Won't be finished in two hours (smile)

The suddenness of it was an unexpected gut punch. Rammed into that hiccup was an abbreviated terror that felt like someone dragging a brick down the inside of the back of my neck. The sound and sensation that followed, like a bag of bones caught in a grinding piece of machinery, was a kick to the back of the skull. I jammed my foot on the brake pedal and the truck lurched forward as if it had tripped into a brick wall.1

My heart was nauseous as I, looking in the rear view mirror, saw the animal desperately trying to get away from itself - to separate itself from its pain. It looked like a wildcat trying to free itself from a burlap bag, only it was a dog, and it was in its own skin.2

Guilt came up easily and I choked on it, opening the door with the engine still running. I shifted into park with one foot on the wet black pavement. Oncoming headlights illuminated the heaving mass that collapsed at the curb.3

With the "door ajar" ringing behind me, I listened to my footsteps kiss the rain soaked asphalt as I approached the wheezing creature. Death was already crouched over it, about to pinch its nose; I couldn't tell if the dark liquid welling the curbside was water or blood. With what sounded like a desperate attempt to inhale, it stopped moving, just as I knelt over it. The mange made it difficult to tell what kind of dog it was. I couldn't tell how much damage I had actually done - it was already horribly swollen.4

I looked around for witnesses and found not one soul on that street of busted street lamps. Another car approached, and rushed by without stopping - not even slowing to wonder why my truck was standing in the middle of the street.5

I looked back down at the dog and thought how horrible it was to die without anyone knowing... or even caring, perhaps. The drizzle continued to come down from the dark gray sky. I thought I should move the corpse off the street but was afraid to feel the weight of something dead in my hands. As I stood up, something heavy and large tackled me at the middle of my back. I fell forward, the wind knocked out of me, my face slamming into the dead dog's rib cage.6

The smell of the fur, its wet warmth and the scent of motor oil ripped into my face along with the sting of getting socked in the nose with a rib bone. The sick smell of burning sugar filled my sinus cavity as I braced myself to get up.7

What felt like a boot across my temple rolled me over violently, the entire right side of my face hot and wet. A shadow, blacker than the night, fell on me, heavy as two men. The glint of teeth and the fire in my chest were the last two things I remembered before waking up in a dark, musty basement. 8