The Trail to Chicago
Denise was walking down the street when she saw Meredith across the street, she waved at her not realising there was an open man hole and fell straight down it! Meredith ran over to the man hole and looked down it.
'Oh my god, Denise are you okay?' she shouted down. She could see Denise sat in the sewer but she looked up at her.
'Yeah I'm fine!' Denise said happily before trying to stand up. Suddenly, there was a large splash and Denise stopped. There was something in the sewer with her! She could hear it! 'Mere, you need to help me out, now.' She said as she stared into the darkness. Suddenly, a giant lizard came out of nowhere and ate her! Meredith screamed loudly as the lizard spit out Denise's bones before slowly looking up at her.
'StarKid….' The lizard growled before scuttling off into the darkness, cackling loudly.
At Denise's funeral, Meredith was crying into Bran's arms. "It's ok, Mere. I'm here. I'll always be here. We'll always be together." He cooed as Brant went up to the podium to speak.
"Heeyy guuys. This is super sad that we're all here but I know that Denise would LOVE us all to have a good time and paaaartyy! So let's take our shirts off, well only the guys, and all get together and spread the love, my chicas. Also give a round of applause for Lauren who made all the delicious food, I love you honey, you are my girl, my one and only. Alright, let's party to some beyonce!" The room was silent for a moment as Brant stepped down then everyone started cheering and dancing. Brant and Lauren started making out and so did Walker and Julia.
Meredith pulled Bran off to the side as she needed to tell him something.
"What is it, Mere?" he asked
"The lizard that ate Denise…well…I think…I think it was the lizard that ate Bonnie."
"DUN DUN DUN"
They both turned to see Brant stood behind them, making the sound effect.
'Brant what are you doing? Go away.' Bran said with a frown.
'Okay I will but you better take that shirt off!' he replied
'Okay!' Meredith replied happily.
'No sweetie not you.' Brant said before slowly dancing away. Meredith and Bran watched him leave before turning back to each other. Bran pulled Meredith into his arms.
"It's gonna be ok, honey. Just because it was the same lizard doesn't mean that it's coming after all the starkids." He reassured her "I mean, it's not as if Bonnie took control of the lizard and is now seeking revenge on all the starkids."
"Yeah, I suppose your right." Meredith sighed. "Let's go get some pina coladas."
That night Meredith tried her hardest to get to sleep but it was impossible. She kept thinking about Denise and the lizard. Eventually she gave up on going to sleep and got up and headed to the kitchen.
She got a glass out of the cupboard and poured herself a glass of water as her mind wandered.
"Staaarkiiiiddd…" A voice growled.
Meredith jumped out of her skin. She'd heard that voice before. It was the lizard.
No, it couldn't be. She probably just imagined it.
"Staaaarkiiiiid…" The lizard growled again. She definitely heard it that time. But where was it coming from?
She looked down at the taps and her inner Hermione came out as she whispered to herself "Pipes."
Her glassed smashed on the floor as she dropped it and ran back to the bedroom and woke up Bran.
"The lizard! The lizard! I heard it!" She shouted as she shook him.
"What?" He asked sleepily as he sat up.
"I heard the lizard again, in the kitchen!"
"What? The lizard's in the kitchen?!"
"No, I heard it in the kitchen."
"You're probably just hearing things."
"I'm not! I'm serious! I heard it, clear as day. Twice." She said sternly. He thought for a second.
"Well what does it want?"
"I don't know. It just said 'Starkid'."
"Maybe it wants to be in Starkid, then."
"I hardly think it wants to sing and dance."
"The alligator in Princess and the Frog wanted to play the trumpet."
"Please be serious, Bran. I'm really scared." She said quietly. Bran put his arms around her.
"I'm sorry, honey. Look, we'll figure it out in the morning ok. Let's just get some sleep."
They laid down together and Meredith managed to fall asleep in Bran's arms.
Lauren turned on the news as she ate her breakfast. Some boring politics story was on then there was a newsflash that got Lauren's attention.
