Episode 2 - Dogs

## Dogs

Two dog busts drawn white on black in a white frame. The dog on the left has distinct white eyes and a nose, while the dog on the right has a distinct mouth with fangs, and red eyes.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Clara runs from the danger that hounds her, Hector goes looking for trouble, and Yaretzi meets her nemesis beneath an eclipse. The theme of tonight’s episode is Dogs.

***Content Warnings:** Static, abuse, animal death, racism, violence, death + injury, gun mention, kidnapping + abduction, body horror.*

## Intro - Diamond Hound

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamers of the relationship between dog and man and that since dogs are a man's best friend and diamonds are a woman's best friend, it must be quite the person whose best friend in the Diamond Hound of the Gleamingbog. The rider is resplendent and phantasmal, while the hound is prismatic and a holy fractal of light. Its otherworldly howl welcomes the listener to the Hallowoods.

Nikignik is currently crouched in a dog house. They remark that while there are no more dogs in the dog house, the loyalty of those animals is not easily buried.

## Story One - Dog Smell

Clara Martin is being chased through her home, the Rathbone House. It has always smelled like dogs, even though her family never had one, and that smell surrounds her as she races up the stairs with some creature hot on her heels. She runs into her room and locks the door behind her. She calls to someone on her HAM radio, asking for help. When the unnamed person asks what's wrong, she explains that "it's [her] parents". She says that they're "gone" and that they're much worse than she could have imagined.

As she is giving her address to the unnamed rescuer, a paw breaks through the door and Clara sees teeth in the darkness. She runs to a hidden door and flees down an old servant's staircase into the kitchen. As she runs through the darkness, she imagines that she sees the same glowing white and green eyes she had seen in her parents' room all around her.

Clara sees paintings of the house's previous owners as she runs towards the exit. In each painting, there is a large white dog.

Finally, Clara reaches the exit to the house. As she is running across the grass, she slips as she spots something in her path and tries to change direction. In front of her is a massive hound with black burning eyes, pointed teeth, and phosphorous white fur that seems to float around it. Clara realizes that she has seen it before.

Clara's parents, with glowing green eyes and black claws, charge across the lawn. Clara halfheartedly attempts to get away, but knows that she can't outrun them. The hound suddenly attacks her parents and gives Clara time to escape. As she reaches the edge of the lawn, an RV pulls up and Clara jumps inside. As the RV drives away, Clara catches her breath and is comforted by the dog smell that is still following her.

### Interlude One - Adopt A Dog

Nikignik advertises the Find a Friend Animal Center in the Northeast Hallowoods for those who want an animal companion. The animal center is dark and has broken cages. Big Mikey sits in the largest enclosure, surrounded by bones, books, and dogs. The dogs fear and respect Big Mikey. They help him hunt and he loves them in return.

## Story Two - How Things Change

Hector Mendoza hauls a body out of a bog while musing that he is not stressed over his job, despite its more gruesome aspects. He is accompanied by two German Shepherds, who back away obediently at his signal. He feeds them salted beef and begins to search the body's pockets.

Hector finds many items that he thinks will fetch a good price at the market, including a flask containing some kind of alcohol. He finds the man's driver's license, which reads "Stewart, Jeffery" and a copper Downing Hill Public Library card. He notes that the slash marks on the corpse match the tracks leading back into the bog. Hector disposes of the body and calls his dogs to him. They walk out of the bog to Hector's pride and joy, a motorcycle with a sidecar. The dogs hop into the sidecar and Hector drives into the night, thinking of a place to spend the night and hoping that whatever creature killed Jeffery Stewart is long gone.

Hector and his dogs drive to a small cottage at the edge of a lake, which Hector notices has risen since the last time he was there. He walks to the front door and is met by Zelda Duckworth holding a shotgun. Once she realizes who he is, she invites him inside and says that he was just who she wanted to see. Hector sees a red truck outside and asks whose it is. Zelda says that it belongs to her son Jonah, who is missing. She asks if Hector would be able to find him. He tells her that most people he finds are already dead, but Zelda insists that Jonah would never leave without saying goodbye.

### Marketing - Unspoken Desires.

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast to explain that the Botulus Corporation monitors all Dreamers inside their Dreaming Boxes for subconscious impulses and unspoken desires so they can customize advertising to each Dreamer's specific wants and needs. They believe it is your right to spend your "hard-earned wages" on brands that understand and care about your thoughts and feelings. She remarks that "people come and go, but brands are eternal."

She comments that some "old-fashioned" dreamers might consider this an invasion of privacy. Before she can say what attempts to resist will be met with, her broadcast is cut off.

### Story Two, Continued - How Things Change

Nikignik apologizes for the interruption and returns to the story of Hector, who has now left Zelda's house with watercress sandwiches and walks east, thinking of the creature that killed Jeffery Stewart. He comes across the same tracks as he saw earlier, this time accompanied by a splatter of blood. He tells his dogs, Heidi and Jackie, to follow the trail.

The dogs lead Hector to a den near the water which is filled with bones. Hector moves one of them and it's a human jaw. Suddenly, Heidi is dragged under water. Hector uses a hook line to try to catch the creature that has captured her. Heidi is released and something massive begins pulling on the line. Hector identifies the creature as a Fisher and shoots at it with a tranquilizer gun but misses. Jackie attempts to attack the creature but is knocked aside. Heidi is bitten by the Fisher.

Hector uses a machete to attack the creature. It throws Heidi's body aside and dives into its den. Hector throws a grenade into the den and calls Jackie to him. The grenade goes off, hopefully killing the creature. Hector then goes to Heidi, who is very injured from the Fisher's attacks. He notes that her bleeding wounds are mixing with the black water of the bog. He holds Heidi as she dies.

Hector stands to leave. There is a yellow rubber boot sitting on the water's edge. He assumes the worst has happened to Jonah and decides to report back to Zelda. He begins to walk away but realizes that Jackie is not following him. He whistles for her to follow and hears two sets of footsteps behind him. Hector turns around to see Jackie following him, as well as Heidi, who now has lidless glowing eyes and blackened teeth. Both dogs move past him, nuzzling him affectionately.

It occurs to Hector that, like his job, this should bother him greatly. However, he's fine with this as long as Heidi comes to him when he calls.

### Interlude Two - Partial Solar Eclipse

Nikignik encourages the listeners to wake early and watch a partial solar eclipse that will be visible from the Hallowoods. They reassure the listener that the sun is not gone and won't go for many years—at least fifty—and recommends that you wear protective eye coverings. If you happen to be a servant of Tolshotol, Who Guards a Thousand Suns, Nikignik reminds you that you will have heightened powers and an increased craving for flesh.

## Story Three - Death Is Named Yaretzi

Yaretzi and an unnamed man stand on top of a grain elevator right before the eclipse occurs. The man tells Yaretzi that her coming to him was a mistake, but that "[her] kind" were always a mistake anyway. He removes his hat and gloves and prepares for a fight. As the eclipse begins, fire lights up his eyes as he pulls a flaming weapon out of the air. He rushes to meet Yaretzi but she kills him in one blow, thinking that he had grown complacent and weak. Yaretzi eats part of him and thinks of her next quarry far to the North. She falls asleep in the warm sun.

## Outro

Nikignik reiterates the importance of dogs and loyalty. Dogs are insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. They are so small and have such short lives. However, the loyalty that they show as they protect their masters, even against an adversity they cannot overcome, inspires a sense of kinship for Nikignik.

They assure the listener that if they don't have a dog, Nikignik is the protector sitting outside their door, watching and waiting.