Days Gone By.

The days are getting hotter. The inside of our home is absolutely oppressive...so I thought we could spend the night on the roof. I hoisted the girls up. We settled in. The stars were on fire. Every constellation i remembered as a child, were so vivid and perfect. The breeze filtered through the aspens and pines. Whispering sweet night stories, telling of things nicer than i could remember. The dogs curled up next to me and we went to sleep. I cannot say what time it was when Lacy started growling and Bella howled. They didn't whimper or cower..but the noises i was hearing brought on full alert. Crunching and shuffling and snapping twigs. I stayed stock still only momentarily, reached over and grabbed the maglite.

I belly crawled to the edge of the roof, the dogs followed me. I shined the light into the woods. There was a herd of elk.

There were three bulls in total. One was the obvious elder, and the other two were probably no more than a year old. There was at least 11 cows. They were somehow a sign to me that not everything had gone to hell yet. They foraged for a long while. The dogs curled up next to me and put their heads over the edge of the roof and watched the elk. I turned out the flashlight and let my eyes adjust. The moon was about three quarters full, so it did not take long. We all three fell asleep that way. The next morning I awakened to voices.

I looked off the roof and saw three trucks. They seemed loaded down....I figured it was supplies.
I noticed my dogs weren't with me.
I scurried down the hatch as fast as i could and grabbed a machete and a baseball bat. I did not know what to expect, but my dogs....were not with me.

I pulled down the barricade faster than i had even on the day i saw Elizabeth.

I ran out into the sunlight and saw them.

Two men were trying to catch my dogs.

"We can train em to sniff out those rotting bastards."

He made a swoop for Lacy with his left hand and she countered. She bit hard. He countered back with a swift kick. She yelped so loud and tried to run off the other direction.

I started running as hard and as fast as I could to her, they noticed me.

"HOLY SHIT"

I hit him hard across the back with the baseball bat, he went down, his hand was pulsing blood.

The other guy jumped at me...I put the machete straight through his chest.

Then gun fire.

I felt a sting across my right shoulder. It didn't really affect me, I was so blinded with protecting what i love so dearly.

The woman by the truck, she was the one firing. She stopped and looked at me and I at her.

"Jesus, you are alive."

"yeah...."

She put the gun down and walked to were her friends lay.

She put the gun to the first guys head and blew him away. Then the second one in the same fashion.

"I am sorry."

I didn't really look at her, i knelt down next to Lacy and she licked my hand. She let me check her, I could not find anything broken. I lifted her in my arms and started to walk back to the rental shop. The woman, she followed as did Bella. Once inside I got Lacy some water and some childrens aspirin I had found behind the counter. She took both without argument. The woman knelt down beside us.

"We didnt know, those guys didnt know there was anyone with them."

I looked at her.

"Did any of you look around...NOTICE..that maybe someone was here."

She bowed her head down and wrapped her arms around her knees.

"With things the way they are, none of us even thought...........I am sorry."

She walked off into the corner and layed down.

Through tears she said, "They were assholes anyway."

I barricaded the door again and went and layed next to Lacy. Bella followed suit. My insides felt sick. I think I cried, but i don't know for sure. Sleep came quickly.