In Saving the Imperfect

10. Our curious design

The poor thing growled through its whining, showing the animal's white teeth. It pressed itself to the bars of the trap, its black fur stood bristled, although it barely even fit inside.

Layne squatted in front of it. "Have you been harming the chicken, Little Kitten?"

Troy snorted behind him. "Little Kitten?"

"Don't judge." The man shook his head and turned away from the cage. "What is it? Wolf pup?"

"Nah, just a wild dog, I think. Still a puppy, tho."

"Half correct, then. Not bad, me."

Troy came closer. The pup's growling intensified. It was difficult to watch.

"Hard to believe it found a way into the coop," he said.

"It looks starved. I, too, would get creative in its situation." Layne shrugged. "Besides, look at the place. Probably wasn't even that hard."

"Yeah, true."

The bald man strengthened his back and stared at the animal from above, rubbing his fingers together in a nervous manner. Moments passed. Troy's closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Layne knew what he was thinking about.

"You're not gonna hurt Cat, are you?" he asked.

"Gosh Layne, you already named it?" Troy gave him a side eye. "You're such a child."

"So I've been told. Your point?"

The man shook his head. "You know Victor's orders. We can't risk starving ourselves."

"Don't have to. I hereby announce that I'm gonna fix the chicken coop. No more dogs getting in! Not Cat, not Cat's parents, siblings and all the other dogs you won't manage to catch and kill."

"Talk about this to Victor or something?"

"I'll just leave this to your judgement." Layne turned around and started walking away from him. "Do as your conscience allows you."

* * *

It took a few days to finish up with the chicken coop – would have been less if anyone would have been nice enough to help. The result wasn't perfect. Far from it. Not with the materials he was allowed to use. Layne was happy with it nonetheless. It was, after all, his input for the good of the community. As well as something he could use whenever someone tried to get him to do more work.

After all, everyone in the Village followed Victor's orders and that was the one thing he had no wish of doing. A few side glares thrown at his direction wasn't going to change that either.

With all the free time on his hands, Layne wanted to explore the Land. Victor's visible disapproval only made the wish stronger. Each day he wandered deeper into the forest with hopes of finding something new. Each day ended in a disappointment. Each day he received a talking to.

It wasn't Victor who finally got him to stop. It was Malia, Troy and Alana united with the addition of his own doubts and fears.

"I mean the animals don't disappear into the air at daytime now, do they?" Layne ranted one of those days, playing around with a spoon. "It must be possible to find their lairs."

"Layne, forget it." Alana shook her head at him. "The people who lived here longer have obviously tried. There's probably a reason they've been unsuccessful."

"Well maybe they've been too damn scared of those freaks? Victor looks at me like I'm from a different planet whenever I mention trying to actually fucking learn something about those animals!"