196 Days Later

By Chisto Healy

Life on the streets is tough but it's going to get a whole lot harder very soon. When Sam, Rory, Daisy, and Gina, a motley bunch of stray dogs, attempt to rescue Rose from an animal testing centre, they inadvertently unleash a new virus into the world. Facing new threats from the now rabid humans, as well as the changes which Rose has undergone, the group must rely upon each other in order to survive. Food is scarce, danger lies around every corner, nobody can be trusted. 196 Days Later is a unique take on the zombie genre, filled with courage, adventure, love and horror.

Suitable for ages 13+

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Cape Publishing
• Release date: Jul 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215463840

Book preview

196 Days Later

(in dog years)

Chisto Healy

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 Little Red’s Publishing

Copyright © JC Michael

All rights reserved.

This one is dedicated to all the dogs that made my life better before moving on to the Rainbow Bridge: Alfie, Odie, Stormy, Mickey, Barkley, Joch, Panther, Ruckus, Doolie, and little Romeo. I love you all.

1

After the day it happened, it only took four weeks for the world to end. Five months after that, a large black Rottweiler stood in the middle of the empty restaurant kitchen nudging an overturned silver bowl with his thick muzzle. When he finally got the bowl flipped, he growled. There’s nothing, he said. This place has been cleaned out too.

We’ll find something, Rory, a German Shepard said, walking up behind him. We just have to keep looking.

My stomach is bigger than yours, Sam, the Rottweiler told him.

Rory sniffed at the floor and walked around the filthy old appliances. When he found what his nose had been calling him to, he got down low to the ground and started pawing under a rusted old brick oven covered in food stains and blood stains alike. He pawed and whimpered until he dug out a ragged slab of meat. It had gone gray but meat was meat as far as Rory was concerned. Before he could get his big salivating jaws on it, Sam ran over and shoved it away from him with his nose. No, he said. You know the rules.

It’s meat. I’m hungry, Sam.

The swinging doors to the dining area moved and a black and tan Cocker Spaniel entered the room with a swagger.

The rules are in place for a reason, she said as she entered. We know this thing affects dogs, Rory. Look how it started. We’re not immune.

It’s just a piece of meat, Rory whined, pawing at his nose.

And whatever this is, we know it passes through bites. It’s in the saliva, Rory. Anything that looks bitten or gnawed on could be infected. We leave it where it is. If you end up like Rose, we’re all in big trouble, Sam said. Anyone seen Daisy? Gina?

I haven’t seen her since we came in, the Cocker Spaniel said. She’s easy to lose though.

You’re not giant either, Gina, Rory said with a pout as he walked past her towards the double doors she came in through.

Not compared to you, she said back. Compared to Daisy, a rat is giant.

Before Rory could hit the doors, they opened in from the other side. A small white Chihuahua pushed her way through, struggling with the weight of the door as she did. She scrambled on the tiled floor before spinning to a halt.

The humans are here, she said. A lot of them, and they look just as hungry as us.

6 Months Earlier

Rory watched through the small three-pane glass window as the Chihuahua slipped past a human ankle and the closing door, to enter the building unnoticed. She’s in, he said.

Good girl, Daisy, Sam said from Rory’s right. Good girl. You’re up next, Gina. Be ready. We only get one chance at this. We want to get Rose out, not end up in there with her.

The Cocker Spaniel moved up to the window. She looked at each of the boys and wagged her tail. Don’t worry, Sam. We’ll get her back.

Inside the building, they watched as Daisy hopped up on a stool, and then took another jump from the stool to the counter, just under the window. She bumped the glass with her small round head and the window pushed outward. The opening was far too small for Sam or Rory to fit through, but Gina flattened herself out and wriggled her way inside. Then she and Daisy quickly hopped off the counter before the passing humans spotted them.

They were walking around everywhere, busier than most of the humans they had encountered in their lives. The dogs didn’t want to know what they were doing, what they were working on. They knew that it involved animal testing. That’s what brought them such terror when the shelter sent the love of Sam’s life here before they could break her out. They knew that they had to devise a plan and act quickly or Rose would become a test subject for God knows what. Humans didn’t care.

