by Mark Tufo
I circled around.
“Come on, mutt! I’ve got a date with your little bitch! And I don’t want to keep her waiting.”
He staggered as I slowly went around him. I feigned a charge and he swung viciously, the fire-arm making a whistling noise as it cut through the air. He may have been sick, but he wasn’t dead, and he still had more than enough power to inflict some serious damage if I let him. If I did die, I was going to make absolutely certain that he would be in no condition to follow Jess and the rest.
“You’re really starting to piss me off!”
I darted to my right, Icely struggled to keep up. As I dodged back to the left, I went in and bit hard on the back of his calf. I hated that I was using Ben-Ben’s tactics, but this wasn’t about herding sheep; this was a life or death struggle, and I would do whatever it took to make sure I was the victor and he was the loser.
“Motherfucker, that hurt!” he shouted as he simultaneously kicked out with his leg.
I winced and jumped back. He caught me on my sensitive snout. I took satisfaction in the fact that I saw his blood leak onto his fake furs.
“Well I guess you drew first blood.” He had touched his wound with his front paw and was looking at the redness there. “It’s not who draws first, though, it’s who draws last…and I plan on pissing on your dead body.” He lunged at me as he spoke.
I had not been expecting his attack and nearly had my skull crushed when the fire-arm club came dangerously close to my head.
“Ooh so close. You won’t be that lucky the next time. I should have just shot you when you were lying in that trunk. Well, lesson learned. Let’s dance,” Icely said menacingly as he kept a watchful eye on me.
I noticed he would raise a hand up to his head when I barked as if the noise somehow was hurting him. I made sure to do it as fast and as loud as I could.
“Shut up, mutt! My head is splitting!”
“Not yet,” I told him. “But soon.”
Icely kept moving closer to the side of the road. It was when he bent down cautiously that I saw the reason why. He was looking for objects to throw at me. He picked up a chunk of the path. I yelped loudly when it struck me in my hindquarters.
“Next one is going to be in that thick dog skull of yours,” he said, bending down to retrieve another piece.
I launched. He stepped back and stood up as I came in. I fell short of my target—which was his face—but I was still able to strike. I bit down on the inside of his thigh and could feel his blood begin to coat my teeth. His cries of agony were punctuated with a swinging of his fire-arm laden paw. It had enough force that I was jarred loose. He’d caught me in my ribs and hit hard enough to knock the air from me. I rolled away, coughing in an attempt to breathe.
“FUCK!” he bellowed. “You must be a bitch, damn near made me a eunuch!”
I backed up. My entire right side hurt and I still had not caught my breath.
“Riiiiley, are you alright?” Ben-Ben asked, running up.
“Stay away from him!” I told the small dog.
Ben-Ben pulled up short.
“Aw, isn’t that cute. You got fucking back-up. How about I kill that little dog so you can watch?”
“Try,” I told him. Something in my growl gave Icely a reason to pause.
“You’re right, I should kill you first. It would be the smart thing to do. But then again, I didn’t get to where I was with my smarts.” He turned and ran towards Ben-Ben, arm upraised and ready to strike.
Ben-Ben’s eyes got huge as the big man barreled down on him. Fear urine spread out below him. He looked like Jess did sometimes when she watched what she called a ‘scary movie’. She was always careful to make sure that I snuggled next to her on the couch when she did so. I honestly didn’t know what she was afraid of; the images on the box never once came out and harmed anyone. I started to run at Icely, but his lead was too great. If Ben-Ben didn’t move, he was going to get hit and hard.
A blur blazed by Ben-Ben and struck Icely’s paw. He yelled out as I watched Patches jump easily to the side, avoiding his swipe.
“Move dog!” she hissed, making sure to stay away from Icely.
“Fucking cat, you scratched me!” he yelled as he held up his paw. Blood oozed from an angry wound on the back of it. “You’re the one that got me sick.”
