"ATHLETE'S FEET"
This is my first story on fanfiction.net. Hope you like it. (Apologies to John Dilworth and David Cohen for using their names without permission.)
It was a clear blue morning on the outskirts of Nowhere. A lonely farmhouse stood next to a long road. An old woman and her dog observed the woman's husband hammer in a brand new mailbox with a big mallet.
"Oooh, this is so exciting!" said the woman to her dog. "At last we can finally receive mail without having it slid under the front door."
"Mm-hm," nodded the dog.
The old man finished hammering in the mailbox at last. "Yay!" exclaimed the dog. The old man, of course, was unamused
"As long as it delivers me paper, I'm happy," grumbled the farmer.
"Now Eustace, I'm sure the Nowhere News will be delivered any minute now. And it has such a nice little red flag on it, too."
"Nnnrgh," grumbled Eustace, who hated having to agree with her on such little details. "I still need me breakfast, Muriel. You said I could have some when I'm done," He started walking toward the house.
"And so ye shall. Come along, Courage," said Muriel, and followed her husband into the house.
The little pink dog looked at the mailbox and noticed that the flag was up. Courage jumped up and tipped the flag down. He was about to follow his masters into the house when he spotted, far down the road, a figure running toward him along the side of the road. "Who is that?" he asked himself. A wave of nervousness swept over the pooch, but Courage shook it off, convincing himself that it's probably just some jogger who will merely run by the farmhouse. He walked toward the house to have some breakfast.
Had Courage stayed outside, he would've seen that the lone figure was indeed a jogger. The man appeared normal except for two things...he was not merely jogging, but was actually sprinting as if something was chasing him...And even from far away, one could plainly see the expression of absolute horror on his face...
Inside, Eustace, Muriel, and Courage finished their breakfasts. Eustace considered checking the mailbox to see if the paper had been delivered yet, when there came a knock at the door.
"I wonder who that could-" began Muriel, but she was interrupted by a series of frantic knocks at the door. Someone desperately wanted to get inside. Courage yelped with fear.
"Answer the door, Eustace, before he bruises his knuckles off," exclaimed Muriel. Eustace grumbled as he went to answer the door. All the while, Courage remained under the table, shaking and whining.
Eustace opened the front door. "We don't want any-...wha?"
At Eustace's feet, there lay a pale young man in his early 20s who wore a T-shirt, shorts, wristbands, a headband, and expensive jogging shoes. He was sprawled out on the porch floor, drenched in sweat, and gasping mightily. He lifted his head, which revealed glassy, dilated eyes, and extended an arm toward Eustace. "Wwwaterrr..." whispered the jogger and abruptly passed out.
"Oh my!" said a startled Muriel. "Eustace, help me bring him to the sofa."
Fifteen minutes later, the jogger lay on the sofa as he returned to normal. He had been revived and had already downed four glasses of water. Muriel and Courage looked over the jogger with concern. Eustace mumbled to himself about picking up sick strangers. The jogger struggled to find his voice.
"Th-thank you. I was so...dehydrated. I don't know how much longer I could have ran..."
"It's alright," said Muriel with a soothing voice. "You should know better than to run in the hot sun like that." Courage nodded with agreement.
"Ye shouldn't have been runnin' in the first place," exclaimed Eustace as he headed out the door toward the mailbox.
"Don't listen to him," replied Muriel. "You look thouroughly exhausted. How long would you like to stay here?" Courage whined, for he seemed uneasy around this new guest.
"Well, I am, uh, currently running cross-country. I consider this house to be my halfway point, so I shall probably leave tomorrow." Courage sighed with relief. "Oh! My name is Max. Nice to meet you." He reached out and shook Muriel's hand. Muriel then introduced herself, Eustace and Courage.
Eustace returned through the front door, grumbling. "I can't understand why me paper ain't here," he said as he headed toward the kitchen.
"Maybe you'll get a later edition," replied Muriel as she followed Eustace into the kitchen. Courage chose this time to get a good look at Max. He had an oval face with brown hair and brown eyes. Those eyes fell on Courage and the dog grew nervous again. There was a sense of urgency in Max's eyes, as if he knew a horrible secret and was dying to tell someone about it. Max opened his mouth to tell Courage something, but Muriel interrupted him. "Will ya be having any lunch, Max?"
