CHAPTER 20 – I HIT THE GROUND RUNNIN'
Terf waddled forward from the rubble, the girl in the white dress in his grasp. Her face was pinched with disgust and her hair was coming out of its golden bun. She cried out and struggled to break free of the alien's elastic grip. When she kicked him in the stomach, making it ripple, Terf grinned. The other library guests could only watch as Hannah pointed a gun at the girl's face.
"Okay, I know Gunther is here somewhere!" Hannah squeaked at the crowd. Her eyes were like cold black marbles, betraying no kindness. "How about we make a deal? Tell me where Gunther is within the next twenty seconds, and this girl gets to keep her head." The gun hummed in Hannah's monkey hands. Stanley looked out across the crowd, but no one made a move. All of them talked among themselves and looked around for a savior, unsure of what to do. "One. Two. Three—"
With a flash of panic, Stanley pushed to the front of the crowd. "Hey! Hannah, what's going on here?" He gestured to the rubble and the frightened guests. He tried to keep his voice from trembling. There was little he could do but stall for time while he tried to think of a solution. "Don't tell me you guys are terrorists." He gave them a nervous smile.
Hannah smirked. "Terrorism is such a nasty way of putting it. I prefer to think of this as justice."
Stanley spread his hands with his palms up. "Okay, look, I don't know what sort of vendetta you guys have here, and hey, maybe you have a reason to be angry, but nobody innocent needs to die. Just lower the gun. We can figure this out." Sweat prickled on Stanley's forehead. While he was confident in his ability to talk himself out of most situations, this was different. There was a wildness in Hannah's eyes—an injured animal that wouldn't listen to reason. The girl had gone silent in Terf's arms as she watched the proceedings. Her small frame trembled.
"Mmmmmm... no." Hannah poised a finger on the trigger with a distant expression. "This goes far deeper than you realize, Stanley. Gunther—the Republic... what they've done is unforgivable. Do you have any idea how many alien species they've wiped out? How many planets the Republic has taken?"
Stanley was silent.
"What's this? Nothing to say?" Hannah grinned. Or maybe she was baring her teeth. Stanley couldn't tell which. "All right, let's try this again. Surrender Ralph Gunther, or else!" She shoved the gun near the girl's face.
Stanley clenched his fists. A line on the side of his mouth formed as he stared Hannah down. "Y'know what? I do have something to say."
Hannah paused. "And what would that be?"
"FIND A NEW DANCER FOR YOUR SHITTY BAND!" Stanley lunged at Hannah like a panther, his hands outstretched. Hannah's jaw went slack, stunned by Stanley's thoughtless lunge.
Before he could land on Hannah's tiny frame, a hand grabbed the collar of his sequined jacket and yanked him aside.
Daran held Stanley in the air as easily as a human would a cat. He brought Stanley close to his purple blindfold. Daran raised a small gun with one of his six hands and pressed it into Stanley's jaw. Stanley flinched away as the gun purred.
"Daran, wait," Hannah said.
The gun lowered. "What? Do you not want me to kill him?"
"No, I was just thinking that it would be much more entertaining if Terf killed him instead. Watching Stanley suffocate under Terf's rear end sounds much more satisfying."
"Do I get a say in this?" Stanley asked.
Terf's belly jiggled as he laughed.
Stanley was still within inches of Daran's face. Seeing his opportunity, he tugged the paisley handkerchief off the alien's face.
Daran screamed and dropped everything he was holding; Stanley, the gun, and the tambourine fell to the ground. As Daran bent over and covered his face, Stanley got to his feet and stuffed the handkerchief in his pocket.
"It stings!" Daran bumped into Hannah with his panicked movements.
Hannah smacked him away with her gun. "Why don't you just keep your eyes closed?" she barked.
"My species doesn't have eyelids! You always forget that!"
Stanley grabbed the gun and tambourine, then sprinted into the crowd.
"Amy! Amy, are you there?" he whispered urgently. The tambourine didn't respond.
The guests shrieked and scattered in different directions as Hannah fired into the crowd, providing enough confusion for Stanley to get to the front doors. He pushed on the glass, but the automatic doors refused to budge. Outside, he could see Republic Enforcers armed with guns standing outside on the steps and air vehicles hovering around the perimeter.
Stanley took a few steps back and shot at the doors with his gun, but the doors didn't react to the blast; the plasma dissipated as soon as it touched the smooth surface.
Of course. It's not actually glass, Stanley thought. Thanks a lot, scientific advancement.
A bolt of plasma flew over his shoulder and hit the doors. Stanley swiveled to see Hannah cutting through the crowd with an animal sneer on her face.
Stanley retaliated with a few shots of his own, all of which missed, hitting the ground around Hannah.
