When he spotted someone peering into the bush, Freddy began to panic, before he recognized who it was that was looking at him.
“Michael!” Freddy exclaimed, as he dragged his husband into the bush with him.
“Ah!” Michael yelped, as he fell into the bush.
When Michael landed on the ground, he could see his naked husband; barren except for a dog collar and leash around his neck.
“We have to get you out of here” Michael said urgently, as hugged Freddy tightly.
“I know” Freddy replied, as he patted his husband on the back.
Freddy felt a tightness on his neck and started to choke. He let go of Michael, before he undid the collar and dropped it to the ground.
“What should we do with Buddy’s collar?” Freddy asked, as he tenderly rubbed his neck.
“Leave it” Michael replied, as he peered out of the bush. “It’ll help create the illusion of him being kidnapped.”
“They’re going to blame you for that, though. I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
“I don’t want to take it with us. Let’s just go.”
“What if I change back again? Then you could—“
“Let’s go!”
Michael looked around, as the crew went off in one direction with Tom, while the mayor and his advisors went off in another direction. When he thought they were all safely away and the coast was finally clear, Michael nudged Freddy to stand up.
“Come on” he said, as he looked both ways, before darting out of the bush.
Freddy followed Michael out, embarrassed to be naked in public yet again. He covered his genitals, as he dashed across the woods. Their plan was to go to a more remote exit of the park to make their escape. Before they left the area, however, the mayor heard a rustling behind him.
“What was that?” the mayor asked aloud, as he turned to look behind him.
Off in the distance, he saw Freddy’s naked body briefly pass him by.
“There he is!” the mayor exclaimed, as he smacked Marley on the back. “After him!”
The mayor ran in the other direction, with his three other advisors following closely behind him. Tom and the crew continued their own search, as the mayor and his advisors ran off to chase Freddy behind them. As Freddy and Michael continued to run, Michael pulled out his communication device and contacted Chris.
When Chris and Sofya were finished getting ready, they left the house and got into Freddy’s car. Chris pulled out of the driveway and drove off to the set. An awkward silence passed between them, before Sofya spoke up.
“I’m taking bets on when Michael is going to mention you fucking him this morning.”
“Enough” Chris replied with a sneer.
In that moment, Chris saw his communication device receive an incoming call.
“It’s Michael” he said, as he pushed the screen to answer it. “What’s up?”
“Chris!” Michael replied. “The mayor read the inscription on the ring, so Freddy has already changed back again!”
“Oh shit.”
“That’s not good” Sofya said. “Where are you guys now?”
“We’re running to a remote exit on the other side of the park” Michael replied through a series of pants.
“Where is it?” Chris asked.
“It’s in the middle of Flower street. Head past the park and turn left. We’ll meet you over there.”
“Gotcha. See you soon.”
Chris ended the call and changed the location on his GPS app. As Freddy and Michael continued to bolt towards the remote exit, the mayor and his advisors were gaining on them from behind.
“Get a picture of this!” the mayor ordered Marley.
“I’m trying, sir” he replied, as he fumbled with his communication device.
Michael briefly turned around and spotted the mayor and his advisors closely behind.
"Shit!" he exclaimed.
"What?!" Freddy asked, before he turned around and gasped.
"They spotted us!"
"I thought you said the coast was clear, Michael!"
"I thought it was, Freddy! I just didn't see them!"
"Well, let's just keep going and get them off our asses!"
They all ran for what seemed like ages, as they headed towards the remote exit of the park. Closer to the field, the crew began to run back towards the set. Tom followed behind them, angrily yelling in their direction.
“What are you doing?!” he scolded. “Where are you going?! Why are you running back to set?! My dog is still in there!!”
“We’re going to try to get a van and cut the dog off at the pass” Gary replied. “He’s too fast for us. We’re not going to be able to find him on foot.”
“Son of a—“
As the crew members returned to the field, they noticed a problem off in the distance by the trailers.
“Oh shit!” Gary said, as he and other crew members ran towards the scene of the problem.
Tom saw Josh running up to him, looking nervous as he did so.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked. “I had to talk to the producer for a while, so I’ve been away from the action.”
