i tried so hard to make this scary XD

Believe Me

Ch 32: The Best Monster

Sky's POV

"Give us the freaking cake!" I demand, pounding on the door of the asylum. The mental Recruits have barred the door, and I was called in as soon as Jason and Merome were shot at from the window of the place.

I am not helping all that much.

"Open up!" I scream for the hundredth time, finally giving up and sliding down against the door. "Can we get a bulldozer or something over here?" I ask Jason. He shakes his head sadly. "A bomb?" I ask Quentin.

The fish shakes his head just like Jason. "Seto says I'm not allowed to blow anything up. Sorry, Sky."

"We'll never get in," I moan negatively. I hate being negative.

"Don't worry," Tyler says gently, and I'll admit I'm a bit surprised, considering it's Ty we're trying to save. "We'll fix this."

"Thanks," I respond quietly.

Silence.

Dead silence.

"Weren't the Crazies yelling inside the Asylum?" Mitch asks apprehensively.

"Why... Why have they stopped?" Jerome asks.

The city is quiet, too.

Someone screams from inside the asylum.

And then Brice's phone rings.

"S-Seto? Hey, what's up?" he answers, immediately putting it on speakerphone.

"Explain to me why I just got word of a permanent death from the Hunger Games Lobby," Seto's staticky voice says sharply.

"A- What? But Annie and I fixed the Machine!"

"Well, it's broken again. I'll tell the city – although most of them already know. Stay out of the asylum."

"But, Seto..."

"What?"

"We just heard a scream from inside, and-"

"A scream – oh, Notch, no, Brice, you can't go in, you'll get hurt. None of you can go in. They've got a very dangerous chemical substance in their possession, and they could do very dangerous things with it."

"But-"

"Brice," Seto growls. "Don't go inside."

I shoot Brice a shrug and an apologetic smile before drawing my sword and breaking through the window.

"I'm sorry," Brice says, sounding resigned. "We'll be careful."

"No-!" Seto shouts, and then Brice hangs up.

"Well," he says, swallowing hard, "are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," I reply, jumping through the window. Brice takes a deep breath and follows suit, and Jason doesn't waste any time in coming after him. Tyler doesn't blink twice before jumping in, too, and Ssunkipz and Merome come in pairs, obviously. Alesa opens her mouth as though to protest, but then she inhales and exhales slowly and takes out her sword.

"Let's go," she says.

So we go.

It's quiet in the asylum – really, really quiet. So quiet that, if I really focus, I can differentiate between the breathing patterns of each of my friends. "Where is everyone?" I whisper, because it feels odd to be loud in such a quiet place.

"I don't know," Ian whispers back. "They were just here..."

"AuGH!" someone shrieks from upstairs, sounding pained. The lights flicker and then go out.

"U-Um..," Jason squeaks, clearing his throat. "What are they..."

"It's okay," Tyler says comfortingly, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder. Jason smiles weakly.

I hate that I ship it.

"O-Okay," Brice stammers, holding his blade out in front of him as he walks. "At least we know they're upstairs."

"Yeah," I force myself to reply as we move forward, looking for the staircase. The silence returns.

Drip.

"What was that?" Mitch asks, clearly struggling to appear unrattled.

"It sounded like water dropping," Quentin comments.

"Nothing to be afraid of, then," Tyler points out.

I hum slightly as we feel our way around the asylum. "This would be easier with a torch."

"Sorry, I didn't bring any," Jerome answers. The others echo him regretfully. I sigh when we're left yet again with nothing but silence and darkness.

I nearly jump out of my skin when my shoes splash in a puddle of water. "Notch," I breathe, moving past it. "Careful, guys. Water."

"That's not..," Quentin begins.

"Sky, it's blood," Jason exhales, crouching next to it. "Oh, Notch..."

"I-It's okay. Just... Let's just keep moving on," I say, trying not to stutter. "I found the staircase."

"Cool," Mitch forces out.

"Great," Jason whispers.

I lead them slowly up the steps.

"Quiet," I say, not that they need to be told. "Weapons out?"

They nod.

"Okay. They're up here somewhere..."

"NoOo-" a girl's voice screeches in horror. Jason pales. Alesa looks down. Brice blinks a few times, and the others fake confidence. Tyler swallows hard.

"This way, I guess," I say, biting my lip and heading toward the scream. Footsteps ring gently in a room a bit away from ours, and we all freeze for a moment before inching forward.

"MaKE iT sToP-" a boy cries out in anguish, and Tyler closes his eyes and covers his ears.

"It's coming from in there," Brice offers, pointing toward a room with a faint blue light pouring out of it and dimly lighting the hallways we're in. A loud, pained groan spills from the room, and I grip my sword more tightly.

"On three," I whisper, and no one questions it when I say, "Ready? Set? GO!"

We all jump around the corner and into the room. "Halt-"

I freeze.

In the corner of the room is a large, scary-looking machine – it's the thing emitting the blue light. It's got a lot of buttons and wires on and around it, and it's hooked up to a black chair with straps on it. There's a big needle suspended directly above the chair. But what catches my attention first is the glowing green cake on top of the machine.

What catches it next is the monster in front of me.

A huge being with an unnaturally distorted human torso, a horrifyingly innocent human face that's frozen in fear, squids tentacles sprouting from where their arms and legs should be, and an overall disgustingly dripping body, as if it can't quite manage to keep itself together.

And there are two of them.

"At first, it hurt," the female says, her words fluid and almost without pause. "It hurt a lot. It felt like I was being ripped apart and then put back together again, like I was being rebuilt, and everything just hurt so much."

"But now..," the boy takes over, "now we are better. Now we can avenge Dawn and Alesa – now we can place the city in those hands which our city deserves."

"Our tentacles sting with the eternal pain. But when we transfer that pain to you right before your death, it will do so much more than sting," the girl says. She takes a wavering step forward. Tyler pulls Jason back slightly.

"You can't kill us," I say, wearing my best pretend confidence. "We'll defeat you. Where are your friends?"

The girl cackles, sending a chill down my spine. "Oh, honey. My friends are doing exactly what he and I just did – they're getting stronger. You can't defeat us."

I swallow hard. "I refuse to believe that."

"You'll believe it sooner or later."

The boy monster slithers forward, and one of his tentacles darts out to hit Brice. He gasps as the tentacle latches on to his torso, and then he falls to the ground, writhing in pain. "St-Stop!" he begs, sobbing and panting and clawing at his skin, and, Notch, how I want to help him, but I know firsthand how helpless a battle it is. "M-Make it stop, please!"

"As you wish," the boy drawls, moving his tentacle across Brice's chest, and then Brice gasps again and Brice screams and Brice goes poof.

My friends and I gape in horror at the spot where he used to be. "Ah, we're even stronger than we believed!" the female monster laughs in elation as purple specks settle around where Brice was. "You popped him right out of existence!"

"Oh, no," Tyler breathes.

"Brice," Jason squeaks, wiping his sleeve across his eyes.

"Prepare to die!" I yell, raising my sword.

"May the best monster win," laughs the girl, smiling confidently.

She may not realize it, but I can be a monster, too. Not the kind that they are, no, but the kind that replaces his best friend with random "love interests" and abandons his best friend at a squid base and kills a couple of his own citizens, crazy though they may be, just for a chance to say sorry.

May the best monster win.