The return trip went quickly, back thru the passage securing it behind me, I dropped the equipment off but kept the pistol, I walked out and started to walk up the stairs but stopped looking at the medical room door. I had definitely just been fighting goblin’s those were not normal on earth. Looking down at the puppy and back at the door I remembered the red veils, I decided to take a chance and opened up the door.

After grabbing one of the red veils I headed back up stairs to the main floor. I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet in the kitchen and set it out for the puppy and poured out the red veil into it. Setting the puppy down it began to sniff at the bowl then quickly started drinking. I went over to the fireplace, grabbing some old newspaper and kindling. I quickly built a small teepee out of the materials. Then I grabbed the striker, pushing down the safety I pulled the trigger the lighter clicked but no flame. I tried again and it sparked but again no fire I sat back on my heels and sighed. The puppy wandered over and cocked its head at me, I could visibly see they looked much better.

“ Sorry little buddy, fire won’t start” I set down the dead fire starter, the puppy looked at me and looked back at the wood then I heard it take in a breath like it was gonna let out a big bark when suddenly it opened its mouth and a fireball about the size as a pool ball. The kindling quickly caught and the puppy barked happily. I blinked in surprise for a few seconds then shrugged. magic tunnels, goblins and no fire breathing puppies I was running out of the energy to be surprised. “ good puppy” I cood petting its head, the puppy rolled onto its side and I finally got a good look. “Oh you're a good girl” I scratched her belly.

“ You need a name don’t you?” I asked as the puppy rolled back over. I looked around the living room for inspiration. I had brought my Playstation 4 with me sitting next to it was a copy of the 2015 game of the year. “How about Igni?” I asked her. She barked happily and I smiled. We hung out for a few hours before I heard her stomach growl followed quickly by mine. We split a bag of beef jerky. I checked my phone and was surprised it was only 1730, or 5: 30 pm “ hey Igni lets go to town and get you some stuff huh?”. Igni looked at me confused, grabbing my wallet and keys I waved at Igni to follow me. with a small bark she followed me out.

I opened the door of my old beat up civic Igni jumped in and over to the passenger seat I got in and started up the vehicle. The drive to Omak took about 40 minutes. Our first stop was the local farm and feed store which had a large pets section. The traffic wasn’t to high and the parking lot only had a few cars I opened the door and Igni hopped out following me inside we walked in and the nearest cashier looked over and greeted me then saw Igni “ I’m sorry sir while pets are welcome they need to be on a leash, its store policy” I nodded apologetically “ sorry sir, she was an unexpected addition and I now need everything for her from a leash to a bed and everything in between.” he thought about it for a second “ Alright how about this the collars and leashes are right over there.” he said pointing “ if you go over and buy those first and then get him hooked up you can finish shopping after that.” I didn’t bother to correct him and thanked him for compromising with me.

I quickly went where indicated and picked one of the long retractable leashes when I looked down. Igni was sitting next to a red collar looking up at me. I grabbed that one and went up and checked out with the same cashier. Quickly I got them on Igni. She looked at the collar oddly then seemed to shrug as it settled onto her.

We walked around the store together getting bowls, food, a bed, and a few toys we were about to leave when Igni let out a small yip. I looked over at her and she was sitting next to a bone as big as she was. I raised my eyebrow, she looked from me back to the bone then at me again before giving me the biggest puppy dog eyes. I sighed then nodded, grabbing the giant bone and a smaller one. “ you can have this one for now and the big one when we get back to the cabin.” Igni barked happily and we went to check out the 200 dollars hurt but I should still be able to make it to payday still, barely. I made a note to buy some top ramen when I got back home. I sighed knowing my rent would go up from the pet requirements. Hopefully no one at the apartment company would notice for two weeks until my next good paycheck.

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We got back into my car and drove over to the Walmart. I left Igni in the car with the small bone open which she happily chewed on. Shopping went quickly. I got two days worth of food for me and some snacks, I returned the car and suddenly remembered the machine gun. I pulled out my phone and was happy to see I had a signal. I called the number I wrote down earlier and gave it a call. It rang a few times and went to voicemail. I left a message explaining who I was and what the issue was and informed him I would be out of cell phone coverage until monday and asked him to please email me or leave a message.

The trip home was uneventful and I unloaded the car, setting Igni’s bed in the living room by my chair. Feeding myself and Igni went quickly I wound up splitting the hamburger helper between us. We went outside and played fetch until the sun went down. Igni figured the game out within about 30 seconds and was a happy and tired puppy when we went back inside.I went into the master bedroom and got ready when I laid down Igni hopped up on the bed, did a few circles then lay down at my feet.

***

I woke up to Igni “attacking” my foot that had slipped out from under the Blankets. “Good morning Igni.” I said with a yawn stretching. “ What should we do today?” Igni jumped down and stood by the bedroom door. I got up and opened it and she ran to the glass door leading out back from the dining room. I let her out and she went and did her business before running back inside. We had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Igni also had some of her dog food. I sat finishing my coffee and I looked over at Igni “so thoughts?” Igni looked at me then ran over to the staircase leading down stairs. “Ok why not go hang with the tiny green murder machines.”

We went down stairs and to the armory. This time I followed the instructions on the door, having grabbed an extra mag to replace the one used yesterday I set an alarm for the afternoon on my phone to remind me to clean the pistol when I got back. I looked at the rifles while I liked the Tavor for its full ambidextrous options. Taking a few minutes I swapped it to a right side charging handle and left side ejection. Grabbing three extra magazines I looked around. I noticed the armors on the wall seemed adapted to use modern belts and one had a dagger hanging off of it. The sheath and handle matched the armor's camouflage which is why I missed it the first time. Remembering the last goblin from yesterday I grabbed it and attached it to my belt.With a final check I made sure everything was ready. I looked down at Igni who seemed to give me a little nod. I opened the door back up and Igni headed through a few steps ahead of me.

We popped out of the door into the morning sun looking around. I saw the goblin corpses and wrinkled my nose. The goblins didn’t smell good in life and death hadn’t done them any favors. “Come on Igni lets burn these corpses before they attract predators.” Igni woofed and we spent the next thirty minutes gathering deadfall and dragging the corpses into a pile in the ruins where the fire wouldn’t spread then Igni lit the pyre up. Walking a good distance away and waited for the fire to burn down. Suddenly Igni’s ears cocked to the side and she spun to face the forest. “ What is it girl?” I asked standing up. I did a quick press check on the Tavor pulling the charging handle back just far enough to confirm there was a round chambered. At first I didn’t hear anything but then I heard a bang which could have been a falling log or something, a few seconds later there was a yell I couldn’t make out followed by a much more familiar set of sounds, I looked at Igni “gunfire”. I was torn. I had never been in a real gun fight before. I was medically unable to join the military and while I had my concealed carry I had never needed until yesterday. Still there could be people who needed help and as I looked at the ashes of the goblins I made my choice. “ lets go, Igni”.