Everest couldn't sleep.
Absently staring into the ceiling above her bed, her mind refused to quiet the static scratching into her ears. Skye was gone, a piece of her life she would never get back. Staring with a sunken expression, Everest never realized how much she treasured a memory until now. She clung to the old flickers of their time together, replaying them over and over in her head as if the dream alone would give her those feelings of happiness back. Denial had plagued her quickly; Zuma's words writing over themselves and changing the story, desperately Everest wanted to be the author of this terrible nightmare. She could rise out of her body, grip Zuma by the throat and change his own words. But she couldn't; this was her reality, a cold truth that only sunk her deeper into her greyscaled mind.
Just bring Skye back, Everest begged in her mind, tears forming in her eyes. Just make this terrible night go away and never come back. She wanted to melt into the floor, a fitting escape from a terribly cruel world. Although her mind carried a cruelty of its own; Everest tossing and turning on her sides as she fought to sleep. "Mmhph..." came a low grumble, the husky turning over on her stomach again.
Flickering her eyes up, she spotted her pup-pad tablet sitting on the floor a few inches away. The idea of playing games at a time like this brought only exhaustion to her mind, and she looked away from her device disdainfully.
Tablet.
Everest suddenly sat up in bed, her mind connecting the dots as she remembered something. The device she had found at the outpost; if it was ever going to finish uploading, it would be now. No way in hell that thing would still need time, Everest glanced over at her door, wondering if she could slip out. Anticipation danced in her head, eyes flickering at that of finally unlocking whatever mysteries that thing held. For so long Jake had waved her off, treating her find like it was some garbage she had picked up off the street. Her wonder quickly faded into frustration, everything she worked for was slowly being robbed out of her paws. Her owner, her lounge, her hobbies, her work, it all made a growl vibrate through her teeth. It wasn't fair, she thought to herself, she deserved this, she was owed the fruits of her labor. She wanted to see what was on the damn thing, whether Jake liked it or not.
Climbing out of bed, she placed her paws on the cold wood floor as drive brewed in her head. There was no way she'd get to sleep now. The journey began; Everest peeked out of her room and saw the close was clear, slipping out into the dark hallway. Her excitement only grew with each step, quickening into a small trot as she made her way to Jake's computer room. She stopped suddenly in the middle of her mission, walking up to an obstacle in the path.
"Ugh," she groaned, twisting her nose at the article of clothing.
It was a leather jacket, brown and sharp-collared. She recognized it immediately as belonging to Gasket, and if sight alone didn't confirm it, the reeking stench of gasoline and machine oil radiating from the leather did. "How peachy," Everest grumbled, scrunching up her face in disgust. "Just leave your clothes wherever you want, alright with me." Unceremoniously kicking the jacket aside, Everest continued forward.
Gently nudging the door open, Everest glanced inside the room, and sure enough; it was empty. The computer table stood like a totem, set up like it was somehow the most interesting thing in the room. Computers -human ones at least- were of no interest to Everest, the keyboards had too many buttons anyway. She dismissed the human technology, her eyes instead trailing to a set of cords plugged into the side, forming a colorful network that ended in her object of interest: The recovered tablet from the outpost.
Jake had fixed it, finally, a revelation that made Everest roll her eyes. If the guy wasn't so absorbed in pointless towers, he could probably get more important things done every day. "Like playing frisbee with me," Everest said aloud, continuing off her thoughts. "Or maybe..." she glanced aside as she walked up to the computer. "Not hiring sketchy-ass bikers to invade my bed."
She gave her body a small wiggle, prepping the jump, and leaped off the floor. Planting her front paws on the edge of the table, the husky grunted as she heaved herself up. "Easy," she chuckled, shaking herself off and stepping on the keyboard. She grabbed the tablet like a dropped pup treat, snatching it hungrily like the most prized information in the world was kept on it. Sure enough, the screen was replaced and much of the hardware had either been fixed or swapped out for new variants. Her curiosity was piqued by the screen's glow, the repairing was finally, after all this time, finished. It was fully useable now, great excitement spreading across her face as she held it.
She took the tablet in her paws, sitting on the floor. "Took you long enough, there better be something worthwhile on this thing." Everest said with a grumble, accessing the newly replaced touch screen.
