Some Kind of Monster

Four kids go into the Woods, searching for adventure, and instead face evil itself

I

 

There are some things which are not supposed to be known. There are deep, dark secrets, hidden out there in the world, that are buried so far away, that they are not meant to be dug up ever. If they do, in a slight chance, get dug up, there are unknown consequences that could, well, be horrific.

            I dug up one of those secrets.

 

II

 

I was only fifteen at the time. I worried about what average teenagers my age worried about: school, studying for my driver’s exam, girls, etcetera. I didn’t think anything would go wrong…

            The end of the ninth grade was only a month away. Finals were just around the corner, and I was cranking through every book in the local library, downloading every piece of information into my brain as I could. My friend Carlo joined me, turning through an aging textbook from the seventies, because he too had to take the same finals.

            “I don’t want to do this,” Carlo wined

            “What, do you think I want to do this either?” I replied. “Like I said before, we’ll only work for another half hour; then we’ll stop for today.”

            “Today! Come on Toby, I think we’ve read every single book in this place; there’s nothing more to learn.”

            “I guess you’re right,” I replied, “I just want summer to be here already! Come on, let’s go.” I slammed by book shut, nearly shaking the foundation loose, and began stacking the books in a large pile. Carlo did the same, not uttering a single word. We got up and put the book in a shelf next to us ironically titled “TEXTBOOKS”.

            We headed out the back door, walking over to Carlo’s bright neon green-and-red BMX bike, with my skateboard slipped in the bike lock. He spun the combination into the lock and pulled it apart, handing me my board.

            “Hey, let’s go see what Brianna’s doing,” Carlo said, twisting his flat-billed cap backwards.

            “Dude,” I sighed, “she doesn’t like you! She told you that to your face!”

            “She likes me, she doesn’t know it yet.”

            “And, either way, doesn’t she live like three miles away? There’s no way we’ll get there before it gets dark.”

 

III

 

Thanks to some shortcuts Carlo knew, we arrived at her house in less than ten minutes. It was a good thing too, because the sun was beginning to set behind some mountains in the distance.

            Her house is located right next to an open street, with a chain-link gate separating her small, shabby-looking house from the rest of the world. But it wasn’t like it stood out amongst the other houses in the area; the houses to the left and right were all pretty much the same.

            Carlo stopped abruptly next to her house’s gate. I stepped off my board and kicked it into my hands. Carlo set his bike on its side on the sidewalk and opened the chain-link gate, but I quickly stopped him. “Hold on, if she sees your face first, she’s just going to slam the door on us. Let me go first.”

            “Why,” Carlo said, “who says she won’t slam the door in your face?”

            “Just watch,” I said, slipping past him. I walked up the walkway and up a few steps, poking the doorbell on the wall. A ding ran through the house, followed by seconds of silence. Finally, a voice yelled at me from behind the door. “WHO IS IT,” a girl’s voice rang out, “IF YOU’RE TRYING TO SELL SOMETHING, GET LOST!”

            “No, it’s just me, Travis Campbell, we have biology together�"”

            I was cut off as the door opened, Brianna standing there in a black tank top and jeans, with enough eyeliner on to make her hair even darker, if that was possible. She was probably pretty, but because she always wore a truckload of makeup on, I never really understood why Carlo liked her.

            “Hi,” she said, showing her bright-white teeth, “what’s up?” She looked around me, only to see Carlo slick his hair back. “Oh god, you’re here,” she sighed.

            All of a sudden, I heard a loud scream come from the back of the house. “HONEY, WHO’S AT THE DOOR?” a man said, a southern drawl slightly apparent in his voice.

            “JUST SOME FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL, DAD!” Brianna yelled back in reply. “Well, mostly,” she quietly added.

            “GO GET DADDY A BEER!” her father replied back.

            “WHY DON’T YOU JUST GET UP AND GO GET ONE!” She replied back.

            “BECAUSE I SAID SO!”

            Brianna didn’t move from the doorway. “Don’t worry; he usually falls asleep after getting drunk. Hey, do you mind if I bring a friend along?”

