CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

     When John and Brad arrived at the pit, they saw an

on-going epic battle. Buster, Astro, Bouncer and Duke

were getting beaten up, and Gibraltar was struggling to get

back on his feet. John looked at the mayhem and saw to his

horror that Wiley was lying motionless on the dirt in the

middle of the pit. “Wiley! Wiley! What have they done to

you?” John screamed at the top of his lungs. There was no

movement. He shook a gate and shouted to Brad, “Open the

gates!”

     Brad ran around the pit as the vicious fighting

continued inside, unable to find how to open the gates.

Then over the loud speaker they both heard someone

laughing. “Oh boy! This is a slaughter,” said the chief

security guard.

     Another laughing voice hollered. “It’s the end of the

Blue Collar Gang.” Brad and John looked up and saw the

two security men in the control room, laughing and

pointing at the fight in the pit. John spun around and

headed for the nearby stairs.

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     “I’m going up there,” he hollered. Brad followed. The

two men climbed the stairs to the second floor and raced

down the hall into the control room where Brad showed his

CACC badge.

     “Animal control. Open the gates and stop the

fighting,” he demanded.

     The chief security guard just laughed and said. “Are

you kidding? You’re in big trouble, buddy.”

     The two security men tried to grab John and Brad,

starting a second fight as the four men wrestled and swung

at each other, destroying the control room. Finally, John

and Brad prevailed.

     John shouted at Brad. “Open the gates, but don't let

that monster out.”

     “I'll try,” Brad said. He ran over to the battered

control panel and began turning dials and hitting switches

until a monitor indicated at least one gate was opening.

     The battle scene in the pit looked like the end of the

line for the Blue Collar Gang as Titanic was moving to

finish them off. Wounded and exhausted, the gang was

cornered. Wiley and Gibraltar were back on their feet,

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joining Buster, Astro, Bouncer and Duke, in forming a final

front line. “Enough fun and games,” shouted Titanic as he

moved in.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wiley saw one gate

slowly begin to open behind Titanic, and out of Titanic’s

line of vision.

“That gate is opening,” he shouted. “Get out!” The

gang split into two groups and attempted to go around

Titanic to the gate, but they were too battle fatigued to

move very fast. Just then, Titanic saw the half open gate

and charged to cut the gang off, but failed to get to the gate

in time. Duke, Bouncer and Astro had made it under the

gate, so Titanic attacked Wiley, Buster and Gibraltar. He

threw Wiley aside, staggering him, and kicked Gibraltar

against the wall like a soccer ball. Titanic then ended up

face to face with Buster.

“It isn’t polite to leave before I finish the main

course,” Titanic laughed menacingly.

Buster yelled to a Wiley and Gibraltar, “Get out of

here both of you.” Then he turned to face Titanic. “Come

on big boy. You and me. Mano a mano."

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An enraged Titanic attacked Buster. There was a

furious battle and Buster fell to the floor of the pit seriously

wounded. As Buster made his final stand, Gibraltar and

Wiley were able it get to the gate, but Wiley suddenly

halted, spun around, and dashed back in to the pit to aid his

best friend.

Clearly Buster had lost the battle and Titanic

immediately turned his attention to Wiley, who had to dive

back under the gate. Wiley stared back at Buster, lying

motionless in the dirt of the pit. Then Buster slowly opened

his eyes, and with great effort, spoke softly. “Go Wiley,

find Maggie,” he said as his large brown eyes fell shut.

Meanwhile John was helplessly frozen in place,

watching events in the pit on a monitor as the gate opened

and the Blue Collar Gang made their escape. He saw

Wiley’s bravery in attempting to help Buster.

“Open all the other cages,” John cried out.

“All right,” smiled a relieved Brad.

John ran out of the control room. “I'm going to get

Wiley,” he hollered.

Nearby, Maggie’s heart was pounding as she heard

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the ferocious sounds of dogs battling, but was unable to

leave her cage. Then to her surprise she heard the locks on

the cages open. She stood still for a moment and watched

with amazement as the institute came to life and dogs

barked in joy as they left their cages.

