Unknown Terror
Author's Note- another story with a moral, because you guys really seem to dig these. This is Busta's story. Enjoy!
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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
-Unknown-
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"Oh my-"
"Who knew so many people could fit in a pt shop?"
The five members of Nsync stood on the small, makeshift stage, stunned. They had agreed to perform at the grand opening of a local Orlando pet shop. The place was packed for the free, mini-concert. People overflowed out into the mall, and as far as everyone could tell, people were still coming.
The pet shop looked nice, and sold various small animals and supplies. There was a large section of tropical fish, cute rodents, bids, rabbits, and puppies. But the girls were too busy watching the guys to look at the cute animals.
No one had expected such a big turnout, because the performance wasn't advertised. The employees told a select few, and word had traveled like wildfire.
To make matters worse, the manager asked, "Do you know who these guys are?"
An eruption of screams rang through the small pet shop, upsetting the animals. The birds squawked and flapped their wings uselessly, the puppies whined and barked, and the other animals tried to burrow to safety.
Chris looked around feeling bad for the animals, and his eyes rested on a small Pug behind the glass. It sat in a corner, away from the others and shivered.
His heart melted at the sight of the helpless, scared puppy.
"Hey guys!" Justin said into the microphone. "Thanks for coming!"
The screams rose up again, upsetting the animals further.
"As you all know," J.C. continued, "We're here announcing the grand opening of Fur, Fins, and Feathers. Now let's make this opening grand!"
The music started, which was a tape with their voices dubbed out. They sang to 'I want you back', the music blaring out the speakers. The girls went crazy, screaming and packing further into the small pet shop.
Chris's eyes darted amongst the scared, cowering animals and the screaming girls, loosing his enthusiasm. He slowly stopped singing and turned to the others as they continued the song. They looked at him questioningly but kept singing. "I can't do this," he said, quiet at first, then repeating himself louder.
He looked at them sincerely, then got off the stage and went in the back room. Some of the girls got confused looks on their faces, so the rest of the group finished the song to prevent further confusion. When they finished the song, they prepared to leave, but they saw the store manager go in the back room. So they continued, singing 'Somewhere, Someday' slightly distracted and off key.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
"What is your problem?" the manager yelled at Chris. "You think you can just leave in the middle of a performance? That's not what I'm paying you $5000 dollars to do!"
Chris sat on a chair with his head in his hands, trying to shake the images from his mind. "I just can't do it," he started. "It's too loud for the animals."
"Who cares? I'm paying you to sing! Do you see those girls? They are my future business. If you don't sing, I have no business."
"If I do sing, you won't have any animals to sell!" Chris yelled back.
Suddenly, the music stopped and they were stuck in an awkward silence. Chris glared at the manager as he headed back out. He hated doing this, but he couldn't let the others down either.
He got back on stage, earning an eruption of screams. They began the next song, 'God must have spent a little more time on you', but everyone could tell Chris's heart wasn’t in it.
They saw his sad glances to various parts of the store, and he wore a face that looked like he was being forced to kill someone.
Finally the mini-concert ended. They only performed six songs, but for Chris it was six too many. They all were in the back room, cooling off as the crowd of girls disputed.
"So what was that all about?" Lance asked casually.
"Did you see what we were doing to the animals?" Chris asked. "It was way too loud and hot for them."
"Is that all?" Joey laughed, but quickly sobered at Chris's hurt look.
"I can’t do something knowing it will cause pain to animals," Chris said quietly, looking at the floor.
"Don’t worry about it," Justin shrugged. "No harm done."
They were interrupted by the manager walking in on them, wearing an angry look.
But before he could continue his rampage from earlier, Chris interrupted, "Look, I don’t expect to get paid in full, so just give us what you think is fair and we'll be on our way."
The manager stood in shock, stunned at having the words stolen from him. "Deal," he replied.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
The guys slowly filed out of the back room and into the now closed pet store. As the others waited for the manager to write the check, Chris wandered around the store. He looked at the gerbils, the rabbits, and the birds, but he finally wound up in front of the small Pug he saw before.
