Part 3: Karma Backbeat
#4 of The Downedest Day
(Yeah... I don't know how many people read this bit, but I really love writing stories and putting them on the internet. If you thought it was good or terrible or anything, please give me feedback. It's like crack for me. Oh, and I'm going to start this off with a bit of repetitive text, just to put things back in context.)
Part 3: Karma Backbeat
My ears were ringing again as I stood up and looked at Cal. We were both speechless because we had just seen the strangest thing yet. It reminded me of what had happened by the woods. We must have encountered one of these beasts. We had called it "dread", but apparently they take the form of these bear monsters. Dread bears...
I saw Cal start to move his lips. He was about to say something, but I couldn't tell if it was going to be a whisper or a scream.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
My sentiments exactly. Everything still felt very... intense.
"THE FUCK WAS THAT!?" I screamed.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" asked Cal.
"I DON'T KNOW!" I answered in a piteous screech.
Cal seemed to calm down a bit. He took a few deep breaths before saying, "Okay, seriously Rob..."
"What is Cal?" I asked.
"FUCKING ZOMBIE HEDGEHOG BEARS, THAT'S WHAT! WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!? FUCKING KNIVES IN THE FACE AND SHIT FLYIN' EVERYWHERE!"
"I KNOW! WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?"
"I KNOW!" hollered Cal.
It was my turn to try to calm down even though my chest was still heaving and I was having the second largest adrenaline dump of my life.
"Let's just analyze this okay? Big bears, right? With spikes on ‘em, okay? And, they're dead silent, right? And, we just killed them all in a matter of seconds in an overly violent fashion."
Cal was still trying to calm down, but he managed to say, "Yeah, I'm with you so far."
"Alright, good. Now I just shot them with a machinegun, which may or may have killed them. But, it sure as hell wouldn't have made them explode. You shot at them with a small caliber, carbine rifle. You've seen the size of the bullets your M1 shoots; those should have been bouncing off of ‘em. They should have felt like bee stings to... (I waved a black paw in the direction of the carnage) that thing."
"Trust me, I'm as pleasantly surprised as you are," assured Cal.
"Alright, so, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now. The world has stopped working Cal. Nothing is working as it should, and it's really freaking me out," I admitted.
I was almost in tears. I was glad that I left the B.A.R. on the trailer; otherwise I would have dropped it when I threw my back against the decaying wood and slid to the ground. I felt a pit in my stomach and I started to cry.
Cal sat down on the ground next to me and threw one of his rusty colored fox arms around my shoulders. After a minute he said, "It's okay Rob. Relax, alright? You haven't been doing anything wrong."
Cal's words were comforting, but it disturbed me. They were saccharin sweet.
"See?" I asked, "That's just it. That's all you had to do to make me feel better. That bugs me so bad Cal. I don't even know if you're real sometimes."
Cal seemed offended. His voice took on a stern tone.
"What do you mean you're not sure I'm real? What about you? Have you ever thought that I doubt that you're real? Or that this is real? Do you know what I think of every time you say something really funny, or sexy, or exactly what I want to hear? Do you know what goes through my head every time that happens? I see a dead fox. He's naked and face down in a ditch. He's thin, and all beat up, and someone must've tortured him to death. That's what I see. And I think, "That's me. That's what I look like now because I'm dead, and I don't know it."
Cal shocked me with his revelation. We both didn't think the other existed. Am I dead too? Is this what being dead is like?
I didn't want to bother with thinking about it anymore. I stood up to try to get the four-wheeler started again. Cal stood up with me and wrapped both his arms around my chest. He held onto me tightly.
"I want to you to be real, Rob," he said.
I wanted to say "Me too." But, that sounded oddly self serving in my head. Instead I said,
"You're real enough for the both of us, Cal."
Cal squirmed a bit and whispered, "If this is heaven, then you must be my guardian angel."
"If this is heaven, consider me thoroughly disappointed."
I would have kissed Cal, but a pile of gore on a highway would have served as an odd backdrop. I mostly just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I returned Cal's warm embrace for a moment before testing out the ATV. I was surprised when it started right away. Forget heaven; is this what fate feels like?
What a strange day.
I was glad that Cal was with me while we drove to Kentucky. Otherwise, I would have thought that I was the last living thing in the world. Once we got past the biggest hills, we could see just how empty everything was.
I had never seen so many dark houses. It would be a thief's dream, if only there was a place to sell it all. But, I guess that money doesn't really matter anymore. All of the empty homes and businesses were depressing. It was like the whole world was an infinite ghost town.
Everything looked mostly normal. It was like it was a regular day; just without any movement or people. I always thought that in some kind of doomsday scenario, resources would become incredibly scarce and food and water would be worth killing for.
That isn't the case here. Whenever Cal and I get hungry, we just start looking for a house with a propane grill. Then we park in the drive and pop the front door open. While I start up the grill, Cal sifts though the cupboards for canned food. The best part is that we don't have to do the dishes afterward.
The clean drinking water situation is pretty easy too. Toilet tanks have about two gallons of clean water in them. Usually the water in the bowl has evaporated already, not that I'd drink from there. Also, a hot water heater is very handy. They have little nozzles on the bottom that would usually be used to drain the water if you need to move it or something. I top off all of our water supplies with one whenever I get the chance.
Surprisingly, there were no cars in the road. I had pictured that the route would be littered with wrecked cars from the divers vanishing, but that wasn't the case. I don't know how to explain it.
Cal was driving on the highway when we finally saw a sign pointing us to Harlan. Under the sign, someone spray painted, "USE EXIT 23". When Cal drove past, I could see that several of the other exits had been blocked off with cars. I was a little nervous about only being let into the city on someone else's terms.
After a while, we could just barely see one of the ways into town.
"Pull over here," I said to Cal.
He drove the ATV into the woods a little like we had talked about. I figured it would be pretty hard to see from the road. Since I was planning on walking through the woods, I left the B.A.R. behind and took a hunting rifle. Cal grabbed the binoculars and we headed out towards Harlan.
We found that some electrical lines ran through the woods and were parallel to the highway. The land hand been cleared underneath them and it made walking to where we needed to go very easy. Cal and I just followed the lines quietly. I could tell that he was really excited to finally get back to civilization. I was excited too. I wanted to see what was in store for us first, though.
We finally made our way up to a hill that overlooked the city. There was one electrical tower on top of it and the whole thing was cleared off pretty well. Cal and I made sure to stay out of sight; it would be easy to spot us from the ground.
