"Keep moving. Keep breathing. Keep moving. Keep breathing."

Mad Dawg looked around, he felt sick… He felt like his skin was on fire… again.

"What the hell did you do this time!?" HE mentally screamed at himself. "WHY did you do that!? Do you have any idea what you just did?! DO YOU!? DO YOU!?"

"No… Keep moving. Keep breathing. Don't think about it, not now… just… keep…" Another thought ran through his head.

"Are you retarded or something!? Go back! This is your one chance at this! They need to know the truth!" The first thought came racing back, screaming louder, angrier, than before.

The mutant stopped thinking, he just looked around at his surroundings. His home didn't feel like a home right now. He wasn't claustrophobic, but he felt like the walls were slowly closing in. All the while sucking the air into them, depriving him of the ability to think straight, his body going into overtime to compensate, which just made his mind scream more.

"Look at you… She was right. You're an accident, you're a freak of nature… what good are you!?"

"SHUT. UP." Mad Dawg finally screamed inwardly. He knew this type of thinking wasn't going to help him. He needed to clear his mind… He walked to his minifridge and aggressively threw it open, bottles and Tupperware clattering as the small cool box shook. Grabbing a beer, Mad Dawg snapped the cap off by smashing it against the nearby counter.

"Yes. Drink." The first voice returned. "Do the only thing you're somehow able to do without screwing it up… Do what you always do! Run from your problems! Lie to your friends! Keep doing these terrible things and then feel bad for yourself! You sorry waste of genetic coding and stitched together animal flesh!"

"What do you want me to do!?"

"Give up. Give in. Who cares." Came the response. "You said it yourself. You screwed up, badly."

"What? You want me to off myself?! It didn't work last time!"

"Then try again."

"Keep breathing. Just breathe." Came the second voice. "Listen to me, this isn't happening. None of it-"

"YES, IT IS!" The first voice screamed. "YOU brought this on YOURSELF!"

Turning around, Mad Dawg blinked in shock when he saw who was standing in front of him. Somehow, he had completely missed them when he entered…

"Kid… What is SHE doing here?"

The next thing Mad Dawg saw, a new figure appeared directly in front of him, the metallic rattling of its breathing mixed with the sickening sounds of burnt meat drowned out the sounds of the gun was at his chin, then the trigger was pulled, firing a shot directly into-

"AAHH!" Mad Dawg exclaimed, jolting awake and accidentally flipping off of his couch in a panic. Landing on the ground Mad Dawg breathed heavily as he struggled to collect himself, he began looking around for Jesse or Olivia… Wait. No. He was in another dimension. They weren't here.

"Huh." Mad Dawg blinked, realizing what had happened. "Haven't had a dream like that in a minute…"

Mad Dawg dragged himself up to his feet, his back cracking as he did so, he felt still somewhat dazed and wandered over to his front door. Walking out into the cool morning air, the only signs of light were the street lamps at spaced intervals from one another. Mad Dawg felt the autumn air blow between his track shorts and tank top. The mutant closed the door and sat on the steps to his house, taking in the early morning sky. It was still pitch-black, if Dawg had to guess, maybe two or three in the morning. Considering his lifestyle, health and general motive of day-to-day actions, being awake at random hours or early in the morning was nothing new. He half believed he suffered from some sort of anxiety-induced insomnia, but… What was causing his anxiety? Was he afraid of making a mistake? Was it all the energy drinks he kept consuming? Or maybe he was afraid of living a normal life…

"No, that's ridiculous." Mad Dawg rolled his eyes, before pausing and thinking for a few moments. "Actually… Is it?"

Well, maybe it wasn't. He had spent so long in such a weird state, one where terror attacks, being shot, and hanging out with a giant monkey who was also a scientist was totally normal. And then suddenly going to a day-to-day routine where the most extreme thing was being shot over a taco (which yeah, was pretty weird, but was a one-in-a-million-chance that would've happened) and literally being the one-in-seven-billion who was like him, bringing him to a point where he could actually have a regular life without people knowing about what he was meant to be? Yeah, that was kinda weird all things considered. Still, Mad Dawg was happy. He could say that with certainty now, and not just because he got some tacos, but because, well, he had friends. Now, while he still desperately wanted to go home, he didn't feel quite as alone as he had previously.

