Safety

I must apologize for my lack of an update during the past month. It’s difficult to get back into the habit of updating when one has been out of commission for such an extended period of time. However, considering the relative safety of my current refuge, I feel like now would be the perfect time to inform you all of my happenings.

After spending weeks jumping from train to train and simply running on paw across the country to attempt to avoid the Hound and his Master, I found myself in Vermont. I spent some time doing research on whether there were any others who shared my predicament in the area. It was through this search that I found one Benjamin Vanderwaal and his offer to provide assistance to those who needed it.

I went to his doorstep, and immediately played at being the lost, sad pup. With some humans, one doesn’t need the ability to touch minds, only the ability to stir kindness in their hearts by showing your need. He let me into the house, fed me, and has boarded me ever since.

I can say nothing but good about this man, barring perhaps his utmost insistence that I not be allowed into his library. Such a vast array of knowledge and possible clues has been sealed away from me due to my species. To be expected, yes, but still a certain level of discrimination.

In return for his kindness, I’ve been doing my best to cheer him up, play the good dog. Benjamin smells so strongly of remorse. The old booze and the gray, the taste of salt and the window spray… He reeks of it. I do what little I can to give him joy.

Still, I do not entirely understand how he can have such a strong odor of sadness in an environment such as this. Vermont is beautiful. Ben has actually just let me out to take care of my business. The air is sweet and pure. It tastes like lilacs an

Oh god that was not a tree I just relieved myself on.

backinthehousebackinthehousebackinthehousebackinthehouse

it was him

Squirming in the water

Eels are odd creatures. Their eyes smell like hunger, and their smiles betray their longings to satiate that feeling. Yesterday, I found myself watching their motions long into the night. They reminded me of how the monster’s tendrils moved when we were in that submersible, deep below the surface. I couldn’t stop staring at those accursed eels, with their tiny eyes judging my failure to protect my Adam, my boy, from their counterpart.

I’d gone to the aquarium to try and settle myself. I was hoping that maybe by going to a place like where I’d spent time with my child that maybe I could find my abilities once more, stretch my mind across the world to contact Adam, to catch his scent once more. Instead, I found nothing but sadness in those glass tanks, those captive lives, those hungry ey

He’s here. He’s at the other side of the park. I know it’s him. I see the decomposition wafting from him, and the instinctive call to fly spreading out from myself. There’s no mistaking it. I have not been awake for a week, and the hound returns once more.

He’s just standing there, menacingly, watching me from afar. Still, I’m no longer safe here. I’ll be going back to the train station as quickly as I can, and jumping on the first locomotive leaving this city. I pray he doesn’t follow, despite knowing he certainly will.

Waking Up, From One Nightmare Into The Next

Adam’s gone. Why would he stay with his pet, no matter how loyal, if from all appearances, he was dead? I can only pray that he is safe, that the faceless abomination never succeeded in his quest to steal my boy away. Even with all of his naivety and awkwardness, Adam still had the abilities he gained down in that sunken city. Surely he could use them to ward off the beast without a useless pup at his side.

I’ve been asleep for months. I do not understand why, but my body entered some form of hibernation that left me, for all intents and purposes, dead. Dead, but dreaming. The nightmares of that hellish landscape, plagued with the bouncing, disembodied heads of alien felines, haunted by sleep. Their voices taunted me endlessly, their impossible world doing all it could to tear away at my mind. Still I endured the torment, for I knew that I would eventually awaken and would see my boy again.

Yet here I am, alone in this alleyway. I awoke from my terror only to find another. Adam was not there, in the forest, when I finally returned from my deepest slumber. I do not even know how I got into that maze of trees. Last I recalled, we were in a small Southern town. The forest in which I awoke, and the settlement that I am at now, are much further north. A quick search online revealed that I am currently in Canada.

I have spent the past several days regaining my strength, slowly relearning my old abilities. It is hard to cope when you go from being a powerful, fast, psychic being to one who can barely limp his way into a town and beg for scraps. Fortunately, it seems my powers were only in remission. I have yet to return to full strength physically, and I still cannot touch the minds of others as I once could, but I still have my ability to link to the Internet, to share my thoughts with you through this medium. It will suffice, for now.

