Changing Channels Work In Progress

Beep. Beep.

That was the sound she woke up to.

Where was it coming from? She tried to ignore it at first but every time she was just starting to doze off it would shake her from her slumber until finally, she’d had enough. She sat up and opened her eyes, snorting angrily and twitching her ears as she looked around to try and find the source of the noise.

Beep. Beep.

She was in a dark room that smelled of blood and urine. The walls were a sad beige-gray combination; little pieces of paint were beginning to peel off and fall to the ground. The only furniture of any kind that she could see was a single table much taller than her with various objects she couldn’t recognize on them. A man dressed in brown and gray was on the other side of the room, looking at a thin slab of wood that held a single piece of paper on it.

A friend! She thought excitedly, her tail wagging as all memory of the noise disappeared. Excited, she started running towards him, but only managed to take a few steps before she was stopped.

She kept trying to run, but she..wasn’t? She didn’t understand. She was moving, why wasn’t she going anywhere?

Beep. Beep.

She started whining loudly, her eyes filling with tears as she tried to comprehend why she couldn’t reach the man. The man in question heard her call of distress and turned. The two made eye contact, and she smiled.

Yes!!! she thought. I’m right here!! Let me come to you!!!

The man pulled out a box made of hard metal and pushed a button on it, and her body exploded with pain.

It felt like lightning coursing through her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t even attempt to cry out for help, couldn’t do anything except let it torture her.

She stared at the man the entire time, wondering when he would come to help her, but he had gone back to staring at the piece of paper and didn’t seem to notice the agony his new friend was going through. Finally, after what seemed like forever, it was over. She fell to the floor, defeated. Her eyes filled with tears and she let them all come out, her simple mind unable to comprehend what had happened or why it had hurt so much.

Beep. Beep.

The sound was back. She stopped crying for a moment and angled her ears again. It seemed to be coming from her? Was she beeping?

Beep. Beep.

She looked around, trying again to find the source, but instead she found a line of metal circles behind her. One end was attached to the sad wall, the other to her. She felt her neck, trying to find what it was connected to. It was funny, she thought, how the top of her neck felt so cold and smooth compared to the rest of her. She turned her gaze down and spotted another circle of metal, this one wrapped around her neck. Bright red and green lights were embedded into it, and they flashed every so often; making a soft beeping noise every time they did. Her frustration forgotten, she sat down and began to watch them, letting out a hushed “ooo!!” noise every time they lit up.

She sat there watching the lights for who knows how long. The flashing never seemed to get old to her, and they changed so often! Sometimes just the green light flashed, sometimes just the red light, and sometimes both at the same time! Her tail wagged excitedly, thumping against the floor as she tried to guess which light would flash next. She wasn’t very good at this new game she’d invented, but every time she did guess right her tail wagged faster and a swell of pride filled her chest.

After a while of this, her new friend left the sad gray room, turning off the lights behind him. The second she was left alone in the darkness, the game was forgotten. She started shaking.

“Hello?” she whispered her first word out into the silent, ominous void, and no one answered.

She started shaking harder. The dark was scary. She didn’t like the dark. She wanted her friend to come back and stay with her. Surely if someone else was here with her, the monsters wouldn’t get her, right?

Maybe they’d get him instead, her brain retorted.

She held the thought in her mind for a long moment. I guess that’s true, she thought back to herself. I wouldn’t want him to get eaten because of me.

Still, it was horrifying being alone in the room. She was whining now, huddled as closely to the wall as she could manage. Was it just her imagination, or were those footsteps she was hearing coming towards her? She could swear they were getting closer.

“S-stay away!” she managed to squeak out. The monster would be right in front of her by now, she just knew it.

Beep. Beep.

Her collar flashed, casting a soft light in front of her and showing her she was the only one in the room. Her muscles relaxed just a bit. Cautiously, she stepped away from the wall. She waited for the collar to flash again, then when it did she turned her head around the room, using every moment of the brief flash she could to confirm that she was alone.

