Now Play Dead!

“That poster is crooked. Fix it.”

Alex rolled his eyes at Sarah, his best friend. Everyone knew missing animal posters did nothing. Plus Zombie Hoarder 4 just came out today and Alex was hoping to play it before school on Monday, but alas…he was here…

“I think it looks fine,” Alex replied as Sarah came over and fixed it herself. 

“This is the fourth one this week,” Sarah said. 

“Animals go missing all the time. Are we almost done?”

Sarah shot him her signature, don’t-even-think-about-it stare. With those intense brown eyes, no one would argue with her. 

“Right,” Alex finally said. “I guess we will have some better luck in the upper side of town. I mean because this is where a majority of the animals went missing.”

“That’s more like it.” She winked at Alex and his stomach dropped. They had been friends since they were young, but recently at the ripe age of thirteen, Alex felt other feelings for her, but that would ruin their friendship.

Alex swallowed a dry lump. “Let’s go then.”

They continued the rest of their fleeting Saturday hanging up the posters. One was a black lab named Rufus, another was a toy Australian shepherd named Spuddie, (Alex quit questioning the names) a cat, Felix, and another cat, Waffle. 

Alex couldn’t imagine losing his pet. He practically grew up with his beagle, Lucky, since he was a baby and although old, that dog was his best friend…well, his other one. 

“Take care, okay? I think we should canvas the rest of town together.” They stopped in front of his typical cul de sac house and he nodded, trying to control his hand sweating. “Sure thing.”

As he walked to the house, the ominous nature of these missing pets festered in his gut. Willowville normally had a basic smallish town-like vibe with about one crime per ten years. The way the animals went missing set him at unease. Why were they only missing from one part of town and why was it so close to Halloween too?

Alex tried to never follow his imagination, but something about this seemed creepy. He entered his house to find his mother and father, shockingly, in the same room. 

“Buddy,” his dad said. “Why don’t you take a seat.”

Every kid's worst nightmare phrase.

Alex reluctantly strode over. His heart was racing like in NASCAR. 

“Alex. It seems Lucky ran away today,” his mom said. 

Alex stilled. No. Not lucky!

His mind raced with possibilities. She had never had an issue with running away before! One time, Alex forgot to close the back door ALL day and Lucky never left. “I don’t understand.” His words came out parched. Did the temperature rise or something?

“We know this can be difficult, Buddy,” his dad said again.

“Come sit,” his mother urged.

But Alex didn’t want to sit. Sitting after such bad news was like quitting a hard video game. He wasn’t a quitter.

He ran to his room and slammed the door, letting his tears fall. He could cry in front of his parents, but he was thirteen now, and teens didn’t do that stuff. He fired a quick text to Sarah telling her the news. 

She replied back like lightning. It was settled. They were going to search tomorrow. No matter what it took.

“Do you think the new neighbor had something to do with it?” Alex hardly heard Sarah as they combed the rest of the town. She had brought him a milkshake to cheer him up, but even that didn’t work. Memories of Lucky flashed in his head like a bad strobe. Lucky had to have been taken, but who would steal animals?

“It is weird to steal pets,” Sarah said as if reading his thoughts…like she somehow did on occasion. “I say we just ask him. What harm could it do?”

“I don’t know, maybe getting kidnapped?”

Sarah scoffed. “You watch too many horror films. Come on.”

The neighbor, Steve Junk, moved in about a month ago, but his house still looked like he hadn’t settled in. The grass was up to their knees and cobwebs were growing from other cobwebs along the unwashed windows. Even the smell had a dusty rank to it. 

Sarah rang the doorbell, and Alex shifted on his heels, hoping he didn’t answer. After a couple of beats, they turned around before the door creaked open.

Mr. Junk gazed out, he was still in his bathrobe despite it being almost noon and his beard was unruly. “Can I help you?”

Sarah stepped up and held up the fliers. “Hello, sir. Have you seen these missing animals? We know you are new to town, but these things don’t happen much.” The old neighbor appeared to be doing a hard algebra problem in his head, and then he slammed the door. 

“How rude,” Sarah said. 

A bit rolled down Alex’s stomach. “Maybe we should go.”

Sarah was already circling the back. “Oh no. That was sus and I intend to find out.”

“Sarah.” Alex followed her around, the dead grass spots crunching at his feet. “That is what police are for.”

Sarah guffawed. “They won’t give a flying squirrel about some animals, now, let me see if this is unlocked.”

“Sarah. He is home.”

“It’s a big enough house. Let me just open and listen in to hear animals…assuming they are still alive…What? Of course, they are. Stop with the looks.”

Alex couldn’t believe he was here right now. This was part of horror movies when—

“Got the door!”

“Sarah, we need to—”

“Who is there? Is that you kids again?” It was Mr. Junk.

“Oh, great,” Sarah said. “Move it!”

Alex’s legs couldn’t carry him fast enough. When they reached a safe destination, all that filled the air was their heavy pants. 

“Yep. Should've tried harder in the gym.” Sarah plopped on a patch of grass and Alex joined her.

“Should’ve not committed a felony.”

“It was a class H felony at best.”

Alex didn’t want to know how she learned these things.

“So what do we do now?” Alex asked.

Sarah waved her arms around. “Dude! Did you not hear what I heard by the door?”

“I was too busy being drowned out by my beating heart.”

“I heard an animal whimpering. There were def animals in there.”

“Are you sure?” She shot the “don’t question me again” look. “Right. Well, what if we are wrong?”

“We probably aren’t.”

