They let Nuggets in after they were done, and the dog behaved like they had been gone for months. The poor animal had a serious case of separation anxiety. So, he got his share of love, too.
Dean knew that Sophie was really struggling. The Syndrome was causing her almost constant pain. He was also feeling some discomfort. They didn’t speak about it, but they knew what was going to happen. The decision was easy. They would take the rest of Jamie’s poison before things got too bad.
Soon.
Dean watched as Nuggets’ paintbrush tail rose and slapped the ground repeatedly in a sideways wag. He listened to the rhythmic pounding for a minute.
Then something occurred to him.
“Hey, Sophie?”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t all the dogs in the world die?”
Sophie didn’t respond right away.
Dean frowned. “But Nuggets seems fine...”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah.” She was thinking hard now.
She stirred and got up from the floor. Nuggets looked up at her curiously. She stepped over to the desk and grabbed the diary.
“I wonder if there is anything else in here. I know I skipped a page...” She sank down in the chair and started reading, picking up where she had stopped.
The date on the page read: October 26th.
I went downstairs and covered you up. Sophie knew that Jamie was writing about Sam.
What am I supposed to do without you, Sam? Nuggets is beside himself. He runs down the stairs every half hour to go look for you. I can hear him whining downstairs. He’ll be slinking back upstairs with his tail between his legs any moment now. You’re gone! I can’t believe that it’s over.
The next entry was near the bottom of the page and must have been written later.
Why am I still here while you are gone? What did I do to deserve a life without you?
Sophie sighed. Nothing there offered any clue. And only one more page to go before Jamie’s final entry. She flipped the page.
I saw one of those things outside. Sam, I’m glad that I was able to stop your existence — I know you didn’t want to turn into a monster.
Nuggets knew there was something strange about that thing too. He whined quietly and backed away from the window. That dog amazes me. He probably shouldn’t have survived that shock the other day, but when I look at him now, he seems fine. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I feel fine too. I don’t want to feel fine. Why didn’t we get sick?
Sophie read as she stroked Nuggets, her fingers feeling the texture of his long, soft hair, then the slightly rough surface of a healing scab.
She blinked and put down the diary as a realization occurred to her.
“Oh my God...” Sophie muttered, her eyes widening.
“What? What is it, babe?” Dean was still sitting on the ground, his back against a wall.
“Electricity.”
“Uh, what do you mean?”
“Of course. DEAN!” Sophie yelled.
Dean looked around anxiously and shushed Sophie. “Hey! Not so loud.”
But Sophie was too excited. “What do Jamie and Nuggets have in common? They both got electrocuted! The electric shock must have killed ... whatever it is that causes HAPS!”
Now Dean was getting excited. “Hey, that’s right!” He half rose from the ground but paused and sat back down. “Okay, hang on. How do we safely electrocute ourselves? We’ll have to find another place to do it, since the power is out here.”
Sophie nodded. “But, Dean, we have to do it quickly. The pain is getting so much worse for me.”
“Okay, babe.” A determined look came over Dean’s face. Without warning, he stood and jogged out of the room. Nuggets quickly ran after him, wagging his tail at all the excitement.
“I thought that I saw ... Yes! The place across the street. I see lights on: they’ve got power,” Dean called from another room.
He returned, grinning broadly. “Babe, I bet you figured out how to beat this thing.”
“I think I know what to do, Dean. We take a power cord, like from a radio or something, and pull it out. Then we expose the wires and plug it back into the wall. That should give quite a shock.” She smiled at her man.
“Right!” He smiled back at Sophie as he pulled her up from her chair and into an embrace. “What would I do without you?” He said as they hugged. He looked down into her face and dipped his head so they could kiss. They held each other in an embrace, giggling when Nuggets tried to get in between them.
Reluctantly, Dean let her go. “OK, I think we had better act quickly. I’m not feeling too bad, but I can tell you’re struggling. The sooner we fry these things inside of us the better.”
They went downstairs. The smell of Samantha’s decomposing body was once again overwhelming. They quickly made their way to the back door, unlocking and opening it to let in some fresh air.
Nuggets ran past them and into the backyard. He had some business to take care of.
Things outside were quiet. Dean pointed to the far end of the yard. “The house with the power is over there. Should we hop the fence, or use the door?”
Sophie chewed on her bottom lip as she considered it. “Let’s use the door. I’m no good at jumping fences.” Dean took a step out of the back door, but Sophie pulled the big man back.
“Don’t forget the Silent Screamers. There might be some of them out there.”
Dean nodded. “I think we need a distraction.”
Sophie looked scared, so Dean gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, babe. It will be all right.”
Nuggets had finished his business but did not seem keen to
