Dogs of the Apocalypse

Prologue

My mother told me that when man was created, dogs were put by their side with the promise that when mankind fell one day, dogkind would inherit the earth.

I didn't put much thought into this as a pup. My mother was all I knew and "mankind" consisted of a pair of humans who pet my mother and brought us fresh hay to sleep on in the barn where we were born. I knew nothing of my father except for the he was a wolf, but I was not. I was raised with my seven siblings to be dogs, properly, as my mother was a dog and human beings loved dogs.

I stayed with her for such a short time in my life, but I remember her clearly- clean white fur, soft blue eyes, and a pink nose like mine. I always thought because my paws were white and my nose was pink I looked just like her and I was proud. My brothers corrected me one day with a puddle, showing me my silver neck fur and the dark streaks of grey along my back. My eyes were round and dark golden yellow. A pup is saddened to learn they don't look like their parents, but I quickly grew out of it, as all my siblings looked nothing like me, so I was unique. So my mother said anyway.

But after only two cycles of the moon with her, I was taken away by the humans, made very sleepy and when I woke up I was in a crate, with two new humans, in a place I'd never seen before.

I learned quickly these were my new owners, and they thought of me as a dog. Dogs did not chase the other animals in the house, like cats and rabbits. Dogs did not dig on the furniture, or howl at night. At all, for that matter. They didn't growl over their food, or get off their chain to run in the woods at night. 

My humans got very upset with me every time I broke a "dog rule". They wouldn't take me outside except to relieve myself because I pulled on their leash the first time we went out. I wasn't behaved and happy all the time like they wanted, and when I chewed up a pair of shoes because I had nothing else, they put me in the car and took me away.

I was put into a place with many dogs, in a cement block with a cage door. I stayed there for a very long time, long enough for me to get my adult teeth. I stayed in the back of my cell, kept out of the humans who fed me's way and didn't do much of anything to cause trouble. I knew this place was a punishment. I couldn't be a good dog, so they locked me away.

One day two humans came to my cage and talked to me for a while, patting me gently and then after another short while I was taken out on a leash. They took me to their home, a small house with another dog named Sadie.

Sadie was an old silver and white mutt with thick scraggly fur and short legs. She was nice to me and explained that this was a temporary home and I was called a foster dog. It was a place that dogs who needed training went to become more "adoptable".

I liked Sadie and I liked the humans who cares for us. They called me Kaya and that became my name. Sadie taught me how to behave, sit down, ask to go outside, walk right and not bark. We had fun together and I lives happily with them for a long time, a change of the seasons and more.

"Sadie," I spoke quietly that night in my cage, the older dog settled down in the one next to me, "my mother told me one day mankind would end, and dogs would rule over the earth." she perked her ears at my musing, and huffed a small laugh.

"And someday I will sprout wings and fly" we both snorted and I rolled over, stretching my legs out to the ceiling of my cage.

"My father was a wolf." my voice was soft in the still night of the house.

"Mine was a sheepdog. Go to bed, pup, you're making my bones ache." she huffed a sigh and put her head down on her paws. I rolled over, closed my eyes and thought about my mother, the barn and my life so far away and so long ago as I drifted off to sleep.