I want to thank 8MilesThatWay for originally creating this concept, and for giving me his blessing to remake and republish it.

"Got everything?" Aniqua asked. She lifted two more bottles of gasoline into the back of the news van, tucking them underneath a pile of cables. "Cameras?"

"Got 'em in the front space," Gary called out.

"Howard, laptop?"

"Got it. And the charger." He answered her next question before she could even verbalize it.

"Okay, let's see, microphones, batteries..." Aniqua went through the equipment in the back.

"And guns," Gary added. "Got us each a handgun, plus a rifle in case we need it."

"Weapons," Aniqua acknowledged. "Extra gas for the generator…I think we're good."

With that she slammed the rear shut, came around, and climbed in through the side door. Howard was already at the wheel, so Aniqua sat in the passenger seat and Gary took his place at the console behind them.

"Alright," Howard turned over the engine. "Let's try to head west."

It took them five minutes just to edge into the street, with the roadways of Phoenix congested with refugees. It was another twenty minutes to travel two blocks over to the I-10, but they finally turned onto the ramp and managed to speed up. With the morning sun at their backs, Aniqua stared out the windows as they began to drive smoothly. They were the only vehicle going west; meanwhile, the opposite six lanes of the freeway had ground to a standstill.

"Wow…" Aniqua whispered. "Gary, get some shots of that."

Gary snapped open a large plastic case, pulled out their camera, and fit it onto his shoulder. He awkwardly tried to negotiate the tight space as he crouched and approached the windshield.

"Careful!" Howard dodged its lens as it swung towards his face. "Trying to watch the road!"

"Sorry! Sorry…"

Aniqua stood and moved into the back, letting Gary sit in the passenger seat and point the camera out the driver's window, capturing the endless line of vehicles streaming into Phoenix from California. Some had abandoned their vehicles altogether: lone men were carrying four bags at a time, families trailed chains of children, and shady individuals were carrying crowbars as they slunk behind an empty car or truck. Aniqua managed to lean forward and watch them as they all fled the horrors that were spreading from central California.

"Oh damn," Howard mumbled, gesturing ahead. They were approaching a large armored vehicle, which had five soldiers around it. One of the men held up his hand. They slowed to a stop, and he came to the window.

"'S blocked off," he waved his hand to the west. "No civilians."

"Yeah but, look, we're from the news station." Howard jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, to indicate the lettering on their van.

"No civilians." He motioned in a circle. "Turn around. Now."

Aniqua made her way to the window, stooped over. "Sir, please, it's a very important story that deserves to be covered. Here, we have a press pass." She began to pull the card out of her wallet.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but no journalists right now. We need to keep the way clear for personnel transport."

"But we have a press pass! Look, see?"

"I don't care, it won't get you through here!"

"Corporal?" Another soldier came towards them and waved the first man away. "Miss, what are you trying to do?"

"We're covering this event. We have no other teams in the area."

"Listen," he leaned into the window. "What you're driving into isn't a warzone, or a terror situation. It's something far worse. International laws aren't going to apply."

"I understand."

He looked at her closely. "I don't think you do. You go into that zone, or if that zone catches up to you, we aren't going to save you. Do you understand that?"

Aniqua hesitated before answering, "Yes."

"Let her through, Corporal." Aniqua watched as they were waved past the vehicle. Just before the window rolled up again, they heard another soldier shouting through a megaphone:

"Please do NOT abandon your vehicles! We're trying to move traffic as quickly as possible, and abandoned cars get in the way. Stay in your vehicles, and we will get you through in time! All abandoned vehicles will be pulled off the side of the road!"

"Two days," Gary muttered to himself. "Two and a half days, and the state of California is nearly empty. It's amazing."

Howard had his jaw set firm as he kept staring at the road, ignoring Gary. "So even the National Guard isn't putting a dent in the situation, huh?"

"Hm?"

"Don't be thick Gary! That guy just said they 'won't' save us. That translates into they 'can't' save us."

"Geez dude, just relax…"

As the two went at it, Aniqua sat in the back of the van, running a check over the console again. The hydraulic switch to raise the satellite antenna seemed in good order. She slipped a pair of headphones over her ears, switched on a voice-over microphone and blew into it. "Okay," she whispered to herself; it was working fine. Before removing the headphones, though, she switched the channel to reception, catching the middle of a talk program.

The running headline screamed "DOG CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA" alongside flashing sirens.

