The Jones Adventure With Rex Chapter 1 Rex “Seven puppies for sale at the pet shop, only $1.99 each, can we get one mom?” Asked Jimmy. Jimmy Jones was a 7 year old boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, a sense of humor, and a genuine love for animals, especially dogs. “No Jimmy,” Julie said, Julie Jones was Jimmy’s mom, she was 25, a veterinarian and, like Jimmy, had blonde hair and blue eyes, she was about 5 foot 10, and only Jimmy could change her mind on things. “The budget is tight and we can’t afford to take care of a dog, besides, you still have a parrot, 2 cats, a snake and a jackal (which I still can’t believe I agreed to), a lizard, and a ferret at home to take care of!” “But the ferret and both of the cats died, and I’ll sell the parrot and the jackal if you let me get a puppy!” Jimmy bribed. “Ok” His mom sighed. “but the money is coming out of your allowance.” “YES!!!” Jimmy jumped for joy. “Thanks mom, you’re the best!” Jimmy ran into the pet store so fast that he almost ran over the manager. “Whoa, slow down there son, where are you going in such a hurry.” “My mom said I could get one of those puppies in the window!” “Really,” Said the man. “Well your going to have to wait ‘till tomorrow ‘cause I’m closing up.” Jimmy got this sad puppy dog look on his face. “Aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww” “What’s wrong Jimmy?” Julie asked as she walked up from behind. “This man says I can’t get a puppy!” Jimmy said with a poochy lip. “Wait a minute there, I didn't say that, I said you would have to wait until tomorrow because I’m closing the store!” He said, losing his patience. “Please Sir,” Mom said, “My boy has been begging me to get a dog ever since he knew what a dog was!” “Well… OK, but I’m closing up in 10 minutes whether you’ve found the dog you want or not.” the manager said roughly. “Thank you, sir.” Julie said as she rushed Jimmy in the store. 9 minutes and 55 seconds later, Jimmy says, “I want this one” while pointing at the Husky/ Doberman mix with one eye green and the other blue. “Ok” Mom said, then to the manager, “We’ll take this one” “About time.” He muttered to himself indignantly . “What?” Julie asked Intently. “Nothing.” He answered quickly, “I’m just surprised you picked this one is all, no one has ever wanted him, that’s why he’s marked down.” “Well we do.” Julie said struggling to keep the giggle out of her voice as they checked out and went home. “Joe, hey Joe, look what I…where is he mom?” Joe was Jimmy’s dad, well, he was Julies husband but Jimmy didn’t call him dad because he was a jerk to Jimmy and his mom. Mom snorted, “probably out partying with his friends, drunk and all." She looked at her sons disappointed look and sighed, “I’m sorry Jimmy, it’s just I...” she didn't get any farther when she heard a knock at the door, she went and opened it as Jimmy went to the living room to play with Rex (that’s what he named his dog on the drive home). Julie opened the door to a policeman. “Hello officer, is there something wrong?” “Are you Mrs. Jones” He asked. “Yes I am, why what’s happened?” she asked again. The officer sighed, he really didn’t want to tell her. “Ma’am your husband was on his way home and I noticed that he was swerving a little so I turned on my sirens, he sped up and went off the road and crashed into a tree, the truck caught on fire and when I finally got the man out of the vehicle his ID told me who he was, I’m really sorry Mrs. Jones, but, your husband is dead.” Jimmy was curious by now and went over with Rex and heard the last sentence. “Joe is… dead?” Mom turned around and looked at Jimmy, “Jimmy, go ahead and show Rex your room, seeing as he will be sleeping in there from now on.” “OK, mom.” Jimmy said agreeably. As Jimmy walked away Julie turned back to the door. “Thank you officer…” She paused, “ Jenkins, Frank Jenkins, ma’am.” “...Jenkins. Good night.” Julie said. “I’m really sorry Mrs. Jones.” Frank Jenkins repeated. “Thank you.” She closed the door. Chapter 2 The Mysterious Wall As he was driving home, Frank saw a burned up figure in the middle of the road running towards his cruiser, Frank slammed the breaks as hard as he could, and the burned up man stopped and just stared at Frank and Frank-thinking this man looked like Joe Jones, (the man in the truck that had exploded earlier)-did the same. After 10 seconds of staring at each other the burned up figure pulled a gun and shot Frank through the windshield and then shot himself. The next morning Julie Jones and her son Jimmy, were on their way to church when they saw a cruiser in the middle of the road with a burnt up man lying 20 feet further ahead. As soon as she was done arguing about why Jimmy should stay in the car, Julie got out and walked up to the cruiser and realized it was officer Jenkins and that the man on the road was her late husband, Joe. After a few frightening seconds, she called the police. 