The Ends of Earth

Chapter 7

He had gathered some blankets and pillows from the nurse's office for a makeshift bed in the library. He spent the next week there recovering from his injuries, reading up on bunkers, and talking with Melany.

He slid the book back into the absent hole in the shelf and lifted himself from the ground. Dos got up at the same time excited they were going somewhere.

"You know what Dos I feel pretty good today? What do you say we take a little trip?"

Dos let out a bark. He was now a bit heavier, and his bark was deeper. The boy ran toward the bathroom Dos' nails tapping the floor behind him.

He stood in front of the finger coated mirror and lifted his shirt.

"Like it never happened." The black and blue had begun to fade, and he could now take deep breaths. He tied the bandana around his face and fastened his goggles like always. Dos could no longer fit in his backpack, so he followed closely near the boy. He stood in front of the gym door.

"Let's do this!" Dos barked back. He opened the door but the air.

The air burned like fire in his throat and lungs. He couldn't breathe, his airway was tightened in his chest. The door slammed behind him as he retreated back into the gym. He was hunched over his hands on his knees. He couldn't even gasp for air. He felt like his eyes were melting. He fell to the ground and hit the floor.

His lips soon became purple, and his face was blue. The room began to spin.

But right before he passed out vomit spilled. But it was all stomach acid, it left a tingly sensation in his throat.

Dos stood there with a look of concern on his lemon face.

The boy was filled with relief as oxygen poured down his throat and flooded his lungs. He laid there looking up at the ceiling catching his breath for a long while.

"I think we may need the gas masks now."

He stood at the door this time with a gas mask tightly secured around his face.

"Let's try this again." His voice was raspy this time. He opened the door, rays of sunlight beamed onto his masked face.

"It's not fair how this radiation doesn't do anything to you Dos." Dos didn't say anything back, he just stuck his strawberry tongue out and stared back.

"Well let's go look for some items we need for the bunker."

The boy began walking to a nearby junkyard. The mask was suctioned to his face as he began to sweat in the blazing sun.

He looked down at the map he found in the library.

"It should be right around the corner, no?"

He walked around the corners and was met with a tall wired fence. It was about ten feet.

"I haven't had the best experience with dropping ten feet, let's just go under it."

He began to use his hand to dig a hole in the dirt ground. Once it was big enough for him and Dos to slide under they did.

It was a graveyard, there were scattered corpses of cars as well as other random scraps of metal.

"This is perfect." He walked around to the largest pile of metal. Dos followed him observing. He sorted through different pieces looking for something useful.

"This could be useful." Dos began to bark in the opposite direction.

"Shut it you're going to attract a ripper like last time." The boy went back to scavenging through the metal. Dos was still staring attentively in the other direction. The boy turned around to see what he was staring at.