Free Webster by Ellen Emerson White Page B

surrounded by green mountains in the distance. The air smelled clean and fresh, and he stopped to breathe deeply every so often.
    It was good to be free!
    There were horses and cows and sheep and goats and chickens, and sometimes people, and even dogs, on the farms. Some of the farms had big fields, or orchards, and he saw lots of pickup trucks and barns and tractors and plowing equipment. Luckily, no one seemed to notice—or care—that a big black dog was running down the road, with no collar.
    There had been so much rain the night before that there were puddles everywhere. So, he could stop and get a long, refreshing drink whenever he wanted. It wasn’t as good as a normal breakfast, but it was better than nothing.
    After a while, he started passing small houses and cottages. He sniffed experimentally, in case there were anytasty trash cans nearby. But, most of the houses seemed to be empty. No cars, no sign of movement, no indication of anyone living in them.
    That was creepy. What if some kind of aliens, or witches, had come and taken all of the people away? Or, what if the people were still here, but they were zombies? He was pretty sure he would have a hard time winning a fight against a bunch of zombies. Besides, if he bit a zombie, he might turn into one. That would be terrible.
    The Bad Hat slowed his pace, moving more cautiously. Maybe, if he saw anything suspicious, his best plan would be to run away as fast as he could. He was on a dirt road now, and the woods on either side were dark and thick with trees.
    Did zombies have a scent? If not, he would be in trouble, because they could jump out at him when he least expected it.
    Just in case, he broke into a gallop right away. He was almost certainly faster than the average zombie, right? But, it wouldn’t hurt to get a head start.
    Should he give up and run home to the rescue group? Although he was pretty far away now, and he had been wandering around so much that it might take hima long time to find it again. Besides, he wanted to have adventures—as long as they were nice adventures. Safe adventures.
    The woods were seriously thick. Fir trees, and bushes, and all kinds of undergrowth, which made everything seem very dark and mysterious. In addition to zombies, what if there were other scary things? Like lions? And tigers? And maybe even bears ?
    Okay, maybe it was time to turn around and go the other way. It might be safer to—just then, something lunged out of the bushes at him, yelling, “Hey!”
    The Bad Hat was so scared, that he heard himself make a sort of squeal, and he sprang straight up into the air to avoid his attacker.
    â€œWow, that was some serious elevation!” his vicious enemy said. “I’m going to give you a nine-point-three for that jump, Bad Hat.”
    Jack. It was Jack.
    The Bad Hat let out his breath, and tried to get his heart to stop beating so hard. “What are you doing here?”
    Jack was frowning at his front paw as he examined some mud caked on it. “This is gross. So much nature. Anyway, Florence said it was okay for you to have someadventures, as long as you used the buddy system.” Then, he grinned. “Oops, I meant, the colleague system.”
    Well, what kind of dumb idea was that ? “That doesn’t work at all,” the Bad Hat said. “I’m a loner. I’m not looking for, you know, a sidekick .”
    Jack shrugged. “Florence made a rule. I’m just doing what she told me. I would have been here sooner, but I wanted to play in the meadow for a while, and have some breakfast, first.”
    He’d had breakfast ? The Bad Hat looked at him enviously. “What did you have?”
    Jack thought for a minute. “Well, first, they gave me some nice fresh water in my bowl. And then, kibble, of course. And there was some really good beefy gravy. I had to lick my dish for a long time to make sure I got all of it.”
    Gravy? He’d missed