She laughed nervously and let herself relax all the way. There was clearly no danger here. She looked down at her collar again, smiling now.

“Thank you,” she said.

Beep. Beep. The collar flashed back.

She giggled. “You’ll protect me from the monsters, right?”
A delay. Her ears drooped.
Beep. Beep. The collar suddenly flashed.

Her ears perked up again and she sighed, relieved. She lay down, resting her head on her front paws, and let the soft beeps of her new best friend sing her to sleep as she breathed in the relaxing scents of blood and urine.

Chapter 2:

Her first emotion as she blinked her eyes open was terror. It was still dark. That meant monsters were still about, and any one of them might snatch her up in an instant. She started shaking again and was about to back up against the wall when her collar flashed.

She sighed, relieved. That was right, the collar had protected her during the night! She smiled down at it, her affection for it growing by the second.

“Thank you for not letting me get gobbled up,” she told it. “You’re a real great monster-keeper-away.”
Beep. Beep.

“You know what you deserve?” she asked.

Silence.

“A name!!” she announced, throwing both her front paws up in celebration.

Beep. Beep.

“How do you feel about Monsty? Or Keepy? Or Away-y?”

More silence.

“Flashy? Beepy?”
Beep. Beep.
“Beepy it is!!” she giggled. The darkness all around her had been forgotten and all her fear had been replaced with excitement. All that mattered right now was that she had made the best friend she could ever ask for.

The lights turned on suddenly, and she turned her head around in shock. A woman had opened the door and was standing with one foot in the room, looking completely and utterly terrified. She seemed frozen, stuck in place staring at the creature all the way inside.

She tilted her head, confused for a moment before she realized what was going on.

The monsters must have almost gotten her last night. She didn’t have a Beepy to protect her like I do.

She tried to smile, to let the woman know the night was over and everything was alright, but that seemed to just make the woman’s fear worse. She shakily put a bowl down on the floor, then got out a long stick and began to push it to her.

She watched the bowl every step of the journey. Something inside it smelled good, and she wagged her tail faster the closer it got. Finally it was in front of her, and the woman dropped the stick and ran.

Guess she didn’t want any, she shrugged. It was a shame, really. She’d have loved to share the meat in the bowl with the woman. But hey, more for her, right?

She breathed in the sweet scent of the scorched chicken inside the bowl. She didn’t hesitate another moment. She grabbed a piece of it with her bare paws and shoved it in her mouth, grinding it up with her teeth in a rather primitive manner.

Wait! She realized after a few seconds Ugh, I’m not being nice at all, am I?

She grabbed another piece of the chicken and shoved it into Beepy. But something was wrong, it didn’t seem to be eating it. She raised an eyebrow, confused, and tried to shove it in, but still it wouldn’t take it. The chicken slowly fell off, and she stared at it, then back at Beepy. She grabbed it as sneakily as she could before shoving it into her own mouth.

“Sorry,” she tried to apologize with her mouth full.

Beep. Beep. Beepy said. She took this to mean it forgave her.

She stuffed her face until the bowl was empty, licked it clean, then sighed, satisfied. The chicken had been good, and she was full now. She glanced down at Beepy and began to close her eyes. Sure, she hadn’t woken up that long ago, but she was already ready to sleep again. She had just snuggled up for a nap when the door burst open. Two people, the man from yesterday and a woman she didn’t recognize walked in, arguing.

“I’m telling you, she doesn’t look right! I really don’t think this is going to work!” the man yelled. In his left hand he carried a large box made of plastic and metal, in his right a muzzle.