So far so good, Sam said, relieved and nervous all the same. He licked at his lips.

Gina waited until the coast was clear and then headed for the two-tier roll cart they had spotted days earlier. It was all theory up to this point and she hoped it worked. It had to work. She put on an air of confidence for Sam’s sake because she knew that his heart was breaking, but the truth was, she was terrified. The Cocker Spaniel was so afraid that something would go wrong. She feared she wouldn’t be strong enough to do what needed to be done. It wasn’t as if there was something lying around for her to practice on. Just believe in yourself, Rory had told her.

Gina had to move fast or the humans would catch her, and if they caught her they would stop her. Then Rose would still be a prisoner and Sam would still be heartbroken, and who knows what would happen to her. She would probably end up in the cage right next to Rose, being tested on. She imagined herself locked behind bars, screaming in pain as some human administered injections.

No. She couldn’t mess this up. She had to be fast and strong. She had to do this right. She would. This was a matter of life and death. She snarled quietly as she thought about how the shelter that sent Rose here was supposedly a no kill shelter. What did they call this? It may be worse than death even. They should change the sign, she thought, and call it a no kill- but definitely a life of terrible suffering shelter. Creeps.

Gina reached the cart and put her front paws on it. She was almost standing upright like a human. She heard human voices and footsteps nearby. They sounded really close and she knew that her window was closing. She had to move. She couldn’t get caught. She couldn’t fail. The idea of it alone made her little red legs tremble.

Gina started pushing and running. The cart moved towards the front door but it wasn’t going very fast, not anywhere near as fast as they needed it to. She had been right. She wasn’t strong enough. She didn’t know what to do.

Her heart was pounding. She felt it was certain that they were going to get caught and she would end up just like Rose. She hoped that Daisy could at least make it back out. She was small enough to move about unnoticed by the distracted and preoccupied human beings. Gina willed her little legs to go faster. Sam or Rory wouldn’t be struggling with the cart like this. She hated that the responsibility was on her. Come on! she told herself. Go!

Daisy came running up behind her then. The Chihuahua’s legs were too short for her to stand up like Gina but she put her forehead against the bottom tier of the cart and ran hard. With the combined effort, the cart picked up speed. The humans took notice that something was up and they called out, but it was too late. With the cart in motion, the dogs’ plan was in motion as well. The cart hit the front door hard and it opened outward with a bang.

Rory was in position, waiting on the other side. He didn’t hesitate for a single moment. He bound through the opening and tore through the building like a bull in a china shop, barking and snarling and causing as much destruction as he possibly could. Tables rocked and glass shattered and humans screamed. It was beautiful chaos. The humans started running around frantically. They all seemed afraid of Rory. Humans were always afraid of Rory. No one was ever scared of Gina or Daisy. Sometimes it worked to their advantage but this wasn’t one of those times.

The humans also feared for their precious equipment and research. They were busy trying to save things from being destroyed while simultaneously trying to avoid the charging bull of a barking, drooling dog. Rory didn’t bite anyone. He actually hated violence and the terrible things it brought to his life. He still had nightmares. Still, he would bite if he had to and he knew he could bite well. Lucky for him, he didn’t need to, and Sam said that he needed to keep moving. If he slowed or stopped to bite or fight with anyone then the humans would converge on him. The distraction would fail. His job was just to get the humans’ attention and it was clear that he had done that just fine.

The dogs had seen yesterday, as they watched through the window, that the humans had very big needles, and whatever was in them made dogs fall asleep. It was important that even a big intimidating dog like Rory didn’t get caught and stuck with one of those needles. They didn’t know if the dogs ever woke back up.

Rory’s chaos provided the necessary distraction and Sam entered the building and slipped by everyone unnoticed, just as they had planned. Even though he wasn’t a little dog, Sam had a way of moving quietly, padding lightly, and occupying little space. He kept himself low to the ground, belly almost touching the floor as he traveled swiftly by them, braking when need be. Sam was smart. He didn’t know his father. His mother had been alone when she had him in the alley behind the laundromat, but the others always joked that his father had been a police dog. It was just breed humor though.

