Zombie-Animals

Lisa slams the bedroom door and throws her weight against the wood. Her chest heaves, pulling in the stale air of a room that hasn't changed since she was ten. Out in the living room, her parents are still on the floor. She sees them, and a dog standing over them, red all over Then, a sound right on the other side of the bedroom door. A low, wet scratching. The rhythm is wrong for a human hand-it's too low to the ground. It's her dog. And it's whining and gurgling aggressively. [[Press Lisa's ear to the door to listen->Listen]] [[Check Lisa's phone for answers->Phone]] [[Look around the bedroom for a weapon->Search]] [[Open the door->Door Breaks]]

She presses her cheek against the painted wood. The whining stops. For a second, it's dead silent. Then, a heavy, violent thud hits the bottom panel as the dog throws its entire weight at the door. It's not trying to get in to hide. It's trying to get to *Lisa*. [[Check Lisa's phone for answers->Phone]] [[Look around the bedroom for a weapon->Search]]

Her screen is cracked from the sprint down the hallway, but the emergency broadcast is still pinned to the top of the lock screen. |alert>[CDC ALERT: LYSSA-V9 DETECTED IN DOMESTIC PETS. EXTREME AGGRESSION PROBABLE. DO NOT APPROACH.] Yesterday, that read like a news story about some other city. Today, the scratching at the base of her door gets louder, more frantic. The dog knows she's in here. [[Call out the dog's name->Name]] [[Look around the bedroom for a weapon->Search]]

She looks around her room. The pink walls and overall girly exterior seemingly hurt her eyes from the brightness. But all she can find when she looks in one of the lower drawers next to her bed is a small, plastic baseball bat featuring a cute princess and a brand name she can partially make out. [[Read the brand name->Brand]] [[Take the bat->Equip Bat]] [[Leave it and look under the bed instead->Under Bed]]

"Peanut?" Lisa yells it out cautiously. She's hoping she's wrong about what she believes, just praying for a normal whine in response. Instead, all she hears is a muffled gurgling. Then come the big thumps at the bottom of the door, accompanied by a few broken, wet woofs that almost sound like what her dog used to be. [[Check Lisa's phone for answers->Phone]] [[Look around the bedroom for a weapon->Search]]

She squints at the faded lettering stamped into the cheap pink plastic. It reads: *Pinkot Girls*. The bat weighs practically nothing in her hand. It's hollow. [[Take the bat anyway->Equip Bat]] [[Leave it and look under the bed instead->Under Bed]]

(set: $has_bat to true) Lisa takes the bat. It feels like the cheapest thing in her room, and that's saying something. She swings it a bit just to get a good feel for the hollow weight, before looking back at the door behind her. [[Walk toward the door->Approach Door]] [[Wait to see if the door holds->Wait]]

(set: $has_decoy to true) Under the bed is black as night. Lisa always shoved random toys down here as a kid so she wouldn't have to clean her room, so now it's just a graveyard of plastic and a dead childhood. The only pro about them is that they're covered in her dog's scent. That smell might make Peanut hesitate or lose focus or even not see the toy as a threat. The most promising "weapon" is a red and blue toy robot pink is drawn in some pen all over the toy something younger Lisa did to make it pink, It's not sturdy at all-in fact, it's already broken apart in places, mostly because it was Peanut's favorite chew toy. [[Grab the robot and wait far from the door->Wait]] [[Walk toward the door with the toy->Approach Door]]

The slamming has only gotten louder while she searched. The door is already starting to bow inward-bending in a way that wood should *not* bend at all. As Lisa creeps closer, the wet snarls grow more frantic. It's almost like the animal can smell her taking every single step. She takes one more breath, until- [[The door gives way->Door Breaks]]

Lisa plants her feet firmly into the pink carpet, gripping her weapon so tightly her knuckles turn white. She refuses to step any closer. Then, the scratching stops. The heavy thuds cease. For one agonizing second, the house is completely, suffocatingly silent. A desperate, foolish part of her thinks maybe Peanut gave up. Maybe it wandered away, Maybe saw a human in the window and- Then, the silence shatters. [[The door explodes inward->Door Breaks]]

The wood finally splinters. The bottom panel of the door caves inward, and Peanut forces her way through the jagged gap. Her fur is matted, her eyes are clouded over, a rotting smell is emitting from her, her mouth is covered in Lisa's parents' blood, and she doesn't hesitate for a single second. She lunges. (if: $has_bat is true)[ Lisa grips the plastic bat with both hands and swings as hard as she can. It connects, but the cheap toy instantly shatters into pink plastic shards. It doesn't even slow the dog down. ] (else-if: $has_decoy is true)[ Lisa throws the scent-covered robot across the room. Peanut's head snaps toward it, her old instincts taking over for a split second. But the virus is stronger than the memory. She ignores the toy and lunges for Lisa instead. ] (else:)[ Lisa throws her empty hands up to push the dog back, but she has absolutely nothing to defend herself with. The weight of the animal knocks the wind out of her. ] Peanut pins her to the pink carpet. The last thing Lisa hears is that familiar, wet growl as her own dog rips her clothes, cotton and polyester ripping like a wrapped turkey to get to the juice under the wraps. (text-colour:#fa5252)[**THE END**] [[Try Agian?->Start]]