Bella's Story

Chapter 5: Finding Help

I ran to the door and started scratching at it. I barked at Emily to look at me and follow me.

Emily came to me, and I thought she was going to open the door and then she would follow me but instead, she picked me up and put me on the sofa.

"No Bella, you can't run away again. I just got you back." Emily said.

I ran back to the door and started barking for Emily.

She picked me up and put me on the sofa again.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for the way she's acting. It's not like her. I hope she didn't give you any trouble." Emily said to Jake.

"Oh no, she didn't give us any trouble. Well, except for the fact that she didn't like the dog food I got her, and we had to buy some more." Jake said.

"Well, Bella is a picky eater, so I'm not surprised."

I ran to the door again and tried to get Emily to follow me.

Luckily, Jake understood what I meant and said to Emily "I think she wants us to follow her somewhere."

"Or maybe she just wants to go for a walk," Emily suggested.

And soon enough I was on a leash and outside.

I tried to remember where the building was, but nothing seemed familiar.

I tried to smell my scent but all the cars and people that walked around had covered it up.

I looked around, trying to spot something, anything, but couldn't.

A feeling of dread settled in my stomach.

What if I could never find the building again? What if I failed all those dogs because I couldn't remember the way?

I ran around in random directions, trying to see anything.

Whenever I saw a tree or house looking familiar, I ran towards, in hopes that I could remember the way.

But none of them were the ones I saw during my journey.

My odd behaviour surprised Emily as well.

Whenever I tried to run somewhere, she would pull my leash.

"What's wrong Bella. Does two days without a leash make you think that you don't need it anymore?"

It wasn't like that. Couldn't she see?

I was starting to lose hope that I would ever find those dogs when I suddenly noticed the house in which I slept during my first night.

Thank goodness. Finally, something good happened.

Then I remembered the way. I tugged against my leash, trying to tell Emily to follow me.

Emily, who was talking with Jake pulled my leash, so I was back on the path.

I tugged at it again, but Emily said "Bella stop doing that. You've never acted like this before, why did you start now. Did running away do something to your behaviour?"

"I think she wants us to follow her," Jake said. "It must be important if she's acting like this."

That finally got Emily to follow me.

I took her to the building where I saw that dogs.

"It's just an abandoned warehouse. Come on Bella let's go."

"Look, someone's coming out." Jake pointed towards some men coming out of the building.

We hid behind some old cars and listened to them.

Man 1 said, "Man, I hate doing this."

Man 2 replied "I know. These stupid dogs won't help us. I dunno why boss wants us to experiment on those stupid animals."

Hey. Dogs aren't stupid. Dogs are one of the most intelligent animals. He knows nothing. He's the stupid one.

Man 3 said "Yes. Keeping dogs locked up won't help the company."

Man 1 told them both to shut up.

"The boss knows what he's doing. He must have a reason for doing this. Besides someone might listen to us."

Man 3 grumbled "Who would? This place is abandoned. No one comes here anymore. To them, this seems like another boring old warehouse."

"And even if someone did overhear, what would they do. The government knows that we're doing this." Man 2 added in.

When they were gone Jake said "I recognize those logos on their uniform. it's the logo of HuDev. They were on the news a few years ago."

"Weren't they the ones who illegally tried to give people superhuman strength?" Emily asked.

"Yes. They are the ones."

"What are they doing with dogs?"

"According to the news a few years back, they experimented on some of the strongest animals in the world to see if they can give that strength to humans."

"So, they must be experimenting on dogs for their sense of smell and hearing."

"And the dogs are being locked up in cages. We have to save them."

"This is what Bella wanted to show us. Good dog Bella. You're so smart." Emily said, giving me a kiss.

"But how did she know. I doubt she was as lucky as us and got to overhear the conversation of some foolhardy workers."

I raced over to the hole I used to enter through and showed them.

"So that's how you got in. You're such a clever doggie." Jake told.

"Now onto the harder questions. How do we expose them?" Jake asked.

"We could tell the police and they would do the rest of the work," Emily suggested.

"No, that wouldn't work. They said that they have registered this into the government." Jake said.

"We could go in and record everything."

"No, what if we get caught? Then it's game over for us. Besides we can't even get in." Jake said. "Wait, what if we put a camera on Bella and sent her in. Even if she gets caught, we'll have evidence to show the police."

"NO! That's too dangerous. I can't send my Bella in there. She could get hurt." Emily protested.

But what Jake had said was a good idea.

I wished that I could talk. Then I would be able to tell Emily that I'll be very careful and even if I did get caught, then she would rescue me.

"It's our only option. We can't let those poor dogs in there suffer."

"Fine. Only if Bella agrees."

I wagged my tail to show that I agreed.

"If anything happens to my darling Bella, it'll be all your fault."

"Ok. Now, let's go home. I'll get the camera and we can meet here tonight at 9 pm."

"Okay." Then Emily and I headed home and Jake went to his house.