Lucas Ryan Versus: The Return (12 page)

LEVEL 23

MAYHEM

Lucas:

The screams from the gymnasium were unbearable. Pounding bodies tried to push open the doors but something sinister wouldn’t allow their escape. Queen Strickland caressed the wall behind her, ignoring Taylor and I as we lay on the floor. Taylor was still unconscious but there were signs that he was fighting it. His breath staggered and his eyelids twitched as if he were having the worst of nightmares.

“My babies are almost done,” Queen Strickland snickered. Her long razored claws clicked in unison against the wall as she listened intently. “I must leave you, Mr. Ryan.”

“About friggin’ time,” I cussed. Her head whipped around and her mass of tentacles along her back mimicked her movement.

She gurgled with laughter, “Oh, don’t you worry. I have something special planned for you and your golden haired friend.”

“I can’t wait,” I spit, stupidly.

“Too bad I’m not allowed to kill you myself. I bet you would taste delicious.” Her neck extended, placing her dripping black face inches in front of mine. “The critters from this world always do.”

“What?” I gasped.

“Your monkey bones are considered a delicacy on my world. Yummy, my boy,” she licked her black lips with an alien forked tongue. The smell turned my stomach. Menacingly, she added, “I, personally don’t like human meat, but my children love it.”

“So you’re doing this for food? We’re all just some kind of human drive-thru for you?” I was rambling on, trying to buy us some time. Taylor seemed closer to coming out of his sleep.

“When I’m done with you, you’ll wish that I had devoured you, or, should I say, when
he’s
done with you.” She pulled her neck back and focused her mouth on the wall in front of her. She outstretched all her limbs and pushed them into the cracks and crevices. With a pulsating quiver, she let out a long hiss.

“Don’t let them leave,” she said, to the structure in front of her. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she winked one of her fiery eyes at me and dematerialized into a thick oily substance. It was as black as tar and gave off electrical trails of smoke. The mass of yuck seeped into every slit and crack in the wall until she was completely gone.

I tried to stand up, and mumbled, “That was gross.”

Below my feet the floor seemed to change. The black and white tiles pulled apart, letting the stench of sulfur escape the cracks. They shifted in place like scales. The walls pushed outward before pulling themselves back in. Then they did it again and again, as if they were breathing. Black veins appeared along them and they pumped with hot fluid that made them steam. The air in the hallway grew thick and humid. I could actually taste it. It tasted like charcoal.

“Taylor…” I said, worried. He groaned from below me. “Wake up, man…I need you…”

The ceiling above us started to crack and reshape itself in the impossible shape of enormous vertebrae. The bony features reached down the sides of the walls as if we were locked in an organic cage. The lockers along the walls crinkled with metallic pops as their doors flew open. Each piece of metal pulled itself outward, reaching for us, stretching their form into long jagged points.

“Are those teeth?” I said, to myself. From beneath me Taylor slowly sat up.

“Looks like were in the belly of a beast…literally.” His hair fell in his eyes and he quickly swatted it away. “What did I miss?”

“Not much. Queen Strickland enchanted the building, turning it into a living, breathing entity while she collects the rest of our friends and schoolmates for food. You know, the usual.”

“Funny, Lucas,” he groaned. The floor began to rock back and forth, sending us backwards on our feet. Taylor grabbed my shoulders and steadied both of us. He searched the hallway and then my phlegm-stained wrist and forearm.

“We have to get that stuff off. We need Ripley,” he said, directly.

Scratching at the edge of the black goop pasted to my skin, I asked, “Any ideas?”

His eyes locked onto something at the back of the hallway, and then he pointed at it.

“That!”

Looking over to it, I questioned, “A fire extinguisher?” It was still incased in its glass box and had not seemed to change with the rest of our surroundings.

“Yeah. Maybe we can freeze that stuff and break it off.”

His idea was a shot in the dark but we didn’t have time to discuss it. The floor burst upward, sending us into the air and slamming us into the bone covered ceiling. The floor tiles underneath us filled with wetness that fastened to our exposed skin like a giant tongue. The force of the tiled tongue was too strong to fight and we both scraped along the dirty vertebrae sticking from the roof. Taylor and I braced ourselves as best we could.