"Alone…" He muttered, somewhat sadly, hugging his legs close. The word hung in the air, seemingly making the air surrounding him a little bit colder.

There was no way to put it, he was alone. Even with all that had been happening here, hanging with the Louds, and Santiago's, and even Mr. Trejo, Mad Dawg was still alone. His 'family' was either in another dimension or time place, or dead. While he didn't regret being directly responsible for the death of his 'mom', it was the death of Don that still hurt. He knew why though, Don Kim was pretty much an adoptive father or grandfather to Mad Dawg, which was weird considering he was around nine or ten when he met him, and Don Kim was something like one hundred plus years (despite the legends saying he was 300+), a Japanese Crime Lord, and had ripped Mad Dawg's heart out and replaced it with a car battery.

"Man, my life is weird." Mad Dawg blinked.

But the guy had turned out to be someone that was compassionate, and at times completely insane. Both things Mad Dawg identified with, and their friendship only grew with time, drinks, and incredibly stupid schemes that they came up with in bars. And that wasn't even considering the others like; Angela, Marcus, Santos, Sitara, Jack, Lena, Ray, Josh… All of them really. The family he had struggled to reconnect with for so long, now… gone.

Again.

"But, it was the right thing to do." Mad Dawg reasoned. "That… that saved the world! I did what I did, to stop a terrorist leader. If it worked, Akande is DEAD. Doesn't that count for something!?"

It did, quite a lot actually. But that didn't help ease his feeling of isolation. He missed them, more than he could put into words. He had tried to, but looking back on it, there was so much more he had put into that video… and Isabelle… There was so much he didn't tell her. She looked up to him, she trusted him, and then… he was gone. What must that have been like for her? For all of them? Would they think it was worth saving the world if it cost them Mad Dawg? Dawg certainly thought it was, but he also had finally seen how much they had cared for him…

Looking around, Mad Dawg took a roll out and lit it up, he knew that this probably wasn't the best thing to do in a K+ story, but if it was never directly said what it was, then who cared? His mind drifted to the other side of the conversation he had been having with himself, the connections he had made. Sure, he was gone from everyone he knew, but now… well. He was alive, and he knew he had done the right thing, he just had to have faith that everything would turn out alright for everyone. While he did that, he finally felt like he was beginning to genuinely put his past behind him. He had met with Leni a few times in the past weeks, and he didn't know why he felt so timid and awkward about accepting her offer to get a coffee and talk. But there was something… helpful, was the best way to put it. She didn't critique him (that badly) or blame him for things (at least, not a lot of things) but was more there to listen, and while Mad Dawg would NEVER say this to her face, she was smarter than she seemed in some cases. She gave him advice or suggestions for things to try around town, and eventually she asked him if he was ready to move on. That had genuinely caught him off guard.

"Oh hey… a firefly." Mad Dawg said quietly, watching a small blinking light pass by. "Cool."

Mad Dawg checked his phone, remembering that today was the day he was going to meet up with Luna and her band, but he needed to check where and when… admittedly, he should've figured this out yesterday, or the day before… but then again, this was Mad Dawg.

Nodding in conformation, Mad Dawg sighed, deciding he needed to go back to bed, and went back to his house, pausing at the door when he heard a high-pitched static ringing. He scowled something under his breath and went inside.

"It's not real…"

The next morning, Luna Loud was tuning her guitar, checking the strings and looking around to her bandmates. There was Sam, co-singer and guitarist, and Chunk, their roadie. The drummer, nicknamed 'N' hadn't arrived yet, but had texted saying that he was grabbing food and was gonna be a few minutes late. Somehow, someway, 'N' knew a guy who let them use an old empty warehouse to film their video, and frankly… it was awesome. It was spacious and had a decent echo, but a few sound pads fixed that quickly. There was electricity so they didn't need to rely on the sun coming in through the windows, and the place was surprisingly large, which allowed them to have multiple small sets put in place for different scenes or takes.

"Hey, you nervous?" Sam grinned.

"Me? No…" Luna rolled her eyes with a grin. "Nervous? Nah. Terrified? kinda, yeah."

