we’ll move on.” He shyly pointed at the shelf the first dinosaur case had come from, and John chuckled again. “Oh, the same one again, huh? Like that, do you?” He tossed another one in the cart with Terry and smiled.
They wandered through the store; Terry picked out a green bowl to match his collar. He wasn’t sure what flavor of kibbles he wanted, having not had much experience with them, so they got several small bags instead of one big bag, with John saying he could try them all and they would get him the ones he liked the most when those ones ran out. He, of course, picked a green toothbrush, and Barry helped him pick out a toothpaste.
The selection of tags was massive and confusing; Terry stared at the wall of options for a while before Barry climbed up and stood on the little shelf under the cart, pointing at the metal silhouette of a long-necked quadruped. “That one’s a dinosaur. It’ll go with your bed covers!”
He looked up at the tag, then down to the bed cover, still in his hand. There was indeed a matching image on the fabric. He nodded. “That one, then.”
“Good choice.” John stepped forward to speak to the clerk, who took down the information for the tag and smiled.
“It’ll just be a few minutes.”
Terry stood up in the cart to watch with fascination as she pulled a matching tag out of a drawer and set it in a machine. She typed the information into the computer, and the machine got to work, engraving the tag with all kinds of words. After a while, the machine stopped, and she slipped the new tag into a bag, wrote on it, and passed it over to John. John thanked her and dropped it into the cart with Terry.
“And now, for the part you’ve been waiting for.” John grinned as he wheeled the cart into the toy aisle, giving Terry his first glance at all the options there were for toys.

This is where I think Terry is going to be very grateful that John is being patient with him and treating him well. He will probably end up getting a simple toy and spend DAYS with it because he never played with any toys before.

Chapter 18: Unboxing

Terry sat in the car, squirming a little and kicking at the air as he craned his neck to look out the window, still not seeing much. He’d been permitted to ride in the seat instead of his carrier as a test to see if he could behave himself. The empty carrier was on the floor in front of him, still out of reach despite being directly in front of his seat. He gnawed on his little piece of dried antler as he looked around.
Barry looked over at him and chuckled, lowering his own piece of antler. “First time riding in a car properly?”
He nodded quietly, looking over at him.
Barry grinned back. “Are you excited to get home and play with the new toys?”
Terry scoffed. “Whatever. I didn’t even WANT them. I just chose them so we could leave.”
“Heh… sure you did. And you were practically bouncing with excitement when you saw that dino plush.” He reached over to poke Terry’s nose, and Terry nipped at him. “Don’t TOUCH me!”
Barry jerked his hand back. “All right, all right, sorry.”
John glanced in the rearview mirror. “Barry, stay out of your brother’s space. Terry, no biting.”
“Sorry, Dad.” Barry said, then glanced over at Terry. Terry had simply gone back to chewing on his antler. They continued to ride in silence for all of thirty seconds before Barry tried to break the ice again. “So… have you ever had an antler chew before?”
Terry turned to look at him, then grunted and looked away before answering. “... My pack used to go out to the woods on the edge of town sometimes, if we were having trouble finding food. Sometimes, we’d find some antlers that a deer had shed, or that a predator had left behind. We used to use a rock to break them apart, and I would get a piece. Kendra always made sure my piece wasn’t the smallest, even if that meant she had to take the smallest herself.”
He fell silent again. After a few moments, Barry cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well… um…”
“Look, can you just… leave me alone? We’re not friends. We’re not brothers.” He glared at the back of John’s head from across the car. “I’m STUCK with you.” He snorted and turned in his seat to face away, gnawing on his antler angrily.
After a few moments, John sighed, and the car stopped. “We’re home. Everybody out.” He stepped out of the car and walked around to open up Terry’s door. Terry climbed out and stared at the street quietly before turning and following John around to the back of the car.
