Forgetting the Apocalypse

13. Man's Best Friend

"Blackie search. Search boy." The enthusiam in Fredi's voice is downright comical to begin with, almost surely competing with Riva in that aspect. Lately, it's been taken up a notch.

Two weeks ago, we were ambushed by other survivors. I doubt we would have all come out alive or as unscathed as we did and this little puppy helped save us by providing a diversion. Now Fredi is completely obsessed with him. He looks to be maybe a year old, but surely small for his size. We can't even object or dislike the little guy.

One, he's way too cute and fluffy. If I wasn't too concerned about staying alert and alive then I wouldn't mind taking a turn at scratching his litle ears. Two, he's quiet and doesn't get in our way. We don't have to worry about potty training or him chewing on furniture. However tonight he truly earned his keep.

We had just woken up and started preparing our meal. I thought that we could have desserts afterwards. With the snow finally melting away, plenty of flowers and berries were starting to sprout. I had eaten many before and the only thing I had to worry about was getting overly ripe ones that were sour beyond belief. I knew that sometimes you couldn't tell if it would too sour simply based on color. However, I just wanted to do something nice and when I saw the red berries I thought this would be perfect. But when I pulled out some berries that I had picked, Blackie went ballistic. Fredi had to grab him quickly to stop him from making more noise.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"I don't know. This is the first time he's barked since we met him. You know he usually stays quiet." His plea was almost heartbreaking. Fredi tried to hold Blackie's mouth closed without hurting the pup but I could see his entire body shaking. I didn't know if he was scared of Blackie or of us.

We were all stumped as to why he was suddenly going crazy. For a brief second it crossed my mind the theory that Riva had about the animals going crazy and then attacking. It couldn't be happening to Blackie, right? That all happened a couple years ago, Blackie is too young to have been alive back then. We picked up everything and didn't eat since the commotion he made most likely drew attention. Our answers as to why he acted out was waiting for us a couple of miles ahead.

It was a mass graveyard of animals and zombies. Honestly, it was the most disturbing thing I'm betting any of us has ever seen.

"What happened here?" All of us looking around to find some sort of explanation. The zombies looked heavily inflated. Their stomachs easily could've passed for a pregnancy of twins well into the last trimester. Their eyes were gone and looked like they had melted right out. There was more blood ooze coming from their mouth than usual. Looking at the animals, they were badly chewed but it wasn't until we saw their mouths and stomachs did we piece it together.

"Look, the berries! Unless zombies suddenly became omnivores, it was the animals who ate them first. They're all half eaten but their mouths are all black and the eyes are bloodshot. So, I'm guessing they ate the berries first then they collapsed. Zombies come around thinking they found an easy meal and then we'll... it kills them too I guess?" Riva phrased the last part like a question because we couldn't be sure exactly what happened.

The things we could be sure of is that the animals ate the berries and it killed them. Zombies then came and ate the animals and now they're dead. But that's leaves us with two confusing questions or thoughts. One, zombies were always dead, right? The only way to officially kill a zombie is to destroy their brain. They don't need to breathe so you can't suffocate them and heart shots don't count either because they're hearts had stopped beating when they turned.

So, the fact that they've eaten something and died from it not only seems impossible to grasp but it's down right terrifying. Yet that leads us to the second subject. When did they start going after animals? People were always their number one meal. Then again, when we first met Blackie he was running away from some stragglers.