Cadaver Dogs

Road to Nowhere

For once the I-5 was quiet.  Deserted except for the occasional accident that hadn’t been cleared or the pile up that was moved slightly to allow a vehicle to pass by.  These things were unpredictable but usually able to be seen miles ahead.

Rafferty drove as fast as he could on those long stretches of road trying to make up time in the 1990 Chevrolet Corsica.  Beside him in the passenger seat was his girlfriend Darlene.  Her long, black, curly hair hung down in front of her as she studied the map resting on her thighs.

In the back seat, on the passenger side the back of his head against the window, hemmed in by a cardboard box full of vending machine food and three large blankets was Devon.  He was positioned at an angle so that his left leg could be extended along the edge of the backseat.  He rubbed at it trying to keep sensation in the damn thing.

They didn’t know if it was broken of twisted and there was no one to ask.  That was part of the reason they were traveling. Rafferty slowed to navigate a pile up.

“How much gas do we have?” Darlene asked.

“Not much, less than a quarter tank,” Rafferty answered. 

“We should get some.  Only you’re sucking this time,” Darlene said.

Rafferty only smiled back at first.

Many people had been ahead of them, as a part of the great migration north to the Oregon Mountains, most often families and groups of friends in long caravans like the settlers who had come to the west in covered wagons.

With a few swerves of the car they cleared the wreckage of a school bus and several cars.  It was impossible to know why the vehicles were there. 

“Next crash we come to I’ll just jump right out and fill ‘er up.”  He pressed down on the accelerator and soon they were back up to cruising speed.

Darlene raised her head and stuck her arm out the window.  By circumstance she was dressed for 90’s Grunge Night in a blue and black flannel, dark blue jeans, and combat boots.  She also wore a metal ball necklace and several rubber ‘cause’ bracelets”: AIDs Awareness, Gay Marriage Rights, Cancer Awareness, etc.

“We could go back.  There were a couple of cars and it doesn’t look like anything is ahead,” she said.
Rafferty didn’t like the idea of going back because he didn’t like the idea of siphoning gas.  Twice now he tasted it and once he swallowed some.

“There will be something,” he said.  “We haven’t really reached no man’s land yet.”

“Okay,” she replied.  “But I really don’t want to be searching around no man’s land for gas.”

She reached to the back seat area and felt around in the box before returning with a bag of Frito Corn Chips. 

They had stockpiled at every gas station, store, and vending machine they could find.  There was no such thing as stealing anymore.  “Mine was mine and yours was mine,” was the new First Commandment.

“Do you think people will ever live in the city again?” Devon asked.

“Of course,” Rafferty replied.  “Just not for a while, they have to clean up all the remnants of the plague, clean out all the zombies.”

Darlene leaned against the door.

“I can’t believe we made it.  Three fucking white kids from suburbia,” Darlene said.

Rafferty grimaced and raised his brown arm for her to see.

“Well sort of white kids,” she corrected.

She had a habit of doing that, of talking about Rafferty as if he were white when really he was half Japanese and half African-American, a true L.A. mutt as he liked to say.  He knew Darlene all his life.  From the age of five they were neighbors and this was why she often thought of him as being white because in her mind she couldn’t tell the difference with him and herself. 

At first it was nice to be so close to someone and not think about race or skin color but then as he got older the difference did matter sometimes.  When it was just him at the park or just him in the hallway then he was the half black, half Japanese young man he saw in the mirror. 

“Corn chip?” Darlene asked extending the bag.

Rafferty took a chip and munched away.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he replied.

“It’s cause I called you white,” she said.

“No,” he replied.

“It could be worse.”

“How could it be worse?”

Darlene propped her knee up against the dashboard but didn’t speak.

****

“Over there, right there, slow down,” Darlene said.

Rafferty slowed the Corsica and came to a stop but whatever it was he had not seen it.  The highway was clear ahead and behind and it was the middle of the day.

“Go back.”

Rafferty shifted to reverse and looked in the rear view mirror as he backed up.  Then when she wasn’t telling him to stop he decided to be more committed and turn his body with his right arm over the passenger seat.

To the right, where Darlene was looking, was a large grassy knoll that sloped up from the highway to create a visual barrier for what Rafferty soon recognized was an off ramp.

“Where are we?” Rafferty asked.

“I don’t know.”

Still in reverse, Rafferty angled the car so that he could easily shift into drive and head down the off ramp.  He brought the car to a complete stop and before he could shift completely to park Darlene was out of the car with the lead pipe in her hand.

“Wait, come back,” Rafferty said. 

