Dmitri awoke to the sound of engines. His eyes snapped open as he sat up. 'Shit!' he thought to himself as he slid behind the chimney for protection. As the sounds of the engines rumbled past, he peered around the corner. The vehicle was an old transport, like the ones that he had seen in WW2 museums as a kid. Its tattered canvas cover was painted with a red jagged "A" that was marked with what was most likely blood from recent kills. It rumbled past the house and continued down the road. "I wonder" Dmitri said under his breath as he retrieved a shotgun shell from his bag. He loaded it into a Mossberg he had found in the house he was standing on, and chambered the round. "Please still work." he silently prayed under his breath as he squeezed the trigger. There was a silent pop, and the round landed under the exhaust pipe and quickly stuck with a magnet. Dmitri quickly fumbled a small radar out of his bag. 'Blip'...'blip'. "Yes!" Dmitri whispered happily under his breath as the truck roamed through the rest of the neighborhood leaving the excited Dmitri to quietly plot. Peanut sat up in his bed and was immediately greeted with the smell of... bacon. He groggily stood up and looked down to his chest. The memories from the previous night returned. He winced as he touched the clean bandages. He remembered squirming on the bed as a weird guy was pulling out bullets from his torso. He also remembered maybe telling grape something...'Nah' he thought as he pried the I.V. needle from his wrist and exited the room. Still following his nose, he walked down the stairs to the kitchen area. As he entered the kitchen, he saw the man from last night standing there over a mini butane stove and just paused midstep, standing there awkwardly. Dmitri looked up from his cooking and saw the perplexed dog. "Come on in." he said as he made a gesture to a table made of stacked wooden debris. Grape was already there sipping a dark brown drink. He sat down next to Grape but his eyes never left the man's back. As Dmitri continued his work, Peanut leaned over to grape and whispered "Who is this guy?" he asked, still looking at the man. "He's some kind of army guy named Dmitri" she answered as she took another sip of her drink "Hey wanna try this?" she asked tiredly as she gave the cup to peanut. "What is it?" peanut asked as he lifted it to his nose, sniffing the strong smell of something...sweet? Before grape could explain, Dmitri chimed in "It's called coffee" He said as he made his way towards the pair with two platters and a smile on his face. He set the plastic trays in front of them and handed them strange green tools. Peanut took a small amount of coffee into his mouth and swallowed quickly, holding out his tongue. "Dat burmth" he said as he fanned his tongue. Dmitri stifled a chuck as he peanut fan his mouth. Dmitri flipped open the green utensils, revealing small forks and spoons. The pair of pets looked down to their trays and held in their happiness. They were a good three days shy from anything near a meal. Bacon and powdered eggs may not have seemed like much when things were normal, but this was basically a feast to the two. Before they dug in Dmitri stopped them. "Wait" he said as he held out his hands to the two. The both looked at him quizzically. Grape caught on and took his hand before extending hers to Peanut. He gradually took her hand, still not entirely aware of what was happening, hunger fogging his mind. He looked to Dmitri's extended hand and cautiously took it. It was heavily caloused but his grip was soft, like that of Peanuts owner when he was a pup before he... left. The memory saddened him beyond measure, and he tilted his head down as a tear came to his eye. Dmitri began to recite a prayer in a language that neither of them knew but they went along with it anyway. After he was done saying his blessing, they dug in with a ferocity only matched by that of starved polar bears. Dmitri ate his meal slowly, watching in amusement at the two vacuums of friends he had made. Or at least he thought of them as friends. After the pair finished their meals, they held their trays up thanking him for the much needed food. "Thank you Dmiti!" exclaimed peanut happily while his tail wagged behind him. "Uhh... it's Dmitri, TRI." corrected Grape as she sipped more coffee. "You're welcome." said Dmitri calmly as he collected their trays and walked over to his bag and put it all away. Peanut looked to his left, noticing the gleaming metal of the rifle against the drab faded gray of the wall. He began to reach for it out of curiosity but didn't get far before Dmitri brushed his hand away gently. "I don't think that this is something you should mess with while it's loaded." Dmitri said as he pulled out the mag and released the one in the chamber. He held it out to the intrigued Peanut. Peanut looked to Dmitri with a strange look. "Well? Go on. You're probably gonna have learn how use one to anyway." Dimtri said leaving the last part under his breath. Peanut fumbled the gun clumsily in his hands, trying holding the carbine against his shoulder the way he had seen movies. As peanut made 'pew pew' sounds, Dmitri shifted his vision to grape who was trying to doze off in the corner. He then took 'clair' out of its holster and removed the clip, and pulled the slide catching the ejected round midair. He held it out to the sleeping cat. He poked her shoulder with the grip, causing her to open one eye. She saw the firearm extended towards her and grasped it absentmindedly holding it out in front of herself looking down the sights lazily. She yawned, making her snap back to life. Dmitri laughed quietly as he watched Grapes ears twitch. She then realized what she was holding and dropped it as though it was volatile. "When did I get that?" she yelled crazily. "Umm... I... Handed it to you." Dmitri said, estranged at her reaction. She blushed and picked the pistol up again. "Oh yeah. right." she said nervously as though she were pretending it never happened, laughing awkwardly. Dmitri leaned over to peanut. "What was that?" he asked. "You see she sleep walks sometimes. Not often but every now and then. She probably thought she was going to shoot you." Peanut answered like it was nothing. "Hey why did you give us your guns to hold anyway?" Peanut asked louder. Dmitri sighed "I saw an