WHEN NIGHTMARES COME TRUE
by KS Claw
Half of it is inspired by a sci-fi-novel I once read, and half of it is based on many ideas
that I have been going through for a long time now. And then I am amazed that this is gonna be
my first long story, since my Marekat-trilogy. Hope you´ll like the story.
--------------------------------
PROLOGUE
"Daddy? Why is grandma sad?" David asked, as he was laying a puzzle, while his dad was drinking
coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Grandpa is sick. He´s at the hospital." Elrod said. He sighed and put his cup down. Crud,
how was he going to explain it to David?
"Why is grandpa sick? Will he be OK again?" David asked quietly. Elrod bit his lower lip.
"I don´t know David. He....has a pain in his chest....which won´t go away." He said and looked
down sadly. David frowned, and returned to his puzzle. He could see that his dad was sad, and
didn´t want to talk much about it. Jodie, Davids 2nd grandmother came out from the kitchen,
carrying a tray with cookies.
"Who wants cookies?" She asked cheerfully. David beamed and jumped down from his chair and ran
over to her. Even though she wasn´t his real grandmother, he still loved her. His dad had told
him once about how Davids real grandmother, Miranda Purvis, the real mother of Elrod, had died
in a car-accident when his dad was 9 years old. David was of course too young, to understand
it completely. To him, everything was a happy world with all the people that he loved.
Elrod knew his young son wouldn´t accept that his grandfather was going to die.
"Which is why its best not to tell him....yet..." Elrod thought with a small sigh and took a sip
of his coffee. Jodie noted his expression, then smiled at David.
"Here David, heres some cookies. Now why don´t you go out in the garden and see how my roses are
doing?" She asked him. David noddled then ran off and out of the door. Jodie put the tray of
cookies on the table and sat down in front of Elrod.
"I can tell you are thinking about something darkly." She said. Elrod sighed, and nodded alittle
at that. "I....was thinking about Eric....." Jodie nodded.
"I still think...that if we hadn´t had that fight....David wouldn´t be without a grandfather..."
Elrod muttered, then looked up as his stepmother placed her paw on his.
"Don´t torment yourself with that kind of thoughts....what has happened, has happened. And there
is nothing to do about it. You know it." Elrod looked away.
"18...I was nothing more but 18.....and we had a fight about something as stupid as my choice
of career...." He sighed, then rested his elbows on the table, his head resting in his paws.
Jodie nodded softly.
"And he couldn´t take it that you where growing up, I guess...and the same with Samantha. We all
went through a hard time when Eric hit the bottle...." Elrod closed his eyes and bit his lower
lip, memories flashing in his mind.....
"....And you still got that scar from one of the earlier fights." Jodie sighed. Elrod nodded.
"Thats one thing Sharrakus didn´t remove when he turned me back..." He murmured, recalling how
he after that fight with Syphon had been dying, and the old, mysterious kat had saved his life.
"Why, I don´t know....perhaps as a reminder..." He muttered and stroked a zigzagged scar on his
left arm, right on the elbow. His dad had smashed a bottle and tried to cut him with it, but he
had just managed to protect his face with his, resulting in the scar he had now.
So many years......
"With so many painful memories..."
"What was that?" Jodie asked as she looked up, being in deep thoughts herself.
"Nothing...nothing at all." Elrod responded, waving with his paw. "Just thinking outloud, thats
all." He sighed as he got up then looked on his watch.
"I better get to the lab....thanks for the coffee." The golden-furred tomkat said. Jodie nodded.
"Take care of yourself." She said gently. Elrod smiled.
"I will. If anything happens, call me." Jodie nodded, and Elrod left.
----------------------------------------
CHAPTER 1: The tour
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Kennys was already in full gear, working on a new science-project. Johnson
looked up as Elrod came in.
"Sorry I´m late. Stuck in midday traffic." Elrod muttered, taking his place beside Kennys.
"As long as you are here, then theres no worries." Johnson replied dryly, and returned to the
microscope. Elrod took place at his side of the table and began to take notes and analyse
chemicals.
