Chapter 8: New Companion
"First, I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong,
And I grew strong, and I learned how to get along.
And so you're back from outer space.
I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me…"
"Why do you play music?" Ava asks as the two girls sit in the van, waiting for Nicholas to come back from the woods after relieving himself.
"It makes me forget," the older girl answers, staring into the distance where the only male of their group had vanished.
"Why are you like that?"
"Like what?"
"Mean?"
Crystal swallows. "Am I mean?"
"Sometimes…" Ava admits.
"I guess it's because I've been through a lot…" she turns to the little girl. "A world like this will change people and not for the better."
"Why?"
"No one really knows… I guess when they make the world hell upon earth and you watch innocent humans become bloodthirsty monsters, there's not much time to be nice anymore when you're fighting for your life." She swallows again. "If you want to know, I used to be the nicest girl in my class. I was the one who gave flowers or an apple to the teacher, I helped little kids cross the street and I would even walk my elderly neighbour's dog."
"Oh, I love doggies, was it fuzzy?"
"Very," Crystal smiles. "It was a big sheepdog, sometimes it looked like a mop."
Ava giggles, a happy sound which felt nice to hear.
"I have no idea how this old lady managed to keep this big dog, he could tackle anyone to the ground and soak your face with his slobber."
"What was his name?"
"Farley, he was a lovable thing, but he wasn't very bright. He could never learn the simplest tricks and it didn't matter how many times he ran into the plate glass door… I'm surprised his face wasn't flattened for how many times he thought the door was open"
Ava giggles again and Crystal manages a smile of her own. Part of her wishes she still had a photo of the dog, as a way of making peace with the girl she had yelled at, shouted that her parents were probably dead. She did feel a lot of guilt over this, but when one is put in a life or death situation, many things are said that should not be. She's taking this moment to re-bond with the little girl, knowing that both of the children saved her… She'd become a meaningless and hopeless drifter. She had no real destination anymore, she hadn't even had contact with normal humans in six months or more and this was because… there didn't seem to be any of them left, not ones like Ava and Nicholas anyways. People with hope and the potential to do great things, those who looked on the bright side of life and still managed to sleep peacefully without being awoken by nightmares. But most of all, people who had kept their innocence, those who had never deliberately drawn blood… well Ava was the only one left. Nicholas had done it to protect his sister, the ability to say that you had never killed anyone was gone for him, but not his sister. Crystal even admired the girl for being so stubborn and refusing to lose how to fight, that way she wouldn't be called upon in battle to hurt anyone. Maybe that was for the best, but how long would it last?
"What happened to Farley?"
The smile is gone again. "I don't really know, after what… happened… Mrs. Cooper disappeared and so did Farley."
Just then Nicholas comes out of the woods again, but something else is with him. Crystal's breath catches in her throat, limping alongside the boy is the shaggy remains of a dog. It's covered in dirt, brambles and what was likely blood. As the two got closer, the smell hit her nose and she cringed. The thing stood at the boy's hips and was bone thin, looking on the verge of collapsing.
"A doggy!" Ava shrieks in excitement. She goes over towards the dog before the eldest can stop her. "Where did you find him, Nick?"
"I found him tied to a tree, he was howling and helpless. I think he was living off any squirrels that would try to run up the tree."
The dog manages to lick Ava's face and she giggles. Nicholas looks over and sees Crystal frowning very hard. The boy's stomach turned, already predicting what she was going to say.
"Why can't we keep him?"
The eldest looks at the animal, if it could even be called that, it was a mangy mutt and no one could tell what breed it was. There were many bald patches on his body, one eye looked like it was oozing out the gunk and half its tail was gone. What remains of a rope hung around its neck, which had minimal fur, likely from struggling to get free.
"You know why," Crystal says.
"We have to keep him!" Ava insists. "He needs us."
"Why do you think whoever had him first tied him to the tree? Dogs may be loyal protectors, but they require food, food that we can hardly spare."
"I'll give him mine," Ava insists, tears coming to her eyes again. The dog licks the girl's face again. Crystal thinks that it's cute. The animal whimpers a few times, melting the teen's heart a little. "Please Crystal… Please. We can't leave him out here. The Walkers will get him."
"And he's already trained, watch," Nicholas says. "Hey boy, sit."
With some effort, the dog's back legs lower into a sitting position. His half tail wags once as the boy pats him on the head as a reward.
Crystal's heart is sinking into her stomach. She wants to say no, a dog is the last thing they need, especially with the fact that they are all on the run from flesh-eating zombies. She wasn't stupid, she knew what happened to animals in worlds… If I Am Legend is anything to go by. Most of the time, they ended up as food for savage survivors. And yet, as she looked at the poor animal, her mind flashes back, thinking this might be how she must've looked at one time, helpless and starving, unable to fend for herself. She was probably dirtier and skinnier if she hadn't learned how to survive, losing that innocence of never taking a life. She knew how cruel it would be to just leave the dog… this dog still had the blamelessness of the children she was caring for. She sighs and turns back into the van. She opens a can of spam and brings it over to the poor beast. She places it in front of him, breathing through her mouth as the smell was very strong.
