My eyes skittered over the path around me, looking for a weapon. There in the brush on the right, a fat tree branch about as long as my arm. I squatted down and picked it up, sucking in my breath at the pain in my right shin. It wasn’t a tree branch. It was part of an old post. Oak. Petrified. Probably left over from the war.
That’s when the thing leaped at me, snapping its teeth. I stood, swung the post back, and knocked it across the snout with all of my strength! It yelped and crashed into the brush. Instead of running like I should have, I waded into the weeds to finish it off. It lay on its side, panting and whining. It’s eye rolled as I approached, and it bared its teeth and growled deep in its chest. I’d bashed the side of its head in.
“Take that you stupid devil! I ain’t no la
