Chapter 15: Clawed

Night had fallen over Tootville and the magnificent moon was beginning to rise, casting silver half-shadows and gracing the normally drab streets of the town with an otherworldly beauty. Tommy walked through the foyer of the Dinkle home toward the front door. He had changed his clothes and found another pair of shoes to wear. It was time to go hunting. As he stopped to cinch up the gun belt with the blaster and to put on his grav belt and daisy, he heard heated voices coming from the kitchen.
“Well, you sent her to me,” Mr. Dinkle said angrily to his wife, standing with his hands on his hips at one end of the table.
“I did not,” replied Mrs. Dinkle equally as angry, from the other end of the table. “I wouldn’t send that tart to a dog fight even if she had a chance to win. I sent Amanda Horsehide.”
“Then how did she know about the job?” Mr. Dinkle responded accusingly. “You sent who?” Mr. Dinkle was now greatly enraged.
“How should I know how she knew about the job? And when are you going to fire her?”
“I told you anybody but her and you ignored me!” Mr. Dinkle shouted. “You never listen to a word I say. And why should I fire her? I’d just have to replace her with Tommy!”
“When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that Tommy is going to college?” Mrs. Dinkle screamed.”
“He’s taking over the car lot!”
Tommy, having finished arming himself, opened the front door quietly and slipped outside into the anonymity of the night.
Watson and Tommy walked slowly along a pathway in the Tootville Park. The full moon now bathed the trees and shrubbery in an eerie, shimmering light. Both the boy and his dog moved slowly, carefully scanning for anything unusual. As Tommy and Watson passed a gazebo, an owl hooted nearby. Watson growled lowly at something in the bushes. Tommy pulled his blaster and he and Watson moved carefully closer. A cat, yowling, sprang out past Tommy’s face and streaked down the pathway. Watson, barking frantically, raced after it. “Watson!” Tommy yelled.
Tommy stood watching his dog disappear from view. Without warning, an alien hand heavily clamped down from behind on Tommy’s right shoulder. Huge claws dug into his flesh as Tommy heard the hoarse, rasping breathing of the alien creature. Quickly, Tommy reached down and with his left hand spun the dial on his grav belt. He floated upward into the air but the alien did not let go of Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy hung upside down above the monster. The alien laughed and began to pull Tommy down toward its sharp fangs. Tommy, in desperation, squeezed the trigger of his blaster but his aim was wild and he struck the gazebo, which exploded into flames. The recoil from the shot, however, was sufficient to free the youth and he spun head-over-heels upward about thirty feet into the air where he hung, semi-conscious and scarcely aware of the sound of approaching sirens. Squad cars arrived, followed by the Tootville volunteer firefighters, who worked to extinguish the blaze. Captain McBust pulled up in his car, exited and made his way over to the fire chief.
“Who called it in?’ he asked.
“Some motorist,” replied the fire chief. “Said he had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting a cocker spaniel and damaging his new Volkswagen Beetle. Then he noticed the fire.”
Two feet away from the captain, blooded dripped unnoticed from above and formed a small pool on the ground.