For a few moments, he stared at the motionless face of his friend. Unable to take the silent stillness any longer, Milo carefully stepped over to George and pushed his nose to George’s forehead. He sniffed his hair, then his eyes. He nuzzled George’s chest and leg, sniffing the blood on George’s side and leg. As he pushed the clothing around, he saw open, oozing wounds, gashes in George’s flesh. As he moved back to George’s side, his nose hit something hard and glistening. He attempted to use his teeth to bite it out, but the large glass shard was immovable.
Milo lifted his head and looked back from where they had walked. The faint smell of gasoline still hung in his nose, and the the sound of crushing metal and shattering glass echoed in his head. The moment before the tires went off the road, Milo remembered watching George yawn and nod, then Milo barked and startled George. The car swerved swiftly and flipped. Milo was able to awaken George then, and he wondered why he couldn’t do the same again. He gave a tug on the leash once more, then bit down on the fabric, scoring the leash with his teeth, but stopped when the urge to yawn overpowered him, and he relinquished to exhaustion, nestling himself into George’s chest to sleep.
When Milo opened his eyes to the sound of diesel truck approaching and rushing past, he looked over at his friend once more, still motionless in the dirt. He pushed his head against a cheek, and wondered if it was simply cold because of the night air. As another truck whizzed by, Milo looked up at the sign atop the wooden pole George had slid down. “Rest Area, 1 Mile Ahead.” With a whimper, Milo bit down on his leash, and drifted back to sleep, his head against George’s heart where a thumping once comforted him.
The prompt for the Mutant 750 Challenge #62 at Grammar Ghoul Press is the word "score" (a verb meaning, "cut or scratch a notch or line on (a surface)"), and the image below:
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