"-derstand the scope of the situation," one of the pundits said. "What we're dealing with is a catastrophe unlike any we've occurred in our nation's history, in any nation's! We need this drastic-"

"No no no, no no," another pundit interrupted him. "This is a time, more than ever, to stick to our principles! State troops should be leading the refugee crisis, and the states and local authorities should be providing for them. The national government should send in the Marines, Air Force, Army to settle the hostilities, but FEMA and other government bureaucracy will only get in the way and cost us valuable time! I won't have a bigger government to deal with after this-"

"-being ridiculous," a woman interrupted him in turn. "Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona are already being swamped, and more people are pouring in every day. Gas riots, violent confrontations, reports of town militias shooting anyone who tries to pull off the freeway - the federal government has an obligation to step in to help-"

The pundits kept battling out their politics, and Aniqua switched the channel. She leaned closer to the little screen, only four inches across.

"-new footage uploaded by a resident of San Luis Obispo, shared on Facebook, that shows these dogs in action again." It was a male news anchor, nodding gravely, with a female by his side. "I've been told the footage is sensitive, so please look away if you don't wish to see."

Aniqua kept watching. The shaky video had obviously been shot from a smartphone, up on a second floor balcony, just barely peeking around a corner of a wall. In the street below, chaos reigned. Trash cans and litter and stopped cars were everywhere. And dogs, dogs running through the streets. A group of five had paused and surrounded a red minivan, ramming their heads against the doors and leaving dents. As Aniqua watched, one of the dogs slipped his head under the car, and began to tilt it up off the ground, showing unnatural strength. Two others joined him, and within seconds the vehicle was on its side. Then the first dog jumped onto the window, gave a small bounce with its front legs, shattered the glass, and began to drag out a man in a pink polo shirt and khaki pants. The man was squirming, yelling. The dog bit down at his throat-

"Cut it off! Cut it off!"

It was the female anchor shouting. The screen returned to the two of them. The male anchor had his head bowed, his hand at his mouth.

"Roger? Roger…"

"...I'm sorry," he choked out. He moved his trembling hand to his forehead.

"Cut to commercial," the female anchor said. "Cut to commercial, cut! Cut to-"

A Burger King jingle sounded, introducing a brilliant new dish that surely no one had ever dreamed of before. Aniqua had to take a moment, gather her own breath back again. She became vaguely aware of her own hand, clapped over her mouth.

"...my God."

Sure she had heard the reports, many of them far more gruesome than what she had just seen. But the video just made it...too real. The way that man had been kicking, the look on his face…

"Aniqua?" Gary was staring back at her. "You alright?"

She took a deep breath, put on the mask that she wore to every horror story, assumed the voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You hungry?"

"Gary, it is eight in the morning, and you had donuts before we left the studio."

"Yeah, but driving into a horde of scary zombie dogs gets a guy hungry." He grinned. "Whadda we got?"

"We got enough," Howard snapped at him, "for us to survive for a week. So please, try to be sparing."

"Sounds like someone else needs breakfast too. Howard?"

There was a silence. Aniqua could see Howard wavering.

"...any danishes, by chance?"

"Cheese or cherry?"

"Oh, cheese." He accepted it gratefully, steering with his elbows as he tore the wrapper open. "Thanks."

"No prob! Aniqua?"

The image of the man being dragged out of the car struck her again.

"Uh, nothing right now. Maybe an apple later?"

"Suit yourself." Gary began to dig into a pre-wrapped ham and cheese sandwich. "Oh! Do you wanna get some footage, to get us starting out?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "That'd be a good idea, I think. Let me get ready though."

"Mm," he held up his sandwich to show, "I'm busy, do what you gotta do."

"Well thank you," she managed a weak chuckle. She pulled her stage make-up from her purse and opened her palette. Looking in a small mirror set into the van's wall, Aniqua applied her dark brown base, outlined her lips in red, and added just a little accent on her eyelashes. She had had so much experience reporting in the field that even with the occasional bump from the van, her makeup turned out flawless. "Ready?"

"Mmm!" Gary shoved the last little corner of his sandwich into his mouth, and picked up the camera. "Lighting...focus...microphone," he handed her a stick microphone. "And…" there was a beep. "Go!"

"Hello! Aniqua Thompson, reporting in from Phoenix, Arizona. My crew and I are on our way into the heart of California to bring you the most up-to-date facts about this crisis as it unfolds. For those of you worried out there, we are armed and ready to face any threats." Although, after the soldier's warning, she couldn't bring herself to believe they were protected at all. But she continued. "We'll be reporting in as much as possible, whenever we have fresh and exciting new information to share with you. Aniqua Thompson with PBS."