by Mark Tufo
“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 al
right.”
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.”