As the hours went by, Elrod found himself, not thinking about anything but working with the
many chemicals. Unlike before he had mutated into Dr. Viper. Back then, he had been lazy,
snappy, and showed no respect for his headmaster. It was a different talk with Dr. Johnson.
He was a man whowas worth to give respect to.
"Purvis, could you please store these files in the archive?" Johnson asked. Elrod nodded.
"Yes sir." He picked up the box with the files and left the laboratory, walking down a corridor,
down some stairs and down into the basement. Also the place where some of the more dangerous
chemicals where kept.
The goldenfurred tomkat sighed as his gaze passed the shelfs. He recalled when he had helped
Zyme create that cursed Vipermutagen that had changed his life. He shuddered at the thought.
"Thank the Lord that I ain´t into that anymore...." he thought to himself, as he stored the box
with files. As he walked back, he groaned, feeling a minor headache at sudden.
"Uch....been working too much lately." He muttered, rubbing his forehead.
"Oh well....just some paperwork, some analyzis and I´m off...."
---------------------
"Now children, stay close together and do not walk far away from eachother. Biff, stay in the
line!" Ms. Mason snapped at Biff Cartle, who scowled, but went back into line. David sighed and
shook his head. Biff was always such a moron.
David patiently followed the long line of all the other kittens and the teacher, while Biff kept
on walking around here and there. As they walked, the teacher told about how the MegaKat Bio-
chemical laboartory worked.
"Here in the laboratory, they examine important and dangerous chemicals, used for experiments,
medicin and much more, which it would take ages to tell about...now, can anyone tell me..."
"Theres my dad! HI! DAD!!" David shouted as he waved. Elrod blinked and looked up, and then
grinned as he saw his son in the group of kittens. He nodded a polite hello to the teacher of
the group.
"Ms. Mason I presume. I am Dr. Elrod Purvis. I was informed about your visit today. I am here
to escort you through the laboratories." Ms. Mason nodded and shook hands with Elrod.
"Its a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Purvis. Both the children and I have been looking forward to
come here...Biff! I told you to stay!! Excuse me a moment doctor...."
While ms. Mason chased Biff who had gotten an idea about sneaking into one of the labs, Elrod
looked over the group.
"As you already know, I am Dr. Elrod Purvis...and as you have been informed, also the father of
David." He sent a smile to David who just beamed. Then he looked back at the group of kittens.
"Now, before we start the tour around in the lab, I must inform you about certain things. And
please, listen carefully: You must not go into the laboratories if the lamp above the door isn´t
flashing green. If its red, then it means there is a important experiment going on, and even a
small un-important thing as a yell from a kitten can be quite disturbing. Along with that, stay
with everyone here in this group. You must never wander off alone, because the whole lab itself
is a true maze for someone who hasn´t been here before, and I am quite positive that none of you
have...."
As Elrod kept telling the rules of the tour, the kittens listened intensely. David knew the many
rules though...he had visited the lab before and he knew his way around, from his dads office to
the main hall. Ms. Mason returned with Biff and Elrod repeated the rules in a very stern tone to
Biff who pouted. Then Biff smirked.
"Hey doctor! Weren´t you the psyco Dr. Viper!!??" Elrod stiffened. Ms. Mason looked shocked.
"Biff, thats not a question you just as-.." She was surprised when Elrod cut her off with a nod
and a expression saying "I´ll be fine". Then he kneeled down and looked straigtly into Biff's
eyes.
"Just how do you know, who I have been?" He asked calmly in a low voice. Biff crossed his arms.
"My daddy is a Enforcer! He knows alot about ya!" Elrod nodded calmly.
"I see....well, has your daddy informed you how I have done what I do best, which is working
here, and taking care of my family?"?
Biff blinked. "...no...." he murmured, uncomfortable because of Elrods calm gaze.
"Then now you know....so just before you claim someone to be a insane psycopathic mutant....
make sure you haven´t read too many comics or asked your daddy stupid questions. Have I made
myself clear?"
