Canid Undead: A Dog's Story

26 - Goodbye

Tez had faked sleeping for awhile, waiting until everyone'd finally drifted off.

Quietly, Tez lifted herself up, turning to exit the underground.

From behind, she heard Kyan's whisper. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving." Her voice quaked. She took a breath, trying to calm her nerves. "...for good."

"I'll be okay. But you'll hurt Merli."

"I know. I'll miss you. I'm leaving so I don't hurt Merli anymore. Simply being around Merli is hurting her. I have to leave to do what I need to."

Kyan said that she didn't have to explain herself. Before Kyan had turned around to drift off into her sleep at the other side of the underground base, she'd ended off with saying, "Be seeing you."

She stood above the underground den, thinking about where she'd go.

As she kept walking straight on, she'd swung around a tree; her heart jumped when she found herself standing face-to-face with an undead, mutated lion, dark, dried blood on its fur. It was on its hind legs, letting out a weak roar-meow. It lazily put its front paws on the ground & ignored her, looking at her for but a moment before walking past her.

As she continued forth, Tez started to feel the sickness more and more. She grew hotter and hotter, becoming nauseous and winded. Her paws grew numb, her stomach tightening.

Thoughts flooded into her head. "You're dying. This is how it ends."

"This is how you die."

She felt scared yet content somehow as these thoughts intruded, but eventually found herself collapsing by a small stream of water, surrounded by leafless trees that sat far apart from one another.

As if outside of her body, Tez watched, consciousness escaping her.

I better force myself to keep moving, or else...

Well, I'm going to die anyways.

But I can't just quit here.

She collected herself and moved on. Beyond the trees sat a road. What could be there?

She wished there was a nice, quiet, peaceful place somewhere. Far from her group, to sleep. She prayed to die in her sleep.

Reality drifted further away from her. Her heart pounded with anxiety - yet, simultaneously, a strange peacefulness sat within her mind and body. Her heart slowed.

She reached the road, a broken-down car with no windows and an open door being off to the side. She weakly lifted herself into the car and onto the warm, leather seats.

***

The chirping of birds wormed their way into Merli's ears, her eyes still closed. She awoke, blinking her eyes open.

Tez?... where did she go?

Tez is gone!

Merli howled helplessly, asking herself where Tez might have gone. She sensed a vexed, confused, well pissed off and now awake Kyan. The others began to stir.

Tez left to die alone.

Merli exhibited her perturbation further.

"Holy - Merli, knock it off. Calm down," Kyan said to Merli.

Merli sat, still panicked but defeated.

Token asked, quiet, "What happened?"

"Tez has gone," Juno explained.

With time, Juno and Kyan had calmed Merli. They tried to question Merli, but she remained distant, barely answering them.

Kyan circled her. "Tez is gone. She's... probably... dead by now. We have to get moving, Merli."

Merli tried to argue, but knew that it was no use. She expressed her frustration, but forced herself to stop. Her mood dropped, trying to resist. Kyan convinced her to move on with the rest of the group, telling her they could mourn later. Merli accepted defeat.

The group moved on. They leave the underground, reaching a road they then followed. To the right of them was a sidewalk, which ended after awhile. A metal sign was there that pointed to the direction they were headed, poorly scribbled-in green, fat/bulbous ink reading, "The help, The safety, FG".

Juno stretched. "And this is the short way?" Kyan's gaze told Tom that it was quite the opposite.

Using the "map", Juno pointed out what appeared to be a long route, which confirmed Tom's suspicion. It had more areas that were circled, many dotted lines, and notes attached to certain areas going in that direction, which Juno failed to understand. Regardless, they decided to take said route.

They turned left, where a torn-up sign read, "Zoo this way. People, shelter, resources. 1 day, if you're slow. Or more." 'People' was crossed out, like something had scratched into the word.

It took so long on the path to the so-called zoo, Kyan observed, that the group started to belly-ache about sore paw pads, aching joints.

Kyan halted the group after Tom suggested that it "might be a good idea to see where we are, from above."

Kyan knew what he meant. She ascended to the top of a tree to see what lied ahead. She didn't see their destination yet but some more things, like the tops of buildings, trees absent in zig-zagging lines (obviously, there were roads or some trails or pathways there, where the trees weren't) and a piece of the forest where there were no trees, in a circle. She informed the group.

They took breaks to hunt, proceeding to check out the area they were in. They kept moving. As time progressed, it started to get recognizably dark out, but not too dark. The sun hid behind the trees that sat ahead.

They journeyed into the forest, resting in the circle where no trees could be seen (which was also marked on the map with a box and a question mark; the group did not check for this). The strange human's pelt truly was useless.

Merli, her throat tight with anxiety, suggested that a few at a time could do shifts together, get some sleep, then they'd continue in their journey. Token and Kyan agreed to follow Merli's proposal.

Gunner, a black-furred, medium sized Labrador with floppy ears, stands atop his rock in the used-to-be lion's exhibit of the zoo. He looks out, eyeing the sun and the sherbet sky that accompanied it.

Below him, all around him, were his followers. He preferred to call them his pack. Or, a pack. He didn't feel it was necessary to name it "his".

Gaping at the beautiful sun as it became an orange, the light orb sinking gradually beneath, below, and past the hills, the sun's light peeking just a bit through the openings that divided some trees.

Feeling this moment of true tranquility, this was interrupted as he heard one of his packmates' approaching howls. A scrawny wolf-dog, Ace, arrived from their short journey. He was accompanied by a more brute-ish canine, Quincey. An unknown, battered, and severely wounded canine stood there, too. Gunner recognized this "unknown" canine.

The three stand, waiting, below Gunner's smooth rock. He turned, sitting on his rump with his paws neatly placed. He fixed his posture, sitting straight up.

His messenger, Ace, gave him a brief report.

The local outsiders (more or so, scavengers - spies, for Gunner's pack) say that the group they share a rivalry with are planning something for Gunner's pack, and to "watch his and his pups' backs". One of the outsiders had been found out to be a spy, and was severely injured, supposedly. Ace mentions that the pack where Gunner's rivals reside had beaten and clawed this outsider, executing the other two of the ten-or-so outsiders, or spies, of Gunner's. This poor outsider that had managed to escape imprisonment stood behind Ace, quivering.

Ace finishes, adding that he "didn't know what they meant by that".