Stories from The Puppy Mill: I

characters featured: Jet and Red, Jack, Gabe

notes for reading:
Jet and Red have a tendancy to speak in unison. Any words said together are in double quotations (""spoken text here"") to enhance the reading.
Also, the boys reverse eachother's names when speaking to one another, to insinuate being mirror images of one another (Der is Red, Tej is Jet
Stray has set up a hunter's roost in a tree on Elli's property, due to hos own social paranoia issues. This is the tree Jack sleeps under.



At the base of Stray's tree, a head covered in brown and blonde hair matted by sweat suddenly rose out of the pile of blankets on the ground. Another night spent sleeping as close to Stray as possible (which was, sadly, on the freezing cold ground), he had been dreaming of chasing something when he heard the sound. It had been weeks since the last time, since they had left him behind with no more than knowing grins and the sentiments that he should be careful to

".. not get"
"too far fucked"
""right?""

The last word of the sentence had been doubled, their voices barely a note off from one another. He hadn't been able to respond before they had left through the gate, one a sudden blur of motion, dark crimson and black hair lunging forward at Gabe, snapping and then springing back at the last second, before the giant of a man could swing at him. And then they were shoulder to shoulder again, grins full and tongues gracing their open teeth now and then.

But he was sure of that noise. The yammering and barking sounds, human but in unison and then parting, only to clash together again. Amidst their noises he heard the roar of Gabe, and he rose further out of the blankets to the promise of what those noises meant. A hand slowly touched cold grass, frozen dew cracking under it, his shoulders rotating as he crawled oh so slowly, silently, from the bundle.

And then he was off, tearing over the grass in his hoodie and jeans, torn and worn converses springing off the ground below him. He was at top speed, there and then gone, and then suddenly he slowed. It wasn't a gradual pace, but instead a quick decrease that landed him walking, slowly hunching over to crawling, and then sitting at the top of the hill. He couldn't bring himself closer, but he was in easy view of the spectacle, and due to it, they could see him.

Below him were one of the wooden fences that made up the large pen areas, (corrals, if you will) that Ellis used on and off to keep some of the dogs separated when they were out. This had always been a good idea with certain men that couldn't get along for long periods of time, three prime candidates being the brothers Red and Jet, and their lumbering target Gabe.

From first glance Jack could see something wrong with Red, who clutched his left arm close to his side, face pale and teeth gritting, what Jack knew to be bright brown burning from between the slitted eyelids. He was circling and dancing none the less, and his form was not far off, behind Gabe, who's attention was on Red's typically more mouthy brother.

"Is anything"
"Broken? No, big fucker just"
"pulled it right now. I saw. So it's"
""fucking dislocated""
"most likely. You"
"fucking"
"lobotomized"
"poor excuse for"
"a guard dog,"
"the fuck he keeps"
""you around for?""

With the last words Jet feinted at Gabe and then jumped back, his auburn and black hair falling in front of his eyes for a moment due to the motion. It kicked up small bits of frozen ground, the motion, his jeans and sneakers a blur, his hands the entire time kept deep in the pockets of his worn and torn hoodie, covered in patches and the entire outside of the hood fully covered in pyramid studs. Along the rim spikes protruded like a halo, and it fell up and over his head, then back when he had jumped.

Even at that distance, Jack could see the grin cross the mouth spider-bitten by piercings, and Jack could imagine that it mouthed a word, and behind Gabe, Red's mouth would respond in silent movement, three words to finish the fist.

"Gotcha"
"ya dumb bastard."

When Gabe lunged forward, his movements much slower than either of the boy's, his huge hands easily missed Jet. This was, as always, a blessing, as his hands could easily encompass Jet's entire head, and if that happened, he would crush his skull. They had seen it happen to an intruder, they had told Jack, two years ago. The man had broken into the house and had shot Gabe straight through the shoulder. The blast had brought the brothers running, thinking Ellis was in danger (and also of course out of violent curiosity). What they witness was Gabe's lifting the man from the floor like a rag doll, Ellis running up behind him from the kitchen, but too late. The skull cracked, the man screaming, and then limp before Gabe dropped him to the floor.

It was why they were always so careful when dealing with the brute. Why they always kepts at the height of their craft when dealing with him. Like now.

