PAW Patrol: Lockdown

Chapter 19- Family in Flames

Marshall wasn't dead but severely hurt. To have his body forcibly thrown into a wall was not a pleasant experience, and although his bones held, he couldn't move and suffered from a horrible ache in his body. Zuma and Rocky got to him first with Chase walking behind them, a confused expression on the shepherd.

Zuma had seen it, Chase freezing up seconds before Rocky could've been dragged to a slow death. The lab acted quickly, coming to his brother's rescue knowing Chase was unreliable. It all but confirmed his suspicions, and while he kept a straight face around Rocky, a deep rage burned within him. It was time to act, to rid of the problem at its source.

While Zuma kept his new mission a secret, Rocky was more of the vocal type.

"What the hell was that?" The mix turned to Chase, an angry yet concerned look on his face begging for answers. He had his paw on Marshall's shoulder like he was trying to subtly show he still cared for the Dalmatian, a gesture he didn't understand why he'd need to show. Zuma looked up at Rocky's question, also wanting to hear the answer.

"What?" Chase stopped, flicking his eyes between his friends, he was still slightly dazed from the odd mental noise that had been following him.

"You almost let me die!" Rocky barked, flattening his ears and bristling his fur. "I needed help and you just stopped moving!"

A faint grin slid onto Zuma's face.

"I- I don't know!" The shepherd backed up defensively. "I just... something..."

"What?!"

"I was frozen, okay?!"

"Frozen." Rocky said flatly. "You were frozen."

Desperate not to accidentally turn his best friend against him, Chase searched for an explanation, an excuse, anything. "Look, that thing has... some kind of hold on me, I don't know how to explain it, but it's getting into my head!"

"You're infected." Zuma breathed in awe, narrowing his eyes.

"What? No!" The officer held up his paw to instantly shut down the Lab's accusation, "Feroxmalis is way beyond that stage, couldn't you see that already?"

Rocky could hardly understand why he was hearing. "So what the hell are you saying?"

"I'm saying that thing has some kind of mental hold on me! It's... screaming in me. It's agonizing, I don't know how to make it go away!" Chase lowered his ears in shame, embarrassed for how vulnerable he was.

Zuma lurked in the back, watching the conversation. He was ready to carry out his plan of action but stopped to see if Rocky was primed to turn on the shepherd as well. Feroxmalis was just a distraction now, he needed all the help he could get to exterminate the true killer of the Paw Patrol.

Rocky thought long and hard about what he was hearing, looking at the ground for a moment. "I... I've felt it too."

"You have?" Chase looked up in surprise.

Zuma's grin instantly died, now replaced with an expression of annoyance.

"When I went out to check the breakers," the mix recalled. "I encountered that thing and watched it kill a rodent." He shuddered at the memory, "and I felt something, like this... static."

"Yeah that-" the shepherd stuttered, his tail wagging for the first time in days. "That's it! It made me freeze up, and it... well, it's just difficult to deal with."

"That may be so." Rocky said, moving to his friend, "but I really thought you were going to let me die there," he stopped before him, looking at Chase with a stern expression, "I understand what you're going through, and... I'm sorry. But I need you, here and now." He reached his grey paw forward and pressed to Chase's shoulder, a sign of comfort and understanding. "I know you weren't trying to kill me, I know you'd never do that. So just... tell me, whenever the static comes back."