Chapter 91: The Reconstruct
When Misato suddenly didn't hear the First Child's voice, it was replaced with sporadic sounds of electric static. Part of the in and out of white noise was followed by something low in pitch. Unable to decipher it what they were, the sounds suddenly increase in volume until the line when dead. Looking at her phone a little bewildered, she saw that the call was dropped almost like it was in a dead zone. Trying again, the call would go through and ring; however, the line went dead before the voicemail option sounded.
"Damn it! Her phone is not even leaving a message!" Misato stated trying again.
"Maya, get a camera shot of that hallway. Misato, I need your authorization code for her to access it," Ritsuko stated crossing her hands over her chest.
The technician inputted the information in which an access code window popped up. The Major walked over and inputted her numbers. The computer window collapsed and uploaded a video feed of the hallway. A waiting notification came as it was buffering in establishing connection. Once completed with its tasks, the speakers on the monitor clicked on. Immediately, they heard multiple people screaming in strong intensities.
The three women flinched hard from fright followed by plugging their ears in surprise. They cringed at how bone chilling the screams sounded despite covering their ears. It was as if many people were being skinned alive. Ritsuko gritted her teeth and inputted a code which muted the sound. Unplugging their ears, they could still hear a mild ringing. Almost like an after effect of the hellish yelling.
"W-What the hell was that!?" Misato asked still feeling rattled a little from the unexpected surprise.
"I don't know," Ritsuko stated looking at the live feed. "Whatever it was doesn't matter now. We need to get a contamination and a strike force team down there if we have a chance of saving those two!"
"Right," she replied. Going to and picking up the room phone, the Major called for an immediate scramble of a striker-contamination team.
Back in the hallway floor below, both Rana and Rei were standing in front of the locker room door. Pushing the button panel, the door slid open. The illumination in the locker room was dull; however, they saw who they were looking for. The red blob was straight ahead of them at the other end of the first row of lockers. It slowly turned toward the left row. Both Rana and Rei's eyes widen a little seeing a middle locker open by itself.
"…no…" a frantic and delusional voice stated out loud. Jumping from fright, it caught both teens off guard. A portion of the flesh like figure extended out into the locker and retrieved something.
"NO! STOP IT!" the voice stated quicker and panicking. Slowly, the portion was absorbed back into the red mass of the blob. As the two females looked at it carefully being alarmed, its whole body was pulsating like a heartbeat. Without warning, a crude mouth formed at the top of it.
"NNNNOOOOOOO!" it shouted trying to stop something from happening. Both saw a small protrusion from the blob's mid-torso region. It continued to grow until it ripped open. The red orb's mouth unleashed a hellish scream. It sounded like it was in immense pain as Rana and Rei covered their ears. Both looked with cringing and apprehensive faces at what came out.
"…!?" both reacted with fright.
A blood dripping knife being gripped by a blood drenched human hand ripped through. The blade was pointing at them and did not move. Slowly, an arm extended out to the elbow. Blood was dripping profusely from the blob's wounded hole onto the arm and then pooling to the floor. The hand changed the knife position to have the blade pointing horizontal and toward the blob itself. As slowly as it pushed out, the arm and hand went back into the hole except for the blade. Without stopping, the knife started to make a crude cut going around the perimeter of the blob's form.
More screams emitted from the bio-mass as the melee weapon continued making jagged cuts. From time to time, the knife would have to move up and down to slice through the thick skin of the red figure. As the blade went around and got closer to the open wound, the blob's screams became piercing and painfully loud. Both watched shaking a little as a ragged cut around the middle of the red blob was made. When the knife retracted back through the open wound, the lockers around it and the floor below were heavily splashed with blood.
The screams died away quickly in volume. Its mouth on top slowly closed and morphed back into its body. The only sounds emitting were from the air vents in the room and the continuous flow of blood hitting the floor. As if drying up, the figure started to shrivel, deflate, and blacken. As lively as it was, it looked very dead now. Both teens slowly unplugged their ears while cautiously watching. They weren't too sure what the darkening red figure would do next.
Slowly, two human hands emerged through the crude cut with sounds of wet scrunches and suctions. Covered in crimson, the fingers gripped the red blob's flesh murderously. With a quick and ferocious pull upwards, its body ripped apart from the crude middle cut. Blood gushed out like a small waterfall and overflowed the floor heavily. The other end of the row of lockers became a bloodbath and was spreading to the next row.