"BREAKING NEWS" the anchor said. "The remains of a body have just been found in the Chicago sewer systems. They have been identified as a one Robert Manion who was visiting from Australia. It appears he had been killed and partially eaten by some sort of giant lizard. The police are working with animal control to find the lizard in question and release to a more suitable environment."
"OH MY GOD!" Lauren heard Brant shout from the other room.
"Did you just hear the news?" Lauren asked him
"What? No, I just won those fabulous shoes in ebay!"
Just then Lauren's phone started ringing. It was Meredith. She answered the call.
"Have you seen the news?" Meredith asked before Lauren could say hello.
"Yeah, I just saw it. I can't believe it!"
"I know. Nick was with him just before it happened, we're all gonna have a group meeting at Starkid Manor to talk about it."
"Ok, I'll head right over."
Julia walked along the street with Joe. She couldn't understand what had happened. Denise was dead and now Robert was too. To be honest, she didn't know Robert had even come back to America. She squished Joe's hand as they reached StarKid manor. They made it to the grand entrance just as Lauren and Brant did.
'Hey Lolo, can you believe what's happened?' Julia said with a sad face.
'No I can't.' Lauren replied.
They all walked solemnly up to the door and rang the bell.
"Where did you get that bag, Brant?" Joe asked
"I got it on sale at this cute little market place. I was really loving the #concept." He replied just as the door opened. Nick waved them into the lounge where everyone else was and they all sat down.
Everyone was awkwardly quiet, no one knowing quite what to say. Then Brant stood up.
"Ok guys, I know it's been hard on all of us." Brant said. "But don't worry, I got the shoes!"
Everyone stayed quiet, apart from Jeff who cheered.
"Well done, man. Did you get the matching hat?" Jeff asked.
"No. Someone outbid me on that."
"I know. It was me." Jeff grinned.
"Oh you!" Brant blushed and coyly batted his hand before sitting down.
"Ok, well now that's settled." Meredith said, standing up. "Let's talk about what happened last night. Nick, you said you saw Robert just before the incident."
"Yeah, he come round spouting some ideas at me. I didn't even know he was coming to America, but I looked on his twitter this morning and saw that he tweeted about coming to have an important meeting with me. I had no idea what that was about but anyway, he just kept going on and on about these terrible ideas and I was just like 'I'm tired, Rob. Let me go to sleep' and after an hour of blatantly just telling him to leave, he finally left." Nick told them all. "The last I ever saw of him was him marching down the road chanting 'I am a starkid'"
"hmm" Meredith thought.
"What?" Nick asked.
"Well, I've been thinking about it a lot since Denise died and, I think both their deaths are linked. What's more, I don't think they were accidents."
"What do you mean?" Julia asked.
"When Denise was attacked, I saw the lizard and I'm absolutely certain that it was the same lizard that ate Bonnie. It even had the same eye patch." Meredith told them all. "Also, as it walked away I heard it grumble 'Starkid'."
"What does that mean?" Joe asked
"It means that the lizard has got the taste for our blood. And now it wants more."
"DUN DUN DUN"
"Goddamn it Brant!" Everyone shouted.
"Wait a second, if it's going after Starkids then…..well….why Robert? Was he even really a Starkid?" Jaime asked
"I've been thinking about that." Meredith said as she pulled out a folder and took out some pages with graphs and drawing on them. "So, some people do consider him a starkid, at least sort of. And if you remember from the news, they said that he was only partially eaten. Also, as Nick just said, he had just left Starkid manor shouting about being a starkid, so that probably spurred the lizard on."
"That makes complete sense." Lauren said.
They all decided to stay at Starkid manor so they could all be safe. They went in groups to each other's flat to get some clothes and food and stuff.
When they got back they picked their rooms and put their stuff away. Brant and Lauren picked the French Renaissance Suite and stayed in there all afternoon. Meredith and Bran decided to stay in the Dalmatian room. Meredith put away her charts and went downstairs to help Nick and Matt with the barricades.
"Do you think these barricades will keep us safe?" Meredith asked as she put the Batplane prop from HMB up against the front door. She watched as Matt took a deep breath before looking at her.
