The Futterman's house was bigger than what it used to be. New additions, now years old, could be told apart from the old original framework. After gremlins drove his tractor through his front door, Murray Futterman decided it was time for some remodeling anyway. Murray had also lost his wife, also tragically to cancer. Because of their similar experiences and losses, Rand and Murray quickly became friends. Billy now found himself and Gizmo sitting in Mr. Futterman's den listening to the two elderly men ramble on about "old times".
"I remember my first date at that movie house, we saw King Kong. I was more excited with the WWI bi-planes at the end of the movie than I was with my date. Murray laughed "It's a shame that it's gone now, you sure you had to destroy it Billy?"
"I'm sure Mr. Futterman; I don't think I had a choice in the matter.
"Oh well, what's past is past. I'll tell you what thought, it's good seeing this little ball of fluff again." He said as he playfully poked Gizmo. "Just so long as there ain't any more trouble poppin' out of 'em.
"There won't be, Billy has got a good handle on the situation now, don't you Billy?" Rand asked.
"Rest assured, Mr. Futterman," Billy said, "No more little green monsters."
Billy carried Gizmo out to the car in his backpack since there was still some daylight peaking through the evening clouds. Mr. Futterman followed them out to the car. As Billy got in Murray chimed in with
"And if you're ever in trouble, Billy, come to me, I've been making sure those bastards don't get the drop on me again."
"Whatever you say Mr. Futterman, we'll see you next week."
"Bye, Murray," Rand yelled.
Bye guys" Murray yelled as they drove away.
They met up with Kate back at home. Kate had just gotten back from shopping when the guys pulled up. She was excited to show off a new toy she got for Gizmo.
"It's a video game, Gizmo. See, you use this stick to touch the screen and you can play games. Cool, huh?" Kate said as she tried to show Gizmo how it worked.
He was soon fully addicted to it. They all laughed as they watched him get upset after losing a game. Soon they were all off to bed, but Gizmo was restless, he still wanted to play with his new toy. He got up and went downstairs to get his game. He was standing on the dinner table about to play when the front door slowly opened. Three shadowy figures slipped inside and started piling stuff into bags. One of them stopped cold when he notices Gizmo.
"What the hell," he half whispered.
Back in the bedroom Kate woke Billy up.
"Did you hear something?" she asked. Billy looked up and noticed gizmo was gone. He got up and went downstairs thinking it was probably nothing, just Gizmo wanting to play his game on the table.
"Hey!" He shouted. But the closest one had already grabbed Gizmo and thrown him into a bag. They were gone out the door in seconds. Billy ran after them but lost sight of them in the night.
"Damn!" he breathed.
The basement of the old burnt down bar was dark and damp. The bar above had been long gone, a storage facility now sitting in its place. They come in fuming.
"What the hell man? We've been scouting that place for weeks and now it's blown because of some stinking pet, where did that thing come from anyway?" one said.
"Hell if I know, Buck was supposed to be doing the scoutin'." another replied.
"Well what the hell are we supposed to do now? It's not like we can try to rob the place again." the first one said.
"Of course not you idiot" the second replied again.
"Hey guys look what I got." said the one called Buck as he held up Gizmo by the ears. "Hey Fred, maybe we can put that up for ransom," said the first.
"Boy, you really are stupid. Tell me, Derek, when did we go from petty thieves to kidnappers? Said Fred.
"I'm just sayin'.. Ah, you ain't sayin' nothing'. We need to sleep on this, give that thing some water for the night and let's go." As the other two left Buck filled a bowl up with water and slid it towards Gizmo. The water thrashed about and some of it spilled onto the floor, the puddle covered Gizmo's feet and he started to panic and scream. Buck hesitated for a second then shrugged his shoulders and ran to catch up with the other two.
Late at night there was a knock at Murray Futterman's door. Murray opened one eye and peeked at the clock, 1:30 ,
"What the hell?" he thought.
He got up and put his robe on and slowly made his way to the door, Knock Knock Knockā¦
"Hold on, hold on," he yelled. He opened the door and was shocked to see Billy and Rand standing there.
"Mr. Futterman we need your help, something has happened to Gizmo."
Gizmo rolled and pounded on the floor in pain and agony. He knew what was happening and he also knew it would only get worse. His back felt like it had been torn open then melted away. The first pop came, Gizmo flinched in fear more that pain, though it hurt like hell. Then the second pop, followed by three consecutive fast pops. The tiny balls of fur landed around Gizmo in a semi-circle. The fur balls gulped and sloshed, sounding as if they were making a feast of the drops of water that spawned them, growing steadily bigger. The first one stood, it had black fur and pointy ears. All over its body there rose spikes of white hair. The second one stood, it had black skin and dark brown fur except for on his chin where a twisted goatee of white hair protruded. The last three all stood at the same time, all had black fur except for the hair on their faces which took shape of sideburns, mutton chops , and a wild Fu-man-chu mustache. They quickly advanced on Gizmo and had him surrounded. Goatee sniffed the air, his attention was drawn to a cooler in the corner of the room. He left and quickly came back, his arms full of chips and sodas. They formed a tight circle around gizmo and feasted, they would not allow him to pass. Gizmo shivered in terror as he watched, he knew it wouldn't be long before he was surrounded by cocoons.