Rana and Rei felt nauseous from the thick and sticky smell the air was getting. The twin felt her stomach turn quickly as she covered her mouth with her hand. Turning around and seeing a small trash can, she expelled whatever was left in her stomach in it. Ayanami was covering her mouth and nose with a hand while cringing from the aroma. Two wet footsteps caught her attention as she looked up. Though every inch of the individual's naked body was drenched and dripping with blood, the features of it were identifiable.
"…!?" she said going wild eye from who stood there.
"…" the individual said as it looked at the knife in its hand.
Placing it down on the now red drenched bench, the person turned back to them with closed eyes. Rei was still staring with wide eye as tears started developing. Rana breathed heavily and slowly stood up. About to say something, she saw that the First Child was frozen stiff. Turning around and looking at her face, the twin blinked in surprise and anxiety. Slowly turning her head toward the individual down the locker row, a mixture of emotions and sensations ripped through her. Part of her felt that her hope was answered. However, a strong sense of horror came across her face at the same time.
"…" the individual stated opening its eyes.
Small flows of blood came out as the whites of its eyes were a little red. Opening its mouth, the person threw up a large amount of blood onto the floor. It looked like a stomach full of crimson liquid came out making both Rei's and Rana's skin crawl. Once the last bits came out of its mouth and nose, the individual coughed. Taking a couple of breaths, the person stood straight again. Blinking a couple of times, its dark magenta eyes glowed eerily as it looked back at the two.
"…" it said narrowing his eyes at them due from too much blood dripping down his eyes.
Deciding to rid itself of all the red, the person turned around and walked to the showers. The warmth from the red flesh sack faded quickly as the cold air and floor seeped into its skin. Placing a hand on the wall for guidance, the individual walked the outer perimeter. Bumping into a few things, the floor tile changed indicating that the area was the shower stalls. Carefully placing footsteps to not slip on the crimson dripping down its body, it made its way into a shower stall.
Rei watched as the recognizable person walked out of sight from the lockers. About to move to see him, Rana stood in her way. Looking at her face, the twin showed a scared and unsure expression.
"…?" Ayanami said blinking and wondering what changed the twin's demeanor. "What's wrong?"
"…does he seem different to you?" she asked in a quiet whisper. She recalled who currently inhabited those eyes.
"Different?" Rei asked with a blink and looked back at the lockers.
Not seeing the individual, she walked quietly forward with Rana following her closely from behind. Walking passed a couple of rows of lockers, the person was not seen; however, there was a bloody hand trail on the opposite wall of the room. Passing the last row, the space opened to the shower stalls. Both saw the individual had slowly moved to the first one on the right side of the row of stalls.
"Other than his eyes are back to normal, in what way different?" Ayanami asked quietly
"…?" Rana said blinking at the First Child before glancing back at the person.
Not sensing a certain aura emit from the individual, she looked back at the female pilot and nodded her head slowly. Both slowly walked forward toward the male person. They saw him enter a shower stall leaving bloody hand prints over the door. Not bothering to close it, he eventually found the shower lever. Turning it on, the head sprayed a rush of water in many small streams.
The male slowly turned around and went under the shower head. Water sprayed and started to take off the blood that stuck its body. Rana watched his reaction to see if there was a demeanor change. Nothing happened when the male turned around and stared at them with still glowing dark magenta eyes. Only a murky aura emitted from where he was.
"It's him…" the twin whispered feeling tears fall down her face with a wide smile. Immediately heading toward the shower stall, she opened the door and embraced him.
"It's really you!" Rana stated crying. She did not care that she was getting wet from the shower spraying her. Pressing herself against him, an immense relief washed over her that made her cry harder.
"…Ikari…" Rei said quietly feeling more tears falling down her face. Thought she was crying, it felt strange. These ones were not from sadness or pain. A great sense of relief and a form of happiness came over her. Slowly walking forward toward the shower stall, she kept wiping her eyes to try and get rid of the blurriness.
"My apologize for being gone Miss Rana," a familiar stoic voice sounded. It gave further identification of the male teen. Hearing his voice caused the female twin to smile. Stepping back a step, she let go of him then held his hands.
