Naivishly, Tallia blinked twice in confusion trying to figure out what he meant. She shook her head, then her fur, or the warm sun's rays and stood up, her tail wagging.

"I'm glad you're okay. I've seen a lot of other who have gone toe to toe with her... they've been sent to the vet's for a long time now actually..." She paused in wonder but it slipped her mind in no time. "I'm just glad you didn't back down. We need a pack leader here... I'm only a pup and I can tell this place is a chaos. The human man... he's nice to us all but he isn't a leader. I'd of done it but... I'm to little... she'd tear me to chow meat!" Gemini's voice rang threw the kennels and out the half opened dog door to Tallia's ears. She gave a pethetic puppy yelp and hid behind Jahero.

Jahero laughed as the puppy scared her self. "Haha" he laughed his husky smile showing his teeth. " No worry's it was only your eco Tallia, nothing more. you should stop being so scared all the time. " Jahero licked her head to calm her down a bit. " what do you mean by this place being in chaos?"

Tallia shrugged with an unsure look to her face. She wasn't sure how to explain the chaos she'd mentioned, and she was a little confused as to how he hadn't seen it yet.

"Each of us just kind of does what we want. We don't have any rhyme or reason for anything we do here." She lapped some water from a self feeding miniture pond in the play yard. "When you got here, no one come to welcome you formally. They don't explain why you're here or where here really is." A sigh passed threw her lungs and she laid down in the shade of a tree while looking a Jahero. "I think that' why a lot of us have to go to the back door..." Her ears fell and she had to look away from the male husky.

Shamus lifted his head and looked at the two dogs talking. He wondered what was going on so he walked over. He figured now was a good time to intorduce him self. "Hey, I'm Shamus." He said to Jahero.

Jahero looked up at the large black lab who was introducing himself as Shamus. Jahero stood up and bow a bit with his head "My name is Jahero, Im a husky sled racer " Jahero said introducing him self. " it is nice to meet you Shamus." Then soon after jahero turned to Tallia "That i can understand, I need to get into that back room to see whats going on" Jahero spoke

The mention of Jahero entering the back room filled Tallia's eyes with a fear seen only when death is standing behind a doomed soul.

"NO NO NO!" She jumped up, putting her paws on Jahero's chest so that she could look into his eyes. "The dogs who go back there never come back! You can't go, please. I don't wanna see a nice dog like you dissapear!" Her eyes begged him in pure desperation.

Jahero looked down at the puppy, placing his big paw onto her head " Ill be okay, you want to know what happens to all the dogs dont ya?" he asked looking into Tallia's eyes

A momentary pause took Tallia while she pondered about his question. She was curious but she was far to scared to ask too many questions about the place. All she knew is that she never wanted to purposly do anything to be sent there. Tallia nodded without saying a word and sat down, looking at the ground.

"Okay then, ill be fine and come back dont worry" Jahero said with a small smile, he did really know if that was true but he didnt want to worry her

At this point, though she didn't know why, Gemini intervened."you shouldn't go." She said, padding over to the other three, but still keeping a non threatening distance."the only dogs who go there are the ones who get out of control and start biting the humans.I've seen it happen before.the humans come in with a metal pole thing that has a loop at the end.they get the loop over the dogs head and drag them out that door.there's alot of barking and struggling, and then silence.silence and the smell of death.those dogs don't get adopted or let go.they get put down." She said, using a softer term for killed so as not yo send the furball into hysterics.

Tallia watched as Gemini spoke. It was probably the first time she'd been within ten feet of the female dog without having an oppressive feeling of darkness. Put down? She repeated the term in her head a couple of times before looking to the older dogs confused.

"What is... put down? Down where? In a hole?" She tipped her head side ways from the left then to the right trying to make sence of the words.

"It is like falling a sleep, but you never wake up. " Jahero said as easy as he could

"Only a foolish dog would go back there willingly." Shamus said to Jahero.

Jahero looked over at the Lab. " I need to know whats going on, why we where taken here"

Like falling asleep but you never wake up. Jahero's words resounded in Tallia's mind. She was so confused. Why wouldn't you wake up, how could you not. Tallia looked at Shamus then back to Jahero, listening to them talk.

