Scary Monsters and Super Creeps
Part One: Attack of the Killer Frogs
By Baka Dog And The Master Pimp
Croaks.
Croaking in the deep.
Croaking in the deep underbelly of Manhattan. Beneath even the
Labyrinth, where the city's lowest of the low dwelled. In the darkest, deepest shadows of the earth, they rose from their slumber, shaking off the dust and dirt from their slick hides. They had rested for a long time, and it was time to awaken.
Beady eyes blinked slowly, and they turned to look at each other in
slow realization and limited understanding and knowledge. They opened their mouths, croaking to the sky so far above them as their bellies grumbled in insatiable hunger. They needed to feast. They needed to sustain the growling of their bellies. Turning, they began to shuffle along, their bloated bodies wriggling through filth on their trek up, up to the glittering city. It was time for a change of scenery.
Their flesh pulled and tugged as it was caught against sticks and
pieces of concrete; they groaned aloud as they pressed their way in a mighty throng through the dirt, up to the sewers and tunnels, leading out into the Hudson River. The creatures kept moving, advancing closer to their destination with every yard.
An unlucky rat found itself a meal almost as soon as it crossed their
path, sucked up into a mouth as wide as a Mac truck and swallowed as though it were little more than a fly. The vermin fought, of course, clawing at its' predators and squeaking as it was consumed, begging for mercy as it became lunch. But it lost.
More croaks followed as the others protested the lucky one's chance at food; soon, that "lucky" one was also gobbled up by one of its comrades. They were a sentient species, intelligent yet still devoid of caring for their own kind, especially when greed became a prime factor. The lucky one had been selfish, taking the rat for itself.
Watching its companions with equally beady yet somewhat more
intelligent eyes, their proclaimed King and largest of the group stood hunched over a recently caught meal of its own. He croaked at them angrily when they came too close, letting out strange little growls that caused the others to scatter in fear. They gathered at the end of the sewer tunnel, watching their King with eager, glittering little eyes, making odd grunting sounds in their throats as they shuffled about.
They were hungry, and they tired of waiting.
"Cruuuuuuoooooaaaaaaakkkkkkk!!!!"
"Crrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk!!!!"
Glaring at the others, the largest, ugliest, bulkiest one of them all
hopped forward, letting out a loud croak. The rest scattered out of his way, and he glared balefully at them. It was time; time to rise from the messy muck they had dwelled in for the past twenty years and claim the world as their own!
He tired of being hungry, always. Sick to death of enduring night after night of unvanquished starvation. He wanted to feast on the flesh of
Men and their pets forever and a day! His insatiable hunger roared at him to feast, and feast he would. When at last he found his food of choice, no one would be safe from him!
"CRRUUUUAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKK!!!!!" he roared aloud, echoing the grumble in
his belly.
The others took up the call, croaking as they swarmed out the tunnel
and into the world, where diamonds shone in the sky. They traveled as a group, following a silent instinct, a physical radar that led them. As they crawled up the walls of buildings, and lumbered into the streets of Manhattan with their already large bellies dragging against the concrete, the first screams of unlucky victims began to ring across the night sky, signaling the invasion of...
The Mutated Wide Mouth Frogs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Gliding above the city silently, four young gargoyles were patrolling,
as per orders from their large and illustrious leader. And, two of them
thought privately, extremely horny and frustrated leader who wasn't getting any from his human mate since she was currently being worked overtime due to all the recent killings that have been popping up on every single corner which in turn made her ask for the clan's help and now THEY were working double-shift, a fact that really cheesed a couple of them off...
But I digress.
Brooklyn, Lexington, Angela and Broadway were flying around, minding their own business (kind of) when a shattering scream erupted through the night, nearly causing the four to scream themselves and plummet to the ground in surprise. Immediately after the first scream, came a second, and a third, and a fourth, until a whole chorus of screams were heard echoing throughout the streets of Manhattan.
Brooklyn stared around. "What the hell...?!"
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Lexington muttered, grimacing at the cries
that rose around them like the stench of a rotten pig. It was complete pandemonium down there. What the hell was everyone panicked about? The gargoyles hadn't seen such a public reaction since the September 11th attack.
"I would say to check it out, but now we have to choose which one!"
Broadway said in astonishment as the number of screams continued to grow. He put his hands over his ears and winced; these people sure were loud, he thought. From the way Brooklyn and Lexington were wincing at every scream from underneath them, Broadway knew that they were thinking the same thing.
"Well just pick one and go!" Angela shouted, not hesitating one moment
and, opening her wings, began diving down towards the street, heading in the general direction the first scream had come from. Watching her go, the three males then looked at each other and shrugged.
