Chapter 4: The Dog Wokker
That night, it was eerily quiet at the Atlanta zoo-turned-shelter. DeSantis went up to Joseph, who looked like he had tears in his eyes. Joseph barely acknowledged him and just looked at the stars.
"Today was his birthday," he sighed, and DeSantis knew immediately that Joseph was mourning a loved one.
"Who's birthday?" DeSantis inquired.
"My dog's birthday, Astolfo-kun."
"You named your dog Astolfo-kun?" DeSantis gasped, disgusted, before realizing that he had offended the already-upset chef.
"I loved my dog more than anything. He was my best friend, but then a great evil stole him from me."
"What was the great evil?"
"They call him the Dog Wokker."
DeSantis just decided to let Joseph explain his tragic backstory like a based anime protagonist and stop asking dumb questions. And so, Joseph began to recount the evils of the Dog Wokker.
"It all began when I visited the Philippines. Everyone there loved my cooking. I had my own restaurant where I cooked all sorts of meats in my wok pan. The locals loved me, and people traveled from all over the world to try my freshly cooked meals. However, one man despised me. The second best chef in the Philippines, Wang Wang Ma, was jealous of my success. He sought to punish me in the worst way possible. At the time, I didn't know him that well, so when he offered to wok Astolfo-kun for me, I accepted, thinking he meant walk. I didn't realize I was speaking to the second best wokker in the Philippines. And so, he wokked Astolfo-kun and served his remains to everyone in Manila. Do you want to know the worst part? Everyone there said it tasted even better than my own cooking!"
DeSantis gasped in horror. He never expected the Dog Wokker to be as evil as Joseph claimed.
"Wang Wang Ma was so happy with the reception he got that he began to wok everyone's dogs, not just Astolfo-kun. By the time he was caught, it's estimated that over 500 dogs were butchered by the Dog Wokker. The authorities tried to arrest him, but he fled to China and they refused to extradite him. Some say he's still out there, wokking dogs to this day."
"Well, maybe he became a zombie so he's dead now," DeSantis hoped. He was just glad he never met the Dog Wokker in person.
"I hope not," Joseph exclaimed. "Because I want to find him and roast him alive like he did to Astolfo-kun!"
Ronald DeSantis understood Joseph's motivations. He sought revenge for the carnage brought about by the zombies and his reputation that had been destroyed as a result. Together with his waifu, Mikasa DeSantis, they would destroy the zombies and then help Joseph take revenge on Wang Wang Ma afterwards. Suddenly, Mikasa ran towards them with urgency.
"The zombies are here!" she shouted. "Husbando, we need to run."
"No," shouted DeSantis. "We will not surrender to the zombies tonight. If we flee from this battle, we'll be fleeing the rest of our lives. We must fight!"
"