"I... I wanna go too." She spoke up suddenly, her legs shaking and her heart racing in her chest. For her this was a chance for her to prove to herself and the others that she just wasn't an air headed pup. "I...I know I'm little, b...but I... I wanna be brave... like you." Her brown eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked up admorously at Jahero.

"No sweetheart, I cant let you back there. It wouldnt be right" Jahero said standing up , he clawed at the earth under them then looked at the back door. There was no sound coming from the room. " Im going in" he spoke as he started towards the door

Tallia whimpered at being told no, but she didn't argue with the alpha dog. She sat down and watched him head for the door in the back of the building. There was a window in the far cornor, higher then most dogs stood, but with a little skill a smart dog would be able to scale the wall using the fence and peak in, perhaps even push it open and get in.

Jahero moved slowly towards the door, wondering how he was going to get in there easy. Then it hit him. As he came to the door he started making loud fighting noises outside the door, recalling what Tallia said before. "What is that?!" Jahero heard a man yell out as three large men opened the door. Jahero rushed in and dove behind a few cages in hiding

The man who rushed out was a vet's assistant who stayed close to the kennle at all times. Though the room was used for euthinizations, it was also where he and the kennel vet proformed minor tasks to benifit the dogs. Large sugeries and emergencies where always handled at the clinic however.

Tallia could smell the rubbing alcohol starille room from across the yard. Scared, she hadn't notice she'd been inching her way closer to Gemini nervously. She soon took notice that she'd stopped moving and looked up to see that she'd backed up into Gemini's front paws, her jaw droped.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Tallia jumped to her feet, bowed low and held still, waiting for her punishment, as would be expected in a wolf's pack. She shook in terror as she held her eyes shut tight.

Shamus watch Jahero's trick but was caught by Tallia's apologie. He looked at her, then to the other female. He waited to see what would happen next. He would jump in if she attacked.

Instead of biting the small dog like she usually might, Gemini simply leapt over her and bounded over to where the vet was.she whined at him, holding her back paw as if her wound was hurting her.the husky male wasn't her alpha, so she wouldn't follow orders from him, but she certainly wasn't going to miss out on a chance to see what happened behind that door.

"Hey girl, is your paw hurting still?" The man knelt down and pet Gemini's head with cation. He was probably the only human she was this tame with and he chalked this up to the fact that he truly wanted to help her and had done so in the past. "Come on in and I'll take a look. If you behave, I may have a small amount of raw beef for you as a treat." Marc, the vet, offered his arm out like a prince bowing to a princess, motioning the wolf-mix to let herself inside. Tallia watched in amazement, speachless and intrigued.

Shamus watched the two huskys go into the room. He looked at Tallia and thought maybe he should take her to look threw the window. He thought better of it. He didnt wan to make Jahero angry. He wasnt a fighting dog, he was a peace dog. His masters were hippies.

Jahero waited until the doors closed before he came out of hiding. He didnt know how long he had but he was going to make the best of it. He moved swiftly, making his way passed a few small rooms. There where cages everywhere, some carried dogs other where empty but there smell made Jahero's hair raise. "What the .... is going on here?" he spoke softly.

"H..H..el..llo" a small voice cried out from one of the cages " Is there someone there?" she called

"Im hear, my name is Jahero what are you doing here, why do you sound so weak?" Jahero asked taking a deeper look into the cage. The voice was coming from a brown wolf - she was skinny and blind. He didnt know if she could move. Jahero pawed at her cage a bit, reaching his paw to touch hers.

"My name " she coughed " is star, im a wolf and was taken her 6 years ago. my eyes sight was taken from me by the men here. they were ....." the last breath ran out of her blind body. "Star??? STAR!!" jahero called out

((Yikes.I thought this place was supposed to be nice!))
Gemini limped through the door.it wasn't difficult- her wound always ached, no matter what.she usually just ignored it, but she figuredit was about time for it to be checked anyway.and this human had helped her before.she didn't trust him at all.she hated him, because his help was painful.she was only ever truly calm around the human who owned the place.this human got her to behave only with the promise of raw meat.it was this thought that kept her calm as she padded into the cold, sterile smelling room that always held the tainted air of death.