"Yes sir...." Biff muttered, looking down on his feet. Elrod nodded.
"Very well...Alright children lets go. And remember the rules!" He then called, and they walked
off.
-----------------------------
David looked around amused as the group walked, barely listening to what his dad was telling
about the laboratory. Then when looking in through a giant window, where he could see 2 kats in
protection suits examine some extra dangerous chemicals, he noted something in the reflection...
it was Biff sneaking off, towards the basement....
"Hmmm.....I´d better see what he´s up to...." David thought and sneaked away from the group.
Biff walked down the stairs and into the basement where he looked around on the many shelfs. He
grinned as he noted all the different labels...Toxic...flameable...poisonous...acidly....
He picked one speciel one down...One with some sorta greenish-yellow liquid....
"Put that back!!" A voice sounded behind him. Biff turned around and growled as he spotted his
"archenemy" David Purvis.
"Ohhh look who we have here! Daddy's boy!!" he growled, dashing with his tail. David narrowed
his eyes.
"I said put that bottle back!!" David repeated, his own tail twitching, more of anger than of
of being anxious...he was not afraid of Biff, even though the other kitten was big for his age,
and twice as heavy. Biff grinned.
"You want it this bad!? CATCH!!" He threw the bottle. David gasped and seeked to catch it, but
with no success, since Biff took the chance to sprint forward and punch the kitten hard in his
stomach, sending him hard into a wall. David gasped for breath, just as the bottle crashed right
above his head....
David coughed and gagged as the liquid poured down, soaking his fur and running into his mouth.
He coughed as he swallowed the nasty stuff and shakingly got up. Biff had run off...David looked
at the mess and whimpered...his dad was not gonna be happy if he saw this mess....
The kitten quickly picked up the glass-pieces and threw them in a container nearby that was for
leftover chemicals, then washed his fur as much as he could with some water and dried himself in
some spare labcoats, then quickly went upstairs to rejoin the group.
But had he looked closer, he would have noted the label on the floor that read:
Viper Mutagen #368
by KS Claw
Half of it is inspired by a sci-fi-novel I once read, and half of it is based on many ideas
that I have been going through for a long time now. And then I am amazed that this is gonna be
my first long story, since my Marekat-trilogy. Hope you´ll like the story.
--------------------------------
PROLOGUE
"Daddy? Why is grandma sad?" David asked, as he was laying a puzzle, while his dad was drinking
coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Grandpa is sick. He´s at the hospital." Elrod said. He sighed and put his cup down. Crud,
how was he going to explain it to David?
"Why is grandpa sick? Will he be OK again?" David asked quietly. Elrod bit his lower lip.
"I don´t know David. He....has a pain in his chest....which won´t go away." He said and looked
down sadly. David frowned, and returned to his puzzle. He could see that his dad was sad, and
didn´t want to talk much about it. Jodie, Davids 2nd grandmother came out from the kitchen,
carrying a tray with cookies.
"Who wants cookies?" She asked cheerfully. David beamed and jumped down from his chair and ran
over to her. Even though she wasn´t his real grandmother, he still loved her. His dad had told
him once about how Davids real grandmother, Miranda Purvis, the real mother of Elrod, had died
in a car-accident when his dad was 9 years old. David was of course too young, to understand
it completely. To him, everything was a happy world with all the people that he loved.
Elrod knew his young son wouldn´t accept that his grandfather was going to die.
"Which is why its best not to tell him....yet..." Elrod thought with a small sigh and took a sip
of his coffee. Jodie noted his expression, then smiled at David.
"Here David, heres some cookies. Now why don´t you go out in the garden and see how my roses are
doing?" She asked him. David noddled then ran off and out of the door. Jodie put the tray of
cookies on the table and sat down in front of Elrod.
"I can tell you are thinking about something darkly." She said. Elrod sighed, and nodded alittle
at that. "I....was thinking about Eric....." Jodie nodded.
"I still think...that if we hadn´t had that fight....David wouldn´t be without a grandfather..."
