Doggone Shame
1
I’m hungry.
Dog had only been gone from Safe Haven for a few days, but he was missing the mess. Out here, surrounded by mountains and wilderness, there was only whatever food he could hunt.
Nasty shit, Dog whined. Brady ruined me.
Dog stared intently at the small town below him. He’d been studying it for hours and hadn’t witnessed a single movement–human or animal. Whining again, he rose and made his way down the street. The farthest building held what he wanted, but he wasn’t at all happy about it.
Always scratching my ears and wipin’ rain from my ass. Made me into a damn house pet!
Dog padded down the weed-dotted street, wincing a bit at the soreness. His paws had been used to the slow shifts and canvas floors until Angela’s war and he was still aching from all that traveling. The pads of his feet would build up again and become stronger over the next weeks, but until then, it was easy for him to imagine curling up inside the building he was now facing. A long rest already sounded good.
He had only taken one so far, during the ash storm. The urge to catch the wild female was too strong to ignore for long and he’d pushed on even though he knew breathing the ash was a bad idea. He had to catch up.
And I won’t if I keep stopping to hunt, Dog scolded himself. Easy meals from here on.
Dog went to the main doors of the brick building and scratched gently with his paw, testing.
The door swung open with a loud groan and Dog’s spirits picked up. Any of his fellow canines would already be dead or gone and there was little reason for the humans to come here now that the animals had turned on them. The pound was a perfect place to hunt up a meal that he didn’t have to stalk, chase, and then kill while listening to it scream for mercy.
The smell was old and empty, the sounds the same, and Dog eased into the pound with nerves mocking him. He’d only spent time in a place like this right after being captured, but the experience had stayed with him.
Dog ignored the many rooms with their desks and cabinets, following his nose down the long hall. The doors at the end swung open at his touch and he padded through.
The swinging door came back hard and fast, and smacked him in the hip.
Dog jumped forward, stifling a yelp, and then snorted in annoyance at himself as he spotted the cause.
What am I, a pup? he complained.
The doors continued to swing, stirring the air and Dog caught a whiff of what he was both dreading and anticipating. He followed the scent down another long hall, this one ending at a steel door with a handle that he nudged down with his paw.
The odor was powerful–one of rot and of abandonment. Humans hadn’t been here in a long time. They’d fled and left their animals to die.
Dog almost understood this time. He’d been locked in the bottom of Brady’s home, but he’d witnessed and heard the panic and understood the humans had all been in fear for their lives. It was the first time he’d ever been able discover an excuse for their behavior.
Dog padded down the row of cages without glancing into any of them. He kept his gaze on the door at the end. It was where the food had come from. During his weeks in that cage, Dog had spent the miserable hours studying the people and the patterns. When he realized the humans weren’t evil, just inconsiderate, it had helped him to control himself and not attack.
Dog was surprised when the hall ended with a rear door to the outside pound, showing an overcast sky. He had assumed there would be more rooms and retraced his steps, now inspecting each cage to determine if he had missed a door.
The skeletons bothered him more than he would have ever admitted. Caging his kind had been a way of life and after living with the humans and learning their reasons for such things, Dog had even agreed. Nevertheless, to be here and witness their bodies was another view–one he wished the humans also had to experience.
As he’d figured out, one of the cages was actually a gate and Dog leapt it in a two-lunge process that balanced him on a file cabinet and allowed him to spot another series of doors. One of those was open and the comforting smell of crunchy food came.
Not used to such a slippery surface under his paws, Dog slid as he jumped.
The crash of cabinets was loud, but he landed in the office chair and rolled to the ground without being hurt.
The cabinet he’d fallen from toppled over and smashed through a side of the gate. It was now possible to squeeze through the bottom and Dog was glad he didn’t have to try to jump over it later. One fall a day was enough.
Dog entered the feeding area with a feeling of pride, counting five full bags, one of which was already open.
Dog plunged in and began to eat, moaning, Not the kind I love, but good! Good!
Crack!
Thunder rumbled a few seconds after the lightning strike and the rain soon followed.
Dog kept eating. He emptied a quarter of the bag before he came up for air, belching and farting as he sat down.