"Well it's a giant lizard, I don't think anything will stop it really but we can try." He said quietly. Meredith swallowed and nodded at this, before placing the giant spider prop from Starship against the window.
After they had finished building the barricade, they sat in the sitting room and ate pizza. Lauren gazed around at her friends and tried to hide her smile because even though there was a giant lizard after them, it was nice to spend time with friends. It was then that they heard the banging of pipes and the unmistakable growl of "Stttarrrrkiiiiiddd" Oh no! The lizard was here! Suddenly Meredith gasped and stood up.
"OMG guys, I completely forgot that earlier in the story, I realised that the lizard can crawl through the pipes because it came into mine and Bran's apartment." She almost shouted.
"OMG!" EVERYONE SHOUTED!1!11
"Alright nobody use the water until we're sure this thing is gone!" Walker shouted as everyone began to panic and run around like crazy people. They all stopped as Brant whistled loudly.
"Yeah, guys we gotta listen to Joe here!" Brant said "Stop being distracted by his abs and listen."
"If it's in the pipes. Then we just don't use the pipes." Joe explained. "We've got plenty of bottled water and in the morning, when it's gone we can fill up again." Everyone nodded and eventually sat down. They were all still on edge and no one went anywhere alone. Good thing that they were all dating each other.
Eventually they all got tired and decided to head to bed. They slowly made their way to their respective rooms and cuddled up under their blankets, all somehow under the illusion that the lizard wouldn't be able to get them there.
Morning came and Meredith rolled over to find Bran wasn't next to her. She pulled on her dressing gown, stepped into her slippers and went downstairs to see where he was.
She shuffled into the kitchen and saw him standing over the sink.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He answered after a pause. "I just couldn't sleep last night."
"You poor thing!" She cooed and wrapped her arms around him.
Just then Jade ran downstairs in tears, Bowser was following close behind, barking his head off and waking up the rest of the manor.
"Jade!" Meredith exclaimed "What's wrong?"
"It's Eric!" Jade cried "The lizard's taken Eric!"
"Are you sure he's not just pooping?" Meredith asked
"Pretty sure." Jade said as she pulled out Eric's tibia bone from behind her back. "This was left on his pillow!"
"OMG!" Meredith exclaimed. She looked at Bran and saw that he looked worried rather than shocked, as if he knew something about what was going on.
"Ok guys, simmer down! I know y'all are crazy party peeps but we've just gotta chill right now. This is serious business." Brant said once everyone had gathered. Everyone when silent. "Now I all know what we're all thinking…we seriously need to have an orgy-"
"Sit down, Brant." Lauren said and pulled on his shirt. He sat down and they instantly started making out.
"I can't believe Eric's dead." Jaime said. Bowser whined sadly.
"It's ok, babe." Jeff said and pulled her closer to him.
"How did the lizard get in?" Rachel asked.
"It must've crawled through the pipes." Joe answered.
"But how?" Rachel questioned.
"Because," Meredith started to say the thing that had been plaguing her all morning, the thing that made her sick to her stomach. "Someone in the house brought it in."
"DUN DUN DUN" Brant shouted, looking away from Lauren. She turned his head to face her again and they carried on making out.
"Who would do that?" Jeff asked.
Meredith swallowed hard. She hated lying to her friends. "I have no idea." She glanced over at Bran. He was staring straight ahead. Could she really keep this from her friends? She felt she knew who it was, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Meanwhile, Lauren had dragged Brant out into the hall and they were making out. But then Brant's phone went off. He suddenly pulled from her and checked it.
"OMG my ebay sale is about to end." He exclaimed.
"OH MY GOD." Lauren screamed. "You care more about ebay than you do about me!" she shouted before rolling off down the hallway.
"No sweetie, it's not like that!" Brant cried as he raced after her.
Meanwhile, Meredith was consulting her charts.
