The cold sweet dew of the night fills the chilly air. The tall muscular human-tiger, Tigeron, just left Toy Town after he found out that the two Earthlings left to find the old man. Tigeron is trying to find the location of the Scorpiono Tunnels, so he can find the old man from the real world and find the two Earthlings. He assumes that the Earth boy was ever dropping on Tigeron, Queen Kong, and King Kong when they were chatting in Queen Kong’s hut. Tigeron enters a deep vast wide forest.

“I am at least ten miles away from the Scorpiono Tunnels,” says Tigeron.

The green willow trees of the woods flutter in the creepy cold wind. The willow trees stretch on for miles and miles.

Tigeron carries a brown satchel. Inside it are six matches for a fire to scare away any Scorpionos, a knife for protection, a map to the Scorpiono Tunnels drawn by King Kong, a ten-foot-long blanket for making a tent, and three loaves of bread that Queen Kong baked for him.

Tigeron has been walking for a few hours.

He sets up his tent by a huge willow tree in the middle of the woods. Tigeron lies down on his on the blanket on his back and tries to rest for the night, but he does not feel tired. He is worried about the two Earthlings all alone in this world. Tigeron roughly sighs and closes his eyes to try and sleep. His breathing is gentle and calm. His chest heaves as he breathes through his nose. The only sound he hears is the chilly wind around his tent. Suddenly, he hears a twig snap. Tigeron sits up and shakes his head to wake himself. He looks outside the tent but sees nothing. He lies down and tries to go to sleep again. He drifts into slumber, purring and snoring quietly.

Four Screaming Meanies with rusty armor are flying in the night sky looking for Humanimals to bring to Horror. They fly in the clouds to make sure they won’t be spotted by anyone. They hope no Dragons are near.

“Do you see anything?” asks a Screaming Meanie.

“Nah, just more trees and the ground,” answers another Screaming Meanie.

The third one spots a triangle-tan tent in the woods.

He points at it. “There! I see a tent!” he shouts.

The others can see the tent. The fourth Screaming Meanie quietly flies down. The others follow him. Three of them land on the ground but the fourth one crashes and shatters his bones.

Tigeron hears the crashing of a Screaming Meanie. He opens his eyes, lifts his head, looks outside the tent, and sees the four Screaming Meanies in the distance. Tigeron gasps rolls over on his belly and start to crawl out of his tent. The three Screaming Meanies roll their eyes and sigh.

“Numb skull!” shouts one of the three.

The head of the shattered Screaming Meanie sighs. “Hey it’s not my fault that I can’t make a good landing!” it shouts.

The third Screaming Meanie folds his arms. “Maybe Horror can teach you how to land quietly. Otherwise, he won’t let you be in our army! You know Horror doesn’t like weaklings!” he shouts.

“Hey!” shouts the shattered Screaming Meanie. “I can land blindfolded!” he finishes.

The third Screaming Meanie raises his right hand and makes it into a mouth. He starts to mock the shattered Screaming Meanie.

“Na! Na! Na! Na! Na! Na! I can land blindfold! Yah right! Na! Na! Na! Na! Na! Na!” shouts the mocking Screaming Meanie.

While the four Screaming Meanies are busy arguing, Tigeron crawls out of his tent and hides behind a large willow tree. Tigeron pants in fear as he lays his back behind the wide willow tree. He places his hand on his heart and can feel it pounding very fast.

“Screaming Meanies, they sacrifice Humanimals for their leader, Lord Horror,” he whispers.

Tigeron sighs as he peeks over his shoulder to see if the four Screaming Meanies are still there. He sees only three of them. One is putting the shattered Screaming Meanies pieces back together. The second Screaming Meanie is looking for the pieces on the ground.

The shattered Screaming Meanie seems annoyed. “No, no, no, no, no! This is where my left arm goes!” he shouts.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

No sign of the fourth Screaming Meanie. Tigeron gasps and looks away.

He sees the fourth on Screaming Meanie staring at him, face to face. Tigeron gasps and scoots closer to the tree. The Screaming Meanie walks towards Tigeron. The Screaming Meanie is holding a little black needle in his right hand.

The Screaming Meanie grins at Tigeron. “You know what this is?” asks the Screaming Meanie.

Tigeron does not answer. He is too busy panting with his chest heaving very heavily.

The Screaming Meanie moves the black needle closer. “This is a sleeping dart. One poke of this on you and it can make you fall asleep for many hours,” he says.

Tigeron gulps and continues panting. The Screaming Meanie stares at his sleeping dart. Tigeron stares at it too.

“You will not capture me!” shouts Tigeron.

The Screaming Meanie shakes his head. “Doubt that!” he shouts.

The Screaming Meanie stares at Tigeron and chuckles.