Cal and I both hid under the shadow of the steel tower to make ourselves hard to spot. Cal took the binoculars out of his pack and gazed at the city first. I waited a minute before he handed them to me. His face showed that he wasn't very impressed with what he saw.
I held the binoculars up to my eyes and looked around for the first time. I can't say that Harlan really took my breath away either. It was pretty desolate.
The thing the hit me right away was the wall. It ran across the front of the small city. It must be some kind of flood barrier, like a levee. In this situation, it sure does make for some great defense. There were a few ways in, but all but one was blocked off. There seemed to be a freeway behind the wall. It was blocked off with a familiar car wall.
I searched the buildings and I found an elementary school in the middle. It looked like it was being used as a town hall, maybe something else though; it looked a little militaristic. There was a hint of barbed wire which made me nervous.
The only activity was the playground of the elementary school. I could see two small kids. They were playing on those colorful toys that have the big springs. They were happily bouncing back and forth from what I could see. I guess the one kid was a German shepherd, the other was something else, but I couldn't tell. Not a canine though, but obnoxiously similar.
Overall, it wasn't that interesting of a place. There just didn't seem to be much in it. The only other thing to note was an open air market, not many people were there, but at least I could see people. It might turn out to be a good spot to sell off our things we've been saving up.
I handed the binoculars back to Cal, we looked at each other for a bit before I said, "Well, there you have it..."
"Yeah," said Cal, "That's about it isn't it? Not much there. This place looks like it was on the decline even before this. But, it is still mostly here."
"Just another dying American city. I guess you're right though, it's probably a little less dead than the others at this point."
"Well," said Cal, "Think it's about time we should head back? I mean, if we're going to get there by tonight."
"Sure, let's get going."
I got up and turned to start the walk back when something caught my eye. On one of the concrete supports for the tower was a single, brown snake. It was just sunning itself; except for an occasional flick of its tongue, it was hardly moving at all. Cal had finished hauling himself up behind me when he spotted the snake too.
"Hey, how much you wanna bet me that's the last snake you'll ever see?" asked Cal.
"I'll bet you..." I had to think about it, maybe something funny, "a thousand dollars."
"Please... like those are worth anything. How about we have some fun with this? If we ever see another snake, you have to marry me Rob."
If I was eating or drinking, the contents of my mouth would have probably left through my nose. Marry him? Holy crap! What the hell kind of bet is that!? Sure I like hanging around with Cal (and doing other things) but, marriage?
Since the world was dead, I took Cal up on the bet. Why not? It's all going to hell; I might as well humor the guy on the way there. We'll probably just end up living in some hell-hole apartment in Harlan, occasionally bumping uglies, until we both die in a tragically boring manner. Sounds like matrimony to me.
"Alright, it's a deal. If I ever see another snake, and there is someone there to confirm said snake sighting, I'll marry you... eventually."
Cal squealed and brought his hands up to his chest, clutching himself in a spastic hug.
"Oh, thanks Rob! I feel so loved!"
"Yeah... well... I'll be wearing the pants. Don't get too excited."
"That's fine. I look better in girl clothes anyway!" said Cal.
"Oh, Christ..."
I drove up to the wall. I could now see that it was pretty big. It's probably eight or nine feet in some places. Some men in camo waved me in towards the entrance.
"Hello sirs. Welcome to Harlan," said a large bear in uniform.
While he talked to me, a hyena moved to take a look at the trailer.
"Yeah, hi," I said, "What's he doing?"
The bear answered with a drawn out, "Oh......... just checking for contraband."
"What would constitute contraband?" asked Cal.
"Oh............ you know... bombs, rocket launchers, hand grenades, drugs, meth lab material, dead bodies... that sort of thing."
"So, guns are cool, right?" I asked.
"Well............ depends on what kind o' gun your referring to, but yeah, pistols and single shot rifles are allowed."
The hyena uncovered the B.A.R. and whistled. It distracted me from the annoying and long-winded bear.
"Now, that's what I'm talkin' about. Where did you find this?" asked the hyena.
"We checked out an old World War II vet's basement. He was some kind of gunsmith or something," I said.
"I'm gonna have to confiscate this. You know, for safety's sake. Can't have anyone getting the wrong idea with one of these," said the hyena.
The camouflaged hyena lifted the hulking machine gun off of the trailer and slung it over his shoulder. I guess that was his way of "confiscating" it.
"Well......... is the rest all good then?" asked the bear.
"Yeah, it all checks out. You guys can go ahead into the city; find you a place to stay for the night, maybe even move in. By the way, how'd this gun work for you?"
I told him my thoughts on it, "It's a monster killer, you'll piss your fatigues."
Though I was a little distraught over losing so much firepower in such a little time, I think that it really was for the best. If it meant that me and Cal could live in Harlan peacefully, I would have given up more.
As I drove past the gate, I could hear the hyena say, "Damn! Look at dat clip, dog! I ain't gonna shoot this. I'm gonna save these bullets in here. This'll be all mine, dog!"
"Well............ you might want to clear it with the boss first... I'm a bear."
It really wasn't bad living in Harlan. Cal and I had running water for one thing. They heated it with a boiler or something. By "they", I mean the people running the town. They never offered any explanation as to who they were. All I can tell you is that they wear camo and answer to their boss.
But enough about them. It's the residents that I wanted to talk to. Everyone had a different story. Some of them had seen monsters. Some of them hadn't. Also, the "Dread Bears" weren't the only things out there. Some people described fairly tame, skittish creatures, while others had seen some truly horrifying things in the cities.
The monsters in the most populated areas were the worst. From the descriptions that I heard, they were far more terrifying than "Dread Bears". You see, our monsters were big and few in number. The cites crawled with things that were just sickening. I couldn't stand to hear some of their accounts. Cal and I just had to leave the room when someone from a city started up on another description.
We did manage to sell off all of our junk. Naturally, we didn't get the best price seeing how everything in the world is technically "free". We didn't get money for what we found. Cash is obsolete when it can be picked up off the ground. Plus, Harlan didn't bother trying to print money. We did manage to trade for a month of free rent.
Cal and I live in a sort of duplex. The first floor is a busted up general store, and the second floor has two apartments on it. It's not big, but it's pretty cozy. Across the hall is sort of a "family" I guess you could say.