"Advice to live on," Lex muttered sarcastically as he, too, dove toward
the street, folding his wings in a bit so as to drop at quicker speed.
"Let's not split up," Broadway advised, looking at his remaining
brother. "We don't know what we're up against."
Brooklyn nodded, still astonished at the amount of screams that were
joining the maelstrom; his eyes were wide and he gawked down at the streets, wondering just how many thieves and weirdoes he would have to beat the shit out of that night before he got any rest. He hoped that whatever happened tonight, it wouldn't tire him out to the point of vulnerability. "Uh-huh...I'll follow Lex. Wherever he went."
"Alright." With that, Broadway folded his wings dropped like a large,
bloated blue bomb upon the streets and hapless humans who he now saw
running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Yet still, he didn't see any signs of evil doers, so what was going on?
"It'd better not be Demona again," the red skinned garg growled, his eyes flaring like white embers at the mention of that name. "Or Thailog." Brooklyn vowed to himself that if he found either of them that evening, he would take them out. Demona couldn't be killed, but at the very least, he'd foil her plan, if this was indeed her doing at all.
Shaking his head to clear it, Brooklyn followed suit, though he looked
much cooler as he fell from the sky like a leaf carried gently but firmly on the wind...
Or whatever, you get the picture. He went down.
Upon coming into clearer visual contact with the streets and humans of
Manhattan, Brooklyn realized that he might have a bigger problem on his
hands than he originally thought.
Humans were everywhere, stumbling and tripping over their own feet as
they howled in terror, eyes wild and white as they smashed through windows and leaped over cars in a frantic stampede to escape whatever the hell it was that had frightened them so badly. Brooklyn could only stare in shock as he landed on a roof; his eyes as wide as saucers as the humans nearly ran over each other in their haste. The screams were almost too loud for him to handle-yet still, he refused to cover his ears.
And right then, Brooklyn realized that this was not Demona or Thailog's doings. Even in the light of all the former second's and the evil clone's schemes, it didn't seem to apply to the right circumstances here. Neither Demona or Thailog ever carried out their plans in public eyes, opting instead for subterfuge. The screams down below indicated that, to him, whatever he and the others were facing, was something, if that was even possible, more dangerous and quite possibly just as lethal
"Brooklyn!"
Turning quickly, the red gargoyle spotted Lexington on another nearby
rooftop, also watching the chaos ensuing below. "What the hell is going
on?!" Brooklyn yelled to his rookery brother, who only gave him a shrug
and a bewildered look.
"Don't ask ME! Ask THEM!"
Brooklyn scowled. As if! The humans were far too panicked to even think
properly, how could they be expected to answer a reasonable question?
Of course, added on top of that if he ever TRIED to ask them they'd panic even more on sight of him. As much as they had done for the humans of Manhattan, they had yet to be fully accepted by them, a fact that was slowly grating on Brooklyn's nerves every time someone screamed and ran from him after a rescue.
Now, his options didn't look good. If he went down there he would
surely be trampled to death, but if he didn't, Goliath would be less than happy.
'This is just lovely,' he thought, irritated. 'Try to save a human and
get run over by a horde of them. Don't save a human, and get strung up by my tail at home when Goliath finds out. Great options. Might as well just shoot myself in the head for all the good either one will do.'
Still watching the humans rather than looking for the source of the
problem, Brooklyn was a little surprised when Lexington landed beside him. He jumped slightly at the other's presence, before going back to
screaming-humans-in-a-blind-terror-watching. It was actually kind of funny, he thought with a tilt of the head. Their facial expressions, the way their mouths hung open and eyes bulged out of their heads... he had never paid much attention to the expression's on their faces because usually all he was greeted with was the sight of their asses, fleeing from him. Now, though, he figured they looked pretty stupid when frightened. He smirked. Nice to have the tables turned for a change.
"Having fun?" Lex asked dryly, cocking an eye ridge at his brother.
Brooklyn smirked, unable to hold back. "You know me too well," he
replied, resting his chin in his palm as the hordes of petrified humans rushed by in a tidal wave. "There is NO way I am going down there, so I might as well enjoy the sight of humans running away from something other than ME."
"You know, Goliath is gonna kill us if we don't do something."
"I know."
"So...?"
"So...?"
"What are we gonna do?"
Brooklyn sighed and rolled his eyes. "We wait for the enemy to come to
us."
Lex snorted. "Lazy ass."
"I just want to stay alive as long as possible, little brother. No
wrong in that."
"Heh. Right." Brooklyn looked at his brother challengingly. Was Lex doubting his judgment? Brooklyn hoped not. Lex had been his rookery brother his entire life. Shouldn't the small olive gargoyle trust him by now?
There was silence between the two as the screaming humans continued to
flow by in a howling torrent. Then a cry of, "Holy shit, Brook, lookit
that!!!" shattered the air.
