Blinded

It was a few years after I met him that I realized Kurt was blind. Not colorblind, or blind in one eye, or with that rare amazing eyesight ability few had. Actually blind, from his birth up until now.
Of course, it didn't matter that he was blind. With his amazing senses, even for a blind dog, there was no way that the pack would reject him. It was still odd though: Kurt had been born into the pack. They should have killed him as soon as they found out. Then again, I couldn't know the ways of these animals. I was too new.
When I found out, I didn't mention it to him. Surely he had a good reason for keeping it a secret from me. But I closed my eyes, wondering what it was like. Kurt knew no color or shape and had never experienced any. Would this fact lead him to not be able to even imagine the dullest of grays? The brightest of greens?
So eventually I confronted him about it.
"What color are you seeing? With your eyes . . . closed."
He paused, not bothering to ask how I knew. /I/ didn't know how I knew. I guess with my new life in the wild, my instincts had taken over. "I don't know what the color I see is. It isn't what you see with your eyes closed. Then you are seeing the back of your eyelids. I suppose it's the color you see when you're asleep. Not dreaming--asleep. The color you didn't know existed until it became your life."
"But you were born blind."
"So it became my life right then. When I was born."
Humph. That was just like Kurt. He always finds a way to let you know he's won. But it still didn't explain why he was here: alive. When I voiced my thoughts, he changed the subject. "For the reason that hasn't happened yet. Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't hunt, though. Care to chase down that fawn living a few miles west?"
Of course I couldn't refuse Kurt. He was my friend, and he felt uncomfortable with what I had said. So I went with him. But the lack of words didn't change the fact that thoughts were buzzing like angry bees inside my head.
Clearly I knew nothing of pack life.

Wow thats amazing maggie *would want to read more*

:3 Thank you.

(2)

I didn't have the right to ask about Kurt's past. Many of us didn't, but it would be downright unacceptable for me to. That kind of attitude for such a new dog could result in my outcast.
I had to try.
Our alpha was called Serfi. He ruled the pack in a quiet sort of dictatorship. Everyone did exactly as he asked, but forunately be didn't ask for much. The seniors threatened newborns that they would wind up like Feryl, the last to disobey Serfi, if they weren't perfect. Come to think of it, consequences for asking a question like this could result in a lot worse things that banishment.
Perhaps I should ask someone else.
Kelly was the only one at camp besides myself, Kurt and Serfi at the moment. She was considered a senior, but was known for being secretive, even if her loyalty couldn't be doubted. She wasn't born into the pack but had been accepted. Like me. She was a chihuahua.
Perfect.
"Kelly!" I called, trotting over to her. "Promise you won't tell?"
She laughed. "I'll do my best, Fiore. Come into the den to tell me." Kelly was the pack's peacemaker and therapist. Private meetings with her weren't unheard of.
"Why wasn't Kurt killed as a pup?" I blurted out as soon as we were out of earshot.
Her wagging tail stopped suddenly. "You have no right to know. . . . Or ask, for that matter. It isn't important, at least not right now. Kurt will tell you if he chooses." Kelly walked out. Fine. I didn't really expect her to tell me anyway. . . . But she was heading towards Serfi's den. "WAIT! Kelly! Please don't tell Serfi!" She looked back at me, eyes narrowed.
"I have my own reasons to visit Serfi. Maybe you don't deserve to be here if you think every murmur is an accusation pointed at you."
Ouch.

(dun dun duunn :3 I dont think I like the new dog)

(Good. xD)

(3)

