Chapter Two:
Canine Conundrums
(or, 'Learn to Run, or Prepare to Die')

My mind raced. Was it possible, my friends weren’t the only one’s missing, maybe everyone else was too? I really hoped that wasn’t the case… Walking as fast as I dared with my new legs, I came to the gate and used my teeth to open the latch. My snout was long enough to maneuver other items with reasonable ease, so at least something was going my way.

Swiftly moving down the side of the house my blood chilled to zero degrees kelvin at the unnatural silence which replaced the usual hustle and bustle of suburban life. I stepped out onto a large road and looking both ways, I noticed that the footpaths were devoid of people and there wasn’t a car being driven anywhere in my line of sight. There was no movement at all. It was as if time was frozen and I was the only person unaffected, the one who had to live out their days alone. My breathing became rapid as I felt panic rising within me.

“No!” I shouted and shook my head, “I cannot freak out again.”

Narrowing my eyes I started to walk towards a small selection of shops along the road. There had to be a reason for all this, and I was determined to find out.

The city of Melbourne is fairly spread out, with over around ten thousand square kilometers of land. The actual “city” city, was thirty minutes away. I was currently located was within one of the outer suburbs which was normally swarming with people but now there was no movement at all, save a few pesky birds fluttering about.

I tried not to think about my situation as I walked, but I couldn’t help but shiver; the silence was eerie. With my slow stumbling steps I reached the first store, a small cafe, and peered through their windows. Empty. Of course it was empty. I figured that if there was some national disaster or pandemic there would be some sign of panic, right? But there were numerous cars just neatly parked along the road; I’d gather that in the case of a pandemic the cars wouldn’t be there.

It's like everyone just up and left without telling me, and the fact I had to be some mythical animal was beyond comprehension at this point.? I'm still debating whether it was just a hallucination. Despite the intense surreality, I was pretty sure that this wasn't a dream. Not only was this far too detailed, but I didn't often dream, and when I did it was not nearly as vivid as this.

The door was unlocked, so I entered the cafe. It was a simple place with a few benches lining the walls and some small square tables accompanied by some plastic chairs to. What caught my eye though, was the selection of cakes and baked goods on display at the counter. My stomach growled in appreciation as I took in the view. I had completely forgotten to eat! Although, I suppose it was normal to forget things, what with me suddenly becoming a little yellow horse and all.

Walking around the counter I stared at the delicious-looking cakes with my tongue lolling out. Not wasting any more time I pounced and took a slice of lemon meringue pie in my mouth. I munched happily for a few seconds before I noticed the taste. I spat the cake onto the floor and yelped in surprise. The cake was stale and bitter. The cake was off.

“But...why?” I felt like the world was crumbling around me, “This was the highlight of my day and it was ruined!”

Taking a desperate bite of a muffin, I discovered that it was also stale. What kind of business did that place run? I guess they weren’t around to restock spoiled food, but still! With a sigh I headed out of the cafe and continued down the road to the next shop. I figured as long as I could find some edible food it would be alright.

Sulking as I walked passed a book shop I had a think about today’s list of “accomplishments”.

Number one, I became a small yellow horse. A complete species change for no discernable reason. Number two, I found out that civilisation appears to have vanished, leaving me, a disabled defenceless animal, to fend for myself. And so far the most annoying, number three, all the cakes were spoiled.

Was it a Monday? It must have been, because it was the worst day of my life at the time. But, at least it couldn't have gotten any worse than this.

You know in the movies where that line is the signal for the protagonist to be in even deeper shit? Well, yeah it doesn't change here. A bark shook me out of my thoughts and I looked to see a pug sniffing its way around the corner of a connecting street. I smiled at the small dog, it wasn’t a person but at least I had some company. I began to walk towards the little canine, its presence allowing me to feel a little better about my predicament. It saw me and yipped a few times.

“Hey there little guy!” I shouted over.

It was only when the sound of more barking that I felt uneasy once again. And then maybe six or seven dogs ran around the corner and came straight for me, the pug leading the charge. Their eyes were wild and their pointed teeth were bared. The pug didn’t look so cute now.

“Oh no.”

I span around and stumbled down the street as fast as I could. My unstable legs worked to their limits as the pack of domestic canines came ever closer. My once steady breathing became heavy gasps. Seeing Ricky’s street up ahead motivated me to keep running. Looking back briefly I saw that the dogs were gaining on my staggering gallop. I wish I could have hidden somewhere but my yellow coat would have been a dead giveaway. What kind of evolutionary advantage would it have been to have brightly coloured fur? That is if there was an evolutionary trail for this creature and I wasn't just made in some lab somewhere.