"Is there a pattern to the killings?" she muttered to herself as she looked at a pie chart. The pie chart is the percentage of how StarKid each StarKid member is. She frowns more before looking at a bar chart. "Okay, even though Denise is just as much of a StarKid as me, people don't seem to know who she is so that's why she was first." Meredith thought aloud. "But then why was Robert second?" she sighed and rubbed her eyes before looking around the room. It was then that she noticed Bran's shirt from the night before lying on the floor. That Bran, always leaving his clothes on the floor. Meredith stood up and walked over to pick it up. She frowned as she realised it was soaking wet. Oh My God. Bran must have been the person to call the lizard…why else would his clothes be wet?
Just then, Lauren rolled into the room and stood up.
"Hey Meredith what you doing?"
Meredith quickly hide the shirt behind her back and looked at Lauren.
"Oh hey Lauren, I see you're rolling around on the floor again. I thought your therapist got you to stop that." She said quickly.
"This is just such a stressful situation! You know I roll when I get stressed!" Lauren cried before rolling under the bed. Meredith blinked before looking back at the shirt. What did this mean? Was the man she loved a murderous lizard wrangler? At that exact moment, Bran came into the room.
"Meredith, we need to talk." He said seriously.
"Lauren's under the bed." Meredith whispered whilst pointing at the bed. Bran looked where she was pointing before getting down on his hands and knees.
"Come on Lauren, come on its okay" he said calmly.
"Don't frighten her Bran, you know what she's like in stressful situations" Meredith said.
"Don't be sill- AHH! She bite me!" Bran exclaimed as Lauren pounced out from under the bed and bit his hand before hissing and rolling back under the bed. Suddenly Brant came into the room carrying Chipotle.
"It's alright, I got this." He said as he knelt down by the bed. "Look what I got Lauren, its Chipotle." They all held their breath as Lauren slowly crawled out from under the bed and towards Brant. Suddenly she jumped up and grabbed the Chipotle bag and opened it happily. Brant scooped her up and carried her out of the room. Meredith and Bran watched them go before she looked back at him.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Meredith asked. Bran looked at her and blinked.
"After experiencing this completely pointless scene, I have completely forgotten what I was going to say." He finally remarked. Meredith then remembered she was still holding his shirt. She whipped it out from behind her back and held it up.
"Care to explain why you shirt is wet?" she demanded with a stern look. Bran opened and closed his mouth before holding his hand to his face. He suddenly realised his hand was bleeding.
"Oh no! My hand is bleeding from where Lauren bit me!" He exclaimed. Meredith dropped the shirt in her panic to help him. But as Meredith tended to Bran's wound, he looked off into the middle distance with a serious expression on his face.
Later, the group collected downstairs whilst Lauren prepared some dinner for them all. They ate happily and played charades together as if nothing had happened and two of their friends and one acquaintance hadn't just died. Meredith was still suspicious of Bran and kept her eye on him.
Suddenly there was a loud rumble and a tremor shook the room.
"Staaaaaarkiiiiid…" The lizard growled. Bran was right beside Meredith with his arm around her, she looked at his face and saw that he was just as shocked as the rest of them.
Lauren rolled away in panic. Brant ran after her and ran alongside her, looking like he was playing with a hoop and stick, with Lauren being the hoop.
Jeff jumped onto Jaime's lap with a high-pitched squeal. She buried her face into his neck as he looked around like a stunned meerkat.
"Maybe we should all stay down here tonight." Matt suggested.
"But babe," Rachel said, looking up at him. "They've already run off." Matt looked up to see that everyone had left the room already, even Nick and Sarah Petty had gone to their room (because they are a couple (so cuuutee)).
"Well I guess it's just you and me then." Matt smiled and pulled Rachel into a kiss. Rachel giggled and threw her arms around him.
That night the lizard struck again. As nearly all the house was asleep, someone called upon it and set it on the next least starkid Starkid. When their partner awoke, they screamed a blood-curling scream that awoke the entire manor.
Meredith's eyes slowly opened and looked at the clock. 2am. She wanted so much to stay under the covers but then the scream came again and she knew she had to get up. She looked over and saw Bran was already sat up in bed, wide awake with sweat dripping down his face. He looked back at her and wordlessly they both got up and pulled on their dressing gowns and slippers in unison.