"I mean, like, yeah. This video could be what we need to launch ourselves into the big time." Chunk nodded, looking up from where he was setting up a camera. "After this? Who knows, we might be touring more than just Royal Woods public school."

"Just sayin' we're getting a bus." Sam stated as if this was non-negotiable. "I don't care what any of you say. We're getting a bus."

"Who'll drive it?" The roadie asked with a smirk, and Sam gave him an annoyed look.

"We're getting a bus." She re-stated her last remark. "Seriously though, how awesome would it be?! Traveling across the country, hanging out in a mobile home, having small tv's everywhere, a hot tub on the roof…"

"Whoa, that's a thing?" Luna asked, surprised.

"Oh, yeah! Mick Swagger apparently has one on his bus. Actually, I say it's a bus, but it's more like a home with wheels."

"So, an RV?"

The trio turned and saw 'N' entering with a box of donuts and three coffees, setting them on a table.

"…Huh, yeah. I guess that might be an RV." Sam conceded with a nod.

"And this is why you weren't the one in charge of making major decisions."

"And that is why you'll always be remembered as 'The Drummer'." Luna retorted with a smirk. 'N' rolled his eyes and laughed, looking around at the makeshift stage they had set up. He nodded in silent approval, although he would be fine with anything Chunk did. But then he frowned as he looked around, noticing something.

"Hey, where's that Chase kid?" He asked with a quirked brow. "Wasn't he supposed to be here?"

Luna felt all eyes turn to her as she looked to her bandmates and bit her lip.

"Kace. First of all." She remarked. "But yeah, I kinda thought he'd be here by now."

Chunk was looking through the viewfinder and jumped when he saw… something pass by the far wall. Whatever it was, it was BIG. He looked up in bewilderment, but saw nothing. He shook his head, must've been a shadow. He looked to one of the flood lights they had rented, it was holding steady, but he felt like the frame was off, but he couldn't say why.

"Look, you were kinda sketchy about this guy, you sure this isn't gonna end up being some sort of crime that gets talked about on a True Crime Podcast or something?" 'N' asked another question. Of the four, he was the most… skeptical, to put it politely, about bringing in some random (to him at least) outsider to help them with some sort of costume.

"I know, and I'm sorry." Luna sighed. "Kace is a friend of mine, we met about a month ago, and he's really… unique."

"Like, mentally? Or…"

"Dude!" Luna replied, disgusted somewhat.

"What?!" 'N' said defensively. "I don't know the guy!"

"Ugh… Kace is essentially a living swiss army knife from what I've seen." Luna explained, rubbing her temples somewhat. "He can either be as posh and civilized as Lola, or can be as off-the-way and crazy as Luan."

"True. The dude seemed really weird, but also really fun." Sam nodded in agreement.

"Hey, I may not know the guy, but if that costume is half as good as that shadowy picture, I'm A-Okay with him helpin' out." Chunk added, then looked up. Yeah, the light was fine.

"Fine, fine, fine…" 'N' grumbled, understanding he wasn't going to win this argument. "It's just… it seems a little too convenient, y'know? Some new guy shows up, and immediately offers to throw in with us to help make a video for a band he's never heard of? I'm not judging the guy personally, but I am saying that's a little… weird, is all."

"Look, N…" Luna began, unsure of what to say. "Kace is… troubled. He's kinda had a really crappy hand dealt to him from the word go. He's trying his best to get better, and he's really, really socially awkward. He told Leni that part of why he's acted the way he has is that he doesn't know how to make friends. Even if you two don't get along, just try and be nice, okay?"

"Whoa Luna. When did I ever say I wouldn't?" 'N' asked, looking up from his coffee, almost sounding offended. "Hey, if he's a friend of yours, that's good enough for me. I just thing the optics are a bit weird, is that fair to say?"

"Yeah, sorry N. I guess I'm a little high-strung right now…"

Chunk heard something rattle and turned to see something disappear into another room. That time he knew it wasn't a shadow. Had a janitor stumbled in here and was trying not to disturb them? No… that didn't seem right…

"Hey, C-Man, you good?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." The roadie nodded. "Yo, Lu. Where's this guy? We ain't got all day."