He looked forward to where she was walking and saw the back end of a car, a Ford Tempo to be exact.  He turned off the ignition, pulled the keys, and grabbed his own weapon of choice, a short-sword he had found in a medieval store.

“Hey, take the walkie,” Devon said holding out a walkie-talkie.

“We’ll just be right there,” Rafferty said.

Devon raised his eyebrows and wagged it up and down making Rafferty laugh a little before taking it.  “Look,” he said pointing towards the windshield.  Rafferty turned to see Darlene between to the two cars, her arms out from her sides ready to fight. 

“I’m going to check it out,” Rafferty replied.

When he reached her he looked ahead to what she was staring at and that’s when he saw them.  Dogs.  There were possibly a dozen of them of mixed breeds though most of them were large and black.  They were littered on the ground all around the two cars, the hillside.  Their chests bloated, a smell of decay in the air that changed with the wind.  Their legs were like sticks.  Flies and bees moved between the bodies, passed within inches of Rafferty and Darlene. 

“What are they doing here?” Darlene asked.

“I don’t know but I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

“Are they dead?  They look like they’re dead.”

“I think so.  But I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I but we have to get the gas and see if the car has any supplies.”

“We can find something else,” Rafferty suggested.

Darlene turned on him.

“No we can’t.  We had the opportunity for something else but you passed it up and now we have this.  I don’t see anything ahead of us on the highway.  And we can’t go into town because we both know our chances of getting out. This could be the only thing and we can’t run out of gas.  We can’t lose our car.” 

She was mad.  So mad she might start crying.

“We’ll be fast,” Rafferty said.

“Okay, and this time you suck,” Darlene responded pointing at him but with a grin on her face.

****

Rafferty knelt beside the side of the Tempo on one knee, his sword in reach.  His left hand held one end of the tube inside the gas container as he ran the other end down into car’s tank.  But no liquid moved.  He knew what he needed to do.  He took the end of the tube from the container and placed it between his teeth.  The smell tickled his nose.

Nothing could scare him.  He was one.  He was Zen.  This was the last time, the only time he would have to do this.  No sound.  He was alone in white space. 

A little suck and he saw the gas in the line then placed the end of the tube in the container spilling a little.  He had done it and he had not tasted gasoline.

“I feel bad for them!” Darlene yelled from inside the Tempo. 

Rafferty tilted his head to see a shadow of her kneeling on the driver’s seat.  He wouldn’t have made it this far without her.  She had saved his life both physically and emotionally.  She had been there to comfort him laying together in the backseat.  That was before Devon.

“Remember when I was vegetarian for while?” she asked.

“Yeah, I remember,” he replied.  He checked the line and the container both were doing well.

“I’m not finding much in here.  The backseat is just blankets and such, a great big stack of them.  There are a couple of bucks here and there but what good are they anymore?  Do you want some old Tic-Tacs?  The floor well is littered with lottery tickets and dollar bills, old cigarettes, ew gross.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Just stuck my hand in something that I’m not sure what it is.”

The last of the gasoline and the container was three-fourths full.  Rafferty put the cap on the container and stood his hands went to his hips automatically in the way his mother used to stand, thumbs forward and fingers in back.  Someone had told him once that was how women stood, women and faggots.

“Holy shit!”

Rafferty looked to the car hoping something more would be said and he was relieved when he heard,
“We hit the Jack-Pot!”  He moved to the passenger side door and tried to open it but it was locked.  He looked down through the window and saw Darlene with a gun in her hands as she rested on her knees.  She reached across and unlocked the door.  He pulled it open and reached for the gun.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she retracted with the gun still in her hands, protective of it. 

“You don’t even know how to use one,” he said.  “You could—”

“Shoot my eye out?  Please, I know how guns work.  More than you do anyway.”

“Yeah well I’ve actually shot them,” he said.

“Really?”  She looked up at him with a refreshed face as if she had found some new respect for him.  “Not just Duck Hunt or some other video game?”

“No, a real gun, now give it here.”

This time she handed over the gun easily and he sat on the passenger seat one leg curled under his body.

“The safety was off,” he said. 

He popped the clip and began to unload the bullets. 

“There are five shots here and possibly one in the chamber,” he said.  “You could have seriously—”

“Shot the car?  It doesn’t have any gas in it.”

“Not anymore.” 

“Besides I know enough to not pull the trigger.”

“Still,” he said.

“Men,” she replied and crossed her arms.

“This could be a good find.  We should check the trunk.  Are there keys?”

“I didn’t find any.  The driver’s side door was unlocked.”

“Huh, someone just left this here.”  Rafferty held up the pistol to admire it.

“Okay Rambo,” Darlene said.

