the mangy pit bull at the end of the world

I had a vision recently, of a mangy pit bull dog stalking an animal on a sweltering summer day. I sensed my surroundings in this vision, as being made up of little bits of old garbage and ruins and over grown weeds. It was reminiscent of a desert, but it looked like bare eroded soil, rather than a natural desert biome. It was a man made desert; a wasteland.

The pit bull took no notice of me, its eyes were fixed on a rat, scurrying around in the distance. The dog would periodically freeze in a half crouch, and then take several tense steps forward and freeze again. It had a dun yellow coat, which was in bad shape, with patches of it rubbed bare. You could see its ribs and all of its tense muscles as it stalked the rat. The tucked up belly and curved backbone was reminiscent of a greyhound but the lines were coarser and  less graceful. The legs were short and its paws were coated in dried mud.

The round pitbull head seems incongruously large in relation to the taut lean body. Its ears were erect and trained foward towards its prey, but one ear flopped a bit towards the center of its wrinkled forehead.

He got his rat, in a quick dash and a pounce. He then turned and glanced at me with prey in mouth just before he trotted off.

There was no dog like familiarity in its yellow eyes. He was completely feral and had never been anyone’s pet.