The night the Rhymer went whack

11

Except for a few that survived, most animals had become extinct. Kids born within the last twenty five years looked at monkeys, lions, giraffes, tigers and gorillas like dinosaurs, almost not believing they had once roamed the planet.

Many were poached for a few dollars, but most were killed out of hunger or frustration and anger. Regardless, dogs remained and were now more than ever man’s best friend. They stayed loyal to their masters whether they were wrong or right. They sought out prey and were taught to attack, maim and disarm the weak and elderly. They were also trained to steal, doing their owner’s bidding with unwavering devotion. But they were also taught to protect and detect danger, warning those that cared for them. Those were the canines that protected Straffe’s utopia.

He knew the power of a dog’s allegiance and watched as they evolved into a survival mode triggered by a more heightened desire to please the hand that fed them, so as the world sunk into depravity, they just wanted a meal, and being domesticated, fighting for scraps everyday was no longer in their DNA. They sought refuge in doing what was necessary to receive a bite to eat. If that meant killing, hurting or stealing, then so be it, they ate. Straffe understood this power when he set forth in creating The Sound Factory. He sought every dog he could find and fed them. Fed them abundantly until they were begging for orders to protect their master and keep their bellies full.

With well over one hundred in his steed, he taught them how to patrol the property in shifts and how to recruit others that would ultimately be just as loyal. He dissolved the instinctive selfishness toward food that scarceness had created, teaching them to share and not be greedy, there was plenty for all. They learned how to detect a dangerous imposter trying to infiltrate from someone in distress searching for safety. They learned to work as a team, protecting, sharing, and most importantly, surviving.

They didn’t hesitate to kill, sometimes in protecting the compound and other times in defending one another. So, when those dogs led Sharissa and Dashet to safety, they were just doing their job, and when her parents, searching for her, ran into a pack of these trained hounds, they knew by their scent who they were, but they also knew they weren’t invited into The Sound Factory; Sharissa was welcomed and these others posed a threat. Not a threat worthy of maiming though, so they just barked and viciously gnarled until the search was called off, leaving a disappointed family knowing they may have lost their daughter forever.