“Now, this will only hurt a bit,” says the Screaming Meanie.

The Screaming Meanie slowly moves the black dart toward Tigeron’s abs. Tigeron roars with rage at the Screaming Meanie. Tigeron quickly turns around and dives into his tent. He grabs his satchel and rolls out of the tent. He quickly stands and runs with haste.

The third Screaming Meanie has all of his parts back together.

“Ah, that’s better,” says the third Screaming Meanie.

Tigeron rams through the third Screaming Meanie and it shatters into pieces, again.

“Oh come on!” shouts the shattered Screaming Meanie.

Tigeron runs faster and pants roughly to avoid the Screaming Meanies. The other three Screaming Meanies are flying and gaining on him. Tigeron leaps high. He can leap farther than the flying Screaming Meanies. The three Screaming Meanies stop flying because they realize that they won’t be able to catch Tigeron. He disappears in the distance.

“Oh drat! Horror is not going to like this,” says the first Screaming Meanie

The fourth Screaming Meanie flies over the other three and chuckles. The other three do not know why he’s chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” asks the second Screaming Meanie.

“Just keep on flying. We’ll find him eventually,” answers the fourth Screaming Meanie.

Tigeron stops leaping and starts panting for breath. He feels a little sting in his right hip. He turns his head to see what is there. He gasps and sees something black. It is the sleeping dart. The Screaming Meanie must have shot him while his back was turned. Tigeron’s head feels woozy. His eyes start to see many blurry shapes, his legs start to feel weak, and he drops to his knees. He collapses on his back and slowly shuts his eyes.

Tigeron slowly opens his eyes and blinks a couple of times. At first, his eyesight is blurry, then after a few seconds, it becomes clear. He shakes his head and yawns loudly like a Tiger. He opens his eyes wide with shock. He looks around him and sees shackles on his wrists and ankles. The shackles have chains on them that are connected to a wall. He looks around and finds himself in the tall sacrifice tower, the same place where the Human Wolverine was killed.

Humanimal bones cover the ground under his feet. Tigeron starts to struggle so he can break the shackles that bind him but they are stronger than him. Tigeron roars. Horror hovers to the sacrifice tower. He stops at the door and opens it. It makes a creaking noise. Tigeron hears the noise from the door. Horror walks in and closes the door behind him.

Horror looks up at Tigeron. “Ah, there you are,” chuckles Horror.

Tigeron looks down and sees Horror chuckling at him. Tigeron growls at Horror.

Tigeron’s teeth gnash together. “What’s so funny?” he growls.

Horror lifts his shoulders like he doesn’t know the answer.

“I don’t know. I just laugh so I can be enlightened,” answers Horror.

Tigeron looks at the bones on the ground. “I noticed this is a place for sacrifices,” he growls.

Horror nods. Tigeron looks back at Horror and roars at him. Horror does not move.

“What are you waiting for?” Tigeron asks Horror.

Horror sighs. “Nothing. I just like to admire you’re bold muscular form. It’s perfect for my plan. You will be in plan B if plan A fails. You should be honored,” he answers.

Tigeron growls as his teeth gnash together in anger. He curls his fingers into mighty fists.

“Kill me!” shouts Tigeron.

Horror shakes his head and hovers over to Tigeron. He stares at his face and Tigeron stares back.

“Kill me now! I will not be a painful sacrifice!” shouts Tigeron.

Horror moves his right hand onto Tigeron’s chest to feel his heart. Tigeron looks down at his chest and quickly looks back up at Horror. Horror closes his eyes.

“I can feel you’re heart and it is beating fast in anger. Not in fear like I hoped. I’m disappointed,” complains Horror.

Tigeron chomps in front of Horror. “What did you expect? I’m angry! Angry for all of the Humanimals that you’ve killed!” Tigeron shouts at Horror.

Horror moves his hand off Tigeron’s chest and hovers back to the ground.

“The first plan was to sacrifice a Humanimal to bring my army back to life. I’ve already done that. Now, I’m waiting for the second plan,” says Horror.

Tigeron is figuring out why Horror captured him.

“You need my life in case your army fails!” shouts Tigeron.

Tigeron continues to roar and growl. Horror opens the door and turns to Tigeron.

“Now you listen to me! Listen!” shouts Horror.

Tigeron stops roaring and growling.

Horror points at himself. “We are all pictures. If the picture fades away, then we all fade away. Life is like a picture. You need color, details, and a story behind it. Like I said before if the picture fades then our lives fade,” says Horror.

“What is that supposed to mean?” asks Tigeron.

Horror does not say a word. He waves at Tigeron and walks out of the door. Tigeron feels hopeless. He will have to wait for someone to rescue him. All he can think about are the two Earthlings and he hopes that they are safe from harm. But with the army that Horror has released there may not be any safe place in this world.