The Blackout by Stephanie Erickson Page A

the gun Burt had given her.  Dug jumped up, growling, and Sally ran to hide under the bed.   It was the first time Dug had demonstrated such aggressive behavior, and Molly wasn’t sure how to react.  She ran for the door and Dug followed.
    “No Dug, you need to stay here.  I don’t want you to get hurt,” she told him and gave him the signal for ‘stay’.  He wasn’t having it, though, and stayed right on her heels.  There wasn’t much time to react, so she ended up letting him follow.
    Once she entered the darkness, she had a hard time perceiving what was going on.   It seemed like the commotion was a few streets over.  There wasn’t any immediate danger to Molly or Dug.  She was tempted to go back inside and wait it out, but she knew that if she were the one in trouble she wouldn’t want everyone to hide out and let her deal with it herself.  So, she padded as quietly as possible toward the commotion.
    By the time Dug and Molly arrived, everything seemed to be under control.  She saw Burt and ran to him.  “What happened?”  Dug changed his attitude immediately upon seeing Burt and became friendly and joyous once again.
    Burt patted Dug on the head distractedly.  “We were attacked.  Three Wanderers came and tried to take some of our supplies.  Seemed like when they realized it wasn’t food they moved on.  Betty said she thought she saw four at first, but there’s been no sign of a straggler.”
    “Did they get any of our food?”  Molly asked wearily.  Most families were still keeping their food in their own homes, which would lead the Wanderers to their front doors. 
    “I don’t know yet.  I hope not.”  He spoke into the darkness, never really making eye contact with Molly, but constantly scanning for additional dangers.
    “Well, what can I do?” 
    “The best thing?  Probably go back to your home and make sure it’s secure.  I can send someone with you if you’d like.”
    “No, I’ll be OK.  The original attack was so far from our street, I think we’ll be fine.” 
    Molly walked back home feeling relieved, and hoping the incident remained minor. 
    But as she approached the front walk she could tell something wasn’t right.  Dug bristled and the hair on his neck stood on end.  He growled loudly and she readied her gun, a small hunting rifle Burt had taught her to use. 
    The door was open slightly, and she pushed it the rest of the way with the barrel of the gun.  It was dark inside, and Molly couldn’t tell what was a shadow and what was actual movement.  At first, she pointed the gun wildly from corner to corner of the room.  Then she took a deep breath and slowly moved farther into the house. 
    Everything was silent, save for Dug’s low growl.  He pointed his nose to the air, whimpered and took off towards the bedroom.  “Dug!” Molly hissed, but he didn’t listen, so she took off after him.
    She rounded the corner to the bedroom and the smell of blood hit her like a ton of bricks.  The only light she had was the moonlight shining through the window, so she carefully walked to the window and opened the curtains to try and shed more light on the room. 
    In the center of the floor by the bed Molly saw Dug bathed in pale light.  He was standing over a grisly scene.  A pool of blood and clumps of fur were all that remained.  Molly sucked in a breath.  “Sally…” she breathed. 
    Molly grabbed the gun and darted back out the way she came.  Out in the street she scanned both ways for movement.  Any sign of her beloved, and probably horribly injured, pet.  But she had disappeared.  Molly could hear Dug howling from inside the house.  She fell to her knees in the street and cried.  She had left her there alone. 
    It’s my fault she died so horribly, Molly thought. They probably wanted her for the meat, but I’d rather they starved .
    Jimmy was making his way back to his own home after helping defend the supplies when he stumbled upon