So, I created an account on here six and half years ago, and then totally forgot about it. Go me.

Here is my first published fan fiction, and I'm expecting to find some hideous grammatical errors in here after it's published. I've read through it several times and honestly I'm getting sick of it! The disclaimer is at the bottom of the chapter.

So now I present to you, "Invasion of Endsville" - Part one.

-1-

Splat!

Not an uncommon sound in Endsville.

Splat!

The second ball of goo also missed Billy, hitting the wall that he was currently backed up against. He quickly glanced over each shoulder, and saw a splodge of goop slowly sliding down the wall on either side of him, leaving purple trails of slime in their wake. The terrified boy looked straight ahead again, and stared right into the double-barrelled goo cannon that was aimed at him, just mere centimetres from his face.

It was Monday morning, just before school, and the week hadn't exactly got off to a good start for poor Billy. Mandy had been running a bit late this morning, and Grim had been called out on a job, so he had decided to walk to school alone. Big mistake, for just as Billy had been about to cross the street opposite the school, he had been attacked.

Billy slowly began to look up, past the recently fired gun that was still dipping with fresh slime, and into the eyes of his tormentor.

"Those were warning shots, dweeb," said Sperg, grinning from ear to ear. "The next one won't miss! Right between the eyes." Sperg cocked the cannon, rested both barrels on Billy's ample nose and began to squeeze the trigger. Billy dropped to his knees.

"No Sperg, please! Have mercy on me," pleaded Billy, pathetically, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

"I don't think so, dork."

"But I'll give you anything!"

"What could you possibly have to offer me?" Asked Sperg, half mockingly and half intrigued. He loosened his squeeze on the trigger.

"Um … well …." Billy began to feel around in his back pocket. He produced a half eaten cheese and ham sandwich. It looked as if it had been in Billy's pocket for quite some time, and it had more than likely been through the wash on more than one occasion. Billy looked at it with one eyebrow raised, peeled the top slice of bread back a little, sniffed the contents, and then threw up a little bit in his mouth. He returned the bread to its' original position, looked at Sperg and offered the ex-food to him.

"You'll have to do better than that, Billy. And my trigger finger is getting impatient!"

Billy looked back at his sandwich, his fear of the goo cannon temporarily gone, and said "oh well, waste not, want not." With that, he opened his mouth and tossed the bread-based abomination inside, chewed and swallowed. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then Billy burped, producing several green bubbles of noxious gas. "Hmm, tastes like tummy-ache!"

"Eww, sick," exclaimed Sperg. "That's it, Billy, you're going to get it now." He pushed the goo cannon as close to Billy's face as he could and began once again to pull the trigger. "Any last words?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh," was the high pitched response that came from Billy's mouth, as his terror fully returned.

"Good enough!"

Billy shut his eyes as tight as he could and prepared for the worst, trying desperately to enter his happy place. As he began to enter the almost meditative state associated with his happy place, he was vaguely aware of a crash, almost as if something had collided with something, and the latter of these somethings had fallen to the floor. Then he heard that familiar sound again ….

Splat!

But something was wrong. What was it? He hadn't felt anything. No impact, no slimy feeling as the goo dripped down his face, nothing! Could he possibly be so far into his happy place that all of his senses had been shut off to the real world? There was only one way to find out. Billy slowly opened his eyes, and cautiously looked up. He saw Sperg standing where he had been, but his attention was focused on something to Billy's right. Billy caught sight of the goo-cannon, which was lying on its' side on the ground, and a medium side rock lay not too far from it. The cannon had indeed fired, but it had gone off as the rock and crashed in to it, sending the cannon flying out of Sperg's hands, and a third splodge of slime had joined its' companions on the wall. Billy followed the direction of Sperg's eyes and spotted his saviour.

Mandy.

"Alright Sperg, fun's over," said Mandy, calmly. "I suggest you get the heck out of here or I'll aim the next rock for in between your eyes." She narrowed her eyes and fixed her glare directly into Sperg's.