anarchist transport pass by the house." he finally admitted." Grapes eyes widened. "I don't know why they would be out this far, but-" "I do." said peanut cutting off Dmitri. Dmitri looked to peanut with an alarmed face. "Some freinds of ours lived down the street, and we stayed in contact. Up until a few days ago things had been fine, but then the trucks came." Dmitri allowed him to continue after retrieving his rifle. "One day their truck happened to stop for a search and... they found them." Dmitri remembered the blood painted 'A' on the canvas. "They hid some of their supplies for us in a vault before they were dragged away. We tried to help. But they saw us." The pain lingered in his bandaged stomach as he spoke. "Long story short, they got taken away and I got shot." Peanut silently rose. "I'll be going to my room." Peanut said as he left the room. Dmitri looked to grape, not saying anything. "He jumped in front of me." She said. "Hmm?" Dmitri asked not paying attention."He got shot... for me." Dmitri just sat in silence. He had underestimated their relation to each other as family. They were something far more than what he had come to see in all of his years. She to rose and left quietly. Dmitri sighed as a cloud of angst filled the room. 'Man I really gotta do something about the mood around here' he thought aloud. 'Aha!' he thought happily as he began to dig through his bag. He retrieved two sets of blank dog tags that were meant for his freinds. One was shaped as a bone for Matt who was tattooed like a complete skeleton, and the other was a Christian fish for bible abiding tom. He pulled out a small scalpel from one of the many webbed pouches and began to carve names into them. 'Man these are some convenient shapes' he thought as he finished carving 'Grape' into the fish. As he finished the T in peanut on the bone, he fished some old watches out of his pocket. 'Really only need the time piece' he said as he removed the leather bands from the mini clocks. He used the chains of the original tags to create an extended fasten. After a few more minutes of workmanship, he had himself two makeshift collars. He gazed down at his handiwork. 'I still got it' he thought as he left the kitchen. As he entered the living room, he found the pair asleep on a ratty couch, cuddled into a ball as soft breaths were the only noise in the room. He smiled and walked over. He carefully fastened the collars around their necks as not to wake them. They shifted closer into each other's arms.'hmm' Dmitri wondered as he reached down to pet them. He started at Grape's ears, stroking them in a gentle manner. "Rrrrrrrrrr" she purred as she grinned in her sleep. Dmitri chuckled softly before doing the same to peanut. The dog's legs began to paw the air as Dmitri scratched. After seeing enough of their sleep activity he continued up the stairs looking over his shoulder. "Sweet dreams" he said continuing up the stairs. "Sweet dreams." As Dmitri reached the top of the stairs, he stopped and gazed down to the pair asleep on the couch. He remembered what they had said about having freinds down the street. 'Eh it's worth a look, I guess' he mumbled as he hopped out the window of the bedroom peanut had been sleeping in. he landed in a roll, and stood promptly. As he gazed up the road, he saw one house with an open door, blowing in the wind. He walked past the charred frames of cars, and the constant ash that covered the ground, until he reached the porch. It was obvious that the marauding bastards had been here. The windows were broken and the swinging door was only supported by one hinge. Upon further inspection of the inside, Dmitri found several shards of glass that littered the floor, but no other signs of fighting. Another thing he noticed is that there was no blood. "Well... that's good I guess." he said. He continued further into the house, finding a small walkie-talkie and some empty wrappers. He looked down to his feet and noticed he was standing on something. A picture. As he looked closer, he realized that the three people in the picture were actually pets, much like peanut and grape. There was a grey husky, the largest of the three, who was supporting an intoxicated corgi, who was the smallest. On the right of the picture was another dog whose breed he couldn't determine wearing aviator glasses trying to swat away the camera. Written under each of the dogs bodies was their names. The husky had apparently been named fox, the corgi king, and the other Fido. Dmitri took them to be the houses residence, but thought that they were of no family relation. He flipped the photo over revealing numbers scrawled on the back. '109934' he read off the back. "They left us some supplies in a vault." Peanuts words reverberated through his head as he wandered down the hallway. Dmitri sniffed the air, finding an extremely sour smell. He followed the scent finding a small safe. "Chordite" he said as he examined the burn marks around the frame. The anarchist patrol had tried to blow it open with a small IED. As he looked the vault over a second time, he noticed that the dial was still intact. "Well here goes." He sighed as he turned the dial to the left. 1... 'click'. 0...'click'. 9...'click' Dmitri looked in amazement that the internal working still functioned. A few digits later, the door popped open. Dmitri's face spread into the smile of a child on Christmas day. Before him lay an MP5 sopmod, a police anti riot facemask, a badge, first aid kit, and 10 boxes of 9mm ammo, all unopened. Dmitri went for the smg first, checking the internal mechanism, and then checked the ammo for damage. It was all unharmed by the concussion. "I love this neighborhood!" he exclaimed as he loaded the ammo and kit into his bag. He picked up the badge seeing it was an ordinary officer mark. He fumbled out the radar he had used earlier. As he watched the blipping dot he laughed. "I'm coming for you bastards." He said in a vengeful tone. Sure he didn't know the three that had been taken, but he did know that they were innocent, and therefore where part of his promise to Jackie to take care of. Plus they were freinds of peanut and grape. So... win win. He pinned the badge to his chest and looked at the photo he had picked up earlier. If there was any chance they were still alive, it was his job to find out.