Luna blinked, then took out her phone to send him a message. While she did this, 'N' walked back to the table and noticed two donuts were missing. THAT made no sense… he had been here all of two minutes, and none of them had taken one yet. He had checked earlier to make sure there were twelve… Did he eat them and forgot about it? No. The ones missing were the jelly-filled ones. He hated those…

Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.

Everyone turned and saw a phone sitting on a chair. No one could say if it had been there when they arrived, but they all knew it wasn't theirs. Slowly, Sam picked it up, seeing a message from Luna

Where R U?

"Uh… I think this is Dawg's phone…" She remarked, confusing everyone further. Now, Sam saw what appeared to be claw marks along the nearby wall, and she knew Chunk hadn't put those there… they seemed far too real…

There was a soft chime, and Luna looked down at her phone.

Behind U

Slowly, she turned and looked behind her, the closed shutters cast the back part of the warehouse in absolute darkness, it should've been dead quiet, until everyone heard a deep, low breathing. It almost sounded like a growl.

"Hey… Mad Dawg?" Luna called. "That you?"

There was no reply, save for the sounds of heavy footsteps and deep breathing. Slowly, a figure emerged from the shadows, approaching the frozen band like a predator closing in for the kill. With each step, the air in the room seemed to get either thinner or colder. The sounds of some sort of claw or talon scraping across the ground mixed with the deep heavy breathing were the only sounds that were audible, as everyone who saw what was walking into the light had stopped breathing. The lights reflected sleek but twisted gray and white fur, or hair. It was not clear what it was. This… thing, had a head that seemed like a wolf's, and a body much like a bear, but also an oddly human one at the same time. Its legs were thinner but clearly defined, like a jackal's legs, and large forearms that were clearly strong enough to snap metal bars in half. Its head jerked around and looked at the band mates, and it slowly stood on its hind legs, now towering nearly eight feet tall. The only noticeable colour on this thing was its light red tinted, amber-colored eyes, and the blood-red 'T' that began just above its eyes and concluded at the tip of his chin.

"M..m…ma…ma…Mad Dawg?" Luna stammered out, in absolute shock at what was standing before them.

"Hey." The beast spoke in an unnaturally deep voice.

"That…is…so…COOL!" Sam screamed, wide-eyed in amazement at what she saw in front of them.

"Holy… holy crap…" 'N' muttered in terrified amazement.

"Oh, we are SO gonna break onto the scene with this video…" Chunk muttered.

The large costumed Mad Dawg got back down onto his hands and feet, walking into the center of the room and sitting down. Everyone took in the amazing detail of the realistic eyes and teeth that were noticeable. No one wanted to approach him, but everyone wanted to see this thing. Ripping a letter that was taped to his side, Mad Dawg threw it to Luna, who caught it and opened it.

"Hey guys, thanks for having me." She began. "This is my costume, pretty awesome, right?"

"Oh, hell yeah." Chunk blinked.

"Just so you all know, I can't talk very well in this thing. The animatronic mask is a work-in-progress, this is the fourth revision of it. As such, I can only speak in short bursts."

"Way… it is…" Mad Dawg spoke, clearly struggling to get those words out.

"Also, I can't eat normal food in this this thing, so the brownies over there are mine, also, you may need to repeat yourselves once or twice as this costume makes it kinda hard to hear. Aside from that, let's do this!"

Sam slowly approached Mad Dawg, meeting the masks' eyes as he lowered his head, almost lying on the floor like a dog. Slowly, the guitarist reached out and touched Mad Dawg's side, rubbing her hand against the costume hair/fur.

"I love your fur… it's so floofy!" Sam squealed, her eyes widening as she felt the soft texture. In a matter of moments, she was lying on the thick fur that covered Mad Dawg's costume.

"Sam, c'mon. It's-oh. Wow. This is really soft." Luna blinked, feeling the fur for herself. "…oh…oh this is really soft…"

"I want a blanket of this stuff. Like, NOW." Sam said, still leaning against Mad Dawg's side. The large costumed monster stood up and shook himself, looking around at the band, then jerking his head towards the stage.

"Okay, so… I had no idea you were gonna be… this big." Chunk began. "So, the idea we had was you walking through the graveyard over there, some sort of werewolf kinda thing."

