The man rushed Oscar, yelling angry words, and as the man tried to grab his leash, Oscar rocketed up, twisted, and bit down hard on the man’s forearm.
The man screamed, cursing with words and sounds Oscar had not heard before.
The woman moved closer to Oscar, and he released his jaws from the man’s forearm. The man fell backwards then scrambled away. Oscar growled low in his throat, baring his teeth to the woman, showing an impressive set of incisors with the propensity to tear through flesh. The woman slowly backed away.
Oscar leaned against his handler for protection, but unlike other times, his handler did not offer any instruction to Oscar.
The man angrily waved his arms, swore again, crawling away from Oscar. Rising, the man dusted off his jeans and with an exaggerated motion, told the woman to follow him.
Oscar tracked the man and woman until they were no longer a threat, and it was not until then Oscar stopped shivering. His ears flopped down, and an expression of grief captured his dark muzzle and eyes.
With nothing else to do, he took refuge next to the body of his handler. Oscar huffed a long breath and closed his eyes, awaiting sleep.
Chapter 10
Ethan, Becca, and Kinsey slowly made their way to Tyler. They found him slouched in the same seat, awake, sipping a drink.
“Tyler,” Becca called.
“Hey, Mom.” Tyler gave his mom a ‘sup nod. He briefly glanced at the man accompanying her.
“Thank God you’re okay.” Without anyone blocking her way, Becca held onto the back of the seats then alternately swung her legs and hopped to her son. Taking a seat next to him, she asked, “How long have you been awake?”
“Not sure. Maybe five minutes.” Tyler slurped again on his drink, finishing it. He removed the plastic top and reached in to get an ice cube. He didn’t bother to look at his mother. “I was too lightheaded when I tried to stand, so I sat back down. I’m feeling better now.”
Becca placed a hand on Tyler’s forehead, noting his temperature. “You’ve got a nasty bump.”
“Here’s an icepack.” Kinsey handed her mom the ice wrapped in a towel. She placed it on Tyler’s forehead.
“Ouch, that hurts!” Tyler glanced at his mom and his eyes widened, startled by her appearance. “What happened? You look like crap.”
“What’s wrong with you, Tyler?” Kinsey snapped. “Mom nearly died and all you can do is to comment on her appearance!”
“Mom? Are you okay?” Tyler asked.
Becca nodded. “I will be.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Mom, but you do look like crap. There’s blood all over you, and your clothes are ripped.” Tyler crunched on a piece of ice, annoyed at his sister’s earlier comment.
“That’s because she was trapped under a bunch of dead people.”
“Gross.” Tyler sifted positions in the chair. “And what’s with you, Kins?” He scowled. “I woke up and you were gone. Why’d you leave me here by myself?”
“I was searching for Mom.” Kinsey spoke in a calm manner, determined not to let her brother get under her skin. “And, I found someone to help us. He helped save Mom.”
Tyler grunted.
“By the way, I put a note in your pocket telling you where I was, so if you had found it, you’d know I hadn’t left you.”
“How was I to know? I’m not a mind reader. Besides—”
“Will you two stop your infernal bickering,” Becca interrupted, using her best mom voice. “We are together and we’re okay. And we’re damn lucky because we have this nice gentleman who has offered to help us.”
Tyler warily glanced at Ethan. “What’s your name?” he asked sullenly.
“Ethan Crossfield. Nice to meet you.” Ethan leaned over and extended a hand to shake.
“Likewise,” Tyler said, shaking Ethan’s hand. Tyler was trying to hide his skepticism regarding Ethan. It was like the guy was trying to take his dad’s place, a fact Tyler didn’t appreciate one iota.
“Let’s formulate a plan and decide what our basic necessities are.” Becca waited for a response.
“Food, water, and shelter,” Kinsey piped in.
“What’s the prognosis on those?” Becca leaned over and rubbed her throbbing leg.
“We’ll need to gather as much water and food as we can, and once you can walk, we’ll leave,” said Ethan. “For shelter, we’ll use the stadium and anything we can find here to help us stay warm. Do you have anything in your car, like blankets or matches, anything?”
“No.” Becca sighed. “I cleaned it out when I went to the car wash the other day. Weather was nice, and it hadn’t been washed in a long time.”
“Any medical supplies?”
Becca shook her head.
“We’ll need to find warm clothes because a cold front is headed our way,” Ethan said. “Temps are forecast to be close to freezing at night.”
“What are we going to do?” Kinsey asked. “It’s not like there’s a mall or clothing store near here.”
“I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”
Kinsey exchanged worried glances with her mom and brother. “Tell us anyway.”
“We’ll take the clothes off the dead people.”
“That’s so wrong!” Tyler made a face like he had eaten a sour pickle. “And gross! There’s no way I’m going to wear clothes taken from a corpse.” He shuddered at the idea.
“I agree with my son,” Becca said. “It would be wrong.”
Ethan shook his head at their naiveté. “There’s nothing wrong doing what you need to do to survive. We’re on our own in case you haven’t noticed it. If you, and you, and you,” Ethan pointed a finger at Becca and her two children, “want to live, you’d better get used to
