The crowd let her and her two dogs leave without a second look.

  “Well, whoever said it,” Thomas Caine said, “thank you.”

  The crowd turned as one back to the actor and started yelling again.

  2

  Eve stepped through the theater doors and out onto what was once Hannibal, Missouri’s Main Street. A Great Dane and a beagle followed closely behind her. The summer sun beat the humidity into a froth.

  The theater had provided a brief respite from the heat for all of them, and the dogs had obviously enjoyed it as well. Once back in the heat, Sasquatch began panting almost instantly. The Great Dane lumbered down the sidewalk as if the summer sun had a physical weight that rested upon the dog’s broad back.

  Fidget panted as well. The beagle never could keep his tongue. Even now he couldn’t shut up.

  “What do you think happened to the man who went over the Falls, Eve?” Fidget asked.

  Eve looked around quickly to make certain no one was around to hear the talking dog and then rushed into a nearby alleyway. “You two get over here now!” she barked with a whisper.

  The Great Dane loped into the alley and happily found a shady spot to lie down in. The beagle, as beagles do, looked confused and cocked his head at the woman.

  “What’s the matter, Eve?” Fidget asked. “Why are you whispering all loudly like that?”

  “Get over here now!” Eve pointed at the ground in front of her and snapped. It was enough of a signal for the dog to know it had done something wrong.

  Fidget lowered his head, pitched his ears forward and did as he was told as slowly as possible.

  Once the trio was tucked back in the alley, Eve continued the scolding. “Do you remember the talk we had about how we act when we’re in public?”

  Fidget’s ears drooped forward and the dog mumbled, “Yes.”

  “And? What did I say?”

  Fidget looked away and answered. “That it’s not nice, and people think it’s gross, and that since I do it so much it should be clean by now anyway.”

  “Not that thing.” Eve took a deep breath. The plan was to release it as a string of swear words, but she stopped herself and tried to remember that she was talking to a dog. A dog that was so stupid that it barked at its own farts. So, she swallowed the cursing and prompted the dog through grinding teeth, “The other thing.”

  Fidget laid down with a pout. “That I shouldn’t talk.”

  “Because…”

  “Because it will scare people or someone will steal me and put me in a show with a barker that tells people to ‘come and see the mutt that never shuts up.’”

  Eve crossed her arms and took in another lungful of potential cursing. Again, she fought it back. “You brought up that last part to make me feel guilty.”

  Fidget risked a look up at her with those damned brown beagle eyes. “Did it work?”

  “No,” she said. But it had.

  Fidget snorted and looked away.

  Eve let the swear-breath out and knelt down next to the dog. “I don’t mean to be mean, Fidget.”

  This drew another confused look from the dog. “What?”

  “I’m sorry. I forgot how bad you were with homonyms. I’m not trying to upset you. I’m just trying to protect you.” Eve scratched behind the dog’s ear and all was forgiven.

  “I know you are. I just got really excited. I wanted to meet that man in there. It was great how he saved that dog at the end with the wings, so I just wanted to lick his hand and maybe sniff him in the butt.”

  “You know that was just a movie, right?” She was genuinely asking for verification. There was so much that was impossible to explain to a dog. He was given the gift of speech but was on his own in the brains department. “That man wasn’t really on that boat. He didn’t really save that dog.”

  “Oh, no!” Fidget’s eyes grew large with fear. “The dog died?”

  “That’s not what… The dog wasn’t on the boat either. The dog is fine. What I mean is that just because you saw someone act a certain way doesn’t mean they really are that way. Do you understand?”

  Fidget nodded his agreement quickly and said, “Probably not.”

  “Fair enough,” Eve said as she got to her feet. She looked around and found the Great Dane. Sasquatch was already asleep in the shade. “I wish I could fall asleep that easy.”

  Sasquatch jumped awake as the back door to the theater crashed open and let the audience’s boos out into the summer air where they instantly began to sweat.