Turning quickly, the red gargoyle looked down the street to where
Lexington was pointing one long, green talon, his jaw hanging open as he kept stabbing said talon at whatever it was he was looking at. "Look! Look!!! LOOK AT THAT MOTHERFUCKER!!! LOOK AT IT, MAN!!!"
Brooklyn's own jaw fell open as something large, green, and bloated
hopped out from behind a building, quickly scooping up five or six humans in one swallow. It croaked, hopped into the middle of the street where it effectively stopped the flow of panicked humans, and immediately swallowed another group of hapless people who didn't even have time to turn, so fast was the gobbling. The giant thing croaked again, made a weird growling sound, then hopped toward the people who were now running in another direction, its enormous mouth opening wide to scoop a few more of and swallow them whole.
As it followed the frightened horde, another, giant frog-like thing
hopped out from the same street the first had come from. It growled much like the first had, and croaked some more, before chomping down on the first's frog's ass. It squealed and froze, and the second frog began to pull it into its mouth, slowly sucking it down its throat.
More giant frogs with enormous, ugly mouths and squished faces appeared
from what seemed to be nowhere, scooping people up in their massive mouths and gulping them down like they were only noodles. People screamed, dashing this way and that, only to be grabbed by a frog and eaten alive. The screams did no good, and it did not even deter the frogs, for they ate without mercy or even hesitation.
Atop the roof, two gargoyles just stared in shock and horror at the
scene playing out before them.
Two words made their way to Brooklyn's lips before he could think
coherently, two words that summed his thoughts up as simply as
possible:
"Whoa geeze."
The rookery brothers looked at each other. Surely this wasn't happening... right?
"Holy shit," Brooklyn mumbled under his breath, his heart hammering inside his chest as his rationally fashioned mind tried to tell him that that had just been a hallucination. But it was not. Brooklyn knew deep down that what he had seen was real, and no amount of trying to kid himself would change that.
"Uhh... so what do we do?" Lex asked, wincing as another group of humans got gobbled up like a Christmas turkey. He shivered; that didn't look pleasant at all.
Brooklyn made a face, standing up and puffing out his chest to make
himself look bigger and stronger, and possibly, maybe, hopefully, a lot braver than he really felt. "What gargoyles do, Lex," he drawled. "Protect."
Lexington twisted his face into a grimace of distaste. He didn't particularly want to go there and risk his own ass to save petrified humans from... THINGS. Looking down at the screaming swarm of panicked humans, his grimace deepened and turned even more unsavory than before. "Oooh, wonderful." He finally retorted.
"Indeed."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Itchy snuffled, his flat nose testing the air. Two large, bulging eyes
poked from the sides of his head; his body was short, flabby, and reminded one of a whoopie cushion-it was round and swollen. His skin was a shit-brown, and he was covered in warts. A deep scowl was etched on his chubby face as he turned to look at his companion. "Oi! Why the 'ell are we the ones that 'ave ta go lookin' for some ass who don't even got a clue we exist, Scratchy?"
"Because, Lord Keebler was murdered."
"So? What's that got ta do with anything?"
The taller beast, deep green in colour with a thin, emaciated body and
an overly large head, sighed and rolled his many-faceted eyes. His ears
were long and flappy, like a Beagle's, and his jaw hung down nearly to his knees, with six-inch fangs jutting out every which way. "Ya know we need a Lord, Itchy. Why d'you gots ta question ever'thing?" it, Scratchy, asked.
"I gots ta question cuz I think it's all a load of plut!" Itchy snapped
back. "Them top-dwellers, they don't know the backs of their arses from
the tip o' their dongs, why'n we need 'em ta lead us around like a bunch o' lame cows?"
Scratchy muttered something under his breath and raises his eyes to the
sky for a moment, then looked down at his companion and brother. "We need 'em cuz we gots no one else," he replied, slapping the back of the other's head with an enormous hand. "And cuz we're bein' sent ta do it, we gots ta do it. We come back with nothing ta show, and they'll eat us while we still be livin. You wanna be someone's chow?"
"Humph. I don't think we ought ta go back t'them ungrateful blobs. I
say we just leave 'em to pump their snakes on their own 'stead o' getting some uther sap ta do it fer them." Itchy was, obviously, very annoyed. He crossed his stubby arms over his chest and scowled around.
"I agree with ya, brudder," said Scratchy. "But we ain't gots none
choice in t'matter. It's find a Lord or find a grave."
"An how the 'ell are we gonna convince one o' these freaks ta come down
and be the Lord?" Itchy demanded sourly. "Don't even get ta thinkin' that they'll be more than 'appy ta follow us down ta Thinginod. Them top-dwellers like thar light taa much."