Shaking my head I stopped thinking and instead concentrated on not tripping over as a pack of ravenous mutts headed towards me. I made it around the corner and back down the street where all this started. Their barking was getting closer as they gained on their victim. Oh jeez, why me? Of all the people to get turned into some guinea pig for their tests, why did it have to be the guy who didn’t learn anything at school? How am I supposed to figure out a way to get out of this mess?

Turning into the driveway to the apartment I ran through to the backyard and slammed the gate closed. I went to move towards the house before I realised that the latch wasn’t on. Panicked, I used my hooves to latch it shut. Just in time for the pack to slam into the gate, barking and snarling.

My little heart was racing like mad. How did dogs become that starved for animal flesh? There must be bins or something for them to eat from right? Domestic dogs weren't ever this aggressive! Just another mystery to add to the list.

They were trying to push down the door, but the latch seemed to be holding them back for now so I laid down where this all started, only a few hours ago, gasping for breath. The dogs continued to bark and scratch at the entrance, luckily without enough strength to break it down. This was freaky, they appeared very determined to sink their teeth into me. Did I smell like dog food or something?

A few minutes ticked by which reassured me that they wouldn’t be able to break through the door. I began to relax. Sitting up I spotted my clothes lying where I left them, and spied a rectangular device sticking out of my pants' pocket. I stared at it for a full ten seconds before...

“My phone!” I exclaimed.

I scampered over to my phone and tried to pick it up, only to have it fall back down. Looking at my new appendages I sighed.

“Oh yeah. Hooves.”

How did I forget about my phone? It could have solved all my problems; I could call my friends or, if that didn’t work, check the internet. There had to be answers somewhere.

I carefully placed my hooves on either side of the device and slowly raised it closer. I pushed slightly against the side of my phone, and excitement rose within me as I managed to power it on. But then I was met with a new problem; the lock screen. Carefully placing the phone upon the grass I used my new nose to push in the 4-digit code.

I laughed with delight as the phone unlocked and I continued to navigate with my snout. I found the contacts page and called the first name that popped up, which happened to be my friend Alan. It began to dial and I stuck my ear to the ground to listen. My heart rate was probably unsafe right now, but if he answered I could actually find out what was going on!

“Hey it's Alan-”

“ALAN!” I yelled in excitement. “Where are y-”

“-Sorry I can't get to the phone right now, but please leave a message after the beep.”

I sat there in denial. He could just not be at his phone right now. I began to call every single person on my contact list. Each one had the same result, straight to voicemail. In my desperation I even dialed the police but even that came back with no results. I attempted to use the internet but that wasn’t responding either. I don’t think I’d ever felt as alone than I did in that moment. My suspicions were confirmed. I was alone on this planet.

The pack of dogs must have found something else to maul as they left about an hour ago, just in time for the sun to begin to slip under the horizon. I had been lying on the ground just staring at the sky. It would take too long to tell you exactly how I was feeling but to sum it up I didn't feel good. And to top it all off I hadn't eaten in hours. The scraps that had been strewn around the yard had been picked at by birds.

Standing up I made my way to the doorway to Ricky's apartment. I cringed when I saw that to get in I’d have to use a doorknob. There was no way I could open that. Unless...

“Urgh,” I spat as I tried to get the metallic taste from my mouth. “Looks like there's no other way; I'm going to have to break in.”

I stared at the wooden surface for a moment before hitting it with a hoof.

“C'mon. It shouldn't be too hard to open.” I assured myself as I began pounding on the door.

Despite being small my hooves packed quite a punch. A few hits and the door smashed open, as I’d broken the lock.

“Success!” I grinned. “Everything's coming up Milhouse!”

I made my way inside and looked around. It wasn't a particularly big apartment, but as long as it had food and shelter from dog attacks, I was happy.

I had only been inside his apartment once, the party last night. But that already seemed so long ago. Staring at the foyer where just yesterday I had been standing around with my mates, just talking about normal things. Discussing work or studies, issues a twenty year old should be worrying about, not sudden species change and lone survival from a horde of ravenous mutts.