Mad Dawg looked to the set with the tombstones set up and seemed to be deep in thought before walking over to it, and proceeded to lift the entire platform up.

"Uh, Luna? What's he doing?" The roadie blinked, unsure of how to react to whatever was happening.

"I have no idea."

Mad Dawg set down the platform then walked away, dragging several empty metal oil barrels with him. He pointed to 'N' and Chunk and then pointed to the barrels. The pair didn't get immediately what he was getting at until he lifted up the platform again. They looked to one another then dragged them to the four corners of the platform, elevating it a few feet off of the floor. Mad Dawg turned around and pointed to himself, then pointed under the platform. He made a few gestures and the band looked on in confusion, until Luna's eyes widened.

"You wanna break through the ground." She stated and Mad Dawg grinned. "Oh, that's cool!"

"That's pretty clever, have him break up from the ground, wander the graveyard at night…" Chunk nodded. "Actually, that was my original idea, but I wasn't sure how to pull that off without trashing the whole set."

"Film… it last…"

"…how did I forget about that." Chunk blinked, genuinely disappointed in himself.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's do this!" Sam exclaimed, and Mad Dawg grinned.

For the next few hours, the band played their song, titled 'Dragon's Blood', while Chunk and Mad Dawg worked the cameras. Chunk got the idea to essentially duct tape cameras to Mad Dawg and let him run around the band, the result was an odd visual spectacle that made several of the more extreme rock moments all the better. Mad Dawg could also get higher angles by standing on his hind legs and pointing a camera downwards, which cut out the need for them to try and stack boxes or something dangerous like that.

Part way through, the lyrics went on to talk about the 'fire and fury of a dragon' and this was something everyone had issues with. They wanted to do some sort of pyrotechnic effect, but none of them knew how to safely pull it off. That, and they were pretty sure it would be illegal to light a fire or something along those lines to film for a movie. However, as they were getting ready for another take, 'N' nearly had a heart attack.

"DUDE. WHY DO YOU HAVE A GAS CAN!?" He shouted, and everyone whirled around to see Mad Dawg holding a gas can. The large costumed monster looked to them, then shrugged.

"Dragon… fire…" He got out.

"No! No! NO! Luna, this is insane! I know he's your friend or something, but the dude is gonna burn the place down and kill all of us! I don't know if he's mentally unstable or something, but we can't work with him! The furry is a threat to everyone here!"

While they argued, Mad Dawg continued pouring gasoline.

"N, I get your point, but he's not-" Luna began, only for a sizable fireball to suddenly manifest itself, a large column of fire shot up, and then was smothered by a blanket. The heat and intensity were still felt however, and Sam cried out as she felt some or her hair burn. "DAWG, WHAT THE HELL MAN?!"

Mad Dawg ignored her, pulling the blanket off and then gave a grunt of approval. Chunk looked over and his eyes lit up when he saw what Dawg had done.

"Oh, that's AWESOME!" He declared.

The others looked over, and saw that on a wooden sheet, Mad Dawg had spelt out 'Dragon's Blood' in a death metal-style font, with gasoline, then had set fire to it, then put it out, burning the lettering into the wood in a unique black-and-dark-red style.

"Stupid… idea…" Mad Dawg said, before walking off. The sounds of chains dragging could be heard as he came back into the room, dropping two long chains next to him, then pointed to the gas, before making a circle motion.

"Uh, that might be a bit risky." Chunk shook his head. "We can use the chains, definitely, but don't set them on fire, I can imagine this costume is a pretty big fire hazard on its own."

Mad Dawg growled but nodded, dragging the chains off, not noticing the small pool of gas that had begun to form from around the gas can after one of his claws punched a hole in it by mistake.

When lunch came, about thirty seconds later, the band paused to eat. All the while Mad Dawg was eating a tray of brownies without his hands. But then again, it appeared that this thing wasn't made for eating food, so everyone decided to leave it be.

"So, like, where'd you find this guy?" Chunk asked, looking over to Luna. The rocker Loud looked to Mad Dawg, who let out a half-laugh and nodded.

"Well, I met him on some forums a few months ago. He found our demo and really liked it. He offered to help with some concept art, and we were gonna meet, then Lori hit him with our van."

