The cows mooed in their own horrifying ear scraping way, and I knew I was going to have a difficult time getting back.

The roarer wasn’t dead and he was calling for help. I was actually safe at the farm, but Kalki was back there and soon all the screamers were going to rush back toward the houses. And there was also the horde of beasts under the tree where the crows had nested.

There was only one way to do this.

I didn’t go down the stairs. I ran atop the wall like the cat and made it for the road. The screamer followed me from below, but he was stopped by the outside wall. The road was no longer empty, however. The cows were slowly coming walking toward me. They were in a daze and no longer mooed or screamed.

Another wave hit me as soon as I touched the road.

Come to me! It called.

I felt the impact but kept going without worrying about the pain. Slowly, I let the warmth flow down my veins. They changed me, but I needed the strength to get to Kalki before the horde got to her. She and her pack needed to be warned.

Suddenly the ground started shaking. It was a stampede.

I was scared to run in front of them, but I had no other choice. Large and heavy as they were one would expect me to outpace them quite easily. Well, they’d be wrong. The cows slowly gained on me. They reminded me of the beast called Truck; it was large, heavy, and roared when moving. The cows were exactly similar to it. I finally understood why the cat was scared of them.

The road split into two ahead. I almost turned right, aiming for the wall, since I could make the jump, but there were three horses running toward me in full stride, neighing without stop, followed by bloody chickens. All of them were releasing a sweet aroma. They were not alive.

So of course, I kept straight and ran for the park where Cob was buried. Someone jumped on the wall to my right as I was rushing through the street where I had met the pigeons. They were still there; I could hear them, but I hadn’t the time to warn them. They were pretty safe up at the tree anyways.

I almost had a heart attack, and then I heard the meow.

What’s happening? The cat asked. He sounded very afraid and looked very tense. He didn’t know. Of course, he didn’t. Only those with the warmth inside their body could hear the call! That meant the screamers, and I. And obviously I was the exception. It wasn’t something that others couldn’t get. The small shard I ate had changed me. I wondered if anyone would willingly eat something that they had found inside the rotten bodies of the screaming screamers.

Kalki hadn’t. She had given her shard to me. That’s why I had that dream in the morning, the one about the man and his wife. It was an easy connection to make.

What’s happening? Why are you back? He ran beside me, jumped over the gate that looked into the bricked space inside, but kept pace.

The screamers, I barked. It was not easy, to bark and run. They are coming. Save yourself!

Wait! Where are you going? He stopped where the wall ended and the abandoned park started. I didn’t humor him and rushed into the thicket of tall green itching weed, past cobs graves, to the building with the lingering scent of paint, and onto the road. The dogs were no longer there, or at the house, or just anywhere nearby.

I entered the house with the pigeon pen, through the gate, up the stairs. The pen, it was barely holding. Though empty, it still smelled strongly of the pigeons that had lived all their life inside it. It was such a small space. Was this how Kanti wanted to keep me —in a locked a cage? Was Cob actually right about the hu-mans?

I decided to think about it later. Anyways, Kanti was not like other hu-mans. I believed in him. He would not cage me.

The crows had taken to the air for some reason and were crying out in panic. I ran to the edge of the roof to see what was happening; it was a massacre.

The screamers had created a huge and thin pile of bodies and reached the tree canopy where the crows lived. There were no more crows in the tree canopy and the screamers had already started to break away from the pile and wander around the empty plot.

I couldn’t find their so-called leader, but he was definitely there somewhere. The only good news was that they didn’t look excited about the calls —cause of their leader, maybe. I hoped he would keep them there.

However, then the call came for the third time, and whatever control he had over the screamers lost its effect.

The screamers on the ground suddenly raised their heads and screamed, looking north, toward the wave’s epicenter. The pile, on the other hand, started collapsing faster. The screamers that were high up fell like bird eggs from the tree and met the same end. A few broke their limbs and other bones, while the rest joined the ones screaming.

