Caffeine was having the best day. He had made many new Friends and found a lot of good Belly Scratchers. Now he was playing chase with one of them.

The small Not Dearest Human was a great chaser! Every time Caffeine got close to catching him he would suddenly be not there and instead be somewhere else. But eventually Caffeine caught him and the NotThere Human was a great scratcher when he was there.

But then Dearest Human called him to go outside for another snuggle nap trip!

Caffeine said goodbye to his new NotThere Friend and ran outside where Dearest Human was up in the sky so Caffeine jumped up into his arms. Dearest Human was happy and helped him crawl inside his warm snuggle spot.

Dearest Human gave lots of snuggly naps and Snuggle Naps were the best naps!

At least until the big Flapping Bad Not Dogs started trying to hurt Dearest Human.

He warned them with a kind growl to go away but they didn't listen so Caffeine sadly decided he would have to leave his warm, cuddly snuggle and tell them to go away with tired, angry barks.

Dearest Human didn't want to let him out at first but Caffeine insisted that he would scold the mean flapping noisy things.

He stepped onto the ground and loudly barked at the tiny Flapping Not Dog. "Bad Not Dog!"It ignored him.

Then Dearest Human told him to go play with the Flat Not Dog.

Caffeine wasn't sure about that but he decided Dearest Human knows best. "Play!"

He ran over to play and the big Not Dearest Human was already playing with it. He was waving a stick! "Maybe he wants to play chase the stick!" He thought happily and wagged his tail. It was a wiggling stick too!

But the big Not Dearest Human bumped the Flat Not Dog with the wiggling stick and the stick flew away.

"Chase the stick! Get the stick!" Caffeine was going to chase it when the Flat Not Dog grabbed the Big Not Dearest Human with its pinching arm.

Blood dripped and Caffeine growled. "You are playing too rough!"

It ignored him and he realized that the Flat Not Dog had lots of sticks. "Stick!" It was just sitting on them!

So Caffeine grabbed one and tugged. It tasted like fish. "Are you a fish?" He thought. "Fish are food."

He decided to just pull the Flat Stick Fish away since it wouldn't play nice but he tugged too hard and the stick flew away. "Oops..."

The stick fish kept squeezing and Caffeine growled. "I will take all your stick…"

Someone made a very loud light and the Stick Fish stopped playing with the Big Not Dearest Human and he fell over.

"See, too rough." Caffeine huffed. "Now he won't play anymore."

Then he saw one of his new Friends, NotThere who was also a great Belly Scratcher.

The Stick Fish tried to play with the tiny Friend and Caffeine had to get in front of him.

"No! You play too rough." He Barked an angry warning and the bad Stick Fish turned and tried to pinch Caffeine.

Then it was over there. "Bad Fish."

Caffeine licked NotThere. "Good play."

Then he felt something. "Uh oh." Dearest Human was angry again.

But Caffeine relaxed when he saw that Dearest Human was only angry at the Stick Fish. "Told you." He growled. "You shouldn't play rough… Dearest Human will stop playing if..."

Dearest Human angry broke the Stick Fish and threw all the Sticks very far. "Stick!"

Caffeine was going to chase them but then Dearest Human fell down!

He smelled Dearest Humans blood when he got close and quickly started cleaning Dearest Human's face. "I will help!" He whined.

But it wasn't helping! Dearest Human smelled like pain! and hurt! and dying! again! Caffeine whimpered. "You're a good boy!" He told Dearest Human the happiness sounds. "You're a good..."

But then another Friend was there and he put his warm light on Dearest Human! His light was the best light! It was like the sun but even better! It always felt like warm cuddles in the cold dark.

"He's okay, Caffeine." WarmLight Human said. He sounded good and happy so it must be okay.

