Chapter 6: The End And New Beginings

Time trickled by swiftly and a few years had passed without anyone noticing the disappearance of the boy named Caleb. The boy who would have occasionally been seen roaming the streets simply seemed to have disappeared and no one appeared bothered by that fact in the slightest. 

Nothing really ever seemed to change in the small sleepy town hidden away in the far mountains and no one was seemed bothered by the boys disappearance, but of course Caleb had already left that place far behind him in search of greener pasters.

The past few years had been enlightening for him. 

He'd been forced to struggle for a while, but all things considered he had managed to make the best of a shitty situation.

 His big break had finally come when he managed to land a job as a laborer on at a pretty new construction firm and it was enough for him to finally find some stability in life. Of course life still had its ups and downs but things were on a general upward trend for the unrelenting Caleb.

With a stifled grunt Caleb tossed the final bag of cement that he'd been lugging around into the mixer before stretching his aching back. The blaring sunlight made him squint his eyes as he looked around for his partner in crime that had seemingly gone missing for the last couple of hours. 

As if he had read Caleb's mind a streak of white suddenly flashed from under some of the pipes that had been packed away to the side of the construction site and lunged at him.

 Caleb barely had enough time to brace himself before the wind was knocked out of him as the white mound of fluff slammed into him.

"Down boy! Come on now Fen, you know no playing when we're on the job." 

Caleb pushed against Fenrir's snout in an attempt to reduce the amount of slobber that was making its way unto his face, but Fenrir wasn't going to stop until his slobber tax for the day had been paid.

"Still don't know how you managed to get the boss man to let the mutt come on site." 

One of the others workers who had been sitting off to the side scoffed and spat on the ground.

"Back in my day this sort of thing wouldn't have allowed to slide. This is supposed o be work site not a damn doggy day-care."

Caleb glanced towards his co-worker and on seeing who it was he sneered at the man before 

"Well you might have been right if my boy Fen didn't pull his own weight around here. A lot more than what could be said about you at least."

The disgruntle man quickly scrambled to his feet but was quickly pushed back to the floor by one of the other workers who had been sitting with him. 

"When will you learn to leave the kid and his dog alone man. Every other day you always try to stir up some problems."

He then turned towards Caleb and shook his hand towards him as if to tell him to get lost

"As for you, your shift was supposed to be over half an hour ago, hurry up and head on home and take your 'support dog' with you."

Caleb finally managed to push Fenrir away and stood to his feet, grunting towards his supervisor before making his way to the office to clock out. He didn't linger long though and quickly made his way towards the exit after grabbing his things from his locker. With his bag on his back and Fenrir's leash in hand he started his trek towards home.

It didn't take him to long to find his way towards the shadier side of town where his one bedroom apartment lay. 

It wasn't much but it was enough for him and Fen. Thankfully the land lady was pretty negligent and he'd been able to ignore the no pets rule pretty much. It helped that Fen had sort of become the friendly neighborhood pet and the few kids that lived around seemed to like him.

Caleb sighed as he unlocked his front door and as the musky smell of his dingy apartment hit him, he scrunched up his nose in disgust before throwing his work bag into the corner as he closed the door behind him.

"Home sweet home right boy?"

"Ruff!"

"Alright, alright I'll get you your lunch already you lazy bugger. Not like you had much work to do today anyway."

The two made their way towards the old beaten down fridge where Caleb pulled out two slabs of meat before tossing them onto the waiting skillet. The sound of sizzling meat and the savory aroma of smoking herbs that had been added to the dish started to spread throughout the apartment

"Nothing like a good steak if I do say so myself right boy?" 

Caleb glance towards Fenrir who's eyes were focused on the stove with his tongue out.

"Forget I even asked."

Shortly after the two sat at the kitchen table inhaling the tinder meat with relish. It didn't take long for the two to finish the meal before finding their way unto the old ratty couch in the living room.

"Another day another couple pennies in our pockets. Just another average Tuesday am I right boy?"

Caleb scratched Fen's ear half heartedly as the two cuddled up on the couch to decompress from the day.

"A few more extra shifts and we'll finally be able to move out of this shitty apartment and find someplace better. I'll find someplace next to a dog park too so you'll have all the space to roam to your hearts content, maybe you'll make a few friends. Bet you'd like that huh boy." 

Caleb nudged Fenrir, who simply rolled his eyes at Caleb before pawing at the remote on the table.

"Alright I'll shut up and let you enjoy your show. Still don't get why you like it so much." 

