HE HAD GONE HUNGRIER AND WEAKER – with the open wounds suffered, by scaling the razor barbwire, of the zoo’s fence-top – when he rescued Master Samuel from the big-black cat… and the cursed-human named Peter at the zoo.

For 2 days…

… he laid down sick, to rest-and-heal, from his infected wounds. The big, grey dog also fought back with the ‘madness and dangerous-urges’ that was infecting slowly in its mind…

… to turn into a FERAL ‘WOLF-MAN’ in the astral-world of dreams…

… Piper also knew his demise would be soon on earth… when he would be put down as a rabid dog someday…

… if he were to attack a human being.

His only strength to live…

… was of the ‘unfinished’ business of that night in the zoo…

… which was TO KILL THE BLACKMAN who, infected the black panther with the sorcery spell, of his native Popobawa – which in return, had also ‘cursed’ infected him…

… with similar uncontrollable, wild-illness… when he-himself, was later-bitten.

He should try ‘NOT’ TO DIE-BEFORE that…

…for the safety-sake of Jane and Samuel, and the family too, who…

… had treated him well and fed him, for 7 of his dog-years.

The AI voices and annoying whistles left his head, the moment he rescued Samuel that night – Piper had longed for ‘IT’ TO RETURN, in those 2 lonely nights – where he had laid-down weak… because Piper thought he would die, from the high-fever and cold chills that he endured.

On the 3rd day…

… the scrawny, half-breed Alsatian HAD SURVIVED AND left the covered drain – to look for food. He was at King’s Park… and a few people then-fed the dog with scraps…

…while ‘NOT’ KNOWING HIM…

… as the Perth’s hero-dog, from the media…

… but…

… who would have ‘recognized’ him…?

… when he was just-a dirty-stray-dog that needed a serious-bath – as his long grey fur was caked with dried-blood, mud, grime and dirt.

Piper wandered around in the vast park, slept under trees on a hot afternoon… as he watched adult-humans, going about playing, and interacting with their 2-legged-pups.

He vaguely remembered his ‘own’ mother-dog… who had given birth to him and his 5 other siblings pups-litters. The owner kept the 3 male pups – and sold 2 female pups.

… Piper was then-given to the owner’s friend… who then later gave him-away to an animal shelter – because the new-owner-human, COULD ‘NOT’ TAKE CARE, of an 8-month-old, ‘GROWING’ DOG…

… in the shelter, he was trained to be a guide dog for the disabled – and that’s ‘where,’ he was owned-later, by the blind, Master JANE, WHO WAS 6 YEARS old, of her-human age.

His best years were with Jane, was when he had loyally accompanied her to the blind-school, for over 5 years of his dog-life…

… but yet soon it ‘stopped’…

… when he was replaced by AN ‘INVISIBLE DOG’ – who ‘talked’ in human-language… and it lived ‘inside’ Jane’s backpack.

Nobody…

… and ‘not’ even Piper could see ‘her’…

… BUT LIKE A GHOST… ‘she’ spoke to Jane and Piper...

… and the existence of SIMY was STILL A MYSTERY IN HIS dog’s life.

<><> 

ON THE 4TH DAY, PIPER LEFT KING’S PARK – as he felt he was STRONG ENOUGH for his ‘mission’– ‘not’ any mission – but a specific mission…

… of searching, hunting and killing a ‘certain human.’

… with the fear of the perpetrator Hajji, would ‘return’ back, to hurt his masters, Jane and Samuel…

… and by the laws of nature… he should be ‘put-down’…

‘Where ARE YOU, 2-legged ‘Black-dog’ – Piper want to FIGHT AND KILL YOU!’

… Piper recalled the evening when JANE HAD ‘TAKEN’ HIM on a bus to see Peter, but the bus-ride went ‘wrong’ – when he was bitten by Popobawa.

To find for Hajji, he should take a ‘bus’ to where the black panther had last attacked him – that led him to the zoo before, where Hajji ‘last’ was spotted – and…

… he would pick his ‘scent’ up from thereon.

He wandered around the busy-street of Perth… in the hot afternoon to find a bus – but most buses were moving…

… feeling weak and hungry – he didn’t want to ‘play catch’ a moving bus.