He watched it as it sat huddled in the corner, alone and shivering. When it looked at him, it's small brown ears perked up, and it got a hopeful look in its eyes.
"Well, it was fun," Justin smiled as they started to leave.
"Wait," Chris sighed. "I want this dog."
The guys looked as him like he was crazy, but the manager hurried over. "Sure thing! That Pug only costs $399.99, but for you, $350."
"I'll take it," Chris said, watching as the puppy tried to smell him through the glass.
The manager went into a back room and pulled the puppy out of his display cage.
"What are you doing?" J.C. asked.
"I'm buying this dog," Chris replied as the manager replied with the dog in his arms.
"You'll need a collar, leash, bowls, food, and toys," the manager said, picking the things out on his way to the register. When he got there, he rang everything up. As he put the collar and leash on the puppy, he announced, "Your total comes to $421.03"
Chris pulled out his wallet and handed over his credit card. The Pug sniffed it as it passed in front of him, then walked over to Chris.
The others were still frozen to their spot, watching with bewildered faces. "Hey there," Chris said, picking up the dog. It licked his chin, sensing Chris was taking it away from this place.
"Here's his papers," the manager said, handing Chris some white papers. 'He'll need shots too."
"Okay, thanks," Chris said, putting the papers in the bag with the other items.
"You guys have a good day," the manager smiled, handing Chris his credit card back.
"We will," Chris replied, grabbing his credit card and bag as he headed towards the others.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
"What have you done?" J.C. started as they walked to the rental car.
"But look," Chris said, pushing the Pug in J.C.'s face. "He's just so cute!"
J.C. looked at the dog skeptically, then smiled. "I guess," he said. "Nothing's uglier than you."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Chris replied, teasingly glaring at J.C.
"What's his name?" Joey asked.
"I think I'll name him Busta," Chris smiled, looking at the others.
"Why is that not a surprise?" Lance teased, rolling his eyes.
Chris put the bag in the trunk and joined the others. As he shut the door, he said, "Now we gotta go to the vet's."
"Why?" Joey asked, starting the car.
"Because Busta needs his shots," Chris replied, letting the Pug walk over his lap and into Justin's.
"Fine," Joey muttered, putting the car in drive.
"Hey Busta," Justin said, petting the small dog.
Eager to explore, Busta kept crawling and landed on Lance's lap, looking out the window.
"Hey boy," Lance said, picking Busta up under his front legs so he was looking at Lance. His lower body hung down, the tips of his toes touching Lance's knees. "You're pretty fat," Lance said, noticing the dog's pudgy tummy. Busta squirmed and got down then licked Lance on the nose before he continued his journey to the front seats.
Busta slowly poked his head around the seat, looking at J.C. 'You got a visitor," Chris said to J.C.
J.C. looked around then saw the dog who was watching him closely. "What do you want?" J.C. asked, teasing.
Busta wagged his curled tail and crawled between the front seats to J.C. "I think this was a good idea you had," J.C. said, petting Busta.
"Thanks," Chris replied.
"We really could use a guard dog," Joey said.
"I doubt he'll be a guard dog," Chris laughed.
"I was reading this book on how they train dogs to work for the police," Joey said. "It's pretty awesome."
"I think Joey found a new hobby of the week," Lance teased. Joey got involved with whatever sounded 'awesome', but soon found something else and moved on.
"At least he's not on that being a farmer kick," J.C. smiled, remembering how Joey became fascinated with being a farmer.
"Shut up," Joey replied, pulling into the vet's parking lot. "Get out," he said, parking the car.
They all exited the car, and J.C. handed Busta back to Chris. Chris set the dog down and let him walk in the grass.
"This is probably the first time he's walked on grass," Joey said, watching Busta.
Busta sniffed around, sporting his new black nylon collar and leash. When he found an unmarked spot, he squatted on it.