“Rambo?  I was always partial to Jean Claude Van Dam.”

“Whatever,” she replied and looked out the front window to the surrounding ground, the part of the road she could see and the dogs.  “I kind of feel sorry for them.  I mean look at them, there are so many and they were probably just left there.  Maybe they were poisoned.”  She shifted in the seat and leaned against the wheel.  “Do they look alive to you?  Dead bodies just seem so odd.  I keep expecting them to vanish like in video games.  Like your purpose is up just go away.”

“I know what you mean,” Rafferty checked the chamber but it was empty.  He loaded the clip.

“Remember when I was goth for a while?  And I was all into death.  At least I thought I was.”

“And you had those Tarot cards and you read poetry,” he replied.

“Look at them,” she said.  “The hounds of Hell just sprawled out there.  Rafferty, I think one of them is moving.”

“Shut up,” Rafferty said dismissively.

“No, Rafferty look.  I think they are getting up.”

Rafferty looked and at first he didn’t spot what Darlene was pointing at then he saw the movement, a little at first in one of the dogs.

“It’s just the wind,” he said.

“No look, the others are moving too,” she replied.

“Let’s get out of here.” 

Rafferty turned and stood.  Darlene did the same.  Now on either side of the car they looked around themselves only see that a few dogs had gone unnoticed behind them and that they were waking up too. 

“What do we do?” Rafferty asked.  “I don’t think we can get to the car.”

“Shoot them,” Darlene answered.

Rafferty raised the gun and aimed at one of the dogs between them and their car.  He fired once and the gun bucked in his hand making him miss.

“I thought you said you shot one of those before,” Darlene said.

“I have.  It’s just been a long time,” he said.  But he had lied.  He had never actually shot a gun before.  He had only read a lot about it.  And he had played paintball once with friends in his first year of college.  He took aim again and fired.

This time the bullet hit.  At least he was sure it hit because the dog’s body reacted a little but it still stood and walked forward.

“I hit it,” he said

“I saw,” Darlene responded.

“It didn’t do anything.”
   

“I saw.”

“What now?”

“Can we make a run for it?”

“I don’t think so.  They’re spaced out but I don’t think we can get back to the car.  What do we do?”

“Now we hide in the car,” Darlene answered.

Both climbed into the car, closed their respective doors, made sure the windows were closed and the doors locked.

“Now what?” Rafferty asked.

“Now we pray,” she said.

*****

There was a loud honk of the horn from the Corsica behind them.  Darlene turned on her seat but Rafferty simply looked in the side mirror.  Devon had managed to get into the driver’s seat and now he was honking the horn in a futile Morris Code. 

“What’s he trying to do?”

“Distract them.  Get our attention.  I don’t know,” Rafferty said.

“If only we had telepathy or knew Morris Code.”

Rafferty remembered the walkie-talkie and pulled it from his pocket.

The dogs began to growl, a circle of noise and threat, a primitive brain with only primitive intentions. 

Darlene turned around and sat then leaned close as Rafferty turned the device on.

“You guys okay?” Devon’s distorted voice asked from the Technicolor device in Rafferty’s hand.

Rafferty depressed the talk button and said, “We’re fine.  How about you?”

“I’m fine too.  I managed to get all the windows closed.”

“How many do you see around the car we’re in?” Rafferty asked.

“Five or six.  What about me?”

“Three or four,” Rafferty answered.

“Tell him to run the suckers over,” Darlene said.

“He has a bad leg,” Rafferty said.  “And I have the keys.”

“Way to go.  Smooth move, Ex-Lax,” Darlene said.  “Damn.”

Rafferty pressed the talk button again and said, “We’ll figure something out.”

“Well I don’ think there is much I can do,” Devon said.

Rafferty and Darlene leaned against each other their heads in familiar positions.  Their hands gripped together.  They had begun to smell alike and it was comforting.

“Let’s think this through,” Rafferty said.  “We have a gun with three shots left but it’s ineffective against the dogs.  There are too many dogs to fight.  I just drained the gas tank so there probably isn’t anything in it.  The dogs can’t get in but we can’t get out.” 

“Impossible odds.”  Darlene rubbed one hand on her thigh then replaced it around Rafferty’s hand before saying, “But it’s all impossible.”

“Yet the world as we know it isn’t over, just changing and leaving us behind.  It was just a rock in space before us and it will still be a rock after we all die.  Humanity has lived through Ice Ages, dictatorships, and genocides with little rhyme or reason.  We have landed on the moon and examined the stars.  Personally we have graduated from college and nearly had successful careers before this shit.  In previous conditions are life expectancy was 70 years or so but now…”

“Times like this,” Rafferty said, “What do you wish for?”