It appears that the owner of this establishment has decided that a mangy, stray dog in the alley is bad for business. I must take my leave now, but not before putting out this call. If you, or anyone you know, has seen a tall child with the ability to fire lightning from his hands being stalked by an even taller man with no face and tentacles, contact me. The talking dog. The impossible talking dog. Who couldn’t even do his one true task and save his master.

It’s surreal, what this world has become.

 

Even dreams hold no escape from reality

I have been told that the presence of the abomination has many side effects. From coughing fits to headaches, nose bleeds to memory loss, just being near that thing can affect one’s health for the worse. Thus far, Adam and I have proven immune to those particular symptoms. However, ever since I saw that mangy beast standing behind his master, things have changed. I’ve been unable to sleep restfully. The nightmares have begun.

Many are returning back to that fateful night when, for whatever reason, we attracted his gaze. Now, however, I see that dog with him. His appearance is different with every dream. Sometimes he’s a great black Labrador, sometimes a Husky. Once he was a poodle. Another time, he was a fellow Rottweiler. Every time, he lacked a face. Every time, he wore one of those miniature costumes that humans enjoy dressing us in for Halloween. His is always a business suit.

He’s always there, wrecking our escape. In one of the dreams, he pounced on me as Adam and I were making our way onto the main deck so we could commandeer the submersible. That man took Adam by the hand as I was incapacitated, and walked away with him into the darkness. No matter how loudly I screamed, Adam only looked back once. He was smiling. And then his face tore as his smile grew wider. And then he looked away, and disappeared with that man.

In another, the dog was waiting in the submersible for us. He jumped on Adam as soon as my boy got the hatch open. I hurled myself at the beast from across the boat, knocking him away and into the water. I went back to help Adam. My boy was dead, his face completely mangled. The abomination stood over me, and patted my head before snapping a collar around my neck.

Sometimes, though, the nightmares have nothing to do with the man or his dog. Sometimes, it’s something far more surreal. Perhaps the worst of those was when I dreamed I was on another world. Everything was mostly flat, outside of nonsensical structures hanging above and pits that seemed to lead down to other levels. Each level was a different color. One was green, one red, one grey, one black… There were spikes everywhere that I simply knew would kill me if I so much as touched one. But those were not the worst part of this planet.

That honor fell to the disembodied, cheerfully bouncing cat heads. Everywhere I went, they were there. No matter which way I turned, they were there. I’d try to talk to them, and they’d say nonsensical things. Then they’d repeat it, over and over again. I could get them to say nothing more than whatever single line they started with. And they were always bouncing, always staring.

Then, just as I was about to throw myself upon the spikes to escape those demented cat heads, she came. Flying madly across the landscape, she made her way to each and every cat and spoke to them for reasons I’ll never understand. Occasionally she would collide with the spikes, exploding in a Technicolor burst, only to reform somewhere else and try once more to reach whichever cat she had failed to get to before. She flew over my head. She was babbling only two words, over and over again.

“Cat planet cat planet cat.”

I awoke barking. That was last night. I am afraid to fall asleep again for fear of dreaming once more of that cursed place.

…And His Dog

I apologize for being gone so long. You may recall that last I was here I thought Adam and I had lost our pursuer. I was wrong. Shortly after updating you all about our condition, I caught that familiar scent. Adam and I have been on the run again ever since. I come to you from a rest stop somewhere on I-95. I do not know how long we will remain here. That villain has only grown still more persistent.

Worse still, I noticed something the last time I saw him. My boy and I were at a schoolyard for the night, hoping to have a moment’s rest. For once, his form came before his scent. He was standing on the other side of the playground, childishly playing with a swing, pushing it back and forth. Still, this is not what frightened me. It was what I saw behind him.

It was dark, and my eyesight is not as good as it was when I was puppy. I couldn’t make out any features, but I could tell from the form exactly what it was. It terrified me. I awoke Adam, and we fled. We fled from that awful man…

And we fled from his dog.

Monsters, Past and Present

He killed him. That abomination killed him, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was too busy getting Adam out. The man who’d been kind enough to take in what he thought was just a normal stray dog met his end at the tip of a tendril. I watched as it pierced his throat. I watched a crimson stream pour from his throat and stain his perfect white carpet. And then, I ran into Adam’s arms and he got us away from that place.

We’ve been only a single step ahead these past few days. He always seemed to catch up to us just as we were moving on. I think we’ve finally gained some distance. He’s disappeared, at the very least. I finally have time to continue my tale.

