Tom Schreck: Out Cold

I looked at Karl. He looked toward the shed and then at me.

We exchanged thumbs ups.

"Everyone outta here now!" Kelley's commander said.

"He can't see the shed from his angle," Kelley said.

"Kelley, get those civilians outta here, now and get your ass out right behind them!" The commander yelled.

"Duff-take care of Gladys!" Karl yelled before they pushed his stretcher into the ambulance.

Kelley broke away and ran to his squad car, hit the light and headed toward the gate

Rocco yelled that the hounds were all accounted for and they were ready. I ran to the Deuce and jumped on board. Al stood in the front next to his mother who moaned and breathed heavy. She didn't look good.

"Hold on tight," Rocco shouted. "We're out of here." He hit the gas hard and everyone lurched forward, which made Gladys let out a horrible sound. I looked in the back. The entire AJ's Army tended to the motley crew of bassets. The hounds howled and barked and in a chaotic mess. I crawled through the opening to check on the dogs and I got to meet up close and personal all the hounds Karl had told me about through their name tags. The hounds were wound up, but they all seemed okay except for Gladys. I climbed back through to the front seat and squeezed in next to Al.

Several cops and troopers fell in behind us with their lights on. We got out of the entrance seconds later and before my sigh of relief cleared my lips, the whole world shook. A series of explosions cascaded and then one giant one kaboomed like Independence Day. The sky turned burnt orange and, for a moment, it was as bright as day out. Sparks, debris, hunks of storage building rained down on us. I looked back. Everything close to the storage building was gone. Through the smoke I could see a huge crater and then I realized something. Just because somebody's crazy doesn't mean people aren't out to get him.

The truck made a dramatic swerve, righted itself, and I snapped back in the moment. A very pregnant basset next to me made it tough to be totally relieved. Up ahead, I could see Karl's ambulance disappear and I hoped he was as all right as he acted. A slew of fire engines passed us going the opposite way, heading toward the puppy mill. I thought they were going to be just a tad late.

The sky, still lit up, made me think of Independence Day.

Gladys moaned and the rest of the boys hooted and hollered from the back of the Deuce.

"Duffy, I got just one question," Rocco looked over at me while he drove.

"Yeah?"

"Where the hell are we taking 50 hounds, including this very-soon-to-be mother?"

"Uh…oh geez…"

"Forgot that detail, huh?"

I got so bent on my promise to Karl, I hadn't thought any further down the line. The top priority was to get Gladys to a vet. The problem, it headed toward 11:00 at night and I didn't know the first thing about vets. The second thing, we needed a safe place to house the hounds while I figured out what to do with them. That meant I needed a big fenced-in area, medical attention and food for fifty dogs.

"Head to Rudy's," I said.

"You're kidding, right?" Rocco said. "Tonight's his big todo, win-back-the-ex-night. Gourmet food, the string quartet, tuxedos."

"There's food, there's a big fenced-in area and there's Rudy-he's a doctor. It will be perfect."

"I'm not sure Rudy will think so."

"Yeah, there's that."

Rocco shook his head, but he hit the gas and headed toward Rudy's. It would take us about twenty minutes. I looked down at Gladys and I was not sure she could make it. She panted pretty bad, fussed around, and drooled excessively, even for a basset. Al whimpered and looked back and forth from me to his mom. This was tough.

"Rocco, speed it up a little. I think she might be ready," I said.'

"Ready? Like ready, ready?"

"I think so."

Rocco turned and yelled, "Hang on men, we're making the shift to light speed."

The Deuce lurched forward and I have to admit it got more than a little scary. Hounds barked, some bayed, and when I glanced back, it looked like my new best friends, the gangbangers, did their best to avoid the basset induced fragrance.

"You get any thoughts for a strategy once we get to Rudy's?"

"Uh… Not really. I think this is just one of those Rudy things."

"A Rudy thing…" Rocco wasn't actually talking to me. Rudy lived on the outside of town in a nice big old colonial. He had spent the summer getting it spruced up, having it landscaped, painted, the whole deal. This was all about getting Marie back. I didn't want to screw that up, but I had a pregnant hound on my hands.

Rudy would understand.

I thought he would.

Rocco made the turn down the private drive and we could see the white tent. Special lighting lit the road just for the party and I could see thirty or forty cars parked on Rudy's lawn. He even had a valet service for the night. The hounds reacted to slowing down, kicking their excitement up a gear.

"Park it right over there." I pointed to a spot about twentyfive feet from the tent.

"Rocco, I'm running in with Gladys to find Rudy. Can you direct the rest of the crew?"

"I got it Duff. Good Luck."

I scooped up Gladys, in her tattered blanket, and she let out a sad half moan, half howl.

"Easy girl, easy girl."

I ran through the tent entrance, with its ivy-covered trestle. Fancy looking folks, some I recognized from the hospital, in fancy cocktail attire with their drinks in hand looked at me like I came from Mars.

"Rudy! Rudy," I screamed at the top of my lungs. The string quartet played on.

I madly looked from side to side. Party goers cleared a path, mostly out of fear, as I ran through them. Finally, I saw him. He wore a white tuxedo jacket and black tuxedo pants. He was with Marie, who dressed in a sharp looking black sparkly cocktail dress.

He caught a sight of me and his eyes went wide, beyond what I thought was possible.

"Duff-what the hell-" he said. I don't know if I ever saw a man with a look of such intense horror and anger.

"Rudy, she's in trouble-I didn't know where else to go. She's pregnant and I think she's ready."

"I'm not a freakin' vet. I'm a-"

"C'mon Rudy!"

I laid Gladys down. Rudy took his coat off and got down on all fours. Marie had her hand on her chest and her mouth wide open with nothing coming out. Al sat next to me, whimpering.

"Okay…okay…easy girl…Duffy, get some napkins or a table cloth or something…" Rudy concentrated on Gladys. I ran through the stunned party goers who had now gathered around Rocco. The string quartet continued playing, giving everything a weird feel.

I gathered up napkins and supplies, rushing around all frantic, not knowing what the hell else to do. As I ran back towards the circle around Rudy, a roar of applause came up from the crowd. They clapped, hooted and hollered.

I pushed my way through the crowd with my stuff and there knelt Rudy. His tuxedo shirt covered in blood and his own sweat, his comb-over had flopped over his ear, and he was busy pulling out puppies. The party-goers continued clapping, the women crying and the men just had their mouths open.

"That's number eight," Rudy said, with a heavy exhale. He had some sort of creepy clearish fluid all over him. He ran his hand over Gladys.

"Easy girl…" he said.

"She okay?"

Rudy looked up at me and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah kid, she'll be fine." Rudy stood up, looking disgusted.

"You have any idea what you've done or how hard I worked on this?" He looked around at what had become a less than glamorous affair. Covered in blood, dirt, sweat, and that creepy fluid, he had totally lost the Great Gatsby look.

"You know, Duffy I ought to-"

Marie didn't let him finish. She ran up and threw her arms around him. She cried really hard and shook.