Storytime Preview: The Road Trip

Hey Kiddos and Little Buddies,

Quick Note: Since there was an unavoidable delay of both the story and comic this month due to medical and personal emergencies of BOTH my artist and writing partners, I am releasing this preview and art for every support level as a way of apologizing. The Little Buddy Tier will still get the exclusive full story later today as well as the art with dialogue and more illustrations from this story as they finish over the coming weeks. I’ve been in contact with Little Paws Leo about the comic and he’s still dealing with a serious stomach infection but he hopes to be fully recovered and back to work either later this week or early next week now that he’s been to the hospital. Once again thank you for your support and I hope you all enjoy this preview and are excited to read the full story.

The Road Trip: Preview

“Don’t mess with it!” Brian exclaimed, though Breaker paid him no mind.

“They did a decent paint job on it at least.” Jake took the trinket from Breaker and rolled it around in his fingers, paying extra close attention to the flickering screen. The static drawn onto the figurine...it almost looked like it was moving. “If you let your eyes unfocus it kinda looks real.”

“Lemme see.” Brad took a look, but his eyes had no time to unfocus and already the screen appeared to be crackling. “Woah...”

“C’mon, guys.” Brian sighed, climbing into the back of the car on the passenger-side, “I’m hungry.”

“Me too.” Aaron held out his hand expectantly, “Now, gimmie my thingie back and–”

“You seein’ that, Jake?” Brad watched the screen with wide eyes and a slack jaw. “Yeah...” Jake was equally as perplexed, “And...I hear it, too.”

 “Hear what?” Brad perked an ear, and the quiet hiss of old TV speakers filled his ears, followed by the subtle pop and crackle of static, like popcorn being cooked in an open kettle.

“Uhhh, guys?” Aaron said.

“What...the...hell?” Brad said slowly.

“I must be seeing things.” Jake said in disbelief.

The static grew deafening, and suddenly a flash of blinding white light tore

through Jake and Breaker’s vision. It was like tears in a film reel; great big faults growing larger and wider apart as chasms of nothingness filled the gaps.

“Uhhh, guys?” Aaron repeated, exactly as he had said it before. “What...the...hell?” Brad repeated as well, though not of his own volition.

“I must be seeing things.” Jake blinked. The crackle was growing louder, and the

static from the TV was encroaching outwards, pouring from the tchotchke like bubbling magma. The static dripped across the ground, devouring Jake’s arm up to the elbow and continuing forward, despite the canine’s best attempts at dropping it.

“Uhhh, guys?” Aaron repeated yet again.

“J-J-Jake...” Breaker fought to resist the urge to repeat himself, even as another film tear jolted the fabric of space and time.

“Uhhh, guys?” Aaron said.

“D-drop it, Jake.” Breaker mumbled.

“I’m...trying...” Jake grunted, static swallowing the ground beneath them, rising

up like the tide to envelop the cars and the cacti and the gift shop behind them, the world slowly and steadily consumed by the static. Eventually nothing was visible; nothing but the static. They were lost in it, trapped in a black-and-white world of absolute chaos.

But like an old VHS tape, the film reel could only hold out for so long. There was another snap, and this time reality seemed to go with it. And when Jake and Breaker both blinked in unison, their eyes opened to an empty parking lot. No static, no noise, just asphalt and cigarette butts.

 And a tall, vaguely familiar labrador standing before them, looking down at them with his arms crossed. “Give it back before you break it, lil bro.” He said, his voice almost like Aaron’s were it a few octaves lower.

“What the hell just happ–” Jake said. But...he didn’t sound like Jake. He almost did, were his voice a few octaves higher. The dog froze.