Chapter 25: Cue and the Tiger in the Toy Store pt 1

Cue lay sprawled out on the tank on her back with her head hanging off the side. She sighed heavily, staring at the wheels going by at a snail's pace. She listened to Trigger’s gentle humming. She was sitting beside her, stroking her belly as if they were in the middle of a post-apocalyptic hell.

Cue had seen so much green now that she was starting to hate the color. Green vines, green trees, green grass… everything green growing on concrete and cars as if these metal monstrosities never trod them down to death.

“I’ve faced more danger leaving my dome alone than we’ve even seen. What is going on?” she whined, almost missing fighting for her life.

“Oh, they are here, but their Cretin isn’t stupid. He’s holding them back. Gunner thinks they are planning a trap to kill us.” Trigger told her, her voice way too calm for the words being spoken. “He knows what a tank and an EHEC can do. He won't risk his horde on a frontal attack for three well-armed humans.”

Cue rolled over on her stomach and propped her head in her hands, watching the buildings go by. When they passed an old pet store, Cue jumped up in excitement and shouted, “Stop for a second!” and jumped off the tank and ran for the store with Rat at her feet. “Rat loves squeaky toys!”

She approached the store slowly, eyes scanning everything around her while Rat squeaked on her shoulder excitedly. “Are there any near here?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at the concerned pregnant woman.

“Gunner, can you check for heat signatures?” Trigger asked him.

A negative grunt came from the cab, and Trigger gave Cue a nod to go ahead.

Quietly, Cue stepped through the broken glass door and into the store. On the wall were the decaying remnants of what had once been stuffed animals and clothes, but the racks were now full of plastic toys and dog chews. She wound her way through the aisles while Rat scampered beside her, checking out every shelf he could reach.

“There’s dog food in here, we should take it just in case!” Cue called out so they could hear her outside.

“Have we stooped so low?” Trigger said with a grimace.

“Hey, dog food soup is a delicacy!” Cue said, laughing but mildly insulted. Where had Trigger been that she had never had to eat dog food?

A telling squeak came from somewhere down a dark aisle, and Cue smiled, jogging in that direction. She found Rat on his back with a squeaky toy mouse in his paws that he began to absolutely maul. It shredded in seconds, leaving behind only the cracking plastic squeaker inside.

“Aw, I’m sorry, bud! Let's look for a plastic one that isn’t falling apart!” She tells him, giving his little belly a rub.

Cue looked around, all the plastic toys looked dry and cracked, the plastic crumbling into dust in her hands. She frowned, feeling sorry for her little buddy. Maybe it had been too long for them, and the toys couldn’t stand up to the fifth millennium after they were made.

She journeyed deeper into the store, not realizing how large it was. It kept going and going, with aisle upon aisle of decaying and fraying toys and animal supplies. The only things that seemed to survive were the plastic memory foam bed pads in the animal beds. She grabbed a few and tucked them under her arm, knowing the cushion could be life-changing for sleeping on the road.

The farther back they went in the dark, the more destroyed the store seemed. In one corner, hundreds of stuffed animals and dog beds were piled willy-nilly, as if someone had thrown them there on purpose.

She frowned at the pile, realizing they had reached the back of the store. There was a foul smell of death growing more and more prevalent, to the point where Cue put her hand under her nose and gagged.

“We gotta get out of here, Rat, I don’t think we are gonna find shit in here…” she whispered, feeling suddenly unsafe. She looked around the store with narrowed eyes, the hair on the back of her neck beginning to stand on end. She took one step back, a sense of dread sinking in.

The pile of stuffies suddenly shifted, a toy with a rattle rolling down the pile and stopping at Cue’s feet. She stepped back, grabbing Rat and holding him close. Something was very, very wrong, and it wasn’t zombies or Cretins.

“Cue! Did you find anything?” Trigger shouted.

Cue froze and winced at the sound.

The pile in front of her shook again, rising like a wave.

“Cue!! There’s a heat signature! Cue, RUN!” Trigger screamed.

A low growl emanated from the pile, and a pair of golden eyes opened within it, reflecting the light from outside. Cue turned to run seconds before the beast leaped from the pile in her direction. She ran, not caring to look back and see what was chasing her. Only one thing matters: escaping.

Cue zig-zagging through the aisles, trying to lose the beast, but it jumped on top and began leaping after her. She saw a brief flash of stripped fur in her peripheral vision and ducked just in time for a mother fucking tiger to leap over her to the next aisle and crash into a wall of grooming tools.

“It’s a tiger!” she screamed in terror, scrambling back to her feet and running for her life. Debris flew all around her as the tiger busted through the aisles now, crazed with hunger and foaming at the mouth.