            “No problem,” I replied.

            She ran from the door without saying a word. A couple of seconds later, she came out, pulling out another girl with her.

            “I assume you’ve met Christy,” Brianna asked, closing the door behind her. Christy was her best friend, and couldn’t be more different; Christy had long brown hair with freckles flecked all over her face. She wore a shiny plastic headband, the same orange color as her braces, which she flashed immediately upon seeing my face. She has had a crush since the sixth grade, when I picked her to be on my team in ultimate Frisbee for P.E., which she sucked at because she couldn’t catch a single pass. And to add, along with her being the smartest kid in the school, I kind of found her annoying. But I couldn’t say that to her face; I’m too nice, and she’d probably cry, and I couldn’t live with that.

            “Yes, we have English together,” Christy answered for me, batting her eyelashes at me. I smiled back, trying not to show how aggravated I was.

            “Oh, come on, why is she here?" Carlo yelled. 

            Christy turned around. “Oh, like you’re something! Are you even taking any honors classes?”

             Carlo paused, trying to think of an answer. “Umm…no, but so what, honors just means more work, and I don’t like work.”

            “Typical,” Christy said, “at least Travis takes honors classes, don’t you Travis?”

            I nodded my head, not bothering to answer back.

            “So, let’s go. It better be good, because I’m probably going to be grounded for a month for sneaking out.”

            Christy and Brianna looked at me, but I just stood there in silence, because I didn’t know what we were going to do. I looked over at Carlo, who, seeing that I was in trouble, walked up the walkway and stood on the first step. “Well, I have an idea of what we could do,” he said.

            “What’s that?” Brianna asked.

            “Well, there’s this story�"now I’m not saying it’s true�"but supposedly, in the woods, on the other side of town, there’s a ghost�"”

            “Oohh, I LOVE ghost stories.” Christy said.

             “Oh for crying out loud,” Brianna said, “there’s no such thing as ghosts. You’ve obviously watched Paranormal Activity too many times.”

            “That’s actually true,” I said, chuckling under my breath.

            “DUDE, COME ON!” Carlo yelled, “You’re supposed to be on my side. Remember, I showed you that map, and that old diary.”

            “So, that could’ve easily been some old nutcase who wrote that,” I said, “but, you know, we don’t have anything else to do…so why not, let’s go.”

            “Alright,” Brianna said, “let’s go. But this better be good, Carlo, or I’m going to beat the crap out of you.

            Now, unknown to us at the time, we’d find much more than just ghosts.

 

IV

 

We had to stop at Carlo’s house first, to get the map (the diary was useless to us at this point). Along the way, we also stopped at my house, where I asked my parents if I could go camping with Carlo’s family in the woods, and they said yes. I dropped off my skateboard and got a sleeping bag, some snacks, flashlight, and other supplies.

            It was around nine o’clock when we headed off to the Woods. The Woods were outside of the city, down a gravel path, which cut through a large field of long green grass. From what we’d heard, the Woods weren’t exactly woods; they were just trees growing from the roots of an old abandoned town. But nobody was certain about it, because nobody had been in the Woods to prove it.

            The four of us walked down the road, not saying many words. Of course, Carlo was hitting on Brianna left and right, even though he was bleeding from a scratch he got when she tossed him off his bike. Christy and I were in the front, and she tried to hold my hand a few times, but never didn’t because I would quietly slip my hands in my pockets before she could.

            After about ten minutes, we arrived at the entrance to the Woods, which was nothing more than an opening made of oddly bent trees and dry yellow bushes. I had stopped just a couple of steps in front of the entrance, and took my phone out of my pocket and unlocked it. It was nine-thirty, and every ounce of sunlight had faded away into the night.

            “Hey, Travis, what’s the matter,” Carlo said, riding slowly over to me, “you scared?”

            “No,” I said, “it’s just…it’s just something isn’t right about this place, something, well, wrong.”

            “Wow, and you said you didn’t believe in ghosts,” Carlo said, “come on, let’s go, before it gets too late.” He got off his bike and walked it through the entrance. Brianna and Christy followed suit. Finally, I followed them through the entrance.

