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THE MAGICLAND CHRONICLES — FICTION
The War Dogs of Lamar
May the best beasts win.
Duke tears into a fellow pit bull’s neck while Rocket, a thicker than normal Doberman, launches his jaws into one of its hind legs, sloppily severing it like it’s nothing more than a dried branch of pine.
Dozens of our dogs converge on the injured pit bull, a leader of their pack, it seems, and tear it to pieces.
The melee continues for a few minutes, but the death of the alpha dog has taken the life out of the fight of our enemy, and soon prompts the rest of The Huntington Crew to scamper off amidst a cacophony of howling, shrieking, barking, and whining so loud that we can’t hear anything else.
A few of the Huntington Crew, snarling, saliva dripping from their bared teeth, turn back to reconsider their retreat, then reconsider again for their final withdrawal.
This kind of rout is rare. The Huntington Crew is well trained. The death of their alpha dog should not have altered their plans. Maybe it was the suddenness of it. The battle opened up with his death, which seemed to immediately affect the other dogs.
There are two main war dog packs. The Huntington Crew, which is based on the east side of Lamar and is housed in a long-abandoned supermarket…