John opened the trunk and started pulling out the bags, peeking inside each one before hanging it on his wrist. When he found the one he was looking for, he handed it to Terry. “Here. Carry this to your room. I’ll be in, in a little bit to help you take all the tags off, okay? Barry will let you in the house.” He rubbed his chin and mumbled. “I’ll have to get you a key once you’re able to be let off the invisible fence…” After a moment, he blinked. “Oh, wait a second, I have to switch your collar back to home mode.”
He pulled out his phone and played with it for a moment, and Terry’s collar beeped. “There we go. Go on in.”
Terry snorted and turned to walk in the house. Barry opened the door for him, watching him walk past, then starting to follow him. “You should at least say thank you to dad for taking you shopping. That was really nice of him. He didn’t have to do that.”
Terry ignored him and walked past him. He reached out to grab Terry’s arm. “Hey. I’m talking to you.”
Terry snorted and turned around, nipping at him. “Don’t. TOUCH. ME.” He snarled. Barry threw his hands up and backed off. “Okay, okay, no touching, I got it.”
He glared at Barry for a few more moments before going into his room, kicking the door shut behind him and flopping down on the bed. After a moment, he looked around to be sure he was alone, then opened his shopping bag and pulled out a dinosaur plush. It wasn’t the sort of plush one might cuddle at night; it was double-stitched and made out of tough, kevlar-like material, made to be durable for rough play. He stared at it for a few moments; it had four legs, a thick tail, and a long neck. He closed his eyes and pulled it in close to his chest, holding it there.
A few moments later, he heard the door starting to open, and gasped, tucking the plush back into the bag and looking up at John. John smiled back down at him, pretending he hadn’t seen. “Are you ready to take the tags off your new toys?”
Terry snorted and handed the bag over. “Whatever. I don’t really care.”
“Mm. Sure, you don’t. Let’s see what we’ve got here…” He reached in, shuffling the toys around for a moment before coming up with a hollow ball with small holes in it. “We got a treat dispenser. We can put some of your biscuits in there, and you can make a game of trying to get them out.” He snipped off the tag and passed it to Terry. Terry gave a disinterested grunt and tossed it in the toybox.
“Oh, not interested in that one right now, huh?” He chuckled and dug in the bag again. “Hmm.. we have… a rope with a bone on it.” He teased with the scissors a moment before snipping off the tag and passing it to Terry. Terry considered it for a moment before tossing it in the box.
John snickered. “Oh, I see, that’s not what you’re looking for, either. I’m starting to think you’re just too big and tough to let yourself be seen playing with TOYS.” He shook the bag and peeked inside. “Oh, not much left in here. Let’s see… we have… a big ol’ chewy femur?” He held up the big red rubber bone, snipping off the tag. Terry tossed it into the box without a glance.
John chuckled, scooping up the bag. “Looks like that’s it.” He started to get up, watching Terry carefully.
Terry put his ears back, but didn’t say anything, just watching John go and eyeing the bag. After a moment, John snickered. “Oh, you’re no fun. Just gonna let me go, are you?” He reached into the bag and pulled out the dinosaur, clipping off the tag and passing it to Terry. Terry held it for a second, then set it on the floor next to himself.
John smirked. “Oh, too tough to let me see you playing with it, but not afraid to let it sit next to you? Such a tough little pup.” He chuckled, then snapped his fingers. “Oh! I have your new collar for you, all set up.” He held up the green collar with the dinosaur tag for Terry. “Can I put it on you?”
Terry hesitated, then gave a shy nod and leaned forward. John smiled and leaned down to clip it onto him. “Once I don’t think you’re going to run away, I’ll take that other collar with the invisible fence alarm off of you, and you’ll only have to wear this one. Leave it on, okay? You can take it off to sleep if you like, but I want you to wear it around the house.”
Terry nodded at John, and he smiled, picking up Terry’s bed and starting to strip off the plain red cover. “Go to the kitchen table and grab that bed cover we just bought, I’ll put it on for you.” As Terry rushed off, John smirked down at the revealed chew toy that had been hidden underneath the bed, covered in bite marks.

