Eating Breakfast - Judy Albietz

Lucky for Sam and Lily they found that cave. They dove into it just as the crazed pack of dogs had caught up with them. Shaking with exhaustion and fear, Lily hunkered against Sam’s warm furry body. “I could hear them licking their chops, like we’re their main course for dinner,” she whispered. “So … why aren’t they coming in after us?”

“I do not know why, but they are not trying to get inside, so we are safe in here,” Sam replied, gently laying his head on Lily’s shoulder. He blinked his worried brown eyes. “These nasty creatures are not the dogs I used to know. They must be infected with some illness, some virus. I hardly recognize them. Their heads are twice as big as they used to be. And they have grown those large fangs. Their tongues used to be pink. Now they are gray. The pack never let their coats get so ragged and filthy.”

“What do we do now?” Lily asked.

“Rest and we will make our escape after they fall asleep,” Sam replied.

From the back of the cave room, Lily knew there was no way she was going to sleep as she laid curled up next to the big dog. They both looked out through the doorway to the frightening scene outside.

“They are not slowing down,” Lily said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. As the night wore on, the insane dogs didn’t even lie down. In fact, they never stopped moving.
Outside, the dogs ran and trotted back and forth, leaped in the air, rolled around in the dirt, dug holes and pulled plants out of the ground. They got angrier and angrier, nipping and fighting with each other—all the time yelping and growling while they were in perpetual motion.

Looks like their plan is to wait us out, hoping we get hungry in the morning and try to leave,” Sam replied.

“Right … and then we’ll be their main course for breakfast. Okay, Sam, we need our own plan. Is there any other way out of the cave?”

“Yes, I have considered that. But it is too dangerous.”

“What do you mean? Dangerous … as opposed to what … our other option?”

“Lily, as you say, ‘here’s the story.’ These caves were designed by humans when they lived here thousands of years ago. As you can see, I barely fit in this front room. There are more rooms behind us—usually about three to five rooms were dug deep into the hillside. The rooms are linked to each other with small entrances. At the end of the last room will be a narrow tunnel leading to another outside opening to this cave house. It will be on the other side of the slope. But I’m too big. I can’t go out that way. I can’t even fit through the entrance to the next room. I can do a lot of things, but I cannot make myself that small.”
Lily sat quietly for a moment. Then she reached over to scratch behind Sam’s ears. “Sam, here’s the deal. I’ll do it. I’ll go to the back, make a lot of noise and the pack dogs’ll think we’re leaving out the back door. You know, they really look way too stupid to realize that you’re stuck in this front room.