About 45 seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a white, female great dane, its paws and tail were lined with metal bolts, meaning that the humans were preparing the dog for its transformation. The dog carried a white bag with a small red 'X' on the side. The dog hurried inside the cell and started to examine me, since I still had my paw on the button. I shook my head and pointed with my snout over to Dusty. The she-dog nodded and hurried over to Dusty, setting the white bag beside him. She sniffed his wounds carefully and started, quickly but carefully, to lick the clumps of ice and snow still clumped in his fur.
     Dusty, at this point, was resting his head on his paws, a small wheeze coming out with every shallow breath he took. His eyes were fixed forward, looking distant and weary. The she-dog fished out a large wad of gauze from the bag and started to apply it to the bite mark on Dusty's neck. Startled by the cold, unfamiliar texture of the gauze on his neck, he whipped his head around, teeth bared, and snapped at thin air. The she-dog stopped and stared at Dusty. Dusty, in turn, stared back. With a muffled grunt of apology, Dusty laid his head back on his paws and the she-dog continued her work.
      After that, there was only silence, besides the every once in awhile tearing sound the gauze made as the she-dog teared off pieces, and the rhythmic wheezing from Dusty.
    
About an hour had passed since the Great Dane came in and started to take care of Dusty. By now, Dusty had fallen asleep and his wheezing was gone. I was lying next to Dusty, grooming my now wet fur. He was almost covered from ears to tail tip in gauze except for some clean patches of fur that didn't need it. The she-dog started to pack up some of the left over gauze and some ointments back into the white bag. I paused my grooming to look up at her.
     "Thank you, um, what's your name?"
     The she-dog met my gaze with a friendly smile. "Name's Moon. And, no problem."
     Moon put a bottle of something back in her bag, paused, and looked at me again. "Just so you know, you should leave the gauze on him for at least a few days. You should also try and prevent him from moving around to much so that the wounds could heal correctly. Im also going to talk to the master about not letting him outside for awhile because the cold is what got the wounds infected."
     I nodded in acknowledgement as Moon put the last bottle in the white bag and exited the room. I turned my head to the window to see that dawn was approaching and the line for breakfast would soon start to lengthen. As tired as I was, I had to get food for Dusty and I since he isn't supposed to move.
     With a grunt of effort, I forced my aching limbs to move towards the door. I pushed the door open and emerged into the hallway to be met with silence except for a few barks echoing in the distance. The lunch room was only a few doors to the right from where I stood, but I knew that it would take me some time to get food for myself and Dusty, since I would have to go through the line twice and explain that I had to get some food for him, who was disabled for now.

When I got back to the cell, I found Dusty half awake, lying on his side. As soon as he saw me, he rolled upright and greeted me. "Lu, where were you? You had me worried that I would have to come get you again." He said jokingly. I grinned through the two bowls of food that I held on either side of my mouth. I padded over to Dusty, laid his bowl in front of him, and settled down next to him with my bowl of food in front of me.
     "You know, Lu, I could get my own food on my own, but you know i'm sorta tied up at the moment." He said through a mouthful of dog food. I tried to stifle a yip of laughter since my mouth was filled with food, but failed. A chunk of dog food got into the back of my throat, blocking my airways as I try to suck in more air. I end up in a series of coughs, finally ending with the stray chunk of food flying out of my mouth.
     "Ew! And I thought I was gross when I ate!" He said after swallowing a bite of his dog food.
     I rolled my eyes at Dusty and gave my pelt a thorough shake. I then lay next to Dusty again and waited patiently for him to finish his food so that I could bring back the bowls for lunch time. He soon finished and craned his neck so that he could scratch his ear with his hind leg. He winced in pain from the bite mark on his neck, so he lowered his hind leg. I sigh and reach my paw behind his ear to scratch it awkwardly with my blunt claws.
     "Moon said that you shouldn't move for a couple of days so that your wounds could heal." I said soothingly. Dusty suddenly pulled away from my paw and stared at me in disbelief.
     "How am I supposed to not move from this exact spot for a few days? How will I even be able to... Erm, do my business?" He asked. I shrug and set my paw back down on the concrete floor of the cell. I then pick up the two empty food bowls and carry them back to the kitchen and put them on the bowl rack for them to be rinsed and filled with food again later for lunch. From there, I went to the lobby, where the dogs were starting to line up for the morning patrols of the city.
     A total of 6 dogs stood in the line on either side of me, excluding Dusty. On the left side of the line of me sat Lightning, a brown, male Alaskan Shepherd, Squeak, a beige, female Golden Retriever, and Tide, a white, male Beagle mix. While on the right side of me sat Spirit, a grey, male Siberian Husky, Faun, a black, female Border Collie, and Dorris, an albino male Doberman.
     A mech padded in front of the line, facing all of us with its cold, blank stare.
     "Patrol groups be: Faun, Lightning, with Tide is group 01. Dorris, Squeak, with Spirit is group 2. As with Lucy," It turned towards me. "Will go back to cell to provide for disabled mate."
     I blushed a deep red at the word 'mate', but I nodded my head quickly and kept my head held high, though I felt the gazes of the other dogs hot on my pelt, their gazes coated with confusion as they hadn't heard the mech call Dusty my 'mate' before while nor had I.

I reach my cell to find Dusty resting his head on his paws, staring at nothing in particular. He looked up at me in surprise as I strode in through the cell door. My paws felt as heavy as stones since I hadn't had any sleep for well over 24 hours.
     "Hey, aren't you supposed to be on patrol?" He said with a hint of humor and confusion in his voice. I just shook my head and settled down next to him. Dusty, understanding how tired I was, didn't bother to ask anymore questions as I lay my head on his uninjured shoulder and quickly dozed off.