But a tree can’t grow in concrete.
I run to the corner, ecstatic to find not only is the ground here dirt, the bottom part of the chain link is loose on one side where the roots of the tree extend above ground. I dig frantically at the dirt, my paws scraping against stones and sticks, not caring how much noise I might be making.
Someone shouts, the sound distressingly close by, but I keep my attention on the slowly expanding space under the bottom of the fence. The person draws closer, their voice growing louder as they call out my location to the other searchers.
I pause my digging, eying the opening. It will have to do. I force my body through the small space, the jagged edges of the broken chain link scratching furrows down my back. Something hits me in my haunches, a biting pain, but it doesn’t matter.
I run and run and run.
And run some more, the world nothing but a blur around me.
Eventually, the sparse woods give way to a more industrial area and then wide streets lined with houses. The adrenaline that kept me moving is gone, and I’m forced to pause, my sides heaving and the edges of my vision going dark with every gasping breath.
Maybe I could just sit for a minute…
I stumble, my paws tripping off the curb and into the street as I fall onto my stomach. A bright light comes from my left, then the blare of a horn precedes the sound of screeching tires as a vehicle slams into me.
The impact tosses me to the side, leaving me crumpled in the street as everything goes dark.
Three
???
I awake slowly, myeyelids heavy and refusing to stay open for more than a second. My whole body aches and my throat feels scratchy and raw.
Where…?
How…?
Groggily, I blink a few times, trying to clear my vision and the view in front of me sharpens into an unwelcome sight. I’m in a cage, the metal grating still a little blurry, but unmistakable as anything else.
My heart immediately starts racing even as everything else in my body slows and sinks into despair.
All that effort…
All thathope…
Useless.
I’m right back where I started all because I was too exhausted to stay on my feet. Or at least check for cars.
Maybe it’s time I finally gave up. I’m never getting out of here.
What does it matter anymore?
At least I got to see the sky one last time.
I sigh, shoulders slumping as I let go of the idea there’s any future for me but the one that ends like this, a prisoner in a cage. If I could cry in this form, I’d be sobbing. As it is, my eyes burn and begin to water, making the room outside the cage even blurrier. I press my back against the rear wall and curl into a ball, tucking my nose under my tail.
But one of my back legs doesn’t bend right, the limb encased in a rigid cast of some kind, which is… strange. Through some early trial and error, the humans know how quickly I can heal. Even if the impact with the car left me broken, the humans wouldn’t bother with a cast.
They never have before anyway. After all, what use is a cast when they prefer to observe the healing process?
I give my head a brisk shake to push away some of the lingering mental fog before cataloging my surroundings a little better than my blind despair allowed before.
Yes, I’m in a cage, but this isn’t the same one I escaped from. This one is much larger, the bottom slightly padded, and there’s what looks like a bed off in the corner. Here there’s enough space for me to stand up without hunching and actually walk a few paces to the other side.
Though there’s nothing that really tells me if I've moved up in the world or down, based on the improvements to the cage alone, I'm leaning toward the former.