Next?
A drink.
Dog went to the opposite side of the room, to the deep boxes that smelled like water. He rose up, paws on the edges, and found the sinks dry. He licked the faucet, able to taste the chemicals left from the water. It had definitely come from here.
Dog tried to remember watching the humans gather water in Safe Haven. It had come from big blue buckets with white stems. They had rotated those stems!
Dog stretched his neck out and pushed on the silver stem by the faucet, but it didn’t react. He danced on his hind legs to get close and used his front paw to swipe at it.
Water gushed from the faucet, splashing him. The stream immediately became smaller and smaller, but the hole in the bottom was plugged and the basin slowly began to fill with rusty water.
Dog didn’t mind. He drank his fill, not stopping even when the trickle of liquid turned to drops and then halted. He hadn’t had a good, long drink in days.
Dog dropped down from the sink, listening to the storm beat against his shelter. He had no intentions of going out in the rain, especially on a full stomach. He was searching for a place to nap.
A pile of empty dog food sacks in the corner was inviting and Dog nosed under a few of them, inhaling deeply. It smelled a bit like home, like Brady’s backseat, and he quickly fell into a dreamless slumber.
2
Dog jerked awake to the sound of lapping and crunching.
The noises echoed through the brick building, sounding like an army of animals was in the room with him.
Dog stayed still.
The crunching became quieter after a while, as did the lapping, and Dog guessed both sources had run out. That would mean at least three animals his size to have cleared the bag of food so fast. And what else is my size? Wild dogs.
The wolf tensed, ready to spring out, and then the smell of the mutts hit him.
It’s…her! She’s in the room!
Dog stiffened further. So was her pack. He was trapped in the corner by a pack of wild wolves.
Unable to remain still with her so near, Dog raised his snout a bit to get a glimpse.
And found her nose inches from his.
The female wolf was resting on the floor near him, waiting for her pack to finish eating. Her startled gaze met Dog’s, neck fur bristling.
Dog scanned her pack, counting, evaluating, and then regarded the female. In that glance, he conveyed his interest and a warning. “I’ll kill all of them.”
The female’s snout drew up, a low growl rumbling, and Dog pushed his Alpha power as hard as he could. “You don’t see me!”
Stung by the command, the female whimpered and rose, retreating.
“What is it?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Where do we kill?”
The female’s pack circled her protectively, not finding whatever it was that she had, but ready to rip apart whatever she told them to.
“It stinks here.” The female wolf lowered her snout in disgust. “Let’s go.”
The pack dutifully followed her from the feed room, none of them understanding there was more food. The closed bags didn’t have a smell and were discounted.
Paws and nails echoed for only a moment and then the pack was gone.
Dog stayed where he was, positive he’d gotten inside the female’s mind. He would be okay to finish resting here, and knowing she was near would help. He hadn’t been sure how far ahead of him she was. Now, he would be able to catch up to her within hours.
Dog quickly returned to his dreams of the female. Her scent covered the room.
3
The female took her pack to the cave they’d sheltered in overnight, all of them eager for sleep in the late afternoon drowsy period. The food would become needed energy, but until then, they would be sluggish and irritated.
The pack was asleep in minutes, but the female lingered at the entrance. Her thoughts were scattered and that was unusual for her. Even when the Angry Wind had come and forced them to go north, her thoughts hadn’t been this confused. She had never chosen a stranger over her own pack.
He wasn’t a threat to us, she excused her behavior, knowing that wasn’t true. The big wolf she’d been nose to nose with was a killer.
He interests me.
The female lay down in the entrance, enjoying the blowing spray that her pack avoided when they could. She didn’t have an aversion to the things that they did and she was capable of questioning the Wind’s orders even while following them. Her pack was single-minded. They wanted to go north, join the others, and attack humans. It’s all they thought about after food, drink, and mating. In fact, if not for her season being so close, she wouldn’t even be with these males.
Her scent had pulled them as she traveled north, but females were the leaders, giving her time to pick a mate from among them. Then they would fight it out and the survivor would be her new owner. The female had avoided mating for almost a year now, but the season was closing in on her and the choice would be taken away.
