-1The rainfall was heavy that night, relentlessly pounding down on the rooftops of the city. Inside, human families, oblivious to the world outside, mingled with each other about the day’s activities. Earlier in the day, the kids had gone to school while the father was busy at work, and at home, the mother of the family cleaned the house and planned what she would make for dinner that night.

It was routine and it was always the same.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop and then to the top of a waterlogged wooden fence, a male calico cat with glowing, green eyes made his way towards the home of one family he had a particular interest in. As the soaking wet feline closed in towards the dining room window, many thoughts passed through his mind, though he did not know what to make of most of them. He kept his cool, and found the perfect position on the fence to peer inside.

Within the comfort of their home, the family sat around a square table, passing food to each other and conversing. The oldest child, a boy in the fifth grade, went on and on about how well he did in soccer practice that day, ultimately annoying his younger sister, who desperately wanted to talk about how much her teacher loved her artwork. Their parents simply smiled at each other and told their son they were very proud.

The cat kept watch from the fence, keeping an ear out for any unusual sounds, but all he heard was the persistent and never-ending rain. He didn’t enjoy being this wet, but he had no choice tonight…

After dinner, the children went to their respective bedrooms to finish up their homework for the day as their mother cleaned the kitchen. Meanwhile, the man of the house relaxed and reclined on the couch in front of the television, letting his tense brain relax while watching educational programming. As a man of science, he relaxed best when he was learning something new, even though his subconscious never seemed to want to relax itself and was always racing…

On the cushion next to the man, a young wire terrier was curled up, fast asleep, without a care in the world. Every so often, his light brown ears would twitch in his dreams, and he would move his paws as he ran in his sleep, black paw pads feeling the softness of imaginary wet soil. What was he chasing? Or rather, what was he running from? The man, although curious, would never be able to figure out what was going on in his little dog’s mind.

“You’re a special one, aren’t you, Kilney?” the man reached down and stroked his dog’s head. Kilney opened his eyes, forgetting the peril of his dreams, and looked up at his master, wagging his short tail.

The cat continued to observe, knowing that there was a chance the observed may die. He continued to look into the box that was the home of the family, or he would never know the answer…

“Well, sport, it is time for daddy to go to bed.” The man stood up and headed off to his bedroom. Kilney just sat on the couch, watching, and knowing that he would stay the night there, just like every night. The routine was boring, but he loved it. Everything was in its place! “Good night, Kilney.” the man smiled, turned off the lights, and went into his room, closing the door behind him.

In the darkness of the living room, Kilney lay his head back down on the cushion and closed his eyes. Life was good and he wished he could live with his family forever. He was bonded to them for life; that was the way of the dog.

Ever since the dawn of man, dogs had stayed loyal by the side of their human masters. It was their destiny, from the moment the first dog came into the cave of early man to live by his side, to protect him, to love him, to hunt with him, to work with him… it was the dogs’ inherited trait from their forefathers to stay loyal and protective to man. Kilney was never taught this by anyone. He was born knowing this, and so, he unquestioningly stayed by the side of the family who cared for him and fed him. In return, the dog will defend them to the very end.

Closing his eyes and falling victim to the world of the sleeping, Kilney thought only about his family… nothing more and nothing less…

--

“Kilney! Kilney! Here boy!”

It was the sound of a familiar voice… his boy.

“Go get the frisbee!” The boy skillfully through the blue flying disk out across a large field of tall, wavy grass, drifting back and forth in the gentle summer breeze. Instinctively, Kilney chased it playfully, wagging his short tail and barking at the disk as if trying to call for it to stop flying. On and on it flew, and onwards Kilney chased it across a field in the rays of a bold and beautiful sun. It was so warm and happy, and Kilney took it all in… what a happy memory.

The world moved in slow motion around him as he ran through the grass, tongue hanging from his mouth, eyes bright and youthful, focused on only one thing.

The disk.

He needed to capture it in his jaws and return it to his boy to receive his reward of love, the ultimate prize any dog can receive from their master. Love is the bond that ties human and dog together in the strongest bonds ever felt between two life forms.

“Hurry and catch it, boy!”

Kilney was being too slow… and the disk felt as if it were getting further and further away from his reach. Kilney put more effort into running faster and faster, but the world still felt so slow, as if he were underwater, but he wasn’t…

He started going uphill, still chasing the disk as hard as he could. Why was it flying like this??

Up ahead, he saw a large oak tree, nearly bare of leaves with gnarly roots and trunk. Kilney decided that must be where the frisbee was headed, and narrowed his eyes so he could see more clearly.

