Disclaimer: Garfield and all related characters are the intellectual property of Paws Inc. and Paramount Global/Nickelodeon at the time this story was written.
Chapter 8: Lonely at the Top
*AHHHHHHH* Odie finishes sipping the remaining tea from his cup and gently places it back on a small plate on the table, now getting the hang of holding said cup in a proper manner after a few failed attempts…and broken glasses.
"Would you care for some more tea, Mister Puppy?" Becky offers, holding the kettle up.
*UH HUH* The dog nods his head, to which the girl pours more tea into his cup.
"Ah ahh. Remember your pinky." Becky reminds him, gesturing to him to keep his smallest finger down while sipping his drink.
*OH* Odie immediately rectifies his mistake and places his finger in a downward position, slowly but effectively learning the proper teacup holding etiquette.
"There you go." The girl smiles, proud of the progress he's made so far. "Taught you well, I have."
*HEH HEH HEH HEH* Odie can't help but chuckle at her rather silly impression of Yoda.
"Say, little puppy, do you happen to know where this came from?" Becky shows him the tranquilizer dart she kept in her pocket…
*PFFFFFFFFFFFF*
…causing him to spit out his tea right in her face, causing her to drop the dart.
"Hey! I was just asking! Sheesh!" The girl shouts, wiping the tea from her eyes.
*RWARF* Odie, rueful of his spit take, hands Becky a clean, lace napkin from the table, making it easier for her to wipe off the remaining spilt liquid from her face.
"Thanks, puppy." Becky said before noticing the stains dripping onto her uniform. "Oh great, now I'm gonna have to wash my clothes before father sees me like this."
While the child does her best to wipe the stains off of her private school uniform, the dog picks up the dart and carefully examines it, a good amount of sedative narcotics still lurking inside the needle.
"I found it sticking on your arm." Becky said, placing the cloth back down on the table after wiping off a bit of the more noticeable stains. "Do you know who poked you with that thing?"
*UH HUH* Odie nods his head, knowing full well who sent those drones after him. Looking over at his arm, the dog notices a small, punctured red spot from where the dart-
*GASP*
His…
…where is his…
…
…Oh, no…
…he left it…
…his coat…
…he accidentally left it in that nutcase's lab…
…the lab that got destroyed!
Meaning…
…it…
…it's…
"Puppy, what's the matter!?" Becky asks, becoming incredibly concerned as she witnesses the dog's hysterical breakdown. For a moment, the girl could only watch as the canine sobs nonstop over his small mistake…
…a small mistake that forever cost him the last reminder of his beloved former owner.
"Puppy, please don't cry!" Becky opens up her arms and gently wraps them around him. She's unsure of what to say to help him properly feel better, for her youthful mind hasn't fully prepared for her to properly succor a person going through such a severely traumatic situation.
However, this wasn't the first time she's dealt with such an occurrence, for a year prior, both her and her father had gone through a very similar struggle after her mother suddenly passed away after suffering a fatal seizure.
And, just like with Odie now, the only thing they could do at that moment was to reassure the comforting presence of each other with the warm embrace they desperately needed to help them make it through that very night without either one of them losing their sanity.
"Uhhhhh…ummmmm…rock-a-bye baaaaby, on the treetoooop. When the wind bloooows, the cradle will rock." The girl starts to sing a comforting lullaby her mother used to sing for her as her outfit becomes even more stained from the canine's excessively falling tears.
*BANG BANG BANG*
"Becky!? What's all that noise!?" Her father asks from the other side of her bedroom door.
"Oh, uhh…nothing!" His daughter replies, quickly hiding the dog under her bed in case he decides to enter the room. "Just having a tea party with my dollies."
"*SIGH* Alright." Her father said, still very skeptical of her answers. "By the way, we're going to have a word right after dinner, okay?"
"Uhh…Sure thing, father." Becky smiles, the fading sounds of his footsteps indicating the coast is now clear. "Phew."
"Is everything quite alright, master Gregg?" The house's chauffeur asks the perturbed businessman heading towards his direction.
"Y-Yeah, Jeeves. Everything's just fine." Gregg disgruntledly replies as he walks past him, having too many stressful thoughts in his mind to talk to anyone right now.
"Fluffy! Where are you!?" The old woman, once again, calls out for her missing orange feline as she, and all her fellow cats, scour all over the neighborhood looking for him.
"Don't know why she's having us do this." One of her cats said, looking through a bush in someone's backyard. "I mean, who cares about Fluffy when she's got all of us!?"
"Eh, the sooner we find him, the sooner we'll get dinner." Another cat shrugs, their search then interrupted by the sound of a door opening, and an angry, middle-aged man in his pajamas stepping out of his house.
