((Oh snap, you're good. I guess I gotta kick it up a notch to compete

))
Azalea lay sadly in the corner of the kennel, curled up against the cold wall. If you didn't step close enough to see her shallow breathing, you would've thought she had died. For the last few days she had been in a sort of half-sleep, drifting in and out of consciousness occasionally in the darkness.
She was weak. She hated to admit it, but she was, and the stabbing jealousy she had once felt towards her kennel-mates had hardened into some form of depression. They had experiences and strengths she could only dream of, and as a result, they sat or even walked around while she faded away in her corner. Maybe it was only the life swelling in her belly that was draining her energy, but she feared she had never had the strength to begin with. She whined, hoping that the store owner would come for her like he always had, but he didn't. She fell into a troubling sleep.
When she awoke again it was to the sound of voices. It was Bay... Bay and the others. She didn't open her eyes, but she heard the others filing out through the tunnel.
That must mean the finally got through. Azalea waited until the last dog left. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she didn't want to be with the others. When she heard the last of her kennel-mates squeeze themselves through the floor, she rose with visible effort and slid slowly down the tunnel after them.
XXXXX
Bay sat at the mouth of the tunnel; he couldn't think of anything else to do with himself. The shepherd had always been strong, but he wasn't the brightest of the group per say, and when presented with a problem as complex as this, his brain had a hard time processing its thoughts.
He shook himself to attention when he saw the blue fur of his mate emerge from the tunnel. She almost fell over when her eyes were exposed to the light of day, and her mate did his best to protect her by standing in the light. She slowly looked up with a crooked smile of gratitude, but her face fell blank when she saw the world she had stepped into. Bay did nothing as she pushed passed him; she had taken on that dreamy, removed mindset he knew all too well, and he looked on with concern as she walked through the rubble, seemingly in a trance. He turned away when she sat, shoulders shaking, next to the body of their store owner.
From what he could see, the rest of the group wasn't doing a whole lot better than his mate. Some were in tears, others seemed confused, and all looked utterly hopeless.
What the h*** do we do now?