"I knew that you were still here Shinji. I never gave up hope that you were still here," she said seeing only his eyes move to look at her. The creepy action just made her feel more certain that the one here was not the evil one. Hearing the stall door open with a slow creak, both twins turned toward it. The First Child was standing there with tears running down her face. Her expression showed that she was on the verge of an emotional charge.
"Greetings Miss Ayanami," Shinji said with a slow blink and slight head nod. "My apologizes if I have caused you discomfort."
"…" the First Child said feeling an overflowing want festering inside of her heart.
It kept growing in which she felt almost unable to contain it and hold it back. What prevented the impulse from happening was the sight of the shower floor. It was completely coated with diluted blood. Another puzzling aspect was the Third Child himself. She did not feel anything remotely similar to an Angel from him. About to walk toward him, Rei stopped seeing the female twin do something. She removed her blouse having only a bra on underneath.
"What are you doing?" Ayanami asked neutrally. At the same time, she felt agitation overtake the other emotions that were in her. Something about the twin's actions made her react negatively and sharply.
"Taking a shower," Rana stated draping the wet blouse over the partition wall.
"It would be more effective to clean in a separate stall."
"…but…" she said getting close to Shinji and hugging his right arm. "I want to spend time with him and catch up on what's been going on since he was gone. We can do that while showering together."
"…" Rei said feeling her hands immediately curl into fists from seeing the physical contact. She was about to open her mouth in disapproval, when the female twin continued.
"Didn't you want to shower too Ayanami? If we all do it together, we can kill three birds with one stone. You don't mind, right Shinji?"
"…" he said staring at her then at Rei. The aspect of them showering with him didn't conjure anything in his mind. Feeling nothing from the situation, there was a deep reverberating soft cackle in the back of his head. Knowing what it was and the flashback that came with it, his body twitched a little.
"…no…" the Third Child stated with a slow blink and remaining expressionless. "I do not mind if we share the shower."
Back in the control room, the three individuals were cramming to get a resolution to the new crisis at hand. Ritsuko and Maya were trying to solve the new threat while continuing to emptying out the blood pool in the Eva cage. Misato was on the phone with the security personnel again.
"Direct the live feed of the camera to this observation room," the Major said.
[Roger. Should be some seconds for the coverts to upload to the two monitors there.]
"Good," she responded. Two screens came on the overhead monitors in front of the three.
On the other side of the observation window, the head of Eva-01 was above the blood pool. Though its eye slots were dark, there were colored pupils staring at the three women in the control room. Despite the Eva cage was slowly draining, it clenched its teeth together. Its metal alloy skin made creaks and squeaks as its grin tried stretching wider.
[…vOyEuRiSm…how #$^!# $!UNIMAGINATIVE!] the soul inside Unit-01 thought bringing up a sharp object in the war machine's mindscape. Viciously thrusting it at the Eva captor, it missed being impaled. Grunting gravely at the soul, the Eva captor saw the voice turn its head 180 degrees with several cartilage cracks and a morbid and impossibly wide grin.
[…HHHHEEEEEEEEE…spread…the…lies…THE LIES…LIES! LIES! LIES!] it shouted loudly.
The dark clone kept getting higher and higher in pitch till it started laughing uncontrollably. The Eva captor watched as tentacles ripped out of it's body sending gore everywhere in the mindscape. Without warning or reason, the tips of the appendages turning into large crudely cut needles. With high velocity and randomness, it stabbed wildly at itself and the Eva captor. Despite hearing mad voices cackling, there were numerous screams in the background.
After several seconds of buffering, the monitors flicker to life. However, only the covert to the male locker room showed first. Placed in a ceiling corner above the entrance door, the three saw a wide view of the room. Seeing the red blob figure, it had placed itself in the adjacent corner to the camera's right and on the floor.
From there, it had expanded by webbing itself to the walls and growing to the ceiling. There were a couple of male employees still inside the locker room that were taking showers. Numerous tentacles expanded out of it as they slithered their way to the shower stall area. Strangely, the three could hear sound coming through the monitor speakers when the camera was video only. About to act to alert the employees, the monitor glitched.
"…!?" Misato said with a horrified face. Ritsuko's mouth opened and cringed from the sight. Maya held her stomach and mouth with a terrified face.
