(First: https://redd.it/xt53az Previous: https://redd.it/y6at51

Recently I’ve been forced to adopt a dog. A big dog. And one that talked. And one that learned how to sing Baby Shark. I only had Spike for two days but I already wanted to shoot myself.

I took my new pet out for a walk right after getting home from my all-night shift. I figured it wasn’t a good idea to go to bed without giving my pet a chance to stretch his legs and go to the bathroom outside. I stood by an open field near my apartment, leash in one hand and yawning away. Spike ran like the wind, shrieking out the lyrics to his favorite song knowing no one was around but his owner to hear him. At least he was smart enough not to talk around others.

I wondered how long he needed to be out for. I felt drained from my weird previous shifts and needed to catch up on sleep. I didn’t risk leaving Spike alone to find his own way back. I'm sure he could. He wasn’t really a dog, but took the form of a black husky looking kind of breed. Because he appeared to be just a regular dog that meant he could get taken to the pound if I left him on his own. I really didn’t want to risk someone taking him. He would follow anyone if they offered him food.

Finally, Spike slowed down and paused in front of me. He panted away and thankfully that made him stop singing. I felt bad for him that he was forced to be in my small apartment all alone when I worked. I needed to find a dog sitter that wouldn’t get freaked out if they caught him singing or, well, doing any other stupid thing he was bound to do.

“Did you go to the washroom? Show me where so I can pick it up.” I told him, still half asleep.

I wasn’t keen on the idea of cleaning up his mess, but I just couldn’t leave it somewhere in the field.

“Uh. Ew.” Spike responded; face twisted in disgust which was impressive considering it was hard for dogs to look that disgusted.

“I don’t like it either, but I can’t just leave it here for someone to walk in or something.” I told him, getting a little annoyed.

“I did not go here. Too open. I use the same room you do inside.” My newly adopted supernatural pet informed me.

I stood staring at him for at least a minute trying to put what he said together in my mind. Was he implying he used the bathroom like a person? I would be happy if that was the case but confused on how he figured that out. And why he didn’t tell me sooner he could do that. I bought plastic dog bags for nothing. He lived in the woods before, right? Was he comfortable going outside before but not now that he had options? I can’t believe I needed to think of my pet’s washroom preferences so early in the damn morning.

“You think I go outside? Like an animal? Then you steal it away?? With your hands?!” Spike said, his shrill voice getting louder in disbelief.

I tried to shush him and looked around the empty street near the field hoping no one would walk by and hear him. He was so grossed out over the idea of me cleaning up after him he started to cough and gag. His dog appearance faltering showing the sharp and pointed creature he really was. I let him dry heave and make awful sounds for a bit. I needed to explain to him that I would use a bag and every dog owner does the same. Well, any good dog owner. That made him actually puke over the thought. I started to wonder if being eaten or killed would have been easier than dealing with him going forward.

After our little talk, I put his leash back on to get him home. He wanted a second breakfast and I felt too tired to say no. We walked by the nearby corner store and bumped into someone I didn’t expect to see outside of work. Rusty, my partner came out of the store with breakfast of his own. I glanced at his bags seeing coffee flavored drinks and boxes of honeybuns. I didn’t think he would be the kind of guy with a sweet tooth. Maybe he had family over. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know of he was married or not.

I noticed too late he was staring daggers at Spike. Two nights ago, Spike’s pack had attacked Rusty and if it wasn’t for him being a half bred of some sort, he might not have made it out of the woods. And now I stood in front of him holding a leash with one of his attackers on the other end. Maybe because Spike looked like a dog Rusty wouldn’t figure out the truth.

“Breakfast!” Spike said and snatched one of the boxes out of Rusty’s bags.

Within seconds he’d torn it open with his sharp teeth, I started to sweat, fearing Rusty’s anger more than anything else. At least I'd thought I did. The look of disappointed hit harder than anger.

“I... He...” I started trying to explain myself. “I’ll pay you back.” I finished unsure of what else to say.

“Oh, you will.” Rusty said and left us behind without another word.

Spike might not be able to attack and eat me with the collar I put on him, but he’s going to be the cause of my death at some point. I wrestled the plastic wrappings away from him and dragged the hyper creature back home. I didn’t really sleep much because of the sugar high Spike got from his stolen treats.