Her thoughts returned to the strange wolf, the huge male who could have attacked and killed her before her pack could help. Why hadn’t he? Surely, he knew there were already too many males around. Perhaps he would also fight for her. The thought was a good one, a ray of hope, and the female went to sleep.
During their rest, the males woke to find her away from them and joined her at the entrance, shielding her from the awful rain with their bodies in hopes of currying favor.
The last wolf to pile on was a brute. He nosed and bit his way to the bottom until he was covering the female with his body and his scent. She would be his, no matter who she chose.
4
Dog had little trouble tracking the female to the cave. He’d torn open another bag of the food and had a full stomach again, but the need for a drink had brought him out of the brick shelter sooner than he had planned. He had found the scents of unclean water abundant, but the stream near the cave was pristine and it was obvious to Dog that he was supposed to come here. He didn’t know why, but he expected it to be bad. His time in Safe Haven had taught him that survival was nearly impossible when you were alone.
The wild female’s scent filled Dog’s mouth and he opened his jaws to catch a stronger version of it. Alone or not, trap or not, he wanted a taste of that, wanted to roll in it.
And I will.
The cave was low and wide, too dark for even his vision to peer through. Dog sighed in resignation. The things I’ll do for a bitch.
He stepped into the cave, waiting, and let his instincts tell him which set of appearing red orbs was the biggest threat.
Death appeared in the rear and Dog lunged that way.
Outside the cave, the female waited. It wasn’t time for her to choose, but she’d underestimated the intelligence of those with her. Her pack had developed a keen dislike of man’s ways and even after using mimicking his methods to gain a meal and drink, they hated this big stranger.
Snarls and yelps of agony echoed from the cave and spread through the damp woods, making the female whine. She didn’t want the stranger driven off or killed. She wanted to get to know him and study his ways. He wasn’t going hungry. Watching his big body pad into the cave had been mesmerizing.
Silence fell for an instant and two bleeding shadows fled the cave, both from her pack. They took off into the town below, but the female doubted they would go far.
Ugly noises came again and the female was unable to stand it. She darted inside, unsure if she would break up the fight or help kill the stranger to have peace in her thoughts.
5
Dog snarled in warning as the last two wolves approached him. The bodies of the others, in various conditions, were strewn about the cave.
“Stay back!” Dog growled. “Pain will come!”
The big brute’s snout drew up in fury and he lunged with the intensity that he’d been lacking before as he let the inferior mutts fight for him.
Dog winced, whining as the wolf’s teeth sank into his shoulder, but the fight in Safe Haven had prepared him for this and he struck back viciously, going for the throat.
He found a grip and squeezed.
“Stop!”
The female’s command wasn’t the same as an Alpha, but it was still hard to resist and Dog reluctantly let go of the throat between his powerful jaws.
“The Wind has forbidden killing each other!” the female shouted angrily. “You’ll bring her against us. Go away!”
Dog didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to be run off after winning the fight. He strutted toward the female with light steps.
“I’m Dog.”
The female gaped at him as if he were stupid.
“Why do you take the name of a human pet?” she asked, confused. “Humans are the enemy.”
“Not true,” Dog refuted, already positive he couldn’t win that argument. “I like being called Dog.”
“Why?”
“It takes people by surprise, gives me the advantage,” Dog explained, aware of the other wolves slinking toward the cave entrance. Except for Brute, who stayed on the ground, growling lowly as he observed them.
“We use that tactic as well,” the female replied. “Humans are easy to fool. They never expect it when we attack.”
Dog understood then. He wasn’t going to be able to convince her to be peaceful. Her pack hunted humans and if he stayed with her, he would have to do the same. It was disappointing.
The female was regarding Dog with expressions that Brute didn’t like and he found his courage, raising to his feet.
“This isn’t over!” he growled at Dog.
“He sounds like a human,” Dog commented, confident it would be taken as it was meant–a giant insult.
Brute lunged forward, aiming for Dog’s belly, and the female lashed out in a lightning quick reaction that surprised both males.
Her teeth sank into Brute’s nose and he yelped loudly, jerking away to flee the cave.