The scene changed suddenly where one male employee attempted to run away from the tentacles. However, he was killed ruthlessly and ripped to pieces. Misato, Ritsuko, and Maya paled seeing the remaining male staff members being forcefully penetrated and rapped. Tentacles entered in their rear, groin, mouth, nose, ears, eyes, and belly button repetitively before being ripped open. Every moan, flesh movement, blood burst, screams of agony, and bodies ripping apart were sounding through the monitor speakers.
After showering the locker room with gore and body parts, the tentacles dragged a couple of body parts to the red blob itself. Once in close contact, a crude cut line would form. It opened up revealing a hideous looking mouth that consumed the body parts. Pulsating a little faster from eating and absorbing a bit of the bloodbath, the red figure slowly continued to spread and web itself more. More tentacles grew and started to go into the air vents.
"No…" Misato stated shaking her head side to side. She was horrified thinking where it might be going.
"…it wouldn't."
As if responding to her statement, the second monitor flickered on. It showed the female's locker room. Inside, there were a couple of female staff as well as the First Child and Rana. The three women saw red tentacles were slowly coming down from the air vents. Sounds of the appendages slithering sounded through the speakers while the unnoticing female staff continued talking and changing.
"NO!" Misato and Ritsuko shouted. Both reached for a phone as Maya was shivering like a leaf and trying to not throw up again.
Unable to communicate fast enough, the red blob's extensions quickly capture the occupants in the room. Repeating what happened in the male locker room, the red tentacles started to penetrate and rape the female staff members. One by one, it slaughtered all of them from ripping the women open from the inside and out. The screen glitched then showed both the First Child and Rana being cornered as the red appendages surrounded them. Without mercy, both were sexually assaulted viciously. Many tentacles pinned them to the ground as their mouth, behind, and valley were continuously penetrated. Both looked traumatized and lifeless as blood, tears, shit, and cum were coming out of them.
Suddenly a red tentacle shot at the camera causing it to be corrupted and go static. With the female covert destroyed, the male locker was still functioning. Inside there, the red blob had completely spread from its spot on the floor to the ceiling. It slowly expanded toward the shower area.
"…" Misato said becoming enraged at what she saw.
"…" Ritsuko said grimacing and feeling thoroughly disgusted and angry.
"…oh god…" Maya said as she had turned around holding her head and trembling in fear. "...oh god...oh god...oh god..."
"I'm going to the strike team to handle this personally. Let the Commander know," the Major said and immediately left the room. Complying, the faux blonde picked up the room phone and inputs an extension number.
[Report Doctor] Gendo said over the line still in his cold voice and demeanor.
After hearing what she said that had transpired so far and what the plan was, she heard him authorize the use of the strike force without any other input. Putting the phone back in the receiver, she went over to Maya and told her that she needed her help. Slowly helping the scared technician uncoil herself and get to a terminal monitor, both started working on getting power to the locker rooms to shut off.
[…hehehe…ThEiR#$ #^ExPrEsSiOnssssssssssss...were p-r-i-c-e-l-e-s-s #$%#^DON'T YOU AGREE-!] the soul inside Eva-01 yelled enthusiastically.
It was hyperventilating from excitement and suffering as the Eva captor pierced it with its various chains. Moaning in pleasure and pain, it coughed up black blood watching its visualized limbs get ripped out of their sockets. Smiling at his captor widely, he ejaculated in the mindscape before screaming and laughing inhumanly deep and distorted. Its vile and morbid voice suddenly stopped as the Eva captor ripped off the voice's head and tossed it into the subconscious abyss.
[…y…e…s…ssssssssssssssssssssss…TiMeToFiNdMyPiEcEsAgAiN] the twisted voice thought dementedly and sweetly as its head slowly faded into the darkness. Despite seeing the soul's essence get dragged deeper into the bowels of the Unit's mindscape, the Eva captor heard its voice still. It slowly got louder and louder till all it could hear was shrilling and Banshee screaming of the evil voice.
[…t…h…o…u…g…h…i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-…will be…ReSeMbLiNg…IWILLBEPRESENTWHEREYOUAREMYSEED! WITH MORE STIMULATIONS! WITH NEW EXPERIENCES! WITHNEWPLEASURES!WITHNEWSUFFERINGS!ITWILLBE #$^ #^BLISSFUL# $^ AHA!#$ %!$#!HAHAHAHAHAHA#%#%$AAAAAAAAAAA #$% RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!]
