Patiently

The woman smiled down at Lucy. "I suppose you could call me that, but really you shouldn't be calling me anything. I'll take it as a good sign anyway. Do you want me to take you away from all this?"

Lucy nodded silently, and the woman's smile widened. "Better already."

Squatting in front of the cage, she procured a key from her purse and unlocked it. Lucy didn't move as the door was pulled open, and the woman pulled out a leash that she clipped onto the pink collar around her neck. "Come along then, pet." The woman got up and started walking back the way she had come.

Lucy carefully got out of the cage and started crawling after her mistress. When they passed Kim's cage Lucy stopped and turned her head to look at the naked, **** girl. Why had she been locked up in here with her? The woman clucked again when she noticed why Lucy had stopped. "I should have never entrusted you to Kimberly. You were doing so well with me, and they think she should take over simply because you lived together? Her failure won't go unpunished, of course. But that's nothing you need to concern yourself with, dearie. You just focus on being a good girl for your mistress and forget all about this 'being a person' business."

She kept walking, and Lucy hurried to follow her when the leash went taut. She knew it was important to do what mistress wanted (though she couldn't quite remember why), but she couldn't help wonder who this 'they' the woman had mentioned were. The people who had apparently been waiting for Kim to bring her to the biology building? How was her mistress involved in that?

If she needed to know, mistress would tell her. For now, all she needed to do was follow. And she could do that, even if the hard tile floor hurt her knees. At least it was smooth, not like the road material Kim had made her crawl over yesterday. Maybe if she was good mistress would bring her somewhere with a softer ground. Lucy remembered the grass of the park fondly.

That memory came with a spike of embarassment and fear, but Lucy didn't have time to dwell on it. They had reached the building's rear exit, where a minivan was parked at the side of a road. Only a couple feet of sidewalk slabs were between Lucy and its door, which slid open with a beep when her mistress activated its key fob.

Bravely, Lucy crossed the dirty sidewalk, gritting her teeth at the little rocks that dug into her soft skin. Once she was safely in the minivan, Lucy sat down on the thin carpet next to the rear bench and started picking the rocks out her palms. Her mistress sat down with her to help, gently sliding her hands over Lucy's knees and down her calves to free her legs of any debris. "Maybe I should have carried you those couple steps. I'm sure you're light enough, you're such a delicate creature. I heard what Kimberly did to you after leaving the park. And not feeding you either! You'll get a big bowl of the good stuff once we're home, and then I'll take you to the yard for a nice bath."

Lucy only stared back at the woman. She had a bad feeling about what 'the good stuff' would be, and she wished she could take a bath inside. But she knew it would be fine as long as her mistress was there with her.

"Well, up you get!" Satisfied that there were no more rocks sticking to Lucy's skin, the woman helped her stretch out on the bench and secured her supine body with multiple seat belts. "The kennel didn't have a pet carrier your size, so this will have to do. It's a short drive anyway, you'll be fine as long as you don't freak out and try to get loose."

Checking each belt to make sure it was secure, the woman patted Lucy's side and got out of the van. The door slid shut, then the one in front of it opened as the woman got into the driver's seat.