Page 32 of Say You'll Never Let Go

She holds it out for him to inspect from a reasonable distance. “Didn’t break the skin. He’s just scared. He had reason to be after the rotter got him.”

“Animals don’t turn, right? Dunno if the news got that far before everything went dark. I haven’t seen any that have, but…I ain’t seen much.”

“I haven’t seen any either. We would have by now.”

He nods. “Right. It’s fine. Dog’s gonna be fine.”

“He better be after all that.” She purses her lips in mock frustration, directing her comment to the animal in a fond tone. “You’re a pest.”

He isn’t sure how she does that. Takes whatever the world throws at her and somehow never loses that part of herself that still cares. He should apologize to her now. It doesn’t matter if he thinks she needs to leave. There’s no reason their time left here has to be miserable.

“What do you think he is?” she asks, as if he wasn’t a complete jerk to her earlier. So willing to sweep his mistakes under the rug for a chance at moving forward again. “A Shepherd, right?”

“Looks like it to me. Or a giraffe. One of those.”

“More like an alligator. Hey, that’s a cute name, actually. Gator.”

“Nope. Not keeping him. Give it a name and that’s it. It’s over. We’ll never shake him then.”

“Pretty sure I said I wasn’t trying to.”

“He bit you. It’s a dangerous animal.”

She narrows her eyes, holding up her intact hand. “It’s touch and go, but somehow I’ll make it.”

Wade scowls. She’s relentless when she’s like this, and it’s no use trying to convince her. “You wanna name him, then fine. Gator it is. He’s got a name until he’s healthy enough to go back outside.”

“Okay, sure,” she agrees, almost too easily.

“We don’t need a pet.”

“Alright.”

She clearly doesn’t believe him. Doesn’t understand that keeping this dog just means they’ll get attached, and that’s a terrible idea. Something could happen to him. He may never adjust properly and learn to behave like a normal dog. If he gets too comfortable with people, it’ll be harder for him to live alone again in the wild.

This world is cruel to innocent things. Wade’s not here to bond with a dog only to have it ripped away, but he’s not willing to argue with Kara again either. He watches as she makes a fire for the puppy to curl up by, smiling when he reaches his nose toward the warmth as if the little monster didn’t already nip her.

“I’m sorry about before,” he says suddenly, knowing she deserves to hear it.

“I know you are, and it’s okay. Really.”

“It isn’t. Got no business yelling at you. When you were gone, I thought maybe….”

“Maybe what?”

He shrugs, unable to admit his fear of abandonment, though it must be crystal clear regardless if the gentleness of her reply is any indication.

“I would never leave like that. You’re stuck with me, Wade. Sorry to break it to you, but that’s just how it is. I know you think things won’t get better, but they will. They already have, and I wish you could see that the way I do.”

“It doesn’t feel that way,” he says sadly. “It feels like I’m stuck. Still a prisoner, even though they let me go because I can’t get outta my own head.”

“You helped me out there today with the dog. You could have waited, but you didn’t.”

“Something coulda happened to you.”

“So you pushed yourself when you thought you couldn’t, and it worked out. I just wish I hadn’t done so much pushing before. There isn’t a time limit on any of this. You don’t need to follow some weird plan I read in a library once.”

“No,” he says, quickly. “It wasn’t that. Wasn’t you. I wanna keep trying.”