Chapter One/Mutt

"Life doesn't give us purpose, we give life purpose."

-The Flash

It was very dimmed. I couldn't really see. Oh, but I could smell. The sweet scents all around me. I smelled her. I immediately knew who she was. My mother. My creator. I went over to her screaming my way between my two siblings. Although I was just a puppy I could recognize my surroundings.

When I was finished drinking the milk from my mother I moved away. I felt a hard surface underneath me. It was rocky and rough. I could feel the edges of the surface, pointy and rugged. There were plenty of other scents too. One that smelled delicious. I also couldn't hear but I could feel movement. I was removed from the hard,rocky and rugged surface and under a much softer surface. There were these weird bumps over the softer surface. It was smooth, almost calming to me.

Whatever it was, it moved me around. A lot. I was squirming so much. I couldn't stay still. I was then put back down. A couple of weeks passed even though I couldn't really feel it. We didn't feel time the way others did. Nothing moved fast or slow. It was just us and mother. Each day felt as if I was still a newborn. No time passed in my mind. I could eventually see and hear... I couldn't see the color. Everything was black and gray. That was my world. The way I thought. Black and gray.

My mother was very furry but so was I. I got it from my mother's side. My siblings however, weren't as furry and had a much smoother touch to them, like my father. I was different from my brothers and sisters. I was smaller, weaker. I didn't let it stop me though. I always did my best to make sure I was good enough. I smelled her very often, my mother. I liked her sweet scent. It was like strawberries.

I never knew my father, we were only ever around mother. She would often tell us stories about how he left to join his human. Mother gave birth to us in an alley. I learned that word, which means we were born in a street, a quiet street. Nobody would find us, we were safe. We eventually started to find food around this dumpster. It would become our source for food. We would hunt and find trash. Another word I learned. We were learning as we got older. I had two sisters and two brothers. As I was one of the girls. We spoke to each other often, my siblings and me.

"Let's go, children." Mother said to us in a soft voice.

"Yes, Mother." We all said unison.

My siblings and I followed our mother back to our alley. Our home. Our safety, where nothing or no one could ever find us. It was all we knew, how we lived, what we learned. This is how we survived. Together. If we were apart, we would surely die of it.

We knew how to communicate. When we fought over food, mother would yell at us. I didn't like being in trouble. I was usually very quiet. It was one of the perks of being the weaker one. They didn't question me on it. One day I learned that the soft surface I encountered was a human hand. I had felt that same surface when a human came up to us.

We were in our alley. Our safety, doing what we usually did. My brothers were play fighting as Mother searched for food. We were enjoying each other. Then, we heard an echo of footsteps heading towards us. We didn't exactly know it was a human at first, until we took a closer look. He approached us, stared, tilting his head sideways. I copied him, curious, he reached down and touched mother.

"You're a good girl aren't you? Are these your pups?" He asked, in a dark, low voice.

You could only hear mother's growl at him. He held up his hand, and slowly backed away. He made his way back to his truck. When he did reach his van, he opened the back door, and pulled out a long pole. He came back towards us. At first he grabbed mother. The pole tightened around her neck. We could hear her gurgling. The human dragged her back to his van. We scrambled to find hiding places. The human came back for us. One. At. A. Time. Until eventually we were all caught, and put behind hard wires.

The human had loaded all of us in their vehicle. We were moving, faster than I thought possible. We came upon this strange building. The human had let us out in these strange surroundings. There were many scents. I couldn't place them all at once. I concentrated on one specifically. Strawberry. It smelled so sweet it started to hurt my nose. I smelled sweaty and a touch of scared.

The human gave us each name. I didn't understand it, but I didn't understand humans either. We already had names. My sisters were "Ruff ruff" , and my brothers were "Woof woof woof." Instead, he gave my two brothers the names Rotter and Owen. My two sisters were named Kenzie and Bexley. Then, there was me, the last one of the pack. The human kept calling me different things. Which I didn't understand. Eventually, one name stuck. Mutt. The human called me Mutt. I came more willingly when he called me that name. It seemed to be the one he liked to use the most. So, I just silently agreed to it.

I just decided to go by that name. It was way easier to answer that one. Every time the human called that name I came to them. My mother taught us that there were males and females. It's an instinct that we know between us dogs. For humans, she explained that our human was a male. It was harder to understand than that. Even though we knew what we were, it was sometimes hard to determine who was a female and who was a male. The smells are different for each pup. We had to find what smell we associated what with. For males, I smell grass and sweat. Sometimes grease too. The females smelled way better than the males. They had a scent of rose, and cheese. Boy, do I love cheese.

