This is the longest chapter I have ever written. Ever. It took so long to figure out. I couldn't settle between a horror or comedy Oneshot so it's now both. This was a request from Shiloh: An artifact that makes nightmares come to life. I had way too much fun with this one. I got carried away and started writing into Doyle's backstory in the middle bit (You'll probably see what I mean when you read it) I have a weakness for theories and backstories. His loose-end backstory is probably why he's one of my favourite TSS characters. Anyway so I hope it was still the kind of thing that you expected, please review to tell me if I've done justice for your idea. Next chapter will be one of my own ideas, then I'll do A&P's request.
"Greetings and Bienvenue boys and girls, have I got a treat for you today," Argost's voice emanating from the TV as Zak eagerly sat on the edge of the sofa, watching the flashing box with great attention. Fisk was sat next to him, his big red eyes glued to the screen. The masked celebrity walked up to a large red velvet curtain, with Munya at his side. "What we are about to look at is an ancient treasure of the Mayan civilisation," Argost declared. He pulled the drapes aside to reveal a circular tablet, a flat rock with multiple inscriptions carved into its surface. There were two eyes in the middle, with additional spiral shapes round the edges. "The Mayan civilisation could have been around as early as 1000BC - a very long time ago my viewers. Thankfully, this relic has long since been kept secure in an undiscovered temple for thousands of years and has been restored by my funds and now sits as delightful centrepiece in my home," Argost said, brushing a particle of dust from it.
"It's probably just a replica," Zak said, unimpressed. Fisk nodded.
"Ah but don't be fooled by its outer shell, there is a reason why it was kept in a secure location," Argost clarified. "Legend says, that during an unfortunate accident, this tablet was possessed by a spirit. More of a mischievous one than an evil one. Apparently it was locked up after the spirit began to invade people's subconscious during sleep, causing terrifyingly real hallucinations and nightmares. The only way the Mayan's could stop it was by-." Zak quickly shut the TV off as he heard approaching footsteps from down the hall. Zak let out a sigh of relief as Doyle entered the room and plopped down onto one of the sofas, seemingly content. After putting his feet up, he turned to Zak and smirked.
"Put weird world back on then," He chuckled.
"What!? How did you…" Zak gasped.
"You're terrible at being inconspicuous Zak," Doyle answered. Zak scowled and pressed the power button on the remote and the TV screen crackled to life.
"However boys and girls, this was only a temporary solution, the only way to stop it was to seal it away for good," Argost said. Zak groaned as the theme tune began playing and the credits rolled.
"What did I miss," Doyle asked.
"Not much," Zak replied. "Only evils spirits and ancient artifacts." Doyle yawned.
"I can't feel my legs after that mission this morning," the redhead sighed.
"I know," Zak added. "I thought the secret scientists were supposed to be helping us with this explosive cryptid activity in these last few months."
"Well boys, why don't you head off to bed then, it's past your bedtime Zak," Drew said, walking into the room and leaning on Doyle's chair.
"Come on mom, can't I have five more minutes," Zak pleaded. Drew shook her head.
"No, it's been a busy day for all of us, you need some rest," She soothed, ruffling her son's monochromatic hair.
"Only because the secret scientists can't be bothered to get off their backsides and make an effort," Doyle complained.
"Watch your language Doyle, I may not be able to send you to bed but I can still ground you," Drew scolded, pointing a finger at her brother who rolled his eyes. "Come on kiddo, to bed with you." Zak got up off the couch and trudged down the hall towards his bedroom where Fisk was waiting for him. The Lemurian babbled something in his native tongue and started bouncing up and down on the bedframe. Zak began to undress, pulling on his pyjamas whilst komodo barged in and made himself comfortable on the bed. After brushing his teeth, the pre-teen hopped into bed where Drew came in to wish him good night. Zak blushed as Drew tucked the covers up around him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Mom! I'm not five, I can do that myself!" Zak scolded, blushing red.
"Aww isn't that cute."
Doyle was leaning on the doorframe, smirking his usual smirk. Zak scowled at him, slightly mad and highly humiliated. The boy grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at his uncle's head. Having already realised that the soft feather object wasn't going to hurt him, he stood firm and let the pillow bounce off his head. Drew supressed a smile. "Mom! Doyle! You're embarrassing me!" Zak cried.