He picked up the remote and flipped on the TV to Fenrir's favorite show, 'The Great British Bake Off', before settling into comfortable silence. He kept his eyes open for as long as he could manage but in the end he succumbed to the embrace of slumber.

Caleb opened his eyes to a black room. The Tv that had been playing was off and clearly the sun had already set as he was currently sitting in darkness.

He screwed up his face in annoyance when he realized he'd most likely missed out on his evening shift but didn't let it bother him to much. The fact that he was out of it for so long could only mean that he really needed the sleep and it wasn't like he couldn't handle the tongue lashing he was bound to get from his boss tomorrow.

 What confused him though was that Fen wasn't curled up on the couch with him. 

Looking around the living room his eyes settled on the now closed window. Since it had been open the last time he was awake, it could only mean that Fenrir had once again accidently hit the wooden wedge that he had been forced to use in order to keep window open. 

It was something that happened a lot as Fenrir had a tendency to use the window to get to the fire escape when he needed to go downstairs to do his business or something.

Suppressing a groan as he stretched his slightly sore body, Caleb quickly hobbled towards the bathroom before strutting around the empty apartment thinking of what to do now. 

It was to late to go to work, and there wasn't much else that he really had to do. He pondered for a moment before settling on getting some laundry done. He made his way to his bedroom where he started sorting out his clothes into different piles, the old washing machine that came with the place couldn't really handle large loads and he had no intentions of paying for a new one anytime soon.

The sounds of something rattling made its way to his ears as he was separating his clothes and the silence of the apartment ony made the noise all the more notacible. 

Caleb paused what he was doing to listen more carefully. There was silence once more and just when he was about to continue what he was doing he heard the rattling once again.

Now that he was paying attention to he was able to tell what it was and thankfully it was a familiar sound which allowed him to let go of the breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. He sighed in annoyance before making his way towards the living room.

He didn't bother to turn on the light and made his way towards the window before yanking it open.

"You know Fen, if your going to use the window to go outside the least you could do is to make sure you don't knock out the damn wedge that keeps it open on your way ou-"

His words were cut off when a fist suddenly appeared form the darkness and hit him square in the nose with enough force to make him see stars instantly. He immediately clenched his hands to his face and took a few steps back as his vision swam but was quick to come back to his senses.

He was barely out for a few seconds but that was more than enough time for his assailant to climb through the window and lash a kick to his side. He flinched when the kick connected and didn't have time to react to the second fist to the face.

This time Caleb wasn't able to bare the pain and just flopped unto the ground like a marionette who's strings had been cut, barely conscious of what was happening around him.

Through his clouded eyes, he watched as a second assailant made their way through the window before speaking to his companion who had already started looking around the apartment.

"I thought you said the place would be clear!" The slight tremble in his voice was enough to show his unease, but that didn't stop him form joining his friend from scoping out the place.

"Clearly I was wrong but it doesn't really matter just tie him up and throw him in a corner or something we gotta hurry up and get out of here." The first assailant mere glanced at thee still down Caleb before making his way deeper into the apartment.

"Damn it man there wasn't supposed to be witnesses." The second assailant continued to grumble under his breath as he yanked the cord from the pants that Caleb was wearing and quickly tied his arms behind his back before propping him up in the corner next to the window. Once he was finished, he joined his buddy in scouring the house for anything valuable.

Caleb was fading in and out of consciousness while all of this was happening and the ringing in his head, most likely from the slight concussion he was sure to have developed by now, wasn't helping much.

He was frustrated at himself and at how careless he had gotten to have even let this happen to him in the first place. He knew what kind of neighborhood he lived in after all and yet he still let himself get too comfortable. It wasn't the first time someone had gone out of their way to rob him, but never had he actually opened the way for them to get into his house before

Thankfully he didn't have much cash on hand, he usually deposited it straight into his bank account when ever payday rolled around, and he didn't own most of the appliances here anyway. As long as he kept his head down and let the robbers take what they wanted without making to much of a fuss he wouldn't have too much to worry about. In fact, he might even be able to make a profit if he managed to squeeze the money for compensation out of the insurance fund that he was made to pay every month. 

Either way Caleb simply decided to kept his head down and ride through the break in with as little resistance as possible. He listening as the unwelcomed men ransacked the place, hoping that once they realized there wasn't much to take that they wouldn't take their anger out on him.

 A sudden noise near the window once more drew his attention and his heart dropped when he saw Fenrir's snout poking through the window, his nose twitching as he noticed the scent of the home invaders. He quietly leaped through the window before making his way towards the bound Caleb.