Scratchy shrugged, pulling something out from a pouch around his thin,
bony waist. Showing it to Itchy, he smiled and winked. "We'll give 'em this
and then haul their arses back down. They won't 'ave any idea where ta get
out, so's they can't leave."
Looking at the little object, Itchy raised a thick, warped brow. "Oi,
it might work, brudda," he said with a raucous laugh.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Things were getting hot and heavy in Elisa's bedroom. The cop was enjoying a bout of foreplay administered to her from the large purple shape right next to her, on her bed. She was in pure heaven, both of them sliding from 3rd base onto home plate. Elisa was in ecstasy, when the bloodcurdling screams from outside attracted her attention, killing the moment. Her eyes opened wide and she looked toward the window, failing miserably as Goliath's hulking form blocked her view. What in the flying fuck...?
"Goliath, something's wrong!"
"It's not my rash again, is it? If it is I am going to-"
"No, no, no. It's not your rash. Jesus Christ. It's coming from outside!"
Growling, the lavender gargoyle continued to nibble at her neck. "So
what?" he grumbled, focused entirely on her sweet, delectable throat. "Let the
authorities handle it..."
Elisa rolled her eyes; as much as she was enjoying the attention he was
lavishing on her, now was no longer the time. "I AM the authorities,
Goliath."
There was a pause. "Oh. Yes. I...forgot." Sitting up, a pout crossed his
face. "And just when I was finally going to get some," he muttered under his
breath as he pulled his loincloth back on. 'Dammit' he thought sourly. The first night off from work that Elisa had had in weeks, and then THIS had to happen. Goliath silently cursed his luckless karma.
Elisa, who had miraculously slipped on her pants the instant she was
out of the bed, quirked an eyebrow at him. "What was that, Big Guy?"
"Erm...nothing."
"Oh. Alright." Moving quickly out of the room, Elisa didn't notice the
sigh that escaped the lavender hulk's lips as he followed her rather
dejectedly, kind of like a lost and beaten puppy following its master.
The two lovers moved to the skylight and, sliding it open, were
assaulted with even louder howls of terror that roared in through the open glass
door, nearly deafening them. They both yelped and clapped their hands over
their ears; Goliath sliding the door shut so hard it nearly shattered. Both
of them stood panting for a moment, staring at each other, before Elisa
asked, "Just what in the world was THAT about?!"
"I've no idea," Goliath replied quietly, a frown on his face. "But I
believe we will have need of ear plugs before this night is over." So saying,
he stuck a talon in his ear and wiggled it, wincing slightly. The noise was loud, and he nearly flinched from the attack of the high frequency sound waves that seemed to come from all around. It was like in what Elisa called a 'movie theater' with the loudspeakers all around the room blaring the sounds from a blockbuster film. The noise out here, like a movie theater's sound system, seemed to come from all over the place, and it was deafening.
The detective nodded. "Right. There's some in my dresser drawer. I'll
go get them." She left the room quickly, the sounds of her rapid stride into her bedroom to get her gun completely blocked off by the loud alien screeching and the human screams outside.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"What in the world is going on?! What ARE these things?!"
Angela's voice barely reached Broadway's ears, fighting its way through
the cacophony of screams, shrieks and howls of terror erupting from below
them. The two had been flying just above the lowest buildings so they could
get a better view of what was going on, but it turns out they didn't really
need to.
All over the places, humans were running helter-skelter, their masses
increasing with every second as more and more frogs hopped out from
alleyways or rose up through the concrete streets, barely managing to
squeeze their bulbous bodies through the potholes. Some of them weren't
so lucky, however, as they burst open and their guts and slimy flesh
spilled across the streets, causing humans to slip, stumble and fall, becoming
quick meals for even more frogs. It was bloodshed, completely and undeniably dementia. In 10 minutes, Manhattan had gone from being a large island full of crime and residential people struggling to make a living to becoming a hell on Earth, a deathtrap where people were now struggling for their very lives. Chaos had come to Manhattan in the great state of New York, and Angela and Broadway was confused about how to stop it.
Broadway didn't know what to do. Never in his life had he experienced
anything that even came close to this. Sure, he had fought Oberon's
Children, the Pack, gang leaders, Illuminati, multi-millionaires and
God knows what else, but he had never fought giant, man-eating frogs. Frogs
that seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork, thousands of them hopping
from what seemed to be nowhere to gobble up the humans in great, slurping
gulps. Broadway winced.
Ew. He wanted to puke, just spill his guts right there, not caring what unfortunate soul would be at the receiving end of it. But he managed to keep it in. He had to. Depsite his misgivings, now was no time for retching.
