More choices.

  I wasn’t sure what was the best decision. At first glance, Claw Slash seemed the best choice against the zombie out there, but I wondered if there were going to be times when I faced more than a single enemy. In that case, perhaps Howl would be better. Plus, it was the only one of the three that could be used in a non-lethal capacity.

  But before, when I’d been worried the interface was going to force me to fight, I had been thinking of other dogs, possibly even humans. This zombie, and other generated monsters, weren’t the same. I didn’t feel any pity or empathy towards what was waiting for me at the end of the row. Non-lethal felt less necessary.

  Just then, the zombie turned in my direction. Even though he wasn’t looking directly at me, something changed in his demeanor. He let out a low moan and started shuffling forward.

  Right. I needed to make a decision. I returned to the list. Howl still appealed to me, but I didn’t know exactly what ‘fear’ even meant in this context, or if it would affect something like a zombie. I needed an ability with guaranteed results.

  That left either Claw Slash or Aggressive Charge. Of the two, the latter sounded far more useful, especially with the chance to stun the target. If I managed to do that to a single opponent like the zombie, I could tear it apart with my teeth at my leisure.

  But the three-minute cooldown was triple what Claw Slash had. If I missed, or the stun didn’t work, I’d be left with a very long time to deal with an opponent. And as I’d just noted, something told me this wouldn’t be my last fight. I needed a skill that would cover for now, and for later.

  That settled it. I made my selection.

  During the time I had been debating, the monster had made it almost halfway to me. It wasn’t the fastest creature I’d ever seen, and I could probably outpace it at a good lope. But the interface wanted me to kill it, and honestly, I didn’t like the look of the thing. It had a wrongness about it that kept my hackles raised.

  So instead, I charged.

  I was almost on top of it before I realized I had no idea how to use this new skill of mine. All of my racial skills seemed to work automatically, but somehow, I doubted it would be the case with this one.

  But there was no time for second-guesses. The monster was reaching their single arm for me, so I leapt—and seized its arm between my teeth. I’m not sure who of us was more surprised.

  Actually, it was probably me, considering the zombie merely moaned and twisted its hand awkwardly to swipe at me.

  Even knowing I needed to use claws, my old instincts had kicked in. Releasing the arm, I scurried back, then lunged forward again. This time I led with my forelegs extended.

  In an instant, the claws on my forelegs grew by several inches. No longer were they dull things, worn down by the constant padding about on hard pavement. They were vicious, dangerous, the sunlight glinting off their tips. I would have been afraid of them, if they hadn’t come from my very own paws.

  All this I saw in an instant. Then my claws tore through the zombie’s throat like it was the wrapper of a burger. Next moment I was past, landing gently on the pavement behind, my claws retracting, returning to normal. I turned.

  The zombie held in place for a full three seconds, as if frozen in time. Then its head slid slowly from its shoulders and plopped to the ground.

  Yes! I’d done it, and in a single strike, too. Perhaps I’d been wrong about fighting. This was an exhilarating feeling, and already I was looking forward to my next battle, to bringing my claws to bear against whatever foul creature—

  The zombie didn’t collapse as I expected it to. Its headless body slowly turned and began lumbering towards me. From where it lay on the ground, its head let out another moan.

  What in dog’s name? Why was it still moving? I got that this was a dead thing, but also not a dead thing, so maybe the rules of normal death didn’t apply to it?

  The exact reason didn’t really matter right now. What did was the fact the headless monster was almost on top of me.

  I dodged aside, which was more difficult to do than I would have thought. Even though the zombie was slow most of the time, at the last second it got a burst of speed as it lunged for me. I barely made it out of the way. Probably my only salvation came from the fact it couldn’t seem to know exactly where I was, only the general area.

  But how was I going to defeat it? If the monster could still move after losing its head, then did I have to tear it limb from limb? That might take all day, depending how attached some of those limbs still were.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  And I still had at least another forty-five seconds before Claw Slash came off cooldown.