  The actor who had played the Librarian in the movie fell backward against the safety rail outside the door and almost toppled over it. Several beer bottles followed him through the door before he managed to slam it shut.

  Fidget jumped to his feet and spun around three times. “OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod! It’s that guy from that thing we just saw. I’m going to sniff him in the butt.”

  The actor covered said butt, jumped and turned to face the potential sniffer. “You’re going to do what?”

  He studied Eve for moment, straightened his posture and smiled. He cleared his throat, fixed his hair and repeated himself. “You’re going to what?”

  “I didn’t say anything.” Eve gave the little dog a glare that sent Fidget back into shame face.

  “Well, I don’t see anyone else around.” The actor made a big production of looking around the alleyway. He walked over to a trash can and pulled the lid off with a sudden motion and looked inside. “Nope. No one at all.”

  He dropped the lid back in place and turned his smile onto full.

  “My name is Thomas Caine. I saw you at the back of the theater,” he said as he walked closer. “Are you a fan of the series?”

  The growling grabbed the man’s attention. He turned to see that Sasquatch had risen from his nap and was now keeping a close eye on the actor.

  The sight of the giant dog caused him to rethink his approach. He stammered as he course-corrected, “Because I can tell you some behind-the-scenes secrets if you’d like to hear them.”

  “No thanks,” Eve said with as much courtesy as she could muster. “We’re not really fans. We were just killing some time.”

  She turned to leave when the beagle shot by her, his tail wagging just shy of the speed of sound. There was no time to stop the dog before it spoke.

  “I’m a fan!” The beagle barked.

  The apocalypse had unleashed a lot of weird things on the world: the six-legged coyotes of the Pecos, the mysterious orange ooze outside of that factory where they use to make Tang, and that wildly misnamed singing cave that just hummed Mariah Carey B sides. It was quite remarkable how quickly people had learned to take the weirdness in stride. But a talking dog always threw them for a loop.

  “Your dog talks?!” Thomas Caine said while pointing and making strange, excited faces at the beagle.

  “Sure.” Eve had learned it was better not to deny it. “Don’t they all?”

  “Oh, come on.” Caine’s smile broadened and he turned as if to find someone else to share the excitement with. “That’s amazing.”

  “Actually, it’s quite annoying. He almost never shuts up.”

  Caine was so excited he was almost dancing. “I could make him a huge⁠—”

  “No.”

  “Okay. Okay. I just thought that…”

  “I know,” Eve assured him. “Don’t think that.”

  “We’ve seen all of your movies,” Fidget continued while sniffing the man’s hand. “We just love you, Mr. the Librarian.”

  Eve called the dog back to her side. “Fidge, you know he’s not the real Librarian, right?”

  “Yes, he is,” the beagle insisted. “I saw him.”

  “We’re big fans of the real Librarian,” Eve corrected the dog and assured the actor.

  Fidget’s tail started thumping as the actor pet his head. “He’s the real Librarian, Eve.”

  “He’s not, Fidget.”

  “She talks about the Librarian all the time,” Fidget whispered to the actor. But beagles are terrible whisperers and everyone heard the statement.

  “I don’t… It doesn’t matter, Fidget.” Eve said. “This man is not the Librarian.”

  “But he is the…”

  “He’s not!” Eve snapped. “The Librarian is dead.”

  Fidget never knew where the line was. As a dog, he didn’t even know there was a line. But he knew when he had stepped over it. He lowered his head and slunk back to the woman.

  Eve watched the dog cower and felt a tinge of guilt for snapping at him. However, she knew the feeling would pass. It always did.

  Thomas had used this opportunity to move closer to the group. His smile slithered into a crooked grin and he cocked his head to the right.

  Eve found the look vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.

  His tone of voice changed. It was smoother this time. Creepier. “He’s not dead in my movies.”

  Sasquatch gave another proximity growl.

  “We noticed,” Eve said as she stepped away. “That was some ending.”

