American Apocalypse IV - Heartland Chapter 5

I sat there for a bit. Well, at least I knew how long I was going to be gone. At the rate the Horde was moving I would need to set aside two weeks just to catch up with them once I found the kid. I pulled out the t-shirt Carol had given me. It was a Transformers t-shirt. "Nice" I thought. It was Bumblebee. Too bad it wasn't my size. I would have worn it. I smiled to myself and thought of another kid with an Optimus Prime toy. "Shit always runs in cycles" I told myself. I was sitting there, reluctant to move, knowing I had too, but unable to get off my ass when I heard them coming.

They were quiet. They just needed not to breathe so hard. Nothing was there one second, the next I was looking at five big dogs. They stayed back about ten feet while Woof walked up, sniffed, looked me over, and then sat down about three feet from me. He was smiling. I like that in a dog.

I looked him and the rest of the pack over. All of them were males and none weighed less than 90 lbs. I recognized the usual breeds, Rottweilers, Woof the German Shepherd, and one I didn't recognize. Somebody's mutt. Looking them over made me glad I wasn't going to be cleaning up after them.

"Woof. You've put on some weight. Looking good Dog."

He was too. He still had the scar and a couple more had been added. All of them were scarred. One of the Rottweilers had what looked a lot like a bullet wound scar on his flank.

Woof didn't say the same about me. It didn't bother me. I understood. He wasn't the talkative type. I tossed him the t-shirt. "Sniff that up. That's who we're looking for." Each dog came up, sniffed, and went back to his place after Woof took a couple sniffs.

"Okay. Lets go to work then." I told them. I grabbed my pack and started headed back towards the town I had found Carol and her friends in. I needed my bike. A truck would be better. I also needed to talk to a member of the Brethern. I needed more information. The clock was ticking. I didn't think we had left anyone alive who had seen me. If someone had, that was fine with me. I could use the exercise.