The dog catchers arrived only to find the unconscious bodies of Jim and Phil, but no sign of Cotton anywhere. Little did they know that she was outside, scaling the side of the building using her claws. She looked down at the windowsill, silently praying that no one would pop their head out and spot her. 

After a brief pause, she heard the footsteps again, growing fainter and fainter as the dog catchers searched the rest of the building. Relief flowed through her body as she let out a sigh, before refocusing on her current plan of action: escape.

“Gonna get as far away as possible, recharge, then kick their asses again!”, she said to herself as she climbed. 

Eventually, she reached the roof and immediately began sprinting towards the edge of the building, planning to jump across to the one neighboring it. The area they were in was filled with derelict and abandoned factories and warehouses placed close together, so it wasn’t impractical. 

As she leapt and landed onto the next building, she momentarily halted to see if they had spotted her. They had not.

“Seems all the ones I hadn’t knocked out cold are all crammed up in there like sardines”, she chuckled to herself before continuing her escape.

A few blocks away from the action on the edge of the abandoned manufacturing district, another dog catcher was walking down the weathered and abandoned streets all by herself. She jumped when she heard something come from the alley next to her, but to her relief, it was just a rat. She had originally planned to spend the evening with her cousin at the movies, but with the news of a wild animal running loose in East New York, and with a shortage of staff, she really had no other choice. Taking the pistol out of her coat pocket, she sighed.

“I know this animal is dangerous, but wouldn’t a simple tranquilizer have sufficed?”, she asked herself.

She jumped again when she felt the buzzing in her pocket. Taking her phone out, she could see it was her 12-year-old nephew, Tommy. Answering, she said, “Tommy, can this wait until later? Your Titi is very busy right now!”

“But it's urgent Titi Sonja!”, the 12-year-old whined on the other end of the phone, “We’ve run out of treats for Oliver!”

Sonja dug her fingers through her dark curly hair. She had completely forgotten.

“I'm sorry. Can you go pick some up for him? You remember where Pablo’s supermarket is, right?”

“Walk up Rugby, turn left onto Glenwood, walk down to Coney Island Ave and it’s the first store on the left?”

“Right actually, but close enough. If you’re worried about paying, don’t worry. Pablo’s a family friend so he’ll understand. Just tell him I’ll pay the next time I see him, okay?”

“I will!”, he paused. “By the way, can we see Civil War tomorrow?”

“Of course, but we’ll discuss it when I get home! I’ll see you then!”

And with that, she hung up the phone, placing it back into her pocket. It was a promise, but at this moment, she felt it wasn't a guarantee she would go home in one piece. From what her superior had told her, the wild animal they were after was incredibly dangerous, and had killed two pre-teens earlier that day. Kids who were no older than Tommy. She grimaced, not wanting to picture her nephew in that position.

‘Whatever this wild animal is, it must be absolutely horrible’, she thought.

Meanwhile...

Cotton’s laughs echoed out into the night as she hopped from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally glancing backwards to see if she was being pursued, only to see no one on her tail.

“Stupid dogcatchers!”, she chirped. “Doesn’t matter how many weapons you give them! They’ll still fail just as badly”

She was approaching the edge of the district and could see the lights of apartments and homes in the distance. She leapt off the roof, thinking she had escaped.

SLASH!

Cotton rolled over mid air in shock, a sudden burst of pain crashing through her body like a tsunami. Looking down, she could see the three deep long slash marks made across her stomach. But how? Her eyes drifted up to see a large dark figure above her, droplets of blood cascading down its large thick claws.

“What the-”, she began but was interrupted by a powerful kick to the stomach, sending her crashing onto the roof of an abandoned car.

The little Pomeranian rolled over, and tried to get up but the blood gushing from her wound forced her back down. She looked up, weakly glaring at her attacker slowly approaching her.

“I… I’ll kill… you…”, she mumbled weakly.

She tried her best to remain conscious, but the pain inflicted on her was too great for her body to handle. She passed out. The figure stretched its hand out to grab her, but stopped when it heard a gun being loaded.

Sonja had overheard the commotion from a building down from her previous location, and spotted them just as the poor Cotton had lost consciousness. Thinking it was the wild animal they had been looking for, she raised her gun and aimed square at the figure.

“Hey!”, she shouted as she pulled the trigger.

She fired two shots before falling over backwards, the knockback of the gun throwing off her balance. The gun clattered to the floor as the figure, dodging the shots effortlessly, descended into the darkness. 

She gritted her teeth as she rubbed her right shoulder. While it didn’t hurt, it did sting quite a bit. Looking back up, she saw that the figure had vanished. She quickly got up, ready to pursue it when she noticed the blood oozing down the car’s roof. Getting closer, she saw Cotton, laying on her side, her blood pooling around her.

“Oh my God!”, Sonja gasped.

For a moment, she thought the dog was dead. But a small cough from Cotton quelled her worries. She was somehow still alive, but it wouldn’t be for long in her state. Sonja delicately picked the Pomeranian up and placed her on the hood of the car. She ripped off a chunk of her coat sleeve and used it to clean and cover up her wound, acting as a makeshift bandage.