The streets were filled with the yummy aroma of food, coming from fast-food joints…

… the distracted-Piper was now famished …

Gone were the days he did ‘not’ have to hunt or scavenge for food. He recalled the ol’ good-days… where Jane was away at school with her ‘TALKING-INVISIBLE-DOG,’ and he was left behind, to-be a fat-house-dog…

… he was pampered daily with 2 full doggie-meals, and ‘also’ there was doggie-snacks as treats, his ‘chewy’ flavoured supplements… a monthly trip to groomers to have his furs and nails trimmed. HE RECALLED TOO of Jane’s father who gave him a bath once a week… in a plastic tub, on hot days. So much so...

… he would jump in, whenever Samuel had a bubble bath.

He bonded well with Master Samuel – he was AN ADORABLE ‘PUP’ and he loved him, like his own. He loved licking his face… and giving him a hossie-back ride.

… he even babysat him, while Lola was cooking.

Both the big-dog and baby-boy would watch TV together – and he knew HOW-TO WORK the remote control, to switch channels… to entertain the boy with ‘animal-shows’.

He loved Lola too – she did secretly feed him with yummy ‘human-food’ scraps.

-O-

Piper was salivating and saw his own reflection – on the glass window pane of a restaurant. He saw a scrawny dog of himself, WHO HAD LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT – all dirty and with wounds, like a street-stray dog.

… gone was the well-groomed ‘image,’ where blind-Jane would call him…

‘… my ‘handsome-boy’.

He soon saw a fast-food kitchen employee throwing a servo-black bag into the dumpster. The moment the human entered the backdoor – Piper leapt into the dumpster and bit on the big, black bag… and ran away with it.

<><> 

PIPER TREATED HIMSELF, WITH A HEARTY MEAL OF KFC for the first time – and-boy…

… he had a big meal – and if were to portion the scrap, it can feed 10 humans.

He had lots of deep-fried chicken bones, limp-soggy French fries, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, half-eaten Zinger and Tender burgers scraps – and also salad, for his fibre intake...

… but-compared to his dog-food and Lola’s scraps of ‘yummy’ humans’ home cooking before – Piper liked fast-food the least because it was too salty.

But it was ‘food,’ and he ate – beggar-dogs can’t be choosy.

What complemented to the nasty-saltiness off his taste buds, was…

… the refreshing citrus splash and Pepsi freeze from those cups, that was puddling in melting ice-cubes into the torn, black bag. Piper lapped it, as it was cooling too, from the heat of that scorching afternoon. 

He burped… and defecated…

… left a mess, at the abandoned, foundry compound – and with a full belly, he proceeded with his ‘mission’ to get on a bus…

... and hunt for Hajji.

<><> 

PIPER WANDERED ABOUT IN THE STREETS – after a couple of hours in the sun, he reached a bus depot, where there were several parked buses…

… his long tail wagged with excitement.

The panting big dog sat, observing the buses – where humans entered the bus door, and the bus drove away.

Learning that, Piper walked over to the next bus… and entered the door, and was in the bus. He was greeted with cheers and shouts. The old-timer bus driver was cursing… while the seated humans were laughing.

Piper thought… it was a ‘safe space’ of friendlies.

The older-human came close and was shouting curses – and the seated humans were laughing more…

… Piper thought the older-human wanted to play ‘catch.’

The big dog ran past him, and bumping-hard into him… and the seated human laughed more and cheered for him. This made Piper returning back, dashing again… bumping-harder at the cursing older-human, which brought even more excitement… of cheering and laughter of everyone.

But when he saw, the old-bus-driver beginning to roll a newspaper, and waving it at him – the dog knew he was in A HOSTILE-SITUATION, with choices of ‘fight-or-flight’ – Piper could-had lunge, to attack him…

… but instead, he chose to run away, from the chasing human.

He jumped off the bus door… and ran away from the old-human… yelling back at him…

“Get off my bus, you dirty bloody-dog!”

<> 

FROM AFAR, PIPER LAID ON HIS BELLY… OBSERVING THE BUSES with confusion and bewilderment of where-did-he-go-wrong. The dog raised up its gaze when he saw a bus pulling over the depot – as the bus parked… the humans were exiting the bus, though 2 doors, instead of one.

… when the last human exited the rear-door, Piper sneaked-up into the bus and hid, under the rear row seat.

The driver was the last human to alight the bus… and the 2 doors closed, the air-con shut … leaving Piper alone inside the bus.

… still remaining and hiding under the seat, Piper wondered of what-was-going-on – he wished the INVISIBLE ‘TALKING-DOG’ was here, to ‘teach’ him. As the moments passed, and the air was stuffy under the hot afternoon sun – the furry mammal was panting.

The dog decided it would jump off the bus again… once the door opened. It waited patiently.

