By Adam Lendzinski
Ryder and the PAW patrol were playing in the lookout when a large truck drove into town. Mayor Goodway was expecting them nervously. A boy who couldn’t be older than Ryder stepped out of the driver's seat and a dog jumped out of the passenger side.
The boy raised his goggles and revealed his penetrating blue eyes before addressing the mayor: “Ms. Goodway, this town is now under my authority. My troops will erect their tent in the field but we will need a guide to the area." He looked behind him as if he was making sure there was not anything behind him, “Do you have anyone in mind yet?”
“R-ryder, he and the PAW Patrol live in the lookout.” She pointed to the tower standing over the bay. “He can help you.”
“Thank you, ma’am. This will all be under control soon,” He signaled to the men in the truck by patting the side of the back. Six adults and four dogs jumped out and began to unload stuff from the truck. The boy helped them while his pup scanned the area with a special visor.
The truck was finished being unloaded, and the boy got in and called his pup, “Yo Hunter, let’s go!”
“Alright, Cap.” Hunter jumped into the cab and they drove off towards the Lookout.
Ryder spotted the truck driving up and called the PAW Patrol to the base. As the duo pulled up, Ryder walked over. The Captain jumped out and greeted him. “I’m Captain Adam ‘Alpha’ Parker, United States Special Unit PAW. I received a recommendation from Ms. Goodway that I may hire a guide to the area here. I assume your team may be of service?”
“Who are you again?” Chase asked, concerned for the safety of his leader,
Hunter exited the cab. “Alright, we are here for a mission. We need one and only one person of pup that knows the land to be our guide. Any volunteers?”
“You should talk to Everest, she’s our nearby wilderness enthusiast.”
“We need someone else.”
“Why not--”
“That's on a need-to-know basis. Unless you guide us, you don’t need to know.”
Adam stepped in. “I can’t let you know what’s going on. However, there is something I can do.” He walked back to the truck and pulled a piece of paper from the glove box, handing it and a pen to Ryder. “By signing this paper, you agree to keep all disclosed information confidential and safe. You also agree to be on-call by the US military if needed.”
“Uh, why?”
“Do you want to be in the know or not?”
Ryder signed and handed the paper back to Adam. “Everest found something in the mountains. Something frozen in ice. Something terrible. It escaped and infected her with a genetic mutation that made her into a version of itself. We are hunting both of them to try and turn them back. The monsters are extremely dangerous, so we brought the proper equipment, but we need someone to show us around the terrain.” He put the paper in the truck and grabbed out another piece of paper, this one was a blueprint.
“You want to capture an ancient monster that can turn dogs into monsters?” Ryder asked. “That sounds like a bad plan.”
“We aren’t capturing the monsters. I have orders to terminate Specimen-X and any dogs it infects. Unless the science folks over at HQ can find a cure in the data they’re digging through, curing the infected is impossible. Shoot-on-sight is the current policy.”
Adam saluted the patrol and finished with, “Welcome to the force,” before jumping in the truck and driving off.
Ryder was inside the lookout and was tinkering with the devices in the top when he got a call from Adam, “Hey Adam, what's up?”
“X. It’s ID as heading towards the ski lodge with two betas in tow. Get over here and bring the PAWs.”
“On it.” In less than five minutes, the Pups were all driving to the ski lodge where three massive, white, fur-covered monsters were tearing the lodge apart. Soldiers were running to and from cover trying to distract the monsters, but they didn’t seem interested in the men or bothered by the bullets. Ryder spotted Adam behind his truck, readying an anti-material sniper rifle.
He saw them pull up and began to command everyone, “PAW patrol, we’ve confirmed six unarmed civilians in the lodge. Go around back and get them out. Beta squad, ready the big guns. Charlie and Delta, make some cover for the PAW patrol.”
Skye panicked for a minute, “What about Everest?!”
“I’m sorry, Skye.” He shook his head as a chunk of a wooden wall flew over the truck and crashed into Rocky’s recycling truck, “She’s gone.” He swung around the truck and aimed the rifle at the head of one of the beasts, two more laser lights appeared, one on each of the other monsters.
“Fire!” BANG!
The monsters stopped for a moment, then two fell over, reverting back to dogs, while the third toppled into the lodge a moment later. Skye ran over to the rubble as Adam dropped the Sniper and drew an assault rifle. He immediately swung around and barked an order: “Ryder, you are under arrest by order of the United Stated Biohazard Division Special Unit PAW. Pups stand down. That is an order.”
“What are you talking about?” Chase asked as his leader was put in and shoved into an armored truck, “What are you doing?!”
“I’m sorry, pups. I didn’t know about Ryder until this morning, when I found this in the snow,” Adam said, holding up Everest’s old pup tag, a teal tag with a silver evergreen tree in the middle. “Ryder did this.”
He connected the tag to a computer and showed the pups the last video taken. The video’s audio was muffled by the blizzard, but everyone could clearly see Ryder extracting a liquid from an animal in ice and surprise injecting Everest with the green liquid. She then began to bubble and grow until her pup tag fell off, giving the camera one last glimpse of Ryder and with a devilish smile and a remote control.
Adam Lendzinski is in the 10th grade. He has been writing since he was seven years old and has dozens of works in progress. He feels as though everyone deserves to feel represented and powerful in their own way.