So... bright. It was
so bright it hurt my eyes. I blinked rapidly as I tried to adjust.

Somewhere in the
light, Shadow called, "Don't just stand there half-way out!"
A dark paw grabbed mine and hauled me across the dry, white expanse.

My eyes adjusted. I
saw a laughing black wolf, a wolf I knew. Shadow was laughing. He was
laughing ahead of me, dragging me along.

I laughed too. "Was
it always so bright out here?" I asked, squinting through the
glare. That silly song still niggled at my consciousness.

"Of course!”
Shadow stopped and turned to me, still holding my paw. “I- The dark
bothers me. I only survived that dark closet because you were there."
He stopped and turned to me, his grin fading. "I mean it, Tyler.
I would have gone nuts in there without you. Ever since... my time in
the shed, I can't stand to be in the dark or enclosed spaces. I knew
you were there with me the whole time. I was in pain and so distant,
but you were always there."

My smile grew into a
cheeky grin as my eyes adjusted. "Well, it seems I've found my
use after all. I'm a security blanket pup."

He leaned in close
and gave my nose a quick lick, "Only the best there ever was.
I'm always comforted by you, even just you being there. You have more
uses too. Don't devalue yourself so much,” he said, gazing into my
eyes and giving my paw a firm squeeze. “You have real strength.”

“My strength is an
illusion,” I muttered, dropping my eyes.

“Not to me,”
Shadow said, nudging his nose past my whiskers into my cheekfur.

I nodded, trying to
believe. I could be useful and strong. I needed to believe in myself,
like Shadow believed in me. Even I used to believe in myself more.

Sighing and blinking
in the bright light, my eyes finally adjusted. I could allow myself
to believe again. Believe in strength, the future, and in us
together.

I patted my pockets,
feeling Kaylee's cat angel and the family photo in one pocket. I
smiled knowing they were safe, knowing I had kept them safe. The jar
of jam was weighing down the other pocket. My past and my future. I
was between, where anything could happen. Chaos pulled me from a
knowable future.

I shrugged off my
thoughts and helped Shadow gather our gear. I saw he had picked up
the tent, bat, and a sleeping bag. "We can come get the rest
after we set up the tent. Give me that," I insisted, twitching
my ears and pulling the tent bag from his paw. "You're still
injured, take it easy and just carry a sleeping bag."

"You're injured
too," he pointed out.

"You know, I
feel fine. My paws are a bit tender, but otherwise, I'm fine. You, on
the other paw," I stated, glaring at him with twitching
whiskers, "are ignoring whatever pain you have. You are trying
to act normally, but I can tell. You need to take it easy."

He grimaced. Found
out. I smiled when he shrugged and accepted taking only a sleeping
bag with him. There was more hesitation with the stained bat, but he
let it drop to the rooftop.

"Where do you
want to set up?" Shadow asked, tearing his gaze from the bat.

I thought a moment,
taking the time to feel myself soaking in the sun. "Either in
the very center, or right near the storefront."

"Why the
storefront?"

"It's a good
place to keep an eye on the zombies," I mumbled, as my ears
dipped in embarrassment.

I didn't trust that
we were safe here. The middle of the white expanse was too far
removed from the zombies. As much as I wanted to ignore them, I
wanted much more to keep my eyes and ears on them. My wariness was
increasing, especially since they kept changing.

After I gathered my
thoughts, I continued, "I'd rather know how capable they are. I
want to know how scary they are. From this, I can't hide."

"The
storefront?" Shadow smiled and gazed at me with those bright,
golden eyes. When I began shifting nervously, he said, "I could
live with that. I'll have you." With a grin and a bob of his
tail, he led the way towards the store front.

There were more
benefits to being at the front, I decided as I followed. Being able
to see out across the parking lot if any furs came could prove
life-saving. We would have more time if someone - or some “thing”
- came up the hatch at the store's rear. We could even use a rope to
scale to the ground if we had to. Unfortunately, it also left us very
far from any "safe" place from the Curtain.

Could any place at
all be safe any more? Was the safety of the past an illusion waiting
to be shattered? The safe past now had little meaning, as the world
seemed to have flipped to favor the undead.