“I don’t know,” Darlene said.  “You go first.”

Rafferty shifted a little and the gun sunk down between his thighs.

“I wish that I was seven years old and we were at my birthday party again.  We had so much fun.  We went swimming at the pool and we had sundaes and we played all day without a care in the world.  There was no future, no past, not even a present really.”

Darlene cleared her throat. 

“I wish that we could just go away into the darkness and never feel anything again.  I want to stay like that forever.”

“I’d say we kill ourselves but we have Devon to think about,” Darlene said.

“He did save our lives,” Rafferty answered. 

“And if he wasn’t messing around in that tree then he might be here instead of one of us.  And you know he would try to help one of us again.”

Rafferty lifted the gun a little but it was suddenly heavier than he remembered and it was cold and unreal because it was too simplistic.  It was a handheld device that can kill with the pull of a trigger.

“Rafferty?  What’s that sound?”

“What sound?”

Then he heard it behind them, a slow movement slightly muffled by blankets.

“I think something is in here with us,” Rafferty said.

Rafferty turned on the back seat, gun in right hand, his left reached for the pile of blankets.

“I have no choice,” he said.  And he lifted the blankets. 

There was a shift and an entire blanket rose separate from the others like a person pretending to be a ghost during Halloween and rushed Rafferty who held out his left hand to stop the attack.  The form was strong and fierce and Rafferty found himself pressed backwards against the dashboard until the figure’s face was inches from his own with the blanket still around it.  Rafferty was frightened for a moment that the form could still bite him as he felt its hot breath and recognized drool in the fabric.  As much as he tried he couldn’t push the figure away and Darlene was equally unable to pull the figure off.  Rafferty thought of the gun in his right hand and realized it would be easy to shoot the monster. 

The first shot sounded, the bullet passed through the monster’s chest and through the roof of the car but the monster didn’t stop.  Rafferty knew there was only one other way.  He pulled the gun from under the monster and positioned it against the sheeted head.  Once and the monster was injured.  Twice and the backside of the monster’s head was missing and it fell limp against him.  And Devon’s voice rang out from the walkie-talkie asking, “What’s going on!” 

With Darlene’s help he pushed the form into the backseat and they covered it with a blanket.  He looked at the empty gun in his hand.

Rafferty picked up the walkie-talkie and depressed the button, “Hold on a second,” he said and then let go of the button.

“Unless we figure something out this is it,” he said.

“I don’t want to figure anything out.  At least not right away,” Darlene said.

“Agreed,” Rafferty said.  He pressed the button and said, “Uh, everything is alright over here but we need some time to think.  Don’t do anything irrational.”

“Irrational?  I heard gunshots,” Devon said.

“There was a corpse in here but we took care of it,” Rafferty answered.  “Just give us a moment.”

The sun set, and Rafferty and Darlene were shoulder-to-shoulder holding hands again when the idea came to him.  They were on a slight embankment and if they put the car in neutral, or better yet if the car had a little bit of gas then they could roll down and to safety.  But he hadn’t seen what the area ahead of them was like or could reasonably think about how far they could get.  
In the long hours as they got hungry, knowing their car was only thirty feet behind them stocked with supplies Rafferty explained the plan to her repeatedly until it had to work.  And they fell asleep.

They had no dreams that night there was only darkness until they awoke in the slightly familiar car before the sun rose and it was slightly cold.  And there was a smell of decay and rot.  But there was quiet.  The dogs had stopped growling in the night and now they lay around the car as they had before like a Venus flytrap.

“We need to find they keys,” Rafferty said.

“If they are here,” Darlene responded.

“Check all the usual places,” Rafferty said.

And they were there, right there, behind the sun blocker. 

“Switch places with me,” Rafferty said.

Without a word about feminine power or ability Darlene switched seats.  And as they did he handed over the walkie-talkie to Darlene.

“Devon,” she said into the thing, “I want you to be patient with us.  We are going to try something.  If it works then we will get help and come back for you.  Okay?”

There was a long pause before Devon answered saying, “Okay.”
Rafferty readied himself.  He made sure the parking break was off, that he could shift to drive or neutral easily.  He placed the key in the ignition.

“Let’s hope I wasn’t efficient.” 

He started the car, shifted to drive, and pressed the pedal down slightly getting the feel of the car.  They started to move, accelerate, and the car felt it would die so he let up a little and the car shuttered once then he pressed down.  They reached 20 mph.