Caffeine thanked WarmLight Human and then kept cleaning Dearest Human who now smelled only like tired and not like hurt. He gave Caffeine a small pet and went to sleep. "Poor Dearest Human…"

His Dearest Human seemed to hurt himself a lot when he got angry and Caffeine decided that next time he would need to comfort him faster. Yes. He was a good boy after all.

The Not Dearest Human that smelled like Scared Pain yelled at him when he followed his nose to the Stick Fish.

He only had one bite of the little thing but she anger shouted at him. It wasn't even a big bite... Plus Dearest Human hadn't said not to eat it… he was going to protest but she was so small and frightened...

Caffeine sighed and let the Not Dearest Human have the Stick Fish, all the Sticks were gone anyway. Instead he found the Flapper that was bothering Dearest Human before. It was very squished and tiny but it did smell tasty.

He swallowed it. Snack!" And then found the delicious crunchy rock underneath. "Hmmm…" He looked at it. Looked at Dearest Human. Looked at the rock.

"No." Caffeine decided. "Dearest Human is unhappy, and he always gets happier when I give him the tasty rocks." He picked it up and carefully dropped it on Dearest Human. "Cookie for you." He huffed.

Dearest Human didn't move and Caffeine sighed and turned away from the rock.

It smelled very tasty...

His nose led him to more big flappers and while they didn't smell as good, he was still a little a lot hungry. Plus they still had some crunchy rocks to enjoy. "Dearest Human lets me eat those..."

He came back to check on Dearest Human and found the Not Dearest Humans trying to drag him inside.

So Caffeine helped.

It was a little warmer inside the big house and NotThere gave him lots of pets until he fell asleep.

The faint murmuring of Not Dearest Humans soothed his ears while the belly scratches were the best!

"Let's go Caff." Dearest Human said.

Caffeine woke up. "Go? Outside!? Where!"

But then NotThere got scared by Dearest Human and pushed Dearest Human outside! "Wait for me!"

But Dearest Human was too big and NotThere was too small. He pushed too hard and fell over.

The Not Dearest Humans started yelling and WarmLight Human put his warm light on NotThere.

Caffeine wasn't worried, the tiny Human was only sleeping tired but then Dearest Human came back in and Caffeine huffed at him as he picked up his food bag and not for chewing stick. "Dearest Human don't scare Friends!"

They walked outside and Dearest Human went high up and called Caffeine for more cuddle naps. But Caffeine decided to run instead!

"Running is the best!" He happy barked as he sprinted away. "Chase!"

Behind him Dearest Human sighed and Caffeine felt Dearest Human's eyes start looking harder at everything.

He knew Dearest Human's eyes would have a little glowing in them now.

The little glowing made the Not Dearest Humans nervous when Dearest Human looked at them but Caffeine didn't know why. After all, it just made Dearest Human's eyes look more like Dearest Human. That was the best!

Far above and ahead Dearest Human called him to follow. Caffeine stopped smelling the interesting smells and chased Dearest Human! Caffeine wasn't really worried about Dearest Human getting lost. Not ever!

Since the long long ago, Caffeine always knew where Dearest Human was, as well as Other Dearest Human, who was still far away.

But still, Caffeine would stay close to protect his Dearest Human, and so he chased.

But before he went too far, Caffeine stopped next to a tree and woofed gently at the Dog resting underneath it. "I can't play now but Good Friends inside big house. Lots of Good Play and Good Belly Scratchers!"

He turned and kept chasing Dearest Human before calling back. "Play gentle!" He barked. "The Not Dearest Humans are squishy and Dearest Human will get angry if you hurt them!" Caffeine's body language said 'I will be unhappy if Dearest Human is angry', it said it very loudly!

Nothing moved under the tree until Caffeine was out of sight. Then a shadow rose out of the ground, shook itself, and darted away soundlessly.

The woods were alive with interesting smells and small things scurrying away as Caffeine ran after Dearest Human. But then the smell of WarmLight faded completely and the air got stinky.