After that outburst, I should've expected Serfi to call me over. There was no excuse for the start of surprise that jerked inside my stomach when his voice resounded out into the clearing: "Fiore!" Dread spreading through my veins, I dutifully followed him into the den.
"Fiore," he began. "I heard that you doubted Kelly would keep your meeting a secret. Not trusting our seniors is an actionable offense. . . . And you seemed terrified of what would happen if I found out. For this reason I must know. I called you over so you'd be aware that it was your fault, not Kelly's that you must spill." Be sat down across from me, but I remained silent until I could no longer bear his yellow eyes glaring disdainfully at me.
"I--I wanted to know why Kurt--when you knew he was blind--why he didn't. . . . Um. Yeah."
"Why he didn't /what/?"
"Why you guys didn't . . . um . . . reject him."
Serfi bared his teeth and snarled. "Then I'm glad Kelly didn't help you. You don't deserve it. Prodding at our backgrounds? Questioning my decisions?" I cowered. "Take care to make sure you don't wind up like Feryl. Leave. Now."
Flinching as his words bit, I turned and left, head down and tail between my legs. At least I wasn't gone, but. . . . It might be better to have wound up like Feryl. At least she wasn't an Omega.

(4)

When I returned to the clearing, Kurt and Kelly had gone hunting but Yule, Gyris and Frank had restocked our prey supply with human chicken and mutton. We raided humans when we could. Their food wasn't much better than ours and it was much harder to catch, but it was so much better smelling and easier to tear into that sometimes it was hard to resist.
Some hunting could be good for me. Walking up to Gyris, I ask "Would you be up for another hunt?"
He chuckled. "So soon after the last one? Fine with me." We trotted towards the exit, a gateway with brambles tangled underneath and vines overhanging. Kelly looked curiously at me as we left but didn't say anything. One fight didn't make us enemies.
The forest was laced with scents and colors unfamiliar to me. I had been cooped up in camp learning the pack's ways that I'd hardly had a chance to actually experience the thrill of living in the wild. The breeze tickled my fur, and for a moment I could forget all the tension that lay waiting at home.

(5)

Gyris and I pinpointed the mother of the fawn Kurt and I had caught yesterday. She had a limp but was large for a doe, and would be difficult to take down even with her disability. Gyris ran back to camp to fetch Yule and Kelly. With all four of us, we'd have a huge meal in no time.
While Gyris headed back I kept both eyes on the doe. She was traveling north at a ridiculously fast pace, apparently as eager to get away as we were to catch her. Without hesitating I followed; Gyris and the others would have no trouble tracking my scent trail.
It took about five or ten minutes for Gyris, Yule and Kelly to catch up, and by then the doe and I were about two miles out of the pack's territory. Hopefully they wouldn't get worried. . . . Nah, they were already here.
We didn't have to speak to form a plan. Kelly raced ahead, frightening the doe towards Yule. Gyris and I took off in opposite directions. The doe was gradually driven closer to our borders until we were all close enough to lunge. We had our meal, and this was sure to last quite a few days.

(6)

By the time we got back to camp, news of my meetings with Serfi and Kelly had spread like wildfire. I didn't hear a direct conversation, but the way the chattering stopped when we returned was clearly no coincidence. On the bright side, Arthur had rejoined the pack with a prize of two grown pigs that the humans had raised. Arthur was our strongest pack member, a mutt with many purebred ancestors: husky, saint Bernard, German Shepard, and his grandmother had even been a wolf, which was very rare these days. How he got his teeth around a hog at all was anyone's guess.
We feasted that night, my faults long forgotten. Gyris and I were congratulated on tracking down the doe and venturing into unclaimed territory to catch her. Kelly, Yule and Arthur were also praised, making almost every pack member a celebrity.
Serfi, as usual, did not forget or join the celebrations. When most were asleep he ordered me to stand guard for two nights, from dusk to dawn. Luckily tonight counted as the first night, but just because I was being punished didn't mean I got a break while the sun was up. No sleep for two days and two nights. Ugh.
At least I was still in the pack, though. Feryl was the only outcast the pack had ever known, and I wasn't eager to join her in the notorious legends passed down from generation to generation. Kurt, on the other hand, had more to do with these fairy tales than I had ever imagined possible.