"Alright kiddo, we won't cramp your style any longer," Drew sighed, pushing her brother out of the doorway and turning off the light. "Goodnight sweetheart."
"Goodnight Mom."
A shadowy figure moved past Zak's window, casting a shadow amongst the tree branches outside. The figure slipped past silently and turned course, climbing down the wall headfirst, surprisingly agile for a creature of its size. It noticed the prefect opportunity to kick his masters plan into action: a window left slightly ajar on one of the lower floors. He opened the large bay window further in order to slip inside, not tripping any alarms that would result in detection. He listened in wait and a few moments later, a smaller figure landed in the room with a light thump, his yellow tinted eyes visible in the blackness.
"Quickly now Munya, see that we do not disturb our test subjects."
The mutant removed a silk wrapped object from under one of his arms, holding it in front of him. He unwrapped it carefully, revealing a slight glow from the object beneath. He placed it down on the floor and then followed his master out of the window.
"Now let's go and observe our little nightmare factory in action."
'We were somewhere in the amazon, tracking a cryptid, Wadi was with us. Her father had another Hassi mission and had left her with us. Mom and dad had gone somewhere further ahead of us, Wadi and I were alone on the river bank.
"You're looking really nice today Zak," she chuckled lightly, "did you do anything different today?"
"Nope, just the same charming features as usual."
"That must be what I like about you," she giggled, leaning into me slightly. I leaned inwards too, closing the space between us … a huge roar paused us both. All of the birds came flying out of the trees in swarm and the animals came running from the trees. I heard a loud squawk from Zon as the ground began to shake and trees crashed to the ground. It came thundering towards us like a tsunami, towering metres above the huge canopy trees, jaws outstretched…'
Zak woke with a start, gasping for breath. What was that? It was normal for him to have the odd romantic dream about him and Wadi in a romantic setting but he had never known it to end like that. He sat up in bed, he could still hear the loud thumping footsteps of the creature in his mind. His bed began to shake. Or was it in reality too? He threw off his covers and ran towards his bedroom door without even turning the light on…
'She walked up and down the dormitory, cane in hand. Her face was puckered up like she had a diet of lemons, her lips and nose wrinkled up. Her snake eyes scanned over us like lasers until they focused on me. She strode up to my bed and stood in front of me, snorting like an enraged bull.
"You boy!" she shrieked, nearly spitting droplets across my face. I began to shake like leaf, in all honesty just wanting to curl up in a ball and hide out of sight. I dared to look into her eyes of fire.
"Y-yes m-matron," I whimpered, my jaw clamping shut almost.
"Can you perhaps tell me why you decided give yourself an extra helping of rations today boy?" Her voice was so sharp and scary yet so calm and controlled. I mumbled an answer, hoping that only she'd hear it and that it could just be over and done with. Unfortunately, as usual, my plans had once again backfired.
"Pardon? I'm not deaf boy, speak up!" I heard the sniggers of the boys around me and wanted to just disappear entirely. I was the youngest and weakest and the only time I was noticed was when I decided to step out of line.
"I," I paused, sucking in the tears "I was hungry miss," I squeaked. It was the truth at least, I was starving. I could count all of my ribs and run my finger up all the ridges on my spine. My already pale skin was ghostly white and stuck out majorly given my wild short reddish locks. There was a slight pause in the atmosphere before her roaring laugh rocked the room.
"You were hungry!" She roared, her stomach bouncing as she laughed. I couldn't help it any longer and burst into tears like a baby. The sniggers around me turned into howling laughter as the tears continued to cascade down my sullen cheeks. I looked up, pleading desperation in my eyes only to be forcefully slapped on the cheek. I rubbed the sore reddened skin and continued to sob.
"You'll have to be punished for this Doyle." I saw her raise the cane out of the corner of my eye…'
It burned. He was pretty sure he was still dreaming the pain of the hard strikes to his back. He could only but assume his cowardice mind had associated the beatings to the sensation of being awoken. He wished whoever it was would just hurry up and wake him. However, when his eyes snapped open, he could only stare in horror at who's eyes he was staring into.
