2017-11-09 - spike - The New Shop 39 - Dogs in the wilderness

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 39 - Dogs in the wilderness
Date: 09 November 2017

Chapter 39
The rest of the week, I’ve got no idea what happened on the shop floor. Intensive training throughout. Further honing of our senses. More extreme exercise.

I’m sure when I get out of it this time I’ll be huge, the amount of work we’ve done but each day, I knew I was getting better, faster, stronger. Able to withstand almost anything the wilderness could throw at me.

On Saturday night we were all lined up once more and the sarge addressed us as a pack.

“Tomorrow, we begin. One final training day for the prey. Tyson and Slasher will be transferred to the field to prepare for the hunt. As a result, no-one’s getting out until the race is completed.”

All the dogs wagged their tails.

“I’m glad you like that. You’ve all progressed. All exceeded what I thought was possible before I saw Tyson and Slasher for the first time. Many of you have matched the level they began at under my training, a few have exceeded it. You’re all ready for the hunt.”

A lot more wagging.

“There is one safeguard I haven’t mentioned yet. All of you now. Clench your jaws tight.”

The moment I did, I froze to the spot. Solid as a rock.

“That is your defence mechanism. If you’re attacked by a bear, wolf or other wild animal, possibly even a man with a gun, this is how you survive the encounter. The freeze will last for five minutes. More than enough time for a wild animal to realise there’s nothing of interest. If the aforementioned man however decides to collect this strange bulletproof figure, it’s up to you to frighten the life out of him and escape when you do unfreeze. Your trackers will indicate that you’re travelling far too quickly to be on foot if you are shoved into an RV or something and we do have contingencies in place.”

As predicted, I was mobile again in minutes. I nodded.

“Good. Now get to your cages, it’s going to be a very long day for all of you.”
* * * * *
The moment we’d had our final wash, flush’n’feed, it was out, into the van and on our way.

Where we were going? No idea. How long did it take. All I could say was hours, but when we got there, god, it was beautiful. The fall colours were stunning, the air was crisp and still, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. That meant one thing from my past experience. I’d better find one of those shelters tonight ‘cos it was gonna get cold.

I looked at Slasher as the 4x4 turned and drove back the way it came and started padding in a circle.

He did the same. Get the direction for those shelters, the finish line.

Then, the sarge’s voice. “The place you are is their start point tomorrow. Their destination is fifty-four miles away, you know the direction. There are shelters and food stations dotted all around the area, every five miles. It’s currently one in the afternoon so I suggest you get moving.”

There was a click, then, I would’ve said silence, but I could hear myself padding on the ground. I could hear Slasher beside me. I could hear bird song!

Oh god, to hear things again!

The moment I got the first shelter in the direction of the finish, I bolted and looked at Slasher. He was bolting in a slightly different direction. Good. That meant more area covered by both of us.

I’d never felt so alive! It was an amazing experience, running across that landscape like the dog I was. The only thing lacking that real dogs had was the sense of smell. I could hear everything. As I ran, I noted a few interesting features.

There was poison ivy and poison oak. Whole bushes of the stuff. Banks of stinging nettles dotted the landscape too. All perfect hiding places. I wondered how many of the others would consider those. I knew the suits would protect me.

I don’t know how far I’d run or for how long but… There. It had to be that thing. It wasn’t what I’d expected in the least. It was makeshift, made of twigs and branches, covered in moss, roofed with turf and bedded with leaf litter. It looked ideal. I circled it and sure enough, the direction changed too. Then I spotted it, a pole stuck in the ground ten feet from the back of it. Attached to the pole, a cylinder with a strange tube… thing. It seemed to be a perfect match to the mouthpiece they’d fitted that morning, I wandered over to it to experiment, opened my jaws, shoved the tube in and immediately felt my stomach fill.

That was me good for the day, I looked around, took a deep breath of pure mountain air and crawled into the shelter.

I knew there wouldn’t be any action until the morning anyway. Might as well get a rest. Maybe I’d move on to the next one or seek out some water later before it got dark but right now… I turned around in my bed and settled down.

