 
# The Book of Riley: PT 1

# My Name is Riley

## Mark Tufo

This book is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places and events are a product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual names, characters and places are entirely coincidental. The reproduction of this work in full or part is forbidden without written consent from the author.

Copyright 2012 Mark Tufo

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Dedications: To my wife, who somehow is miraculously able to put up with me. I never figured myself as high maintenance, who knew? Thank you for all your hard work on being able to get this book out on time. I love you and I hit the lottery the day you said yes.

As always to the men and women of the armed services, thank you for all you do!

To my readers, who make all this possible, without your continued support I would be that weird guy washing windshields at that really long traffic light that you just want to turn green QUICKLY. I feel like I should say more than Thank You, but please know that I mean it from the bottom of my heart!

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

PROLOGUE

Hello Dear Reader you hold in your hands part one of four of The Book of Riley. This first installment of the novella serialization is entitled My Name is Riley. Here is the how this book came about, a couple of years ago when I was _brand_ new to the independent author arena, a fellow author by the name of Armand Rosamilia contacted me and asked if I wanted the chance to have a short story published in his upcoming anthology. I was extremely excited at the prospect and then he sort of put the fear of God into me when he mentioned some of the other authors that would be included, Joe McKinney, Ian Woodhead, Scott Nicholson and Armand himself, those are some pretty huge names in my genre. I wanted something unique, that is the reason I went with a zombie apocalypse through the eyes of an American Bulldog, if you know me at all you are sitting back and scratching your head, 'Why didn't he use an English Bulldog like Henry?' Oh I thought long and hard about it, but being around English Bullies for as long as I have been I know that a great many of them, my Henry included would sleep through the vast majority of action sequences and I wanted the story to be as believable as possible given the circumstances.

So there I was, Armand had imposed a harsh word limit, by my standards, of 5000 words, before I knew it I had hit that number and was ready to keep going. I had a satisfactory ending at that point but not a conclusive one. And who am I kidding, I was enjoying the characters and their interplay immensely, within a few months during off time I rounded out the first installment to around 26 or 27 thousand words. My goal is to do another three installments roughly all the same length. Again if you know me this will probably end up being 15 or 16 installments, but first things first, I really hope you enjoy this story!

CHAPTER ONE

My name is Riley and this is my story. The fact I am a ninety pound female and a mere three summer seasons old should in no way dissuade you from how tough I am. I can run faster than any person I know, and I have a bite that might not be enough to snap a cow's leg but is certainly enough to cause a human - even a dead one - some serious problems. I am what the two-legged animals call an American Bulldog, although I have the heart of my wolf ancestors. Unlike what some misinformed scientists have claimed, I _am_ self-aware. I love my pack of humans. There's the Alpha male named Charles, the Alpha female Heather, the oldest female cub Jessie (my favorite), the younger male cub Daniel (who needs a lesson in manners, if he pulls my ears one more time I will relieve myself on his pillow) and the infant cub who is my second favorite, Zachary (he always has so many unique smells going on). I tolerate the little pain in the ass Yorkshire Terrier known as Ben-Ben, that thing yips when the wind blows. Haven't a had decent night's rest since they brought him back from the animal dumping facility, or to you humans, the pound. And last _and_ definitely least is the cat; one of these days I'm going to catch that little fleabag and... well let's just say it won't be pretty. I don't know what kind of spell she has over the humans because they absolutely adore the purring pestilence known as Patches.

The night the world changed I had hopped the dog gate to get away from Ben-Ben. I was sleeping on Heather's couch in the living room. Ben-Ben wouldn't shut up.

"Definitely something out there, Riley," he kept saying over and over. I couldn't bury my head deep enough in the cushions to drown him out. "Don't you hear it Riley?" he asked, getting louder and louder.

"I can't hear anything over you!" I shouted at him. Damn, I had to be quiet. If I barked any louder one or both of the Alphas would wake up and come downstairs. I could get back over the gate before either got here but oh, the bother of it all. The couch was so comfortable. Ben-Ben was in the other room and if that little bitch cat snuck down here at any time like she does, I might have gotten a shot at curtailing her worthless life.

"Rileeeeyy, you should get in here!" Ben-Ben whined.

"Shut up Ben-Ben!" came from the pack leader's bedroom.

_Dammit, Ben-Ben,_ I thought. _Now I'm going to have to come back into the dog room._ I hated his whimpering, not much of a Wolf's heart beat in his thin chest. I got off the couch, not even caring I had knocked off two of the pillows, and yes I can count. So let's get all these misconceptions out of the way before I go any further. I can and _do_ watch television but I can't stand most of the stuff they have on unless it involves cats falling off of things. I can count, I admit not much higher than seven though. I do understand the passage of time. I know what the humans are saying to me when they use their strange language, I just choose which parts I want to listen to, especially if the word 'cookie' is thrown in there somewhere. I absolutely _loathe_ begging but I am not above it. Never once have I thought my meat flavored kibble bits tasted better than a cheeseburger or French fries, or French toast or even plain toast with some jelly or butter, I'll even eat just the butter if I can get a hold of it. They've learned since the last time I jumped up on the counter to always make sure it is put away back in the cold box. But the Daniel cub usually forgets and I can get a few good licks in on the stick before someone realizes his mistake.

I hopped back over the gate nearly landing on Ben-Ben's head; he was crouched up next to it. "I smell fear urine," I nipped at him. I hated that smell; he had done it for the first week after they had brought him here. I had told him I would eat him if he kept doing that and if he didn't quit all of his barking. One year later and I still haven't persuaded him to be quiet, though the urination has stopped.

"Riley, there are people in the backyard," Ben-Ben said as he tried to retreat farther into the shadows of the room.

I perked up now. Nobody came into my yard unless the humans said it was okay and even then the visitors still had to get my approval. I strode quickly (because running was undignified if the situation didn't necessitate it) to the backdoor and moved the curtain so I could see outside. What met my eyes was an abomination. Warm urine ran down my leg.

"Oh, this is bad, bad, bad!" Ben-Ben whimpered.

I was inclined to agree with him. There were many more than seven human things in the backyard. I really wished now I had paid more attention when the Daniel cub was doing his math homework but I'd never been able to steal more than seven cookies before I was found out and never saw a reason to go past that number. What was in the backyard was human once but no more. They smelled dead, not long, but dead all the same. Yes, I know the concept of death too, I mourn like almost every other animal on the planet, except for cats. When I was brought to my new pack I had the honor of knowing and loving the dog that was here before me. King George was an English Bulldog who took very little guff from anybody, especially a wet nosed puppy. He taught me all about the people who lived here, who was the easiest to beg food from, who gave the best walks and tummy rubs, who dropped the most food, and who was absolutely the best to snuggle with. Zachary had not yet been born, though Heather was heavy with him. When my best friend died, I did not sleep or eat right for almost a complete cycle of the moon. King George will always be the noblest dog I have ever known.

"Ben-Ben, bark louder!" I shouted, doing my best to match him in volume. I never could figure out how such a little dog packed such a loud punch. The only thing I had going for me was that I barked so infrequently that when I did it generally signified something important, and the two-leggers would usually come quickly. This time was no different; the Alpha Charles was muttering something as he switched on the kitchen light. He started swearing after his toes slammed into the dog gate.

When he finally moved the gate out of the way his cursing grew even louder and more colorful as one of his sock covered feet splashed in Ben-Ben's fear urine. "Oh, for the love of all that is mighty and good, Ben-Ben, what the hell are you barking at?" Ben-Ben was damn near invisible as he hid behind the kitchen table. The human noticed me standing at the door, back ramrod straight and I hated to admit it but my hind legs were quivering. "What's a matter, girl?" he cooed. "Something out there?" I could hear the fear in his voice as his words lost most of their volume. He cursed softly as his one still dry foot found its way into my fear urine. "What the hell is going on, girl? This isn't like you," he said as he stroked my back. I was thankful for the contact but still scared out of my wits.

Ben-Ben was still whining. "Rileeeeey, are they any closer?"

"Shut up!" both me and Alpha Charles said.

"What the fuck?" Alpha said as he peered through the glass on the doors. "Damn punks." I could sense he wanted to open the door and yell at them, but even humans with their horrible sense of instinct can still tell when something is so stupendously wrong. That and I know he could count way past seven and one against way past seven was not great odds, unless the enemy were cats and then all bets were off.

"You with me on this?" Alpha asked me. This was one of those times I wanted to pretend I didn't know the meaning of his communication. Cookie or not, I would stand with the pack leader. I looked up at with him with my best pleading eyes, imploring him to not open that door. I barked once in warning negation but I think he took that as a sign of my acquiescence. He opened the door slowly. The smell coming from the yard was worse than Zachary's diapers, which actually isn't a fair comparison because I find his offal to be somewhat sweet even if the rest of the members of my pack felt otherwise. Alpha was having a difficult time breathing in the stink I was experiencing many more times than seven.

He was hunched over preparing to evacuate the salami sandwich he had shared with me earlier. My stomach was roiling too but that meat had been entirely too tasty to let it hit the ground; I could have done without the mustard but the cheese was an added bonus. The _things_ in the yard all started to come toward the porch steps. Alpha looked almost as bad as _them_ , and still he hadn't thrown up or looked up. I bit him a little harder on the leg than I had meant to.

"Fug, Riley!" he yelled, choking back vomit. "What are you doing?"

I turned away from him and moved to the bottom step, which was exactly two steps away. I know two is less than seven but not by how many. Didn't matter, though; the approaching _thing_ was a lot closer to us than we needed to be to it. Alpha had followed my line of sight. He reached over and roughly grabbed my collar and pulled me back in the house. I don't know why he felt the need to do that; I wasn't going to attack that thing. No sooner had he closed and locked the door when he tossed his dinner and after dinner snack all over the floor. Even Ben-Ben, the dog equivalent of a waste bucket, wouldn't come out from his hiding spot to eat the floor buffet and I'd seen that little pecker eat his own turds. I always laughed (yes, dogs have a sense of humor—haven't you noticed how we _always_ walk right in front of you and stop abruptly? We find that to be just about the funniest thing ever when you do everything in your power to not run into us) when Daniel would let Ben-Ben lick all over his face. I would have stopped it but that cub always takes my toys—fair is fair.

"Heather!" Alpha screamed as he stood up, swaths of brown-tinged spittle hanging from his face. Before she could respond, the closest _thing_ slammed into the door. Alpha and myself both took an involuntary step backward. I stood there transfixed by the image on the other side of the glass. Alpha slipped once as he hit Ben-Ben's piss and then he was down the hallway yelling for his wife to 'get the kids up and get the guns'. I hated the noise the fire sticks made but I saw the wisdom in them at the moment.

"Riley, is it safe to come out?" Ben-Ben asked.

The _thing_ I was to learn was a zombie stared at me with one good eye. The other was streaked in blood; someone had scratched runnels from the top of the zombie's forehead through its eye and halfway down his cheek. It did not seem to care that it would never see from that side again. That one good eye, though, would not stop following me as I backed out of the room. I couldn't really stand the little dog, but no one deserves to go out that way. "Let's go, Ben-Ben," I said with more force than I felt.

He never looked at the backdoor as he scurried past me and into the living room, a fresh stream of piss following him. "Why don't you just leave a trail of bread crumbs?" I barked at Ben-Ben. (Yes, I like faery tales, Alpha female always reads them to her youngest cub; I find them completely entertaining to go to sleep with, especially the one about the big bad wolf!)

The glass backdoor breaking got me moving. I almost ran straight into Ben-Ben who was shaking so uncontrollably his bowels had loosed. I was thinking if not for the zombies, Alpha female would send him back to dog prison. I hurdled over the much smaller dog and waited at the landing to the top floor. I could hear the kids asking what was going on. She Alpha was trying to use her talking device. "Charles, there's no answer at the police station!" she shrieked.

"No time!" He was yelling from the room where he kept the fire sticks, I could hear him loading the lead bees. He needed to hurry; my incessant barking should get him moving.

The zombie had broken through the door and was walking down the hallway. Ben-Ben was still shitting; it was like he had been holding his stool for four days. Liquidy brown refuse pooled on the floor behind him, yet the stink of it could not mask the creature walking toward him.

"Ben-Ben!" I barked.

He spared a look over his shoulder. "I can't stop, Rileeeeey!" he cried.

"Do it while you run, Ben-Ben!" I growled and barked with my most ferocious, menacing face, trying to ward off the zombie with my potential attack. It didn't even notice me; it was fixated on the Yorkie. Finally, the dog's mud flap closed and he sprinted past me and up the stairs, leaving poop laced paw prints halfway up; the She Alpha was not going to be happy. The thing, which had been a normal two-legger once, slipped and fell in Ben-Ben's excrement. _Whoa! So he is good for something!_ I thought. The zombie flopped around in the hallway, getting Ben-Ben's waste over most of his body. Shit intermingled with the blood running from his face, chunks of it lodged in his multiple wounds that looked like they had been inflicted by the leaden bees. Brown dripped from various places as the zombie regained his balance and stood. I had once seen He Alpha stop everything he was doing when he had accidentally mowed over one of my refuse piles with the grass cutter and some had gotten on his pants. You would have thought he was on fire the way he peeled his clothes off and went into the water pourer. This monster before me took no notice of the crap or my growling as I bounded up the stairs.

Boy cub Daniel was still half asleep as he came to the head of the stairs. He looked like he wanted to go down, so I jumped up the remaining three stairs and knocked him over. His crying only added to the cacophony.

"Dad!" the cub screamed. "Riley is trying to eat me!"

He Alpha came out of the room where he kept his fire sticks. He took one look at me and then down the stairs. "Riley just saved your life," he Alpha said grimly as he placed the stick to his shoulder. "Stop or I will shoot!" he told the thing ascending the stairs.

She Alpha screamed as she came to the head of the stairs next to her husband. She cub Jessie was behind them both. The cub Daniel was able to peek past my body to see what everyone was staring at. His eyes seemed to grow large with fear, his bladder let loose much like mine and Ben-Ben's had only moments earlier.

" _Dad_ , it's a zombie! Shoot it in the head!" the boy cub screamed.

I got off the boy's chest. This is when I learned the name for the beasts, but I still didn't know what it meant. It was halfway up to us before the Alpha shot; the noise from the blast was incredibly loud, but the ensuing quiet was among some of the most peaceful I would ever have left. At least until Zachary awoke crying from the shock of the noise, add Ben-Ben's mewling and the damn cat's yowling and it was beginning to get very loud.

"My God!" Heather said. "What the hell is going on? You killed that man!" she said to her mate in an accusatory tone.

He was visibly shaking. The thing on the stairs began to stir. "Shoot it again!" Heather screamed.

"The head, Dad, the head!" Daniel yelled to match his mother's entreaties.

The bee did its work as the zombie's head ruptured all over the wall behind it. Rotten gray matter rolled down, but some stuck in red bloody clumps. (Yes, I can see color.) Jessie was vomiting behind her mother; it smelled like gummy worms and spaghetti.

"Is it safe now, Dad?" The boy cub asked its sire.

You didn't need to have dog ears to hear the commotion going on at the back of the house. More were coming.

"Heather, get the kids and lock yourselves in the bathroom. Me and Riley will stay here."