“I think its tasting us,” I freaked. The teeth shaped lockers clanked together in front of us with a sickening crash, and then another. “Never mind, it’s trying to eat us.”

“Not if I can help it!” Taylor hollered. He jammed his fists above him, digging into the ceiling, and forcefully pulled his knees into his chest until his feet were against the tile again. With his elbows and knees lined up directly with his shoulders, he pushed with all of his strength, like a bodybuilder doing a squat and a power lift at the same time. At first nothing happened but with a hearty grunt his full power awoke. The floor began to push back down and the cramped hallway seemed to open again. Man, he truly was a superhero.

“You’re doing it, T! I can’t believe it!”

“No time…to…die,” he said, through clenched teeth. “Have…to save…Morgan!” With a final shove he opened the pathway enough for us to stand comfortably. Well, as comfortable as possible when you’re lost in the throat of a enchanted beast.

With strained discipline, Taylor ordered, “Get the fire extinguisher, Luc!” I rushed forward, running as fast as possible without hitting my head on any of the overhead bones. The fire extinguisher box was only a few feet away when the floor tried to stop me. It rose again toward the ceiling but only where I was at. Taylor watched as the floor formed a bumpy slide-like corridor. My feet slid out from under me, smacking my chest and palms to the floor. My fingertips slid into the crevices between the tiles so I wouldn’t slide back down to Taylor’s spot. The fire extinguisher was just out of my reach and I tried to crawl upward the last few feet.

“Hurry, I don’t think I can hold it much longer,” Taylor groaned.

“I’m on it,” I answered back. Just then my feet lost their grip and I slid downward a couple tiles. The floor quivered in delight and I braced for my descent. “Crap.”

As my fingers began to ache with my bodyweight pulling on them, I filled with gloom. One thing was clear, I was not strong enough to make it to the emergency box that held the extinguisher.
What was I going to do?
I placed my sweaty cheek against the closest tile to rest my head. It felt like the roughness of a cats tongue, only on a much larger scale. The floor and the ceiling were inching closer again as Taylor was losing strength by the second. We were almost out of time…again.

“Lucas!” he screamed out. Panic washed over me as the mouth around us began to win. I was so tired, so weak. That’s when it hit me…the gymnasium at the end of the hallway. It was once filled with screams of terror and pain, but now, it was quiet. Whatever Queen Strickland and her creatures were doing to my friends was ending, or worse, already over. The thought radiated everywhere in my body. I couldn’t lose Roland and Morgan, and I couldn’t live in a world where Olivia was not present.

“No more!” I cursed, and lunged upward, scaling the rest of the way to the glass case of the fire extinguisher. Taylor fell to his knees and the mouth closed around us again. Without thinking I made a fist with my right hand and smashed it through the glass box. It shattered everywhere, cutting my flesh that wasn’t covered by the black goop. I ripped the extinguisher from its cradle and removed the tab on the firing mechanism. Immediately, I squeezed the trigger and it sent a cloud of white foam into the air. It was cold on my face and I turned my head from the explosion. Quickly, I dangled my forearm over the cooling fountain and hoped for the best. A few seconds later the burst of cold stopped, leaving my arm ice cold and crackling with powdered white flakes. They shrunk in place revealing the surface of the dried spit that kept Ripley frozen inside of me. It was no longer black. A dull gray sheen reflected back up at me.

“Did it work?” Taylor groaned, from the other end of the monstrous throat.

Running my other hand over the frozen shell, I said, “I don’t know.” Inside my head, Ripley returned.

~ Smash it! ~

Instantly, I pulled my arm back as far as possible in the shrinking space and slammed it into the bony ceiling. My arm vibrated violently. I did it again and again. Finally, a crack formed along one side.

~ Don’t stop. ~

Taylor collapsed as the floor overpowered him and smashed us up against the roof of the impossible mouth.
This must be what peanut butter feels like.
I laughed hysterically at my stupid thought and swung my arm with all the strength I had left. When the alien cast hit the ceiling this time it shattered into a thousand pieces. My tattoo was already glowing with gold light and my heart raced with excitement.