"I think something's wrong with him," Chris said.
"Why?" asked Lance.
"Aren't they supposed to lift their leg?"
"Puppies don't," Lance replied, smiling.
"Oh," Chris said, wondering.
They walked inside, the puppy trying to hide behind Chris. "Good afternoon," greeted the young woman vet.
"Hi," Chris replied. "I just got this dog at a new pet shop, and they said he would need his shots."
"Probably," the vet smiled, kneeling down and coaxing the puppy out from behind Chris. "Hey there little boy," she smiled, holding out her hand. Busta cautiously sniffed her hand, then came out in full view, wagging his tail. "Good boy," she said, picking him up. "Now let's get you checked out."
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
"Hmm."
"What?"
"Well," the vet began, moving her stethoscope around on Busta, "We may have a problem."
"What?" Chris asked, nervous as a new father.
"Well he may have a slight heart murmur. I can’t be certain. Is there anyway I can see the parents?"
"I don't know, I guess," Chris replied.
"I can either run some tests, or look at the parents. I'll tell you now, those test aren't cheap," she replied, the nametag hanging in front or Busta's nose. He started licking it, covering the name 'Kim' in dog slobber.
"We can go back and talk to the manager," Justin started.
"No, he put those papers in the bag, remember? They might have the address on them," Chris remembered, getting up.
"Well let’s go then," Joey said, also getting up.
"Me and Lance will stay here," J.C. said, admiring Kim's nice figure.
"You would," Justin teased, knowing why J.C. wanted to stay.
"Okay Busta, we'll be back," Chris said, petting Busta before he left with Justin and Joey.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
"Well, this is the place," Chris said, looking at the trashed house before them.
"You sure?" Justin asked. 'Nobody could live here,' he thought.
"This is the address," Chris replied, checking again.
"Okay, I got it now," Joey interrupted, involved in his book on training police dogs. "We can train Busta for schitzhund (pronounced: shit-zund) trials!"
"What's that?" Chris asked.
"Where they train dogs to attack," Joey said, turning the page.
Chris rolled his eyes and looked at Justin. "I'll be back," he said before getting out of the car.
"We'll be here," Justin replied as the door shut.
Chris slowly walked up to the old house, dodging piles of dog crap. 'At least there are dogs living here,' he thought. As he got closer, he could hear dogs barking and whining from inside the house. As he stood on the porch, he saw a mangy black dog watch him curiously before going under the porch.
Chris kneeled down and looked beneath the cracks in the boards. Below him, he could see the dog lay down and begin to nurse five scrawny black pups.
Chris looked up when he heard a voice getting closer. As he stood up, the door swung open, letting out a wave of stench that nearly made Chris gag. A tall, unshaven man stopped at the doorway, nearly tripping over Chris.
"What are you doing?" he yelled, glaring at Chris.
Chris looked behind the man and into the old, collapsing house. His mouth dropped open at the horrible sight of at least fifty dogs crammed in the living room. They were all skin and bones, with matted fur that had turned brown from living in their own waste for so long. Several of the dogs had puppies, but not all of them were alive. Chris's eyes fell upon a full-grown Pug, dead and thrown in a corner. The dogs looked at him with red, infested eyes. Chris could almost see the fleas jumping from dog to dog.
Unable to speak, Chris looked at the drunk, unhappy man. "Well, I can't have you tell the cops on me, now can I?" the man asked.
A growling brought Chris's attention to a skinny white German Shepherd at the man's side. "Sick him, Brando!" the man yelled, releasing the dog's hidden strength.
The dog lunged for Chris, who took off running.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
"Oh shit," Justin said, seeing the white dog run after Chris.
"In the bathroom," Joey teased, reading his book.
"No, it's Chris," Justin replied, getting out of the car.
"What?" Joey looked up and saw Chris disappear around a corner, with a big, white dog on his tail. As Joey got out also, a tall man made his way to an old Ford truck and took off with out looking at either Joey or Justin.
