With all the strength she could muster, Willow, a red head, swung the iron door shut and dropped the bolt into place as the rest of the crew scrambled about the lab in search of anything they could use to barricade the door.

The monsters were coming down the hallway. The crew could hear the howling of the wind, roaring of water, hissing of fire, and pounding of rocks shaking the floor.

Willow's friend Heather, a petite Chinese girl, brought a chair. Willow took the chair and braced it against the door. "Thanks." She answered, "I'm not doing this for you."

"So you're still angry?"

"This is all your fault! You should have chosen better brains!"

Willow was offended. "I selected the best brains money can buy. They're highly intelligent, highly rational! Those creatures can solve the most complicated equations in mere seconds!"

"But they don't care about people!"

"Who cares? Besides, I'm not interested in your notions of should. I did what I though was right."

"But you were wrong!"

"In your opinion!"

Just then, three others came with a large table and all five of them leaned the table on end against the door.

BOOM! BOOM! The sudden pounding told them where the monsters were; just outside the door, trying to smash it open.

Charlene, a beautiful blond, marveled, "What intelligence! What power! We've created four magnificent new creatures!"

Tiffany, an African American, looked at her in horror and anger. "Four magnificent new creatures? Charlene, we've created something evil and now there's no controlling them!"

Mattimeo, the only male in the crew, had over heard the conversation and sneered at Tiffany as he joined the others in holding the door. "Evil? Come now! Since when have you adopted such old, antiquated notions? Good and evil are only an invention of our society, a matter of opinion."

"But those things want to kill us!"

"Well..."

"And that's evil!"

He thought it over even as the door thudded and groaned against his back with each impact of the creatures' powers. "Well, I can't say they're evil, but I'm not comfortable about this."

"Neither am I," agreed Irene, an auburn haired girl, helping to hold the door shut. "Perhaps we should have given them a… a… conscience."

The crew looked at her as if she was mad.

"Based on what? Feelings?" Willow shouted.

"Self-interest?" Charlene fumed.

"Oh, they have that!" Heather sneered.

"Well, morals then."

"Morals?" Willow scoffed.

"Whose morals?" Tiffany snorted. "We went through all that, remember? We couldn't decide."

"We had no right to decide!" Mattimeo objected. "We can't impose morality on something we created. We can't impose right and wrong on anything! There is no truth! What those monsters believe in is true for them."

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The door and the barricade were weakening.

"So here we are," said Tiffany.

"No," said Irene, backing away from the door. "Here you are. You made those things, you can live with them – or die with them. I'm getting out of here!" She ran for the stairway on the other side of the lab, the stairway to freedom.

"Hey," Willow yelled angrily. "You were involved in this project just as much as we were!"

"In your opinion!" she called back.

"But you aligned all the joints and synchronized the cardiovascular system!"

"That was then. This is now!" With that, she ran up the stairs, leaving them behind.

CRACK! GROAN! The door was coming apart.

"She's right, you know," Heather spoke softly before she, too, ran up the stairs.

"Traitor," Mattimeo spat.

"That's your opinion," Heather stated before disappearing.

"I…I just can't take it any longer," Clarlene cried, running away from the door to join Irene and Heather. Tiffany stepped away from the door as well.

"Tiffany!" Mattimeo shouted desperately. "Tiffany, don't go! Stand with us! Help us!"

She kept backing away, shaking her head. "No, Mattimeo, no. There are too many things more important to me. My education. My career. My social life. I plan on having a family someday, too. I can't miss all that!"

"But we need you!"

"No, Mattimeo, you're resilient, you'll recover, you'll see! I just need to find my own path—such as, out of here."

"But…but you can't do that!" She looked at him quizzically. "I can't? Who are you to tell me I can't?"

"If these monsters get loose, they'll terrorize all mankind!"

"I suppose you see something wrong with that?"

Mattimeo had to think about it. "Well…I can't say there's anything wrong with it—but I'd feel rather uncomfortable about it."

"Well, those are your feelings." She headed for the stairs.

CRUNCH! The table barricade was bending like weak card board. The door was breaking down.

"Tiffany, help!" Mattimeo screamed. As Tiffany ran up the stairs, leaving them behind, Willow admitted, "She has to do what's right for her." She steped away from the door. "And so do I."

