The Chronicles of the Prairie Dog Nation: Chronicle III: The Battle of Piggly Wiggly

By T. A. Ridge

Late at night, as five prairie dogs are leaving a concert in Amarillo, TX, they are ambushed by their longtime enemy, Doug Howard, who is the president of the Greater Amarillo Hunters Club. To make matters worse, a blizzard arrives many hours earlier than forecasted. The heavy snow is falling fast, the wind is now howling, and the temperature is dropping rapidly. As they run into a giant shopping center to get away from Doug, who is still chasing them, they decide to seek refuge in a grocery store called Piggly Wiggly – which is just about to close. Before Doug goes into the store, the P-Dogs find a hiding place. But when they find out that Doug has emailed hundreds of other hunters to join him in the store to track them down, they realize that they will now have to stay in the store and battle the hunters to secure their survival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emphaloz House Publishing
• Release date: Jan 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201300692

Book preview

Trouble at the Concert

Five P-Dogs departed the PDN in a taxi –– Vicente, Bung, Savant, Porker and Sydney.  All were traveling about forty miles south to go to Amarillo.  Their venue was a reunion Lynyrd Skynyrd concert being held at the Amarillo Convention Center which lay on the northern outskirts of Amarillo, Tx.

When they arrived at the concert entrance, they saw that the parking lot was already full.  It was only twenty-five minutes until the band was to open.  Halfway down the aisle to their front row seats, two men stopped in front of them.  The P-Dogs stopped in their tracks.  The two bearded men were in their forties, and wore boots, jeans, and thick plaid shirts.  As one of the men pointed down to the P-Dogs, he said with an angry sneer, What the hell are y’all doin’ here?

Vicente stepped forward and with squinted eyes he replied, We don’t want any trouble.  We’re just here to see the concert, and then right after it, we’ll leave.

I think y’all need to leave now!

The other man interjected, Yeah, go back to your holes, you dirty rats!

All the P-Dogs gave the men an angry glare.  If there is one thing that P-Dogs don’t like to be called, it’s a rat.  They consider themselves to be highly evolved members of the canine family.

The two men were one of the P-Dog’s oldest and worst enemies, the Human Hunters.

Just then the two men pulled out a switch blade and bent down as they held them close to the P-Dogs.

One of the men said, I won’t tell ya’ again, get the hell out of here!

From out of one of his side pockets, Savant pulled out his paw pilot –– a smart phone on steroids of his own creation.  In a side compartment in the phone, he pulled out a tray and aimed it at one of the men.  Out of the tray he shot a dart that pierced the man’s neck.  Instantly, the man felt the pain of the dart and tried to pull it out of his neck, but he fell and passed out.  Savant then aimed the tray at the other man and shot another dart in his neck.  Almost instantly, he fell on top of the other man and passed out.

Vicente turned to Savant and said, "Good job, amigo."

Bung slapped him on the back and said to Savant, Good job, bro.

Sydney the gay P-Dog said, Way to go, hun’.

Porker said, Let’s we get our seats now?

Vicente agreed with Porker: Yeah, let’s get our seats.

Walking away from the two unconscious men, the five P-Dogs went down to their front row seats.  Bung, a P-Dog that had been to hundreds of concerts, was the one that had scored the good seats through his extensive connections.

For the next two and half hours the P-Dogs, like the rest of the audience, enjoyed songs like: That Smell, Saturday Night Special, and Gimme’ Three Steps.  All throughout the concert, sitting to the right of Porker, was a beautiful red-headed girl name Candy who was twenty-three; she had been making goo-goo eyes at Porker.  In one of Candy’s hands was half a small bottle of whiskey.  Porker had a serious thing for redhead female humans.  Candy had a thing for short, fat, and hairy animals.

Just as they started to play the song Freebird, Candy reached over and started to rub the back of Porker’s neck.  Porker who as shocked, regain his composure and smile up at Candy.  Candy then leaned down and said with a beautiful grin as she extended her hand, Hi, my name is Candy.  What’s your name?

Porker leaned in, extended up his paw and said, My name is Porker.