I found their leader. He was on the ground, struggling, holding his head, also screaming, but in pain. He was like a pressure cooker that couldn’t blow off steam. He was the only reason why the horde hadn’t gone berserk, yet. There was only one way this was going to end.

I could get to Kalki. I could warn her still, but I needed to hurry. Backtracking my steps was not possible. I didn’t want anything to do with the crack again.

I could almost see the roof of the shopping complex from where I stood. I was not going to stir the horde by jumping in the middle of them, but the roof… the roofs were connected.

I started running.

The horde was not all the screamers there were. There were bound to be a few lone ones that must already be there.

I sped up.

The leader was already starting to lose its control over the horde. They were starting to leave. It was going to be a blood bath if I didn’t make it.

However, I soon found myself in a conundrum. The roofs ahead were not connected. There was an empty lot in between. I rushed down the stairs. In my heart, I knew I was not going to make it. There was barely any distance between the horde and the complex, while I was at least two blocks away.

Luckily, the front gate was open. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. My mind was going crazy. There were screamers on the road and in the houses. They saw me, and they screamed upon noticing my sweet scent, and they did chase. I could have killed them; they were not giving much sweet aroma. But I didn’t.

I pushed past them. I was out of time.

There were no junctions or intersections. It was a straight street and the road turned left at the end of it. That was not the right way. The shopping complex was right behind the houses! Kalki was so bloody close.

I-I—

I didn’t know what to do, but help came when I grew desperate. A loud tweet fell into my ears. It was Singer, and she had come at just the right time!

Get into the first house with its open door. It cuts straight to the other side. She advised.

I barked loudly to thank her and followed as she instructed.

The first house with its gate open— I chanted it like a mantra. Kanti had one that he chanted every day after waking up, and before going to bed. He believed the words would give him strength and keep him strong in difficult times. I needed that right then.

Singer was right. After a lane of closed gates, came a gate that was wide open. This was it. I barged in. The inside of the house looked as if a storm had passed through. Blood painted the white walls red, but it had already dried. I cut through the lobby, jumping over broken chairs and torn bedsheets, and dashed toward the light. Through the bedroom, I could see the road on the other side, but a door separated us. I charged into it headfirst, and it opened with a smack when I jumped at it. I was ecstatic as I smelled the grease and oil on the street.

I was back!

KALKI! I barked and found the hu-mans all standing outside the building. I ran toward them, barking with intensity and intention. They were packing away boxes into a large white wheeled beast. It was slumbering, but the hu-mans knew how to awake them.

I found Kalki; she and Karishma were carrying a large blue box to the half-filled trunk of the beast. They had removed its innards (seats) to make space and were filling it with things. I rushed to her side and barked, but she was too engrossed in her thoughts and didn’t notice me.

The others did.

Look, Kalki! Karishma shouted. Your boyfriend is back! She said in jest, getting Kalki’s attention first upon her and then at me. Her eyes opened wide. She almost dropped the box but held it at the right time just as her partner screamed. They hurried to put the box inside the beast’s stomach, but we hadn’t the time for such necessities. I bit into the fluttering end of her dead fur —she had changed into something revealing— and pulled her toward the building. The dead fur ripped when I yanked, causing her to scream.

What are you doing? Stop it! She crouched low and dropped the box.

It carried treats. God damn it! She was taking them for me! I decide to howl in sadness later, but first I needed to get her inside. I tugged on the ripped half to get her into the building, but she caught the end of the thing and resisted.

I growled, refusing to budge when the old man came at me swinging his stick like everywhere.

Oye, let her go you bloody rascal! The old man spat as he stumbled down the stairs and toward me.

Don’t hit him! Kalki yelled at him.

One of the boys, not the one who was mates with Karishma, but the other one suddenly appeared beside me and kicked me in the chest. He struck hard. Air escaped my lungs as my teeth ripped through Kalki’s yellow dead fur, and I grunted.