CHAPTER 1 – Workin’ for a Livin’...
"Man, Fuck that guy," I yell at my dashboard as I turned the key, my old ranger cranked a few times before turning over. I crank the heat, and quickly turn up the volume to the radio drowning out my thoughts for a moment as I pull out of the parking lot of my work’s storage facility after yet another shitty day in the books.
“I can't stand that kid." I tell no one.
The kid, My 28 year old boss 5 years my junior in age and height. I don’t mind the work, I like fixing shit, I just don’t like the little silverspoon tossing me around like a meatball in a food fight.
Luckily, the 30 minute drive home down one mountain and up another gives me the perfect amount of time to cool my hot head and stop complaining to my truck like it’s my spouse. The heavy snowfall leaves a blanket of fluff to swirl across the road with every passing car, calming me but also extending the ride.
Thanks to the snow, I arrive home a bit later than usual. Exiting my truck I grab a shovel and get to work. As I push the snow clear I can’t wait to go inside and warm up then crash out for the night.
"Fuck this snow," I tell my shovel as we finish tossing the last scoop of ice and heavy snow the plows push in from the road to the end of the driveway every god damn time they pass.
The temperature has been unusually cold the past few days for the time of year. Early April and its the kind of top-of-the-mountain, January in Vermont cold, that you feel down to your bones. The kind of cold that personally makes me want to kick back on my couch with an extra space heater, sip some coffee, and stare blankly at my television. Maybe I’ll pick something to binge-watch on Netflix, but most likely, I’d end up scrolling for hours, unable to settle on anything before spending another night giggling at the same jokes from The Griffin or The Smith Family that I’ve heard a thousand times before.
Unfortunately, the relaxation has to wait a bit.
Coming through the door I'm greeted by 2 giant paws to the chest, paws which happened to help me close the door the rest of the way with my back.
“Hey Arthur, thank you as always for helping with the door.” I greet my overgrown German Shepherd, a handsome boy with black fur covering the top center of his face and back with tan fur covering the rest of his body and some saturated brown hairs blending everything together.
Arthur is approximately 150lbs of dog, and he sure seems extra excited to see me today and go outside to play. Hopping up and down in front of the door Arthur spun in his usual circles of excitement, whipping me in the knee and coming uncomfortably close to slapping me in a more sensitive area with his ridiculously long tail.
"Good boy good boy, I know buck," One of his many nicknames that I randomly come up with, "How was your day bud?" I ask as I hook him up to his retractable leash, which he knows means it’s time to go out and play in the snow.
Before we could head outside my phone rang.
“What the fuck does he want now? I just got home.” I say holding my phone seeing, ‘Boss,’ lighting up the LCD screen with a green and red circle underneath.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly click the green circle to answer, “Hello.”
“Hey, Rick how was your drive?” He asks, almost in a mocking tone.
“It was fine, roads were clear.” Keeping it short and waiting for the punchline of the call.
“Good, glad you made it. Crazy weather lately huh? I forgot to mention it before you left, but I received a call from the guest staying in Winter Creek, Unit C-3. It sounds like the heat stopped working earlier so I need you to go get it running for the guests.”
Taking another breath before responding to keep my composure and gather my thoughts, “OK, I can run out. First, I have to take my dog out for a bit to let him go to the bathroom then I’ll head in. Please let them know I will be there within an hour, Thanks.”
“Alright, I’ll call them and let ‘em know. Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
“Yup. Bye” I hung up the phone and immediately took out my frustration on the bearer of this bad news by throwing the piece of shit cellphone across the kitchen where it did its best impression of a grenade as it slammed into the sink full of dirty dishes from the night before, tossing out plastic bowls and silverware and managing to destroy one of my favorite mugs.
“Well... Fuck. Let’s go Arthur.” I said, leaving the phone and the mess for later.
I open the door for a very patient and good boy who took off on his retractable leash as soon as the door was open enough diving into the high snow outside. We took a stroll through the yard continuing closer to the back of the house where the ice dams stack up. They fell off the roof a few nights back with a loud ‘thud’ that scared the shit out of both of us and sent Arthur on a rampage of barks. Now we use them to play one of Arthur’s favorite Winter games, “Hulk Smash”.
Arthur starts off by relentlessly digging into the ice dams with his paws, every now and again biting at them to try to take a chunk out until I yell, "GET IT! GET IT!". That’s when he jumps up on his two back legs hanging to build strength, then brings down all of the built up force in his two front paws, slamming them onto the hardened snow and ice in an attempt to obliterate any ice that dare enter our domain.
Once we got a decent amount of play time in, I decide it’s time to get Arthur back inside and head back to work, again. Trudging through the snow up hill in the back yard Arthur starts barking.
He randomly starts pulling with all of his might trying to get loose, every hair along his back stood on end, from the scruff of his neck all the way back to his poofed out tail. The barking was beginning to turn into whines. At this point, a very loud-high pitch hum starts to become audible to myself, the hum gets louder and louder as pressure grows heavier in my head and chest.
In a failed attempt to cover my ears, trying to dull the massive amount of pain radiating through my head, I accidentally let go of the leash.