I was not thrilled I got included in his plan, but I would never abandon one of my pack. That pussy Patches had no such qualm as I saw her dash into the back bedroom where the big human waste room was.

Ben-Ben came out from under the bed, his tail tucked deep under his legs and crap dripping from the tan fur of his tail. "I'll stay too, Rileeey," he whined bravely.

His stock went up in my eyes.

"Oh, Christ, there's another one!" Alpha said.

My fur bristled; Ben-Ben crouched down but did not slink away. One would have been more preferable than the amount that ended up coming up those stairs.

I could hear the cubs and She Alpha cry out after each shot from the fire stick, the problems would arise when the booming stopped. The stairs were choked with the carnage of destroyed human bodies. Blood, intestine and brains mixed in with the remnants of our fallen neighbors. The smell was stifling; I was thankful for the acrid smell of the leaden bees.

Sometime later Alpha looked over to me with resignation in his eyes. "Out of bullets, girl," he told me. I watched as he turned the fire stick around to use more like a regular stick. The quivering pile of bodies at the foot of the stairs was disturbing. Most were not moving but some were. Add to that the zombie creatures desperately trying to get around or over the putrid pile of their brethren. They hunted like a pack but did not have a pack mentality; they cared not for their fallen. It was a younger she two-legger that made it through first. This seemed to have a debilitating effect on my pack leader. I didn't see the problem—male, female, big, or little an enemy is an enemy.

I put my front paws down onto the first step, saliva dripping from my maw as a growl rumbled deep in my chest. Alpha was backing up as the zombie girl was advancing.

"It's Daniel's friend, Denise," Alpha choked out between sobs.

_She didn't smell like Denise_ , I thought as I launched off the step. My jaws encircled her entire face, I bit hard and deep, I could feel the delicate bones start to crumble. I shook violently from side to side. The skin of her face shredded in my jaws. As she fell backward I could feel the tear of flesh from membrane. Red muscle and tendons stared back at me as she righted herself and started back up the stairs, I had ripped her face clean off. The taste in my mouth was foul, way worse than Jessie's attempt at meatloaf. Who uses tofu to make meatloaf? Nobody ate it, well scratch that, Ben-Ben did, although he was sick the next day. I told him not to touch it, but he wouldn't listen.

Alpha male was retching; Ben-Ben was at the top of the stairs yelling. "More are coming, Rileeeey!"

I turned and got back to the top of the stairs. Alpha stood up and moved in front of Ben-Ben and me. He was struggling to hold down his gorge as the girl thing came up the stairs, her blood red smile leading the way.

"God, forgive me for what I do," Alpha said as he mightily swung the club down on top of the thing's head. With the bones in her face broken and most of the skin torn away it was no surprise when both of her eyeballs popped out with an audible sucking sound. I do not think Alpha was aware of what was going to happen, he dropped his stick and fell to his knees. The thing twitched a few times and then laid still. I still could not get the taste of it out of my mouth as I licked the carpet. I pushed my snout into Alpha's face, more of the beasts were coming up the stairs and he was still not moving. He pushed me away; salty water flowed from his eyes, misery rolled off him in waves.

"Ben-Ben, we need to stop these things!" I barked.

Ben-Ben took one look at our fallen pack leader and stood paw to paw with me. Three of the things were fast approaching us. I leaped again, and I'll give him credit, so did that damn little Yorkie. We fought savagely. Thick black blood flowed from our enemies; I thought we might be able to hold them off. They seemed much more interested in Alpha than in either one of us; they did not defend against our bites. All that mattered to them was to press on. I ripped calves open; I tore throats out and watched naked Adam's apples bob up and down. I attacked and crushed genitalia of both genders. I ripped more than one belly open to have many feet of intestine spill loose and still they advanced. Ben-Ben was lost at some point in the fray; I could no longer hear his battle yipping. Even as I fought on I found myself mourning his passing, for all his bad traits he had stayed true at the end.

"A wolf's heart after all!" I howled. I had been pushed back up to the top step. Alpha was gone. I could smell his scent heading to the back of the bedroom where the human waste room was. I did not feel betrayal; Alpha's actions are not for me to question, a little help would have been nice, though. I had nothing left; I had burned through all of my energy, zombies streamed past me on their way to the rear of the sleeping chambers. I bit at a few as they went by but my jaws hurt so bad I could not apply enough pressure to dissuade them from their course of action. More than seven were in the bedroom, but not many more than that. I could hear my pack screaming as the zombies started to hammer on the door. I was so hot; I could not close my mouth for fear if I interrupted my panting I would overheat.

I took a quick glance down the stairs to see if anything alive or dead was still coming, the pile of strewn body parts twitched a bit but it did not appear that anything was going to dislodge itself from that mountain of human remains. The zombies were pushing up against the door. The wood was not very strong—I should know, I used to chew it as a puppy. It was very thin and if I remember right it did not taste good, either. The door was splintering under the assault, I barked at their backs but none of them turned.

"Riley, run!" I heard Jessie shout.

Where would I go? This was my pack.

"No, Charles!" I heard She Alpha yell.

"They're going to break in soon, at least some of us will be safe," I heard him answer.

Jessie was full on crying. I pulled my ears back and started tearing at the dead two-leggers. Meat sloughed off some of the ones that had been dead longer. I had dropped my third one when the door to the water pourer room finally gave out. Alpha fought hard for a minute or more but when a zombie bit two of his fingers off he again dropped to his knees, blood pouring through the stumps where a moment before his fingers had been. Another zombie bit down hard on the top of his exposed scalp. I did not think two-leggers had enough force to bite through bone. I thought wrong as I saw the exposed brain of Alpha glistening wetly in the harsh light. Alpha's arms and legs began to twitch violently as the zombie bit even deeper into the pink goo. She Alpha Heather was shrieking violently as another zombie got to her neck, it tore out a fair portion of her throat. The screaming stopped suddenly but not the violence of the will to exist. She fought valiantly for her survival as her life-blood leaked onto the floor. Another zombie had torn through her shirt and like a suckling infant went right for her teats, unlike a baby though, it tore the breast clean off. The pain of existence became too much. She Alpha fell.

No matter how hard I tried and how much damage I inflicted on my pack's killers I could not get through the doorway. Daniel was trying to get out of a window Ben-Ben would have just barely fit through. The top half of his body was outside, the other half was still in, his legs were thrusting violently but with nothing to seek purchase on he was wedged tight. I had always tried to get him away from the game playing picture box and throw the ball with me and now I regretted not trying harder. His screams as a zombie tore open his thigh had thus far been unrivaled. The zombie clenched onto a strip of flesh and pulled, a piece of Daniel about the size of a good steak sheered free, and blood pooled on the bathroom floor. The legs that a moment before were going a mile a minute fell still. I had failed; all of my pack was dead. I was about to do as much damage as possible before I fell but then I realized Jessie and the baby cub Zachary were not visible, neither did I smell their remains. They had to have come in here with the Alphas.

"Mom?" I heard from outside. "Dad? Help!"

The Jessie cub was outside! I ran down the stairs and over the pile of death and out the backdoor. Jessie was holding her baby brother; tears flowing freely down her face. I was almost to them when I was attacked.

CHAPTER TWO

Something landed on top of me, a razor sharp claw narrowly missing my eye. I rolled over onto my side and the pain in the ass cat Patches fell off my back.

"Sorry," she said. "I thought you were attacking the children."

"You talk?" I barked at her.

"Of course I do, I just never had anything to say to the likes of _you_ ," she stated matter-of-factly.

I had been wrong on two counts tonight, Ben-Ben's bravery and Patches' willingness to protect the pack. What else would I learn I was wrong about before the night was out? Hopefully, I would figure it out before it was too late, the four of us were now the pack and even animals know there is safety in numbers. If I could find enough living beings to make our pack more than seven, then all the better.

Jessie was crying uncontrollably and barely acknowledged my presence. She was looking up. I followed her line of sight. Daniel's dead body hung limply from the window, blood dripping from his mouth and landing not three feet from where we stood.

Patches walked over to the growing puddle of viscous liquid. "He has the disease," she stated.

"The dead disease?" I asked her. "You can smell it?"

"Can't you?" she asked disdainfully.

I walked over to the blood and sniffed around. I didn't know what the conniving cat was talking about. I could only smell the fat-soaked iron rich blood smell the humans produce.

"I thought as much," she said as she licked a paw.

"How'd you like me to rip that paw off?" I growled at her.

Jessie finally seemed to take notice as she heard my threat to the cat. "Riley? Oh, God, Riley!" she cried as she got down on one knee and wrapped her free hand around my neck.

I licked her face, the bitter tears washing away the vileness of my opponents.

"Riley, they're all dead!" she cried again. Zachary shifted some in her other arm but did not awaken.

"And we'll join them if we stay here," Patches added.

I would have liked to help the cat along on her journey to the afterlife, but not just yet.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking, you big dumb dog. It'll have to wait."

"Wow, you really _aren't_ as dumb as you look," I told her.

Jessie had put the baby down and looked like she wanted to lie down next to it. I nipped her arm.

"Riley, stop," Jessie said without much force. "I'm so cold and they're all dead," she cried.

Now I know human females, unlike any other animal on the planet, have a tendency to get overly upset for the least reason. Daniel had once told her her pants made her look fat and she had cried and had thrown things around for two days. I thought it was funny that he wasn't even looking her way when he said it. And maybe if she had shared a little more of her food with me, he wouldn't have had to say it. I'm just saying. But this was not one of those times. Our pack leaders and pack mates had been killed and it was cold out. Even I was feeling the effects and Jessie did not have her cold protective clothing on.

I nipped her arm again. We would not be safe here long or at all.

"Get them moving, Riley. They're coming," Patches said as she came back around the corner of the house. I hadn't even noticed she was gone.

Jessie pushed me away as I went in for another more vigorous warning.

I knew the zombies were coming and stealth right now was the best option, but Jessie was angering me, I had never seen her just give up. I barked loudly once in her ear. The sound should have conveyed to her the danger we were in and that we had to get moving to survive. I don't know why she didn't understand it. I had spent the first year of my life learning their language; I don't know why the two-leggers didn't feel the need to do the same.

"She wishes to die, Patches," I said disparagingly.

"Grab the infant," Patches said, coming up beside me. "We should go into the house with the big wheeled machines."

"She's part of our pack," I said to Patches mournfully.

"Are you including me in that?" Patches asked, looking up at me.

I looked down. The cat was within biting distance. I had been waiting for this moment almost my entire life and that all seemed like wasted time now. "I guess I am," I said, bowing my head and grabbing the infant's swaddling. "How will we get in?" I mumbled, the words difficult to get out around the bundle in my mouth.

"Watch," Patches said as we started to walk over to the machine house.

"Riley, Patches, where are you going with Zachary?" Jessie asked, raising her head from the ground.

"Don't turn around!" Patches hissed at me. "Keep walking, maybe even a little faster."

"She's one of us, Cat!" I said as loud as I could whilst not waking the baby.

"Does that squished-in face of yours affect your brain?" Patches asked with an evil grin.

"I will eat you!" I told her. "And I don't even like mangy food!"

"You'll wake the infant and the noise will bring the dead ones."

"Riley, you come here now!" Jessie yelled.

"Is she getting closer?" I asked Patches. The need to pay heed to who was now the pack leader was like a physical pull.

"See, I know what I'm doing."

"Oh, she's following us!" I yipped excitedly.

"There's hope for you yet," Patches said derisively.

"I will still eat you, but later."

"Fine, fine. Hold onto that thought if you can, but you had better move faster or it won't matter."

"Dead ones?" I asked as my lips pulled back. "I can't smell them through this one's waste, smells a lot like broccoli and those delicious sweets in the foil packs." I took another sniff to be certain. "Strawberry, I believe."

Patches got to the door first and begin to caterwaul loudly. "Hurry, human!" seemed to be the loose translation. She usually only reserved this for the most dire of situations, like when her yarn was tangled or it was din-din time or pretty much anytime the little princess felt like she needed something quickly. I'd let it slide this time.

Jessie caught up to me just as I got to the door. She opened the door without any further prompting from Patches. Her will to live beginning to return, she would need to tap into her survival instincts if she wanted to make it through this night and the next. She grabbed Zachary from my jaws, I was thankful to let the bundle go. My mouth still hurt from earlier.

No sooner had the small door shut when Patches turned to me. "This shouldn't be a problem for you, but you need to relieve yourself."

"What? Indoors? I will not do such a thing," I said indignantly.

"I remember when you were a puppy, you used to do it all the time."

"I did not know any better," I said ashamedly.

"You must, Dog, the scent will throw the dead ones away from here and from them." She motioned with her head.

"They are scent-driven? How do you know this? The humans can't smell anything with that little nose."

"Be that as it may," Patches started, "but those things out there are not human and I've watched them sniff the wind to find a scent."

"I do not know if I believe you, but even if I did and I thought I would not get into trouble by relieving myself here, I cannot. Pack leader took me out earlier and I took care of business then. Why don't you do it?" I asked her. She looked at me like I had asked her to mate with a chipmunk.

"Me?" she fairly spat. "I go in the same bathroom as the pack leaders!" she huffed.

"Please!" I answered. "You go in a dirt box and then try to cover it up, thinking no one else will know. Let me tell you, your pee burns my nose."

"It does no such thing!" she said peevishly.

"Patches, Riley, be quiet," Jessie whispered, looking through the window. "They're coming."

"Now or never, oh dainty one," I told Patches. I nudged Jessie to get away from the outside viewer, or window, that was what the two-leggers called it. I wasn't sure if the cat was completely right about the scent thing or not, but standing in front of the glass was still not a good idea. Jessie slowly backed up to the big-wheeled machine.

She seemed to get an idea as she opened the door to what the humans called a Hummer. All I knew was I loved to be inside of it. The wind as it blew past my face was exhilarating, so many scents so quickly it was impossible to define them all, but yet I tried. _Happy times_ , I smiled as I thought to myself. I watched as Jessie strapped the cub into his special seat, he had fallen back asleep after the fire stick battle and had stayed that way. Lucky for him, the dog gods were looking out for all of us.

"Shit, keys," Jessie said softly.

"The janglers!" I barked softly. Pack leader would always shake them in front of me when it was my turn to go for a ride.

The acidic smell of cat piss hit me just as Patches rounded the front of the large riding machine, her tail swishing triumphantly high in the air.

"You did that on purpose," I told her.

"Of course I did," she answered, not trying to hide anything.

"It's awful, it's burning my throat."

Patches made sure her tail rubbed up against my nose as she passed by. I sneezed loudly.

"Riley, be quiet!" Jessie said sternly. Patches openly laughed. "I need to think. Dad told me once he had hidden keys for this thing. But he never let me drive it so I didn't bother to try to remember."

"What's she talking about, Riley?" Patches asked.

"The janglers, Cat. Don't you know anything?" But how would she? As far as I knew Patches never got to go for rides and now I felt something I'd never felt for the cat: guilt. "It's the things that make the machine come to life," I told her. "Kind of like giving you catnip."

Patches got a faraway look in her eyes, remembering the mind-altering spice.

"Cats," I said contemptuously, walking away. I was pretty sure I knew where Alpha kept an extra jangler. He was always leaving the big bunch of them inside the car, why he didn't just open the door and get them I'll never know. We were at the dog park once and had to wait for a very long time while another human came and had to open the door for my pack leader. Alpha was pretty mad about it. I was pretty happy, I got to run around the park with the other dogs for a lot longer than I usually got to. After that, though, he had put a single jangler on the outside of the wheeled machine.