They were the last two to make it downstairs, everyone else was looking at the commotion. They parted so that Meredith and Bran could see what had happened. Matt was on the floor crouching over a skull with a black hat on. The remains of Rachel.
"OMG!" Meredith cried.
Nick picked Matt up and took him over to the chair as Sarah picked up what was left of Rachel and put her in the other room.
"We should all stay down here tonight. Together." Julia stated. Everyone nodded in agreement and put out blankets across the floor for everyone to sleep on in a sort of bundle.
"Omg this is totes like a pg orgy." Brant said.
Soon enough they all fell asleep and were dreaming of happier times.
Meredith woke up. It was still dark. She checked her phone. 3am. Why was she awake? Something must have woke her. Suddenly she heard a noise, the thing that woke her had started again. It was a low hum of someone singing.
She looked beside her but Bran had disappeared. She shot up out of bed. The singing was still going, she listened harder to hear where it was coming from. She followed it along the corridor, it was gradually getting louder. As she turned the corner she saw the light was on in the bathroom. That was where the singing was coming from.
Taking a deep breath, Meredith walked up to the bathroom door and listened for a moment.
"My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
So bring back my Bonnie to me." She could hear the words loud and clear now. And she knew who's voice it was that was singing.
Meredith flung open the door and sat Bran with his back to her.
"Bran?" she whispered. Bran turned around to reveal Brian stood behind him. "Wait, Brian?"
Brian smiled evilly.
"Yes Meredith, it's been me all along." He said with an evil laugh.
"I didn't even know you were here! You haven't been mentioned for this entire story." Meredith replied. This caused Brian's smile to fall and he looked at Bran who shrugged his shoulders. Brian sighs angrily.
"I've been here the whole time! I'm the evil mastermind behind this whole operation!" he shouted
"Gasp!" Meredith gasped in astonishment. She had no idea Brian had been here!
"Now Miss Stepien, you will witness my full wrath!" Brian bellowed but then Bran stepped in front of him.
"BRIAN! THIS HAS TO STOP!" He shouted but Brian hit him over the head with a shovel, knocking him out. He turned his attention back to Meredith who was gasping loudly at the whole scene. Brian laughed manically before tying Meredith up.
"This is my revenge Meredith, for you breaking up with me!"
"Brian you broke with me!
"The details are futile now!" he cut in before standing back and rubbing his hands together. "You see, you were the one that was supposed to fall down that manhole."
"Oh no!" Meredith cried. Then stopped suddenly. "Wait, then why did the others get eaten?"
"Well, there was a certain score that needed to be settled. And after all, revenge is a dish best served cold. Cold blooded, that is."
"…What?"
"The lizard is seeking revenge." Brain explained.
"oh….that doesn't make sense."
"Oh, but it does. You see, when the lizard ate Bonnie, she used her crazy Christian powers to overthrow the lizard's puny mind and take control of it's body." Brian told her. "A few weeks ago I fell down a manhole myself, and came across Bonnie in the lizard's body. She wanted to eat me but I came up with a better idea. I made her a deal to have all the Starkids she wanted, in exchange for my life and a specific target….you. She told me of her journey from Michigan on the trail to Chicago and we came up with a plan and a way for me to call her to tell her it was safe to pounce on her unsuspecting targets. So now, it is only a matter of seconds before she comes through these pipes and kills you all." He laughed slightly. "Stupid starkids, all staying together only makes our job easier."
"You'll never get away with this!" Meredith shouted.
"Oh please, that's so cliché" Brain rolled his eyes. He turned to Bran and moved his limp body over to the other corner and tied him up as well. "There, now we won't have any disturbances when lover-boy wakes up."
"Please don't hurt him, Brian." Meredith cried.
"Of course I won't, he's my cousin. Which, by the way, is pretty messed up. I mean, we just broke up and you go off with me cousin?"
"You said you were ok with it!"
"Yeah well, I'm not." Brian admitted. "Now let me see how the sleeping beauties are doing." He said and left the bathroom.
He walked down the corridor and into the lounge where the others were still sound asleep. He went upstairs and checked all the rooms were empty. When he came back Meredith was standing in the lounge.