Making short time of traveling to the lockdown area, Misato assembles with the contamination strike team. Quickly, she gives them a short detailed report of what is in the quarantine area. The mission is to eliminate the target and rescue any survivors. Starting at the non-blood marked side of the contamination doors, they would move towards the locker rooms. The team would split into two: one for male side and one for female side. Quickly donning on her own contamination suit that covered her whole body, she made a call.
[Dr. Akagi speaking.]
"We good to go."
[Commander gave his approval.]
"Copy. Unlock the door," Misato said putting her phone down. Pulling the slide on her handgun, she turned toward the striker members.
"Get ready!"
Hearing a mechanical unlock, she entered a code in the control panel for the doors. Audible locks were released and the doors opened enough for a person to pass through. Leading the small team, the locker rooms were directly up ahead several meters.
"…" Shinji said turning away from the other two in the shower stall.
Staring at the wall in front of him, the sharp mental ping through his head slowly faded away. Recalling the evil voice's screaming statement in elation and suffering, he just blinked. Though getting use to the immense eerie aura and mental strain from dealing with the dark clone, a part of him felt at ease. The aspect that he was not alone in his mind brought him mild comfort and a sense of security.
Outside of the stall, the First Child had removed her clothes and draped them over the next shower door over. Looking back, Rana had removed all over her clothes not caring that her school uniform got wet with blood water on them. Putting them on the wall partition behind her, the female twin turned around. Getting beside him in his personal space, she started talking to him while touching him. Immediately feeling irritated from how forward she was acting, Rei entered the stall quickly. From taking a step inside, all the lights suddenly went out while the shower water continued to run.
The pitch blackness was short lived as emergency battery lights came on showing the space in a red haze. There were two in the locker room. One was at the end of the open shower space while the other one was at the other end of the locker room. Despite the dim red illumination, Rei could see both of them. Strangely, she could see Rana's eye color pierce through the haze as she looked around the room.
"A black out?" the female twin asked out loud.
"Seems to be," Ayanami stated out loud while stepping forward again.
Looking in front of her, there were black-red eyes staring in front of her. Startled, she slipped on a slick wet floor tile. Thinking that she would slam onto the hard floor, she felt two hands and arms grab her. Blinking in surprise, she looked up to see that the Third Child had caught her. His dark magenta eyes pierced the red light haze as they were staring into hers.
"Are you alright Miss Ayanami?" he asked helping her up slowly.
"…" she said staring at his face. At first, she was trying to figure out what just happened; however, the feeling of his hands and arms holding her up took over her thoughts.
"…yes…thank you," Rei stated quietly as the overflowing want from before came back stronger.
Feeling his hands and arms retract, she became unable to stop the impulse from taking over. Reaching forward, slow placed her hands on his shoulders. With one step, she pressed herself against him. A warm sensation came over her that made her heart feel more at ease and her mind to stop racing. Feeling it to be similar to the sensation after the fight with the school gang, she placed her head down on his left shoulder.
"Miss Ayanami?" he asked with a stoic voice staring at the head of hair next to his face. Not getting a response, another person pressed themselves against his back. Feeling a head resting on his right shoulder and knowing the other person in the stall, he looked over at Rana.
"…" he said feeling his vision glitch with static. The environment changed to a place in the past that was very similar.
'…SuCh…A…dElIgHtFuL… #$^ #$m…e…m…o…r…y… #%# $ISN'T!#$^ #IT!' the dark clone stated while cackling with static in his head. Feeling the Third Child's skin flare all over with goosebumps, it made the evil voice smile inhumanly wide with delight.
Outside the locker rooms, the strike team reached the doors. Breaking up into two groups, each front man got out three flash-bang grenades. Misato gave a finger countdown then the hand signal. The front man tossed the first stun grenade into the locker rooms. When the first one went off, two more were thrown at each end of the room space. Closing the door and when the second and third flash bang grenade went off, the strikers will barge in.
Inside the men's locker room, all three teens suddenly heard something metallic hit the ground a couple of times. They jumped when the first explosion sounded and rocked the ground a little being close by. Instantly, the ceiling sprinklers went off and sprayed water throughout the entire locker room. Recovering, they saw something flashing fly to the other end of the shower stall space.