“Buddy ran off!!!!” Tom yelled, as he grabbed Josh’s hand and dragged him towards the trailers.
“Oh no. Uh, shouldn’t we go back that way?”
“Gary says he’s getting a van to track down Buddy, but we have to go back to the trailer first. There’s—“
Before Tom could finish his thought, he and Josh saw the disturbance taking place by the trailers. Lady, having been left alone in Buddy’s trailer, had used her paws to open the door. When she did so, the scent of her heat had wafted off into the air. It immediately caught the attention of other nearby dogs, some of who had been following her scent for hours. Now, inside the trailer, were a dozen dogs; fighting each other to get Lady’s affection.
“Get out of there!” Gary yelled, as he tried to pull a dog off of Lady.
The dog barked in his face and pushed him onto the floor.
“Gary!” Tom yelled, as he ran up to lift him up. “Bad dog! Bad dog! Get away from my dog Lady!”
Lady whimpered, as two dogs tried to sniff at her exposed vagina. Spotting her owner, she ran up to Tom and hid herself by him. When the dogs spotted Tom, they growled in his direction, stepping towards him in a menacing manner.
“Stay away!” Tom yelled.
A dog jumped onto Tom, before he smacked him on the nose. Whimpering, the dog hopped back down and laid on the floor below him. This caused the other dogs to behave themselves, in the presence of an alpha male like Tom.
“Sit! Stay! All of you lie down right now!”
The assembled dogs laid down on the floor, looking up at Tom, sad from being scolded.
“Tom!” Josh yelled, as he ran towards him. “Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine. Now let’s get Lady out of here and track down Buddy.”
“Agreed” Gary replied, as the three of them and Lady ran over to the production van parked nearby.
Towards the remote exit, Freddy and Michael noticed the mayor and his advisors getting closer to them.
“Oh shit!” Michael exclaimed.
“They are right on our tails!” Freddy exclaimed.
Before the mayor could get to them, Freddy had an idea. He moved Michael to the right and had them take a little detour. The mayor, confused by this, continued to pursue them on foot with his advisors. Soon enough, Freddy and Michael saw a fallen tree in the distance.
“Jump!” Freddy ordered.
Freddy and Michael jumped as high as they could, before they had a hard landing and then continued running off.
“Look out!” the mayor exclaimed, as he jumped over the fallen tree with Marley, while Adam and Dennis tripped and fell flat on their faces.
Marley looked behind to see them, but the mayor smacked his shoulder.
“Leave them, Marley! Let’s go!”
Marley briefly hesitated, before he continued running off. The mayor and Marley continued to chase Freddy and Michael, as Adam and Dennis moaned in the mud, writhing in pain. Turning back in the direction of the remote exit, Freddy and Michael quickly approached it.
“There it is!” Michael said, as they ran faster than they had before.
In no time at all, Freddy and Michael spotted Chris inside of Freddy’s car.
“Open up!” Freddy yelled, as they hurriedly approached the car.
“You got, it boss!” Chris replied, as he unlocked the back seat of the car.
Scrambling to get inside, Freddy opened the door and hopped in, before Michael quickly followed. Michael briefly looked out into the park, before slamming the car door behind him.
“Drive!” Michael ordered.
Chris shifted the car into gear and drove off as fast as he could. Before he could fully leave, the mayor and Marley left the park exit and spotted them driving off.
“They’re getting away!” the mayor yelled, as Marley took a picture of the back license plate.
The mayor caught his breath, as he looked at Marley.
“Did you get any photos?!”
“Just of the back license plate.”
“Argh!!!! You incompetent—“
“Sir, call the police and have them track down Freddy. We have a license plate number now, so we’ll just have all officers on patrol looking out for them."
“Stroke of genius, Marley! The day has not been ruined yet!”
The mayor pulled out his communication device and called up Commander Mann.
“Mr. Mayor” the commander said on the other end of the line.
“Freddy Benson is back!” the mayor exclaimed. “I need all of your men out on patrol chasing after him immediately!”
“Is he on foot?”
“No! He got away in a vehicle, driven by that bodyguard of his! Michael is in the car with him!”
“Do you happen to have a license plate number?”
“That I do! Marley, read me back the plate number!”
