"Clifford!" screamed Cleo.  "What have you done?!"  Cleo and T-Bone stared in shock.  T-Bone started to whimper and tremble.  He lost control of his bladder and wretched until he lost his breakfast on the lawn.  He turned and ran as fast as his stubby legs would carry him.

            Clifford glared after T-Bone and snarled, "What's with him? What a coward. Mac deserved what I gave him. Anyone who treats me bad will get it!"

            Cleo couldn't believe her ears.  "Clifford, why'd you do that? How could you do that?"  Cleo backed away as Clifford advanced on her with one step.

            "I'll do the same to you if you don't watch yourself, Princess Cleo."

Clifford narrowed his eyes and snarled at her, "Come to think of it Cleo, you do deserve it.  Remember the time you got all high and mighty?  You went around all day wearing that stupid crown and giving orders.  How about the time you got me in trouble with Emily.  You told me to hide that broken Magic Ball of cousin Laura's.  You're deceitful and Mac was a snob."

Cleo yelped and ran in the opposite direction.  She was able to duck into a crawl pace of a shop in the boardwalk.

Clifford didn't bother to follow her.  He only chuckled and felt on top of the world, even though his whole upper body was going through painful spasms.  He had bigger things to do; a whole town to make sorry it screwed with him.  He was a force to be reckoned with.

Clifford walked farther down the street, ignoring the horror struck residents that were gathering around the stiffening carcass that had once been Jetta's loving pooch, Mac.

**********

The mayor of Birdwell Island was talking to the town veterinarian, Dr. Dinn.  They had gone over Clifford's medical charts and discovered that he had never been sick before.

Mayor Balldrell had become frantic.  "He's walking around town crushing every automobile in his path.  I think he might even be going out of his way to smash a few more."

Dr. Dinn cleared her throat, "I assure you, mayor, he's been properly vaccinated.  He had his rabies shot two months ago.  I can guarantee that it's not rabies.  Oh, dear God!  I forgot.  I treated him for facial wounds four days ago.  Some sort of animal had attacked him.  What could that animal have had?  This is terrible.  Without the other animal to run tests on, we may not be able to find out."

Mayor Ballrell slammed his fist on his desk, "Then you'll just have to get out there and collect some blood from that huge red beast!"

Dr. Dinn paled in the face, "I'll need some assistants.  Find the Howards and anyone else that is strong and able bodied. I'll be right there."

***********

Mark and Caroline Howard stood in complete bewilderment and horror.  They were watching their daughter's dog demolish the town.  It was unfortunate it happened on this day.  There were ferries shuttling tourists from the large city across the bay.  The town was full of visitors and they had nowhere to run.  The ferry system had been delayed for over an hour.

Mayor Ballrell informed the main land that it was necessary to stop all people from boarding the ferries.  He had instructed empty ferries to arrive to evacuate the island.  He had to save as many lives as he could.

Clifford had left a trail of frothy, slimy saliva everywhere he went.

Caroline began to cry when Clifford chased down the local eye doctor, Mr. Maori.  Clifford had brought a massive paw down on top of the terrified man.  Clifford then transferred all his weight onto that one paw where Mr. Maori was pinned down.  A muffled crunching sound could be heard and the screams ended, as did the man's anguish.

Clifford no longer understood reason.  He only knew the feeling of anger and destruction.  He was completely beyond help and there was no salvation for him or the town of Birdwell Island.