The other wolves who had survived Dog’s defenses also limped out, leaving Dog and the female alone.
Dog sniffed the air and was able to tell it wasn’t time for her to pick a mate yet. Wanting to be in the running, but needing to be loyal to Brady and the Safe Haven code, Dog lingered, torn.
“Will you travel with us?”
Dog snorted. “No.”
The female took a hesitant step closer, drawn to his golden eyes and the power evident in his body. Even Brute was smaller than Dog.
“Wolves mate for life. I can’t pick you.”
Dog held still, and swiveled at the last minute to deny her the scent of his breath. It would tell her a lot of things about him and he wanted the same information, only from a fresher source.
The female inched by him, tail coming up and Dog whined eagerly to encourage her. She rubbed against his hip and he spun around, burying his snout under her tail.
The female pranced away, circling, and found Dog padding toward the entrance of the cave.
“Wait!” she whined.
Dog didn’t stop and the noises of another vicious fight filled the air seconds later.
The female realized he was eliminating the others, driving them off, and felt the voices in her mind ease. Dog could defend her when she swelled with pups and he was smart enough to keep her fed while she nursed those children. Other males would still join their pack, as would the occasional female, but in the end, she knew Dog would be her choice because at this moment, she was at peace.
Dog was running on pure animal instinct as he struck the smaller male and sent him rolling down the muddy embankment. The Brute tried to come up behind him, but Dog spun in time to resume the death grip on his rival’s throat. This time, he snapped his jaws shut and enjoyed the coppery taste of victory with the scent of a perfect female still ringing through his nose.
The winds picked up suddenly, driven by rage, and Dog felt the tree branch coming before it hit, but reacted too late to avoid it. The heavy wood slammed into his leg, snapping the bone.
Dog brayed in agony, scaring all the wolves, who fled the area.
The female was the last one to go and she stared mournfully, watching as the tree collapsed and Dog was buried.
Greif set into the female’s heart, thick and deep, and she threw her head back.
The howl was haunting, and it gave away her location, bringing the surviving pack members to surround her with their licks of condolence on the loss of her chosen mate.
While they comforted her, they also used their bodies to get her away from the area, continuing their trek north.
Under the rotten tree, Dog didn’t move. Unconscious, he was sheltered by the canopy and he stayed that way as afternoon faded into dusk.
6
“Can we eat it?”
“Yeah, that’s not against the rules!”
“If it will die anyway, we’re supposed to eat it, you idiots! Wind doesn’t want the humans to be able to find food.”
Dog slowly became aware of the voices, but the pain in his leg almost drowned them out. It took a minute for him to realize his level of danger had increased.
“How do we get it out?”
“We don’t. We’ll chew off parts for a quick snack and then go. We have to get north.”
North! Dog whimpered, struggling to get free.
“It’s a full meal. I want to pull it out.”
“Go on. I’m going north.”
“I’m hungry!”
The feel of a fight coming helped Dog concentrate and he sent out a sharp blast. “I will take you to food. Enough for all of you.”
“What did he say?”
“Food! He said food for all of us!”
“He lies.”
Dog stopped struggling and used his strength to push out an Alpha command tone. “I never lie!”
Dog waited as the coyotes discussed his offer.
“We need food! The pups cry all day.”
“He lies!”
“We have to have food!”
Snarls echoed and wet, wiry bodies thumped against the ground and each other.
“Stop!” Dog tried to get their attention, but the fight moved away from his burial place and he groaned in annoyance and pain. Damn coyotes were known for being unstable.
Dog squirmed around, hoping to discover a place where he could wriggle free, but the pain in his leg limited his mobility. He realized he could die here.
Suddenly cold, Dog shivered and drew his body into as tight a ball as he could. He would warm up and wait for the next opportunist to wander by. He’d caught the scents of dozens of other animals while tracking the female here. He just had to wait.
“Is it okay to eat it now?”
“If we can get it out, yes.”
The rumbling of branches being pawed away woke Dog and he held in a groan at the jostling.
“Hurry! Hungry!”
“We only eat a little. We have to take it to the others.”
“Right! The others!”