“It's not much. But this’ll have to do for now”

She then heard her walkie talkie chirp.

“Sonja, see anything on your end?”, it said.

She answered it.

“Yeah, I saw the creature, but it ran away. It seems to also have attacked a little Pomeranian! She’s alive but I don’t know how long she’ll last”, she explained as she continued wrapping. “I hope you don’t mind but I'm going to take this little guy home so I can properly treat her wounds”

“Well we were about to call it quits anyway. Most of us are down for the count thanks to that thing. I’ll check to see if any pomeranians in the area have gone missing”

“Thanks Sal”

Turning her walkie talkie off, Sonja made her way down the empty road and back to where she had parked. She looked down at the sleeping dog in her arms, a warm smile beginning to grow on her face. Despite the gruesome state the dog was in, she looked so small and adorable, like a little cotton ball. 

The question of what a small Pomeranian was doing in an awful place like this came into her mind, considering how valuable they were as a breed. She didn't seem to be a purebred however, and maybe some ungrateful owner dumped her there and left her to die because of it. She gently caressed Cotton’s head, which caused her to twitch a little before relaxing.

“It's going to be okay”, said Sonja. “You’ll be safe with me”

Cotton woke up to find herself in complete darkness. For a few seconds, she wondered what had happened before the memories of the previous night flowed back to her like a tidal wave. The raid, the burning sensation on her forehead and body, the blinded sided attack…

“Well, I guess I must’ve died or something”, she said as she slowly got up. 

She winced when she felt pain from the wound made by her attacker. She felt pain. She wasn’t dead. But if she wasn’t, where was she? Looking down at her stomach, she saw that her entire midsection was wrapped in bandages.

‘Where did these come from?’, she thought to herself.

And then it occurred to her. Instead of lying on hard cold earth, she found herself on a soft and fluffy pillow. And as her eyes began to focus, she could make out the outline of a desk, what seemed to be a human bed, and curtains closed shut to keep out the light. Cotton’s heart sank when she realized what may have happened.

“They caught me!”, she gasped. “That bastard gave Philly and Jimmy the opportunity to capture me!”

Looking to her right, she saw a door.

“But they won't keep me in here for long”

She ran towards the door and was about to break it down but hesitated. Given that she was in enemy territory, she needed to be a lot subtle with her actions. She couldn’t risk getting found out. 

Looking up at the doorknob, she hopped up and grabbed it with her paws. She expected it to be locked but it turned without issue. The door slowly creaked open as she landed on the ground.

“You would think they would have the room locked if they thought I was that much of a threat”, she remarked, amazed by how incompetent the animal control in this city was.

With the door open she ran into the hallway where she became even more confused. She had never been to the pound before but from what she had heard, it was not pleasant. This place was far from that descriptor. 

The walls were a light baby blue, accompanied by a deep blue carpet. Said walls had the occasional picture hanging on them. Wherever she was, it was far from being unpleasant, and she didn’t know if that was better or worse than being in the pound. 

Dashing down the stairs onto the first floor, she was greeted with even more pleasantries. To her left was a quant but messy kitchen, with a table and two chairs, and to her right was a living room with a comfy couch and wide screen tv. Also quant. 

It was beginning to dawn on Cotton on where she had ended up, but she didn’t want to believe it. Dashing into the living room, she hopped on the couch and looked out the window behind it.

“Oh…Oh no!!”

Outside she saw houses, beautiful houses. Manicured yards with plants and flowers galore, and trees lining the sidewalk. This was worse than what Cotton had initially thought. She wasn’t in the pound, or in heaven, or hell, or wherever dead people go. It was the last place she ever wanted to be in. She was in someone’s home!

“Shit! Shit! SHIT!”, she growled, rocking her head back and forth in anger. She wasn’t going to be a house pet. Not again.

“Okay Cotton, calm down”, she muttered. “I know this situation looks bad but you can get through this. You always have”

She began brainstorming escape methods. While didn’t have to worry about hostile dogcatchers, overly affectionate humans would be more of a challenge dealing with than if she got caught. Exiting the living room, she saw the front door on her right. 

Doing what she had done in the bedroom, she jumped up and began picking at the lock with her claw. She wasn’t sure how she couldn’t unlock but if someone could unlock a door with a paperclip, she could unlock it with her nail, right? She began picking at the lock, trying to see if she could unlock the door. But after fiddling with it for a straight minute, she realized she was going nowhere. In defeat, she hopped back on the floor and stared at the door. She had had enough.

“You know what? Screw being sneaky! I'm breaking the door down!”, she proclaimed.

But before she could do anything, she stopped. She got the feeling someone was right behind her. Slowly turning around, she expected to be the homeowner or something, but instead she saw a mini schnauzer, just staring at her with a horrified look on his face.

Cotton’s eyes squinted. ‘Who’s this guy?’