Lassitude

Chapter One

The desert was vast in all directions, with bone-dry white sand and dunes and rocks in the most unexpected places. Dogs inhabited these miles of crusty desert sand, and perhaps some clusters of humans who had once been their masters. Besides these creatures, mice and rats, some of the only unchanged apocalypse survivors, burrowed away, living in tunnels. A lucky dog would stumble upon a family, and have a good dinner for days. Birds were rarely seen, but useless, as no dog could jump so high. Raccoons could be found on the sides of hills, but they were quite scratchy and cross. Sometimes they're pick fights with badgers.
Now, pre-apocalyptic badgers were smallish and relatively tame, but radioactive exposure had caused heightened senses, and even an increase in size. Only the size of maybe a greyhound, but they were feisty and bold. Owls were the only common birds, and they were dangerous, as they had become dependent on only oxygen, not food nor sleep.
For dogs, prey was a challenge. Humans would leave gifts for dogs in pits, but these morsels of kindness were viciously fought over, and normally not worth the injury received. Rats and mice were easy, but they burrowed so deep sometimes, and digging scared them away into their many tunnels. Weasels had shrunk after the apocalypse, and morphed into some stupid, slow animal, and made a very good catch. Some dogs even found squirrels. Rabbits were pretty common, and very convenient, but they were fast and blended in with the sand. The most tolerant of dogs had started eating the dry shrubs scattered all over the desert, and ate berries, that were supposedly tasty and changed, from the apocalypse, of course. To bad the vegetarian dogs hoarded them.
Dogs did have morality in them, and this morality was what prevented them from resorting to cannibalism, and despite rumbling bellies and thoughts of steak and biscuits, the dogs stayed loyal to their species, in a collective way, in the subconscious.
Food was a struggle, but water was too. Dehydration was common, and dogs would search and dig for water, hoping for success. Pools were dug, but maintaining them was always a challenge. And dogs did fight, despite the "collective morality." They just didn't eat each other. Big difference. Fights were very common, and dogs would have scars on top of scars as their battles resorted to territory, food, and water.
Fights like the one Axel was just about to get into, over a rat carcass.
"Okay gang." He muttered, feeling his fur prickle up at the scent of unknown dogs. He looked at the growling black dog with grey eyes to his left. "Archer keep the noise down." Axel glanced down at the shaggy tan female to his left. "Think we can beat them, Tiger?" He whispered.
She looked up with condescending, pale amber eyes.
"Of course. If Squirt stops chewing on his tail." Tiger wrinkled her black nose and snorted. Axel glanced back at Squirt, who was viciously chomping on his tail joyously, accidentally bumping into Orion, who rolled his eyes and took a dainty step away.
"Squirt! Cut it out." Axel hissed. Squirt looked up innocently with big brown eyes, and dropped his tail.
"Sorry Axel! My tail just has a true desire to be with my mouth! Careful, Orion, you don't want to roll your eyes so far back in your head they get stuck!" Axel sighed. Squirt certainly was ridiculous at some points, but was likable and sweet. Squirt was tall, silly, light brown and short-haired. Orion, though, was the opposite. Stern and short, Orion was condescending and sarcastic, but a great fighter and hunter which made up for his lousy attitude. He wasn't as shaggy as Tiger, but sported medium-length white and black fur, and a glare that never seemed to go away.
"Ah, shut up." Orion told Squirt.
"Wow, Orion." Tiger said. "Your comebacks are getting more and more creative each day."
"You shut up, too, foxface." Orion growled back.
"All of you shut up." Hissed Axel. A figure was approaching at the end of the sand dune. Axel took a few steps forewords, feeling his pack close behind him. The scent of more dogs pierced his nose, and he growled, low and deep in his throat. The rat carcass looked dusty and old, but it was food and food was priority. Axel lifted his hips, and charged at the other dog, past the rocks in the shape of a rat. Wait. Rocks in the shape of a rat.
"What?" Archer stopped along with Axel and sniffed the rocks. "Son of a bitch. This is a prank." The rest of the pack stopped behind Archer, and erupted into confusion.
"Was that a joke?"
"Squirt quit sniffing it. It's not going to turn into real food."
"How did I get fooled?"
"Move over Archer."
Axel sighed in defeat, and kicked the rocks over, watching the arrangement fall into the dust with satisfaction.
"Axel?" He heard Squirt say over the pack's squabbling and confusion. "They're coming over here." Axel turned to see a pack of six dogs walking over. All were large dogs, and the leader was a slim, grey-brown dog with a large scar over his protruding ribs. He stopped directly in front of Axel.
"I know your pack. You're tough, aren't you?" He asked, right in Axel's face. Axel bared his teeth in response, tensing as the tall dog started examining him. "Riggs that one or that one?" He asked to a shaggy tan and black dog. Riggs looked between Orion and Squirt.
"He's a little small, Paco." Riggs responded, gesturing towards Orion with his nose. "But he doesn't have much intelligence, it seems." He then said, frowning at Squirt who was occupied by kicking some dust around and chewing on a dead branch. "But like I said that one's pretty short."
"What are you doing?" Archer snapped.
"I'm not short! And none of us are joining your dumb pack." Orion yelled. The tall leader, Paco, rolled his eyes.
"Fine, whatever. We're just deciding how good of opponents you'd be. Most of you are pretty strong, but stupid for falling for that prank." The dogs behind Paco burst into laughter. Axel growled in frustration.
"Yes, we fell for you're stupid prank. Now go find some other dogs to terrorize." He snapped out.  He felt Orion tense behind him. A full scale fight would be ridiculous with no prey to scuffle over. Paco was an irritating prick of a dog, but not worth anger or effort. Paco smiled at Axel who was visually confronted over what his next move with me. Axel then sighed and sat down.
"Axel what are you doing?" Asked Archer.
"You got us." Axel said to Paco. Funny prank, but I'd appreciate you to stay away from us in the future." Paco smiled again. A black dog behind him came forewords, and dropped a fresh rat. It had been killed neatly, with a snap of the neck, with no blood or gore. Axel looked up to question them, but Paco and his pack were gone in a blink of the eye.