Dog day dawned overcast with the news that Warrant Officer Toki died overnight, but Lieutenant Wihongi was conscious and in recovery. A fifty percent death rate was not encouraging. Yes, it was only four people, but half of them died. The deck on the Manawanui was crowded with the next wave of volunteers. Lewis had cut the number down to fifteen, including Sophia. Everybody was given a final chance to reconsider.

Two people opted out but were replaced by two who had volunteered and hadn’t made the final cut. There were six Army personnel; two were Airforce, and the rest were Navy. Ensign Jeong shared her experience, and then so did Carla, with her scales on full display. I declined to share.

Sophia was nervous. She still looked committed, but with it returning to a coin toss, I can understand her nervousness. She wasn’t depressed and suicidal like me. She wasn’t crazy like Carla. OK, maybe a little crazy had rubbed off.

Today, we were taking a larger motor boat into the barge for the increased number of people. Once we arrived at the barge, everybody would split up and find something to guide their mutation. They would have half an hour. Then, the Navy was upping the barge's anchor and getting it moving away from the cove. Once it was moving, it would be Carla's and my job to steer it until it was safe for non-mutants to come and take over. They didn’t say non-mutants. Everyone else would pile back into the motor boat and head back to the Manawanui, where helicopters would ferry everyone to the naval base’s prepared med bays.

Political and public pressure had mounted, and this afternoon, they were blowing the anomaly and most of the cove with it.

What surprised me was that Commander Lewis was coming himself. That I did not expect.

“Lieutenant Wihongi is my second on this, so she will be in charge if I am unable from here on in.” Wow. a Commander who is willing to put his life on the line like his people. Movies usually show them as cowards at the back giving orders. I guess cowards live longer, but it is also a reminder life is not a movie. Movies have better soundtracks.

It was a straightforward ride into the barge. Carla informed everyone when they crossed the line of no return. There were fewer bodies this time, and I checked, and all three dogs were alive.

The soldiers spread out. This was all new to them, and they were fascinated with some of the mutations. Commander Lewis reminded everyone of the limited time, and people spread out.

It was time for the dogs. Soph went to the edge of the cages and spoke to them. She fell in love with the labrador cross straight away. It was a friendly dog, and its tail wagged nonstop at the attention. She spoke to it quietly and encouragingly and fed it strips of raw meat she had bought. She soon reached in and tied a rope around its neck, and we had it out of the cage. Its fur was soft, and Soph spent a lot of time scratching its ears, which it seemed to like. I noticed bits of blood on its fur from her hand, but I wasn’t worried if this was the one she had chosen.

“Ooh, a lab. Are you going to use that for your mutation?” one of the army volunteers walked up.

Soph nodded and stood by the dog.

He crouched down to have a closer look, “No obvious mutations. There is a lot of weird shit out there. Labs are good in water and good at finding things.” He looked up at Soph, “We can share.” Then before any of us realised what was going on, he grabbed the labrador and slit its throat.

“What the fuck?” I said, stepping forward. Carla got there first, pushing him away. Otherwise, he would have had a dose of poison from me.

“What’s the matter, man? That is what we are here to do. Find something to guide our mutation. She looked like she was hesitating.”

“We were trying to keep it alive!” Soph exploded.

“Whoa,” he backed up at our aggressive response, “It is all good. I figured the cute face was suckering you in. Sorry if I stuffed your plan. You can have it all. I am good.” He raised his blood-covered knife to his lips and licked it clean. “I am all done, and I am looking forward to the hunt.” He backed right away and headed to the other end of the barge.

Fuck.

Soph knelt down by the cooling body and stroked the fur. She had tears streaming down her face.

I looked at Carla. This is our fault. We should have made sure we kept people well away.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Fuck.

Carla knelt down by Soph and stroked her back, talking quietly. Comfort stuff. I can appreciate it from a distance. I watched the area more diligently. I saw one of the Air Force ladies use a bird to trigger her mutation. Most of the navy were around the tanks. I saw one use a net to catch a stingray. One of the other army people was in with the cats, and another had a rat.