'N' violently spat his drink out in shock, and Chunk burst out laughing. Mad Dawg gave them both an annoyed look, partially because his back was now covered in grape soda, and partially because of the laughing. He wasn't mad though, he kinda loved occasionally bringing this up to annoy Luna's sisters and shock newcomers.

"Seriously. She got distracted and hit him with the van. I kinda figured he was gonna try to kill or get us thrown in prison or something, but by some unbelievable act of God, he was okay."

"Crap happens." Mad Dawg commented, remaining still while Sam felt the warm fur once more.

"So, we got him home, patched him up, and… went from there."

"So, you committed near vehicular homicide, then a hit and run, and then befriended the guy you nearly murdered." 'N' remarked, he looked to Mad Dawg and said. "If they're holding you hostage against your will, blink twice."

Mad Dawg began blinking as if his life depended on it. 'N' and the others laughed while Luna hit him in annoyance.

"Asshole." She scoffed, Mad Dawg flipped her off with one of his furry hands in response, his face essentially saying: 'Yup, whatch'a gon do?'.

"Seriously… this whole thing feels so real!" Sam muttered. "Like, I feel bones and it seems like real skin surrounding this! How did you do this!?"

Mad Dawg seemed to struggled for a minute, trying to write something on a small notepad with an even smaller pen. The words weren't perfect or in great English, but they got the message across.

"Synthetic plaster mixed with copious amounts of latex, metal and chicken wire." She read. She looked up, and it wasn't clear if she fully believed him or not. Actually, the whole band seemed to be now realizing what Dawg was claiming and what he had didn't seem like the same thing. Mad Dawg sighed and started pushing some fur up on his leg, he had a feeling this was gonna happen, so he took some (admittedly painful) precautions. Along his leg, there was a length of wiring held in place by a glue-like substance. Everyone looked at it, then seemed to collectively decide to just go with it. Admittedly, 'N' felt some of his paranoid apprehensions returning to him from earlier, as this thing seemed way, way too real… But… 'Mad Dawg' hadn't done anything to harm anyone yet, so he decided to remain cautiously optimistic. Besides, at the end of the day, their video was going to be legendary.

The band kept playing for several hours, and towards the end, everyone was feeling really good about this video. Mad Dawg acted as a sort of background character, appearing behind the band or slinking around like a wild animal, as well as hardcore head-thrashing, which according to Sam, was the funniest thing she had ever seen. The main 'music' segment was completed, so now it was the more background stuff. While they were busy filming, no one noticed that the flood light seemed to be breaking, as if the casing was threatening to shatter…

"And… ACTION!" Chunk shouted. There was silence, then a massive fist shot up from a grave, followed by another, and then 'Tom the Beast' as he had been nicknamed by Luna, pulled himself up. With the mixture of lighting, fans and camera angles, it looked like something out of a horror movie. Mad Dawg looked around, then began slinking from tombstone to tombstone. He was amazed, he actually did it! He quickly focused back in on his job, pausing, while 'N' and Sam appeared behind him, throwing one of the chains around his throat. He pretended to struggle, as if he was some sort of monster to be tamed by another creature of darkness. He also thought that the chain felt wet… but he chalked that up to sweat or condensation. He roared and shook his head, sending the chain flying away dramatically, which was helped by the bandmates yanking on fishing line to pull it away while it was in the air. "CUT! Loved it!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Mad Dawg's costumed body language shifting from an angered predator to one far more relaxed. He walked over and continued eating some brownies while the others looked at the footage. Chunk kept the camera rolling for a minute, trying to get some B-Roll in case they needed it for credits or something.

"Yes! This is amazing!" Luna cheered. "Our music sounds so good!"

"I ain't gonna lie Chunk, you surprised me." 'N' nodded in acknowledgement. "I kinda thought this was gonna be a try-hard video, but you planned this out perfectly! You really brought the roof down this time!"

There was a sound of metal snapping and cords breaking, and everyone froze.

"MOVE!" Chunk screamed, realizing what was happening and shoving Luna and 'N' out of the way and jumping away with the camera as the floodlight fell to the ground, shattering upon impact, sending a wave of sparks flying. "Everyone oaky!?"