They are a young couple who is a little older than me and Rob. They're both coyotes. The guy's name is Mark and his girlfriend's name is Lauren. Both of them are pretty nice. The kids in this "family" are actually the ones that Cal and I saw on the playground. The German Shepherd's name is Taylor. He looks like he's about 9 or 10. The little girl, Rose, is a cute little hyena. I think she's only about 5. She's a real sweetheart. She calls me "Whab" all the time. Not the most original, but still cute.
They found the kids while they were on the way to Harlan. I guess they were living in a car together. Both their parents are gone, so Mark and Lauren are taking care of them and they sometimes go to the elementary school's playground with them. They all get along pretty well.
Lauren's a real sweetie. Mark found a real catch with her. He'd realize it too, if only he wasn't so rattled. He was one of the one's I've met who brings up talk of monsters in the cities often, so I tend to avoid him. I don't think that I can take the story about the bloody creature that sticks to ceilings again. He said that it sounds like a bug and can latch on to things. It creeps me the hell out!
Cal and I had to get jobs doing something for the general good in order for us to continue living in Harlan. The syndicate that runs the town (as I now know they aren't military) selects a job for you. Cal got a job scrounging for food, while I have to build things for the people who run the place. They have just given me really basic plans, I have no idea what the heck I'm actually building. I know that it is a structure of some kind that I have to work on for three hours a day. When my three hours are up, I'm replaced. I then have to go back and start cutting lengths of wood. It's really weird. To top it all off, I'm forbidden to talk while working. It's a strange set up.
It was after my shift building whatever, Rob and I were just sitting on the couch in the living room. I guess an old couple must have lived there in the past. The couch was older and the wallpaper had kind of a 60s look to it. Cal was covered with dry wall and he was messing up the couch. White dust coated his whole body and all of his clothes. He was kind of funny looking. He noticed me looking at him and smirking.
"I'm taking a shower. I have to get this stuff off of me!" he said.
"Well, I've been working all day in the sun, so I think that I'll have to take one too... I think you know where this is going."
"Oh yeah! I know what you mean. I'll get stuff started!" said Cal while smiling.
He got up and went into the bedroom. Cal came back out with some fresh clothes before walking into the bathroom with a spring in his step. I followed suit and hid something in my wad of clothes. I was planning on a little surprise or two just to keep things interesting.
When I got into the bathroom, Cal was already in the shower with the curtain closed. I guess he was in a hurry to get that dust off of him. I stripped down and moved my fresh clothes to the side of the tub. I couldn't wait for the fun we were going to have! Cal had a hard day, so I wanted to make things good for him.
I moved the curtain back and carefully hid my little surprise before I jumped in with Cal. He started hugging me right away with a big smile. I gave his muzzle a quick kiss before saying, "Let's just get clean first. You know, I just thought that maybe we should use the invention of the shower for its original intention."
"How do you know hot shower sex wasn't what it was designed for?" he asked.
"Because... hot waterfall sex came first. That's why. Shut up..."
We both proceeded to wash the day of work off of us. I had saw dust worked into my fur while Cal had his drywall problem; it was a two man job. Things took a bit longer than I thought, but I didn't mind because I love the look that Cal gives me when I run my fingers through his fur. When we were all done, I told Cal, "Now on to the fun stuff."
"Ah! I can't wait! Take me in your big, black arms you filthy beast!" said Cal as theatrically as possible before he started to frantically lick my face.
What a stooge...
"You asked for it! Hey... do you remember something you told me about way back when while we were still living in my house?"
Cal paused from licking my face to say, "Can you be a little more specific?"
"We were lying on the mattress, and it was right after we did it for the first time. Remember?"
Cal thought for a second before his eyes bugged out.
"Oh. OH... that!" he said, "Really? Are you being serious right now?"
"As serious as a heart attack. Get on your hands and knees," I ordered.
Cal started to lower himself down to his hands and knees while saying, "Oh my gosh! I thought this would never happen to me! Seriously! I thought I would never find someone to agree to this! I'm impressed Rob, really. Way to step up to the plate."
"You just have a good time, okay?" I said before lifting his tail slowly.
Cal and I had given each other oral just about every time we "got together", but this was the first time I had ever considered the dirty back door. The thought didn't terrify me; I don't know what my deal is. I just didn't really want to go for it. But, I am intent on showing Cal a good time. If this is what he wants, then he shall have it. Who knows, maybe I'll end up liking it more than I thought. He was so shy when he asked me, but I figured, "Why not?" I planned on the shower being the scene of the crime for obvious reasons.
I had a moment of hesitation, but then I thought about how much Cal means to me and how much I really, truly, love him. It made fulfilling his fantasy the easiest thing in the world to do.
I ran my rough tongue over Cal's sensitive tail-hole. I stopped thinking about what I was doing, and just let myself do what I wanted to do. It was so easy, so natural. Cal shuddered and gasped as I went over it a second time, and then a third. I was actually having just as good of a time as he was. The fact that I was causing the pleasure that Cal was experiencing drove me mad. I guess that's just how my mind works.
Cal let his arms give out and he slid down onto his chest. He started to press back a bit seeming to beg for more. I slid a hand from his hip to between his legs. My fingers didn't have to search for long to find his bulging sheath. I started to gently rub Cal's pre soaked manhood while continuing to lap at his tail-hole.
I heard Cal let out a few whimpers as I continued to barrage his sense of touch with all that I could give him. I forced myself to stop for what I was about to do next. Cal groaned and rolled onto his back to look me in the eyes. He had I faraway look in his face, almost as if he had just woken up.
I smiled. I couldn't help but love Cal. I reached behind the curtain and took out the small surprise I had hidden. Cal snapped out of his trance and started to laugh a little.
"What?" I asked.
"It's just that name," Cal said between giggles, "Seriously, "Sexy Slide"? It's just too cheesy!"
"Yeah, well, there isn't much of this left, so I figured that me might as well use it up all in one go."
Cal had an inquisitive look as he asked, "Oh really? And why would that be, Rob?"
"I was lonely. What can I say?"
As I flipped the top open to the little tube, Cal sat up and held out his hand.
"I can take care of this," he said.
I squeezed all that I could into his hand; I think that it was just enough.
Cal rubbed it around a little before asking, "Just so I'm clear on this, what exactly are you planning on doing?"
"I was going to have anal sex with you my good sir," boy, that was fun to say...
"Oh! Well, okay. I just needed to know where to apply it. Sexy Slide! Apply directly to the..."
"I get it," I interrupted.
Cal grinned and ran his slick paw up and down my shaft before he liberally applied the rest to his tail-hole.