Sperg didn't have to think twice about it. He hadn't even paused to retrieve his fallen weapon. For where he had stood just a mere second ago, all that remained was a Sperg shaped dust cloud that was rapidly dispersing.

"Phew, thanks Mandy!" Said Billy, the relief apparent in his voice. Mandy walked over to Billy, who was still on his knees.

"How do you manage to blunder into these situations, Billy? I mean, you've only been out of bed for half an hour, we haven't even started school yet and you're already in trouble! Lucky for you I was here or you'd have had to go to lessons covered in goo. Though I suppose that wouldn't exactly be out of the ordinary for you."

Billy stared at her blankly for a few seconds, having seemly forgotten what had just transpired, and simply said "I like chicken wings."

Mandy sighed. It seemed Billy was getting himself into more and more trouble recently, with her having to bail him out at least once a day, if not more. Why did she bother? Before she could come up with a suitable answer, she spotted Sperg's goo cannon still on the floor where it had fallen.

"Hmm, well waste not, want not," she said to herself, and picked up the cannon. She took off her backpack, opened it and began to push the oversized toy inside.

"Wait a sec! How can you fit that in there Mandy? The cannon is at least three hundred and fifty seven million, two hundred and sixty one thousand, eight hundred and seventy six and a half times bigger than your bag!" Billy said, upsettingly quickly. He began panting. That number was far too big for his tiny brain to comprehend.

"I had Grim whip this up for me." Mandy explained, ignoring Billy's exaggerations. "It's like his trunk, it's much bigger on the inside. I can carry around as much as I need to in this thing". The goo cannon disappeared inside the bag, and Mandy zipped it back up. Billy started at her blankly again for a few seconds.

"I like dippin' chicken," was his response.

Mandy sighed again. Why did she bother? Her trail of thought was, however, once again interrupted, this time by the sound of an ambulance siren coming towards them. The ambulance whizzed past and turned into the school opposite the sidewalk where the two children stood.

--

Grim normally loved his job. Who wouldn't? Reaping the souls of the departed and sending them to the underworld was a big responsibility. Without Death, there was no fear. With no fear, there would be no need for traffic lights. At least, that's how Grim justified it, and it worked for him even if it made no sense to mere mortals.

However, things had been a little stranger than usual in Endsville of late. A number of suspicious deaths had recently occurred, all in Endsville, and more specifically all within a mile or two of the school that Billy and Mandy attended. Grim was starting to feel uneasy. The job he was travelling to by vortex to this morning would be the sixth such death in a little over a week, and this time it was actually at the school. Although he hadn't arrived at the scene yet, he had a feeling the sight that was to greet him would be the same as the others.

The victims would have no visible injuries on the outside, but they had been pretty badly messed up inside. Grim didn't know what on Earth could possibly cause injuries like that, so he had started to suspect that what was causing it wasn't of this planet. He also found it odd that none of the previous five deaths had been reported in the papers or on the TV. No doubt some sort of cover up, which added further to Grim's theory. He also hadn't discussed it with Billy or Mandy yet, as he didn't really like to mix his home life with his work. Mind you, the other five had all been in dark alleys in the dead of night, and when Grim had arrived at the scenes no-one else had found them yet. With this one being at the school during the day it would be harder for anyone to cover it up. Either the killer or killers had been sloppy, or all of this was leading up to something bigger.

Grim looked at the name on his list. It wasn't anyone he knew personally, but he did recognise the name as being one of the cleaners that worked at the school.

"Poor guy," Grim mumbled to himself, a rare pang of sympathy crossing his mind. He came to the end of the vortex, and stepped out on to the school grounds. He was right, there would be no cover up this time. The authorities had already been called.

--

Billy and Mandy arrived at the school gates a minute or two after the ambulance had pulled into the grounds. They could see the school was being evacuated as the staff and hundreds of children poured out of the building. The Police also begun to arrive and seal off the area. The two children pushed their way through the crowd so they were right where the cordoned off section began

"Oooh, looky," exclaimed Billy, excitedly. "Must be a careers day for the emergency services! But I don't see a fire truck. I like fire trucks. They're red and go WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW!"