Eager paws raked the logs and leaves away to reveal Dog still curled into his ball, but it was obvious that the two coyotes were too weak and too thin to drag his body anywhere.
Dog chose his words carefully, not moving yet. “There’s food in bags down in the tall building.”
The coyotes yelped in fear, running away.
Dog wanted to laugh, but his leg was flaring into throbs and lances that poked and bit at him from the inside. He was free of his grave, but he now had to find a place to layup that had a supply of food and water. Tracking down his female while hurting like this wasn’t possible.
Dog forced himself to limp to the town, where he at least had a meal waiting and there was a chance that he could find more water from human sources.
It took him a long time to get back into the room and it was a chore to get up on the sink. He was lucky to discover a thin layer of water in the bottom. He consumed it gratefully.
It was gone too soon and he limped to the far corner of the room, unable to make himself take cover under the bags this time. He’d already been buried once today.
7
The sound of paws alerted Dog to company and he tried to gather himself for fighting, but the pain in his leg had increased over the hours. His leg was nearly double in size, and Dog swallowed a whimper as he got set to lunge.
“I smell it!”
“He’s here! We will go!”
“We will find out if he was telling the truth!”
Dog recognized the yapping of coyotes and settled down in relief. He hadn’t thought the mangy animals possessed enough courage to come.
The first coyote to peer through the door spotted the bags first and rushed into the room, moaning in delight. “Food! Food! We eat!”
The others in the hall came more slowly, but the sight of their pack mate scarfing down crunchy bits was too much to resist and they joined the feast with whines and moans of ecstasy.
Dog snorted, drawing instant attention that turned to terror. He quickly put his head down in a universal sign of submission and only a few of the gray coyotes fled.
“It lives!”
He told us where the food was!”
“We must go!”
“It’s hurt. Shut up.”
Dog stayed still as the crunching gradually resumed, actually feeling a bit comforted at not being alone. How odd.
Dog studied the large pack as they ate, observing thin, hard bodies and too many pups to feed. The pack was doomed unless they had a strong leader.
“I might be able to find more food,” Dog told them when the crunching settled down.
“The Wind told us to stop eating each other,” one of the coyotes answered between bites. “We’re going north to meet the others.”
“Where is your leader?” Dog asked, wincing as his leg throbbed harder.
“She died at the human’s place. We were there for food and the woman tricked our breeder into a box. We waited, but left after we heard her howls of hurt.”
“The woman might help your leg,” the second coyote stated. “But watch out for the box.”
“I will.” Dog shut his eyes, weary. “My thanks.”
“Where can we get the waters?” coyote One yipped. “The pups drink nothing today.”
“There’s a stream near where you dug me out,” Dog grunted. As a joke, he sent, “Bring me a bowl.”
The ideas forming in his mind weren’t appealing, but Dog knew his odds of survival alone, hurting this way, were slim. When the coyotes returned, he would discover where the healing woman lived and try to get there. If he couldn’t, then he would have to call out to Brady–something he didn’t want to do yet. In fact, it might be something he didn’t want at all.
He’d been reborn to this life to serve a sentence and a cushy setup in a human camp hadn’t been a part of that judgement, he was sure. If he wanted another life, another chance, he had to atone during this one and that couldn’t be done while neatly heeling at a human’s hip.
8
The coyotes insisted on following him to the human’s home.
Dog had hoped to get there and lay low for a while to check things out. He hoped to avoid the box he’d been warned about, but the coyotes had other plans. After the two long, painful hours it took to get there, they howled wildly and then disappeared into the shadows.
Dog stood there, stunned at their stupidity, and missed the opening of the small cabin’s front door.
“Aww. Poor baby has a hurt paw.”
Dog spun to discover a tall woman in faded jeans standing on the porch, gazing at him with sympathy.
So much for laying low and checking things out, he huffed.
“I can help with that,” the woman crooned gently, stroking her long brown ponytail in thoughtful consideration. “But you’ll have to go to sleep for a while. Come on, big wolf. Come have a bite to eat and a drink.”
