As his mind went into overdrive, Shawn felt goosebumps spring up as a vision of a hundred dogs charging him filled his mind’s eye. “What do we do?” Shawn mumbled in terror.
“They will die out till they reach equilibrium with the environment but I hate to say it, they will see us as food,” Arthur told him as Pam started crying. Before Arthur could get her out of the bouncy chair, Vicki walked over. “If a pack wipes out our animals, we will be hard-pressed to make it.”
Picking up his coffee mug, “Let’s go to town and get three times what we need,” Shawn said with a shudder.
Watching Vicki take Pam out of the bouncy chair, Arthur nodded. “That’s my thinking,” Arthur said and then moved over to check on the kids cooking.
“So, you don’t think people are going to be a problem?” Shawn asked, moving over and watching the others work on breakfast.
“Hardly,” Arthur scoffed. “But we are way back off the beaten path and they will have to look for us hard, and it’s a big world. Dogs and other animals can sniff us out.”
“Other animals?” Shawn mumbled, looking up at Arthur.
“Yeah, the day before I found you, someone called over the radio saying that someone had let all the animals from the zoo in Little Rock go free,” Arthur said in a low voice. “I hope they won’t be able to sustain breeding populations, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Nodding, “That makes sense,” Shawn said. “They didn’t have that many animals in the zoo.”
“I’m worried about all the zoos doing that,” Arthur told him, moving over to help Kirk. “There is a big cat sanctuary south of Little Rock…”
Shawn interrupted while watching Arthur help Kirk. “Yeah, mom took us there.”
Looking off, Arthur gave a long sigh. “Yeah,” he mumbled and then spoke in a normal voice. “I took Joseph and Wendy there when we first moved here. Went back a few years ago and it had nearly doubled in size. There were over fifty large cats there and, I know because I asked, most weren’t sterilized. I know animals, and those cats can get out of those cages if someone doesn’t let them out.”
“Whoa,” Shawn said, leaning over and grabbing the kitchen island when he felt his legs get weak. “That’s not cool,” he said, realizing the implications.
Bouncing Pam on her hip, Vicki stepped over to them looking a lot older than her ten years. “But we are people and animals are afraid of us,” she said.
Reaching down, Arthur caressed her cheek as he smiled at her. “True, but there aren’t that many people to be afraid of now,” Arthur pointed out and Vicki stopped bouncing Pam. “Cats in the wild breed at certain times of the year. In time, I think those will as well but until then, they will breed as each litter grows up. The big cats are hunters so they will secure food and when they have litters, they’ll have large litters.”
“So, we have to worry about tigers?” Vicki asked and the older kids stopped and turned to Arthur.
“In time we will, but there will be other things as well,” Arthur said, looking around at the scared faces. “But by then, each of you will know how to shoot, work the farm, and our farm animals will be protected.”
They all relaxed at hearing the confidence in Arthur’s voice.
Hearing a squeal, Arthur turned to see Robin chasing the cats. “Robin,” Arthur moaned. “I just put your clothes on you.”
Stark naked, Robin chased the fluffy cats into the living room. All four dogs looked up at Arthur as kids moved around the kitchen and dining room. “Don’t start, bitches,” Arthur told the dogs and then bent over, grabbing Robin’s clothes off the floor. Shawn snickered when Arthur swore at the dogs.
“Robin doesn’t like clothes,” Vicki told Arthur, putting Pam back in the bouncy chair as Lucas started crying. Before Vicki could grab Lucas, Shawn came over to take Lucas out of the bouncy chair.
“Figured that out in the first hour on the day we met,” Arthur sighed, walking into the living room with Robin’s clothes.
After breakfast, the older kids helped the younger ones get ready and Arthur put Lucas in a baby carrier. Making sure Vicki had Pam strapped into her car seat, Arthur let his AR hang under his right arm as he picked up both car seat carriers and Kirk opened the back door. Looking down in the baby sling, Arthur found Nicole looking up at him with a smile. “I know, blue eyes,” Arthur said.
Vicki got in the backseat of Arthur’s side by side with Jodi. Arthur put the baby carriers on the backseat and used bungee cords to hold the baby carriers in. He glanced to the driver’s seat and saw Kirk climbing behind the steering wheel.
Looking over at the new side by side they’d hauled back, Arthur saw Shawn in the driver’s seat as the other kids piled in. “Make sure they are holding on and don’t go fast,” Arthur called out and Shawn nodded.
Counting heads, Arthur felt his pulse quicken only counting ten. Counting again as he named off kids and touching Nicole in her sling to make sure he counted her, Arthur again reached ten. Turning around and realizing he was missing Robin, Arthur let out a groan to find Robin standing behind him with her clothes on the ground. “Oh, come on,” Arthur cried out, throwing his hands up.
Picking up a naked Robin, Arthur grabbed her clothes. “You keep on and I’m taping them on,” Arthur grumbled as Robin giggled and then kissed his cheek. “Let’s go, Kirk, but drive slow because we have little ones.”
As Kirk followed Shawn down the small road cut in