"Dammit!"
He ran for cover, finding a nearby hallway to disappear into as Hannah's gunfire followed him.
This hallway was large and grand, just like most of the library, with a relief depicting the pyramids spanning the wall. Stanley sprinted across the polished limestone floors until he found a smaller hallway that branched off. This hallway was darker and narrower than the main one. He ran down it, passing office doors with names on them. The offices had their lights switched off, so he assumed they were empty.
Stanley picked one with the name Weisenheimer across the glass and threw it open. He shut the door behind him and stayed quiet, listening for faint footsteps with his ear pressed against the door.
His heart pounded in his ears. He rattled the tambourine as silently as he could.
"Amy," he whispered. "Amy, are you there? Wake up! Something's happened. I need your help." The tambourine stayed dead.
He ran a hand through his messy hair and ruffled his mullet, which was sticking to the back of his neck. As he did so, he caught sight of his arm and was reminded of his ridiculous jacket. "Stupid thing," he muttered. He tossed it to the ground, feeling relief as coolness soaked through him.
Stanley turned to lean against the door and jumped when he saw a figure standing in the corner.
A spindly form stood behind the office desk. It came out of the shadows, a glowing gun coming to life in its hand.
Stanley recognized the man's gray suit and black hair-it was the man that had walked in with the girl in the white dress. Now that he could see him up close, Stanley could make out his features. The man's face had a rough texture, and he looked Stanley over with dark eyes.
Stanley raised his gun.
"Stanford Pines?" the man asked. Despite his shaking hands, his tone didn't betray any weakness.
Stanley lowered his gun a fraction. "You know Ford?"
The man's eyes narrowed. "Oh... you're..." He gave Stanley a grim smile. "I owe someone an apology."
"Where is he? I've been looking-"
The man raised a hand. "Spare me. I'm aware of your situation. You're 47'\ Stanley, right? My name is Ralph Gunther."
Stanley straightened with surprise. "Hey, you're the guy they're looking for."
"I'm aware. That's why I'm hiding here." Gunther lowered his gun.
Stanley lowered his gun as well. "So, since you seem to be a big deal around here, do you know how to get out of this place? I couldn't open the front doors."
"The front doors were locked? Damn." Gunther glared at the floor and clenched his jaw. "They must have hacked the system to activate the library's defenses. No one is going to be able to get in or out for the next three hours unless somebody with clearance intervenes from the inside. To make matters worse, I lost my niece. She's probably in danger."
"Does she happen to have blond hair and a white dress?"
Gunther lifted his eyes. "Yes, that's right."
"I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I've seen her. The bad news is, the last time I saw her, she was being held hostage."
Gunther widened his eyes. "I have to get her back. I have clearance-I can get us out of here, but I'm going to need your help."
"My help? What can I do?"
"I just need someone who can use a gun to watch my back. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
Gunther sighed. "Just follow me." He raised his silver gun and walked past Stanley to the door. He turned the knob slowly, then opened the door a crack. After a peek, he walked into the hall and motioned for Stanley to follow.
Stanley pressed his lips together in a tight line, then stepped into the hallway after Gunther. He kept his gun raised in one hand and the tambourine clenched in the other. Stanley's gun threw an acidic green light on the reflective marble tiles.
"So, how do you know my brother?" Stanley whispered.
"Now isn't the time to talk about that," Gunther said.
"Why not? I need some answers. See, I'm trying to find him—"
"I'll answer your questions once we're not in danger," Gunther said quickly. "Until then, focus on the situation."
Stanley narrowed his eyes at Gunther.
They neared the end of the offices and peeked into the perpendicular grand hallway. The only thing watching them were the blind eyes of the statues set into the alcoves of the wall.
Gunther motioned to the right with his gun. Together, they sprinted down the hallway and entered a new wing of the library. The books lining the shelves were battered; Stanley could barely make out the titles on their spines as they passed. Each one was eroded with time and abuse. The place smelled the way only old paper could smell—like a senior's home for books. The tall shelves extended so high up, Stanley had to strain his neck to see the top.
"Uh, where are we going?" Stanley whispered.
"To the second level. We need to get to the library's computer interface. All I have to do is input a couple of commands and passwords. After that, the library should open."
They came to a set of stairs on their left. Gunther took the stairs two at a time with his long legs. Stanley had a hard time keeping up. By the time he reached the top, he was out of breath and overheating. He still had a bit of pudge from his days on the road, and he'd never had a chance to work it off. Now he was feeling those cheap, late-night burgers with every breath that burned his lungs.
At the top of the stairs sat a black door. Gunther pulled a see-through key-card out of his jacket pocket and swiped it across a sensor next to the door. The door slid open, revealing a shadowy interior.