"Yes, " answered Max. "I'm coming." He got up and headed toward the kitchen. Courage remained in the living room. "Oooh, there's wrong here...or my name's not John Dilworth. And it's not." Courage paused a minute to consider this strange name, then he shook his head and walked into the kitchen for a snack.
As the day wore on, Courage began to get more and more uncomfortable about Max. Max had been giving him curious glances at him all day, like he wanted to talk to him about something. Muriel's only concern was for Max's health, and Eustace grew more irate when the paper didn't come.
Finally, at around 5 o'clock, Eustace couldn't stand it any longer. "Muriel! I'm going to the paper offices and complain. They'd better give me a paper in the mailbox by tomorrow morning."
"But what about dinner?" inquired Muriel.
"I'll eat out!" He slammed the door, got in his truck, and drove off.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Courage. He was at the window watching Eustace drive off. Courage and Muriel were now alone in the house with the strange jogger. "Oh, why do these things always happen to me?" whined the dog.
Suddenly, someone behind Courage tapped him on the shoulder! "AAAAAAUUGH!!!" screamed Courage. "AAAAAAUGH!!!" answered Max. "AAAAAAUGH!!!" screamed Courage, again. "WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING!?!?" shouted Max. "BECAUSE YOU SCARED ME!!!" yelled Courage.
But, like his masters, Max couldn't understand him, so he sighed in defeat. "Is everything alright?" asked Muriel, who was busy fixing dinner. "Everything's fine!" answered Max. After calming down and glancing from side to side, he turned to Courage and said:
"Listen...um... Courage, right?" Courage nodded. "Look, I know I'm acting really strange around here. Well, that's because..." he took a deep breath. "...there's someone after me. I don't know who, but I believe it's someone from my old high school." He handed Courage a small card with his high school's name printed on it. "I've had dreams that someone from that school is going to...do me in. I've kept running away from my home hoping whoever it is would go away, but I'm afraid that that someone is following me." Courage's eyes widened and his breath quickened as he listened to Max's tale. "I only hope I'm not found and-"
"Dinner is ready!" called out Muriel from the kitchen. When Max and Courage entered the kitchen, they must've looked rather ill, because Muriel asked if they were OK. "We're fine," said Max. "We...just need some food, that's all." They both forced a grin and headed to the table.
While they ate, Courage noticed Max glancing out the window every few seconds. Muriel thought he is enjoyed the setting sun, but Courage knew better. The dog decided that after dinner, he should do a little investigating.
With dinner over, Courage raced upstairs and turned his computer on. He was greeted by a screensaver with 'Z's running across it. Courage whacked the side of the monitor.
"..huh? Wha?...oh, it's you. What do you want?" inquired the computer. Courage typed in the name of Max's high school and pressed enter. A loading screen was displayed for several minutes. "Hurry up!" whined Courage. "Hey, it's not my fault I don't have broadband," complained the computer. Finally, a window appeared with a picture of a high school on it. Courage noticed a sad smiley face in the upper right corner and clicked on it.
A newspaper article was displayed. It read: "CAR CRASH CLAIMS LIFE OF VALEDICTORIAN." Courage read on. The article said a high school senior named Greg Davis was killed while driving his car too fast around a corner and collided head on with a tree. Authorities said he just lost a state relay competition and drove home in a fit of anger. There was a photo above the article that Courage could not believe! In the photo were three boys in jogging uniforms on a running track. The boy on the left was Max! The middle boy had wavy black hair and carried a baton. The third boy was grinning. The caption read: "The last photo of Greg Davis (middle) was taken before the final relay race. Pictured with him are his running partners, Max Connelly (left) and David Cohen (right)." Courage looked at the date of the article and gasped. The accident occurred five years ago, tonight! (Yes, tonight. It had already gotten dark outside.)
After collecting his wits, Courage came out into the hall. He heard Muriel taking a bath, so Courage went downstairs. He discovered Max watching TV with a blanket wrapped around him. Max's eyes rolled toward Courage when he came into his field of vision. "Something tells me you've been doing some research."
