Swarm X1048 - Ethological Field Report: Canis Lupus Familiaris, 6
ShortStory 2,870 words Recommended by 4 award/anthology sources
Read at Clarkesworld ↗ ♪ Listen
"You are born not long after the disaster. The city center has lain evacuated for two days by the time your mother makes her nest. She builds a small burrow from packing blankets, rags, her own sinewy body behind a row of waste containment units, and you are the sixth of your litter to slip out of her. A rubbery cord of pink flesh and matted fur, slick and slippery and new."
Content warnings 2
animal-harmdeath-of-a-loved-one
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.