"Do you have any idea how this works?" he asked, "All I'm saying is, be gentle. I haven't done this much. It takes time and patience. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't just jump right in my guts."
"I'll be careful, just tell me if anything hurts, okay?"
Cal looked nervous, but he said, "Okay".
I lowered myself down on top of Cal and relished the feeling of his hot, wet fur against mine. I so dearly love him. We messily fumbled around for a bit until we found what we needed to do. It was kind of funny, but we were both determined to make it work. The second that we got the right angle, Cal and I both met eyes for a moment.
I slowly eased myself into Cal. I didn't want to hurt him. Cal rested his head on the back of the tub and started to breath heavy. Once I made it all the way in, I grabbed his thighs in an attempt to bury myself completely. He was so warm and I needed more.
I withdrew part way and grabbed the lube. I squeezed out the last few drops onto where there was the most friction. I thrust in just a bit faster and buried myself completely again. I looked down to see Cal's hard sheath. I rolled back the skin of his sheath to fully expose his pre covered knot.
I had an intense urge to lick it and jam the whole thing in my mouth, but I didn't think it would be physically possible. Instead, I wrapped my hand around his red tip and started to softly massage.
Cal continued to breathe heavily and his gasps were now laced with a sexy pleading whimper. Nothing is hurting so far, so I must be doing okay. I gently started to hump into Cal's hole while running my hand up and down his cock.
Between gasps and quiet whimpers meant only for me, Cal said, "Don't stop Rob, that's it. That's really good. Oh god. Oh, I love you Rob."
"I love you too, Cal. This is nice. You're really warm. I just want to eat you up."
I grabbed Cal's swollen knot and started to thrust a little harder. Cal bucked his hips and gasped loudly.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, just don't do it any faster than that, okay? That hurt just a tiny bit."
"Okay, I don't want to hurt you," I assured, "I know what to do."
I started to vigorously rub Cal's wet shaft while slowly easing in and out of his hole. It didn't take long before Cal cried out softly and arched his back. His throbbing penis coated my hand and his fur with seamen in time with his clenching hole.
It felt great. I waited until Cal was done before I pulled out a little. I had a crazy idea again, if it works, it'll be pretty damn hot.
I rubbed what had landed in my hand all over Cal's tail-hole and my shaft. I thrust in a few more times into Cal's still tight ass before I finally came. I fell on top of Cal's white and sticky stomach while I throbbed into him. I wrapped my arms around him and just held him close for a minute or two in an orgasmic haze. Cal ran his hand over my ears and softly rubbed them while I purred like never before. He then trailed down my face to hold his hand to my throat and feel the vibrations better.
"God damn that's sexy," he said.
"Thanks, you're just too cute. Was it good for you?"
"That was well done my friend," he said.
"Thanks," I mumbled into his chest fur, "This is only round one by the way."
I woke up next to Cal in our comfortable bed. Though last night was great, I have a really uneasy feeling about today. I don't know what the deal is, maybe I'm getting sick.
I slowly got up. Cal works later in the day, but I have to get busy early in the morning with building the... thing. I threw on my work clothes and got ready to start the day with a can of peaches and some crackers. Let me tell you, I have been eating the weirdest things for meals. Yesterday, it was Gummi Worms and dried figs.
I went down the steps as usual and walked to where I work, but I stopped halfway there. No one was in the streets. Did it happen again?
I ran back to the apartment as fast as I could. I was so scared. I just wished that Cal would still be there when I got back. I threw open the door to the general store. I was almost to the steps when someone took a potshot at me through the big, plate glass window.
They missed, but it did a good job of reminding me of my mortality. When I got to the apartment Cal was already closing the blinds of the windows and getting out our guns.
"Rob! What the hell!? People are shooting!" he said while fumbling with a pistol.
"I know! Someone just tried to ice me for no frickn' reason at all! The hell is this shit!?"
I got out the binoculars and set up a milk crate on the sill the uncovered window in the living room. Hopefully, if someone looks at the window, they'll see a blue milk crate and not me sitting behind it.
I scanned the city while Cal frantically covered windows. I couldn't see much. There were some of the camo men running around in the distance. There was a lynx up in the church steeple. I don't know whose side he's on, that is, if there are sides. How could everything go to shit in less than 12 hours?
"What do you see Rob?"
"I don't see much. Everybody is just sort of running around while everyone else is set up somewhere. How much food do we have in here Cal?"
"Lucky for us, I restocked the other day. We should have enough for a week or so. But that's only if it's the two of us."
"Okay, good to know. What about the guns? I know we've been selling them off along with the ammo, but what do we have left?"
"There is my M1 with about 300 rounds, your .40 caliber pistol with two clips, a shotgun with... uhh... only four shells... I think they are birdshot, and the .300 Winchester hunting rifle. There is only 20 rounds for that. That's it. As far as other stuff, you have your knife and I found another one the other day. Then there are axes and crowbars and such. That's all we got."
I was impressed at how irresponsible I had been. I wanted everything to work out for me and Cal here. I really did. Everything would be safe, and fine, and great. I believed that when I sold the guns. Now, we could really use some.
"What do we do?" asked Cal.
That's the question of the day. What do we do? How the hell are we going to do it?
"I don't know, Cal. I don't think we have many options. The guys who run this place have more firepower, but we have better numbers. We could completely waste them, if only we had the guts to come out. We need to get organized somehow. I think that we should just spend today waiting for something interesting to happen."
"Okay, I like that as opposed to dying."
"Me too, I would prefer not to get shot today," I said.
Cal walked to the bathroom while saying, "I'll fill the tub. Hopefully they haven't cut the water yet."
I was impressed. He's really getting the hang of this. I hadn't even thought about the water situation. We don't have much saved up because we are in an apartment. Cal did manage to get a 24 pack of water bottles though.
"You're getting smart Cal, I didn't even think of that!" I said.
I heard a tentative knock at the door.
"Whab? Cal?" asked a small voice.
It was Rose, the next door neighbor. She is the little hyena girl. She was by herself though. Neither Mark, Lauren, nor Taylor were with her as far as I could tell.
I walked up to the door, but I stayed to the side of it in case someone shot through it. Cal saw me and hid somewhere else in the room.
"What is it, Rose?" I asked.
"Mark told me and Taylor to come over with you," She said.
"Oh. Is Taylor out there with you?" I asked.
"Yes, but he is still sleeping so he's on the floor. Can I play, Uno?"