She didn't truly know what she was expecting. A gold mine of information would've been nice, or perhaps a few mobile games to captivate her attention for the next few hours. Anything that wasn't plastered behind a passcode was good enough anyway. Unfortunately, that canceled out a large portion of its contents. "Damn it," was the phrase she repeated several times, going through file after file only to be met with a passcode requirement. Her face twisted in agitation as her paw swipes became more aggressive, bristling her fur as she fought against the machine.
A vault of documents was the last thing she accessed, flat resignation already painting her face as she prepared her arm to chuck the useless tablet across the room. She was met with an unexpected sight, her eyes widening by just a hair. A screen of pages; notes of the sort, all organized in a list from top to bottom. They were all titled with numbers, devoid of any more interesting details. Everest tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, briefly glancing around the room. The feeling of accessing sensitive information was making her feel anxious, heightening her senses as if there was someone hiding in the room with her. To her immense disappointment, a large majority of the documents were also taunting her behind passcodes.
Except one.
The note was listed as a draft, unfinished and unpolished, likely due for a passcode soon but never saw the day. "Alright," she said, hope lightening her voice. "Surprise me." Thinking nothing, Everest accessed the note.
Observation report, said the title in bold letters, numbered four-eight-five-zero-zero-nine. It was signed with the name Dutch, likely whoever it was that oversaw the writing. Everest tapped her paw, racking her brain for anyone she could've possibly known with that name, but only blank fog came in response.
Transportation is becoming dangerous the longer we wait, said the report. To ensure the safety of both specimens -and ourselves - we should ship them out as soon as possible. Subjects in question are only as docile as they choose to be, we must act now if the plan shall come to fruition.
"Plan?" Everest said, narrowing her eyes. She continued reading with a puzzled expression.
The words grew curious, as if the writer was leaning back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling in contemplation. It read: We have made a fascinating discovery considering the Mentiarga creature. It carries a unique ability to bend the phototropism of its cells, somehow cloaking itself until it completely vanishes from the naked eye. We need a better way to track this thing, because it keeps turning invisible on us. Several times we had thought it escaped containment when really it was right in front of us. Our interests aside; the creature seems to hunt for bodies to wear like protective armor, and we have witnessed it commit rather brutal acts on our test subjects. That being said, the Mentiarga is scheduled for release in the mountains, more information will come then.
"The mountains?" Everest looked up, blinking. "But that's... here." An uneasy chill tickled up her back, shaking her paws as she looked around the empty room. The warm protection of the ski lounge seemed to vanish, and Everest felt her breathing begin to shake. "All in my mind..." she said, voice barely above a whisper. "It's all... just in my head. I'm alone, purely alone." Gulping her fears down, she dragged her vision back down to her reading material. She could finish it, then run back to bed, her head was already mapping out the route.
The tablet continued: We have little information on what the Feroxmalis can become, the writing said, fear slipping through its digital ink. We only know it is predatory by nature, showing an instinctual desire to kill and eat. It appears to mimic the physical form of whatever it last consumed, and we've taken notice of worms that appear to be attracted to its presence. These insects bear no resemblance to any documented organism, we must assume they are connected in some way. For now; the Feroxmalis predator must be released in Adventure Bay, monitoring will continue from there.
The husky drew back. "Adventure Bay?" Her eyes widened, the tablet completely dropping from her paws. She sprang up onto all fours, adrenaline coursing through her. "I have to warn them! I have to call Chase, call Ryder, any of them!" She slapped her paw on the machine, trying to find its call feature, only to realize there wasn't one. "D-damn it!" Her paws frantically scrabbled at the wood as she flung her body around, the dog breaking into a full sprint. Crashing out of the room, the husky skidded on the floor as she charged through the dark to where she left her own tablet. "Maybe there's still time, what was it called... Ferox- something?!" Voice bouncing off the walls of the dark lounge, Everest crossed the top of the stairs in seconds. Her heartbeat supercharged as blood raced through her body, she ran with everything her body had.
Knocking the cracked door aside, Everest jumped from where she had left her device. "Wait-" she stopped suddenly, her heart sinking. "W-what?"
Her pup-pad was destroyed. A large hole tore through the center of the machine as if a solid object had cleanly penetrated through it, shattering its screen and mangling its inner components. "Who... how did-" Everest paled before the fractured device. She spluttered out a mess of overlapping words, not a single coherent thought could form itself. She had only been gone for five minutes at most, how could this have happened?
