"…Daniel says it's the best place he's ever seen…" Charlie Green leaned back as he took his hands from the keys in the ignition to the steering wheel of his beaten sedan. "Hell yeah," he nodded as the sounds of Elton John reached out from the radio, almost drowning out the ominous rattle coming from…well, somewhere in his car. When it came to his car, Charlie's philosophy had always been to deny the existence of a problem until something broke. That was his philosophy for a lot of things, actually- although he'd be the first to admit the philosophy had rarely worked well for him. But between veterinary school, working to pay the bills, and interning at the local animal clinic, Charlie felt he was doing well just to remember to eat and keep in touch with Rachel- "Shit! Rachel…where's my phone? Did I leave it at the clinic? No, I had it in my hand…shit…oh it's in my hand." Charlie's initial panic subsided as he saw there was only one missed text from her, asking him if he was working late at the clinic. He and Rachel had been friends since undergrad. Charlie could've graduated without her, but not with the grades to get into his top choice of vet programs. While she was too smart for her grades to have suffered even slightly without him, Charlie suspected her sanity might not have remained quite as intact if he hadn't been there. Even though they were in different veterinary programs in different states now, they still made sure to check in on each other regularly to compare notes, fill each other in on gossip, and generally look out for each other as well as they could across state lines. Charlie typed in the password to his phone, squinting to see past the cracks in his screen. "Incorrect password? What the…nope not that…8362? 8702? It ends in a 2…or is that my pin…goddamn it's been a long day…oh- 2701- nope…8…43-shit!" Charlie dropped his phone as he swerved to avoid a dark form laying in the road.

He pulled over, turning down the radio and glancing in the rearview mirror. Whatever was in the road hadn't moved. It looked big, big enough to be a body. Immediately Charlie thought of all the tv shows and horror movies he'd seen where criminals laid in the road to lure good Samaritans away from the safety of their cars. He turned the radio down further and glanced back at the shape in the road. It hadn't moved. "Ok, it's probably not even a body. Probably a trash bag, that fell off of a trash truck. At midnight. Trash trucks run pretty much 24/7 right? Lots of trash to pick up… But if it's trash I don't have to get out and check. Unless that makes me complicit in littering. Damn I hate people that litter. And if it's someone who's hurt I would be a dick to keep driving…but it's probably trash…ok I'm gonna get out, just check, pick up this trash bag that is definitely a trash bag. It'll take 2 seconds." Having convinced himself to get out, Charlie turned off radio, leaving the car on in case it wasn't a trash bag and he needed a quick escape. Turning on the flashlight of his phone, he stepped out. He walked slowly towards the shape on the road, then broke into a run when he realized what it was. It was a dog, some kind of german shepherd mix- it was difficult to tell in the limited light. It was dirty but looked well-fed, and the light from Charlie's phone glinted off the heart-shaped tag hanging from its collar. Charlie looked closer. "Sandy. How'd you get so far from home, Sandy?" Flashing the light across her body, Charlie saw why she hadn't been moving. Blood dripped from deep claw marks across Sandy's left side. As Charlie moved to check the dog's pulse, she let out a whimper. "Hey hey, Sandy, hey it's ok, you're gonna be fine." Charlie whispered reassurances to the injured dog, the darkness around him putting him on edge. Charlie was fairly certain what had happened to Sandy, and while it didn't look like the hybrid animals had attacked Sandy here he still couldn't be sure they hadn't followed her, waiting for her to die- or using her as bait for bigger prey. Charlie sighed. "Ok, Sandy, this is gonna hurt but you'll thank me later- Jesus you're heavy!" The last words were a grunt as he picked up the dog and carried her to his car.

Charlie pulled up to the animal clinic. There were no lights on; he'd been the last to leave. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, deciding the best way to get Sandy from the car to inside the clinic. "Ok, Sandy, let's go," he said, stepping out of the car and opening the door to the backseat where Sandy lay. Grunting and gasping for breath- Charlie wasn't entirely out of shape but he had never been a big guy- Charlie picked up the dog, nudged the car door closed with his foot, and staggered to the front door of the clinic. He set Sandy down as he took his keycard from his back pocket, grateful for the chance to catch his breath. Over the sound of his own heavy breathing, Charlie heard a growl from the far edge of the parking lot. Charlie froze. More growling drifted his way, still fairly far away but from a different side of the parking lot. Whatever it was, there were more than one of them. "Shit," he whispered, frantically thumbing through his wallet to find his keycard. Looking over his shoulder, he slid the keycard and hoisted Sandy into his arms as a small beep and click signaled the door was unlocked. The growls were getting closer quickly, Charlie could hear paws hitting the ground at a run. Sandy was awake and had started to whimper. Charlie slipped inside and pushed his back into the door, just as a furry mass slammed into it. For once Charlie was grateful for the added weight of Sandy in his arms. He pushed back against the door as a leg- which looked like it belonged to a dog- clawed at the air through the gap of the not-quite-closed door. Charlie winced as its claws grazed his leg, giving the door one last push. The attacking dog retreated, and the door clicked shut as Charlie slid to the floor with a thud as the force against the other side of the door abruptly stopped. The dogs outside slammed against the door once, startling Charlie from his moment of relief, but they quickly realized they were going to have to find another way in and left to circle the building.

"Shit," whispered Charlie again. "How you doing, Sandy? Hang in there just a little longer, ok?" The safest place Charlie could think of was exam room 3, so he forced himself to stand up and carry Sandy down the hall. Exam room 3 was generally his least favorite room because it had no windows, but under the current circumstances Charlie had never been happier to see it. He hoisted Sandy onto the table, pausing to catch his breath. "Ok, Sandy, sit tight. I've gotta go get a few supplies to fix you up, and I need to check and make sure the animals staying overnight are safe. Sound good?" Sandy whimpered, eliciting a chuckle from Charlie. "Yeah that's about how I feel too." Charlie left, closing the door behind him. He couldn't hear anything from the hybrids outside, but that did little to put him at ease. He walked cautiously down the dark hallways towards the room where the overnight patients were kept. They could sense the hybrids outside; when Charlie got there they were all in a frenzy. Charlie wished he had the time to comfort each of them, but instead he made sure there was no way for the hybrids to get in besides the door he had entered from. Satisfied, Charlie left the room and locked the door behind him, then pulled some chairs and a bench from an exam room to barricade the door from the outside. Leaving the sound of the panicking animals behind him, Charlie went to the supply closet to get what he needed to stitch up Sandy. Glancing down at the cuts on his leg, Charlie was relieved to see that he wouldn't need to stitch up himself too. The cuts were still bleeding but it was nothing a glorified band aid couldn't fix.

Charlie shuffled back to exam room 3, more worried about Sandy than the hybrids outside. Unlike him, the damage the hybrids had done to Sandy was deep. As Charlie turned the knob to exam room 3, a growl startled him so badly that he dropped the medical supplies he had been carrying. Charlie glanced behind him, wondering how the hybrids could have gotten into the building. There was nothing there. Then it dawned on him- the growl hadn't come from behind him. It had come from inside exam room 3.