I love how beautifully that this chapter came out here and its nice to continue to see Terry open up! Looks like all of John's patience and understanding is melting Terry's hardened heart! ^_^

Chapter 19: Rawr

Terry opened his bedroom door and peeked out into the hallway. He could see Barry playing with his Nintendo on the couch at the far side of the living room; this time of day, John was probably in his office, working. He grinned and went back into his room, closing the door and rushing over to his bed. He pulled the rubber bone out from underneath and stuck it in his mouth so it hung out of one side, then plopped his rump down on the pillow and scooped up the dinosaur plush. He grinned and walked it across his pillow, tilting it forward and back and bouncing it a little as he moved it to give it a ‘walking’ motion, then stopped and tilted it way back.
“Rawr.” He whispered breathily, then giggled quietly to himself. “Rawr. Rawr. I’m a dye-no-sore.”
He looked around the room for a moment, then walked to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer to take out the box of biscuits. It was beaten up by now- half empty, with the top torn off and the corners dented. He shook a couple biscuits out, then walked back to his bed and plopped back down again, scattering the biscuits over the surface and picking up the plush again. He resumed whispering to himself as he walked the dinosaur plush over the surface of his bed.
“Rawr. Imma eat all you littler dye-no-sores!” He tilted the plush forward and touched its face to a biscuit, then grabbed the biscuit in his other hand and picked it up as he tilted the plush back, holding it against the plush’s face like it had bitten it. “Ahh no, he’s eating me, he’s eating me! I don’t wanna be eaten!” He shook the plush like it was speaking. “Too bad, crunch crunch crunch crunch!” He broke the biscuit in half and dropped it back down to the bed. “Owie! I die now. Bleh.”
“Actually, that dinosaur only eats plants. It’s an herbivore.” A voice sounded from the doorway. Barry was leaning against the doorway, grinning at him.
Terry squeaked and threw the dinosaur plush and chew toy across the room, his ears warming up in a blush as he looked up. “What are you doing in here?! Go away!”
“Aww, are you embarrassed about being caught playing? That’s what Dad got you the toys for, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” He started walking toward Terry, chuckling. “Besides, I thought it was cute.”
“Stop. Don’t come any closer.” Terry snapped, glaring at Barry. “I don’t want you anywhere near me.”
Barry stopped in the middle of the room and put his hands out. “Aww, come on, don’t be like that. You’ve been here ten days, can’t we be friends?”
He scowled back at him. “You gonna let me go?”
“No. I can’t do that, you know I can’t do that.” Barry shook his head.
“Then no.” He snatched up a piece of the broken biscuit and stuffed it in his maw crankily. He wasn’t sure why; he wasn’t even hungry. “Go play with your little noise box.”
“Aw, come on, don’t be like that.” He walked over and picked up the dinosaur from where it had landed. “I don’t wanna play with that. I wanna play with YOU.” He carried the dinosaur over and squatted next to him, standing the dinosaur up and grinning. “What was it? Rawr?”
Terry snorted and snatched the dinosaur away from him. “Get away from me!”
“All right, all right.” He put his hands up and backed away from him. “You’re pretty cranky for a pup.”
“I’m NOT a pup! I’m six, practically a grown-up!” Terry grumbled.
“Oh, I’m sorry, mister practically a grown-up.” He chuckled at him. “You know, it gets easier if you stop fighting it.”
He scowled at him. “What does?”
“All of this.” Barry gestured around them. “Having a better life. You’re so focused on the life you had before coming here that you’re fighting not having to fight for your life every minute of the day anymore. Just let it happen. I promise, it gets easier.”
Terry snorted and looked away. “What would YOU know about it? You’ve probably lived here your whole life. So how about you just leave me alone to think about how I’m going to get out of here and go back to Kendra.”
Barry stared at him for a while, then sighed. “Suit yourself. You’ll figure it out eventually. I just wanted to save you some time.” He turned and walked out, pulling up but not completely closing the door.
Terry snatched up his dinosaur, staring at it, then grumbling and letting it drop. Now that Barry had walked in on him, the moment was gone, and he no longer felt like terrorizing his biscuit colony. He popped the other half of the broken biscuit into his mouth and stood up, brushing crumbs out of his fur. He grumbled a little to himself and started toward the door, pausing when he heard talking.
He paused, frowning, then slipped out into the hallway. The talking sounded like it was coming from John’s office, so he tiptoed closer, staying out of sight. As he drew closer, some of the words became audible.
“- Doesn’t want to play with me. I tried.” Barry’s voice sounded.
“I told you he probably wouldn’t. You took ages before you were willing to let others in, remember? You used to spend all your time sulking in your room before you got used to it here.” John’s voice answered.
“I know. I was hoping I could make it easier for him. He’s a lot younger than I was, he can’t be THAT stuck in the homeless life!”
“It’s a high-stress lifestyle. You remember. Having so much stuff to remember in order to stay safe and just keep living is a hard habit to break. It’s going to take him a long time to start to relax and feel safe here. The best we can do is just keep doing anything we can to let him know we’re not here to hurt him, and that we genuinely love him and want him to be happy.” John’s voice didn’t sound concerned at all. Terry huffed silently to himself.
“I know. It’s just hard to see him trying to keep us away like that. I know WHY… on the street, you never know who’s going to be there at the end of the day, so you try not to get too attached to anybody in particular… but it’s hard to be happy when you’re all alone like that.” Barry sighed. “I don’t know, I just wish I could do… SOMETHING… to help him feel at home here sooner.”
“I know, bud. I wish I could, too. But that’s entirely up to him. There’s not really much we can do to help him adjust faster than he’s ready to.”
Terry snorted and walked away, back to his room. He thought about what he’d overheard, then shook his head with a grunt. It was a trick, surely, and they had known he was listening in. He closed the door to his room and plopped down on his bed, flopping back and tracing one of the images of one of the dinosaurs on the cover with a finger.
Thinking about it, he supposed that John and Barry HAD been nothing but nice to him since he’d gotten here, but that didn’t really change the fact that they also wouldn’t let him leave. He grumbled and turned to face the wall, laying his head on his pillow with a sigh.

I think I have a good idea of what might possibly happen here with Terry. He will finally begin to accept John and Barry and come around only for him to see Kendra some place and all of that will go out the window as he wants to go with her and maybe manage to escape. I am really big on soap operas so I can see some of where the plot goes sometimes.

