Night of the Pomeranian

The military truck that we rode in bumped and shook as it drove across the rough terrain. Across from me, ten soldiers, bathed in the truck's red light, stared blankly at the ground, assault rifles held in unsteady hands. Beside me, nine more soldiers in the same state, as if comatose. To my left, the squadron commander smoked a cigar, as if today was just another day.

But it was not another day. This was the single most important battle for the human race, against the most dangerous enemy we've ever encountered. A dense atmosphere of nervousness hovered and slowly choked us all, reminding us that this could easily be our last day alive.

"Gentlemen," our commander started, removing the cigar from his mouth, and we all snapped out of our dazes and looked toward him, "You are humanity's last and greatest hope against this growing epidemic. You are twenty of the bravest men and women I've ever had the privilege of fighting beside with in my twenty years of service. If we survive, each and every one of your names will go down in history."

He stood up. "Remember your training. One bite is all it takes. No matter what they look like, no matter how much you recognize them, remember that their real personalities are gone. They're just hollow bodies, waiting to be killed. Do not hesitate. Do not react to them. Just shoot. And above all..."

The commander extinguished his cigar on the palm of his left hand, leaving a black, circular burn mark. He showed no pain.

"Do not... I repeat... Do not..."

He pulled the cigar away from his palm, revealing several other burn marks dotting and overlapping the skin on his palm of various hues of black.

"Pet the pomeranians."

Suddenly, we all looked up at the bulbs in the truck, which had all turned green. This was it.

A static-laced voice from the truck's PA. "This is it, boys. Last stop, everyone out. Godspeed."

"Everyone up!" The commander ordered and we obeyed. The truck came to a halt and we all leapt out, into the barren ruins of what used to be Seattle. Here we are, where the infection began. And here we are, to end it.

We marched.

"Stay frosty," our commander whispered as he led us through the barren streets of Seattle. Crumbled buildings that looked like destroyed Lego towers. Bits of concrete and rubble lay stagnant in piles like corpses of a forgotten civilization. Behind half-fallen skyscrapers stood a rusted Space Needle. What would have been a busy Monday night was instead eerily silent, with only the wails of the rushing wind dodging toppled architecture under a bleak, night sky.

The commander motioned for us to stop, and we followed. He gripped the handle of his rifle tightly, lstening to the sounds carried by the wind.

In the far distance, the happy sound of yipping.

Pomeranians. They're coming.

"POSITIONS!" He screamed and immediately, the 20 of us aligned ourselves in an arrowhead position, with the commander at the tip. In the far right corner, the newest recruit, Tommy, was trembling with fear.

"I...I don't wanna die, boss. I don't wanna die!" He stuttered as his knees vibrated like a folding chair underneath a professional sumo wrestler, ready to collapse at any second.

"Pull yourself together, private, they're just dogs! You're not gonna die!" The commander reassured without taking his eyes off of the source of the sound.

"One bite... it just takes one bite..." Tommy started chanting. Quaking uncontrollably, he managed to aim his gun to his head and fire, killing himself and startling the 19 other men in the platoon.

We all went crazy.

"Jesus Christ!" Someone shouted.

"He's dead! He's effing dead!"

"Oh god, I think I need Ibuprofen!" The commander was getting increasingly impatient. He turned around.

"SHUT UP!" He cried, "SHUT UP." We all froze, and looked toward him. "EVERYONE, CALM THE HELL DOWN, WE GOT THIS. THEY'RE JUST DOGS, TINY ONES, AND YOU'RE GROWN MEN," he ranted. Slowly, we shifted our attention to the space above his left shoulder, as a pomeranian with a light orange and white coar slowly rose from behind him, paws on his epaulette, with the happiest grin on its furry face.

"Uh, boss?" Someone interrupted the commander, who barked at him for breaking his continuity.

"WHAT?!"

"...Behind you..."

He turned around, and the dog, faced him, tongue out, smiling as if happy to see him.

"OH MY GO-" The commander's last words as he panicked and tried to swat the dog off, but by the time he managed to knock the dog off, it was too late. The pomeranian managed to nibble gently at his ear.

The adorable dog gently landed on the ground with a heartwarming yip, looking up at our commander as the horrifying transformation happened. The commander let out a bloodcurdling scream as slowly, his body twisted and distorted against his will, his bones snapping and cracking under invisible pressures. We could hardly watch as the commander shrank lower and lower and lower, his organs flattening and his bones compressing beneath his skin until he was small enough to be hidden by the clothing, where the transformation continued and his clothes sank lower and lower to the ground until finally the screaming stopped and he was nothing but a pile of military gear.

