Chapter 2

It has been five days of endless walking. I approached a city, but what I saw was absolutely horrifying. Everything was destroyed. Concrete rubble everywhere, large craters in the streets, hell, even the street signs are illegible. I don’t know where I am. I can’t even use the buildings to find out where I am, which County I am in.
More and more I think that maybe I am the last man on earth, but still, how long have I been gone? There are vines and plants growing around the rubble. I had to search around to scavenge, but no matter how much I searched I wasn’t able to find much. I found a small pocketknife in its blister package; the only one that was in fairly good condition. The bombings ruined just about everything. So aside from the knife, I got a small pack, and some dusty old fingerless gloves. It’s not much, but regardless, I’m lucky to have even found anything at all. Nothing could have survived the bombing… Would the RCC really have gone this far to bomb the whole world?
I’ve been sticking to the heart of cities. I’m now more confident that there are no hostiles, but that doesn’t mean I’m not alert. I camp out inside little caves the rubble of buildings make. It makes decent shelter from the cold mornings. I swear, my nose feels like it’s about to fall off.
I huddle around the fire, tending to the roasting squirrel meat. It’s got a gamey taste, but it needs salt and spices. I’m not complaining though, I’m starving. I have already finished three squirrels.
Once I return to the fire with two more squirrels and have skinned them, I leave the meat skewered over the fire. I stare up at the moon overhead, wondering if Rachel is watching it as well. If I can just connect to her through the moon, I can rest easy. I know she’s alive. She’s too damn stubborn to die easily. I wonder how Lukas is doing. How JT is faring. How XL, Tyler, and Miller are doing as well. And Ryan. What’s he doing? How are both our Counties?
I sigh and shake my head as I continue staring up into the star streaked night sky. A low growl sounds nearby and I sit up quickly, grabbing my makeshift wooden spear. A four legged creature walks out from the shadows, hackles raised, teeth bared, head low, and eyes intent.
“A pitbull?” I breathe.
The dog’s eyes flick back and forth from me over to the roasting meat over the fire. My first thought is to shoo him away, but how can I? He/she/it is the only intelligent living being out here. A dog. How long as it been out here surviving? I’m actually going insane being alone for once.
Once I determine it’s a he, I find that he has no collar.
“What’s your name?” I ask, as if he’s going to bark it out.
His short pointy ears dart upwards as if a question mark is floating above his head. His growl becomes softer, unsure. I toss him a stick of meat in front of his feet. Without hesitation the pitbull tears the meat with a powerful chomp. As he eats, I find myself moving closer to him, unaware or uncaring if he is friendly or not. Once I get close enough, the pitbull lunges out to chomp off my hand.
“Okay, okay, I get it. You hate people.”
The dog lies down and feasts on his share of the food. Every once in a while his eyes flick towards me, inspecting me closely.
Once I finish my meat, I toss him the bones so he can suck out the marrow inside. I’m satisfied, but the dog looks like he’s been without food for quite a while.
“You’re pretty thin aren’t you, boy?” I ask. The dog lifts his head and quirks it to the side, his tongue hanging out. “Hah. Now you like me? Whatever. I might as well feed you in the morning since you’re a little thin. But only if you’re a good boy, that is.”
The dog huffs in offense. I throw some dirt onto the fire and head inside the rubble into my little cave to sleep. It might rain overnight with the clouds looming over nearby. I should stay dry.
“Come on, dog. It’s going to rain.”
The pitbull growls softly, still not trusting me.
“Suit yourself. Good night.”


“So I guess this is goodbye, huh?” I lean down to pet the dog, but he chomps at my hand. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m not good at goodbyes either… Trust me.”
I pack up my gear and put on my fingerless gloves. I sweep my hair to the side and glance back at the dog, wondering where he will go to next. “Take care of yourself, dog. Don’t die.”