Both Adam’s and my own eyes were wide in shock as electricity flew from my boy’s fingertips into the ceiling. Shakily, Adam looked down at his hands, taking in the light blue energy that was flowing through his forearms. He looked back up at me and slowly began to grin.

“This is SO cool,” He cried out. He kept snapping his fingers, making electricity spark from between them each time. “I’m like… like that bad guy in Star Wars. Only not all ugly and stuff,” Realization dawned on Adam as he spoke, “I’m… I’m like you now, Tommy! I’m a superhero! That blue stuff gave me superpowers!”

Now Adam, we don’t know what that substance is doing to your body. Before you start planning to fight crime and all that, we need to make sure you’re okay.

“I feel fine, Tommy. I feel great.”

Still, we should find some sort of information on this… I trotted over to the disposed of syringe and pressed my eye to it. Plasmid. There must be some sort of documentation of it in a lab around here. We’ll get that, make sure you aren’t going to encounter any problems, and then we’ll find a way out of this place. I looked at a map, lying abandoned on the ground with various other pieces of paperwork. All stained red by someone’s life.

“Oh fine…” Adam sighed, then returned to snapping his fingers to make them spark, “Man, this is so awesome.”

Here. We’ll go this way. I’d located the nearest medical facility, and began walking in its direction. Adam followed obediently behind me. I am still uncertain how he was completely oblivious to the skeletons lying about him. Did he not notice them, or did he simply not care?

The entire time we were travelling, he talked about all the things he’d do as a superhero. He was going to fight off Mark the next time he tried to ruin a game of football. He was going to save a cat from a tree and the girl would go out with him. He would name himself Spark Plug Lad – “The Boy Who Fights Crime”. I attempted to get him to change his name to Navitas, the Latin word for energy. It had more gravity, more class. He had his mind set on Spark Plug Lad.

He was in the middle of his latest talk about ending all war, when I heard lumbering footsteps ahead. As each one fell, the floor vibrated. I stopped Adam. We stood there, and watched as a massive shadow slowly passed across the hall before us. It was followed by its owner, a monstrous being, wearing a huge, modified suit of diving equipment. I held down a growl, hoping it would pass by.

Adam panicked, and fired a blast of lightning at it.

The beast stood paralyzed for a moment, sparks crackling across its armor. And then, it moved faster than anything I’d ever seen before. It lurched straight across the room, heading for my boy at a speed seemingly impossible for its size. My knowledge of basic physics told me what common sense told Adam: if that huge beast hit him at that velocity, he was dead. My boy backed away as fast as his legs could take him, flinging another bolt of electricity at the monster.

It froze in its tracks once more. I flung myself at it, jaw open wide, paws forward. I caught hold of its back, bracing myself onto it. My teeth found a vulnerable piece of fabric, and I tore it free. Beneath it was nothing but more cold steel The electrical shock ended, and the monster roared, trying to reach me. I was fortunate. The suit restrained its arms from being able to reach behind itself. As long as I remained on my foe’s back, it could do nothing to me.

I grabbed more fabric and ripped it away. I knew that if I kept tearing, surely I’d find something critical eventually. The great being bellowed in rage. It turned back to my boy and lumbered forward, slower now.

ADAM! GO! I screamed. I could care less if it hurt me. This beast would not harm my boy.  I kicked off of its back, sending the beast stumbling forward. It turned back towards me, but I was already beneath its legs, nipping at its heels. It tried to stomp on me. I kept moving, kept biting. Nothing I did was working against the monster. Finally, my eyes caught a valve on the armor over its collar.

I ran out from under the beast, turned, and lunged through the air. Its arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a bear hug. The pressure that monster exerted on me was indescribable – the pain, even more intolerable. I am certain I felt bones crack and organs rupture. Still, that pressure was nothing compared to that which the creature felt after I turned the dial on its chest.

Almost instantly, the suit collapsed in on itself. The crumpled husk of the beast fell to the ground, and I crawled out from its now lifeless arms.

Adam ran over to me, asking if I was okay. I told him to wait a moment. I felt my bones snap into place, felt my stomach and liver regain their original shape. Finally, minutes later, I nodded. I was okay. We could continue.

