Yesterday's Gone: Season One

nearly empty hotel. He trotted toward the offices. The problem with humans was answers were usually everywhere and solutions often obvious, yet they rarely opened their minds wide enough to grab them.  
    Luca came out from the hallway and Dog Vader galloped toward him, nuzzling his knee and rubbing up against his leg.  
    “I’m happy to see you too,” Luca said.
    Jimmy ran into the room. “You guys are gonna want to look at this!”
    He blasted back through the stairwell door. Everyone followed. Luca led Dog Vader by the scruff of the neck, through the door and up to the 2nd floor.
    “Christ on a cross,” Desmond said. “When did this happen?”
    Dog Vader looked out the window.  
    The tide was rising. Fast. Too fast. Definitely ahead of schedule.  
    Dog Vader could feel the impostor soaking in his mounting power.  
    BARK...BARK...BARK...BARK...
    YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.  
    THIS MAN ISN’T THE SOFT ONE, JOHN; HE’S AN IMPOSTOR.
    A PLAGUE OF NEVER-ENDING PESTILENCE.
    A STARLESS NIGHT, DROWNING EVERY DROP OF THE PLANET’S LIGHT.
    BARK...BARK...BARK...BARK...
    “Luca,” Will said, “would you mind taking the dog downstairs so we can figure out what to do?”
    Luca nodded, then led him by the neck back downstairs.  
    BARK... RUFF RUFF...BARK... RUFF RUFF
    “I’m sorry Lord Vader, but I can’t help you if you don’t stop and tell me what’s wrong.” Luca tried to listen, but had already forgotten how.
    BARK...RUFF...RUFF...BARK...RUFF....RUFF
    THE SOFT MAN IS AN IMPOSTOR. THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!
    BARK...RUFF...RUFF...BARK...RUFF....RUFF  
    Luca looked at him with kind eyes, then sat cross-legged on the floor and petted his hair. It was strange, the way the boy’s cheeks had thinned in minutes. Vader had to talk to Luca. If he could only get him to sleep, everything would be okay. But the boy wouldn’t sleep until night. And given how much was going on, he might not shut his eyes until later in the night.  
    Vader didn’t know if they’d have that long before the bad man did something horrible.
    “You’re a good boy, Vader, er, I mean Kick.”
    Paola opened the stairwell door.  
    “Hey,” Luca said.
    “Hey,” she said. “Wanna play Blokus?”  
    “No,” Luca said, shaking his head, “I don’t like playing it with just two people. Besides, Blokus makes me miss home most.”
    Dog Vader whined.  
    “How about Monopoly?”
    “I’m not really very good at that game,” Luca said as he looked down. “I’m okay, but sometimes it’s hard when the numbers get big. How about Battleship?”
    “Okay,” she agreed, “but only four games. Then we’re playing two games of Sorry and three of Konexi.”
    “Why do you get an extra game?”
    “It’s called interest,” Paola said, then laughed. “Now come on!”
    Dog Vader whined.
    “I’ll be back, okay Vader?”
    He whined again.
    “You can come, but you won’t have fun,” Luca said. “I can’t pet you when I’m trying to concentrate.”
    More whining but Luca wasn’t getting the message.
    “Okay, you can sit with us. But don’t expect any attention!”
    Vader trotted behind Luca and Paola, then sat beside the boy as they unboxed their game of Battleship.  
    Dog Vader could feel that he was in grave danger. The impostor would end him the second he had the chance. He wouldn’t be reckless, or do anything in front of anyone else. For the moment, Vader was safe, but that moment would fade and time wasn’t smiling.  
    If he was going to die, so be it, but he had to go knowing his work was done. If he could warn the boy, at least it would be something. Not many like him were left, breathing bridges between what had happened and what was about to.  
    He had to get the boy alone and snoring, which usually wasn’t hard in the middle of the afternoon. But too much commotion was present with the other kids.
    BARK... RUFF RUFF...BARK... RUFF RUFF
    BARK... RUFF RUFF...BARK... RUFF RUFF
    “Stop it, Lord Vader!”
    BARK... RUFF RUFF...BARK... RUFF RUFF
    BARK... RUFF RUFF...BARK... RUFF RUFF
    BARK... RUFF RUFF...BARK... RUFF RUFF
    “I mean it! If you don’t stop barking you can’t play with us anymore.”
    Growl....Growl....Growl....
    Dog Vader trotted toward Desmond, standing at the front of the lobby. The black things were outside, but had moved back a bit, making the people less afraid that the things would storm the hotel. Dog Vader watched the things, then watched Desmond watching the things. He