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Karma backpedaled with a squeal to escape the writhing mass of snakes. She still clutched one hissing creature between her teeth, and paused to shake it hard, the same way she shook the tug-toy during games. She shook it again, growling around the mass in her mouth, and took satisfaction in the whip-cracking action until the snake stopped moving. She trembled, not wanting to release the prize and have it slither and chase her. Her heart thu-thumped even harder when the cucumber smell combined with the rusty taste of the snake’s blood. After one final shake, she let go and the ropy length fell limp from her jaws. She licked her mouth, wrinkling her nose and showing her teeth at the taste while she tracked the grassy twitches and shudders that revealed the reptilian progress of the others.
“Karma! Puppy-puppy-puppy, COME, where are you?”
The girl’s voice rose above the freshening wind, and Karma’s head jerked high. Her silent snarls gave way to soft mewls and whines she couldn’t suppress, even when she clamped her jaws tight to mute the sound. Crying showed fear, fear that made littermates bite harder. Karma didn’t want the snakes to bite so Karma acted brave, she stood tall with her shoulders squared to challenge the threat.
But her ears kept slicking back, and the stub of her tail snugged tight to her bottom, hiding her unique scent the way people covered their faces. She yearned to be far, far away from this wet, strange dark world with scaly smelly creatures. Karma yawned. She wanted her mother, would even welcome the girl’s arms. She would be brave another day.
“Karma!”
Lifting her blunt muzzle to the sky, Karma called back with a high-pitched warbling howl.
“Good puppy! I’m coming!” Sodden footfalls drew closer, with scrubby branches crashing and switching as the distant figure plowed through the dense vegetation.
She wanted to race to meet Lia. Karma’s paws danced forward of their own volition, but stopped short at the sea of snakes that still thrashed in the grass, massing between her and the path. One of the resting creatures, coiled like a leash, sprang forward. Karma spun, crashed through drenched brush, away, away, racing to put many dog-lengths between herself and the snakes, deaf to the strange gushing water sound that grew louder as she drew near.
“Karma! Oh no, Karma wait!”
A snake fell out of the sky and looped around Karma’s throat. She screamed, rolled and kicked hard to escape its constriction, and the mushy ground fell away. She slalomed on a raft of mud, bumping and thumping to pinball off trees and rocks, yelping with each blow as the leather snake’s tail—a very long one—slithered and chased in her wake. She forgot to be brave and keened a nonstop siren until the sluice pitched her off the collapsed roadway into the air for half a puppy breath. Karma plunged into the rush of a newborn river, and sank beneath the surface.
Water filled Karma’s mouth and slammed her into a broken tree before pulling her back under. The flood tumbled her paws over tail. She clawed and churned muddy sludge to foam until she splashed her way to the surface, gasping for breath.
Motion caught Karma’s attention. A small figure chased after, yelling Karma’s name over and over.
The girl! Karma thrashed and cried, but the voracious water refused to let her go.
The girl slid to her knees into the deluge, but managed to grab a tree branch and claw her way up out of the flood. She raced the twisty path beside the water and soon was ahead of Karma. “Hang on, hang on, baby-dog.” Lia grabbed a nearby limb, and shoved the length out across the surface of the water.
Karma’s splashing reached the tip of the branch before the flood yanked it out of the girl’s grasp and floated it away. Karma followed, barely paddling now, and reserving all her strength just to grab quick breaths. With a final courageous effort, Karma flailed with all four paws and lunged toward a pile of floating debris. She missed.
The water chortled and swept her away.
The snake tightened around her neck, and Karma whimpered and shut her eyes. Sometimes a good-dog couldn’t hide her fear . . .
Hot breath warmed her neck when Karma bumped up against the detritus. She never questioned how or why her muzzle suddenly rose above the water, just took grateful gulps of cold night air. She recognized the familiar feel of gentle teeth grasping her neck. Karma relaxed against the fur of a strange black shepherd that held her safe above the flood.