I don't think a little girl would be thinking about playing games if there was someone threatening her. My worst fear was that someone would be outside the door and using her to get in.
I opened the door and waited for Rose to wander in. I grabbed Taylor black and brown body off the floor. He was sleeping hard because I didn't even wake him up. His head lolled in my arms.
"Rose, is Taylor okay? He's really sleepy," I asked.
"He was sick, so Mark gave him some medicine," she said.
"What kind of medicine?" asked Cal as he took Taylor from me and put him on the couch.
Rose looked up at me and said, "The blue kind."
Some sinister thoughts as to what had happened to Taylor were working their way into my mind, but I pushed them out. Mark wouldn't be like that. Lauren wouldn't have it. Rose is just a little kid, she has no idea what's going on.
"Was it pills or was it like water?" I asked.
"It was blue," she said, "for coughs."
"Okay, how much did he give him Rose?" asked Cal.
Rose looked at Cal and said, "I don't know. They were in the bathroom. But he gave Taylor all of it because he was really sick. We only had one and a half little cups left."
I got up and locked the front door. I left Rose with Taylor and tugged Cal into the bathroom. I locked the door and stuffed a towel under it to keep our conversation private.
Cal said, "Something's up Rob," while I opened the medicine cabinet.
"No kidding. I'm looking to see how much of this Mark gave him. I'm assuming all of these are formulated the same."
"Why would Mark dope him up?" Cal asked.
"I don't know. Maybe Taylor was having a panic attack? I don't get why he dumped the kids on us though. They come over all the time, but Lauren is always with them."
I checked a bottle of night time cough medicine. For Taylor, a full adult dose and a half would be too much. I pulled out the towel and threw the door open bringing the bottle with me. This is such a screwed up thing to do to a kid.
"Cal, we have to get this stuff out of him. It's too much."
"How much is too much?"
"Enough to wreak his liver. We have to make him puke Cal."
Rose tugged on my pants, "What's wrong Whab?"
Cal lowered himself down on one knee to get on Rose's level.
"Nothing, sweetness," said Cal, "Just sit there on the couch until we get back. Let's go find your game."
While Cal had Rose busy, I picked Taylor off the couch. He was still breathing, just completely unresponsive. He at least moaned a little.
"Cal. Help with this?"
Cal looked at me with determination. "Okay Rob," he said, "Rose, I want you to sort these cards by color, okay? It's really important."
Cal spread a deck of cards out on the coffee table before getting up to help me. I hauled Taylor into the bathroom and shut the door. Cal stuffed a towel under and looked at me.
"So, how do we make an unconscious kid puke?"
"I think we have to get him awake first. I wouldn't want him to choke on his own puke like a druggie. Umm... oh crap... cold water?"
"No," said Cal, "He might choke on the water. I have an idea. My dad used to be a paramedic. There is something called a sternal rub or something."
"Well... do it."
"Okay, put him on his back and lift his shirt."
I did as Cal told. Cal made a ridge out of his knuckles and used the spot between Taylor's ribs, dead center on his chest, like a washboard. Taylor moaned a little, but nothing else happened. God, I don't want this kid to die. What a screwed up thing to do to someone.
"Let me try," I said.
I gave the middle of Taylor's ribs a hard rub, but he didn't move. The more of this stuff that gets into his system, the worse this is going to be. I really didn't want this great little kid, who never did anything mean to anyone in his whole life, to die on the floor of someone's fucking bathroom.
I rubbed Taylor's sternum again as hard as I could with tears in my eyes. Why the hell does this kid have to die? His parents are gone, some crazy bastard probably poisoned him, and he's been taking care of a little girl who isn't even related to him for months! Live for fucks sake!
Cal raised Taylor's legs while I continued trying to wake him up. A few seconds after Cal raised his legs, Taylor snorted a bit then mumbled, "is it tomorrow?"
"Stay awake Taylor; you have to stay awake," said Cal.
"Taylor, if you don't stay awake, I am going to hurt your chest some more," I warned.
I turned to Cal and said, "Cal, get my man some bottled water."
I stood the scrawny shepherd up and led him to the toilet. He didn't react in the slightest as I tried to open his mouth.
"Taylor, you'd better be awake. I will give you twenty dollars for every time you throw up."
Taylor was crying a little, but he managed to mumble "chest... urts..."
I couldn't help but cry a little too. I tried to hold it back though. I was having some trouble holding Taylor up while fumbling with his mouth. I noticed a few cuts on his lips and cheeks where someone must have clocked him. Fucking Mark is a dead man.
"Stay awake Taylor," I said.
I managed to work my hand into his mouth and get it past all of his back teeth. I tickled the back of his throat with my fingers. Taylor spit my hand out and retched into the toilet as soon as Cal came back in with two bottles of water.
"Good job Taylor, that's twenty bucks. Do it again."
Taylor was crying as I pushed my hand back into his mouth. He tried to bite me, but he was too weak. I pushed him to his knees and held his face over the toilet. I hit the back of his throat again making him hurl a second time.
"Good work buddy, that's forty."
The poor Shepherd pup's nose was running and he was sobbing.
"urns ob. It urts..." he whined.
I looked into Taylor's brown eyes and said, "I know it hurts, I'm sorry Taylor. But hey, when this is over, you'll have sixty dollars!"
"But I only hab fourdy AUCKK..."
Right when he opened his mouth, I jammed my hand in again. Unfortunately, Taylor was facing me, so he got nasty blue dog vomit all over my lap.
I stood up and said, "Cal, water this kid. I have to go change my pants."
Cal took the crying Taylor from me and propped him up against the side of the tub. Between gulps of water and sobs, I heard Taylor mumble, "Rob is a dick."
I grabbed a shirt that was sitting on the floor of the bedroom and started to cry into it. That little guy was so close to dying. I've seen people die, I've even killed one, but nothing was as bad as that. Not even feeling my own life slipping away would compare to hearing Taylor's last breath. I don't know what I would have done if Taylor died. It was so traumatic.
As I was coming back out of the bedroom with a wad of cash, Rose ran up to me with a deck of cards.
"I sorted them!" she proudly proclaimed.
"Good job, let's say "hi" to Taylor," I said.
I walked into the bathroom and flushed the toilet. The water in the tank was not worth having an ocean of puke sitting around. I took a knee next to Taylor and handed him the money, but he lazily pushed my arm away.
"I don't want your dick money..." he mumbled.
"He should be fine for now," said Cal.
"Okay, keep these two here and give Taylor all the water as he can drink."
