Ten yards apart, then five, then defying logic, the human vanished.
Rex was trusting his eyes for the chase, he didn’t need his nose to catch the human, but he was there one moment and not the next. Two strides later, Rex saw why and had to throw on the brakes to try to stop himself. The field ended at the river. The smell of the river was all around, fading into the background the way paint on a wall does when there are things on the wall to look at.
Panicking as he questioned whether he could possibly stop in time, Rex cursed himself for not detecting how strong the river now smelled. Digging his claws in, he managed to swing his body around so he was at least sliding backwards; it gave him greater purchase with his claws and that made the difference between going over and stopping in time. As it was, his back end went over the edge and he had to scrape his claws against the stonework to get back onto the grass.
Looking down, he could see the human descending a long ladder set into the stone. He was already twenty feet below Rex and moving as fast as his hands and feet would allow. Rex paced, barking into the darkness though he knew it would do no good: the human had escaped.
He couldn’t get down, and if there were a way around to reach the riverside below safely, the human would be long gone by the time he got there. Any hopes that he might be able to track the scent was instantly doused when the man reached the bottom rung, ran across the jetty, and dove into the river.
That the human escaped, and it was three games of chase and bite lost in a single day, wasn’t what made him howl though. Since he couldn’t catch the criminal, his next task was to check the victim. Rex didn’t know who it was – the scent of the human was too deeply masked by the tang of blood for Rex to make out anything else - but the sound of rasping breaths along with the stench of blood leaking into the grass told him the human needed help of a kind a dog couldn’t administer.
He needed to get the attention of the humans, but if he ran back to where they were, they might try to clip him onto his lead. When he got close enough, the victim spotted him. Moving his head slightly, the human tried to speak, creating nothing but a rasping noise. One weak arm lifted in Rex’s direction, making the dog feel inadequate for possibly the first time in his life.
Beginning to panic for the human, he tipped back his head and howled.
It was less than a minute later when the police spotted him. Rex heard them shouting his name, heard them getting closer, and when he saw them jogging uncertainly as they came around the line of containers and trucks, he started barking.
He was sitting by the human so could tell that he was still alive, but also that he wasn’t doing very well. He danced back as the humans advanced, making sure they could see the stricken victim on the ground.
Someone said, ‘Good dog,’ but the focus was all about the injured human. The humans were calling for help and one of them was using his radio - not that Rex could understand that – to call for medical emergency services.
Rex sat on his haunches and watched, panting lightly still from the effort of the chase. Presently, he spotted his human coming up the incline toward him. His tail started wagging all by itself, happiness propelling it back and forth.
Albert spotted Rex easily when he came around the side of the trucks and into the open. Rex was silhouetted against the night sky, his proud outline a black shape with the stars behind him. Albert couldn’t yet be sure what the dog had found, but Albert’s worry that Rex might be hurt dissipated now that he could see him. The police officers were all focused on something to Rex’s right; Albert could see three or maybe four kneeling on the ground. They were shouting instructions and it sounded like they were talking to someone who was hurt or injured in some way.
Gary asked, ‘You see him, Dad? Rex is all right.’ He was relieved for his father, but also for himself because he knew the pain of losing a pet. With his mother gone, Rex was the focus of his father’s life.
Albert called out, ‘Rex, come!’ and was doubly relieved to see the dog sprinting effortlessly. He wasn’t injured or hurt, he was just fine, and he’d done himself proud, finding an injured person and alerting people so they could help him.
‘There was a human,’ Rex said. ‘He ran away and climbed down the ladder. Then he went for a swim.’
Gary stared down at the dog who was hopping from paw to paw and spinning on the spot. Albert was trying to get hold of the lead which still hung loose from Rex’s collar, but the dog wouldn’t stay still long enough.
As one of the officers came running back down the slope, Gary asked, ‘What have you got?’
The officer didn’t slow his pace, but he knew the man who asked the question was a serving senior officer, so he replied, ‘A stabbing, sir. A nasty one. I’m not sure he will make it.’ He was gone before he could say anything further, most likely heading to the road to guide in the paramedics.
Albert blew out a huff of breath and turned to face his son.