" _Where'd he put it?"_ I thought out loud, but softly. I walked around the machine. Pack leader's scent was strong where the door opened and by where the liquid went that smelled worse than Patches' pee, but those weren't the right spots. I came around to the back of the wheeler and got another strong scent of him by the door handle and again by the piece about level with my nose. I whined softly until Jessie came over to see what the matter was. I pawed the location where the lone jangler was hidden. Jessie just stared at me.

"They're coming," Patches said as her tail jigged and jagged back and forth rapidly. I always wanted to bite that thing and this was no exception.

I banged my paw on the bumper this time harder, but Jessie was looking toward the front of the machine house. We all heard it; I definitely smelled it and so did the cat as she walked back around the way she had come. I batted Jessie's leg with my paw; she reached a hand down to brush me away. _Alright, so much for subtle,_ I thought grimly. As her hand came down again I clamped a hold. She cried out in surprise. It wasn't even close to being enough pressure to break skin, but I wasn't letting go. I dragged her hand over to the bumper; her eyes glistened with fear.

"What, Riley! That really hurts," she yelled as loudly as she could without getting past a whisper.

I made sure her hand touched the bumper before I let go. She immediately pulled her hand up and rubbed it. I noticed where my large teeth had put indents into her hand. Maybe I had bit down a little harder than intended. I was scared too. Jessie kept rubbing her hand, but her eyes were at least on me, so I put my paw back up on the back of the machine.

"The bumper, Riley? What about... oh shit, _that's_ where he put the key!" she said happily. "How did you know, good girl?" she said as she patted my head.

"Because I'm smart!" I yipped quietly.

"Yeah, regular genius," Patches' voice came faintly from the other side of the garage.

"When this is over, Cat, I will catch you. We have a score to settle."

"Please," Patches said, now magically sitting by the front wheel licking her paw. "You couldn't catch your own tail."

"You know that's not fair, Cat, I don't have much of a tail," I growled.

"Like I said," she finished as she licked the rest of her paw.

"I'm not really sure what that means but it doesn't sound good," I told her.

"Hah, got it!" Jessie said triumphantly. "Come on, Riley girl, let's go for a ride!" she said excitedly.

I looked over to Patches; she looked like she had swallowed a lemon. "What's the matter? Got your own tongue?" I laughed.

"Yeah, never heard that one," she answered nervously.

"Come on, Jessie is driving the wheeled ride. As much as it pains me to say this, you need to get in," I told her.

"I'm not getting in the car," she hissed. "Every time I do, some strange guy tells me how cute I am right before he stings me with a metal stick."

"That thing is called a what? And the animal doctor? You're afraid of the animal doctor? But they always give treats," I tried to assure her.

"You're just too dog-id to realize, Riley. That's where they brought George when he was sick and he never came back. I wish he were here now," she cried.

"George? Why? I mean I wish he were here too."

"Are you really that stupid?" she asked with that look of contempt only a cat can pull off with an air of indifference.

I took a step toward her. "I can only suffer your attitude for so long, Cat, no matter the dangers lurking outside."

"Fine," she fairly purred, the edge of her muzzle pulling up in a supercilious smile. "George and I were the best of friends."

"You lie!" I barked in her face. I noticed with satisfaction she flinched when my spittle sprayed her face.

"Riley! Shut up, they're going to hear us," Jessie cried in alarm.

"Oh, it's true," Patches replied, rubbing her paw on her face to wipe away the majority of the offending liquid. "I knew George for eight seasons before the humans made the mistake of bringing you home."

Eight? I don't know how many eight is. I didn't know what else to do, I was in shock so I did the best thing I could think of, I growled at her.

"We were almost as close as litter mates."

I think my jaw dropped.

"I can't be expected to remember that far back. Has to be ten winter seasons ago and I was very young. I can't say for sure which one of us was here first, but I remember the heat of him as we slept curled together."

_Ten!_ Dammit, another number I did not know, but it sounded like it must be more than seven. "He told me how he hated cats, Cat!" I said triumphantly.

"That may be the case," she answered back coolly. "But did he ever mention me specifically?"

"Well... well, not specifically, but it was implied!" I told her, believing I had for certain won this skirmish. "I watched him chase you," I added, believing this to be the knock out paw to the side of the head.

"It was merely for the amusement of the two-leggers."

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"The humans thought it funny, plus they would give him a cookie if he stopped. Part of which he always shared with me."

"The secret stash? He shared his secret stash with you? He wouldn't even let me _sniff_ anywhere near it."

"Well, that should tell you something," Patches said arrogantly.

I growled deeply.

"Are they getting closer, Riley?" Jessie asked. "Get in the car." She leaned over and opened the passenger door.

"Cat, if you don't get in this machine I will have to eat you now and since I still have the taste of the dead ones in my mouth I would not be able to enjoy it as much. So get in the car," I rumbled menacingly.

Patches looked toward my drool-dripping maw, to the garage door where something banged up against it, and to the open door where Jessie was encouraging her to enter with hand motions and gently cooing. She took the less threatening alternative and jumped onto the seat and then into Jessie's lap.

"Shut the door, shut the door," Patches meowed to Jessie.

"Be quiet, Patches," Jessie murmured.

"You're about as trustworthy as a French poodle," I growled to the cat as I raced around the Hummer and hopped up onto the seat next to Jessie's.

"Take it back," Patches hissed, showing her claws.

"I'd rather mate with a snake," I told her, which was pretty low as far as dog swears went.

"You will regret this," she told me, her green eyes narrowing with animosity.

"Already do," I said as Jessie stretched her arm across me to shut my door.

"I will urinate where—"

"Shut up!" I snapped. I paused for a second. Everything was quiet. "Did you hear that?" I asked her.

"How could I? I don't have those big Dumbo ears."

I didn't know what 'Dumbo' meant but it came from the cat so it couldn't be good. "There it is again."

Patches tilted her head.

"Oh, no!' we said in unison.

"It's Ben-Ben," I finished.

"This night couldn't get any worse," Patches sighed.

_It could get worse for you,_ I thought. Ben-Ben had climbed my respect ladder tonight but he was still a pain in my rear quarters.

"Rileeeeyy," came Ben-Ben's yipping. "Where are you, Rileeeeeyyy?"

"Dog couldn't find his own scat if he stepped in it," Patches offered.

"That's pretty funny, Cat," I told Patches. She dipped her head in acknowledgement. "But he stood his ground with me when all, including yourself, took flight."

Patches looked at me defiantly. "Who do you think showed the two-leggers the window to get out?"

"You? The humans could not think of it on their own?" I begged to differ.

"You were not in there, Riley. The panic pheromones flooding off them were horrible. They were hiding in the water collector; I jumped up onto the ledge and beat my paw against the glass. It was then your Alpha and my Care-Giver thought to open it and look around to see if the dead ones were out there. I jumped down first to make sure the coast was clear and meowed back up to him that everything was okay. He lowered Jessie down first, then dropped Zachary into her arms. The fat one that always pulled my tail did not fit."

"You did all that?" I asked. _How could I have been so wrong about Ben-Ben and now Patches?_ I wondered. "I still do not know if I will ever like you, Cat, but I thank you for saving these two cubs."

"And I thank you for giving me the time to do it," she replied.

"This is going to take some time to get used to," I told her.

"Agreed," she said. "But can't we leave Ben-Ben behind while we figure it all out?"

"Damn, Ben-Ben. I had almost forgotten about him."

"Reason twenty-two why cats are better than dogs."

"I hate numbers, Cat."

"I know," she purred smugly.

I barked once at Jessie who had turned to check on Zachary. "Shhh, girl, what's the matter?" she asked softly.

Certainly she could hear Ben-Ben now even with those useless little round things the two-leggers called ears. How do they have every other species on the planet afraid of them? They are slow, they cannot smell or hear well. Their teeth are small and not very intimidating, and they don't see particularly well in the dark. As dogs we were smart enough to realize why we should ally ourselves with them but we could not figure out their secret of domination.

Jessie took in a great gulp of air. "Is that Ben-Ben? If Ben-Ben survived, did the rest of my family?" she asked me. "Oh, Riley," she cried and grabbed both sides of my head, weeping.

Nobody else from her pack survived, I had seen the damage done. Jessie leaned away from me to open her door. I jumped over her as her door came completely open. I landed awkwardly on the ground but hurt nothing. I turned to Jessie and barked once, telling her to _stay_. She looked at me with a funny expression and then shut her door. Maybe there was hope for her yet.

"Hey, Brainiac," the cat yelled. "How you going to get out of the garage?"

I did not know 'brainiac' or 'garage', but I pieced together the getting out part and considering the speaker, figured it was some sort of insult.

"I'm not as dumb as you look, Cat," I told her.

"We'll see," she said aloofly, looking out the window.

I gripped the metal door handle tightly with my jaws, which were still sore from earlier, and twisted. At first my teeth just slid uncomfortably along the cold fixture. I could hear the cat chuckling but I tried to ignore it. I twisted the other way, my teeth were still slipping but this time the handle was turning. I bit down harder, my jaw muscles ached. The door was loose! I backed up and the door swung inwards. "Hah!" I barked in triumph a little too loudly.

"Who else you going to let know?" Patches asked with a sneer.

I ignored her as I listened for Ben-Ben's telltale yipping. He was on the far side of the house away from the 'garage'. I could smell the dead ones and they were close, even the cat's piss could do little to disguise it.

"Rileeeey, they're chasing me!" Ben-Ben yipped fearfully.

He was running the other way, away from Jessie, Zach, the other, and me. I ran to the corner of the house to see which way he was going. Ben-Ben was looking over his shoulder as maybe twenty-two dead ones were chasing him. I couldn't exactly tell because twenty-two is a very large number. _If the cat knows the number then so do I_ , I thought.

"Ben-Ben!" I barked as loud as I could. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Stupid dog! Keep running or they will eat you. Run around the two-legger's house next to us as fast as you can and then come to the wheeler house," I barked, my throat raw from the effort.

"Rileeeyyy!" Ben-Ben squealed in happiness as he abruptly turned and started running directly toward me, his tongue lolling, eyes wide with fear, gore and gristle probably from twenty of the two-leggers dripping from him.

"Oh, Cat crap," I moaned. The zombies were trying to get a hold of Ben-Ben as he dodged in and out of outstretched hands, but what was worse were the ones he got past were now starting to follow.

"Ben-Ben, I'm going back to the wheeler house, when you get there jump in to the wheeler!" I turned to start to run.

"Can't, Riley," he panted. I felt bad; the little guy was starting to tucker out. "Too high," he got out hastily.

"Just get there and be quick."

"I love you, Rileeeey," he yipped excitedly.

"Fine, just keep running." But I smiled all the same.

Jessie was out of the car; at least that's what I think the cat called it.

"Oh, Riley, you're back," Jessie said happily. "I was so worried. We need to go, girl."

Figured that part out on my own, I wanted to tell her. She reached over and pressed a button, a large sound overhead caused the big 'car' door to open. "Come on, girl," Jessie said as she ran over to the car and patted the seat for me to get in. She got upset when I didn't immediately follow her command. "Please, Riley, we need to go." I could tell she was close to tears. Just then I watched as her head swiveled up to the sound of Ben-Ben's yammering. "Ben-Ben?" she fairly cried. "He looks like a zombie."

I turned to see the approaching Yorkie. I could see her point. He had more life fluid on the outside of him than he probably contained on the inside.

"They're close, Rileeey," Ben-Ben needlessly told me.

He darted past me and up to the first step of the car, where Jessie was looking down at him in disbelief. Humans are so funny with their fear of what they consider gross stuff, but yet they defecate in the same place they live, so who's gross now? I ran over to the car, grabbed Ben-Ben by the scruff of his fur and launched him inside. He did a quick shake all over the seat Alpha used. _Someone was going to get dirty_ , I thought as I hopped in. "Backseat, mutt," I barked at him. He didn't so much as register a complaint he was so happy to be 'safe'. I had to admit I was happy to see him too.

"Disgusting!" Jessie said looking at her seat. She was hesitant to get in until I started barking past her and at the figures in the doorway. Gross seat was WAY better than Dead Ones. Apparently, Jessie thought the same thing as she hastily hopped in and shut her door.

The first of the Dead Ones hit the side of the car before Jessie got the jangler turned. Her shriek was so loud it hurt my ears. Ben-Ben was yipping at the window like he wanted to exact some revenge, and who knows, maybe he did.

Patches looked indifferent but her fur was bristling. I could tell she was ready to leave. "Make the girl do something, Riley," Patches said with annoyance. "She looks like those metal things humans are always making of each other."

"Statues," Ben-Ben said, turning to look at her. "They build them to honor their great pack leaders."

I was feeling confused and a little worried; I always marked those when we went to the park. But I should've been alright, the air rats are always scatting on them and they never get in trouble. Maybe that's why the two-leggers put them up. I don't know, I've seen them do way weirder things.

"Riley!" Patches shouted.

"Sorry, Cat. _Move!_ " I barked at Jessie.

She looked over at me like she couldn't believe I had just done that, but it seemed to have the right effect. The wheeler turned on and we started moving; she hit two of the Dead Ones as she left the garage. I could smell a welling of saliva frothing in Jessie's mouth and she looked very pale. If she threw up maybe Ben-Ben would be able to eat now. I smiled. I was just happy to be moving away from them. I would miss the Alphas and maybe the Daniel cub a bit, definitely my warm bed, and my toys. I had Jessie, Zachary, to a lesser degree, Ben-Ben, and I would have to suffer through Patches.

When we got out onto the large hard-packed pathway, there were cars everywhere without people in them. There were also many things on fire. Jessie was moving very slowly as she looked at all the things now wrong in our world.

"Riley, where will we go?" Jessie asked as she turned to me.

I told her to go to the park, why would Dead Ones want to go there? But she didn't respond. Her mood changed from despondent to hopeful as she pulled out her talking box from her pocket. She slowed even more as she pressed on it with her fingers. Any slower and the Dead Ones would start to pass us by. I was looking out the windows and noticed nervously we were starting to become the center of attention. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about being the center of attention but only when it is going to benefit me, like if I get my belly rubbed or get a piece of cheese or maybe even a hotdog, then it's all good. But the Dead Ones were looking at us like we were the cheese and the hot dogs. I wanted to leave. I whined loudly, Jessie looked up and realizing they were getting closer, made the car go faster.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Jessie said into her talking box. "Where are you, Justin?"

"Did she say Justin?" Patches asked me.

"Yeah wasn't that the boy cub who always came over before the Great Move?" I replied questioningly.

"His pheromones dripped off him every time he was around Jessie," Patches laughed. "Hers did too."

"He always gave me snacks and rubbed my head," I told Patches. "I think it was so I would go away, though, and he could put his face to hers—another strange two-legger custom."

"At least they don't sniff each other's butts," Patches said in challenge.

"I love sniffing butts," Ben-Ben said dreamily.

"I bet you do, Dog," Patches said with disdain.

I left it at that. I had a feeling the cat was pretty smart and if I couldn't chase her or eat her, I didn't want to get in an argument with her I might not win.

