The Last Man by Ryan King Read Free Book Online

angry dogs. Several of the dogs appeared disoriented and shaky on their feet with foam dripping from their mouths. Sam realized with horror that they were rabid. He stopped in his tracks and drawing his pistol fired a couple of shots into the air.
    Most of the dogs ran off, with Raven in pursuit. Sam yelled at the stupid dog to come back, but Sam saw that one of the rabid ones turned towards him. The black and tan bull mastiff mix looked at the man for a moment and then began trotting towards him. Sam saw that Sc otch watched and stood unsteadily with blood soaking the fur around his neck from several bite wounds.
    The rabid dog's eyes were glazed and appeared to have difficulty focusing, yellow foam hanging from slack jowls. "Oh shit," said Sam as the dog came closer which only served to vector the dog in to the sound of his voice. Sam pointed the pistol at the dog with shaky hands and fired a shot which missed. He fired another and missed. The dog was right up on him snapping at his body. Sam reacted out of fear striking the dog sharply on the skull with the pistol butt and hearing a solid crack. The rabid dog dropped to the ground and looked up at him panting heavily. He felt a moment's compassion for the dog, but then saw Scotch stumbling towards him on unsteady legs. Sam shot the rabid mastiff in the head.
    Raven had returned with his stubby tail wagging and evidently unhurt. He ran up and pranced around Sam as if to say, "That was fun wasn't it?" Scotch had meanwhile stretched out on the ground panting heavily.
    Sam went to Scotch and saw the giant wolfhound's bleeding had slowed, but the wounds looked nasty as if the dogs had bit down and chewed before releasing. He didn't know if the bites had come from one of the rabid dogs but he had to assume the worst. Scotch lay on his side and licked Sam's hand looking up at him with trusting eyes.
    He holstered his pistol and scooped up the giant dog, staggering under the weight back to the vehicle. Sam had to lay the dog in the grass while he opened the door and Molly and Tanner jumped out to join in the fun. He loaded Scotch in the backseat carefully and then after much frustration was able to get the rest of The Pack into the SUV.
    It was getting dark, but Sam was afraid the giant wolfhound wouldn't make it to morning. He needed to find a vet clinic. He hoped it wasn't too late to get a rabies shot into the dog and maybe save him. Sam consulted a map and saw the nearest town was ten miles to the south. He backed the vehicle around and went towards Clifton, Virginia.
    Getting to the town was the easy part. He didn't like driving in the dark, but luckily the roads were clear except for a few herds of deer. Finding the vet clinic in the town was almost impossible. Although it was a small town of about eight thousand people, it spread out for several square miles and without street lights or directions he felt like he was trying to find his way home without a map.
    He finally pulled over and broke into an office building and rummaged around through desks until he located a phone book. Sam pawed through the aging pages and found there was a Hob's Veterinary Clinic on 3rd Street.
    He ran back out to the SUV and discovered Scotch shivering and whining. He drove fast through the center of town, crisscrossing streets looking at signs until he saw one that said 2nd Street. He turned right and naturally enough the next street was 1st Street. Sam cursed and spun around the other way.
    Once at 3rd Street he turned towards the greatest concentration of buildings, but again this proved incorrect. He was exiting the town without seeing the clinic before turning around to head the opposite direction, nearly panicked. Sam raced down 3rd Street faster than he had driven any vehicle in years.
    Nearing the opposite town outskirts, he was almost losing hope when he saw a green on white sign for Hob's Veterinary Clinic which also evidently served dual purpose as residence for Doctor Hobs. Sam