Surprised for a moment, she quickly recovered and caught the ball. With a startled look she stared down at the boy, and then her expression became subdued as she handed it to him.
"I'm not a dog, you know.”
"I know that," the boy answered scornfully. "You're a girl." #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog
The boy stared at the girl for a moment, and then he said, "Okay."
The girl started up the slope. When she was a few yards from the boy, he took his rubber ball from his pocket. "Here, girl."
He tossed the ball in a gentle arc toward the girl. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult
The girl thought about that, and then she asked, "How many have you had?"
"That was fourdog."
The girl gave the men a sidelong glance. "Can I come with you?"
At his side, Ferris heard Buster emitting sounds of distress, and he laid a hand on his friend's arm.
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult
"Where're you going?"
The boy was staring down at the girl with a puzzled expression on his face.
"That way." He pointed to the north.
"Why?"
The boy rolled his eyes, amused at the ignorance of the girl.
"Cause I got to get me another dog."
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult
Ferris looked down the wash in the direction the outsiders had come from. "We better get out of here.”
Buster nodded. They walked back to where the girl still cowered in the brush.
"You better come with us," Ferris said.
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult #scifi
Buster was kneeling by the bullet ridden body of the dog. The other outsiders were all dead, their bodies lying in grotesque positions, expressions of surprise on their faces, large holes in their bodies from which blood still dripped into the bitter dust. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult
The ball and the dog disappeared behind the boulders. The boy was not far behind, and he slipped his weapon from his shoulder as he ran. Ferris heard startled cries from behind the boulders, and then he heard the dog roar. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult #scifi
The boy stood. "Here, girl." He threw the ball hard. The dog yelped gleefully and sprang forward, her paws a blur on the pale, yellow sand.
Startled, Ferris stood and watched the ball cross the space between the two groups, the dog close behind it. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #scifi #newadult
Ferris watched as the boy raised himself to his knees. He felt a flash of anger when the boy reached into his pocket, retrieved the rubber ball, and started playing catch again. The dog padded up next to the boy, its eyes following the ball.
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult
The boy stared at Ferris for a long moment, and then he lowered himself to his belly and crawled to the edge of their cover. He watched and listened for sounds coming from the outsiders. For the moment everything was quiet as the two parties rested in the hot sun. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog
"I don't like this," he mumbled mostly to himself. "This is a bad place to be."
"Here, girl," the boy said, and he tossed the ball to the dog.
Ferris glanced with irritation at the boy whose armament was still slung over a youthful shoulder.
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult
Ferris wondered how long it would take for them to realize that he and his small company could be outflanked by someone going back around the bend and climbing the high slope.
"I don't like this," he mumbled mostly to himself. "This is a bad place to be."
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult
The sun rose, and as it did the day became hot. Ferris watched sweat drip from Buster’s brow, and the dog panted. They were trapped in their cul-de-sac. Attempting to leave would bring on a hail of bullets. The outsiders were not so unfortunate. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #scifi
The girl hunkered down. Ignoring the confrontation, the boy kept tossing the rubber ball into the air and then catching it. The dog's eyes followed the ball, and every so often she whined in frustration.
"You got anything to eat?" the girl asked. "I'm awful hungry."
#whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog
For several minutes, he and Buster traded shots with the outsiders. The girl hunkered down. Ignoring the confrontation, the boy kept tossing the rubber ball in the air and then catching it. The dog's eyes followed the ball, and every so often she whined in frustration. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog
"This girl is under the protection of the city militia," Ferris yelled. "If you have a complaint, you can take it up with the brass. Now, you go back the way you came from."
His command was answered by scornful shouts and half a dozen bullets. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult
The other was probably in her mid-thirties. When Ferris stood and fired a bullet into the dirt several yards in front of the party, the women screeched, and the men yelled and cursed. They ran behind some rocks and brush that had spilled out into the streambed. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #scifi
"Norma," Ferris heard a voice mockingly drawl in a long, drawn out manner he remembered from when people gathered at ball parks and harassed the visiting team. "Norma, you come back here. What are you running for, girl? You know, you're better off with us." #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult
She fell to her hands and knees and waited.
Buster and the boy hastened toward a downed cottonwood leaning across a boulder at the edge of the wash, and the dog followed the boy. Ferris started to follow the dog, but he stopped when the woman fell. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse
The arroyo led east to the slow flowing brown river that ran from north to south, and the dry cutting passed by a line of low rises to their left. The men had no particular destination. This was just a patrol. Sometimes they passed a desiccated body. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse
Ferris and Buster belonged to the town militia. They were not originally from the town. They were simply two survivors from a small destroyed village to the south.
As they traveled the boy threw the ball ahead of them, and the dog ran to retrieve it. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse
Now the nearest villages were reached by horse drawn carts or by using oxen, but most of the villages had also been abandoned due to small gangs which had looted the villages and killed the inhabitants, only to be killed themselves by militia from the larger towns. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog
A few older wood plank homes, the white paint long since faded to bare wood, still had windmills standing next to tanks partly filled with stagnant water. These homes had been abandoned also. The pandemic and later scavengers had seen to that. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult #postapocalypse
The land was desolate and barely adequate for grazing. The aquifer was much deeper than in the basin to the south. Wells had been expensive back when they were still being dug. Spindly sagebrush and a few species of cacti dominated the arid landscape. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult #scifi
A big highway had been built long ago, and even though it was also deserted it was newer than this old road which had large chunks of asphalt missing. Anyone traveling would be moving slowly, so the patrols would have time to leave the road and hide. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult #scifi
Ferris rose at first light shivering from the cold. He glanced enviously at the boy snuggled against the dog, the green wool blanket wrapped tightly around both. The dog probably smelled a bit, but the shared warmth may have been worth the smell. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #scifi
Ferris could see his lips move as he counted the bullets. When the light from the lamp dimmed, the men climbed into their small two man tent while the boy and the dog curled up in a blanket retrieved from the backpack. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog
It was pristine from the previous night's cleaning, but the boy inspected each piece, oiled those pieces that could use the viscous fluid, and then he reassembled it. When he was finished, he fished out several magazines from the backpack and examined those. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #newadult
By the light of an LED lamp, powered by the battery connected to their solar panel, they ate in silence; the boy making sure that the dog was fed first. When they were finished, the boy broke down his rifle and inspected it. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult #scifi
After a moment the boy nodded and grabbed his backpack which clanked from the sound of metal inside. He slung the backpack over one shoulder, slung the rifle over the other shoulder, and followed the two men. The dog brought up the rear. #whatsinmyshorts #aboyandadog #postapocalypse #newadult #scifi
