The Underdog Part 10; The Compound

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The compound was a dark place, no dog of any breed returned alive from the compound. No one knew what happened in the compound, but one did know that they never returned. It was a devil's lair, dark and mysterious, it was a dog's hell. 

The wheels of the van screeched as the vehicle came to a halt inside the compound. All the dogs who were agitated due to nervousness stopped barking. The silence was visible, it was on the perspiring tongues and sniffing noses, it was felt while giving a good scratch at the back of the ear and getting orgiastic relief. Browny, bundled himself in the corner of his cage, he pulled his legs towards his belly and wrapped the tail around for comfort. This tiny tail provided safety and comfort in times of distress like the one he was experiencing. He cooed but all the dogs in the van barked at him for being whiny. They had accepted their fate, all of them knew they will not again see the lights of the city and their existence was now at the hands of the compound warden, who was now the master of their fate.

The people from the van picked up the long noose and approached the van and their faces that did not reflect the tiniest emotions, it was their usual routine. The rusted doors of the van, which were shut only by a latch, any dog who had the slightest courage and will have broken it, proved too strong for most of the dogs that were so strong that many of them would have chewed off the net of the box they were caged in. Yet the feeling of helplessness, compounded by the hopeless desperation of other canine fellows made these strong dogs forget their strength and remain static in their helplessness.

As the people of the van opened the doors, the evening twilight, which created a more somber environment than that was present urged these canines to give out their ancient cooing sounds as if by the cue of a maestro of conducting orchestra all dogs cooed in unison. Such cooing had no effect on the people as they one by one picked up the cage and loosed the dogs in the bigger cages of the compound. Here the dogs of the compounds who had witnessed far worse fate were hopelessly watching newcomers that will become dust in the backyard. Nothing was pleasant about this compound, here the dogs starved as they were only fed once in two or three days depending on the mood of the warden of the compound. The cages were filthy with dog poop lying everywhere, fleas, gnats, and ticks ruling the cages. They had a wild run on the degrading furs which provided more places to suck blood from. A hellish stench made some dogs impervious to other smells or rather smells of any kind. Their greatest strength taken away these dogs were unable to jump up on the little food that was often dropped in the compound. These made these dogs more vulnerable to starvation and more susceptible to ticks, gnats, and fleas that were devouring them from the inside out.

When Browny was released into one of these big cages, the stench made him vomit, it was the worst. The few dogs in the cages sat bleak-eyed in the corner, their hopeless eyes searching nothingness on the distant horizon ignoring the new arrival in their cage. These conditions of living, where no dog lived more than a month, starved and exsanguinated to death.

Browny determined to escape from this hell, looked around the cage for any weak links, and his determination strengthened with the overpowering stench. This is not the end. He reminded himself of the car and the dog in the car. He will not go quietly into the night and till his dog breath last he was determined to fight.

----To be continued.


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