"Now let's see, I lift my left leg up, then my right leg should follow, and-AGH!" Shane slipped and looked up from the floor and sighed.

"No use, so stop trying."

She turned her head and saw Oliver standing with a new pillows on his back.

"I just have to. It's urgent," her voice sounded desperate.

"How urgent?" Oliver looked at her quizically.

"It's a matter of life and death, but not my life and I have to find the help I need right away!" she tried to stand up again, but failed. The Collie hissed in pain and laid her body on the stack of pillows.

"You're body's in no condition to move, you have to rest whether you like it or not," Oliver scolded her.

"Yes Mom," she teased and smirked.

Oliver rolled his eyes in reply and his eyes fell upon her wounds and bruises.

"What happened?" his eyes showed concern for her.

"A bunch of dogs who think killing others is pure dead fun, that's what," she spat out the words as if they were poison.

"Who were they?" Oliver sat down next to her.

"They work for a guy who's as bad as them. So far, the guy's killed 2 families and some beggars every once in a while. He's after unpaid debts, but heartless all the same. He was after my family, and they moved to get away from him. They left me and my brothers alone when he arrived, along with his dogs. We were cornered and they took my brothers," Shane looked away to hide the tear that came out, and more to come.

"I'm sorry. What was their master's name?" Oliver looked at her sympathetically.

She tried to avoid the question, but the teen cat's expression showed great concern for her, she had to answer. It took her a moment until she finally turned her head to answer him.

"The police stopped looking for him once the murdering stopped, and they called him, Sykes."

Oliver's eyes went wide and felt as if the whole world went back. His paws trembled and his whole body stayed unmoved for a couple of minutes. The name that brought him nightmares in the dark of the night, and the person who he dreaded the most was now back.

Shane looked at him quizically and waved a paw in front of his face.

"Hello? Earth to Oliver?" she yelled in his ear.

Oliver snapped out of his trance and stared back at her in shock and fear.

"What?"

"Y-You know Sykes?" Oliver stuttered.

"Yes, everyone knows that damned name and the one who owns it," she said.

"I just, umm...it's a long story," he sighed.

"We've got time, and it doesn't look like as if we have much to do, especially me," Shane said jokingly.

Oliver chuckled and started.

He told her about his night on the streets, until he met a cool and care-free stray dog. Followed him to his lair, and met his whole group of dogs, and were owned by Fagin, a poor man who just wanted to pay his debt to Sykes. He also told her how he met Jenny, and the failed attempt of kidnapping and ransom by fagin, until the end where he decided to stay with jenny instead of joining the group of dogs.

Shane listened carefully, and mostly on the part where Oliver told her about the group of dogs.

'It's gotta be them, it has to be,' she thought.

"Oliver, by any chance was the dog you met named, Dodger?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, and how do you know him?" he was looking at her, and expecting a quick explanation.

"Please, you have to tell me where he is. He's the only one that can help me save my brothers!"

"He lives by the docks. Now, how do you know him?" Oliver asked her back.

"Hehe, long story?" Shane said sheepishly.

"We've got time," he mocked her.

There. Finally done with this chapter and I'm sorry if some parts were a bit too sudden. But I'll try to improve my writing, and I'm also sorry I took a while to upload 'cause I had writer's block for a way long time. PLEASE R&R! Need Review POWER!

-Ravenhearst