Chapter 20: Use the Fork

Terry sat in the pile of all seven of his things, picking each up in turn and tossing them toward the box they belonged in. He missed every shot, then went and collected them, carrying them back over to where he’d been sitting and plopping back down to start over. After dozens of rounds, during which he managed to land exactly zero toys in the toybox, his door opened, and John walked in. “Hey, there, bud. You playing basketball?”
Terry grunted at him, half-ignoring him. John squatted next to him. “Dinner’s gonna be here soon. You wanna wash up and be ready?”
“You gonna let me go back to Kendra?” He didn’t even look at him, tossing his rope toy at the box and missing entirely.
“You know I can’t do that.” He sighed and reached out to ruffle his headfluff, not pursuing further when Terry tilted his head away from the touch. “Come on, bud. Let’s get ready for dinner.”
Terry snorted and climbed to his paws, glaring at John. “Why do you keep trying to touch me? It’s been a half a moon, and I haven’t let you touch me even once, but you still keep trying. Aside from when you gave me a bath or chased me down or that time you drugged me.”
“Or that time you came into my office and I put you in my lap. You stayed there for two whole minutes.” He chuckled. “It’s a sign of affection, bud. Humans like to pet dogs. It’s just a thing we do. Like when you dogs sniff each other.”
“Well, I don’t want you to do that, so just stop trying. It’s not going to happen.” He started walking toward the door with a grumble.
“Oh, I bet you’ll let me do it one day. You can’t keep up this tough guy act forever.” He started walking alongside him. “One day, you’ll settle down and realize we’re not here to punish you, or to keep you prisoner, or whatever you’ve convinced yourself we’re doing with you, and then you’ll start to enjoy being here.”
“I will NOT.” He huffed, stopping in the bathroom to wash his hands. He didn’t see the point, but he knew from experience that John wouldn’t let him eat until he had, so he figured he would get it out of the way. “I’m going to run off the very minute you take this STUPID alarm thing off of me.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it. But I won’t take it off until I’m reasonably sure you’ll come back.” He reached for his head again, letting his hand drop when Terry stepped aside to get out of his immediate reach. “I can be patient. It’s going to take some work for me to earn your trust.”
Terry dried his hands on the towel and glared at him. “I’m never going to trust you. You’re keeping me from Kendra.”
“That’s fair. I understand that you’re upset. Kendra meant a lot to you. Maybe one day we can find Kendra, and she’ll join us here.” He followed Terry out to the living room with his usual patient smile.
“You leave her alone.” He growled, irritated. “She wants nothing to do with you, either. I’m certain of it.”
John chuckled. “Okay, okay, I won’t do that. It’s going to be okay, Terry. I know it feels like the end of the world, but I promise you, this place is better than living on the street. You have food, shelter, water… you’re safe here, I promise.”
“Pizza’s here.” Barry announced from the window, where his face was pressed against the glass.
Terry blinked and turned around to stare at Barry. “What on Mother Gaia is pizza?”
Barry turned around with a grin. “Is this going to be your first pizza?! You’re gonna LOVE it! It’s got EVERYTHING you could ever want out of human food! It’s got bread, cheese, meat… it’s SO GOOD!”
The doorbell rang, and John chuckled, walking to the door. “Okay, okay, you boys go sit at the table. I’ll bring it to you.” He answered the door and started chatting with someone outside.
Barry darted to the table, then looked at Terry and waved him over excitedly. Terry intentionally took his time walking over and sitting in his usual seat. The table was set with paper plates and plastic cups. Terry had never seen paper plates clean and plastic cups intact before. It was weird.
When John sat down two wide, flat square boxes in the middle of the table and two large bottles of liquid- one clear and one dark- on the table, Barry was practically bouncing in his seat in excitement. Before opening the box, though, John cleared his throat and looked at Terry.
“Before we start eating today, I have to talk to you real quick, kiddo. You’ve been here two weeks now, so I think it’s time I start enforcing some rules on you. I don’t have many- don’t bite people, don’t make a mess in the common areas of the house, that sort of thing- but I do have some for eating, some of which don’t apply here. When you’re eating food not meant to be eaten by hand, you need to start using a fork. I let it slide until now because you were still settling in, but from now on, I want you to do that for me, okay?”
He waited for Terry’s nod of understanding before continuing. “Your body’s probably used to having food by now, so you can have as much as you like, but if you take it, you have to eat it. It’s fine if there’s a few bites left over when you’re done, but I don’t want you wasting half a plate of food because you took too much.”
Terry nodded again. Barry gave a little whine. “Daa-aaad, I’m HUNGRYYYY…”
John chuckled. “Okay, we’ll address other rules as they become relevant. We better eat before Barry starves to death.” He opened the box and started dishing out triangular slices of bread topped with sauce, cheese, and sausage.
Terry turned to stare at his slice uncertainly, poking at it. He picked it up and hesitantly tried a bite of it, chewing thoughtfully. After a moment, John got his attention. “Pass me your cup there, kiddo, I’ll pour you a little soda.”
Terry hesitated, then pushed the plastic cup toward him. John poured in some liquid from the bottle of clear liquid, that now seemed to be full of bubbles. After he finished, he gently pushed the cup back, being careful not to spill.
The liquid fizzed quietly as Terry pulled it toward his face and sniffed at it. A sweet scent filled his nose, and Terry’s eyes went wide. He slowly turned his face to look at John, then at Barry. Neither seemed to notice Terry’s attention.
Terry’s mind went back to Bell’s daily warning, one that he’d repeated every day as far back as Terry could remember: A sweet smell meant poison.
Terry set the cup back down on the table and pushed it back quietly, putting his ears back as he stared at the triangular slice on his plate. Was this poisoned, too? He sniffed at it. It smelled okay. He glanced around. John and Barry had taken slices from the same box, and they seemed perfectly fine to be eating it. He looked back down at his own slice and pushed it back away from himself, frowning.

