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Chapter 11: Bat Winged

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I woke up from a horrible nightmare. Another strange one. Similar to the one of when my arm got shot. This time it's my eye: I scream in shock and agony as something sharp rips across my eye. Blood gushes out. So much blood. I cry out, covering my eye socket. Blood dribbles out through my fingers. I'm on the floor. On my hand and knees.

I had no idea why I was having these dreams. They were terrifying, but somehow familiar. I don't know how to describe it. I guess almost like I've experienced this before without experiencing it? I don't know.

I jolt awake and found myself laying on the cold floor. It was dark. I look around with both working eyes, not recognizing where I was. Then I realized I was still in Link's room. I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. I was having a hard time focusing or thinking. Was I still dreaming?

Just then, I heard footsteps outside. Link. His tail lightly slapped the ground as he came up to his room and opened the door. I was half awake on the floor. I closed my eyes and relaxed my body. I heard him stop. He must have noticed me. Light poured in from outside the dark room. Link was silent and not moving where he stood. He quietly came up to me.

"Bat?" He asked softly with concern. He touched my shoulder. I was too tired to answer. I breathed. He seemed to relax and sigh with relief. I could feel Link staring down at me. His heart was beating softly. I kept my eyes closed and breathed slow and heavy. My mind was still fuzzy around the edges.

He gently lifted me up from the floor wrapping me in my wings. I felt my body rise from the cold floor and into his arms. My head rested against his chest. His feet padded against the floor. I felt like a small bag of marshmallows the way he just picked me up. My body went warm from his touch. I got nervous that my milk white face was turning cherry red. It was easy to see me blush, which always made me blush even more.

The hybrid carried me to my room. He opened the door, holding me in the crook of his arm, and walked inside. Very carefully he laid me down in my bed, tucking my wings in. Pulling the covers up to my chin. Hesitant, he softly removed a strand of stray hair from my face. He stood there for a moment before turning back and walking out of my room and closing the door behind him.

That's all I remember. I wasn't sure if it was real or a dream, but then, I couldn't remember heading back to my room...

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The next day at school went by slow, thankfully I didn't have to deal with detention again. Mirror and her gang left me alone. Kennith said hi to me which I found weird. Hunter was with me at break and lunch. Hunter showed me a new photo he got. Ever since yesterday when I told him what I saw could be the bat girl, he snuck into the school at night and showed me what he saw.

"Check this out! It's a little hard to see but you can make out the bat wing!" He said as he pointed to the picture. It was a very dark picture. But the light from the parking lot and the moon helped to make out that distinguished shape of a bat winged creature in flight. It made my blood run cold. That couldn't have been me. I wasn't known for sleep flying. What was this thing? Another John experiment? Was he making more teen monsters like me?

As I sat in the back of the car after school, I decided to fly back to the school at night and investigate myself. When Patrick parked the car, I jumped out and rushed to the elevator and made my way down to the secret underground base where the monsters were.

Link, B, and Susan were back from their mission. My heart lifted seeing Link in the meeting room. I dropped my backpack and unfurled my wings. Stretching them. My wings were very sore from keeping them in the back pack. I winced when I felt a pain in one if the limbs.

"That looks uncomfortable," Link said to me. I nodded my head in response as I came up to them. "Hey guys, welcome back...how was West Virginia?" I asked. Link shrugged. "It was alright. No crazy alien fights. The Mothman didn't look like a moth man. He was a regular looking guy. Went by the name of... Indrid Cold?" He gave me a confused look. I nodded, my heart pounding in excitement.

"That's what he goes by," I said, almost going all nerd and telling him everything I knew about the Mothman. Link nodded. "Oh...ok. I at first thought we met a random crazy." Susan smirked, most likely thinking the same thing before responding. "He seemed interested in helping us as best as he could. Gave us very confusing information."

My yellow alien eyes widened in surprise and excitement. They got to talk to the Mothman and he gave them information that predicts the future! My wings lifted in anticipation. Right as I was going to ask them what the information was, Monger came in on his jet pack and came up to me.

"There you are. Think you could get away that easily? You and I still need to talk," Monger said, trying to not sound mad in front of Susan and Link, but I could tell he wasn't all too happy. Susan and Link exchanged glances. "What happened?" Asked Susan. Monger shook his head. "Bat can give you the details later."

With that, Monger activated his jet-pack and hovered. "Follow me, Bat." I took one last look at the two monsters before sighing. I unfurled my wings and tried flying. My wings were not happy. It was painful taking off and following after the general.

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The talk was not as bad as I thought. Mostly was a warning and if I did it again I'd get grounded. Blah blah. He did agree that the principal was full of BS punishing me and not the bullies. The thing that threw me off was before I left his office, he told me not to go sneaking out to the school every night looking for John.