“Look, Benny, I’m the one who had to catch the damn thing! And let me tell you, it was no walk in the park. She’s going to work! End of story!”
“You know, sometimes you can be a real-”
“I SAID END OF STORY!! NOW COME HELP ME, YOU’RE WASTING TIME”

The woman took a step closer firmly, shooting Benny a look as she did. Benny narrowed his eyes at her, then finally sighed and angrily set the box down, beginning his trip across the room and mumbling something under his breath as he walked. She tilted her head to the side in confusion, not quite sure what had just occurred in front of her. She was happy to have a new friend to play with, sure, but neither old nor new friend seemed very glad to see her, in fact all she could sense from them was anger. She opened her mouth to ask them what was wrong but was cut off instinctively as she met Benny’s eyes. They were cold and troubled, and she shrank down beneath them, shutting her mouth immediately.
Benny bent down and glared right at her, yet it seemed he wasn’t really looking at her, as if he saw nothing and no one where she sat. “I know we failed. She knows we failed. You couldn’t kill a Kinian if you tried.” He whispered angrily.
That left nothing but more questions. What was a Kinian? What did they fail at?
“What-“she began, but before she could finish, Benny snapped the muzzle around her snout forcefully. A wave of shock ran through her as the cold metal brushed her fur and with horror she realized she couldn’t open her mouth at all with it on.

Help me, Beepy! She tried to communicate telepathically. Beepy simply flashed again, not really helping to get the muzzle off at all.

“You got the remote?” the man asked. The woman nodded and held out a metal box. Different from the one the man had had the day before, but still very similar.

Remote? She thought. What does that mean?

The man dug around in his pocket until he found a small, oddly shaped piece of metal. “Alright, here goes nothing,” he whispered.

He inserted the piece of metal into a hole in Beepy and her friend broke in half and fell to the floor, lifeless. She widened her eyes, beginning to panic. Who’s gonna keep the monsters away now??

“Alright, she’s all ready,” said the man. The woman got out the metal box again and began to fiddle with the little levers. All of a sudden, she tensed, then began to move. She looked down at her legs in horror. Up, down, up, down…she was trying to stand still, so why wasn’t it happening? She tried to yell out, but the muzzle clasped down hard on her. Tears began to spring out of her static-filled eyes, droplets dripping down her head and beginning to make her face feel wet. 
“Stop moving! Stop moving!” she desperately tried to command her legs, but the screams never left her mouth. She turned her head to try and look back at her friends, hoping her expression alone would give them some sort of alarm signal, but the moment her head swiveled even the tiniest bit, she found herself forcing it back into place against her will.
More and more tears buzzed out of her eyes as her robotic walk carried her on and on, towards the cage. She hadn’t realized how big the room was until now. Paws came up, just to come down, just to repeat the cycle all over again. She looked back at Beepy, lying lifeless on the floor, never to protect her again. She wanted to wail out, to mourn her lost friend, to let out a cry for help, to say anything, but every time she tried to make even a single noise, the muzzle clamped round her snout made sure nobody would ever hear anything she tried to say ever again.
The invisible force pushed her forward, all the way across the room and into the cage before she finally felt her muscles begin to relax again. She tried to pant, but once again, found the muzzle in her way. Her eyes welled up once more and she began to bawl her feelings out, closing her eyes to try and make everything else go away.
 Everything is fine, she told herself. everything is fine and that will never happen ever again, and I’m sure my friends will take this thing off my snout soon!!
She repeated this to herself over and over again, trying to make the tears cease. As she tried to focus on calming down, she heard a smug voice in the background.
“Told ya it would work.”

Chapter 3:

The cage bounced up, then down, making her tears scatter all over the sides of it. Her friends had put the cage into a big metal box open to the sky. It was connected to a closed space that looked much more comfortable than the one she was currently in. Benny and the woman had opened doors set into the comfier space, then crawled in, leaving her to the big box. Trickles of tears still streamed down her face, the sad aftermath of the loud crying she had let out when her body had turned against her.
It was a very small cage she was trapped in. There wasn’t enough room for her to move at all, as if this cage had been made for someone a lot smaller than she was. She tried to flick her tail and winced in pain, causing a few more tears to spring up in her eyes.
I would much rather be in my room, she thought, looking through the bars of the trap she had led herself into to stare in awe at the metal walls she had been denied. They were so short! Her walls wove all the way around her body.
She shifted her head awkwardly around in her cage, trying to avoid pain but receiving it instantly.