Hoping that John will realize that as a stray Terry had to deal with possibly poisoned food when he went out to find scraps to put in his belly. I am sure that both him and Barry will be very understanding once they figure that out or he tells them.

Chapter 21: Poison

Terry flopped over onto his bed and grunted, putting his ears back. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d noticed that he was hungry, but he was noticing now. His belly gurgled at him angrily, his appetite whetted, but his feeding stopped after a single bite.
“Ugh… I got used to having regular food THAT quickly? Traitor.” He glared down at his belly, noticing for the first time that he wasn’t quite as skinny as usual. He snatched up his rubber bone and started chewing on it, hoping the action of chewing would convince his stomach that he had eaten more.
After a few minutes, John came in quietly and sat next to him, staring at him. Terry glared up at him, then turned and faced the other way to ignore him. He didn’t mind chewing on his bone in front of John, at least right now. John didn’t speak for a while, letting Terry chew. Minutes ticked by, and Terry forgot John was even there.
He was startled when John suddenly spoke. “You barely touched your dinner. Is something wrong? Did you not like it? I can get you something else. We have kibbles, leftover lasagna…”
Terry turned his head to stare at John for a few moments, then snorted and turned to face away again, sitting up and letting his bone drop to his lap. “I’m not hungry.”
His stomach chose that moment to growl, and he flinched, putting his ears back and turning his head slightly to see John out of the corner of his eye. John sighed. “Yes, you are. I can hear your stomach.”
John turned around and pulled Terry into his lap. “What’s the matter, Terry? Why didn’t you eat your dinner?”
Terry started climbing out of John’s lap, but John pulled him back, gently but firmly. “No. I want you to sit here with me. You’re going to tell me what’s the matter, and you’re going to sit in my lap until you do.”
Terry snarled and started squirming and twisting, trying everything he could to get free. When John didn’t let go of him, Terry started in with his claws, scratching at John’s arms, then leaning over and biting him when he grabbed Terry’s wrists to stop him from scratching. John sat there, still holding Terry’s wrists, not reacting to Terry’s teeth digging into his arm. After a few moments, Terry’s ears went back, and he slowly released his jaws’ grip on John’s arm and backed off, looking at the bite marks, where two angry red dots were swelling on his skin.
After a moment, John spoke. “Did it get you what you wanted?”
Terry blinked and looked up at John. “What?”
“Biting me. Did it get you what you wanted? Did I let go of you?”
“N… no?” Terry put his ears back and stared at the bite mark again.
“Did it make you feel better?” John pressed.
“No…” Terry turned his gaze to the ground, gently tugging his arms against John’s grip. He didn’t release him.
“Hmm.” He was quiet for a moment. “Are you going to tell me why you didn’t eat your dinner, or do I have to hold you a little longer first?
Terry grunted and jerked his arms crankily, trying to get free of John’s grip. “I told you, I’m not hungry!”
“And I told you, I don’t believe it.” He kept his voice low, with no hint of yelling. His voice, like his grip, was gentle, but unyielding. His tone made it clear that he wasn’t angry, but also wasn’t going to let Terry go without an explanation. “There’s some other reason you didn’t eat, and I would like to hear it.”
Terry squirmed a little more, trying to wriggle his wrists loose, but he couldn’t budge them out of John’s grip. After a few more minutes of struggling, he slumped into John and put his ears back. John waited patiently for Terry to speak. “... I didn’t like it.”
John tilted his head, then shook it. “No, that doesn’t sound like the truth either. That sounds like an excuse that you picked out of the list I gave you so you wouldn’t have to tell me the real reason. Your tone doesn’t sound like it’s something you mean, and I don’t think you have a healthy enough relationship with food yet to not eat something just because you don’t like it. You’re only a month or two off the street. You’d probably eat almost anything you found that was edible, whether you liked it or not. Which makes me ask the question, why didn’t you think your dinner was edible?”
Terry squirmed to turn and look up at John. His face looked sad, like it was hurting him to have to hold Terry against his will like this, or maybe like he was sad that Terry hadn’t eaten the food he had offered. Terry wasn’t really sure why he looked the way he did, but it made him feel guilty about having not eaten his supper. He looked down at the ground and stayed quiet for a few moments.
“... Poison.” Terry mumbled. There was silence for a few moments, and when he looked up, John was looking down at him.
“Go on. Poison. What about poison?” John urged quietly. He loosened his grip on Terry’s wrists, but still didn’t let Terry pull away.
“In the mornings, Bell… that was our pack leader, or one of them… used to always tell us not to eat anything that smelled sweet, because sometimes humans would pour chemicals in the garbage to poison any food there, to keep us away.” Terry wouldn’t meet John’s eye as he spoke, mumbling to the floor a little bit.
John released Terry’s wrists, but pulled him in against his chest, putting his arms over Terry’s shoulders and across his chest, holding him in place, but not squeezing. Terry stopped wriggling. It felt… nice. Warm, and safe. He wanted to stay there a while.
“It was the soda, then. You smelled the soda, and you thought I was trying to poison you, because you were always told that a sweet smell meant poison when you were searching for food on the street.” John murmured softly.
Terry hesitated, then nodded. John gave a gentle little squeeze and let go of Terry. Terry almost protested when his arms left their spot surrounding him, but he bit his tongue to stop himself. The last thing he wanted was this human thinking it was okay to touch him. As soon as he wasn’t restrained anymore, he scrambled off of John’s lap.
“Terry, look at me.” John leaned down a little to meet Terry’s eye, looking him directly in the face. “I will never give you anything that isn’t safe to eat, okay? I will never intentionally give you poison. If there’s something that I gave you that you’re not sure about, you can always ask.”
Terry hesitated, then gave a little nod to indicate his understanding.
John continued. “That drink I gave you is called soda. It’s sugar, water, and flavoring. It smells sweet because there’s sugar in it. It’s not the best for you, but a cup or two of it every once in a while, as a special treat, won’t hurt you. Okay?”
Terry nodded again, putting his ears back. He felt a little silly now, having just refused the meal just because he didn’t want to ask and didn’t really trust John. His stomach gurgled quietly.
John smiled, starting to get up. “Come on, there’s still some pizza left. It’s probably cold, but you’re welcome to it.”