"Where are you going Rob?" asked Cal.
"I'm going to say "hi" to Marcus."
I relished kicking the front door down. It felt great. I was nervous as hell, but it felt good to break something. Mark's fingers are next. I wanted a piece of him. I took the shotgun with me, which was indeed full of only birdshot. I just wanted to stop Mark if he attacked me so I could find out what's up. As I slowly stalked through the apartment, I taunted him.
"Mark? Buddy? I just want to talk a little about Taylor. He's a great kid and all, but loading him full of nighty-night medicine was the last fucking mistake you'll ever make. You should probably get ready to shoot yourself right now, ‘cause if I catch you, I'm going to break your arm. Then I'm going to tear it open with my claws and stab you to death with your own fucking bone splinters. Oh, and Lauren? You're fine, Mark and I are just having a disagreement about childcare. You should hide in a closet or something."
I stopped when I saw the bedroom. There was a mass of sheets and pillows on the bed. I grabbed the bottom of the whole mess and whipped the covers off.
Poor Lauren. She was such a sweetie. I took the pillow off her head to get one last look at her face. Suffocated. That's a long way to die. It's not like in the movies. Fucking Mark; I wouldn't piss in his mouth if his guts were on fire.
I put the pillow back down and moved Lauren's night-shirt into a more modest position. It was the least I could do for her. She didn't have to die like this. She didn't have to die at all.
I'll kill him.
I heard gunshots ring out across the street and from the bell tower. They sounded a million miles away to me. I had only thought on my mind, and that was destroying Mark. I checked the closet real quick before I moved into the last room, the bathroom.
The door was locked shut, but it didn't stand long after a few determined kicks. I was expecting to see Mark in a tub full of warm, red water. But I was surprised to see him hanging from a pipe in the ceiling with some of his last few breaths sputtering out of him.
He had tried to hang himself with a pair of shoelaces and a chair, but there wasn't nearly enough force to break his neck. He must have been gagging for the past few minutes. I was momentary stunned by the shocking sight; I couldn't decide what to do. Should I grab his ankles and add some weight to finish him off? He doesn't have a shirt on; maybe I should use my knife to rip his guts out? No, no, that's gross. I couldn't live with myself if I did that.
I slowly and deliberately propped up the chair that he kicked out from under him and climbed on top. I opened my knife and calmly cut the tense, white shoestrings with a quick flick.
Mark crumpled onto the floor and took in deep breaths between hacks. I saved him. Why the hell did I do that? Why didn't I just shoot him or bash him like a fuzzy piñata? I'm just making this up as I go along. I guess I did myself a favor in the end. It was hard seeing someone hanging from the ceiling like a piece of meat.
I flipped Mark onto his back and cleared his tongue out of his airway. Since he was shirtless, I was able to make quick work of patting down his cargo shorts that were soaked with a mix of his own piss and cum. Nasty.
I'm not gonna kill him. I'm not even going to touch him. I hauled him up off the linoleum and propped him up in the chair. I pushed the chair into the bedroom and left him there. He's too weak to try anything for a few more minutes. After a quick search, I found some duct tape.
After I finished binding Mark to the chair with about half a roll of duct tape, I noticed that he had fallen asleep and had begun to snore. I pulled out a few inches of the grey tape and placed it over the center of his furred chest. I made sure to really put my hips into it when I ripped it off.
"JESUS FUCK!!" he yelled.
I put on an obnoxiously friendly tone as I said, "Oh heeey buddaaayy! Welcome back to the real world where you suck at everything including killing yourself."
Mark regained his composure and just stared at me with his creepy and troubled eyes.
"Sooo..." I continued, "Why did you do it?"
Mark ignored me and looked at the ceiling with a horrified expression. He started to whine and cry.
"What's wrong little man? Did Lauren say something mean to you while you were smothering her?"
"There is bugs in here," he croaked.
"Really? I don't see any bugs, just the one I haven't squished yet."
"There's bugs, oh god, please don't leave Rob."
"Don't worry, I'll be here for a little while longer. Tell me why you killed Lauren and poisoned Taylor."
Mark was still whining when he looked back at me again, he was horrified. But, it wasn't me that he was afraid of.
"I'm so sorry Rob," he said, "Rose and Taylor came home early last night with Lauren. They were playing on the playground next to the elementary. They overheard some of the soldiers talking and it really scared them. They were going to sell us off. You were building pens Rob. Cages for us."
"Who were they going to sell us to?"
Mark coughed again, "Oh, there are people out there Rob. And they want to buy us and use us up," Mark looked past me once more with concern, "There is a bug on the wall. Please don't let him eat me."
"Thanks for at least telling me what's going on, you're good for something."
Mark whined and started to thrash around in his chair, "There are bugs in here! They're on the walls. Oh god! Don't leave! They won't come out if you're here. They only want to hurt me."
"Invisible bugs huh? I think I have an idea of what you're talking about. Too bad I have to leave you and take care of Taylor."
"Look," sobbed Mark "Taylor caught on to what I was going to do. I saw the bugs and I didn't want them to get Lauren and the kids. He started to fight me. I hit him and took him into the bathroom. I made him drink the medicine. I'm sorry. I just didn't want to see the bugs kill him. I took them across the hall to you because you can't see the bugs. That means that you two are safe. I didn't want the bugs to hurt Lauren either, that's why I killed her. She's my angel."
Mark was still horrified, but he had tears in his eyes. I think that he genuinely regretted all that he had done.
"Mark," I calmly said, "If my theory is correct, Lauren and the kids were the only things keeping you safe. Now you are all alone, and no one cares about you anymore. When I leave this room, I'm going to stop caring about you too. You're a dead man and I'm going to forget all about you."
Mark looked at the ceiling, and then the floor.
"Just take care of the kids," he mumbled before a single teardrop dripped off the side of his muzzle.
"I'll take care of the kids," I promised, "for the rest of my life."
As soon as I closed the door to the bedroom, I heard a whole bunch of nothing. It was as if someone punched a hole in the atmosphere. It made my hairs stand on end just like the first time Rob and I saw a monster. I'm glad I didn't have to see anything that horrible. I guess his bugs found him.
When I opened the door, Cal and the kids were playing Uno on the table while gunshots could be heard in the streets. I sat down and Cal dealed me in on the next game. I was glad that Rose was too young to really process what was going on, and that Taylor was to dopey to ask questions like, "Where's Mark," or "Is Lauren okay?"
