Bingo and Bluey were sound asleep in their upstairs bedroom, with the window open. A gentle summer breeze filled the room. Downstairs, Chilli, who had been up for a while, was preparing breakfast and was about to go upstairs to wake her daughters and get them ready for school. Meanwhile, our big Blue Guy, Bandit, was away on a work trip and was expected to return that evening, between 7 and 9 PM at the latest.
Chilli then went up to Bingo and Bluey's room to wake them gently and tenderly, telling them to get ready because breakfast was ready.
- Chilli : "Come on, girls, breakfast is ready. Eat up, and then I'll need to drop you off at school."
"Dad will be here tonight. Bluey and I have prepared a surprise for his birthday!" Bingo said.
- Chilli : (Surprised, Chilli looked at them curiously.) "Oh really? What did you prepare, my sweethearts ?"
Bingo was about to answer her mom, but Bluey put her paw over her sister's mouth to stop her from revealing the surprise. The little blue dog then replied:
- Bluey: "Bingo, don't say anything. Mom can't keep a secret!"
- Chilli (smiling): "What do you mean, you little rascal? Since when can't I keep a secret?"
She tickled both of them, then went downstairs with them for breakfast.
The three Heelers sat down at the table. Bluey finished first and asked if she could go play in the playroom before leaving. In reality, she was heading discreetly to her dad's office to retrieve the squash racket she had broken while playing with Bingo. She remembered the sad look on her dad's face because he loved his racket so much. She and Bingo had decided to buy him a new one.A special one: a racket with a photo of their family embedded in the handle and a matching necklace.
Bluey sneaked out of the house to go to Pat, their neighbor and their dad's best friend. They had agreed that while Bluey and Bingo were at school, Pat would go buy the racket and necklace for their dad.
-Pat: "Today's the big day!"
-Bluey (happy): "Yes, I can't wait to see his face tonight. He looked so sad when we broke his old racket." She felt a bit guilty.
-Pat (proud): "I'm sure he'll be extremely happy with your gift. Now, go before Chilli worries too much."
The little blue dog smiled and quickly went back home so her mom wouldn't notice.
-Chilli: "Bluey, Bingo, grab your things, we have to go. It's time!"
-The two girls: "Yes, Mom!" Eager to see their dad in the evening.
The day went by. Chilli picked up Bluey and Bingo from school and brought them home. While she was preparing dinner, she told them to go play in the playroom. The two little dogs went out into the garden to get the gift from Pat. They then wrapped the gift carefully, after several clumsy attempts.
-Bingo: "Do you think he'll like it?"
-Bluey (confident): "I don't think so, I know so."
They were jumping in place when a ringing sound echoed.
Briiiing...
The two little girls ran, shouting with joy, and tried to grab the door handle to open it. Chilli watched them, proud of her daughters and finding it adorable. She opened the door and saw Bandit, their dad. They jumped on him, wishing him a happy birthday and giving him a huge hug.
- Bandit (falling backward and laughing): "I missed you, my sweetheart . Thank you!"
- Bingo and Bluey (jumping up and down): "WE HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!"
They grabbed his hand and led him to the playroom, telling him to keep his eyes closed.
- Bingo (excited): "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Mom, come on, we're going to give Dad his gift!"
Chilli followed her daughters, curious to see what they had prepared. The two little ones placed their parents in the middle of the room, each holding a gift-wrapped package in their paws.
- Bluey and Bingo: "You can open your eyes now!"
- Bandit (surprised): "Is this for me? You shouldn't have, girls."
- Bluey (se grattant la tête) : « Mais si, tu le mérites. Tu es le meilleur papa du monde. »
Bluey (scratching her head): "But yes, you deserve it. You are the best dad in the world."
Bandit opened his gifts, and upon seeing what they contained, he looked at his daughters with such pride that tears flowed from his eyes.
- Bingo and Bluey, thinking he didn't like the gift, started to panic.
- Bingo (trembling voice): "You don't like it?"
- Bandit (dropping his gifts and hugging his daughters tightly, crying with joy and pride): "I don't like it, I love it. You girls are the sweetest. You have no idea how happy I am."
- Bluey (confused): "Then why are you crying, Dad?"
- Bingo: "Yes, why are you crying?"
- Bandit (wiping his tears): "Because I'm proud of you and happy at the same time."
Chilli took a photo of this scene, the cutest she had ever seen.
- Chilli: "But how did you manage to buy this? It must have been really expensive."
- Bluey and Bingo (a bit embarrassed): "We used our birthday and Christmas money to make up for breaking Dad's racket. We wanted him to remember us even when he's far away, with the necklace."
Upon hearing this, Bandit and Chilli couldn't hold back their tears of joy and hugged them a little longer. Bandit spoke up:
- Bandit: "That's very sweet, but you didn't have to use all your money on me. To thank you, tomorrow we'll go out for ice cream to celebrate my birthday together, and we'll go to the beach. How does that sound?"
They all had a wonderful evening before going to bed. But before falling asleep, Bandit received a call from the police informing him that his younger brother, Stripe, had been arrested for public intoxication, specifically in a drunken stupor. He let Chilli sleep and left her a note saying he had to go pick up Stripe from the police station. He took the car and went to get his brother.
