Free Tails of the Apocalypse by David Adams, Nick Cole, Michael Bunker, David Bruns, E. E. Giorgi, Deirdre Gould, Jennifer Ellis, Stefan Bolz, Harlow C. Fallon, Hank Garner, Todd Barselow, Chris Pourteau

When she couldn’t run any further, she coasted to a stop at the bottom of a long hill, gazing up the empty street. Palm fronds fluttered above the sidewalks.
    Tears streamed down her face. She sank to her knees. Ahead, a small shadow trotted toward her from the darkness.
    “Knife!” She leaped to her feet and ran to meet him. “How’d you get here? Did she throw you out?”
    He jumped up, pawing her, then spun in a circle. Raina gestured north over and over. “We have to find them, Knife. Do you know where they went? Do you know where she took them?”
    Knife stared up at her, his black eyes just like the button eyes of a stuffed bear she’d had as a little kid. He turned around and walked swiftly up the hill, nose sweeping side to side. She followed him through winding roads of grand houses nestled in the trees. After another two or three miles, the houses stopped altogether and there was nothing but forest. On top of a rise, Knife came to a stop, his wet, black nose twitching.
    Raina gazed into the darkness. “What’s wrong? Where’d they go?”
    Knife glanced up at her. He took one step forward, then stopped again, paw lifted hesitantly.
    Raina balled her hands into fists. “Just tell me where to go.”
    Uphill and to her left, far away but clearly her, Tough barked three times.
    * * *
    The house lay in the darkness like a spider’s hole.
    The smell of rotting bodies wafted on the wind. Eggplant whined from around the back of the house, her smush-nosed voice like a raspy baby. A candle flickered behind the windows. Raina waited for it to go out, then waited longer still. Knife sat beside her. Silent. Watchful.
    The wait gave her a long time to think. At first, she thought to go around back, get the dogs, and run away. But Officer Morgan knew where she lived. She was a bad person. The same as the man who’d called and the one who’d chased her in the street. The type to come back for her. Even if Raina could find a car, get back to the hospital, and move the dogs somewhere new, it wouldn’t be right. She would still be out there. Preying on the city. On the dogs.
    The front door was locked, but the garage door was propped up by two-by-fours, with a couple of hoses running out into the drive. Raina used one board to lever the door up another few inches, slipping a second board beneath it and wriggling through the gap. The door to the house was unlocked.
    Raina stood in the darkness. Someone was snoring from a back room. She took off her shoes and snuck forward. Officer Morgan lay in bed beneath her sheets. The revolver rested on the dresser beside her. Raina moved silently forward and picked up the gun. It felt too heavy, like something from another world.
    Knife growled. Morgan blinked, inhaling with a stutter and grabbing at the empty space on the dresser.
    Holding the gun in both hands, Raina aimed it at her head. “Why did you take them?”
    The woman startled upright, pressing her back to the headboard. “Jesus!”
    “Why did you take my dogs?”
    “Put down that gun, little girl. Before someone gets hurt.”
    “Shut up.”
    “Do you even know how to aim that?”
    “I saw you do it.” Raina lowered her aim to Morgan’s chest. “Tell me why. One. Two. Th—”
    “They’re not pets anymore!” Morgan blurted. “One dog keeps you safe. Anything more is just meat.”
    Raina didn’t think she could pull the trigger. When the gun went off, it was so loud that Knife peed on the floor.
    * * *
    Along with her dogs, two others were caged out back. When she let them out, they snuffled around the yard, inspecting the pile of bones, but they didn’t pick any of them up. They knew better. Raina called them to the gate, but when she opened it, the two strange dogs ran away. Smiles followed them. She whistled, but he didn’t come back. Hoping his new friends would help keep him safe, she let him go.
    Raina loaded the others into the van. With the seat scooted all the way forward, she could barely reach