Chapter 1: Chapter 1

On the Halloween night of 2022, Sebastien and William were sitting on William’s porch, watching the trick-or-treaters' early trick-or-treating. “We should get ready soon. It's already 6:30,” Sebastien offered, holding his glass of hot cocoa up to his mouth. “We usually get going when the street lights turn on,” William said. “Sigh. Want to go inside?” “Play some Minecraft?” Sebastien asked. “Sure,” William answered, then took a quick sip of his cocoa. The kids turned around and opened the door. “BARK!!!” a dog barked, the kids turned around. It scared them, and the trick-or-treaters. Their neighbor, Mrs. Carla, screamed, running out into the street to chase the dog. The dog had very short hair and was brown with large floppy ears, obviously a brown vizsla dog. It had fairly skinny limbs and had a short and thin waggy tail. All of the sudden, a piece of string cheese fell out of a running trick-or-treater’s bag. The dog stopped, sniffed the cheese, then gobbled it up. “No, Jerry, drop that!” Mrs. Carla yelled, running down the street. The dog turned around, then started acting as if he was irritated, howling and whining, and putting his paws on his head. “Oh, Jerry,” she said, stopping near the dog. He got up, howled one more time, and right there beside him, formed another dog. The second dog then started howling, and then snapped out of it. Mrs. Carla, William, and Sebastien’s eyes were bewildered. “What's happening?” Jerry’s clone barked, then they bolted away. “Oh no, not again!” Mrs. Carla yelled, calling to a teen. “Can you help me catch those dogs?” she yelled, pointing at the running hounds. The teen shrugged and ran off. “We’ll help!” Sebastien and William yelled, running down the porch. “Oh, thank goodness!” Mrs. Carla said. The pre-teen duo and Mrs. Carla chased after the dogs. Every time they lost sight of them and when they were brought back into view, their numbers had multiplied! When one of the dogs rammed into a kid, they were shocked to see that the trick-or-treater had turned into a dog in a comically large pumpkin costume! “It's a dog invasion!” Sebastien yelled, putting his hands on his head. “Don't be silly, Sebastien,” William quipped, coming around the corner. “Look!” Sebastian said. William turned and saw a kid pet a dog, and then that kid got turned into a dog, which then started multiplying. “That may have been a bit rash,” William said, looking disturbed. “You don't say.” “Where's Mrs. Carla???” William yelled over the barking and howling. All of a sudden, the dogs piled up and created a huge mass, slithering around the street. “No time to wait!” Sebastien yelled. He grabbed William's hand and they rushed inside then locked the door. As they peered through the window, the dogs started to pile up and mass multiply, creating a wave, then a flood, of DOGS. The wave spread out and went over a few houses. “Well I guess we won't be trick-or-treating tonight,” Sebastien retorted. “Brace yourself!” William yelled, pointing at the wave of dogs. Sebastien and William ran deeper into the house and covered their heads. But nothing happened. After a moment, Sebastien opened his eyes, confused. “William? I think we're safe,” he said, getting up and looking around. William’s eyes popped open, then looked around. “Are we dead?” he asked. “No! I didn't feel anything…” William got up and grabbed the cup of water and sloshed it around. “Nothing has fallen over… maybe it didn't hit?” he guessed. “Let's go check,” Sebastien said. The kids walked over to the window, and opened the curtains. GASP! Both of them gasped. They both thought it was a mirage, but after a few seconds of rubbing their eyes and staring at it with disbelief, they realized what they were seeing was real. and around their house, was some sort of invisible barrier keeping out the dogs… which were piling up around the barrier dome.