Debut Fiction
NOVEMBER 2017
PACK
SEAN CUNNINGHAM
PACK
SEAN CUNNINGHAM
You are walking home one night from somewhere I'm not sure of, when you are set upon by a pack of wild dogs. They want your watch and your phone and whatever money you have on you, and you are quick to oblige but they are not satisfied. You ask them what else they want and they tell you plain that they don't know, but they are sure as the sun is grey that they want something. You tell them the sun isn't grey, which they know, but tell you that it isn't yellow either. They say they'll walk with you and you all walk. Their leader – the alpha – says his name is Lucky, but his real name is Hammersmith Blue Last Tuesday, and that you may call him any of those names. You tell him yours and they all laugh a peculiar dog laugh. You ask if they have managed to get any good stuff tonight. The one they call Barney Zimbabwe says it has all been crap and that your crap was the worst crap of the lot. The dog laugh ruptures the night.
You all turn the corner on to a badly lit street, but you're the only one worse off for that. Lucky says there is another pack up ahead and they all look uglier than your mother, and apologises immediately. The dogs know what's coming next and they all prepare for a bloody turf war. You can't see anything but your world is flooded with crooked rasps and razor-sharp howls, all accompanied by a steady, low growl. You didn't realise blood had a sound until now. The fighting dies down and all you hear is deep panting and a faltering whimper. Barney Zimbabwe says this one needs to be made an example of and uses the torch of your phone as an interrogation lamp. Lucky takes it from him and agrees. Behind you, one of the smaller dogs, it sounds like GameBoy, tells Lucky he has the rope if he needs the rope. Lucky says he needs the rope and ties it around this battered dog's neck. He pleads with Lucky, clawing at his own throat. You have to turn away and you start to walk in to the darkness but Barney Zimbabwe says if you take one more step the same thing will happen to you. The next thing you hear is the sound of scraping bark, rapid glottal stops and the thrashing of small, powerful legs swiping at the air in desperation – then silence.
The silence continues until you reach the end of your road. Lucky says this is you, they won't follow you to your door, they've got more respect than that. You stutter out a thanks. They could tell from the smell, he says. You nod. Barney Zimbabwe says it was just business. You nod again and begin to walk away, soles scraping the pavement. You want to turn around to see if they're still there but you can't bring yourself to. They don't say anything else, neither do you. You scramble in your pockets for your keys and shove it in the lock. You try to turn it, but your hand slips right off. You look at them – slick and red. Somewhere a dog is dead.
SEAN CUNNINGHAM is a twenty-three year old from Liverpool, currently an undergraduate in English Literature at Liverpool Hope University. His writing consists, mainly, of very short pieces of fiction and poetry. This is his first publication.
Chila: "Pack" is one of those stories, a little surreal, that I enjoy very much. Talk about its inception.
Sean: It came from two separate, and very contrasting, events. The first, which formed the general 'idea' of the piece, was just seeing two foxes walking down the street one night, not scavenging but just seeming to be out for a stroll, the whole feeling of which seemed, to me, to be both normal and a little odd. The second, which darkened the tone of the story, was a memory of walking home from school and seeing a fight break out between two men in the street. Either one stabbed the other, or they both stabbed each other – regardless, there was quite a bit of blood on the ground – then one just got back in his car and drove off, the other ran off down a side street, and it was over as soon as it had started. Which I suppose, in itself, in a way, was a bit surreal.
Chila: You're a debut author, and I believe this may be your first publication. What will you write next, or what are you currently working on?
Sean: Yes, this is my first publication, and I'd like to thank you for that. I'm writing all the time, just anything that comes in to my head gets made note of somewhere. I've currently got quite a few stories and pieces of poetry that I've been submitting to various places. I'm editing all the time as well, going back over things and trying to make my pieces in to something that makes me interested in reading it despite having written, read, re-written, and re-read them numerous times.
Chila: What do you enjoy reading?
Sean: I'm really interested in myths, legends, fairy tales, folk tales, anything like that. I recently purchased The Thousand Nights and One Night after listening to a retelling of a couple of the tales on a podcast called 'Myths and Legends', which I would, and do, recommend to everyone. I believe The Thousand Nights had a profound influence on Jorge Luis Borges, who is one of my favourite writers, so I would definitely like to tackle that at some point.
Chila: What else should we know about the up and coming writer, Sean Cunningham? Be assured that we'll be following your career with interest.
Sean: I'm currently in the final year of my BA in English Literature and I'm just now looking at MA courses to apply to so I can further my studies, but I'm unsure exactly what and where I'd like to study. I will continue to write and continue to submit, and, fingers crossed, it won't be too long before I'm able again to thank somebody for publishing me.
Chila: "Pack" is one of those stories, a little surreal, that I enjoy very much. Talk about its inception.
Sean: It came from two separate, and very contrasting, events. The first, which formed the general 'idea' of the piece, was just seeing two foxes walking down the street one night, not scavenging but just seeming to be out for a stroll, the whole feeling of which seemed, to me, to be both normal and a little odd. The second, which darkened the tone of the story, was a memory of walking home from school and seeing a fight break out between two men in the street. Either one stabbed the other, or they both stabbed each other – regardless, there was quite a bit of blood on the ground – then one just got back in his car and drove off, the other ran off down a side street, and it was over as soon as it had started. Which I suppose, in itself, in a way, was a bit surreal.
Chila: You're a debut author, and I believe this may be your first publication. What will you write next, or what are you currently working on?
Sean: Yes, this is my first publication, and I'd like to thank you for that. I'm writing all the time, just anything that comes in to my head gets made note of somewhere. I've currently got quite a few stories and pieces of poetry that I've been submitting to various places. I'm editing all the time as well, going back over things and trying to make my pieces in to something that makes me interested in reading it despite having written, read, re-written, and re-read them numerous times.
Chila: What do you enjoy reading?
Sean: I'm really interested in myths, legends, fairy tales, folk tales, anything like that. I recently purchased The Thousand Nights and One Night after listening to a retelling of a couple of the tales on a podcast called 'Myths and Legends', which I would, and do, recommend to everyone. I believe The Thousand Nights had a profound influence on Jorge Luis Borges, who is one of my favourite writers, so I would definitely like to tackle that at some point.
Chila: What else should we know about the up and coming writer, Sean Cunningham? Be assured that we'll be following your career with interest.
Sean: I'm currently in the final year of my BA in English Literature and I'm just now looking at MA courses to apply to so I can further my studies, but I'm unsure exactly what and where I'd like to study. I will continue to write and continue to submit, and, fingers crossed, it won't be too long before I'm able again to thank somebody for publishing me.