'"Is everyone on their positions," I asked, scanning through the treeline towards the mansion. There was replies from the other three groups to the south, east and west. Our particular group was entering through a drainage pipe, hoping to infiltrate the mansion bottom to top.
"Then let's go." We crept down along the fence line, towards our assigned entrance. Epsilon used his bionic hand to cut open a gap for us to fit through. I looked back to see Drew and Miranda just behind us, arms linked, faces wary. I wished she wasn't so headstrong sometimes, as here she was, 6 months pregnant, helping the secret scientists on the siege that would hopefully get us back the kur stone. I flagged the other 10 people ahead of me as we all continued inside at a quiet pace. I stopped and listened. Nothing. We continued until we came out into a large room. I was quite disturbed by the decorative tastes of the fraud of a TV host we were targeting. Old fashioned expensive furnishings, grand open fireplaces and exotic stuffed cryptid and animal heads mounted on the red walls. The sort of things you might find in a novel of macabre and horror. There was a loud explosion all of a sudden and we all clamped our hands over our ears and were onto our knees as the blast rocked the open room. When we got to our feet we began to hear the clunking and grinding of gears above our heads. We started to run. Up the closest flight of stairs. When we made it to the top we managed to notice one of the other groups over the noise and calamity of the situation. They were at the other end of the hall; they didn't see what was in front of them. I screamed at the top of my lungs to warn them. They couldn't hear me. They didn't hear me. I watched as half of them were mowed down to their deaths in front of our eyes…'
He awoke to the haunting sound of the grinding gears and cogs. Thinking he was having a nightmare in a nightmare, Doc used the only tactic he had. To run. He leapt out of bed, not even acknowledging his wife who was still in the bed sound asleep.
'I could hear his pleading cries from all around me. I was caught in a maze of black and white, Zak's cries echoing from every angle. I screamed back to him and only heard myself. Where was everyone else. I couldn't hear or see anyone else, only Zak. Doc, Doyle, Fisk, they had all vanished. Zak was still screaming for help. I had to find my baby. I continued to run through the mist with my sword, crying out to him. I turned and saw him a few metres away, hanging onto an edge with one hand. I ran to him. He was slipping. I instinctively put my hand out to grab him. To stop him from going over the edge. To save him. I couldn't quite reach him. His fingers slid though my hand as he fell…'
Drew sprung out of bed, her heart hammering against her ribs. She noticed her husband was nowhere to be found. She could still hear the cries of her son. Louder than ever. With no other choice, she grabbed her sword from the dresser and slipped on a dressing gown, then opening the door and briskly jogging to Zak's room, only to open the door and see his vacant bed. Her heart skipped a beat. She darted back out of the door only to have something collide with her lower half and knock her to the ground. She was about to strike at it but then noticed who it was.
"Zak!" She cried happily, hugging him tightly, "What on earth are you doing up at this time?"
"Worry about that later, right now we need to go!" Zak shouted, tugging on his mother's arm.
"Why?" She asked, "what's -." Drew was silenced as the ground began to move ever so slightly in little bumps. She looked down the dark corridor where Zak had come from. The ground began to shake more violently and a loud roar rattled them both.
"QUICK! RUN!" Zak yelled, pulling his mother away. Drew gripped reality and started to run with him.
"Quickly, in here!" Drew cried, pushing her son into a small storage room and closing the door behind them and locking it.
"Mom! We can't hide in here!" Zak argued. She clamped a hand over his mouth and told him to be silent. He backed away towards the other end of the small room. "We need to find everyone else."
"No, Zak it'll see us, the best thing to do is wait and-." The ground began to crack and crumble under them and within seconds the concrete and metal began to fall away under Zak's feet and the boy found himself freefalling from the high floors of his home. However, he felt a hand shoot out and grab him, leaving him dangling in mid-air for a split second before his mother hauled him back up onto the unstable ledge.
Zak looked at her, "what was that about safe?" The ground began to crack underneath Zak again.
"Never mind that!" Drew shouted, kicking down the door and running out into the hall. The 'creature' was nowhere to be seen so the mother and son ran onwards the way they were originally going.
"What do we do!" Zak asked, nearly out of breath.