"I don't know, Angela," he called back. "But there's too many of them
for us to stop!" That, he realized a moment later, was a very obvious
statement which he really didn't need to say. His own thoughts were echoed on the lavender gargoyle's face, but she said nothing, to Broadway's immense
relief.
"It's too risky for us to do anything now, when there are so few of
us," she shouted back as they circled above the massacre happening below. "We
should find the others, regroup and then come back! We can't do this alone. We
need help!"
Broadway nodded. "Yeah, Goliath should know about this."
Just as the two were about to go flying off to find the others, there
was a loud, croaking yowl kind of sound from below them. They froze, looking
down just as three or four of the giant frogs looked up, spotting them. One
of the frogs croaked loudly, and suddenly, its tongue zipped out and
slapped Broadway from the air, snapping one of his wings nearly in half.
There was no way to describe the Aqua gargoyle's pain. It was almost indefinable. His wing had just snapped roughly by a reptilian tongue that, to his agony-racked mind, had felt like someone had shot a laser through it.
The large gargoyle screamed in pain, falling to the ground with a loud
thud. He groaned in pain as humans leaped out of his way, still running
aimlessly though there were a lot less of them than there was before. Rolling
over, Broadway's eyes widened as he saw one of the frog lunging toward him,
huge mouth gaping open to swallow him whole. He screamed, flinging his arms
in front of his face to protect himself. This was the end, he was sure of it. After all the battles, all the enemies he had faced, all the obstacles he had overcome with his clan, the clan that he would never see again, he would die here. Broadway closed his eyes tightly, praying for his mercifully quick demise.
A sudden thud and a thwack, followed by a yowl and a "GAK!" assailed
his ears, and he cracked open an eye. Arms wrapped around him, pulling him
to his feet as he stared at the scene before him, oblivious of Angela's
voice screaming at him to run for it.
Lexington and Brooklyn were flying around the frog's head, diving down
to stomp on its eyes before darting away again as it let out annoyed
croaks and tried to eat them directly from the sky. The two were having some luck, since the frog was kind of slow, but more were coming and their tongues
were lashing out, trying to grab the two gargoyles as they flapped around
like crazed bats. The two gargoyles, as strong and battle experienced as they were, could not fight off an entire army of mutant frogs by themselves.
"Run, Broadway! Go!" Lex yelled, twisting out of the way of a tongue
that nearly got him.
"What are you waiting for?!" Brooklyn screamed. "GO! NOW! FIND GOLIATH!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Humming to himself, Greg was stirring a pot of spaghetti in his
kitchen, completely oblivious to anything and everything going on outside his
humble home. He was smiling happily to himself, listening to the loud chatter
going on in the other room from his friends.
Pat, Aaron, Ivan, and some extremely cute boy (whose name, for some
reason, he had forgotten) were talking in the living room. Or rather, Aaron was
talking and everyone else was trying to ignore him.
"So, like, I was sitting there and Geoff comes up to me and starts
touching my ass-"
'I'd like to touch your ass,' Pat thought, her eyebrow twitching.
'Yeah, with my foot...and it wouldn't be a soft touch either. More like a
THWACK!'
Ivan was leaning with his chin in the palm of his hand, staring blankly
at the wall as he tuned Aaron's obnoxiously loud and gay voice out,
instead listening to a little diddy in his head. A small smile touched his
lips, and Aaron thought he was smiling at what he was saying and so continued on, Ivan remaining oblivious to it all. Aaron rambled like this so much, that Ivan didn't even bother listening to him at all anymore.
"-and then, oh my god, I saw the cutest boy at the club! But, as it
turned out, he was completely straight and I had NO chance of getting into his
pants-"
The cute boy (who shall from now on be referred to as The
Anonymous/Insignificant Cute Boy, since his name is too hard to
remember), sat staring at Aaron with undisguised annoyance on his adorable and
sexy features. His face was pulled into a scowl, though, as per usual, Aaron
didn't notice or at least thought he was scowling at the injustice that all
the really hot guys were straight.
Greg, in the kitchen, was only aware of a thrumming. The voices had
blended and blurred together in a monotone fly-buzz, and he decided that, for
the moment, he was going to enjoy Aaron annoying someone else rather than
him.
So he stood there, stewing his spaghetti and humming to himself. Being
in his own little word, it came as a total shock to him when a large,
bulbous eyeball appeared in the window next to him, blinking slowly.
A loud, rumbling croak brought young Greg out of his daydream of peace
and silence and a world without Aaron, and he realized that something was oddly amiss.
He noted, belatedly, that a shadow blocked the light, and when he
turned, he found his hands go lax. The wooden spoon he was holding dropped to the floor with a loud clatter, and his jaw nearly followed it as it fell open.
