All God's Creatures
by: Roger A Wilbanks
1
"Will you shut
that goddamn dog up?!?"
Tom threw a half
full beer can at the screen door between him and Sluggo, the 90lb
Pitbul currently barking its head off.
"He's been
going on like that all night and I'm trying to watch the goddamn news
now.!" he growled.
"I already
missed the end of Forged in Fire...stupid mutt. YEAH! I'm talking to
you!"
He threw an empty
can at the door. Sluggo continued barking, never breaking eye
contact with the obese human screaming from his chair.
"Did he get
into something? Check the garbage." Carol screamed. "I bet
he got into some chocolate. I heard it makes em go nuts."
"How the hell
would I know, woman? I haven't moved in three hours."
"Got THAT
right."
"You better
handle up on that miserable mouth of yours before I handle up on it
myself."
Sluggo was now
clawing at the screen door and scream barking.
"Look at that
goddamn mutt of yours, woman! He's tearing up my fucking door! You
better do something about it before I do."
The dog stopped
barking. It now locked eyes with Tom and the sudden calm that
covered the room felt alien when compared to the chaos that filled it
only a few seconds before.
"Wait, what?
The FUCK are YOU looking at dog? Honey? Get me my gun or some kind
of big old stick. This dog don't look right!"
Sluggo's right ear
pricked to his side. It took its time circling back to focus on a
now shaking Tom. The hook lock on the screen door lifted itself from
its hoop as Tom watched slackjawwed. His eyes doubled in size as the
door creaked open and the dog took his first careful step into the
house he was never allowed in. He had stopped looking at Tom now and
focused his attention a point just over his shoulder. Tom began
shuffling deeper into his La-Z-Boy, fumbling on the floor for one of
his discarded shoes.
"Get in here
and get your dog, Carol! He ain't right!"
Sluggo walked
towards Tom with purpose and with care. It was a solemn walk
intended to give one viewing it time to appreciate it. His attention
still focused on a spot just on the wall behind Tom, a slow and
menacing growl began to bubble from deep within the dog. Carol
appeared in the hallway and saw her sweet little baby stalking her
boyfriend.
"Sluggy-bear,"
she sang. "Come see momma."
The dog turned to
look at her and as the door to the living room closed itself she saw
Sluggo look back at Tom and smile.
2
"In local news,
police in Cockrell Hill make a gruesome discovery when they find
Thomas Sweeny and his common law wife Carol mauled to death by the
couple's pitbull. Police were forced to euthanize the animal when it
refused to allow them entry into the house and appeared to be
protecting the bodies of the deceased when they arrived."
"Oh those dogs
are so horrible!" Doris pulled another liver flavored treat from
the pouch and presented it to Daisy. "Just dreadful." The
shit-zu regarded the treat for a second before accepting it with
regal elegance.
"Obviously bad
breeding. Nothing like my little Daisy-kiss." She kissed the
dog on the nose. The dog allowed it.
A whisper drifted
across the room from an open window.
"Kill her."
it said.
"What was
that?" Doris turned down the sound on her television. Daisy
hopped down from her lap. Doris cocked her ears to try to recapture
the ethereal sound to no avail.
Daisy licked her
feet as Doris returned the television's standard volume. The
newscasters were waxing poetic on the public opinion regarding
pitbulls as an aggressive species. Doris agreed. Daisy stopped
licking her foot and stared at the living room window. Doris patted
her empty lap and Daisy acknowledged her signal to resume her
position but hesitated. She remained transfixed on the living room
window. Her tiny brow crinkled. Her tiny nose scrunched up. This
was a clear warning sign that a nip was imminent.
"Baby girl?
What is it? What's wrong? Come snuggle with mommy."
Daisy hopped up into
Doris' lap, never taking her eyes off the window. The high-pitched
engine of her growl began rumbling.
"Kill her."
This time, Doris
heard it. Daisy did as well. The rumbling turned into a full
throated assault on the window. Doris turned to see what her precious
sweetheart was going on about. She felt a cold flash rush through
her as Daisy fell silent. The tiny dog's body was a tense coil of
shaking steel. The window offered no answer. Doris looked into the
eyes of her constant companion of the last 12 years. The dog was
looking directly into her eyes and appeared to be crying.
"Do it. Do it
now." a cold voice rasped.
This was the last
thing Doris heard as her precious jewel lunged at her and tore her to shreds.
3
"Hurry up!
We'll miss the train!" Paul dodged the always helpful Peanut on
his way to the front door. The suitcases in each hand made balancing
difficult, but he was an athlete and your baby girl only leaves for
college once.
Carolyn exited her
room at the top of the stairs with all of her worldly possessions
contained in three bags. Her high school varsity cheer bag held all
of her athletic stuff. Her suitcase held all her clothes. The rest
of her material goods lay sheltered in her father's Navy duffel bag.
Peanut sat
mid-stair, uncertain of whom to pounce upon first. The labrador was
twelve, the girl was eighteen. Paul brought the puppy home the day
they buried Carolyn's mother and she relished her role as family
protector and court jester over the years. She chose Carolyn as the
fun level there was always higher and dropped down in a pre pounce
pose. She cocked her head towards the living room window.
"I'll bet it's
another ambulance," Paul said. The dog hated ambulances. He
waited for the sound to become audible to him. His time spent
working on submarines in the Navy had focused his already adept
hearing, but they had nothing on the radar cones parked on the
chocolate lab's dome. Those puppies could hear a fart on the
International Space Station, he thought.