"Mm-hm," nodded Courage, who jumped up onto the couch next to Max. "I just don't see how it could be Greg or David. They were my best friends." Courage couldn't think of anything to say. They watched a really crummy puppet show involving two men hitting each other with rubber fish, when, without warning, Max grabbed the remote and shut the TV off. Courage gasped when the two became surrounded by darkness. "He's found me," whispers Max. Courage could almost feel the fear in his voice. " I don't know how, but he's found me." All was silent for a minute, except for Courage's shaking and Max's heavy breathing.
Suddenly, the front door burst open! A silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway! He was carrying a baton in his hand! Courage and Max screamed at the top of their lungs. "AAAAAAAAAUUUUGH!!!!"
(Scary, isn't it?)
(Now, where were we? Oh yes...)
The figure turned on the light. It was Eustace! The baton was really a rolled up newspaper. "What's going on?" asked Muriel from upstairs. "I finally got me paper! Yahoo!" said Eustace, who raced up the stairs to read it.
Courage and Max, meanwhile, were in each other's arms, petrified with fear on the couch. Both fur and hair were on end, and they could feel each other's heartbeats. Eventually, they realized what position they were in and pushed away, coughing with embarrassment. "Well, um..." stammered Max. "I guess that was your other master, hm?" Courage, with his heart rate back to normal, nodded his head in agreement. "I'll go get something to drink." He got up and started to turn toward the kitchen. "Hey, Courage. Do you want any- AAAAAAUUUUGH!!!"
Courage groaned. "Now wha-" he began, but his breathing stopped as he stared transfixed at the source of what scared Max.
In the open doorway, stood a zombie! He had yellow eyes and teeth, and his left arm was only made of bones and tendons. He was wearing a letter jacket, shorts, and some very decayed tennis shoes. He moaned "Mmmaxx" through his half open mouth.
As Max continued screaming, Courage continued to stand frozen with fright. The image of the zombie began to blur. Courage suddenly realized that he was losing consciousness due to a lack of oxygen. So, he took a deep breath and joined Max with the screaming. Then, the two of them hightailed it to the kitchen with the zombie in hot pursuit. (None of them heard Eustace exclaim "Quiet! I'm trying to read me paper!")
Courage and Max ran toward the back door, but the zombie tackled them from behind! After a brief struggle, the zombie ended up pinning Courage and Max on the floor, a hand around each of their necks. Courage cringed as the bones began cutting off his breathing.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Max?" wheezed the zombie in a sly tone of voice.
"I know that voice!" Max gasped. With a start, Courage recognized the zombie's letter jacket as being one from Max's high school. The mat of black hair on the zombie's head confirmed his suspicions. Max looked into the zombie's eyes and said "Greg? Is that you?"
"The one and only," cackled the zombie. Then, in a fit of adrenaline-pumped rage, Max pushed Greg off of him, who then crashed into a chair and sat on the floor. He began to advance again, when Max cried "Wait!" He glanced down at Courage clinging to his shirt, looked back up, and said to Greg, "Why are you doing this?"
"Why? WHY!!?? I'll tell you why," said Greg, getting to his feet. "Five years ago, my life was perfect. I had the highest GPA in my grade. I had friends. I had a track scholarship to Harvard! HARVARD!! And you destroyed it all!!!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Max, also getting to his feet.
"I think you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! (A series of flashback photos appear to the viewer) The state championships. You, me, and Dave were all lined up on the track, ready for the relay competition. If we won, we would be declared the state champions and I would be guaranteed to go to Harvard. Well, you know what happened? Huh?" Stale blood started coursing throughout Greg's eyeballs as he said this.
Max bowed his head and whispered, "We came in last."
"Exactly. I was so devastated to see my entire future obliterated that I left in a rage and...well, now look at me. Another victim of a car crash with no future. And all because YOU crossed the finish line LAST!!"