The giant frog croaked loudly, the window shattering under the force of
the sound.
Greg shrieked, his eyes rolling back in his head as he fell to the
floor in a dead faint. Whatever that thing outside his window was, it had scared the living shit out of him.
The frog stared at his unconscious form through the small window for a
moment, before letting out a "cruuuaaak" and hopping away.
Apparently, it wasn't hungry enough to bust through a wall to get at
one small, insignificant human. Either that, or it was incredibly lazy.
To Be Continued...?
Broadwaysux@yahoo.com
Part One: Attack of the Killer Frogs
By Baka Dog And The Master Pimp
Croaks.
Croaking in the deep.
Croaking in the deep underbelly of Manhattan. Beneath even the
Labyrinth, where the city's lowest of the low dwelled. In the darkest, deepest shadows of the earth, they rose from their slumber, shaking off the dust and dirt from their slick hides. They had rested for a long time, and it was time to awaken.
Beady eyes blinked slowly, and they turned to look at each other in
slow realization and limited understanding and knowledge. They opened their mouths, croaking to the sky so far above them as their bellies grumbled in insatiable hunger. They needed to feast. They needed to sustain the growling of their bellies. Turning, they began to shuffle along, their bloated bodies wriggling through filth on their trek up, up to the glittering city. It was time for a change of scenery.
Their flesh pulled and tugged as it was caught against sticks and
pieces of concrete; they groaned aloud as they pressed their way in a mighty throng through the dirt, up to the sewers and tunnels, leading out into the Hudson River. The creatures kept moving, advancing closer to their destination with every yard.
An unlucky rat found itself a meal almost as soon as it crossed their
path, sucked up into a mouth as wide as a Mac truck and swallowed as though it were little more than a fly. The vermin fought, of course, clawing at its' predators and squeaking as it was consumed, begging for mercy as it became lunch. But it lost.
More croaks followed as the others protested the lucky one's chance at food; soon, that "lucky" one was also gobbled up by one of its comrades. They were a sentient species, intelligent yet still devoid of caring for their own kind, especially when greed became a prime factor. The lucky one had been selfish, taking the rat for itself.
Watching its companions with equally beady yet somewhat more
intelligent eyes, their proclaimed King and largest of the group stood hunched over a recently caught meal of its own. He croaked at them angrily when they came too close, letting out strange little growls that caused the others to scatter in fear. They gathered at the end of the sewer tunnel, watching their King with eager, glittering little eyes, making odd grunting sounds in their throats as they shuffled about.
They were hungry, and they tired of waiting.
"Cruuuuuuoooooaaaaaaakkkkkkk!!!!"
"Crrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk!!!!"
Glaring at the others, the largest, ugliest, bulkiest one of them all
hopped forward, letting out a loud croak. The rest scattered out of his way, and he glared balefully at them. It was time; time to rise from the messy muck they had dwelled in for the past twenty years and claim the world as their own!
He tired of being hungry, always. Sick to death of enduring night after night of unvanquished starvation. He wanted to feast on the flesh of
Men and their pets forever and a day! His insatiable hunger roared at him to feast, and feast he would. When at last he found his food of choice, no one would be safe from him!
"CRRUUUUAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKK!!!!!" he roared aloud, echoing the grumble in
his belly.
The others took up the call, croaking as they swarmed out the tunnel
and into the world, where diamonds shone in the sky. They traveled as a group, following a silent instinct, a physical radar that led them. As they crawled up the walls of buildings, and lumbered into the streets of Manhattan with their already large bellies dragging against the concrete, the first screams of unlucky victims began to ring across the night sky, signaling the invasion of...
The Mutated Wide Mouth Frogs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Gliding above the city silently, four young gargoyles were patrolling,
as per orders from their large and illustrious leader. And, two of them
thought privately, extremely horny and frustrated leader who wasn't getting any from his human mate since she was currently being worked overtime due to all the recent killings that have been popping up on every single corner which in turn made her ask for the clan's help and now THEY were working double-shift, a fact that really cheesed a couple of them off...
But I digress.
Brooklyn, Lexington, Angela and Broadway were flying around, minding their own business (kind of) when a shattering scream erupted through the night, nearly causing the four to scream themselves and plummet to the ground in surprise. Immediately after the first scream, came a second, and a third, and a fourth, until a whole chorus of screams were heard echoing throughout the streets of Manhattan.
Brooklyn stared around. "What the hell...?!"
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Lexington muttered, grimacing at the cries
that rose around them like the stench of a rotten pig. It was complete pandemonium down there. What the hell was everyone panicked about? The gargoyles hadn't seen such a public reaction since the September 11th attack.
"I would say to check it out, but now we have to choose which one!"
