Donghae stared at the grey-white husky rummaging through the dumpster. He hadn’t seen that dog before, and he’d only managed to see the dog when it’s head popped up from the dumpster just off the driveway of Donghae’s apartment building.

A bellhop came chasing the husky away, breaking Donghae's eye contact from its dark brown eyes. He didn't wonder why he'd feel a connection with the dog - he likes dogs, period.

The husky was at it again early the next morning when Donghae drove home, diving through the dumpster in search for something. Donghae came prepared, though. He opened the passenger side of the car and waved a hotdog sandwich to the dog.

"How about an exchange?" he said to the dog, not even feeling ridiculous about talking to the creature. "You get more of these, if you accompany me upstairs."

The husky looked warily at him, but it was more interested with the treat. The dog padded nearer to Donghae, bobbing its head up and down around the car door, its nose sniffing in the direction of the sandwich.

Donghae still held the treat near him, patting the seat next to him as the dog watched. As if making a decision, the husky got up the seat and panted up at him, nosing the hotdog.

"Alright!" Donghae happily gave him the treat, patted the dog while he was still ignored in favor of the treat. He closed the car door and continued driving down the basement garage.

The dog was done with the treat by the time Donghae parked the car. The husky was at first hesitant when Donghae opened the passenger door for him, but in the end he got out, sniffing at Donghae's feet. The dog took one look out the driveway, before he turned back to follow Donghae to the elevators.

"I live on the top floor, the penthouse," Donghae babbled to the dog. "There's plenty of space for you to run around." He reached down to pat the dog's head.

They soon reached the top floor, the 5th, and Donghae entered a tastefully appointed penthouse apartment. Donghae chuckled as the husky seemingly growled at its reflection on the black marbled floor, then it perked up as it bounded to one of the high windows, reaching the ledge with its forepaws and cutely ruffing at the clutch of pigeons sitting on the ledge on the other side of the glass. Donghae left the dog to explore on its own as he looked for a bowl and filled it with water before he called the dog to the kitchen and offer it a drink.

The dog gratefully lapped up at the offer.

"So, what is your name?" he asked, and only got a sniffing in return. "Mind if I look if you're tagged?" He reached out to the dog for more sniffing, before the dog let him examine the collar.

The collar was surprisingly clean. And by clean, Donghae meant that it looked brand new, with no chip. There was also no pendant to indicate if the dog had a name. Which is impossible considering this is a full-grown husky. So maybe it was rummaging the dumpster because it suddenly had no one to take care of it.

"So, who did you belong to?" Donghae asked as he rubbed down the dog. The husky rewarded him with tongue-lolling pants.

"Come on, let me show you where the yard is," Donghae said, pulling the dog by the collar, in the direction of one of the glass doors on the side of the apartment. Beyond it was a quaint rooftop garden with a big enough yard to contain some lounge chairs, a wooden picnic table and outdoor grill. On one side stood a couple of potted plants, at the base of a high firewall and on the other side was left with an open view of the city. No other buildings marred the view, the street mostly having low buildings, so the garden seemed cozy and isolated.

The husky carefully sniffed at the corners, and after seemingly convinced that there was nothing untoward about the yard, started running sprints end to end of the yard, in that gleeful way only playful huskies are capable of. Donghae chuckled as he watched the dog’s antics.

His phone ringing jarred the relaxed atmosphere. Even the dog growled at the sound.

“Sorry about that,” Donghae apologized to the dog, even as he answered Kyuhyun’s call.

“Hey, hyung,” Kyuhyun greeted as soon as Donghae was on the line. “Latest chatter just came in from the north - we’ve picked up reports of a string of unexplainable incidents, to quote, mauling by an unidentified beast.”

Donghae pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. It’s been two days since their jungle foray, finding their target guardian ship thanks to Eunhyuk. But it yielded nothing other than a big wreck and fatalities, gutted from a fire already days old, most likely with the ship damaged enough to burn on atmospheric entry. Forensics report from yesterday identified about a dozen dead individuals. Which still left about eight aliens on the loose who knows where. At least until Kyuhyun’s report.

“Were the victims human?” Donghae asked.

“Not all. We’ve mapped the locations, and there’s a swath of farm and pasturelands they would’ve crossed coming from the jungle, and that’s where there were reports of livestock and wildlife seemingly killed by wild animals. The local police and military have no encounters yet, so the aliens might be careful about drawing unwanted attention with indiscriminate killing, at least not what they used to do.”

Donghae hummed. “Might be because they’re not hunting this time - their priority would be to find out about the creche ship. We’ve done a good job so far locking down any info to do with that ship, but who knows how long that’ll last.”

“HQ’s called to reconvene. Team should get there within the hour.”

“Copy,” Donghae answered. “On my way now.” He started to head back indoors and grab his keys, knowing a go bag remained unpacked in his car trunk. “Contact Eunhyuk and have him get to HQ.”

“Already done, hyung - sent a message and already got an affirmative reply.”

“OK. Next check in will be in 30 minutes.” Donghae ended the call and was already on his way to the elevator when he remembered his house guest.

Donghae wasted the next five minutes looking for a suddenly disappearing dog. He cursed as he hurried down to the basement and drove off trying to convince himself that the dog did exist... but that the only way the dog could have left his penthouse apartment was if it insanely jumped off the top floor.

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