The Tomatosoupsopians

By: Sara Holthouse

Chapter 1

I don't like the school's cafeteria's food. I know you've all heard kids say it. But, they were just talking about it being gross. No, that's not what I'm talking about at all. My name is George Tiggerclock. And, you bet sit back, relax and find a comfortable spot to read this. Because my story is a long one, and one I'm sure you've never heard before.

It all started on a Wednesday morning, in around the middle of May when we were in seventh grade. My friends, Steve, Fred, Bob, Ned, Chip and I were getting off our buses to go into the school. We all rode different buses, so we usually got off and met up by the front doors. I was the first one in, and stood their off to the side, waiting. There was the usual mob of kids coming through the doors, and I figured it might take them a while to get in the school.

"Tiggerclock, what are you doing?!" a voice asked right behind me, making me jump. I turned around, and came face to face with Mrs. Stone. Mrs. Stone was my Science teacher and ever since Steve, Fred, Bob, Ned, Chip and I had started her class she had always been trying to catch me for something. I swear that woman had it in for me.

"Waiting for my friends, ma'am," I said, trying to keep the annoyed sound out of my voice. I really didn't need to start the day off with getting in trouble for no reason. Mrs. Stone snorted disbelievingly at me.

"You and your little troublemakers' gang," she said. "I know I've never been able to get you six for anything before, but someday…Oh, someday I will get you."

"Whatever you say," I said, sarcastically. It was true, my friends and I had gotten into trouble in the past. But, I was the one who always had a plan, and always got us out of it. Now, my friends always looked to me for a plan. I'm not sure I really liked it that way. I spotted Bob coming towards me through the crowd. Mrs. Stone spotted him too. She sighed, turned and walked away. Bob made it over to me.

"Hey man," he said. "What'd that old crone want this time?"

"Oh, the usual," I replied. "Trying to get me into trouble for no reason, AGAIN. Man, we should report her for threatening students."

"Nah, they'd never believe us," another familiar voice said. Chip had made it through the throng. Fred, Steve and Ned pushed their ways through the crowd a few minutes after him.

"Ya, probably not," I replied. "Come on, let's go, or we'll be late for homeroom."

Our homeroom was downstairs in a room right next to the cafeteria. It was the English room. Homeroom wasn't very long. It wasn't very exciting either. Mostly all we did was sit there and talk or did homework until the bell rang. That's originally how it started out. I did my math homework, and then had to go, so I went to the bathroom. I had just finished drying my hands, when I heard an explosion in the cafeteria. I ran out of the bathroom, and stopped at the edge of the cafeteria. All the tables were up against the wall, and red was splattered everywhere. At first, I thought it was blood. And then, I smelled tomatoes.

Tomato soup? I thought, surprised. I had no idea what was going on. I walked farther into the cafeteria. I spotted the pan of tomato soup, which I could only guess had been prepared for lunch, on the floor. There was a big red splotch of soup on the floor beside it. There was a weird gurgling noise. The splotch started moving. All around me on the walls and floor the red spots started bubbling. Then, something started coming out of the big spot on the floor.

Chapter 2

A small red thing pulled itself out of the spot. Most of its body was red with a few green spots and green ends on its antennae sticking out from its head. One of its feet was bigger than the other, and they both looked like rabbit feet. All around me the little creatures were coming out of the tomato soup spills. The ones on the floor started walking slowly towards me. I backed up. I walked backwards until I was in the corner that was the only spot in the cafeteria with no soup on it. There were millions of the little creatures now surrounding me.

I've GOT to be dreaming, I thought. I tried biting my cheek, but all it did was draw blood. Nope, not dreaming. The monster that had come out of the biggest spot stepped out of the group. It was the biggest, and some small part of my brain associated the fact that he was the leader.

"We are the Tomatosoupsopians," the creature said. "We are here to kill of your kind and then claim this planet as ours. And we will eliminate you especially."