I am glad that John figured out that Terry had to deal with food that was poisoned when he was out on the street as a stray. Maybe this will now help Terry to see that being a pet isn't all that bad.

Chapter 22: Toy Store

John shut down his computer and sighed, rubbing his face in his hands with an exhausted sigh. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like his job, but that he found it rather tedious sometimes. His coworkers were terrible at listening, and worse at reading their emails, and there was always that one person who asked questions that had already been answered.
He turned his chair and stretched, reaching skyward, then bending his arm at the elbow and reaching toward the far side until he couldn’t reach any further, groaning at the stretch. After that, he patted his knees and stood up. “All rightie, let’s see what the boys are up to.” He turned and walked out of his office and peeked around the corner into the living room. Barry was sitting on the couch, playing his Switch like always, but there was no sign of Terry. He went around the other way and checked in Terry’s room, opening the door as slowly as he could so it wouldn’t make a noise.
Terry was sitting with his back to the door, holding up the dinosaur plush he’d gotten from the pet store and bouncing it in place, muttering quietly to himself. “And the dye-no-soar goes rawr rawr rawr and eats all the bad people, and they all die.” He hugged the plush to himself and closed his eyes for a moment.
John watched the pup playing, contemplating things for a few moments, then nodded to himself and stepped into the room. “Hey there, sport. What’cha up to?”
Terry gave a startled gasp and tossed the plush aside, like he had a tendency to do when he realized someone was in the room with him. It was always amusing to John; the pup was intent on making sure nobody saw him actually enjoying himself and not putting on the tough guy act that he used as a mask to protect himself from what he perceived was danger.
He turned and looked up at John, putting on that adorable little scowl and standing up. “Just planning what I’m going to do first once I get out of here.”
John chuckled. “Oh, you want out of here? Okay, let’s go. Let’s get out of here.” He turned and walked back into the hallway.
Terry’s ears perked, and he followed him. “Wait, really?”
“Yeah, why not?” He walked to the front door and snatched up Terry’s new leash, turning to find Terry right behind him. He knelt down and clipped it onto his collar with a grin. “Let’s get out of here, just you and me.” He turned to Barry. “Barry, your brother and I are going out. We’ll bring back something for supper.”
Barry didn’t even look up. “Okay.”
John opened the door and gestured outside, letting Terry go first. Once they were on the porch, Terry looked up at John with a suspicious expression. “What’s the catch?”
John chuckled. “What do you mean, what’s the catch? I just wanna take you out of here.” He pointed toward the car and started toward it, opening the back door to let Terry climb in.
Terry snorted and fumbled with his seat belt. John kneeled to help him while Terry spoke. “I mean, humans don’t do things out of the goodness of their hearts. They might help, but they’ll shove a camera in your face, or do it as part of some sick joke. Obviously, you’re not taking me out of here to let me GO, so why are you taking me out of here?”
John closed the car door and walked around to the driver’s seat before answering. “Well, because it’s my job to make sure you’re taken care of, now. I’m your new Kendra.” He paired his phone with Terry’s invisible fence collar, then started the car and pulled out of the driveway. “I’ve made sure you have everything you PHYSICALLY need- food, water, shelter- but I’m still working on the things you need EMOTIONALLY. I brought you home to make you part of my family, and that means making sure you’re not only fed, but happy. If going on little outings is what you need to be happy, then we’ll go on little outings.”
Terry scowled up at him in the rearview mirror. “What I NEED to be happy is for you to let me go back to my OLD Kendra.”
John gave a little sigh. “I know, buddy. I know you miss her and you think I’m hurting you by keeping you from going back to her, but I promise, you’re better off where you are.” He stopped at a red light, then pulled out into traffic, glancing in the rearview mirror at the pup again. “I can’t just let you go back out onto the street. You were starving out there. I’ll do what I can to make you happy, without you losing your food and shelter.”
Terry snorted and crossed his arms, looking out the window and muttering under his breath. John sighed. He had hoped that after three weeks, the pup would start warming up to him, but he was still as distant as ever. He drove in silence for a few moments, then pulled the car into the parking lot of a big box toy store. He parked the car. “All right. We’re there. We are at ‘out of here.’” He got out and walked around to the back to let Terry out.
Terry climbed out of the car and looked around. “Oh, I know this place. My pack used to pass through here on the way to one of our hideouts sometimes.” He gazed eagerly toward the untrimmed grass at the edges of the lot as if expecting to see something there for him. John sighed and picked up Terry’s leash, pressing the handle of it into Terry’s hand.
Terry looked down at it, then up at John. John gestured toward the store. “Come on, let’s go in.”
Terry huffed and followed John, hesitating right before going inside to look in the direction of the grassy part of the lot. John sighed and reached down for Terry’s hand. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
He led Terry through the store until they arrived at an aisle full of plushes. Just about every plush imaginable was there, tigers and bears and everything in between. Terry looked up at John, seeming confused, and John kneeled to get closer to his level. “Terry, you need physical affection to be healthy. Your body is craving it. But, since you won’t let me give it to you, you’ll have to get it from somewhere else.” He gestured to the shelves. “Pick out something, anything at all. Then, you can snuggle it to your heart’s content, and it should be a decent substitute for a real person snuggling with you, until you feel more up to getting some real snuggles.”
Terry huffed up at him. “I don’t NEED snuggles. I NEED-”
“-Kendra, I know, kiddo.” John interrupted and gestured to the aisle of plushes. “Just pick something out. It’ll make ME feel better. You don’t have to actually USE it if you don’t want to.”
He huffed and started walking up and down the aisle, looking at all the various options available to him. He seemed cranky, but John was pretty sure it was just an act. After pacing for a while, Terry suddenly paused, looking up at a high shelf. He stepped back, tilting his head, then raised an arm and pointed.
John stepped closer and followed the pup’s gaze to a scruffy-looking dog plush up on the top shelf. He reached it down and offered it to Terry, and Terry grabbed it, turning it to look at it. His ears went back, and he tucked the plush under his arm.
John gave a smile. “You want that one, huh?”
There was a moment’s pause, and then Terry gave a meek nod. John smiled and took Terry’s hand. “Okay. Let’s go pick out some other toys. Dog toys are nice, but you need some actual toys, too.”
It took about an hour to finish the shopping trip; Terry made off with a set of plastic dinosaurs, a couple of cheap plastic cars, and of course the plush. As they were getting in the car, John carefully broke the tag off the plush’s ear and handed it to Terry in the backseat. “What are you going to name him?”
Terry gave the plush a shy little hug, putting his ears back. “Her name is Kendra. She looks just like the real one.”