The dogs didn’t move.  And though he wouldn’t feel bad about hitting them he didn’t want to risk damaging the car so he turned to avoid them as best he could.  The front right went up, fell, then the rear right but not as high.  The left side did the same and he accelerated as he saw the downhill was steeper than he had previously thought. 

A black spot, a Doberman Pincher, rose in front of the car and he pressed down.  There was a thud and he nearly thought he heard the dog cry out before it fell under the front and slid underneath. 
The bottom of the hill was coming up quick and he readied himself for the turn.  Left seemed more reasonable than right because left seemed to go to town and where there was a town there was supplies.  He braced himself and began to turn the wheel then three-fourths through the turn he pressed down the gas and he felt the car choke before it sped up.  That was the end of the gas.

“We may have to run,” he said. “Are they chasing us?”

“I don’t see them,” Darlene said.

“Grab the gun and when I say run we run.  Get out on your side then cross over and take my hand.  We need to make it to a building.”

The car died.  And when the speedometer dropped below ten mph he decided they better run.  He stopped the car, shifted to park and said to run.

Darlene was quick out of her side and without closing the door she began to run.  Rafferty caught up with her and grabbed her hand.  They were on a main street through a town.  Neither of them recognized anything.  Then they saw the theater marquee and began to run for the front entrance.

“No,” Rafferty said, “the back way.”

They ducked down an alleyway running as fast as they could even though nothing seemed to be chasing them.  When they reached the exit doors Rafferty as quick to take a card from his wallet and fit it inside the crack between the door and the frame.  With a little jiggle the lock gave and he pulled the door only to find out that a chain that gave less than a foot to fit through held it.  Darlene was first. 

Rafferty ducked the chain and squeezed through though the door closed on him slightly and tore his shirt. 

There was only darkness and cool air.  They had both forgotten how dark a building with no windows could be. 

“We made it,” Rafferty said.

“Made it where?” Darlene asked.  “I mean don’t get me wrong it’s better than dogs but still.”

“I always come prepared,” Rafferty said pulling his cellular phone from his pocket the light blue illuminated his face and shoulder.  “Haven’t received a call in three months but it is still a very functional alarm clock, watch, flashlight, and distraction with all of its games.”

“Just make sure to close the door,” Darlene said.

*****

As strange as it was Rafferty’s first urge once they found relative safety was not food or water but the bathroom, which was easy enough to find in the lobby area.  Darlene followed him inside, as much for the light and company as she was used to doing everything together.

He handed her the cell phone then went to a stall where he closed the door to give himself some note of privacy before pulling his pants and underwear down to his ankles and sitting on the toilet.  Unlike many other people when he was stressed he did not vomit but rather had diarrhea.

He closed his eyes to further secure himself when he heard Darlene’s voice.

“Is this going to take long?”

He opened his eyes and looked down to under the stall door where her head peaked under with the glow of the cell.

“Not long,” he said.

“I’ll be outside then,” she said.

There were the brief sounds of paper towels and finally the door swinging shut.  He braced himself, felt the brief surge, and grimaced when he felt the splash back.

The lobby was peaceful.  Darlene moved to the glass counter, checked for snacks but there were none so she turned and began to shine her light around.  There was one vending machine for ‘alternative sodas’ but nothing else.  If there was anything then they would have to look for it.  She crossed her arms.  Scavenger hunts and treasure hunts were fun when she was a kid but they had to be practical.
She heard the stall door bang shut, the squeak of Rafferty’s sneakers, and then as he she thought he was crossing to the door she heard a thud, a yell, and the sound of Rafferty fall.  She let out an amused laugh and thought to help him before she heard the door open and shined the cell at him.  He emerged holding one hand to his head.

“I hate the darkness and I hate the fact that faucets don’t work anymore.  In door plumbing my ass.”

“That’s funny-“ Darlene laughed-“but maybe we can find you some hand-wipes.”
   
He crossed his arms over his chest placing his hands at his sides he rubbed them on his shirt.

“I’m hungry,” Rafferty said looking out the front window of the theater that was partially covered over with wood.

“And you smell too,” Darlene said.
   
“So do you,” Rafferty responded.
   
“So what are your thoughts?” Darlene asked.
   
“We need food and water.”
   
“But first we need weapons.  You can threaten a fool with your gun but animals don’t listen to threats.”
   
“Let’s find some,” Rafferty said.
   
Darlene was quick to look behind the counter as Rafferty looked around the area.
   
“I found keys to the counter and a lockbox.  Oh and I found the lock box!” Darlene called out.
   
“I found a janitor’s closet,” Rafferty said. 
   
He opened the door and shined the cell inside.
   