"We need to find your father, he'll know what to do," she replied. There was a roaring yell from a few rooms away and the two looked at each other, already knowing who it was. Racing through a set of double doors they came across Doc, wrestling with constrictor vines that had a tight hold on his neck, limbs and chest.
"Dad!" Zak cried, surging forward with the claw to tear away some of the vines. Drew followed his lead and began blasting fireballs at the ones that were somehow coming up out of the floor. The carnivorous plants eventually gave in and retreated through the holes that they had come through. Doc regained his senses.
"Drew! Zak! We're in weird world!" He cried.
"What?" Drew and Zak asked in sync and worry. "No dad, we're in the house," Zak said softly.
"I could have sworn we were…" Doc said, looking about the room.
"Look honey, I don't know what's going on either but we need to keep moving," Drew said, advancing towards another door. "We need to find a way out before…oh." It looked as if Drew had just opened a portal into weird world. A whole tunnel of blood red walls and swinging axes were laid out in front of them and to make things worse, a roar echoed through the house behind them.
"I swear this was where the kitchen was supposed to be," Zak muttered. His parents started forward and began to shoot at the moving blades, eventually creating a path through for their son. They made it through into the next corridor and stopped to catch their breath. But didn't get far as they suddenly found themselves sinking into the floor below. The trio squirmed and wriggled but ended up getting sucked through the floor, Zak getting separated from his parents. He fell through the floor and landed in another hall. He noticed a pair of red eyes staring back at him from above as he had landed on his back. He screamed. So did the creature.
"Fisk! Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Zak shouted at the lemurian.
"Erkazazurua!" Fisk cried apologetically. Zak glanced behind him. An eerie laugh echoed down the dark hall. "Uh Fisk?" Zak asked, turning on the lights nearby, revealing something of a surprise to Zak. "Clowns!" Zak nearly keeled over laughing, "you're scared of clowns Fisk?" Fisk screamed. Zak walked up and squeezed the clowns assumingly fake nose. "See, everything is fine…WHOA!" Zak was now looked into a laughing, fang filled mouth which probably would've snapped at him if he hadn't been hauled into the air by Fisk, who then started to run away as fat as he could. Zak was carried at a continuous speed until their pursuer was only heard, not seen. Zak noticed something familiar on the right.
"Uncle Doyle's room! Come on Fisk, we can hide in there!" The Lemurian took a detour into said room and then moved a set of drawers in front of the door. Zak wiped his brow "Whew, that was close!" Zak looked around the room and noticed the eerie silence. "Doyle? Are you in here?" Zak asked, checking the bed. "Doyle!" He said slightly lounder.
"Shhhhh! Do you have a death wish or something?" A voice whispered hoarsely.
"Doyle?" Zak asked, looking about the room, "where are you?"
"I'm back here! Now hurry up and get in here before she comes back!"
Zak was about to ask who but thought better of it and opened the closet door slowly. Doyle was sat in the corner, camouflaged in with a heap of clothes and junk, looking rather frightened. "What is it?" Zak asked.
"No time to explain, just get in," Doyle snapped. Zak and Fisk clambered into the small storage unit with him. There was barely any room for three of them so Doyle ended up squashed against the wall with Zak in his lap. Zak could feel Doyle shaking.
"Doyle? What's gotten into you?"
"Shut up! She's coming!" Doyle pleaded, clamping a hand over the boy's mouth. Zak was about to protest when he heard the sound of heels on the wooden floor. He felt Doyle tense up, holding him so tightly that Zak imagined he would have had to pry his uncle's fingers off with a crowbar. Despite the fact that Fisk had blocked the door, Zak heard the latch click open and he saw not the creature, the clown or something from weird world but a woman walking into the room. He felt Doyle's heartbeat hammering against him along with the redhead's heavy breathing in his ear. Zak wondered why his uncle was so scared by her. He looked through the shutter doors, squinting to get a better view as Doyle was still holding him like his life depended on it. She seemed like the kind of woman that would be an overly strict teacher. This theory was supported by the menacing looking cane in her hand. She wore square spectacles on her broad nose which was situated in the middle of her slightly puckered face which bore quite a few moles and lumps. She was quite tall yet beefy, a little bit podgy if you looked at the way her greying blouse was tucked into her mud coloured skirt. Zak wondered why his uncle would fear someone like that. He thought for a split second that she could have been one of Doyle's long line of past lovers but immediately erased the theory as he realised that Doyle had quite a flair for wooing physically attractive girls. Besides, this woman looked like she was in her mid-50s, too old for Doyle's methods of flirtation. She looked towards the closet where they were hiding. Zak shivered as he realised that she had probably heard his uncle's rough breathing. Zak watched as Fisk acted quickly and put a fuzzy hand over Doyle's face, muffling the man's loud, shuddering breaths. Doyle stopped shaking for a second and breathed a sigh of relief. She stopped looking at them and eventually wandered off again.