Terry bringing Kendra's name up again after a few chapters makes me wonder if we will be seeing her again real soon. Just as John makes a breakthrough with Terry and her appearance ends up undoing ALL of it because that is always how these things go.

Chapter 23: Crack

Terry squeezed his plush and wandered out of his room, holding his ears back. The house had gone eerily quiet after lunch, and he had come out to see why. Nobody was in the living room; he could hear John typing away at his computer in the office.
He wandered toward the door to John’s office, holding his plush tightly to his chest, and peeked in, holding his ears back. After a few moments, John suddenly paused in his typing and turned around to look, as if sensing Terry’s presence. “Oh! Hi, Terry. It’s okay, you can come in.”
Terry hesitated, then inched forward, holding his ears back as he looked up at John, pausing a short ways away from him. John smiled at him. “What’s the matter? You don’t usually go wandering the house. You’re usually hiding in your room, pretending not to play with your toys.”
Terry hesitated again, considering whether he should answer. “... It’s really quiet. I thought maybe everybody left me here.”
“Aww.” John put his arms out, offering to pick up Terry. After a moment, Terry stepped forward and allowed himself to be scooped up into John’s lap. “Did you get lonely? You thought everybody left and you were scared you got left behind?”
“No!” Terry insisted, then hesitated and looked down at the ground. “... Maybe. A little.”
John reached up to scratch Terry’s head, and Terry pulled away from his hand. He lowered it and smiled. “It’s okay. Barry just went out to spend some time with his friends. He’s been neglecting them so he could stay home and be there if you needed him, so I told him he could go out and I would take care of it, if you needed anything.”
Terry hesitated, then nodded. He was a little jealous that Barry could leave the yard. John seemed to notice, and smiled. “It won’t be long before I can take that alarm collar off of you and you can go with him. Once I think you’re ready for that kind of freedom.”
Terry nodded and let John hold him for a moment longer before John suddenly set him back down on the floor again. “I need to get back to work, okay, bud? If you need anything, you or Kendra can come and get me.” He reached down and shook the little hand of Terry’s plush.
Terry scoffed. “Kendra can’t come get you, she’s not real.”
John chuckled. “Oh, my mistake.” He watched Terry leave, then turned back to his computer.
Terry wandered into the kitchen. There were still locks on all the cabinets, but he could open the refrigerator. It had two doors, both leading into the cold box. He looked inside; there wasn’t anything interesting there, just various jars and bottles he didn’t know how to open. He closed the refrigerator and pulled on the drawer that was the freezer door, watching it slide open. A burst of even colder air hit him in the face, and he looked inside. There were some rectangular crystals with a rounded side in a basket inside, along with various plastic packages with pictures of food. He picked one of the crystals up and gasped. It was cold.
After a moment, he noticed his fingers getting wet, and blinked. The crystal was crying water. He put it in his mouth, closing the drawer and putting his ears back. It was very cold on his tongue, but somehow refreshing as well. He held it there, noticing that it gradually grew smaller and smaller until it was small enough, and his tongue was cold enough, that he had to chomp on it. It broke easily into smaller bits, then dissolved away, leaving his mouth full of water. He opened his mouth and let out a breath, watching some fog roll out for a moment.
“Cold.” He told his plush, holding her up to look at her before bringing her back to his chest.
