Chapter 18: Monster Madness

...

Monger told me later, that he and the government had decided that it was too difficult to hide us from the public. The government was having a hard time evacuating thousands of people from cities every time an alien invasion happened. "In other words, it cost money," Future Bat had said.

They decided it was time to show that we were the good guys. The heroes. Show us in a good light, saving the world from an enemy from outer space, then the world would see that we were here to protect the people and not eat them or scare them.

Well it seemed to work because afterwords, the whole world was buzzing about The Monsters. I kid you not, they were already producing merchandise for them. Regular stores were already slapping labels on normal everyday objects with The Monsters' faces on them. People were buying them up like candy. Patrick was nice enough to drop me off at a Halloween store since I haven't been able to look around in one. Sure enough, Monster costumes were already there. They called the section: Monsters vs Aliens.

There were alien socks, alien hats, and alien costumes; I was surprised that there was alien stuff over here. The monster merch was bigger. All the monsters were part of an item. Hats, sunglasses, lanyards, key chains, shirts, mugs, socks, costumes. It was crazy.

There was a mask and costume of Future Bat. They called her the Cyborg Vampire. Her costume came with silver bat wings, a purple and black skirt, knee high black boots, a black shirt with a bat on the front, a plastic robot arm, and for some reason a baseball bat that was supposed to look "futuristic."

The Doctor Cockroach costume was called Doctor Bugface. It came with a white lab coat, a giant bug head that looked like a flies but sprayed red and orange, and one glove that looked like a lobster glove.

Link's was called The Monster Swamp Man Thing. A green coverall with fake seaweed and a shark fin painted green, and a mask that looked like a super bad version of the Creature.

B.O.B.'s or Blue Gel as they called him, was basically a ballooning blue dress, and what looked to be once for a cyclops costume, an eye you strap to your forehead. Butterfly's was just a repainting of a butterfly costume, and you get your own set of plastic sharp teeth.

Susan's was, in my opinion, the closest looking costume to what she looked like. They called her Giantess, a short white wig, and black coveralls with orange trim.

I bought some black socks with little green alien heads stitched all over them, a Future Bat, or "Cyborg Vampire" shirt that said: "Bat Puns Suck," a Future Bat Mask, and a Missing Link sign with him in a creepy stance with the words 'No Swimming' above in drippy green and red letters. I also got some pastic skeletons, a Jason Voorhees Mask, and a few black and white striped plastic pumpkins. I enjoyed going to Halloween stores and looking at all the items. Since I didn't have a lot of things in my room, I thought I'd decorate with some Halloween decorations.

I wore the shirt over my "I Don't Suck" shirt when I got home. Link saw my Future Bat shirt and thought it was funny. "Wish I could get one, but they'd never have my size," he pointed out. I showed him the things I got. He was really interested in the Monster items that were selling like crazy. Future Bat walked by and saw all the Halloween items I had. She picked up the Cyborg Vampire mask I bought and looked at it with concern.

"This never happened when I was..." her voice faded. Link took it from her and hovered it over his face. "It's because you were fighting the alien with us. You were in two places at once," he said. He placed the mask over Future Bat's face, who at first resisted, then gave in and wore her own mask. Her cyborg eye glowed red through the left eye hole. Her eyes stared down at the shirt I was wearing with her image on it. She stared down at it for a moment.

"What's wrong, Future Girl?" Link asked. Future Bat shook her head. "It's nothing...just...I hope this doesn't affect anything," she said. Link hesitated. He looked over to me, I looked away, pretending not to notice. Link placed his hand on her shoulder. "Whatever it is, it'll be ok, Future Bat...I promise."

Future Bat was silent. Her silence concerned me. Later on I found her in my room looking at the photograph of our family in the frame Monger gave me on my birthday...

...

That night, I had a dream about my right ear. It was in agonizing pain. I remember screaming in pain and terror. My arm, and my eye were in pain as well, like they were on fire. I remember suddenly laying down on a cold metal table. Doctors were surgically removing my damaged parts and replacing them with something else. Afterwards, I looked into a mirror to see the damage. Instead of seeing my seventeen year old self, I saw my thirty year old self. My future self. The robot arm, the cyborg eye, the satellite dish ear. I screamed in horror, causing the mirror to shatter. The whole earth and sky was blood red.

When I turned away from the broken mirror, dead bodies laid everywhere. Not just of strangers. People I knew. My family, my monster friends, Patrick, Monger, October, Hunter. Link laid face down, motionless in a pool of blood. I felt my throat close up and tears come down my face. I cried out as I wrapped my arms around his lifeless body.

A laugh echoed above me. I looked up and found John grinning down at me with a gun in his hand. His sunglasses he always wore were illuminated with light, giving him a more sinister appearance. I couldn't see his eyes. He lowered his gun to my face and got ready to pull the trigger.

I woke up immediately gasping and drenched in my own sweat. Tears were coming down my face. I was shaking uncontrollably. It was the worst nightmare I had ever dreamt. It felt so real. I rubbed my arms, trying to calm myself down.

I quickly held my breath when I heard sobs outside and the flutter of wings. I pressed my ear to the wall and listened. Outside I could hear Future Bat coming down from her spare bedroom. She was breathing heavily and sobbing. I heard her knock on Link's door. A few minutes later she knocked again. Finally Link opened the door.

"Future Bat? What's-?" He wasn't able to finish his question as I heard my future self wrap her arms around Link's neck and hug him tightly. A twinge of guilt ran through me, but stopped when it hit me.