"Sad smells..." Caffeine wrinkled his nose, everything smelled like sick and dying now. The small critters didn't scurry happily anymore and some even looked at Caffeine hungrily as he ran by. Those ones smelled the worst and the most like dying.

Caffeine hurried up until he found Dearest Human above him and he jumped up into his arms.

He gave Dearest Human a grateful lick and whined sadly at the sick ground below.

"You don't like the Miasma either, Caff?" Dearest Human sounded sad so Caffeine gave him another face lick to cheer him up and crawled into his warm cuddly nap place.

He woke up when the wind sound stopped and lots of Not Dearest Human voices started talking nearby. Caffeine struggled free of his warm nap bed and Dearest Human helped him jump out.

"What do you think?" The Not Dearest Human who smelled like Tough Strong was talking and waving his hand. Caffeine sniffed his feet to check if anything interesting had happened but the Human started smelling worried so Caffeine wandered off to say hi to everyone else.

"Should work…" Dearest Human said behind him.

There were a lot of Not Dearest Humans here! Caffeine ran around saying hello and some of the Nice Not Dearest Humans even gave him pets, but no one wanted to share any snacks... Caffeine was sad because it had been so so long since he had eaten anything... but he was a good boy and didn't steal anything. "I am a good boy!"

Dearest Human's shouting brought him running back to help calm Dearest Human or to help him anger shout, but Dearest Human had flown away when he arrived.

Caffeine looked at the Not Dearest Human. "Don't make Dearest Human angry!" He huffed. "He might hurt himself again…"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Don't look at me!" The ToughStrong Human said to Caffeine and the other Not Dearest Humans around him. "He is being…"

Then they all tensed and hunched their shoulders. Caffeine knew that look, it meant Dearest Human was looking at them too much.

"Dearest Human is back!"

A big box landed nearby with a loud bang. It was the same box as Dearest Human usually had behind the warm rumbling and bouncing place.

"This or the bus." Dearest Human said. "I'm not going to spend all day walking…"

There was more shouting but Dearest Human wasn't really angry, just upset shouting, so Caffeine wandered off to find someone to play with.

He found some small Not Dearest Humans and played with them until everyone started climbing into the other box that Dearest Human didn't bring.

Dearest Human was sitting on the top of the box so Caffeine jumped up and got into his lap.

"Warm laps are the best!"

After a very long time and maybe a nap, most of the Not Dearest Humans were inside the box and a few more climbed onto the roof. "We're ready." ToughStrong said.

"I'll stay relatively low." Dearest Human said. "You catch anything fast and if necessary I'll set it down."

There was agreement and more chatter until Dearest Human made the box fly up. People murmured nervously but Dearest Human was calm so Caffeine napped and rested.

"Flapping…!" Caffeine opened his eyes and looked at the Flappers.

"Go away." A growl slipped out but before Caffeine could angry bark ToughStrong jumped into the air and crashed into a Flapper!

"Keep going." The Not Dearest Human called back. "We got these." He punched the Flapper and it crunched then he jumped off of it and crashed into another.

"That looks fun!" Caffeine jumped onto one. It squawked and then stopped when he took a bite. "Don't bother Dearest Human." He growled. "He is being busy and calm right now."

Caffeine swallowed his bite and jumped onto another one that hadn’t run away. "I warned you nicely…" It crunched and he jumped back onto the flying box.

"Good boy." Dearest Human said quietly and Caffeine gave him a happy lick before settling back into his spot. "I am a good boy!"

Another long nap later and loud voices woke him up. "We can't lead it to the others." ToughStrong said to Dearest Human. "I think I can slow it down at least."

"That's the brightest Soul I've seen." Dearest Human said softly.

Caffeine jumped up and looked at the giant, loud, roaring Dog behind them. "New Friend!"

He jumped down to play with the Dog as it pushed over a small tree.

Dearest Human yelled. "Caffeine! No!" Caffeine woofed to reassure Dearest Human that he would only play very gently and friendly.