Elrod muttered, then looked up as his stepmother placed her paw on his.
"Don´t torment yourself with that kind of thoughts....what has happened, has happened. And there
is nothing to do about it. You know it." Elrod looked away.
"18...I was nothing more but 18.....and we had a fight about something as stupid as my choice
of career...." He sighed, then rested his elbows on the table, his head resting in his paws.
Jodie nodded softly.
"And he couldn´t take it that you where growing up, I guess...and the same with Samantha. We all
went through a hard time when Eric hit the bottle...." Elrod closed his eyes and bit his lower
lip, memories flashing in his mind.....
"....And you still got that scar from one of the earlier fights." Jodie sighed. Elrod nodded.
"Thats one thing Sharrakus didn´t remove when he turned me back..." He murmured, recalling how
he after that fight with Syphon had been dying, and the old, mysterious kat had saved his life.
"Why, I don´t know....perhaps as a reminder..." He muttered and stroked a zigzagged scar on his
left arm, right on the elbow. His dad had smashed a bottle and tried to cut him with it, but he
had just managed to protect his face with his, resulting in the scar he had now.
So many years......
"With so many painful memories..."
"What was that?" Jodie asked as she looked up, being in deep thoughts herself.
"Nothing...nothing at all." Elrod responded, waving with his paw. "Just thinking outloud, thats
all." He sighed as he got up then looked on his watch.
"I better get to the lab....thanks for the coffee." The golden-furred tomkat said. Jodie nodded.
"Take care of yourself." She said gently. Elrod smiled.
"I will. If anything happens, call me." Jodie nodded, and Elrod left.
----------------------------------------
CHAPTER 1: The tour
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Kennys was already in full gear, working on a new science-project. Johnson
looked up as Elrod came in.
"Sorry I´m late. Stuck in midday traffic." Elrod muttered, taking his place beside Kennys.
"As long as you are here, then theres no worries." Johnson replied dryly, and returned to the
microscope. Elrod took place at his side of the table and began to take notes and analyse
chemicals.
As the hours went by, Elrod found himself, not thinking about anything but working with the
many chemicals. Unlike before he had mutated into Dr. Viper. Back then, he had been lazy,
snappy, and showed no respect for his headmaster. It was a different talk with Dr. Johnson.
He was a man whowas worth to give respect to.
"Purvis, could you please store these files in the archive?" Johnson asked. Elrod nodded.
"Yes sir." He picked up the box with the files and left the laboratory, walking down a corridor,
down some stairs and down into the basement. Also the place where some of the more dangerous
chemicals where kept.
The goldenfurred tomkat sighed as his gaze passed the shelfs. He recalled when he had helped
Zyme create that cursed Vipermutagen that had changed his life. He shuddered at the thought.
"Thank the Lord that I ain´t into that anymore...." he thought to himself, as he stored the box
with files. As he walked back, he groaned, feeling a minor headache at sudden.
"Uch....been working too much lately." He muttered, rubbing his forehead.
"Oh well....just some paperwork, some analyzis and I´m off...."
---------------------
"Now children, stay close together and do not walk far away from eachother. Biff, stay in the
line!" Ms. Mason snapped at Biff Cartle, who scowled, but went back into line. David sighed and
shook his head. Biff was always such a moron.
David patiently followed the long line of all the other kittens and the teacher, while Biff kept
on walking around here and there. As they walked, the teacher told about how the MegaKat Bio-
chemical laboartory worked.
"Here in the laboratory, they examine important and dangerous chemicals, used for experiments,
medicin and much more, which it would take ages to tell about...now, can anyone tell me..."
"Theres my dad! HI! DAD!!" David shouted as he waved. Elrod blinked and looked up, and then
grinned as he saw his son in the group of kittens. He nodded a polite hello to the teacher of
the group.
"Ms. Mason I presume. I am Dr. Elrod Purvis. I was informed about your visit today. I am here
to escort you through the laboratories." Ms. Mason nodded and shook hands with Elrod.
