Interlude 1: Sitting, Waiting, Wishing...
Sniff-Sniff-Sniff. New scent. Wonder what that is?
I grab more sticks. Put on fire. Dad gone longer than expected.
“One paw in front of another! One paw swipe blowing up the tree!” like singing. Wish dog could sing like Papa or Mama did.
A dog exits a small survival blind built into the side of the Green Mountains, the lone German Shepherd approaches a downed birch tree howling. He swipes out a paw, cutting through the tree with little to no effort. Biting and lifting the large tree in his mouth, he walks it back into his concealed hideout with ease. Wood chips fly from the entrance as the tree quickly disappears behind the camouflage as if on a conveyor belt.
There. Stacked up, like Dad!
Snnniff-Sniff-Sniff.
Still smell something, but Dad say stay.
Need to check outside though.
I walk camp. Make sure no monsters.
Arthur roams the camp under the light of the moon and stars. Ignoring the scent for now, he reenters the blind and tosses another log onto the fire before lying down for a nap.
“Heeelp! Nooo!” Screams echo in the distance.
Arthur explodes into a wild sprint.
Dad would be okay. If someone need help, we help. I run fast, faster than before.
I run and help. Back before Dad.
Dad can’t catch me now!
On the outskirts of the small mountain town, a girl runs with a young child in her arms, nearing the end of a cul-de-sac. Following closely behind her, a group of malformed creatures wearing dull pink skin, wriggling over the ground on clusters of pale tentacles.
An eye focused on the child, the monsters gurgle words of command but the girl keeps running, unaware that she is being flanked. She rounds the backside of a two story family home trying to out pace the creatures, but she runs right into the trap.
A tentacle reaches up to pull the noise canceling ear muffs from her head.
She pulls away but not before one of her ears becomes exposed.
“Grlglshh-shtop. Stop. Stop. Stop...” The creature gurgles commands from its many mouths and the girl froze in place mid step, as if time ceased to continue for her.
Stiff as a board, the girl was now face to face with her group of stalkers. The third finally catching up and rounding the corner to completely surround her. With only her eyes able to move, she watched as the horrifying monster moves closer, gliding over the ground as if the undulating tentacles were merely for show.
The skin on the creatures was pulled tight, like a human melted into putty and stretched in all directions. Stretched thin enough to see the dark pulsing veins underneath. A small head sat crooked and off centered on the elongated body. Only one eye in the center of the softball sized mass. A blue, human eye. Its body spotted like a dalmatian but instead of black splotches, human mouths were sporadically scattered along the body.
The center of its torso split apart with a wet tearing sound like ripping soaked cardboard, showing a wide circular maw full of snapped bones fashioned into razor-like teeth, all facing her direction as they popped up between plates of ribs.
“Glrlullg-Release the child, Release, Release. Release. Child. Child. Release the Child.” All of the monsters followed the first, commanding she drop the child. The first sound came from the center mouth with each mouth echoing the command. Voices of multiple men, women and children layered and glitched over each other traveling from every direction.
Her arms stretched wide as if pushed by an invisible force, dropping the young boy, only Seven years of age. He fell to his feet but stumbled upon impact, tripping over an old snow shovel and crashing to the ground, causing him to cry.
The girl still unable to move, looks to the child from the corner of her eye. Her pupils shivering in fear as tears begin running down her face. She is helpless and knows she failed the child.
She fought with everything she had but was stuck in the same position, unable to even blink away the tears flooding her vision.
Frozen and surrounded by three of the creatures, she screams through barely open lips, “Rrnnn!”
The child moves to run but is quickly snatched by one of the tentacles before making it out of the circle of horrors.
One tentacle squirms up the boys leg as another moves to envelop him as he peeks under the tentacles of the closest monster while fighting to free himself.
The tentacles themselves had mouths lining the underside, the mouths looked to be made of different bones, some fingers or toes, others sharpened rib bones. Hidden behind the tentacles, a mass of twisted and corrupt human limbs. One of the hands still wearing a wedding ring and one of the feet looked to be the same size as his, with a Paw Patrol slipper attached.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The boy screams as he stands up and attempts to free himself but he’s unable to move an inch, the strength of the monster easily restraining him.
He gathers his strength and pulls again, suddenly falling to the ground.
Sniff-Sniff,
Fear...
Found you!
Small boy trapped. Girl frozen. Help boy first. Protect them both.
Jump! Dig!
Pull boy back!
Jump! Mighty Tail Slap!