I feared Rusty’s mood for the night. He must have known and stayed extra silent when I got into the station. If he just got the payback over with, I wouldn’t be suffering this much expecting it. The wait for him to snap much worse than anything he might be able to think of. I wanted to clear the air and talk about why my hand was forced adopting Spike but we got pulled aside. One of the dispatch workers wanted to talk to us about doing a special job that night. As far as I could tell, only a handful of people within the station knew about the supernatural stuff that went down on occasion.

“Could you guys go out tonight and just drive along the roads? Clover came by and should have made it over to his other stop by now. Normally we would just assume he stopped along the way to collect something he found in the woods, but with the forest acting all riled up lately it’s best to double check on him.” The dispatch worker explained.

Her name tag said Mary and she was on the shorter side. I’ve never heard her voice over the radio before and we hadn’t met yet. With how young she sounded I bet it was hard for the other officers to take her seriously.

“Clover?” I asked and they both looked in my direction.

“He’s a travelling merchant of sorts. We’ll order special spell work and materials to make-”

“Sam doesn't need to know about any of that.” Rusty interrupted Mary.

I suddenly felt tense from how they looked at each other. Since I found out about the whole supernatural thing being real, Rusty hadn’t really told me much. I did try looking stuff up but who knew what was real and what wasn’t. And Spike didn’t tell me much either. He just at chicken and sang dumb songs.

“He should know a little if you two are going to be on that highway. Things have already happened. I agreed with you before when he didn’t see anything weird but hasn’t he already had direct contact with the forest?” Mary questioned, her shorter frame and childlike voice somehow threatening.

“He’s not a part of the cleanup crew, or deals with the same job tasks you do. I’ll tell him how to handle any magic weapons if we ever need to use them, but you know how this works. The more he knows, the more likely he’ll need to use that information.” Rusty said back, trying to keep his voice even.

“I understand trying to protect the rookie, but letting him know certain things isn’t going to lead him down the same path as Quinn.”

I knew others in the station wasn’t listening to us but the mention of a certain name made all sound disappear from our surroundings. I tensed up, stomach knotted and I took a step closer to Mary on reflex. I knew Rusty wouldn’t hurt her for dropping that name but I still worried over his reaction to it. Quinn was Rusty's partner before I started. To be honest, I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t even have the guts to look up his full name. One my second day, someone else mentioned him and I saw the look in Rusty’s eyes. Whatever happened in the past was pretty bad to make him look like that. A white-hot rage and regret boiled under his skin.

“We’ll tell him what he needs to know when we get there.” Rusty said, his voice so even it scared me.

Mary didn’t look intimated in the slightest. I respected her for that. She’s either very brave or dense. Rusty turned on his heel and walked away. I followed behind him knowing our night would be pretty silent and awkward unless we found this Clover person.

I didn’t know how to deal with my silently fuming partner. We got our car and I let him drive down the highway because he knew Clover’s route. And if he kept his hands on the steering wheel, he couldn’t smack me if I looked in his direction the wrong way. The sun set and we ended up driving around for an hour before finding something out of place. Rusty noticed it right away and pulled off to the side of the road. We both go out of the car but Rusty kept back a few feet just in case.

A motorcycle sat on the side of the road without the owner in sight. A rolled-up bag tied to the back of the seat and two small reflective clover stickers on the license plate. I knew right away this belonged to the person we were sent out to find, but I didn’t see any trace of them. Rusty placed a hand on his side arm, but didn’t draw it. His body tense and head slowly moving trying to spot any nearby danger.

“What’s-” I was about to ask Rusty the plan when a scream came from the trees.

I wanted to run towards it but learned my lesson from the last time I raced headfirst into the forest. I waited for my partner to give me a nod.

“Let me get a few things then we’ll go.” He said and went back to the car.

He pulled a shot gun I’ve never seen from a false bottom in the trunk. My mouth dropped open a little from the offense of there being a special weapon hidden away. He grabbed a silver chain and shoved it into my hand. He then closed the trunk after getting a box of shells to put into his pocket.

“Does the shotgun have like, magic shells?” I asked keeping up with Rusty’s quick pace into the sea of trees.

He looked over his shoulder and I grabbed my flashlight so we could see where to go. He debated on how much he wanted to tell me.

“No, just salt. Creatures don’t all have the same weaknesses. Most of them don’t like salt, silver and iron. Salt is the best bet. It doesn’t really kill often, but pisses things off enough for them to just leave.”

Well, that was good to know. I held up my hand and showed him the chain he gave me. I dangled a little and I tightened my fist around it worried I might drop it.

