The Dog
Copyright 2016 Amy Cross
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, entities and places are either products of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people, businesses, entities or events is entirely coincidental.
Kindle edition
Dark Season Books
First published: July 2016
This book is dedicated to T
There will be many who witness the end of human civilization.
But few who live beyond the first day.
When Jon takes his dog Harry to a remote cabin for the week, he just wants to get away from the rest of the world. And then one morning, after finding that his phone is dead, Jon looks at the city in the distance and realizes that something seems very wrong.
All the power has gone out. At night, the city is completely dark. There are no planes in the sky, and when Jon drives to the nearest gas station, he finds a desolate and bloody scene. He refuses to believe that something truly awful has happened, however, until he spots a figure stumbling through the forest, heading ever closer.
Soon Jon is facing a desperate fight for survival. While he and his dog have been up at the cabin, the whole world has been struck by a huge, global catastrophe that has left billions dead. Can Jon and his dog survive, or are they doomed to suffer the same fate?
The Dog is a novel about the end of the world, told through the eyes of a dog who finds himself stuck at a remote cabin with only his owner for company.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
PART ONE
It starts suddenly one morning, with no warning. The whole world falls quiet.
Dozing at the foot of Jon's bed, I'm not quite awake but not quite asleep either. I'm just waiting for him to stop snoring and wake up, so that we can go outside. Sunlight is already streaming through the window, and the air is alive with the scents of morning. Even though my eyes are barely open, my nose is already wet and twitching, picking up on all the different smells that fill the air. And the other sense, the weird human noise that constantly hums in the background, is all around us as usual.
And then suddenly the background buzz stops.
I open my eyes and raise my head.
Silence.
After a moment, I look over at the small black object that Jon always keeps next to the bed. Sometimes he speaks into it, too, and it always emits a faint crackling buzz that I don't think he can hear. Right now, however, that buzz has suddenly stopped. I look over toward the open door that leads into the kitchen, and I realize that the entire cabin seems to have fallen completely still. Silence, the kind of silence that never really happens around humans, is suddenly everywhere. With Jon still asleep, I figure it wouldn't be fair to disturb him, but still...
Rising from my warm patch on the blanket, I take a moment to stretch and then I jump down onto the floor. I glance back at Jon to check that he's still sleeping, before walking through to the hallway and then into the kitchen. Again, the background buzz – the buzz that usually crackles from all the plug sockets, and that fills the air even out here away from the city – is suddenly and inexplicably absent. It's as if someone somewhere hit a giant switch and turned the rest of the world off.
Even out here at the cabin, there's usually some trace of the buzz. In the city especially, humans seem to love surrounding themselves with objects that emit a faint electrical hum. They put these objects everywhere in their homes, they screw them to their walls, they carry them in their pockets, they seem to enjoy bathing in this vast, crackling field of electrical noise. Sometimes I think they don't even notice the sound, which wouldn't surprise me since their hearing never seems to be up to much. But for me, the buzz is much more noticeable. Whatever it is, it seems somehow artificial and constructed, as if it's something the humans have made.
And now it's gone.
Heading over to the glass door, I peer out through the panel and see the forest spreading out far beyond the cabin. In the distance, I can just about see the city down in the valley, and I can immediately tell that something is different. Even up here, miles from the city's sprawl, I can usually pick up on the buzz and din of all those people packed together so tight, but this morning the whole world seems so much quieter. And the electrical buzz has disappeared from the air all around us.
Something has changed.
Something big.
Behind me, a floorboard creaks.
“Hey, buddy,” Jon says wearily as he comes through from the bedroom. “Need to go out?”
He pats my flank as he unlocks the door and slides it open. I immediately step out onto the porch and then I stop again at the top of the steps, sniffing the air in an attempt to work out exactly what is happening.
“Goddamn phone,” Jon mutters.
Turning to look up at him, I see that he's frowning as he fiddles with the black device. He seems a little irritated by it, perhaps because it's no longer emitting that constant, droning buzz, but finally he shrugs and sets it on the table before glancing at me with a smile.
“Well, I guess we
did
come up here to get away from civilization for a few days,” he says with a sigh, reaching down and briefly stroking my side before turning and heading back inside. “I'm gonna put a pot of coffee on, and then after breakfast how about you and I go exploring down by the lake? Julie won't be here until later anyway.”
Once he's in the kitchen, I sit at the top of the steps, not wanting to go too much further until I figure this out. My eyes are fixed on the distant city, and I can't shake the feeling that something must have happened down there. The wind is blowing in the wrong direction for me to pick up any scents that might help, but the whole city somehow seems to have been switched off. I think I should stick closer to Jon than usual today, just until I'm sure that everything is okay.
I don't like it when things change.
Still, as I glance back into the cabin and see Jon in the kitchen, it's clear that he's not concerned about anything. And if he's not concerned, then I guess there's nothing to worry about.
Crashing into the undergrowth, I push through lines of grass and bracken until finally I find the stick resting beneath a tree. Grabbing it between my teeth, I turn and force my way back out to the edge of the field and then I race after Jon, who has already made it down to the edge of the lake.
I pick up the pace a little, reveling in the strength of my legs and I pound across the grass. Sometimes I think I could run forever.