His answer was no. He got this answer when the sparks landed on the small path of gas that had been made earlier, and a fire burst up. This wouldn't be too much of an issue, but the flame hit the chain which hadn't been covered in sweat or anything else… but had steadily been soaking in the gas puddle, and the metallic links erupted into fire in a long line.

"SAM!" Luna screamed, seeing her girlfriend on the ground, her boot caught in the pile of chains.

There was a loud thudding as if something was moving full-speed, shaking the world as it did so. "OH, WHAT NOW?!" 'N' yelled in annoyed, frightened fury. Sam felt the heat approach, and then something enveloped her. She felt herself be covered in fur and yanked upwards, then literally thrown like a pillow.

"YEET!" Mad Dawg's deep voice echoed. Sam landed roughly, but unharmed. However, Mad Dawg didn't have time to run, and suddenly exploded in an agonizing howl of pain. Everyone looked on in terror as the costume Mad Dawg wore was enveloped as the thick fur caught the fire, not helped by the gas he was standing in. The beast roared in animalistic pain, and slammed its fists onto the concrete, cracking the ground with unimaginable force. Chunk blinked in shock, seeing that this wasn't a panicked reaction of someone caught in a costume trying to get it off, this was the pained reaction of someone who had been set on fire. The creature suddenly lunged forward towards him and roared, and the hot breath and saliva didn't seem fake. It couldn't be fake.

"HOLY CRAP THAT THING'S REAL!?" Chunk shouted in terror, unsure if it was true or not, but scrambled to get away regardless.

"RUN!" Mad Dawg roared. "GO! NOW!"

Yelling animalisticly, the creature seemed to be struggling to either run or fight. It seemed like it was not only in pain because of the fire, but also because of the inability to decide on something. Finally, Mad Dawg looked to them one last time, his face horrifically burnt now, then Dawg shot off like a bull, charging towards a nearby open door which the band had been using for light. Everyone watched as Mad Dawg, or whatever that… thing was, disappeared down a concrete waterway.

"…is he gonna be okay?" Sam whispered.

"…please. Someone tell me that was in focus." Chunk muttered, seeing the camera had somehow remained rolling.

Mad Dawg was in absolute AGONY right now. His whole body was literally on fire! He kept running and running, he wanted to head for the forest, but knew that wasn't an option right now. If the whole place burned down…

"EvERywHEre YOu gO, YOu lEAvE EveRYThIng iN fAMEs!" He could hear Virus laughing in a distorted, twisted way, but he couldn't see where he was.

"You mean nothing to me. You were just an experiment, and a failed one at that. Now, you're an annoyance at best and nothing to me at worst." Another voice whispered into his ear, and that one didn't make him angry, it made him frightened.

"No…Sam…hurt…" He managed to get out as he saw a lake coming up ahead. He couldn't feel the fire as some of his nerves were now burned off, he felt weak, tired… like his body was to change back to its normal form… Jumping desperately, Mad Dawg heard a very loud hissing sound, and then everything went black.

A few minutes later, Mad Dawg woke to some of the most excruciating pain he had felt. His body was screaming at him to get out of the water, but he was so weak… He saw his right hand hadn't finished changing back to normal, and he used to slowly pull himself ashore. He felt rocks cutting at his chest, and right now he didn't care… If he didn't get out of the water, he would drown. Once he was on solid land, Mad Dawg found that his phone had miraculously survived the whole ordeal, as he kept it in a waterproof bag. However, the impact and fire had done some damage to it, and he was slowly scrambling to call… anyone. He felt blood leaking from all over he could feel his body getting ready to shut down, he weakly raised his head when he heard the other end of the line pick up.

"Hey MD, what's up?"

"H..he…hel…help m..m..me. Pleas..se." He hoarsely whispered.

"Whoa, kid, you okay?! Where are you!? What happened!?"

"I..im so..rr..y…" Mad Dawg wheezed before his head fell back to the rocks. As his world was enveloped by darkness, he could see some…thing, running towards him, it was a girl, and she seemed familiar. But right now, Mad Dawg wanted to sleep, he was in so much pain… and sleep was good…

"Kid!? You still there hermano?! Mad Dawg!? Mad Daw-" The phone screamed, but Mad Dawg heard a soft ringing, and then everything went black.