That didn’t help. 

That night after some overthinking and pizzas and Alex’s attempt to bribe her out of it, they went back to Mr. Junk’s house. Sarah pulled out what looked like two pins. 

“What is that and why is that?”

Sarah winked, her black beanie covering her rich curls, but she still was beautiful. “A lock picking kit. 14.99 on Amazon.” He didn’t argue with her and followed her to the back. He hated the idea, but no one had called about the missing pets yet and they had to try something. 

After the main light went out, they made their move. Luckily his mom and dad trusted Sarah and let him stay out late on a school night. It helped that he was mostly an A student minus his recent Spanish grade.

“Now, watch.” She fidgeted with the lock and impressively, after a couple of seconds, it clicked. She pushed the door open as quietly as possible and they crept in. It was so quiet, the only sound was a drip of a leaky roof. “Down here,” Sarah whispered, only to freeze at a soft groan. 

After nothing followed, they continued down a set of steep stairs. At the bottom was a pad locked door. Sarah eyed Alex and Alex’s throat swelled. Was that a normal thing for people to have? Sarah made quick work of the lock while Alex kept lookout, every creek setting his teeth on edge. 

Once they were through, a louder whimper propelled from the other side of the room. They followed it to another door and immediately, the stench of rotting garbage coated Alex’s nostrils. Sarah plugged her nose and opened the door. Alex almost dropped his phone flash light. 

Standing, surrounded by a pile of bones and other various substances, was a massive creature. Sarah flicked on the light and Alex wished she hadn’t.  

They found the animals, but not how he wanted. 

A nightmarish amalgamation of animal parts. Its hulking body bore the disfigured and mismatched parts of an Australian Shepherd, twisted and gnarled. Its once graceful tail, belonging to a Black Lab, hung in grotesque contrast to its misshapen form, twitching with a sinister anticipation.

The creature's head was a ghastly fusion of a Beagle's snout and a Tuxedo Cat's ears, a macabre parody of their cuteness. Its eyes, usually the windows to the soul, were hauntingly vacant, each one a different color, and both devoid of any warmth or emotion. They glowed with an eerie, unearthly light, reflecting its torment.

Its fur, an unnatural blend of the two cats, a Tuxedo and a Tortoiseshell, hung in matted clumps, creating an unsettling contrast of black and orange patches that seemed to writhe and squirm on its monstrous frame.

As it lumbered closer, its guttural growls and mournful howls echoed through the air, sending a chill down your spine. Each step it took was unsteady and erratic as if its tortured existence was a never-ending struggle for balance and stability.

“Alex,” Sarah choked out. 

The beast leered at them but stilled. 

“Well. Looks like you found my project.”

Mr. Junk stood on the other side of the doorway, holding a piece of steak. “I must say, you brats have quite the hunch, but you were all too predictable.”

The eyes of Lucky stared back at Alex, tears rolling down his cheeks. “But why? Why do this to the pets?”

“You are not the first town I’ve swept through with my experiments.” His voice was shrill like it was full of dust. “I have always longed for the perfect pet. Have you ever encountered pets that just weren’t enough? They were nice but stupid or messy, but kind? Or even died too soon.”

Alex and Sarah gulped. 

“Here I found the perfect amount of pets. One that will finally not disappoint me.”

The beast roared. 

“You Frankensteined them!” Sarah yelled. 

Mr. Junk threw the steak at the monster and it devoured it in one bite. 

Clutching his bag, Alex knew the exit was close. 

The beast charged and he slammed it with his bag and took Sarah the other way. 

They raced for the stairs, but the monster was too fast and grabbed Sarah, yanking her away. 

“Run Alex!”

He turned toward the exit, but he refused to abandon her. His best friend. Flashing between anything in the crypt-like basement, he spotted something. Lucky’s collar. 

He smiled. 

Years ago, they had to install a heart monitor in the collar in case she had medical issues. It also sent a tiny pulse of electricity to help reset her rhythm. 

That had to be enough. As it yanked Sarah back, she screamed louder and louder. Alex took the collar and with a yank, pulled the electrical pod from it. 

Here goes nothing. 

He charged the beast and it bit at him, but Alex shoved the pill in its mouth and pressed the button. 

The monster screeched and thrashed, throwing Sarah into some shelves. It was deafening, but Alex inched closer and called out, “Lucky! It’s me! If you are still alive somewhere, please—”

The beast snatched the collar and slammed Alex into a wall. Dots circled his vision as a faint laugh came from the doorway.

“I’ve designed this beast to be unstoppable! They are useless pets! They are mine and you wi—”

The beast grabbed him by the throat. Mr. Junk grasped at the beast's claws, but it threw him into the wall, out cold. 

Alex stood back as the beast turned, its dog head almost smiling as it held the collar. Then, in a flash, the monster melted into a pit of black smoke. One by one, the missing animals scampered from the mist and Sarah ran over to Alex, hugging him, and planting a kiss on his cheek. “You did it!”

Trying and failing not to turn red, Alex collected the animals. “Call 9-1-1. We have missing animals and a weird scientist to turn in.” With the animals, they hurried upstairs and called the police. 

Because it was a small town, they showed up in minutes. 

When the cops went down to arrest Mr. Junk, they came up shaking their heads. He was gone. 

Sarah and Alex didn’t know how Mr. Junk did it, or how they freed the animals. But all Alex knew was that he was reunited with Lucky and later that night, when any strange noise came from his house, he was safe, as long as he had an amazing best friend and the world’s greatest dog. 

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