After that, he moved on, going down to the basement and staring at the boxes that Barry had told him were decorations. He tilted his head at them. What if they WEREN’T decorations at all? Maybe it was something tasty inside, and Barry just didn’t want to share. He stepped forward and pulled a box out of the stack, dragging it across the floor until he could walk all the way around it. He did this, poking at the box and sniffing at it, then hooked his fingers under the lid and tugged. It popped, and then the lid came free.
Terry grinned and tossed the lid carelessly aside, sticking his hand in the box. There was a long strand of a plastic plant-like rope object, wrapped carefully around a short length of wooden dowel. He set that aside and looked below it. There wasn’t any food in here, just clear boxes of round, sparkly things with strings on one end. He huffed and abandoned the box where it was, popping the lids on all the other boxes to reveal strings of colored lights, packages of shiny plastic string, colored paper with images of the fat man in a red suit that seemed to be everywhere during the winter, and, most interestingly, what appeared to be a whole plastic tree.
Terry frowned and shook his head, scooping up his plush and starting back up the stairs, leaving the boxes open and their contents hanging out from where he’d rifled through them. Humans were weird, he decided. Who kept random stuff that didn’t appear to serve any purpose?
Terry flopped down on the couch in the living room, holding his plush under the armpits and looking at her. “What do YOU think we should do, Kendra?”
Something slid off the arm of the couch and bumped into Terry’s head, and he sat up, looking to see what had hit him. A familiar piece of plastic reflected his face back to him on its blank screen. He frowned and set his plush aside to pick it up. “Barry’s little screen thing.”
He stared at it. It was heavier than he’d expected, though not so heavy as to be a bother. He turned it in his hand to look it over. It had lots of buttons on it, though they didn’t seem to do anything when the screen was blank like that. He pressed a few, then wiggled the knobs on it. It was fun to play with them, but they didn’t seem to do anything either.
After a few more moments examining the device, Terry found a flap on the top that revealed a hidden slot with a little plastic card inside. Pressing down on the card made it pop up, and then Terry could pull it out. He squinted at the card; it had a little cartoon character on it. He gave it a lick. “Blech! Ewww, that tastes AWFUL!” He stuffed the card back into the slot and closed the flap, eyeing another button. He recognized the symbol on that button; the little box that controlled the TV had a similar symbol on it, that made it turn on. He pushed it.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then, the device gave a loud chiming sound, and the screen suddenly turned on. Terry yelped and jerked his hand back, letting go of the device. It tumbled down, bounced off his lap, and thudded screen-first onto the floor.
John’s voice sounded from the hallway. “What was that?”
Terry squeaked. “N-nothing! I just… uh… dropped… my ball?” He tried. He didn’t hear anything else from John, so he assumed the lie had worked. After a few tense moments, he reached down and picked up the machine off the floor, looking it over quickly. It seemed all right. The plastic didn’t appear to be any the worse for wear, at least. He flipped it over to look at the screen, then gave a little squeak. The screen was still on, but there was a big crack going across it from the top left to the bottom right.
“Uh oh…” He put his ears back and stood up, dragging his plush by one arm as he rushed to his room, opened the drawer, and stuffed the device in, pushing it all the way to the back before slamming the drawer shut and squeezing his plush. “Barry’s gonna be so mad at me… JOHN’S gonna be so mad!”

From the ending alone I take it that when Terry ended up breaking things while out on the street even if it was by accident he would get yelled at by the other strays which is kind of said that he thinks that is what will happen here. I think the next chapter is probably going to be one where Terry learns that mistakes aren't as big a deal as he thinks.