T-minus 1 day to DEADLINE.: seanan

T-minus 1 day to DEADLINE.

Berkeley, California. July 31st, 2014.

Marigold felt bad.

There had been a raccoon in the yard. She liked when raccoons came to the yard, they puffed up big so big, but they ran ran ran when you chased them, and the noises they made were like birds or squirrels but bigger and more exhilarating. She had chased the raccoon, but the raccoon didn't run. Instead, it held its ground, and when she came close enough, it bit her on the shoulder, hard, teeth tearing skin and flesh and leaving only pain pain pain behind. Then she ran, she ran from the raccoon, and she had rolled in the dirt until the bleeding stopped, mud clotting the wound, pain pain pain muted a little behind the haze of her confusion. Then had come shame. Shame, because she would be called bad dog for chasing raccoons; bad dog for getting bitten when there were so many people in the house and yard and everything was strange.

So Marigold did what any good dog in fear of being termed a bad dog would do; she had gone to the hole in the back of the fence, the hole she and her brother worked and worried so long at, and slunk into the yard next door, where the boy lived. The boy laughed and pulled her ears sometimes, but it never hurt. The boy loved her. She knew the boy loved her, even as she knew the man and the woman fed her, and that she was a good dog, really, all the way to the heart of her. She was a good dog.

She was a good dog, but she felt so bad. So very bad. The badness had started with the bite, but it had spread since then, and now she could barely swallow, and the light was hurting her eyes so much, so very much. She lay huddled under the bushes, wishing she could find her feet, wishing she knew why she felt bad. So very bad.

Marigold felt hungry.

The hunger was a new thing, a strong thing, stronger even than the bad feeling that was spreading through her. She considered the hunger, as much as she could. She had never been the smartest of dogs, and her mind was getting fuzzy, thought and impulse giving way to alien instinct. She was a good dog. She just felt bad. She was a good dog. She was...she was...she was hungry. Marigold was hungry.

Something rustled through the bushes. The dog that had been a good dog, that had been Marigold, and that was now just hungry rose slowly, legs unsteady, but willing to support the body if there might be something coming that could end the hunger. The dog that had been a good dog, that had been Marigold, looked without recognition at the figure that parted the greenery and peered, curiously, down at it. The dog, which could not moan, growled low.

"Oggie?"

***

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When will you Rise?

paradisacorbasi

May 31 2011, 12:02:59 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

...

*SNIFFLE*

Thank you.

antinomic

May 31 2011, 12:38:59 UTC 6 years ago

Is it just me, or does the dog story make you tear up, while a person rising is 'Oh cool, now it starts!'

May 31 2011, 13:24:05 UTC 6 years ago

Depends on the person. Dr. Wells didn't make me tear up, but Susan Amberlee did.

I wanted Brandon torn apart by zombie inmates.

And I'm not sure I don't want Stalnaker to face the same fate.

But a sweet dog who has never done anything but be sweet and love a little boy? That's harsh.

wendyzski

6 years ago

vixyish

brownkitty

May 31 2011, 13:41:56 UTC 6 years ago

I have been looking forward to and dreading this part.

Poor Marigold, and poor Phillip.

priscellie

May 31 2011, 13:46:28 UTC 6 years ago

*flails*

Wait, I thought the book came out today? It's Tuesday, after all. Amazon says the 31st, but BN.com says June 1st. And your post said "on or after Tuesday"...

HAPPY RELEASE DAY, SEANAN!

May 31 2011, 17:58:57 UTC 6 years ago

It's officially today. E-books have apparently a release date of tomorrow, though who knows why. Could BN.com have been referring to the e-book version?

AAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

admnaismith

May 31 2011, 14:31:01 UTC 6 years ago

Damn you, Mira! Damn you to a world of your own creation!!!

*sob*

*twitch*

*convulse*

And so that's all the appetizers? *rushes off to get Deadline*

ladymondegreen

May 31 2011, 14:42:41 UTC 6 years ago

*is in bed with a sore throat infection*

*has read this story and is wondering when I will convert*

Poor, poor 'oggie.

Happy book day!