This was different.
There was no eventual wee-ooo of the siren this time. Peanut swung
around the staircase and began growling at Paul. This was no
playtime growl either. This dog meant business. She was warning
Paul that danger and death sat on the stairs before him.
"Easy, girl.
What's wrong?" He set down his suitcases and knelt at the base
of the stairs.
"Get them."
"What the HELL
was that?" Paul stood up and turned around expecting to see a
burglar but saw nothing. The words came from nowhere and everywhere.
Peanut continued to
growl at Paul. Carolyn put her hand on the dog's neck to calm her
and she immediately looked back at the teenager with a pained
whimper. She looked back at Paul and took a step further down the
stairs, focusing her attention on Paul.
Paul was scared now.
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what? I
didn't hear anything. I'm scared, daddy!"
"Don't worry
punkin. I'll-" Paul stopped speaking as a lightning bolt of
coldness struck his body. It felt as if he were leaning back in a
chair that has just slipped and he was catching himself, but that
feeling perpetuated. Paul found himself falling deep into himself.
"Here I am
beast. Go ahead and kill me." he found himself saying.
"Daddy, NO!"
"Quiet, whore!
You're next." The cold maleficence in his voice was the thing
that hit Carolyn the hardest. Paul saw himself speaking but it wasn't
him doing the talking. Something dark had hijacked his body and
taken control. Something cold and angry, very angry. He could see
the thoughts of this entity and knew its mind. It wasn't of this
earth. It was wandering the world in search of chaos and it had
been forcing dogs to attack their owners just for fun. It meant to
make Peanut kill him in front of his daughter and he was helpless to
prevent it. The dog was inching closer to him. He saw the fear deep
within Peanut's eyes and wanted to speak, to warn them to flee but
was unable. The entity had dug its claws deep into his spirit and
wouldn't release him until the job was done. Paul thought about his
daughter. He remembered burying his wife. He remembered stopping at
the pet store on the way home. He remembered the immediate
connection this newborn puppy had with him. She was a poor
substitute for a dead mother, but then he remembered Beth's last
request to him. She had been quite specific.
"Get her a
puppy. A labrador." He obeyed and the three of them healed the
wound of a lost loved one together. They were inseparable for over a
decade, but the years were starting to take their toll on the old
girl. She wasn't as spry as she used to be. The slippage was real
but right now, that was irrelevant. Her teeth were very real also
and they were getting closer and closer to Paul.
Paul knew this dog
would do anything under the sun to protect his daughter from harm.
He fought back a tear of regret at the thought of what was to come
and thought of Beth one final time. That was when he felt a wave of
warmth wrap itself around him. The entity felt it too Its claws dug
deeper into Paul's heart but they found themselves sinking and
becoming trapped there. He knew he would never be able to expel this
entity but now he was certain that he had the strength to contain it.
The shock of cold he felt as the entity realized the certainty of
its predicament numbed him and his body crumpled to one knee.
"Come on girl.
You know what to do. I don't have much time." he said.
Peanut stopped when
she recognized her master's voice.
"DO IT!"
he screamed.
"Daddy? What's
happening?"
"Don't have
time to explain, punkin. You need to run. NOW! Take the fire
escape. Go to the Smith's and call the police. AHHHHHH!" he
felt a million needles pepper him. "No you don't motherfucker.
I have YOU now and I'm not letting go! Fire Escape. NOW! Call the
police but don't let them hurt the dog. This isn't her fault."
Paul locked eyes with the old girl one final time. "You know
what you need to do. I will always love you, girl."
The dog took a step
backward and threw a warning bark at Carolyn, who obeyed her father's
orders and shimmied down the fire escape ladder in her room. Peanut
turned back to her master, certain the girl was safe and walked to
where he knelt.
"I have it. Do
it and I can take it with me. You will all be safe."
The dog understood.
She licked his face and nuzzled his nose one last time and ripped his
throat from his body.
The entity found
itself locked in a box it couldn't understand. Its claws were still
dug deep into Paul's spirit but they were now trapped there as Paul
clung to them with a fierce resolve. A light opened up into the
room.
Peanut turned to
look into it and felt a small piece of her step outside her body.
She walked towards the spirit of Paul, writhing on the floor with the
entity. She plucked the shaking entity from his back and Paul felt
the warmth return. He looked up to see the face of his beloved Beth
standing over him.
"I have so many
questions..." he stammered.
"I know. I
can't answer them now but I will. I need you to go into the light
now. The three of us will be there waiting for you when you get
there." Paul's heart sunk. "Oh no, darling, don't worry.
She will be fine and she will live a long beautiful life. Time
doesn't work the same way there as it does here. You will
understand." She turned her attention to the scaly being in her
hand as pieces of it began to ignite and drop to the ground. "You on the
other hand have a different fate waiting for you."
Paul walked towards
the light and paused to glance over his shoulder. He saw the
creature that tormented him shrivel in his wife's grasp and shrink into
nothingness. He saw that nothingness belch reddish black smoke as it
accepted its newest addition. He continued his path, leaving his
ever faithful friend to guard his corpse.
The dog sniffed his
body and pawed at his shoulder to rouse him but he failed to rise.
She felt a white hot sun erupt inside her chest as her ancient heart
finally gave out. She found herself in the living room but different
as the light opened behind her.
"There's a
girl!" she heard from behind her as she bounded into the light
to join her three favorite humans, nimble as she was when she was a
puppy.
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