Into the heart of darkness

Adam and I have been fortunate enough to avoid the monster’s gaze today. I left my boy out in the woods on the edge of this newest town, telling him to kindly keep out of sight until I returned from exploring the surroundings. This town is small, but the people are kind. In fact, one has taken me into his home for the night. I immediately called to Adam and had him sneak into the house. It’s unfortunate, but I’ve been forced to make that my benefactor’s head remains turned away from the room Adam is hidden inside. People are far more inclined to aid the small and cute than the large and awkward. And with what has happened to Adam, how he appears after what happened down in that city beneath the sea…

I still remember how that city smelled as its cool, sterile air filled the submersible. Adam had just opened the hatch and popped his head out to look around. His nose naturally isn’t nearly as fine tuned as mine is, and mine has only gotten better since chewing on that bone last month. He couldn’t smell the death filled that abandoned fortress.

“Oh man, Tommy. This place is amazing. My parents are going to be so proud of me for finding it,” Adam said, eyes dancing across the dock. He clambered out of the vehicle and ran across the tiled flooring, excitement in every step. I’m not sure why, but he didn’t seem to notice the skeletons that slumped against the walls or stretched out across the floor. How did Adam miss their tattered clothing, their animal masks?

Adam… We need to stop playing around, and find another vehicle so we can get out of here, I communicated to him as I scampered out of the submersible and to my boy’s side. This place isn’t right.

“But Tooooommmmyyyyyyyyyyyy…” I am certain you all have heard that annoying inflection that children get when they want something and stretch their words. With my greater hearing, it is somehow even worse.  “I wanna explore! This place is SO cool!”

Adam stepped up to a nearby door, which slid upwards with a hiss. I couldn’t be certain how this facility still had power. My boy’s parents said that it was lost roughly fifty years ago. I can only assume it used hydro-electric energy, but that doesn’t seem to explain why there were still lights on and fully functioning automatic doors. Those turbines would rust, wires would fray. Something wasn’t right.

“TOMMY! LOOK AT THIS!” I was too lost in thought. I’d lost track of my boy. I looked up to see Adam standing beside some sort of purple vending machine. In his hand was a syringe full of glowing blue liquid.

Adam! Don’t!

But it was too late. Adam jabbed the needle into his arm. I watched every drop of that fluid pump itself into my boy’s veins. I watched his eyes begin to glow. The beast on the boat and beneath the sea was terrifying. Somehow, that my boy had just taken a needle filled with god knows what and injected himself with it was even more horrifying.

WHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT, ADAM?!

“Don’t yell at me, Tommy!” Adam cried, clearly unsettled by the tone in my communication. “I… It just seemed right.” He lifted his hands to his face, tears beginning to flow, when electricity zapped from his fingers to the ceiling. Both of our eyes went wide wi

Oh god. The smell. He’s here. HE’S HERE.

The descent

Adam and I appear to be safe for the time being. We’ve made it to a small town. It’s mostly deserted, to be expected, considering the time of night. I broke us into the local coffee shop. It was the first building I saw with a “free Wi-Fi” sticker and the old, wooden door was easy enough to get through. The fact that this place has a sofa that Adam can sleep comfortably on only makes it even more appealing. The poor boy has been through so much these last few days. He fell asleep whimpering. I did all I could to make him comfortable, but it still took some time for sleep to finally take him…

Looking back, it seems I ended my story just as our submersible entered the water to escape from the outstretched hands of that thing that had appeared on the boat. If I knew then what I know now, maybe I would have acted differently. Maybe things would have just been better if Adam and I had never gone down to that sunken city. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Adam was positively jubilant at finally being able to fulfill his dream of going on a deep sea dive in his parents’ research submersible. It seemed totally lost on him that we had just escaped something unnatural. It was even lost on him what that abomination could be doing to his parents at that moment. I tried to warn him, but his joy was positively infectious. I decided not to ruin his moment. This could be the last happy moment of his life. If what I feared could befall his parents happened, at least he had some time beforehand to really enjoy something. Little did I know how right my feelings were.

We started our descent beneath the waves, Adam excitedly manning the wheel as I directed him. I decided to take him to where his parents apparently believed their sunken city had been lost. There was nothing else we could do, after all. I loved seeing Adam so happy. His gleeful laughter filled the vessel as he pointed out all the marine life swimming by outside; he was even able to name a majority of them.  In some corner of my mind, I still worried about the monster we had left behind, but I focused solely on my boy.

