Ben-Ben awoke from his nap with a start. “Rileyyyy!” he cried. “The zombies are coming and they took the bacon!”
“There’s no zombies, no Riley, and certainly no bacon,” Patches said, looking down at the small dog that had rolled off the seat.
“What?” Ben-Ben asked, trying desperately to come up from the depths of his dream state and also from the car floor. “Riley hasn’t come back yet? She wouldn’t leave us.”
“It’s alright,” Zach soothed, his small, fat fist reaching out to touch the dog’s head reassuringly. Ben-Ben moved in closer when he realized the baby couldn’t reach.
“It’s far from alright,” Patches said.
“Ben-Ben doesn’t need to know that,” Zach admonished the cat as he ruffled the fur on Ben-Ben’s muzzle.
“Yeah, Ben-Ben doesn’t need to know,” Ben-Ben said, his eyes half closed as he enjoyed the ministrations from the baby.
“You guys all awake?” Jess asked; her voice had a lilted anxiety to it. Even Patches, who was not all that in-tune with other beings’ feelings, could feel the stress radiating off the girl.
The cat, much to her chagrin, found herself asking ‘What would Riley do?’ She moved off her seat and onto the center console so she could rub up against Jess, hopefully alleviating some of the anxiety they both felt.
“What am I going to do, Patches?” Jess asked absently, rubbing the top of the cat’s head.
“Well, you can keep doing that for now,” Patches replied, stretching so her head brushed up against Jess’ shoulder.
“What am I doing?” Jess asked as tears fell from her face. “I lost Riley and Mia, and I’m trying to find a boy I broke up with a year ago. Even if he wanted to be with me, I’m sure he’s dead just like everybody else!” By the time she got to the end of her sentence she was near to hysterics, so much so that Zach began to cry in response.
“Everyone’s not dead!” Zach wailed.
“I miss Santa!” Ben-Ben began to whine.
Patches moved back to her seat next to Jess. Riley would never let this happen. At one time, she thought getting rid of the dog was the best thing possible for the group…well, at least for her. But now she wasn’t sure…not so sure at all. That angered her. She was going to stick her claws straight into Riley’s snout the next time she saw her.