It was a wait-of-awhile, in dog-moments for Piper… anticipating with pants, before seeing the bus driver getting into his front seat. Only with the front door opened… the driver had also switched the air-con back on. Soon, more other humans got on the bus… and when the bus was half-filled – and the engine started, and the bus drove off.

Piper tail wagged in delight… that he was ON-COURSE TO his ‘mission.’

-O-

… but ‘not’ all buses led to Popobawa…

… Piper was on an express bus to Narrogin…

… on to the outskirts from Perth.

-O-

Hours passed on, as Piper remained hidden in the rear of the bus… anticipating for the 2nd door would open.

When the door finally opened… the big dog dashed at it, and was the first to get down off the bus… and he bolted in full speed…

… Piper ran and ran until he stopped to check his surroundings – and, he had…

… a ‘we-are-not-in-Kansas-any-more’ moment…

… realizing he was ‘NOT’ IN THE CITY any more, with tall buildings and scent of car fumes.

He then ran further away… from the small town of Narrogin… running away from the sight of its humans.

<><> 

IT RAN FURTHER AND REACHED THE SHEEP COUNTY – where the air was fresh and healthy… as Piper was toddling along, and meandering in the new surrounds which were nothing… but meadows of green grass, until his dog's eyes could see beyond.

… like a city tourist, he was strolling and looking, hearing and smelling ‘new’ things. At a distance, he saw the species of a sheep for the first time, for a city-dog – and there were lots and lots of them. His ears stood up when he heard barks of sheepdogs tending the herd.

He then saw ‘what’ a-horse was, for the first time too – and a human was riding on it – it reminded of his of Master Samuel riding on his back, at the zoo.

But his interest of sight-seeing had turned to fear…

… when he heard the human-made a loud noise when he SHOT HIS RIFLE in the air – to frighten nearby lurking predators.

… Piper ran away further away… and was now tired…

… it was late evening, he was tottering in the grass, and was excited of the scent of the natural herbs grown in it. He was still weak from infected wounds that he had sustained, and wanted to heal, before persuading his ‘mission.’ He ate the herbs and grass… to detox, and went to sleep under a tree.

… Piper had the weirdest dream…

<> 

PIPER FINALLY HEARD SIMY’S VOICE IN THE DARK – he followed the voice of the ‘talking dog’… which was singing lullabies – where in the dark, lit with a campfire, was a woman and baby…

… as the dog came closer… IT WAS DR WILSON – with SIMY’s ‘cold’ voice, singing a cradle song in ‘fake-expressional’ tone. Piper was excited and curious of seeing Master Jane when she was a baby-pup…

… wagging his tail, the dog sneaked up closer from behind of Dr Wilson…

… even Jane’s crying voice… was ‘fake,’ similar to the AI’s.

The woman realized THE ‘INTRUDER’… and she turned her head and shouted…

“GET AWAY from MY ‘BABY’ you bloody animal – SHOO! GO-AWAY!”

<> 

PIPER WOKE UP AND WHINNED IN CONFUSION – but was distracted with the scent of blood. In front of him…

…was a fresh-killed dead rodent.

He had ‘not’ seen a capybara before… sizing 3 times of a rabbit. He knew that so, as…

… he had killed a rabbit before, on his journey to the zoo – and he ASSUMED IT WAS THE SAME-but-meatier.

‘… Whose ‘kill’ is this…?”’

… before long…

… the dog ate the raw-meat… and left the carcass of bones, fur and innards for the lesser and smaller animals to feast. Piper was in its thoughts on a full stomach, of WHO WOULD that ‘caught and killed,’ for his brekkie.

The Alsatian gazed up into the meadow… and on a hillock further…

… was a yellow-dog, wagging her tail. It was a ‘her,’ he was sure of her-sex – based in the shape and size.

The excited and curious Piper… ran out to greet her…

… but she bolted… running far away from the chasing big dog. Piper tried to race over, but she was young, lean and faster. Piper too had to stop…

… when he was tired, from the pains of his half-healed wounds.

Soon he lost her… but he had RUN-FARTHER AWAY, into a nowhere meadow. Then the afternoon hot sun came… the furrier dog rested in the shade, panting – and wanting to go out, and catch her scent later...

… later, Piper pursued his search… by going on a journey, of trail-sniffing…

Hours later, Piper stumbled upon in ANOTHER FRESH-KILL… of a weird looking creature. Being a city-house dog… he had ‘not’ seen a baby-kangaroo before…

… he finished his lunch in an hour and looked up – to find the yellow canine far away, waiting and wagging her teasing tail. He left a bigger chunk of the carcass behind… to chase after her…. 