I snapped awake. The sun was setting. Shit. I hadn’t realised just how comfortable those shelters were. Warm too. I could get to love this very quickly.

I looked out more closely… I think maybe another hour of good light and maybe the same of being able to see without running into trouble. I bolted towards the next nearest shelter to the finish line, keeping an eye out for streams or ponds.

Another five miles. That’s how far he’d said the next one was. I could sense it getting closer. That sunset though. God, it was stunning. Good sign too, it’d probably be a fine day tomorrow if those old folklore things worked out.

I could feel the temp dropping though. It was going to be a cold night. I increased my pace.

The moon began to rise and it was full. Oh thank god. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness as the sun sank and with the moon, everything took on a silvery tinge. I could continue.

It was getting closer, I adjusted my direction and there… Another makeshift shelter. I crawled in, burrowed under the mound of leaves and relished in it as my body heat warmed my bed.

Again, I woke up. The sun was rising, there was frost on the ground and I lay there, my head poking out of the shelter watching as nature’s wonder revealed itself. This was a good place to await their arrival, ten miles closer to the finish line. They were probably expecting us to pounce much closer to the start point. Maybe Slasher was.

I don’t know how long I waited there but the sun was getting quite high in the sky when my doggy senses started tingling.

The hunt was on.

I trotted around that shelter a few times and noted the directions of each of them. A few seemed to have gone off on a vector, off the direct track to the finish line but not all of them. I couldn’t tell how many, the sensations were too close together.

I bolted back the way I’d come and when they were getting close to the edge of where I thought my senses would cut out and theirs would kick in, I backed into a shrub of poison oak and waited. The good thing about this one… It not only backed the main path, there was a steep slope on the other side which laid out the whole area before me. All directions, any dog trying to pass… I’d see them.

There… He was clearly nervous. Glancing around, over his shoulder, jumpy. He sensed me, but he didn’t seem to know quite where to look. I had no idea which dog he was, he was just a sleek, gloss black figure with a black collar and a silver barrel containing the tracker. Just the same as mine.

I didn’t know if this one could hear too and wasn’t prepared to give away my location more than the tracker was, so I laid low and waited.

He tried changing direction, looking around but totally overlooked the poison oak and nettle banks. Obviously too ingrained, the dangers those plants posed to normal people. No problem for any of us now.

He was almost level with me on the path when his nervousness got too much for him. He sprang into a run. I jumped out of the bush after him, sprinted, pounced and grabbed his tail in my jaws, giving it a yank.

The figure froze instantly, skidding, toppling into a roll eventually coming to rest ten feet away.

I looked around… There… A fallen tree. Using my nose and forepaws, I shoved the body behind it out of sight from the path and returned to my bush. More were on the way.

The next one was also wary. This one wasn’t jumpy though but it was exceedingly cautious. It circled and appeared to sense the direction in which I was hiding. It moved away, circled again and then bolted at right angles to the path away from the bush.

I sprinted after him. He was good, this one. Could it be Storm? Dash? Nah, I doubt I could’ve caught up with Dash but I was catching up with him. He tried to dodge, to increase his pace but a few minutes later, another pounce, another tail yank. Another one neutralised for half an hour.

The run had moved me out of their range and into mine. I could sense the closer ones again. Or rather, the closer one. The others… I circled.

There… Quite a distance… There… A little closer… There… I started stalking in that direction… Very close.

The moment he was within a hundred feet I hunkered down behind a tree.

This one, not on the path. He was aware of me, I could tell that. As he moved from tree to tree, trying his best to keep out of sight, he looked around each time, studied the landscape trying to spot any sign of black.

I hunkered down further almost burying myself in the leaf litter at the base of the tree.

Again, when he was within about twenty feet of me, I pounced but this one didn’t flee. He bolted towards me. Oh god this one was going to be fun.

We collided. Rolled around in the leaves and then… Oh hell! That fucking hurt! A really hard yank of my tail. Then, he bolted.

Fortunately it seemed we weren’t programmed to freeze, only the prey were but it took me a few seconds to recover enough from the agony to run after him. I didn’t want him to sense me so I circled, I moved into my sense range so I could track his movements without being sensed myself.