Out of the corner of his eye, a shadow bounded out of nowhere and caught the frisbee the moment before it could hit the tree. Kilney was startled by the shadow’s immense speed and agility, and tried to look at it more closely. It looked almost like the shape of a dog, but it reflected no light so it was completely black.

Kilney barked as he got closer to the tree and the figure seemed to notice, dropping the disk on the ground and then dashing off out into nowhere once again, out of Kilney’s sight. Wonder filled the young terrier’s mind about what he had just seen as he approached the fallen flying disk and picked it up in his mouth. He looked off into the direction the figure had bounded off to, but he saw no unusual movements in the grass.

A stronger gust of wind picked up, rattling the branches above Kilney, and more leaves fell. He looked up in awe of the tree’s great stature and might, trying to imagine what it would have looked like if it still had all of its leaves. A grand tree indeed…

“Kilney! Where are you? You didn’t get lost, did you? You silly dog! Come here, boy!”

Kilney snapped out of his trance with nature and turned tail to return to his boy. The wind was stronger now, even feeling colder… maybe even darker, than it was before. The grass moved around him in ways that felt unusual, but he couldn’t figure out what was so unusual about them.

Kilney’s vision began to tunnel… something was making him panic inside…

“Kilney, there you are! Come here, boy!”

Kilney looked ahead, wanting to return to his young master more than anything else. At least nothing had happened to the boy, despite Kilney’s feelings of paranoia. He was relieved to know that the one thing that mattered in his world at that moment was still the same…

Sameness… routine… it was comforting…

Bounding slowly through the grass with the disk in his mouth, Kilney wanted nothing more than to be held in the boy’s arms while the world began to grow cold around him and the sky became darker and intimidating. Kilney saw many strange and disturbing shapes around him at the corners of his vision, but he dared not to look. He refused to take his eyes off his boy, who, bizarrely enough, seemed to be slowly retreating backwards into the shadows…

Kilney ran harder, wanting to catch up, but the image of his boy kept on moving backwards, despite looking as if he was just standing there!

The young terrier began to panic, and the boy continued to smile and happily call out the name of his dog, urging him forward. The dog had no choice but to continue to run towards his master’s voice, endlessly, as if trapped in a dimension of soundlessness and liquid atmosphere.

They are here…

Kilney’s eyes widened in horror as a large black beast rose up behind his boy from the rest of the grotesque, misshapen figures surrounding all of Kilney’s field of view. It’s mouth was large… large enough to fit his family’s entire house into, and it was rimmed with long, ferocious teeth, jagged and menacing. The shadow creature grinned as he opened his mouth ever-wider, with narrow red eyes that could only belong to a demon of only the darkest and cruelest of nightmares.

The boy didn’t seem to notice the demon at all, and just smiled, continuously calling Kilney, even slapping his lap with both hands to grab his dog’s attention.

Kilney froze in terror. What was this thing??

“Kilney!! That’s not how you play fetch, you silly dog!” the boy’s voice was getting louder and more impatient.

No matter what he did, Kilney could not move…

The demon moved in closer to the boy, jaws hovering over the child as if ready to devour him.

“Kilney!!”

Kilney’s eyes widened and his body felt cold as the huge mouth covered the boy completely, jaws closing, engulfing him whole. To his horror, Kilney heard the crunching of flesh and bone as the demon chewed on his meal. The dog just continued to watch the demon, unable to attack… or even think about what had just happened. The disgusting creature chewed with his mouth open, almost as if to taunt Kilney by showing him his boy’s unrecognizable body parts soaked in saliva.

Please make it stop… Kilney tried to close his eyes, but failed.

The demon stopped munching, then regurgitated a bloody, mutilated arm, spitting it in the direction of the terrified terrier, daring him to do something about it.

Kilney felt his eyes start to glaze over, and his breathing stopped completely out of absolute shock of what he was looking at. How could this happen…?

The demon just smiled as Kilney faded away…

--

Thunder clapped, rain poured, and Kilney awoke with a start. He frantically looked about himself, searching for the demon who had haunted his dream, but found himself in the familiar setting of his family’s living room, on the couch, where his master had left him. Relieved it was all just a dream, Kilney rested his head on his crossed paws once more, desiring more sleep… but hoping it would be dreamless.

Closing his eyes, he felt a draft of cold air on his fur. He opened his eyes again with urgency, realizing why the sounds of the outdoors were so loud… a window was open!