… again, she bolted away leaving the big, old Alsatian far behind. Piper was frustrated of that hard-to-get ‘game’ that she played… and also teased by wagging her tail…

‘… boy, this bitch can sure run – but ‘where’ is she taking me to?’

<><> 

IT WAS LATE EVENING, WHERE HE WAS ON HIS TRAIL HUNT which was getting colder. He arrived at a bucolic, sheep-farm with a lot of sheep. He saw her, with 2-other-male ‘yellow dogs’ in a distant hillock.

Piper took a backseat… and observed the trio, who were waiting for it to get darker…

… then the BLOODTHIRSTY DINGOES came over, in a pack to hunt – and their target was the young lambs, in the enclosure.

From afar, Piper’s ears stood and was keenly observing the trio… killing 2 young-ones… with the rest of the sheep bleating out aloud. Piper whined…

That disturbance attracted the humans to fight-back, with their shooting rifles. Their sheepdogs too gave a good fight with the she-dingo – and she fought back fiercely…

… badly hurting one of the human-owned dogs.

… but the farmers shot DEAD THE 2 MALE-dingoes… and the bitch fled into the night … Piper then pursued her from behind.

The she-dingo escaped from the farm – and again, she absconded far-away from Piper too. The older Piper was in exhaustion, rested himself, for the night.

Late in the night…

… the lone bitch howled at the full-moon – as she grieved and mourned, over the death of her ‘mating-partner.’ Piper heard her, and he whinnied to his sleep…

… as he was already dead-tired after JOURNEYING LESS THAN 100 kilometres on foot, into the nowhere meadow… since his brekkie…

… Piper slept, fantasized starting a ‘family’ with the she-dingo – now that she was ‘single’ – and before long, the big, grey dog was dreaming in his sleep… of playing with his puppies, as a father-dog…

… with ‘her’ lovingly on his side.

<><> 

PIPER WAS RUDELY AWAKEN FROM HIS SLEEP of running hoofs of horses… at dawn. There were 4 farmers armed with rifles, who rode the trail, with their 2 tracker dogs.

They were still hunting for the she-dingo – Piper grew anxious and whined to himself, as he watched them from afar. But the search-party gave up when they reached the boundary of the next farm – they turned back over to their farm, which was over 10 kilometres away…

… Piper pursued to get to the runaway dingo, that was ‘wanted dead’ – so that he can ‘protect’ her…

… from any human that was set to ‘destroy’ her.

-O-

By mid-morning, he stumbled into another farmland… where the farmer was using a truck, to herd his sheep. There were 3 big sheepdogs assisting their master, who herd 300 over sheep, running in uniform in the meadow.

… Piper rested and watching the activities from afar. The she-dingo was nowhere at sight, nor her scent. Piper caught a rabbit on his own… and ate it, before he went on to continue his scent trail.

At mid-noon, the sun was back scorching hot, in the open fields – and the big dog found shade, and he rested. He ate more herbs and grass to detox and heal. The old Alsatian was dead tired… hurting-all-over, and he slept…

… Piper astral-travelled this time, in his dream…

<> 

THE DREAM WAS A RECOLLECTION OF AN OCCASION in the Wilson residence during one hot afternoon, where Piper was half-asleep on his belly, on the thick carpet, inside the airconditioned bedroom of his Master Jane…

… Jane and Alicia were studying earlier, for their mid-tern final exams – now, they were tiredly napping in the late afternoon… with Samuel on the Queen-sized bed.

Alicia was talking-in-her-sleep… and below the bed, Piper’s ears shot-up – as he listened to the Chinese girl saying…

“Congratulation Pauly – you won…”

… then Piper heard the ‘invisible-talking-dog’ reacting to her… from Jane’s backpack, on top of Master Jane’s desk.

The SIMY AI was interacting to her sleep-talking...

“What did Paul Walker win, Alicia…?”

“…the school’s… dance competition…”

“Do you like Pauly, Alicia?”

“…more… than like…” She giggled in her sleep…

“… does Pauly feel the same way about you, Alicia…?”

“…no… he is more… interested in Janey… I saw that… in class…” Alicia said in a sad tone…

… Piper the dog, had a DREAM-IN-A-DREAM – instinctively he knew Alicia… who was Jane’s best-friend, BUT WAS NOW in some-kind of trouble – he astral travelled over into the Chinese girl’s dream…

… and was rushing over to protect Alicia, from the HELL-HOUNDS of Asmodeus.