“Here we go.  Mops, brooms, and look at this, a flashlight,” Rafferty said.
   
“Sweet,” Darlene said.  “I’m going to hold onto the lock box for a while especially since it has a key.”
   
“Don’t worry about it.  We have nothing to secure and if we did they would just carry the box off and break it open later.”
   
“Oh,” Darlene said.  Then she pushed the box away.
   
“Now let’s get us some food,” Rafferty said.
   
Rafferty took the wooden broom handle and Darlene took the mop and the flashlight fit conveniently in his back pocket.
   
Rather than force their way out into the street Rafferty and Darlene went out the back door that they had come through.  They moved together up the alley to the street where they peered around the corner.  They were running on adrenaline and that couldn’t last long.
   
“Let’s take it easy,” Rafferty said.  “Back me up.”
   
Darlene took his left hand with her right as he moved around the corner and began to walk down the sidewalk in front of the theater.  At his back, she looked out into the street and behind them as often as she could.  They had done this many times before.  And they always looked like a primitive hunting party when they did.
   
“There’s a grocery store,” Rafferty said.
   
“Take us there.  I’m not seeing anything following us,” Darlene responded.
   
They moved to the grocery store easily but stopped ten feet from the doors when Rafferty saw the chains around the door handles and locks securing them in place.
   
“They’re locked,” Rafferty said.
   
“Let’s move onto something else,” Darlene said.
   
From there they moved to a gas station, a corner store, and a deli but all of which were secured in the same way with chains and locks.
   
“This looks too intentional,” Rafferty said.
   
“Very intentional,” Darlene said.  “Do you think its hold outs?”
   
“Has to be,” Rafferty said.
   
“Where do you think they are?” Darlene asked as she looked to the windows of buildings.
   
“They could be anywhere and there could be any number of them,” Rafferty said.
   
“So what do we do?”
   
“In a polite world we send them a signal and ask for help.  But we don’t live in a polite world.  So pick out which one you think would have food and we break into that one and apologize later.”
   
“The grocery store,” Darlene said. 
   
They made their way back and Rafferty raised his gun to break through the glass.
   
“Wait,” Darlene said, “Maybe there’s a back door.”
   
There was.  And there was no extra security or chains.  Rafferty worked the lock easily and they entered cautiously though clumsily.
   
Darlene was the first to stumble into a chair by the back door then Rafferty tripped over it and landed on his chest.
   
“I’m exhausted,” Darlene said.
   
“Let’s find some food,” Rafferty said.
   
The produce had been removed entirely.  There was no alcohol left.  And most of the shelves had been knocked over and much of the preserved food was gone.  But then they spotted a jar of pickles, a can of sardines, a can of cheese and eventually some crackers.  Each item was eaten in turn as they found it.
   
“I feel nauseous,” Darlene said.
   
“I feel nauseous too,” Rafferty said.
   
They moved to a secluded area to sit in the darkness.  They rested against each other.
   
“We should make one good search of the place.  Look for batteries and flashlights, and candles and matches,” Darlene said.

“I agree.  But first let’s sleep,” Rafferty replied.

To their surprise neither of them vomited.  Instead the food stayed down and even seemed to nourish them.  But they slept restlessly for six hours before they began to take turns searching through the spilled grocery items.  Within an hour they had a collection of food, batteries, candles, and utensils.
   
“What are we going to do with all of it?” Rafferty asked.
   
“Take it with us,” Darlene said
   
“Yeah, but how?”
   
“Shopping cart,” Darlene said.  “I saw one over there” –she pointed into the darkness- “now see if you find anything else, anything good.”
   
They looked for another hour before they piled everything into the cart and began to push it towards the back door. 
   
Darlene held the door open as Rafferty pushed the cart through and over the hump of metal jarring the contents and making them clank against each other.
   
“What time is it?” Rafferty asked.
   
“Ten in the morning,” Darlene said looking at the cell phone.  “So now that we have more food than God what do we do now?”
   
Rafferty squinted at her, his eyes not yet adjusted to the light.
   
“We try to get our car back,” he said.
   
“How do we do that?” she asked.
   
“I don’t really know,” he answered.

Thirty minutes later they pushed the cart up the on ramp of the highway.  A plan had formulated in Rafferty’s head and he wanted to share it.

“You remember how I used to be a track star?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Darlene said.

“Well I have a plan.  I’m going to get their attention then lure them away while you get the gas can, load the car, and come rescue--”
   
“What are you some type of martyr?  That’s a stupid plan,” Darlene said.
   
“You have a better one?”
   
“You could… nope, not really,” Darlene said.
  
“Okay then,” he replied.