“Ripley!” I begged. Ripley poured from my skin in seconds and filled with a red and orange fire. With a flash of vengeance the corridor made of metal teeth bellowed in pain and fell wide open again. Taylor and I dropped to the floor in a comical thud, like two cartoon characters on a Saturday morning television show.

“Ripley, you did it!” I cheered, with a cocked fist.

“We’re free!” Taylor exclaimed. The doors to the gymnasium were in sight again and we jumped to our feet swiftly. Ripley spun around us and giant wings sprouted over the top of us. With fire dripping from Ripley’s eyes, I nudged Taylor with my elbow.

Knowing what was coming next, I smiled, “Hold on.”

Ripley raced forward with us in tow. We surged through the hallway like a rocket aimed for the double doors of the gymnasium.

CRASH!

The heavy doors flew open with the force of a bomb. They broke free from their hinges and skidded across the gymnasium floor. Taylor and I landed on our feet as Ripley flew upward toward the roof before spinning back down behind us, replacing our shadows. My arm was alive with glittering flecks of light that traced the lines of my tattoo repeatedly. Taylor had managed to scoop up the empty fire extinguisher during our flight and held it at his hip like a caveman wielding a club. We both inhaled long nervous puffs of oxygen as our surroundings filled us with despair.

“Where is everybody?” Taylor asked, confused.

“I don’t know,” I answered, upset. The room was covered in falling streamers and torn banners. Decorations were destroyed or stained with black sludge, but there were no signs of life. No students, no teachers, no couples, no chaperones…not even the band. My heart sank. We were too late.

I had failed Olivia.

LEVEL 24

WEAK AND POWERLESS

Taylor and I cautiously made our way to the abandoned stage where Olivia’s equipment still hummed with electric life. Her guitar lay upon the center stage where her microphone stand used to be. The drums were trashed and in a few separate sections. Obviously they had weathered the horrible assault. All their amps were beat up and covered with dirt and glistening green slime. The giant banner that had their band name, SISTER RED, was split down the middle and dangled from each side of the stage.

“We’re too late,” I sulked.

“Where’d they all go?” Taylor shrugged, still not accepting the scene before him. “Where’s Morgan?”

“It’s my fault, T. I should have insisted we all go together…stay together…leave no one behind.”

“Luc, you couldn’t have expected this,” Taylor sighed. Filling with guilt, I ignored him and turned to Ripley.

“Where are they?”

Ripley stood still, levitating in place, but before Ripley could answer me, someone else joined our conversation.

“They are mine now,” Queen Strickland said, overzealously. From behind us she slithered up in all her dangerous glory, now even more snakelike. Her taloned legs were now part of a thick serpent tail. She spit, “They are
ALL
mine.”

Rage overcame me and I lunged forward but Taylor caught me by my arm and held me in place.

“Where’s Olivia?” I spit back. Queen Strickland began to laugh and it echoed all around us.

“You know where,” she smirked.

“In the pit,” I whispered. She nodded and dragged her sharp claws along the floor as she crept closer to us. It left shredded trails peeling up from the ground. Her Medusa-like appendages whipped in all directions from over her shoulders, repeatedly thrusting forward at our positions.

“Yes, but think of it more as a nest, or breeding ground of energy,” she stated.

“Breeding ground?” Taylor asked, with his empty red canister ready to strike. Ripley lowered in a protective fighting stance, ready to attack. Queen Strickland halted her advance accordingly.

“Silly humans, haven’t you had enough carnage for the night?” she asked, slyly. “Wouldn’t you rather know what, where, and why?”

Ripley’s eyes focused right through her. It was clear she was scared of Ripley’s power. I wanted my friends back but I had no idea how to do that. Maybe listening to what she had to say would be beneficial.

“I don’t trust her,” Taylor said, angrily. I placed a calming hand on his chest.

“What, where, and why…okay, I’m listening.”

Queen Strickland eased her stance and crossed her lanky arms over her armor-plated chest. “
What
am I?”

“A monster,” I insulted.