Dearest Human was making worry noises behind him as he approached the dog but Caffeine decided he was probably fine. "Dearest Human gets worry a lot."

Besides, the dog in front of him was ready to play. It stood up on its back legs and raised its front legs in the air. "Very friendly!" Caffeine ducked low in his standard Play greeting and jumped back and forth before dashing around the other dog. It roared its own Play challenge and dove after Caffeine.

Caffeine dodged it's feet and ran a circle around it. "I'm too fast!" He yipped excited.

The other Dog pounced and tried to hug him but Caffeine slipped aside and barked a laugh. "You missed me!"

The Dog roared another angry bellow. "Don't be angry with me." Caffeine huffed. "You are just too slow."

In the distance Caffeine saw Dearest Human break some trees and put the box down.

The Dog roared again and charged.

Caffeine crouched and dodged left before suddenly going right. The Dog raged and snarled as it missed him completely.

Caffeine yipped his joy as he ran past it again and then Dearest Human started looking too much, and too angry.

Caffeine turned and saw Dearest Human flying towards him, his face was very angry and his not for chewing stick was above his head and pointing very dangerous at the Dog charging up behind Caffeine.

Caffeine barked at Dearest Human, "It's okay! We are playing! Don't be angry." The Dog tried to hug Caffeine from behind and he stepped aside. "I'll make sure he plays gentle." Caffeine assured Dearest Human who slowed and stopped in the air.

The dog stopped and rumbled deep inside itself. Something moved inside the Dog and it got bigger. Spikes formed in its fur which shimmered and glowed.

"Good move!" Caffeine woofed at the big Dog. "Let's chase!" He dashed past the Dog who swiped at him. "Yes! Now chase!"

Sadly the Dog didn’t chase. Instead it stood on its back paws and lifted up its big front paws. Light flared on its claws and it swung towards Caffeine, sending long streams of light slashing colorfully through the air.

But Dearest Human didn't like that! "Uh oh..." The claws stopped loudly and Dearest Human anger grabbed the dog and Caffeine smelled bad angry and hurting coming from Dearest Human!

"No!" Caffeine Roared at the Dog. The big Dog shrank in front of him, smaller and smaller until Caffeine loomed over it.

"Do. Not. Make. Dearest. Human. Angry!" He Rumbled at the small, trembling Dog. "He is my Dearest Human and I want him to not get hurt."

The tiny Dog sat down and lowered its paws. And then it started to grow bigger as Caffeine smelled it calming down.

"You are not a good boy… but you can be." He sigh huffed. "Dearest Human gets angry if you don't play nice." The Dog lay down and whined. "It's okay." Caffeine woofed gently. "You are a good chaser, so I'll teach you to play gently."

Dearest Human settled down next to Caffeine and hugged him. Caffeine leaned against him and licked his face. "Dearest Human is the best Human!" Caffeine yipped while Dearest Human also grew bigger next to him.

The big Dog, growing bigger and bigger, whimpered when Dearest Human glared at it and then it turned and ran away.

Caffeine sighed. "Bye new play Friend!" He howled after it. The dog didn’t respond, only ran faster.

Dearest Human hugged Caffeine into his arms and carried him back on top of the box. Caffeine decided a nap was a good idea and curled up in Dearest Humans lap. "Naps are the best!"

ToughStrong's voice was a distant rumbling as Caffeine drifted asleep. "Think the bear will come back?" It was quiet until Dearest Human replied. "I don't think so. Caff scared it off… I think…"

The other man whispered. "A teddy bear… right?" Dearest Human stroked Caffeine’s head and ears just right. "Yes. Yes he is."

Caffeine woke up again when the box hit the ground and Dearest Human bounced.

Caffeine stood up and stretched. "Good nap." He yawned and watched the Not Dearest Humans running into the big house. "More play time!" He jumped down and ran inside with them.

