Spawn of the Slithis

- Come on. - You can't catch this.

You can't catch it.

Told you, you can't catch this one.

Don't throw it hard!

Here, come here quick!

Geez, I've never seen anything like it.

It looks kind of Patches and Dakota, don't it?

I wonder if Mr. Payne knows.

Gary, where you goin'?

Come on chicken they won't hurt you.

They're dead.

Hey, Gary, wait up.

Hey, Jeff.

There's an article in the Outlook here that says

they found two dogs near the Sherman Canal in Venice

that had been mutilated.

Police think it's some kind of ritualistic thing,

like those cattle they found in Colorado last year.

That sounds gruesome.

They've got some very strange people

walking around those canals.

- No, it's like that German Shepard

that I saw last week on the marina jetty,

when I was taking pictures of the outrigger races.

- Wayne, you said you found a dead dog

not a mutilated carcass.

That's what was so odd.

The thing looked like it had been butchered.

It didn't look like an animal sacrifice at all.

- Whatever that's supposed to look like.

Wayne, come on or I'm gonna be late for work.

- It was more like the flesh on Dakota had been

sucked right off the bones clean, you know?

- Will you hurry up or we're both gonna be late, come on.

It wasn't a thing of beauty,

but I honestly couldn't imagine

anything human doing what I saw.

It was more like a piranha attack.

- Wayne, do you realize that you've got a exam

in your first period class today?

Now what's gonna happen when you show up 10 minutes late?

- Well, I'll scratch the first three questions,

and maybe one of the kids will pass the test.

Sometimes I wonder about our communication.

I'm talking enigma and you're talking exam.

No, I'm not.

I'm just talking about getting to work on time, okay.

Jack, wake up.

Jack, I now you're awake.

Now go see what that noise was.

Helen, I know what it was.

It was that damn dog of yours.

Go be sure.

I'm sure.

Maybe he's sick or hurt.

With this crazy business going on around here,

who can tell.

Oh, Helen.

It's 3:00 a.m.

If the dog is sick, he can only get better or worse,

and right now either one is fine with me.

Christ, all right!

But if that damn dog has broken through the screen again,

that's it he's out!

It's the pound!

Jack, I don't know why you

have to put on all your clothes.

You're only going to the living room.

Wear that nice robe I bought you.

- For 42 years I have gotten out of bed

and put on my clothes.

I detest bath robes.

Why you bought it is still a mystery to me.

Now, unless you want to go check on the dog, shut up!

All right.

Regal?

Damn.

Damn mutt that's it!

Jack, what is it?

Is Regal alright?

No, of course, he's all right.

In and out like a tornado.

You're gonna have a mess to clean up in the morning.

Jack!

Jack!

- You know I couldn't believe that six period class.

I mean, I've gotta be wasting their time

because they're certainly wasting mine.

There's a 12th grade group of kids

that are supposedly headed for college,

and some of them can't even formulate a sentence.

- Well, they've been passed up through the prerequisites,

or they wouldn't be there, right?

I know.

The system forces the instructors

to keep 'em moving, prepared or not,

which is just another reason why I'm getting

more turned off to teaching every day.

You're getting turned off,

and then you're leaving the teaching to incompetents

like your esteemed colleague, Mr. Blakely.

No, the good teaches are bailing out,

and then the Blakleys are just destroying young minds.

- This good teacher is about to blow some young minds

like when I fail half the kids in the Lighthouse staff.

It's the worst high school newspaper in the state.

Ah.

- Marti Mason hit me with her favorite simile again today,

like a melted Popsicle in the sun.

She found it somewhere, and I swear she manages to lose it

at least once in every issue.

Mr. Connors!

- Speaking of you know who. - Why me?

Mr. Connors, listen to this.

- Now last night the Venice Beach.

- It's about that article you read us

in Outlook the other day.

- In their small canal side home.

Police police and spokesman Commander Phillip Reed

released word today that an investigation

is currently underway to find the individuals responsible

for the mutilation murders of long time residents

Jack and Helen Dunn.

While this is the first such attack on the human populous,

the police reported that last week a similar mutilation

incident occurred involving several animals.

- See Mr. Connors, that's what you read us.

- Okay, Marti, I'll read the rest in tomorrow's paper.

- Okay, Mr. Connors, I just thought

it was kind of funny, you know.

Thank you, Marti.

- Does she always listen to the news station?

- Oh, constantly, especially in class,

she's a teenage news junky.

You know, I think I'll see if the Dunn's address

is listed in the phone book.

It might be, long time resident and all.

Why do you want the address?

I'm not sure. (sighing)

After finding that dog on the jetty, then those animals,

now this, it's kind of interesting.

I think it's morbid.

Wayne, there's a lot of degenerate people

living around those canals.

Why don't you just stay out of it?

- Jeff, I'm just gonna take a look around that's all,

and call it the old journalist curiosity.

- Wayne, you are not a journalist.

You're a high school journalism teacher.

- After that class today, I'm not so sure.

Look it's not going to involve me

if I just drive by the Dunn's place.

I mean, just drive by!

Hello, anybody home?

Hello?

Okay, wiseguy, spread 'em.

Who are you and what are you doing here?

Spread 'em!

Jesus, you scared me.

My name is Wayne Connors.

I'm a journalism teacher at the high school.

I got identification.

Okay, show it to me.

Slowly.

Okay.

Here's my school ID,

my LAPD press card, my driver's license.

My new address is right there on the back.

I got a gas credit card. - You know, Mr. Connors.

These cards don't give you the right

to break into a private residence.

No, of the course not.

I just knocked on the door, and it swung open.