We'd reached the
storefront while I had been lost in thought. I put down the tent.
"Relax here, Shadow," I said, unfastening a sleeping bag's
bindings. After unzipping and laying the bag down near the crate, I
turned to him, "The sun is warm, the weather is nice. Crash here
for a minute, I'll go back and grab the camp gear box."

"No, please
stay for a few minutes. It's really nice out here. Don't you want to
rest for a bit?"

I looked across the
white expanse, broken at regular intervals by air control units and
the bumps of raised skylights. I wanted to get our own camp set up
quickly. But Shadow had made a request, which he rarely did.

With a smile, I went
to him as he settled down. He grinned as I sat next to him on the
sleeping bag. I could feel the hard roof underneath the bag, but it
was a firm reminder of safety.

Sitting in the
bright sunlight, I eyed the black wolf I was getting so attached to.
Shadow's contours were more visible in the bright light, and I smiled
warmly watching him. His form was strong and lean, with the edges of
muscles slightly visible through his deep fur. His body seemed to
give the impression of strong efficiency.

His previous cuts,
from when I'd first met him, had healed and fur was just starting to
grow back in. His newer cuts were covered with bandages, and one was
starting to show a blood spot on its surface. I'd have to make sure
Rusty looked at it later.

Shadow caught me
watching. He leaned close, giving me a nudge with his shoulder.
"What, suddenly entranced by me?" he asked with a cheeky
grin and a slow wink.

"Nope. Just
wondering how a patched-up wolf, who miraculously survived, still
wants to be with me."

His grin widened.
"It's simple. I like being with you. I feel needed and strong
when I'm around you. There's a special connection I feel when I'm
with you. I wouldn't trade you for any of the furs down there, even
if they had welcomed us with open arms. And I'm definitely not
sharing you. I'm selfish that way," he finished with a smirk.

I felt my cheeks
burn in the warming sunlight; the white fur on my muzzle might not
have been enough to hide it. How could he be so sure? It was
embarrassing to look into those eyes as he smirked, and my eyes
dropped. I used my paw to stroke his black knee... a scar was there.
Scars everywhere....

"Shadow. What's
your worst scar?" I asked aloud without thinking.

He stilled, then
drew a long breath. "Well, the one that's given me the most
problems is the one on my muzzle," he tapped the gray scar.
"Most furs who see it become guarded, even if they don't mean
to. The worst scar, though, is this one on my leg." He pointed
along his outer thigh.

When he prodded his
fur aside to show me, I could make out a long, jagged scar running
more than half the length of his thigh. It had healed, but the skin
still looked tight and ridged.

He continued,
tracing it with a steady finger. "I've had longer wounds, but
this one was the worst I've taken."

What had happened to
have given him that? I leaned in, curious... and he grabbed me by my
shoulders and plopped me down to the sleeping bag, nose up. I was
startled but not scared at all. This was Shadow.

"Enough
questions," he growled playfully, holding himself above me.
"It's too nice out to focus on my past." He nudged into my
cheekfur with his nose, "But we need to talk. You've been
avoiding telling me things." He licked my ear, "You can
tell me anything, anything that's been bothering you. I want to know
it all, even if it hurts."

My blue eyes met his
golden ones as he pulled away and waited for me to respond. With a
long sigh, I brought my paw to his side, where the green t-shirt hung
loosely on him. Could I tell him? Yes. I could tell him anything, and
he would accept it. At least I believed it was so.

After a deep breath,
I said, "I bit that fur, Bradley. I couldn't hit him hard
enough, and I lost control when I was trying to keep him from you. I
bit him and drew blood." My ears drooped and I looked away,
feeling my shame burn within me. "It was in my muzzle and on my
chin. I didn't want to let go. Even then, I couldn't keep hold when
he bit my neck. I got lost in the anger, and it was still not
enough."

"Seems it was
enough to me," he said, not sounding disappointed. "I'm
still here, right? Are you sorry you did it?"

"No!" I
barked, turning to look up at him. "I'm not sorry at all! That's
the worst of it.... Why...?"

