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Sweat dripped down Scrooge's face. Small little droplets appeared on his forehead as he was pulling the rope. "Big fellow, aren't yah?" the Scrooge remarked. But Nolio was in no state to answer. Only moments ago he was on his way home from the lynching, eating a nice big slice of christmas bread, with extra butter and powdered sugar when he suddenly felt a rope tossed around his neck. After a short struggle he had lost all air and the Scrooge had managed to drag him to the town square near the large christmas tree. Right now the square was abandoned as the whole village were inside the toy factory listening to a pep talk by Santa in preparation for christmas night which was fast approaching. The Scrooge had all the time in the world.
The Scrooge tossed the rope over a high branch and started to pull Nolio up, but when Nolio's legs were still on the ground, the Scrooge was out of breath. "Really needed that next slice of bread did you? Fatass" mumbled the Scrooge as he got ready for a second tug, however it was as fruitless as the first.
"Pah nothing is going as planned, guess I should try the more useful way" as the cling of the blade gleamed in the christmas lights.
As the Scrooge was about to finish of the out of breath Nolio, another voice echo'ed over the square. "Hey what are you doing here?! HELP HELP!!"
The Scrooge looked over his shoulder and saw a sillhouette standing near the buildings. The door to the toy factory swang open and a number of elves came darting out, wondering who was screaming. "Your lucky tonight, fatty!" were the last words Nolio heard from the Scrooge that night, as his saviour came to check up on him.
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The naughty elf screwed the top on the tiny glass vial in his hands and looked into the pen. The reindeer moved from the bail of hay at the far side and walked gingerly towards the pail of water the elf had just placed. It dunked its head downwards and started lapping at the tainted water. The naughty elf smiled as he strolled out of the stables. It wouldn't be safe to hang around much longer.
The clock struck 10pm and ZichtOpZee grabbed his hat. He dusted off the crumbs from the christmas pudding he had just eaten and prepared to head out into the cold night. It was Christmas Eve and he had to make sure the reindeer were groomed ready for their outing with Santa later tonight. He took out a red candle from a kitchen draw and lit it before leaving his cabin.
As ZoZ walked towards the stables, he immediately knew something wasn't right. He could have sworn he had locked the door when he last visited but now the door was swinging open, swaying backwards and forwards in the light breeze. He stepped inside warily and looked around quickly. Dancer and Vixen were sitting happily in their pens and grunted when they saw their keeper enter. Prancer trotted towards his gate. Dasher, however, was lying down at the back of his pen, breathing heavily.
Concerned, ZoZ opened up the pen gate and stepped inside, walking up to Dasher wondering whether he was feeling alright. "Hey Dash, you don't sound too good" he said as he bent down beside the reindeer. He noticed some frothy saliva drip from the animal's mouth and then took a small flashlight from his pocket to peer into his eyes. Both pupils were completely dilated. As soon as ZoZ touched his fur, the reindeer growled. "Wow, calm down" he said as he backed off.
Dasher growled again even louder this time and got to his feet. ZoZ edged even further away when he saw the reindeer rub his hind legs against the ground as if he was going to charge. And charge he did. He caught the reindeer keeper offguard as he darted towards him. ZoZ tripped backwards and fell to the floor as he tried to scramble away. He screamed out as the heavy hooves of the animal trampled on his lower body.
Dasher growled once more as he attacked ZoZ. Tiny bubbles of white saliva fell from it's mouth as it reached ZoZ's terrified face. Its eyes had seemed to have taken a life of their own as they bulged out of it's head. ZoZ screamed as the reindeer bared its teeth in a low growl before sinking its jaws down into his neck. He kicked out but the weight of the animal was too much under his small frame. He couldn't defend himself from the vicious attack as he felt warm blood pour from the open wound in his neck.
ZoZ's screams continued to ring out from the stables but the Lapland elves were all too busy preparing for the busy night ahead.
Santa was standing in the middle of the hectic flurry of activity as he oversaw the last minute wrapping of presents, unaware that his prized reindeer gamekeeper was slowly being eaten alive.
"Right my elves! Let's get a move on! Christmas Day is falling upon the world and we have a lot of work to do!!" he said merrily.
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