“CA226”
“CA226”
“610001”
“610001”
“Got it, Mr. Mayor” the commander replied. “I’ll send out a notice for all vehicles to be on the lookout for them immediately.”
“Perfect!”” the mayor replied, before he ended the call.
The next call the mayor made was to his driver.
“Come down to the park entrance at Flower street!”
“Yes boss” the driver replied.
“Marley” the mayor said with a smile after he ended the call. “You may have just salvaged what would otherwise be an epic fail of a day.”
Back on the set, the director angrily yelled at his crew.
“This day has turned into a disaster! Both dogs go missing! The trailers have been totally trashed! This kid can’t throw a frisbee to save his life! I’m never going to work in this god awful town ever again! Whose bone headed idea was it to film here, anyway?!”
“Josh Benson, boss” Monica replied.
“Ugh! I never want him to work on another one of my projects ever—“
“Sir” the camera man interrupted. “You should check out this footage we got. This might be some of the best stuff we’ve ever captured on film.”
The director calmed down, as he watched the footage on a digital monitor. It showed Buddy, who was actually Freddy, and Evan playing fetch, running around and having fun with each other.
“I think we got enough footage for the commercial” the camera man opined. “I think we can call it a wrap for the day.”
“What about the frisbee shot?” the director asked.
The camera man played the frisbee shot from three different angles, showing Buddy perfectly capturing the frisbee in his mouth, before landing on the ground.
“I think it’s good enough” the camera man said. “Let’s just wrap, so we can call it a day.”
“But where did that guy Tom go off to?” the director asked.
“A radio message said that Gary took Tom and that guy Josh with the other dog to go after Buddy” Monica replied.
“Can we still pay them if we’ve wrapped?”
“I don’t see why not” a crew member replied. “We have their info. We can just pay them digitally.”
“Fine. Wrap for the day and send them the immediate payment.”
“It’s a wrap!” a PA said to the rest of the crew.
The crew let out a round of applause, as they began to pack up and prepare to exit the park. Driving through town as quickly as he could was Chris, driving Freddy’s car. He had Sofya in the passenger seat and Freddy and Michael in the back seat. They sped through town, trying to avoid attention. Before they could go too far, however, a stationed police car spotted them speeding past it. Turning on its siren, the police car began a pursuit.
“Oh shit!” Michael said, as he turned to see the police car following them.
“Hurry!” Freddy exclaimed.
“Son of a bitch” Chris muttered, as he turned down a block and put the pedal to the medal. Just as they turned down the block, they spotted the production van driving in the opposite direction.
“That’s that guy Michael!” Tom yelled to the driver. “He stole my dog!”
“Nonsense” Josh replied, as he motioned the driver to ignore him. “He’s my brother in law. In spite of the times he’s put me down in the past, he’s not such a bad guy.”
“Go after them!”
“Why don’t we try going to the exit by Flower street? That’s kind of in the area where Buddy was heading.”
“Fine! Hurry!”
The production van turned to the left and headed to the Flower street entrance of the park. As they headed in that direction, they saw a police car speeding past them and heading down the block where they came from.
“I wonder where they are off to?” Gary asked curiously.
“Who knows” Tom replied dismissively. “And who cares? Let's just work on finding my dog.”
Chris continued to speed down the road, as now a second police car followed them.
“Shit!” Michael exclaimed. “They are increasing in number.”
“Let’s get out of the residential area” Sofya replied. “I have an idea.”
Back at the Flower street exit, the mayor waited patiently for his driver to arrive.
“Come on” he muttered angrily to himself. “Get here already.”
Before his driver arrived, the production van pulled up and parked in front of the mayor and Marley.
“Son of a bitch” the mayor muttered to himself, as Lady hoped out of the van, followed by Josh, Gary and Tom. “They aren’t here, you idiots!”
“Who is they?” Gary asked, as he walked past the mayor to go into the park.
“Freddy and Michael.”
“Who cares about them?” Tom replied scornfully. “I’m here to find my dog. Come on, Lady. Let’s try to track down Buddy.”
Lady had a feeling that Buddy wasn’t in the park anymore, but she quietly humored her master, as he led her in by her leash.
