The Beacon Scouts Try Not To Get Mauled

         It was a pleasant fall day. Not a rare event for most of the United States, but for the town of Rhodes it was an unusual occurrence. On this nice Saturday afternoon Addie and Coby were hanging out together in a small and, surprisingly, deserted park. Since they were near Addie's house this meant Felix, being her little brother, was hanging out with them too.
         
         Felix was wearing his favorite (and loudest) outfit: A white shirt covered in multicolored polka dots and bright red skinny jeans. Coby's clothes were much more subdued, just a normal long sleeve shirt and jeans. Addie's clothes were relatively normal, a plain denim skirt and plain white t-shirt, but her tights were not. They were white with flowers in many different colors all over them. The two siblings made the trio stand out.
         
         Addie and Coby were tossing a Frisbee back and forth, with Addie having far more luck catching it. Felix lay idly in the grass, staring up into the sky.
         
         "Have I told you the joke about the cat and the dog on a fence yet?" he asked.
         
         Addie deftly caught the Frisbee out of the air. "Yeah, like a million times already." She readied her throw. "Go long for this one Coby!"
         
         Coby obediently began to run in the opposite direction as Addie put all her power behind the throw and launched the frisbee through the air. Coby leaped up towards the frisbee, her hands outstretched...and completely missed it as it whizzed by. She landed on the ground with a loud thud.
         
         "Aw man..." she said as she stood up and dusted herself off.
         
         "Hahaha, wipe out!" cried Felix from his spot on the grass.
         
         "I'm not on a surfboard, you butt!" retorted Coby as she picked up the frisbee.
         
         "Still counts though," called Addie from over by a tall oak tree. She was looking it up and down. "Hang on..." She began to climb up until she reached a very strong low hanging branch. She then hung upside down by her legs. "Alright Coby, throw it to me!"
         
         "Gah! You're crazy!" shouted Coby. "You'll fall!"
         
         "I'll be fine," said Addie. "Now hurry, I'm starting to get a little dizzy."
         
         Coby glanced over at Felix who just shrugged. She began to run forward, closing the distance to make up for her weak throwing arm. When she judged she was finally in range she said a little prayer in her head and let loose. The frisbee flew to Addie as she readied herself. She deftly caught it and managed to pull herself up into a sitting position on the branch.
         
         "Told you I could do it," said Addie, beaming with pride. She dropped the frisbee and climbed down the tree.
         
         "That was awesome!" exclaimed Coby as she ran over.
         
         "Eh, it was kinda cool I guess," said Felix. He stood up and stretched in an over-dramatic manner.
         
         "How are you always so brave?" asked Coby.
         
         "I don't know," replied Addie she picked up the frisbee. "I just kinda am."
         
         As the girls were talking Felix decided to wander over to the edge of the park that had a bunch of flowers growing in it. While Felix would never admit to anyone, he actually found flowers to be nice to look at. Not pretty though. As far as he was concerned pretty was for girls.
         
         He was enjoying the flowers when he heard a low growl. He hoped it was his stomach and slowly looked up to see where the growl had come from. He was met with sight of a large black dog. It was impossible to tell what breed the dog was. It was like someone had taken every breed of large dog from Rottweiler to poodle and shoved all together to make a freak of nature. There was no collar around the dog's neck. The dog lowered his head and growled at Felix again.
         
         "Nice dog," he whispered as he very slowly and carefully backed away. "Nice..."
         
Addie glanced over and noticed Felix was acting strange. "What is it Fel-" She stopped short as she saw the big and angry dog. Her breath caught in her chest and time seemed to slow down. Coby glanced over at Addie and noticed she was suddenly a lot paler.
         
         As Felix began to back away faster and faster the dog slowly advanced towards the kids. It had a crazed look in its eye. It was certainly a beast of Rhodes; it was angry, aggressive, and looked evil.
         
         "Addie, what should we do?" whispered Coby. Addie stood silently staring at the dog, her eyes wide with fear.
         
         Suddenly the dog barked and lunged forward.
         
         "Run!" cried Felix as he took off as fast as he could.
         
         Addie wanted to move, but she felt like her feet were rooted the ground. She stood silently staring at the dog.
         
         "Addie, come on!" yelled Coby, as she pulled on Addie's arm. Felix was already moving past them, putting his running skills to use. The sudden pull and Coby's yelling finally got Addie to move as she began to run as fast as she could.
         
         "Hurry, get back to our house!" commanded Addie as her voice finally returned. She focused all her efforts on running. Adrenaline pumped through her as she scrambled away from the dog. She barely noticed as overtook both Coby and Felix. The dog was right on their heels and she wasn't about to be caught by it.
         
                   The chase could have easily been set to the Benny Hills theme. The three scouts lead the dog around a large maple tree three times before running of in another direction. They ran into a fence and hopped over it. The dog simply went around. They ran screaming past a man watering his garden. The man looked up at the sight and muttered, "Huh." He then went back to watering.
         
         Finally, Addie made it to the front door of the house and threw it open. Both of her parents and her grandfather were out, but luckily it appeared they had forgotten to lock the door. She turned around to see where the other two scouts were. She saw the Coby had overtaken Felix because of her longer legs. Both were ahead of the dog.
         
                   "Come on!" called Addie from the doorway.
         
                   Coby made it to the doorway, but Felix wasn't so lucky. As he was bound up the steps of the house the dog caught up.
         
                   The dog bit down on Felix's pants. All three kids screamed. Fortune was on Felix's side however. He was so thin that even skinny jeans were a little loose on him. The dog's mouth was full of only his pants, not any of his flesh.
         
