Bushy, coarse hair fluffed from the maybe-a-leg. Another long something lowered into view. It was hairless and twitched like a puppy’s nose. Warm air puffed from what must be a snout, fogging the window. The cloudy glass cleared quickly, revealing more of the thing’s head, including the circular edge of an eye that was as big as a manhole cover.
“Freeze.” Sheed became a mannequin posed in a bad dance move.
Fighting the urge to argue, Otto did as told and took on a stiff pose, like a robot about to go jogging. They stared bravely into the creature’s eye without blinking, and it stared back.
Whatever this beast was, it seemed to ignore all the frozen things and people spread around town. If it only went after things that moved, then they’d be safe if they remained stone still. Hopefully.
Staying stone still was easier said than done.
Otto hadn’t thought his freeze pose through, having put more weight on his left leg than his right, as if he was getting set to run a race. Now that left leg was growing tired and felt moments from quivering. His eyes watered from no blinking. His nose itched. The tag on his T-shirt tickled the back of his neck.
Otto focused on the creature, which was large enough to be a monster, but not really gruesome like a monster. Its eyes were a soft brown like fall leaves, its steam-puffing snout something like a duck’s beak. A strange and funny word—platypus!—came to mind. It almost made him giggle. That would’ve been bad.
Sweat dampened Otto’s forehead. A bead ran toward his eye.
The Platypus-Thing puffed one last gout of steam, then turned away, continuing slowly down the street in the same direction as the mysterious mob.
Sheed and Otto maintained their stances for a few moments after the creature was no longer visible. They waited until the vibrations of its lumbering footsteps ceased before daring to move. When they finally relaxed their muscles, they found themselves gasping, more exhausted by stillness than running a hundred-yard dash. Sometimes waiting was the hardest thing of all.
“What was that?” Otto knew deep down the word platypus wasn’t exactly right.
“I don’t know,” said Sheed, “but we’re going to need a bigger net.”