Cool name!  Well, Porker, would like some whiskey?

Porker smiled and exclaimed, Well, hell yes!

Candy moved the small bottle of whiskey over to Porker and said, Here baby, just open up your mouth and I will pour it in.

Tilting his head back Porker opened his mouth wide.  Candy then carefully poured the brown liquid into his mouth.  And after a few gulps she tilted the bottle back.  Enjoying the warn feeling of the booze as it hit his stomach Porker said, Thanks, Candy.

Candy said, You’re welcome sweetie.  She rubbed one of her hands through the top fur of Porker’s head.  She then said in a sexy and alluring manner, You know, you’re kinda’ sexy.  I really like you.

Porker, after starring at her huge cleavage, said, I think you’re pretty sexy too, Candy.

Candy leaned down and whispered in Porker’s ear, This concert is almost over, let’s go outside and make out.  I’m just wild about short fat mammal like you.

With wide eyes Porker grinned, nodded his head, and said, Hell yes!

After finishing off the rest of the whiskey, Candy the tossed small bottle onto the empty seat to her right.  Getting up from her seat, she then bent down and after taking her red winter coat off the back of the seat, she quickly put it on as she smiled down at Porker.

If you have not guessed by now, Candy had a screw loose in her head.

As Candy leaned down again, she said, Here sweetie, let me pick you up and carry you.  As Porker was being lifted, he noticed the empty seat on the right side of Candy.  He asked, I wonder whose seat that was?

In a casual manner as she shrugged her shoulders, Candy replied, Oh, that’s my fiancée’s seat.  For some reason he didn’t make it down here.  He’s been gone throughout the whole concert.

Porker just shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and said, Well, that’s his loss.

As she walked away with Porker, the other P-Dogs did not notice his departure; they were too enthralled by the signature song that was currently being playing.

As Candy and Porker went up one of the aisles, Porker asked, You’re about to be married?

After taking another swig of the whiskey, Candy said, "Yeah, I’m about to tie knot a week from now.

Well, okay, replied Porker with a neutral expression.

Porker was cad, he did not care that she was about to get married; he wanted some action and he wanted it now.

As they exit the convention center, a strong chill of wind came across their bodies.

Porker commented, It’s gotten a lot colder since I went in.

As Candy looked both ways of the street she said, "Yeah we gotta’ cold front coming in.  They say it’s going to bring some snow.  But that’s probably a while off.

Oh good, said Porker.

Candy and Porker walked past four rows of cars and went over to a big black truck. Opening the front passenger side of the truck, Candy tossed Porker in and slammed the door.  She then went around and got into the truck on the other side.  After turning on the engine, she turned on the heat all the way up.

Candy then said, Pretty soon it will be warm in here. My fiancée’s truck heats up pretty quick.

As she grabbed Porker with both hands he said, This is a nice truck.

Giving him a soft kiss on the forehead she said, Yeah, it is.

Porker asked, So, why did you your fiancée not stay with you at the concert?  You are such a hot chick!

After chuckling a little bit, Candy replied, Yeah, he was gonna’ be with me, but then he had to take care of two of his friends that suddenly passed out in one of the aisles.

Quickly she lifted him and then kissed him hard on the lips.

Porker asked, They passed out?

Yes.  Kinda’ weird, huh?

Porker asked, Did his two friends that passed out happen to be hunters?

With a surprise look, Candy tilted her head to one side and asked, Yeah, how did you know that?

Porker smiled and said, Oh, just a lucky guess.

Again, Candy lifted him up and kissed him hard.  Porker put his paws on her shoulders.

Just then, Doug, a muscular man that was 6’6 and weighed 330 pounds, came rushing to the driver’s side of truck.  And after peering in the window and seeing his future wife kissing Porker, an angry look of fury exploded on his tightened face.

Doug yelled, What the hell are doing, Candy? Turning to Porker he screamed, And get you paws off my fiancée!

Noticing right away who this human was, Porker released Candy and scooted over to the passenger side door.

Porker exclaimed, Anything you want, Doug!  I want no trouble with you!

