Chapter List
I slowly got out of bed and stood up on the hard stone floor. I preferred to use the bathroom last since I took longer then others trying to make myself as decent as possible, though it was quite unsanitary after everyone else used it. So I waited as the long line to the bathroom slowly shortened.
�Hey Renard, looking forward to work today?� came a familiar voice from behind me. I turned to face Charlie, a twelve-year-old Husky. He was one of the oddest ones in here. He was the only one who enjoyed to work all day long. Why I�ll never understand. I think after being here for six years made him snap. I smiled and shook my head.
�Oh yes, I�ve been looking forward to working today so much tha� I couldn�t even sleep last night.� The young husky frowned at me.
�Someday your sarcasm is going to get the best of you.� He turned and walked towards the other side of the room. Charlie was brought here when he was six after his parents died. He was left alone and was picked up by some humans and sold. When he first arrived he never talked to anyone. He stayed by himself away from everybody else. I felt sorry for him and went over to him one day and tried to cheer him up. I talked to him for hours at a time and eventually got him to join the rest of us. Since then he looked at me as a brother to him and always stayed close to me.
I finally reached the bathroom and stepped in. I stood against the wall and tried to straiten out my fur, it was orange except for white on parts of my face that runs down my neck and down my chest. There�s also some white on the tip of my tail that I pulled a twig out of that had gotten caught in it from the day before. I sighed and continued trying to clean my fur the best I could. It however couldn�t be helped; it was very dry from being out in the sun too much and darkened from dirt.
Ten minutes passed before I finally exited the bathroom after trying to do something about my appearance. It�s not like I expected to impress anyone, I just liked to take care of myself more then others.
�Hey Renard, do you want me to get you a nice make-up kit so you can stay in there for a half hour making yourself look all pretty?� I looked to my right and saw the grinning wolf, Terrance.
�Oh I�d love that.� I said to him sarcastically. �You also might want to pick up some soap so you can neglect it an� pretend like it�s not there. Take a bath why don�t you?� I continued walking and he followed.
�Why? Do I offend the poor little fox?� I rolled my eyes and walked to my bed and sat down.
I let out a sigh as the two men from earlier came back. I knew what would come. They would pick out six of us and send us to work out in the fields while the other six went to work around the human�s houses. I watched to see who would be picked out. Damien moved over and sat on my bed. Nobody spoke while in their presence, they were too nervous around them. They picked Charlie, Terrance, Damien, Myself, and two others to go work outside. I groaned at the thought of working outside for the eighth day in a row. The sun was already shining down on the soil, the heat seeping into the ground making it hotter as the heat rose back up. We headed out the door and out into the light. I shielded my eyes and waited for them to adjust before I kept walking, following Charlie and Damien with Terrance behind me. We were pushed and shoved whenever we walked too slowly. I stopped and yawned, still a little tired, and one of the men grabbed my tail and pulled hard on it. I let out a short yelp and continued moving.
�That should wake you up better.� Said the human and the other laughed at me. I sighed and kept going, walking next to Damien. We reached the fields and as I suspected the ground was hot now as the sun rose higher. It hurt my bare feet to walk on it but I ignored the pain as I have in the past.We were directed to the trees on the edges of the fields to pick fruit. Charlie went happily over to a tree and climbed up a ladder that was left there and began to pick the fruit off of the trees. The rest of us did the same only not as happy in doing it. I picked fruit after fruit and put them into a bucket below Damien and me that we were sharing. I glanced over at Charlie whose bucket was nearly full.
�I�ll never know �ow he does it.� I said to Damien. He glanced at me.
�How who does what?� he asked.
�Charlie, �ow does he work all day without complaining?� Damien looked at Charlie then back at me.
�I�m not sure.� He said to me.
�Oh well�. best to let the poor lad be.� I said, continuing to pick fruit. Honestly I found it refreshing to watch Charlie work. It made me keep working just as much, sort of to set an example though it wasn�t needed. I would have gladly let him do all of the work for me had it not been for the guards.
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