Some of the Not Dearest Humans moved away from him and smelled like Frightened but Caffeine didn't bother them, only ran past and finally found his Friends.

"NotThere! WarmLight! ScaredPain!" Though now she smelled more of Hope Pain. Caffeine ran to each of them with tail wags and happy whines. "I missed all my Friends so much!" It had been such a long time after all.

"Hi Caff." She smiled briefly at him but didn't stop for pets. NotThere was happy and started giving a good pet while the others got busy running around with all the new people.

Caffeine dozed in a happy belly rub nap for a while until new voices appeared.

"You shouldn't let that thing near a child!" A grouchy voice. "Relax." A new voice. Caffeine looked up and saw it was one of the Not Dearest Humans who had made Dearest Human Scared hurt them after the very Bad Darkness fight.

Caffeine tensed at first. "Are you a good boy?" But Caffeine relaxed when he saw that the Not Dearest Human was Friendly to NotThere.

"The dog is the least dangerous thing to the kid right now." He said.

"You didn't see what that thing did…" Grouchy kept yapping and Caffeine yawned.

"Don't touch the kid." Friend to NotThere said. "And absolutely don't fuck with the dog if you want to live."

"But…"

"Why are you even in here?" Friend to NotThere sighed with tired noises. "Go back out there and ask Nate or Eve where they need you." The Grouchy voice huffed and faded away.

"Thanks Caff… for saving my life before..." Friend to NotThere said very quietly and then he left and Caffeine dozed happily until the loud banging started up. "Dearest Human!" He was worried until he remembered and felt Dearest Human right over there.

He yawned, stretched and after a thank you for the nap lick, he walked with NotThere back towards the Outside.

A Not Dearest Human at the door to Outside tried to stop NotThere and Caffeine woofed to politely ask them to please move out of the way, but NotThere just went suddenly over there and past them to Outside.

Caffeine huffed at the Not Dearest Humans confusion as he walked Outside after NotThere.

In the Outside he saw Dearest Human flying in with some big metal boxes and stacking them next to the others. Caffeine jumped up on top to see and NotThere went up there too.

Dearest Human saw them and came over for a rest and pets. "Pets are the best!"

"You being a good boy, Caff?" Dearest Human said the happy sounds and Caffeine felt his tail wagging and he jumped into Dearest Humans lap. "I am a good boy!" He woofed.

NotThere stood nearby and smelled nervous until Caffeine jumped up and went over to him. "You are a good boy too!" Caffeine woofed at NotThere and he made the happy face and pet Caffeine.

"Glad you're looking out for each other." Dearest Human said as he floated up into the air again. "Eve!" He yelled. "There's only a few more. Not enough to circle the building."

HopePain yelled from somewhere below. "It's good enough. I'll chop some of them up to fill in the wall."

Dearest Human gave Caffeine one more head scratch and flew away. "Caff, stay here."

Caffeine sighed.

Dearest Human would always go away for a very long time whenever he said that. But Dearest Human would come back eventually so Caffeine jumped down to see what everyone else was doing.

ToughStrong was telling a lot of Not Dearest Humans to go and do stuff and didn't give any pets, only looked at him and NotThere before yelling more noise at someone.

HopePain was touching a metal box's walls and making them break. Then she told some Not Dearest Humans to carry the pieces away. After she did that awhile she was tired and sat down so Caffeine comforted her by licking salt off her face. HopePain pretended to be upset but then only thanked him with a good pet and belly rub.

When she stopped and went back to breaking metal, Caffeine followed some Not Dearest Humans who mentioned water. A few of them told Caffeine and NotThere to go back to the house but one of them whispered to the others about 'bear' and 'huge', then they all left him and his friend alone, though they did smell a little bit like Frightened.

Caffeine was more interested in the smell of Stick Fish that was on the ground and running a trail in the same direction they were going. "Maybe there is more to eat!"

Eventually they found a lot of water and the Stick Fish smell disappeared into it. "No snacks..."