Cal gave me a wide-eyed look that seemed to ask, "What happened over there?" I lightly shook my head. Cal seemed to be disappointed that no one lived.
And that was all we did. We played Uno, and Trouble (much more fun with four players), and Slap Jack. Rose even convinced us to break out Pretty Pretty Princess, which of course, Cal and her adored. Luckily, Taylor was still pretty sleepy and I was still too jaded to feel emasculated. Rose ended up being the prettiest, and I got the black ring... goody.
It was just normal. Cal and I had been hiding in a basement, while Rose and Taylor had lost their parents and slept in a car before being rescued by strangers. Sitting around in an apartment, just the four of us, felt like home. We were together, and there were other people. It was just... nice.
I broke out some bottled water and some ramen soups. We had to eat them cold though; I wouldn't want to try and start a fire in here. I found that smashing the noodles and throwing some of the seasoning packet on top actually makes them pretty decent.
Afterward, Cal and I had to figure out the sleeping arrangement. Rose absolutely would not sleep anywhere other than the bedroom with me and Cal. Taylor was a little dopey still, but he agreed with Rose. They were really afraid of the dark, and Mark's "bugs" that he had told them about.
After Cal and I made little beds for the kids out of sleeping bags and couch cushions, we got ready to go to bed. Taylor for some reason managed to ask an awkward question.
"Hey, Cal, why do you and Rob sleep in the same bed?"
Cal looked at me and I nodded. I don't know what he needed my permission for, I don't care anymore.
"Because I love Rob. That's why," he said.
"I love Rob too, he's nice. Can I sleep on the bed?" asked Rose.
"No Rose," I chuckled, "Nice try; you have to sleep on the couch cushions."
I woke up late. The whole thing with Mark and seeing Lauren dead kind of drained me. I got up and rubbed my eyes. Cal was up, but Taylor and Rose were still on the floor. When I got into the living room, Cal was sitting on the cushion-less couch and staring out one of the cracks in our covered windows.
"How are you holding up buddy?" I whispered.
Cal motioned for me to come closer. I thought he was going to whisper in my ear, but instead he grabbed my head and jammed his muzzle into it. He lapped and the inside of my ear and made me silently squirm because I didn't want to wake up the kids.
When he finally let me go, he looked at me and smiled while I made a disgusted face and rubbed my violated ear.
"I'm doing just fine. I'm actually really calm considering the situation. I never got to ask you happened in the coyote's apartment because the kids where here. So, what happened?"
I calmly said, "Mark snapped and started seeing things. He killed Lauren while Rose must've been napping. I think that Taylor saw him do it, or found Lauren dead and then freaked the fuck out. Mark hit him and made him chug cough syrup to get him to shut up. Rose saw Mark hit Taylor and dope him up, so Mark left the kids with us to just get rid of the whole mess. When I went over there, he had tried to hang himself. But, I cut him down and sobered him up. He told me what had happened and I have a pretty good idea about what's up with the town thanks to him."
"Wait, did you kill Mark?" asked Cal with a worried face.
"No, I shut the door and some... uhh... I feel so stupid saying this... some more dread killed him. At least, that's what I think happened."
"Do you think there are more monsters, dread, whatever the hell, here in Harlan?"
"Now this is the sketchy part," I admitted, "I think that the guys who run this place attracted them. Harlan was nothing more than a concentration camp with no fences. We were being suckered in. They were going to sell us off as slaves. I guess that maybe some dread showed up. But, only they could see them. Remember the thing in the snow when we were gathering wood?"
"Yeah, that was horrible."
"Right, but it was invisible, and there was only one of them. I have sort of a theory that I'm working on. You see, we were able to keep that one at bay, because we were... well... you know... in love. We must have subconsciously willed it into something that we could handle. We turned it into something unsubstantial that couldn't harm us. And the highway; there were three then. They ran down a car and killed three guys. But, just the two of us utterly wrecked them. I think that the more a group of people is together, the more they trust each other, the easier it is for them to kill or avoid a monster," I diverted my eyes from Cal's and looked at the floor, the next part was going to be tough, "But, the part that I don't get is that your parents and grandparents died. You were with your cousins and you found them dead in that house in the valley. I don't know why that is."
I heard Cal swallow hard and I gazed up to see him choking back some tears.
"That's because my parents were going though a divorce and my grandparents hated me. You're right Rob. You're absolutely right..."
I hugged Cal tight and told him that I loved him. I didn't even think about it when I did it. By the time it was done, I was surprised and reflecting upon it in my mind. It's like walking to your bedroom; sometimes you don't even remember doing it.
I think that that moment was finally proof enough to me of how much I loved Cal. I occasionally thought that maybe someday I would meet a nice girl like the ones that I dated in high school, but nothing would ever compare to what me and Cal had. It was right then that I knew I wouldn't be getting out of spending my whole life with him.
When we withdrew from our hug, I looked Cal right in the eyes and told him exactly what was on my mind and in my heart. He was still a little sad from thinking back about his parents, but the few tears that fell from his eyes were from joy. Every single one that hit his reddish fur was lit by the crack of light from the window. The tears hung in his coat like dewdrops on grass, each orb its own little perfect world. I don't think that I have ever spilled my heart out like that for anyone. It was so gorgeous that I cried too.
Cal was still at the apartment with the kids while I was rifling through Mark and Lauren's cabinets. I needed more food for the kids. We just didn't have enough. Lucky for me, all of the food was in the kitchen, so I didn't have to go into the bedroom. I don't want to deal with the bodies right now. I just really don't want to think about the problems that we'll have in a few days.
I had a backpack filled with some pretty decent stuff when I heard a funny noise. I don't know how to describe it. I was worried, so I made my way out of the apartment and crossed the hall to our own. I was sure to have the shotgun ready.
The second I put my hand on the doorknob to our apartment, I heard the dusty rattle of a cicada. But, it was inside the apartment, it was so close... and out of season.
Adrenaline screamed through my blood as I whipped the door open to the dark apartment. Cal was huddled in a corner with the shivering kids. He didn't look scared, but he had a really concerned and focused look. It looked like he was pointing to the ceiling, and then I saw the gun in his hand.
Another dusty cicada call echoed in my ears as I looked up to the dark mess on the ceiling. Before I could raise my gun, my legs were whipped out from under me. I was lucky not to bang my head, but not so lucky that I dropped the shotgun. My ears cried out as the shotgun discharged a loud blast upward.