"Just a busy signal, dammit!" Jessie yelled angrily. "How far is California to Colorado?"

I started to think back to the Great Move. It took two cycles of the burning disc to get to our new home. I remember the smell the most; the salt in the air stung my nose at first. Must have sneezed every day for the first two new moons. But how 'far' I don't think even the haughty Patches knew the answer.

"Well then, that's it, we'll go to Colorado, there's nothing left for me here," Jessie said with a sob. "How hard can it be? I just need to drive east."

I didn't know what 'east' meant but I was all for finding the Justin boy. He cared for Jessie and me and I for one would welcome more into the pack. So started our journey to find a place free from the Dead Ones.

CHAPTER THREE

I was exhausted; Jessie had been driving for a long enough time I felt I had missed my early morning meal. Her head kept bobbing up and down like she wanted to sleep, but when her head went down the car started to go off the hard-packed path. More than once I had to bark to get her attention, she would look over to me with red blazed teary eyes and then swerve the car to stay on the path when she realized why I was barking in the first place.

"I need some sleep, girl," Jessie said to me. "And I'm hungry."

I barked in agreement to both things she said.

The bright disc was just becoming visible; I was looking at a sea of what looked like kitty litter, as if on cue the cat spoke up.

"Can you make the human stop, Riley? I have to relieve myself," Patches said.

I looked around. There was only one other wheeler and it was just barely within my field of vision. I barked again at Jessie, her head had not even been drooping but it was close.

"What, girl?" she asked.

I pawed the door.

"You need out?" She yawned.

"Well, the cat does, but now that you mention it, I could do with a little stop, myself," I told her. "And maybe a meat treat." But I didn't smell any on her.

The car came to a lurching halt as Jessie stepped on the stopping pedal a little too hard; there was a loud thump as Ben-Ben rolled off the seat and onto the floor, followed immediately by a 'yip' of surprise.

"Please, don't send me back! I'll be good!" he barked loudly before he completely woke up.

"You alright?" I asked him, looking around the seat to where he was splayed upside down on the floor.

"Sorry," he replied with his tail tucked between his legs.

"Nobody is ever going to send you away, Ben-Ben, not after what you did last night," I told him.

He struggled to gain his footing and get back on the seat. "Thank you, Riley," he responded with his head hanging low. His tail had come somewhat out from under him but not completely.

It was tough to tell with him if the abuse from the two-leggers at his first home had been caused from his behavior, or his behavior had been a result of the two-leggers' abuse. He had more than proven his worth to me last night and I would forgive him many things I had previously found bothersome.

I was still looking at him when the car stopped completely. Jessie had gotten out and was stretching, Patches was out immediately after her and heading for some small bushes on the side of the road.

"Don't go far!" I barked.

"Do you mind if I relieve myself in private? I'm not a dog. I have dignity. Always scatting and peeing in front of the humans as if you're proud of it," Patches mewled.

"Why wouldn't we be, Riley?" Ben-Ben asked me.

"Don't listen to her, she's just a cat."

"I can still hear you," Patches grunted from the side of the pathway.

"Let's go out, Ben-Ben, I think we're going to rest here," I told him. I took a quick sniff of Zachary. He was still asleep but I didn't think he would be for long, he smelled like he was sitting in his own offal and he didn't usually care at first but eventually he would get angry about it.

I put my paws far out in front of me and arched to stretch my back, I was thirsty and hungry and needed to relieve myself. I would have done so right on the pathway, but the damned cat now had me thinking about it. One more strike against her.

"Ben-Ben, keep an eye out for the sick ones, I have to do something," I told him.

He looked longingly at me, hoping I wouldn't be gone long, I would imagine, but he didn't say anything.

Patches was just coming out of the brush as I was about to enter.

"Where you going?" she asked.

"Nothing! Looking for something!" I barked hastily.

She laughed her cat laugh at me. "Looks like there might be hope for you, after all," she said as she walked away leaving me to my business.

"We need food and water," Jessie was saying aloud, not really directed to me but more to all of us.

I finished what I needed to do and came back to the wheeler and looked in.

Zachary began to leak water from his face, I knew this for the precursor that it was, he was about to bellow loudly; for someone so small the sound belied his stature.

"Oh, Zak, you must be starving," Jessie said with concern as she took the human cub out of the car. "Oooh, and you need a diaper change." Jessie's face wrinkled up from the smell.

Zachary was beginning to hitch with his breathing as his cries became even more voluminous.

"Mom always kept emergency stuff in the back," Jess said as she found something next to her seat that made the back of the car open.

I smelled food; I went to the back of the car.

"Yes, diapers," Jessie said happily as she pulled a big bright bag out of the car. She spent the next few moments changing the cub's clothing and then began to rummage through the big pack. She was pulling out all sorts of delicious looking treats by this time; Ben-Ben and the cat were bearing witness.

"Water, formula, breakfast bars, pretzels, and whatever this is," Jessie said, holding up a small tinfoil pack of the treats I knew Daniel loved. He called them Pop-Farts or something like that. It was a funny name, but I'd tasted more than a few during my life and they were delicious.

Jessie put what she called 'formula' into a container for the baby cub and gave it to Zak; she put him back in the car where he drank greedily. Jessie ripped open one of the bags she called breakfast bars and was devouring it almost as greedily as her pack mate. She looked up from her food to see us all staring back. She broke the remainder into three equal parts and handed the first one to Ben-Ben.

"Gentle!" she shouted when he accidentally nipped her fingers.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He swallowed his before Patches had even finished sniffing her portion.

"Take it," Jessie urged the cat.

"There's no meat in this," Patches said indignantly as she kept sniffing the food. "Or fish." She swished her tail. "I will not eat this," she said turning her tail on the proffered food.

I was not happy that the piece Patches had sniffed all over and refused was the piece Jessie now offered me, but my belly would suffer the slight. I gently took the piece and chewed as slowly as I could, it would do little to stop the pang in my belly but it tasted so good.

Ben-Ben was already back sniffing at the last piece remaining. "Mine, mine, mine!" he kept yipping excitedly.

Jessie popped it into her own mouth. Something deeply instinctual was beginning to reawaken in my head that had long been asleep. The two-legger was no longer going to be able to keep my belly full; if I wanted food I was going to have to get it myself. But this wasn't going to be as easy as prying open a door in the human's food room. The animals that had sometimes entered our outside area—like squirrels and rabbits—that I had chased for the fun of it would now be things I would chase to eat. I caught them or I would starve.

I was going to need help and right now I was looking at a small dog that was running in circles for a long eaten human hand-out, and to a cat. She at least had some skill; I'd seen her on more than one occasion drop a bird or a mouse on the front stairs of the house of the humans.

"Cat," I said. She completely ignored me as their species tends to do. "Cat!" I said a little louder.

She glared up at me. "It's Patches, you mongrel, and if you can't bother to say it right then I shan't bother to listen."

"Fine, Ca—Patches."

"That's better. Was that so hard?" she asked me.

"Strangely, it was," I told her.

"What do you want?"

"I want food." I answered. The cat began to eye me suspiciously. "Not you, I imagine you'd be stringy without much flavor."

She hissed at me. "What do you want from me, then?"

"We need to hunt."

"We?" she asked. "I don't need any help."

"We need to get food for the baby cub and your Jessie."

Patches kept looking at me and then the corners of her mouth pulled up slightly. "And?" she asked, waiting patiently for my answer.

"And what?" I asked, defending myself.

"Say it dog or I will not help you."

"You will not provide food for the two-leggers? After all they have done for you?"

"What they have done for me?" she yelled loudly. "I have given them my attention in exchange for their food and shelter—was that not a fair trade?" she asked and she meant it. "I do not 'owe' them anything."

"You cannot be serious!" I said heatedly. Had I been too hasty in giving the cat any sort of fondness or credit? "We are a pack, we help each other. We do things together so we can survive together."

"You have it wrong, Dog. Pack mentality is something you and the humans share, Cats do not work like that. I will take their food because it suits me, but I am quite capable of surviving on my own."

"Until now I never knew the depths of your selfishness. Had I known I would have snapped your neck when I had a chance."

Patches bristled. "You have never had a chance." She hissed, arching her back for size and to be able to launch an offensive strike if it came to that.

Ben-Ben picked this inopportune time to come around the car to see what was happening.

"Whoa, Riley why does she look like she's going to stick her claws into you? Those things hurt," Ben-Ben said, bowing his head and rubbing his snout with his paw where Patches had ripped open Ben-Ben's muzzle a year ago when the incessant little Yorkie wouldn't leave her alone.

"Stay out of this," Patches said, "or I'll do it again."

"Ben-Ben, can you hunt?" I asked, never taking my gaze from Patches.

"You mean catch stuff and eat it, Riley?" Ben-Ben asked.

"Yes, Ben-Ben, Catch stuff and eat it."

"Why would I want to do that?" Ben-Ben asked.

"Fine, Cat!" I spat out. "I need help in catching food for the two-leggers and me and Ben-Ben."

"I knew you would eventually come around and realize my superiority. Why didn't you just save us all this trouble and just say so?" she asked, standing back up normally.

"What just happened?" Ben-Ben asked confusedly.

"Progress," Patches answered, but I sure didn't see it that way. If anything, dog advancement had just taken a huge hit. I had just admitted to a cat I needed its help, I was glad none of my forefathers were there to witness it. I growled my discontent.

Jessie was feeding the baby and she appeared to be almost asleep as Patches, Ben-Ben, and I figured out how we were going to get some food. The more we talked about it the less Ben-Ben seemed interested.

"Why don't we just find stuff the two-leggers open up and give us?" he said. "Especially the wet meat when they use the loud whirring thing," Ben-Ben finished, his tail wagging involuntarily as he thought about it.

"It's a can opener," Patched told him.

"What's a can opener?" Ben-Ben asked, his reverie snapped.

"The wet meat comes in a can and the humans use a can-opener to get at it." Patches elaborated.

"Yeah, yeah, wet meat—why don't we just go out there and find some of those?" Ben-Ben asked, looking off into the large sand area.

"Meat cans don't come from the desert," Patches said.

I was glad she clarified that because I wasn't exactly sure and I didn't want to say anything in front of her to make me look not smart.

"Are you sure?" Ben-Ben asked. "Because that would be great, just round up a bunch of those things and we could eat all day!" Ben-Ben said excitedly.

"Has he always been this stupid?" Patches asked me.

"Pretty much," I answered; Ben-Ben was paying no attention to either of us as his muzzle was leaking drool.

***

Within a few minutes, Patches and I came up with a plan of attack, Ben-Ben was relegated to guard dog; I hope he snapped out of his wet meat dream soon enough to do a good job.

"Ben-Ben!" I barked. "You need to keep an eye out for anything coming and then give a warning yell."

"I heard you," Ben-Ben whimpered. "No need to yell."

Patches and I headed into the small brush.

"Could you try to make a little less noise, you're not much better than a human." Patches hissed at me.

She was probably right, but coming out of her mouth somehow made it worse. I watched my footing as best I could, but until we got out from under the bushes it was going to be difficult. She was small enough that she could stay under the branches. I didn't have that luxury as the sticks poked and prodded me relentlessly. When we finally emerged on the other side I was greatly relieved, but I did not like the barrier between the human cubs and me. If they needed my help it would take me longer than I wished to get back to them.

"I smell rabbits and something else," Patches said, pausing to try to locate the smell. "I think it is a lizard."

"The green slimy thing?" I stuck my tongue out, wiping away the imaginary taste of what I thought the thing tasted like. Daniel had got one a season ago, I remember looking at it, wondering why he would want the thing and when he had stopped feeding the thing it had died. I was not saddened at the loss. It was never part of the pack.

"They taste like chicken," Patches said.

"I like chicken," I told her, almost getting that faraway look in my eyes like Ben-Ben. "Are there chickens out here?" I asked, hoping.

"You've been hanging around Ben-Ben too much," she replied.

I'd known the cat long enough to realize this wasn't a compliment, but I hadn't figured out quite yet how big of an insult it was. "No on the chickens then?"

"No chickens," Patches said, shaking her head in a very human, disapproving way.

Patches showed me how to lay low and wait for animals to come our way, but the fire disc was hot and the ground was getting even hotter. I wasn't getting any fuller waiting for stuff to come our way and besides it just _felt_ wrong. I was supposed to be _chasing_ things not slinking around waiting for something to come our way. I was panting hard, I was getting hot, and in some real need of water.

"You sound like a train, could you maybe shut up a bit?" Patches asked contemptuously.

I didn't know what a train was but they must be loud. "I've had enough of this. I'm finding food," I said stood up.

"Wait! It was almost here," she said resignedly to my retreating hind quarters. When I had stood I startled a rather large lizard within a couple of strides. It looked about half as big as Ben-Ben.

"You're fast," I said to the lizard bounding away toward the roadway.

"Stupid, stupid dog," Patches said behind me, she had joined in the pursuit. "A hundred more heartbeats and it would have came to us."

"This is funner," I barked, I was staying even with the lizard, no matter how fast I tried to run I couldn't catch it and it was heading for the bushes where its size would be of huge benefit for it. "You're going to have to get it when it gets to the bushes," I said to Patches.

"It's the same size as me, I can't kill that thing," Patches said as she caught up.

No wonder I'd never caught her, the cat was fast!

"Ben-Ben!" I howled. "Food is coming!"

"Wet meat?" he barked back.

"Sure!" I replied. The lizard ran straight under the bushes, Patches was no more than half a dog stride away. I had to slow down and get lower to get through.

"It's out the other side!" Patches said excitedly.

"Wet meat!" Ben-Ben said happily, then he must have caught sight of the lizard. "Oh, broken garage bags what is that?" he shrieked.

"Catch it, Ben-Ben!" I yelled.

"Are you sure, Riley?" he whined.

"He has wet meat!" I said trying a different tactic.

Howls and shrieks of pain and rage assailed my ears. I struggled to get through as quickly as possible. When I finally got through to the other side, Patches was sitting on the edge of the hard pathway, her head shaking back and forth. She may have been smiling but it's tough to tell with her kind, it could just as soon have been a sneer.

"What's going on? Did it get away?" I asked her.

"Look for yourself."

I looked. Ben-Ben had the huge lizard protruding from his mouth. "Rastes rike ricken," he mumbled past the obstruction.

"What's all this noise?" Jessie asked rounding the corner to see Ben-Ben with the lizard in his mouth, she jumped back a step. "Ooh, gross, Ben-Ben what do you have in your mouth?"

Ben-Ben placed the lizard down and began yipping. "Chicken, I definitely have chicken," he said repeatedly.

I went over and nudged the dead lizard toward Jessie's foot.

"What are you doing, Riley? That thing is gross, just get away from it."

I kept rolling it her way and barking.

"This a gift? You want me to eat it? Riley, I don't think I can," she said, still backing farther away every time I nudged it closer.

"She's not going to eat it and I'm starved," Patches said, coming up alongside me. She was just about to sink her fangs in when I yelled at her. "Don't you dare!" This is for her." I growled.

"Do we get to have any of the chicken?" Ben-Ben asked, looking down at the lizard.

"This is a victorious kill," Patches said. "I will not see it wasted," she said biting into its midsection, blood and intestines streamed out. Jessie retched, turned away, and quickly walked out of sight.

