I almost fell on my side to the right. As the truck got strait again I moved over to the left, almost falling down again. I got easily irritated over that.

Luckily, the truck stopped, which also meant, I must be here! I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to get out of this God forsaken truck. Needless to say, I had more than enough of that ride.

My heart was beating faster and faster by the freaking minute. I had no idea what this place was going to be like. Regardless, I was more than glad to be away from Chicago, away from those freaks, the ones whom I didn’t even want to mention their names… the ones who killed my Stacy. But there was no use mourning about it. It had already happened. You can’t change the past. “Hacuna Matata”. I didn’t even want to think about it at that moment. I just wanted to get out of this stupid truck.

I could hear the two humans shut their doors from getting out of the truck. I listened to every one of their foot steps on the dirt road, crunch by crunch. They were getting quieter by the step, which wasn’t good. They were going away from the truck. Hopefully they were just notifying someone that they had some cargo.

I started to hear one of the humans talk not to far away from the truck. He was yelling as if he was talking to someone that was thirty feet away from him.

“We’re ready to start unloading! Do you want us to bring ‘em on in?!” Frank called.

“Yeah, go ahead! I’ll open up the garage for ya!” The person yelled. She was a woman. It sounded like she was quite a few yards away. Maybe we were at the end of a parking lot.

I could hear the sound of the humans’ footsteps returning.

“Alright, man. Let’s do this.” said Frank.

“You got it.”

I quickly hid behind the stack of boxes at the left side of the truck. It was a wide stack, so he only needed to duck a bit. Once they both had their backs turned, he would jump off the back of the truck in between them, and run off. Perfect plan even if it was just made up in ten seconds. 

I started to hear the metal door slide open. I tried to keep as low as possible without my stomach touching the floor. I could hear the hardwood boxed sliding off the floor. I got closer to the end of the stack I was hiding behind. I stuck my right side of my head out just slightly, just enough for me to see out of the corner of my eye. I saw the passenger, Frank, picking up a large, heavy box and trying to put it onto the concrete without dropping it. I quickly went to the other side of the stack. I saw through the crack between the boxes and the wall that Bob was lifting a slightly lighter box. This may have been a good chance. If only the box was a little heavier it would have given him more time. Then, I heard Frank give out a yell.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He yelled.

Then, I heard a big crash, like the sound of a box hitting the concrete. Duh.

 Yes! I thought. This was a perfect opportunity to get out of this place.

“Aw, dang it!”

            “What? What’s the matter?”

            “The box, I dropped it.”

            “Ah, Frank. What’d ya do that for?” 

            “It was an accident, Bob. I swear.” 

            I stuck my head out of the side of the stack again, this time without as much stealth. I saw Bob looking over Frank’s shoulder, seeing what happened. He then started to kneel down at his side and start to pick the pieces of the broken box, with Frank picking up the packages that were inside. 

            This was my chance! This was my chance to get out of this place and into the wild, to be free and never have to live with my guilt again. There was nothing Randy, Dan or Tom could do about it. This was my chance to live more free than I did with them.

            I had plenty of time to make this all work. I walked out from the side of the stack, seeing them still picking up pieces of board and supplies, and I went to the end of the truck, and jumped off onto the concrete. That jump could not have felt better than it did on that day. That was the leap of faith right there. Plus I thanked God for not having to be on that moving truck again. I quickly ran to the side of the truck, and looked at the scenery of what was going to be my new home… The humans were right. The view was absolutely beautiful. I saw many mountains, and open fields. There were so many places that I could run without having to worrying about running into a hobo on the street.

            This was my new home. No one could stop me now. 

Chapter 7

            Randy couldn’t help but think about the thought that Jack may have run away, even though he thought of it himself. It was definitely a sure instinct to do something like that. But Randy didn’t care about instincts. He hated cowards. Randy thought that for Jack’s sake, he better not be a coward, or he’s going to be sleeping with the fish corpses in the dumpsters.

            Randy was still walking through the alleys, Dragging Dan and Tom along with him. And right when he passed a bunch of trashcans and dumpsters, he caught a scent. He sniffed around closer to the piles of trash on the ground, trying to make out who it belonged to.

            “Hey, Randy! What’d ya stop for?!” Tom called.

            “Hold up a second. I caught something.”

            “A scent?!”

            Randy continued to sniff.

            “Yeah…” He said to himself. 

            As Randy got deeper and deeper into the piles of trash, the scent was clear. It was Jack. He had been there. He could smell up against the brick wall too.

            “What’d ya got, Randy?!” Dan called.

            “It’s Jack. He’s been here!”

            Dan and Tom started to run up to where Randy was.

            “Lover boy?” Tom asked.

            “Yeah! His scent’s all over this area!”

            Randy started to sniff along the ground. He could smell him on the ground as well.  The scent continued down the alley. Randy slowly followed it to the corner where a left was to be taken. It was pretty strong, like he had just been there. When he lifted his head up, he could smell it. Dan and Tom caught up to him. They both sniffed in unison.

            “Dang! His scents’ all over the place!” said Tom.

            “Yeah, strong too.”

            “There’s only one corner to turn. He must have gone that way.” said Dan.

            “I know he did.” Randy replied.

            Randy began to sniff again, and headed around the corner. Dan and Tom followed him. He was going pretty fast without running. It was actually hard for the other two to keep up with him. Randy barely had to sniff. He just had to breathe. That’s how thick Jack’s scent was. He continued to run to the end of the alley. He looked to his left, and saw a long road, but Jack’s scent wasn’t in that direction. When he turned left, he could smell him again. Obviously, he went left. On the other side of the road at the corner, he could see another alley. It was just common sense to know that he might have gone in there. Randy quickly ran to the alley across the street.

            “Whoa! Hold up, Randy!” yelled Tom.

            Randy didn’t stop. He didn’t even turn his head at Tom. He continued to run towards the alley. Right when he got there, he could see an open area, a loading dock. There weren’t any trucks in it though. Randy quickly ran up to the loading dock. On the left side of the parking space, he could smell Jack again. But then, he turned in another direction. He couldn’t smell it anymore. He continued to walk, and there was nothing. He turned in every direction, and Randy smelled nothing of Jack. Just in that open spot of where there was a truck.

            Randy was no where near happy. He felt like ripping some random dog’s throat out. No more scent at a loading dock only meant one thing. Jack had left town.

Randy was more than angry. He thought he was going to have a freaking conniption. He knew that coward was going to run off, he just didn’t want to believe it. He thought about what Dan said earlier. It was common sense to know that he would have run off like that, but he still hated cowards,