(7)

"My people!" Serfi smiled down at us, nodding slightly to everyone but me. "I'm proud to announce that Kurt will now be considered our pack's peacemaker . . . As Kelly has agreed to join me as our Alpha Female!" There was cheering. I joined in, knowing enough about pack life to know this was big: Serfi had chosen a mate. We were one step closer to the wolves we strived to be.
And Kurt! Peacemaker! An honor no one in their right mind would pass up. And I was his friend, the one who would stand near his den and tell others to shoo, shoo, Kurt's too busy to talk right now. As if they'd listen, but anyone can dream, right?
Our newly-appointed peacemaker stood tall, basking his his newfound glory. No one had expected this; Kelly had pledged to remain a virgin shortly after I had joined the pack, and Kurt certainly wasn't our most senior member. But that didn't matter now. Soon we'd have pups! Little Serfis and Kellys! There was no end to the good news would follow this announcement.
But wherever there's light, there's shadow. . . .

(8)

And there certainly /was/ shadow. I was pushed aside when Kurt sent to break up fights or talk to Serfi. There was no time anymore. Only a week had passed before Kelly became pregnant and I had to take up some of the omega tasks of the pack. I chased off the kittens that strayed over our borders, dragged rotting prey out of camp, and fended off the hawks that targeted us. I didn't receive any credit. I didn't expect any.
When at last Kurt had a break in his schedule, he invited Arthur and Gyris to go hunting with him, not me. He couldn't be seen with an underling like me; I didn't even have the authority to look him in the eyes and say "Please may I go?" anymore.
And then, of course, the humans came.

(9)

(9)

Before we had lived in an empty forest. The city was several miles west. They were bound to invade someday, but we had always hoped it'd be past our time, another generation's issue. Pah. Foolish of us to expect as much.
They cleared out the woods, chewing away at our territory faster than we could move out. We heard them before they were close enough to catch us, but we couldn't outrun their machines. One by one Kurt, Gyris and Yule disappeared. Serfi and Kelly had departed from the pack in the hope that they'd escape. Arthur and I, the only ones left, didn't know what had become of them.
We weren't going to attempt to rescue anyone, not even Kurt. It took everything we had to keep running. Eventually only a narrow strip of our territory was left. The humans were closing in on us.

(10)

Now that the humans had captured so many of us, they knew there were more. We knew through corrections and training from Serfi that we weren't to stray from our territory in a crisis. That meant no expanding our borders either. We would never disobey Serfi, not even now when we needed to most.
We had evolved from wolves through the guidance of humans. We barked when we weren't in danger, we knew a human's emotions and body language, we understood their weaknesses. Few breeds are aggressive towards them naturally, and the ones who are are usually killed. We were dogs, we could be trained. That was bound to be their goal, in the end.
When they at last caught us, Arthur and I were taken to the pound. People looked at us when they came in. At first I rushed up against the bars, but it soon became apparent that I couldn't compete with the frolicking puppies. Gyris and Yule were here as well. Kurt had already left.

(11)

In the pack, whom your ancestors were didn't matter. If you worked hard, you were one of us. End of story. No breeds were discluded or privileged because of who they were.
Breeds were all that mattered here. Heck, even a face-destroying Yorkie would easily be adopted.
Kurt was a pureblooded greyhound. How they fond out was a mystery; it was news to Arthur and I. I was the child of two purebred breeds, a German Shepard and a Golden Retreiver. Undistinguished bloodline, they called it. Same with Arthur.
It was so busy. All the barking dogs and screeching cats and angry humans shouting at each other. We were fed and excersized once a day before we were shut back into our crates for the day. All of this happened early in the morning, before the humans came. Some were taken out with the guests to be played with. They were the lucky ones, the ones who escaped. I wasn't one of them.

(12)

I don't know when I started hearing the howls, or when I started joining in on them. It was only Kurt at first, before Kelly, and finally Serfi, joined in.
We had to respond. Especially Arthur; it was in his blood. It wasn't a song, it was a chorus. A chorus involving even me. The omega.
The humans were annoyed, even angry. They woke later and our walks were scarcer, our meals smaller. They were too tired to pay attention, and we were too desperate to stop.
Eventually they simply couldn't continue anymore. We became the pound dogs, the ones they were to put to sleep. The ones they were to kill.