2 months later Julie and Jimmy where on the way to Frank Jenkins funeral, a week after Joe’s. On the way they realized that they must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because they rode for 2 hours instead of only 1, and ran out of gas, right in front what looked like an abandoned gas station, again Julie told Jimmy to stay in the Hummer as she went in to check it out. 30 seconds later she ran out with a scared look on her face, when she got close enough that she could talk to Jimmy through the window Jimmy asked her what made her so scared (only because Julie was almost NEVER nervous, let alone scared). her only answer was, “Jimmy I think we should get out of here, NOW!” Then she quickly filled up the tank, which confused Jimmy cause he thought the pump would be empty if the place was abandoned, then she jumped in and revved the engine as they sped off, about 3 seconds later Jimmy heard a loud engine behind them, he looked back and saw what he had heard, a monster truck and a couple motorcycles on either side were tearing up the road behind them. “Mom…”, “I know Jimmy.”, “MOM…” “ I KNOW JIMMY.” Julie said louder and just a little annoyed. “MMMMMOOOOOMMMMM, HE’S GOING TO RAM US!!!!!!!” “I SEE HIM JIMMY!!!!!”. The monster truck was about a quarter of an inch away from their back bumper when it, for no apparent reason, just stopped. “That’s weird, I wonder what happened?” Julie thought aloud. “It looks like they just stopped mom.” Jimmy said beginning to smile. “Well I know that, you little smart-aleck.” She said half-teasing. Jimmy giggled in spite of the circumstances. “The motorcycles seemed to have stopped to… whoooaaa!”. Julie slammed on the breaks and turned as fast as she could stopping just inches away from a giant steel wall blocking the road. “I guess I was to busy watching the monster truck and company I didn't notice this, this, what in the world is this thing?!?” She asked aloud, not really looking for an answer. “It looks like a giant wall mom.” Again Jimmy giggled in spite of the situation they were in. “Yes but, what is a wall doing in the middle of a 4 way intersection.” When Jimmy got a better look at it, he could see that it was, in fact, a four way intersection, the giant wall was blocking the road ahead and the road to the right was closed due to a long bridge down the road a ways destroyed by what looked like a giant bite mark, and the road curving out of sight on the left. “I guess we go left.” Julie said. “Uh huh.” Jimmy agreed staring at the bridge wondering what was big enough to make a bite mark that big. Julie drove onto the road to their left, not knowing where it lead to, why the men weren't chasing them anymore, and not understanding why the wall was there or who put it there. Chapter 3 The Warehouse “Mom, you’re squeezing my hand again!” Jimmy yelped. Once they had driven for another 2 hours they came across an old warehouse at one of the turns of the road. When they went inside to check it out, they heard a loud click, and turned around just in time to see the door slam shut, the lights turn on all over except in one large spot to the right of the door, and about 10 locks on the door lock tightly, and that’s when Julie saw and felt a trip wire against her ankle that must have triggered it. As they looked around they found out that the warehouse was almost completely empty, except for a huge cage literately full of rats (the animal Julie hated the most) the size of large pigs in the middle. “Sorry Jimmy.” Then Rex-who had (to Julies surprise) gotten to the size of an adult saint bernard over the last 2 weeks-started barking at the rats as the cage door, for no apparent reason, flew open and they started to pour out! Julie screamed and Rex went to fight them, he was doing