"What... what happened to him?!"

"He's gone!"

But he wasn't gone. Soon, we heard a muffled yip from beneath the clothing and a tiny pomeranian crawled out of the pile, with snow white fur, tongue sticking out. The white pomeranian waddled over to the orange one and stood on its hind legs, placing its front paws on the orange one's back, as if trying to climb over it. The orange one smiled, and quickly rolled over, sending the white one falling clumsily to the floor with a yelp.

It was the most evil thing I've ever seen.

"YOU SONS OF BITCHES, I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THE COMMANDER," someone screamed from the back of the formation. I turned around and saw him sprinting toward the two pomeranians. Another yip, far in the distance, and I looked toward the horizon.

And I saw it. A horde of fluffy, soft, pettable pomeranians of various coats and colors. At least a million of them. All facing us. All smiling like their cute canine smiles like the demons they were.

We didn't stand a chance.

To my right, the sound of bones cracking as the soldier that sprinted towards the pomeranians slowly converted and before long, there were three pomeranians next to us, crawling playfully atop each other. Three pomeranians, not even a drop from the ocean of pomeranians that stood in front of us. Twenty against two billion.

One yipped.

And they all charged simultaneously.

"SHOOT TO KILL, EVERYONE! FIRE!" Someone screamed, but we were all paralyzed with fear. We knew this was our death, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. These machines of death in our hands might as well have been harmless pillows.

Within two seconds, the pomeranians had reached us. Like an ocean wave breaking against the shore, the puppies splashed up our legs, trying to crawl up our torsos, but unable to do so because of their furry, stubby legs and their dull nails.

We panicked and started kicking at the sea of dogs.

"THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" Someone screamed as pomeranians flew in the air from kicks. Though they had just been hit by steel-toed boots, they acted as if they had been gently picked up by the wind, happy and carefree as can be, with no visible signs of injuries.

Their happiness was sickening. At least let us die with dignity.

The minutes ticked on and the kicks continued, until suddenly, groups of pomeranians crawled atop each other and formed a pomeranian dogapult, using nothing but their furry little bodies. They launched pomeranians into our formation like cannonballs and one by one, the pomeranians hit the faces of my allies, who fell from the impact and drowned in a sea of pomeranians that quickly crawled over them, nibbling gently at the exposed skin. Yips and screams and snapping bones filled the air until finally, I was the last one alive.

The pomeranians were gently rubbing my knee, as if trying to scratch a hole through my pants but were unable to do so because of their soft, padded feet. Five, six, seven of them, standing adorably on their hind legs, looking up at me with glossy eyes and happy faces, patting my calves and yipping playfully.

Then, I remembered. I had a gun.

I aimed the rifle at the head of the pomeranian standing on top of my foot and it looked up at me and barked, oblivious to the fate that would soon befall it.

I pulled the trigger and an explosion of sound silenced the yipping pomeranians as their comrade recoiled and fell to the ground, dead.

...Wait, no. The pomeranian hadn't died. It hadn't even recoiled. Instead, the bullet hit its fur and ricocheted up into the air with a metallic ping and a high pitched whistle, out of sight. The pomeranians and the dogapults had suddenly stopped barking and all looked toward me now with uncomfortable silence and I stood there, dumbfounded.

The pomeranians were bulletproof. Game over.

The bullet fell from the sky and pierced my helmet, embedding itself into my skull and deep into my brain, killing me instantly. I fell to the ground, limp, as the blood dripped out of my head and a pomeranian crawled on my face and yipped.

And immediately, the pomeranians started crawling atop each other, playing.

They had won. This was their victory dance. Humanity was extinct.





Author's Note: Woo! Happy birthday to me! Not to rub it in anyone's face or anything, just in case you wanted to know the date of my birth.

Anyway, a pretty short story, but one that was incredibly fun to write. I didn't have as much time to proofread this one as much as my other stories because I'm currently juggling a thousand projects at the same time, so pardon if I made any mistakes in grammar, spelling, etc.

For this one, I had the idea to mix horrifying, gorey descriptions with the most adorable, harmless thing I could imagine. Then, Nicole, my classmate, tells me that there were evil pomeranians in her story, I got the idea to write a story about an "adorable zombie invasion" and bam, this story was born.

Shoutouts to Nicole, for the idea! Check out her Tumblr here, where she's posting an epic story based on the hero cycle, chapter by chapter! If you recall, I also wrote about the hero cycle in one of my older stories, and yes, it's the same assignment, so if you liked mine, you're going to love hers!