They slipped inside. The door shut behind them just as the lights flicked on. The passageway they were in was narrow thanks to walls of computer hardware on both sides. The computer system whirred away, lights across the surface of the hardware blinking. Gunther seemed to know exactly where to go. They came to a collection of monitors deeper in the room.
With the monitors on the walls and the swivel chairs, Stanley guess that this was a security room. No guards were in sight, however. The only clue Stanley could find regarding their disappearance was a thin layer of slime on the chairs.
"Computer, power on," Gunther said. In response, the monitors clustered on the wall glowed white in unison.
"Welcome to the Library of Alexandria security system," said a woman's voice. "How can I help you?"
"Retrieve feeds from the security cameras surveying the main entrance on monitors three and four."
Stanley narrowed his eyes as two monitors flickered, showing the cavernous main entrance from a bird's eye view. The guests were now kneeling on the ground in a clump with Daran watching over them. Amanda stayed beside him, a gun at her back.
Hannah walked into the room with a fresh batch of hostages. Terf was nowhere to be seen.
Gunther's fingers reached toward a slender keyboard. He typed in commands, making white words and numbers appear on a separate screen below the view of the entrance. Stanley watched the nonsensical strings of numbers and letters appear, each character appearing without hesitation. He had no idea how Gunther knew exactly what to type.
His mind drifted to Amy. Why wasn't she responding to him? Did Hannah and the others do something to her? At the thought, his fingers tightened around the tambourine.
If they hurt her, they're gonna pay for it.
Gunther paused. "Did you hear something?"
They both looked up at the ceiling. A white, bulging mass pushed itself from an open vent in the ceiling, looking to fall right on top of them.
Gunther jumped out of the way as the white blob fell. The two swivel chairs were knocked aside as the creature's wet belly smacked the ground. Stanley backed away and raised his gun. Terf pushed himself up with his four tentacles and grinned at Stanley, his simplistic face unnerving in the low light.
Gunther raised his weapon and shot at Terf. Terf's head sunk into his body to avoid the red blast of plasma, which hit one of the monitors instead. The monitor fizzled and went dark, now sporting a gaping, smoking hole.
Terf opened his mouth. Just as Stanley thought the widening mouth would stop, it continued to open, wider and wider until the black hole was wide enough to be swallowed into.
Terf lifted himself off of his pudgy legs with his four tentacles, then made a sucking sound as he rushed at Gunther.
With a cry of surprise, Gunther dodged out of Terf's way. Without a glance at Stanley, he tried to run to the door, shooting at Terf as he went. Red light flashed with every blast. Every shot connected with Terf's body. Wherever the plasma touched, Terf's skin hissed with steam and turned a blistered pink. Despite this, Terf continued his pursuit of Gunther through the dense room of computer systems and wires.
Before Gunther could get to the door, Terf lunged for him. There was a scream as Terf bent over and engulfed Gunther in his mouth. Gunther kicked, his screams muffled as he fought against the elastic confines of the creature. Terf rolled back on his tentacles and swallowed, transferring Ralph to his stomach.
Stanley cringed and looked away, his mind replaying what he just saw in vivid detail.
Terf's blob of a head turned to face him. Stanley raised his gun, his eyes darting to things in his environment. Terf was blocking the only exit.
C'mon. Think of a way out. There's gotta be something here I can use.
Terf gurgled and walked toward him on his tentacle appendages faster than Stanley thought possible.
Stanley rolled out of Terf's way and ran for the door. He felt a tentacle grab his ankle and yank him backwards. Stanley's feet disappeared from under him, and his chest hit the ground with a heavy thud, knocking the breath out of him. Chancing a look behind him, he watched as Terf pulled him closer to his open mouth. Stanley raised his gun and shot into the dark pit of Terf's cavernous maw.
Terf released Stanley and choked on the plasma. With a scream, Terf rubbed his face. Steam leaked out of his mouth.
Seeing his chance, Stanley sprinted for the exit. With a growl, Terf followed, his tentacles thumping against the ground. Stanley slapped a button that was next to the door and ran through. The door closed behind Stanley just as Terf reached out to grab him. Terf pulled his tentacles away in time to avoid getting them shorn off.
Stanley kept running down the hall and entered another set of doors that had the label zoology wing above it.
"Come back here!" Terf bellowed. Stanley didn't dare to look behind him.
He ran down the narrow hall until he reached another automatic door. This door parted, revealing a catwalk with greenery down below. His footsteps pounded against the metal walkway as he ran. In this room, trees and gigantic ferns came together to form a synthetic forest.