Meanwhile, at the Heeler house, Chilli was awakened by noises coming from Dorine's place, their neighbor who had been ill for some time and frequently went to the hospital. The noises were getting louder and louder. Fearing that she might have fallen and couldn't get up, Chilli went downstairs with her phone's flashlight and cautiously headed towards Dorine's house. When she arrived in front of it, she saw a large pool of blood on the floor. Horrified, she rushed inside to see if Dorine was injured and to understand where all the blood was coming from. A nauseating smell filled the house, like that of a corpse. Chilli heard noise coming from the kitchen. She headed there and saw Dorine from behind, with a knife stuck in her back and a dead body on the floor. Horrified and paralyzed, she couldn't move. Dorine, or what was left of her, was bending over the body of a masked and gloved dog, probably the one who had stabbed her. Chilli couldn't even move a paw. Her whole body screamed at her to flee, but she couldn't take her eyes off the gruesome scene unfolding before her. Dorine started crawling like a wild beast and bit the face of the dog who had probably stabbed her, tearing off chunks of flesh.
Chilli screamed in fear, turned around, and ran as fast as she could. She reached the entrance of the house but slipped on the pool of blood.
She heard Dorine's corpse chasing her. She saw Dorine leap at her, and her life flashed before her eyes, everything moving in slow motion. She was so terrified that she wet herself. But at the last moment, a dog appeared behind her and struck what remained of Dorine with a racket. She saw the racket and recognized it—it was her husband's. Dorine was thrown backward, violently hitting her head on the pavement. The knife lodged in her back broke her ribs and impaled her. Bandit rushed to his wife's side and smashed Dorine's skull in with a roar of rage, sending blood and bits of bone flying in all directions. Chilli, still on the ground, hyperventilated and couldn't move.
The blue dog turned around, grabbed his wife's paw, and helped her up. All around them, chaos reigned: military planes were flying over their house, and the sounds of explosions echoed in the distance.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Heeler Bingo was terribly thirsty and went downstairs to get a glass of water. Still feeling a bit groggy, she started drinking and heard a strange noise at the bay window. She approached it and suddenly, a medium-sized black dog, covered in blood, smashed its head against the glass. With each hit, blood splattered. The little dog, horrified by the scene, screamed at the top of her lungs and started trembling. The dog hit the window harder and harder until it finally shattered.
Bluey heard the noise and came downstairs to check, thinking her sister had broken a glass. Bingo started screaming again, and Bandit and Chilli turned toward the house. They saw the blood in the distance, the broken glass, and a dog trying to get in. Bandit grabbed Chilli's paw and...
ran towards his daughter's cries with tears of rage, fearing something terrible had happened to her. They entered the room and saw Bingo running towards them. A dog, missing a large part of its abdomen, had its entrails spilling out and blood dripping down.
Chilli grabbed an umbrella that was in the room, and together with Bandit, they struck the creature trying to attack Bingo, rendering it harmless.
-Bandit said to Chilli, in a panicked tone: "Pack the girls' bags, we need to leave immediately."
-Chilli responded: "Where are we going?"
-Bandit retorted in a severe tone, under the pressure, and Chilli understood clearly: "I don't know, just do what I say!"
He was trembling and seemed even more terrified than she was by what they had just done. He bent down to pick up Bingo and held her tightly while Chilli took Bluey, who was coming down the stairs, back up to pack their bags. Bingo collapsed in her father's arms, crying. He tried to comfort her as best as he could. He felt his daughter's body trembling like never before. He looked at her and said: "Do you want some ice cream to calm down, sweetheart?"
She nodded, and he went to get her some ice cream. He handed her the tub with a spoon. Bingo ate and tried to calm down, erasing the atrocity that had attacked her just minutes earlier.
Meanwhile, Chilli was packing large bags for everyone, trembling and dropping objects. She felt like she was going mad with everything that was happening.
-Bluey looked at her, very worried:
"Mum, why are you packing the camping bags? Are we going camping?"
-Her mother replied, trying to show as little panic as possible: "Yes, that's right. Help me, sweetheart. Go get the first aid kit for mummy, whatever you'd like to eat, and take your sister's stuffed animal, please."
She didn't argue, seeing her mother was panicked. She did what she had to do. She took a toy that Rusty, one of her friends from school, had given her and her sketchbook where she had drawn with Jean-Luc, along with the rest that her mother had asked for. In less than ten minutes, they were all in the car with their things. Chilli and Bandit buckled their children and started the car, heading towards the highway to go to Mort's place in the countryside, where the situation might be calmer than at home.
They were interrupted in their thoughts by the radio, which turned on and broadcasted a message from the army:
FLASH NEWS: Do not leave your homes. An unknown virus is transforming residents into monsters. They look like your neighbors, but they are not. They become aggressive and seek to feed on dog flesh. This virus is extremely contagious. A single scratch is enough to be infected. Protect your respiratory tracts as much as possible. We do not know if this virus is airborne, but we know it is extremely contagious. The army has just announced the imposition of martial law. Any individual seen without authorization will be shot on sight.