*****   

They pushed the cart onto the highway and suddenly realized a flaw in their impromptu plan, a median divider that ran for at least a mile in both directions and on the other side there was the car and the dogs.
   
“This sucks,” Darlene said.
   
“We’ll get the food afterwards.  We can run over the dogs or something.”
   
“Run over the dogs?”
   
“They’re zombie dogs Darlene,” he said.
   
“Yeah, it just sounds so inhumane.  Maybe next time you could say, ‘run over the zombie dogs.’”
   
Rafferty laughed a little then said, “I will.”
   
“Push the cart down there next to median,” Rafferty said beginning to walk away.  “Then hide and I will cross over and get their attention.”
   
“With what?”
   
“I don’t know,” he said.
   
Darlene spotted a box of jerky in the cart, grabbed it and held it up for him.
   
“Use these,” she said.
   
He crossed back to her and took the box and as he did their fingers touched a little.  He looked at her chest first then up to her eyes. 

“Wait, I can’t let you do this,” she said.
   
“Then what are we going to do?”

“What if… what if you ran somewhere… or if you climbed something,” she said.
   
Rafferty looked around.  There were plenty of things to climb but the trick would something from which he could escape, something close to the road where Darlene could pull the car under him and he could drop to it.
   
“That,” Rafferty said pointing to a power line.
   
“We need a better plan,” she said. 
   
“Like what?”
   
“A better distraction,” she said.  “Something they really can eat.”
   
They both looked down to the cart of food as the same idea occurred to them.
   
“But we have to save some of the food for ourselves,” Rafferty said.
   
“Why?”
   
“Because the other food may have spoiled,” Rafferty answered.  Then he realized the practical, rhetorical sense of what he was going to say next, “Because we have it now and we don’t know if we will find more down the road.”
   
Surprisingly she didn’t say anything.  Instead she began to unbutton her flannel shirt.
   
“Give me yours too,” she said.
   
Rafferty pulled his shirt from his back and handed it over to Darlene who laid them out beside each other on the asphalt.  He realized she was making two sacks of food and promptly moved to the cart to pick out food.  It wasn’t difficult to pick out the things to take from the things that would be tempting to the dogs. 
   
Once they had a collection Darlene tied the shirts into the sacks Rafferty had imagined, they were lumpy but effective.  Rafferty began to open the other food that had been left in the cart: cans of sausages, tuna, the jerky, he spilled it in the cart until he had opened nearly all of them.
   
“There,” he said.
   
He looked to the dogs then.  They still hadn’t moved. 
   
“Take these,” he said producing the keys then with a quick motion he tucked them in her front right pocket.

“We still need to get their attention,” Rafferty said and turned to Darlene who held a bag in each hand.  “Go north-” he pointed- “then circle around.  I will watch for you before I do anything.”
Rafferty pulled the walkie-talkie from his back pocket and turned it on then held it to his mouth.

“Come in Devon,” he said.  “Anyone there?”

There was a long moment then a response, “I’m here.”

“We are coming to rescue you,” Rafferty said.  “Unlock the front doors and wait for us.  Darlene will be coming to the car first.  Understood?”

“I understand,” Devon replied.  “Did you find help?”

“Not exactly,” Rafferty answered.

“What do you mean?”

“Just do what I ask,” Rafferty said.
   
Darlene nodded.  She turned away and started north along the highway until she reached a spot where she climbed over the meridian and crossed to the other side of the highway.  There was something logical to Rafferty’s plan and somehow he had seemed to feel that she was in the easier position because he would distract the dogs but she still frightened because as she moved along the burm watching for the dogs she worried that not all of them would fall for the bait.
   
Darlene looked back to Rafferty who pushed the cart south a little then positioned it at an angle to the divider.  He reached into the cart and began to sling handfuls of food onto the highway, progressively closer to the dogs yet careful not to disturb them. 

When he looked satisfied he moved off with a collection of items that he began to lob like grenades at the dogs.  The first time he hit a dog it didn’t move but then upon subsequent hits they began to rise from the ground and inspect the food and each other.  Rafferty began to sink behind the divider until he was only peaking out at intervals.  They circled each other and even began to follow the bait.  A half dozen of them started to moved to the divider when Rafferty launched the last food grenade and the dogs seemed to see it as they watched it sail towards where they had been and hit the ground.  Then for a long moment they stared at the area from where it had come before they turned their attention back to the food.

