never leave me - noah schnapp

Thirteen: Demodog

Resting on the couch i'm playing with one of Shaun's brain teasers as Sadie and Caleb are cleaning up the glass from the smashed window and Gaten and Joe are putting the demodog in the fridge to preserve it. In deep thought I messed with the brain teaser, blocking out everything Joe and Gaten were saying. They are an unlikely duo, but definitely a good one. I continue to mess with the brain teaser absentmindedly as my mind went back to the tunnels. My hands beginning to shake lightly, the image stuck to my brain like feather and glue.

"Finn, would you stop already?" Caleb snaps at Finn rather loudly. Causing me to look over at Finn; blinking rapidly as I came back into reality.  I'm not in the tunnels, but every time I close my eyes or let my mind wander, it feels like I am. Making me absolutely terrified.

"You weren't in there, ok Caleb. That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs!" Finn says to Caleb. Worry written over his face and in his voice. It's cute how much Finn worries for Mills, maybe even he worried the same for me.

"Demodogs!" Gaten corrects from the other room, making Finn roll his eyes.

"The chief will take care of her." Caleb assures Finn with a nod. Caleb has never been the best of comforting, and he definitely wasn't very close to Millie; but he knows what she is capable of. We all do. We all know deep down she'd be fine. But there is and has always been a tiny bit of doubt looming.

"Like she needs protection." Sadie mutters as she gets off the floor. I put the brain teaser on the coffee table as Joe walks in with a tea towel, wiping his hands from the goo that was on the demodog.

"Bro, you smell terrible," I say as Gaten comes and sits next to me. "Seriously. You smell like something died on you."

"That would be his cat." Joe says. "Demodog ate it."

"What?" I shout, poor cat.

"We have to help them, who knows what those dogs can do-" Finn starts.

"It's demo-"

"-Shut up, Gaten," Finn shouts, stressed and completely on edge. "One of those things ate your cat, ate Shaun, nearly killed Lexi and it will eat Harbour and Mills next."

"Talk about being optimistic." I say with a mumbled eye roll.

"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it," Joe says to Finn who's still stressing. "All right?"

"Ok, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game," Finn says to Joe with another eye roll. "and second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."

"So my point is..." Joe stopped to think as everyone stared in anticipation, only to get let down. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there is nothing we can do." Everyone's hearts sunk at that, I look at Finn who was about to burst into tears from sadness, anxiety and frustration - and same here, I am worried about Mills and Hop too.

"That's not entirely true, I mean, these dogs-" I start.

"Demodogs!"

"Demo-I-don't-give-a-shit, they have a hive mind," I say sending a glare to Gaten before turning to look at the group.

"She's right." Gaten says at my words. "I mean... When they ran away from the bus, they were called away, and they kicked Alexis's ass."