Day Thirty: Mutt - Good Boy

Mutt

Definition

1 : a stupid or insignificant person : fool

2 : a mongrel dog : cur

Mutt can now be used with either affection or disdain to refer to a dog that is not purebred, but in the
word's early history, in the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century, it could also be used to describe a
person—and not kindly: mutt was another word for "fool."

The mud squelched thickly between my toes and between my fingers as I massaged yet more of it
over Dog’s already mud-matted coat. He shivered under my fingertips but he bore with it like the good
dog he was. It might be a pathetic attempt to keep the elements out of his aging bones but it was all I
had. 

I paused to rub some of the rank mud into my own, already filthy hair. Mine was less about trying to
keep the cold out and more about looking as unappealing as possible to the fellow inhabitants of my
zone. 

After all, no one wanted to look attractive to cannibals. 

I peered at my reflection in a shattered shop window. I nodded to myself, satisfied that i looked as
disgusting and inedible as possible. Just the smell alone, rising from my body, should be enough to
persuade the most starving of individuals that my body was rotten to the core.  

Beside me, Dog let out a whumpf! Noise. I patted him anxiously. If he were to get sick ...well, there
were no vets around here. Before they’d started on people, the animals had been the first to go. Dog
was probably now the only domesticated pet left alive in a twenty mile radius. The others had long ago
had their gnawed bones discarded by the side of the road. 

I carefully lifted him up and tucked him up safe and sound in my shopping trolley. I didn’t have any
blankets or anything, but I had tried to make it as soft and comfortable and I could with old rags and
newspapers I had worn for days under my clothes, to soften them for his aching joints and decrease
the chance of the paper rustling at an unfortunate moment and giving away his location. 

Slowly, keeping an eye out every which way for potential threats, we made our way down the ruined
street. 

Dog had already been old when I found him. He had been scrabbling at the pale of rubbish heaped
outside my hiding place. His muzzle white with grey fur, his legs like trembling sticks. Deep
lacerations, alternating with the stark relief of his ribs, had striped his sides and his right eye had
swollen shut. 

I was so hungry it felt as though my belly button had become fused to my spine. 

He looked up at the noise of me opening the door. Despite the fact that he was starving, beaten and
clearly on his last legs, he wagged his tail at the sight of me. 

I took him in, patched him up as best I could with the help of a few books I'd managed to dig up and
we’d been together ever since. 

It was good to have a partner again. Before, I had been with my brother. Or, at least, a man I had
always known as my brother. Even now I wasn't too sure if we were actually blood related or he had
just picked me up when I was a small child (and him only a few years older) and protected me ever
since. Either way, I was grateful. I would have been dead a hundred times over without him. 

So, when he told me that he was leaving to try and find a better life for the two of us, outside the zone,
I was shocked. How could I survive without it? I wasn’t strong enough to hold off the others on my
own - and no matter how well you hide, eventually someone would find you. 

No matter how much I cried or begged, he wouldn’t take me with him. He said it was too risky for us
both to go together, so i should stay put in relatively safety and he would come back and find me in a
couple of months, once he had sorted everything out, and we would leave together. 

That had been two years ago. 

Did i think he had abandoned me?

Yes.

Did i blame him?

No. 

I nibbled my lips anxiously. I had several vegetable patches scattered all over the zone (in case crops
failed in one or were discovered and devoured, it was good to have back ups.) and I regularly went
and checked on them. The vegetable patches ensured i didn’t starve to death and also attracted small
wild creatures like birds or mice which i could then catch and turn into a mushy sort of paste that Dog
could eat. 

The downside of the vegetable patches was that I had to check on them regularly, which meant that,
despite my best efforts, sooner or later my movements became predictable to anyone who was
watching. 

The last time I had been at the particular vegetable patch i was thinking of, something felt off. Nothing
had obviously been disturbed but there had been subtle signs that someone might have been there.
But none of the vegetables had been missing. That was a warning flag - it meant that they were
definitely a picky eater and vegetables just weren’t going to cut it. Instead they’d just act as perfect
bait for the meal they did want. 

I chewed on my lips so hard I tasted blood. It could be a trap. I could just be being paranoid. 

Dog whumpfed! again, the whole trolley shaking with his full body sneeze. I clenched the handle, my
mind made up. Dog needed food, especially if he was sick, and this one was the only one where I
hadn't emptied the mouse and bird traps. I would just be super, super careful. 

Everything would be fine. 

They struck just as i was dishing out the meat paste for Dog. 

One of them grabbed me by my filthy hair, hauling me to my feet. His fetid breath making
goosebumps rise alone my neck.

The other crouched down, grabbing Dog’s food and just shoving hit into his mouth as he watched me
squirm. 

Dog was valiantly trying to attack the guy who had a hold of me, barking his little heart out, but with no
teeth and no strength in his limbs, he was getting nowhere. The guy holding me casually booted him
in the ribs, knocking him several yards into the air. He crash landed amongst the vegetables, not
moving. 

I saw red. 

Instead of fighting against the grip on my hair, I threw my whole weight backwards, slamming the back
of my head into his face, hearing the crunch as his nose break as I did so. While he was reeling
backwards i grabbed the knife from my belt and stabbed it into his thigh, twisting as i did so. He let go
of my hair.

The other surged towards me but i had already kicked the gardening fork at my feet upwards, grabbing
it and lunging forward, using my attackers own momentum to impale him on the tines of the fork. He
staggered back. 

My brother had always told me that one of the greatest advantages my small frame gave me was that
people would always, always underestimate me in a fight. 

I dropped the gardening fork and ran to Dog’s side. He was still breathing but he couldn’t seem to get
up. He still wagged his tail at the sight of me. 

