"He did not just leave me in this mess" Mark exclaimed in a breathless whisper, looking at the retreating back of En who seemed to be getting progressively further the more Mark looked.
The expression of horror and broken trust did nothing to assure the new joiner at Mark's side. If anything, the nervousness got even worse.
"W-what should we do now?" The newcomer asked, his eyes shifting from side to side as if looking for an escape. But escape from what exactly Mark was not sure.
Currently, they were on the outside of the fence with their target inside the fence. They were as safe as they could ever be.
"Right, can you get me caught up with this situation here? I'm afraid I don't know too much here" Mark turned his attention toward the newcomer on his side. The person went red due to all the unwanted attention but still somehow managed to pull himself together to give out the report.
"Uh, there is a dog inside who bit some people. Everyone who was a bit is in a critical condition so they asked us to catch the dog" it made Mark wonder why they didn't just kill the dog while they were at it.
But then again, people had the concept of morality and maybe those animal cruelty laws finally snapped some sense into their mind after all.
Anyway, it would not be up to Mark to decide it at all. He'll leave that up to the authorities.
Since he was here to capture the dog, then that was what he would be doing. Maybe this town should invest in animal control too with every new case emerging the next week?
"Get me a net and some people who can climb trees" Mark's words startled the police employee enough to get him in motion while Mark just scoffed at their laziness.
Pretty soon, the first one dragged two people toward him. Both newcomers had well enough body physique to accomplish what Mark wanted them to.
This would be alright after all.
"I want you to secure the net as soon as I capture the dog inside. Do not let the net go at any time" Mark could see their hesitation clear on their faces. They really had no confidence in him at all, did they?
Well, yes he may have pulled some pranks on the job till now and some of his ideas might seem more like a joke but Mark knew what he was doing alright? He did not need people to judge him for his works at all.
"Do you have a problem with anything?" His annoyance was clear in his voice and he saw the people hesitate.
"We are not sure how to proceed to actually keep that thing down" one of them confessed and the other agreed with the first.
They behaved as if this was their first time on such a field job. Really, was Mark really stuck with newbies on such a critical job of his life?
"Alright, the plan is simple. I need two of you to climb the fence and when the dog is close enough, throw the net down and hold it down long enough for me to get the shot in. Do you understand?" by the blank looks he was receiving, Mark knew the answer was no.
It made him groan out in disbelief. These people were trained to handle murderers and one dog was all it took to have their brain frozen in fear? How would they ever be able to look after this place properly at all at this rate?
"I-I'm afraid it will not work" The first person was the one who showed courage and opened his mouth to counter. Mark saluted his bravery but at that point in time, it was more foolishness than bravery.
Why would these people not follow instructions? It was not that tough.
"What? Are you afraid now? If what? It's just a dog. Fine then, let me be the one to throw the net down while you assist" Mark knew that people wanted to protest because he was essentially a civilian case here.
But most of the people in the force were cowards who were there just to get enough money to live a good enough life and not seriously to improve other's lives. Of course, they would sit back and let others handle the problem if they could.
Mark took the net out of his bag and made his way toward the fence toward the guard who hopefully knew where their target was headed.
"Do you know where the target is?" Mark asked an older guard who saluted the vet as soon as he was in visual range. There was a clear confusion at the net in his hand, but the person just marked it up as a personal whim of the vet, did not ask many questions.
"We have a tracker on him which tracks its location. It's headed this way and will be here in five minutes" that was good news for Mark's plan. If he was successful this time, then that would mean having an early night for once.
That would be a miracle with all the animals he had to deal with day in and day out. Mark could not wait for this all to be over.
"Good, keep me posted on all the progress" the guard shook his head as Mark climbed the nearest tree to the fence with a thick enough branch to support his weight over the fence's other side.
There was a gunshot and then barking steps followed toward his direction fast. Mark knew those sounds. They sounded like a terrified and defensive dog. The gunshot had scared it enough to get it moving.
He could make out the shape in the distance and as soon as the shadow was near enough, the net left his hand.
It landed on the shadow but there was a moment inside the net that made it seem as if the shadow would dialogue the net at any time.
"Don't let it escape. Keep it down, fast" Mark muttered loud enough for people in the vicinity to hear him loud and clear. It snapped people out of their trance as they hurried up and secured the net.