The big-dog, Piper was racing in the empty streets of Chinatown… before he transformed into his other ‘CURSED’ PERSONA – AS the Wolf-man…

… the werewolf howled to the full moon, before he biped-ran, to where Alicia Wong was – the Wolf-man reached Alicia’s bedroom… and saw her sleeping soundly in her bed.

“It’s ‘NOT’ HER – BUT THE ‘OTHER’ half, of her…!” He growled, in a coarse voice.

Wolf-man realised the ‘confusion’ arose, when his host-Piper, who was also dreaming. The werewolf knew ‘where’ he had to go back…

… as he HAD LIVED in the ‘other dream’ before…

… where he had PREVIOUSLY SAVED THE LIFE…

… of the ‘blind-girl’ from Malaysia.

-O-

He leapt into the time-realm… to get from Perth to Malaysia – where both locations, shared the same ‘time’… where people slept at night, in the same time too.

The Wolf-man arrived on time, to reach Maggie Wong… as the blind-girl who was attacked by the hideous, scaled beasts… that were brutally larger…

The werewolf clawed his way, to protect Maggie, from the ‘hell-hound’ attacks…

-O-

It was night-time…

… when she-dingo approached Piper with a fresh kill of lamb. Piper was stuck in the middle of his nightmare… as he whined with his eyes shut…

Nearby, the female dingo watched over him…

… she knew that the big, old dog DID ‘NOT’ HAVE THE SURVIVAL SKILLS, to survive in the outback, of this rugged land. Piper would starve to death… if she doesn’t provide him with his meals.

The moment she placed the meat in front of the big, grey dog – Piper’s eyes opened…

The she-dingo saw HIS EYES WERE GLOWING ‘RED,’ as he growled ferally aloud… and wanted pounce to attack her. She turned back and ran in fear.

… Popobawa pursued her, and this time he was faster.

Piper chased her… until a gunshot rang. The bitch cried out in pain…

… Piper then rushed at the human with the rifle… to maul him. The second human-beside was pointing his pistol, at Piper… to shoot him, as it was attacking and gnawing the rifleman on his wrist… who struggling on the grass, crying in pain…

… the injured she-dingo leapt at the pistoled human from his-rear, and bit his throat… and ferociously ripping it apart. Piper let go the rifleman’s wrist, and the-human fled.

The big dog saw a dead man nearby… but the dingo was long gone…

… Piper sniffed on her blood on the grass – as he soon followed the blooded trail, in the meadow.

<><> 

FOR ALMOST AN HOUR, PIPER SEARCHED THE FIELD – running from one hillock to the other. Finally, he found her…

… bleeding-out, and was into her last breath…

He approached her…

… and she was baring her teeth, growling softly at him, in adverse. Piper then licked her bullet shot wound… trying desperately to save her – and, it relieved her from the pain. She too responded… by weakly licking his face…

That was ‘not’ much, Piper could do BUT TO BE WITH HER, as he was softly whining – as he saw her fading-away to HER DEMISE, IN FRONT of his crying eyes...

The dingo died.

The sad Piper was in rage...

He barked angrily, at THE 4 CORNERS of the meadow, from the hillock where he stood – howled at the humans living below, who have taken away THE KIND-SOUL of ‘his’ – away from him.

He could ‘not’ bear to look at her bloodied, dead body – he faced away, laid on his belly, CRYING AS he grieved and mourned.

… moments later, the renegade artificial intelligence came, softly whistling in his head…

…that made him whine even MORE, OF ‘HER’ RETURN…

The empathetic SIMY shared his sorrow… but comforted him in a reverse way…

“Cry Piper – cry your heart out… because life is ‘not’ fair-and-just – cry, boy… cry …”

<> 

After a while, Piper decided that ‘this place’ had only brought him BAD MEMORIES – and the laidback country life was ‘not’ for him, as a city-dog…

… SIMY encouraged him, to leave the spot too…

“Yes Piper, Jane needs us – SHE IS IN DANGER from the astral-dream world.”

The moment the AI mentioned his Master Jane – Piper’s ears stood up, wagging his tail. Piper nodded, AND UNDERSTOOD OF…

… his forgotten and ‘distracted-mission’ which he had set his paws-into…

… in the first place, before hopping on the wrong bus…

… to this bad-luck place.

The grey Alsatian then ran back… towards the direction of Perth city…