            Now, I didn’t know it then, but I was right.

 

V

 

The Woods were near pitch-black, so I pulled out the flashlight from my backpack and shone it in

front of me. All around me, there were loose branches, sticks, stones, and other objects one could easily trip on without light.

            "Dude, watch it!" Carlo said, walking his bike into a tree. "Probably should've left this at home."

            "Yeah," I replied. "Hey, where's Christy and Brianna?"

             Carlo pointed back. I turned around, only to see the two huddled together, Brianna holding out her smartphone, a small white light shining from the back. It took all I had not to burst out laughing.

            Carlo looked around at his feet, and knelt down, picking up a small stone. He tossed it slightly, the stone bouncing on one of Brianna's sneakers. Instantly, she began screaming at the top of her lungs. Christy joined in too, probably screaming from the surprise of Brianna screaming.

            After their screaming episode, they looked over towards us. Carlo stood there, a gigantic smile stretched across his stupid face. Instantly, Brianna ran at Carlo, throwing a fist straight into his gut. A loud thud echoed out, and everybody stood still, except for Carlo, who slowly fell to the ground, moaning in pain. His bike fell to the ground, the chain rattling.

            "Holy crap, are you okay?" Brianna asked, walking over to Carlo.

            Carlo didn't answer for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath. Awhile later, he answered. "I'm fine, just got the wind knocked out of me," he said.

            I reached out a hand and helped him up. He picked up his hat, which lay in a patch of mud next to him. He looked around him, and a frightened expression began to form on his face. "Guy, where's my bike?"

            We all looked around, looking for Carlo's precious BMX bike. Normally. anyone could spot the bike from a mile away, because of the bright neon green color it was painted with. But we looked and looked for ten minutes, and still no bike.

            Carlo was sitting on the ground, his eyes darting left and right in a maniac-like style. "Dude, you okay? I think Brianna hit you a little too hard."

            "That's not it," he said, continuing to freak out, "if my bike's gone. and nobody we know took it, that means that there's someone, something out here with us!"

            I tried my absolute hardest not to burst out laughing. "Dude, you're just getting paranoid. You're bike's probably around here. Come on, we need to move." I helped him up again, and we continued on our journey through the woods. 

 

VI

 

The Woods became thicker the deeper we went. Eventually, I was tripping over roots and stepping in mud, and so were the others. Every few minutes, like clockwork, one of the others would suggest that we turn back, or that this was a bad idea. But I continued to push us on.

            Eventually, the Woods began to get a tad bit lighter, just enough to let some moonlight through the treetops. We were able to turn off our flashlights at one point, which was great, because my flashlight was beginning to give out.

            We were continuing on our journey, when suddenly, a small glimmer of light shone into my eyes. I quickly looked in the direction of the light. Nothing I saw at first looked like an object that could produce a reflection that bright, then I looked a little to the right. I saw an old, bent sign attached to the top of an old wooden stick with a few termite holes threatening to tip it over. It was covered in red rust, to the point where nobody could read it. Only a little corner wasn't covered in rust.

            "Hey guys, check this out!" I yelled. Quickly, everybody came over to where I was standing. I pointed towards the sign, the moonlight reflection shining on the tip of my finger. "What do you guys think that is?"

            "I don't know...a sign maybe?" Christy suggested.

            "Looks old, from what I can tell," Brianna said, "and why would there be a sign in the middle of a forest?"

            "Let's find out," Carlo said, walking over to the sign. He took out a small switchblade from his pocket and began scraping the rust off of the sign. It took awhile, but eventually he got enough off to where he could read the whole sign. "Got it!" he yelled. We all rushed over to Carlo, a wonder-filled pit rising in my stomach.

            We gazed at the sign. A discolored arrow pointed towards our left, with a large "20" printed above. "Twenty what? Miles, feet?" Christy asked.

            I looked in the direction of the sign, staring into the empty, dark forest. I pulled out my phone and unlocked it. Twelve-fifty. We needed to get a move on.