My tongue was dry from the effort and somehow the green slimy thing did smell like chicken and it seemed like a waste not to eat. "Dig in, Ben-Ben," I said as I ripped a leg off. The meat was meager but it was somehow more gratifying that I had helped to kill our food. It felt good and deep down it seemed like the way it was supposed to be.

Five minutes later, what was left wouldn't have sated the infant. Patches was busy cleaning her paws and her mouth, Ben-Ben was still looking at the carcass probably hoping it would fill back in.

"I really like chicken," he said. "When are we going to get another one?"

Jessie slept as the burning disc got higher and then finally started to come back down. Patches and Ben-Ben got under the two-wheeler and were resting; I thought maybe a little too closely but the hunt may have done us some good and brought us all a little closer. I walked slowly up and down next to the pathway, trying my best to stay off it. The heat burned through the pads on my feet. On occasion I would rest under a bush getting away from the worst of the bright beams and when I felt better I would do my patrol again.

It was perhaps after my tenth, maybe seventh time I had done this when I caught whiff of something that did not smell quite right. It was still far away and I could not catch sight, but whatever it was, it was raising the hairs on my back. I barked once in warning.

"I'm sleeping over here," Patches said, opening one eye to respond, her head resting comfortably on her leg.

"Something is coming," I told her.

"More chicken?" Ben-Ben asked excitedly, bonking his head on the bottom of the wheeler as he got up too fast.

"Not chicken," Patches said, coming out from under the car, careful to keep off the part of the pathway that was still bright.

"You can smell that?" I asked her.

"My nose might not be as good as yours, but I think even the humans should be able to smell what is coming soon," Patches said.

I quickly crossed the path, it was not quite as hot as it had been, but I didn't want to stay on it any longer than I had to. Jessie was lying on her seat asleep, one of her legs was hanging out the door and she was wet with salty water all over her body and I began to lick it.

"Riley, leave me alone," she said with her eyes still closed. "I'm so hot and tired." She brought her hand up to wipe the liquid off her forehead. I greedily looked at the pooled fluid in her hand as she wiped it on her fake skins.

I almost forgot why I had come up to her when I caught an even stronger scent of the zombie coming our way. I barked.

"Riley! Shut up, the baby is sleeping!" Jessie yelled louder than I barked.

I was saddened to think I had upset Jessie, but right now it didn't matter, she wasn't getting the point and I needed to get more aggressive with her. I started outright barking. "Warning!" I was yelling to her. She sat up slowly, her eyes barely open. She looked a lighter color than usual, like maybe she was getting sick. She didn't smell sick but that could happen later.

"Riley, what girl? What's the matter? I don't feel so good." She clutched her belly.

Patches came up beside me. "The girl needs water."

"How do you know? She's covered in water," I told Patches.

"She's overheating. I can feel it from here."

"Why doesn't she just lick the water off her body?" I asked.

"First because it's salt water and second the dead ones are coming," Patches said. There was a slight hint of anxiety in her response, but she wasn't fully alarmed yet. "You need to get her moving or we need to leave."

"You would leave her?" I asked.

"To save myself, I would," Patches answered, not disgusted with herself in the least.

"Something's coming, Riley, and it doesn't smell like chicken," Ben-Ben said and sneezed, trying to get the smell out of his nose.

I barked more warnings at Jessie; I could not understand how she couldn't smell it yet. "How many are there, Cat?" I asked.

"More than you can count," she answered back.

I couldn't tell if she was being condescending or helpful—this was getting old really fast.

Zach cracked an eye open.

"Great, Riley, you woke the little twerp up. I've been trying to get him to sleep all day." Jessie said looking back.

I moved back from the opening as Jessie swung her legs out of the wheeler. She stood, shielding her eyes from the flaming disc. "What is that smell?"

"About time," I responded.

"Ohmigod, zombies!" Jessie screamed. Patches hopped up into the car. I might not like the cat but if I wanted to live, following her might be the best thing I could do.

"Riley, we fighting or running?" Ben-Ben asked, looking from where the cat was perched in the backseat to the bunches of zombies as far as the farthest stick throw Alpha had ever made.

I barked again to get Jessie moving, she seemed to have been frozen and was now sending out panic chemicals.

"What do I do? What do I do?" Jessie screamed, hopping back and forth from foot to foot, her hands out in front of her swinging wildly from side to side.

"Riley, get the girl moving," Patches said forcibly.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked. Now I was panicking.

Ben-Ben solved the problem for me as he nipped Jess on the calf. I felt bad when her kick made him yelp and sent him sprawling some distance away. "What the fuck, Ben-Ben!" she yelled.

Whatever trance she had been in was broken by the pain of the bite Ben-Ben had inflicted. "Come on, Riley, let's go!" she yelled to me, patting her seat like I needed any incentive to get up there. I hopped up quickly and got into alpha female's usual seat.

Ben-Ben was still away from the car, his body low to the ground and tail tucked under in an apologetic gesture.

"Come on, Ben-Ben, let's go," Jess said with more than a hint of anger in her voice. "You shouldn't have bit me, but I'm not leaving you here."

Jessie didn't realize Ben-Ben's bite had probably saved us all.

"Come on!" I yelled to him, "we need to go!"

"She's mad at me, Riley!" he whined.

"Someone's always mad at you, get in this car!" I yelled back.

Ben-Ben hopped in and was smiling wide, his tongue lolling to the side as he crossed Jessie's seat and sat next to me.

"Nice view," he said to me as Jessie got in the car and closed her door. Within a few breaths we were again moving, the dead ones were following but they were far behind now.

I looked over to Ben-Ben. "I don't think so," I told him.

His expression dropped as he clambered into the backseat.

"Get off of me, you oaf!" Patches complained.

"Sorry," Ben-Ben said.

In a little bit Ben-Ben finally got situated. I turned to look at him. "Good work, Ben-Ben," I told him before I turned to look back out the front; I could see the pride in his eyes as he sat up just a little bit taller.

"Did you hear that?" Ben-Ben asked Patches. "Riley said I did a good job!"

"I'm sitting right next to you—how could I have missed it?" Patches said disdainfully.

I don't think he even heard her reply his tail was wagging so fast it was thumping against the back of the seat.

Jessie turned to see what the noise was. When she saw Ben-Ben's tail wagging she spoke. "I don't know what you're so happy about? You're a bad dog, you bit me!"

I barked loudly at the side of Jessie's face, I could not understand how she could see Ben-Ben's actions as anything less than the heroic deed they were. Jessie turned quickly to stare at me. "What, Riley?" she asked me with a confused look on her face, one of her eyebrows arched in a questioning manner. I just kept staring at her.

"He bit me, Riley."

I barked, "Yup."

"The zombies were coming and he bit me," she added.

I barked, "Yup," again.

"And then we got in the car to get away from them." The questioning look on her face began to diminish and then disappeared altogether. Water leaked from her eyes as a cry escaped from her mouth, the car came to a slow stop. She turned around and grabbed Ben-Ben, hugging him fiercely. "You saved us!" she said, her mouth buried in his fur.

His tail, which I didn't think could go any faster, was now slamming against the seat, Patches was having a difficult time getting away from it.

"I'm so sorry—can you ever forgive me?" she asked as she pulled away to look into his eyes.

Ben-Ben licked from her chin, up to the top of her nose.

"Oh, gross, Ben-Ben," she said pulling back. "Who knows where your tongue has been!" She was smiling. "Thank you," she said, hugging him tight once more before turning to get the wheeler back in motion.

"I did good, Cat!" Ben-Ben said proudly.

"You did good, Ben-Ben," Patches said begrudgingly.

"I did, didn't I?" He yipped excitedly.

The high-pitched noise was enough to fully awaken Zach; his full-throated cry dominated the inside of the wheeler.

"Oh, Ben-Ben," Jessie said, having to again pull the car over.

CHAPTER FOUR

The events of the day had me more tired than I could ever remember. I tried to stay awake for Jessie, but I was so tired, the heat from the great sand pit had me exhausted. I fell asleep almost immediately. For a while in my sleep images, I was very happy. I was again asleep on Alpha Female's large couch. I had never been more comfortable! Baby Zachary was bringing me some of his cereal, which never happened. He didn't move around too much on his own but I would always stay near to his feeding grounds because the dry round O's he used to eat would always end up in my domain—the floor.

But in my sleep images he was walking and tossing the O's all around and most were luckily ending up in my mouth! Then it got bad—zombies had broken through the backdoor _on my watch!_ One of them had Ben-Ben in its mouth and he was screaming to me for help. I was going into the kitchen when I saw more of them coming in through the backdoor, the zombie holding Ben-Ben ripped the small dog in half with its teeth but still Ben-Ben cried to me for help—'Rileeeeey!'. I started to run away as life fluid poured from my small pack mate, no matter how hard or fast I tried to move I couldn't get away from the flowing blood or the zombies. I started to get stuck in the murky liquid. I was crying out for one of the alphas, anybody to help me, one of the zombies grabbed my side; I waited for the searing pain of teeth ripping through my flesh.

"It's okay, girl. It's okay—good girl," Jess was saying to me as I awoke with a jolt. "You just had a bad dream, girl, it's alright," Jess said soothingly as she rubbed my side. "You were yelping in your sleep and your paws were going a mile a minute." She laughed a little bit, but it was a nervous laugh. I did not believe she felt any merriment, I could not smell anything to indicate she was happy. Nervousness smells a bit like rusty iron and she was flooded in the flakes of it.

"I need to stop, Riley, I'm so tired. Do you have any ideas?" she asked me.

I didn't know how long I had slept; the burning disc was gone, replaced by the cool pale version, the moon is what my ancestors called it. The heat of the day was gone and I was now getting cold, hunger was still gnawing through my stomach like an un-chewed squirrel. I looked out the window, the sand was being replaced by more and more brush but it still looked very empty of everything two-legger built.

"She needs to find a house, Riley," Patches said, standing on the center console, looking out at the same scene I was.

I looked in the back of the wheeler. I didn't know if it was the light from the wolf howler (moon) or baby Zachary was sick but he looked pale and his breathing didn't seem right. In contrast, Ben-Ben who was asleep was still wearing that happy grin he had when Jessie had praised him. I felt good for him that he was happy, that dog had not done much right since he'd been reared and more praise and less scorn was always a good thing.

"Our house?" I asked Patches.

"Another's," she answered.

"Are you sure, Patches? Two-leggers are not always very accepting of each other. They reek of distrust when they come across others they do not know."

"The girl needs help. Food and sleep for herself and the baby is sick."

"Do you see anything?" I asked Patches, somewhat ashamed I again had to defer to her better abilities. I would swear the cat could see with absolutely no light. There had been times at home when I knew she was padding around me as she thought I slept on the couch. I could smell her clearly, I could not see her, though, and that always angered me. She would come down when the skies were covered or the pale disc was not present. I would growl, she would laugh. I miss those times.

"Hi, Patches," Jessie said wearily as she stroked the cat's back. Patches purred in content and rubbed her head up against Jessie's shoulder.

"There is something coming on your side," Patches said. How she saw it I didn't know, her eyes were closed and her head was facing in the wrong direction.

The wheeler kept moving for a while longer before I began to make something out. It was a two-legger home but not nearly as big or nice as the one we had left. Large old rusted wheelers were in the front along with all manner of two-legger stuff, most of which I'm sure Alpha female would have called trash.

I barked as we got closer, pulling Jessie's attention away from the cat.

"A house," she said wearily, with a small measure of hope. At least that was what I got from the scent of her but then it flooded with mistrust, fear, and apprehension. "Sure is a pigsty. Trash all over the place, but it looks lived in. Should we try it?" she asked.

It was tough to not be swayed by her feelings, what seemed like a good idea a moment before now seemed dangerous.

"Cat?" I asked.

"Plenty of places to hide," Patches told me as she looked at the garbage strewn across the yard.

"This isn't all about you, Cat."

She looked at me as if to say, 'When did that happen?'.

"I'm starving, Riley."

I looked sternly at her.

"And the baby needs help," she added hastily when she realized I didn't like her first response, or her second for that matter. The baby did need help and I had to admit I was hungry too.

Jessie was pulling the car off the hard pathway and onto a smaller dirt path. She sat for long seconds just staring at the house. She took a deep breath, shut the car off and got out. I watched as she looked into the rear of the car at Zach. She seemed to be hesitating on whether to leave him there or take him with her. She thought it through and decided to let sleeping babies lay, I jumped out before she had a chance to shut the door.

"Riley, stay in the car. I just want to see if there is anyone here and if we need to leave in a hurry I don't want to have to wait for you."

I moved farther away from the door. She got the point.

"Fine, but you stay close," she told me as she quietly shut the door to the wheeler. "I don't like this place, Riley."

I didn't either; it smelled like rot and human excrement. I saw something walk by the windows, just a darker shadow against the dark inside. Jessie did not see it, my hackles were raised and I pulled my lip up in a threatening manner.

"You see something, Riley?" Jessie asked. "Was it a zombie?"

"Worse," came a voice from the now open door in the front of the house.

Jess turned to run.

"Don't even think about it," The male voice said menacingly. "I'll shoot you where you stand. Wouldn't be the first, won't be the last—that's the benefit of being the first house after the desert or the last one before going in." He laughed.

"Mister, we're just looking for some help," Jessie said, turning back around, her hands raised.

"That's the problem, everybody's always looking for some help. Did you see a sign that said 'Help here'?"

"Sir, my brother is sick."

"Get him the fuck outta here then. I don't want no zombies on my property!"

"It's not like that, not that kind of sick," she entreated.

"Do you see the word hospital anywhere?" he yelled.

"Please," she begged. "Just a little food and water, maybe some medicine."

"What do you have for me?" he said. "Or am I just 'apposed to give that to you out of the kindness of my heart?"

"I... I don't have anything," Jessie said hesitantly.

"Oh, I think you do. Turn around for me."

"Please."

" _Do it!_ " he yelled. "Umm, nice," he said as Jessie did a small circle. "I'd trade for some of that."

"We'll just get going," Jessie said, nearly crying now.

"You're on my property now, you'll leave when I say you can. Come closer."

"Please," Jessie said as she slowly inched forward.

I moved with her.

"Tell the fucking mutt to stay put or I'll shoot him out of principle."

"Ri... Riley, stay," Jessie said.

I didn't know what was going on, the man said he would trade some food, but he said it with an edge to his voice and I could smell excitement and dominance on him. It was not a healthy combination. Jessie moved a foot closer and so did I. I was going to make sure she was alright. I heard part of the fire stick move that normally came before the metal bees. Jessie stopped and so did I.

"I'm going to blow that damned dog's head clean off if he takes another step," the man said.

"He?" I snorted. "You threaten me and my pack mate and call me a ' _he_ '?" I was barking as I charged, the metal bee whined past my ear, by the time the man was able to make the loud clicking noise again I had already latched onto his leg. His screams of pain increased as I bit down harder. I had a firm grip on the front of his leg; I could feel as my teeth punctured through his fake skins and into him.

I kept biting, the man's screams increasing in volume and pitch. I could feel the bone in his leg starting to yield.

" _No!_ " Jessie screamed. The man had somehow held onto his fire stick and was bringing it to bear on me.

I could hear Jessie running toward me to help, I bit as hard as my jaw would allow and shook my head from side to side. The fire stick fell to my side as the man toppled over. He was bellowing for the bitch that had whelped him. I finally let him go when he stopped moving.

