Hey! Kalki stood up and pushed him back. What the fuck’s your problem?

He was hurting you. The man stated, staring at her. A shiver took Kalki, but she didn’t react to, it so others didn’t notice. I could smell the lust oozing inside him but now was not the time.

Karishma rushed to check my condition, but I got up on my feet without her help. I was not the one in need of help. They were. I barked at her, but she didn’t understand. She inhaled sharply and fell on her butt. She was too scared of me. I changed my target. The man, her mate —no, even he looked at me as if I had gone rabid. I knew only Kalki would understand me. I truly wished I could speak.

I rushed to her side intending to get her attention. However, I saw the man, the one who had kicked me, clutching her arm in a vice grip, refusing to let go. I could see the pain on her face. Her arm was getting red. Her heartbeat violently inside her chest. I couldn’t stop myself. My eyes reddened and I jumped. I bit him on the thigh. He screamed and let her go. The old man yelled profanities. I dug my teeth deeper into his flesh. His blood tasted foul, almost as tasteless as the screamers. I was breaking the rule that cob and Rusty had set for me to interact with hu-mans.

No barking at them. No growling. And no matter what happens, no biting —anyone. You maul anyone and they will beat you to death.

But the man deserved every mote of pain that he felt.

KILL HIM!

The voice in my head urged me. And I wanted to do it very much.

However, Kalki screamed at me to let him go, even though he had hurt her. The old man was hitting me with the stick. Well, it was more a nuisance than painful. Eventually, some reason returned to my eyes and I let go. I could have taken flesh from his thigh, and left him vulnerable for the screamers to enjoy. However, Kalki hugged me tightly, and once I had smelled the flowery aroma from her hair, I couldn’t ignore her cries.

She pulled me away from him. And growling I fell back with her.

Karishma’s boyfriend stood in front of her holding a flat wooden bat in his hand; he was tightening his sweaty grip around its rubbery handle. Did he think I had gone rabid, too, like the screamers?

Karishma was still on the ground, hiding behind him, holding onto his leg. He was ready to hit me if I tried to hurt him or his partner. The protective quality made him a great guy in my book, but not greater than Kanti.

Suddenly, the sweet smell hit me and I panicked. I struggled out of Kalki’s arms and barked at to come with me, starting a run toward the building before topping and look back. The man I had bit was still screaming, but I put him in the background, with the noise. He was a distraction and need to be treated as such.

Kalki’s eyebrows rose. I don’t know how the hu-mans do it; we’ll talk about it later.

Are you telling me something?

BINGO! I barked and jumped up and down twice or thrice, just enough times to tell her she was right.

I ran inside the building. The short fat man with sweat-drenched overalls was coming out of the shop, but he pushed back inside when he saw me. I ignored him too, turned, and started barking at Kalki.

Inside? You want me to come inside?

I jumped again, happy that she understood, but really envious for being able to talk.

What nonsense! The short fat one they called Uncle struggled to pick the bag he had dropped and tittered down the stairs. We are leaving right now. And anyone who is not coming can stay—

DAD! The boy on the ground screamed and the sweat-drenched man finally noticed him.

SON! He cried and dropped beside the old man who was trying to help him. OH MY GOD! WHO DID THIS TO YOU, SON? WAS IT THAT BITCH?

Oye, there is no need to slander a young lady! The old man complained but was pushed back by the uncle in return.

Karishma’s boyfriend went to help the old man, while the uncle started pulling his screaming son to his feet: a bad idea, but it had nothing to do with us.

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Kalki was not listening to me again. I went outside and nudged her toward the building. That was ought to get her walking.

All right, All right, I’ll go. I stopped pushing and barked at her. She did as she promised. However, she grew tired of waiting soon and tried to go outside. I stood guard at the door and growled at her, refusing her escape.

COME TO ME!

The pulse came, stronger, coherent, and mind-numbing. I couldn’t resist it, but neither could I move. Suddenly, the screamer's sweet scent was everywhere. They were coming. Maybe Kalki understood that something was wrong when I turned to the outside and growled, because stopped resisting.

Wait, something’s wrong. Did any of you felt that? Kalki rubbed her hands to warm them. She had goosebumps all over her body.

Shut up, Bitch! Stop trying to stall us. I know you and your dog are planning something. Now you either come with us or you stay here alone. Because we are leaving —the uncle pointed at his son and himself— and we don’t care if you are aboard or not.

Dad! The bleeding boy shouted

Just stop it, son. She thinks too highly of herself. There will be other girls as desperate as her who will be much more considerate. Let her rot here in this hell of a place.

No, look, dad, LOOK! The bleeding man screeched in horror.

I howled, not at the duo, but at what had come up behind them.

Suddenly, the birds left the trees and flew into the air. It was finally something dramatic enough for the hu-mans to stop bantering and just look around them.

One screamer was stumbling up the straight road toward us, arms flailing at his sides, and dangling head bobbing up and down with his steps.

Look, look, Karishma’s boyfriend called and the others finally noticed it.

The uncle opened the front door of the white beast and pushed his son onto the seat. He closed the door and looked back at the others. Droplets of sweat were oozing from his forehead and flowing down his face, which he was constantly whipping with the palm of his hand.

What are you waiting for? Get in! I’ll mow down this dead shit like wheat shoots.

However, he stopped talking when ten more screamers skirted around the corner and rushed toward us. That was not the end. The road started shaking.

—Earthquake? Kalki mumbled.

She was wrong. It was a stampede.

Suddenly, hundreds of screamers flooded the road straight road. There were also animals among them, dogs, cats, cows, horses. Everything was there.

Holy shit, Kalki cursed. And the sentiment was shared by everyone, even me.

He knew. Karishma shouted. She was on her feet and running toward us, dragging her mate behind her. Your dog knew they were coming. He was warning us. He was—

The old man with the stick no longer looked at me as if I was the cause of the stench that he could smell, but not find.

The fat, sweaty uncle cursed aloud and ran toward the building. His eyes were red from fear. His legs shook so badly he fell on the way up the stairs, twice. And neither once was he helped. Unfortunately, he had forgotten something important back in the car.

Dad! The hu-man I had bitten started out from the car window, crying tears, and snot. Help me! The seat belts stuck; I can’t get out!

SON! I’m coming! The uncle shouted as the horde drew closer, but neither once did he step out from behind the shutters.

In the end, it was Kalki who charged outside. I ran after her. Karishma tried to follow us, but her mate blocked her path.

She looked inside the open door, and he grabbed at her. I barked and that put some fear in him. I chewed through the strap and Kalki pulled him out of the seat. She supported him up and took him back.

He thanked her all the way until the stairs. That’s when he saw his father holding the shutters open and had a change of heart. I don’t know what he thought, but he pushed Kalki back and hopped up the stairs. She fell as he pushed inside the shutter and closed it shut. His father slapped Karishma when she tried to rush out.

Kalki got up and banged the grill; however, there was only so much time to make a decision. The boy held the grill against the others intervention. He didn’t have to do it forever. The horde came at us. Kalki pulled back from the building and we hid inside the beast’s belly. We watched as the screamers swarmed the beast and used it as a platform to jump on the roof of the building behind.

They didn’t react to our scent, however. They went past us like a swarm of locusts carried by the wind. They rushed past us and toward the corner bend. None of them stopped.

We watched them through the cracked window of the vehicle. The number of screamers that rush up the vehicle was not even a small percentage of the numbers that traveled through the road.

That’s when I saw him.

I saw Dimple.