"I don't think so Billy," replied Mandy, trying to block out the air of idiocy emanating from her companion. "Something's happened. Something serious." At that, she spotted Grim emerging from the school. Mandy gestured for him to come over, and he obliged.

"Hello you two," said Grim, trying to cover up the nervousness in his voice.

"What are you doing here?" Questioned Mandy.

"What do ya think?"

"Oh, oh! I know," said Billy, raising his arm as far above his head as it would go.

"Oh, here we go," said Mandy, rolling her eyes and sighing.

Billy took a deep breath and belted out all in one go: "You're here for extra lessons on how to tie your shoes and your teacher says you're a danger to yourself and those around you and why they allow you in a normal school unsupervised is beyond anyone's guess?" He inhaled and added, "just like me!"

"No you oaf," replied Grim, more annoyed than usual. "I was reaping the soul of another poor unfortunate victim of mysterious death."

"What do you mean 'another' one?" Asked Mandy, a little startled.

Grim sighed. There was no point in keeping this from the kids anymore. He told them everything about the mysterious deaths, and how he had no idea what was causing them.

"So what do you think might be causing this, Grim?" Asked Billy, somewhat subdued but the story Grim had just told.

"Didn't I just say I had no idea what was causing them, Billy?"

"Possibly, but my short term memory isn't very good and I've forgotten most of what you said." Billy perked up, seemingly blocking out the trauma of the gruesome story. "Ooooh looky, police and ambulances! But where's the fire trucks?"

"Idiot," said Mandy and Grim, simultaneously. With that, Billy ducked under the police tape and ran towards the ambulance, making siren noises as he ran. He reached the ambulance at just the same moment two medics appeared at the door of the school, carrying a stretcher between them. There was something on the stretcher, but it was covered up. Billy waited at the back of the ambulance for the men to get nearer. When the medics reached the ambulance, the one at the front of the stretcher looked down at Billy.

"What are you doing out here, kid? Get back behind the police line. There's nothing to see here."

"Whatcha got under there, Mister?" Asked Billy, oblivious as to what was going on.

"Nothing you want to see," replied the second man.

"Lemmesee!" Billy lifted up the cover slightly at the bottom end of the stretcher, screamed, and ran back to Grim and Mandy. He grabbed on to Grim's legs and held on for dear life.

"Get off me, mon!"

"Grrriiiiiiiiiim!" Billy wailed. "That man under there had been turned into feet! It was horrible." Billy blew his nose on Grim's robe.

"Ick," said Grim, disgusted, but not surprised that Billy had just done that.

"Anyone in the school right now, Grim?" Asked Mandy.

"No, they don't know how that man died, so they're probably waiting for men in environmental suits to come and make sure the area is safe from biohazards and the like. They won't find any, of course. But no, the building is empty for now."

"Then I say we go check it out."

"What?" Grim yelled. "Are you mad, child? Whatever killed that guy might still be in there!"

"Then it's a good thing we have Death on our side." Mandy ducked under the police tape and headed for the entrance to the school. Grim and Billy looked at each other, nervously, and followed.

As they walked towards the building, Mandy turned to Grim and asked "so I take you don't know how he died either?"

"No, and he was such a gibbering wreck as I helped him cross over that I couldn't make any sense of what he was saying. Same as the others."

The crowd were all transfixed with the ambulance as it drove off, so no-one spotted the three figures entering the school.

--

On entering the school, it was apparent the power had gone out, as the lights were out and even with sunlight shining in through the main door, it was still quite dark.

"It's dark in here," was Billy's astute observation.

Grim looked at Mandy. "And they say he needs extra schooling. Who'd have thought?"

"Hey I don't needs no extra school! One's enough for me, teeheehee!" Laughed Billy.

"Billy, focus," Mandy demanded. "Now, Grim, where was the man found?"

"In the cleaning supply cupboard. Hey, Billy," Grim perked up. "Why don't you go check that out? And Mandy and I will scout out the other rooms."

"Ok! Hey, wait a minute, there might be something in there! Why do I gots to go to the dangerous bit?"

