well here goes.

The sound of someone breathing rapidly echoed into the night followed by woops and cries of joy as barks of automatic and semi-automatic weapons can be heard as an unknown group of raiders started to go through the remains of those they slaughtered without mercy. The word why kept being repeated in the mind of De'tah as tears ran down his face, for years his tribe have been living in the edge of the city, that was used to be called new york, on hand grown food and the scavenging party sent in groups of five to search the ruins for anything useful. And out of no where these strange men appeared and killed the people he knew and loved. "No they did not kill, they murdered", spat De'tah darkly to himself "and they will be punished, not by me, no, but one way or another they will meet their end" he cursed with all his heart, and then guilt hit him hard.

Why did he run away, why did he not face them and defend his family, with this realisation he start to slow his run and suddenly his feet felt heavy as he dragged them along the sand that now covered the land he was walking on. A voice invaded his mind just as he was about to break down "big boys don't cry". It belonged to his mother who said it when he was 7 after he got hit by a few rowdier kids in the colony.

Today the evening seem to stretch forever as in on purpose to laugh at his misery as he aimlessly wonder the ruins in search for something, someone, anything, anyone then it made him think of the family he lost and his eyes started to water again. "No i must be strong, big boys don't cry" he said, unknowingly out loud. Just as he finished his sentence something moved in the thing they called a 'shop'. As quick as he can De'tah ran the opposite direction from the sound and hid in a burnt strange box that contain funny black things in it that made cracking noises whenever it moves. Peeking out of the box he gave a sigh of relive as the sound came from a furry creature on four legs and seem to have a tail that seem to be as high as De'tah's hip.

Suddenly the creature spotted him and made a noise like the weapon of the raiders, then it made the noise again and started to make rumbling noise like the sound of a hungry stomach, the creature then start to show his teeth and cautiously moved towards De'tah. Panicking De'tah grabbed the contents of the first strange black bag and threw it towards the creature, only to realise he threw a bone which landed about 5 steps from the creature, he reached out for another bag and threw its contents and more bones appear from within the black noisy bag. The strange creature seem to be distracted by the bones, crunching the bone between its strong and drooling jaws.

Seeing this opportunity De'tah jumped out of the green box and slowly stepped towards the road where the creature is and tried to enter the store named "bu...cher...ry" said De'tah again out loud which gotten the creatures attention, seeing this he ran into the strange shop and ran to the back of it where he found a big metal door which was slightly open. But the funny thing about this wired room was that it was very cold and have meat everywhere which were surprisingly not rotten. (Due to the meat being freeze-dried and salted).

Another bark came from the creature, which was now standing at the door. Grabbing the big chuck of meat closest to the door which was not frozen he threw it at the creature intending to hurt it with the heavy chunk of meat, but to his unfortunate it fell two steps before the creature and rolled to a stop right at its mouth. This caused the creature to sniff the meat and start eating it. Watching in horror as the chunk of meat get ripped apart and eaten De'tah could not help himself but watch, after a while the creature barked again but somehow this time it did not feel as threatening but it still send shivers down his spine.

With no were to run De'tah watch as the creature slowly makes its way to him, seeing this he crouched and cowered as much as he can with his eyes closed to try to protect his head and chest from the approaching creature. And after what seems like hours he felt a warm and wet sensation on his lower arm and he flinched then he feel the sensation again this time on his face, and again and again. "ITS EATING ME!!! ITS TASTING ME AND LIKING IT!!!" De'tah screamed in his head and when it stopped, he thought he was dead and he opened his eyes and the creature's face was straight in front of his and its mouth opened to stick out its tongue to lick De'tah again. Seeing this and taking it as a sign of peace, De'tah slowly and cautiously reached for the creatures head, and started to stroke it after a few strokes the thing barked again causing De'tah to cower again, then came the licks again and this repeated for three times before De'tah was certain that the creature will not eat him.

"You know" De'tah said to himself, "I think, I will call you Bark" and the creature barked again and wagged its fail furiously as though it was happy with what he said. With that a boy for the first time seen, met and befriended a creature that was used to be called a dog in a time where there was peace and order, a time which he never knew existed.

From what he learnt back at home, "well when I had one" thought De'tah, he knew that its not good to take more than he needs. So taking as much meat as he can from the hold and taking a few extra for his new companion, bark, he set out further into the heart of New York, or what was left of it. This time there were no further interruptions besides Bark having to wee whenever they reach a post or a corner, this made De'tah write a mental note in his head to also carry more water if he find a source that would seem clean.

