Chapter 41

          Cypher watched as Bones continued to fight to get up. The guards kept him pinned but they still struggling holding the big boy down. Finally a familiar voice rose over the guards shouts. "Andrew!!" Someone shouted and immediately Bones froze. He looked up at Lasso, the one who called his name. Bones was breathing heavily and looked tired now. "Easy ok? We're going to be alright, just calm down." Lasso coaxed and Bones nodded and laid his head down in the dirt. Lasso was then shoved into one of the pits, tucking and rolling to avoid injury. He grunted from the pain in his side but he tried to ignore it as he slowly got up. He didn't hear any more fighting up outside of the pit so he guessed Bones had calmed back down. He sighed and looked up. "Cypher!" He shouted and Cypher frowned and went to the edge. "What do you want." She snapped at him. "My hat" he said and she rolled her eyes and jogged off. A few minutes went by and she threw his hat into the pit with him. He just caught it and put it on, not saying another word to her.

      All the others had been shoved into the pits. Whatever was in the cages were clawing at the doors. "That's probably not good" Shiny mumbled and Mama looked at him while getting up. "Really? Not that good huh." She sighed and he nodded. Cypher went to the edge of the pit that Mama and Shiny were in and looked at the men holding the rope that opens the cage from the top. "Let 'em out!" She yelled and they opened the cage. A monster of a dog came charging out of the cage. It had a helmet with knife blades welded to it and a a chest plate and slabs of light scrap metal strapped to it's back with screws and old knife blades welded to it. It got halfway across the pit before it's aggressive growls stopped. "Hercules!" Mama smiled and ran to the dog, dropping to her knees and cupping the big dog's face. Hercules plopped down with his chin on her legs to make sure she doesn't get hurt by the spikes on his helmet.

        "Um- aye Axel!" Cypher turned and shouted for him and he jogged over. "What?" He asked and she motioned to Hercules on the pit. "Where did you uh find that dog?-" she asked and he thought for a moment. "Oh we saw some druggy roaming around outside the gates so we kind of just grabbed them and the dog. Why?" He explained and Cypher stood there thinking for a moment. "Do you still have the owner?" She asked and he nodded. "I can ask someone to lead them out. They seem very calm-" he told her and Cypher nodded. "Go do that please and thank you" she told him and he nodded and jogged off. She looked down into the pit and sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be easy to get that dog out of there. After about 10 minutes Axel slowly walked outside, gently holding a small half dead looking woman who she recognized immediately. It was Dallas.

        Cypher then jogged over and kneeled in front of Dallas to be eye level with her. "Hey Dal" she smiled softly and Dallas raised her head a little. "Can you help me with something?" Cypher spoke gently and Dallas reached out and touched Cypher's face. "Your alive...." She smiled lazily and Cypher nodded. "Yes yes I am, can you help with something?" She asked and Dallas slowly nodded, swaying from the motion. Cypher gently gripped her shoulders to hold her still. Cypher gently took her hand and lead her to the edge of the pit. "Can you call Hercules into the cage?" She asked and Dallas stood there. "Mhm..." she nodded and Cypher held her hand to make sure she didn't fall in by accident. "Hercules!...." Dallas tried to shout but the dog couldn't hear her. Everyone around them drowned out Dallas's damaged voice.

         Cypher's voice then rang above everybody's. "Shut up!!!" She screamed and everyone fell silent. "Try again Dallas" Cypher told her and Dallas sighed, tired from just yelling the first time. Finally she tried again. "Hercules!..." she strained and he looked up and ran to the wall, propping his front paws up against it and barked, trying to get to his owner. Dallas then slowly pointed to the cage. "Go!..." Dallas called, struggling to be loud enough but the big dog heard and galloped to the cage and the door was shut once more. Cypher helped Dallas sit down. "Get that cage out of there!" She shouted and a few guards immediately got on it. Cypher picked up Dallas and carried her away from the edge. She was tired just from yelling so she let Cypher carry her away.

        While they tried to pull the cage with Hercules inside Mama and Shiny just watched. The men had attached a chain to it and was pulling the cage up. They struggled while Hercules moved around, trying to claw his way out but he couldn't. Finally they got it out of the pit but they didn't know what else to do so they waited till Cypher got back. While Cypher was gone Marcelene and Maryland walked out. They skipped to the edge of the pits to look in who was in them. "Two people? That's new" Mary pointed out and Marcy nodded in agreement. "Tag team thing may- is that Pippin?" Marcy pointed to Pippin and it took a moment for Mary to remember. "That is! Pippin from Copper Creek!" Mary giggled and waved. Pippin just rolled her eyes.

         "Hey Mary where did our girlfriend go?" Marcy turned to her sister and she shrugged. Pippin heard and looked up. "Your girlfriend?" Pippin asked and they looked down at her. "Yeah, Cypher" Mary nodded and Pippin chuckled. "Oh so she has two side hoes now?" She giggled and the twins's smiles disappeared. "Pippin what are you doing" X whispered but she just waved him away. "What did you say." Marcy snapped at her. "Oh did she not tell you about me?" Pippin smiled up at them. Both the twins looked infuriated. "She dated me before she ran off, never actually broke it off though" Pippin shrugged and Marcy and Mary disappeared from the edge. Both drawing knives and waited for Cypher to come back out.