great and he wasn’t even getting hurt, then one sneaked around Rex and bit him in the leg! “REEEEX” Jimmy cried as he fell, yowling in pain. Then the rats started to head for them and Julie froze in fear. Out of pure rage and hate for the varmints, Jimmy grabbed an iron pole lying nearby and started swinging violently at them. The rats were surprised at the sudden change in the human and they decided it wasn't worth it. So they headed for a giant hole in the wall and a gate slammed down behind them. Jimmy threw down the pole and ran for Rex as Julie stared at him in astonishment. “MOM, COME TAKE CARE OF REX!!!” Julie walked over to Jimmy and Rex and started to inspect the large dog. “He’s badly hurt Jimmy.” Julie said. “He...he can’t be, he’s stronger than that.” Jimmy was choking over his tears. “It looks like those rats are poisonous, i’m sorry Jimmy, there’s nothing that I can do for him” Julie said sadly. “DON’T SAY THAT!!!” Jimmy yelled. He ran a few feet and fell to his knees sobbing. Julie sighed, she felt bad for him, they only had Rex for 2 weeks now. “Jimmy I’m…,” Julie stopped mid sentence, “Jimmy, can you come over here please,” “Why should I.” Jimmy said angrily. “Something’s happening to Rex.” Julie said realizing the anger wasn't directed to her. Jimmy got up and came over, he had stopped sobbing, but there were still tears in his eyes. “What do you mean mom?” Julie didn’t really know, she was very confused, she had never seen this happen to any kind of animal before. “I’m not sure, it’s almost as if he’s, no it’s impossible, it can’t be, it just can’t be.” Julie mumbled. “What’s impossible? What can’t be? Mom, your mumbling again!” Jimmy said, trying to understand. “Sorry Jimmy, it’s just that, I mean, I think that he’s, he’s healing himself!” As Jimmy watched Rex, he saw that his body was shaking and the bite wound was oozing a greenish/yellow puss ‘till all the poison was out and Rex sat up and started to lick Jimmy all over. Jimmy began laughing, not for the first time that day. Julie was just astonished and, like Jimmy, not for the first time that day. “Mom,” Jimmy said with laughter still in his voice, “What are we going to do? It’s 5:30 and I’m hungry.” “I brought some food with us for the potluck after the funeral but its in the car. If only we could get out of this warehouse and get it, we could come back in and sleep on the mattresses over there.” She said, pointing at a wall with some mattresses laying against it. As soon as the words were out of her mouth Rex went over to the door that they came through, turned to his left and ran about 10 more feet before stopping in a dark spot and barked. “What is it Rex?” Asked Jimmy. At the sound of his masters voice Rex barked again, even louder. When they went over there they found a garage door with the control panel right next to it. “Well.” Julie said, “That solved our problem, good boy Rex.” she said as she patted the strange dog. Rex barked happily and wagged his tail. Julie brought in the Hummer and they ate supper, grabbed the spare mattresses Julie mentioned, and went to sleep unknowing that a dark, evil force named IT was watching them…well, I should say watching Jimmy. IT realized that it would be harder to kill Jimmy then IT thought. Especially with that dog around. IT realized that the Enemy was protecting him. IT would have to think of a better way to get rid of that boy, then IT smiled. IT had thought of the PERFECT way, and IT would begin planning in the morning!!! Chapter 4 The Beast The next morning, Julie woke up to Jimmy shaking her. “What is it Jimmy?” she was still tired as she rubbed the sleepy seeds away from her eyes and looked at her watch. “It’s only 6am, is something wrong?” But she knew there wasn’t anything wrong the very second she asked because she looked into Jimmy’s eyes and only saw excitement. “Nothing’s wrong mom, I was just wondering if me and Rex could go exploring.” If he hadn’t added the words, “And Rex” she would've said no right away, but Julie knew that if danger arose, Rex would keep Jimmy safe, even if it meant dying himself, she didn't know how, or why, but a bond had grown between Jimmy and Rex, not a normal kind of bond either, it was almost like Rex was Jimmy’s personal bodyguard and still his best friend, Jimmy refused to go to school without him, or anywhere else for that matter. “First, it's ‘Rex and I’ not ‘Me and Rex. And second, I don't mind. But don't go too far, breakfast will be in about 30 minutes, and I want you to be back by then, alright?” “Alright, thanks mom, c’mon Rex, lets go.” Rex barked in reply. Jimmy and Rex ran off in one direction as Julie chuckled. About 5 minutes later she heard this blood curdling roar so loud that the whole building shook because of it. Julie couldn't believe how loud it was. Suddenly she realized that it came from the direction that Jimmy and Rex ran off. “JIIIMYYY!!!!!!!!!! REEEX!