“You’re welcome,” Patches said, moving away from what appeared to be clumsy attempts to get her. I’d seen Patches elude the entire family easily in an enclosed space when they told her it was time for a flea bath. How Icely thought he was going to catch her out in the open was a mystery.
Patches had delayed him long enough that I was able to catch up. He let out a loud ‘oomph’ as I hit the back of his legs. He fell hard onto his knees. I heard a loud cracking as he did so.
He struck and rolled, dropping the fire-arm to cup one of his legs. “You broke my fucking knee-cap!” he was shrieking. “This can’t be happening to me! I’m getting my ass handed to me by the animal farm.” He started laughing; it was raspy and during parts of it he coughed, but it was a laugh nonetheless.
Jess and Zach had come up and were now watching.
“Bitch…” Icely started. “I mean, Jess, help me. You get me out of this I’ll let you run Vegas. I was…I was just kidding, I was never going to hurt you.” He paused. “Okay, we both know that’s a lie, I was going to fuck you up good and then let everyone else do the same. I’m a businessman, though, and things change. Let’s make a deal.”
Jess stayed where she was. “Kill him, Riley,” she said evenly.
“Wait…wait! You come to my city, unannounced and uninvited I accept you into my home to make you a queen and now you want to kill me? You ungrateful little cunt.”
“He smells bad,” Ben-Ben said to me as he circled around and came up beside me.
Icely kept turning his head from side to side to keep an eye on all of us.
“Sick,” I answered.
“Dead soon,” Patches added.
“Riley, you can’t kill a man in cold blood,” Zach said.
Cold-blood? I’d never heard of such a thing. All blood was hot.
Jess put Zach down and approached the downed man. She brought her paw up. In it was a fire-arm.
“What now, bitch, you going to shoot me?” Icely spat.
We all flinched from the explosion as Icely’s head slammed hard against the ground.
“He’s dead,” Patches said as she watched something leave the ground. Her head moved upwards to track it then whipped down as if whatever was going up had fallen. Then she walked over to Zach.
Jess stood over Icely’s body for a few moments longer, not moving away until Zach began to cry. Ben-Ben raced to catch up or more likely get away, either way, I didn’t fault him. I waited until they had begun to move away before I went over to Icely’s body and sniffed. I wanted to make completely sure he was dead; when I was convinced of this I moved on. For the briefest of moments I thought about urinating on him much like he had threatened me, but then thought better of it. If that sick bully of a man had wanted to do it, then that just meant it was wrong. Even us ‘lowly’ animals don’t debase those we kill for nourishment or even in defense.
The rest of the day was traveled in near silence except for the grunts of Jess as she readjusted Zach or the licking of paws when we paused—not much was said. Jess was having a difficult time with the killing of Icely. I wished I could tell her how necessary it had been and she’d even done him a favor. The fever that racked his body would have killed him eventually anyway, and it would have been a long, drawn out, painful way to go.
The day had darkened up as thick brown-black clouds covered the sky. Rain threatened to fall, and it gave the light a murky quality. The burning-disc was once again starting to hide. It would be difficult for the Wolf-Disc to shine through the cover. I felt nervousness and fear from Jess. This wasn’t the excitement-fear she felt when she watched the image box, though. This was closer to terror. We were stuck
out in the approaching dark, in the open, without shelter or a wheeler. The lack of light meant little to Patches; Ben-Ben and I, we’d be okay, but Jess and Zach would be nearly blind. Two-leggers feared the dark like no other animal. Many creatures thrived when the burning- disc went down…they weren’t one of them. Of all the things the two-leggers can do, it still amazes me how much they can’t.
They can’t see in the dark, they can’t run very fast, they have small teeth, small noses, and no claws. It makes sense that they make the world as tame as possible, because they are ill suited for the wild. The higher power they believe in has a strange sense of humor. He (or she) creates a world full of animals that are completely adapted to their surroundings and then he (or she) drops man in the mix. No wonder they sought out wolves as companions early on—without them they would have never stood a chance. It was a funny thought to help get through the mundane and the pain of the long walk but it would do little to get us out of our present situation.