Dog stayed where he was as she took things from a basket near the door. He understood the food would be drugged, but he wasn’t worried about that. It was the box that he was concerned with. He had to know he could get out of it before she put him in it.
The woman set two bowls on the bottom stair and moved toward the door. “I’ll wait in here, big boy.”
Dog snorted, thinking she sounded like she did this often. That would mean a possible kennel. It would explain the coyote’s impressions of a box, but Dog could get through nearly any gate. It was why he’d been sent away and eventually ended up with Brady. The local pound had gotten tired of replacing the cages he’d destroyed. He’d never attacked people. He just hated to be caged.
Dog made his way to the rear of the home, unable to stop a whimper when he jostled the broken leg too hard.
“Well, you’re a smart one, huh?”
The woman was in her backyard, a gun in her hand.
Dog didn’t want to scare her, but he didn’t think he could go much further. He chose to allow fate to make the choice and lay down, whimpering.
The woman approached him slowly and Dog stared at the gun. If she was evil, he was in even more trouble.
Sally wasn’t sure what to do. The large wolf obviously wasn’t going to eat or drink the drugged food, but that leg would have to be set and casted.
She knelt down tensely, gun ready.
Dog didn’t budge as her hand came toward him and he groaned as she gently stroked his ears. Trying to show that he wasn’t dangerous to her, Dog wagged his tail.
“Aww. Poor baby.” Sally hated his pain and decided she would help him as much as he allowed. “Hang on and let me get my supplies.”
Dog remained laying down as she went into the house, but his head swiveled alertly, searching for the box. He didn’t detect a kennel, but he did see a shed and a small barn, either of which he could escape.
The woman emerged a few minutes later with a large kit that she took things from and spread out on the grass next to him.
Dog noticed the gun was still in her hand, but it was no longer pointed at him.
“I have to give you shots,” Sally stated, slowly laying the gun down so that she could fill all the syringes she would need. “If we can get by this part, you won’t feel the rest.”
She held out the needle for the wolf to sniff, as she did with all of her patients. “It will sting a bit, but then your leg will feel better.”
Dog liked the sound of that and refused to flinch when she used a fast movement to stick him. The medicine was working before she drew back to protect herself from any reaction and Dog groaned again, body relaxing.
Better!
Dog’s vision blurred and he struggled to stay alert as the woman stuck him again, though this time, he didn’t feel it. He also didn’t feel her touch as she rolled him onto his side and carefully arranged his head and leg so that he was breathing clearly and she had access to his injury.
Sally worked fast, not confident that the amount of painkillers she’d used was enough to keep such a large animal out for very long. The fact that his eyes were still open and almost alert was enough to convince her that haste was needed.
The break wasn’t bad, but it did require putting the bones together and she did it with a practice born from years of experience. The most common injury for domestic animals allowed outside was a broken or bitten limb. She’d fixed hundreds of them during her time as a veterinarian’s assistant.
Sally had the leg finished and casted in less than ten minutes, proud of herself for helping another innocent creature. She put away her supplies and cleaned up, gun now in her hip holster. She’d only had to use it a few times, but those awful moments had been enough to convince her to keep it handy.
Sally rotated to check on the wolf and found him on his good feet, sniffing at the cast.
Sally’s hand went to her gun, but she didn’t draw it yet. “That might itch a little. Try to leave it alone for a week or two and you’ll be as good as new.”
Dog was grateful the pain was gone, and he slowly limped toward the woman’s porch, still blurry.
He curled up carefully under her porch swing, almost hidden by the vegetable plants in pots and bags. He faded off to sleep right away.
Sally glanced from the wolf to her barn, where she had cages for the animals until they were ready to be out on their own. There was no way she could get him in there if he didn’t want to go, but later, when he was hungry and thirsty, she could drug him then and use the sled to get him to the barn.
Content she had things under control, Sally went into the house and resumed sewing on the blanket she’d had in her lap when the howling started. Winter would be fierce this year, but she would be ready to last. Let the other survivors fight and die together. She had her cabin, her cellar, and her animals. I don’t need anything else.
9
“I don’t think I can do this, momma.”
“She has food. We need food.”
