By instinct, I sprung to my feet, rushed to the edge of the roof, and started barking. I was just so full of energy. By the time I realized my mistake it was already too late; I could almost smell the screaming, angry hu-mans rising out of their holes.

To stop barking because it was dangerous: such a thought would have never crossed my mind until yesterday. As for the scream: there was a female hu-man running down the road, straight toward me. A screamer chased her.

It was really too dark out there. For some reason, the tall-single-legged lamps that colored the streets golden at night were yet to wake up. Thankfully, the white moon ball was shining brightly in the clear sky, or I wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all.

My heart thrummed.

Instinct ordered me to bark; I settled it with a whimpering whine.

The female was sprinting, but the screamer was faster. It crept up on her like a black Jay and clawed at her neck when it was close enough; it missed her neck but got a hold of her hair. And then there was a yelp and she was on the ground, groaning from the sudden pain. She was lucky to have fallen on her back. The screamer tried to get atop of her, but she fought for her life, throwing punches and kicking with her feet, which would have been impossible had she hit her head.

Help me! Somebody help me! She screamed, and my ears stood up straight and attentive.

OH, BOY!

I knew that voice.

I could have distinguished her voice among a thousand others.

That was Kalki, the girl who had impressed Kanti enough to warrant his attention. I know because I had joined him on many nightly rounds around her house. She was a nice hu-man —not as nice as Kanti, but nicer than most.

She made him happy, the reason why he had first started to get up in the morning and start running, the reason we had gotten closer. She was his Cob, his pack. I knew how it felt to lose a pack member.

I panicked, and let out that bark I had been holding. It echoed in the silence of the dark night, while I followed it with another two crisp, jabbing warnings.

That’s how I usually greeted her. It was what Kanti had taught me, and being a good boy I had repeated every day. I had scared Kalki the first time around, and this time for sure she was scared again.

I was hoping she’d remember me. She did, and I didn’t even have to chase my own tail —a stupid thing, really.

However, she wasn’t the only one who heard me. The screamer raised its head and responded with a gut-wrenching scream. It sent a shiver down my spine, raising the hairs over my back, but also allowed Kalki to push the beast off her chest and push away from him.

Truth to be told, I wasn’t expecting her to be so proactive. However, she wasn’t safe yet. I needed to save her —for Kanti. He would have been sad otherwise like I was. I could do nothing to save cob but I decided to try all I could to save her.

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My heart beats grew stronger A warmth tickled my chest and I felt unnaturally relaxed.

I-I almost jumped off the roof from the second floor, feeling I could pull it off somehow, but pulled my feet back before they could make the decision for me. A self-conscious tail was one thing, but the thought of having my feet follow the tail was a nightmare I didn’t want to see come true.

I headed for the stairs and rushed down as a second screamer bellowed out a hungry desperate call from somewhere up the road. I had to reach her quickly. There was no time to reach the ground floor. Abandoning the stairs on the first floor, I ran toward the unprotected balcony that faced the street. There was no ramp leading to the road, but I didn’t stop. I leapt from the edge of the unprotected balcony.

I had a plan.

I was aiming for the perimeter wall a few feet from the house.

Rusty could do it. I had seen him make such jumps before, and he had called them easy. I, however, couldn’t keep my balance atop the two brick thick wall and fell to the road with a whelp.

I wasn’t hurt, just embarrassed, which was a good thing: pain would have brought out fear, and fear was not an emotion I desired in the situation.

It was still a very good first attempt. Rusty would have been proud.

Kalki screamed again.

Hurry, Hurry… I’m coming. I howled —got my feet under me and ran with everything I had, barking all the way. Turned out, it was indeed possible to run and bark at the same time. I simply had never felt encouraged enough to act so.

I reached her just in the nick of time. The screamer had managed to drag her down to the black road again and was climbing her back. Its hands were feeling around her neck when I lunged at it, and bit its unprotected neck. My momentum was strong enough to push the screamer off Kalki’s back, and send it rolling back.

I found my feet near Kalki’s feet, gagging on the rotten, horrible flesh that I had accidentally bitten off the screamer's neck. As for the screamer, it lay flat on the road with its limbs spread and face buried in a pile of its shoulder-length hair. I was still gagging on the meat, teary eyes and nauseated, when it pushed its torso up from the road, raised its head, and looked at me with its big scarlet eyes.

Oh, shit… Kalki mumbled.

It wasn’t done yet.

Disgusting was the perfect word to describe the screamer. Its skin was peeling, wounds rotting and thick blue veins pulsating. It looked a beast, a monster.

—Spring? Kalki whispered behind me just as the screamer stood up and dashed toward us. The warmth in my heart trickled down into my veins, and for a second I forget about everything else. I jumped and dug my teeth into its thigh. It fell short of her and smacked hits face hard on the solid road, yet instead of staying still, started crawling toward her unabated. It was unnervingly determined.

Kalki pulled back, screaming, heaving, short of breath. She stood up, sighted an open gate, and dashed for it. The screamer crawled faster, dragging me behind it. I tried to stop it, but it jerked its leg and I came off of it like a leaf breaking from a branch, and gagged upon another mouthful of rotten, horrible flesh.

I dry heaved, but nothing came out. I heard the familiar screech of the gate closing and knew Kalki was safe. There were loud aggressive sounds of the screamer banging on the closed gate, but Kalki was safe. Then the banging stopped.

I looked up with teary eyes and found the screamer watching me with its fangs bared, fingers bloody, and daggering eyes shining in the night darkness.

I bolted from the premise, and it chased me screaming in anger.