Judas Child by Carol O'Connell

Author:Carol O'Connell [O'Connell, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), General, Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Crime
ISBN: 9780515125498
Publisher: Jove
Published: 1998-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The insane indoor raining had ceased, and the door opened. The man was back. The dog cried out in pain once more, and the thick metal door closed with a bang. The children stayed in the ground until they heard the sound of the car engine starting up and then fading away in the distance.

Sadie pushed back the cart and climbed out of the hole. She ran to the end of the aisle of shelf tables. “Look.” She was pointing into the trees where the dog sprawled in the dirt, not moving. Gwen was limping on her wounded leg and slow to catch up. Now she could see the bundle on the ground near the prone body of the chained animal. Inside the clear plastic bag was a wad of bright red material.

“Gwen, that’s your parka, isn’t it?”

“He must have gone to look for me outside. That’s why he took the dog and the parka—it has my scent. Maybe he thinks all dogs can track. Mr. Stuben says it takes a long time to train a dog that way.”

The animal rolled over on its side and moaned.

Gwen was poring through the bags in a near cart. One was labeled for dog biscuits. Another was a familiar brand of dry mix that had to be blended with hot water to make something approximating meat and gravy. She pushed her hand deep into the cart and extracted a can of dog food. This was what she fed to her poodle Harpo. Mr. Stuben had said it was the best money could buy.

The dog was on his feet again and in motion, paws hitting the ground in the wobbling gait of a weak and badly injured animal. He stopped short of his chain, having learned his limitations by the painful choke at the end of his tether.

“The chain won’t reach this far,” said Sadie. “Don’t be afraid.”

But Gwen wasn’t afraid of the dog anymore, and this was not due to the calming effect of the pills. The savage, barking animal before her sounded the only familiar note in a brand-new world of alien mushrooms and tall oaken dwarfs, where it rained indoors while a multitude of electric suns burned bright—and a monster roamed.

The dog she understood.

There was no hate between them; the child held no grudge for the bite, for it had been nothing personal. A starving animal had to find his meals where he could. The dog was behaving normally, predictably, and the rest of the world was not. She entertained the odd idea that they might become friends, for she already knew so much about him. The silent attack had proved that he was professionally trained, perhaps as a police dog. He had only barked once before the lunge. And this told her the dog had been frightened too.

Of course he was. He had sensed the fear in her, and instinct told him that every frightened animal was dangerous. Now she was also wounded, and thus she was twice as dangerous, a double threat to the dog.

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