Oh crap, I thought. They're here to kill us all, and I'm their first kill. Well, I was not ready to let that happen. And, I was too scared to try and figure out why they wanted me especially. But, I was still stuck in the corner. The Tomatosoupsopians in the front row started pulling things out. I didn't know where they were pulling it out of, but they must've had invisible backpacks or something. But suddenly, all the Tomatosoupsopians in the front row had guns pointed at me. I gasped. I heard a door down the hall being thrown open. I didn't dare look to see.

"George!" I heard a voice yell. I realized it was Ned. The Tomatosoupsopians turned to look. I leapt forward and kicked some of them in their faces. The fell backwards, and I leapt over the rest of the group. I tucked my arms and legs below me, and landed in a roll. I jumped to my feet and ran towards where Ned, Fred, Steve, Chip and Bob were waiting for me with the homeroom door open. They were all holding weapons of some sort that I'd never seen before in my life. I ran through the door, and they followed. Chip turned around and locked the door behind us. Everybody else that was in our homeroom was gone. The room was completely empty except for us.

"Where'd everybody go?" I asked.

"The buses," Steve said. "There was an announcement on the loud speaker that told everyone to go to the busses because the school was under attack. We were going to wait for you. Didn't you hear the announcement?"

"Loud speakers don't work in the bathroom," I said. There wasn't even a loud speaker in the bathroom. "I just heard an explosion, and ran to see what it was and those little creatures that were out there started coming out of the soup!"

"Seriously?!" Bob asked.

"Ya!" I exclaimed. "Why would I joke about that? Anyway, they called themselves the Tomatosoupsopians and said they were here to kill all the humans, and then take over the planet." Everyone stared at me in silence for a few moments. Then, I said quietly, "And…they wanted….me. I…I don't know why."

"Well, we're not gonna let them have you," Chip said.

"Well then, what do we do?" Fred asked.

"We've got to fight them," I said. "It's the only way. Everyone else is gone, so they'll be safe and won't be in the way. That gives us the whole school to fight in."

"Ya, but that also means it's us four against a million of those things," Bob said. I looked over at him.

"We have to try," I replied. I looked out the window to see the first of the buses go rolling by. I looked out the windows in the door. The Tomatosoupsopians were still out in the cafeteria, and they were coming closer. I sighed, plopped down at a desk, put my face in my hands, and started thinking. What are we going to do?

Chapter 3

"Where'd you guys get the weapon things?" I asked.

"Found them in the cabinet," Fred said. "The announcement came over the speakers, and they just sort of fell out. Kind of like the teacher was hiding them for this moment." I stood up and went over to the cabinet. There were hundreds of weapons in there, bows and arrows, guns, weird things that I'm not even sure what they were. I picked out a bow and a quiver of arrows, along with a gun. I turned back to my friends and walked back over to the door.

"I think we should split up," I said. A plan started forming in my head. "If we split up, we'll split up the whole group, and then maybe it'll be a little bit easier to get rid of them. If you think of something else while we're split up, don't hesitate to do it, just carry out your plan. "Cause right now this is the best one I got." We lined up in front of the door. I was in the back, to make sure everyone else got out safely. Chip went out first and ran down the hall. Then, Bob ran out and ran down a different way. The Tomatosoupsopians split and ran after each one. Then, Fred and Ned ran out. We were starting to confuse the monsters by now, I could tell. I was the only one left. I swung the quiver over my shoulder, stuck the bow onto it, and held my gun out in my right hand. Then, I opened the door and ran out into the hall. I saw Fred speeding away down the hall, with a big group right behind him. "Hey losers, over here!" I yelled. The Tomatosoupsopians turned to look at me. Half of the group split and ran towards me. I turned and ran up the stairs. I skipped every other step as I ran, and I soon found myself on the top floor of the school. The whole entire hall that I could see was empty. I started jogging down the hall. I brought my gun up to be ready to shoot, just in case. I got to the middle of the hall, and decided to turn the corner. I ran around the corner and got kneed in the head. I fell to the floor and my gun went spinning down the hall. Black spots danced in front of my eyes. I blinked them away, and reached up and felt my head. My hand came away bloody.