“You’re a nasty piece of shit” Josh said to the mayor, before he walked into the park with Tom, Gary and Lady.
The door to the production van closed automatically, before the driver drove back to set. A few seconds later, the mayor’s driver had arrived in his chauffeured vehicle.
“Finally!” the mayor exclaimed, as he got into the back of the car with Marley. “What took you so long?”
“The cops are blocking off traffic” the driver replied, as Marley closed the door. “They’re trying to cordon off your political rival.”
“Good” the mayor replied, as his driver drove him near where Freddy was being pursued by the police.
Chris continued to speed down the road, as he tried his best to keep ahead of the police cars behind him.
“There’s five of them now!” Michael exclaimed.
“And they are gaining speed on us fast!” Freddy exclaimed.
“Sofya?” Chris asked with a nervousness in his voice. “When are you going to use your magic? We could really use it right about now.”
“Not yet” Sofya replied anxiously. “In order to do this, we have to get them away from the neighbors. I don’t want to get anyone hurt who doesn’t need to be injured.”
“When did you develop a moral conscious?” Michael asked.
Sofya sneered back at him, before a police car tried to cut them off.
“Look out!” Freddy yelled.
In a split second move, Sofya used her magic to lift their car on top of the police car in front of them and then gently land them back on the road below.
“Holy shit!” Chris said, as he continued to speed off.
Behind them, the line of police cars crashed into the blockade, causing a five car pile up behind them.
“That was a close one” Freddy let out with a sigh.
“We’re not out of the woods yet” Sofya replied, as they saw another vehicle charging towards them.
Back in the park, Gary and Josh, along with Tom and his dog Lady, scoured the park, looking for any sign of Buddy’s whereabouts.
“Buddy!” Tom yelled. “Buddy, where did you go?!”
Not too far away, they could hear the sound of moaning.
“What was that?” Josh asked, as he ran towards the source of the noise.
When he arrived at the spot, he spotted Adam and Dennis, two of the mayor’s advisors, lying in the mud by a fallen tree.
“Are you two alright?”
Dennis spat into the mud, as Adam looked up at Josh.
“We need an ambulance” Adam replied. “Neither of us can move a muscle.”
“Let me call someone now.”
Josh began to reach emergency services, as Tom and Lady, along with Gary, approached them.
“Don’t help those assholes!” Tom yelled. “Those are the mayor’s fucking little goons!”
“EMT?” Josh asked on the call, ignoring Tom's yelling. “Yes, I’m by the Flower street exit of the dog park and these two men fell and hurt themselves. They work for the mayor’s office and they can't get up. Please bring an ambulance over right away. Thank you.”
Josh ended the call and looked at Tom sternly.
“They may be assholes” he said, before he looked down at Adam and Dennis moaning in pain in the mud “but I’m not going to be a bigger asshole here by leaving them out here all alone to die.”
“Well, I’m not staying here with you” Tom replied, as he tugged on Lady’s leash. “I’m going off to find my other dog now.”
“You should do that. I’ll stay and wait for the EMT to arrive. When they’re safely in the ambulance, I’ll meet up with you. I have your number, so we can rendezvous when I’m done.”
“Fine. Let’s go, Lady.”
Lady whined, as Tom led her further into the park.
“What should I do?” Gary asked Josh.
“Whatever you want” Josh replied. “I’m not your boss.”
“I’m going to back to set, if you don’t mind, then.”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
Gary ran back to the park exit to call for the production van to come pick him up. As Josh waited for an ambulance to arrive and Tom continued to search the park for Buddy, Freddy’s car had a near fatal collision.
“Shit!!!!!" Chris exclaimed, as he dramatically swerved out of the way and sped off in another direction.
“What the fuck was that?!?!” Michael asked.
Turning around, Michael noticed the car chasing after them.
“Shit!” he exclaimed. “It’s the mayor!”
Driving on their tail, the mayor and Marley sat in the back seat, with the driver following Freddy’s car closely from behind.
“Drive faster!” the mayor ordered his driver.
“Sir” the driver replied nervously. “I don’t want to die. I’m going as fast as it’s safe to go.”
Just as he spoke, two more police cars came up behind them.
“Perfect!” the mayor exclaimed. “Backup has arrived!”