“What’s this for?” I asked him a bit glad Rusty finally felt like telling me something useful.

“It’s blessed. Weaker creatures won’t want to go near you. If you’re cornered you can wrap it around your fist and punch something. Again, it won’t kill anything overly strong, but it should stun the creature long enough for you to run.” He explained.

I wrapped the chain around my hand as tight as it would go. I even looped it around my fingers hoping the delicate thing didn’t snap. We kept walking as we spoke and didn’t see anything odd or hear another scream since entering the woods.

“Why a chain? Wouldn’t like, brass knuckles be better?” I asked.

Rusty stopped trying to listen to a slight rustle off in the trees. When he knew nothing wanted to jump on us, he answered my question.

“The blessing only sticks to pure items. Brass knuckles are made to cause pain. Now stop asking questions. Just shoot anything that-”

Rusty did not get to finish his sentence. A crashing came through the bushes. I didn’t even have time to grab my gun when a wild raging buck charged right at us. Rusty acted fast and pushed me out of the way. I fell backwards at my partner stopped the buck dead in its tracks. I shouted his name when I saw the cost of such an action. Antlers torn into Rusty’s shoulder and arm, leaving deep gouges out of his left side. He strained keeping the creature back, his feet getting pushed a few inches leaving trails in the dirt. The buck didn’t look right. The fur appeared too grey and a terribly strong rotting smell came from it.

A screech came from the trees and I needed to turn away from Rusty to see the source of it. A large owl came swooping down, eyes glowing red giving me a target in the dark. I shot it and the thing fell from the sky. The body triple the size of a normal owl, and claws razor sharp. The creature burst into a puff of black smoke and bones crumbling the moment the body hit the ground. I turned to raise my gun to help my partner to see he had things under control.

With a loud yell of effort, he wrapped strong arms around the buck’s head and twisted. A loud crack echoed through the trees then the creature fell apart, flesh disappearing and bones falling to the ground.

“Holy shit...” I gasped mostly to myself. “Rusty, are you...?”

His wounds looked deep and I brought the light over for a better look. To my shock, they started to close up. He healed way faster than he did two nights ago with the pointed wolves.

“I get a slight boost in strength and healing when the moon is full.” He said, brushing off my concerns.

His face covered in sweat but otherwise Rusty looked ready to keep going. A slight boost? Jesus Rusty, that was slight? He told me he didn’t have any super strength and then pulled a stunt like this. Did Rusty think what he just did wasn’t all that impressive? He noticed my look and narrowed his eyes in confusion. I didn’t voice any of my questions knowing we needed to keep moving.

I relied my partner’s eyes in the dark. Even with the flashlight I didn’t have a clue on where the missing Clover might have gone. Rusty heard a noise before I did and quickly started to run towards it. I followed behind, finding it hard to keep up. I started to really hate running through the woods at night and never wanted to do it again.

We stumbled into a scene of a person dressed in riding gear backing away from more of those dark and half rotten animals. He had a smoking pine branch in front of him, waving it to keep the creatures away. A black helmet with the visor down making it impossible to see his face. He let out another scream of fear when a dark crow swooped down to steal away his only defence. He'd literally got backed into a corner when we arrived.

Rusty fired the shotgun into the crowd of creatures. Some of the wild shot hitting Clover and he raised his arms up cursing. His leather jacket mostly protecting him from the sharp salt.

“That hurts me too!” Clover shouted; his voice muffled behind his helmet.

Rusty ignored him. The salt left smoking wounds on the rotting animals and they turned towards us. I suddenly lost all my courage with all those dead eyes in our direction. I nearly fell to my knees from fear. Rusty shoved the shotgun into my shaking hands and so hard against my chest it knocked some sense back into me. He then ran forwards to punch the first undead animal in the face, breaking the neck right away. I shot into the crowd and away from Rusty in order to make a path for Clover to run through. He got a few more bits of salt into in jacket but at least I got him over and to hide behind me.

“Rusty, let’s get the hell out of here!” I called the moment Clover was safer next to me.

My partner’s knuckles bloody from the fight. He’s been bitten a few times but his wounds healing faster than I expected. He slammed down his fist into another buck threatening to impale him. The creature’s head crashing down into the packed dirt. The sound of the skull breaking making me swear to never piss off my partner.

We were about to run but it seemed like the boss arrived to the fight late. The other animals scattered when a large shape tore through the trees. Some of the smaller ones got crushed under massive paws of the creature that arrived to kill us. I shot first so Rusty could get a few feet away but the salt didn’t do much against the monster in front of us. The thing double the size it should be, and red eyes glowed in the dark.