The dog was still barking viciously, the huffs clear inside Mark's ears. They were rough and had enough gruff to them to make Mark winch at the tone being used. The dog was clearly angry at being restrained and under no circumstances did it look to be calming down.
"Down now, you're safe" Mark tried to calm down the terrified dog, but his soft and warm words were having no effect. In fact, it seemed to be agitating the dog a lot as there was a terrifying moment inside the net.
"Don't let go" the net shook as the dog's body pulsed with every jolt. Mark fought to keep his calm in the situation, his mind moving a mile per minute. The dog was obviously terrified and quite possibly hurt too.
He needed to have a look at it but not like this. If he forced it, then the dog might hurt someone in its haste.
"Someone, get me my bag. Hurry" Mark called out to the nearest person who irked and nodded before leaving to retrieve his bag from the back. Meanwhile, Mark took in deep breaths to calm his nerves down.
He had been in this situation too many times and he knew what it called for. For calm nerves and steady hands to work their wonder at the situation.
"Here doctor" Mark took the bag with a grateful smile. He could see that almost everyone present on the site was nervous and it made him tense too. It wasn't a good atmosphere to be in and for a second Mark thought to pull a joke on everyone.
But then thought better in this situation. Somehow, the atmosphere looked too delicate to joke around in.
The gloves were the first thing he took out and did along with the surgery mask. Taking the injection out of the bag along with the right syringe, he dipped a cloth into the sterilizer before wiping the tip of the syringe with the cloth.
Pulling the syringe's bottom, he filled it up carefully and checked the filling for any air gap by pressing the backside of it. Once everything looked to be in order, he carefully removed the side of the net to get access to the dog's leg.
The dog jerked into the hold of people which was not a good sign. It would make the injection that unsafe while being injected into the dog.
He carefully applied pressure on the leg to immobilising it but not with lasting damage. He could feel the dog's confusion no longer being able to move. Using this time frame, the injection was quickly injected in the right place and carefully administered.
With a cotton applying pressure at the junction, Mark quickly pulled the syringe out of the leg. The dog howled at the small pain and it seemed to agitate him again with the thrashing.
But the injection's effect seemed to be visible as the dog lost more and more vitality fast. Soon it was asleep.
"You can let the net go now. What are you going to do with it anyway? It's too feral for human settlement?" Mark was at least sure they were not going to kill the dog. They won't have gone through this much problem if that was the case.
"W-we don't know. The higher-ups will decide" Mark had no idea why they were to involve higher-ups in a rabid dog case but he would not question their customs. He had his own problems to deal with after all and no time to indulge in their small trifles.
"Ok, just make sure you proceed with the right paperwork for it with me. Also, deliver my working fees to me tomorrow alright?" Mark did not give time for the other to reply back, he packed up his things and left the scene.
The dog was lifted into the police vehicle to be left in some wilderness, that was what Mark guessed. The evening had been tiring, it had been too much exertion.
The clinic door was opened slowly to not disturb the cats inside. They could get feral when spooked bad and that was not something Mark wanted for his shop right at that moment at all.
No, he liked his shop to be clean and intruder free.
"Welcome back, Doctor Li? I was waiting for you to return back here. I'm sorry if I helped myself to your delicious tea in the meantime" there was a shadow of someone inside who Mark did not recognise at all.
Those words seemed familiar enough, and yet they sent a chill down Mark's spine.
Someone had broken into his clinic and none of his cats was anywhere in sight.
"If you're looking for those creatures that looked like cats, then I'm afraid I disposed of them. They were a danger to everyone you see. Now, I do hope we can have a decent talk with each other-" the person did not get to finish his sentence before he had a stool thrown in his face.
The person barely dodged before it was followed by a petri dish and then some other things.
Mark was beyond furious. He should have been terrified, an intruder was inside his clinic and threatening him and had killed his cats.
Yet all he felt was fury hot enough to burn. He had killed those stray cats he had so painstakingly raised.
"Hey, I was kidding. Those monsters are alive in the back room. As if they would die so easily. Hey, listen to me. Put the phone down" those words did not register till the last second.
Knowing his cats were alive did nothing to avert the fury he felt.
And then he dialled the phone to the police station. They owned him a favour or ten after all.