Caffeine had a large drink and watched sparkling fish dart around under the water. "Snacks!"

Caffeine was a little bit very hungry and decided to catch one. Fish was tasty!

Caffeine lunged and snapped at the fish but it somehow didn't get caught.

Caffeine only got a mouthful of water and a wet head.

He sneezed water from his nose and shook it off his head, causing NotThere to angry squeal next to him. "Wet is bad." Caffeine agreed with NotThere and licked the water off of NotThere's head until he pushed him back. Then Caffeine looked at the fish swimming past and whined sadly. "So many yummys. So far away…"

NotThere patted him on his dry back and made a big fish not in the water anymore, instead it was jumping around on the dirt. Caffeine excitedly grabbed the shrinking fish and started dragging it back to the big house. "Come with, NotThere." He huffed around the fish. "Dearest Human might want some." NotThere, who was now smaller for some reason, followed after him with a small giggle. The other Not Dearest Humans nearby all watched them go but only backed up and away from them. No one tried to take his snack.

It was a great tugging game all the way back. The fish was bouncing and wiggling all the way back to the house and it shrank more until Caffeine could hold it off the ground.

Dearest Human dropped more big boxes and flew over to Caffeine while yelling. "Nate! Got a big fish here." He gave Caffeine a pet and made the fish stop wiggling. Caffeine dropped it when ToughStrong jumped over the boxes and laughed. "Nice catch! He's not gonna bite me if I take it, right?"

"Try it." Dearest Human said with a smile while drying his now wet hands on his pants. Nate laughed again but sounded slightly more nervous this time.

Caffeine bounded to Dearest Human and licked his face while he laughed and tried to run away. "Aww Caff! Your breath…"

A very long time later the fish was finally sizzling and smelling very yummy over a fire and Caffeine was bouncing in place.

"Relax, Caff." Dearest Human said. "It's almost ready." The Not Dearest Human who was cooking and handing out plates of food finally handed one to Dearest Human who set it down in front of Caffeine. "Eat!"

The FoodCook made a sound of displeasure and Dearest Human spoke as Caffeine devoured the delicious snack. "He and the boy brought the fish from the river." He nodded at the child sitting next to Caffeine.

The FoodCook grunted and made another plate have fish on it before setting it in front of NotThere.

Caffeine watched NotThere and his plate until NotThere picked up a piece and handed it to Caffeine who swallowed it instantly while NotThere laughed.

"Let him eat some too, Caff." Dearest Human said and Caffeine dropped the next piece back on the plate and nosed it towards NotThere with a whine.

NotThere smiled and ate his fish and then gave Caffeine another piece.

ToughStrong walked over and sat next to Dearest Human. "You staying the night?"

Dearest Human looked up at the sky. "Might as well… I really don't like the idea of roaming around in the dark."

"Why not just stay here? Help us defend this place and gather survivors." ToughStrong said.

"I told you." Dearest Human said quietly. "I need to get stronger, find the rest of the bastards and get going home."

Caffeine ate another piece of fish after NotThere ate his.

"Almost to E Rank yet?" ToughStrong said.

"Closer…"

ToughStrong patted Dearest Human on the shoulder. "You'll get there." He walked away calling for someone.

One of the Not Dearest Humans rolled outside later and called the small Not Dearest Humans for bedtime. "Warm cuddles time!"

Caffeine got up and after checking on Dearest Human, followed NotThere inside.

When Dearest Human found him later, he smiled at Caffeine who tried very hard not to wiggle a happy hello. Caffeine was surrounded on all sides by tiny Not Dearest Humans, they were cuddled up against his warmth and snuggling in his fur, even NotThere was sleeping, sprawled high up on top of Caffeine.

Dearest Human gently moved some of the tiny ones over and squeezed in up against Caffeine’s side. Dearest Human gave him a small belly scratch and Caffeine breathed out a happy sigh and closed his eyes.

"Best day ever!"