I found the kitchen and hungrily opened the fridge. I had to pull back a bit as the stench of rotten food hit my sensitive nose. So the fridge had stopped working, but why had the food gone off so quickly? There seemed to be a pattern emerging, but I couldn’t quite put my - well, hoof on it. I placed said appendage on my nose at an attempt to block it then closed the fridge tentatively. So that was a bust, what next? There was a small fruit bowl next to the fridge but similarly with all foods around, the fruits were too spoiled to eat. I was beginning to feel that I would become desperate enough to eat them, if I couldn't find anything else soon.

Thankfully that didn’t happen as I discovered a pantry filled with cans of food and some other packaged edibles that should last for a while. The cans were going to be so fun to open, and I probably should have started with something easier to open but I really had a hankering for beans. Carefully grasping a can in my new teeth I delivered it to the living room where a coffee table resided. Once rested on the wooden surface I headed back to the kitchen for a can opener.

Pulling out a couple of drawers I found what I was looking for and headed back with the utensil in my mouth. I then sat on the floor and contemplated the two objects in front of me. There had to be a way to do this.

My eyes travelled upwards as I tried to get a look at my horn.

“It shouldn't be stupid to think that I could do magic right?” I spoke aloud. “I mean, after everything else that has happened today that isn’t too unbelievable.”

Looking to the can opener I brought my face close to it and concentrated hard. I thought about lifting it up and seeing it float in the air. I didn't know if magic could even be used as telekinesis, but I was starving, so I was going to try everything I could.

After nothing happened I stared harder moving everything from my mind and leaving only one simple word.

“C'mon..lift...”

Still nothing. I moaned in frustration and lifted it into the air and brought it to my face.

“WHY WON'T YOU MOVE? I CAN'T PICK YOU UP WITH MY HOOVES WHAT ELSE AM I supposed to..do?”

I only just realised that the can opener had been lifted by my lone hoof. Somehow… miraculously, I was gripping it. I dropped the device and put my hoof back on it again and concentrated. When I lifted my appendage the can opener was being grasped by my hoof! Grinning happily I brought my other hoof to the device and placed it on top of the can of beans.

After a bit of struggle and some swearing I managed to open the can. The smell of food was intoxicating (even if it was only beans), so I pulled the metal lid off and gulped down the beans like they were a drink.

“Aaahhh that hit the spot!” I sighed.

With a bit of food in me I began to think a bit better. I needed to gather all the edible food I could find and ration it out to last as long as possible. I went back into the kitchen and grabbed every packaged or canned food that I could find and stacked it all in the lounge room.

I learned that the food wouldn’t be the big issue, because after trying to obtain myself a drink I discovered that absolutely none of the taps around the house worked. There were some soda and water bottles along with the food in the lounge, but I would still need to leave the house in search for more water.

Having to leave the house with those vicious dogs running rampant was not a pleasurable thought. But maybe if I was to do it at night they would be asleep and then not after my blood. I just had to find where to go; somewhere indoors, with a lot of food. Packaged food.

I didn’t know the area all too well so I had hoped Ricky had some maps or something around. Sure enough, looking through his drawers I managed to find a, hopefully not too outdated, Melways which showed the entire city and surrounding suburbs.

Flipping to the back I found the street name and the grid references. I had troubles turning the pages but I eventually found the right page and put a yellow hoof along the corresponding reference characters then dragged it across.

“Ok so..Rick lives here…” I murmured.

Perusing the map I spotted a few nearby shops until finally my eyes came to rest on a large space along the highway close to this apartment. The words “shopping centre” caught my eye. Yes, this would do perfectly. I peered out the window at the darkened sky.

“I just have to evade the mutts the whole way and then it’s home free.”

My eyes started to droop, and it was only then that I realised how tired I had become. I was surprised that I hadn’t gotten tired earlier as this had so far topped the “scariest day of my life” metre.

Lying down in my friend’s bed, I finally relaxed for the first time that day. I only had to find the shopping centre then I would be good for food and drink for a long while. In that time I’d be able to find out what the hell was going on. Everything was going to be fine, I was definitely sure that it couldn’t get much worse than this.

Boy was I wrong.

Author's Note

Hey guys! (Like the two people following my story ) Sorry for the delay, I've been finishing up for the year at Uni so things got pretty busy for a while. I am now on holidays for the next few weeks which will give me a chance to keep writing, so I should have the next chapter with a smaller delay then last time.

Also I just found out that when I copy/paste over my chapters from googledocs the italicised words don't stay italicised. So I'm going back through the two chapters to fix that up.