     A short distance away, Wiley, battle scarred and head

down, slowly limped away from the pit with his battered

friends. He knew he still had one more mission. “I have to

find Maggie,” he said. “The rest of you get out of here” He

staggered from cage to cage, searching and calling out for

Maggie. All the while he was being pushed and shoved by

other the dogs breaking out of the institute. Then he

rounded a corner and saw Maggie standing in front of her

cage. She couldn’t believe her eyes as Wiley approached

her. Maggie could see Wiley was hurting and unsteady, but

was determined to come to her rescue.

     “Wiley, you’re hurt. You look horrible. What

happened?” Maggie asked emotionally.

     Wiley’s only words were, “Maggie, follow me,” as

both dogs made their way to the exits, along with all the

other escapees.

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     On the other side of the institute, John was running to

the pit, and upon arriving, yelled as loud as he could,

“Wiley! Wiley!” What he discovered was Buster’s body

lying motionless in the center of the pit and Titanic lying

nearby licking his wounds.

     Dr. Howl and his staff had returned and were

hurrying up the front steps of the institute. Just as they

arrived on the top step and were about to enter the institute,

the doors flew open and out poured the dogs, running,

limping, hobbling, and helping each other escape. Seeing

his experiment go up in flames Dr. Howl said hatefully,

“You worthless bunch of mutts.”

     Then Brad came out of the institute with the two

security men all heading to the police. Brad yelled, “Howl,

I'm turning myself in and these men are ready to talk. You,

the institute and your friends at animal control are going

down.”

     Kate and Jan had also arrived at the institute and were

astonished by the scene before them. Kate looked out over

the sea of dogs. “How am I going to find Maggie?” she said

dejectedly.

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     At that very moment, Wiley and Maggie came out of

the building and appeared at the top of the steps. Jan was

the first one to spot them and cried out, “Kate, there’s

Maggie!” Kate bounded up the steps as Maggie came down

the steps and the two were reunited.

     “Maggie! Maggie!” Kate shouted joyfully.

Wiley joined them, as did the rest of the Blue Collar

Gang. “Look at this. You dogs did it. You're heroes!” Kate

and Jan exclaimed.

     John appeared at the top of the institute steps and

surveyed the happy chaos below him. He looked back and

forth over the crowd, searching for Wiley. Out of the corner

of his eye, just off to the side, John noticed a small group of

dogs with blue collars beside two women. One of the dogs

was Wiley. “Wiley! Wiley!” he shouted frantically, at first

unable to believe his eyes.

     Wiley’s ears shot up as he heard John's voice, despite

all the barking and noise. He turned his head toward the

voice and saw John running toward him. Wiley exploded

straight for John, and they met on the steps, both going full

force. Then Wiley jumped and John reached out and

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wrapped his arms around the friend he had come so close to

losing. As Wiley cried out the most soulful cries of joy,

John was over come. “Wiley! Wiley! God! I don't believe

it.”

     Then the Blue Collar Gang, Maggie, Kate and Jan

joined Wiley and John. Kate gave Wiley a loving hug.

“You have a very special dog, but I feel you already know

that.” Kate said joyfully to John.

     But despite all the celebrating and happy reunions, the

Blue Collar Gang was grieving the loss of their big anchor,

Buster. “Buster knew all along what he was going to do,”

said a choked up Astro.

     “He saved all of us,” said a mournful Gibraltar.

     As Wiley listened, his mood changed, his tail dropped

and he began to slip away from the group. John followed as

Wiley headed back into the institute and returned to the pit.

Wiley saw the half opened gate and an exhausted Titanic

lying in the center of the pit. A jolt of electricity shot

through him. Buster was gone. He put his head down and

went through all the runways and cages to the exercise field

and in the distance saw a large black dog dragging himself

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across the field. Wiley ran as best he could toward Buster

shouting, “Buster, come back!” Buster stopped, as a

breathless Wiley caught up and exclaimed, “I thought you

were dead.”

     “So did Titanic,” said Buster.

     “Come on back,” said Wiley to Buster. “The gang is

going to get great homes, Kate and Jan....”

     “I don’t trust any human,” Buster responded

solemnly.

     “Do you trust me?” Wiley asked quietly.

     John, who had been watching from a distance, burst

into a big smile as Buster and Wiley turned around and

walked confidently in his direction, finally heading home.

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