For some reason it’s hard to take the first step forward towards my return. Am I worried about the dog? Do I doubt that there’s anything at all in the south? Or is it that I just don’t want to leave? Life is easier just surviving in the wild. I don’t have anyone else to worry about and I don’t have any responsibilities other than to keep myself alive and fed. But that’s just the problem: isolation. I’m all alone. I have nobody to talk to, nothing to give meaning to my life. Human contact and interaction is necessary… and right now, thinking about Rachel’s delicious touch is driving me insane!
After about two miles, I turn around to look and still find the dog hot on my trail. “Shoo. I thought we were supposed to go our own ways from now on.”
The dog looks away, pretending not to notice I’m here. Sheesh. For a dog, this one’s got quite the attitude. The pitbull casually wanders about, approaching closer and closer until it finally “notices” me.
The face the dog makes is enough to communicate his sarcastic thoughts. Oh! I didn’t see you there. Fancy meeting you here.
I roll my eyes. Pfft, yeah right, dog. I drink some water from a metal canteen I’ve managed to scavenge. The dog comes up, licks his lips and eyes me intently.
“Ugh… Really?” I can’t say no to those eyes. “You’re just using me, aren’t you?”
I take off my glove, cup my hand, and pour water over it. The dog walks on over and sticks out his tongue to drink thirstily from the small puddle of water in my hand. I try not to laugh from how much his tongue tickles.
Once he finishes, I try to pet him, but I jerk my hand back when he tries to chomp down on my palm.
“I will hit you if you bite me.”
The dog huffs back as if to challenge me.
“What’s your name, buddy? You don’t have a dog tag.” The dog barks. “Yeah… I don’t know what that means.”
Aaand the stupid dog rolls his eyes at me.
“Hey! If you’re going to be following me around and using me for my food and water, we might as well be friends.” I pause, waiting for a response. “Or allies. Just allies. That’s fine, but I need a name to call you by.”
I move my face closer to him, meeting his gaze. “How is Dog? It’s simple and politically correct.” The dog moves to chomp my face off. “Ugh, how about Chomp? You keep trying to bite me, so Chomp it is. And I don’t care what you say about it, you’re name is fuckin’ Chomp now.”
Chomp barks in acceptance. “Oh. Really? You like that? Okay. Let’s get going Chomp.”
We both walk together through the abandoned city. I’m still having no luck finding any more items to salvage. I find the occasional can and scrap metal. A blanket would be nice, that way I can keep Chomp warm at night, but no such luck.
“Where do you think we are, Chomp?” I ask him and surprisingly expect an answer back.
Chomp groans back as if saying “I have no fuckin’ clue.”
I think I’m actually going crazy if I’m actually having conversations with a dog, but honestly, I’m glad I have the company. This way, I know I’m not the last being on earth. There’s Chomp and I.
Chomp helps me hunt squirrels by barking whenever one of my snares has been triggered. Chomp likes his meat cooked, so he brings me the squirrels to roast over the fire. It’s a nice team effort. It reminds me of how Lukas and I were whenever we had to team up for an Op. We just clicked and we understood each other. We have also known each other since kindergarten, so we know each other by heart as well as our thinking. But with Chomp and I, even though we don’t know each other to that level quite just yet, we still click. Sure, Chomp still tries to bite my hand off every time I try to pet him, but I always smack him upside the head when he does. And then he nudges and shoves me, and I shove him back until I’m actually laughing.
It’s weird, laughing in my situation, but Chomp has actually kept me sane. He’s kept me focused and he keeps me… human. I still have the courtesy to knock whenever I enter into an abandoned building or home. I always take my gloves off to eat. And sometimes… I even pray. Not to God necessarily, but to anybody really. Hell, maybe it’s not even praying. I just think out loud to myself. Usually something along the lines of hoping Rachel is okay and hoping she won’t hate me when I see her again.
As the sun relinquishes its reign for the moon to take its rule, Chomp and I decide to start finding a place to stay the night. It looks like it’s the Demolished IRIS Corporate Store Inn for tonight. Such luxury.