"Riley, are you alright?" Jessie asked as she came to a skidding stop next to me. "You broke his leg," she said with what I smelled was a fair amount of appreciation.

"What now? What now?" she asked nervously. "We should just go. There's probably more of them."

I sniffed long and hard inside the house, there had been others but not for a while. I walked in, we needed food.

"Riley, what are you doing?" Jessie asked from the front step of the door. The man was moaning loudly.

I turned my head, hoping she would follow; she bent down and picked up the fire stick. She pointed it at the man on the ground then cautiously came in after me. Jessie opened the fridge and then quickly slammed it shut when the stench of things long rotten came out. I could have spent a little while longer exploring the scents but I understood about Jessie, two-leggers where very peculiar in what they liked to smell.

There is nothing quite like understanding your pack mates by sniffing at their offal, but the two-leggers were always lighting the small flowery smelling fires or spraying cans of scents that were supposed to make the 'bad' smells go away but are far worse than anything me or even Ben-Ben had ever produced. Maybe not the cat though, that thing stunk.

Jessie was on the far side of the kitchen going through the wooden food holders. "Food," she said excitedly. She moved away from the shelves with food and started to pull different things out until she found what she was looking for.

"I hope this is strong enough," she said as opened the bag up and started to shove all sorts of two-legger canned food into it. My mouth started to water just thinking about what might be in those cans, not all cans mind you, some of them have horrible smelling things that make my nose burn, like what the humans call onions or peppers. I don't know why anyone would want to eat those things. I shook a little just thinking about the time the Daniel cub had given me a handful. He had laughed for a long time while I tried to rinse the taste out of my mouth, but I was a fast-learning puppy. He never did find the toy he had received the day before, I chewed it up and Alpha female had discovered it, she threw it into a bag much like Jessie was using now.

"Bad girl, Riley!" Alpha had said to me. "Maybe Danny will learn to pick his things up now. I've told him puppies chew things." She had gently reached out and stroked my muzzle. She had said mad words but her tone and actions said otherwise. I would miss my den mother mightily.

My head whipped around when I heard the man begin to groan, Jessie also looked. Her eyes got wide as the fear in her bloomed.

"We should leave, Riley," Jessie said, almost letting go of the bag with the food.

"My leg!" the man screamed. "I... I think it's broken," he wailed. "You fucking did this to me!" He pointed at Jess. She turned to see if there was another way out of the house, besides an 'outside looker' there wasn't.

Jess ran over and fumbled with something on the window and tried to push it open. "It's painted shut, Riley. Shit. Shit."

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" the man said, propping up on his hands and dragging himself toward the food room.

Jessie looked close to panicking; I started barking loudly, that got the man's attention. His eyes now took on that wide fear stare. "Don't... don't you come any closer," Jessie said, her voice wavering, but I wasn't sure if the man even heard her, his eyes were locked on mine. I threw in a deep growl just for good measure.

"Keep that mutt away from me," the man said, now backing away.

I advanced on him.

"Just watch him, Riley. Rip his throat out if he moves," Jess said as she started to shove more things into the bag.

"That's my stuff, you can't just take it," the man said. "You come into my house, your mutt breaks my leg and now you're stealing my food?"

"And pointing your gun at me and forcing me into your house, that's acceptable?" Jess asked.

"Hey, nothing's for free and I... I was just kidding. I would have let you go."

"Before or after you had done to me as you wished?"

"It... it was just a joke," he lied again. The words he spoke did not match what he meant, even I could tell that. "You've got to at least help me splint my leg. You're as good as murdering me if you don't."

Jessie was hesitating and I thought maybe even considering his request. There was no way I was going to let her get within arm's reach of the man, he was not a good two-legger.

"I can't," Jessie said as she swung the bag over her shoulder. She headed down the long room toward him then abruptly stopped and headed back to the food room. I heard the hard metal of the things the humans used to eat with clattering about on the floor and then Jessie said, 'aha' and came back down the long room. She skirted around the man's legs and pushed the door open. "Almost forgot a can opener. Come on, Riley, we need to get out of here," she said.

"When I get better I'm going to hunt you down and cut your throat, but not before I make that fucking mutt of yours watch me do all sorts of things to you that would make a demon blush." He laughed.

Jessie quickly shut the door, but we were back in the car with the doors closed before we stopped hearing his laughter.

"Wet meat!" Ben-Ben said triumphantly as he stuck his nose inside the bag Jess had placed in the back.

"Are you both okay?" Patches asked me as Jessie got the car started and headed back out onto the hard pathway.

"Do you really care?" I snapped back.

"In so much as I either needed Jessie to open the car door so I could get out or her ability to get food so I eat, so yes I cared."

"There was a bad two-legger in there. He wanted to hurt Jessie."

"You stupid dog, you say that as if he's the only one. It's been my experience that two-leggers are more like that man than those that were in our house."

"Maybe to you because you're a cat. But most two-leggers just want to scratch behind my ears or sometimes give me a treat. The large dog area..."

"The park," the smart-ass cat filled in.

"The large _dog_ area," I emphasized. "There were always lots of humans and they were always so nice."

"Not the ones I've seen, Dog. Have you ever come across another two-legger without the alpha male or female?"

I thought about it for a long time and except for the cubs, I had never interacted with other two-leggers before. Sure I had barked at bunches, way over twenty-two but never sat there and played with any of them. "No," I said sheepishly as if that made me a bad dog.

"The humans pretend a lot of things when they are around other humans."

"Pretend?" I asked her.

"Lying," she explained.

"The two-leggers are lying when they said they liked me?" I asked, astonished. Why had I never picked up on this before?

"Oh, I'm sure one or two of the idiots liked you, I don't know why but there are some dog lovers, but most of them would throw a rock at you before they'd ever pet behind your ears."

"You speak the truth, Cat?" I asked, turning around to see if I could sense that all she spoke was real, but her eyes were difficult to see in the dark and it was nearly impossible to tell what the oversized rodent was thinking anyway.

"They are unlike any other animal, they are even worse than dogs. They will say one thing while they are doing something else.

"We must stay away from two-leggers!" I nearly shouted.

"It won't be easy, Jessie will seek them out. They find comfort among their own kind."

That I could understand.

"What about Justin? The boy she would press faces with? She seeks him out."

"Better than most, I suppose," she answered, thinking carefully. "We are going to have to protect her."

"We?" I asked. "Since when did you begin to care?"

"My ability to survive is greatly improved with all of you around. It may not be entirely to my liking, but it is what I have right now."

"You always know the right thing to say," I told her.

"My hands are shaking," Jessie said aloud. "That was so close, he was going to kill me. And you saved me, Riley," Jessie said as she stopped the car and petted my head gently. "Thank you." She placed her hands on either side of my face and looked into my eyes. "You guys keep saving my life and I haven't even fed you yet."

***

"Humans are good, Cat," Ben-Ben said as he licked clean the can of what Jessie called stew. "You don't know anything." He finished, looking up, his snout covered in stew goo.

"This one is, I agree," she answered, shielding her stew can from Ben-Ben's eager nose. "Get out!" she said loudly, "You already ate!"

"Why are you taking so long? Do you need some help with it?" Ben-Ben asked as he began to push her out of the way.

"You move any closer to my food and I'm sticking my claws in you!"

Ben-Ben immediately backed up, his rear end pressed up against the car outside viewer. "Is this far enough away?" he asked with genuine terror.

"Outside would be preferable but that's far enough away for now," Patches said with a small note of humor.

She began to tease him as she would take a small bite of her food, slowly chew it and then meticulously clean off her whiskers. Ben-Ben was leaving a small pool of drool as he kept staring at her food can. I had also finished mine and the hurting part of the hunger was mostly gone, but I could have eaten another can. I wasn't going to let the cat know that, though.

Jessie had the baby outside and was walking around the car with him in her arms; she was talking animatedly as she got him to eat some food. He smelled and looked better. I still didn't feel good about him.

As if Patches knew what I was thinking, she spoke. "The baby is not well."

"I am not in the mood to listen to you anymore, Cat." I was angry because I thought she might be smarter, that she really didn't need any of us and that she was pointing out something I feared. It wasn't truly her fault, but all the same I was tired of it. Of her.

"Nevertheless, the baby, I fear, is going to die."

I jumped in the backseat, her can of food spilled onto the floor, I revealed my teeth, I was within a whiskers' length from her head. The cat was afraid and I was happy for it. "Do not trifle with me, Cat, there is nowhere for you to hide now."

I'll give the cat credit she stood her ground, the hair on her back was raised and I knew she had her claws ready for action, I could kill her, but she would draw blood.

"I see things, Riley, things humans and dogs do not," she said, trying her best to move slightly to get her dangerous claws up if she needed to.

"I can smell things you can't even dream exist," I spat out.

"Riley, I'm sure you can. This has nothing to do with your nose. The infant carries a cloud around itself like a fake skin."

"The white softness in the sky that hides the burning disc sometimes?" I asked.

"No, this is black. And not like rain clouds."

"Why can I not see this?"

"George believed me."

"He did?" I asked, my lips slipping back into their normal place.

"Do you remember when Alpha Male's sire came to stay with us?"

"I was still a puppy, but he was always so nice to me, he used to play with me for hours."

"He came to be with his pack before he died, I told George as much. It is something the humans called a custom; they care for each other before they pass over."

"Pass over to where?"

"We'll talk about that later. But I told George and he didn't try to rip my face off because of it. He loved the Alpha's sire and made sure to spend as much time as he could with the old two-legger before he went for good."

"I kind of remember that, I just figured it was because the human was giving him extra snacks."

"I knew when George was getting close too."

"You did? Did you tell him?"

"No, but he realized what was going on when I started spending more time with him."

"I wish George was here."

"Can I eat the wet meat?" Ben-Ben asked, staring intently at the spilled food.

"No!" Patches and I said at the same time.

Ben-Ben whined and sat back down, his eyes skipping back and forth between me and Patches and the food.

"Does the cloud always mean a passing?" I asked the cat. Her lack of response told me what I needed to know. Ben-Ben, at some point while I was thinking about this, had got onto the floor of the car and was slowly crawling toward the stew.

This time I left him alone as I turned and hopped back into the front so I could think about what the cat had told me. Jessie was straight ahead, frowning at the baby who was refusing anymore food.

CHAPTER FIVE

The next morning I awoke not because the burning disc was shining in my eyes but rather the heat inside the wheeler. I was panting heavily and my mouth felt like I had the cat shoved in there. Jessie was still sleeping but she was again bathed in salty water. Ben-Ben's tongue was hanging out and he was looking directly at me.

"I'm sorry, Riley, I really had to go," Ben-Ben said apologetically.

"What is wrong with dogs?" Patches said, moving even closer to her door if that was even possible.

"Ben-Ben, really? You did _that_ in the car?" I would have berated him further but the baby cub looked even more unwell, his skin color looked bad, his breathing was shallow and instead of leaking water like Jessie he was shivering with cold. I was about to bark and warn Jessie, but Ben-Ben's stink had at least the benefit of that.

"What is that? Zombies?" Jessie said, looking around wildly.

Ben-Ben had turned so his face was in the rear of the seat and his backside was pointed toward Jessie as she turned to see what was causing the smell. She immediately opened the door when she discovered the origin of the stench.

I hopped out after her, the smell of the Ben-Ben processed stew was bad but not as bad as the heat. Patches was immediately behind me and headed off for the brush, at least she knew where to go. Why did Ben-Ben have to give dogs such a bad name?

Jessie ran to the other side of the car and got the baby out. "Zach?" she asked. "Baby, are you okay?" she asked, looking at him. The baby was not responding to her.

" _Get in!_ " Patches screamed, bolting for the door. She deftly jumped in and into the back making room.

I wanted to find out what was going on, sometimes cats can be drama-infused mischievous vermin, but she didn't look like she was acting. I barked wildly, but Jessie was busy examining the baby cub.

"Rileeeeey, they're here!" Ben-Ben was yipping wildly from the backseat. He charged at them across his seat, smacked his head hard into the outside viewer, and he fell over onto Patches. I would have enjoyed the whole scene if not for the three zombies making their way through the brush.

Jessie was still ignorant to my pleas. She might not know the zombies were there, but they knew she was. I ran to get between her and them. My aggressive display did nothing to stop their advance, I didn't think it would after our last encounter, but it was difficult to not try what has worked for so many of my ancestors.

The smell was zombie, but there was something else too, there was a familial relation. The zombies that were coming were a pack. It appeared to be a sire and two male offspring. All were larger than my alpha had been.

My flight instinct was in high gear, but Jessie was slow to the realization of what was happening. I sprang onto the closest of the three. Jessie's screams of alarm nearly drowned out the snapping of my teeth as I bit deeply into the flesh of the zombie's putrid arm. He paid me almost no attention even as I tried to drag him down to the ground. My teeth were sunk deep and I had my hindquarters braced on the ground trying to halt his forward progress.

The skin and meat on his arm were sliding down as they came loose from his bones, I was left with what Ben-Ben would've called wet-meat hanging from my mouth. White bone shone in the light as I stripped his arm clean. Not once did he scream in pain or rage. I spat the bad meat out and grabbed onto the back of the man's leg, his calf muscle, this time it did have the desired effect as he fell face forward into the hard pathway.

I yelped as one of the other zombies stepped on my front paw and his leg caught the side of my face. I staggered back, my thoughts clouded and unsure of what was going on. The fire stick changed that; it knocked the fuzziness I was feeling right out of me. The zombie cub that had run into me was now falling back over; I quickly dodged out of the way as his body went crashing to the ground. Half of his face looked like a bloodier version of what we had eaten last night, but I don't think even Ben-Ben would touch this.

"I don't know how to reload this damned thing!" Jessie screamed as she was using the fire stick to physically keep the last standing zombie at bay. But she was losing ground and the sire was now getting up. I remembered Daniel's words. "The head, Dad, you have to shoot them in the head!"

I hadn't figured out how to make the metal bee shooter work yet, but I knew how to bite. I wrapped my jaws around the back of the sire's skull. My jaw popped as I applied more pressure, the zombie was still trying to stand, my front paws were off the ground before my teeth began to crack through the creatures head. I could feel his skull beginning to move under the pressure I was applying. I didn't know how long I could support my weight and try to kill it as we arose.

Black fluid leaked from around my mouth, I was salivating like Ben-Ben had been last night but this was in an attempt to wash away the taste of the horrible creature. I was completely off the ground, the zombie within arm's length of my Jessie, I bit down harder. I thought the creature's head bones broke, but it just as easily could have been my jaw. We fell to the ground, the thing dead like it should have been all along and me buried underneath it. I was exhausted, I couldn't move, my jaw hurt so bad I whimpered. I heard the fire stick roar one more time before my eyes started to close, the cat would later tell me it was from lack of oxygen, whatever that was.

***

This time when I awoke I was on a soft floor, Ben-Ben was not more than an inch or two from my face.

"You okay, Riley, huh?" he asked at least seven times.

"Ben-Ben, let her be," Jessie said as she walked across the room to come sit by me. She wrapped an arm around each of us and held tight. It was dog heaven.

I went to lick her arm but it hurt to move my jaw, I just lay there contentedly as she rubbed my back.

"Where are we, Ben-Ben? And where's the baby cub?"

