Desolation Boulevard

by Mark Gordon

  Chapter 14

  The Dog

  Matt gunned the ute towards town, and noticed there were no lights visible at all. Searching for the source of the scream would be much harder, but it would also provide him with some cover if he needed it. He might be on a wild goose chase but at least he was doing something. He had no reason to begin his search anywhere in particular, so he decided to head straight into the centre of town, and then cruise outwards, much as he had done earlier, in the fruitless search for his parents. He arrived at his starting point, stopped the car, and looked around while the engine idled. Nothing looked any different from his earlier search, so he began to drive. In first gear he rolled along the empty streets with both windows down, scanning the night through the windscreen and driver’s side window, while Elvis kept watch from the passenger’s seat. A couple of times Matt was startled by a sudden movement in the darkness, but it had just turned out to be dogs roaming the streets, pets no longer. The whole experience was eerie. All of these people lying unconscious in their homes, made Matt feel very uncomfortable. Usually at this time, early in the evening, houses would be filled with the smells of cooking, the sounds of family conversations and the warm glow of the television.  Teenagers would be on their computers doing homework, or updating Facebook, while their little brothers or sisters were tucked up in bed for the night, as their parents relaxed at the end of their day. Now, though, was only darkness and silence.

  Matt’s anxiety was palpable as he peered down every street, and into every yard, as he looked for any sign of human activity. After almost half an hour of driving the streets at a snail's pace, he was about to give up and go home. His eyes were playing tricks on him, and he was beginning to think that the scream he had heard was nothing more than that of a feral animal. Then, as he shifted up through the gears to leave Millfield and head home, Matt caught a movement in the shadows at the end of the street. He slowed down to walking speed and drove in that direction. As he got closer, the headlights revealed another dog, a Dalmatian, loping along casually, pausing every now and then to sniff at something on the ground. From the car Matt watched as the dog peed on a bus shelter, before it turned and began to trot away. What happened next was so unexpected and illogical that Matt wondered if he were going mad. Something, or somebody, leaped from behind the bus shelter, seized the dog and dragged it away as it yelped it terror. Matt raced his car to the end of street, while Elvis whined frantically beside him. He screeched to a stop beside the bus shelter, grabbed the shotgun, and ran after the shadowy figure, but whatever had grabbed the dog was nowhere to be seen. Matt and Elvis stood side by side, silently, looking for some sign of the attacker. Nothing moved. He went back to his truck and felt around under the front seat until he found the flashlight that lived there with the fast food wrappers. He said a silent prayer and flicked it on, sending a bright circle of light onto the ceiling of his car. “Come on boy. Let’s explore.”

  With Elvis by his side, Matt headed in the same direction as the dog-snatcher. He had only walked about twenty paces when he heard odd noises coming from a house on his right. He paused and shone his flashlight down the side of a rundown cottage. He walked down the path that headed into the backyard, stepping over a child’s tricycle before he came to the end of the path. Elvis was by his side. He scratched the dog behind the ear and noticed that he was shaking. He took a deep breath and peered around the side of the house.

  Matt’s mind reeled and he felt his already fragile grip on reality stretch like a giant rubber band. His mind to black out and not have to deal with the vision he was witnessing. In this ordinary, family yard, beside the trampoline, a person, no, a thing that had once been a person was savaging the dalmation he had seen earlier. The dog was clearly dead, and the 'person-thing', was on all fours, tearing at the stomach of the dog, face-first. The purpose of this attack was clearly more than just a desire to feed; there was a brutal savagery about it that implied anger, desperation and violence that had little to do with normal human behaviour. The 'person-thing' held the dog down with its’ hands, and was feeding noisily on the entrails of the still-warm animal. There was a lot of blood, and strings of tissue and saliva spooled from the 'person-thing’s' mouth as it greedily devoured the dog’s glistening insides.

  If Matt had realised the immediate danger he was in, he would have retreated to the car as quickly as possible. Shock, however, affects different people in different ways, and Matt’s response was to shut down as his mind attempted to seek a place where it could function again. As he stared at the hellish scene before him, other sensory inputs also atrophied temporarily. It was as if he had tunnel vision and time had slowed down. Elvis, too, for reasons probably more related to survival than fear, had become silent and still. So when another 'person-thing' entered the yard from the other side of the house, Matt was totally taken by surprise. Without fear the second creature (Matt couldn’t think of them as people any more, even though this one was wearing work boots, denim jeans and hi-vis safety vest) sprinted at the feeder and attacked him with as much cruelty as the first creature had attacked the dog. Despite being ambushed so suddenly, the first feeder responded ferociously, as it defended itself with fists, feet and teeth. Matt could actually see chunks of flesh being ripped from his face. Then, through the fog of his shock, Matt felt a vague pressure on his leg and looked down to see Elvis frantically nuzzling him with his snout. Suddenly Matt’s brain snapped back to reality and he knew that he needed to get out of town right now, while these beasts were preoccupied with each other. He tapped the dog on the head, and ran as fast as he could to his truck and jumped in, while Elvis scrambled frantically over him and into the passenger seat. He revved the engine, dropped the clutch and sped towards the safety of his farm. He didn’t stop to look back.