Tales in the Hound Room

"Well, are you sure you're okay there, son?" My mother said as she quickly dragged the body bag containing one of our new prisoners quickly like she was merely pulling her luggage after a flight.

"I-I'm fine, mom!" I said as I felt the sweat running through my forehead.

Fuck, well, I never thought human bodies would be this heavy. I've gotta be honest here--I've never actually carried anyone before! I was used to being the one being taken since I was the youngest. I also didn't bring my two cousins since they look absolutely fucking disgusting when they were toddlers with snot and puke all over their faces.

"Must have been why their parents left," I uttered to myself as I heaved a deep sigh.

"Hmm? You were saying anything, son?" Mom said as she turned around to look at me with a hardened expression. It seemed that I really was speaking my thoughts aloud this time because even Christopher and Alejandro, who's carrying the other corpses, also looked at me with confusion.

"Oh," I exclaimed with a chuckle. "No, it's nothing! I was just reminiscing about the time when the twins were young.

"Ah," Mom then nodded as she nodded slowly as well while looking at the cobblestone and moist ceiling of the dungeon. "Yeah, time does fly past, eh? They're so old now."

"And fatter!" I then grunted loudly as I pulled the body bag forcefully after seeing it get stuck on a hollow area on the wet and rough floor of the first hallway of the dungeon. "I can't believe this guy is still sleeping after that!"

"Oh, well, that's Lucas for ya! He has everything in the world! He won't be called Ringmaster if he doesn't have amazing tricks up his sleeve!" Mom uttered with a condescending chuckle, which made me feel like she doesn't really believe what she's saying. "You can even use that guy as a punching bag all you want, and he still wouldn't wake up!"

"How so?" I asked as I walked beside Christopher who's just smiling there like a darn mannequin, not even shedding a hint of tiredness on his tone.

"Well, because he used one of the Organization's products that he himself formulated." Mom said as she moved her body on a sharp turn on the right side of this damp and dark dungeon hallway. "Apparently, once you make someone swallow this huge, huge green pill, they will sleep for two days like a dead guy! Remember Romeo and Juliet? Just like that, but it's real! No pulse, no breaths, nada! You're dead for two days, and you will wake up when the medicine says you'll wake up!"

When I turned into the corner where mom went into, I saw that it was a very, very dark--just absolutely dark--room! I can't even see anything so much that I could even faintly see the light dying when they touch the chamber.

"Where are we, mom?" I said as I heard the faint sound of a match getting lit up beside me. When I looked at my right side, I saw that it was Christopher, lighting up a torch on his left hand. I don't even know where he got that thing, but there it was on his hands anyway like it just appeared out of nowhere!

He then extended his hands to flash it on my mom's face, making the rest of his body disappear underneath the shadows and permitting only his hands to be seen.

"We're here to see if your idiot nephew is finally dead or not." Mom said as she dropped the body bag that she's carrying with a loud thud.

When she did so, the sudden roars, barks, and snarls of what sounded like an army of feral dogs erupted from beneath the sheer darkness that lay further away at the deepest part of the room.

"And we're also here to give yourself a bit of break, sheesh!" She then went towards me with a handkerchief that she took from her breast pocket. Like an automatic machine, Christopher moved his hands as well when my mom walked towards me. "Look at you! Your head is like a faucet! Are you a faucet boy? Huh? Are you an ocean man? Do you want me to take you by the hand and lead you to the land that you understand?"

Huh?

"What?" I said with a puzzled look on my mom.

My mom then grunted as she forcefully wiped my face with her soft handkerchief. "Nothing! It was just an old song mom likes, okay?"

"I don't get it," I said with a raised eyebrow as I let my mom continue wiping my neck as well.

"Well, I know something else who doesn't get it." Mom then moved her eyes to the left as if she knew that someone was standing there even if she was just talking to pitch darkness. "Alejandro, is my grandson dead yet?"

"No, ma'am," Alejandro said as I heard the sound of someone sniffing from afar along with the many growls of mutts near the origin of it.

"Good grief, wow." Mom scoffed as she moved away from me nearer where the dogs gathered. "He really is his mom's son, I give him that!"

Christopher's hand moved along with mom as she walked towards the deeper part of the darkened room. Because of that, it made me see the metal rails on the walls beside the damp and mossy cobblestone material used in this dungeon.

"Why is it so god damn wet in here?" I asked with a scoff as I finally smelled the faint stench of piss around me. I then moved towards my mom as I watched how the chained mutts around her feet stepped away as she walked towards the end of the room. I then laid my shoulder on the wall as I gazed upon the thick metal chains and equally thicker titanium collars around the gigantic and muscular hounds around us. They all looked so angry, hungry, and murderous, ready to kill anyone around them. However, none of them seems to be willing to attack any of us, although they're all hostile to whatever is sniffing at the end of this long rectangular room.