Fisk removed his large hand from Doyle's mouth and the red head took in a huge gulp of air into his lungs, removing his still twitching hand from Zak's mouth. The boy breathed for a second before scooting around on Doyle's knee to face him.
"You're scared of that lady?" Zak asked. Doyle sighed.
"If you must put it so crudely," Doyle growled, slightly embarrassed.
"Why?" He asked.
"You saw the cane in her hand right?"
"Yeah."
"I've had quite a few painful beatings on the backside from that thing." Zak suppressed both a giggle and a cringe. "That and the fact that she turned me into a shivering wreck of a child."
"Was she like your teacher or something?"
"No, she was one of the matrons at one of the orphanages I used to live in," Doyle answered, no emotion on his features. Zak didn't know what to say, Doyle didn't talk about his childhood, at all, not even to his sister so it was rather surprising to hear.
"Why did she beat you?" Zak asked softly.
"I used to steal food," Doyle said simply, his eyes not really focusing on Zak himself. "You would too if the only thing you were given to eat each day was a slice of bread and a lump of butter along with a stale bowl of soup in the evenings with the occasional apple or plate of soggy cooked vegetables when the getting was good." Zak thought about that. That wasn't even a diet that Komodo would stomach.
"How old were you?" Zak asked.
"Six I think, then again, I could have been seven or eight. I was a small runt for my age."
"I'm sorry," Zak whispered.
"Don't be," Doyle added reassuringly "it was a long time ago, I'm not that person anymore."
Zak stood up and began to pace about in the tiny space, clearly thinking. "What is it Zakman?" Doyle asked. Zak sat back down and sighed.
"I'm starting to see a pattern here, your fear, Fisk's fear of clowns, heck whenever I encountered dad the house had turned into weird world and tried to chop us into bits and when I was with mom, let's just say that literally everything was out to get me."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone's deep fears, everyone's nightmares … they're coming to life, like from that relic we saw on weird world earlier."
"You mean that Mayan one that's possessed by the evil spirit that causes nightmares and hallucinations?"
"That's it! I had a nightmare about something chasing me and Wadi and when I woke up it was still happening, that happened to you two too right?" Zak asked. Doyle and Fisk nodded in unison. "We need to stop hiding in here and go find mom and dad and tell them what's happening."
"Agreed," Doyle said, opening the door up and going over to search through one of his bags. He brought out a handful of tech. "I'm not going out there unarmed." He reloaded his wrist blaster and clicked it back into place.
He then threw a small stun blaster to Zak. "Cool!"
"Just don't break it kid and don't shoot a hole in your foot," Doyle instructed jokingly, strapping on his jetpack for precautions. Fisk opened the door a crack and the trio then stepped out into the black hall. "Shhhhh, hear that?"
Zak could hear it too, the clanking of metal once again.
"What is that?" Doyle asked, shining a beam from his wrist blaster up onto the ceiling. They heard a yelling from somewhere around them. They couldn't work out where but as it got louder, something crashed into the back of them, tripping Fisk and sending Doyle crashing to the floor. The figure groaned and Zak realised who it was.
"Dad!"
"Zak?" Doc asked, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Zak replied, "where's mom?"
"I don't know," Doc said, shaking his head, "I lost sight of her once-."
"I know I make a great landing mat and all but your knee is going through my spine."
Doc and Zak looked down, realising that Doc was still half sat and half kneeling on the ex-mercenary. "Oh," Doc said abruptly, standing up and then offering a hand to Doyle who stood up and cracked his back.
