Entry #4

The barking sound is near my location. I can hear the sound clearly since the whole city is quiet without any sound ringing out except for the barking dog. I have a choice to not follow and check the barking sound but because I have yet to see a living dog in this situation at all. Still, with this dangerous world where the zombies exist, there is a big chance that the barking dog is an enemy. But my curiosity is stronger than the chances of danger present in doing this.

Preparing the knife, I slowly followed the barking sound carefully while keeping an eye on my surroundings. It didn't take me too long to locate the barking sound. It was located behind a destroyed fast-food chain store where I last checked out to be an empty place barren with supplies. As I am nearing the sound, my whole body tensed when I finally saw the situation.

The barking sound was indeed a dog. A real dog and it was very dirty to look but I can tell in its look that it is still a dog that did not undergo any kind of monstrous mutation or whatsoever that would make it a monster. On the other hand, the one it was barking at is a huge rat. Yes, a huge rat, though I can say that it is proper to call it giant rat rather than huge since this rat is not just as big as a cat but its size is comparable to a big adult dog that if you compare it to the dog that is a little bit small and frail, the rat would instantly win.

However, the dog kept on barking hard without even bothering to run away. The rat is eager to attack but for some reason, it still hesitates to approach the dog like it was some kind of danger that the rat can't get near into. Then something pops up in my mind which might be the reason why the rat can't approach the dog.

Rats are not just afraid of cats, they are also afraid of dogs. As dogs have a keen sense of smell, they are also a good alternative in catching rats and can sometimes prevent rat infestations too. So from this situation, it is quite clear that the rat is still afraid of the dog.

I want to help the dog, however, the size of the rat is clearly making me nervous. Just seeing its size is making me terrified. But then, something makes me think twice. If the rat's meat is not some sort of radioactive or dangerous, then how about eating its meat? It might sound ridiculous but getting something like a lump of fresh meat makes me want to kill the rat and eat its meat for tonight.

Staring at my knife, I nodded and steeled myself. If this rat is edible, I will have a good feast tonight and will mark the sign of my chance of survival in this new world. Time to get to work.

Dropping the duffel bag and my backpack on the side, I quickly devised a plan that will work for this rat. If I try to sneak on the side, the rat will be able to find me without even putting any trouble. Rats are pretty much able to detect you if you try to sneak past to them, therefore, I decided to scratch that off. Just as I was trying to find a good way to make the rat get caught off guard, I then noticed that the roof of the fast-food store is quite low and you can jump off on it without getting injured. It is easy to climb on too.

The possibility of the rat getting caught off-guard from me is high since it still keeping its eyes to the dog. But there is also the big chance that the rat will also get to notice me and dodge away from my attack so my plan has a 50% chance of working. Either way, it is a do or die chance.

When climbing to the roof, I just realized how good of a climber I was. I can tell in my body that climbing something like this is nothing to me and somehow, my reflexes really show it which makes me wonder if I am somewhat expert in this field before I lost my memory. Within a few seconds, I managed to get to the roof of the store. The rat is still trying to attack the dog but the barking sound makes it think twice about attacking.

Quietly laying low, I observe the situation below. After a few minutes, the dog is the first one to strike and quickly pounces the rat to its nose. The bite is somewhat strong since the nose bleeds hard as the dog released its jaws. I have not expected that for a dog to have that much strength on a single bite.

The rat did not retreat and instead fights back against the dog. Due to the size of the dog, smaller than the rat, the dog is able to swiftly move around while biting the rat from time to time especially around the stomach and the tail. As time went on, I realized that the rat was not able to overpower the dog despite its size. The size of the rat is big than the dog but the speed of the dog is the main weapon that the rat can't overpower.

Now that the rat is in a dying state, I timed myself to the right time to jump, readying the knife on my hand. The rat collapsed and is currently trying to stand up while the dog is just observing. The dog looks up and shows it's tongue while wagging its tail. I just realized that the dog has already noticed my presence. From the looks of it, the dog is waiting for me to deal the final blow.

When I saw the chance, I ready the knife and jumped while the knife was raised above my head. Without hesitation, I strike the knife down to the nape of the rat and repeatedly stab it. I didn't care if the blood spills on my clothes, I didn't stop until the rat stopped struggling. That marks my first kill in this wasteland ever since I woke up.

Getting off the body, I just realized that I was drenched by the blood that was a little bit cold than it supposed to be. But I didn't bother on it too much. The dog kept on wagging its tail as it runs around me while barking a little bit.

I looked at the rat's body and realized that the body did not even have the slightest look of being a bad meat. But still, I am a little bit not sure whether it can be eaten. Although it was a little bit silly, I decided to ask the dog.

"Can this be eaten?"

"BARK!"

Yep, I am getting crazy. I can see the dog nodding like it understood my question. Oh well, I can judge it later if this can be eaten or not. The first thing to do is to drain its blood and wash off the blood that also sticks to my clothes. In this world now, I can't be picky about the food.