A male dog, a Shepherd mix, sits and watches as his master, a human female of sixteen, delivers what will be the beginnings of their line together, a ...aby girl, and a male pup. Elsewhere a cat, one of the few remaining, gives birth to what it thinks will be the continuation of its species, only to die horribly, shrieking, as the things that come forth tear her to pieces, and eat her.As it's always been, some live, and as it always will be, some die.Luke lays on his belly, asleep still, away. This was an older version of me. I somehow had to disassociate myself from him, in order to finish the task at hand.It took me several hours to dig the grave as deeply as I wanted. Then I got a bag of lime out of the back and spread the contents of the bag evenly in the bottom of the grave. Finally, I wrapped Tom, me, in an old blanket I'd kept for emergencies. I placed him into the grave, and filled it. I finished it off by replacing the grass that I had cut away with the ax, and then dumped a. "Let's finish this up and get you back to your Momma."I didn't need to but I retied, this time with rope, her arms and legs to the four bedposts. She was too fucked up to move, let alone struggle. But I loved the look. Rope always seemed the classic way to go. I laid a few items, unseen by her, between her legs. I wasn't sure what way I would go but wanted to have them all available to my whim.I stripped off my clothes and climbed on the bed once more. As I straddled her chest I noticed the. Heavyset, he was close to fifty, wearing a wide-brimmed western hat, a light coat and jeans, a look of concern on his face."Are you okay, Ma'am?" he said again.Jill nodded, then flipped the ignition switch on momentarily so her window control would work. As the window slid down, I must look ridiculous. He's just standing there smiling at me, and I almost panicked. All I could think of was that Ingles had found me. Oh, God, I wish I had a tissue to wipe my nose. How did I ever get this far down?.