Beepy would have protected me from this, she thought, frustrated.

But the pain of moving in the tiny cage was worth it. As she looked up, she saw a beautiful day shining through the bars in her cage. The sky shone a brilliant blue above her, puffy white clouds dancing through the endless, invisible hills the sky provided. She smiled; all her worries forgotten at the sight of the clouds above her. She wanted nothing more in that moment than to be on one of those clouds.

I wonder what they’d feel like, she thought. I bet they’d be softer than this cage, that’s for sure!

The cold, hard metal cage was unwelcoming beneath her furry paws. She tried to glance down at it with her static-filled eyes, head not moving to prevent more pain flooding through her, but it was too much. The horrific, tiny room she’d walked into was just too small. She couldn’t see a thing. She wanted to be free so badly, to run round the metal box her trap was trapped in at the very least, but she couldn’t.

More tears began to well up in her eyes before streaming down. She gripped her paws into fists, not caring when the pain came to ward her movement off. Out! she thought angrily. I want OUT!

Her desperateness to be as far from her cage as possible rose deeply and mixed with the anger and pain inside her and she began again.
Let me out! Please! I just want… more tears streamed down her face. I just want out.

She looked up to the clouds again, imagining herself lying on the softest cloud in the world, able to run anywhere she wanted, able to sprint off away from the box that held her cage. My friends will be fine, she told herself angrily. I don’t need to free them. They let themselves in, they can let themselves out.
But what if their legs are attacking them the way yours did? Her brain countered immediately, making her anger begin to subside. You’d have to save them if they were trapped.

The clouds were beginning to go by faster and faster. She imagined herself ripping the doors off the space the woman and Benny were trapped in heroically as they immediately crawled out and thanked her in joyous voices and offered to do anything she wanted. “I don’t need a reward, I’m just happy you’re safe” she would say, and then she’d pick them up and soar up to the sky so they could all sleep on soft, fluffy clouds and-

BUMP!

The cage jumped up again, this time more violently. The sharp pain dragged her back to reality with a sharp whimper. Suddenly, she heard a loud slam come from behind her. Beepy wasn’t here anymore, he couldn’t protect her from the unknown creature who had made the noise.
Maybe they’re friendly! She tried to comfort herself.

“Well, we’re here! You ready to be proven wrong yet again?” that was the woman’s voice. She walked in front of her, eyes shining with pride and mouth twisted into a smug grin.
A noise of pure annoyance came from the other side and another, quieter, but still scary slam sounded from behind her. “Why do they keep pairing me with you, Emma? Is it because they know I hate you?”

Emma’s expression somehow managed to grow more smug. “Stop being such a sore loser, Benny. It doesn’t suit you.”
“My name is Benjamin,” Benny said, sounding angrier than she could ever remember anyone sounding before.

Emma giggled, then turned toward her cage. She saw Emma’s arm reaching towards her and smiled. This was it! She was finally going to be free! And then, for just a moment, she was flying. She didn’t understand how, but Emma had grabbed the top of her cage and now the whole thing was above the ground. She looked up at Emma, a thousand different ways of thanking her swirling around in her mind.

Emma and Benny began to walk away from the metal box, away from the comfy space, away from the whole moving contraption that had brought them here. She, still stuck in a cage, hovered next to them.
Bet they wish they were me right now, she thought smugly. She closed her eyes and let herself soak in the magic of flight.

When she opened them, there were no clouds shining to brighten her cage. Instead, she found herself in a dark space, deep in the forest. Nothing but trees on all sides. She began to feel frightened again. Why take a trip out here?

“You still got the remote?” That was Benny. Emma answered quickly, pulling out the metal box she had seen at home. “Yup.”

Wait a second…

She began to think hard. The last time they’d mentioned this “remote” they’d been talking about her as well…it was obvious that the remote could only be one thing…her name!