Confused, Justin jogged to where he had last seen Chris, Joey on his heels.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris ran as fast as he could around a corner, and fell into a pile of trash bags. Instinctively, he burrowed into them, trying to hide.
He was almost completely covered, when the white dog landed on top of him with a thud. Chris felt the dog's teeth clamp down on his ankle, hard. He cried out in pain as the starving dog viciously jerked, pulling Chris out of the pile by his heel. The pointed teeth dug deeper into Chris's throbbing ankle, jerking and shaking to pull the body.
Chris's ankle burned with pain as the dog began a bloodthirsty growl. Chris desperately tried to shake the dog loose, but that only resulted in the iron jaws clamping down harder, teeth meeting bone. The dog now had jerked Chris's ankle so much; he was now lying exposed in the muddy grass.
Through tear-filled eyes, Chris could see Justin and Joey running to him, but all he could hear was the savage growling of the white, iron jawed dog. With another surge of energy, he tried again to pull his throbbing ankle from the jaws that were applying 100 pounds of bone-breaking pressure.
The dog shook it's head furiously, digging his jagged teeth deeper still into Chris's fiery ankle, making Chris cry out again.
"Hey dog!" Justin yelled, trying to get the dog's attention. Both to Justin's surprise and relief, the white dog with the bloodstained mouth ignored him. "Hey!" Justin called again, seeing the agonizing pain Chris was in. Justin grabbed a nearby stick and testily, hit the dog on its snow-white head.
"God, Justin!" Chris cried, feeling the dog's jaws beginning to crush his anklebones. Tears of pain were running down his face as he tried to wish the dog away.
"Joey, can't you make it stop?" Justin yelled frantically.
"Off!" Joey yelled hopefully. But the ravenous dog didn't budge. "I have to know its name!" Joey yelled over the dog's vicious growls. "Just stay still!" he told Chris. "I got an idea!"
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>>~>~>~>~>
"Come on boy! Food!" Joey yelled, pointing to an invisible dog cookie on the ground. "Come eat!"
Instantly, the dog released its iron grip on Chris, who immediately curled into a protective ball. The dog trotted to Joey, it's lips dripping blood.
Justin kneeled beside Chris as Joey led the now innocent looking dog to a small, wire pen and locked it in. "You okay?" Justin asked, placing a hand on Chris's arm.
Chris jerked, then yelled, "Oh God, I think my ankle's gonna fall off!" He clutched at his torn and bleeding ankle as he whimpered to himself. He was going into shock, and Justin could see the wound was bleeding through Chris's fingers.
"Joey!" Justin yelled. When Joey was at Justin's side, Justin continued, "Help me sit him up."
Together they pulled Chris into a sitting position, leaning against the filthy brick house wall. "Let me look at it," Justin said softly, prying Chris's fingers away from his throbbing ankle. Justin lifted up the blood-soaked jean leg as Chris kept his eyes clenched shut in pain. Justin saw the puncture wounds of the bite, still oozing blood freely. "We gotta get him to a hospital," Justin said, looking at Joey.
"No, wait," Chris gasped, cringing as Justin pulled his jean leg back down. "I gotta see those dogs."
"But Chris-" Joey started.
"No! They need my help," Chris argued, sniffing as he tried to stand.
Justin and Joey grabbed Chris to steady him. Chris began wiping his tears as he took a step forward, only to have more fall when he accidentally put his weight on his mauled ankle.
"Chris, we gotta get you to a hos-"
"No, I can make it," Chris whispered in determination, clutching his friends as he hobbled to the porch.
When they had made it to the door, Chris took a deep breath before opening it again. A wave of stench hit them, as it was now Justin and Joey's turn to be shocked.