Kilney’s senses heightened as he jumped off the couch and went to check the back window, where he suspected the sounds were coming from. He leapt back, startled, when he saw that the window was broken and shattered glass had covered the floor. There was an ominous odor in the room, causing the hair on Kilney’s back to rise. Many wet splotches on the floor made it apparent that someone, or something, had come in from the outside, and judging from the mixtures of scents, Kilney concluded that whatever had come into the house was not alone.

The sounds of struggling hit Kilney’s ears… coming from the bedroom of his little girl. He ran to her, without thinking of what may have been happening, speeding down the hall and making an abrupt right, standing in the doorway that should have been closed for the night…

The smell of blood hit his nostrils, causing him to freeze. It felt just like the dream… except this was… real.

Standing at the side of the bed was a large, muscular rottweiler, drool mixed with blood dripping from his slobbering mouth. Beside him, Kilney saw the limp arm of his helpless girl, slaughtered in her sleep…

Kilney’s fear grew when the large black dog turned his head and looked into his eyes. Kilney took a few steps backwards, and bumped into something. Looking up, he found himself directly underneath a growling Doberman and another rottweiler, both with blood staining the fur around their jaws.

Fearing the entire family had ended up the same way as his girl, Kilney made a move to run towards his boy’s bedroom, but was blocked by the second rott, who grinned deviously at the small terrier. Kilney could smell the scent of his family on the intruders, and assumed the worst…

No… this can’t be true…

Kilney instinctively attacked the leg of the Doberman who separated him from the rest of house in an attempt to make his escape to save his own life out of desperate and mindless panic. The small dog left only a small mark on the Doberman’s leg, but it was enough…

Kilney dashed out into the living room and leapt through the smashed window. He did not why he made the decisions he did… the world was just a blur and what he felt was the rush of adrenaline. All he knew was that he could not stay there… I don’t want to die…!!

Behind him, he could hear the trio of assassins thumping their large paws against the wooden floor and up into the window, then falling less than gracefully into the muddy dirt below.

Kilney ran out across the wet lawn of the backyard and through a small hole in the wooden fence where he found himself in the back alley. Not looking behind himself, he made a right-hand turned and continued to run down the alley, hoping that he would just wake up from this terrible nightmare he was in, but the end never came…

He heard the sound of wood splintering; Kilney realized that the threesome had broken down the fence in pursuit of their tiny prey, who continued to refuse to look behind himself…

The sharpness of the rain stung Kilney’s eyes to the point the could barely see where he was running to, but he did not care. All he wanted was to get away…

The sounds of paws splashing through puddles grew louder and louder as the assassins gained more and more ground on Kilney, longer strides proving to be beneficiary to their goal…

Kilney closed his eyes and blindly ran, knowing that soon he would have to cross a busy city street. If he was to die by being hit by a car, then he did not want to see it coming…

The assassins grinned as they noticed their target was getting slower and slower from exhaustion, but they were so focused on that target that they failed to notice the busy street ahead…

Kilney leapt off the sidewalk and into the street, then continued to run to the other side, hearing the sounds of honking horns and engines roaring as he crossed. He did not open his eyes until he knew he had made it to the other side, completely worn out and unable to run any further.

At the moment Kilney turned his head back to see pursuers, he was just in time to witness a horrifying impact…

One of the rottweilers and the Doberman had run out into the street after Kilney but was cut off by a large semi truck. Kilney watched, almost as if in slow motion, as their bodies seemed to explode with red flesh, blood and bone. Their eyes bulged open from the shock of the impact, tongues hanging loosely from wide-open mouths. The smell of urine and fecal matter mixed with blood hit Kilney’s nostrils in a very unsatisfactory and repulsive manner.

The truck slowed to a stop somewhere down the road, blood and flesh covering his windshield, but Kilney did not care to notice, and as soon as the carnage was over, he turned tail and continued running down the alley, away from the horrors of a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.

The third rottweiler stood across the street from where Kilney had escaped to and stared down at the bloody mess in the road that was once his companions… now barely recognizable and mutilated. The rain, pouring as hard as ever, was already beginning to wash away the remaining canine parts down the street and into the gutter.

The sound of a car door slamming grabbed the rott’s attention, noticing the truck driver would be coming out to see what had happened. The rott knew he couldn’t stay here long, but decided to let his target go… for now.

Hesitantly, the rott retreated back into the dark alley from where he had come, vanishing into the shadows.

Meanwhile, the calico had witnessed it all, without being noticed at all. He pondered to himself about what he had just observed, seeking a conclusion to his own unspoken hypothesis.