Canid Undead: A Dog's Story

9 - Zoinks

Tez entered a building; her mind had fallen off track. Mindlessly her paws lead her, while she was in an entirely different world.

She was greeted with reality. The group behind her, she gasped.

"What do you see?" Merli peeked in.

"Zombies!!!"

Running at near full speed (which, the zombies weren't even chasing after them - they followed at an excruciatingly slow pace), they bumped into two strangers as they entered a building to hide in, in a whir, passing by and twisting around human trash and the buildings. Tez slammed into the puny stranger cat, Juno. Tez apologized, frantic.

Inside, it was empty. To the right, wooden stairs twisted up and into the heavens. There were stains in the soft flooring. Where they stood, it was dimly lit.

"Hey, hey, puny dog. it's a'right," Juno told Tez.

Tez's paws shifted. She nodded, breaking from the eye contact Juno held.

Juno leaped to look at Kyan. "Yo! What! Kyan? I haven't seen you in, f... forever!"

Juno angled his ears, Ferals caterwauling from the outside. He flung himself across the room, pushing himself into an electrical box, covering the hole that made out a door.

Juno leapt about, circling Kyan. "Where's Zeck? She..."

Kyan sighed. "We haven't found Zeck yet. We will, though." Kyan reassured Juno, though the reassurance was more for herself.

Tez could recall Kyan telling both her and Merli about this puny cat.

After Juno introduced the stranger dog, Token, to our little "group", and after Merli introduced us, both Juno and Token showed us around the abandoned building they'd been squatting in.

It was more or so Juno leading. Token was very reluctant. A bit "grumpy", though that wasn't quite the word for it. I'd be the same way with stranger dogs... if I had the guts to. I could never do that, Tez thought.

Once we'd arrived, Token was defensive. I saw, while the others were off chatting, he was talking to Juno in a hushed voice. Juno tells him to back down. He reassures the dog.

"Not everyone we meet is going to chew us out," Juno told him. "Well, besides zombies, of course..."

I turn back to face Merli and the others once Juno starts to walk over to us, Token following. Juno welcomes the group to their newfound, temporary shelter.

"Do you guys have even the slightest clue about what's going on out there?" Tom demanded an answer.

Juno glanced up at Token, expectant. Token gave Juno a curt nod.

Juno explained what he knew. He shared very little. Had he hid most of what he knew?

Tez thought to herself, while Juno rambled, humans and their foolishness - their selfishness. That's what caused this apocalypse.

According to Juno, some humans were trying to figure out a way to somewhat "revive" dead animals, or make them live longer by the least. Ones in the K-9 unit, service dogs, therapy animals, or basic house pets.

Juno heard that these undead creatures killed some of those humans, escaped and infected several other animals. The humans captured some of the infected ones, but, of course, left behind a few.

Tom commented that he was in one of the facilities for awhile. Juno guessed he was thrown in there just before the humans did... this.

One facility was making bio-weapons out of regular animals for the government and few other reasons. Another one just had an involvement with therapy/service animals and the K-9 unit.

The laboratory Tom was in was trying to bring back pets (regular ones and useful ones, like service dogs) from the dead, or find a way to have them live longer. Likewise facilities had involved humans instead of animals, as several others did.

"It's all sorts of wacked out, you know..." Juno had said. Juno didn't completely understand what the humans had attempted to do.

The humans procured a virus instead, and their remedies failed.

When the humans tried to do this with other humans, they simply grew extremely ill... vomiting everywhere. Rotting of limbs. Imminent, extreme thirst and hunger. Cannibalization. Sometimes, mutations. Their vomit infected animals, which... turned them into the undead Ferals. The humans would die right after.

Obviously, this theory backfired, and the virus spread. Months later (with the other few Ferals being on the loose), the apocalypse began.

"...and that's when we fled," Juno finished.

Night approached, the Earth enveloped in the darkness.

The day's light lessened as the group eased into eating the prey Token and Juno had caught. 

Juno allowed them to stay due to the deadheads being attracted to dark places, night in general. He mentioned that they seemed to be more dangerous and... bigger, at night. And way more active. Maybe a bit faster. Only when the moon was out, though, he added.

"Eat, but we must leave at sun-up." Juno says they must stay together, with our group's leader's approval, if they want any means of survival. Token grumbled when Juno said this, but said nothing further.