            "Well, what do we have to lose? Let's go." I said.

            So, we marched on, deeper into the Woods. The trees around me started to get less lush than the ones that blocked out the moonlight. And I kept looking around corners, having the feeling that someone, something was in these Woods, watching us. Maybe Carlo was right....

 

VII

 

After about twenty minutes (so that was what the twenty was for!) of walking through the thinning Woods, we came across a hut with a tree growing out of the top. To call it a shack would be an understatement; half of it had fallen apart, and the other half was infested with termites.

            I stopped at the shack, looking at it with an odd curiosity. Then I looked at a sign, nailed above the doorway. It was the same color as the sign before, yet this one wasn't covered in rust. But, ironically, the words were so smeared that there was no way to read it.

            Brianna and Christy had passed me by, but Carlo had stayed behind, standing beside me. "What do you think this old thing used to be?" he asked me.

            "I don't know," I replied. I took a step inside the shack, the pungent odor of rotting wood intoxicating my lungs. It was so bad I nearly gagged my lunch up right then and there. Carlo followed suit, and his reaction was more or less the same as mine.

            The remaining wall of the shack was filled with shelves and shelves of, well, junk. One item looked like an old pocket watch; another was a jar of jelly, or at least I thought it was jelly. But one thing, among the junk and clutter, was what looked like a revolver that lay propped against the wall. A small, nearly-bursting pouch lay next to it. I walked over and pulled both off of the shelf.

            Carlo walked closer to me, and seeing me pick up the gun, walked back slowly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude, watch where you point that thing!"

            "Dude, relax, I know what I'm doing." I pulled a pin on the revolver, causing the barrel to pop open. I opened the pouch, several silver bullets glinting in my eyes, and inserted six into the cylinder, snapped the gun close with a flick of the wrist, and slipped it in my waste band.

            "You do know that thing could explode at any time," said Carlo, "and if you blow yourself up, it's not my fault."

            As he said this, Christy ran into the shack panting like a dying animal. Instantaneously she gagged  at the smell of the room. "Hey, guys, you gotta see this."

            We followed her out of the room and deeper into the Woods. We didn't stop until we got to another sign, this time readable. "Main St." it read in the same lettering.

            Looking down Main, I found what still amazed me to this very day: on both sides of a dirt-road path were shacks just like the one we just ran out of, except these were newer, and not as worn down. There was everything from a barber shop to an old library. It kind of amazed me, to see a town so old, yet preserved in a way only the hands of God could.

            Then, in the distance, I saw Brianna run towards us. I didn't think anything of it, until she started screaming like a mutilated animal.

            "RUN! RUN!" she yelled at us, almost plowing me over in the process. I turned to see what the matter was, and instantly my jaw dropped.

            Out of some of the old buildings on Main Street, people began to slowly make their way out. But, then again, calling them people would be largely inaccurate. They weren't like you and me, with colored skin, colored hair and eyes. Not these. These THINGS were white, not albino white per say, but a tone of white that a human couldn't possibly achieve. 

            I pulled out the gun from my waist band and aimed it at the crowd of oncoming creatures. I was hesitant to pull the trigger and fire a few shots, but I realized that this gun was old and unkempt, and could possibly blow up in my face. But in this situation, I had limited options.

            I turned to Carlo. "Go back to that old shack that we got this from, and go get the red bag of bullets." He nodded in reply, running off to get the bullets.

            Then, the odds turned extremely against us. The oncoming army headed towards us began to advance slowly, until they were at a running pace. They didn't moan and groan like zombies did, but fluids bellowed out of them by pounds.

            I turned around and ran after Carlo, passing him and heading into the shack. I grabbed the bag of bullets and ran back out. Carlo had gone ahead, probably after the girls. I pulled the hammer back on the pistol and, in a leap of faith, pulled the trigger.

            A single bullet had shot out and tore a hole through one of the inhuman soldiers. Black bile poured through the bullet hole, causing the creature to fall to the ground. Immediately, about six or seven of it's fellow creatures to stop dead in their tracks and rip it apart, eating arms and limbs off without an ounce of remorse.