"Hey! You damn cats get off my lawn!" The man shouts.
"Pfft, or what, old man!?" The female cat asks, unafraid of someone who could hardly even walk anymore, let alone run.
*BANG BANG*
"Oh, shit!" The man quickly retreats back into his house upon hearing gunshots close by.
"What the hell was that!?" The male cat asks, shivering like crazy.
"Not sure, but we better vamoose." The female cat suggests, her friend immediately agreeing to that idea.
And with that, the two felines make a run for it out of the yard right before two drones come flying above it, scouring the entire area for any sign of their target. With no luck, the duo of machines proceed to fly away from the yard and continue their search in the next one.
*BOOOOOM*
The sound of thunder roars across the cloudy sky, the storm approaching the city closer with each passing second on the clock. Inside a garbage bin, Garfield slowly peeks his head out, making sure none of his pursuers are close by.
"Way to go, Garfield, you're now the number one cat in Indiana's most wanted list." The cat said to himself. "*SNIFF SNIFF* Yeesh! The guy who lives around here must really like chicken wings."
*GRRRRRRR* A dog spots the feline's head peeking out of his owner's bin, ready to chew on his bones next.
"Oh, give me a freaking break!" Garfield shouts, for the poor feline can't seem to catch a breath anywhere he goes. "Or at least some pizza for that matter!"
*BANG BANG BANG*
*RWARF* The scared dog runs off upon nearly going deaf by the sudden loud noise.
"What was that!?" The hidden feline carefully gazes around the area, the lid just barely open as his eyes spot a drone flying towards his direction.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Shots are heard firing across the empty neighborhood, the acoustic shock of the noise startling the cat as he closes the lid shut. After waiting for the drone to fly away, The anxious feline slowly crawls out of the smelly bin, making absolutely sure that the coast was clear beforehand.
"I don't know what that drone's deal is, nor do I give a big, fat hairy deal what it is!" Garfield said, heading in the opposite direction from where the drone flew away. "Oof, g-gettin' the chills out here. Figuratively and literally!" He wraps his arms around himself as the wind blows through his fur.
*BOOOOOOOM*
Thunder roars across the sky as the lone, shivering feline treks his way across the empty neighborhood, not having the slightest idea of where he is…
…or where to find Odie…
…or home.
Needing some kind of indication of his current whereabouts, Garfield desperately looks for a street sign. It may not be much, but it's the only lead he has. Luckily, he wouldn't have to search for very long, for a street sign stands tall and proud near the house at the end of his current lane.
"The Village!?" Garfield reads. "Quite the imaginative name there, eh fellas? 'Scuse me, can you tell me where The Village is!?"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
"YIPES!" The cat yelps, startled by the sudden, and very loud, thunder roaring right above him. The clouds steadily growing darker by the second.
"Looks like it's gonna rain hard tonight." Garfield said, already feeling a few drips on his hand. "I better find some food and a good hiding place to rest, but more importantly the food."
As more drops pour onto the ground, the cat's feet ran faster, desperately seeking shelter, and a good meal, until the rain completely stops. Running faster and faster with each drop felt, the shivering feline hurryingly makes his way across the now soggy neighborhood to find somewhere, or at least something, to sleep under that isn't gross or crawling with insects…
"WHOA! OOOF!"
…right as he trips on something lying on the ground.
"Ohhhh." Garfield moans in pain, his fur now completely soaked from nature's dripping water. "What in the hell did I just trip…OOOOOOOOOON!?"
The cat immediately takes a few steps back, nearly slipping as he finds himself gazing upon the dead corpse of a dog laying perfectly still on the wet surface!"
"What the-"
Upon further giving the body a full examination out of morbid curiosity, he quickly takes notice of the holes causing all the blood to pour out of the dog's nonfunctioning intestines.
"Bullet holes." Garfield said, rubbing a speck of blood between his fingers as the flies all proceed to swarm all over the corpse. "No doubt The Claws sent that drone…
…looking for me."
*BANG BANG BANG*
More gunshots are heard across the neighborhood, providing the trembling cat with even more evidence to his claim. Continuing forward to find the closest exit from the walled area, he finds multiple dead bodies of dogs, cats, mice, and even squirrels…
…all lying on the ground, the cortisol bursting inside as the death toll steadily increases with each and every street he walks past.
"Geez, this brought a whole new meaning to 'getting dragged into the street and shot'".
*BANG BANG BANG BANG*
"And I'll be next if I don't scramble like an overly cooked egg!"
Garfield immediately makes a run for it…
*BANG BANG BANG*
…as the gunshots ring through his ears…
…getting louder and louder with each passing second.