"They have meat snacks here Riley, can we stay?" Ben-Ben asked excitedly.

"Where is _here,_ Ben-Ben?"

"It's the place with the meat snacks," he answered sincerely and with some confusion why I hadn't figured that out. "Are you okay? The snack givers said you might have hurt your head."

"I'm fine if you were wondering," Patches said from the windowsill above me.

I craned my neck to see her; I was not at all pleased to have her peering down at me.

I was somewhat glad the cat was alright but I didn't see the need to tell her that. "Besides being able to get meat snacks, can you tell me where we are, Cat?"

"Do you want the whole story?" she asked.

"Sure, it doesn't look like we're in any rush at the moment, but first, how is the cub?"

"He yet lives, but it is tenuous," she said.

I didn't know what 'tenuous' meant but it didn't sound good.

"After you crushed the head of the zombie, Jessie was losing her battle with the other one. I jumped out of the car and onto his leg; I ran up his leg and clawed out his eyes. After he was blinded, Jessie was able to figure out how to make the rifle shoot and the zombie died."

I had some doubts about the cat jumping out to save Jessie, but maybe if she thought Jessie was going to die and she wouldn't have a ride or anybody to open the cans of food she might. Maybe; it still seemed a stretch.

"The girl started crying and was getting back into the car when I ran over to the zombie that had landed on you, I bit down on his shoulder and started to pull him off of you."

"Really? You did that for me?"

"Sure, we're pack mates, you and me."

It had been a stretch of truth _before_ she started talking about pulling a large two-legger off of me.

"Well, I wasn't able to get him off you by myself, but Jessie did realize she had forgotten about you and then helped. Together we were able to roll him off of you. Then I helped her drag you over to the car and inside. She put you in the back and let me sit up front because now I was her favorite for having helped out and saving her."

"Oh, Patches," I said.

"It's okay Riley, she still loves you, it's just that now I am at the top because of my heroics. It was me who found this home too," she added triumphantly.

I didn't think the cat was lying, I really think this was how she viewed the world, what a funny little cat mind she had. Daniel had said that zombies like to eat brains; I don't think the cat was in any danger.

"Thank you, Patches," I said more for the entertainment value of her story than for actually helping me, but she purred her satisfaction.

"What am I going to do, Riley?" Jessie asked as she buried her face in my fur. "You saved me again, girl. When am I going to start being able to take care of myself? The lady here said Zach was a day away from dying, said he had a fever of a hundred and two. They are still not sure he'll be alright."

I did the only thing I could, I nuzzled my head in her lap, two-leggers felt better when they were scratching dogs behind their ears, Alpha Female had said as much when she read an article about dogs staying with older two-leggers.

Ben-Ben was also resting his head on Jessie's other leg, his eyes were rolling up and he was snoring softly, I was moments away from doing the same when a new two-legger came into the room.

"He's much better," the female two-legger told Jessie.

Jessie started to leak from her eyes again. "Thank you, Faye," Jessie said as she gently moved mine and Ben-Ben's heads so she could stand up, she encircled her arms around the woman, I equated it with sniffing another dog's genitalia, it was their form of greeting.

"He was dangerously dehydrated and he has a high temperature from a virus," Faye said. "And no, not _that_ virus."

I did not feel anything threatening from the woman, but Patches' words had traveled deep. I whimpered as I stood up so I could be next to Jessie.

"What a good girl you are," Faye said. "I heard what you've done."

She was scratching behind my ears and out of a pouch in her fake skins she produced a snack bone. _Could this day get any better?_ I thought as I crunched on the treat, my jaw still twinged but it was worth it.

Ben-Ben, upon hearing me chew, was immediately up and at my muzzle. "Whatcha got there, Riley? Smells like bacon. Is there any more? I would really like a bacon treat!"

"Oh, I heard about you too, boy!" Faye said, reaching down and scratching his back. She produced another treat from her magic pouch.

"Oh, boy!" Ben-Ben said dancing from paw to paw. "Chicken, Riley!" he mumbled around chews.

I went over to sniff her pouch. There were still treats in it. I would treat this old two-legger nicely until she proved otherwise.

"I guess I have a new friend," she said to Jessie and laughed.

I was still enjoying the different scents of the treats when another two-legger came out of the room behind Faye. I immediately backed up, my hackles rose and I found myself growling even before I had a reason.

"It's okay, girl," Jessie said, coming up to wrap her arms around my neck. I was straining against her embrace, partly to attack and partly to runaway.

The two-legger that came through the door was enormous, he had to stoop so he did not hit his head on the opening. He had hair on his face that was longer than Ben-Ben's tail. He laughed when he saw my reaction his full belly shaking up and down.

"Santa?" Ben-Ben asked, running up to the giant. The huge man gently picked up Ben-Ben in his huge hands; the small dog could have gone for a walk in the man's grasp. "It is Santa!" Ben-Ben said, eagerly licking the man's face.

The man's laugh was so deep it made the floor tremble slightly.

"Well, you're a friendly one," the man said.

Ben-Ben may have made up his mind, but I sure hadn't. I turned to see where Patches was; my back-up was nowhere to be seen. _Typical_ , I thought.

"Ben-Ben, who is Santa?" I asked.

"Only the kindest two-legger ever. He brings treats to dogs every year! I saw him more than once on the two-legger picture box."

"That is certainly not Santa," Patches said from on top of the couch over to my left.

"How come everyone knows who Santa is except me?" I asked.

"How could you not?" Patches asked snidely. "The pack cubs go on and on about him about this time every year. But I know, if it doesn't revolve around food you really don't pay attention."

"Be careful cat," I said.

"Anyway, that's not Santa, I heard the old woman call him Winke. And he has a cloud around him too."

"Well, aren't you full of good news," I said.

"His isn't as dark and pressing as Zach's was. He probably still has a few moons left."

"Is he safe?" I asked, still unsure about the giant two-legger.

"That I cannot tell, but he is a human and they can only be trusted so far. I will eat the food he gives me and I will accept the petting, but I will always have a way to escape."

"I haven't made up my mind about you yet, Cat, but you are smart."

"Not that I care too much one way or the other, but your words are agreeable to me."

I cautiously walked over to the man; I was low to the ground, hoping he wouldn't notice me as I got closer to smell around his fake skins.

"You coming around?" the big man said as he leaned down. "Faye, give me one of your treats."

My tail started to wag on its own just at the mere mention of a treat.

"We lost our dog the day the zombies came," Faye said sadly as she handed a treat to her mate. I could tell by their comingled scents now that I was closer. If the kind woman thought enough of the man to mate with him then he had to be alright.

"I'm so sorry," Jessie said.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, hon," Faye replied. "Here I am going on about my dog after all you lost."

"It's okay, Faye," Winke told his wife, kissing the top of her head. "We haven't heard from our kids since. We have one in Connecticut and another up in San Francisco. It's the not knowing that's difficult." Faye was crying. "On a good note, your brother, I believe, is going to be fine. I had to put an intravenous in him to get him some much needed fluids and I gave him some antibiotics. He had a nasty case of strep, couple more days and he'll be right as rain."

"I cannot thank you enough," Jessie fairly sobbed. "When would it be safe for me to travel?"

Winke and Faye gave each other a silent look; I had seen Alpha male and female do this many times when they sent each other a message without talking.

"Jessie, I've been talking to Winke; why don't you just stay here?" Faye asked. "We have the room and plenty of food for all of you."

"Wet meat?"Ben-Ben asked, looking from face to face for a response.

Winke spoke up, "It's not safe out there, we know there's someone in Colorado you're trying to get to, but there's not much out there anymore."

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for all you've done, but he's the closest thing I have to family left," Jessie said.

"You have to be realistic—have you heard from him?" Winke asked. "You've only been here a short while, but we've grown fond of you and your brother and your traveling companions," Winke said as he rubbed my head vigorously.

Patches was watching intently but she wasn't weighing in one way or the other.

Jessie's head drooped a bit and then she picked it back up to speak. "See, you don't understand; his dad is kind of nuts, he's one of those survivalists. He would always be talking about how zombies were coming and we should be prepared. Come to think of it, I guess he was right."

"Our neighbors were world class survivalists, even wrote articles for Hunter of Fortune type magazines," Winke said.

"Were?" Jessie asked.

"We had to shoot them when they tried to come in the kitchen window, they were both zombies," Winke explained.

"But Mr. Talbot was a Marine," Jess countered.

"My neighbor was Special Forces, his wife was a ground pounder in the Army, they were both in their thirties, peak physical condition, had enough food to last them twenty years and that doesn't even begin to bring into account the arsenal of weapons I found in their underground bunker."

"Mr. Talbot talked about getting an underground bunker but he lived in a townhouse. What am I going to do?"

"That's easy, stay here dear," Faye said putting her arm around Jessie.

"Can I think on it?"

"Sure, there's no time limit." Winke laughed. "At the very least you should stay a few days until we're sure the antibiotics we're giving Zach take hold."

"Maybe you could even stay through Christmas?" Faye asked hopefully.

"Christmas?" Jessie asked. "I guess it is December, I hadn't even really thought about it."

"I told you he was Santa!" Ben-Ben said excitedly, again lapping the man's face.

"He likes the idea," Winke said, putting the small dog down.

"Thank you," Jessie said.

"Sure, dear, come on, I'll show you your room. It's Bonnie's old room," Faye said wistfully.

"And what should we do with you all?" Winke asked us.

I trotted off after Jessie, as did Patches.

I guess that leaves you and me, Ben-Ben," Winke said.

"You and me Santa!" Ben-Ben said excitedly.

CHAPTER SIX

Zachary steadily improved over the next few days. We had been there close to what the humans call a week when Jessie again began to ask me if she thought we should stay here or move on. It was a daily occurrence; she changed her mind more times than I could count, probably even more than the cat could too.

"I want to see Justin, Riley. Do you think he's alive?" Jessie asked me.

I hoped he was, he seemed like a good human. Being honest with myself though, I liked Faye a lot and I think I loved Winke. I'd never met a two-legger so happy; if he had a tail it would wag constantly. Ben-Ben hadn't left his side since we got here, even got to sleep in their bed. Faye had complained that even their Dora hadn't been allowed to do that.

Winke would always laugh and say we were guests and we could do as we pleased.

"Winke, don't get too attached to that dog," Faye said as I padded into the kitchen. Jessie was still asleep and I needed to go outside.

"Why wouldn't I?" Winke had asked her as he held the small Yorkie up to his face. I think he could have fit all of Ben-Ben in his mouth without even trying.

"I don't think she's going to stay," Faye said.

Winke turned to her. "What makes you say that?"

"It's in her eyes, she misses that boy."

"Then all the more reason I should love this little guy even more," Winke said, gently pressing Ben-Ben to the side of his face.

"I just don't want to see you hurt," Faye said tenderly.

"Oh, Faye, I have so little time left myself, I might as well enjoy every minute of it."

"Don't you talk like that!"

"Come on, Faye, you have to be realistic. Even with the chemo the doctors were only talking about another six months to a year, tops. Hell, I'm thrilled the zombies came when they did or all this would be gone," Winke said, pulling on his impressively long face hair.

"I should have been so lucky," she said, getting on her toes for a lip press. And they called dogs' rituals weird. I scratched on the door.

"Well, hello, Riley," Winke said, "At least you know where to go the bathroom," he said as he looked playfully at Ben-Ben.

"What?" Faye asked. "Where?"

"I cleaned it up," Winke said cheerily.

"I've seen the way you clean—where was it?"

Winke looked out the door viewer first then opened the door for me. "Stay close, I'll be right back, Riley. I'm in a little trouble." He winked.

He walked off to show Faye where Ben-Ben had his accident. Dumb dog still hadn't figured it out. When I realized I was outside all alone in the early dark with zombies, I thought maybe he had figured it out after all. I was midway through my stream when I heard the clumsy sounding fall of feet as humans walked, but this was even clumsier. Zombies were close.

So far the dead two-leggers had shown no interest in eating dogs or, unfortunately, cats. But if I had the choice between a hamburger and dry dog food, I'd eat the ground up beef every time unless there was no more hamburger, then I'd eat whatever I could. How long would it be before there were no more two-leggers for the zombies to eat?

I wanted back in the house, but I didn't want to alert the zombies to my presence. They didn't yet sound like they were on a hunt, but merely trying to pick up a scent. I waited by the door, occasionally lightly scratching at it, hoping to get someone's attention.

"Well, hello there, Riley!" Winke said much too loudly as he opened the door.

I ran straight into his tree-like legs when I heard the zombie footfalls become purposeful.

Winke bent down to rub his shins. "Let me know next time if I'm in your way." He smiled.

I barked vociferously in his face, " _Shut the door!_ "

"Whoa, girl, it's alright," he said, mistakenly thinking I was barking _at_ him. He slowly stood up and then noticed the real threat. "Shit," he said slamming the door shut just as a zombie banged into it.

The door rattled, it did not look very sturdy to me.

"What is all this racket?" Faye asked as she shuffled into the room.

Winke and I were looking at the backdoor. Light was beginning to filter in around the edges every time the zombie walked into it. All three of us were frozen right until the zombie broke the door viewer.

"Gonna need a gun, Faye," Winke said, never taking his eyes off the door; I guess he was hoping if he kept willing it shut it would stay.

Ben-Ben came back with Faye who had a very small fire stick.

"Why are they at Santa's house?" Ben-Ben asked.

Wood was splintering when Faye sent the metal bee flying. The zombie fell backward. Jessie was in the kitchen by the time the next one took its place.

"Give me the gun, Faye. Go out the front and get everyone over to Sean's house," Winke told his wife.

"I'm not leaving you here," she told him.

"Faye, this door isn't going to hold much longer, get them over there now. I'll be right behind you."

Faye was looking suspiciously at him.

"I'll be right behind you— _go!_ " he shouted as he let fly another metal bee.

I couldn't see how many zombies there were, but when one fell another immediately took its place.

"Riley, come on," Jessie said a moment later. Zach was in her arms and Patches was at her feet.

"I'll watch out for the girl and the cub," Patches said.

"Go!" I barked at them much like Winke had earlier. Jessie turned to leave at Faye's urging. Ben-Ben came up beside me; it was good to have him.

"Nobody messes with Santa," he told me seriously.

"You two along for the ride?" Winke asked.

A car ride right now sounded like dog heaven, but when we didn't move I figured he meant something different. Humans were funny like that. Their words did not always equal their actions.

Winke fired a few more bees, then rushed over to one of the wooden food containers. He grabbed a box of bees and quickly placed some in the small stick. More wood had splintered while he wasn't shooting, zombies would be inside soon. I hoped Jessie and Zach were at the neighbor's and the cat had kept her word, might as well have asked a squirrel to give up some of its nuts.

The door swung in just as he started firing again, the lead zombie came to a halt mere whisker-lengths away from my muzzle. Winke kept firing until he ran out of bees. "That's it, guys. That should have given them enough time, we have to go."

Winke turned to leave. A zombie came running into the house at full speed. It was later I would remember that until this point all the zombies had been slow but right then I had to help save Santa.

The zombie ran into Winke's back and he probably would have fallen backward from the impact with Winke but Winke's foot got caught up in the food room's chair. He fell over, with the zombie on top of him. Ben-Ben was there before me; he bit deeply into the zombie's neck. The zombie was trying desperately to get through Winke's fake skins.