She said he was also The Alpha of our pack and that we must serve him at any cost. That was how packs worked. We had a leader, the boss if you will. We called him The Alpha, the male leader of the pack. The strongest out of all of us. I didn't like that idea too much. I liked being my own dog. I liked my freedom to roam around as I pleased. I learned that's not how things worked in our world. I must obey him. That was a new word we learned, dogs. Dogs, animals, man's best friend. Well, I sure wasn't going to be this man's best friend. He was evil, vile, and malicious.

He eventually quit paying attention to some of us. He stopped feeding the ones he didn't pay attention to. Which was me, Owen and my Mother. We would starve for several days, before he would feed us. It was to keep us alive. The worst kind of torture we endured. We hoped that he would come to his senses and give us food. When we couldn't take it, we decided to try and get it ourselves. When we did he would grab this stick with straws at the end. Which I later learned was a broom. He would then hit us, calling us bad dogs. We eventually barely got anything. He slowly started to starve us to death. Our stomachs, which contained food we would eat. Instinctively growled when we could smell food in the other rooms. We were growing weaker. I was even weaker than before.

"We need to go." Owen said in a deep voice.

"How can we?" I asked in a lighter tone.

"Now children, we must wait a little longer." Mother said in a soft voice.

"We can't just sit and wait. He chose who and what he wanted." Owen said.

"Mother, if we don't go we might die. No, we will die." I said urgently.

"Children--." Mother started to say but was cut off.

The human came over to us with a smile. He picked up Mother and handed her a treat. He put her back down and led her over the water bowl. Owen and I followed. When we got close he grabbed the stick with straws again. The broom. The torture device. The hurt and pain on both our snouts. We backed up on our fours. His smile left his face.

Bexley came towards us. The look of sadness appeared in her eyes. Owen and I approached her with caution, slowly and carefully.

"What's wrong Bex?" Owen asked her.

"Kenzie was sick with Parvo, and died right there." Bexley was saying as she was choking over her words.

"What do you mean Kenzie died?" Owen asked.

"She just ate some grass and fell. Some white stuff started coming out of her mouth." Bexley was talking really fast.

Parvo was like kryptonite to us pups. If we didn't get the care we needed we had a chance to catch it, and once we did well… It was harder to treat, however, sometimes it was deadly and there was no saving the pup in the end. I could barely breathe when I heard the news. Then again I was already weak. Everything in me was slowly breaking down, and wasn't working as properly as before.

"That's it. I had enough of this human." Owen said. He turned around and started to head into the living room area. He spotted the human. He arched on his back, teeth glared, eyes with fury. His tail was stiff as a board, nothing could snap him out of it. He slowly approached the horrible human. Lowing his head to the ground, getting ready to pounce on the human.

Rotter was coming around the corner when Owen went to attack the human. Rotter was quick to the defense and bit Owen. Owen fell to the floor and started bleeding to death. He laid there, his body moving violently. He was twitching badly. The human looked at Owen in disgust. He picked Owen up slowly, gagging as he put him in a bag. The human carried him outside, and slowly started to dig into the ground. I watched from the window as the human put Owen in the ground.

Then, he laid him in the ground next to Kenzie. There was one difference between the two of them. Kenzie had a rock, and Owen didn't have a rock where he was. I was so furious. Anger coursed through my whole frame. My brother attacked the other brother over some vile,insignificant human. Some malicious human who didn't deserve to be My Alpha. Suddenly, the word freedom hung in front of me. I smiled wickedly at my own thoughts. No one was going to be my Alpha, nobody but me. I planned to break away from the pack. Owen was dead now, and it was only me. Mother was long gone from our own little private pack. The human chose her.

The human whose name was James only wanted Mother to replace Kenzie. Now, what was I going to do? I decided that I would run. I would get away from this house as far as I could go. Later that evening I quietly made my way out the back door. James had put this hole through this giant object. Which I kept running into all the time. Mother told us it was a door. I used it to go out.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mother asked me.

I turned around to see she was starting to look in better shape. Her fur was turning back to its original color. Her nose was wet, and her tongue a red color.

"I am leaving tonight." I said to her, turning back to the small door for us.

