It took some zigzagging down empty streets to find another pharmacy, but finally I did. I hit the jackpot in this one. There were pills that had clearly been up above the flood line scattered all over the floor. Someone had gone through them pretty well, taking most of the ones that I recognized as Xanax, OxyContin, and Valium. But it didn’t look like the person had been able to recognize one of the manufacturers’ kinds of Klonopin, so I scooped those up and put them in my bag. As I was picking them out, I saw a bunch of purple and pink capsules, which I knew were antibiotics. They were the prettiest ones on the floor. I grabbed a bunch of those, too, and stuffed them in my bag.

As I was walking out of the store, I heard a noise in one of the ruined aisles. It sounded like a clicking at first, something hard hitting the floor. My heart started beating fast, remembering that night Lux disappeared. The group of prick-goblins who had overtaken us in the street, calling us homophobic slurs, swinging their fists and beer bottles. A flash of something silver. Running, running. And, when we realized Lux wasn’t with us, circling back and finding her there on the street in a pool of blood.

As the clicking got closer, there was a low growling. I looked over and saw this dog there, dirty and mangy-looking with matted orange fur. Its lips were drawn back and its teeth were bared. I raised my crowbar above my head and crouched at the knees. It leapt at me. I swung the crowbar down, aiming at his head. I missed, and it latched on to my leg with its teeth. I kicked at it, trying to get loose. Soon we were rolling around on the floor, and my crowbar clattered away from my hand. I was bleeding, which only seemed to be making the dog crazier. It was lunging for my face.

I pushed with all my might and sent it flying back a few feet. In the space of those few feet, I reached out and grabbed my crowbar. Jumping up, I swung it over my head and brought it down on the dog’s head with all my might.