Clearly, he thought he’d evaded me. His movements became more direct, more confident.

Then… He froze. I could still sense him. He wasn’t moving. Why wasn’t he moving? I continued to circle in front of him just as another dog sprinted onto the scene. I sprinted too, continuing my circle so I was directly in his path.

I hadn’t sensed that other dog. That could mean only one thing. Slasher.

Two against one. Excellent!

Two predators obviously confused his senses enough for him not to notice me as fear took him and he fled. He ran directly into me, this time, I got it. A good hard tail pull.

Slasher skidded to a halt in front of me, I nuzzled him then pointed my nose in the direction of one of them. He nodded and pointed his nose in the direction of one of the others.

We plodded off in different directions.

The moment I got to a bluff overlooking the valley, I studied the landscape for signs of what time of day it might be. I’d been out and hunting for hours of course, but I had no idea how many.

The sun was well past its zenith. Afternoon. Probably about two. Maybe even three. I circled again to get a good bearing on my latest target and padded in a direction parallel. I wanted to study this one. Find out his tactics by sensing his movements before making my presence known.

As I continued, a warning tingle began to grow. I circled again to determine the direction to avoid and altered my course to compensate. It brought me closer to my target but I could easily drop back if I sensed I was getting too close before I’d passed the hazard.

Within half an hour, I knew. He wasn’t trying to hide. He clearly hadn’t sensed one of us yet so he was heading towards the finish in a relatively straight line. He wasn’t even running, just plodding along at a leisurely pace.

I ran ahead the moment the sinkhole which was clearly the hazard was passed and started circling in front of him again. I wanted to be about a mile ahead so I could find a good hiding place. I continued, running parallel, sensing him fall behind.

What astounded me was just how physically fit I was now. I could run for miles without feeling my energy drop. I was in my element and I loved it.

There. Stinging nettles, a huge bank of them. I ran around it, entering from the rear so my target wouldn’t know there’d been any disturbance and settled down for the wait.

It was another while before my sense of him cut out. He was near and now he could sense me. I crawled forward so I could see out of them. Rose up so I could look over the tops without giving myself away too much.

This one was being clever. Its sense kept appearing and disappearing as if it was dipping in and out of the one hundred foot zone to sense where I was while keeping a safe distance. The trouble with that tactic was, he was giving himself away to me each time he did so.

He was moving around me so I inched forward myself trying to keep pace with him without losing my cover. Then I spotted him. Middle of a meadow walking in a sort of zig-zag to keep his sense of me. I backed away so he lost it and kept my eyes on him. He tried moving in my direction. I backed away matching his movements. He shook his head, turned tail and ran.

Hah! Oh god this was good. I sprinted out of the nettles after him.

He looked back in alarm as he sensed me again. I was gaining but just as I pounced, he zigged, I missed and he increased his pace, running for his life.

Dash. It had to be Dash. I don’t think I’ll ever catch him in a direct race. I needed another plan for that one. I glanced up at the sky for the latest look at the sun and… Was… A drone! Of course. I’d not thought but I could use those too.

See a drone, there’ll be a dog nearby even within the hundred foot numb zone but right now… Shelter and food. The sun wasn’t setting yet but it was getting close. I vectored away from Dash and concentrated my senses on the closest shelter again. I suspected he was doing the same thing.

It was another few miles before I found it but on the way… Oh god, a stream. A pure mountain stream. I hadn’t even realised. I suppose there must’ve been enough water in the food to keep me going for a while but at the sight of it, I realised just how thirsty I was.

Time to test those additions. The nose tubes would seal when submerged? Let’s see shall we. I dipped my mouth in a deeper section, cooling my head and tried to inhale. Instead, it felt like sucking water through a straw. None went up my nose but the cool water filled my stomach.

Satisfied, I continued on my way, finding the shelter just as the sun was on the horizon.

I walked around the back of it and again, a pole, a cylinder. I plunged my tube onto the matching connector and ate my fill, then settled down for the night in the shelter.

I don’t know how many miles I’d covered that day but I fell asleep in minutes.