Stanley stopped running when he saw the hide of something huge moving through the leaves. He watched the brown hide shift through the trees and caught sight of a tail. The creature poked its head out of the brush and Stanley gasped. The head of a Tyrannosaurus Rex stared at him, its yellow eyes locking in on him. The dinosaur lashed its tail and make a throaty growl.
He heard strained breathing and looked behind him. Terf was at the beginning of the catwalk, huffing and puffing, his dough face contorted with rage.
Stanley kept running down the catwalk. His chest burned and his legs ached; he couldn't remember the last time he did this much running.
When he got to the other side, Stanley turned to face Terf, sweat running down his temple. I can't keep running like this. But how do I stop him?
As Terf ran forward, the catwalk shook. Stanley glanced up at the support wires keeping the catwalk above the enclosure. Aiming his gun, Stanley shot at the supports. It only took one shot to knock each one out.
Terf realized what he was doing too late. Each time a wire broke, it twanged, and the bridge shuddered. Stanley started with the wires closest to him, so by the time the first wires were destroyed, the bridge was already bowing into the enclosure. Terf clung to the catwalk. Stanley kept shooting until the catwalk fell from the ceiling. The metal walkway hit the ground, screeching as it twisted in the air and landed on top of the trees.
Terf jumped from the wreckage and came next to the foot of the T. Rex. The dinosaur eyed the alien, cocking its head like a bird would a bread crumb. The curious dinosaur let out a deep sound from its throat, like a frog croaking. Terf backed away slowly. The T. Rex exposed its teeth and growled, then moved to step on Terf.
Terf rolled out of the way, effectively keeping away from the dinosaur's prodding. The T. Rex put his nose close to the alien, but Terf shrieked at the dinosaur, which made it back away and lash its tail.
The dinosaur moved forward and opened its jaws wide, catching one of Terf's tentacles with a speed Stanley wouldn't have expected from something so big. Terf tried to break away, but the T. Rex used this as an opportunity to stomp on him. The gigantic foot squeezed Terf like a slug beneath a boot. Terf's mouth opened wide as a slime-covered Gunther came sliding out. Gunther was curled up, dazed on the fake forest floor.
"He better not be dead," Stanley muttered. He looked for a way down and saw that a tree came up reasonably high next to where he was standing. He placed the tambourine on the floor, but he found himself lingering. Well... it's not like she was there anyway... With one last look at the tambourine, he put his gun in his belt and jumped for the tree.
Stanley grabbed a large branch that was sticking out, but his weight made the branch snap. He fell hard, his feet hitting the dirt. He winced at the impact, and it took him a few moments to recover from the ungraceful fall. Getting to his feet, he stumbled over to Gunther, who was right next to the T. Rex's foot.
The T. Rex plunged its teeth deep into Terf and whipped its head back and forth as it tried to tear off a chunk of flesh that wouldn't come. Terf shrieked and wriggled his tentacles in vain as he was stretched like putty.
Stanley crawled over to Gunther and waved a hand over his face. Gunther's eyes were open, but his expression was slack as he looked through Stanley.
"Hey buddy, wake up." Stanley gave his cheek a hard smack. He looked up at the T. Rex, his heart crawling into his throat. It was distracted for now, but he had no idea when it would grow bored of Terf.
Gunther shook his head and blinked.
"Stanley?"
"Yeah, it's me. Do your legs still work?"
"Yes, I think so."
Stanley extended his hand. Gunther grabbed it. Stanley pulled him to his feet and Gunther wobbled, managing to stay upright. Stanley grabbed Gunther's arm and pulled him forward, fear making him impatient.
There was a door straight ahead under the wreckage of the bent catwalk. Stanley and Gunther went underneath it, with Stanley hitting the button to open the door. It slid open, then closed behind them once they had passed through.
Gunther rested his hand on the wall and rubbed his face. His hair was matted with slime, and his suit jacket shimmered underneath the dim hallway light.
"I feel... sleepy," Gunther slurred his words. "Ferhans... when they swallow you, they inject you... glands in their mouths. Thanks for saving me. This has been the worst peace negotiation I've ever had. I'm going to lose my job for sure."
Stanley was only half-listening to Gunther talk. His thoughts were more focused on the tambourine he had left upstairs. While it was difficult to carry around, and Amy could switch her consciousness back to the ship if needed, he felt a heavy feeling in his gut at the thought of possibly abandoning her. Besides, now that he didn't have the tambourine, there was now zero chance for Amy's help.
A high-pitched voice interrupted Stanley's thoughts.
"Ah, Stanley and Ralph Gunther. What a pleasant surprise."
Stanley and Gunther looked down the hall to where Hannah stood, her gun aimed directly at them, her teeth bared in a sharp grin.
Wkh W. Uha'v qdph lv Jhrujh.