THEA
The dogs were getting restless. The men in the lobby were making quite the ruckus. I heard at least one of them go upstairs. I had to believe they wouldn’t hurt any of the animals. They were looking for something valuable.
The parakeets we took in yesterday weren’t worth much. We had a few hamsters and, of course, the kittens. None of them were the fancy breeds people paid good money for. I housed the leftovers. Any of the desirable breeds were adopted almost immediately. We had a list with people who wanted calls the moment a particular animal and breed came in.
“I need to get to a phone,” I whispered loud enough for Lucas to hear me.
A few dogs were whining and pacing. Their tags rattled as they pawed at their kennel doors. Kona growled when she heard the raised voices.
“You can’t go out there,” Lucas hissed.
“I have to get help. There’s a phone in the med intake area.”
“How are you going to get there?”
I pointed to the empty kennel next to him. “I’m going to go out through there.”
His eyes widened. “No. They’ll see you. You’ll be totally exposed.”
“It doesn’t sound like they are back there,” I said. The area behind the kennels was for employees only. We could access each kennel to pull a dog out for grooming, medical attention, or just for a walk without having to walk them in front of the other animals. It made things easier and safer. Every kennel had a door, kind of like a cooler. We never locked them. I just hoped this wasn’t the one time someone did. With our more aggressive dogs, I liked to, but that rarely happened. We only had one escape artist that managed to get the door open. One out of thousands.
“I’m coming with you,” he said.
I shook my head. “No. Stay here with Kona.”
“No way! What if they see you? What if they attack you?”
And that was exactly why I didn’t want him to go with me. The chances of being seen were high. The door that led to the back hallway had a massive window in it. Again, it was supposed to make things safer. If we saw someone in the hall with a dog, we didn’t bring another dog into the area.
“I’ll crawl,” I said. “They won’t see me unless they are looking. I can make it to the med room. I’ll be on my hands and knees the whole time.”
He shook his head. I could see the fear in his eyes. “Don’t leave,” he whispered.
“Lucas, it’s better if I go alone. Stay here with Kona. Stay out of sight. I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’ll just take me a minute to call for help.”
“But what if they get you?” he asked in a childish voice.
“You stay hidden. If you see a chance to escape, go. Don’t look back. You get yourself to a phone. Is that a deal?”
He nodded. “Okay.”
I stayed low to the floor and rubbed Kona’s head. “Watch him, girl. You keep him safe.”
She looked just as unhappy about me leaving as Lucas did. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be exposing myself, but it had to be done. It was only a matter of time before they found us. I didn’t know what they wanted or just how dangerous they were. I had to do what I could to keep Lucas safe. I quietly opened the kennel and crawled inside. I didn’t know why I was crawling. There were no windows into this room. It just felt like if I crawled, I was quieter.
I reached for the handle high up on the small door in the back of the kennel. My mouth was dry, and my palms were so sweaty I left palmprints behind me. I listened at the door. I could hear nothing, but that wasn’t surprising with the restless dogs making plenty of noise.
I slowly opened the door a crack. I heard nothing. Not true, but I didn’t hear anyone in the hall area.
I pushed the door open and crawled out. I hated that my ass was going to be facing the window in the door. I wouldn’t see them seeing me. The med room was at the end of the hall, which, from where I was, looked like it was twelve football fields away. I nearly burst into tears when I heard something break behind me. They were close.
Waiting and fretting wasn’t going to fix anything. I closed the door and thought about locking it, but if Lucas needed to escape, I didn’t want him trapped. I started crawling as close to the wall as I could get. I was so glad I had mopped the floor earlier. This would be gross.
“Hey!”
I froze. Like that would somehow make me invisible. I heard the door open. I glanced over my shoulder once. Two men were rushing toward me. Crawling was not going to do the trick. I scrambled to my feet.
“Stop!” one of them shouted and I heard footsteps.