Dog Blood

I’m cutting down crops, scything a path through the chaos.
    There’s an overturned wreck of a car in the middle of the street. The crowd splits to go around either side of it, but I climb onto it. The burned-out skeleton of the car is precariously balanced on its roof, and it quivers and vibrates with my every move. Another helicopter flies overhead, and I instinctively duck and turn around to watch it disappear, looking back toward town.
    Then I see her.
    I’m surrounded by a sea of heads, but back in the direction from which I’ve just come, there’s a break in the crowd-a small, unexpected bubble of space. I struggle to see through the smoky haze and constant, uncoordinated activity, but then I glimpse a flash of remarkably fast movement. It’s Ellis. Finally free and unrestricted, she’s killing at an incredible rate. I can see her leaping from victim to victim with ferocious speed and intent, using nothing but her hands and teeth to kill. She wraps herself around each one of them, does enough damage to fatally wound them, then gets up and attacks her next victim before the last one’s dead. Even after everything I’ve seen, my daughter’s ruthless, savage brutality is incredible. Awe-inspiring and terrifying in equal measure.
    There’s Julia. I steady myself as the overturned car rocks again, then watch as she chases after Ellis. Holding on to what’s left of the cord with one hand, she chops at the Unchanged around her with what looks like a meat cleaver held in the other. She’s struggling. Ellis is too strong and too fast for her.
    I swing the metal pipe out over the side of the car like a golf club, taking out several more refugees and almost decapitating one of them. I jump down into the space where they were standing, then hold the tube out like a lance and run forward, shoulder dropped, toward where Julia and Ellis are fighting. I follow the trail of bodies, tripping over outstretched limbs and slipping in pools of blood and gore that Ellis has left in her wake. An unusually aggressive Unchanged comes at me with a machete. The downward sweep of the blade glances off my shoulder but does little damage, and I’m gone before he can take a second swipe.
    Julia’s dead ahead of me now, being virtually dragged along by Ellis as she’s fighting. Yet another helicopter powers overhead, this one releasing a volley of screaming missiles into the crowd nearer to the center of town. I can feel the heat of the missiles as they scorch through the air above me, the shock wave from the explosions in the distance almost knocking me off my feet. Julia lifts her cleaver and chops it down into the pelvis of a slow-moving Unchanged man before the vibrations knock her off balance, too. She steadies herself and pulls back on Ellis’s leash. The momentary delay is enough for me to catch her. I grab hold of her shoulder and spin her around.
    “Let her go, Julia.”
    Distracted, she almost lets the cord slip through her fingers. She drops her weapon, snatches back the plastic-covered line with both hands, then tries to wrap it around her wrist. Her face is bruised, her right eye swollen purple and almost completely shut. Did Ellis do that to her?
    “Help me with her,” she demands.
    “Help you?” I yell back, using the metal pole to shove an unsteady Unchanged out of the way. “Are you serious? Let her go-”
    “We have to get her out of here. Help me!”
    More missiles explode, vast swollen bulges of intense orange flames rising up from the area around the Prince Hotel, far too close for comfort. What choice do I have? I drop the pole and grab the cord, taking the strain from Julia. Together we begin to reel Ellis in. I catch a glimpse of her through the swarming crowds. We’re dragging her back, but she’s still fighting, still grabbing as many Unchanged as she can, sinking her teeth and claws into their skin, slashing and tearing at their flesh. She’s just a yard away now, still pulling against us but unable to overcome our combined strength. Julia runs around from behind me and grabs Ellis by the waist, lifting her clean off the ground. Ellis drops the body of a young Unchanged kid midkill, then manages to squirm around in Julia’s grip. I try to force myself between them and take my daughter from Julia, but Ellis unintentionally elbows me in the face, her bone catching me full force between the eyes. Blood begins pouring from my nose.
    Julia staggers away, trying to keep hold of Ellis and at the