"Too bad Tiggerclock," the voice of the person who'd kneed me said. "You could've saved the world. I know you and your friends have it in you. Or, you could've been on my team. I've teamed up with them you know. They promised if I helped catch you, I could help them rule the world. You could've been there too. Instead you choose to fight and die. It's too bad…..Oh well, I told you I'd catch you for something didn't I?" Suddenly, I realized who was talking to me. I slowly looked up into the eyes of Mrs. Stone.

Ah, crap, I thought.

"Why do they want me?" I asked.

"They were told a long, long time ago that there would someday be a child that would be their undoing," Mrs. Stone said. "And, I've been watching you all year, and I KNOW you are who they were told of. They're eliminating you, so you don't eliminate them." That was enough for me. I started scooting backwards across the floor, feeling for my gun. "Silly boy," Mrs. Stone said. "Are you still trying to win? It's four of you against four-hundred of us you know. The Tomatosoupsopians will apprehend your friends soon enough, and then you're done for." She started walking towards me down the hall. I didn't dare glance behind me for my gun.

Where is it?! I thought. I reached back a bit farther, trying to feel for it still. I reached back too far. My hand slipped, and I found myself flat on my back on the floor. Mrs. Stone put her high heeled foot on my chest so that I couldn't stand up again. I still tried. I struggled underneath her, doing everything I could to push her off, or to slide away. Nothing worked. I heard noises behind me. Mrs. Stone looked up, and a smile split her evil old face. I knew immediately it was a group of Tomatosoupsopians. Getting desperate, I reached behind me, pulled an arrow out of the quiver and stabbed Mrs. Stone in the leg with it. The woman didn't even flinch. Oh no, I thought.

I heard a creaky voice behind me ask, "Is this the child?"

"Yes," Mrs. Stone said. "We need his friends too. I'm sure they will be your undoing too, if we get rid of him." I made one last desperate attempt to get away. Then, something hit me in the side of the head and I blacked out.

Chapter 4

I woke up with a searing pain all over my head. Clutching a hand to the side of my head I slowly sat up. Everything around me was dark, but there had to have been a light somewhere because I could see bars in front of me, and I knew I was in a cage. As far as I could tell, there was no one else there.

What happened? I thought. Then, I remembered everything. I slowly tried to stand up. With the help of the wall next to me, I managed to get up into a crouch, and then finally up to a stand. I stumbled forward to the front of the cage. There was a light on outside the cage, but I couldn't see anyone. I looked down and felt around for the cage lock. I found it, but I had no way to unlock it.

"Hey!" I yelled. Probably not the smartest idea ever, but I was desperate. I had to get to my friends. I had to warn them about Mrs. Stone. "Anybody out there?!" I yelled.

"George?" a voice said behind me. I whipped around. A girl in my class named Hailey was crouched in the corner.

"Hailey?" I asked surprised. "What are you doing here?" Then, I noticed more people behind her. There were people next to her too. It looked like the whole school was in the cage with me. "I thought you left on the buses?"

"The buses crashed," Hailey said. "Every single one of them. Then those weird little creatures brought us here. We've been here for two days."

"Two days!" I exclaimed. It had been more than a day? I buried my face in my hands.

There's no way they're still alive, I thought. But, I had to ask anyway. I took my hands away from my face.

"Did you hear anything about Bob, Steve, Chip, Fred and Ned?" I asked Hailey.

"No, Hailey replied. "But, the Tomatosoupsopians have been running around like crazy, so they're still out there somewhere." I nodded. I started thinking. I looked back over at the door to the cage. I wondered back over to it. That's when I realized, I knew where we were.

"We're in the school basement!" I exclaimed. Suddenly, I had a plan. I turned back to Hailey. "Do you have a hairpin?" I asked. Hailey nodded and pulled one out of her hair. She stood up and handed it to me. I nodded my thanks, and said, "Get the rest of the school ready." Hailey nodded, and went back to the cage. I turned and started to pick the lock on the cage. I hadn't really ever done something like that before, but it was easier than it looked. In about two minutes, I heard the lock click, and it swung down and crashed to the floor. I turned back around, and found myself facing the rest of the school. Hailey was in the front.