It took some time, but we eventually reached the ocean floor. The navigator showed the sunken city dead ahead, so we continued towards it. Things were uneventful, until we’d nearly reached that fateful place.

Adam saw him first. “Hey, Tommy, how is there a person underwater?”

What? I replied, the hair down my back standing on edge.

“Over there, walking out from those rocks over there. He doesn’t look like he’s in one of those cool diving suits either. How does he do that?”

Adam… We need to go back to the surface. Now.

“He’s… he’s just in a normal suit. Like… a suit and tie. That is SO cool.”

Adam. Up. We can’t keep going this way.

“But he looks so nice. And we’re almost to my parents’ city! They’ll be so happy we found it! We can’t give up now!”

I remember gazing out the window of that small vessel, the massive, shadowed city looming before us, with that thing in the way. It had those uncanny arms open wide, as if preparing to take our submersible and embrace it. And Adam was piloting us straight towards it. I had to act to save Adam.  I could only see one way.

I… bit him. Not hard, just enough to make him release the steering mechanism. I grabbed it and pulled on it as hard as I could. The machine lurched to the side, but not fast enough. Something struck the submersible – something sharp. I saw the black tip punch a hole straight through the metal armor of the vehicle before retracting. Water poured in. I threw my body against the leak, plugging it as well as I could. Adam had begun to panic. I was forced to take control of the situation, and I only saw one option.

Adam, would you kindly settle down? Apparently, my telepathy gives my words some level of passive control even when I do not intend them, because Adam visibly settled as I spoke to him. I’m not going to be able to hold this water out for long.  You need to take us into the city. Okay? Find some sort of dock and get us inside.

Adam nodded, and got to work. I must admit, I was quite surprised at how well he was doing in spite of the situation. I touched his thoughts. Even as the water poured in around him, he was treating this almost as if it was some sort of video game. I don’t think Adam knew just how much danger we were in… We were fortunate, though. The very first section of that great, steel city that we encountered was a dock. We were able to surface inside, and I breathed a sigh of relief. We had found safety, for the time being.

I apologize. Fatigue wears upon my mind, and I must end my story here. I must join Adam in peaceful slumber. Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to find another resting place in which I can continue to relay these events to you all, and hopefully return to find some idea given on how to go about solving all this. Rest well, all.

An explanation, and a cry for help

Greetings, humans. This is Thomas, or “Tommy”, as Adam calls me. For once, I am uncertain about what to do. Adam and I cannot return home after what happened this weekend, and thus I turn to all of you for help.

I was able to get Adam and myself onto his parents’ research boat. However, there were simply too many minds around for me to manipulate all of them into letting us ride in the submersible. I… I made a mistake. Adam had his heart set on going underwater. He has always been such a kind master to me, that I decided I would help give him his wish.

We snuck out at night, and I did what I could to help him break into the submersible. Whenever we encountered a human, I turned their head the other way. When we encountered a locked door, I broke through it. I just wanted to make Adam as happy as he made me before my change. Eventually, we were able to steal the key for the vessel. I found an operator’s manual and committed it to memory. Adam and I made our way to the ship, and prepared to break-in.

That’s when the first problem reared its head.

Adam was fumbling with trying to open the submersible door, when I was a man standing across the deck watching us. He smelled wrong. Familiar, but wrong. His shape was wrong too. His body was too long, too lanky, too thin. It took me a moment, but then I realized that he didn’t have a face. I began growling, communicating with Adam to hurry up and get into the vehicle. The strange man approached, but fortunately my boy was able to get the hatch open and both of us leaped inside, sealing it shut.

I instructed Adam on how to launch the submersible. As he was going through the process, I moved to the rear window. I yelped in shock. The faceless man was pressed against the glass, gazing inside, malformed hand pounding, trying to force his way in. I shouted at Adam to hurry. Fortunately, he was able to finish the process and the vessel lurched out into the sea and began sinking into the depths…

My time with this computer is drawing to a close, and my story is only half-told. I must return to Adam. I must take care of him. The boy has been through so much. My research shows that this faceless man and his exploits are known to all of you. And thus I turn to you for help. I wish only to save my boy. Please. Help me.

I will try to gain access to another computer as soon as I can so I can finish my story. Would you kindly read this, and give me the help I need? I do not have time to await a response. I must leave.

TODAY!

TODAY IS THE DAY! I WILL UPDATE WITH WHAT HAPPENED AS SOON AS I GET BACK!