"Not you, too!" Mattimeo exclaimed. Willow was backing away quickly as piece of plaster and fragments of doorframe began to fall around her. "It's been fun, Mattimeo, working on a group project together, creating a whole new breed of humans. But I think Irene may have a point We gave our girls incredible strength and terrific brainpower, but you know, a sense of right and wrong would've been a good idea—even if there is no such thing."

"Willow! Don't leave me here alone to face these monsters!"

"Well, Mattimeo, I would stay, really, but it's starting to get uncomfortable. I'm not happy here anymore."

"Willow!"

"Besides, who's to say there's really four monsters crashing in here? Maybe that's just a matter of opinion, too."

A rivet bounced off Mattimeo's head as she marveled at such a thought. "Opinion? You call this a matter of opinion?"

"Can't call it a matter of truth, now can I?" Willow headed for the stairs. "Looks like a nice day outside. Of course, that's only a matter of opinion."

"Willow, have you no honor?"

Willow stopped to think about it. "Well, I really don't like running out on you like this, but I can't say it's wrong." And with that, she was up the stairs and gone.

Mattimeo knew it was useless to resist. He dashed away from the door and turned to see the iron door flex, warp, and give way with a crash.

Four women entered the room. They would be beautiful, if it weren't for the sinister smiles and cold eyes. All four monsters scanned the room with hungry, icy glares, looking for prey like a predator. One of them, a Chinese girl, locked eyes with Mattimeo, who was shaking with fear. She motioned the others. A red haired girl stepped forward.

"Stop!" Mattimeo yelled. "I command you to stop!"

The red haired girl raised a beautiful eyebrow. "Are you talking to me?"

"Not just you!" Mattimeo yelled. "All of you! You must stop this right now!"

The four creatures looked at one another and laughed. It was a cruel, humorless, icy laugh. It made Mattimeo shiver even harder.

A blond girl spoke first. "Us? Stop? Stop what? Stop moving? Stop breathing? Dude, do you know who you're dealing with?"

"Yeah," jeered a tall, dark haired dark skinned girl. "And what makes you? Our boss?" The monsters laughed again.

"Yes!" Mattimeo replied. "I am your master! I created you!"

The Chinese girl spoke up. "So let me get this straight. Since you created us, we have to serve you? So who died and made you king?"

"That's not the point!" roared Mattimeo. "I am your creator! You have to do as I say!"

The red-haired girl was obviously amused. "This is a joke, right? Us, do as you say? Take a look, pal. We're stronger than you. We're smarter than you. End of discussion."

The monsters stepped forward again.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"And that was the tragic end of Mattimeo," Irma read out loud. She looked up at Cassidy with an arched eyebrow. "Irene?"

"Well, it's better than Isabel," Cassidy pointed out.

Irma shook her head, laughing. "I'm not arguing with you, Cass. I can see Willow as Willow, Taranee as Tiffany, Hay Lin as Heather, even Corny as Charlene. But Irene?"

Cassidy smirked slightly. "Don't argue with first class work, Irmy."

"So, can you tell me who the monsters represent?"

Cassidy seemed disappointed. "You didn't get it?"

Irma smiled slyly. "I want you to tell me."

"Mankind, without truth, without morals. He has strength, he can think, he can even feel things emotionally—but if he isn't given a good, solid standard for right and wrong, then there's nothing to keep him from using strength and reason and feelings in selfish ways, even destructive ways."

"And who ends up making the rules when we reject common morals?

"The biggest, meanest, toughest dude."

Irma smiled and looked at the paper. A blue ribbon was stapled to its side.

"I can't believe you beat Martin at writing," Irma commented randomly.

Cassidy laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "It wasn't easy, mind you. I still got ways to go."

"I'll say," Irma joked. "And what's the life lesson we should all learn?"

Cassidy peeped up, "That people should always follow a common base of morals, like Moses' Ten Commandments."

"No argument there," Irma agreed. "Even if you're not a Christian or Jew, you should still follow common ones like 'Do not cheat' or 'Do not kill another man.'"

"I don't get why some people think the Ten Commandments as rubbish," Cassidy said, shaking her head in bewilderment.

Irma shrugged. "Maybe because it's religious."

"But anyone can agree you shouldn't lie, or cheat, or steal. What's the problem?"

"I haven't the foggiest."

Not too good, but this is a one-shot after all. Well, I've got things to do and people to see, so I'll catch you on the thrift side! R&R!!