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed as loud as she could, “JIIIMYYY!!!!!!!!!! REEEX!!!!!!!!!!” “Right here mom” Julie followed the sound of her sons shaky voice and saw him and Rex running towards her, Rex’s tail in between his legs. That’s what really scared Julie, Rex had NEVER before been scared enough to do that. “We should probably get out of here, NOW.” Julie said nervously as she, Jimmy, and Rex started for the car, at least, where the car use to be. “Where is the car mom?” Jimmy asked. “I don’t know.” There was silence for about 5 seconds, they had noticed that the garage door had been shut too. Suddenly there was a loud sickening crunch at the back of the warehouse, and Rex started to growl and whimper at the same time when they heard something, of quite some size, crashing towards them from the back. “Mom,” Jimmy said shakily, “What is that?” “I’m not sure Jimmy, but I don't think its coming to join us for morning tea, lets try the garage door so we can get out of here and find the car.” They ran to the door but they realized it would be no good when they saw the wires to the control panel were cut. “Lets try lifting it Jimmy.” Julie said, but as soon as she said it she realized it was no use. They tried and failed, miserably. Jimmy went over to the smaller door and tried to open it, without success, all the while the noise getting closer, and closer. “Hey mom, the Hummer is right there.” Jimmy said as he pointed out the window. Julie ran over and looked through the window and then started to tug at the door franticly. Rex saw this and knew what he had to do. He backed up and ran straight for the garage door, ramming into it with all his might and the door flew a couple miles out of sight. His 2 owners watched in awe and he stared at them as if to say, “Well, are you coming or not.” Then they heard the noise again and ran to the vehicle and jumped in and drove off. 10 seconds later the warehouse exploded and this ginormous beast started to chase after them. Chapter 5 The Fight With The Beast The beast had bad eyesight but he could smell fear, and wherever he smelled fear, that’s where he went, and right now that meant the vehicle speeding away ahead of him. Its head was covered in 2 foot spikes and its spine was 20 feet long with one 5 foot spike every 2 feet. Its tail was 10 feet long and was covered in so much fur that you could see the electricity and if you got within a 3 foot radius of it, you would be electrocuted. His eyes were pure black, if you were unfortunate enough to look into them he would stare at you and it would paralyze you until the gaze was broken, if the gaze wasn't broken he would suck all your energy out of you until you fell to the ground, dead. The only way the gaze would be broken is if something else caught his attention, which is very hard to do. And worse, it couldn't die unless its own energy was drained, or it drew in to much energy, which was extremely close to impossible. It wasn't ‘till they were racing at 150 mph that mom realized that someone had cut the brake line. “Mom, that animal is gaining up on us rather fast.” “I know Jimmy.” They had reached 200 mph now and Julie was having a hard time on the curves. “Jimmy, put on your seat belt NOW.” She said to Jimmy, good thing to ’cause the next corner was to much of a curve and they swerved sideways straight into a tree. “Mom are you alright?” Jimmy asked his mom as soon as she turned around and looked at him. “I’m fine how about you.” Julie was frantic when she saw his lip was cut. “Fine, and so is Rex, aren't you boy?” Rex barked in reply, and that’s when they heard the beast approaching. “Jimmy stay in the car, maybe he will think were dead.” But before she even finished, Rex grabbed Julie’s purse and jumped