“A dealership!” Jess exclaimed.
Patches looked over at me with a questioning expression. Holy dog biscuits there was something the smug little feline didn’t know. It mattered little to me that I didn’t either.
“They have wheelers there!” Ben-Ben yapped.
How he knew was beyond me, all I knew was that Jess walked off the hard ground and onto the much softer grass and towards this ‘dealership’. Zach was beginning to get irritable, he was uncomfortable, hungry, and I believe his skins were dirty—at least that was what the smell indicated. The baby was being brave, but even he had his limits. Jess stepped on every noise-producing object she could. Fallen twigs, old liquid holders…didn’t matter to her, she was completely unaware of how dangerous her surroundings were.
“You and Ben-Ben are almost ghosts compared to how noisy Jess is,” Patches said as she moved away just a bit. “She’s going to garner some unwanted attention.”
The cat was right, it was just the way she said it. Not as if we should try to make Jess and Zach quieter, but rather, we should leave them before ‘we’ all got attacked. Luckily, Jess did get quiet and down on her haunches as we came across what I could only describe as a wheeler farm. They were all stopped in neat rows, any and all of them looked fine to me. The light was nearly completely gone, but I thought there was enough left that Jess would also be able to see all the wheelers. However, her hesitation led me to believe otherwise soon enough.
“Do they put gas in new cars?” she spoke barely above a whisper.
“Tell her to hurry up,” Patches said. “I can smell the foul ones.”
I also caught a faint whisper. They were either very far away or inside the building all the wheelers were parked around.
“Riley, you ready? I want to pick out a car; hopefully the keys will be in it. If not, we’ll spend the night in it and find them in the morning.” Jess rose into a half crouch.
We got into what Jess called a ‘cross-over’. She fumbled around quickly, looking for the janglers, but the small light in the car seemed to unnerve her and she kept looking up at it. She was right to be concerned; anything out there would be attracted to it.
“Sleep it is.” She doused the light.
“The baby needs water,” Patches said as Zach slept restlessly.
I did not sleep well that night. I was concerned for Zach and sniffed at him repeatedly to make sure he was all right. I kept a vigilant watch as well. I did not want to get surrounded by the zombies in a wheeler that would not move.
Ben-Ben was in his traditional spot on the floor. He spoke just as I began to hear the morning birds. “There are no floor-fries, Riley. I sure would like some.”
“It’s a new car, stupid dog,” Patches said.
“They still should come with floor-fries.” Ben-Ben scraped at the fake fur flooring, hoping some were hidden deep within.
Jess’ arms stretched out. “Well that was an uncomfortable night. Time to find some keys. Riley, you keep an eye on everything,” she said as she opened her door.
I almost folded her leg over as I rushed out to be by her side. “Not a chance.”
“Okay, I guess you’re coming.” She stuck her head back in. “Patches, keep an eye out.”
“Whatever,” Patches replied.
I glared at her, but she was busy pretending not to notice me as she licked her side.
The closer we got to where Jess thought the janglers were, the more nervous I became. There were definitely zombies in there. Jess walked up to the large viewer and cupped her paws around her face to look in.
“Zombies,” she said so softly that someone without my ears would not have heard. She backed away quickly. “I saw two of them, Riley. Now what? I need those keys. I have got to get Zach some formula and new diapers. This sucks.” She looked down and opened her fire-arm up, making sure she had enough bees. “Two zombies that I can see and four bullets. I can do this, I can do this.”
“We can do this,” I told her. At least I hoped.
“You ready, Riley?”
She began to walk to the door. She let out a startled scream when a zombie banged up against the glass. It had been a small adult female before it became a zombie. She looked like she really enjoyed floor-fries before she started eating people. Her brown dress was in tatters, her teats hung low on her belly, round scabs covered most of her gray skin. A blue-black tongue licked over her bloodstained teeth. Hair hung from her head in clumps. Her calf muscle flopped down onto the ground with each halting step she took to keep up with us.
