He had to force himself to walk back to the Farm from the Broken Hill. Despite the boost to his Endurance that came with gaining a level in his primary class, he was still exhausted by the day. By the day that was barely half over. All he wanted to do was flop down somewhere comfortable and nap the rest of the day away, but he couldn’t do that. Lucky had responsibilities.
He snorted.
What a terrible day. He could feel the ache of Quigley’s absence and it came with a strange pang in his chest. He felt so heavy in spirit. It was alien, this feeling. Yet there it was, slowing his steps and dragging his tail downward. The unease that he was feeling was completely different than the one evoked by [Dangersense]. Was it a new skill that he hadn’t quite discovered yet? Another new sense? He whined.
“What’s going on, Luckasauralophus?” Girl asked. “Also,” she said as he stopped herself from ruffling his fur. “Can we stop by the creek or big puddle? You need a rinse.”
“I might need a nap first.” He said, “I feel heavy and my heart hurts.”
“Heart hurts? Do you need a healer?”
“I don’t think so. It’s not pain like pain-pain. It’s something else. It’s like and not like the pressed feeling of [Dangersense], but I don’t know how to explain it.”
“It feels thick and it’s almost hard to breathe.” Lucky heaved a sigh. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s get you cleaned up, Lucker and then you can have that nap.”
The big dog almost whined and complained and the realization caused his steps to falter. “Okay.”
Once he was clean, Lucky forced himself to wait until he was behind the walls at the Farm before he let himself take that nap. It didn’t last very long at all before Girl woke him up. “I’m sorry to bother you, buddy, but we need to talk to Aislinn and Helen with the Council before we take them back to the City. The big dog hauled himself to his feet, his chest still feeling weighted. He didn’t want to talk to the council, much less go back to the City.
Girl’s brows were knitted together as she watched him and it only made the feeling in Lucky’s chest curl tighter like a fist around his insides. His eyes felt hot and his tail hung limply behind him. Isobel squinted for a moment before she turned and led him to where the council was waiting in the Dooryard. She sat down on the ground next to Man and Lucky dropped down next to her and put his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his damp fur in an almost hypnotic rhythm. Helen and Aislinn were both in chairs on the other side of Man.
“Thanks for joining us.” Steel-Beard said and Lucky couldn’t quite read the tone of his voice. He was either being genuine or snide and whichever one it was he wasn’t going to lift his head and find out.
“We have a lot to discuss and not a lot of time if we want to get these ladies back to the City before dark.” Lobo’s Man said.
“Isa and Lucky brought these two back to show them the Farm so they could get an idea of what was here and maybe how they could help.” Man said. “Unfortunately, today wasn’t the best day to show off how safe our territory is.”
“On the contrary.” Helen said. “There were nearly a hundred of those spiders and you fought them off with no loss of life and no major injuries.”
Lucky could feel his lips peeling back from his teeth in a snarl, harsh words forming in his mind. Girl’s touch soothed him and he could feel the calm she sometimes projected washing over him. “Helen,” Her voice was a thousand times more calm than Lucky could have ever made his, even without the force squeezing his insides. “We lost one of the dogs in that battle and a few of the others were grievously injured. Sugar, one of the other dogs, has a fairly potent healing class. She was able to save most of them.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.” Helen said, her voice gentle and probably sincere. Lucky couldn’t bring himself to lift his head from Girl’s lap to look in her direction and make sure. Isobel’s gentle fingers continued to brush through his fur and he released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“We used quite a bit of ammunition in that fight, Isobel.” Lobo’s Man said. “I want you to put ammunition at the top of your list when you go back to the City. We need to start thinking about self-sufficiency in that regard as well. What sort of weapons can we get or make that will either not require ammunition or require ammunition that we can make ourselves.”
“You’re getting sidetracked again.” The Cat Lady gently reminded Lobo’s Man. “The supplies you sent back with Callum were impressive. We’ve got quite a bit stockpiled now. If you can keep sending back hauls like that a few more times, we’ll be quite well set up until we can harvest the vegetables we’ve planted. Staples are definitely something you should also focus on. Flour, sugar, salt, yeast, rice.”
“Right.” Girl said.
“We do have some supplies we can add to your reserves if you let us join you.” Helen said. “But I have to be honest with you, we have a lot of mouths to feed and quite a few of them aren’t going to be adding much to the collective.”
“There are 43 of us.” Aislinn said. “It’ll almost double your human population and 28 of them are children. Most under the age of ten.”
“That does add a lot of mouths to feed and more than half of them won’t be much use for a few years yet.” Steel-Beard said.
“I’m not sure we should take that on.” The Cat Lady said.
Silence fell around the little circle of councilmembers and the two visitors. A dull rumble of a growl sounded and it took Lucky a long moment to realize that it was him making that sound. “Are you serious?” The words seemed to vibrate in the air as the big dog rose slowly to his feet. “Is that the kind of person you are?”
The woman’s eyes were huge as Lucky rose to his full height. “I only meant that we have limited supplies and feeding people who don’t add anything to the -”
“Quiet!” Lucky barked. “Now!”
He drew a deep breath in through his nose, taking a deep sniff of the councilmembers that surrounded him. “What do you add?” He asked. His voice was soft, but somehow he sounded even less friendly than he had a moment ago. “I can’t smell a hint of the fight on you. No blood, no spiders, no gunpowder. There’s no scent of sweat on you either.”
“I’m on the council.” She said defensively.
“And?” Lucky almost hissed the word.
“And nothing.” She said. “I do council work. I haven’t time to waste doing other things.”
His pale blue eyes swept over the five councilors. “Every other one of the councilors smells like sweat and the battle both.” He zeroed back in on Cat Lady. “Now, I won’t hear another whine about supplies and mouths to feed. We’re feeding yours too and we’ll feed every mouth that opens from now until the End of the End.” Lucky said. “A damn fine dog died today. A dog who had almost nothing his entire life. He was the most generous soul I knew and he gave everything.” Lucky steadied himself for a moment. “Everything.” He repeated. “He gave his life for us. So that we could continue, so we could thrive. His last thoughts weren’t of himself. His last thoughts were of us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ll say it until it sinks into your soul and burns there for eternity. It’s not enough to survive the End. It won’t ever be enough to merely survive. We cannot give up the pieces of ourselves that make us great. We cannot survive by dragging others down, we cannot survive by abandoning those who can’t do for themselves.”
Again his eyes swept across the group, narrowing. “We have to be better than that. We are better.” His gaze fell to Girl at his side, her expression one he couldn’t read. “I’m tired.” He admitted quietly.
“Dog tired?” She asked, one corner of her mouth flicking up.
“That was bad.” He whined.
“But it was funny.” Lobo’s Man said.
Lucky returned to the still talking council after taking a break to scarf down a bowl of kibble. They were arguing logistics now and the big dog sat down and watched with his eyes half closed. Man and Lobo’s Man would drive a pair of vans back and forth until everyone and everything had been transferred. If Aislinn and Helen’s group agreed to join them on the Farm. It seemed more likely the longer they talked. He settled down next to Girl again and watched the conversation ebb away. Man took Helen and Aislinn to the Forward Camp and would walk them the rest of the way to the warehouse they called home. That left the scouting party at loose ends.
“Let’s stay here for the night.” Girl said, again burying her fingers in Lucky’s fur. “We could all use a good night’s sleep. We’ll figure out our next steps in the morning. I’m exhausted and I didn’t have to fight half as hard as you did.”
Lucky grunted in agreement and forced himself into the Big House and up the stairs to the room he shared with Girl. If nothing else, he would be able to close his eyes and let his mind rest.