"WHAT? How did you get out?!" He shouted
"You didn't actually tie me to anything…" she said slowly.
"Goddamnit! I knew I forgot to get something!" he said with a groan which woke Julia. She looked at him in surprise.
"Brian! When did you get here?" she exclaimed.
"I've been here the whole fucking time!" He screamed in frustration. Julia stared at him in shock for a moment.
"Rude." She said before falling back to sleep. Brian growled before turning around to face Meredith once more.
"Now Meredith, you will…wait! Where did you go?!"
Meredith had disappeared! However, she suddenly reappeared from the kitchen.
"Oh sorry, Valentine was doing something cute!" she said happily. Brian sighed before grabbing her and dragging her back to the bathroom.
"Now, you will die!" he said at last. Meredith giggled and shook her head. Brian stared at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Look behind you." She said simply. Whilst Brian's back was to her, she turned slightly and awkwardly stabbed him with the knife she had hidden behind her back. It was quite awkward for her what with her hands still tied behind her back but she got in a few good stabs before Brian fell to the ground. "I DID IT!" She shouted, causing Bran to wake up. He stands up with a groan before taking in the scene around him. Seeing that Brian is now dead, he cheers and he and Meredith jump up and down in pure joy. But then they heard a loud roar of,
"Sssssttttaaaarrrrrkkkkiiiiiddddd!11111!1!"
"Oh shit! I forgot about the lizard!" Meredith shouted before pulling Bran out of the room as the lizard came up the plug hole in the bath.
They locked the door and tried to get their breath back.
"What are we gonna do?" Bran asked.
"I don't know! You're more of an expert."
"Why do you say that?"
"I know that you've been sneaking off during the night and your shirt was wet. You know more than you're letting on."
"I don't!" Bran insisted "I was just trying to stop Brian from doing it! I couldn't rat on my cousin so I was trying to help him and stop this all."
"So you really don't know anything more about this?" She asked
"No"
"Well that's no good!" She shouted. "Now no one knows how to stop it. The only person who does is dying on the floor in there-"
"Yum yum yum. Starkid in my tum." The lizard growled, interrupting Meredith.
"The only person who does is dead in the lizard's stomach." Meredith corrected herself.
Just then Bowser and Valentine appeared by their sides. Valentine rubbed around their legs and Bowser licked their hands.
"Not now, guys." Bran sighed. Valentine meowed then jumped on Bowser's back and Bowser stepped closer to the door. Somehow, without the need for opposable thumbs, Valentine unlocked the door and opened it.
"No!" Meredith cried "There's a monster in there! I don't want you to get hurt!" but it was too late, they had already ran inside. Meredith went to go after them but the lizard appeared right in front of the door so Bran pulled her back and slammed the door shut. "No! We can't leave them in there!"
"It's too late!" Bran rationalised "I'm not risking you're life! I can't live without you!" They both cried into each other's arms.
After a moment the heard a yowl and a loud growl. There was a sound like scratching and biting coming from in the room. The squabble went on for a while then one last satisfied meow.
Tentatively, Meredith and Bran opened the door to see the skeleton of the lizard lying in the bathtub as Valentine was cleaning her paw and Bowser was happily chasing his tail. Meredith and Bran embraced each other in relief then hugged the two animals and thanked them greatly.
In the morning they retold the tale to everyone and they all cheered.
"Why are both your hands tied up?" Lauren asked.
"We told you. Brian tied us up!" Meredith explained
"Ok…but if you had a knife then why didn't you cut the ropes?"
"…didn't think of that." Meredith admitted.
"Omg this is totes like fifty shades of grey. Christian Grey, take my breath away!" Brant swooned as he untied them both.
After they took all the barricades down they decided to have a celebratory dinner. Lauren made delicious food for them all and they eagerly ate it all up, relieved that the whole ordeal was over with.
Just as they were enjoying some light-hearted after-dinner entertainment, all their stomachs at once started growling.
"Staaaaaarkiiiiiiiidddd"
"Lauren," Meredith asked "what was the dinner you made us?"
"Lizard stew." She innocently answered.
"DUN DUN DUN"
THE END