Hello again, my friends. This story, unlike my others, will not be regularly updated. Why? I'm writing as I go. *smile*
Running. Darting swiftly through the trees.
Unsure of where it was going. Knowing that it couldn't stay in one place too long.
Branches snapped under its feet, leaves crunching loudly with its weight.
It's heavy, panting breathing slashed through the clear silence of night.
Despite its fear, the creature's face was split with a wide smile, fangs poking out from black lips.
The thrill of escape excited it. Pure adrenaline pumped through its veins, driving it on.
Every time its foot would fall, blood splattered the leaves in front of it. The blood was coming from its mouth.
It had just been eating.
It couldn't stop now.
Artemis Fowl the Second sprang from his sleep, drenched in a cold sweat. He bolted upright in his bed, gasping. Such a vivid dream. So real. Artemis could swear he felt the adrenaline spreading through his own body. The bed sheets stuck to his bare chest with sweat. He sat there in the darkness, panting, waiting for the feeling to pass. The feeling that he had to run. Escape.
As his heavy breathing started to lessen, Artemis peeled the drenched sheets off of his body and stumbled to his bathroom. He switched on the light and looked into the mirror. His black hair was ruffled and damp with sweat around his pale face. His bare chest shimmered with moisture and his pajama pants stuck to his legs. His mismatched eyes looked red and irritated. Artemis frowned. Usually dreams didn't affect him this much. He turned and looked at the clock on the wall. 2:46 A.M. And he felt wide awake.
Artemis sighed and ran the faucet water. He splashed it on his face, trying to wipe away the smell of sweat. He thought about his dream. It had seemed so real. He tried to remember all of the details, but the main thing that kept coming back to him was the feeling that he needed to run. Just flee somewhere. But feeling excited about it at the same time.
Artemis wiped his face with a towel. He wondered where the dream had come from. His usual dreams consisted of science and math equations, and fairies, of course. This one was different. Dark, almost.
His thoughts were interrupted by a twinkling noise. He looked at his hand. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep with his fairy communicator on. He had been chatting with Holly late that night because she couldn't sleep. Same as him. She had been working entirely too much lately, it was a wonder she got any sleep at all. But the LEP was a taxing job, Artemis understood.
Artemis twisted the ring and answered it with a tired, "Hello?"
"Hey, Artemis," Holly replied.
The boy genius immediately knew something was wrong. She didn't use his pet name, as she usually did. No, something was definitely amiss. He walked out of his bathroom and started to pull a suit on. "What is it?" he asked Holly. He could hear rapid chatter and footsteps. Holly was apparently somewhere with some action.
Holly audibly swallowed and gagged. "There was a murder. At least, we think it was. There's not much left of the body to analyze."
Artemis grimaced, just imagining the sight. This, and his graphic dream. What else could be next? "Do you want me to come down?" he asked, pulling on his shoes.
"Well, if it doesn't bother you," Holly said slowly.
Artemis made his way out of his bedroom and went to wake Butler. "No, no. It's fine. I'll try to run some tests if it will help. We'll be down in an hour."
The scene was as gruesome as Holly had indicated. One of the shuttle ports, near the surface, was splattered with blood in various places, even the ceiling. The rosy liquid slid down from the walls, pooling on the floors. Several LEP officers clutched little white bags with pale faces as they inspected the mutilated remains of whoever had been killed. An arm and part of a torso were all that remained. Even Butler looked a little disturbed, all the color drained from his face. Artemis grimaced at the sight, but held his stomach. He didn't want to contribute to the already ghastly scene
"What exactly happened?" Artemis asked weakly, wincing as one of the shuttle managers vomited into a small bucket.
Holly weaved through the crowd of frantic observers. "No one knows. It's overkill for a troll. They wouldn't come this far up anyway. Foaly thinks it might have been some surface animal that snuck in here. Well, that theory would have worked, if an animal was smart enough to rip out the cameras from behind." Holly gestured to the far wall, where two holes poked out, wires sparking and fizzling. "Whatever it was, it obviously didn't want us to see it."
Artemis frowned, observing the wall. What sort of animal would be smart enough to do that? "Where's Foaly now?" he asked Holly, over the ruckus of the crowd.
Holly pointed in the direction of a small, transportable lab, a frown weighing down her brow. "He's trying to find at least some footage of whatever it was that came down here."
Artemis started to make his way over, Butler following him protectively. "Do we know who was murdered yet?"
"No," Holly admitted. "Not until we run some blood tests."
Artemis nodded and knocked on the door to Foaly's lab. He heard a grunt and a small thump. He took that as permission to enter.
As he stepped inside, Artemis found that Foaly's lab looked a lot bigger from the inside then from on the outside. Of course, it might have been all of the glass and reflective surfaces everywhere. Butler had to step carefully to avoid bumping anything with his bulky frame. Artemis found the centaur in the middle of all of the clutter, on the verge of smashing his computers.
"Problems, Foaly?" Artemis said, walking up to Foaly.
The centaur looked over from his screen. "Well, well, if it isn't our very favorite Mud Boy." There was a hint of annoyance in his voice and he winced at the sound of it. "Ah, sorry, Artemis. I just can't seem to get a clear shot of this thing." He turned back to his monitors and pressed some keys expertly.
Holly squirmed her way to the other side of Foaly in the tight space. "Any luck?"
Foaly sighed, shaking his head. "I guess I'm going to have to go to the split second before the camera was taken off the wall. It won't be the clearest shot, but it's better than nothing." With that, he zoomed the screen in on what looked like the shuttle port that they had just seen in all of its bloody glory. Foaly slowed down the time to display one second of video every two seconds. For the longest time, nothing was seen but the same old deserted shuttle port. But then a figure appeared. An elf, walking alone with a bag down the shuttle port. Then, the elf stopped, staring in front of him in fear. He dropped his bag and started to turn. Then the camera twisted rapidly and went black.
Foaly sighed and slowed the camera even more, to one-ten thousandth of a second every second. Then he skipped the footage back to right before the camera blacked out. In very slow-motion, the camera tilted and twisted. Then, in a split second, a single object was clear in the camera's lens. The group leaned in closer to inspect it.
"Gods above," Foaly breathed.
There, in the very corner of the screen, was the tip of something's head, revealing a particularly menacing looking silver eye.
Dramatic...... Anyway, please review and I won't have to press this shiny red button that says "Press to blow up all chocolate supplies." The button is soooooo shiny.....