She’d been worrying about how to warn her family, though: She had to let them know there was something out there to be scared of. All the time she was letting Bear out and then feeding him and filling his water dish, Becky thought about what to say. Bear, anxious, padded around after her, his tail drooping. She wondered if he was being affected by her mood, or if he was scared of the zombie dog, too. When she sat down at the breakfast table, he collapsed at her feet, resting his head on top of her shoe, instead of begging for bacon as usual. “Uh …” She cleared her throat so that her mom and dad and Jake all looked up. “Last night, I saw something outside. There was this weird little dog, and it sort of tried to bite me. I think maybe it was sick.” Her parents reacted the way she’d hoped they would. Her mom promised to call animal control and scolded Becky for not telling her the night before. Her dad made Jake promise to stay inside after school and told everyone not to let Bear wander around loose.