“Isn't it beautiful, Harry?” he asks, taking the stick from my mouth as soon as I reach him. “Wow, that's a lot of slobber. You want me to throw this in the lake? You wanna go for a swim?”
He smiles at me, before turning the other way.
“Don't worry. I wouldn't be that cruel. I know how much you hate getting wet. And I thought Jack Russells were supposed to be all-weather dogs.”
With that, he throws the stick toward the other treeline. I instinctively race off in that direction, desperate to fetch the stick so that Jon can throw it again. Again, I feel so powerful when I'm running, and my heart is pounding. Once I get to the edges of the forest, it takes just a few seconds for me to find the stick in the grass and carry it back, by which point Jon has already sat at the edge of the lake. I know that when he sits, he can't throw as far, so when I get back to him I simply set the stick down and then sit, panting as I look out across the calm, clear water.
My nose is twitching. There are so many smells right now.
“Julie's gonna love it up here,” Jon says after a moment. “I know she's a city girl, but when she sees this place, she'll...”
His voice trails off, and after a moment he places a hand on the back of my neck and ruffles my fur.
“I sure hope she loves it, anyway,” he continues. His heart just starting beating a little faster. “You wouldn't mind seeing more of Julie, would you? I mean, maybe even having her move in with us? You know she thinks you're the best dog in the world, right? And you'd still get to sleep at the foot of the bed, just like now.”
I don't really understand most of what he's saying, but I know that Julie is the woman who has been spending more and more time with us over the past few months. Her scent has begun to get onto everything, not only the house but also Jon, and she's often allowed to sleep in the bed with us. At first I was a little concerned, just because she's new, but now I'm getting used to her presence and I can tell that she makes Jon relax a lot more. Turning, I look around in case there's any sign of her now, but I'm certain that there's not a single other human for miles in any direction. Whenever Jon and I come up here to the cabin, we're usually completely alone.
“In fact,” he mutters, “I might even ask her to...”
His voice trails off, and when I turn back to him I see that he's absent-mindedly twisting a blade of grass around one of his fingers.
“Come on,” he says suddenly, grabbing the stick and getting to his feet, “let's walk around the entire lake. I know that might sound crazy, but hell, there's nothing wrong with taking on a challenge, is there? You want to run, dog? Huh? You want to run your little legs off?”
It takes a long time for us to make our way around the lake's southern side. Jon throws the stick over and over again, and I keep running to fetch it so he can throw it again. These days are my favorite, when the sun is beating down and there's no-one around to disturb us. I don't mind when Julie is with us, either, but I have to admit that I prefer it when Jon and I are out here alone. Still, perhaps I have to get used to Julie's presence a little more, and I've noticed that Jon brought a few things up here to the cabin that hold her scent. I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up soon.
Reaching the crest of the hill, Jon throws the stick yet again. I race after it, but suddenly I stop as I see the city in the distance, far below us in the valley. This time, the wind has changed direction a little, and I'm picking up a different scent.
Blood.
I stand completely still, sniffing the air.
Ignoring the stick, I let my nose twitch furiously as I try to work out whether the blood is close, and whether I should be concerned. I quickly realize, however, that while the blood scent is very strong, it's coming from a long way away, from the heart of the city. Still, if I'm picking it up all the way out here, that must mean that it's very strong at its source, as if the whole city has suddenly started to stink of blood.
I tilt my head, but the smell is the same.
“You okay, buddy?” Jon says. “Something got your attention?”
I continue to stand completely still. The only part of my body that's moving is my nose as I try to get a better sense of the scent. Jon is still speaking, but his voice fades into the background for a moment as I focus entirely on my sense of smell. I've picked up the scent of blood many times in the past, of course, but it's always been from somewhere close, and from something small, whereas right now it seems as if there's a huge, overwhelming smell of blood rising up from the city and spreading this way, carried on the breeze. Lots of different types of blood, too. Lots of different people.
Suddenly Jon touches my flank.
“Harry?”
I turn and look up at him, but I can tell from his scent that he's not worried at all. In fact, he's smiling.
“What do you smell?” he asks, crouching next to me and looking toward the city. “Rabbits again? Do you want to hunt some rabbits?”
It's clear that he hasn't noticed the scent of blood. I've learned over the years that Jon and other humans have a very poor sense of smell, and they only really notice things that are strong and close. Still, it's hard to believe that he hasn't noticed the overwhelming aroma of blood that's being blown this way. I suppose I should trust him, though. Jon is always right about these things, even if I don't really understand
how
he manages to be right.
“Come on,” he says with a sigh, getting to his feet and setting off again, along the path that runs around the edge of the lake. “No rest for the wicked. We've got some serious walking to do. Hell, maybe we should run.”
I hesitate for a moment, before turning and hurrying after him. He tosses the stick again, but this time I let it go. Until I'm absolutely certain that everything is okay, I want to stick much closer to Jon. Despite his sense of calm, I can't ignore the scent of blood in the air, and I can't relax.
“Come on!” he yells, as he starts running. “Keep up, slow-ass!”
I race after him, and suddenly everything seems okay again. So long as I'm out here with Jon, the rest of the world doesn't matter at all. And as we run down the hill and past the edge of the lake, I've already overtaken him.