*AN* The character "Katie Knight- does not exist in any of my stories (at least for the time being.) Any mention of "Katie" is an OC based off me.
Just a heads up, I will be changing the titles of some of my stories soon. As I mentioned in a past AN I was trying to make a series and then use only one word to describe the story as a whole and that word would also be used as a revelation or opening/closing line. I got a little bored with this one and it was getting hard to come up with clever names.
The story lasted only another few days before it vanished from the airwaves and people no longer talked about it. There were a few groups who decided to devote their time and effort into finding this mystery animal and spent months searching without so much as a clue to it's existence. The months went by as normal and since filming had ended, Katie was enjoying some well deserved time off at home, while the guys toured the world. Soon enough she was called back to the studio to go over a new script with Camille, Lucy, Tyler, Dak, Jett, Gustavo and Kelly. The guys would be back in LA in another week but this episode was mostly about the supporting cast. They began work straight away and filmed the entire episode in just over a week; ahead of schedule no less. They earned a few days off and would come back in 3 days when BTR would be back from their vacation.
When everyone returned, the hot topic was the return of the mystery animal. This time, avid photographers got pictures and video of the animal which appeared to be some sort of deformed dog. Experts, or at least that was what they called themselves, were stumped as too what it was and why it was here. There wasn't enough evidence to provide a theory nor was there a pattern to decipher. Over the course of about a month, new information was constantly coming out as high tech computing and software analyzed the documentation of the animal in question. It shared attributes to many animals as far as appearance. It had scruffy fur like a dog or wolf, a long and strong, yet prehensile tail that resembled the body of an anaconda, the paws of a lion, long talons of an eagle or other bird pf prey.
The group of co-stars were quite intrigued with the unfolding events and were glued to a TV or a computer whenever they could. It was nearly 2 years before a shot of the beast's face was finally captured, the photographer nearly lost his life although the animal didn't seem to want to kill him, only play or just push away. The animal's face was large with a long snout that had 4 large canine teeth that stuck out like a saber tooth tiger although not quite as big. It's eyes were a sharp golden yellow and glistened in the moon light.
The girls of the group thought the animal was cute, despite all of its seemingly random parts.
"It looks scared and lonely." Lucy said. The other girls agreed but the other guys weren't so quick to jump on board.
"It might be lonely but who knows how dangerous it is. No one knows what it even is." James said
"Its just a displaced animal, unwanted because of its flaws. Why else would it be roaming the streets of LA?" Camille defended
"Whatever it is, it seems to have changed LA for the better, has anyone noticed that traffic has gotten less congested and there doesn't seem to be as many violent crimes?" Kendall suggested.
"Everyone is too scared to come out of their houses." Logan commented.
"That may be true, I mean there has to be one powerful force to stop something as big as all the gang rivalry." Carlos agreed .
"Yeah, but this started way before these pictures came out; at least I think so. These stories have been few and far between. I could be way off on the estimate." Kendall said.
"I don't think we need to be afraid of it. What ever it is." Katie said.
"Why not?" James asked.
"Well, according to several reports, it runs off when spotted. Its more afraid of us then we are of it. However a cornered animal might just attack. If we leave it alone, I'm sure it will leave us alone." she explained.
After their discussion the animal went undetected for many months which soon turned to a year. Talks of it soon dwindled and eventually it was all forgotten. The animal seemed to have vanished; no longer was it spotted in LA nor in the original area of Katie's home state. Soon all returned to normal, and California was once again the bustling city of movie stars and musicians.
After wrapping up another soon to be successful season, the cast went out for celebratory drinks. Some of the cast was missing since not everyone needed to be at the studio on the last day; some were on vacation or flew back home and the others would meet up at their favorite hang out just up the street from the studio. Katie, Tyler, Jett and Kelly were a few of the ones who were missing; despite trying all day, Katie was unreachable, which wasn't unusual but at the same time worrisome. Kelly had work to do and Jett had a photo shoot. Tyler had flown home with his mom to get some well deserved R&R.
They spent several hours at the hang out until they were asked to leave as closing time neared. It was almost 1am and were surprised at how late it had gotten. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. The girls had carpooled in Camille's car and were on their way back to the lot to retrieve their own vehicles so they could head home. Dak drove to the eatery and offered to give the other guys a ride back but they declined. Carlos, James, Kendall and Logan walked back to the studio where Logan and Carlos got in their cars and head home. James rode his bike and Kendall had walked that day since neither live too far. They lived in the same general direction so James walked with Kendall until they got to his neighbor hood then he would hop on his bike and head home himself.
They were half a mile into the walk before a noise caught them off guard.
"Did you hear that?" Kendall asked
"Hear what?" James replied. A moment of silence revealed a scraping sound. "What is it?"
"I don't know." Kendall said. He couldn't help but look in the general direction of the sound and started to walk towards it.
"Kendal what are you doing?" James asked concerned. Kendall backed off and after looking around some more, decided to keep moving. They approached an alley and the sound was more distinct; they stopped dead once they found where it came from.
"It's close. Stay quiet and we can sneak around it." James instructed.
"I wonder what it is?" Kendall replied
"Probably some animal searching for some food. Either that or trouble we don't want to get ourselves into." James whispered.
"Hey wait a minute…what if its that animal that was all over the news about a year ago. Remember that?" Kendall asked
"Yeah I remember." James replied
"Well, let's take a look." Kendall said.
"Hold on, Kendall. I like animals just as much as the next person but we don't know what the personality of that thing is. It could try to kill us." James countered.
"Only one way to find out." Kendall said as he began to sneak up on to the alley.
"Do you have some sort of death wish or something?" James followed. Kendall sneaked across the alley way so he could duck behind a dumpster. James stayed where he was and just watched his friend sneak around. Kendall held up a hand to stop James from moving and talking, he then looked at James and pointed down the alley. James flattened himself against the wall facing the street and slowly looked around the corner. Way down at the back, something was clearly moving but the dark of the night made it difficult to make out much.
Eventually the dark shadow came closer and it became clear that it was an animal. James and Kendall watched in amazement as the creature came forward with no indication of being aggressive or even aware of their presence. They stayed still and quiet as they watched the animal move; it moved with a steady gait, though at times slow as it searched the ground, and quietly. It made barely a sound as it moved, like a cat stalking prey. A street light above them turned on suddenly and spooked the animal but gave them a glimpse of what exactly they were watching.
It was the mystery animal that was the talk of the town so long ago and it was much bigger in person, it stood nearly the height of a full size horse. It backed from the light and hung its head low before moving back up. It was smelling for something, searching for food. Kendall and James ducked back as it came up to the far side of the dumpster and flipped the lid open and scrounged around inside. Finding nothing of interest it backed out of the dumpster and knocked the lid back down. This creature either had an odd quirk or was more intelligent than the average dog.
It stopped dead for a moment before letting out a low growl. Kendall and James both sat still, their hearts racing as they looked at each other. They wanted to find out what was going on but wanted the other to actually look. James looked down and saw that the light from the overhead street lamp was casting Kendall's shadow into the alley. He motioned to him what he thought and then gathered a plan. Kendall was in an awkward position and couldn't get up to run right away or as fast as James and he was afraid to move. James was going to count to 3 on his fingers and run past Kendall, and grab his out stretched hand to give him the lift he would need to run fast and far away from the alley.
Kendall agreed and watched as James began to count off silently. One. Two. THREE! James used all the effort he had in his legs to give himself a strong enough boost to be able to lift Kendall. He reached out, eyes wide and locked onto his friend as he ran towards him.