"Its a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Purvis. Both the children and I have been looking forward to
come here...Biff! I told you to stay!! Excuse me a moment doctor...."
While ms. Mason chased Biff who had gotten an idea about sneaking into one of the labs, Elrod
looked over the group.
"As you already know, I am Dr. Elrod Purvis...and as you have been informed, also the father of
David." He sent a smile to David who just beamed. Then he looked back at the group of kittens.
"Now, before we start the tour around in the lab, I must inform you about certain things. And
please, listen carefully: You must not go into the laboratories if the lamp above the door isn´t
flashing green. If its red, then it means there is a important experiment going on, and even a
small un-important thing as a yell from a kitten can be quite disturbing. Along with that, stay
with everyone here in this group. You must never wander off alone, because the whole lab itself
is a true maze for someone who hasn´t been here before, and I am quite positive that none of you
have...."
As Elrod kept telling the rules of the tour, the kittens listened intensely. David knew the many
rules though...he had visited the lab before and he knew his way around, from his dads office to
the main hall. Ms. Mason returned with Biff and Elrod repeated the rules in a very stern tone to
Biff who pouted. Then Biff smirked.
"Hey doctor! Weren´t you the psyco Dr. Viper!!??" Elrod stiffened. Ms. Mason looked shocked.
"Biff, thats not a question you just as-.." She was surprised when Elrod cut her off with a nod
and a expression saying "I´ll be fine". Then he kneeled down and looked straigtly into Biff's
eyes.
"Just how do you know, who I have been?" He asked calmly in a low voice. Biff crossed his arms.
"My daddy is a Enforcer! He knows alot about ya!" Elrod nodded calmly.
"I see....well, has your daddy informed you how I have done what I do best, which is working
here, and taking care of my family?"?
Biff blinked. "...no...." he murmured, uncomfortable because of Elrods calm gaze.
"Then now you know....so just before you claim someone to be a insane psycopathic mutant....
make sure you haven´t read too many comics or asked your daddy stupid questions. Have I made
myself clear?"
"Yes sir...." Biff muttered, looking down on his feet. Elrod nodded.
"Very well...Alright children lets go. And remember the rules!" He then called, and they walked
off.
-----------------------------
David looked around amused as the group walked, barely listening to what his dad was telling
about the laboratory. Then when looking in through a giant window, where he could see 2 kats in
protection suits examine some extra dangerous chemicals, he noted something in the reflection...
it was Biff sneaking off, towards the basement....
"Hmmm.....I´d better see what he´s up to...." David thought and sneaked away from the group.
Biff walked down the stairs and into the basement where he looked around on the many shelfs. He
grinned as he noted all the different labels...Toxic...flameable...poisonous...acidly....
He picked one speciel one down...One with some sorta greenish-yellow liquid....
"Put that back!!" A voice sounded behind him. Biff turned around and growled as he spotted his
"archenemy" David Purvis.
"Ohhh look who we have here! Daddy's boy!!" he growled, dashing with his tail. David narrowed
his eyes.
"I said put that bottle back!!" David repeated, his own tail twitching, more of anger than of
of being anxious...he was not afraid of Biff, even though the other kitten was big for his age,
and twice as heavy. Biff grinned.
"You want it this bad!? CATCH!!" He threw the bottle. David gasped and seeked to catch it, but
with no success, since Biff took the chance to sprint forward and punch the kitten hard in his
stomach, sending him hard into a wall. David gasped for breath, just as the bottle crashed right
above his head....
David coughed and gagged as the liquid poured down, soaking his fur and running into his mouth.
He coughed as he swallowed the nasty stuff and shakingly got up. Biff had run off...David looked
at the mess and whimpered...his dad was not gonna be happy if he saw this mess....
The kitten quickly picked up the glass-pieces and threw them in a container nearby that was for
leftover chemicals, then washed his fur as much as he could with some water and dried himself in
some spare labcoats, then quickly went upstairs to rejoin the group.
But had he looked closer, he would have noted the label on the floor that read:
Viper Mutagen #368