Jump! Dig, bite!
Bite!
Jump! Dig dig dig dig!
BITE!
I win!
A dog appears.
Arthur leapt through the air, traveling faster than any normal dog could hope to achieve.
Severing the tentacle holding the boy in place he pulls him back against the house for safety. In one smooth motion he jumped into the air while spinning in a circle, whipping each monsters eye with his tail as he passed by to disorient them.
He took up his spot in the middle of the three monsters, keeping the girl behind him.
Activating his claws, he jumped at the first monster sinking his back paws into the stomach to hold himself up as he bit down to remove it’s head.
“Gllulrlull Stop. Stop. Stop.” The remaining 2 Leeches commanded Arthur.
He paused and cocked his head sideways at them. Then ripped off one of the tentacles moving his way and tossing it to the side with his mouth.
Arthur jumped at one of the leeches as it opened its large center mouth, looking to eat the dog with one big bite, but it was much too slow for this specific dog.
He brought all 4 legs up as he landed, sinking them into the top of the creature before digging through the head and body until he hit the grass underneath.
The final creature, realizing it had met its match, turned to grab the child and flee.
Arthur leapt into the air, snapping its head off with the ease of flicking a light switch, ending the fight.
Upon the death of the last Choir Leech, the girls body relaxed and she was able to move freely again. She quickly ran to the boy, getting in front of him to protect him from the dog that just viciously killed three monsters with ease.
The over grown Shepherd whined as he sat in front of them. His tongue fell from the side of his mouth as he began panting.
“Thank you puppy!” The boy jumped to his feet and ran to Arthur giving him a big hug, covering the boy in the gooey monster blood that the dogs fur was drenched with.
The girl chased the boy, grabbing him and pulling him away from the dog.
She stared at the dog for a moment before speaking, “Thank you...”
“Woof!” His tongue hung from the side of his friendly looking smile.
After a moment of silence and contemplation the girl spoke.
“How did you get out here? Do you want to come with us and find a safe place to sleep for the night? We can look for your owner in the morning?” Realizing she was safe, the girl opened up to the dog, speaking fast and asking all of her questions at once.
“Woof Woof!” Arthur nod his head left then right, then motioned the children to come with him by turning his snout in the direction of his camp.
“Sorry, I don’t understand puppy.” She said, watching as the dog walked a few steps then turned back to gesture her and the boy along.
“Come on Taylor, he wants us to go with him or he wants to show us something. Maybe he has a safe place for us to stay!” The boy said, figuring out the mystery first.
“Is that what you mean puppy?” The girl asked, still a bit skeptical.
“Woof!” Arthur answered, shaking his head up and down.
“Weird... Well, we don’t have anywhere else to go. We’ve been running all day from those Leech things. They’ve been trying to take Oliver for some reason.” She said squeezing the boys arm and bending over to pat the dog on the head.
“I’m Oliver! My Mom and Dad call me Oli, This is my big sister Taylor! I call her Tay-Tay” Oliver excitedly introduced himself.
“Woof!” Arthur said with a tail wag.
“Whats your name?” The boy said searching the beat up collar for a tag, then reading, “Arthur, Aka... Cowpoke? I don’t know what Cowpoke means, but it’s nice to meet you Arthur!”
“Woof, woof woof!” Arthur exclaimed, turning to walk to camp with two new friends.
They arrived at the dogs camp with no trouble or surprises on the way. Arthur used his strong senses to keep them out of trouble.
Arthur invited the new comers inside, quickly adding another log on the fire upon entering.
“Wow, how did you make this? You did this by yourself?” Taylor asked, in awe of the survival structure the dog invited her into.
“Awoo.” Arthur answered, shaking his head left then right, before leaving to go check the surroundings.
Sniff-sniff. Still no Dad…
He really late.
Returning to the blind Arthur laid out moss, dried grass and leaves that he scrounged from the surrounding area, making the children a soft surface to sleep on and creating a third for his missing owner.
Oliver pokes around the cave in awe, “It’s really cool in here, I hope your owner is okay and we get to meet them soon!”
Taylor and Oliver lie down beside the fire, quickly falling asleep after the violent and strenuous day they endured. Arthur lie next to the entrance eyeing the forest, waiting over an hour as his long day wore on him and he finally passed out.
Sniff….
Sniff-sniff…
Arthur jumps to his feet.
He quickly tosses a log on the fire to keep his two friends warm, then runs out of the camp at top speed toward the strange, yet familiar smell.