            I never stopped, as I looked at this, the act of brutal remorse, the picking off of the weak link. It still chills me to the very bone, even to this very day. Even though it was so horrible, so sick, it was another reason not to stop, to make sure they didn't get to my friends, the ones I care for.

            "Travis, over here!" I turned, and ran towards Christy, who was knelt low, next to a thick bush. I crept quickly over towards her and ducked behind the bush, joining the rest of the group.

            I couldn't see out of the bush, I only heard the thundering stampede of thousands of monsters looking for us, something to eat. The parade of evil went on for what seemed like fifteen minutes, until a thick silence fogged over the Woods. We didn't move for several minutes, afraid that they were waiting for us to get out in the open.

            After thirty minutes, we ducked out from behind the bush and examined the area; the ground before us was imprinted with the thousands of feet of the undead creatures.

            Everybody looked at me with a terrified look in their eyes. "Let's get out of here," Christy whispered, "I've seen enough to scare me for a lifetime, thank you very much."

            "Yeah, I'm with Christy on this one," Brianna agreed, "we can't go on, it's too dangerous."

            "Dude, I never thought I'd be saying this, ever, but I'm scared. We almost got ourselves killed. That's far enough for me."

            I didn't reply for a few minutes. There was a mass of thoughts flowing through my mind at the same time. I was done; I wanted to run out of these Woods that minute, and never come back again. But I didn't.

            "We go on."

            Everybody was silent for a second. They just looked at me with an expression that said: no.

            "What are you talking about?" Carlo asked. "We can't. Did you just see what happened! They, them, whatever they were, they wanted to kill us, EAT us probably, and you want to go ON!"

            "We're close, I can sense it," I replied, "there's something in here, something in these woods, that is close, and it needs to be solved, for humanities sake."

            They stared in silence at me for a minute or two, contemplating what to say next: yes, or no. Finally, Christy spoke.

            "Let's go."

            "I'm in," Brianna agreed.

            "If we die, I'm gonna kill you!" Carlo butted in.

            "Okay," I said, "let's go."   

 

VIII

 

For an hour, we swept every inch of Main Street, picking up supplies for the rest of the trek. I happened to find a shotgun, and a few extra bullets, not much. I'd only use this if we came across another heard of the creatures.

            Afterwards, we continued on.

            Carlo carried the shotgun, holding the gun from its handle, afraid that it would go off. Christy carried a key chain of some sorts she found. Brianna just walked beside me, head down, just walking.

            I looked at her at one point. "You okay?" I asked her."

            "Yeah, I'm feeling great," she said sarcastically, "I'm just so excited to die maybe!"

            I laughed it off in a chuckle. "No, seriously, it'll be okay, I promise."

            "Okay, you promised, so it's going to happen, you hear me."

            "Okay," I replied."

            We continued on in silence, until we came across a fork in the road. There were two signs, this time made of old wood, pointing down each of the two paths. One read "escape" in what looked like blood. The other one, printed in the black bile that spewed out of the monsters before, read "hate".

            I looked at everybody, whom I guess, were thinking the same thing I was.

            I turned down the road of hate.

 

IX

 

The trees began to thin out dramatically within the first minutes down the road of hate. They became nothing more than tall twigs. The sky was a dark, evil-looking black, that made my stomach quiver.

            Finally, we arrived at a tall, rusty gate, Leaning against it was Carlo's neon-green bike. He ran over to it with a temporary smile on his face. It was still in perfect condition, except for some writing written in black bile.

            LAST CHANCE.

            Tucked in one of the brake lines was a long, old skeleton key. He took it out, wiped off some dust, and twisted it in the lock. The gate opened by itself with an eerie creek.

            Out from behind a tree, one of the monsters that chased us from before walked out. I pulled out the revolver from my waist band and aimed for the center of its forehead.

            The creature moved both hands up slowly. "Follow me," it said in a dark, crackling voice.

                        And so we did...

