In Search of Home

Chapter 13

The sounds of murmured voices dragged Viktor out of his drug-induced slumber. He woke slowly, as if he hadn't slept for the past week, but more importantly, he woke very, very comfortably. He did not want to move a muscle. After waking up without having harsh straw poking him at odd places, Viktor found that waking up in this sterile, blindingly white vet's clinic was probably heaven. He had finally died. Maybe Oorah had taken him out. 

Heaven didn't have annoying humans talking very loudly, though. 

"Can you guys shut the fuck up?" Viktor said grouchily. The room fell blessedly silent for a minute, and Viktor was already almost asleep again when Nikolas piped up. 

"We are glad you are awake! You slept for much of the day." 

He let out a sigh, sitting up from his makeshift blanket bed, thoughts of going back to sleep gone. He looked around, rubbing his eyes with his fists. The once empty cell was now filled with two dishes; one water and one filled with food. The food wasn't the same brick that had pulled him into a state of relaxation. It looked like chunks of dried jerky. He shuffled forward with his blanket tucked around his shoulders and drank his fill of water, nearly drowning himself. Man, he was thirsty. 

Chewing on some jerky - jerky! No more goop - which tasted like chicken, Viktor peered out into the room they were in, looking at all the shelves and tables. "What happened yesterday?" Viktor yawned, absently reaching up to inspect the bandages around his neck. He was extremely happy that the shock collar was off, even if the bandages felt a little constricting. No more jolts of electricity going down his spine. Even if they were mild most of the time, they were still a bit startling when you weren't expecting them. 

Aiko told the story. Apparently, after Viktor had gotten back in his new cage and fallen asleep, the alien vets had tended to all the others as well. Seeing as they hadn't hurt Viktor, they had all cooperated enough for them to get their collars off. None of them were fooled by the brick food, and eventually, the vets had given up on trying to get them to eat it. Removing the collar had been pretty nasty for the others since they hadn't been drugged to the gills. They had been on for so long, constantly rubbing and chafing at their necks that some skin had started to heal around it. Shocking their systems probably hadn't helped too much in the healing department, either. 

Aiko told him how the bandages had some ointment smeared on them, probably to combat infection. It had some numbing properties as well since Viktor couldn't feel anything wrong with his neck unless he pressed pretty hard on it. 

After everyone had been inspected and tended to, the vets had called it a night and left the building, probably to go home. They had yet to return, but the others assured him that they would most likely be back soon. The sun had been up in the sky for quite some time. 

"What d'you think they'll do with us?" Viktor asked, a bit nervous at the thought. He wasn't completely sure they wouldn't take them back to the ring. He was sure to have nightmares about that place for years. The rational part of his mind told him that the ring was no more; the cops had come and taken out all the animals, shipped them off to who knows where, and probably arrested the ringmaster. 

"We aren't going back there," Pedro said firmly, somewhere off to Viktor's left. He really wished that the walls of his cage were see-through. He missed looking at the others. "We'll probably be taken to where the other humans are."

"Yeah," Ezekiel said, a bit more faintly than Viktor was used to. He must've been farther down the room. "They see us like animals, so... Maybe we're a new and exotic pet. I call dibs on some rich old lady." 

Jeers and catcalls answered his proclamation, and Viktor laughed, laying against the wall. His light smile fell off his face as he realized something. "We probably aren't going to see each other again. Not unless we get rescued."