"Ready," she said. I nodded, turned back to the door, and kicked it open. I stepped back.

"Go! Go! Go!" I yelled. The rest of the school ran passed me. Once they were gone, I ran out of the cage. I spotted my weapons on a table a few feet away. I swung my quiver and bow back over my shoulder, and picked up my gun. I held it up, ready to shoot. This was all too easy. I saw the stairs that would lead me back to the rest of the school. I ran around the table, and up the stairs. I came out in the bottom hallway of the school. The doors outside were only a few feet in front of me. I saw the rest of the school running away from the school. I saw Hailey stop and look back at me. I motioned for her to keep going. Then, I turned and ran down the hallway. I spotted Steve walking around farther down the hall. Then, I saw Mrs. Stone appear behind him. "Steve!" I yelled in warning. Steve turned around. I shot my gun at the back of Mrs. Stone's head. A green glob came out of my gun and splattered on the back of her head. Mrs. Stone turned her attention from Steve to me. She started growling. Steve and I watched her, confused. Suddenly, Mrs. Stone started growing and changing shape. I took a step back.

"What's happening?!" Steve exclaimed. I had no answer for him. Mrs. Stone stopped changing. She looked down at me, growled and barred her teeth. Mrs. Stone had turned into a stone colored lion the size of an elephant. I shot my gun at her again. The glob hit her in the leg, and a big burning hole appeared. Mrs. Stone cried out in pain. I fired at her shoulder, and then at her neck. Mrs. Stone growled, and took a step towards me. Her one leg buckled beneath her. She fell to the floor, and rolled to the side, leaving a gap big enough for me to run through. I took that chance. While Mrs. Stone tried to stand back up, I ran through the gap she had left. I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and stabbed her thigh as I passed. Then, I was through the gap, and almost to Steve.

"Run! Run!" I yelled at him. Steve turned and ran. I caught up to him and we ran side by side. I heard Mrs. Stone yelling our names in a voice deeper than her normal one behind us. Steve and I ran to the doors that led outside, and burst through them. We ran out onto the grass. I heard a howl of rage behind us. I stopped and turned around, Steve right beside me. Mrs. Stone burst out of the school, showering bricks everywhere, and leaving a giant hole where the doors used to be. I dropped my gun, and pulled out my bow and an arrow. Mrs. Stone was trotting slowly towards us, her mouth hanging open like a dog's. I shot the arrow at her, and it lodged itself in the back of her mouth. Mrs. Stone stopped running, and staged sideways. She looked at me with surprised eyes. I took out another arrow, and shot it at the base of her neck. Mrs. Stone fell to the side, and crashed to the ground. She didn't move. The one eye I could see was open, and glazed over. Mrs. Stone was dead.

Chapter 5

I dropped my arm down to my side, bow dangling in my hand. I looked at Mrs. Stone, and then at the damaged school.

"I hope the school has lots of insurance," I said. I felt Steve's hand on my shoulder.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go find the others." We walked back into the school. We walked through the halls in silence for a few minutes, and then Steve said, "You didn't just kill a woman just now." I looked at him, confused. "You killed a monster," Steve said. "You killed a monster that would've destroyed the whole world if you hadn't. So, don't feel too bad." I gotta admit, I brightened up a bit after that.

We found Bob down in the cafeteria. There was a group of Tomatosoupsopians, and Bob was fighting them, and he wasn't doing too good. Steve and I rushed in to help. I fired my gun at the nearest Tomatosoupsopian, and took bunch out at the same time. Bob hadn't realized we were there until then.

"I wondered where you were!" he yelled.

"Slaying the beast!" I replied. Bob looked at me confused, and almost got taken out by a Tomatosoupsopian. Steve shot it just on time. "I'll tell you later!" I yelled at Bob. Bob nodded and turned back to the fight. I shot at another Tomatosoupsopian, and felt something grab my leg. I struck out, and heard a little squeal behind me. I turned and saw one of the little monsters flat on the ground behind me. I stomped on it angrily. It flattened into tomato paste. I turned back, and saw Steve looking at me. I looked at him confused, and then Steve fell to the floor.