Oh, how could I be so stupid as to forget my own name? Remote wanted to giggle, but the muzzle stopped her. It was a good thing she had such good friends to remind her when she forgot.

Benny stepped closer to Remote, looking down on her in a way that made her feel small inside. She backed away a little, whimpering without realizing. Benny groaned, taking his hand up to face her. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding…” He mumbled, just loud enough for Remote to hear. He grabbed the muzzle that had recently called her face home and ripped it off. His eyes looked like the gateway to a place Remote did not want to visit even for one second.

Is something wrong with him? Remote’s ears pricked up. Maybe he was sad, or felt trapped, like she had on the drive to the terrifying woods around them. But why would he feel trapped? Remote thought for a long moment. Was where he had been riding in not as comfortable as Remote had thought?

Surely it couldn’t be any worse than what I had to sit through, she thought before catching herself. She felt horrible now. She didn’t know what her friend had just sat through! Maybe it was worse than my situation, and that’s why they couldn’t get me out til now. Her warped view of the world reasoned. She looked at Benny again, with fresh eyes. That would explain the angry aura he was giving off, the voice that sounded furious no matter what he was saying.

Remote walked up to Benny carefully, a bit of fear still stuck in her head. She looked up at him, the static in her eyes not changing a bit of her reassuring expression. He looked down on her, his gaze angry and tired.

“I’m sorry, Benny.” Remote said. She started to rub her head against him, nuzzling her navy fur on the flesh of his leg.

“My name is Benjamin.” He said in a voice cold as stone. His head went up, then turned to glare at Emma. “Now will you admit we failed?!” He threw his hands up in the air. “WHO EVEN CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA?? IT’S SO DUMB, UGGHHH!” Benny’s hands threw themselves back towards Remote, making her ears instantly go down. Her body began to shake slightly as her brain tried to understand even one word of Benny’s response. “LOOK AT HER!! SHE’S CLEARLY A FAILURE!! AND WHAT KINIAN WON’T NOTICE THE STATIC IN HER EYES! AND CRAWLING ON FOUR LEGS…WHAT ANCIENT ONE DOES THAT?!”

“Oh, I see!” Emma’s voice was even worse than Benny’s. It sent shivers down Remote’s spine. “So you’re volunteering to go to the higher-ups and tell them their plan is terrible and will never work, huh? You wanna go and tell them all how dumb the plan they gave us is!? YOU WANNA GIVE THEM THAT SAME LIL YELLIN’ AT YOU JUST GAVE TO ME?!” Her eyes were filled with nothing but hatred as she shouted that last sentence.

Remote shrank back, terrified of the display in front of her. She had thought Benny and Emma were her friends, but by the way they were acting…no, it couldn’t be…but there was no other answer! She narrowed her eyes. They’re monsters in disguise!

Her whole body began to shake harder. Remote was more terrified than she could ever remember being before. What do I do!? She thought, her chest heaving with terror. Shapeshifting monsters, she should have known!

“Now look what you’ve done!” Emma said, poison still in her throat. She started to reach an arm towards Remote, eyes still on Benny.

Emma’s hand moved quickly, and right in the moment when she was about to touch Remote, she uncoiled her claws and struck. She struck out of fear, clawing Emma right on the arm.

Emma recoiled instinctively and the two stared at each other for a long moment. She looked down at the scratch Remote had left her as a red liquid began to ooze out of it. Emma laughed, triggering an odd beating sound in Remote’s ears she did not like one bit.

“How bout that, Benny? Is she a failure now, huh?” the monster’s voice was smug. “Ya just gotta put a lil fright into em, then they’re useful.”
Emma turned to Remote again. “BOO!” she yelled. Remote’s whole body went out of control. She jumped, tears began to well up in her eyes, and she hissed. She tried to swipe at the monster again, but Emma dodged the blow unnaturally quickly.

Emma turned back to Benny. “There. I fixed your ‘failure’. Happy?”

