Disclaimer: See previous chapters
Author's Note: I hope to finish this story in about 3 or 4 chapters.
Chapter 3
Day 2
11:45 am
25hr 45min trapped.
Cerberus leaned down and sniffed at the golden hair pressed against his side. His partner was breathing but very slowly and hitched and watery. The dog had lain down around his partner's head, protecting him from the settling debris. He had yet to wake. The dog vaguely knew that he wasn't going to be able to help the Other, but he didn't want to leave. The Other had taken care of him, and now he was returning the favor.
Kurita looked up at the cordoned off pile of twisted steel and concrete from the ground a few meters away. There was no way that Hiruma had been the one that did that. He knew that Hiruma would have liked to blow up the school, but what teenager didn't? Sure Hiruma actually had the means to do so, but he would never actually do it. At least not until he couldn't play American Football anymore.
Where was Hiruma though? It wasn't like him to miss school. Hiruma, for all his other traits, was considered a genius. Much to the detriment of his teachers, who would like nothing more than to have reason for getting rid of him.
Kurita turned, hands in his pockets, and started walking. He had tried to call Hiruma the night before but his friend had not answered. He looked back at the remains of the West wing of his school. Movement caught his eye and he focused on the moving spot on the pile. Cerberus was coming out of a hole in the steel. He looked worse than usual. Dirty and in a hurry. Kurita had never thought that that particular dog could look any worse. He also could never figure out the reason that Hiruma had taken such a liking to the ugly animal. The thing was large, violent, and ate like a cow.
An uneasy feeling buzzed in the back of his mind, the knowledge that he should be more worried pecking at his consciousness. He pushed it to the back of his mind and continued walking away.
9:00 pm
4hrs. She had been sitting at her desk for 4hrs trying to do her homework, but getting distracted by the increasingly strong feeling that something was wrong. Her hand twitched towards the phone again. She sighed. Fine. To settle her nerves and put to rest that annoying feeling she would call Hiruma. Looking at the list tacked to the bulletin board that was hung above her desk, she picked up the phone and dialed Hiruma's cell. The only number he had given.
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Click. The customer you are calling is unavailable at this time. Please hang up now.'
Mamori stared at the phone in her hand a moment before placing it slowly back in the cradle. Her hands trembled slightly. That call was supposed to reasure her, the only thing it did was make the feeling worse.
A loud sound suddenly echoing in the small space around the two occupants made the dog's head jerk up with a growl. The noise came from a few feet to Cerberus's left, muffled under the solid wall of twisted steel that had barely missed them, protected as they were under the stairs.
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Ring'
'Ring'
Day 3
7:30 am
46hrs 15min trapped
The team had met that morning in the football field behind the school. Kurita and Mamori asking each other hurriedly if the other had been able to get a hold of Hiruma. The news that neither had spoken to him almost made them sick to their stomachs with worry.
Mamori sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"If he comes back alright, I swear I'm going to hurt him myself for making us worry like this." Kurita gave her a small smile.
She dropped her hand and looked over at the dog that was sniffing around the wreckage. He had come out of it nearly 10 minutes ago but stayed near the pile, seemingly loath to go away from it more than a few feet.
"Shouldn't we put him back on his leash, I mean, until Hiruma comes back?" Mamori asked Kurita. The large student looked down at her only just having heard her over the sound of the construction crews.
"The only one who can attach him to anything is Hiruma. He attacks anyone else." She looked taken aback.
"Why does he keep that ugly thing anyway?" Monta questioned up from his other side, the rest of the team, even the Huh-Huh brothers, moving closer. Kurita shrugged.
"I don't know. They met one day on the field and have been together ever since. Because Cerberus is loose most of the time, he could leave whenever he wanted." Kurita looked over at the dog.
"But for some reason, he never does."
Mamori squinted at the dog.
"What's that in his fur?" She leaned forward. "Is that blood?" She asked alarmed.
The others whipped around to stare at the dog. The fur on his belly and legs was stiff with some type of liquid that had dried it into spikes, turning it a rusty brownish black color.
Kurita held up part of his snack. "Here Cerberus! Come here for a second and you can have this."
The dog seemed to forget whatever he was looking for and bolted towards them, snatching the food from Kurita's hand, almost taking it too. The team took the time to look closer at the fur. It was indeed blood, a lot of it. Mamori ran her fingers through the fur while the dog as distracted with the food.