Carla and Soph rose. I noticed Soph had not touched the pooling blood or anything else on the corpse.

Carla was saying, “We will put the body overboard and let it be blown up.”

Soph turned to the other two dogs and, in a much firmer and more aggressive voice, said, “So either of you boys hungry?” It turned out they both were. And they were both male.

She fed them and talked to them, and she got the Staffordshire Terrier on a lead first and got it out of its cage. It wasn’t a pure breed, but we couldn’t determine what else might be in the mix. It was short and strongly built. About 40cm at the shoulder with short tan fur and a white patch on the front. Its snout was black, and it had short but floppy ears. Its tail had been cut off at some point, so there was just a stub.

She soon had the other terrier out as well. This was mostly a Manchester Terrier. It was a bit taller than the Staff but thinner and looked more agile. It was black and tan and had a thin tail. It had a lot more energy than the Staff and was more vocal, barking often as it bounced around.

She decided to try keeping both. She let them lick the blood off her wounds but didn’t take any of theirs at all. I am guessing the saliva in her cuts still counted.

Soon, the navy personnel were weighing anchors and starting the barge's engine. All other personnel were loaded into the motorboat.

Lewis came up, “Time to go. Do you two know what you are doing?”

I nodded as Soph said, “I am not going with you.”

His eyes narrowed, taking in the three of us and the two dogs, “What is going on?”

“I am attempting to mutate to create a bond with these two dogs. We don’t know if it will be successful but to test it I need to be close to these two at all times. And they need to stay alive.”

“Interesting,” Lewis said, “Definitely useful if it can be done. I can see the dogs causing problems back at the base. They won’t be going on a helicopter.”

“You need medical attention,” Carla said.

Soph pointed at me, “He didn’t.”

I appointed at Carla, “She would have died without it.”

“I can see the potential in this,” Lewis said. “I tell you what, The normal crew will be here in about half an hour and I will instruct the boat they come with to take you straight to the naval base. That should only take half an hour if they push it. I will order a separate room for you and the dogs, but you two will need to control the dogs when the medical people enter.”

“Sounds good,” said Carla

“Thanks,” Soph added.

Lewis left, and I said, “Carla and I need to get used to the dogs, and they need to listen to us. You could be unconscious for days.”

There wasn’t a lot for us to do on the barge, we just had to keep it going straight and wait to be relieved. We spent the time with the dogs, having them get used to us, seeing if they knew any basic commands etc. The Staffy was better trained than the Manchester.

“They need names, Soph,” Carla said.

“They are rough and tumble boys, especially this one,” she said, rubbing the Manchester Terrier. “He was bred to catch rodents, especially rats.”

“He is noisy,” I said.

“Iosefa,” Carla suggested, “He is a Samoan opera singer.”

“Shit, no,” I pointed to the dog, “That is not opera. What about naming them after sportsmen?”

“Jonah, after the All Black,”

“No,” I said, “He is more a Buck.”

“After Buck Shelford?” Soph asked.

“Yeah, Bring back Buck!” I chanted.

“God, you are showing your age,” Carla said.

“I like it though. He can be Buck. What about the Staffy?” Soph said.

“Same theme? Richie.” I said.

“McCaw?” Carla asked.

I nodded, “he had fair hair, so it will trigger for me.”

“I will probably shorten it to Rich. Buck and Rich. Done.”

We got to teaching the dogs their names. Buck was going to be a handful and a half.

“Even if the bond doesn’t work, I am guessing you are going to keep them,” I said to Soph.

She nodded.

“They will have mutations even though they are not obvious,” I said.

“I know. We will need to figure them out.”

“We will have to move flats,” Carla said, “No dogs rule.”

“Yeah. we will need a yard or something. Buck has an awful lot of energy.” Soph said.

“Did anyone check their mouths in case they have a poison bite?” I asked.