Broadway said in astonishment as the number of screams continued to grow. He put his hands over his ears and winced; these people sure were loud, he thought. From the way Brooklyn and Lexington were wincing at every scream from underneath them, Broadway knew that they were thinking the same thing.
"Well just pick one and go!" Angela shouted, not hesitating one moment
and, opening her wings, began diving down towards the street, heading in the general direction the first scream had come from. Watching her go, the three males then looked at each other and shrugged.
"Advice to live on," Lex muttered sarcastically as he, too, dove toward
the street, folding his wings in a bit so as to drop at quicker speed.
"Let's not split up," Broadway advised, looking at his remaining
brother. "We don't know what we're up against."
Brooklyn nodded, still astonished at the amount of screams that were
joining the maelstrom; his eyes were wide and he gawked down at the streets, wondering just how many thieves and weirdoes he would have to beat the shit out of that night before he got any rest. He hoped that whatever happened tonight, it wouldn't tire him out to the point of vulnerability. "Uh-huh...I'll follow Lex. Wherever he went."
"Alright." With that, Broadway folded his wings dropped like a large,
bloated blue bomb upon the streets and hapless humans who he now saw
running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Yet still, he didn't see any signs of evil doers, so what was going on?
"It'd better not be Demona again," the red skinned garg growled, his eyes flaring like white embers at the mention of that name. "Or Thailog." Brooklyn vowed to himself that if he found either of them that evening, he would take them out. Demona couldn't be killed, but at the very least, he'd foil her plan, if this was indeed her doing at all.
Shaking his head to clear it, Brooklyn followed suit, though he looked
much cooler as he fell from the sky like a leaf carried gently but firmly on the wind...
Or whatever, you get the picture. He went down.
Upon coming into clearer visual contact with the streets and humans of
Manhattan, Brooklyn realized that he might have a bigger problem on his
hands than he originally thought.
Humans were everywhere, stumbling and tripping over their own feet as
they howled in terror, eyes wild and white as they smashed through windows and leaped over cars in a frantic stampede to escape whatever the hell it was that had frightened them so badly. Brooklyn could only stare in shock as he landed on a roof; his eyes as wide as saucers as the humans nearly ran over each other in their haste. The screams were almost too loud for him to handle-yet still, he refused to cover his ears.
And right then, Brooklyn realized that this was not Demona or Thailog's doings. Even in the light of all the former second's and the evil clone's schemes, it didn't seem to apply to the right circumstances here. Neither Demona or Thailog ever carried out their plans in public eyes, opting instead for subterfuge. The screams down below indicated that, to him, whatever he and the others were facing, was something, if that was even possible, more dangerous and quite possibly just as lethal
"Brooklyn!"
Turning quickly, the red gargoyle spotted Lexington on another nearby
rooftop, also watching the chaos ensuing below. "What the hell is going
on?!" Brooklyn yelled to his rookery brother, who only gave him a shrug
and a bewildered look.
"Don't ask ME! Ask THEM!"
Brooklyn scowled. As if! The humans were far too panicked to even think
properly, how could they be expected to answer a reasonable question?
Of course, added on top of that if he ever TRIED to ask them they'd panic even more on sight of him. As much as they had done for the humans of Manhattan, they had yet to be fully accepted by them, a fact that was slowly grating on Brooklyn's nerves every time someone screamed and ran from him after a rescue.
Now, his options didn't look good. If he went down there he would
surely be trampled to death, but if he didn't, Goliath would be less than happy.
'This is just lovely,' he thought, irritated. 'Try to save a human and
get run over by a horde of them. Don't save a human, and get strung up by my tail at home when Goliath finds out. Great options. Might as well just shoot myself in the head for all the good either one will do.'
Still watching the humans rather than looking for the source of the
problem, Brooklyn was a little surprised when Lexington landed beside him. He jumped slightly at the other's presence, before going back to
screaming-humans-in-a-blind-terror-watching. It was actually kind of funny, he thought with a tilt of the head. Their facial expressions, the way their mouths hung open and eyes bulged out of their heads... he had never paid much attention to the expression's on their faces because usually all he was greeted with was the sight of their asses, fleeing from him. Now, though, he figured they looked pretty stupid when frightened. He smirked. Nice to have the tables turned for a change.
"Having fun?" Lex asked dryly, cocking an eye ridge at his brother.
Brooklyn smirked, unable to hold back. "You know me too well," he
replied, resting his chin in his palm as the hordes of petrified humans rushed by in a tidal wave. "There is NO way I am going down there, so I might as well enjoy the sight of humans running away from something other than ME."
"You know, Goliath is gonna kill us if we don't do something."
"I know."
"So...?"
"So...?"
"What are we gonna do?"