I had something wrapped around my leg and it was dragging toward the center of the room. My claws sprang out from the fright, and I made long lines in the floor as it tugged me closer. I wrapped an arm around a piece of furniture automatically.
I was face down on the floor and I heard Cal fire my .40 caliber handgun at the beast. Its cicada call filled the room and deafened my thoughts. I had just enough sense to grab my folding knife from my belt and whip it open. I didn't want to let go, but I had to in order to cut myself free.
I let go and started another agonizing journey to the center of the room. I reached down to my ankle and felt something sickening entwined around it. The bug was pulling me towards itself. I had to end it.
I sawed through the tendril with the serrated part of the blade. It wasn't long before I was loose and cold blood coated my hands. I heard the monster squeal and scream as I scrambled across the floor and back to my shotgun.
I heard Cal behind me as I thought, "There are only three rounds. That's all I have... and it's for shooting fucking pigeons."
I launched a hand to the stock of the shotgun and pumped another round into the barrel. I took careful aim, and the horrid creature hit the floor with a sickening thud as soon as I fired. I stood up and aimed a second time. I could see that it was covered with writhing tentacles and it seemed to ooze blood like a slug leaves behind mucus. Blasting it a second time was the easiest thing I've done all day.
It slid into the opposite corner from where the kids where still hiding. I saw a bloody strand of the beast whip across the room and wrap itself around Rose's legs. She grabbed onto a shelf full of knickknacks as she was being dragged. I could see her pull herself closer to the shelf and then grip it with her powerful hyena jaw. Nothing would break her off of that.
I fired a final time at the creature before I ran over to a maul that we had on our supplies pile and grabbed it. With one chop, I severed another arm of the creature and forced it to drop Rose. As I was prying it out of the floor, I heard some movement in another room over the monster's squealing.
Cal cried out to my left and I turned to see him coming out of the bedroom with his M1 Carbine. He got right up next to the bloody bug and opened up on it. He didn't even bother to aim. I wouldn't either; there is nothing to aim at put a big wad of bloody goo.
As soon as I got the maul out of the woodwork, I ran over to the bloody corner and started to hack at the monster. I kept having to tug the wedge out of its body, so I flipped it to the hammer side and started to bash it. Cal ran out of ammo for his M1, so he got a crowbar and started to do the same. With every strike, we gave out a huff of breath or determined grunt and they were the only things that could be heard over the cicada call. I could feel little specks of blood getting all over my fur.
We must have hammered on the monster for a good thirty seconds before Cal got the hooked end of this crowbar stuck in its flesh. He had accidentally made a very convenient handle, so I grabbed it. If this thing wasn't dead after all of that, I don't think that we can kill it!
I used the embedded hook to smear it across the floor to the covered window. With one great swing I chucked the whole writhing, squealing, blood oozing mess through the window. The glass shattered and a little got on the floor. I heard a sickening plop a moment later.
I couldn't help but let a "FFFFFFUCK DUDE!" escape my lips.
I heard Cal make a disgusted noise and I looked over to see droplets of red blood all over the white part of his fur. I'm sure I didn't look any better.
With the covering on the big window removed, I could see the amount of destruction in the room which was mostly caused by us. There was blood everywhere, it was terribly unsanitary. There were holes in the ceiling from the shotgun rounds and my claw marks near the door. The apartment just wasn't livable anymore.
I pointed at Cal and said, "That's it! We're all leaving this apartment in the next five minutes! Pack your shit kids!"
"Where are we gonna go?" asked Cal.
"We're getting the hell out of Harlan, that's were we're going," I answered.
I heard a fully sobered up Taylor behind me say, "I'm with Rob on this one Cal, I'm going to get my shit."
The German Shepherd ran past me into the bedroom and he started throwing toys and books into a small book bag.
"You're a good kid Taylor!" I hollered after him.
"Don't say "shit" Taylor," scolded Cal before turning back to me and asking, "Be serious Rob. Where are we going to go? Do you have any idea of how we are getting out of here?"
"We're taking a car," I answered.
"Whose car? We sold the four-wheeler!" said Cal.
"We're taking the car that I haven't stolen yet, that's whose car."
Cal had an exhausted look as he said, "Rob, there are maybe, maybe three cars, in this whole city, that still have gas in them. Do, you know which ones they are?"
"Uhh... I know that those little army men out there have a sedan that runs. I used it to haul wood to the worksite. We're taking that."
"And the keys?" asked Cal.
"In the center counsel in a cigarette box, red cowboy killers," I answered.
Cal looked despondent for a moment. He really just didn't want to leave. He came up with a new question to stall me with.
"What if someone already took it?" he asked.
That was one thing I hadn't thought about. What if one of the camo guys already took the car? It's pretty widely known that only certain people are supposed to use it at certain times. But, every one of those people would know about the cigarette box.
"I'll have to check on that," I said.
I grabbed a pair of binoculars from a bag. It's the really big kind that you have to use a little tripod for. I set it up on the bloody window sill to try and find our ride. If it's parked where it should be, then it will be within sight of our window.
It was there, and it good shape too. Someone may have taken cover behind it at one point, but the damage wasn't severe. And it should have about half a tank of gas in it too. That's our ticket out of here.
"It's still there Cal," I informed him, "And we're going to be driving out of here mighty soon. The only thing that I can see in our way is the sniper lynx in the church steeple. That concerns me. I don't know who he's fighting for."
In no time at all, we had packed enough supplies for about a week. We had to pack light because we were getting ready to run from building to building hoping to avoid being seen... that's doubtful. We left so much behind though. We can find new stuff. It's not like any of it was really ours to begin with.
The kids were standing behind me and Cal. If someone was going to take a bullet, it should be me or Cal. We had a sort of silent agreement about that. The kids had their little backpacks on and Cal and I had large hiking backpacks. Not the best to run in, but it had stuff we needed and we packed light.
"Are you ready kids?" I asked.
Both the little hyena girl and German Shepherd nodded their heads.
"Cal?" I asked.
He looked off at the remainder of our apartment before answering.
"It wasn't such a bad little apartment... it just needed some love. Yeah Rob, I'm ready run to the car," he said.
"Well, alright then. Taylor, Rose, stay behind me and Cal and please keep up. Don't let anyone grab you and stay really quiet, even if shooting starts. Do you understand?"
They nodded again; they seemed sort of scared, but oddly calm. It wasn't anything to frightening to them.
"Then let's go," I finally said.
And there you go. This is the longest I've ever written anything.
The Downedest Day will conclude in Part 4: Worlds in the White