.10.
She ran, not looking back, seeking a place to hide, to wait for Charon's return.
She waited a day.
Then another.
Hunger and thirst finally urged her to leave her hiding spot, but first, she had to know. She retraced her steps back towards the abandoned industrial complex.
"C...Charon?" Her voice was quiet. Hesitant. The thick iron-smell of blood and the sweet stench of decay immediately assaulted her nose. "Are you here? Are you hurt?"
She stepped into the room they'd taken shelter in and stopped dead in her tracks.
A decapitated dog was splayed out, pinned to the wall with chunks of old rebar. It was so mangled and bloody that Gin couldn't tell the coat color, let alone the breed. Cautiously, she stepped forward. A large spiral had been painted on the floor using the dog's blood. Skulls were set at each of the cardinal directions.
She stared up at the displayed corpse, legs shaking. It had been split down the middle, the head shoved into the abdominal cavity. The eyes were rolled back into the head, but Gin immediately recognized the scar that encircled what was left of the dog's neck.
She stood there, frozen, silent, tears streaming down her face. "...No..."
"You're trembling."
Gin whipped around. An enormous dog stood 10 feet from her.
"Who are you?! Did...did you do this?!"
He stepped forward, a cruel grin snaking across his face. "Don't you like my art?"
Gin stepped backwards. "Why did you do this?" She tried to keep her voice steady. The other dog stepped forward again. "I do this to gain power...The power I'll need to take control over this entire miserable city."
"You're a madman." It was a statement, not a question.
He stepped into the light, giving Gin a better look. He was massive, over 200 pounds, clearly half Newfoundland, half something she couldn't place. "All of the greats get called mad at some point. I was not born great. My mother was a wolf, exiled from her pack for breeding with a common dog. She taught me all the rituals she knew, so that one day, I could ascend to power and take over the pack."
He took another step towards Gin. "But taking over a simple wolf pack did not interest me. I wanted something...bigger." He grinned at her, red eyes flashing.
Without thinking, Gin lunged forward, slashing him across the leg. He easily reached out as she slashed him, grabbed her by the neck, and threw her against the floor. She skidded, body becoming smeared with blood as she rolled into the spiral, knocking a skull out of the way.
The other dog calmly raised his leg and licked the blood from it. "You friend tried the same thing. Look how he wound up."
Gin snarled, struggling to her feet, at the same time keenly aware of the pups she was carrying.
The Newfoundland mix looked bored. "I have no need for you at the moment. Run along." He turned to leave.
"B...bastard! Tell me your name so I know who to kill!" He stopped in his tracks. "Kill? Me? My, you are going to be entertaining." He still didn't turn around. "You have no reason to know, but I'd might as well let you know the name of the one who will one day end your life." He glanced backwards at her, red eye burning deep into her soul.
"My name is Bartleby."
With that, he disappeared into the darkness, leaving Gin alone in a roof filled with death.
====
Two weeks later.
Gin had been successfully hiding from Bartleby. Her abdomen had grown, swelling as the pups grew. Her due date was soon, and she'd only had herself to depend on as a provider. Even...Even if they're all Riot's, and none of them are Charon's...I have to raise them. I have to do it. For him.
Food wasn't plentiful, but shelter was. She changed where she slept every night, trying to keep from establishing a pattern that might be followed by Bartleby or his pack.
Today, she'd found a deer.
Deer were becoming more commonplace, moving back into areas that had been more or less completely abandoned by humans.
She stalked through the grass, avoiding any garbage that might rustle or rattle, or just give away her position.
Slowly, she stalked forward. The deer continued cropping at the grass.
Slowly...
The deer raised its head, and suddenly looked around, on alert. Gin flattened herself into the grass. The doe flicked an ear, and went back to grazing.
Gin tensed her back legs and sprang forward -
As two more dogs came flying out of the underbrush at the same time.
One was a red-and-white Siberian Husky mix, the other was an absolutely enormous Saint Bernard mix. The Husky grabbed a leg, and the Saint Bernard bulldozed into the deer's shoulder, taking it down, and swiftly grabbing the deer by the throat.
Gin skidded to a halt at this spectacle. "Hey!" The two other dogs stopped, their mouths full of deer. "Hey what?" The Siberian snapped. "That was my kill!" Gin protested. The larger dog's face softened. "Sorry. Do you want to take a leg, or...?" "Valkyrie! Don't give away our kill!" "I'm not giving the whole damn thing away, look at her! She's skin and bones, and obviously pregnant!"
Gin stepped forward, head low. "I don't...I don't need...your..." She trailed off, weak from hunger. She stumbled, falling forward, before blacking out completely.
The other two dogs stepped up to her prone body. Val spoke first. "We should take her back." Troy bristled. "And have another mouth – make that mouths to feed?!" Val nudged Gin's head. "Look, Gene's looking for a mostly white pit bull. This is a mostly white pit bull. Might as well take her in on the one-in-a-million shot she's the dog Gene's looking for. Now c'mon. You take her, I'll take the deer."
"Ugh. Fine. Put her on my back." Troy grumbled, running through an entire list of annoyances and grievances. "You're wasting energy by complaining," Val snorted.
One carrying another dog, and one dragging a deer, both dogs began their journey back to their living space.