Sam nudged each door open with his nose, to look inside, until he found the room that he was looking for, a room full of caged animals; dogs that he knew from the neighborhood, as well as rats and cats and even monkeys. He wished he could save them all, but there was no time. Rose was the love of his life. He just needed to get her and get out.

Sam pushed his way into the room and hurried to the back where a beautiful red-haired Golden Retriever sat curled within a rusted silver cage. It hurt him to see her kept in something like that. They didn’t even care about her enough to keep her in a new cage, a clean one, one that was big enough for her to fit in comfortably. How did humans get to be this way?

Rose, he said, a cocktail of love and pain in his gaze. We came to get you. I’m sorry it took us so long. We tried to move fast but we had to plan, figure out how to get you out. You understand, don’t you?

The Golden Retriever said nothing. The girl he had spent so many cold nights snuggled up with, that he had shared stolen meals with, that he had talked of having puppies with, had nothing to say to him. Her eyes rolled up to look at him but other than that small gesture, she didn’t even move. Sam whimpered.

What did they do to you, girl? he said. She had to be so defeated and sad. She looked healthy but they had broken her, taken her inner strength away. Her spirits weren’t even lifted by the sight of her long-time partner. He hoped that she didn’t blame him. He had been in the kitchen of the pizzeria, waiting until the coast was clear to steal them dinner, when she was taken. He heard the commotion and ran out but the truck was already pulling away, Rose’s sad eyes looking at him through the window. Sam had run and barked, but he couldn’t keep up with the human machine that housed his beloved. He swore he wouldn’t give up though. He couldn’t. She would have kept going, fought for him, had the roles been reversed.

Sam didn’t say anything else to her now. She obviously didn’t feel like talking and he didn’t want to push her. He had no idea what she had been through, what the cruel-hearted humans had done to her. They could talk about things later, once they were all safe and far away from this evil place. For now, he just needed to get her free.

Even if she never spoke to him again, he loved Rose and he couldn’t leave her here like this. This wasn’t about their relationship. It was about love. Sam twisted his head sideways and pulled at the latch with his teeth, growling as he did. It took several tries and he had to wrestle with it, but finally, it popped free and the gate swung open. Rose, who hadn’t moved at all before that moment, sprang from the opening faster than anything Sam had ever seen, certainly faster than she had ever moved before. He had never seen any dog move that fast. She was a red blur that shot past him out the door. She must have been very ready to vacate the premises.

That’s my girl, he said, turning to follow her.

When Sam got out into the hall, he found Rose on top of a human, snarling and tearing at its throat with her teeth as it screamed beneath her. Whatever they had done to her, it must have been terrible for her to display such anger. Rose had never bitten anyone before that. She had the best disposition of any dog he knew. Rose didn’t have a mean bone in her body. In his experience at her side, she had always responded to human meanness with sadness, not anger. He couldn’t imagine what they had put her through that changed her so drastically. It had to be awful. The thought brought pain to his chest as his broken heart ached for her.

Rose? he said.

She looked at him but her eyes didn’t seem to see him. He didn’t see anything in them but rage, hatred. Then she leaped from the human, ran like lightning down the hall and jumped at another fleeing human, knocking him to the ground. The human was dead by the time Sam could reach her, blood pooling around it and spreading fast. Rose was painting the halls red to match her anger and her fur. It left the floor sticky and uncomfortable for the pads of Sam’s paws.

Rose. Stop this, Sam said to her. We need to go. If they catch you now, they’ll put you down for what you just did. They will put you to sleep. Do you hear me? You’ve made this life or death for sure now. Please, just run, my good girl. Let’s leave here together. Come on.

Rose didn’t even acknowledge him. She just left the fallen human, dead eyes permanently staring in terror, and she charged for the next one. She moved so fast that there was no way a human could escape her on their tall gangly legs. Sam didn’t