3
His fears were realized a few hours after the sun went down. They were staying on the second floor of the apartment building. It was high enough that they were protected from anything that might try coming through the windows, but low enough that they could jump out if they needed to. He didn’t like being so close to the city or any urban center.
The sounds outside were of animals. It had been the same grunting sound that he had heard behind them as they walked earlier in the day. He realized then that while they had been tracking Billy, something else had been tracking them. Moving towards the window, he looked back to find Milo fast asleep.
Michael saw shapes and shadows, but nothing definitive. The animals in the fallout zones had changed, and the longer he waited, the less inclined he was to want to see them. It was them. There were several more shadows, and each time one or two made a sound, he heard more coming from other directions. Before long, he was convinced that they were surrounded by the beasts, but they hadn’t attacked yet.
As they moved into the building, his eyes went to the door. He was torn between putting something up to barricade them in, but not wanting them to hear him moving and give away their position. Sounds of claws scratching on the floor got louder as one animal managed to make it to their level and he heard breathing on the other side of the door. It was too late for him to do anything and instead he tossed a discarded can lid at Milo.
The boy’s eyes opened and he looked at Mike, about to say something, before he saw the finger in front of his lips. It was clear that he wasn’t supposed to speak and after the silence took over, he heard what Michael heard. Milo was more familiar with the city though and he knew what to do immediately. He knew that the animals could smell them and there was nothing they could do to stop that. Silence didn’t take away their smell and he started to move towards the door.
“We have to push something in front of this door. Before more get up here.”
Michael could see that Milo was shaking and since he was always trying to appear so tough, it was hard for him not to be affected as well. Michael too had a bad feeling, but it occurred to him that Milo had more than likely dealt with the packs before. He couldn’t imagine the things the kid had had to do for so long by himself.
He nodded his head and they moved towards a large dresser. Each man grabbed a side and they were lifting it over to cover the door. Milo was right and they could both hear more animals getting restless outside of the door. The beasts knew that they were there and were just waiting for reinforcement.
Michael tried not to wonder why they were getting so good at cornering humans, but it reminded him that they were no longer on the top of the food chain. Humans were furless animals with no natural defenses. If the rest of the animals got too much smarter, he didn’t know where that would leave the few people that were left.
As they put more between themselves and the beasts on the other side of the door, they were no longer worried about the sounds they were making. The hybrid dogs were making the most wretched sounds. Michael saw Milo shiver and he himself knew why. They were terrifying to listen to and Michael was convinced that being eaten wouldn’t be half as bad as hearing it. It was the damn sound that he couldn’t stand.
“They are all bark until they get in. If you keep them out, they will draw other things in that will take care of them. You just have to wait.”
Michael did not like that idea at all.. The last thing he wanted to hear was that more animals would be coming. Anything more ferocious than what was out there right then made him nervous. “How do you know?”
“I’ve met the packs before. I knew they were tracking us, that is why I picked this place.”
“You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”
The young man just shrugged. He didn’t want to put more on Michael’s mind when it was already so full. “They never attack in the day time. It doesn’t matter how many there are.”
Michael wanted to say more, but the sounds in the hallway were hard to talk through. Something, or several somethings, were slamming into the door and they could see the stack of rubble moving slightly. Michael moved towards the stack and put his weight against it. The tremors were felt in his body with each push, but they were not getting in. He thought of the moment of fear that struck him and didn’t want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t woken Milo up. The kid was worth more to him than he realized.
Soon they were exhausted. There was no way to sleep with the constant fear of being ripped to shreds by a pack of mutated dogs. After all of the people left, the pets took over. Not just in the cities, but everywhere as they became roamers. The city was no longer able to satiate their hunger. They were hungry and the sounds were starting to get to Michael.
Milo tried to calm him as he saw his face contorting with fear. “It’s okay. They will be gone soon.” Milo had heard other sounds and though he was a little scared too, Michael was having a harder time of it and he wanted to help him. “They will be here soon and it will be all over.”
Michael still didn’t know what he was talking about, but there was a calmness in the young man that he wished he felt himself.
It wasn’t much longer that they had to wait for something to happen. At first Michael thought he was hearing something; heavy footsteps echoing on the stairs. It stopped the sound of the beasts as they became aware of something else in the building. There was a humming sound and then yelps as the beasts were taken down.
Michael wanted to see what had caused the beasts harm, but found himself intimidated by the dead silence that took over the building. His heart was pounding in his ears and he was unable to hear anything. He looked over at Milo and saw that he seemed to be eerily calm. What had just happened? He wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure he would want to know the answer.
Finally there were sounds of scraping as the beasts were dragged away. Michael moved from his crouch in front of the pile of debris. He had no real desire to open the door or move the blockade, but he had to see what it was leaving the building. Milo didn’t try to stop him. He was surprised to see people in fur clothes and rags. One of them looked up at him, a large, mangled beast with an arrow still in its chest slung over his shoulder. The eyes that looked back at him glowed and he moved away from the window. Michael had been many places, but he had never seen eyes like that before.
Moving further away from the window, Michael was alarmed to see Milo moving the furniture out from in front of the door. “Stop, what are you doing?!” His words were but a rushed whisper in the quiet room. Michael didn’t know what or who the hell those people were, and the last thing he wanted to do was meet one of them.
“It’s fine. They are gone now. They got what they wanted.”
Michael just looked at him, confused. “There are so many things I don’t know about you.”
Milo shrugged. “They wanted the beasts for food.”
He didn’t like the idea of eating one of the mangy things. There had been skin pulling away from the side of its corpse where an arrow was sticking out. Michael suddenly wondered if that was from one of the men getting a snack first. He shivered to himself and retreated further into the room, refusing to help Milo move anything from in front of the door. There was no reason to go out there, and he didn’t think he was going to be able to sleep without the safety of the barricade.
“Why don’t we just stay in here and get some sleep.”
“I figured we would keep moving. The moon is bright and there won’t be anything to worry about for miles.”
Michael shook his head. There was no way that he was going anywhere. “Billy can wait till morning. I need some sleep and you do too. Put that stuff back and lay down.”
Milo listened and did as he was asked, but he wanted to keep going. If they went through the night, he knew that they could catch up with him. The young man was anxious to get back to Jessa and Shane, but he was going to go with whatever Mike wanted. He knew his place and Michael seemed to be deeply affected by the evening’s events. Milo was used to such things happening and forgot how it felt the first time. He had been alone for so long out there that he just took it all in stride. There was no sense in getting all worked up. It was what he was told when he was younger and he had stuck to that principle.
They both lay back down and Milo was asleep rather easily. He knew the men that came out to feast on the beasts were not cannibals. There were some roaming tribes that were out now and then, but the ‘dark men’ as he called them, had never posed a risk to him, so he didn’t much worry about them.
It was the men like Billy that made him nervous. Those were the men that he didn’t like to deal with. They made no sense and only seemed intent on destruction. That was the only answer he had for attacking them in the middle of the night, going after a woman and child. It made no sense to Milo and he liked to stay away from people and situations that didn’t make sense.
“I hope we catch up to him quickly. I do not like to be chasing someone.”
“Me either Milo, but it has to be done.”
The young man nodded solemnly and then closed his eyes again. It had to be done, but that didn’t mean that he had to want to do it.