I gather some firewood and move towards our chosen “suite.” I toss the firewood on the floor and stretch my back.
“You could have helped, you know? You can carry some wood in those giant chompers you got there.”
Chomp snorts and waves me off. Lazy Mutt.
“Shh.” I hush Chomp. Small pieces of rubble topple down over us. “Run! Get out of here!” I shout, but not in time for Chomp to move. A large slab of debris falls toward Chomp and I don’t think; I just react.
I hover over Chomp to shield him. I groan when the slab hits my back and it splits into two. The whole roof caves in, but I keep still, focusing only on protecting Chomp. Chomp doesn’t whimper, only growls to scare off this invisible enemy.
“Shut up. It’s nobody. This place was just unstable.”
Once things have stopped moving around, I use all my might to push up and get out of this trap. I actually lift the whole roof off of us. The two slabs fall over and I’m holding up the whole roof from crushing us.
“Get out of here, Chomp.” Chomp obeys and darts outside with our pack hanging from his mouth. He turns to face me and barks.
I shimmy my way out until I finally let everything collapse. I jump forwards and roll when I hit the ground. My jaw drops as I survey the scene that should have crushed us completely. Did I actually lift that shit up?! There’s no way.
I fall on the ground and breathe heavily, looking up to the night sky. “Time to go get some more firewood… And find another place to stay.”
Chomp barks in agreement.


I wake up to some loud snoring. Chomp is curled up into a ball with his back tucked into my stomach. My arm is draped over him and I get a whiff of his morning breath.
“Oh God, Chomp. You smell like you ate a shit burrito, not squirrel.”
Chomp opens an eye and snorts in my direction. Moisture is sprayed all over my face and I use some water to wipe myself clean.
“I smell that bad too, huh? It’s a shame we don’t have the luxury of brushing our teeth.”
My stomach growls. What the hell is up with me? I’m always hungry. And even in times where food was not an option, I was able to skip one meal. But now, it seems impossible to. This is definitely a disadvantage.
I wasn't able to catch much today with the snares. Only three squirrels. I’m shocked that two squirrels leave me unsatisfied. Usually, I would have had one squirrel and still have been able to go on despite the hunger. But now with two squirrels, I’m still hungry and I feel sluggish, like I don’t have much energy. Regardless, I give the third to Chomp. He needs his food too.
We set a good pace and head down south. I have no clue how much I’ve travelled, but given the fact that I’ve been somewhat running ever since I left the container, it’s possible I might have travelled the distance of one county. But I can’t be sure. I would be far more tired than I actually am if I had.
All of a sudden, Chomp skids to a dead stop, his paws dragging across the tarmac. He looks around and sniffs.
“What’s the matter, Chomp?” Chomp lowers his head and growls softly. A warning growl. “What do you smell?”
Chomp’s growl becomes louder. And that’s when I hear something off in the distance. I don’t know how, but I can hear it. I can hear them. They’re coming close.
“Come on, Chomp. Whatever they are, I think it’s best to assume they aren’t friendly.”
He doesn’t move. He digs his claws deeper into the ground and holds his position. Now I can smell them. A certain smell that I will never forget. I gag and my heart kicks up a storm. I can’t take them all on, especially with just a wooden spear to fend for myself.
“Chomp. When I tell you to run, you run.” I don’t know if he heard or even understood me, but I won’t let Chomp be taken.
I breathe through my mouth instead of my nose to make the horrid stench more bearable. I don’t know if I’m going to survive. But I sure as hell won’t let myself die by the hands of Rats that easily.
Once I toss the useless wooden spear to the side I stretch out my arms in front of me, set my palms vertical to the ground, and shift into my stance.
“I was caught off guard the last time I fought pieces of shit like you. But this time is different. You’re going to regret this.” The stench is thicker now. They’re so close that I can actually taste them. “Don’t worry, Chomp. You’ll be alright. I promise.”