“In your pitiful human eyes, maybe. I’m actually the pinnacle of evolution. The universal standard of physical achievement. I am the Queen of Serpents. The mother of all such creatures throughout your galaxy and many more. This tiny rock you call Earth is nothing more than a dirty nest for my offspring. A pitstop for the truly powerful like myself. Throughout a thousand galaxies such as yours, I am a God.”

“Well, here on this dusty little planet you’re just the crazy snake lady,” I teased. She shifted her posture with annoyance and continued.

“Next question.
Where
are your friends?” she said, letting my last statement roll off her shoulders. “They are below the school, in my cozy Nest. Don’t pretend you didn’t see it, you were both there. They serve one purpose and one purpose only…food. My kind need strength and feeding gives us that. Even if Earthling meat is one of my least favorites, with the exception of your handsome friend, Mr. Swift. The rest of your friends are the battery packs that will power my invasion, fuel my revenge.” Her eyes cut into me when she spoke those last words. Quickly, she continued her speech. “You see, the one redeeming quality this putrid planet has going for it is the fact that it is one of the newest entry points to an ancient galactic portal. A wormhole, as your scientists have come to call them. New portals, mean new opportunities for food.”

“A portal? To where?” I asked, surprised. In the back of my mind I was still trying to comprehend that my friends were now alien snake food.

“Anywhere in the Universe,” she smiled.

Taylor stepped forward, and asked, “Where is this so-called wormhole?”

With a hearty laugh, she instigated, “My boy, you’re standing on it.”

“What?” he gasped.

“That’s right, this school is the newest access point to one of the Universe’s oldest secrets. A doorway between worlds. A doorway that you opened, Mr. Ryan.”

“The Jynshee…” I mumbled, looking down at my arm. In my head I asked Ripley to backup her statement.
Is that true, Ripley?

~ Yes. ~

Why didn’t you tell me?

~ When I was wished here by you I opened the portal but it should have closed when your wishes were granted. That’s the rules, you get your wishes and I cease to exist. The portal ceases to exist. I shouldn’t have evolved into this new state, this new form. Something else affected the way things have worked in the past. Something changed the rules. ~

Something, or someone?

~ I don’t know. ~

Queen Strickland snapped me back to reality again, and sounded off, “Finally, the
why!
Why am I here? Why do I need the collected life force of your friends? To put it bluntly, revenge.”

“Revenge?” I asked, stupidly. It sent her into a blind rage. She rose up reaching for the rafters of the building. Her tentacles twisted everywhere like a storm and her eyes blazed brightly with red-hot hate.

“Yes! Revenge! When you originally found the all-powerful Jynshee Orb and opened the door to this world with your first wish, you set in motion a chain of events that led me here. I didn’t want to come here. I hate it here! The unbearable heat of your sun, the stink of your oxygen coated skies, the taste of your meaty pink flesh. It all disgusts me!”

“Then why come here?” I argued.

“Because, Mr. Ryan, I had to! You brought me here. It was all your doing!”

Shaking my head, “What do you mean?”

She paused for a lingering moment, settling the mass of serpents along her back. Breathlessly, she began to speak. “I wasn’t the first one who came through the portal.”

“What are you saying?” I gulped. A nervous swell of butterflies spread inside my stomach. I knew what she was about to say even before she said it.

“
He
came through first.
He
came for the power of the Jynshee Orb.
He
was the hunter!” She smashed her fists into the floor, shaking the walls with the force. “
He
was our leader, our King!
He
…was…
MY
…King!”

“General Love,” I mumbled, terrified.

“Yes! You killed my King, my other half…my love…” Queen Strickland slowly circled around us, never relinquishing her eyes from mine. “That’s why I am here. For revenge. For him.”

That’s when the obvious smacked me over the head.

“He’s still alive, isn’t he?” I choked.

She erupted into a fit of laughter, and seethed, “Yes. You can thank the generosity of your friends and peers for that. Their combined life forces have been feeding his resurrection for days now!”

“No! I won’t allow it!” Taylor jumped forward, ready to fight. I grabbed onto him with all my strength. I needed to know more. I needed her to give us more information.

“Hang on, T. She’s not finished giving us all the answers yet,” I begged.