“But she’s that sweet lady from the vet’s office! She don’t mean no harm to anyone.”
“She has food. Are you hungry?”
“Aw, ma, you know I am!”
“Then shut up and do as I told you. Get on up there and knock.”
Dog’s fur bristled in anger as the pair came from the dusk shadows, the smaller girl limping.
“Hey! Can you help us?”
Dog understood it was a trap and inched from under the swing. The pair didn’t notice him.
“Who’s there?” Sally called from behind the door. She’d been sleeping peacefully, comforted for some reason by the thought of a wolf on her porch.
“We need help. My leg is hurt.”
Dog heard the lock click on the door and saw the taller woman’s hand behind her.
Sally pushed the screen door open, peering through the shadows. “Do I know you?”
“We seen you at the vet!” the younger girl stated eagerly, taking a step forward. “You were always so nice.”
“I thought your leg was hurt,” Sally commented, flipping off the safety on her gun.
“Down!” the mother ordered and the younger girl dropped to her knees.
Dog lunged at the mother.
Sally retreated into the house at the sight of the woman’s gun and she started to aim her own at the wolf, but couldn’t. He was right and they were wrong. Judgment had been passed.
Dog felt no sympathy for the screaming woman now trying to shoot him and squeezed his jaws together around her neck. He increased the pressure until blood flowed and she stopped moving.
The younger girl screamed in rage and grief, hands going for weapons, and Sally put her gun to the girl’s head and pulled the trigger.
Dog flinched, but held his ground as the healer holstered and then stepped around the bodies. That was a Safe Haven reaction.
Dog found it soothing.
When she strode to the shed, he watched curiously.
Sally brought out the large sled and a bottle of bleach, walking by Dog without any hesitation. He was like the few others on her homestead that had eventually chosen to stay with her–different.
Sally rolled the mother’s body onto the sled and dragged it toward the barn.
Managing his pain like he always had, Dog limped after her.
Sally unlocked the doors and threw them open wide so that she could tug the heavy sled inside.
Dog followed, noting healthy, bored animals in padded cages with food and water. It was indeed a kennel, but much nicer, and Dog gently sat down in the doorway, recognizing excitement in the air.
He surveyed the cages, noticing intelligence and fear. The ferrets were especially alert, heads swiveling from the human to Dog and then back in perfect unison.
“Those are the twins!” a loud voice brayed in his ear.
Dog spun awkwardly to discover a raccoon holding onto the cage bars, nose twitching in excitement. “Oh, yes! Here it comes!” The raccoon’s drool hit the wooden floor near his paw and Dog flinched away in disgust.
Sally drew the sled to a rusty concrete area that had a drain and flipped the bloody body onto it.
The instant it was on the ground, the other animals in the cages peered out, chattering.
“We had another one,” Sally stated, pulling her cleaver and apron from the wall holder. “You guys get meat tonight instead of vegetables. How’s that sound?”
The animals went wild, jumping, banging, chittering eagerly.
Dog retreated to the doorway as the woman began to chop up the body.
Because of his friendship with Marc, Dog tried to feel some anger or even revulsion, but couldn’t. Man was the enemy to every animal here, including the woman.
“It’s good that you helped her.”
Dog found a medium-sized coyote on a short leash inside the barn door.
“She is one of us.”
Dog didn’t doubt that as he watched the woman hack apart an arm to split between two snake cages.
Dog swept the smaller female. “You are almost healed?”
“Yes,” the female simpered. “And my pack is near! I heard them today! I can’t wait to be with my boys. I miss their feel and their weight.”
Dog rolled his eyes. That’s how you got so many pups.
Using her penlight for illumination, Sally finished with both bodies and then used the bleach to scrub away the mess, humming to herself. When she finished and went inside the house to clean up, she paused on the way to rub Dog’s ears. She no longer had to guess about his intentions and he knew she would kill him if she had to.
It should be fine, she thought, and left him loose to monitor the property.
Dog, proud, lingered near the open barn doors to eavesdrop on the chatter of the animals now enjoying their dinner. All of them appeared to be going north, like the others that Dog had met so far, and he listened with growing concern for the humans. The war still wasn’t over.