A small fire blazed in front of Lazarus. He was inside a small alcove hidden by several broken brick walls and a mound of earth. He was cold and he saw his breath in the air. He felt lucky that it was only April and summer was only a few weeks away. He was chewing on beef jerky and drank out of a bottle of water. The night was quiet. Even the crickets died today. But he heard something coming from behind him so he grabbed a piece of wood and whirled around. A dog came out of the night. It was wearing a collar and it whined as it came into the light. It was not a purebred but a mutt and was shivering in the night.

"Come here, boy."

Lazarus took another piece of beef jerky from his shirt and held it out. He was saving the rest for later, but he wanted some companionship in the worst day of his life. The dog came closer, sniffing the air. It had a long snout and moved with a limp. Lazarus didn't make any sudden moves. The dog came closer and took the jerky from his hands.

"Good dog," he said. He hadn’t had a dog for years. His last dog, Champ, died when he was in college, while he was away. He missed that dog.

It chewed the morsel and looked at him.

"Sorry, that is all I have. We will look for some food tomorrow. Come closer to the fire. You’ve had a long day."

Lazarus rummaged in his backpack and found a small blanket. The dog moved closer to the fire and he wrapped the blanket around him. The dog still shivered a little but snuggled closer to him. Lazarus petted the dogs head and what he thought was water was blood. He looked at its collar and saw the dog’s name was Sammy.

Lazarus said, "Ok, Sammy, we will try to help each other."

He looked around and found a large palm leaf on the ground. He placed it close to Sammy and poured some of his water on it. The dog slopped the liquid while Lazarus checked it, looking for where the bleeding was coming from, but couldn't see in the darkness. Sammy was covered in blood and he hoped he could keep this animal alive.

Sammy turned to him and snuggled close to where he was lying on the ground. The dog stopped whimpering and closed his eyes. Lazarus looked up at the stars and the night sky and wondered if God was watching them. His mind was going crazy trying to understand what was happening. He was not sure if he was going to survive tomorrow or the next, but he was sure he had not felt this alive in years. It was sad that it took tragedy and extreme change to bring him out of the doldrums of his everyday life.

Stolen novel; please report.

***

The morning was gray, the sun hidden by dark clouds. He opened his eyes to the smoldering fire pit. Sammy was not in his sleeping spot. He stood and stretched his arms upward. He dreamt last night that everything was back to normal and he was getting ready for work and then everything changed into an inky blackness. He awoke with his back stiff and his hands cold. He heard Sammy off in the distance, whimpering. Lazarus moved toward the noise.

"Sammy?"

It was the dog, but he sounded different, bigger somehow. Then he saw the blood. It trailed for a few feet to where he heard the noise. His breathing got quicker and he feared he would see something he didn't want to look at. He tried to wipe away from his mind the dead man impaled on the metal rods. He thought about Alice in Wonderland were everybody was crazy and he wondered if he was dreaming all of this and at any moment he would awake to real life.

The sounds of Sammy got louder. He wanted to run and flee away, but there was nowhere to go. His nightmares would follow him no matter where he went. The dog was hidden behind a clump of upturned grass and trees. He needed to find out what was happening to it, and if he needed to help it out of its misery he would do it. Lazarus realized he was holding onto a large tree limb and he gripped it tightly.

The dog howled to the sky. Lazarus rushed forward and saw it lying in a puddle of blood and shaking all over. Sammy's eyes locked onto his. Lazarus couldn't take it and moved closer to the dog, lifting the tree limb.

He turned his face away, still hearing Sammy struggling. The dogs howled again. Lazarus swung downward with all his might, but before he hit the dog the tree limb stopped in midair. He looked down and saw Sammy holding the tree limb in his mouth, but it was not Sammy. The canine was large and thick muscled. When he looked at the dog’s eyes, he started to wag his tail.

"Sammy, is that you?"

The collar was on the ground, broken in two because it was too small to fit this new Sammy. The dog tore the tree limb out of his hands and threw it a few feet away and barked at him in greeting.

"How did you change and get so big?"

The dog licked his face. Lazarus was too stunned to do anything. He patted Sammy's massive head and said, "You look better. We should find breakfast. What do you think?"

The dog barked, but before Lazarus could start back to his camp Sammy ran off.