Chapter 5

Doofus barked for the first time a month later.

He wasn't actually brave. He hid behind me when he saw zombies and tucked his tail between his legs around other superpowered survivors. But that evening, he suddenly started barking furiously toward the base's outer perimeter.

I'd never heard him make that sound.

It wasn't fear or excitement, but an aggressive warning, his hackles raised, his tail rigid, a low growl rumbling in his throat.

I went out to look. There was nothing out there. In the distance there lay only the collapsed concrete labyrinth and rusted steel frames, and the setting sun had dyed all of it the color of blood. Utterly devoid of life.

"What are you barking at?" I patted Doofus's head.

He stopped barking, but his eyes stayed fixed in that direction, a growl still rumbling in his throat.

I stood in the doorway a long time.

I saw nothing.

Only later did I learn there really had been something out there that day.

A giant silver-gray wolf had stood deep in the ruins, watching my door from a distance. Then he had turned into the sunset and disappeared among the shadows of the steel skeletons.

I couldn't sleep that night.

Lying there, I kept replaying Doofus barking at the perimeter. What had he seen? Why was my heart beating so fast?

I refused to think about that wolf.

I told myself the blanket was good, Doofus was good, and life was good.

Then I rolled over and found that Doofus had climbed onto the bed at some point and curled up beside my pillow, his blue eyes shining at me in the dark.

"Get down," I said.

Doofus didn't move.

"...Never mind."

I buried my face in his fur.

Not soft. A little scratchy against my face. His fur smelled like dust from the ruins and scraps from the mess hall.

Nothing at all like cedar mixed with sunlight.