I turned around and told him I haven't been sneaking out at night. He didn't seem to believe me. He said that there has been some reports going on down in the town, mostly around the high school about a winged bat creature being seen flying around. Some are saying it's the Mothman, except with yellow eyes, others Jersey Devil. A new cryptid possibly.

"I only know of one winged bat creature and that's you, Bat. I don't want you getting caught by someone and we can't come to help you. You understand me?" He asked. I nodded.

I left his office and headed back to my room. Another bat winged creature. ... All this talk about another bat winged creature made me want to go and see for myself. I didn't feel like flying so I just took my time getting to my room. Walking to the elevator and going down several stories and then walking the huge corridor down to the last room. My room. My footsteps echoed, making the only sound, except for Link's low radio music set on a rock and roll station.

Link opened his door and saw me walking to my room.

"How did it go?" Link asked. I shrugged. "I got a warning. Next time I step out of line I'm grounded. The usual parent talk." Link nodded. "Doc told us you got into a fight."

I nodded. Link smirked. "Did you win?" He asked. I sighed and shook my head. "No. I got in trouble, even though they started the fight. I got detention for it. They didn't get in trouble because they come from a rich family and get good grades." Link's smirk disappeared.

"Ouch. Rough day," he said.

I sighed. "It's my life."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault...it's just high school."

"I hope it gets better,"

"Me too..."

Link was quiet for a moment, then he hesitated and asked. "Um...why were you in my room last night?" My face burned. I turned away. "Um...I... I needed to let off some steam. I should've asked...but you were gone..." I said. Link nodded. "One of my barbells is missing," he said.

"Did you look up?"

"Up?"

"On the ceiling?"

He looked up.

"In your room," I told him.

He went into his room and looked up. He cursed under his breath.

"How did you get it up there?!" He asked in shock.

"I screamed at it."

"There's another dent in the ceiling."

"I didn't do it just once,"

Link was quiet for a long time. My ears flicked back when he turned back to me. I couldn't tell if he was upset or not. He was going through mixed emotions. He silently told me to come into his room. I came in.

The punching bag was in shreds, all the stuffing falling out from it. The barbells all scattered around in different places. One still on the ceiling I forgot about. One of the big weights in the pool.

I looked down at the ground. "...I'm sorry..."

Link sighed. He was upset. He gave me a look that showed his frustration with me messing up his room. I looked away and rubbed my arm. "I...I'm really sorry...I-I promise not to go into your room anymore. I'll ask Monger to get you new equipment." I stuttered the whole time. I didn't want Link to hate me. Link eventually interrupted me.

"I know you are having a rough time at school. I understand... It's hard being a monster and trying to live a normal life in a modern world..." he turned to look down at me. "It's even harder living a life as a human before turning into a monster, and hoping to still live that normal life."

I nodded. Feeling tears come to my eyes. I pushed them back down so Link wouldn't see. "I just feel I can't be myself anymore. I can't fight aliens as a monster. I have to hide my monster self and pretend to be human again...I don't know what I am anymore..."

Link surprised me by wrapping his arm around me. Pulling me in for a side hug. "You are Bat. You are our friend...It will get better, I promise," he told me. I didn't really know what to do in that moment since my arms were pinned to my sides as my face burst into flames being close to him. Then he quickly pulled away and ruffled my hair.

"Just...next time you get upset, don't cause a mess in my room ok? Also if you don't mind..." he points up, indicating for me to go up there and get the barbell that was stuck in the ceiling.

I went up to the ceiling and brought it down for him. Afterwards, I helped him clean his room of equipment. Link jumped into the pool and retrieved the one at the bottom. When he resurfaced, he flicked water at me. I nearly screamed and quickly moved away. Link chuckled as he came out of the water, looming over me. "I thought you were part bat, not part cat," he teased. He shook more water, causing me to jump back several feet. Link laughed. I gave him a look but couldn't help but to smile too.

"So how was Indrid Cold?" I asked. Link stopped laughing and suddenly became very serious. "He was kind of creepy. Gave me a weird feeling. He was friendly, but I don't know how to describe it...He said he wanted to help...He gave us a bunch of confusing stuff. Susan wrote it down."

"What did he say?" I asked. Link hesitated. "I don't remember all of them. He gave us a list. Said it would help us with taking down John and a few other things." I held my breath. Wanting for him to continue. What were they? Oh man I was starting to be like Hunter. So crazy for cryptids.

