The smell of food awoke me and with my stomach crying out for it, I sat up in the bed. The bed was empty and yet the smell of food gave proof positive to the testament of where my lover was.
Getting up I searched the room's closet and with delight, I spied a long-sleeved man's plaid shirt. I slipped it on and the tales of it came down to mid thigh in their coverage of me.
Grinning, I glanced away from the mirror as I finished buttoning the loose fitting shirt up. Orrin wouldn't be able to resist me and for me that was quite all right.
I stepped free of the bedroom with a smile of anticipation, but abruptly froze at the sight of a large German Shepherd with teeth bared facing down Orrin, who held a chair at the ready to brain the dog if need be. The dog's deep-seated growl was ugly to hear as was its aggressiveness to us.
The dog looked well fed, but on what was the question. We were but days from a disaster of the former civilized order and yet this dog acted like it had been born wild.
Actually, it seemed worse as I think a wolf would've had the good sense to leave and look for easier food elsewhere. Then to make matters worse a second dog slipped in past the canvas covering the doorway soon to be followed by another and another.
All four were well fed looking and yet their demeanor towards Orrin was one of intenseness that said they wished to kill just for the sake of killing. They all exhibited a clear bloodlust in their actions as they all closed in on Orrin, who now gave ground until his back was pressed up to the railing of the balcony.
My man was in danger and quite without hesitation despite the threat I tiptoed forward and reached down for the shotgun that I'd left in the middle of the floor leaning up against my pack. I'd been a girl of fifteen the last time I'd shot clay pigeons with my brothers, but the mechanics of the shotgun were still clear to me.
I shucked a shell forward even as my thumb pushed the safety off. All four slobbering jawed gazes of the assorted dog breeds gathered within our haven switched to me and I pulled the trigger.
One dog went flying and the other three attacked when they should've all gone for cover. Something was clearly not right with these formerly domesticated animals.
Shucking the spent shell free I blasted away again as I depressed the aim of the shotgun downward at the fast approaching dogs. Two went sprawling about on the floor, but the fourth had launched for me with teeth bared.
I fell to the floor and as I hit the ground on my side, I shucked the shotgun again and as the dog landed down beyond me, I let him have it and with a squeal he plopped over dead on the floor as blood sprayed up against the wall beyond him. Quickly rising up I turned and sent a shell into each of the two dogs whining upon the floor in their incapacity to attack me instead of their one thought being of escape.
At the firing of the last shell the house fell eerily silent and breathing heavy I looked for Orrin. He was coming closer to me skirting around the dogs on the floor as he did so.
Taking the shotgun from me he laid it on the kitchen countertop and I willingly stepped into his arms and for the first time I felt how bad I was shaking as his arms closed about me tightly. Against my hair I heard him say, as his hands reached down and dipped beneath the hem of the shirt to grip the cheeks of my bottom, "You're quite the girl, Jolana."
Pulling back enough to gaze up at him, as his fingers squeezed intimately with their hold upon me, I said preemptively, before the passion to have me came to alive in his eyes, "I'm hungry."
Laughing he let go of my bottom and said, "Yes ma'am. I'd better see that my little Annie Oakley doesn't get too hungry or you might air my hide out with some pellets."
"Who is Annie Oakley?"
"Old American history. Here, how about you go back to the bedroom and I'll bring your food to you so we don't have to be around these dead mutts while we eat."
I nodded and let go of him. He stepped away, but stopped as I said, "The dogs.... I think they've turned. I mean...…" I left the rest of my thought unsaid, as I really didn't want to commit to the idea of what might be going on.
With seriousness he said, "Say what you're thinking."
Haltingly then I said, "In the Bible it says that in the last days that the beasts of the field will turn on mankind. These dogs weren't hungry and they've only been without human interaction for a few days. Look they all have tags and collars. Even the severe trauma of these past few days hasn't been enough to turn them into the killers that these dogs were. I... I'm just saying maybe that's why these dogs were like this and if that's the case, then how much else out there in the forest is going to come hunting after us? How will we ever survive if all animal life has suddenly gone mad with the desire to kill us?" I stated at the last with real fear as the enormity of all that could mean came to full life within my mind as an unfolding horror.
Orrin shrugged, "I'm not concerned by that if that is the case."
"Why not?" I exclaimed.
"As long as I keep your shotgun full of shells I know that I'll be safe." He said with dry humor.
I rolled my eyes dramatically and to the tune of Orrin's grin I headed back to the bedroom.
~~~~~~~
Orrin
Orrin watched her go and kept his grin in place until she was gone from view. The grin slid from off his face entirely, then and with seriousness and a sense of despair, he turned his gaze to the four bloody dogs lying upon the floor.
She was right. Something very odd was up with the animals, at least as evidenced by these dogs.
The imagery of cougars and grizzly bears all the way down to the smallest mutant Chihuahua coming out at them with the same bloodlust that these dogs had exhibited sent a shiver of apprehension down his spine. Wiping his hand across his brow at the sudden cold sweat, he felt there he then looked about before gazing upward and stating, "How am I going to keep her safe? She believes in You and she's like perfect and yet what right is there in her getting chewed up? I'm only one man! I..... I need help. I don't want her hurt! Please. Please help me keep her safe. I would be very grateful and... well, I would be very grateful."
Orrin turned awkwardly away from his first conversation with God, since he had been a boy of eleven years of age. That former time had been marked by one of angry outrage, as he had screamed, at the God in heaven who had allowed his mother, who had believed in Jesus, to die.
Orrin had never pursued another moment with the God, whom his mother had placed her faith in, until today, because in so many ways, if not far more ways, Jolana meant more to him than even his mother had to him as a boy. Turning away and trying not to dwell on how helpless he felt at keeping the woman he had come to love safe he fetched her plate of food and a cup of juice and headed for the bedroom.
One thing was certain. They could not stay here.
Very clearly he felt the urge of something telling him to keep moving on into the interior and leave this house of comforts and abundant food behind.
Was the urging within his spirit caused by God trying to tell him something? Why would God help him of all people when it came to that?
He wasn't sure, but he wished he knew just the same. Nevertheless the urge was such that before the day advanced much further he intended to be on the move.
Jolana would not be happy, but he had to do what was right and denying this instinctual urge to move on in the name of staying in a place of comfort was simply not the right thing to do.