"Steve!" I yelled. Bob looked over at us, his eyes wide. I ran over, and picked up Steve. I kicked back a Tomatosoupsopian, and Bob knocked a few more away from us.

"Run!" he yelled. We ran through the crowd of Tomatosoupsopians, and headed for the only place we could think of: the nurse's office. Each of us grabbed one of Steve's arms and threw them over our shoulders. I pulled Steve up farther, so he wouldn't be dragging on the ground. Luckily, Bob and I were both taller than Steve. And then, we turned from the fight and ran towards the stairs. Those stairs can barely have two people going up at the same time. We had three. We barely made it up the stairs, but somehow we did. I glanced back and saw the Tomatosoupsopians following us. We turned down the hallway and ran faster towards the nurse's office. I spotted the others up ahead a little ways, not very far from the nurse's office door.

"Guys!" I yelled. "Run!" Fred, Ned and Chip turned and saw us. I saw understanding flash on their faces, and they ran through the nurse's office door. Bob and I ran faster. The Tomatosoupsopians were right behind us. Bob charged through the door ahead of me. I ran through the door, tripped, and fell. I threw my hands out in front of me before I hit the ground. Steve rolled off my shoulder. "Lock it!" I yelled. Fred and Ned forced the door close, and locked it. The Tomatosoupsopians swarmed the door and stuck their ugly little faces against the glass at us. I picked Steve up under the armpits, and flopped him onto one of the nurse's beds. I looked around on Steve's body, looking for any signs of a wound. I didn't have to look very long. There was a blood spot staining the bottom of his shirt, just under his ribs. Not knowing what else to do, I pulled the shirt up off of the wound. It wasn't very big. I figured the Tomatosoupsopians' daggers were really small. But, the blood was still flowing out fast.

"Is there….bandages…or something?!" I asked the others. After a few minutes my friends put a box of Band-Aids and both wet and dry paper towels beside me. I grabbed a wet paper towel, and started mopping up the blood. I washed most of it away, but it just kept coming. I put two dry paper towels on the wound, and plastered it with Band-Aids. I threw the bloody paper towels away. Suddenly, the door flew open. The Tomatosoupsopians burst through the door.

Chapter 6

Fred, Ned, Chip and Bob jumped in front of the door and started to fight the Tomatosoupsopians. I continued plastering up Steve's wound. Pretty soon I spotted that the blood had stopped flowing. I put the remaining Band-Aids back in the box and turned towards the fight. I turned just in time to see Chip go down. Fred, Ned and Bob were already lying on the floor.

"NO!" I yelled. My gun was on the floor beside Steve's bed. I ran over, grabbed it, and jumped in front of Steve. I aimed my gun at the oncoming Tomatosoupsopians. The same one that had spoken to me before stepped out of the crowd.

"Give it up," it said. "You're the only one left. You know you can't finish this." I didn't move. I knew I was the only one left, but I was still going down fighting. I had to protect my friends. Suddenly, I heard sirens. Police and firefighter's sirens. The Tomatosoupsopians turned and looked at the door. I shot a relieved look at the ceiling.

Thank you Hailey! I thought. The Tomatosoupsopians turned to look back at me. I kept my gun aimed on them.

"You haven't won yet," The Tomatosoupsopian growled. They pulled out their mini swords and guns. I shot the one who did all the talking. Before the Tomatosoupsopians could react, I shot three more of them. But, I couldn't hold up for very long. They were coming at me faster and faster, and I was being overwhelmed. Suddenly, the door to the nurse's office burst open. Hailey ran in, along with a bunch of police officers. Then, pain burst through my chest. I looked down and saw a pool of blood on my chest. I looked up slightly, and saw with one of the Tomatosoupsopians still pointing its gun at me. I fell to the ground, heard someone scream my name, and then remembered no more.