He rubbed his head against Caleb and once he was sure that he was okay he started licking the blood that had covered Caleb's face from his broken nose. While Caleb was pleasantly surprised that Fenrir was safe, the sight of his canine friends wasn't a welcomed one at the moment.

"Its good to see that you're okay boy but you need to go, just head back outside and wait till they leave okay boy? Please you have to go!" Caleb whispered into Fenrir's ear but the stubborn dog refused to leave his owner. He walked around Caleb before sitting in front of him.

"Please Fen you need to go! I'll be okay, but if they see you they might do something so you need to go please Fen!" Still Fenrir refused to budge and Caleb could only sit there quietly. He didn't want to admit it but Fenrir being there helped to calm him down, and he only hoped that things wouldn't get any worse than they already were.

He didn't have to wait too long though as a few minutes after Fenrir had appeared, he heard the sound of loud cursing followed by something slamming into the ground before the sounds of heavy boots against wooden floor made there way back towards the living room. 

Just like he assumed, both assailants still had their faces covered but it didn't take a genius to see that they weren't too pleased with their measly haul. Whether they were planning to take out their frustration on Caleb or were simply planning to leave would forever be a an unanswered question as both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they turned towards Caleb and noticed the rather large and conspicuous dog simply sitting in his lap while staring back at them with teeth bared. 

Silence descended on the room as everything seemed to freeze for a few seconds before all hell broke lose.

"The Hell! Where the fuck did that thing come from!"

"Shit forgot about the damn dog."

"You knew there was a dog? You know I hate dogs!"

"That's not important right now!"

The two started shouting at each other and Fenrir didn't seem to appreciate that very much. He stood over the still tied up Caleb and barked at the two clowns who had started a shouting match in the middle of the living room. Caleb's voices also joined the cacophony of noise as he tried and failed to stop Fenrir from antagonizing the robbers further. Nothing he said seemed to work and only seemed to edge Fenrir on.

"Shit, we have to go now! We've already made too much noise as it is, someone's bound to have called the cops by now so lets just go." 

The first robber brushed off his companions queries before quickly striding towards the still open window seemingly ignoring Caleb and Fenrir, but as soon as he got within a few feet of them, Fenrir pounced on him and with a throaty growl he latched onto The robbers calf. 

A roar of pain was all that the robber manage to get out before Fenrir brought him to his knees. A short scuffle ensued between the two as they rolled around on the ground before Fenrir received several well placed blows to the head that made him yelp and whine in pain.

"Fucking mutt!"

The robber unsteadily stood to his feet and kicked the now limp Fenrir in his stomach while trying to staunch the bleeding from his leg while the occasional whine of pain was the only indicator that Fenrir was still conscious after the beating he'd received. 

All this time Caleb had been shouting and screaming but no one was paying attention to him. Yet the sight of a limp Fenrir seemed to light a fire under him and he kept screaming hoping that someone would barge into his apartment, scaring off the two assailants before they could do anymore damage.

It wasn't until the second assailant kicked him in the stomach as he made his way to the assist his friend that Caleb stopped shouting. The room was silents once more except for the grunts of pain from the bitten robber and the low whines of Fenrir. 

"Your mask!" The second assailant who had rushed towards the first to help him stand gasped in shock and quickly tried to pull up the shirt of the first robber to cover his face. Caleb hadn't noticed at first but the robbers face covering had been removed at some point during his scuffle with Fenrir. 

Caleb merely glanced towards the two intruders but felt his heart drop when he locked eyes with the now uncovered robber who had been looking in his direction. He didn't know why but he just knew that things had only gotten worse.

He watched as the man straighten hos back and pushed away his concerned accomplice before pulling out a gun form his waste band. All the while he kept his eyes fixed on the slowly despairing Caleb.

"Things weren't supposed to go this way but fuck it. I'm already pissed off as it is and things can't get much worse than they already are," he turned to his partner and jabbed at the duffle bags they had dropped. "Deal with the things we managed to get while I deal with these two. Can't exactly leave any witnesses behind." 

The first robber pulled out something from his waist and pointed it at Caleb. Several loud bangs sounded out in the apartment before both assailants hopped through the window, knocking out the wedge as they went.

Several seconds of silences passed while Caleb lay on the floor confused at what had happened before the pain hit him. The pain started of small but quickly grew unbearable. In a short amount of time he already started to feel cold and he tried to calm himself by taking deeper and deeper breaths as it started getting harder and harder to breath.