A fierce shiver ran up her veins as an unnerving sound crept into her ears. A faint rattling noise floated in her head, either creaking bones or a fiery rattlesnake. It was close, yet distant; ethereal, but real. She felt something heavy and wet hit her shoulder, making her jump from its cold splash. She screamed and shook her body with all her might, a clear, saliva-like liquid flinging off her body. Wordless cries choked up her throat as she looked around frantically for the source of the fluid. "Ah! Ghh-" Looking up at the ceiling, she saw nothing but the lifeless wood above her.
Her mind could only default to one cry. "Jake!" She barked, screaming for her owner. "Jake! Jake, where are you!?"
Heart pounding, breath shaking, paws scrambling, Everest leaped out of her room and ran for the stairway. Her speed betrayed her feet, and the husky lost her footing at the top of the stairs. An agonizing assault bludgeoned her as she fell, jagged edges slamming into her bones. She took a blow to the skull, her vision blurring over as the world spun around her. Sharp bruises formed on her body as she hit the tiled floor below, the dog crumbling into agonized groans.
She laid on the floor for what felt like an hour, slowly waiting for her body to stop aching. After a while, she grimaced and fought to stand back up. "Ja- Jake!" She barked into the blurry abyss, pushing herself up against her sore legs. Her eyes watered against the pain, mixing with a streak of crimson red leaking from her nose. "Help! Help me!" Screaming into the darkness of the lounge, she backed herself into a corner as she shook herself of the disoriented state.
The sound of rustling pots and pans echoed through the lower floor, originating from the kitchen. Everest whipped around at the noise, a light of hope coming to her spirits. It was Jake, it had to be, it was always him with the late-night snacks. It was him, it had to be him. "Jake!" Everest choked on her words, sprinting as fast as she could for the kitchen. "Jake, something's wrong! The PAW Patrol is in danger! We need to-" She rounded the corner, sliding on the dirty tile, and came to an abrupt stop. Her breath ceased, eyes widening in a petrified stare as she saw him.
Hubcap.
He was levitating, floating in midair as if he were suspended by invisible wires. Everest thought she was hallucinating, her mind spinning from the earlier fall, but the gurgled cry emitted from the bulldog was all too real. A gaping hole had blown through Hubcap's chest, sprays of red coating the kitchen floor and draining from his lethal wound. His face was paralyzed in terror, eyes rolling into the back of his skull as blood bubbled up his throat. He was hung in the air like a crude puppet, suspended on nothing as if he were flying.
"Wh-" Everest choked, paralyzed in fear. "How-"
A feral hiss echoed around the kitchen, catching her by surprise. What sounded like an animalistic snarl bounced off the walls, roaring in agitation. Hubcap's body lurched violently, the sickening crack of bone piercing the air, and another splash of red was regurgitated from his throat. The blood painted down his chest; exposing an invisible, spear-shaped appendage shoved through his body. As the bulldog's corpse gruesomely slid off the undetectable weapon, the object sharply waved itself to flick the blood off until it fully vanished from view. Everest recoiled as she was sprayed red across the face, screaming in panic as she shook herself off of Hubcap's remains.
There was a third creature in this room.
The sound of scratching claws tapped along the ceiling, stalking forward as a feral snarl filled the air. Everest frantically darted her gaze at every corner of the kitchen to try and identify the creature, but she saw nothing but the crimson-painted tile of the room. The sound of rattling bone slithered formlessly in the air, a rising screech shattering the once-silent atmosphere of the lounge. In her paralyzed stare, Everest began fearfully creeping backward. She could smell it; the malice, the sadism, the reeking clouds of blood in the air. She couldn't see it, but she smelled it, heard it, she knew it was there. It was looking at her from where it clung, staring her down with its taunting grin.
Shaking her head of the blood splatters, Everest turned and fled in an improvised direction. In her trauma she had stopped thinking, panic clouding all rational thought. She was screaming blood murder, her body flattened as she dove under tables and fled down hallways. She only stopped once her stamina had completely drained, the husky slowly to a rough halt into the wall. She was hyperventilating so abrasively it seemed like her lungs would choke out any moment, puddles of sweat emitting from her paws that tracked behind her. Looking behind herself, she checked wearily to see if she had been followed, vision jumping around the empty darkness of the hallway.
Gulping down stomach acid that threatened to spew from her mouth, Everest began walking backward as she stared down the passageway. Slowly her breathing began to slow, the silence of the lounge beginning to encompass her. It was a dream, it was just a dream, she whimpered in her mind. It was all just one terrible nightmare, a twisted, drawn-out nightmare she would wake up from any moment.