Luckily, he manages to take cover inside a garbage bag lying next to another bin. Panting heavily, the cat makes a tiny hole with his claws to see if he's out of the drone's sight.
*BOOOOOOOM*
The roaring thunder not helping with his predicament in the slightest, especially for his ears. Remaining as silent as possible, the drone passes by the street as he carefully examines its every move before it flies out of his sight.
"Phew." The cat wipes his forehead's sweat as he slowly crawls out of the bag, making it absolutely certain that the drone is gone beforehand.
"They're getting more desperate." Garfield said, the rain fully soaking his fur. "And waterproof."
Shaking the excessive water off of his body, he continues his merry way towards the neighborhood's exit…
"FLUUUUUUUUFYYYYYYYY!"
…only for his ears to pick up yet another sound he was hoping never to hear again.
"Oh, great!" He grumbles to himself, for he can seem to never catch a break, for even a full millisecond.
"There he is!" A voice suddenly shouts, right as a group of cats start chasing after him, some of them slipping onto the wet concrete, staining it with even more blood.
"Oh, Come! ON!" Garfield growls in utter frustration, the growing fog making it much harder for him to see where he's going as he runs for his dear life once more…
*BAM*
…until slamming head-first into a wall, the wall separating the neighborhood from the rest of the city.
"Ohhhhhhhh." The orange feline rubs the blood off his head in agonizing pain…
*SLAM*
…right before two other felines slam him onto the damp ground.
"We got him!" One of the pair exclaims as all the other cats close in on the escaped feline, making sure to restrict any means of escaping and initiating a second chase all across town.
"You owe us dinner, fatty!" A cat angrily shouts.
"And new fur coats!" Another cat shouts.
Garfield, his head going through too much pain to help him properly think of an escape plan, can only mildly resist their grip on him.
"C'mon, let's get Fluffy here back to the old broad and get our dinner." A cat suggests, wanting to get out of the heavy rain as quickly as possible.
"Uhhhh…guys?" A cat catches up to the group, catching everyone else's attention with a worried look on his face. "The old lady's dead!"
*GASP*
The shocked crowd stopped in their tracks upon hearing the terrible news…
*BOOOOOOOM*
…and the rumbling thunder right above them.
"I just found her lying on the ground." The cat explains. "No doubt from a hard fall."
"And it's all his fault!" Another cat furiously shouts, pointing at Garfield.
"Let's kill him!"
All the cats draw out their claws as they prepare to rip his body open limb from limb…
*BANG BANG BANG*
…until a few of the cats suddenly fall onto the ground…
…with bullet holes on the back of their heads.
The cats drop Garfield and flee for their lives as they all spot the drone closing in on the scene…
*BANG BANG BANG*
…and gunning down more cats in the process.
Garfield, still incredibly weary from his head-on collision with the wall, stumbles on the wet concrete, desperately attempting to make his escape from all this chaos, hoping that maybe…
…just maybe…
…he'll survive through this massacre…
…find Odie…wherever he is…
…and finally go home.
*BANG*
"OOF!"
*SLAM*
Becky hands Odie a glass of warm cocoa she swiped from the refrigerator, hopeful that the warmth of the brown liquid powder and accompanying marshmallows will help calm him from his woes.
"You feel better now, little puppy?" She asks.
*MMM HMM* Odie nods, only putting the marshmallows in his mouth, for he's had enough to drink for one day after all that tea she gave him.
"You know, I'm so glad you came to me, cause now I finally have someone to play with." The girl said.
*HUH?* The dog's smile transmutes to a confused look upon hearing that statement, for how could such a nice, innocent girl not have any friends to play with?
"I've always had a hard time getting along with all the other kids at school." Becky explains, taking a seat on the bed right beside him. "And my father's always going away on business and leaving the maid and the chauffeur to take care of me. They're okay, and I love them dearly, but what I want is a real friend! Someone to share all my toys and have tea with me."
*MMM MMMMMM* Odie whimpers, sympathizing with her lack of a proper companion…
…just as he feels back home…
…without Lyman.
"Without anyone else to play with, I just feel so…so…alone." The girl finishes, lowering her head.
The dog gently places his paw on her shoulder, wishing that he can do more to help her with her problems, but he knew, from the bottom of his heart, that he can't stay here, no matter how tempting it was…
…for he must find Garfield…wherever he is…
…and finally go home.
But, at the same time, he can't just up and leave this little girl to dwell all alone without the comforting hand of a true friend. After all, dogs aren't just man's best friend…
…they're also a little girl's best friend.
*SLURP* Odie gently licks her face, letting her know that he's there for her…
…just as she was there for him.
"Heh heh heh, you're such a good dog." Becky gently picks him up and hugs him tightly, never wanting to let go.