Bean's Adventure
Bean looks to see that his human family's home is burning an incredible blaze of red and yellow flames. In his confusion of seeing the fire, he looks back to follow beside his young humans, but they are already running and almost to the big, dirt path that human's ride being pulled by horses. Bean takes off running after the children. He is halfway to them when he stops and lifts his nose to the air. There is a stranger's scent being carried on the wind toward him from behind. Searching for the source of the scent, he can barely make out a black shadow against the burning farmhouse. He gives a short warning growl towards the mysterious stranger, and then runs after his humans.
When he runs up to the road, there are two sets of footprints heading South and he can see two small figures in the distance. He starts running as fast as he can with the warm wind blowing his fur back, trying to catch up to, he hopes his young charges. When he gets closer, for he realizes they weren't traveling too fast, that he came upon them sooner than he should have, that the figures were his older masters. He barks to get their attention. They turn and spot him on their heels.
Basil says to Bean, "hey boy, am I glad that you are alright and not hurt. We need you to go after the children and protect them for us. We will everyone sometime to get away. Now go on, get!"
Basil points off towards the East where his children rode off. Bean whines. Sonia kneels on the packed earth and strokes her fingers through his fur, and pleads, "Be a good boy and do this for us, will you?
He pulls away from her and off where he believes the children had gone. He looks back toward where the farm and the house and see nothing. No farm and no house. He had traveled farther than he thought following his older humans. He sniffs the air and barely gets a scent of the children, but it is mixed in with the smell of smoke. He just starts running where he was told where the children were heading, hoping he will find them before trouble finds them.
Throughout the day, cloud appear and pours out a torrential downpour. Even the added danger of the lightning will not deter him from reaching his charges and protecting them.
Bean has been running along for about an hour, the sun is just past its apex, and he has covered a mile or two. When a scent crosses his path, floating on the wind. He stops. The scent is coming from the right. The scent smells almost like a plump rabbit, and somewhere in his instincts, he knows that the rabbit will help keep him full so that he can keep running longer so as to catch up with his little masters. Deviating slightly from the path, he takes off after the rabbit. In no time, Bean in chowing down on his prey, it took a little time to catch, but it only grew his hunger more to get the satisfaction of a tasty meal.
Back onto the road, Bean remembers his command from his master, Basil, and with stomach full heads off. The scent of the horse and two children has lessened, making an even bigger distance between them.
Bean makes pretty good time. Closer to nightfall, as the sun is beginning to set, Bean spots figures in the distance in front of him. Getting excited, he sprints off with an extra spurt of speed wanting only to be reunited with his humans, only to be disappointed to see that the figures, that they are headed towards him, and are not in fact his humans, but two bigger humans and a small child on horseback. As he passes a moment later, he takes a sniff at the family and scents something familiar on them, the smell of his human children. On seeing a dog on the road, the child makes a fuss, wanting to pet him and take him with them, while the child's parents are coaxing the child to calm down. Bean takes off the way he is heading, excited that he is not too far off track, only sense something dark nearby, making his fur stand on end.
Bean skids to a stop, as much as a dog can look scared, he does not like the feel of this darkness, he looks to his left and to his right sniffing as he does. At a glance, he spots a dark cloud in the distance to the south. Focusing on it, he takes it in and notices that it is not acting like a normal cloud, for one, it is moving way to swiftly.
Seeing that the dark cloud is not coming closer to him, he takes a moment more to notice that the road he is on splits in different direction.
His sniffing around has already told him that his humans are headed, not down any well-trodden road, and not any path at all. It's almost as if they were trying to lose someone tailing them. But whatever the case, he follows their scent, which leads into a field of really tall grass. He just hopes he doesn't come across any snake; he hates snakes.
***
As it turns out, as soon as he steps off of the dirt road. A snake rears up in front of him. He jumps back, just as the snake strikes. Bean gives a low, warning growl; seeing that the snake is not backing off, gives a loud bark. Upon hearing the bark, the snake turns tail and slithers off frightened.
Bean prances around in circles, proud of himself, for nothing cannot and will not deter him from reaching and protecting his charges.
***
As night has fallen not long ago, Bean decides to sleep next to the road keeping an ear out for danger. He falls asleep with no trouble and does not wake until morning. He did not hear or smell anything all night. By morning, he wakes and immediately begins scratching himself non-stop. He may have gotten fleas during the night.
Realizing this, he tries everything to get rid of the tiny, blasted beasts; he tries biting, scratching, and even rolling around on the ground. It takes a good part of the morning, distracting him from his quest.
***
It does not take him long to catch up to his humans. By the end of that day; as the sun has just set below the horizon, he smells his humans real close. He also smells something else with his charges, something dangerous. A wolf! Giving a bellowing howl and burst of speed, he races toward them to protect them from danger.