Chapter 4:

Remote was emotionally exhausted. She was terrified of the giant monsters, screaming at each other in front of her. She had never realized how tall they were until now! Beepy’s not here anymore, it’s all up to me. The monsters would attack her at any second, oh, she just knew it! The beating in her ears grew louder and her head began to sink down. They were screaming about a “CEO” now, and whatever that was, Remote did not want to wait to find out. Maybe it was a different breed of monster they would summon to come and attack her. She let out a loud whimper that went completely unnoticed by the beasts in front of her.

I have to escape! She thought determinedly. They thought they could fool me, but I’m too smart! Once they summon the CEO, they’re going to eat me! Her eyes went from Benny to Emma, right back to Benny. Why else would they bring me to such a dark place? So that they can tear right into me and eat me alive, and nobody will ever find my body and I’ll be dead forever and they can slink away into the shadows and-
Her body started shaking harder and harder. It’s fine, it’s gonna be fine, Remote, you’ve just gotta escape! If they can’t catch you, they can’t eat you, right? Remote looked up at the sky as she tried to pull herself together, feeling very uncertain.

She sighed. She’d thought these people were her friends. They’d sure acted like they were her friends! But it had all been a lie.

 Feeling a lot more confident, she looked up into Benny’s green eyes. “I’M GOING HOME TO FIND MY BEST FRIEND, BEEPY AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME!” she screamed as loud as she could.

Benny and Emma immediately stopped and turned to face Remote. They both looked a lot more confused than scared, but Remote hardly noticed. “That’s right! I’m going home to find Beepy and he keeps monsters like you away so you’ll never get to me in a thousand years!”

Remote set off at a running pace, didn’t know where she was going, besides home. She truly believed in her heart that if she ran for long enough Beepy would magically appear, and then she would be safe. She could hear the nasty monsters chasing after her. She uncoiled her claws again, sinking them into the dirt to run faster. The nasty monsters yelled nasty things at her, but her visions of Beepy scaring them away all drowned them out.

Remote skidded to a halt all of a sudden. Huh? I didn’t tell you to stop, she thought, looking down at her legs. She tried to lift one and tears jumped into her eyes. Oh no…not now! Please, I have to find Beepy!

Her legs didn’t care. Like a robot, she turned around and sat down. Remote saw the shapeshifters coming towards her and began to panic again. Emma was holding a small box in her hands. She and Benny were walking to her. Remote kept trying and trying to move, but all she received back each time was pain. She was not moving at all, and they now…now they were here. Emma was in front of her, Benny was behind, and Remotewas terrified.

“I’M NOT GONNA LET YOU GET TO ME!!!” Remote shouted, trying to mask her fear. “EVEN IF MY LEGS AREN’T LISTENING TO ME I’LL FIGHT THEM AND I’LL RUN AND RUN AND-“

Emma sighed. Benny groaned. “NOW do you see? We’re gonna need another surgery on this one. It’s useless like this.” He turned to look at Emma, who, with a violent look, nodded before turning her head away.
“Alright.” She growled. “Guess it’s back to the cage.”

The cage! Remote instantly felt panicked. “NO!” she shouted. Remote backed away, right before realizing…
My legs!! They’re mine again!!
YES!! she ran in a blind determination to be as far away from that horrible cage as possible.
It all happened in a flash. Emma grabbed her by the torso, Remote tried to claw the beast’s face in a pure moment of desperation, and Emma grabbed Remote’s head to use as a shield.

Before it was too late, Remote had three deep scratches running through one of her eyes. Emma dropped her and she hit the ground.

“Why did you drop her? Now she’s just gonna get up and run again!”“Honestly Benny, just look at her. Does she look like she’s gonna run away from anything?”

Remote was fading fast. She tried to reach out a paw to continue running but all she could see in her right eye now was the red, dripping down over her eye, down into her snout, staining her fur. It smells so familiar, almost like-

All Remote could see was black.