Darlene began to move closer along the side of the road until the car was only feet away of the passenger side.  She looked carefully for any of the dogs before she ran to the car and opened the door.  She threw in the makeshift bags and looked to where the gas can was.  She ducked behind the car and moved to its front where she peaked to see the status of the dogs.  Some of them were climbing over the divider but were having a difficult time as their muscles were rotted.  She realized then that the dogs were indeed falling apart and she could see flies circling their bodies in clouds of black spots.  Perhaps Rafferty could have outrun them?

She looked to the gas can.  No activity.  Still crouching she crossed to it and started back towards the car where she climbed inside, setting the gas canister in the foot well of the passenger seat she moved to the driver’s seat and started the car.  The dogs were easy to see now and they all turned towards the car.  Even the ones on the other side of the divider began to try and look over.
She shifted to Drive and made a quick turn and began to head south at nearly fifteen miles per hour.  She didn’t see Rafferty and she glanced in the side mirror to see the dogs begin to follow the car.  They were slow but determined.

In a panic she honked the horn several times as she eyed the divider and the side of the road.  It wasn’t until he pushed up from the asphalt highway that she realized he had been laying in the middle the entire time.  She braked hard and stopped five feet from him.  He was quick to run to the passenger side and open the door and climb in as she turned the car around and began to drive north. 
The dogs were there.  And for just a moment she thought to try to avoid them before she realized what they were, they were zombie dogs.  She sped up and aimed for the smallest.  There was a surprisingly solid thud before the dog went under the car and scraped against the underside and then was gone.

Rafferty pulled the canister from in front of the passenger seat and swung it back towards the backseat where Devon took it.

“Hi Devon,” Rafferty said.

“Hi Rafferty,” Devon replied cordially.

Rafferty turned his attention to Darlene whose knuckles were turning white around the steering wheel.

“You didn’t fill it up?” Rafferty asked.

“We can do that later,” Darlene said.

“When?”
   
Darlene looked to him for a long moment before she said, “Down the road.”

At The Grave (Teen Wolf: FanFiction)

“I wish you drank, then I could blame it on the booze.  I wish you were crazy, like some kind of mental disorder, then I could blame it on that.  But you weren’t.  You were just mean.  You were just a sadist.  And you scarred me for life,” Isaac said to his father’s tombstone.

Several feet away Stiles stood on the path between grave sites watching his friend speak to the dead.  It was after midnight and they were in a cemetery.  It made him uncomfortable, not just because they were breaking the law or it was at night but because he had seen mystical, supernatural things over the years that gave him reason to be afraid, cautious about where they were and what they were doing.  He would have felt safer if Derek was there with them but he was out on a case.

Isaac shifted on his feet.  They had both been drinking but Isaac was clearly more drunk.  Stiles wanted to move to his friend, pat him on the back, and pull him away.  He saw Isaac take a deep breath to hold up his shoulders.  He heard Isaac unzip his fly, for a moment he thought to yell at him but he stopped himself and instead turned away.  He looked to the flowers by a stranger’s headstone.  He heard the urine hit the ground, splatter among the leaves and blades of grass.  He sighed.  He was a witness to the desecration of holy ground, a man’s grave, and yet he knew that man, Isaac’s father did not deserve any respect.  He did not deserve to be buried here. 

Maybe the body is here but there was a good chance his soul was in Hell, Stiles told himself.  When the sound stopped and he heard Isaac zip back up he looked to his friend who spat on the ground as further insult before making his way to back to where Stiles waited.  Isaac reached out, placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you for bringing me here, and thank you for getting me out of that place.  It was beginning to feel like one big freezer.”

Stiles held his breath after that last word because he knew it had meaning, dark, abusive meaning.  Isaac closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Stiles who was unprepared for the embrace.  He knew to expect strength but he was unprepared as to just how much would be used.  He grunted to let Isaac know it was too much when he felt Isaac rest his face in his shoulder and begin to cry.  Stiles reached around and began to rub at his back.

“I’m so sorry,” Isaac said.  “Why do I do this?”

“Everything is fine,” Stiles said.  “You know you always have a place with us.  We’ll take care of you.”

Isaac pulled back from his shoulder and looked him in the eye, a faint gleam of yellow there that still made Stiles uncomfortable, especially in a cemetery and so close to the source of pain.  They smiled at each other.

“You must have something you should be doing,” Isaac said.

“No, I’m here for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the guys are out tracking someone down and we don’t have any other cases at the moment.  We’ve been doing some bounty hunting to keep up the income.  It’s expensive having your own private detective agency with five mouths to feed.”

“Six,” Isaac said.

“Six,” Stiles replied.

“Let’s get out of here.  This place gives me the creeps.”

Stiles turned and wrapped his right arm around Isaac’s back.  Isaac laid his arm over Stiles’ shoulder.