                   This didn't mean Felix got away scot-free though. The dog yanked on the pants, pulling Felix backwards. The dog also managed to pull the pants down, revealing Felix's brightly colored superhero themed briefs.
         
                   "Help me!" cried a very afraid and embarrassed Felix.
         
                   "Try to get out of your pants," suggested Coby, "Or maybe...uh..."
         
                   While Coby stood in the door debating what to do Addie suddenly ran past screaming. It was a mix between a war cry and the scream of someone who was absolutely terrified. She charged at the dog and delivered a hard kick to the face. The dog fell back with a growl rather than a yelp. Addie put her arms under her brother's elbows and dragged him inside. Once in, Coby slammed the door shut and locked it for good measure.
         
         "T-thanks Addie," said Felix, panting. Addie gave a weak nod.
         
                   Since they were no longer in danger Coby could find some humor in the situation. She looked over at Felix and giggled. "Nice underpants by the way."
         
                   Felix blushed as red as the waistband of his underwear to the very tips of his ears and yelped. He quickly pulled his pants back into their proper place as the girls laughed. "I wish it was you instead of me..." he muttered. He took his shoes off and said to the girls, "Hey, shoes off, remember?"
         
                   "Well at least the dog is gone," said Coby as she took off her shoes. Suddenly the three scouts heard a loud noise from the back of the house. They ran towards it and found the dog was ramming into the sliding glass doors in the back.
         
                   "You just had to say that..." commented Felix.
         
                   "What do we do?!" asked Coby.
         
         "Um...uh..." said Addie try to clear her head of the fear that gripped her. Then an idea came to her. "We call the marshal's department!" She whipped out a basic flip phone from her skirt pocket and quickly found the number in her contacts. She was never more thankful her parents had made her put the number in there.
         
                   She waited for the office to pick up as the dog barked and slammed into the glass again. "Hello, Rhodes police. How may I help you?" Addie quickly explained the situation as Coby and Felix huddled together and watched the dog continue its rampage.
         
                   "They said they have someone nearby," reported Addie, "so they'll be here soon."
         
                   The dog had given up trying to get in and now was pacing back and forth on the back porch. Addie was shaking but managed to stare into the dog's eyes. It met her stare with a steely gaze.
         
Shortly a marshal's car pulled up. Out of the car stepped an older and slightly overweight man who was very nonchalant about getting out and surveying the situation. Out of the other side of the car stepped the marshal himself.
         
                   The marshal had an unmistakable large hat, aviator sunglasses, and neatly trimmed mustache.
         
         "Scout Leader Steward is the marshal?!" asked Felix in disbelief.
         
                   "Duh, what do you think he did?" replied Coby.
         
         Marshall Steward assessed the situation and sighed. "This does not look good, Jim."
         
         "Nope..." replied the old timer who was with him. Jim stuck his thumbs into his belt. "That dog is possessed, no question. Probably rabies. Can't wait for animal control on this one." He suddenly dropped his relaxed attitude and continued, "You'll have to take the shot marshal."
         
Steward nodded and ran over to the back of the trunk. He opened it up and pulled out a rifle. Jim went over to the radio in the car and called up the office. "Jenny, tell them kids to stand away from any windows."
         
         The dog had come down off the porch and was slowly approaching the marshal.
         
         Inside, Addie received the message through the phone. "She's telling me to stay away from the windows. Come on." She led the other two into the kitchen.
         
         Meanwhile Jim had taken cover behind the car. Steward gave him a look and Jim said, "Just in case you miss. I don't plan on gittin' bit today."
         
         Steward then went about his grim business. He readied the rifle and took aim at the dog. He fiddled with his sunglasses and then dropped them to the hard cement of the road below. The dog finally took notice of the marshal and his deputy. The dog growled and readied itself. It seemed to know what was about to happen.
         
                   The slight breeze that had been going stopped. Overhead the clouds seemed to freeze. There was absolute silence. Then the dog barked and charged forward. Steward took one final breath and then pulled the trigger.
         
                   Inside the house the three scouts heard a loud bang. For a moment, none of them moved, but then Addie crept up to the window. She peeked out to see the dog lying in the back yard, blood slowly pouring out of its head. She opened the window and called out, "Hey Scout Leader Steward, did you kill it?"
         
         "Obviously," Steward called back. "And it's Marshall Steward when I'm on duty!"
         
         "Okay Marshall Steward, thanks for saving us."
         
         "No problem."
         
         Addie closed the window and let a long relieved sigh.
         
         "I don't know why you're so afraid of dogs," said Felix. "Most aren't like that."
         
         "I'm not scared of all dogs," replied Addie, "just ones like that one." She sighed again and then said, "So, want to play some video games?" The other two nodded and muttered in agreement.
         
         The three of them headed into the living room. The girls plopped down on the couch while Felix quickly inserted a CD into the game console. "If you aren't afraid of all dogs why did you run away from that corgi that one time?"
         
         Addie blushed a little and said, "Oh shut up. Like you're cool."
         
         "I'm super cool!" replied Felix, striking what he thought was a cool pose. Really it just made him look like a dork. Coby noticed he was standing on a blanket and quickly yanked it out from under him. Felix yelped and fell onto his back, with his legs up in the air.
         
         "Oh yeah, you're super cool," deadpanned Addie.
         
         "Just hand me the controller," demanded Felix.
         
         Addie handed it to him as Coby turned on the TV. Felix remained on his back with his feet resting on the couch. It wouldn't be the first time he had played upside down.
         
         Just as they were about to get started they heard a car pull into the driveway. A few moments later Addie and Felix's mother entered.
         
         "Do you care to tell me why there's a dead dog and the marshal in our backyard?" she asked.
         
"Well," said Addie, "it's a bit of a story..."