In the back of his mind he could feel as the blood, no his blood, drenched his clothes as it slowly trickled out of his body. His mind was getting cloudy, and he couldn't help but notice that no matter how hard he breathed in, the air seemed to not be doing anything as it just kept getting harder and harder to breath. 

He quickly swiveled his head around looking to call out to Fenrir for help, only to notice that he wasn't the only one who had been shot. Slumped against the wall, where he had been punted when the crooks had kicked him, lay the crumpled figure of Fenrir. His once pristine white coat now blemished and tarnished by the streaks of crimson blood that seemed unending as they poured out of the holes on his side.

"No, no no! Fen, oh god. Fen listen to me. Its okay boy its going to be okay." 

Caleb madly wiggled his way towards his companion, every movement sending pangs of pain through his injured body, but at the moment he didn't care as he fought through the pain until he was laying next to Fenrir face to face. 

He wasn't sure if it had been his frantic wiggling or if the robber just hadn't tied him to tightly and he hadn't realized it, but his hands had finally manage to come undone and he used his trembling hands to pull trembling body Fenrir into his.

He stared into Fenrir's unsteady emerald eyes and the fear that he could see in them almost broke him.

"H-Hey boy. I-Its okay… I'm here with you okay? Remember… we've got each others back okay… I-It'll be okay… I'm here for you boy, I'm right here."

Caleb coughed and almost choked on the viscous blood that had started spilling form his lips, but he didn't stop mumbling calming words as he kept his eyes locked with Fenrir.

It was all that he could do as he slowly watched Fenrir's emerald eyes, that always seemed to sparkly slowly loose their shine. The short shallow breaths that had kept Fenrir alive become shallower and shallower with the time between each breath gradually growly longer and longer. 

Tears made their way to Caleb's face as he slowly watched his friend fade away and only when Fenrir took his last breath did Caleb realize just how cold he felt. At some point in time the pain had faded away but the cold, this overwhelming cold, seemed intent on over taking him. 

As the cold embraced him though, he found that he didn't really mind the cold all that much. He had made a promise all those years ago that he would live on for Fenrir's sake and with him gone there really wasn't a reason to hold on anymore. Caleb toke one last look at his fallen friend and companion and prayed that if he managed to have a next life that they'd find each other again, before closing his eyes for the last time.

***

The first thing that Caleb noticed upon regaining consciousness was how warm it was. The last thing he could remember was the all consuming cold so the sudden warmth was concerning for many reasons.

Had he been brought back? Did the paramedics arrive in time to save him? If so maybe they managed to help Fenrir as well?

The chances of that being the case were slim to none but he still held out a faint hope that that was the case. 

Caleb waited and waited but nothing seemed to change. Was he perchance in a coma? He hoped not, as he didn't have the money to pay for that kind of medical bill and would hate to have to deal with that as soon as he woke up.

Caleb simply let his mind wonder on the possibilities as all sorts of thoughts kept bouncing around in his mind, yet as time passed with nothing but darkness and the now all consuming warmth Caleb simply decided to stop worrying about everything. What ever happened would happen.

Besides this warmth was so nice he didn't really want to leave it anyway.

Caleb silently lay in the darkness, his consciousness seeming to fade from time to time but he wasn't to bothered by it. From time to time he thought that he heard some strange sounds that he couldn't really understand, and at one point he thought he'd even heard singing but it all seemed to fade away and was simply replaced by the all consuming warmth.

He was simply warm, happy and content.

That all changed when his darkness was disturbed by a sudden speck of light. It was jarring and he didn't want to go to it, yet it was as if he had no control over whether he went to it or not.

The light was getting closer and closer and the warmth was fading away. Then the pain came. It felt like he was being crushed in a vice and no mater how he tried he couldn't do anything but go with the flow. Finally the pain of being crushed stopped but that was only the start of new torture. It was too bright, his skin felt raw he couldn't do anything but flail around and scream in protest of the unjust treatment he was experiencing.

Finally the brightness seemed to fade and as his eyes adjusted to the bright light, the first thing he noticed with the large face that seemed to be inspecting him. He didn't get much of a chance to gather his bearings though as he was quickly covered in something that felt cool against his skin before he was handed over to another giant and then another before finally being handed over to another who's smiling face seemed to occupy all of his limited attention span.

He felt a warmth that he craved and threw everything that was confusing him to the back of his mind and focused solely on the warmth that he craved. Slowly his consciousness once more faded away but only one though kept fighting to be heard in his mind. Why were the giant people wearing that odd metal plate on their foreheads?