“That makes at least three zombies,” Jess said as she did her best to avoid the zombie’s gaze much like Patches had only moments earlier to me. I would not have been overly shocked if she began to lick her side or paws. “I need another weapon.” She moved away from the building and to the nearest wheeler. She opened up the rear and after a few moments pulled out a metal stick.
I didn’t like the metal stick—that meant she had to get close. It was always better to send the bees; they traveled far.
“Here we go again, Riley.”
We went back to the front doors. Jess didn’t immediately enter as I thought she would. She waited until the first zombie came to us before opening the door and quickly stepping back. The zombie did not hesitate as it came at a direct line for her.
“Bees,” I whined as the zombie came closer.
Jess stood her ground, the fire-arm in one paw the stick in the other. When I realized she wasn’t going to shoot I advanced on the zombie.
“No, Riley.”
The damaged leg made the zombie slow; she was still coming at us, though. When she came into range, Jess swung the stick, the sickening sound of shattering teeth breaking through the still of the morning. Bits of blood-red bone fell to the ground. The zombie kept moving forward. Jess swung again, hitting it on the side of the head. She had ruptured the skull, but not deeply enough to make the zombie stop its forward progress. Jess was backing up as the zombie kept moving in.
I wanted to bark to scare the zombie off, but I’d learned that didn’t do anything good and would only notify other zombies or people that we were around. Jess stumbled a little as the back of her legs hit the front of a wheeler. She recovered in plenty of time as she had put some distance between herself and the shuffling zombie. She swung again, hitting nearly the same spot on the side of the head. This time the zombie did go down. It landed knees first, much like Icely had, and then rolled to the side, head whipping down onto the hard packed earth. It shook for a few moments and was still. Jess poked it with the stick, making sure it wasn’t playing dead, I suppose. I knew better. Jess had put much of her body weight into both of those killing blows.
“One down,” she said grimly.
“Bees next time,” I pleaded.
We went back to the front door. I made sure to go in first. The smell was overpowering. I could smell little else except for the death and decay. Jess was gagging. Dead bodies had been dragged around the entire floor. Entrails and bones were eve
rywhere.
“Oh, God, this is horrible,” Jess said, bringing her forearm up to her nose.
A zombie had noticed the light coming in from the opening, and when its eyes settled on us, it came running. This one was not hampered with an injury. I barked because Jess was not looking in the right direction; her gaze was on the floor. Harm was not coming from there.
She turned and fired. Her bee smashed into a flower holder. Her next shot hit the zombie in the chest, his steps slowing for a moment as he received the bee. By the time Jess took her third shot, her fire-arm was nearly touching the zombie’s head. Gray brain matter littered the floor, adding its own to the putrid mix.
“One shot,” Jess said more to herself. The third zombie was having a difficult time getting towards us as it repeatedly slipped, not able to get traction on the slippery organs. Jess’ paw was shaking as she held the fire-arm up. “Wait,” she was saying over and over.
“Wait for what? Shoot it,” I begged.
“Another one?”
We both saw as a zombie came out from a back room. Jess was alternating her looks from one to the other. The zombie that had come from the back was further away but was moving quicker towards us. The floor must have been cleaner where it was. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like they were going to get to us at about the same time.
Jess was looking from the door to the slipping zombie to the running zombie and back again. We could not walk any further; Zach wouldn’t make it. The janglers were the most important thing. I moved into the pathway of the running zombie.
He was running too fast for me to feel confident that I would be able to get a bite in that would debilitate him. I could not take the chance that he got by me. His eyes were fixated on Jess, so much so that he did not run around things so much as into them until they yielded, sending desks and chairs flying. That would be my chance. I turned so my side was facing him and his right leg struck it. I howled in pain as my back end began to spin. His left leg came up and hit me under my jaw, sending me up off the ground for a moment. The pain I felt was momentary though as I celebrated. I had achieved what I had desired. The zombie was falling to the floor, fast and hard.