"Son, there's literally a dungeon beneath our house. Where do you think our sewer is?" Mom said as she stopped in front of something at the end of the room with her hands on her waist. She then sighed as she looked down at the crying boy before her that was trying its hardest to contain its tears. Perhaps, it was its way to keep the dogs from barking at him further.

"Oh, ew!" I exclaimed as I tried to rip the fabric on my cassock that touched the moist wall of the dungeon lightly.

"Hi, Kyle." Mom said as she towered over her grandson, ignoring how I kept on jumping all around the place with a disgusted look on my face.

"... grandma... I'm scared..." Kyle said with a clearly swollen pair of eyes.

"Heh." Mom said with a chuckle as a huge grin crept upon her face. "Alejandro, be a dear and put the dogs back to their cages.

"Yes, ma'am." With that, I heard Alejandro step towards the wall as his footsteps loudly echoed in the room with the silent growling of the mutts. Based on the creaking sound of metal that resounded from somewhere near, I could faintly guess that Alejandro pulled a metal lever down on the wall.

When he did so, I heard the rushing noise of what seemed like metal hitting a metal pipe somewhere beneath the stone walls of the dungeon. After a few seconds, the sound of chains clanking on the ground reverberated throughout the room, making weird rusted noises as it hit the wet stone floor. Out of nowhere, the dogs beneath me started to get pulled roughly into the open cages on the wall. With the mutt's whining noise, the cage swiftly dropped onto the floor with a loud bang.

"Do you know why you're here, Kyle?" Mom said as she remained towering over the boy, shedding her shadow all over it.

"...because I didn't eat my broccoli..." It said while playing with its fingers as its frown deepened.

"That's right! Very good!" Mom then knelt down with a gentle smile as she caressed Kyle's cheeks slowly. "Do you like uncle Anatoly, child?"

"y-yesss..." It uttered lightly as it continued to sniff louder now that it knew the threat was gone.

"You saw him eating his broccolis like a good boy, right?" Mom said she lightly pinches on the boy's cheeks with a childish tone.

"... y-yess, gramma..." The boy uttered as a light smile crept upon his face while slurring the word 'grandma.'

"Do you know why?" Mom asked, asking about why I like broccoli... which is absolutely weird, mind you.

"Because it's what good boys do!" Kyle said with a louder and happier voice than usual, which is... Wow, it was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen this week yet.

"That's right! Because he's a good boy!" Mom said with a lighthearted chuckle. "Did you know that he also hated broccoli when he was a kid too?"

I then scoffed after seeing this little moment they're having. "Mom, really?"

"i-is that truuuue!?" Kyle exclaimed with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes, but he got over it because he's a good boy! He started eating broccolis once he turned six years old! He was younger than you when he started liking broccoli; can you believe it!?" Mom said, while pinching the boy's cheeks lightly.

"That's amaaaazing!" The boy exclaimed with newfound happiness while looking at my mom's friendly gaze!

"That's right! Because he's a good boy!" Mom said as she patted the boy's head with the same amount of silly glee on her voice. However, that happiness she exuded was short-lived since her face turned stiff and cold right away. "But, you're not."

She then stood up and walked away from Kyle wordlessly, making the torchlight from Christopher's hand to disappear on the surface of the now worried boy. Without the need for further orders, Alejandro reopened the cages of the caged dogs again by pushing the level on the wall up. After the usual grinding noise of chains hitting the metal pipe, the dogs started to growl louder as their cages began to rise slowly.

"NOOOO!"

The usual shrill voice of Kyle echoed throughout the dark room, sending the dogs towards him again as they all barked and rushed towards him with no end in sight. Since their leashes were not long enough, they could not at all be close enough to bite the boy. Thus, they just circled around him with their snarls and fangs that packed God-knows-what sort of potent rabies dosage. Christopher then pushed the burning torch on the stone wall with a hiss, and when he left the hound room towards the dimly lit hallway, I saw that the torch was nowhere to be seen again.

As I heard the sound of the trapped little thing in the hound room, mom quickly pulled the body bags again. The two servant boys followed suit, and I was the one who got the memo last, so with a panicked gaze, I dragged the body bag that I was ought to carry again as I ran towards my mom. She was now walking a bit faster than earlier, so I can't seem to keep up with her pace.

"Oh, and Anatoly, dear." Mom said as she suddenly turned to face me, making me almost trip after seeing her. "I actually have a favor I need to ask you since you're so adamant in aiding me with my job."

"Sure, why not, mom? Let's hear it." I said as I placed the body bag on the wet stone floor again while hearing the endless echoing barks and screams coming from the hound room.

"It's not a hard job, but there's one condition I have to tell you first before you do it." Mom said as he raised his forefinger upward. "You can't die."