With a .44 gun he pulled out of his coat pocket, with squinted eyes and a snarl he ran over to passenger side of the truck.  When he opened the door, he pointed the gun at Porker’s fat, terrified face.  Doug then yelled, You’re gonna’ die, Porker!

Quickly lowering his head down, Porker suddenly jumped from behind the gun and bit into Doug’s muscular forearm.

Doug’s eyes shut for a second in pain as he yelled out, Oh shit!  He then dropped the gun that fell onto the seat.

Quickly, Porker ran up to Candy and jumped up on her breasts and gave her a kiss as he then said, Sorry, babe!  I don’t think this is going to work out.

As he ran past Doug who had just picked up his gun he said, Sorry, Doug.

It was at this time the first snow of the blizzard was now starting to come down in a steady manner.

Jumping down on the asphalt, Porker began to run between the trucks and cars.  Chasing him now was Doug.

Doug yelled as he aimed his gun, Stop, you dirty fat rat!

Just as Porker ran in front of a white wall tire of a car the bullet missed him by an inch and instantly inflated the tire after hitting it.

Again, Doug took aim at the running P-Dog and fired two shots.  In a split second, one of the bullets shattered the corner bummer of a Corvette, while the other bullet took out a headlight of a Mercedes.

Out into the roadway that was in front of the entrance to the convention center, Porker saw that a mass of people was now exiting the main doors of the east side.  Just as he was going to run between the forest of moving legs, he spotted Sydney, Savant, Bung and Vicente walking toward him.

Out of breath, Porker put his paw on Bung’s shoulder and leaned in toward him.

Fortunately, the herd of people that were coming out of the convention center were blocking Doug’s view of Porker as well as the other P-Dogs.

Bung asked, "Dude, where have you been?  And what’s wrong?

Taking a deep breath, Porker looked behind himself briefly and then as he turned around to Bung and the others he explained, Well, I was with this hot red-headed chick name Candy, who has a thing for handsome, robust, short, furry mammals like me.  Well, we were making out in her fiancée’s truck when all the sudden he came to the truck, saw us and then he tried to kill me.  Oh, and by the way, the fiancée who’s after me is Doug Howard.

With big eyes, all the other P-Dogs in unison shouted, Doug Howard?

Porker said, Yes, it’s Doug Howard.  I didn’t know that was his fiancée.

Vicente exclaimed, Oh crap!  We better get out of here before he calls all of his buddies and gets them to come after us!

Standing by a car on the other side of the road, Doug noticed that the herd of people was starting to thin out.  And as he waited there, he got on his phone and started texting his fellow hunters.  Doug was the president of a group called the Hunters of the Greater Panhandle Region Club which was ten thousand strong.  The gist of the text he had just sent to all his fellow hunters told them to come and join him in the hunt to capture, torture and then kill Porker.

When there was just a trickle of people coming out of the concert, Doug stepped out into the road.  Now below his black boots was one-third of an inch of snow.

As six people in front of the P-Dogs bid each other goodbye, they quickly scattered and went across the road, now Doug could see Porker and the others.

As he aimed his gun at Porker he yelled, I’m gonna’ kill you, Porker!  And then I am gonna’ kill the rest of you!  You damn rats aren’t supposed to be here!

Vicente, as he waived his paw, yelled, Follow me! 

Just before he started to run, Savant, who was psychic, saw a bright chartreuse color take over the irises of Doug’s eyes for a split second and then go back to his normal brown color.  He quickly figured out that the danger he had seen in a recent vision was coming to fruition.

Vicente and the others ran toward Doug. After running between his tall legs, Doug drew back his gun and said, What the hell?

Running between the cars and trucks in a zigzag pattern Vicente led the others toward the front of the parking lot.  But this tactic barely helped because Doug, with his long legs, easily kept up with them.

With what he thought was a clear shot, Doug aimed and pulled the trigger but instead of hitting Porker, the bullet deflated the tire of someone’s red truck.

Past the parking lot, Vicente and the others ran under the bottom chain of a fence and then, going down and up a ditch, they zoomed past the shoulder of a road.  As they ran across the highway an eighteen-wheeler almost ran three of the P-Dogs over.