  “See!” Caine pointed at her with genuine excitement. “You get it. Those people in there, they want it all, you know? They want the story they expected, but they also want something totally new. And they want a happy ending, but they never want it to end at all. Like ever. Let me ask you something.” He tried to step forward and found a large dog in the way.

  “Um, good boy?” he asked.

  Sasquatch didn’t growl this time. He didn’t have to.

  “It’s okay, Satch,” Eve said. “We’ve got to go anyway.”

  She turned to leave, and the Great Dane followed once she had put some distance between herself and the man.

  “Oh, I hate to hear that. Where are you going?”

  Eve chuckled at the man’s gall. “That’s not really any of⁠—”

  “We’re going on a boat to Cairo,” Fidget yipped, and was so excited to share the information that he barked once as well.

  “Cairo!” Thomas Caine said with an unnatural amount of enthusiasm. “Why, that’s where we’re headed.”

  Eve had turned to scold the dog. But she threw her attention to the actor. His phrase put her guard up. We was an ambusher’s favorite quip just before the rest of the gang appeared. She checked the angles and saw nothing that presented a threat. As far as she could tell, he was alone. Still, she let her hand drift closer to her gun. “Who’s we?”

  The back door of the theater crashed open and a young woman surrounded by luggage fell into the alleyway.

  “We,” Caine said with a wave toward the woman. “Myself and my personal assistant, Lana.”

  The young woman looked up from her crash in time to get a tongue up the nose from the beagle. “Hello,” Fidget said. “I’m Fidget.”

  Lana sat bolt upright, more from the words than the tongue, and pointed at the dog.

  “Yes, it talks, we get it. Let’s not make a big deal out of it.” Thomas gave Eve a knowing wink that made her roll her eyes. “Now, Lana, the important thing is, how many copies did we sell?”

  Eve stepped in to help the woman out of the pile of bags and onto her feet. She dusted herself off and stated flatly, “None.”

  “None?” Caine asked. “We sold them four screens last time.”

  “Last time there wasn’t a riot before the end credits.”

  “I think you’re being a little dramatic, Lana. I would hardly call that a riot. It was barely a ruckus.”

  “Your ruckus grew into a riot after you ran away.”

  “I would hardly call that running away,” Caine said, with a nervous glance toward Eve.

  Using the semantics debate as cover, Eve quietly gestured to the dogs and made her way out of the alley. They had almost cleared the corner when Caine noticed their departure and shouted after them.

  “It was nice meeting you! Maybe we’ll see each other on the river.”

  “That would be great,” Fidget shouted back. He looked up at Eve and whispered, “I think he likes me. Do you think he likes me?”

  “I’m sure he loves you, Fidget.” Eve bent over and pet the beagle on the head. “We’re going to walk down the street now and I need you to be quiet.”

  “I can be quiet.” Fidget demonstrated this ability by holding his mouth shut tight. Then his tail started to twitch, then wag, then the motion worked its way up his body until he couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Do you really think the Librarian loves me?”

  “Oh Fidget,” Eve sighed. “You know that’s not the real Librarian. That man just pretends. It’s make-believe. Like when you think you’re brave.”

  “I am brave.” Fidget’s eyes hardened. “Squirrels fear me.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry I said that. But rest assured, the real Librarian went over a waterfall a year ago. No one has seen him since.”

  “So, he’s hiding?” Fidget asked.

  “No, he’s not hi⁠—”

  “Sometimes I hide. Like when I know you’re going to yell at me. Do you think he’s hiding because someone’s going to yell at him?”

  “No, I don’t think someone’s going to yell at him. I think he’s de⁠—”

  “So where do you think he’s hiding?” Fidget’s tail was getting the best of him at this point and it drew Eve’s attention.