"It doesn't seem like it's his." The dog finished eating and looked at them for a minute. The dog didn't seem angry with them. Cerberus finally turned around after a few seconds of staring and ran back to the place that Kurita had seen him come out of, disappearing into the mess. The feeling that had been at the back of Kurita's mind since the explosion finally pushed forwards, bringing with it a thought that turned his stomach.
There was blood on Cerberus's fur. There hadn't been the day before. From all appearances Cerberus had spent the night under the wreckage. Cerberus looked like he had been lying in blood for at least a few hours. Cerberus only cares about Hiruma. The end of that thought train was like a blow to the stomach.
"Oh God," he moaned, feeling bile creep up his throat. The team turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"
Kurita lifted a hand to cover his mouth, staring at the hole in the wreckage that Cerberus had disappeared into.
"I think Hiruma is under there."
The feeling of air stirring his hair brought Hiruma around. He laid still for a second trying to figure out where he was. He took a deep breath. And nearly ended up screaming. Pain like no other ripped through his chest forcing the air out and seizing up the muscles. He lay still trying not to move until the pain lessened.
Movement around his head nearly made him jerk, the accompanying pain momentarily darkening his vision. There was something next to his head. Slowly Hiruma reached a hand up to touch the thing. Coarse fur and a familiar rumble explained what it was.
"H-h-hey, Cerb-berus," he said shakily. "C-c-ome to w-w-ait with me h-ha-have you?" The dog rumbled an answer to his voice.
"I-I guess your name, r-really does s-suit you." Hiruma coughed tasting blood in his mouth.
"It w-won't be long now b-buddy."
9:00 am
The school yard was boiling with activity. The American Football Team was standing off to the side with the police near the cars being questioned. After Kurita's revelation, the team had run to the construction crew that was beginning the clean-up. It had taken time to explain the relationship between the dog and the missing youth but when they were finished the crew, while not totally believing them, were obligated to call the Police and Fire Department to search.
The police and the fire department arrived almost immediately and the dogs from the K9 teams were milling about with their handlers. Students from other after school practices were standing over on the sidelines, waiting to see what was going on. The fire chief came over to the Football team.
"Do any of you know where the dog went in?" He indicated the collapsed building behind him. Kurita nodded.
"Over there. That little overhang under all the concrete." The fireman nodded and yelled over to the men searching. They waited as the men moved over to the area indicated.
"I found paw prints!" The Chief yelled to the police.
"Bring over the dogs!"
The German Shepards had long ropes attached to their harnesses and were sent into the wreck. One of the police trainers patted his dog before sending him in after the others.
"Find us a way in boy."
It took nearly twenty minutes for the K9 teams to find Cerberus. The find was heralded by barking and growling as the dogs raced back out of the hole. The police were startled by the dog that appeared. Large and furry, the dog appeared to have been made by crossbreeding a husky/mastiff mix with a lion. The dog was growling and snarling but made no move to leave the entrance of the hole.
The Fire Chief turned to Kurita.
"Is that the dog?" Kurita nodded.
"That's Cerberus." The Fire Chief snorted. "Seems to fit the boy were looking for if he is the way you say he is." The chief turned back to look at the dog.
"We need to catch that dog." Mamori looked at him.
"Why?" The Chief gestured to the growling animal. "Because that dog isn't going to let anyone get near that hole, he's protecting something." He looked at them again.
"Can you get him away?" Mamori frowned.
"We can try."
It cost nearly $30 in pastries, and took almost an hour, but they eventually managed to enclose the dog inside the American Football Clubhouse. The Chief nodded pleased.
"Send the dogs back in."
The dogs were released again into the hole, and it was only a few minutes later when they heard barking. The Chief looked at the police officer in charge of the dogs.
"What does their barking mean?" The officer looked at him, shock written on his features.
"They found someone."
"What! They really found him?"
"Is it Hiruma?"
The team crowded close to the men.
"The dogs found someone." The Fire Chief nodded hiding his shock. He hadn't really believed the student when he heard their story about the dog because the wreckage had already been checked and cleared. He was not very happy about being proven wrong, but now he had a job to do, and they were running out of time. After the first 48 hours, the chance of finding someone alive under all that were very slim.
"Come on people, there's a person under there! Get moving!" He turned to the officer again.
"How far under is he?"
The officer looked at the rope in his hands. The ropes the team used had a knot tied in it ever meter. He had counted as they slipped through his hands. .
"45 meters."
Tbc…