On to other side of the road the P-Dog noticed that there was now almost half an inch of snow on the sidewalk and the wind was beginning to howl.

Fifty feet into a snow-covered and almost empty parking lot, all the P-Dogs looked behind them.  They all saw that Doug had just crossed the highway and was stepping onto the sidewalk.  Again, Doug raised his gun and took careful aim at Porker.  And again, the bullet barely missed him as it hit the ground, throwing up a spray of snow and black asphalt.

The Start of a Perilous Battle

At the entrance doors of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, the young head store manager who had one of the doors half open was looking at the now hard-falling snow.  It would be several minutes until the store closed.  The assistant manager’s name was Harold, and being a transfer from a Tampa Bay store, he was fascinated with this advent of snow.  Shaking his head, he brought himself out of his trance, closed the door and got down to the business of the closing duties.

As they ran into the middle of the huge parking lot, Savant used his photographic memory to memorize the adjacent stores that flanked the Piggle Wiggly supermarket.  On the right through the hard snow, he saw a pizza place, a big pet store and a cowboy clothing store.  On the left he saw a donut shop, a propane store, a giant liquor store, a spice store and a women’s clothing boutique. 

Two minutes before the store was about to close, the five P-Dogs stepped in front of one of the automatic doors and entered the store.  Doug was now thirty feet away.  There was now almost an inch of snow, and little snow drifts were starting to form on the edges of the parking lot.

Being a natural leader, Vicente stood in front of the group in the middle of the checkout lanes. He first glanced to his left and then quickly glanced to his right.  Following his gut, he decided to turn left.  As he waved his paw over his head he said calmly, This way, dogs.  Without saying anything, the other P-Dogs followed him.

The snow was now coming down so hard that from the grocery store you could not see the others line of stores on the opposite side of the large shopping center.

As Doug was about to enter the store, he shoved his .44 into the back of jeans.  And just as the manager, who was on aisle fourteen, was helping the last of the customers of the evening, without being noticed he sneaked past Harold and took a right.

As the five P-Dogs went past the floral department suddenly Savant stopped in his tracks as he got one of his psychic feelings which were barely ever wrong.  With wide eyes he stood there shaking.  Turning around Vicente, with his paws out, asked with a confounded look on his face, Amigo, what are you doing just standing there? We got to hide. Oh, wait a second, you’re having one of your visions again. Aren’t you?

Savant, without looking at his best friend, said, He’s on the other side of the store right now.  So, we’re safe.

  Vicente loved Savant and his twin brother, Bung, like family.  Vicente hated Porker who, in his defense, was the most selfish and obnoxious P-Dog in the Prairie Dog Nation. Vicente, for the most part, liked Sydney who was cheerful most of the time, but shallower than a birdbath.  Also, Vicente admired that Sydney had his uses and talents.

Even though he knew it was a pointless question to asked Savant, Vicente said to his best friend, How do you know these things, Savant?

Savant answered, I just do.  But we’re going to be in trouble in less than an hour.

Vicente asked, What do you mean?

Savant turned to Vicente and answered, Just a few minutes ago, Doug sent out a group text to his fellow hunters to come to this area and right now he is sending out another text to his hunter friends to converge on this store.

Vicente looked up briefly and said, Oh damn!

Porker spoke up and as he pointed to Savant he said, Wait a minute, why are we listening to the Rain Man over here? How do we know that he is right?

Starring coldly at Porker for a couple of seconds, Vicente then went up to him and stopped when he was couple of inches from his fat face.  With squinted eyes and without looking at his friend, Vicente then pointed to Savant and aggressively whispered, This P-Dog, who is my best friend is the smartest and most accurate psychic creature I have ever known. And I trust anything he says. You got that?

Porker, who knew he was about to get his ass kicked, said with the palms of his paws out in surrender, That is very clear.  Just asking.  Sorry.

Nodding his head once Vicente said, Good!  Now let’s go.

