“Is that a body?” Jess asked, looking off to her right into the gas station parking lot.
“She acts like that’s the first one she’s seen,” Patches said, glancing quickly.
“This is hard on her,” Zach replied.
“He looks familiar.” Ben-Ben had his paws on the window as his head turned. “He was one of the men from Jumper’s house. I miss Jumper, he promised me some bacon snacks.”
“Are you sure?” Patches asked. She turned to look at the now rapidly fading scene.
“I saw him,” Ben-Ben said, thinking about his long lost snack.
“When?” Patches asked.
“When I was scratching my bum,” Ben-Ben said.
Zach let out a small laugh.
“Disgusting dogs, what do humans see in you?” Patches asked, turning back around.
“That’s good news, right?” Zach asked. “One less of the bad people.”
“There are still four of them, Baby-that-should-not-talk. And how I wish you wouldn’t,” she added softly.
“I heard that,” Zach said.
“No kidding,” Patches dripped sarcasm. “There are still four of them, though.”
“I wish Riley were here, she’d know what to do,” Ben-Ben said sadly.
The next fifteen minutes were ridden in silence, as each occupant in the car was lost in thought.
“Zombies!” Jess said as the car screeched to a halt.
Ben-Ben once again fell to the floor. “You should really brace yourself better,” Patches said.
She had her front paws on the dashboard, her tail twitching back and forth as she looked out upon the zombies ahead of them. They had not yet seen the stopped car. She noticed they were busy with something. The runnels of blood flowing down the street were the only clue she needed to figure out exactly what it was.
“Too much of it to be a dog.”
“Of what?” Zach asked.
“If I was talking to you, I would have started with Baby—”
“That should not talk. I get it,” Zach murmured.
A couple of the zombies on the fringe of the feeding frenzy turned around to look straight at Jess. There was no hesitation as they started to run at her.
“Shit,” Jess said.
“Shit,” Zach mimicked.
“I will agree with you this time,” Patches said.
“Oh, I don’t like them.” Ben-Ben said as he stared between the two seats at the onrushing zombies.
“You don’t say?” Patches asked, her tail gaining in momentum as the zombies neared.
“What?” Ben-Ben asked. “I did say.”
“Stupid dog.” Patches meowed loudly at Jess, “Move, girl! It’s clear behind us!”
Patches was flung back into her seat as Jess pressed down hard on the gas.
“You should brace yourself better,” Ben-Ben said happily, his tongue hanging out.
“Shut up, dog.” Patches was trying her best to make it look like that was what she had meant to happen.
“Good one, Ben-Ben,” Zach said.
The car rocked as a zombie struck the quarter panel. “Oh, God.” Jess tried to swerve to avoid more of them.
“She’s really close to the guardrail!” Zach looked over to his side.
Patches’ eyes grew wide as she looked down the steep embankment. The headlight on her side shattered as Jess hit two more zombies, her left front beginning to crumple from the assault. Sparks flew up on the right side as she was forced into the metal. Patches dove into the backseat and to the far side of the car away from the drop-off. The scraping of metal on metal was deafening within the confines of the vehicle.
“I just pooped,” Ben-Ben said. He hopped into the vacated front seat, partly to get away from his ‘mistake’ and partly because he got to sit up front for once.
Patches was terrified as zombies were pressing up along her side. Jess was single-minded in her determinedness to pull away from them.
“Faster!” Patches howled.
“Yeah, what the cat said!” Zach wailed.
“That looks like fireworks!” Ben-Ben sounded fascinated as he peered at the shower of sparks.
“You’re terrified of fireworks,” Patches reminded him.
“Yeah, you hid under the table and peed,” Zach agreed.
“You guys know about that?” Ben-Ben sounded ashamed. “Whoa, that’s a big dog,” he said as the sparks stopped.
Jess had finally pulled the car away from its fiery embrace with the safety-rail. “We’re past!” she shouted triumphantly.
Patches let out a sigh as she looked at the zombies giving chase behind them.
“The big dog is chasing a smaller dog, I think they’re playing,” Ben-Ben said, his tail wagging furiously. “I want to play!”
Patches came up next to Ben-Ben. “That’s a wolf.”
“I just got here. Do you want me to move?” Ben-Ben asked.
“It can’t be,” Patches said.
“What?” Zach asked.
Patches thought for a moment about not clarifying her words. She didn’t know if she thought better about it because Ben-Ben would eventually figure out what was going on or if it was just the right thing to do…at least by dog and human standards. The right thing for her would be to let the wolf finish off Riley once and for all so that the meddling mutt would not guilt her into helping ‘the pack’ at the most inopportune times—times when she could save herself and avoid personal injury at every cost.
“It’s Riley,” she finally said.
“That big dog is Riley? It doesn’t look like Riley.” Ben-Ben was looking hard.
“The other one, dumb-dumb,” Patches said.
“Oh yeah, that’s Riley!” Ben-Ben started barking excitedly. “She sure does look like she’s having fun.”
“You’re a dolt, she’s running for her life,” Patches hissed.
“Patches, you have to get Jess’ attention!” Zach exclaimed.
She knew if she did nothing in the next ten seconds it would be too late. Even from this distance, Patches could tell Riley was flagging. She thought very highly of herself as she pierced the relative quiet in the car with her wail.
“What, Patches?” Jess asked, looking over.
Ben-Ben was staring out the window, his tail going a mile a minute and Patches was caterwauling at her. She leaned over to try and get the same view as the small dog. “Oh, my God!” The car surged ahead on an intercept course; she began to frantically beep the horn.
“This is fun!” Ben-Ben yipped loudly over the noise.