Forgetting the Apocalypse

26. Blackie's Friends

It took us about six hours before we ended up finding the path we were taking before we were all separated. Unlike the last time we were here, the streets were completely cleared. For a while we stayed in one of the rooms. Three nights have passed and yet we still ddin't feel like moving. We bare had the motivation to eat. I can't speak for the boys but every time I tried to eat something I would only see body parts. At one point, I had screamed and tossed my can and fork to the fire thinking that the beef stew chunk had been a tongue.

It took Fredi all night to calm me down. The next meal, I wouldn't eat anything with meat. He had to nearly hand feed me crackers and canned fruit to make sure I had something to eat. It wasn't just me though. We all looked after another, making sure we were eating right. If one of us had a panic attack, then another would help them until they were able to calm down. These panic attacks only occurred during our meals, especially once once our fruit and crackers had run out which meant that we had to go back to eating either the canned meat or hunting.

I no longer hunted alone. One of the boys always came with me. We always stayed in pairs if we weren't all together. During one of the hunts for dinner, Riva had made the kill shot on an elk. As he stuck his knife in to drain it off blood, he screamed and backed up crawling away from the dead animal.

Huddled against the tree, he rocked back in forth with his tightly shut crying to himself. He kept repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

I had to run over to him and clamp my hand over his mouth as I tried to comfort him, holding him in my arms as I rocked with him. "Shh, shh. Riva, Riva listen to me. Whatever it is you're seeing it's not real. It's just an animal sweetie." I kept repeating those words to him the same way he would repeat his apology.

We stayed like that until he had finally stopped mumbling. Though the tears were still flowing down his face, we made quick work of stripping the elk of any unnecessary strips it had. Our trip back was quiet one. No words just the sound of our feet crunching the leaves and twigs on the forest floor. Dinner was eaten in silence as well.

It was like we were just hollow. Empty shells of ourselves but not dead yet. Something in us still pulling us along. Not until our third week out here, did we get company. At first we heard only the sound of something or more than one thing moving about in the trees. Putting our backs together we ready ourselves with our weapons. I was about to shoot when...

"Blackie?"

We saw his harness and knew it was him but he wasn't alone. Three more came out behind him. They didn't look entirely like dogs. Maybe some wolves had bred with some of the lost pets. They're almost the same age as him, maybe. They look a little bigger but their eyes seem younger.

I've never seen either of them run so fast as Blackie jumped onto Fredi's arms and licked his face all over. With a wag of his tail and a couple of hushed barks the rest followed. Unlike the way Blackie had pounced on Fredi, these hounds each made their way as timid as possible to one of us. Slowly, half their tail tucked and ears slightly down.

We didn't know what to do. We didn't want to make any sudden movements and have them scared. Or god forbid have them attack us. Yet something was screaming inside my head at how familiar this dog was to me as I looked into his eyes. I only looked away once when I heard his voice.

"Hey there boy, how do you like the name Dukino? How does that sound?"

Looking up I see Riva on his knees playing and giving a belly rub to the one that had walked up to him. My breath hitched in my throat. It'd seem like a lifetime ago since I've seen him smile like that. My attention then gets diverted to Roone as he leans down and starts reaching out to his own pup.