Max's head jerked up and was about to say something, when Greg suddenly made a dive at him. Max dodged to the left. Courage jumped to the right, leaving Greg tumbling into the wall. Courage and Max ran back into the living room. "Don't you have a phone or something?" asked Max. Courage nodded, although he didn't know what good a phone would do in a situation like this. Suddenly, something metal hit Courage in the back of the head, sending him sprawling into a bookcase. Delirious and with a bump on his head, Courage began laughing dementedly ( "Hhha-ha-ha-ha-ha-heyyy") before coming to his senses.
Max stopped to look at what hit the dog. It was a relay baton. Max dove for it, but Greg got to it first. "I always keep one in my back pocket, just in case." Max began shaking when Greg pulled out a long, sharp metal spike and attached it to one end of the baton, making a club.
"Now," laughed Greg, who had just pinned Max to the wall. "I'm going to make you wish you never crossed the finish line last." Laughing evilly, Greg raised the club, the pointy end aimed at Max's head. Moments from death, and with Courage screaming in the background, Max took a deep breath and blurted out: "I DIDN'T CROSS THE FINISH LINE AT ALL!!!"
Greg froze as he took in the information. For a moment that seemed like an eternity, nothing moved. Finally, Muriel shouted from upstairs: "Courage, will ya turn down the TV a wee bit? I'm trying to sleep!" Eustace added, "Yeah, stupid dog."
Greg's arm slowly lowered. "What do you mean, 'you didn't cross the finish line'?"
"Don't you remember?" said Max. (Cue flashback photos again) "On the day of the race, you started our team off. Then, a third of the way through, you gave the baton to me. I was actually in the lead when I gave the baton to Dave. HE was the one who finished the race last."
Greg dropped the baton-club in shock. "Is...is that true?"
Max leaned down and took off his right shoe. "Before the race, you told me to write down the order that we should run. You were '1', I was'2', and Dave was '3'. See?"
Max showed Greg the shoe. Courage, who had been inching toward the two since the conversation began, saw on the sole of the shoe the numbers '1-2-3' written in permanent marker.
"I..I remember. I remember that!" exclaimed Greg. Then, his expression was one of shock. " I remember everything! You're right! I can't believe it. I almost...my best friend...." In an instant, he suddenly began sobbing uncontrollably. (Cue sad piano music.)
Courage and Max approached the blubbering zombie with a lot less fear than before. "Hey," said Max, taking Greg's bony hand. "We're still best friends, y'know."
"Really?" answered Greg, his face wet with tears he had never used in five years.
"You just didn't know. I tried to tell you before, but you had already left the competition."
"Well," said Greg. "It's about time you finally set the record straight." The two friends then gave each other a big hug.
"Yay!" said Courage.
In the front yard, Courage bid farewell to Max and Greg under the stars. For his hospitality, Max gave Courage a present (Greg had a spare that Max used as a replacement) and began walking back toward his home with Greg, arm in arm.
"Say, Max."
"Yeah, Greg?"
"Before I head back to the cemetery, why don't we stop by dear old Dave's house?"
"Yeah. Heh-heh-heh."
The next morning, Eustace was actually feeling happy, now that the paper finally made it to the house. Muriel was saddened that she hadn't said good-bye to Max, but determined that Max was on a tight cross-country schedule and had to leave sooner than anticipated. In the meantime, she asked Courage to go see if there was any mail. When Courage arrived at the new mailbox, he saw a lone envelope entitled to him! He tore open the envelope and read the following letter:
"Dear Courage. Thanks again for your hospitality. It's nice to know that I wasn't scared alone. Lol. Anyway, Greg and I hitched a ride back to my hometown and Greg laid himself to rest. I, on the other hand, am deciding on taking up a job at my high school as a PE coach. I'm sure I'll get the job. Hope you like the present I gave you. Their not much, but it's the least I can do. Many thanks to your masters, too. It's been nice knowing you. Max.
P.S. Greg and I stopped by Dave's house. I have a feeling he won't be doing any jogging for a long time. Hee-hee."
Courage smiled. He put the note back in the envelope and headed back toward the house. He stumbled a bit on the way back because he was wearing Max's present...his jogging shoes.
As he stumbled up the front stairs, Courage's small paw slipped out of the shoe and he stubbed his toe on the step. Courage cringed in pain, but instead of blaming himself, he sighed and said "No pain, no gain."
The End