May 31 2011, 15:36:58 UTC 6 years ago

*sobs* Poor Good Dog.

kangaekaeru

May 31 2011, 15:38:23 UTC 6 years ago

Oh dear. D:

Found your journal a couple days ago; bought and devoured Feed yesterday. I haven't had a book grab me that hard for quite a while. :)

Great work, and looking forward to Deadline, and thanks for sharing these here.

ladymurmur

May 31 2011, 15:46:52 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, poor Marigold! *wails*

My sweetie timed this better than I did. He'll be finishing Feed this evening, JUST in time for the e-book to arrive from Amazon in the morning.

I'm twitching with anticipation. Going to go back and re-read all the vignettes in the meantime.

trialia

May 31 2011, 16:50:40 UTC 6 years ago

Poor darling doggy person :( I always feel worse for the animals than the humans, somehow, even though I cried near the end of Feed rather a lot.

I have Deadline, and I'm about 40 pages in, and yes, I had to pause - but not because this is the kind of book I don't want to read in one sitting. Just too tired to concentrate and I want to take it all in.

aldoryn

May 31 2011, 16:51:19 UTC 6 years ago

I've got a Labrador as my guide dog. This is wonderful writing, but makes me sad.

I'm going to go hug my dog now.

katiebabs

May 31 2011, 17:30:03 UTC 6 years ago

You just had to go there with the dog. *sob*

sheistheweather

May 31 2011, 17:34:12 UTC 6 years ago

Chilling, and very, very well-written.

Poor boy. Poor dog. (Poor raccoon, but he/she was a stranger compared to the other two which have spots in our emotions.)

kyburg

May 31 2011, 17:44:40 UTC 6 years ago

This is when I start having flashbacks to the good old days of William Shatner and Rescue 911, because you know something bad is going to happen to these very nice people just introduced to you, having lovely happy lives...and this is THAT SHOW and now is THAT TIME....

And the narration just kicked over into Shatnerese. My poor head.

redbird57

May 31 2011, 18:37:50 UTC 6 years ago

I feel about like I did during the Lost finally, I would have been fine if it weren't for the dog. Poor oggie.

lysystratae

May 31 2011, 19:11:35 UTC 6 years ago

Well, that made me appreciate my little dachshunds all the more (and made them look at me funny for hugging them)

runedrum

May 31 2011, 19:27:07 UTC 6 years ago

[Here's some context before I get to the meat of my comment: I've been following your blog for awhile, but these vignettes finally gave me the shove to read FEED--which I'm reading on my partner's kindle because it only seems fitting for it to be digital...]

And so, this particular snippet was more unsettling than usual simply because just two hours later, I read the bit about Phillip in FEED....

all_ephemera

May 31 2011, 21:33:58 UTC 6 years ago

THIS is the one I've been dreading reading...

the_s_guy

May 31 2011, 21:57:35 UTC 6 years ago

Dang, farms are going to be interesting. Do we have word yet on how (if) large herbivores are affected?

Zombie cows, sheep, pigs, goats...

Australia would be kind of funny. "Ah, the wildlife tries to kill us every day anyway. No biggie. Roast zombie 'roo, anyone?

tereshkova2001

May 31 2011, 23:02:31 UTC 6 years ago

I believe Feed makes mention of a mixed mob of zombie cows and humans, but I don't have my copy handy.
And the Rymans' horse ranch turns up there as well.

mel_redcap

yellowblackhaze

May 31 2011, 22:32:57 UTC 6 years ago

Hear that sound? It's my heart breaking.

setauuta

June 1 2011, 06:12:19 UTC 6 years ago

I read through all of these tonight, and as soon as you introduced Marigold and her brother, I just...I *knew*, but I didn't want to know. This one...ouch.

Why do the best writers always make me cry? And then come back for more?

azurelunatic

June 1 2011, 06:25:02 UTC 6 years ago

*shivers*

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:

(omg omg omgomgomgomg THEY'RE ALL GOING TO DIE.)

madrona

June 2 2011, 06:03:38 UTC 6 years ago

I have an animal-loving toddler. D:

I've always said I'd fail to survive the zombie apocalypse because I wouldn't be able to put my zombie-kid down. I'd totally let her eat me.

This one does things to the pit of my stomach.