As they get deeper into the city Bark seem to get more and more tense and seem to make the growling sound frequently at the road in front of them, feel uneasy at the sight of this, De'tah start to have second guesses at his idea to go to the centre of NY, but still went on. As they reach the end of another street, the sense of danger that was earlier just scratching at the back of his mind is now a shadow lurking in every corner and hiding under every slab of rock. As though fear was not enough, the sky was getting darker casting a shadow over the buildings giving them a look as though they might fall on them at any minute.

"Hey, you wanna go some place else? Not back but not forward too?" De'tah asked Bark, as he is unable to bear this feeling of fear and caution, but all he got was another growl form Bark at the end of the stretch of the street. After a few seconds of staring at the end of the street, which now seem dark and hostile, De'tah chose to go south away from both the centre of NY and from the raiders that may be, just may be still after him. Taking a glance at his watch, he knew he would have to make some kind of camp soon.

First taking a few steps south, each step still cautious, eyes marking anything that looked like a threat and hands balled into fists ready to strike anything that may jump out to harm him. Slow and cautious steps turned into a power walk, power walking turned into a jog and a jog turned into an all out sprint as the urge to get away are let loose all this with Bark at De'tah's heels, following closely behind.

A sudden gust of wind blew from behind him like a monster letting out a roar sending sand and dust together with other small partials towards them. With this image in mind a shiver ran down his body from head to toe causing De'tah to run faster while the cold winds wash away the strain which was on his legs as though rebelling and wanting to take a break.

Running as though he never ran before, he felt free again, all his worries and troubles blown away by the strong gust of wind, which is now a gentle breeze that is keeping De'tah cool and feeling refreshed as though he just came out of a cold shower. Finally coming back to reality and slowing down to a jog, De'tah look around and noted that he is once again along the outskirts of the outer suburbs with lots of big houses that are now either razed to the ground or have holes on every side of the wall left by the confrontation between the nations.

By now De'tah is starting to feel tired and the sky is starting to turn black, amidst the ruins De'tah spotted a warehouse with big blue words written 'WAL' a hole in the middle of the wall and the rest of the words 'ART'. Choosing to make camp in the warehouse, De'tah made a final mad dash to the warehouse just to find that the door is locked.

Cursing to himself, De'tah though for a moment on what to do next when he noticed that it was made of wood, realising this De'tah tried to kick the door down. It creaked and groaned at the sudden impact but held strong, De'tah kicked at it again this time harder, but the door held still. Getting annoyed De'tah took a few steps back and charged at the door and jumped with all his might two steps away from the door, shoulder barging it with his eyes closed.

The rusty hinges and lock that was the only thing holding the door up gave way to the sudden impact that brought the door down together with De'tah on top of it. Hearing this De'tah open his eyes expecting to see total darkness inside the warehouse with only the moonlight to illuminate the inside of the warehouse, but what he saw was more holes in the roof and walls. That by some wonder still stood despite having holes, some larger than the size of cars in them, crates scattered around the floor, most already opened and ransacked by raiders, others lay untouched as they went unnoticed.

"At least we'll have shelter from the wind and rain" De'tah told bark as he went to work searching for an area that have no holes on the wall or roof that surrounds it. After searching for a while De'tah found a corner that have cracks in the wall but no holes in the roof. The only problem was that the area was filled with dust and cobwebs that made De'tah want to look for another area but instead he picked up a piece of cardboard that was ripped apart when a container was ransacked and used it as a broom.

After clearing as much filth as possible from the corner, De'tah looked for more cardboard to lie on and a larger cardboard to use as a blanket. With his make shift bed ready De'tah went to lay in it and as he was about to cover himself with the cardboard 'blanket', Bark jumped in and lied down beside him. The memory of Bark pissing everywhere invaded his mind and De'tah said "Bark I know you may need to pee but if you have to please go some place else to do it and not here ok?"

Upon hearing this Bark only tiled his head and let out a bark before resting his head on his two front legs that is now crossed to form some kind of pillow. "Well looks like we made ourselves clear about this, besides why do you have to piss so much?" but all he had as an answer was a soft snoring that came from Bark.

So he pushed the though from his mind and rested on his side with his head on his arm to act as a pillow. Now that he have time to think about the day he have been through, memories of his family and his past and the raiders came flooding back into his mind in steady streams causing De'tah to start sobbing.

Bark who fell asleep for a moment was awoken to the sound of sobbing, seeing his master crying, Bark went up to his master's face and started to lick him gently, the sobbing slowly faded and the sound of soft giggling came and went in seconds before his master said "thanks Bark". Although he did not know what it meant, Bark licked his master's face one more time before going back to sleep again this time together with his master.