Going past the bakery and past a restaurant that sat in the southwest corner of the huge store, the five prairie dogs took a right and entered the produce section that took up most of the western wall of the store.

Stopping in front of the area where the greens and different lettuces sat, Savant scanned the produce section for a place to hide.

Getting impatient, Vicente asked Savant, Where are we going to hide?  Do you have any ideas?

Savant as he turned around and around said without looking at Vicente, I’m working on it.

Bung, after joining his brother in his search for a hiding place, looked at a little metal door in front of him that sat under the case where the beds of greens and different lettuces sat.  Taking one step over to the little door he turned the little metal handle to the right and opened it.  Peering into the doorway he discovered that the room inside was twenty inches high, eighteen inches deep and four feet in length.  Also, taking up a fifth of the floor of the little room was a green watering hose that was neatly coiled up.  This little cupboard was where the produce employees stored the hose to periodically spray water on the vegetables to keep them wilting.

Now standing in the doorway of the little room, Bung said to the other four P-Dogs, "Hey dudes.  Why don’t we just hide in here?

Turning around, the others four looked at Bung who had a smirk on his face.

Vicente nodded and then said, That should work.  But then he turned to Savant and asked, Savant, do you think this is a good place to hide?

Nodding his head as he looked at his twin brother, Savant said in a somber manner, Yes it should be.  For now.

Vicente asked, What do you mean, for now?  Your brother found a good spot.

Savant answered, Vicente, within the next two hours, there’s going to be hundreds of them in this store and––

Interrupting, Porker asked, Hundreds?

Savant, giving a quick nod, said, Yes, there are going to be hundreds and they each are going to be carrying at least two guns and heavy amount of ammunition.

Porker, with his paws out, asked, I know you’re supposed to be psychic and everything, but how do you know that all of them will be carrying guns?

Sighing first, Savant answered, I’ve seen two visions of an attack on us.

Porker went up to Savant and placed one of his paws on Savant’s chest and then looked into his cute face.  He asked Savant, Okay. Here’s the question.  Do… do I… live?

Tilting his head back, Vicente briefly rolled his eyes.

Savant replied, Right now in my visions all of us are living.

Taking his paws off Savant’s chest, Porker with squinted eyes and a grin on his face said, Y-e-s!

Getting down to business, Vicente put his paw on Savant’s chest and asked as he pointed to the doorway Bung was still standing in, So how long will this be a good hiding spot?

Looking at Vicente, Savant replied, About forty-five minutes.

Vicente as he shook his head exclaimed, Damn!  That's not very long.  Well, I guess we all better get in there.

Savant agreed, Yes we better, Doug’s about to come over this way.

At the time that the five P-Dogs were getting into the cupboard, the store manager and the last of the employees had locked up and left the store.  Now converging on the parking lot that was now covered in now two inches of snow were thirty trucks of different ages and sizes.  They had parked in front of the Piggle Wiggly and in each of the trucks were three to four men.  All the men were wearing coveralls that were mostly blue, black, or tan.  In the mix of these angry hunters was a balding medium height man in his fifties named Bill.  He was second in command of the Hunters of the Greater Panhandle Region Club.  And he and Doug had been best friends for over thirty years.

Going up the doors of the store that read, ENTRANCE, Bill quickly found out that the doors were locked.  With a snarl on his face, Bill turned around and looked at other men behind him.

Bill exclaimed, The damn doors are locked up!

One of the men close to Bill asked, Do you think that Doug is in there?

Bill replied, Yeah, in the last text he sent, he said that he was in the store.

Another fellow hunter asked, So how are we going to get in, so we can help him?

With squinted eyes Bill said, Let me tell ya’ how we’re gonna’ get in there!

Walking away from the entrance doors Bill moved a few yards to his left and stopped at a large expansive window that measured eleven-by-eight.  He then took a few steps back and took his .30-30 and pointed it at the middle section of the window.  Next, he fired three shots into window.  Instantly, the three bullets shattered the glass making a hole that was six feet from the bottom to the top and six feet wide.

With a smile of satisfaction, Bill turned around and said to the crowd of men as he raised his rifle, Come on men!  We got some dirt rats to kill!