out the window and Jimmy got out and went after him yelling at him to come back. “JIMMY GET BACK INTO THE CAR!!!!” Julie got out and went after him only seconds before the beast rammed into the Hummer, flattening it like a pancake. Julie got to her son and Rex then turned around and understood what Rex knew when they were in the car. “Good boy Rex!” She said shaking while patting his head. The beast backed up and started to run for the 2 fearful humans and the thing in between them that wasn't scared at all, which was confusing. Julie grabbed Jimmy and ran to one side, but Rex threw Julie’s purse towards them and ran straight for the beast which confused everyone but Rex himself, the beast just lowered his head and the 2 animals rammed into each other and the beast flew back and all of the spikes on its head were broken, this both confused and angered the beast and he got up and ran for Rex once again. Rex ran straight for it as well but at the last second the beast swung around and hit Rex straight on with his tail, and Rex flew back. “RRRREEEEXXXX!!!!!!!!” Jimmy yelled and tried to run and help him but Julie held him back. “Jimmy you can’t help him.” And as she said it she picked up 1 of the many rocks on the ground and threw it at the beast, but it just bounced of like a ball. The beast turned around and stared at her, paralyzing her and it began pulling all the energy out of her. “MMMMOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Jimmy cried. Then he thought for a moment, he had an idea and ran for his moms purse, ruffled through it for a few seconds then pulled out 2 little hand mirrors and ran right in between the beast and his mom and held up the mirrors yelling, “LEAVE MY MOM ALONE!!!!!!!!” His idea worked. The gaze was broken and the beast, after a few seconds, imploded from drawing in all of its own energy. Jimmy turned around and his mom was staring at him from where she weakly fell after the gaze was broken. “How did you know that would work?” “That’s the thing,” Jimmy said, “I didn’t.” they both laughed shakily and they heard a dog barking. “Rex!” Jimmy said happily. Rex ran up to them barking. Again IT realized that this was a hard mission. IT wished that the MASTER would let someone else do this job. Then IT realized that if IT failed this mission the MASTER would destroy IT. IT would have to get rid of that dog 1st. IT realized it might have to get rid of the dog itself. IT would have to think of a way to do that soon. Who knows, maybe IT did have a way to get rid of that dog after all. Chapter 6 The Ghost Town After the fight, Julie went back to the warehouse to get the food and bedding, but had come back empty handed. “What happened mom, where’s the stuff?” Jimmy asked, looking around. “Everything’s gone, the whole warehouse just…disappeared, it’s as if the whole building wasn't even there in the first place.” Julie said acting as if someone threw a magic potion and made everything go away. “The huge wall is gone too.” Jimmy tilted his head to one side, “Weird.” Julie sighed. “I guess we should keep walking.” Rex barked agreeably. They walked about 1/2 mile before they started to walk on sand. They walked for another 1/2 a mile before they came into a town, well, it was actually a ghost town seeing as they searched all the buildings and all they could find was a working piano, 2 beds (like new), a good supply of recently made food and fresh water, 2 rested horses, 2 saddles, fresh grain for the horses, 2 new tank tops that fit perfectly, 2 new pairs of shorts that fit perfectly, a handgun (but no ammo was to be found anywhere) and a lot of giant cacti. “Mom, its getting dark and I’m REALLY tired, can we spend the night here?” Jimmy asked. “Yes, I think that would be a good idea.” Julie said. They ate supper and played charades for 1/2 an hour before it got dark. Then they went upstairs and Jimmy kneeled by the bed and said his prayers. He got about halfway through before Rex started growling and they started to here some strange noises coming from the saloon across the street. “Mom, what is that.” Jimmy asked shakily. “I’m not sure I want to find out.” Julie walked to the window and looked outside, it was completely dark except for the#moonand there was no one in the saloon. “MMoommmmyy.” There was only one thing that would cause Jimmy to called her mommy, Julie