Future Bat and I had the same nightmare. Just like the other nightmares I had with my arm and eye. They were her nightmares. Nightmares from the future. The very idea terrified me to the core. I felt the tears run down my face as I heard my future self sob into Link's arms. I heard Link gently whisper to her, telling her that everything was ok. I held onto his words, hugging myself in the process, wishing I was in his arms instead. But at the same time...maybe Future Bat needed it more than me. If the nightmare I saw was a glimpse into the future...

My throat closed up. I didn't want to think about it. I pressed my right ear against the icy cold wall as I sat hugging my knees in my bed, listening to Link comfort my future self...

...

...

The next day, Link and Future Bat acted as though nothing happened last night. Both of them said goodbye to me and to have a good day at school. I turned my head to look at my future self. I wondered if she told Link about her nightmare. I wanted to ask her. I wanted to know.

While in the car, I told Patrick about my nightmare and my hunch that it was Future me's nightmare too of the future. Patrick was quiet the whole time. I bet he was nervous about the idea. He told me that it was just a bad dream, and to not let it ruin my day. He turned on the radio and an upbeat song came on. I decided to drop the dark subject, turning to the window and watching the houses and fields roll by.

When I got to class, I forgot about my nightmare. The whole school was buzzing about the monsters from the news report yesterday. People already bought shirts and merch of the monsters from the Halloween stores.

People were actually talking to Hunter like he was some sort of celebrity, which I guess he was. He was surrounded by so many kids, I couldn't see him through the group. Everyone was asking him questions and asking for him to hang out in their group, which left me alone. I didn't mind much, I wanted to talk to October alone anyway.

I met October near the building that was being constructed. I bought him the alien socks. Black ankle high socks with little green alien heads all over them, with the tips green and the ball of the foot green as well.

"What are these?" he asked me.

"Alien socks! you put them on your feet like this," I took off my shoe and showed him. He stared at me for a moment, then shape shifted his feet till they were mushed bare skin. I realized he had never seen human feet before. I took off my socks. He was quiet for a moment till he understood and he shapeshifted his deranged feet till they looked like mine, only, not white, more of a brown color. The first human he saw most likely. He placed the socks on his feet and stared down at them. A smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you, Bat. No ones ever given me something this nice before," he said. I nodded. "I thought you'd like them... They are a thank you present for pretending to be me when I wanted to ditch class...which is what I also wanted to bring up."

October looked up from his socks. I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Why did you say yes to Hunter when he asked you to go to the dance?" October was quiet for a moment.

"I thought it was what you would've done...He seems to be infatuated with you, and you sometimes seem to like the way he looks at you." I felt my face burn. I shrugged. "He's ok, I guess," I said. October nodded. "I don't understand human teenage emotions much, but I do understand the difference of certain emotions." I didn't really want to talk about teenage stuff with him. I decided to change the subject. I brought up Future Bat and the nightmare.

October's eyes changed colors rapidly. "I hope it's not a vision...it sounds like something that Mothman guy would do," he said. I nodded nervously. It was like something the Mothman would envision. We were silent for a long time.

"...I was able to sneak in," October finally said after a few moments of awkward silence. I turned to him. "What?" I at first didnt know what he meant. The alien nodded his head to the suspicious suspicious tech building under construction. My bat ears perked up inside my beanie.

"And?" I asked, interested. October shook his head. "Nothing. I couldnt find anything. I changed into an insect and flew right after one of the guards, then pretended to be one of the men and walked around. It's just a regular building with a huge room and small classrooms...though...I did find one of the big classrooms upstairs locked. I couldnt go in," he admitted. I stood up.

"Then that's where he might be."

October's eyes started to change colors. He was nervous as he stood up next to me. "I don't think you should go, Bat. Last time we went you got hurt real bad. I looked down at the gnarly scar from the gunshot. "I'll be careful this time." October shook his head. "You can't shape shift like I can, or heal as fast," he pointed out. I pulled out the alien first aid kit future me gave to us the first night from my backpack.

"Future me wouldn't have left me this if she...er...I knew I'd sneak in again," I said. October hesitated. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to go in by myself into the building. "Please, October...if my nightmare really was a glimpse into the future...I want to change it...stop John before things get worse."

After a few minutes, October nodded. "As long as I am close to you, I wont let anything hurt you," he said. I thanked him, but told him I could take care of myself. The alien gave me a look. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh don't start with that, space boy," I joked and gave him a light playful shove. He gave me a quizzical look on the shove, then did it back to me. I laughed just as the bell rang. "Meet back here in five minutes," I said to the alien. He hesitated but nodded as he turned into a crow and flew away.

...

I walked right into class and sat down. The teacher was already in the classroom setting up the math equations on the white board. I was careful not to lean against my wings. I folded my hands on the desk and sat as straight as I could.

To my right, I felt Quin MacKracken's eyes on me. She looked like she wanted to talk to me. For some reason she always wanted to talk to me. Her conversations never went anywhere. I tried being nice and listening to her, but she would never let me talk and just talk right over my words. I kept my eyes on the white board, trying to not make any sudden movements-

"I hugged a cactus once. It was unpleasant. I thought it was one of those fuzzy cactus,' the fake ones in the pot..." she started saying to me. Dammit. So much for staying still so the predator doesn't see you. Maybe it'll work on Mirror.

My hand shot up so fast to get the teacher's attention. I asked if I could use the bathroom. The teacher said it was fine and let me go. Quinny stopped talking and turned her attention to her sketchbook.

I met back with October at the building. I looked at the numbers. October landed on my shoulder as a fly and began saying the numbers to me. I pressed them one by one. A green light came on and the door clicked open. A whoosh of cold wind blew out from the open doorway. I took a deep breath and entered into the building.

...