"Dad, we've figured out what's going on."
"You have?"
"Yeah, there's this evil Mayan artifact that causes nightmares and hallucinations and-."
"Zak have you been watching weird world again?"
"What! No!"
"I told you were terrible at being inconspicuous," Doyle cut in.
"Anyway! The thing I don't understand is how it got here."
"Argost," Doc growled, "he's the only one that would have something and then use it to create hell for someone else."
"That means it has to be nearby," Doyle added "is there any way of finding it?"
"According to your mother, the effects of supposedly existent spiritual stuff get stronger the closer you get to it."
"So in other words it's like a game of hot or cold," Zak stated. All four of them looked at each other as the ground began to shake.
"Whilst running for your life," Doyle added, then sprinting off down the corridor, the others then following as the ground began to crack underneath them. A little further down the corridor split in two, leaving them scouting for the best option. "Which way!" Doyle shouted.
"Right! That's the way to the storage units, they are unalarmed, that's most likely how he got in undetected. But as they started forwards it was clear that it wasn't going to be that easy. A solitary vine shot out of the ground and wrapped itself around Doc's leg, making the man fall like a tree to the floor. As more rose from the ground, Doyle shot a few rounds at them whilst Zak and Fisk pulled Doc free. They stood up and only got another few feet when they heard laughing from behind them. Fisk screamed and ran away realising what it was.
"He's scared of clowns?" Doc asked.
"Do you remember that time we put a stop to that cryptid circus in Germany?" Zak asked his dad. Doc nodded as the clown advanced on them. This time it was carrying a large hammer which looked like an inflatable but when it put the hammer above its head and then brought it down the three remaining Saturdays literally bounced in the air and landed like rocks. "Ow," Zak groaned, rubbing his head.
"If I shoot it do you think it'll disappear?" Doyle growled, steadying his arm, taking aim and then firing a single bullet. It went straight through it. In fact, that only made it angrier. The ex-mercenary gulped and staggered back, Doc and Zak following his lead.
"Nice going Doyle, you made it mad!" Doc snapped, turning and running.
"Hey! I didn't see you doing anything about it," Doyle snapped defensively, "How was I supposed to know it was invincible?"
"They aren't," Zak said. "It isn't your fear though, so you can't conquer it. Fisk is the only one who can overcome his own fears." Doc and Doyle went quiet in surprise. "You learn a lot about dreams and the subconscious when you're stuck in a room with Dr Bara for an hour straight."
"Down there! Take the stairs on the left!" Doc instructed, having nearly caught up to Fiskerton. They ran down the staircase and immediately noticed something unusual about the first door down. It was rattling on its hinges and had an eerie green glow creeping out from underneath it. Doc breathed a sigh and then tore it open. It was hard to describe then chaos inside. The relic was in the middle of the room, glowing like a green lightbulb. A tornado of objects was flying around it including books and weapons. "We need to destroy it!" Doc declared, taking charge. He started forwards but was grabbed by yet another set of vines.
"Dad!" Zak cried, using his hands to try and pull him free. "Fisk! Doyle! You guys try it!" Unfortunately, when the two started forward, two shapes came out of the relic and morphed into exactly what Zak feared they would, cornering the others. "Come on!" Zak cried as he saw Fisk simpering in the corner whilst Doyle had forgotten that he was heavily armed and was shaking in his skin. There was no one available to stop it. Or so Zak thought. At that moment an orange light began to stream from the relic, ensuing a loud, destructive blast. Zak turned his head into his father's chest to avoid the heat. When everything went dark again and a burning sound could be heard Zak turned his head away. His mother was standing over them, fire sword ignited, the artifact in pieces at her feet. "Mom!" Zak cried, running up to her and jumping into her arms. He hugged her son tightly and then looked to her husband and brother who were sat in different corners of the room, looking slightly bewildered and entranced. She shook her head, she had to do everything herself…
"Once again the female Saturday demonstrates her strength in the household. Rather disappointing actually, I was enjoying seeing the boy's family scared stiff like a piece of meat being thrown to wolves. Oh well Munya, good things never last long."