I’d never been this close to a bear before, and never wanted to be near one again. The monster opening its mouth to let out a roar that shook the trees. I flinched in pain at the sound. There was no way we could get away from this thing. We could only piss it off more.

Fear ripping through my body. I looked at my worn out and bloody partner, then at the shaking Clover behind me. He was shorter than myself and so thin under his leather outfit. He didn’t stand a chance of even handling the recoil from the shot gun let alone fighting against this bear. I looked at his waist seeing pouches and prayed he had something useful inside them. We really needed some sort of powerful magic weapon right now.

By sheer luck, the bear didn’t attack just yet. Rustling came from the trees and I looked up at the same time Rusty and Clover warned me to keep my eyes down. I found myself staring at a monster more terrifying than the undead bear in front of us. Everything else faded away only leaving the sight of the creature hanging upside down from the branches using countless human arms. The face covered with layers of glittering veils. Antlers sticking out from behind the head, twisted into each other and forming a circle. My chest grew tight and it felt like something started to fill my lungs. Something solid that twisted through my veins, creeping towards my heart.

Hands from behind covered my eyes and jerked my head back. The feeling of the vines inside my chest faded and I snapped out of the strange trance I found myself in. Voices started shouting but I missed most of what was said for a few seconds.

“You know what you stole from me! Give it back rotten creature!”

I knew that voice. It was the same one that belonged to the forest creature from before. Did I just see part of what it really looking like?

“I did a fair and even trade!” Clover shot back.

Being blind I wasn’t aware the forest creature came down from the trees until it wrapped hands onto my shoulders to use my body as a support to glare down the man behind me.

“Nothing fair with tricky words! I wanted arms!” The forest shouted back, all those hands gripping onto me so tightly it hurt.

At least the anger was directed at someone else. I didn’t even think the forest creature realized I was even there due to its rage.

“I gave you arms! You never said you wanted them to be my own!” Clover argued but his hands were pulled away.

I could see again and looked over the situation. Clover been picked up by the forest monster I’d gotten a brief look at and Rusty was backed up against a tree, the bear letting out a deep growl. I needed to think fast. At this rate we wouldn’t make it out of these woods and the creature would gain a few more limbs.

“What did he take?” I asked quickly to the forest creature.

I looked up trying not to look at it directly. I hadn’t seen the lower half of the monster yet. It turned a veiled head down, my eyes landing on it. The same feeling came crawling into my chest. It almost became impossible to breath but I kept my gaze upwards. The creature so close and I debated on using my silver chain but knew it wouldn’t do anything besides make our situation worst.

“It is in his pocket. I cannot take it back because we had a trade, but I can take his life! It is all fair when it comes to-”

I cut off the creature by reaching out to grab a hold of the pouches at Clover’s waist to look through them. He weakly protested; his body being held up by a pair of hands around his neck and under his helmet. I dumped out stones, pressed flowers and hunks of pure salt. He kicked his legs trying to make me stop and I really hoped what I was giving back to the forest wouldn’t come biting me in the ass. I didn’t have much time to find whatever this monster wanted. Clover losing strength and the bear starting to get closer to Rusty.

“That! That!”

The forest monster pointed out a pale hand at the small golden glowing bottle I pulled from the bottom of the pouch. I held out the tiny thing but the creature shook its head and demanded I open the bottle. The excited hands dropped Clover, his body landing hard to the ground. He shouted at me to stop but I ignored him really hoping that was the best course of action.

I pulled the cork out of the small bottle and the glass shattered in my hand. A blinding light came over my vision and it took a few moments until I could see again. The undead bear disappeared in the new golden light, leaving nothing behind. Rusty sank to the ground, shielding his eyes from the light. Clover’s head also down and I was the only one looking around.

My eyes adjusting to the light finding the small space around us to be as bright as a spring day. I looked around, stunned at the sudden change. A breeze blew, kicking up flower petals that weren’t there before and bringing sweet scents of spring with it. I heard a laugh that was like wind chimes and looking up. The forest creature changed its body and it was flying through the air between trees, the long body now similar to a serpent. The veils of spider web and antlers still attached to its head, but the rest of the body changed into something made of countless flowers as bright as the sun through leaves on a summer day. The long body flew through the air and came towards me. I tensed up expecting it to crash into my body but it just circled around me, creating a small updraft of petals. With one last laugh, it flew off deep into the woods, the light and spring day following it.