 

X

 

We followed the creature for about a half an hour, but it seemed like hours. We didn't say a single word the whole way, afraid that if we would make a sound, the monster leading us would turn around and rip our guts out with his jaws.

            Finally, he stopped a large mausoleum. The door was at least twice my height, and made of solid gray concrete. He approached it and twisted the knob, opening it.

            "He's waiting," the creature grunted. We went inside, where he slowly closed the door behind us.

            It was pitch-black inside the mausoleum, like the sky was outside. I felt along the walls, looking for some light or anything. It took me awhile, but I finally felt a long, thin string, and pulled it.

            The room was engulfed in a low orange-yellow light from a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling by a thin string. Looking around, I saw a small trapdoor in the floor. Brianna walked over and lifted it up. "Can't see anything, but there's light at the end."

            "Let's go," I said, and she did so, followed by Christy, Carlo, and finally me. We slowly made our way down the cold concrete steps. The walls seemed to squeeze me tighter and tighter, a bubble of claustrophobia forming in the pit of my stomach.

            We got off the stairs and turned right down a long dark hallway. The light at the end of the tunnel began to get brighter and brighter, but the light also meant that Death could be at the end of the tunnel.

            We exited the hallway, only to be blinded by a bright blast of white light. It felt like my eyeballs were being burned right in my sockets, while needles were being poked in them at the same time.

            When my vision finally came back, I saw that we were inside a sort of underground dungeon, bright torches with white fire at their tips lighting the room in an holy white. But this place sure didn't feel holy. There were stained-glass windows high above us, depicting what looked like some kind of monster, with a charcoal black body, and multiple limbs sprouting out of its body. In the middle of the floor, right were we stood, a series of symbols painted in dried blood encircled a small black glass ball embedded in the floor. Something wasn't right     

            I just stood there in silence for a few minutes, looking at the stained-glass windows, feeling the walls talk around me. At first, it seemed to be only my imagination, but, as it got louder, Carlo began to get a scared look in his face. And so did Brianna and Christy.  

            The sounds began to get louder, and louder, until it sounded like an earthquake was shaking the whole building. A few chunks of wall hit the ground with a loud pound.

            Suddenly, the small glass ball in the center of the floor began to emit a dark black smoke. All of us stepped a few feet backwards, as the smoke cloud grew bigger and bigger and taller and taller, until it reached the top of the building.

            Out of the smoke, a figure stepped out. At first glance, the figure appeared to be human, at first, then the smoke cleared. It had multiple arms and legs sprouting out of its body, each one as muscular than the other. Its face was as black at the rest of its body, except for the eyes, which were paper-white with no pupils.

            It walked towards us, the ground cracking under it's feet. It surprised me that he could even walk, only because of the seven or eight legs sprouting from its body.

            It stopped and stared at us with its pupil-less eyes, scanning us like we were blimps on sonars. "So," it spoke with a growl of a voice, "you're must be the little maggots that woke me up from my slumber." None of us answered him; we were too busy being scared. "Well, are you?"

            "Yes," Christy whimpered.

            The Monster sighed. "Wow, I've been asleep for two hundred years, and I get woken up by a bunch of pipsqueaks looking for ghosts."

            "Wait," I butted in, "how'd you know that? We never told you that."

            "I can read your minds, all of your minds. Do you know what makes me?"

            We all shook our heads.

            "You make me. I am made of your fears, anxieties, hatred, every evil emotion in your decrepit little bodies." The Monster turned towards Carlo. "You're afraid of not getting Ms. Tar-Face over there to like you, or anyone, for that matter."

            "Hey," Carlo yelled, "don't call her that!"

            "Make me!"

            I tried to grab Carlo's arm, but he was too quick. He ran at the Monster, throwing a fist at its face. The Monster caught it in one of its many humongous hands, squeezing until Carlo's fist broke as if it were popping a beach ball. One of its other arms sucker-punched him in the ribs, knocking him to the floor. Finally, to finish it off, one of its feet came crashing down on Carlo's right leg Carlo belted out a loud scream, which echoed around the dungeon.

            I ran over and helped Carlo up. The Monster just stood there and laughed. "That's what you get for defending somebody."

