Big Dog [ONC 2022]

6

"As more and more natural disasters continue to engulf the entire world, religious leaders have reported record attendances across all major religions. Churches, synagogues, mosques and temples have seen people of faith flocking to their doors as many are predicting the end of the world.

In addition to natural disasters, reports show a rise in violent crimes, cases of prejudicial hatred and more and more nations continuing to head towards military action, not only against old enemies, but also against agreed allies and peaceful neighbours. The Prime Minister has not ruled out nuclear retaliation, should the UK come under any attack."

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6

She kept a close eye on Hertha and Stigr for the next couple of days. Though she often caught them whispering, she didn't hear their conversations as clear as she had upon returning from the beach. It was as though they now paid special attention to where she was, at all times, and that made her both curious and angry.

Mr McAreavey visited every morning and every evening, upon his quad bike, and Runa noticed that he carried his shotgun with him at all times, now. With the way things were going around the world, she couldn't blame him, though she still held a little fear of that great beast of a dog she thought she had seen cloaked by the storm.

That storm. It had never really left, shifting and expanding like the chest of some enormous, amorphous monster that blanketed the skies, pressing its weight down upon everyone below, as though trying to crush any sense of hope that remained within the people. Runa felt it. She felt the pressure within her ears every time she stepped outside, and she tried not to go out too often if she could help it.

By the third night after she had returned to find her children whispering like conspirators, she once again found herself tossing and turning under her covers. She had even taken a sleeping tablet, even though she had sworn she would never touch them again. She always kept some, in her dressing table draw, to test herself, to test her resolve. Only now did she find her resolve failing her.

Not since she had lost her husband had she felt the pressure of life beating her down. She had almost fallen to despair, back then, and only through the looks of her children as they found her in a state of disarray, one day, did she pull herself back from that brink. Now she felt herself staring down into that abyss once more, but her despair was not borne of loss, this time, but fear for the future. If a future ever came.

"Do not fear, daughter of the North, for this is all but part of the cycle of ages."

Runa sat bolt upright, ready to reach across to switch on her bedside lamp, but she did not awaken in her room. No longer dark, Runa could see everything around her and she began to scream. She had never experienced dreams so real, never more substantial as the one she found herself in at this moment.