I was almost unable to focus on anything other than the pain in my head and chest. I just want it to stop, it’s at the point where I can’t breathe but still I reach for the leash, wanting to get Arthur closer so I could try to help him somehow, but the leash retracted out of my reach.
BOOM!
Something explodes. I'm spinning through the air uncontrollably, unable to track up from down. I land further down the hill, disoriented with no clear sense of where my house lies.
Am I screaming? Am I crying? The pain is too much to focus, I feel like the world is slipping away and getting smaller.
Black spots invade my sight, paired with little specks of light zooming through my vision from all sides of my periphery as my awareness was attempting to leave the scene.
“I don’t, I don't want to die... ARTHUR! I need to make sure he's okay. Fucking get it together man.” I take a deep breath in, using all my strength and the sudden adrenaline rush to focus on even one thing.
I manage to force my weighted eye lids back open to search the distant tree line.
I try calling for Arthur, I scream his name but I may be only mouthing the words. I have no clue if I’m making sound, but I try again and again.
As I search for him toward the falling sun a blinding, fiery flash lit the sky in the distance. The shadow of a big dog appearing out of nowhere. Then, everything went black.
E. I. D. O.
Online
Registering Human...
Rick Weston
G.N.I.
Awakening…
Please Wait...
Just as quickly as I passed out, I awoke. Pain everywhere. Unsure of what was happening but feeling frigid and brittle, all of a sudden something absolutely freezing wet covered me from head to toe.
My eyes shot open, “Fuck!” I realized I was being dragged by the hood of my coat through the small stream that ran along the side of my property.
"Arthur, LET GO!" I commanded pissed off and freezing.
I picked my head up and cranked it around instantly noticing, this is not my dog.
What the fuck is that?!
It looked like it could have been a dog at some point, but its mangy body was littered with sores leaking puss, half of its hair was missing in random spots and it had no fur on its stub of a tail. It was about the size of a full grown black bear.
It also heard me yell at it, “Shit.” I sighed.
Turning its head back to see what it thought must have been a nice plump already dead dinner, we met eyes, and wow.
This is the ugliest fucking thing I have ever seen in my entire life.
It’s like, if a 200 pound mutated Pug met a Saber Toothed Sewage Lion, then they both became lifetime addicts to methamphetamine, had babies that grew up following in the footsteps of their parents.
This ugly shit would be the 3rd generation inbred of that monstrosity.
"GAH FUCK!" I screamed as something sunk its teeth into my leg.
Apparently, another one of the ugly fucks also wanted to eat me and was starting dinner, luckily the one dragging me away wasn't having it and leapt at the new comer, swatting it away with its claws.
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I didn't even notice the claws, they must have been at least 6 inches long and looked to be made of stone.
It took me a second to place it, but the legs were sort of human-like arms, with elbows bent in the wrong direction.
What the hell is this thing?
I pulled myself away as they continued to fuss at each other. I managed to pull myself out of the freezing blood dyed water turned pink from bite wounds.
That'll get infected.
I removed my freezing wet coat in an attempt to avoid hypothermia, though I may have been too late considering the violent shaking affecting my entire body.
I slowly backed away from the two dogs as they made loud guttural noises and growls at each other, arguing over who is going to get the white meat.
While my 2 hungry friends had their lovers quarrel, I noticed something new to the scene.
Floating above each dogs head was a translucent box, lit up with white glowing font inside a small red rectangle.
[Mutated Neighborhood Mutt]
Underneath the first box in a smaller italic font it read,
[System Generated]
"What the hell is going on?" I said to myself while scurrying away. “I need to get the fuck out of here.”
What happened next felt like an eternity. It’s hard to tell time when your adrenaline is peaked.
"No! Bad Dog! NO!" As I was stuck in my own head the Mutts decided to share dinner.
They both grabbed me, one on each foot and yanked. Right after getting to my feet I hit the ground with a THUD. All of the air vacated my lungs.
They violently pulled me back into the stream, thrashing me from side to side as I tried to keep my head above the freezing water.
I was lucky to have my steel toed work boots on, otherwise I would have lost my toes.
I struggled to move the mutts.
It seemed like they were starting to notice that Timberland’s may be a good boot, but they don't taste great.
The mutt on my left side let go and leapt forward sinking his teeth into the tasty flesh of my leg, connecting very close to my first wound.
I screamed in pain and started flailing, unsuccessfully trying to free myself.
The movement only created more pain as the skin and muscle of my thigh ripped apart with every motion.
I finally decided I'd had enough of being some fucked up dog monsters chew toy.
Defense isn’t working, time for offense.
I attempted to sit up while being tugged in both directions. I threw a punch as hard as I could, hitting the skull of the mutt attached to my left leg.
CRACK!
Pretty sure I broke my knuckles.
My attacks only seemed to make the mutt angry as it opened its mouth and bit down again and again, gnashing teeth through my flesh.
My blood showered the area and the snow beneath in deep crimson.
My leg turned into a grisly, meaty mess that was hard to look at without feeling woozy.
I had to do something or I would be ripped to shreds within the next minute. At the same time I realized this the other mutt took a page from his friends book and gave up on the boot.
