Benny

My name is Benny. At least, that’s what they called me at the shelter in the before-times. Nobody called me Benny anymore, because there was nobody around to speak my name.

A week ago, the shelter was full of hushed voices and frantic cries, whispered conversations about an asteroid. Soon, those voices were raised, and a new word dominated the conversation. Meteor. The information about it was conflicting, first it was twenty miles wide, then sixty. It would enter the atmosphere travelling at eleven miles per second, then fifteen. I didn’t know exactly what any of it meant.

All I knew was Jillian’s kindness. She was the one who brushed me, fed me, and played my favorite game tug-of-war. I knew her love, I knew her joy, and I knew her sadness. The last day of the before-times was the saddest I had ever seen her.

“You’re going free today, Benny,” she said. Tears streamed down her face, I licked them for her. I was a good boy, she always said so. “I want you to have something, it’s my locket. It has been passed down through each generation of my family. Father to son, mother to daughter, whoever was next. I am afraid I don’t have the time to pass this along.” Jillian pressed a hand to her stomach and smiled, though it seemed sad and confused me.

“I’ve put it on a detachable collar for you, Benny. As much as I want you to keep it, I don’t want you to get stuck on something. Take my heart with you, I want you to have a fighting chance,” Jillian snapped the collar around my neck and gave me a pat on the head. I wagged my tail.

Later that night, Jillian came back when everyone else was gone. She held a flashlight instead of turning on the lights overhead. She opened all the cages and every door in the facility. Most of the others immediately fled into the night. We all knew something was coming, we felt the dread, the air was thick with it. I followed Jillian to her car.

“I can’t take you with me, buddy. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Your chances are better without me. I don’t want you trapped if I don’t make it.”

Sobbing, she pushed me away and jumped in her car. A whimper escaped me as I watched her go. Then, I turned toward the trees behind the shelter and melted into the shadows. I found some of the others and we slept in a big pile for warmth and comfort.

That night the tension and dread in the air popped like a ball squeezed too hard. The sky was on fire and the ground shook and crumbled. It lasted only seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. The others scattered to the wind. I imagined terror in their hearts for what we thought was our final moment. My mind drifted to Jillian and her sad smile.

***

The sky was a shade of dark gray, like there was a storm on the horizon that was never going to come – it had remained unchanged for an entire week. The air smelled different now, too. But amid the new smells of things melted, things spoiled, and things still burning; I had her scent. I followed it now through a town square, the locket my only companion.

A sudden feline shriek startled me. A calico tore out of the alley to my left and zoomed past me faster than I could react. Two men stumbled out after her. They smelled wrong – cruel and full of hurt.

“Another one got away, Joe. At least we have her kitten back there.”

“Oh, but look what we have here, Roger,” Joe said, “Something bigger.”

“Are you a good boy?” Roger stepped toward me, I growled.

“It’s okay, boy. We’re your friends,” Joe smiled. It was an ugly smile, like if poison had a face.

I backed away, right into a man I hadn’t noticed before. He knelt and wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground. I panicked and squirmed, but his grip was tight. “There’s a good boy, calm down. We’re not gonna hurt ya,” he said.

The calico cat reappeared, a blur of motion leaping onto Roger’s shoulder and biting his neck. He jerked and twisted, “GET ‘ER OFF ME, GET ‘ER OFF ME!” Joe moved to swat the cat but missed and slapped Roger in the face.

The man holding me loosened his grip, too distracted by the frantic scene in front of him. I wiggled free and bit his hand. He yelped and dropped me. The cat landed softly next to me and we darted toward the alley. Joe followed, hot on out heels.

I spotted a kitten in the middle of the alley, mewing and trying to make itself as small as possible. Joe shouted at the others and they came stumbling after us. I picked up speed, narrowing my focus.

“Circle around, you idiots, circle around! Don’t follow me!” Joe said.

I scooped up the kitten softly in my jaws as Joe slammed into the ground behind me, his fingers brushing my tail. The calico hissed. We turned the corner and disappeared down a row of houses.

We stuck to the shadows and hid under porches for several hours, until the men who smelled of hurt were gone. But shadow-to-shadow and porch-to-porch brought me closer to Jillian. It brought us closer. I wanted the calico and her kitten to go with me. I just knew they would have a home with us. And I think she sensed it, allowing me to carry her kitten and following along after me.

We were three houses away, then two, then one. I leapt up the porch and plopped the kitten next to the door. The calico pounced on her baby and began licking her fiercely. I pawed at the door and shouldered into it twice for good measure.

“Who is out there?” A voice called. “I am armed, and I am not afraid!”

I whined and paced. It was her!

There was a gasp, then silence. Then soft footfalls coming to the door – a whisper on the other side, “Impossible.”

The door swung open and there she was! She dropped to her knees, and I leapt into her arms, licking the tears now streaking down her soot covered face. “Oh, Benny! I thought I’d never see you again. I didn’t think I would survive what was coming… I wanted you to have a fighting chance. But you’re here!”

I shook and shivered and yelped excitedly. I had found her!

Her hand found my collar and followed it down to the locket. “And you still have my locket,” she said, her eyes threatening to spill over with tears again. She snapped the collar off and held the locket in front of me. “This is my heart, and it is always with you.”

The kitten mewed and Jillian blinked as if she was waking from a trance. “Oh, my goodness! You brought friends.” She held her hand out and the kitten and her mama padded over to give it a sniff. “Would you like to live with me and Benny? I’ll take care of you.”

I wagged my tail.