I gathered him in my arms and began to run. Who knows who else my attackers had told about this
place? Even if they hadn’t, this zone was literally a man eat man world - people watched other people
all the time and the second they sensed weakness they would pounce. I could feel the sharks circling,
smelling the blood in the water as i ran from there. 

Dog might have been skin and bones but he was not a light person to carry. I could feel myself
staggering under his weight but I knew he didn’t have the strength to keep up with me. 

I shifted him in my arms and kept running. 

As i burst out into the main street, there was a man waiting for me.

I halted at the sight of him. 

For a start he was clean, his hair shining in the damaged sunlight. He was dressed in kevlar armour,
a shot gun strapped to his back, knives strapped to his arms, extra holsters on his legs. He was
dressed for war. 

He was astride a beast of a machine - some sort of cross between a quad bike and a motorbike.
The wheels had spikes and the chrome gleamed as brightly as his hair. 

He looked as out of place in my world as an atom bomb at a tea party. 

He also had a holographic image of me he was studying. He looked up and caught my eye, checked it
against the image he held and nodded to himself. 

“Your brother sent me to pick you up.”

We drove to the outskirts of town, then down, down into the depths of an abandoned factory, until the
floor sloped even more sharply and we were suddenly in the sewers. He cut the engine and turned to
me. 

“Your brother hired me to collect you.” he said again. 

I have to say, I was feeling pretty strung out from the sudden attack, sudden escape, sudden rescue
and sudden mention of my brother who I had been convinced abandoned me years before.

I clutched Dog to my chest and he wagged his tail comfortingly. 

The man’s eyes drifted down to Dog and he curled his lip in disgust. “You’re going to have to leave
that here.”

I thought I hadn't heard him properly. 

“Sorry, what?”

“Your…..creature. I was only contracted to collect yourself, nothing more. I have not been paid for the
dog, therefore it has to stay.”

“I am not leaving my dog mister.” I said bluntly. “Not even if it means I'll never get out of this hell hole.
I’m not leaving him.” 

“Be reasonable.” he scoffed. “That dog’s basically dead anyway, it’s so old. Stay and you’ll both be
dead and eaten - maybe even in that order. It’s just a stupid old dog. What possible worth could it
have to you?”

“I WILL NOT LEAVE WITHOUT MY DOG!” My voice echoed across the walls of the sewer.

“My, my , my Expedited. What’s a fine gentleman like yourself doing in these sewers?” a laconic voice
said behind me. 

I turned my head and froze. The biggest lizard i had ever seen was towering above mine and Dog’s
heads. It’s golden reptilian eye, as big as my head, blinked at me and its mouth opened to reveal such
a set of huge teeth that any respectable cannibal would die of envy.

“Fragile.” The man, Expedited, said with a sneer.

‘Fragile’, ‘Expedited’ - I had heard those terms before. 

“You’re post officers?” I asked hesitantly. 

The figure atop the giant crocodile looked down at me, surprised. “Of course. Did he not explain it to
you?”

I shook my head. Fragile let out a sigh.

“I had to pick her up from the cannibal zone.” Expedited protested, slightly defensively. “There was no
time.”

“And we’re still in the cannibal zone if you hadn’t noticed. What’s the hold up.”

“He won’t let me take my dog!” I blurted out. 

“Your dog?” Fragile glanced down at Dog, still curled up in my arms. “Why?” She asked.

“I have not had clearance to retrieve the dog.” Expedited said stiffly. “Regulations state..”

“You quote regulations to me when you can’t even fill out your damn paperwork properly?”

He bristled. 

“I’ll take them back with me - they’re just going to the Post Office right?” she held up her hand as he
started to protest. “Don’t worry, I'll make sure you get the credit for it - and the reward.” she assured
him, with a hint of disdain in her voice. “I’m sure you have many other, important deliveries to make.
Why not let me make everyone’s life easier?”

I saw his fists clench, then relax. “Sure.” he said briskly. “As you say, the Expedited’s department is
always busy with vital tasks. You take her.”

He waved at me to climb down off his bike. I did so, holding Dog carefully. He scowled at the mud i’d
left behind and then drove off without so much as a bye your leave. 

“And people like that are supposed to be the best of the best.” Fragile mused to herself. “Standards
sure are slipping. Kneel Suzie.”

The giant crocodile laid down in front of us, bringing the saddle closer. “If you want to pass me your
dog sweetheart, i’ll take him and it’ll be easier for you to clamber up.”

I hesitated but handed Dog over, she cradled him gently while I dragged myself up. She passed him
back to me. 

“Cute little thing. I can ask the vets at Suzie’s stable to give him a check up if you like?”

“Really? Would that, would that be ok. I’ve been trying to look after him myself but i don’t really know
anything and, and these thugs kicked him really hard in the ribs before.”

To my horror, my eyes started to fill with tears. Fragile kindly pretended not to see. Instead she just
said gently,  “Of course, they love all sorts of animals there, they’d be happy to check him out. It might
make you a bit late for your appointment though.”

I sniffed. “That’s fine. He made me wait two years after all.”

“Then we’ll go to the bathhouses and get some lunch as well while we’re at it.” She declared
confidently. “Make him suffer a bit eh?” She winked at me. 

“I don’t, I don't have any money.” I mumbled. 

She scoffed. “Like I'm enough of a degenerate to make a child pay for an adult's food.” she ruffled
Dog’s ears. “We’ll get you some tasty grub too boy, for doing such a good job of looking after your
pack. Good boy.”

Dog’s tail  was wagging so hard a small dust cloud was forming out of the dried mud being shaken
loose. I smiled. 

“Onward Suzie.” Fragile said. The large crocodile moved forward into the sewers, away from
everything I'd ever known.

“Just one thing.” I heard myself say.

“Yes?”

“I’m a vegetarian.”