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She opened up the back door and jumped when she saw a man standing near the Dumpster, a roll of duct tape in his hand.

Hannah screamed without thinking, and the guy dropped the duct tape and ran back down the alleyway, his black Windbreaker flying behind him like a cape.

“Hannah!” Kenny yelled right at her back. He grabbed her arm and jerked her behind him, waving his butcher knife around as he looked from left to right. “What happened?”

Hannah tried to calm her heavy breathing before answering, but her response was still pretty breathless. “Sorry, there was a guy by the Dumpster, and he just startled me, that’s all.”

“This is why you should have let me do the trash, you are still recovering—”

Hannah huffed as she pushed past him and climbed down the steps, but in all honestly, Kenny might have been a little right. She was jumpier behind the diner than she used to be.

As she approached the dropped duct tape, she noticed the box he had been taping. She tossed her trash bag up on top and reached down to pick up the box.

Idiot! What if it’s a bomb or something?

Hannah forgot the ludicrous idea the minute the box whimpered and shook.

She nearly dropped it, it scared her so bad. Instead, she set it back on the ground and yelled for Kenny.

“Bring me a box cutter!”

“What for?”

“There’s something alive in here!”

“Then why the hell would you want to open it? It could be a skunk or something!”

She started pulling on it, ignoring his worry, but it was wrapped too tight. A few moments later, she heard Kenny’s footsteps and his steady puffing before he passed the closed box cutter over her shoulder.

Hannah took it, opened it, and carefully sawed through the silver tape. When she got the ends open, she could see something yellow moving on the inside.

Finally, she pulled the lid open, and the sight inside brought a lump into her throat, outrage pouring out of her in waves.

It was a puppy with short golden fur. The poor thing’s front and back legs were taped together, along with his little muzzle.

The puppy whimpered and tried to struggle, but she laid a hand on his side and shushed him.

“Don’t move, sweetie. I’m going to get this off you.”

“Holy shit,” Kenny said behind her.

“Do you have your phone on you?”

He gave it to her, and when she asked him to grab some oil from the kitchen, he didn’t ask why, just did it.

Hannah took a few pictures to document what had been done and then dialed 911. She explained why she was calling and gave a description of the assailant to the dispatcher, who said she would contact animal control to come out.

When she got off the phone, Kenny was back with the oil, and slowly, Hannah coated the tape along the puppy’s muzzle, trying not to get it in his nose or mouth.

As she slowly removed the tape, the puppy tried moving again, and she spoke softly, cooing to him so he would remain still.

“Kenny, can you get his legs? Be easy.”

Together, they worked the tape off until Hannah had the pup’s mouth free. He’d lost some hair, and there were some abrasions, but otherwise, he seemed okay.

In fact, with his paws and mouth free, he was trying his best to lick Hannah everywhere he could reach.

“I better get back in there before Marcus starts having a meltdown,” Kenny said. Marcus was their other cook, only he hated to actually work. “Why don’t you bring him in, and we’ll put him in the storage closet until animal control arrives.”