We were left into darkness, everything that bright light brought with it gone from around us. Then we were all very rudely removed from the woods. The world turning under my feet and I fell downwards. With some luck, I flipped over and landed on my ass and not on my head. Rusty landed on his feet but Clover wasn’t that lucky. He came crashing down last, neck breaking against the road with the shot gun I’d dropped clattering next to him. I screamed seeing his body and ran over to him. A terrible flashback of the drunk driver from the other night coming to mind.

I screamed louder when he sat up, head facing the wrong way. With some effort, he twisted his head back and pulled off his helmet. Rusty needed to smack me upside the back of my head to make me stop screaming at what was under the visor the entire time.

Black wavy hair covered half of Clover’s face. I wish he kept the helmet on. His skin clinging to his skill and lips peeled back exposing his teeth. Around his left eye the skin had rotted away and he was missing his entire nose. A green eye set into his dark socket met my own and I nearly fainted. At least I knew where he got his name from.

“Do you have any idea how much a spring day like that is worth! We could have bargained!” Clover shouted, and he sounded pretty good for someone with exposed vocal cords.

“You’re lucky we even bothered to save your ass! You’re always getting into shit like this! What do you even need money for?!” Rusty shot back.

“Don’t be ignorant! Just because I’m-” Clover started but he stopped speaking when he noticed my face.

I wasn’t a sheepish person when it came to gore. I could watch zombie movies just fine or clean up road kill when needed. But it turned out I wasn’t able to keep it together when a rotten human body moved around and spoke. The exposed muscles moving caused my face to turn pale. Clover knew I was going to pass out before I realized it. He dove forwards to catch my head so I didn’t smash it against the road we’d been tossed onto.

I woke up in the backseat of our car, feeling sick and dizzy. Thankfully Clover put his helmet back on and since he was still there, I figured I wasn’t out for very long.

“Oh good, you’re awake. Let me take some blood.” The undead creature said from under the visor.

I jumped back and pressed against the seat trying to stay away from him. I suddenly did not trust the one we just saved. He held a syringe in his gloved hand and Rusty, the traitor, grabbed a hold of me to drag me out of the car. With some screaming and begging, they got what they wanted. My rubbed my sore arm and was released to back away from the leather clad zombie.

“Your eyes are green.” Clover said and put the blood he stole away in one of his pouches.

“They’re brown.” I corrected.

“They were brown. Now they’re green. I think it’s because you looked at that forest body for too long. As far as I can tell, nothing else has changed. I can’t sense any extra magic in your body, and nothing really feels off about you. If you’re lucky, the color fades in a few days.” Clover explained and I looked up at Rusty to have him silently confirm what was being said.

We followed behind him and watched as he got back on his bike. At least no one died tonight and we got the job done. I glanced off into the woods and thought I saw a hint of light off in the distance.

“I’ll get this tested for you and shoot over the results when I get them. You're probably fine.” He told us and I thought I heard him mutter another probably.

That stressed me out. Could be much worst though. I reluctantly thanked Clover for checking such a thing for me even though he owed us for saving him. We let him drive off after a small exchange of waves. I was left standing on the side of the road with Rusty staring down at me. His wounds healed but they left blood on his torn uniform. Out of nowhere, his fist shot out and punched my shoulder.

“What the hell?!” I demanded, hurt on so many different levels.

“Tell me the next time you adopt a dog. I love dogs.”

With that, he turned to go back to the car. I was shell shocked from the events that night but also from his response. Really, he gave me the silent treatment over something like that? I hurried after him ready for us to have a normal quiet rest of our shift.

We did need to pull over a few drivers and Rusty let me write the tickets because he didn’t have a replacement shirt in the car. We pulled through the next few hours and I got home a bit later than normal. We both needed to fill out an extra special report because we dealt with something supernatural that night. I was so tired I barely paid any attention to what I filled out.

I wanted to go right to bed but remembered I needed to let Spike out. He got his leash and I took him to the field to run around to tire him out enough for me to sleep for a few hours. At least he found a new song to sing that was less annoying. Something about a duck. Being so tired I didn’t stress or worry about the events of the night. I was nearly asleep on my feet and collapsed on the couch and didn’t make it to my bed. Instead of using my empty bed. Spike curled up on the couch with me, nearly suffocating me in my sleep. This dog was really going to be the death of me.