HalfWorlder #Wattys2017

Chapter 22-I walk the dog

I was enjoying this way more than I should, considering. I couldn't believe he let me do it, but for some reason I got the job. His feet padded along silently in front of me, his neck bent low to the ground. He wasn't kidding when he said he had a "nose" for this kind of thing, though he was being far more literal than I realized.

Wep was on all fours in his wolfy form at the end of the leash I carried. He had rummaged around one of Seshat's drawers and produced it. Its leather was as old as the hidden city, but oiled and well preserved, like someone lovingly cared for it each day of its long life. The deep-brown leather was marked by a thousand tiny hieroglyphs burned black into the hide. It was a story about a boy, he said. It was one I wanted to read if I lived through this.

Wep's wet nose glistened black and sent out little puffs of white steam as he snuffled along the ground searching for signs of Seshat. Around us, smoke choked the air and night draped around us like a black veil. We walked briskly toward the ocean where Neter left Seshat hours ago. I wondered if the smell made it hard for Wep? Or if the maze of streets made it harder to find the water?

A car alarm blared somewhere nearby.

Wep made his way down a side street through a broken fence. He sniffed the air and circled back. We turned a corner and the ocean peered at us from between two buildings. We were a few streets away. He found it.

Smart, Wep.

I almost reached out to rub him behind the ears, but stopped myself. His wolfy face became stern when he realized what I was about to do, but I saw laughter light his eyes too.

"At least you're living up to your name." I patted him on the head anyway. "You definitely saw that opening."

His tongue lolled out happily.

It was easier to like him when he was in doggy form.

As we got closer, a salty breeze came off the water even through the smoke. Fires had been set in abandoned cars and most of the storefronts here were vandalized. People were yelling and cursing from the windows high above us. A woman screamed. A glass crashed and shattered in the intersection behind us, the homemade bomb bursting into flames. We passed yet another smoldering car.

This didn't bother Wep at all.

Every once in a while he would stop and shake wet flakes off his back, sending a shower of ice our way. It made his thick fur bristle up on its ends like he was about to lunge at someone, but instead he'd turn his head to look at us with laughing eyes and a tongue hanging out of his mouth, panting with the heat his exertion even in the midst of this cold, frozen world.

A gun shot sounded nearby and I reached out my arm instinctively to shield Alexandra. This one was close. She glanced sideways at me as we pushed on through the dirty slush, and I removed my arm from across her chest. Her ever-intense eyes watered in the cold and made their blue shine brighter. Her golden ringlets hung down in frozen perfection, and her breath blew out in white clouds.

A group of young men rounded the corner cursing in Arabic. They hauled a huge television through the snow. A nearby store alarm was blaring and Wep whined at the noise, snapping at them as they passed. One nearly lost it on the slippery pavement, but the thief steadied himself and ran even faster to get away with his prize.

Wep continued to bark and snap at them even though they were far down the road and I realized I was holding Alexandra's hand. She noticed too and pulled away, the tiniest hint of a spark falling to the ground, its electric sizzle warming my hand just slightly from the cold. She bolted toward Amisi and Ryan who had pulled ahead. She made me sad and happy at the same time.