Okay, I bet most of you remember the PBS Kids show Arthur. So I was looking through old boxes of books when I was a kid, the Tokyo Pop prints of the Sailor Moon manga, some Magic School Bus books, Bearstein books, and ironically... Some Arthur books. I didn't really have a big amount of channels with cable growing up, so I would happen to watch Arthur on PBS or regular Cartoon Network if I was home sick from school. I have been going through life and the show faded into the dusty obscurity of my mind, and been looking through a thrift store DVD shelves and came across a Arthur DVD, it looked to be a Halloween special.
Strange thing was... The cover seemed to be a little warped around the edges and stained. As if the last person who had it dropped it in dark red cherry juice. I got it and a few shirts and a book I was missing out of a set. At home, I finished my college homework until about 12:30AM and fixed some leftover Chinese as well as grabbing a beer. I popped the DVD into the player and pressed play, there were the usual PBS and FBI title cards and it went to the main menu. The music was distorted and there seemed to be Arthur's town with smoke billowing here and there.
I pressed 'play special' and it began. Arthur's parents were in the kitchen, his dad was reading the paper. There was a headline that said "NEW SPECIES OF LICE FOUND TO CARRY AN UNKNOWN PATHOGEN, THOUSANDS HOSPITALIZED'. He was reading the article, apparently a few children and adults in the next town over had come down with a near two hundred degree fever and symptoms similar to Jaundice. Next was a report of a homeless man attacking a jogger, she was bitten and the man was shot to stop him attacking her.
'Why would they have super dark crap like this in a kid show?' I muttered as I continued to watch. DW was watching cartoons on the small tv in the kitchen as Arthur read a "Scare Your Pants Off" book about boy scouts trying to survive an outbreak of zombies during a camping trip. His mother was rather shocked as she looked over her husband's shoulder.
"Dear, don't read that with our little girl so close to you!" She said, snatching the paper away from him.
"I was actually reading the sports page and classifieds for a chance to cater an event." He said, petting his daughter's head. At school, a few kids were out.
Alan, Binky, Buster, Muffy, and Francine were all talking about the News that morning. Buster spouted his usual Alien theory about the lice and said that they should all shave their heads. Binky called it stupid and said that it sounded like an old videogame his older cousin told him about. Mister Ratburn told the class to sit and he said that they must all avoid any hats, hair clips or anything that would go on their heads or in their hair. Next scene at DW's school her teachers were locking the sliding doors that go out to the playground and told the children that it was not safe for awhile for them to go out. The Tibbles were talking about a radio broadcast that they heard on the way there. That a bunch of people were fighting in a bunch of other towns, a few police cars drove by both schools with sirens blaring and ambulances.
Mrs Read was at the accounting firm she worked in and was typing away, soon there was the cartoonish womanly scream of terror, she turned to see a coworker back away from the large window. A resident of Elwood City, what looked like a male Rottweiler it construction attire was banging on the window. His left ear seemed to be bitten off as well as his left cheek, showing teeth and stringy muscle... his eyes seemed sunken in and tinted yellow. He seemed to open his mouth to say something, but it seemed to be an agonized groan of pain and dark blood with a phlegm like consistency spattered on the window.. and his hands streaked fresh blood onto the window..
Ed Crosswire was in the process of calling the police when his private office window was smashed in and a lady bulldog with her throat torn out smashed in and reached for his throat...
It cut to the schools as the parents of the children and they all gathered them up to get home. Possibly to get some clothing and supplies to escape town. At the Read residence, the family was stuffing the family car full of what they needed. DW was insisting that they "leave the dumb dog." Arthur was now shouting
"If ya feel like that, you can stay here!" He snapped and she was hiding behind their dad's legs.
"DW, we aren't leaving Pal." Dad said firmly, and the kids were about to get into the car until a zombie smashed through the side door to the garage. Dad took a golf club and began hitting the thing to keep it from his family... Mrs Read was now in the car, screaming for her husband to get in the car. He struck the thing in the head and got into the car, they sped to a checkpoint and were forced out to be inspected for bites and or scratches. Arthur's dad was just covered in the foul smelling blood, but he was fine as were the others.
A bunch of other residents have evacuated, including all of the kids friends and their own families... in a well guarded army base in the mountains, everyone who survived from Elwood saw a large plane drop a giant bomb on the city, wiping out the creatures and anyone who were unlucky to be stuck in their businesses or homes. It panned out over the ruins of Elwood with a Military radio entry.
"Test agent: A937TLZ has made it into Elwood City... Area has been sterilized... some stragglers have managed to find their way out, stay on alert, victims are considered extremely dangerous. " It repeated as it faded with reoccurring static.
I contacted PBS, the animation company, even the writers for the show to complain about what I saw... They were just as shocked as I was, that was about a week ago as I am writing this to this forum. I've lost about a few weeks of sleep due to that animated horror... Whoever made this was a sick sonuvabitch... They need some SERIOUS help.