"Why can't it ever just be a normal dog?" Dipper said, to no one in particular. The puppy's tail was wagging again, and it started trotting towards Dipper and Mabel.

"Uuh, s-stay!" Dipper shouted. The puppy stopped and closed its mouth. Dipper blinked, "sit?" the puppy sat.

"Oh wow, it's trained!" Mabel said, "We should tell it to play dead" and then started giggling. Dipper managed to crack a small smile; now that the danger wasn't imminent, he wasn't quite as worried.

The puppy was still sitting patiently, head cocked to one side. The twins watched the dog for a bit to see what would happen. The puppy scratched behind its good ear for a moment before sitting still again.

"Well," Dipper started, "It doesn't seem dangerous… currently." The puppy yawned. "As long as it stays still, we should be able to get close, I guess." Mabel nodded and lifted her foot, "But," Dipper emphasized, "Go slow, we don't want to frighten it into attacking or anything." Mabel nodded again, and they both walked over to the undead canine.

When it saw the twins heading over, the puppy once again broke into a doggy grin, and wagged it tail even harder. The twins knelt down in front of the dog and looked at it. Mabel reached out a hand to pet it, but as she did so, the puppy leaned toward it, mouth open. Mabel jerked her hand away and the puppy jerked his head back, mouth snapping shut in surprise.

"I don't think he was going to bite you, Mabel," Dipper said, and cautiously reached out his own hand. The puppy leaned forward again and sniffed Dipper's hand. "See, it's just sniffing m-ACK!" the puppy had jumped onto Dipper's chest, catching him unaware and knocking him over.

"Dipper!" Mabel got up and ran to her brother, who was writhing with… laughter?

"Ha ha, Mabel, it tickles!" the puppy was licking all over Dipper's face. Mabel grabbed the dog under his front legs before flipping him onto his back in the crook of her arm as if holding a baby. The dog licked Mabel's face a couple times.

"Well, if he was dangerous, you would be a zombie now, right?" Mabel asked.

"I guess so, but we should still be careful; we don't know if it could turn on us or something," Dipper was brushing himself off and wiping zombie spit off of his face. When he looked up and saw how Mabel was holding the dog, he cocked an eyebrow and chuckled.

"What?" Mabel questioned, "He likes it!" Dipper just shook his head, smiling, and walked over to his sister.

"So it's a guy?"

"Yeah, see?" Mabel said, carefully using her free hand to point at the dog's neck. Confused, Dipper looked, and saw that the puppy was wearing a red collar. "The tag says his name's Toby." Mabel told him.

Dipper checked the tag himself, and it did say Toby, but nothing else.

"Hmm…" He flipped the tag over. Nothing there either.

"Can we keep him, Dipper? Pleeeeeeaasseee?"

"Mabel, Grunkle Stan wouldn't allow it. Especially if he knew Toby was a zombie. Ever since we fought that horde of them, I don't think he'd ever accept one."

Mabel pondered the problem while rocking Toby back and forth. The puppy seemed to be falling asleep.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed, waking Toby. She set the dog down and ran inside. Toby just stood there, looking thoroughly confused. Dipper just laughed a bit at the dog's expression.

"You'll have to excuse Mabel, she gets… overly excited about things." Toby walked over to Dipper and got up onto his hind legs, before placing his front paws on Dipper's waist. Dipper flinched at first, but when he looked at the dog, there was still no malice. The dog stayed in that position, occasionally scratching the hem of Dipper's shirt. Dipper soon caught the idea and stroked the dog's head. The dog's tail began wagging. Dipper then scratched the zombie behind his good ear, and the puppy broke into a doggy grin once more. By the time Mabel came back, Toby was on his back getting belly rubs.

Surprise! Double update today! I felt bad that I made you guys wait so long for such a short chapter, so I typed up chapter three as fast as I could! Chapter three was originally longer than this, but I felt if I added much more, it would be too long. The other stuff that was left out will be in chapter four.

Thanks for understanding!

Jem