"He said a bunch of numbers...Bagel..." Link was trying to remember. "Bagel?" I asked. Link nodded. I narrowed my eyes in confusion. Didn't seem like something the famous Mothman would say. What the heck did that mean? Did he get his grocery list confused with 'tell monsters this stuff' list? Link remembered one last thing:

"He said to say hi to you and F.B..."

I blinked in surprise. The Mothman knew who I was. I would've been jumping in the air with excitement if Link hadn't told me the other thing. "...What's F.B.? Who's F.B.? Facebook?" I asked.

"...I have no idea..." Link said.

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Night couldn't come any sooner. I came out from the base and took to the dark night skies. The air was cool. Not too cold or warm. It felt nice. My wings were still a little sore but it felt nice stretching them out. The sky was a little cloudy. A quarter moon was out, illuminating everything into silver. Heavy shadows were cast under trees. The smell of pine was in the air. Unfamiliar territory I wasn't used to. This wasn't my hometown. I missed my familiar home town.

It took me a while to figure out how to find the high school. I followed the road Patrick always drove. Thankfully I always stared out the window since I got car sick sometimes. I followed the road down I had to be careful when I saw a car driving on the same road. I flew higher up so I looked like a regular bird far up. I didn't have to wear my sunglasses tonight. I could see just fine at night without them.

I flew closer to the ground when the high school came into view. I wanted to stay up in the air a while longer. Flying was one of the few good things that came out for being a monster. As I was coming in, I noticed a strange light glowing on the other side of the school. My mind instantly went to that one building that was being worked on. That had to be it.

I landed just on the other side of the locked gate inside the school. It was dark, The parking lot was the only area that had the lights on. The school was eerie quiet and dark like a gravesite. The school took on another level of scary. I made my way down the path that lead around the cluster of buildings and over to the back where that one building was in the far back.

I tucked my wings close to my back. I was a little scared. I looked around, making sure I wasn't being watched. I shouldn't be. It was almost midnight. The further I walked into the dark school, the more nervous I got. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

I jumped when I heard a sound. The winged creature? I looked around. Nothing. I hesitated, then realized it might be October. I hoped it was October. I didn't want to be alone doing this. "Oc...October?" I whispered. Silence. "October?" I asked again. A faint caw somewhere in the trees. I sighed with relief. The flapping of wings was heard as a crow came into view. The bird appeared and October shifted in front of me into the scientist. The form I was used to him taking when we first met. His eyes were just like mine. Yellow with black slits like a cat's. They almost seemed to glow in the dark.

"Bat...what are you doing?" He asked me. I was about to tell him, when he interrupted me. "How are you here, when I just saw you over there?" he asked me. I blinked my alien eyes. "What? What are you talking about, October? I just got here," I told him. The alien shook his head. "You have been around for a while. I've been trying to follow you, but you move too fast and get away before I can catch up to you," he said.

I shook my head. Before I could tell him that it wasn't me, I heard a noise. We both stopped talking and turned to the direction the sound came from. October immediately shifted into a creature that wasn't an animal that belonged on this planet. It looked like a weird combination of crow, bull, and bat. October got in front of me. "Stay behind me, Bat," he told me in a whisper. My ears didn't pick up any heavy footsteps or anything that would have been a threat. I carefully walked around his strangely formed figure.

"I've dealt with weird creatures all summer, I can take care of myself, October," I whispered back to him. October shifted back to his human form. I don't know why, but I felt October's heart. It seemed to be beating like an echo. Or he had multiple heartbeats. It sounded weird.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," he said. I thanked him and said I would be fine. We approached the building. A weird glowing green light was seen coming through the dark windows. There were barricades and yellow caution tape around it. I assumed some of the teens have tried going in and making out at some point.

No one was around, but there was a security camera above the door. I placed my hand out causing October to stop. He stopped in his tracks and saw the security camera. "That wasn't there before," he said. I nodded. "Kind of weird for a building that is still being built to have a camera up...and the only building in the school to have a camera."

I looked at the doors of the building. A padlock was seen on the wall near it. A padlock? For a science building? Not even the old science building has a padlock. Why a padlock? What was going on?

Just then I heard footsteps. October and I quickly hid behind the building we were nearest and peeked around the corner. A young man was seen walking towards the construction site in black garb and a construction vest on. He didn't look like a construction worker, and even if he was, construction workers don't work at midnight.

He came up to the padlock and started punching the buttons. I tried memorizing the numbers but I was too far away, and my memory was garbage. I only remembered the first three numbers out of the six or seven he punched in. The door opened for him and he walked in. Adrenaline rushed through me as I tried grabbing the door before it locked itself. I didn't make it in time and the door slammed shut.