  She couldn’t tell him that she, and most reasonable people, knew the Librarian was dead. He had given his life to end the rule of a tyrant. And, in doing so, he had given civilization a real chance to get started again. There were worse things to give your life for. But she couldn’t crush the excitement in the beagle’s voice. Or tail. “I don’t know where he’s hiding, Fidget.”

  Fidget barked at the notion and Eve saw a thought form in his head. She winced. It wouldn’t be good.

  “OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod,” Fidget’s tail had taken the wheel now and the dog was going in circles. “What if I’m the one that finds him?”

  “Oh, Fidget. I don’t think so. He could be anywhere.”

  3

  One of the problems with being anywhere is that anywhere could also be a lot of places. That left a person with a lot of choices. Of course, that was also one of the benefits. If the person that could be anywhere didn’t want anyone to know where they were, then being anywhere provided a lot of options.

  As a post-apocalyptic nomadic warrior, Jerry had seen a whole lot of anywheres: the sunken city of New Orleans, the crater of greater New York, Topeka and all the burgeoning settlements in between. He spent a year in Canada and knew of more than a few places where he would be welcome north of what used to be the border.

  There was even a moment, while he was pulling himself out of the freezing Niagara River, that he considered finding a nice little part of anywhere somewhere further south where the anywheres were warmer more often. He gave a good amount of thought to walking to South America. He thought about it until he wasn’t cold anymore. But the world was still full of mistrust and suspicion. Adding a language barrier to the equation would just be asking for trouble.

  So, in the end, his own personal anywhere became Hannibal, Missouri.

  There was no telling what the future held for him or the rest of the world, but he knew for certain that he wanted a career change. And with Invictus dead and the power of Alasis in considerably kinder hands, he felt he could finally step away from the wandering hero gig and find something that moved at a slower pace. Preferably something that got him thrown over fewer waterfalls.

  The new world was still full of dangers, but ever since the removal of the organized evil that was Invictus and his devoted followers, things were starting to get better. And he didn’t want to miss it. He felt he had earned a front row seat to the rebirth of civilization. And this is where it was happening: on the bustling docks of Hannibal and all along the Mississippi River. The mighty river system once again served as the key to travel, trade and communication routes as the survivors of the apocalypse began to spread out across the country.

  The Boomer bobbed against the dock and rubbed against the dockside tire tread, creating an occasional chirp that caused the large dog that had been asleep on the deck to raise its head, sound a lazy woof and then return to her midmorning nap.

  “Don’t get up, Blue,” Jerry said to the giant, snoring obstruction. “I’ll just go around.”

  He stepped over the dog and set down a heavy piece of luggage on top of what was becoming a small pyramid in the middle of the boat.

  “Thank you, sir,” the woman said as Jerry took another piece of luggage from her husband.

  “Please, Mrs. Ketchum, call me Mike. And it’s my pleasure.”

  “I told you we brought too much, Laura,” the woman’s husband said as he went back to the dock for another trunk.

  “Why would we leave anything behind, Andy? We’re never coming back.”

  “Moving for good?” Jerry asked as he set the bag down. It was reassuring watching people plan a move instead of just wandering until they were accepted somewhere. Only a year ago, it would have been unheard of. But as trade and communication expanded, it had become a much more common sight.

  “Yes, we’ve found our daughter. Can you believe that?” Laura dug into a backpack and pulled out a tattered enveloped that looked as if it had been crushed and re-flattened a hundred times.

  She quickly clutched it to her chest and Jerry could see that it had been hugged out of shape.

  “We got a letter! An honest to God letter.” She smoothed it out once more. “She and our son-in-law are both alive in Tennessee. And guess what?”

  It was hard not to share in this woman’s happiness, and Jerry felt himself smiling. “What?”

  “We’re grandparents!” She was so excited she almost cried.

  He almost cried.

  She took a deep breath and waved a hand to dry the burgeoning tears. “Can you believe that? Me? A grandmother?”

  “Of course he can believe it, Laura,” her husband said, and heaved another piece of luggage onto the boat. “You’re old as shit.”