"Why are you leaving dear?" She asked again, this time more demanding though.

"I don't belong here. I would just end up like Owen." I said to her harshly. I regretted how I sounded to her. She was my mother after all.

"Now Mutt you know it doesn't have to be like this." She said, almost in a whisper, but I could hear her.

Bexley and Rotter came out of the shadows. They came to stand beside Mother. Their muscles showing underneath their fur. I could see their gleaming stares at me, daring me to try and attack. When did we turn against each other? I backed away, whimpering,cowering at my own brother and sister.

"Mother, I can do as I please. I don't want to starve to death." I said quickly, gulping down what little pride I had left.

With that, I hurried out the doggy door and made my way through the night. I silently wondered what would have happened to Mother if the human chose me instead. Would I be cruel and kill her, or would I like her to go? The thoughts poundered my little brain. I wandered throughout the night, on the dark, cold empty streets. It wasn't so bad being on my own.

I wandered the streets during the night, scavenging and finding food in various places. I found food in boxes, and underneath these long chairs. Even other humans would sometimes give me food. This one kind human lent me their hotdog, she then chased me. It was a fun game of tag. I would then sleep during the day. I would sleep beside these tall poles. I would even mark them too. The food wasn't terrible. In fact, some of the stuff I found was quite delicious. Like the little mouse I found, he tasted good. He didn't feel so good coming out my other end though. I finally found the old dumpster we used to eat with.

I could smell Mother's sweet strawberry scent all over it. I could faintly smell Owen's. I could feel my eyes sweating. I was dirty most of the time, but whenever it rained I got a bath. Which I didn't like at all. I liked being dirty, it kept away other animals and some pesky humans too. I would hide underneath something. I would even hide in buildings if I could.

Some of the humans couldn't handle my stench. One human male came up to me and picked me up. He took me and put me behind bigger bars. I felt a sense that I had been in a similar place. It hit me, it was when the horrible human first got us. I tried to find a way out. I was running around, but there was nowhere for me to go.

I stopped running to catch my breath. I looked back at the heavy bars. I was small and weak. I grew some since being locked up with Mother. I looked to see if I could wiggle myself between the bars. I sniffed, I could smell the human across the room. I looked for the door we came through. It was shut. Maybe if I wiggled and hid I could escape. I squeezed myself between the bars, and I huffed out. I let out a little toot. I guess the turkey I ate wanted to come out. I slowly crept underneath the male human's big desk. I could see him swinging his feet. I was small enough to fit there. I hid there for a moment. I didn't want him to see me, and put me back behind the bars. I quickly glanced over to my right. There was a little box. Maybe I could fit in there.

I slid across and hid into the box. The door opened and a friendly lady came in. She talked to the human male. He motioned towards the box. I prayed to Baboo right then and there. The human woman came over, and put a lid over the sideway box. She picked me up, but almost dropped me.

"Wow John, what did you put in this box?" The human female said.

"Well it is paperwork after all." The human male said with a slight chuckle.

"I'll go through it and give it back to you on Monday." The human female said, and left with the door shutting behind her.

I kept sliding in the box. She sat me down. I could barely see throughout the little holes on the side. My breathing got slower, eventually everyone started to leave. The human woman picked me up, huffing as she did. She carried me out the door. I could feel her gently lay the box on the ground. I jumped out of it, scaring her nearly to death. I ran as fast as I could. I was back out on the street. Dashing away as fast as my legs could carry me. I hid behind what looked like a trash can. My breathing faster and finally settling down. I was calm, I was free. I was free from everything. I laid there for the rest of the night. I was awoken by a small rat tagging tail. The sound of breakfast ringing in my ears.

I got up and chased the rat around until finally I caught it. It looked pitiful but all I could hear was the sound of my stomach growling. At that moment, that rat was my meal. I was the predator and it was my prey. I gulped it down quickly, my stomach settled down right then and there. Yum. I licked my lips remembering the delicious taste. I walked around, finding my next place to take a short nap. I needed to sleep and get my energy back up.

After I found a soft blanket in the trash, I settled for my daytime nap. I only woke to the passing of cars. It was dinnertime. I got up and raided different trash. I ran, I needed to run to burn off all the energy I just had. The sun was slowly starting to rise. I stopped and watched as it was rising. It hurt my eyes, I looked away. In the distance, I could make out a figure. It looked to be Rotter. First my hopes were up, and then they quickly shot to fear.