『 Game of Survival 』A Canine Hunger Games

♔PROLOGUE♔

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P R O L O G U E

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                   The night was tall and cold. Murky clouds hid the moon in a downpour of rain. The air was heavy and rancid on the tongue. Smoke drifting into the air from the cluster of towering buildings that was called a city. The sharp clack of claws against wet stone echoed down the alleyways. Nearby car alarms blaring up to fill in the silence of night. A blur of dark fur heavy with rain, darted through the streets.

Metal coated his tongue, drooling down the sides of his mouth and stained teeth turned a velvet red. Aspen hurried down the dark alley, adrenaline fueling each step as his paws created small splashes as he ran. He panted in frantic gasps, nervously glancing behind him as if to make sure something wasn't following him. It became clear that the crimson staining his maw was not his own.

 Aspen glanced back in front of him and yelped. The alleyway narrowed to a stop, ending abruptly with a large bricked wall. He turned and spun, twisting his momentum in an attempt to avoid crashing. Suddenly the floor under his paws grew slick and the ground fell out from under him. The world froze as his paws slipped against the wet rain and he flew into the wall. He felt his head slam against the bricks and he swore he heard something crack.

Dizzy with pain, Aspen clawed at empty air, trying to get a hold of himself in a frenzy of panic. The world was a frantic blur. The rain suddenly felt more heavy than it was before. Hard pellets of stone splashed into his soaked pelt and pummeled him into the floor and seeped into his bones. Lights danced across his vision, rain drizzling into his eyes.

Shouts echoed down the dark alleyway and the distant pounding of feet grew closer. The shoes sounded like they were everywhere. Above and behind Aspen. Fear leapt up his throat and despite his effort to swallow it, a whimper escaped. His body shuddered and he couldn't move.

Lights flashed at the edge of his vision, and the visible silhouette of a man peered around the corner of a wall. Blood wet on Aspen's tongue, he snarled, disoriented, and tried to back into the wall.

A light that could compare to the sun flashed against his eyes and he stumbled backwards blindly. He tried to get to his paws but his chest felt heavy and his legs couldn't carry his weight. He toppled with the slightest breeze.

One blink, the rhythmic sound of footsteps grew closer. Two blinks, he felt a shadow cover the lights. Three blinks he couldn't feel anymore rain. Four blinks and everything was dark.

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He tried to move his paws but his mind was walking through mush. He could feel the world beneath him moving but he was not walking.

After what felt like hours of swimming in darkness he could feel himself gain focus. His eyes fluttered open and he was in the arms of a human, pressed against the chest. The taste of rustic blood on his tongue grew sharper and he could feel loose hands wrapped around him in a hug, smooth wet plastic concealing the warm pulse of a living being.

Aspen didn't know how long he was out, but the longer he sat there in the arms of his captors the closer they got to whatever hellish scheme they had for him. Scared and confused, he felt his heart pick up in pace. He was caught. He was caught. He was being taken away and will never be seen again. His humans. His family. It was all gone.

He heard about dogs that were taken away by mysterious men in black cloaks, shoved into white vans to be never seen again. Either they never came out alive or stepped free of the hands as robotic toys to do human's bidding. 

A sorrowful ache pierced his heart like a vengeful dagger, tinged with regretful venom. Thoughts blurred around him and his breath came in quick, tight gasps. He couldn't breathe. The walls the hands encased him in closed around his lungs and he was choking on his own spit. His paws twitched, his mind a frantic bird stuck in a too-tight cage. Panic ran in his veins and the instincts of a cornered wolf arose.

He jerked violently, twisting his body in the hands of his captor. He rammed the back of his head in the monster's chin and he was dropped in a surprised shout. Air invaded the tight walls around his heart and he jumped free. He inhaled a shaky breath but he wasn't safe yet. The musk of the humans that stood around him still held a tight hand around his mouth.

He pushed forwards on unsteady paws into the crevice between the men towering around him, and shoved them aside. Sharp shouts of shock roared behind him and he couldn't hear any footsteps to indicate they followed. And for a split second, Aspen thought he got away.

He turned to make sure the strangely cold humans in pursuit of him didn't follow, a light feeling rising in his chest as he didn't spot their blinding flashlights. But suddenly a thin line of metal dug into his throat, catching the eager air in his lungs and tugging him down. He hit the floor with a yelp, mind stunned as ice invaded his veins and pain shot up from his nose. Something warm dripped down his chin. He felt the thin color tighten and suddenly he was pulled from the ground.

He distantly became aware of an aching pain from his nose and a chatter echoing in his ears, laced with triumph and malicious pride. He opened his mouth to snarl but a swift tug from behind him and white doors closed around him. The clean walls of a suspiciously white truck surrounded him and all he heard was a deafening crash of metal from the back of his head before darkness unfolded beneath him.

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