“It’s Friday...again,” groaned Ambyr. “No mail duty for another week!”

“You’re such a workaholic,” said Haywire, laying on the ground and opening one eye at her. “Why don’t you ever enjoy your time off?”

Ambyr sighed and walked over to him. She playfully nudged him in the side. “Because I always have to spend it with you two.”

Haywire rolled off to the side. “Very funny...it’s two in the afternoon, why don’t you run off and play while I get my beauty rest?”

Ambyr scoffed. “Beauty rest? You do know that’s a girl’s term?”

Haywire blindly groped around for something, and then threw it carelessly at Ambyr. “Whatever,” he said. “Just go.”

Ambyr looked at him, then turned to leave, but Blitz came charging, and he burst through the door, panting. His eyes were wide, as if he’d seen a ghost. “Guys,” he heaved. “Come quick! It’s...It’s horrible!” He bolted away.

Haywire growled and opened one eye again. “What was all that about?”

Ambyr shrugged. “I think Blitz saw another ghost.”

Blitz came sprinting back to the door. His face was twisted in a serious frown. “Stop that! This is serious, you morons! Come on!” He ran away again.

“Well, sheesh,” said Ambyr. “You don’t have to bite my head off...Why is everyone in such a bad mood today?” She started out the door, and then turned to Haywire. “Are you coming, or not?”

Haywire growled again, then struggled to his feet. He stretched his legs and yawned. “This had better be good, he groaned.

“Well, seeing how Blitz acted, I’d say it’s anything but good.” The two of them ran off and followed Blitz, who was waiting nearby, impatiently.

Blitz led them a ways down the road, where a crowd of humans stood shouting and waving their hands at each other. Pushing through the crowd, the three dogs squirmed their way to the back wall, where a poster stood tacked to it.

Ambyr gave an extremely horrified gasp.

Haywire’s jaw literally plummeted to the ground.

“This...this can’t be happening!” said Ambyr. “I can’t believe it! I won’t!”

The three of them stood gaping at the sign. The words were unmistakable:

“FRANK POPPIN PRESENTS: LIVE DOG FIGHTS!!!”

“W-When did this happen?” stammered Ambyr.

Blitz snarled at the poster. “I dunno. Some guy came wheeling into town, offering free tickets to the first fifty people who came to his stand. I came over to see what had all the ruckus was about, then I saw that,” he gestured towards the poster. “I came to get you guys right away.”

Haywire finally stole his gaze away from the poster. “Wha...what’s gonna happen?” he asked. His voice no longer sounded tired.

Blitz shook his head, and turned his back on the poster. He started crouching away. “Over here,” he said.

Haywire and Ambyr followed his lead. Camouflaged in the hustle of people climbing over each other for the stand, they quietly crept behind and saw the man handing out tickets. A wide grin was plastered to his face. They took it that this man was Frank Poppin. He laughed and took slips of paper out of a box in the handfuls, handing them to each person.

“Ugh...humans,” growled Ambyr.

“We got to do something about this,” said Haywire.

Blitz continued to creep around the stand. “It gets worse,” he said after a while. “The first showing is in two hours.

“That Frank Poppin,” said Ambyr with a snap. “We’ve got to close him down.”

The three had finally managed to stealthily make their way behind the counter. There were a series of tents set up, and a circular fighting ring in the center. It was a caged dome. One way in, no way out.

“How terrible,” sighed Ambyr. “How will we ever stop him?”

“I have no idea...this whole thing is new to me. Can you ever remember a time of this happening in Nome?”

Ambyr shook his head.

“I thought humans outlawed stuff like this,” asked Haywire.

“...Humans...have a very...persuasive sense with each other,” observed Blitz. “I don’t know how, but I guess it’s somehow being tolerated.”

Suddenly, there came a howl from one of the tents.

“Did you hear that?” asked Ambyr. Haywire and Blitz perked their ears up. Another loud bark sounded off.

“Yeah,” replied Blitz. “Where’s it coming from?”