I grabbed the biggest rock at my side as he dove for my neck.
I brought the rock above my head with both hands and swung it straight down with every bit of strength I had, striking the dog on top of the head to freeze its momentum.
The rock attempted to slip from my bloody hand but I held true.
The first strike split its head open, creating a decent wound to focus my strikes on.
I continued striking the stunned Mutt and our blood blended together, splashing the snow to create a nightmarish abstract piece.
I was starting to feel woozy as my adrenaline waned or maybe the extreme blood loss was getting to me.
Unfortunately, I didn't kill the mutt but I noticed the red box hovering above its head was emptying.
A health bar? I’m fuckin’ losing it.
I swung the rock at the mutt still attached to my left leg.
I hit my mark but he hung in there. The jolt from my own attack sent a shock of pain through my body.
I have to kill the one attached to me while keeping the other one from latching on somehow.
Reaching blindly for anything within arms length, I found a decent stick and used it as a club.
I swung wildly to keep the other at bay, hammering on the mutt attached to my leg when allowed. I only had his bar down half way.
My swings grew slower and it was harder to raise the stick after every wild swing. I was constantly pulling, trying to move myself further away from the threat, but that was only causing more pain and bleeding.
With the sharper end of the dull stick, I stabbed into the bulbous pug like eye.
“Got one... Fuck you!!!” I screamed.
The tension on my leg lifted but the pain did not.
With every pounding heart beat slamming in my ears, blood pumped from the wound.
I can live with taking one out, or die with it I suppose.
The instant the first Mutt hit the ground dead, the second stalked forward.
There wasn't much I could do to stop it at this point.
With consciousness blinking in and out and the slightest tunnel vision, I got up to my one good knee in an attempt to stand.
The Mutt jumped for the kill.
I held it’s eyes and screamed in defiance.
Of everything.
Of my life.
Of my death.
Of course it would be this forgetful. No one will find me, no one will know what happened, at least that’s what I assume since this guy looks pretty hungry.
But I know.
I know that I fought. Day after fucking day. From the second I came into this world.
This thing can kill me, but I'll go out fighting.
I let it all out in one scream, and one punch.
All of the rage trapped in my soul.
I threw the meanest right cross to meet the ugly fucker.
The mutt opened its mouth to catch my arm.
And, it did... The ugly fucker caught my arm.
It twisted and ripped as it passed, tearing through my arm which now hung at my side by ligaments and cartilage, two stumps of bone on each side where my elbow should've been.
Before it made the killing dive, I heard something.
Something big, running fast as hell.
The Mutt dashed to it's right so it was head on and leapt for the kill.
The new creature barreled into the side of the Mutt, knocking him off course before they tumbled through the bloodied snow.
The new dog sunk his own teeth into the mutated dog as I attempted to stay on my feet and approach.
“Arthur...” I whispered, holding back tears as I faded. “Good boy...”
The Mutt took a lot of damage from the hit and its bar only had a quarter left.
Arthur went for the kill but the Mutt used its quick side to side speed to shift out of the way and snag Arthur by the neck.
It thrashed its head wildly from side to side.
Blood sprayed from the bite like a fountain at the Bellagio, painting even more of the snow and adding to the horrific ending of my life.
“NOOO!” I yelled in rebellion, my voice hoarse and gruff.
I can't let this happen. Not Arthur, he’s a good boy.
My best friend in this shit world.
I tried to move my left leg but it was torn to shreds, the pain of trying to move was indescribable.
I couldn’t use my right arm because it was about to fall off of my body.
Fuck that. I still have another arm and another leg.
I pushed through the pain, turning all of my hate and anger into unbridled rage.
But also using the love that I have for this dog to push me forward.
Regardless of how I feel or what happens next, I will save my fucking dog.
Staggering toward the Mutt, I stiffened my fingers and aimed for an eye.
I felt and heard a POP!
I managed to dig 3 of my fingers into the eye socket of the monster, my pinky dislocated. I grabbed the inside of the monsters orbital and pulled the fucker off my dog.
It slipped out of my grasp and leapt forward to bite me but I shoved my boot into its mouth, pinning its jaw to the ground.
I snapped my pinky back in place then punched my entire hand into its eye socket, grasping the skull above the eye.
I pulled up with a new power radiating through my body, releasing the war cry of a man who would do anything to protect who he considers family.
I felt snapping and popping as the jaw broke out of place.
I pulled back on the skull using the rest of my gas tank and separated the bottom of its head from its body.
I tossed the dead Mutts body into the stream with my one decent arm. The bottom half of the jaw and neck still pinned in my foot, with a large Canine tooth piercing and ruining my boots completely.
I stumbled backwards toward the river, nothing left to give.
At least Arthur is safe.
As I was falling I saw the smallest shimmer of light radiating from the corpses.
I've played enough games in my day and as crazy as this all seemed, I went with it.
I thought to myself, or maybe said out loud, "Loot"
A new box appeared, I reached out with my one good arm into a light blue grid. I grabbed the red vials and pulled them to my chest right before hitting the ground.
The world turned to darkness once more.