            While Carlo leaned on me, I pulled out the revolver and pointed it at it. "Don't move, or I'll shoot!" I yelled.

            The Monster laughed again, taking a step closer.

            "I mean it!"

            Another, and another. I pulled the hammer back, it still came closer, until it was right in front of me. My hand was trembling like a fully-loaded washing machine.

            The Monster just simply took the gun out of my hands, released the hammer, and threw it across the room. The gun hit the wall with a loud thud.

            "You, you're afraid of failing. Afraid of making mommy and daddy disappointed in you. That's why you and your little friend have been studying for the past month, so that you don't fail." The Monster walked past us, moving towards Brianna and Christy, who were huddled in a corner, holding each other. "You, Ms. Tar-Face!"

            "Who, me?" Brianna asked.

            "Yes, you retard, get up." She did as told, her legs trembling like my hand was. "Come closer, closer, that's good." It stroked her hair with one of its many hands. "You, well, you're something special; you're not afraid of disappointing anybody or not being liked, heck, you've disappointed me and I don't like you, and I don't even know your name. Your fears are a lot more in the physical sense. You're afraid that daddy's going to smack you up when you get home, like he always does when he gets drunk." It turned to Christy. "Well, you're just afraid I'm gonna scalp you and eat you like a midnight snack, which I will!"

            As this was going on, I thought of a plan to get us out of here. "I've got a plan," I told Carlo.

            "Oh great, not another one of your brilliant plans."

            "It's all we got." I set him down on the ground, holding his moth as he screamed from the pain. I moved his leg, placing my backpack under it and taking out my flashlight, making him bite on it. Slowly, I made my way across the dungeon, towards the gun. I made slow, quiet steps, afraid of the Monster noticing me. Lucky for me, I got to the gun without it noticing. Then, again, I made my way to the Monster, this time running. I slowed to a stop and pointed the gun at the back of its head, puling the hammer back.

            "Do you think a bullet's going to kill me?" it said, "I mean come on, I've got muscles bigger than your whole head. I'm going to squash you like a bug!" It turned around, swing a fist at me. I dodged it, quickly aiming the gun, and pulled the trigger.

            It stopped dead in its tracks. A small bullet hole was apparent in his chest and, despite the size, was shooting out rivers of blood. I pulled the trigger again and again, until the gun clicked with silence.

            It fell backwards on the ground, and screamed like Carlo did earlier, only louder. "How?! They're only bullets!"

            "I'm not scared anymore," I said, throwing the gun on the ground, as the Monster turned back into the cloud of black smoke, and faded into the black glass ball in the floor, leaving only a large pool of blood. I fell to my knees.

 

XI

 

We escaped back up the steps, where the door to the mausoleum was open for us. We headed outside, the dawn light shining in our eyes.

            The walk home was treacherous, because I had to carry Carlo on my shoulder, and because of what we went through. We had literally met evil at its finest. I'm pretty sure I didn't kill it, because I don't think things that evil die.

            We got Carlo to the hospital, where he stayed for ten weeks, not counting physical therapy. He still had to take his finals though, and passed with flying colors.

            After that, I didn't talk to Christy and Brianna after that. We said hi occasionally, but nothing more, until college, where Brianna and I went to the same junior college. We got married three years later, Carlo my best man and Christy made of honor.

            Carlo isn't married, as far as I know. We get a Christmas card from him every year, each with a picture of him and his hot girlfriend and dog at his million-dollar mansion in south Florida, where he writes Academy-award winning screenplays.

            As for Christy, things didn't go out so well. She went to MIT, graduated at top of her class, and moved to California, where, on one night, she went for a walk and was hit my a drunk driver. She was killed on impact.

            For me, life is normal. I write novels for a living (one's being made into a movie). I've got a daughter named Emily whom I love more than anything in the world. She's eighteen, and going to the University of Irvine in the fall.

            I've got to cut this short, sorry. Emily needs a ride to Prom. I'm making sure she doesn't go with some thug. But I trust her, him, not so much.

THE END