thought as she twirled around, GHOSTS!!!! “Jimmy, Rex, come over here, NOW.” Julie said quietly and nervously. They came over without any hint of argument, but Rex was still growling as he backed to her. The leader of the 10 ghosts spoke up. “THIS IS OUR TOWN, AND YOU HUMANS ARE TRESPASSING, THEREFORE YOU WILL PAY THE CONSEQUENCES!” Rex growled even louder and barked angrily at them. “HEAHAHAHA, DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD DO ANY DAMAGE TO US, MUTT!!!” That was the last straw for Rex, he was not a mutt, he ran toward the bluish figures and, very much to everyone's surprise, actually turned himself into a ghost dog and attacked the mocking figures. “WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!” The ghosts were caught completely by surprise. “CALL OFF YOUR DOG, CALL OFF YOUR DOG AND WE’LL LEAVE YOU ALONE!!!!!!” Jimmy looked at his mom and she nodded. “ Come here Rex, come on boy.” As soon as Rex heard Jimmy calling him, he turned back to a normal dog and returned to his master. The leader spoke up again. “YOU CAN STAY TONIGHT, BUT I WANT YOU TO BE GONE TOMORROW MORNING.” Julie answered “That’s what we planned to do any way, but we’re taking the stuff we found with us.” “FINE, WE HAVE NO USE FOR THEM ANYWAY.” And with that the ghosts left the building and were never seen again. “Well that was interesting.” Julie commented as she turned to Rex. “You, my friend, are one strange dog. Rex barked in reply. And after Jimmy finished his prayers they all went to bed. IT didn’t like ghosts, they were wimps, as soon as the dog does one unnatural thing, like IT told them he would do, they backed off and ran away. IT was having a hard time getting rid of that dumb dog. Whenever it gets hurt, it just heals itself. Either that, or the Enemy keeps healing it. But IT had to get rid of the dog, no matter what the cost. If IT didn’t, the MASTER would destroy IT. Yes, IT had to destroy the dog. And IT realized that the only way to destroy them was that IT would have to do it IT’self!!!!!! Chapter 7 Lord S Julie, Jimmy, and Rex are nearing the end of ITS domain. So IT decided IT would have to take them on right away. The problem was, how? IT realized that IT might have to risk... yes IT would have to risk asking the MASTER for help. The MASTER would not be very happy with IT. The boy IT had been after was the Enemy’s chosen one and Lord S’s nemesis 2nd only to the Enemy Himself. But IT had to, everything IT had tried had failed. All because of that dumb dog. IT would have to ask the MASTER for an upgrade right away. Yes, an upgrade, the name IT stands for International Terrorizer. The MASTER stands for the Maker of All Systematic Terrorizing in Every Region. The MASTER had just given IT an upgrade the month before so he would have to ask Lord S about it and he hated to do that. IT had gone straight to the MASTER’S cave to ask for this upgrade. “MA AST TER,” (the creations of the MASTER weren’t created for speech so when they spoke, it slurred) “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE. IS YOUR JOB FINISHED?!?” “No Sere, Its jest dat I kned a up grad.” IT knew that this was the most dangerous part. IT knew that if the MASTER wanted to, he could just terminate IT and have someone else do this job. “AN UPGRADE, WHY? I JUST GAVE YOU AN UPGRADE LAST MONTH!!!” “Yis sere, I underestund sere. But dat dawg is spoilang evry ting I tri.” “YOU KNOW I’LL HAVE TO ASK LORD S ABOUT IT,” The MASTER sighed. “FINE I’LL ASK.” “Thenk u Sere.” IT said. The MASTER hated asking Lord S for things. He always got mad, and the way he repeated his S’s 5 or 6 times creeped him out, a lot. “LORD S?” “WHY DO YOU BOTHER ME, WHAT ISSSSS SSSSSO IMPORTANT THAT YOU COME AT THISSSSSS TIME!!!!” “UMM, THE THING IS, WELL, I KNOW YOU DON'T LIKE ME ASKING YOU FOR THINGS BUT,” “SSSSSSPIT IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” “YES SIR. IT’S JUST THAT IT NEEDS AN UPGRADE TO DEFEAT THE DOG PROTECTING THAT BOY, BUT I JUST GAVE IT ONE LAST MONTH.” “FOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!! GIVE IT EVERY UPGRADE POSSSSSSIBLE!!!!! IT MUSSSSST DISSSSSTROY THAT BOY!!!!!! AND ANYTHING IN ITSSSSS WAY!!!!!!!!!” “YES SIR. SORRY SIR. GOODBYE SIR.” As he walked away, the MASTER was glad he was leaving Lord S’s chamber. When he got back to the main room where IT was waiting,...