"Dammit!" I muttered angrily. I tried pressing the buttons but the padlock turned red when I tried and gave off an unsatisfied beep noise. October walked up to me. I sighed and turned to him. "You don't happen to have an amazing memory on the code for this padlock do you?" I asked him. He silently walked up and punched in seven letters.

The padlock turned green and the door opened. I grinned at him. "Got a good memory on faces and numbers," I said complimenting him. October gave me a quizzical look. "I just guessed," he said. My smile disappeared. "Oh...lucky guess," I muttered.

We both stiffened when we heard a sound from behind us. Another guy, older this time in the same garb was approaching us. October quickly shape shifted into the last guard we saw. I didn't know what to do. It was too late any way. He saw me and pulled out a walkie talkie.

"One of the experiments got out...what does it look like? Has bat wings...oh shit. Mike! Get her!" he shouted at October. October pretended to grab me. "I got her," he said, pretending to be Mike, but his voice was flat and bland.

The man was about to say more in the walkie talkie, but October stopped him. His arm turned into an octopus tentacle and in a lightning fast motion, whipped it to the man and hit the man right in the stomach, knocking him off his feet. October grabbed the walkie talkie out of the air and pulled his arm back in as if it were a whip. His arm turned back into a human arm, and crushed the walkie talkie in his hand.

Groaning, the man staggered to his feet. "You...aren't...Mike..."

I screamed at him right when he pulled out his gun. He pulled the trigger when he fell. I saw a flash of silver streak towards me, flicker from my sonic scream a couple inches and hit me on my side. I cried out and went down.

"Bat!" October cried out. He went down next to me.

October flickered from human to weird alien beast. He wanted to protect me, but at the same time wanted to help me, I doubt he had healing abilities.

The man I took down was paralyzed at the moment do it was going to be a while before he could move his body again so I wasn't worried about him getting up at any time.

Just then, the door opened behind us and three "construction workers" came out. Must have heard my scream. They pulled out their hand guns. One pulled out a flashlight and aimed the face of it to the ground. It was one of those big flashlights. I got nervous seeing the flashlight. John had to have told them about our sensitive eyes to light. I don't know why give the men guns. I hoped John wanted us alive.

October tensed up and got ready to shape shift. I touched his arm and shook my head. We were out numbered. They had guns and flashlights. It was hopeless to fight our way out of this. I was hurt and I didn't want to get shot again, or even blinded. Same for October, I didn't want to see him get hurt.

October wrapped his arms around me in a protective way. The men talked amongst themselves on what to do with us. They decided to blind us before taking us inside. Me and October both tensed up and the mention of being blinded by the flashlight. I was starting to wish I brought my sunglasses. At least the pain wouldnt be so bad.

Right when the one with the flashlight turned it on, something came at him from behind and knocked him out fast. The flashlight was on in mid air and shined into our eyes. Both me and October cried out and turned away. Thankfully it was a brief moment but man it still stings. It was going to take a while for our eyes to heal and adjust to the darkness again.

The two remaining men lifted their guns. No one was there. Just the man with the flashlight, both out cold on the ground.

"B-behind you!" The man I screamed at earlier shouted. The men whipped around but were too slow as something caused them both to ram their heads against eachother, knocking them out and falling to the ground. I still couldn't see that well, but could faintly make out a dark figure moving around fast. I saw a glimpse of wings. Bat wings. It was Hunter's cryptid.

I sat upright from the ground. The figure's back was turned to us. I couldn't see the figures face, but I could tell by the shape that it was a female. October still held me. He was still trying to see. He kept blinking his yellow eyes and rubbing them against his shoulder. My burning eyes stayed on the dark figure. We both froze when the figure spoke.

"Stay away from here," said the figure. She turned her head to the side. Her eye glowed red. A trail of light came out from it.

"You are just going to get hurt." She added. Then she took something out of her bag and tossed towards us. It was a metal canister. October grabbed it when it came rolling to us. It was a first aid kit, but it looked different from what I was used to seeing. I at first thought it was a bomb, but October seemed to immediately know what it was.

October got to work fixing my wound as best as he could. I didn't know he knew how to patch up wounds. Then the female figure started to walk away from us Her back still to us. I tried getting up, but it hurt to move. I winced in pain and groaned.

"W...wait..." I choked out. "Are you ok, Bat?" Asked October. I nodded my head in response, not really able to say anything yet since I was in a lot of pain. I forced myself to look back over to the dark figure.

I wasn't able to get a good look at the figure before it took off into the night. I didn't realize the entire time the bat winged person was there, I had been holding my breath. I exhaled out. Breathing normally again. My heart was racing inside my rib cage. Was there another bat person like me? Was John turning teens into monsters with alien DNA in them?

What was going on?

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