Hiding in the cupboard, the five P-Dogs heard the shots. Savant whispered, And now, it starts.

Vicente whispered, I’m going to call President Herbert, I got his personal phone number.  I will call him and tell him to send a recuse military hover jet and pick us up.

Savant whispered, Yeah, do that.

When Vicente hit the bottom middle of the phone, he discovered that his phone was completely dead.

As he smacked the phone with his other paw Vicente whispered, Damn! For some reason, my phone is dead.  It couldn’t be the battery, I just charged is a few hours ago.

Savant knew why Vicente’s phone was not working.

Vicente said to the other four P-Dogs, Savant, Bung, Porker and Sydney, get on your phones and try to call 777-779-9999.

Without saying anything, all the other P-Dogs pulled out their phones from one of their side pockets, and except for Savant’s paw pilot which was a powerful cell phone that very different from normal cellphones, the other P-Dog’s phone were dead.

Porker whispered, Mine’s dead.

Bung whispered, Mine’s dead as well.

Sydney whispered, Mine is also dead.

Savant said, Mine’s not dead.  But I can’t make calls or receive calls.

Vicente said, Well, just try it again.

Savant said, Okay, I will try it again.

Quickly, Savant called President Herbert’s phone number but again all he got was a message on his paw pilot that read: THIS FUNCTION IS NOT AVALIABLE.

Savant said, It just seems that everything on my paw pilot is working except for the ability to make call or receive calls.  And I think I know the reason as to why any of us can’t make a call.

Vicente asked, Why, Savant?

There is something in Doug –– a spirit.  And it is this spirit that’s messing with our phones.  It wants to keep us here.

Vicente asked, So, what are your psychic powers telling you about this spirit?  And why was it not completely able to make your paw pilot go dead like all of our phones?

Savant said, As for your first question, I am getting a psychic feeling that the spirit in Doug is a Zinhoard. And it is my educated guess that the spirit in Doug has placed a dome-like force field on all the shopping center which is making our phones not able to make or receive calls; it’s that same force field that has drained the battery life out of everyone’s phone except mine, because the battery is well shielded from outside energy forces.

Vicente asked, Okay, in a nutshell, what’s going on?  I have never heard of a Zinhoard possessing a person.  And being so far away from Earth, how did it every get here?

Savant answered, "The spirit of a Zinhoard is much faster than one in the flesh that is using a spaceship to travel to Earth.  Of course, the drawback to traveling in spirit is that it greatly reduces the strength of the Zinhoard.  So, the only way that it can become more powerful is to possess another creature.  And right now, with the blizzard that is coming and the fact we can’t make a call with our phones, there is only one option for us.

Vicente exclaimed, Shit!  So, we are stuck here, and we’re going to have to take on the human hunter and the Zinhoard spirit?

Savant nodded and said, "Yes.  It does appear that way.

With a mean glare at Porker, Vicente aggressively whispered, Thanks a lot, asshole!  You are the one who got us into this mess. Vicente then slapped Porker so hard that the back of his head banged into the back wall of the little cupboard."

In a rare moment Porker, as he put the palm of his right paw on the sore section of the back of his head, whispered, I’m really, really sorry.  But the chick was s-o-o hot.

Vicente rolled his eyes and whispered loudly to Porker, Just shut up before I kill you!

The Invasion of the Human Hunters

As the 124 hunters were walking through the hole in the glass, Bill got on the microphone that was hanging on one of the outer walls of the elevated cashier’s office.  Pressing down on the button Bill then yelled, Hey, Doug!  We’re here!  We’re at the front where all the registers are!  Come on over here and tell us what you won’t us to do!

At the time that Doug heard his friend on the intercom system he had just entered the produce section.

Yelling as loud as he could Doug said, I’m coming!  Giving me a second!

As Doug ran past the displays of greens and different lettuces the five P-Dogs remained quiet and perfectly still.

Seconds later, as Doug approached the scores of hunters, with smiles on their faces they shouted in unison, Hey, Doug Boy!

With a grin on his face Doug said, "Hi boys!  What