“There!” said Haywire. He gestured towards on of the tents. It was fairly larger than the others. “I can only imagine what’s inside.”

The three of them strode over to it, and they all suddenly wished they were blind. The tent was filled with cages...dog cages. There were about fifteen dogs caged in all. They watched painfully was they ran back on forth in their prisons, barking and snarling. One was biting at the cage walls, trying to get lose. And another...another was just sitting there...not doing anything at all. It just looked down at the ground, its ears lowered in sadness. Ambyr’s eyes widened and she drew in a breath.

“Drifter...? Is that...”

She trailed off as Drifter turned his head. He suddenly stood up and went over to the cage walls as the three of them ran over to him. All the other dogs barked at them, pleading for the three to set them free, all they could do was push out their voices from their heads and continue on to Drifter.

“...Why is it that I’m always the one to end up like this?” asked Drifter. His question wasn’t directed to anyone.

“Wha-What happened?” asked Ambyr, worried.

Drifter shrugged. “I was hanging out in my alley when a hoard of humans came and grabbed me. I think I bit one of them, but they all held on, and stuffed me in this cage. The next thing I knew, I’m being hauled away for what looks like...a public dog fight?”

The three stared at him. Haywire nodded.

“When I...when I was wolf, I did my share of fighting, but now, I only do it to defend myself, not for someone’s amusement!”

“We’re going to get you out of here,” Ambyr said. “Don’t worry!”

All the dogs lowered their ears and whined.

“Okay,” continued Ambyr. “We’re going to get you all out...just as soon as we figure out how.”

“The first show starts in two hours,” Drifter said. “Quick, see if you can pull the latch to my cage.”

Haywire leaned over, and tried using his paws to lift the latch, but they slipped and blundered clumsily. Haywire growled. “Humans and their fingers...” He lowered his head and started biting the latch with is teeth.

“You’re getting slobber all over it,” said Ambyr. “Lemmie try.”

She never got the chance.

Drifter suddenly looked up and barked in surprise. “Watch it!”

Ambyr, Blitz, and Haywire turned around just in time to see three cages come plunging down right on top of them. Before anyone could jump out of the way, they were trapped in a tiny cell as three humans held down the cages to prevent them from escaping.

“Gotcha,” they said.

Drifter continued barking at the humans angrily and snarling, but they pain no attention to him. From behind the three humans, the dogs heard a high-pitched laugh as the man from behind the counter came forward...Frank Poppin.

“Well, well,” he said. “What have we here?”

“These three were caught sniffing around,” said the man holding Haywire said. “What do you want to do with them?”

Frank thought for a moment, looking at the ceiling, and putting his fingers to his chin. “Hmmm...they don’t have owners, so it’s obvious no one wants them. Excellent. These three would make a great opening act! Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he headed out of the tent. “I have customers.” His girly laugh could be heard as he left.

The humans locked up their cages, and set them in a row beside Drifter’s. They all growled at them.

“Ah, shut up,” they said, and then, they too left the tent.

“...Well, this has gone from bad to worse,” said Haywire.

All the trapped dogs looked at them with sorry eyes. They all shook their heads, then continued barking and howling.

“...What...did you say you guys came here for,” asked Drifter.

“We came to get you out,” replied Blitz.

Drifter looked at his cage, then their cages. “...Good job,” he growled.

Ambyr tried to reach between the bars to lift the latch of her cage, but her paw was too big. Even if she did get it through, there was no way she’d be able to get it back.

Haywire lay down on his back and closed his eyes. “We’re doomed,” he yawned. “Wake me when it’s time to die.”

“How’ll we get out of this?” said Blitz. His paw slipped through the bars, but he couldn’t detach the latch.

“I am now a human-hater,” said Ambyr. She growled as she tried fiddling with the lock some more. “Hate! Hate, hate, hate!”

Drifter sighed and continued to look down at the ground with his ears lowered, saying nothing.

“Eh, Haywire, how much time do we have?” asked Blitz.

Haywire spoke

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