“Enough talking! We need to save our friends, save our school!” He pulled his muscular arm from my grasp. Ripley darted in front of him to stop his attack.

“I thought we destroyed General Love…forever…” I said, curiously.

“Almost. Thankfully, he was wise enough to leave a small piece of his essence in the timelines of the wormhole. This piece had laid dormant until your little time traveling escapade. The rift you caused in the wormhole as you wished your way home, revealed he was still here, still waiting to be brought back from death. It took me a while to locate his genetic breadcrumb but I found it.”

“Good for you,” Taylor spat. He looked around the room in suspicion.

“Our kind has the ability to regenerate ourselves, we just need that extra push,” she teased.

“You mean the human energy factory located in the bowels of the school,” I cursed. My hands turned to fists and I prepared to attack her with all my strength, but she slid backwards and placed her arms in the air as if surrendering.

“Wait, don’t you want to know where General Love is now?” she asked, wearily. Taylor jumped in front of me furious with her.

“She’s stalling!”

I chose not to hear his warning. That was a mistake. “Where is the General?”

Queen Strickland began to shake violently. The mass of monsters stuck to her body reached outward as far as they could, and filled with ear deafening screams. Their shrieks quickly became a rumbling cackle. The sickening sound rattled my nerves, completely.

“Behind you!” she raged.

We spun around as fast as possible and readied ourselves. We found only the empty and battered stage. From behind us Queen Strickland attacked. A torrent of bubbling black liquid sprayed from the snakes mouths, raining over the top of Ripley, dissolving Ripley’s smoky wings in seconds. Even more black saliva coated the rest of Ripley in a painted shell.

~ Lucas! I am paralyzed again. Run away! Go! ~

I stretched for my dragon but it was too late, Ripley fell to the floor like a frozen statue. I could still see Ripley’s glowing eyes from under the mess but it hardened almost instantly, stopping my best weapon in its tracks. We were screwed.

“Lucas!” Taylor hollered in pain, as a giant spider-snake wrapped its greasy torso around his arms and chest. He tried to fight it but it was no use. The serpent was much too strong. Its head pulled upward just a few feet away from his face. Dripping fangs twinkled at Taylor as he tried to keep breathing.

“Hang on, T!” I yelled, in defiance. Suddenly, Queen Strickland was over the top of me, snatching me in her arms and tentacles. I tried to run but it was too late, she had me. I cried out, “Ripley!”

~ Sorry, Lucas. ~

Queen Strickland’s face slid next to mine from over my shoulder. Her beastly cheek scraped mine with its coarse skin. She seemed to purr like an oversized lion in my ear and tightened her grip on me. One of her serpents latched onto my arm with its drooling mouth. It’s poisonous fangs seeped into my flesh and dulled the glowing light of my magical tattoo back to nothing. Ripley’s prisoned cocoon started to shrivel up like a dry riverbed. Ripley’s size shrank slowly, crinkling away until Ripley looked like a knotted piece of petrified wood, no taller than a barstool, and no thicker than a baseball bat.

Taylor continued to fight the snake that had him tied up but it was in vain. The fire extinguisher gently fell from his bound hand, and clanked onto the dirty floor. He cringed at the immense pain that was surging through his body. He looked over at me in stubborn anger. Even though there was no possible chance of escape he was still fighting. I was so proud of my best friend, my hero. With a violent jerk Taylor shot backwards toward the doors of the gymnasium. The spider-snake tightened around him just enough for him to pass out right before he disappeared around the corner of the doors.

“No! Tay!” I yelled. He was on his way to the Nest and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. I was the last man standing. Alone to dance with the Queen of Serpents.

“It’s time, Mr. Ryan. Time for your reckoning. Time for you to die. Are you ready?” she asked, with the emotions of a robot.

“Never!” I said, defiantly. She straightened her body enough to pull my feet from the floor, leaving me dangling in her grasp. I kicked as hard as I could but it was useless. Finally, I closed my eyes and she savagely jerked my head backwards and peeled them open again with two of her spindly fingers.

“I want you to see this,” she grinned.

“No!” I protested, uselessly.

With a sinister snarl, she announced…

“General Love…has returned.”