Hiya! Told you I'd get chapter 7 out! Woo!
I don't know how good it is to all of you, it was kind of squished in at the last part of today. I know I probably could have written this chapter better but not much happens anyways so yeah. Hope you guys enjoy it! I'll try to get chapter 8 out as soon as possible but again, I start school tomorrow so who knows, hopefully this weekend though. :)
Chapter 7 – Smoky Dreams
Randy sprinted back towards the gas station, taking the ninja mask off behind the building. He stepped back to the front and found Howard, quietly slipping in beside him as the students entered the school bus. His side ached where the smoky creature had it him, causing the teen to grip his side.
"How'd it go?" Howard asked in a whisper, watching as Bucky tripped on one of the bus steps.
"What? The monster? Fine…" Randy answered hesitantly.
"You don't sound like it went fine."
"Well, I mean… it… it's gone?" Randy finished with more of a question than a statement.
"Are you sure?" Howard turned his attention to his purple haired friend, raising an eyebrow. Randy shrugged quietly as they neared Mrs. Driscoll, looking anywhere but at his friend. He nodded to his science teacher as they stepped onto the bus and headed to the back, sitting down where they had when they'd first left the school.
"I… don't know Howard. It's weird though, it looked like the monster was covered in that same black stank I fought yesterday." Randy explained, looking out the window as the bus rumbled to a start and drove away from the run down gas station. That's strange. I don't see Jake anywhere. I wonder if he left after I began fighting?
"Well maybe we should go online and look for this weird black stank, see if anyone knows about it." Howard suggested.
Randy snorted. "Yeah, because the internet knows a lot about something like this. I don't know Howard; maybe we should just wait and play it by ear. The monster did say he had to… report something. I don't think that's the last time I'll see it."
Howard sighed, opening a bag of gummy worms. "Sure, fine, whatever. Hey who was that kid you were talking to?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Oh, that was Jake. He's our age too. He said he was getting some kind of special food for his grandpa. His hands were empty though and he said that they were all out. Sounded fishy to me but it wasn't my business so I didn't push it. He was nice, I wonder where he went?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if he had jet as soon as he saw that monster. Us being from Norrisville, we're used to it." The ginger boy said, stuffing several worms into his mouth. Randy murmured his agreement, turning his attention back to the scenery scrolling by outside of the window. But he had seemed so calm when he told me we needed to get everyone inside. And then he picked up that rock and ran towards it… The teen hero thought to himself as his eyes began to drift close.
The bus slowed to a halt as the 9th grade class pulled into the parking lot of their hotel. The building stood tall, small tree's growing in pots beside doors. Through the glass windows and doors a fairly nice lobby was viewable, a tan carpet with red swirly patterns running throughout it. The students grabbed their luggage and stepped off of the bus, following Mrs. Driscoll and her skeleton husband into the foyer. Each student stood in a small group of friends, whispering in excitement to each other as they waited for their teacher to announce their floor and rooms. Howard and Randy stood off to the side, grinning as they gazed around them.
"This is going to be awesome! There's supposed to be a pool, a fire pit, and an arcade!" Howard told his friend, voice lined with enthusiasm.
"An arcade?" Randy asked in disbelief. "That's going to be the cheese!"
The students quieted down as Mrs. Driscoll turned, holding a stack of room keys and a piece of paper.
"Ok students, we will do this in an orderly fashion where I will announce you and your partner's room when we get to our designated floor. Everyone follow me to the elevators, our rooms are on floor 9. Make sure you push the right button." Mrs. Driscoll narrowed her eyes at a few of the trouble makers in the class before guiding the pupils to the elevators. Randy pushed the up button and waited quietly with Howard as the elevator came down. His head was beginning to throb…
As the two boys loaded onto the elevator, Bucky, Theresa Fowler, Debbie Kang, and Julian joined them, nodding to their fellow classmates before returning to talking amongst themselves.
"You ok?" Howard asked Randy as the elevator jolted upwards, beginning their climb to floor 9. "You look a little pale."
"I'm fine. I just have a killer headache." Randy replied, leaning against the elevator's wall. "I'll probably pass out once we get our room."
"Really? Well I can't promise it's going to quiet." Howard said with a small chuckle, turning back to the doors as the elevator stopped. The six students stepped out of movable room, joining many of their classmates in the hallway. The gray haired teacher stood at the front of the group, beginning to announce rooms as Randy turned his attention to the woman.
"Debbie and Theresa get room 914," the two girls pushed their way to the front of the group and grabbed their room keys, heading for the hallway that pointed to their room. "Stevens and John get room 915, Julian and Bucky, room 916, Randy and Howard, room 917," The two freshmen perked up at the sound of their names, walking to their teacher and taking their room keys, holding back the bubbling excitement in their stomachs. They nodded their thanks and hurried down the hallway towards their room, smiles growing as they neared closer and closer. Randy and Howard stopped outside of the brown door marked with a golden 917 before Randy slid his card into the door slot and pushed the entrance open. The boys slipped into the room, putting down their luggage before yelling in eagerness.