The dog eats ravenously as if this was his last meal on earth. He finishes it in no time flat and looks up at his saviour, if animals could express complicated emotions, this one would likely be showing gratitude. Crystal then offers the dog a dribble of water, which he laps up in no time flat. He's still shaking a lot, likely from the weakness of his body, but his partial tail is wagging happily.
"We'll have to find a lake or something to clean him up," she finally says.
Ava and Nicholas smile and cheer, both hugging Crystal happily.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Ava shouts.
Nicholas parrots these words.
The eldest then goes to get a drop sheet from the van, wraps the dog in it, doing her best not to vomit from the smell. She puts it in the very back of the van, away from any fabrics or food. The animal seems so happy to be somewhere else that he lets out a sound. It wasn't quite a bark, but a raspy, hoarse whisper. Crystal manages to smile.
…
"Would you please hold him still!" Crystal groans as both Nicholas and Ava try to keep the dog from squirming. The girl is dressing the animal's wounds, which he is not too happy about. He howls several times and tries to get away.
The group drove along some of the empty highways until they finally found what was could be a decent body of water, a pond on a farmer's property. This mutt was none too pleased of being forced into the cold water, but once Crystal began cleaning his eye with scraps of cloth and got rid of all the build-up of dirt and bark between his paws, he calmed down enough for her to finish. Both Ava and Nicholas helped to the best of their six and eight-year-old abilities, but it usually ended up with Crystal doing all the work. The kids were arguing over who got to name the dog.
After the dog smelled a lot better, they brought the skinny thing back to the van and they rationed out food for four instead of three. The teenager of the group knew that she'd have to go raiding soon, meaning they'd have to go into another town or city, which was very, very risky. She'd also start looking for dog food, which would be much easier to find than human food since it wouldn't satisfy desperate survivors.
Now she was trying to help the dog with his wounds. She discovered that one of its front legs was broken so she had to create a splint a tie it to the animal's limb. He was none to happy about this, trying to eat it, so Crystal had to spray old paint over it, it smelled bad and tasted terrible, keeping the animal at bay. Now she was trying to clean cuts and wounds. She knew only time would give the dog back the missing fur, but she also cut the rope from around its neck. She saw that the cord binding it to the tree had cut into the flesh more than once and removed most of the fur in the area. This mutt probably tried to escape many times, only to be harmed and likely choked. This probably explains why the thing couldn't bark properly, his vocal chords might be damaged.
Once all the wounds are dress, Crystal sits back in exhaustion; and she thought taking care of kids and surviving was exhausting
Now with the animal cleaned up, he does now closely resemble what was once a dog. His fur is brown, a shade darker than the teen's own hair, his snout was slightly thicker, indicating it had Labrador genes, but as far as she could tell, it was a mutt with a mixture of breeds. The dog's eyes were very dark and blinked frequently, likely still trying to heal from the hard goo that once resided there. He begins to pant, showing his teeth and tongue. Ava gives the dog a big hug and he licks her face.
"Okay guys, time to call it a night."
"Can Farley sleep with us?" Ava asks.
Crystal swallows. "Farley, is that his name now?"
"I like it, at least I get to meet one dog named Farley," Ava insists.
"Are you okay with that Nick?"
The boy shrugs. "I would've liked a name like Killer or Destroyer,"
The teen reaches out and strokes the dog on the head. The animal licks her hand.
"He's too friendly to be called those things," Crystal says. "Farley, it is then."
"Farley Killer," Nick corrects.
"F.K. for short," the teen jokes.
Eventually, the children finally settle down into bed. They make sure that F.K. is covered with a blanket too, which seemed like a great comfort to the animal being left the woods all alone on cold nights. The dog slowly shuts its eyes and breathes deeply. Ava and Nicholas say their prayers and curl up together on the mattress. Crystal moves to the front seat, still regretting her decision to let this animal into the group. He'd likely only slow them down or end up getting them killed somehow. She did love animals… she loved them a lot, in fact, her family once had two cats named Paige and Boots, both of whom she remembered fondly. But dogs were a lot more work… Why did she let this dog into the van? Was it to make Ava happy? To make the girl trust her again? To prove that she was "nice"? Was it because she felt sorry for the poor thing? Or maybe it was because they all needed some form of distraction from the harsh reality and hellhole that is their life.
Maybe this was a good thing… As the moon becomes high in the sky, Crystal looks down to see the children snuggled up with F.K. and her heart just melts.
I guess animals will always be my weakness, she thinks to herself. She then digs out a CD she was particularly fond of. She plays it on low volume and lays back, watching the sky.
"Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Returned to their hotel suite
And they unlocked the door…"
A/N: All lyrics and rights go to their perspective companies and artists. Please Follow and Review.