"Ben-Ben, watch the door, I'll get the zombie on Winke's—I mean Santa's back!"

Ben-Ben was reluctant to leave but when I grabbed the zombie's leg and had him half off he went to the door, there wasn't much he could do because of his height except trip the zombies up, but that was enough. Winke was scrambling to get up on his knees as I was pulling the zombie off. Winke screamed as he turned and laid a ham sized fist into the zombie's nose. Winke got completely up as I dragged the zombie a little bit away from him.

"Let's go," Winke and I said almost in unison.

Ben-Ben was limping but he didn't say anything as we ran for the front door. Winke held it open for us as we raced through. He slammed it shut as zombies poured into his living room. I saw Faye frantically waving and tapping a home viewer from across the yard. She looked scared, we were in agreement there. We were halfway to the house when we were seen by the hunters. Winke's log legs were serving him well, he ran pretty good for a two-legger, Ben-Ben was having difficulty keeping up, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him much like I would my young if I had had any.

"This is better than running!" Ben-Ben said, his tongue lolling and his tail wagging.

"Stay still," I mumbled.

"Come on, you damn fool," Faye said to Winke, urging him into the house.

Winke fell onto the floor and we were right behind him. Faye slammed the door shut as Jessie placed a large metal bar in place to secure the door. The door shook a little but it was in no threat of giving like Winke's.

"I got bit!" Winke said. He lifted the blue fake skins on his leg.

"Are you sure?" Faye asked, getting down to get a closer look at it.

"I think I'd damned well know if I got bit," Winke said.

Faye had a sharp intake of breath as she looked at the bite. She ran her finger over its outline. "Thank God it didn't break skin."

"You sure?" Winke asked.

"I think I'd damned well know if I saw blood," Faye said, throwing his words back at him. "You fool, you could have got yourself killed."

"It would have been worth it to be sure you made it. These two saved my life," Winke said, grabbing Ben-Ben and me. "These are some special dogs," he told Jessie.

"I know," she said, getting down to pet us.

"If it wasn't for me they would never have made it over here," Patches said indignantly. "I showed them how to walk quietly."

"Now what?" Faye asked as she looked through the viewer to her domicile.

"Well, I guess this is home now," Winke said as he got up and stood next to her. We could clearly hear things breaking and smashing across the way.

"Is this place any safer?" Jessie asked.

"This is a small fortress," Winke said. "This was our neighbor, the survivalists', home. We should have just moved in after... well, after they left."

"You know I couldn't," Faye said. "That's been our home for the last forty years. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving our kids' bedrooms, it would have been too final."

"I know, Hon, I know," Winke said, putting his arm around his wife. "We left most of their stuff here just usually came over and grabbed what we needed, kind of like a 7-11, I guess. I just always knew this day would come and it would be better to have everything here."

"Come on, Faye," Winke said leading his wife into the new food room. Sit—me and Jessie will get some breakfast going."

"I'm staying with Santa, Riley," Ben-Ben said.

The sadness wafted off Faye. I stayed with her.

Patches hopped up onto the ledge of the home viewer. "More zombies are coming," she said.

My body shuddered; I hated the dead ones. Winke and Jessie came back a few moments later with their arms full of food boxes. "Faye, they have an indoor vented generator," Winke said excitedly.

Faye didn't respond.

"You know what that means, don't you?" he asked. She still didn't respond. "How does the idea of a hot shower sound?"

At least this time she looked up.

"Lights," he said. That one word seemed to have a big effect as a grin spread on her face.

"I'll be able to read at night?" she asked.

"Hell, you'll even be able to plug in your e-reader." He laughed.

"It's at our house Winke," she said resignedly. "And don't you even think about going and getting it."

"We'll see," he said as he pulled on his long face mane.

"Oh, a shower would be so nice."

"Go take one. I'll get some eats ready.

***

It was a few cycles of the burning disc before the zombies in Winke and Faye's house left or at least figured how to get out. Winke told me we would wait one more day before we went back to get Faye's stuff. Even then we would wait until she was asleep because if she knew he was going out she would kill him.

I didn't think she would, but Winke was scared of her and that was good enough reason for me to wait also.

The wolf disc was shining bright the night Winke asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I knew immediately what he was talking about. The house was quiet except for Faye's snoring, which in its own way was a comforting sound.

Winke talked to me as he looked through the viewer. "It's Christmas Eve and I want to get my wife something special. You ready, girl?"

I was. I had kind of hoped Ben-Ben was coming, the little dog had proved himself over and over in battle and not having him along by my side was slightly disturbing. But I understood it; the big man considered Ben-Ben like a child cub and would not put him in danger.

"I'm coming too," Patches said as she rushed out the door before Winke could stop her.

"Patches," Winke said softly. "Come back here, you'll get me in trouble with Jessie."

Patches was already heading for the other house. "Well, at least she's going the right way," Winke said as he looked both ways and stepped out. He had a very large fire stick with him and for that I was thankful.

"Oh, it stinks over here," Patches said as she rounded the corner to get to the back of Winke's house.

"Did you stream over there?" I asked.

"Funny, no it's the dead zombies," she said as Winke and I came up behind her.

"Well, they definitely don't bury their dead or eat them. I was wondering if they would or not. Too bad about that, we'd be able to get rid of them a lot quicker if they started to take bites out of each other," Winke said as he prodded it with his stick.

After a while of nothing happening he carefully stepped over it and into the house. The smell outside was nothing compared to what assailed us from the inside. Winke had to step back out, he took a smaller piece of fake skin from the pouch of the skins he was wearing and wrapped it around his face. I wondered if that would work for me. I waited by the door for him, partly because I didn't want to go in, either. Patches strolled in, seemingly unaffected.

"Wooo, if it wasn't Christmas Eve I wouldn't be doing this," Winke said.

"He shouldn't be doing this at all," Patches said to me.

I had to agree, if only because of the smell, not even including the danger. I heard something rustling on the far side of the house but I noticed most, if not all the outside viewers were broken and I could see the material covering them was moving back and forth and that easily could have been the source of the sound.

"Hard to believe this was my house for so many years, doesn't even look the same," Winke said with a choked voice.

_Home was where my food bowl was_ , I thought. I wanted out of this place, it smelled worse than death. Death has an earthy naturalness to it, none of that was here. Broken clear viewer pieces crumbled under Winke's feet as he stepped farther in, I was careful to avoid the twinkling bits.

"Seems empty, girl," Winke said, I think to calm me, but more probably to soothe himself.

We walked farther in and then off to the right we went down the dark skinny room to the room Winke and Faye rested. I heard something move, but it sounded no louder than a mouse or maybe a rat. I had not seen the sharp-toothed ones eat any of the zombies yet but wherever there was a free meal they would follow shortly.

Patches came up behind me. "Nothing in the kitchen," she said.

"Did you hear the rat?" I asked her. Thinking she'd be curious and maybe go kill it. She shook her head. "You going to check it out?" I asked. She again shook her head. Whatever I was picking up on, so was she. I gently gripped the bottom of Winke's fake skins, halting his progress.

"You don't like this, either?" he asked me. "We'll be out in a minute." Whatever a minute was I thought it was too long.

We finally came to the end of the skinny room and into the room of rest. It made the destruction in the house pale in comparison. A pack of rabid hippos couldn't have destroyed this room as thoroughly, I thought.

"I can't even see her nightstand—how am I going to find her ereader?" Winke asked.

Nightstand and ereader were both new words to me; I was not going to be of any help. Patches went to the far side of the room where there seemed a path to walk in. Winke seemed about to follow her when he spotted something on our side.

"I think that's her stand, I see reading glasses!" Winke said triumphantly.

I looked back down the dark long room something wasn't right but I couldn't sense it properly, the abundance of smell had me off balance. Then Winke screamed. Patches came hurdling over the turned over human resting pad. I thought heading for the door but she was heading for Winke. Winke was still cursing as he pulled his leg free from something I could not see from my vantage point. I could smell his blood and even in the soft light I could see it staining his fake skins.

"Zombie!" Patches yelled. She had her sharp claws out and was attacking. I rounded a broken large wooden piece humans put their fake skins in. Trapped underneath the debris was a zombie, its cloudy eyes were fixed on Winke, its mouth was crimson with the blood of Winke. Patches raked claws across its eye, it would never see out that side again, not that that would be a problem for long. Winke urged the cat away as he placed the fire stick up against the zombie's head and pulled the trigger. The smoke from the stick was still swirling in the air when I began to hear properly again. I was waiting for either more zombies or Faye to start screaming, nothing happened.

"You alright, Cat?" I asked.

"I am, but the human is dead," she responded.

"He's fine, there's not enough blood to be a problem. He'll put one of those sticky skins on it," I told her. Cats were always expecting the worst.

"You don't know anything, Dog," Patches said as she left the room.

Winke grabbed a chair and sat it upright; he then sat down so he could pull up his fake skins. "Well, it got me," he said, looking at the wound. He grabbed some fake skins out of the broken furniture to wipe the blood away; he then tied it around his leg.

"See, Cat!" I yelled. "You can barely see it."

"Shh, Riley. I don't want to wake the missus," Winke said.

"If she didn't hear the fire stick, she didn't hear me," I told him, quieter.

"Well, I'll be damned," he said as he leaned over. He grabbed something that looked much like the books Jessie used to read only thinner, then leaned over again and came up with a small leash the humans put into the wall that seemed to keep their devices from walking away.

"I found it, Riley. I guess that makes it sort of worthwhile. I wonder how much time I have left?"

I cocked my head to the side; I didn't know what he was talking about. Did he hear the cat?

He sat there a long time, sometimes his head between his hands, sometimes his hands were clasped together and he was mumbling with his face upturned but mostly he was silent. We stayed that way for a long time until the disc began to again brighten the darkness.

"So far, so good, girl," Winke said to me. "Let's go celebrate Christmas."

"Where have you been?" Faye asked as she met us at the door.

I scooted by Winke, to smell bacon after what was in his other house was too much.

"I had to get you a gift!" Winke said enthusiastically. "Merry Christmas!" Winke handed her the thin book with the leash.

"My ereader! You shouldn't have, Winke," she squealed as she kissed his cheek. "Winke, you're hot." She touched his forehead. "You're burning up! Come on, go sit down."

"Now that you mention it, I don't feel so good," he told her.

"Is Santa making bacon?" Ben-Ben asked coming down the hallway.

Patches was at Jessie's room, meowing loudly.

"Cat, you're going to wake her," I said.

"I know, I'm trying to, we need to get out of here," she answered .

"Bacon, bacon, bacon," Ben-Ben kept repeating as he walked around in small circles in the food room.

"Patches, what?" Jessie asked as she opened her door. She first looked down at Patches who was now running back toward me and over to the room of living where Faye was helping Winke lay down.

"Is he alright?" Jessie asked as she also came down the hallway.

"He's burning up—could you please get me some water?" Faye asked.

Jessie ran to get him some water and then handed it to Faye. I saw her put her hand to her mouth and that's never a good human gesture.

"He's almost a zombie, Riley, make the girl get moving," Patches said.

"What?" I asked. I wasn't putting everything together.

"When a zombie bites a human, that human becomes a zombie. And that man is almost a zombie—we need to leave."

"I don't believe you," I told her.

"These humans feed me, they clean up after me, they provide me with a warm, safe place to rest—why would I want to leave?" Patches said.

I ran down the skinny room and into Jessie's rest room. I grabbed her fake paws, ran back down the hallway, and I placed them down loudly by her feet.

"I'm busy, Riley, I'll take you for a walk later," she told me.

I barked aggressively.

"Are you okay, Faye?" Jessie asked.

"I think so," Faye answered without looking up from her husband.

"I need to get dressed, apparently someone needs to go outside _real_ bad." She rubbed my head.

I barked loudly at the doorway to baby Zach's room. No response. I barked louder.

"Stop, Riley, you're going to wake—dammit," Jess said as Zach began crying in earnest. "Now I'll have to take him, that's not a good girl."

I was fine with it. Not much time passed, but it was enough. I was beginning to get anxious and Ben-Ben wasn't helping.

"Riley, she's burning the bacon," Ben-Ben said. "I mean, I'll still eat it, but I like it when it's all wet and soggy like when the humans drop it on the floor. Santa needs to come over here and get the bacon."

As he tried to walk past, I barred his way.

"Riley, I just want bacon," Ben-Ben moaned.

I stalled him long enough; Jessie was coming back down the skinny room. "A walk first and then bacon."

"A walk? Why? Santa doesn't care where I go," Ben-Ben said.

"Have some pride, you're coming out and then we'll get some bacon," I told him. If he questioned me again I was going to nip him and I think he knew it.

"Promise?" he whined again.

"Sure, let's go," I told him. Patches was already at the door.

"You too?" Jessie asked.

"Faye, I'll be right back," Jessie said as she let us all out, including herself. She had no sooner shut the door and walked a few steps away when we heard a blood-curdling scream from Faye.

Jessie turned to run back, I got in her way like I had with Ben-Ben.

"Riley, stop!" Jessie said, trying to force me out of her path. I kept jumping back. Faye's screams got louder and finally stopped as Jessie fought her way through me and to the door. She opened it and stuck her head in, letting out a small gasp before quickly closing the door and then the heavy metal one in front. Something banged up against the now closed door.

"Santa?" Ben-Ben asked.

"Not anymore," Patches said.

"So no bacon then?" Ben-Ben asked.

I answered him by walking away.

Jessie was crying as we started out again to find Justin. It was the two-leggers' day of Christmas but none of us felt like celebrating.

I hope you enjoyed the book. If you did please consider leaving a review.

For more in The Zombie Fallout Series by Mark Tufo:

Zombie Fallout 1

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 2 A Plague Upon Your Family

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 3 The End....

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 3.5 Dr. Hugh Mann

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 4 The End Has Come And Gone

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 5 Alive In A Dead World

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 6 Til Death Do Us Part

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Zombie Fallout 7 For The Fallen

http://www.marktufo.com/books.html

The newest Post Apocalyptic Horror by Mark Tufo:

Lycan Fallout Rise of the Werewolf

http://www.marktufo.com/books.html

Fun with zombies in The Book of Riley Series by Mark Tufo

The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 1

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 2

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 3

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 4

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Or all in one neat package:

The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale Boxed set plus a bonus short

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Dark Zombie Fiction can be found in The Timothy Series by Mark Tufo

Timothy

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Tim2

http://www.marktufo.com/books.html

Michael Talbot is at it again in this Post Apocalyptic Alternative History series Indian Hill by Mark Tufo

Indian Hill 1 Encounters:

http://www.marktufo.com/books.html

Indian Hill 2 Reckoning

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Indian Hill 3 Conquest

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Indian Hill 4 From The Ashes

<http://www.marktufo.com/books.html>

Writing as M.R. Tufo

Dystance Winter's Rising

<http://www.marktufo.com/yabooks.html>

The Spirit Clearing

<http://www.marktufo.com/yabooks.html>

Callis Rose

<http://www.marktufo.com/yabooks.html>

I love hearing from readers, you can reach me at:

email

mark@marktufo.com

website

www.marktufo.com

Facebook

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Twitter

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All books are available in audio version at Audible.com or itunes.

All books are available in print at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com

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