Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 101

"In we go," Logan muttered as we parked in front of the loading bay. I saw Indy at full attention from the rearview mirror, tongue sticking out, eyes glued outside the back seat window, taking everything in.

"Is that a freaking dog!" Yousef exclaimed when he walked past the car, almost spilling the bucket of water he had on his grip.

Logan got out of the car, grinning. "Name's Indy. We rescued him from vectors!"

Everyone loved Indy except for Peter, which wasn't a surprise.

For a split second, I had imagined smoke coming out from his furrowed brows, steam curling out from his lips with when he frowned, would probably breathe fire with the scolding he would lay down on me. Still, Haskell scattered it out of the wind with a high-pitched squeal, noises that I never thought would ever come from him. He ran toward the dog, stopping to make sure Indy wasn't going to bite his hand off, but the dog lowered his head, prompting Haskell to pet him around his scruff, cooing as if talking to a baby. The others heard and went out to the warehouse's storage bay. Once they laid eyes on Indy, they joined in the cacophony of baby noises.

I looked over to Logan, who sported this split-eating grin on his face, and I remembered what he said to me earlier: Dogs are funny, adorable stress relief. And I guessed he was right. Who could deny that innocent-looking face? Since our skirmishes with the Alphas, we were mentally drained (although some of us were good at hiding it), and Indy picked apart that shell, brought out what should be there in the first place. Hell, I smiled, too. After all those nights eating beans and corn out of cans, or with rice without salt or any meats, foraging for food, and not showering for days...it didn't seem as bad.

Jun was the last one to pet the dog, wary of him at first. He felt around his belly (Indy rolled over on his back and stuck his tongue out), frowned and stopped, and then strode out of the room without a word. It didn't take long before he came back with a bag of kibble bites inside an Amazon delivery box; the label swore it's supposed to taste like roasted chicken, peas, rice, and beef flavor. Jun took one of our plastic containers, and dumped two cups in the bowl, and passed it to Indy. The dog didn't wait for permission to eat.

Peter walked up to me, opened his mouth, but I put my finger up to silence him. "Don't even start. I had a bad day."

Peter thinned his lips and grunted. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"We found him on the street chased by vectors and barely could last a minute on his own. I thought we could bring him along as a guard dog."

"Just another mouth to feed."

And that's what I was worried about, too. I didn't say it out loud, instead, "I'm not counting on the day we're desperate enough to eat dog food, and I doubt we ever would. He can. I saw a bunch of Amazon and delivery boxes back there filled with all kinds of shit, and there's still plenty we haven't opened yet. I'm sure we can find more dog food for his taste, maybe more food for us, too."

"Fine. But I'm not gonna pick up his poop or clean his piss."

"No. That's Logan's job."

Peter paused, but I could already see he was more than happy that Logan got the worst job with that glint in his eye. "Oh. That works," he said, sounding as if he didn't care, although too giddy to bring down the decision. He looked over my shoulder, and his mouth dropped. What's he got a problem now? "What the fuck are those?"

I followed his gaze and sighed. "Oh. Those are movies."

"Bren..."

"Relax. I brought some CD cases. We don't have to use up your precious space in the RV. Besides, this will be good for the guys, you know? Increases morale or something."