They took in all the horrors of the puppy mill, stunned. All the dogs had been tortured, then repeatedly forced to breed at young ages to relatives. They had no food or water and lived in their own waste. They were all grossly underweight, and had open sores and infections. There were few living pups, the living ones almost dead, and the dead ones inhumanely thrown on the furniture and left to rot. Chris's eyes landed on the dead Pug that lay in a heap in a corner, and his eyes filled with tears.
The living dogs scattered as they hobbled forward, and they were forced to step over the dead ones. Justin shut the door to prevent the dogs from escaping, then followed Chris and Joey on their way to another closed door. A hundred eyes followed his every move, judging whether this blonde teenager would beat them too.
Chris reached the closed door and opened it, turning white from both the loss of blood and the disturbing scene in front of him. In the kitchen, lay one dead dog after another, piled on top of each other. Rats scattered from their feeding on the carcasses, and Chris stumbled back. He quickly hobbled back to the front door pulling Joey with him. Tears began to fall again, but they weren't from his throbbing foot. He longed for fresh air and opened the front door then hurried out, escaping the horrible smell of death. The others followed, and Justin shut the door behind them.
"Let's go," Chris whispered, not trusting his voice.
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
"So how about dinner Saturday?" J.C. asked, turning on the charm for Kim.
"Sounds good," the vet replied, smiling. Lance rolled his eyes as he watched the two flirt.
J.C. was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. "Excuse me," he sighed, answering his phone. "Hello?…Wait, Justin?…What?…He got bit?!…Which hospital?…Okay, I'll be right there," he finished, hanging up the phone.
"What happened?" Lance asked, sensing the tenseness in J.C.'s voice.
"Chris was attacked and they're in the hospital," J.C. said, heading for the door. "Let’s go!"
Lance jumped up and followed J.C. out to the parking lot. "Shit!" J.C. cursed. "We don't have a car!"
"I'll drive you," Kim said, worried for J.C.'s friend. She locked the door and led them to her Plymouth Neon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They drove as fast as they could, without getting in a wreck. The arrived at the parking lot of the hospital and Kim dropped off J.C. and Lance, then she went to park the car.
The two guys ran into the hospital and found Chris's room. When they went in, they saw Chris sitting on the hospital bed, crutches in hand as he, Justin and Joey studied x-rays on the opposite wall.
"Are you okay?" J.C. asked, approaching the three.
"I guess," Chris replied, looking at J.C. with red eyes.
"What happened?" Lance asked, looking at the x-ray of Chris's crushed ankle.
"We went to the place where the pet shop gets the puppies," Chris started.
"It was unbelievable," Justin said sadly. "The place is a puppy mill."
"Really?" J.C. asked, stunned.
"Yeah, and Chris didn’t really 'click' with the owner," Joey said.
Chris cracked a smile as he found some humor in the situation. "He sicked his dog on me," he smiled.
The doctor entered, followed by Kim. "I'm glad to see you feeling better," the doctor said, seeing Chris's smile.
"My leg hurts like hell," Chris corrected. "But we're gonna save those dogs, and that's all I care about."
"So did you find Busta's parents?" Kim asked.
Memories of the puppy mill flooded back to Chris as he remembered seeing the dead Pug. "Yeah, we found one," Chris said sadly.
"And?"
"And you're gonna have to do those tests. I don't care what it costs, either."
~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
Finnis
Epilogue:
Chris was forced to remain in the hospital over night for observation. The dog that bit him had no diseases, so thankfully he was released the next day.
They headed straight for the puppy mill, accompanied by police and animal shelter workers. Together, they evacuated all the animals, both living and dead. The local news was there to broadcast the story, consequently shutting down the newly opened pet shop.
Most of the animals had to be put out of their misery, but the remaining few were given to loving homes.
Although the horrible images had burned into all their minds, this was a typical puppy mill and they are in existence all over the world.
Buying animals from pet shops only encourages the puppy mills, so for the animal's sake, adopt a pet from you local shelter.
Save a life, don't end innocent ones.
Click here to learn more about Puppy mills-Critter Haven
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