Nice Puppy
Dec. 19th, 2016 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
i_ship_itDodger hadn’t realised how cooped up she’d felt until she survived her first brush with death. Although, it had not been a werewolf that had followed her (though she should have realised that, what with the moon being wrong for it, and all), but things might have gone a bit better if it had been. Because hellhounds didn’t exactly go away once the sun came up.
When she left Milliways, Dodger had expected to step back outside – since she had gone in, she expected that leaving would take her back out. Instead, she stepped out of Milliways and right into the crumbling McMansion she’d been intending to break into in the first place. As she rummaged around the cupboards for anything useful, she could hear the creature outside, trying to find a way in. After spending so much time in a place where food was not only plentiful, but in-date and varied, finding an old can of carrots and some store-brand dog food did not have quite the same feeling of triumph it once had. And worse, that lack of triumph only seemed to point out how far things had fallen that dog food was something she normally looked forward to. But not one to waste resources, she stuffed both cans into her bag and kept searching. There were still things in the fridge, but they were all things that had spawned their own ecosystems by that point, so Dodger let them be, not wanting to disturb what could potentially become the next dominant species on the planet.
Eager to get away from the sounds of the beast outside, Dodger abandoned the kitchen and found the stairs to the second floor. The entire house was coated in a layer of grime and grit, and felt like it wanted to fall apart under the next stiff breeze. But the bedrooms had beds, and doors that locked, so Dodger did what naturally came next: she set up camp and tried to nap through the night.
When Dodger ventured out in the morning, she could still hear the creature growling and snuffling around. Which told her two things. One, it wasn’t a werewolf. And two, it had managed to get inside. Dodger carefully walked toward the door, being as quiet as possible so the creature didn’t hear her. She didn’t dare open the door on it, in case it was too close to be able to close it again. Instead, she tapped lightly on the door, not liking how it sounded cheap and hollow beneath her fingernails. Before she even had a chance to consider what would happen if the beast was close to the bedroom, it slammed itself against the other side of the door, snarling and snapping while claws scraped against the other side of the door. Dodger leapt away quickly, looking around for the best means of escape. But she was on the top floor, and the only other way out of the bedroom was the window.
The beast made up Dodger’s mind for her, as its claws began to splinter the cheap door. Once it was through the first layer, it only had the second, equally-flimsy layer to go, and Dodger could hear it cracking and splintering already. Hooking her baseball bat onto the strap of her bag, Dodger ran toward the window and threw it open. Sparing only a cursory glance outside to make sure there wasn’t something else waiting for her below, Dodger jumped out, hitting the ground hard. A sharp, twisting pain shot through her ankle, but she ignored it. A sprain was inconvenient. Whatever was trying to get to her from the hallway was deadly. As she started to run toward the low fence around the back yard, Dodger could hear the rest of the door splintering, and the beast upstairs snarling its way through to her. She wished she could have closed the window, but there wasn’t exactly an easy way to have done that when she was falling out of it. As she reached the fence, Dodger looked back at the beast as it sprang out of the window after her, landing just as gracelessly as she had, and recovering just as quickly. Dodger looked over the fence at the steep drop down the hillside, and quickly climbed over. She ducked as close to the base of the fence as she could, making herself small and invisible as the beast – a hellhound, now that she’d seen it in the light – raced toward her. It snarled angrily as it jumped over the fence, but the snarl turned to a panicked yelp once it realised there was no ground beneath it to land on. The hellhound cartwheeled and bounced down the steep slope, eventually getting lost and buried in the thorny bushes below. Giving herself only a few moments to catch her breath, Dodger made sure the hellhound wasn’t going to follow her back up before she climbed back over the fence and ran toward the road. If hellhounds had moved in, this neighbourhood was no longer safe. Dodger had to find some new territory before nightfall.
When she left Milliways, Dodger had expected to step back outside – since she had gone in, she expected that leaving would take her back out. Instead, she stepped out of Milliways and right into the crumbling McMansion she’d been intending to break into in the first place. As she rummaged around the cupboards for anything useful, she could hear the creature outside, trying to find a way in. After spending so much time in a place where food was not only plentiful, but in-date and varied, finding an old can of carrots and some store-brand dog food did not have quite the same feeling of triumph it once had. And worse, that lack of triumph only seemed to point out how far things had fallen that dog food was something she normally looked forward to. But not one to waste resources, she stuffed both cans into her bag and kept searching. There were still things in the fridge, but they were all things that had spawned their own ecosystems by that point, so Dodger let them be, not wanting to disturb what could potentially become the next dominant species on the planet.
Eager to get away from the sounds of the beast outside, Dodger abandoned the kitchen and found the stairs to the second floor. The entire house was coated in a layer of grime and grit, and felt like it wanted to fall apart under the next stiff breeze. But the bedrooms had beds, and doors that locked, so Dodger did what naturally came next: she set up camp and tried to nap through the night.
When Dodger ventured out in the morning, she could still hear the creature growling and snuffling around. Which told her two things. One, it wasn’t a werewolf. And two, it had managed to get inside. Dodger carefully walked toward the door, being as quiet as possible so the creature didn’t hear her. She didn’t dare open the door on it, in case it was too close to be able to close it again. Instead, she tapped lightly on the door, not liking how it sounded cheap and hollow beneath her fingernails. Before she even had a chance to consider what would happen if the beast was close to the bedroom, it slammed itself against the other side of the door, snarling and snapping while claws scraped against the other side of the door. Dodger leapt away quickly, looking around for the best means of escape. But she was on the top floor, and the only other way out of the bedroom was the window.
The beast made up Dodger’s mind for her, as its claws began to splinter the cheap door. Once it was through the first layer, it only had the second, equally-flimsy layer to go, and Dodger could hear it cracking and splintering already. Hooking her baseball bat onto the strap of her bag, Dodger ran toward the window and threw it open. Sparing only a cursory glance outside to make sure there wasn’t something else waiting for her below, Dodger jumped out, hitting the ground hard. A sharp, twisting pain shot through her ankle, but she ignored it. A sprain was inconvenient. Whatever was trying to get to her from the hallway was deadly. As she started to run toward the low fence around the back yard, Dodger could hear the rest of the door splintering, and the beast upstairs snarling its way through to her. She wished she could have closed the window, but there wasn’t exactly an easy way to have done that when she was falling out of it. As she reached the fence, Dodger looked back at the beast as it sprang out of the window after her, landing just as gracelessly as she had, and recovering just as quickly. Dodger looked over the fence at the steep drop down the hillside, and quickly climbed over. She ducked as close to the base of the fence as she could, making herself small and invisible as the beast – a hellhound, now that she’d seen it in the light – raced toward her. It snarled angrily as it jumped over the fence, but the snarl turned to a panicked yelp once it realised there was no ground beneath it to land on. The hellhound cartwheeled and bounced down the steep slope, eventually getting lost and buried in the thorny bushes below. Giving herself only a few moments to catch her breath, Dodger made sure the hellhound wasn’t going to follow her back up before she climbed back over the fence and ran toward the road. If hellhounds had moved in, this neighbourhood was no longer safe. Dodger had to find some new territory before nightfall.
