PAW Patrol: Lockdown

Chapter 7- Noise and Fog

That night Chase dreamed of a quiet town. He found himself walking through empty streets, blanketed in dense fog that obscured much of his vision. He tried to call out, but not a single soul answered him. Old cars laid abandoned in the streets, and empty stores and offices lined every building. Scraps of paper and leaves roamed free in the air, the distant sound of church bells ringing out an unknown distance away. Chase idly wandered the streets, turning his head around in an attempt to find someone, anyone to make sense of the forgotten world he'd been taken to. Hearing nothing but his own pawsteps and gently humming wind in his fur, he began to wonder if he was truly alone. However, he soon arrived at a new structure that had emerged through the fog: The Lookout. His ears stiffened in surprise as he looked up at the tower in confusion. The main entrance had several wooden boards nailed into it, barring anyone from accessing the elevator. Feeling a cold mist rise within him, Chase shakily approached his home until he stood before the blocked entrance. Hesitantly peering through the boards, he caught a glimpse of a dog standing in the open elevator. It was a German Shepherd, judging by the tail and ears, and was hunched over as if it was choking. Chase made an attempt to call out to it, and the dog slowly stopped moving and peered back at Chase. The dog had a look of hopelessness, resignation like it knew it had nothing left to live for. The dog began bleeding from the mouth, and Chase stepped back as the fog closed in around him.

Chase opened his eyes, awakening from the dream. He sat up sharply, the cold feeling still lingering inside him. A few tears instantly left his eyes, the shrouded loneliness of the dream leaving a scar on his mind. He shook his head, trying to push away the empty ambiance that filled his head as he slowly broke into a quiet sob.

The returning drive back to The Lookout felt unreal, almost static, as Chase struggled to process the presence of a parasitic monster in Adventure Bay without trying to crash his rig. Watching the road was almost hypnotizing, lulling Chase into a bland state of numbness that seemed to block the sounds of everything around him. At that moment, all he could hear was distant white noise in his head. Scratching groans that could only be identified as a broken guitar repeatedly churned in his ears, and an oddly soothing feeling washed over him. Upon returning home, he didn't acknowledge his friends or see if they were around, just went right to bed. Now awakened from his dream, Chase heard the falling rain tap against the roof of his kennel, quiet thunder echoing in the distance. Checking his wall clock, the Shepherd realized it was only four in the morning. Lowering himself back onto his bed, he tried to shut his eyes and fast-forward through the night by falling back into slumber, although his body refused to rest.

Was it true what Cyrus had said? Chase pondered over what Cyrus had told him, his tail curling underneath him in silent distress. A monster in Adventure Bay, a creature who killed others without remorse, never in his life had he encountered such a thing. He had watched the news plenty of times, leaning back in horror and disgust as he read about the atrocities going on in the world around him, but never once had something of the sort entered his own city. A monster who dragged innocent victims to merge with itself, a cold, emotionless figure who held no concept of mercy. And the worst of all, a detail that left a dark stain on Chase's mind, the creature could hide dormant in the bodies of others.

Surely that had been a lie, a cruel, twisted joke from the captain to scare the small puppy. The police dog's eyes watered again as a mellow wave of sound entered his head, complete with a flickering melody that resembled a grieving piano. He tried to force it out, but a foul image stabbed into his head. He saw his beloved friends; Marshall, Rocky, Zuma, Rubble, Skye, and Everest, their bodies leeched and ensnared into one another. The monster's bloodied tendrils sewed them together as it slowly overpowered their minds, merging them into one horrible being. He violently shook his head, getting up to pace around his kennel as his body began quivering. Someone in Adventure Bay was being used as a shell, containing the monster as it silently hid within their body. Chase stopped, staring ahead at his wall as a somber song wept in his mind. If this person, this host, was not found and destroyed as soon as possible, everything he knew and loved would be at risk.