  The zombie lunged again, and I backpedaled. Its hand brushed against the fur on my back, almost seizing hold. I yipped and snapped my teeth at it. How did it even know my general area without its head?

  Its head. The description of the monster had mentioned that. What had it said, exactly... aim for the head? I’d done that though, that’s why the dang thing was laying on the ground, letting out moans of agony.

  Except, I hadn’t. I’d aimed for its neck. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough.

  It took just a little effort to lope my way around the lumbering body and get back to the head without getting tackled. The zombie’s face twisted in anger as I approached and let out a snarl worthy of any hound. It tried twisting to get me, but without a neck anymore it couldn’t do much beyond an aggressive wobble.

  Moving to the back of the head and away from its teeth, I gave it a quick sniff. Then immediately regretted it. The back of the zombie’s head was rotted away almost as bad as the corpse I’d found on awakening, and had maggots crawling through its matted hair.

  Alright, I can do this. Just like biting down on a chicken. I’ve done that plenty of times before. For a moment, I had a flash of memory so sharp it took me away from reality entirely. Why did I think of chickens? Had I ever eaten one? I could practically taste the hot blood in my mouth, so I must have at one point.

  No, concentrate. Looking at the head again and grimacing, I closed my eyes, opened my jaws wide, and crunched down.

  The zombie’s moan turned into a gurgle. Died away. Nearby, the monster’s body made a soft whump as it hit the ground.

  Blech. I released the head, then hacked several times to get the foul taste out of my mouth. It might be a ‘generated’ monster, but it sure tasted real.

  I paused as the messages flashed across my eyes. No sooner had I processed what they said than they moved to the side, almost out of sight. I got the impression that, unlike before, I could dismiss or recall them as I wished. I dismissed them, and they zipped out of my vision entirely.

  That was handy. If these messages had insisted on always blocking out my vision like the first ones had, it was going to get annoying—and possibly deadly—very quick.

  Another message appeared just as I managed to hack away the last of the zombie flavor.

  I considered the message, then glanced around. The area appeared to be empty for the moment, so I went ahead and confirmed.

  Interesting. It seemed in addition to this ‘XP’, the system was also giving me gifts. That was nice.

  Something about that tutorial bothered me, though. I knew in a dim, general way what the colors red and green were, but I couldn’t quite picture them in my head. I wonder why?

  Well, I could figure it out later. More words were scrolling through my vision.

  A simple mental command later, and another screen appeared. This one was different from my general interface screen. It was a series of boxes, two of which were currently filled.

  I looked around again but saw neither more zombies nor more yellow dots moving around the shipyard. The message winked away as I confirmed.

  The air in front of me shimmered, like it does on a hot day. Except the shimmering grew worse, more intense, growing brighter until I could barely look at it. The brightness reached an apex, and when I finally blinked the last of the afterglow from my eyes, I saw a small white box sitting in front of me.

  It looked like it was metal, but the side were pure white. Painted? No, it wasn’t quite right for that. In addition, the box had a slightly off feeling, as if it was no more real than the words that scrolled across my eyes.

  But when I reached out and nudged it with my nose, it felt solid enough. As soon as I did, it opened with a soft hiss.

  Inside was a small loop of brown leather. At one end was a metal buckle, holding the two ends together.

  I confirmed, and the collar winked out of existence, followed a moment later by the box itself. A weight settled around my neck, like I hadn’t felt since my time in the shelter.

  Wait, shelter?

  I remembered now. I’d been at a shelter for a few months because... because... hmm. Nope, gone again. I couldn’t remember why I’d been there, or how I’d gotten out. All my memories of that time still had that hazy dream quality to them.

  Hooking a hind paw underneath it, I tugged at the collar. It remained firmly in place. Yet I intrinsically knew that if I went into my interface now, I could unequip it if I wanted.

  I started to do just that, but before I could pull my interface, a howl echoed in the distance. It was followed by another. Then a third, coming from the opposite direction. Words flashed across my vision.