PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter III Part I

Patches gasped awake, the dregs of some awful dream tickling his memory. He tried remembering it, then understood it was probably for the best to forget it. Some deep breaths, closed eyes, and Patches was able to look around with a clear mind.

He had hardly intended to fall asleep since that terrier hadn't left, but, thankfully, she was in the same place as before with her eyes shut and head nodded down. Although her hoodie covered her head at one point, her excessively long hair meant her hair had to run down her shoulders and over her chest so that the hood could be raised up properly.

A quick gust of frigid wind ran through the dalmatian's fur, making him clutch himself and jolt wide awake. He looked back down to the captive he currently held. "Dell" was her name, and he wondered if he could use her; if she was aware of who he truly was. Patches was sure she had a bone to pick with Coco, but would she kill over it?

He knelt down next to the terrier and remembered her mentioning she was an aspiring artist. He fit his paw into her thick hoodie, finding a small notepad filled with bad doodles and illegible journal entries.

He clicked the pen it had stuffed in its spiral binding, then chewed on its rear for a moment before scribbling down his first goal on a fresh page; "Get a wand." He smirked, thinking of  what one would feel like in his palm, then heard someone loudly shushing someone else just within earshot, and his face went pale.

The dalmatian looked around, trying to find the source, and heard just beyond a few trees, "There's someone... over there." in a monotone, calm voice; Ginger. It was far enough away, only barely audible to the dalmatian's keen senses.

"Honestly, if we want to find him, we'd probably be better off with me just sniffing him out. I could tell he was bad from the moment I saw him, plus he actually smells awful; I don't think he even showered before Angel-"

"Brownie." Came someone's voice, low and feminine. "I love you, but I swear I'm going to tear your tongue out if you don't shut up."

He could just barely hear Coco's voice, loudly and angrily whispering, not more than a hundred feet or so away from him. Oh no.

"Oh yeah? Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try!"

"Don't test me! I'll tear it out just like this!"

He could hear the couple rough housing. The occasional grunt or "Ouch!" breaking his focus as he looked for a way out of this.

".... Coco, please stop biting her while I'm trying to focus. It's distracting."

"Pfft... C'mon Ginger, don't be such a stick in the mud," Brownie said.

Patches scrambled to think of something to do; he knew running might help, but it would just take a single stray branch for his exhausted body to trip over and they'd hear him or sense someone running away, and that'd be it for him.

'I need to hide!' he was terrified of the group coming his way and amazed at his past self's horrible foresight. He couldn't believe he hadn't been more careful; he should've left hours ago before any of this could happen.

The dalmatian looked around and finally decided on his hiding spot. The tree Dell was lying next to was just low hanging enough to crawl up. He dug his claws into the bark, then stretched his joints up and up, resting at the top of the tree with exhaustion clawing at his back. He knelt just as the group came into view.

"Wuh..?" Dell said, finally waking up as Ginger's glowing body came into sight. Her paw simmered with some great magic.

The bloodhound had her eyes shut as she waved her paw back and forth, scanning the area for life like how someone would pan for metal. Somewhat uncomfortably, her thick green dress seemed to impede her movements with its bulk, but Patches would've killed for some warmth.