I woke up in the hospital I don't know how much later. Every part of my body ached, and I felt like I could barely move. But, I found I could move my head. I turned my head and saw three beds on my left side with Steve, Bob and Chip in them. I turned my head to the right and saw Fred and Ned there. We all made it out of the nurse's office. We were alright. I looked up at the ceiling and breathed a sigh of relief. Soon, I felt good enough to sit up. I sat up slowly, and saw someone sitting in a chair. Their chin was against their chest, and the person was asleep. It took me a while, but I finally realized who it was. It was Hailey. I smiled. I looked back over at my friends. Steve was in the bed beside me. I could see he was still breathing, but I couldn't tell how he was.

"Steve…." I groaned. Steve moved slightly. That made me feel better. He was going to be alright. I looked at the others. Fred was the closest to me on my other side, and he was starting to stir. I looked back at Hailey. "Hailey," I whispered. She moved slightly, but didn't wake up. "Hey! Hailey!" I whispered louder. Hailey woke up, and brought head back up to its normal position.

"Hey, you're awake!" Hailey exclaimed. I smiled. Hailey got up, and came up to the side of the bed. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Like I died and came back," I muttered. I winced as my chest began to ache again. I looked down, and saw I had a weird hospital button up shirt thing. I reached up, and unbuttoned part of my shirt, so I could see my chest. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, yeah I was curious to see how my bullet wound looked, but there was a girl in the room! Oh well, it happened. Anyway, I unbuttoned my shirt a bit and saw my wound. It was still a little bit red, but I could tell the bullet wasn't there anymore. I don't know if it stuck there in the first place, but I don't think it did. The rest of the wound was a big bruise. I buttoned my shirt back up, and looked up at Hailey. "I realize I never got to tell you this," I said. "Thank you." Suddenly, I heard screaming and crying outside the room. I was still a little iffy after the attack, and nearly jumped out of bed, ready for the worst. Hailey put a hand on my shoulder and kept me in the bed. The door to our hospital room burst open and my mom came running in. Tears streaked her face, and I knew it was her that had been crying. I didn't know if it was happy or sad tears though. Hailey backed up and my mom ran towards me.

"Georgie!" she cried. Kind of embarrassing, but at that moment I decided not to care.

"Mom!" I exclaimed. She ran forward and grabbed me into a bear hug. I winced as pain burst up my back. Mom let go a bit, and then I returned her hug. I didn't know how long it had been since the attack started, or how long it had been since I'd seen my parents, but by the way my mother was holding me, it had been more than a day. I made to let go, but my mom didn't move. "Mom…." I muttered. She didn't do anything again. "Mom, you can let go now," I said, holding back laughter, but it might have been tears. "I'm alright."

"Oh, I know honey," my mom said, finally letting go. I grinned.

Chapter 7

A week later, Bob, Steve, Ned, Fred, Chip and I were back in school. It turned out, none of us were fatally wounded, and we were all fine by the time we returned, except for a few scratches. Except, we didn't return to our old school. That school kind of got destroyed in the Tomatosoupsopian attack. Now, our old schoolmates and we were going to a new school about a block away. But, we still passed our old school on the way there, because most of the time the six of us walked, since the new school was closer to where we all lived. So, we'd meet up, and sometimes walk past the old school. The door is still pretty much gone, destroyed from the lion/Mrs. Stone. The roof had sort of caved in too. I'm not sure what that was from. It must've happened after we were gone to the hospital. Anyway, we'd go there, stop, look at it, look at each other, and then continue to walk towards the new school.

It happened about our third month back. I was in Study lab, and just coming back from the bathroom. I entered the room, and stopped in my tracks. Everyone in the room was frozen. Even the super annoying jock guys that don't know how to keep their mouths shut, that sit in the back of the room. At first, I was sure they were playing a joke on me. I walked up to the teacher, and waved my hand in front of his face. He didn't move. And there was a look of complete horror on his face.

This isn't a joke, I realized. Something happened while I was gone… I backed away from the teacher, and slowly walked back into the hall. I glanced in the next room, and saw they were all frozen too. I didn't know what to do. The rest of my friends were either in a different study lab or at lunch. Suddenly, I heard yelling.

"Guys help!" I heard someone yell. I recognized the voice immediately.

Fred! I thought. I began jogging towards the stairs. I heard a yell again, this time more painful and scared. I took off running.

To Be Continued…