Story #2
Night of the Comet
Part 2 in a 3 Part Epic
Comet had died what seemed like a millennia ago. His blonde corpse lay in a shallow grave in the back yard, dug by the emotionally crippled Jesse. Comet's soul had long left this mortal coil, but that didn't mean it would stay gone forever.
Danny sat in the panic room dumbstruck. He had no idea what he had just seen. He knew he heard the man say "Deej", the pet name Steve called DJ.
They had been in the room for over 3 hours now, too scared to leave. They had spent that time swapping stories and it had inevitably lead to tales of everyone's first kiss.
"I was young, timid boy of 13." Joey began "He, a world weary traveler of 46. He took me in his arms, told me not to scream, and proceed to firmly and gently ki-"
"Alright, that's enough!" Danny bolted upright from the floor he was sitting on. His nerves were shot. He couldn't take sitting in that cramped room anymore and needed to get out. He needed to find DJ.
Danny took his shotgun and exited the panic room. Everyone asked where he was going, told him it wouldn't be safe. He didn't care. He needed to find DJ.
The living room was a complete wreck. The front door, littered with bullet holes and covered in blood from Joey's broken nose, lay beside the couch. Even 3 hours later the smoke from the grenade could faintly be seen. Danny looked across the living room and through the kitchen and noticed a large mound of dirt in the backyard. He quickly walked to the back door and went outside.
There was a large hole in the ground where they had buried Comet many years ago. But whatever remain of Comet was no longer in that hole.
DJ woke up in bright room, she was lying on a cold metal table. Her back hurt. There was a man standing to her side working on a computer. He wore a backwards baseball cap and a white lab coat.
Steve walked into the room. He wasn't armed and he was no longer wearing the futuristic armor from the home invasion. He noticed DJ looking at him. "DJ, you're awake!" he said, walking toward her. "Duane," he pointed at the man with the backwards cap. "Please leave us. We need to be alone. I'm sure DJ has some questions."
Duane snorted from his nose acting both annoyed and completely indifferent at the same time. "Whatever," he said, and left the room.
"So," Steve walked over and sat on the table next to DJ. "What do you want to know first? Why I attacked your home? Where you are? Why I took you? Or…" he leaned in close. "Do you want to know how I did it?"
"I…" DJ was dumbstruck.
"I suspect you're a little taken aback by all of this so I'll save you trouble of having to articulate words." Steve stood up and it was at this moment that DJ noticed he was holding a small cookie in the shape of a dog bone. He took a bite and continued to talk.
"A mere 10 minutes ago I infiltrated your home, shot the place up, and took you. But before I did that I went into your backyard and dug up the few remains left of your former companion Comet the dog. I brought them here and placed them in the glass case you see over there." He gestured toward a glass case that held the skull of a dog, some ribs, what looked to be a damaged hip bone. "But before I did that I spent the previous few weeks making threatening phone calls to your father. Why? It was fun. Never liked the man. I wanted to see what he'd do. What I didn't expect was for him to buy a gun and install a panic room in the house. It's a undersight on my part really, I mean the man is clearly mentally unstable with his germaphobia."
"Why do I need to know all of this? Can't you just get to the point?" said DJ.
"Plot holes my dear. Plot holes."
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know half the time myself. Things are beginning to fall apart. I think I'm losing my mind." Steve took another bite of the dog bone cookie "All better!" DJ suspected that he was not.
"So why attack the house? Why take me? What is the point in all of this?" DJ was beginning to get angry.
"Because," said Steve. "Because I need to prove that I am the dominant one. That I rule that home, not Danny. That you are my bride." DJ was was nervous.
"Now," he clapped his hands together. "Here comes the fun part!" Steve was getting excited and DJ could notice he was subtly shaking his hips. Almost like a dog wagging its tail.
Steve finished his cookie and reached for his face. His eyes began to glow and light filled the room. He slowly removed his face to reveal his devastating secret underneath. Steve was not Steve, he was Comet. His endless barking engulfed the room and it was all DJ could do to stay conscious.
Outside in the Tanner's backyard Danny saw the light shining from the Gibbler house. Instinctively he cocked his shotgun, blew a hole in the fence, and made his way to his final resting place.
End of Part 2