Page 32 of The End of the World As We Know It

Corey didn’t answer, nor did he slow down even an iota, but he did glance toward the big man on the bench once they were within range.

Yep, definitely dead.

He kept up the brisk pace as they moved past the pond and again emerged onto a wider expanse of open ground.

“You’re starting to piss me off.”

Corey finally glanced at Kristen. “I don’t care.”

“You’re an asshole.”

He nodded. “You might be right about that.”

Kristen groaned. “Why are you so dead fucking set on finding some damn dog?”

He looked at her “I just am.”

She rolled her eyes. “Great answer. That’s some quality fucking insight right there.”

Corey didn’t respond.

They went up and over another hill, a significantly smaller rise than the previous one, but once they were on the downward slope Corey caught a glimpse of a residential street through a scattering of trees. He saw cars parked at the curb on both sides of the street,including a silver compact that was missing a door. The dog had been silent the last few minutes, a development that stirred anxiety in Corey.

Then the barking started back up, an agitated eruption.

Corey started running.

“Goddammit!” Kristen shouted after him.

He reached the edge of the park and weaved his way through the narrow band of scattered trees, emerging seconds later on a strip of white sidewalk. He stopped there, breathing heavily as he craned his head around, looking up and down the street for signs of the animal, which had once again fallen silent. The intermittent nature of its outbursts was maddening, impeding his ability to home in on the sound.

The car missing a door was about fifteen feet up the street to his right. Once Corey stepped off the sidewalk and onto the strip of faded asphalt, he discovered that the door wasn’t missing at all, at which point it became easy to surmise what had happened. Someone had left the door on the street-facing side of the vehicle standing open, and another car had come careening heedlessly down the street, smashing into the parked car with enough force to knock it clean off its hinges. The door had gone skidding along the asphalt, coming to rest just a few feet from where Corey now stood. He saw more evidence of vehicular damage to other cars parked on both sides of the street. Huge dents and ripped-asunder side panels. There were many more strewn bits of twisted metal littering the asphalt, along with more than one sheared-away side mirror, with cracked fragments of glass glittering in the sun.

“Holy shit. What a mess.”

Kristen had caught up to him.

“Yeah.”

The dog barked

The sound was coming from somewhere to his right, much nearer than before, yet still too far away to precisely gauge the animal’s location. It might be in a yard a couple blocks up on this same street, ormaybe one street over, but either way, he was getting closer. He turned away from Kristen and started moving up the street in the direction of the sound, which had ceased yet again.

Kristen followed, but now she stayed a few feet behind him instead of tagging along at his side. Like the dog he was seeking, she stayed silent for the entire length of the first block he explored. He felt her sullenness like a physical thing, like an alien death ray boring into his back. They crossed an intersection and started up another block. So far they had the entire street to themselves, with nary a sign of living residents out and about.

Kristen said, “You’re stupid.”

Corey didn’t say anything.

She said, “You’rereallyfucking stupid. And ugly. You know that?”

This was in direct contradiction to what she’d previously said, but he didn’t bother pointing that out. All he said was “But not too ugly to fool around with, apparently.”

She made a noise of disdain. “You can consider that offer off the goddamn table.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Then why are you still following me? Leave me alone. Go back to the park.”

She said nothing, nor did she heed his suggestion to depart. Her breathing changed, coming in shorter, harsher gasps, and he sensed she was hovering on the precipice of an even more scathing outburst.