"Because you're stupider than we are," replied Grim, matter-of-factly.

Billy thought for a moment, grinned his usual inane grin and replied gleefully, "fair enough!" He enthusiastically ran in the direction of the supply cupboard, which was at the other end of the school. Mandy and Grim could hear his manic laughter, echoing down the hallway.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Mandy asked Grim, with no emotion.

"No," he replied, and then let an amused smirk settle onto his face.

"Well, we shouldn't leave him by himself. You know the trouble he's been getting himself into lately."

"And why do you care?"

"We'll be the ones who have to clean up the mess!"

"Good point."

The pair set off in the direction Billy headed. As they headed further down the corridor, it was beginning to get too dark to see much.

Mandy reached round into her Tardis-like backpack and produced a torch. She shone it down the corridor. Billy was nowhere to be seen, presumably he had turned a corner near the end of the hall. But his laughter still reverberated off the lockers and closed classroom doors. As the pair ventured tentatively onwards, they heard a slight rumbling noise go past behind them. Mandy spun around as quick as she could and shone to torch in the direction they had just come from. But the noise was gone, and there was nothing visible to say that the noise had even existed. Grim and Mandy glanced at each other nervously, and continued the way they had been going.

--

Billy had reached the cupboard he'd been looking for. See, he was smart! He found the place all by himself, even in the dark. His manic laughter stopped abruptly as he eyed the door that was his target.

"A door! I just lurrrrrrve going through doors, teehehehee!"

He approached the cupboard, and turned the handle. It wasn't locked. The door creaked open and Billy began to step inside.

--

Mandy and Grim walked past an open classroom door, and they stopped to have a look inside. Mandy shone her torch inside, from top to bottom, left to right. There was nothing inside. Suddenly, Mandy spied something out of the corner of her eye, descending from the ceiling. She gasped and shone the torch on it.

It was just a spider, albeit a rather large one, but a spider nonetheless, just innocently spinning a web from ceiling to floor. Mandy tried her best to hide her sigh of relief. To say she was feeling a little tense right about now would have been an understatement.

Then it dawned on her. Billy's laugher had stopped. He must have reached the cupboard, or else something had happened to him.

"Come on," she said to Grim, and they continued down the corridor, quickening their pace.

--

Billy crept into the cupboard. It was a smallish room but there was enough space to fit maybe 4 or 5 people inside. There was a single, small window near the top of the room that let a little light in. He couldn't see much. Just a few mops, some buckets, shelves, all the things you'd expect to see in a cleaning supply cupboard. But there was something else.

In the low light, Billy could only make out a shape that was backed right up against the wall, underneath the small window. It was big, he knew that much, bigger than him even.

The object began to move towards him, passing into the slither of light shining into the room. Billy had a clear view of the shape of the object.

It was, or at least looked like, a giant pepper pot.

But it wasn't just a pepper pot. It had what looked like a sink plunger attached to a long stick jutting out of it's front and to the right, and on the left was a smaller protuberance, some sort of wire frame. Billy scanned the creature up and down. On top was a flat dome, with another stick coming out of it. This stick began to lower and point in Billy's direction. He could almost swear this thing was alive and looking at him. He became very afraid, and unable to move.

The pepper pot stopped moving but continued to look at him. After what seemed an eternity, two light bulbs at the top of the thing lit up as the creature began to speak. The voice was unlike anything Billy had ever heard before. It was monotone, and rigid, every syllable being emphasised.

"Do not move," it began. "You are a prisoner of the Daleks. You will be exterminated. Do not move. You are a prisoner of the Daleks. You will be exterminated."

There was no way Billy could have moved even if he had wanted to. He was frozen to the spot in terror.

The Dalek continued to taunt him. "Exterminate. Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!"

Billy screamed. And not one of his high pitched, almost farcical screams. This was a scream from deep inside. This was a scream of pure, unadulterated terror.

--

Billy, Mandy, Grim and all related characters belong to Maxwell Atoms.

The Daleks were created by Terry Nation and are owned by his estate and possibly the BBC.