His gaze was quiet
as he looked down at me with a little smile. "I think you have
an answer to your dilemma. You did what you had to do, and I'm safe
because of it. Whether you succeeded in that moment doesn't matter.
Whether you lost your control doesn't matter. It's fine, don't let it
bother you anymore."

"But-"

"But nothing,"
he interrupted. "Do whatever you think you can if something
happens again. Whatever you do in that moment will be the right thing
in that moment. If there is another time, use your knowledge and make
things better, one way or another." With a fresh smirk, he
added, "Or make them the same. I would have liked to see you,
all pissed off."

As he gave my nose a
lick, I paused in my thoughts. "I caused Bradley pain though. My
family would have been horrified."

"They would
have been more horrified if you'd let a friend get hurt, right?"

I was startled by
the thought. True, by far it was a worse thing. To stand by and do
nothing would be... well Helaina.... I grunted. The wolf was on my
mind far too much, and I didn't even like her.

"And now you're
thinking something else," Shadow said, sticking his nose to
mine.

"It's
Helaina..."

"Something else
has been on your mind. You were bothered by something since that day
on the roof. What did she say?"

I had no
hesitations. Helaina had lost her chance to be good to Shadow. "She
asked me to back off from you, so she could get close to you. So she
could claim you. She... said she wanted your pups."

Shadow's muzzle
opened to speak, but before he could make a sound, I jumped back in,
"She only wants your pups. She had no interest in you, only your
bloodline. Each time you were even the slightest bit unwelcome, she
ditched you." I took a quick breath and continued hurriedly,
"Honestly. If there is a nice wolf who cares about you, I think
I could stand stepping aside. But not that wolf. She can't have you,"
I finished my rant with a grumble.

He bit my nose.

I yipped in shock,
even though it was not a hard bite. My noise must have startled the
crows, because they began to caw in the distance.

"Don't hide
stuff like that. It's dangerous," he said, looking serious. "I
don't ever want to lose you. I've also met plenty of wolves, plenty
of furs. I like you better. In all ways." He looked to the side,
watching the zombies at the far end of the parking lot. “Anyway, I
didn't like how she assumed that all the familiarity and touching
would be okay with me.”

I rubbed my nose,
knowing it would be sore later. Shadow smiled and gave it a kiss as
crows continued to caw distantly.

"Anything else
you've forgotten to tell me?" he asked, grin returning.

"That was the
big thing. Did you also want to hear my life story?"

"Yes, but you
can save that one for later," he replied, giving me a lick to my
nose before sitting up. "Let's get the tent set up. Looks like
it may rain later."

"How can you
tell?" I asked, sitting up.

"You can't tell
for sure, but sometimes the clouds,” he paused, squinting at the
bright clouds, “look like rain." He shrugged and stood up.

"Hmmm," I
mumbled, tapping my fingers on the white membrane in time with the
familiar tune in my head. I heard crows again. "Looks like the
weather is making the crows restless, too."

We laid the tent out
flat about 15 pawlengths from the crate at the storefront. As we
crouched and assembled the collapsible poles, I heard strange sounds.
A noisy racket. A choking sound, throttled off?

I looked around the
roof in alarm. Shadow also caught my wariness. What was it?

Thud. Something
dropped to the roof a little ways away.

I stood up, trying
to get a better look at the thing which had landed nearby. A bird...
a large bird of some kind had landed not far from the flat tent. A
crow? Crumpled and still....

When I looked up, I
saw a dark knot of birds flying overhead. Crows mostly. They were
attacking each other. Another bird dropped to the roof nearby, then
another one. A trail of dead birds growing closer as the dark,
writhing knot neared us.

Suddenly, the mass
of birds turned its focus on us.

"Shadow..."
I searched for his paw without looking aside, but couldn't find it.

Many of the birds
turned on us. Some were apprehended by more birds, while others made
straight for us. The black mass dove down, and my fear intensified my
focus. I could see glowing eyes. Just like the zombie eyes. Bird
zombies? That didn't make sense! My mind was insistent, but reality
didn't listen as the first birds plunged towards us.