The mayor’s car and the two police cars quickly approached Freddy’s car.
“Shit!” Freddy exclaimed.
“What are we going to do now?!” Michael asked.
“We’re done for!”
“Not so fast” Sofya replied calmly.
Back in the park, Tom allowed Lady to follow a scent on her nose. She knew that Buddy had already left the park, but wanted to show her owner that he had definitely disappeared. As they approached the area where the production originally filmed the frisbee scene, Tom scolded his dog Lady.
“Bad dog, Lady! We already looked over here!”
Lady ignored Tom’s scolding, as she tugged him in the direction of a bush. When they approached it, Tom noticed paw prints in the mud.
“Lady, you did it! You found Buddy!” Why didn’t we think to look here before?!”
Just as Tom was about to pet her for a job well done, he looked into the bush and saw that Buddy wasn’t in there.
“What?!?!?!”
Tom peered in and saw that the bush was empty.
“Son of a bitch!!!!!”
Lady nudged Tom with her head and motioned him to look at the footprints below them. A set of mutating dog prints went into the bush, with a set of sneaker prints, along with a human set of footprints, coming out.
“That’s odd.”
Tom peered further into the bush and found Buddy’s collar lying in the mud.
“Son of a bitch!” he exclaimed, as he picked up the collar. “Somebody stole Buddy again!!!! They must have already left the park!!!!”
Lady whined loudly, as Tom dragged her back to where Josh was waiting for the EMT to arrive.
“Come on, Lady! Let’s get out of here!”
After a long and dangerous pursuit, Freddy’s car sped out of the town limits. Immediately behind them was the mayor’s chauffeured vehicle and now six police cars in their entourage.
“How do they get the budget to have that many police cars?!?!?!” Sofya exclaimed.
“There’s always enough money for the police in this town!!!!” Freddy answered. “There’s just never enough money for anyone else!!!!!”
“No wonder you ran this campaign of yours!!!!! This is absolutely absurd!!!!”
“And part of why they are still chasing after us!!!!!” Michael exclaimed. “They don’t want this fucking gravy train to ever stop!!!!!!”
“Sofya!!!!” Chris exclaimed. “They are gaining on us fast!!!!! I can’t drive much faster this than safely!!!!!”
Chris made a sharp swerve, nearing hitting a fence in the process. The mayor’s driver sharply managed the turn, along with three other police cars. The other three crashed into each other and were fatally stopped in their tracks.
“That was a close one!!!!” Chris exclaimed.
“We’re out of the town limits now!!!!!” Michael exclaimed. “The time to do something is right now, Sofya!!!!!!”
“Fine” Sofya replied.
Closing her eyes, she felt a loose tree off in the distance. Using her considerable mental strength, she nudged the tree forward until it broke off and began to fall down onto the road. Noticing the tree falling in front of him, Chris yelled loudly.
“Oh my god!!!! We’re all going to die!!!!!”
Hitting the pedal as hard as he could, Chris managed to zoom under the tree a split second before it landed on the road behind them. When it landed with a loud thud, the mayor began to scream.
“Stop the car!!!!!”
The driver slammed the brakes suddenly, leading to a short and jerky stop. The mayor and Marley were flung to the seats in front of them, fortunate that they were not injured in the process. The driver’s airbag popped out of the steering wheel and safely braced him from a harsh impact. Before the other police cars could hit their vehicle, they swerved out of the way and fell into a ditch. Upon impact, all of the officers in their respective vehicles were flung out of their front windows. Each of them died immediately when they landed in the field.
The mayor began to hyperventilate, as he held onto Marley’s hand tightly.
“Holy fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. “Marley, we almost died just now!!!!!!!”
Marley began to breathe rapidly, as the driver fainted into his seat. Getting out of his car, the mayor began to survey the damage around him. In front of them was a fallen tree, blocking them from being able to go any further. He would drive the car himself, but he didn’t know the ways around these backwood roads. He’d need to call his other driver for help getting back to town. All he could now was return to his office to regroup with his other advisors.
“They’ve gotten away for now” the mayor thought to himself, as he dialed up his other driver. “But I will have my revenge yet. Just you wait and see.”
Off in the distance….