Gabe hadn't expected the sudden feeling of a pair of feet hitting his shoulders, using the momentum of the huge man's lunge to send him stumbling forward, right into the side of Jet's foot. It snapped the man's head to the side, knowing a tooth free in the process, all the more ugly to add to an already hideous face.

As Gabe stumbled about, gripping his mouth a minute and then roaring again at Jet, who had hit him and therefore was the only thing he was going to pay attention to, Jack smirked. Life with mom for a few weeks had clearly not softened them, and he was pretty sure the poor woman had driven them over in tears about her horrible sons and how she once again could no longer deal with them. She saw them once a year, if that, when her maternal instinct got the better of her.

She almost always learned her lesson within a few days of their being in her home again.
He still listened every time they told him about the time they went back and she had found a man to bring into her life. And how it might have lasted longer, their terrorizing him, if Jet hadn't

"spazzed out right truly"
"at the fucking breakfast table. Poor"
"mom. She didn't deserve to"
"see that but he had me"
"going, he did. Jet just"
"up and grabbed that fork on his"
"full plate, reached right"
"front of his"
""shocked stupid mug""
"and then put it through the meat"
"of his left hand. Brilliant."
"Why thank you Der, you know"
"you'll always be"
"my favorite"
""brother.""

As if they had any others. Jack was sure the woman probably had her tubes after seeing what those two had grown into.

By now Jet was dancing back and forth again in front of Gabe, grinning while he stepped over his own feet, heading backwards as he picked up a piece of lumber left to mend the fence, and threw it over Gabe's head, and in the direction of his brother. As he did, he flipped the giant off and stuck his tongue out fully, crossing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, slurring loudly.

"This is you, you ugly fucker."

Behind him still, Red caught the piece of wood, backing up into a low crouch as he did. As he made this motion, his visage mirrored Jet's from only moments ago, red and black hair flying in front of his face, spider-bites on the other side gleaming as his mouth set itself in it's own grin. His hoodie was a reverse of Jet's, white with black patches, the entire hood spiked and the rim sporting pyramids. Slowly lowering himself further into a readying crouch, Jack could just imagine his tongue hanging out, as both of theirs always did, panting heavily like a cattle dog. They too, like Jack, had cut their webbing free, explaining that panting had never felt right until they had. And it was something they did constantly, the pair echoing one another in breathing whenever they were walking, working, or anything else they did. Including fucking.

Because they did everything together. Jack doubted they could exist separated.

They had mentioned an attempt on their mother's behalf once, but would never go into detail. It would normally be a mention of it, and then their arms would encircle on another's shoulders like Siamese twins, and their expressions would become somber.

No one ever pressed the subject further.

As Red prepared to take the swing, he halted and looked back in the direction of the house, away from Jack, following Jet's stare in that direction.

"Oi, Tej?"
"Oi, Der, Ellis is bein"
"wary, yeah. He got the"
"darts? No, looks like rubber"
""bullets. Fuck me""
"best get this"
"laid quick. Wait. I see guns"
"but no gun dog. Wait, where's"
"Jacky boy. No way he's not"
"guarding ol' Eli. Wonder where"
"there! HEY JACKSON. Why the fuck you"
"laying down? .. Oi Der!"
"Yeah Tej, I see it too, no"
"fucking"
""collar"".

They both paused, Red throwing the board to the side as he made his way in Jack's direction. Jet followed suit, dodging Gabe easily with a mutter of

"Fuck off Gabe, we're done."

before easily matching with his brother's stride. Their legs always stepped with their opposites in lead, even running as they did now in Jack's direction. When they reached him they slowed and then came stock still a foot from him, Jet nudging Red's cheek with his nose and teeth, snapping at it slightly.

"He is!"
"Uncollared? The fuck you"
"did, Jacky boy? We never"
"even got it"
"that harsh."

Staring up into the two pairs of brown that peered curiously right back at him, his eyes darting back and forth between then two, he ran a tongue over one of his incisors. He knew before he said anything that there would be problems to be dealt with, that he wouldn't be able to run with them like he used to. Foxes in chicken coops, and all that. But when he spoke his voice was assured, and didn't feel the slightest bit ashamed for it.

"I'm Stray's dog now."

""..... What?""