"We've got our own room! How bruce is this! We can do anything we want!" Howard cheered, flopping onto the snowy white bed.
"This is going to be such a bruce weekend!" Randy added, sitting down on his own bed and cracking out the snacks for the both of them.
Two hours later, the two teen boys had breezed through several bags of McSquiddles, two bags of chips (they were now on their third), and had chugged 3 Icees each. Howard lay on his bed, lips blue from the Icees before letting a loud burp escape his mouth. Randy grunted in disgust at the burp, flipping to his side. He groaned, rubbing his face quietly. His head painfully throbbed and his arm stung. The teen felt nauseous as he moved, causing him to moan louder.
"You ok Cunningham?" Howard asked as he looked over, seeing the discomfort on his friend's face.
"I… I feel a little queasy," The other boy admitted. "And my head hurts again."
"Do you want me to ask Driscoll for some Ibuprofen or something?" the ginger offered.
"I, ugh," Randy grabbed his arm as more pain flared through it. With a start he remembered that the limb he was currently gripping held the bruise that had come from the black stank. "Howard," he began quietly. Howard flipped his feet off of the side of the bed as his name was called. "Howard my arm… It kinda…" Randy's vision began to blur, black creeping into the edges of his vision.
"Is that your bruised arm?" Howard asked, eyes broadening.
"I…Yeah… I don't…feel…" Randy tumbled off of the bed as darkness overtook his vision. He hit the ground with a quiet thud, eyes closing as he slipped into unconsciousness.
"Cunningham?" Howard quickly knelt down beside his friend, shaking him slightly. When no response came the overweight boy pulled up the teen's sleeve, gasping at the faintly glowing spot. "What is going on?"
Randy awoke with a start on his hotel bed, raising a hand to his forehead. He felt like he had just been hit by a truck and his arm still stung a little. He looked over and saw that the window was open, also registering that their fan was on and the room had a slight smoky tint to it.
"H-Howard?" Randy's throat felt scratchy and his voice was hoarse.
"Hey, you're up," His friend paced to the bed, a glint of worry in his eyes. "You feeling ok?"
"A little sore… What happened?"
"You, well…" Randy could tell his friend was searching his mind for the right words. "You fell unconscious. And then, your bruise started glowing. I was about to pull you into the bathroom when you screamed and then it started pouring black stank. And I'm not exaggerating. It was literally pooling around you." Howard paused and Randy saw a slight shiver pass through him. "I… I didn't know what to do. And then…"
"What?" The purple haired teen asked as the pause felt like forever.
"It was… you. I mean, you were on the floor but all the smoke morphed into the ninja. I thought I was a real goner when it snarled at me. Then it pinned me down and took out a sword. I saw the blade coming for my neck when it stopped and suddenly vanished…" Howard closed his eyes as the memory played out in his mind.
"I'm… I'm so sorry." Randy apologized, looking down to the bottom of his bed.
"It's… fine. It's done now. I just pulled you onto the bed and turned on the TV. I also opened the window to air out the room." Howard gestured to the opening.
Randy sighed, adjusting is arm quietly. He wished he could do something more for his friend.
A faint laugh echoed around the room and Randy and Howard jerked their heads up, tensing. When nothing came, they finally returned their gaze to each other.
"We have to figure this out. What if more things like this keep happening?' Howard asked, unconsciously stuffing a McSquiddle into his mouth.
"We don't even know what this is. I wish I knew what to do but I don't."
"What about the Nomicon?"
Randy paused, thinking back to the black stank fight with Bucky. "It…It said 'The holder of the black mist can mislead one from others appearances'. I don't think that helps us right now."
"Could you ask it again?" Howard urged as another piece of candy was popped into his mouth.
"I think I'd get the same answer…" The boys sat in silence before Howard stood from the side of Randy's bed and headed toward the light switch. "We'll talk some more tomorrow. You need rest, plus we have school in the morning." His friend flipped the light and plunged the room into darkness, crawling into his own bed. Randy pulled the covers up, closing his eyes slowly. As they fully closed, an image flashed in the teen's head, causing him to snap them open again.
He had seen something big, with glowing red eyes. Not like the monster from the gas station but… he didn't know. Randy saw himself as the ninja, and there were two other figures next to him. It liked they were confronting the shadowy figure with red eyes but Randy couldn't tell what all was happening. He reclosed his eyes, pushing the image to the back of his brain. The stank must be getting to my head. Randy joked to himself with a small chuckle as he slipped into sleep.
Oh snap, my plot is beginning to develope! *evil grin*
As always, please review! :D
Updated 08/26/13