"Any... moment," she breathed, backing into a wall.
A brief sound of coiling bone whipped in the air, pricking Everest's ears. Then a penetrating shock tore into her body, an invisible appendage spearing into her leg with electrifying speed. The husky screamed into the darkness as the skin on her leg ripped aside, thigh muscle bifurcating open with a sickening paper-like tear. Blood splattered on the floor as a triumphant screech echoed through the air. The spearhead was pulled out in an instant, flinging back like a yanked leash. A trail of red splashed through the hallway, a distorted laugh mocking Everest's agony.
The husky collapsed into a puddle of red, the excessive screaming mere moments from tearing her vocal cords. She buckled under her crippled limb, sadistic laughter howling over her. Her drive of self-preservation seized her, spiking adrenaline through her veins as she gripped her paws into the floor and began dragging herself away. Gurgled cries and whimpers followed her every move, the bloodied leg trailing a crimson streak behind her. Teeth clenching, claws scratching into the wood, Everest desperately pulled herself across the floor in an attempt to flee.
Eyes were staring into her back. Two leering pupils watched in amusement, a wide mouth grinning at the puppy's agony. The final blow never came, and Everest managed to shove open a door and pull herself into an old storage room. An entire path of blood had been painted behind her, thin in width, but shining with an energized glow. With a final push, she made it inside and kicked the door closed. Frantically she grabbed the cardboard boxes and flung them over, spilling their contents out onto the floor. Flinging the mindless objects aside, she spotted an old towel, stained and hardened with age. Without a thought she snatched it, quickly wrapping it around her legs as tightly as she could. "Ghh- aahhh!" Screams of pain forced up her throat as she pulled the fabric tight, the force so immense she felt her teeth would break.
She soon lost feeling in her wounded leg, the bleeding obstructed but not mended. She sharply turned back to the boxes, tossing whatever she didn't need aside. Unearthing a small plastic box, the husky tore off the lid, revealing several small pill bottles. It was Jake's, or at least the box itself belonged to him. He didn't take medicine, it was all meant for a sick dog that visited a few months ago. Even after he left, the pills and medicines Jake gave him stayed behind. Everest grabbed a bottle of Ibuprofen pills and assaulted the top with her paw. "Aah! Fuck!" She howled in pain, fumbling with the childproof lid. Angered and impatient, she bared her teeth and bit into the bottle, wrangling her teeth through the plastic. It finally gave way, the top dislodging from the bottle and sending her recoiling backward. Dozens of pink pills exploded out and crashed to the floor like broken glass. Spitting out the plastic in her mouth, Everest swept her arm on the floor and grabbed as many as she could, swallowing down five doses in an instant.
It wasn't enough. She spotted a tiny glass bottle of liquid morphine, strewn onto the floor in her haste to unbox the items. A medical syringe just happened to land right next to it, as if the universe itself was already confirming what she had to do. Hating every movement she made, she grabbed the bottle in her paw and the syringe in her teeth. Sticking its needle through the cap, her free paw used to draw back the tool, absorbing the medicine into its capsule. Gritting her teeth, she held out her arm and furiously scanned her eyes over it, trying to locate a vein. She had no medical experience, Everest could only give it her best shot.
Feeling the vein under her fur, the husky hesitated, stopping the needle above her arm as her mind instinctively halted the action. Wincing in the pain from her leg, she steadied the syringe as much as she could until the needle was directly touching her arm. "H- hhaa!" She cried out, pushing the thin needle through her skin. "Ghh- mmph!" She felt it poke into her vein, piercing through its outer layer as she did her best to keep it from shaking. In a quick motion, she pressed down on the back of the tool, and liquid morphine was forcefully shot into her bloodstream. Immediately tearing out the needle and tossing it aside, Everest felt her head get dizzy, her body numbing over as the pain faded.
Gulping the newly formed rock in her throat, the puppy stumbled and fell disoriented onto her rear. Her breathing slowed, her heartbeat calming, and gradually the world stopped spinning. The pain melted away, the medicine working quickly to drape a blanket over her wounds.
"Jake!" She cried out, rocking back and forth while tightly holding herself. "Help me! Someone, help me!" But there was no response, not a single sound to answer her in the dead winter night.
She was all alone.