This new trust which had begun to grow between us gave me the chance to take a better look at the collar attaching the chain to his neck. Slowly I reached up to touch the material buried in his black fur. My fingers recognised the rough coil of thick rope which had been carelessly knotted, far too tightly around this poor creatures head. A chain link had been looped through the rope making it impossible to get the dog untied.
There was no way I could leave him here. I hooked a finger under the rope which caused the dog to yelp in pain. I could feel a sticky area of his coat where the fur was much thinner on his neck. In his thrashing against his restraints the rope had pulled at his fur and burned into his neck. Parts of it were raw I moved my fingers along to avoid them.
“Shhh, it’s okay. We’re going to get you out. Don’t worry.” As I soothed him, I picked up my knife and slid it under by my hooked finger, the blade facing out against the fibres of the rope and began to work away at cutting him free. It took less than ten seconds for the knife to cut through the makeshift collar, and the chain fell with a clatter to the floor.
The moment the dog saw he was free he ran over to the door and barked excitedly desperate to be let out of his prison. “Okay. Okay. Shhhh.” I opened the door and let him run past me, out into the store. My task completed, I turned back around and walked into the stinking room to empty the storage cupboard.
Rolling the refill bottle out was easy, the bottle which sat on top of the cooler, however, not so much. It took me fifteen minutes to work out how to get the damn thing off the base unit and even then I ended up spilling about a third of the contents all over the carpet. Carrying it between my legs like an oversized kettlebell out to the car was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. Sweat was running down my back and soaking into the waistband of my jeans, my t-shirt was so damp it clung to me like I’d just stepped out of the shower. Desperately trying not to waste another drop, I hid it with the rest of my stash behind the bushes and ran over to get the car. It had started to rain heavily while I was inside. I needed to get out of it. The smells which were being washed up by the rainwater were disgusting, excrement and rotting meat. I didn’t dare to think what kind. Why did it smell so close?
8
ONCE I HAD pulled the car up to the side of the building I got out and began the process of loading it up. I had to move quickly and was painfully aware that I would easily be spotted if someone were to walk out into the street. A few times, while my head was tucked inside the car stacking my spoils I froze stiff with fear that I could hear footsteps behind me. I waited ready to dive into the driver’s seat and set off leaving whatever I hadn’t already packed in the bushes.
I remembered the cans of iced tea just as I was loading the second bottle of water into the back of the car. I locked the car manually as the key fob hadn’t been working and dashed back inside the store. I jogged back to the staff room door and arrived just in time to watch it swing shut in front of me. Could it be the dog?
No… I paused. The cans weren’t worth the risk. I turned to go back out to the car, but before I had managed to clear the store entrance, I heard a man bellowing.
“Where the hell is that useless dog!” I broke into a run. Heading for the car I dug my fingers into my front pocket for my keys. Fingers fumbling in my hurry to find the key and get into the safe haven of a locked car.
Just as I felt the key slide into the lock, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and swung me around sending my back crashing into the car door.
“You!” He was a short man, overweight with a filthy face and horrible beady eyes which seemed to pop out of his head almost as if someone had squeezed his head a little too hard.
“Spot of shopping was it? Where is the dog?” The hand not holding my shoulder against the car moved up to curl around my throat pushing my head against the cold, hard surface of the car.
I tried to scream, but his grip on my neck was getting tighter, stopping the sound from escaping. He didn’t care.
“More to the point, who the fuck said you could take my stuff?” My vision began to fade. I didn’t see what happened next but felt the hot spray of liquid hit me in the face. It covered one side of my cheek, and I squeezed my eyes shut. It was only when I tasted iron that I recognised that it was blood. But whose?
My brain was working away checking on my pain, but it was slow to react. The lack of oxygen from the throttling by the man had caused me to nearly pass out. I was lucky he had let go of me when he did. Wait. He’d let go!
I needed to get into the car. My vision was blurred, but I could make out the metal of my cluster of keys, shining against the wet, black concrete pavement. I grabbed them up off the floor and yanked at the handle of the car door. It flew open and I jumped inside slamming it closed behind me. I pushed down the locks. I looked outside but could barely see a thing. The rain hammered against my window. Not wishing to tempt fate I jammed my key in the ignition and drove until I was out of the sight of the building.
Once I was far enough away, I stopped the car. I didn’t think that I could drive safely just yet. Making sure the car was still locked, I pulled down my sun visor to check my face in the mirror. My eyes took longer than they should have to focus on the sight before me. My blonde hair was plastered to my face slick with a mixture of rain and grease having not washed it since the attack. My right ear and chin were covered in bright red blood. My hands shot up to examine my face. Looking for a wound, a cut perhaps but I found nothing. The blood wiped away with the back of my sleeve. It wasn’t mine.
It was almost morning now. The rain started to clear as the sunlight shone over the tops of the hills on the east side of town. Rosa would be awake now and screaming. Thankfully it wasn’t more than five minutes until I would be home and pulling into our driveway. I turned the key in the ignition and making sure the doors were locked I began the journey back. Realising in the light brought by the dawn that I was facing the wrong way out of town. I turned the car around and steeled myself to go back the way I had just come.
I hadn’t got very far when I saw the silhouette of a dog standing in the middle of the road. I slowed the car and began to weave around it. The dog seeing the vehicle had started to run alongside it. This was getting weird. Why was this creature following me? Could it be the same dog? I took the turn which would lead me back to my home. In the rearview mirror, something black caught my attention. It moved steadily in the distance. My suspicion that it could be the German Shepherd from earlier forced me to stop and take a closer look.
The animal which I had freed from the store less than an hour before, was now attempting to follow me home. I rolled down my window and looked back as the animal approached my side of the Golf. In the emerging daylight, I could see now just how bad the rope burns around his neck had been. It took me a moment to notice that his muzzle was covered in blood.
It had been him who had stopped the man from killing me outside the store. I looked down bewildered at this poorly treated creature as he sat patiently tilting his head to one side. Tentatively he reached up and pawed at the car door. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude brushed aside my caution, and I opened up the car door. We stood there looking at each other in the road for a moment. He walked to the back of the car and sat down again. I noticed that he had a nasty limp on one of his back legs. Possibly an injury from the fight with his captor? The fight which saved my life.
The least I could do was give this dog some food and water, maybe I could keep him in the garage until he was well healed enough to fend for himself. I owed him that. Without much more thought on the matter, I opened the back door, and he jumped up onto the back seat. Nestling himself between the formula and the black bags. He was too big to lie down back there, but he seemed to settle himself and rested his muzzle on the headrest of the passenger seat in front of him.