Both females felt the Third Child crouch a little in which they copied. Hiding their faces behind the partition walls, the teens heard two more explosions. Not even waiting to see what would happened, Shinji pulled both of them toward the stall door. They didn't say anything as the three quickly got out of the shower stall. The locker room door suddenly opened up with sounds of heavy boots coming in.
The first two strikers that entered the male locker room saw a large red-blackened blob that had pooled the floor and lockers with blood. Immediately, their sub-machine guns pointed and fired till their entire clips were empty. Pieces of the figure ripped off while most of the bullets just entered it as if it absorbed them. Some bullets missed and hit the wall, floor, or lockers causing pieces to fly high and wide.
The last striker entered afterwards. Seeing that there was a blood path on the back end portion of the locker room, he traced it to where it led to. The other two reloaded their weapons and joined the remaining member of their team. Turning their sights to the shower area, they tossed two more flash-bang grenades before heading there. When the explosions were seen, the three moved toward the open space with guns pointing forward. They didn't see movement or shadows on the other end of the locker rows.
Misato's team entered the woman's locker room. The ceiling sprinklers had kicked on causing rain to occur inside. With guns pointing in, they didn't see anything out of the ordinary as they scanned from the doorway.
'…?' Misato thought as she slowly walked in. Signaling two strikers to go toward the shower area, she headed towards the back portion of the room with another yellow suit member. Reaching that area and scanning around, everything looked normal.
'What is going on here?' she thought perplexed. The team searched throughout the entire room, but couldn't locate any dead bodies, tentacles, or webbing. There was no scent of blood either. She asked them to double check while she looked around at the ceiling and air vents.
'There is nothing in here…why? The video feed showed…' Misato thought feeling a headache growing.
Gunfire was heard from the other side followed by two more muffled explosions. When the strikers in the room came back, they reported the same results of not finding anything. Nodding, she informed them that the male locker room was next. Heading back outside, the locker room phone on the wall near the entrance door started to ring. Picking it up, it was Ritsuko who sounded flabbergasted.
"Major Katsuragi here."
[Misato…the video feed changed…there…is nothing in the female's locker room?]
"Yeah, my team checked twice visually and nothing was found. Is the thing in the men's locker room?"
[Yes…but…Rana and Rei are in there] Ritsuko said hearing a sharp breath intake on the line.
"…no…they didn't!"
[You better stop them before they get hurt] Ritsuko stated hearing her get cutoff.
Inside the men's locker room, the three teens watched the three strikers head towards the shower area. With the smoke created from the flash-bang grenades and the water fall from the ceiling sprinklers, a heavy haze mist was created. Each was hiding behind the ends of lockers. When the last yellow suit went pass the front end row of lockers, the three quietly walked the back end of the room toward where the dead red blob was. Going down the 2nd to last row of lockers, they peered around the corner. Seeing that there were no strikers in view, they exited the room.
The male locker room door opened followed by the three teens. When the door closed behind them, the women's door opened up with a yellow suit hastily coming out. Seeing the pistol in its hand, the three froze as well as the person. Recognizing the pistol, the male pilot stood straight and bowed a little.
"Greetings Miss Misato. How are you?" he said with a stoic expression and gave a lethargic blink.
"…!?" Misato responded flabbergasted. Blinking a couple of times, her mouth opened behind her yellow helmet.
"…is that…Pilot Ikari?" Maya asked surprised and confused.
'What…is going on?' Ritsuko thought blinking wide eye at the image feed of the hallway outside of the locker rooms.
Misato quickly removed her contamination suit mask and stared again. Staring back at her were three stark naked teenagers with a very much alive Third Child. Strangely, his dark magenta eye color came back which made him less scary than with his previous colored eyes. Her mind was grinding very hard remembering the Eva cockpit footage of him exploding and seeing him in the flesh.
"…" Shinji said staring stoically back. He ignored the echoing dark mirth in the background of his mind as the dark clone sounded like he was swimming.
"Major, we didn't find anything other…than?" the lead striker from the men's locker room stated coming out when he saw the three teens.
"…" Ritsuko said zooming in on the Third Child's face to see that his eye color changed back. Her mind recalled what the Fourth Child stated about Ikari being a demon. Knowing that she will do tests and scans on him, the aspect of him being a monster in sheep's clothing started creeping into her mind.