Brooklyn sighed and rolled his eyes. "We wait for the enemy to come to
us."
Lex snorted. "Lazy ass."
"I just want to stay alive as long as possible, little brother. No
wrong in that."
"Heh. Right." Brooklyn looked at his brother challengingly. Was Lex doubting his judgment? Brooklyn hoped not. Lex had been his rookery brother his entire life. Shouldn't the small olive gargoyle trust him by now?
There was silence between the two as the screaming humans continued to
flow by in a howling torrent. Then a cry of, "Holy shit, Brook, lookit
that!!!" shattered the air.
Turning quickly, the red gargoyle looked down the street to where
Lexington was pointing one long, green talon, his jaw hanging open as he kept stabbing said talon at whatever it was he was looking at. "Look! Look!!! LOOK AT THAT MOTHERFUCKER!!! LOOK AT IT, MAN!!!"
Brooklyn's own jaw fell open as something large, green, and bloated
hopped out from behind a building, quickly scooping up five or six humans in one swallow. It croaked, hopped into the middle of the street where it effectively stopped the flow of panicked humans, and immediately swallowed another group of hapless people who didn't even have time to turn, so fast was the gobbling. The giant thing croaked again, made a weird growling sound, then hopped toward the people who were now running in another direction, its enormous mouth opening wide to scoop a few more of and swallow them whole.
As it followed the frightened horde, another, giant frog-like thing
hopped out from the same street the first had come from. It growled much like the first had, and croaked some more, before chomping down on the first's frog's ass. It squealed and froze, and the second frog began to pull it into its mouth, slowly sucking it down its throat.
More giant frogs with enormous, ugly mouths and squished faces appeared
from what seemed to be nowhere, scooping people up in their massive mouths and gulping them down like they were only noodles. People screamed, dashing this way and that, only to be grabbed by a frog and eaten alive. The screams did no good, and it did not even deter the frogs, for they ate without mercy or even hesitation.
Atop the roof, two gargoyles just stared in shock and horror at the
scene playing out before them.
Two words made their way to Brooklyn's lips before he could think
coherently, two words that summed his thoughts up as simply as
possible:
"Whoa geeze."
The rookery brothers looked at each other. Surely this wasn't happening... right?
"Holy shit," Brooklyn mumbled under his breath, his heart hammering inside his chest as his rationally fashioned mind tried to tell him that that had just been a hallucination. But it was not. Brooklyn knew deep down that what he had seen was real, and no amount of trying to kid himself would change that.
"Uhh... so what do we do?" Lex asked, wincing as another group of humans got gobbled up like a Christmas turkey. He shivered; that didn't look pleasant at all.
Brooklyn made a face, standing up and puffing out his chest to make
himself look bigger and stronger, and possibly, maybe, hopefully, a lot braver than he really felt. "What gargoyles do, Lex," he drawled. "Protect."
Lexington twisted his face into a grimace of distaste. He didn't particularly want to go there and risk his own ass to save petrified humans from... THINGS. Looking down at the screaming swarm of panicked humans, his grimace deepened and turned even more unsavory than before. "Oooh, wonderful." He finally retorted.
"Indeed."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Itchy snuffled, his flat nose testing the air. Two large, bulging eyes
poked from the sides of his head; his body was short, flabby, and reminded one of a whoopie cushion-it was round and swollen. His skin was a shit-brown, and he was covered in warts. A deep scowl was etched on his chubby face as he turned to look at his companion. "Oi! Why the 'ell are we the ones that 'ave ta go lookin' for some ass who don't even got a clue we exist, Scratchy?"
"Because, Lord Keebler was murdered."
"So? What's that got ta do with anything?"
The taller beast, deep green in colour with a thin, emaciated body and
an overly large head, sighed and rolled his many-faceted eyes. His ears
were long and flappy, like a Beagle's, and his jaw hung down nearly to his knees, with six-inch fangs jutting out every which way. "Ya know we need a Lord, Itchy. Why d'you gots ta question ever'thing?" it, Scratchy, asked.
"I gots ta question cuz I think it's all a load of plut!" Itchy snapped
back. "Them top-dwellers, they don't know the backs of their arses from
the tip o' their dongs, why'n we need 'em ta lead us around like a bunch o' lame cows?"
Scratchy muttered something under his breath and raises his eyes to the
sky for a moment, then looked down at his companion and brother. "We need 'em cuz we gots no one else," he replied, slapping the back of the other's head with an enormous hand. "And cuz we're bein' sent ta do it, we gots ta do it. We come back with nothing ta show, and they'll eat us while we still be livin. You wanna be someone's chow?"
"Humph. I don't think we ought ta go back t'them ungrateful blobs. I
say we just leave 'em to pump their snakes on their own 'stead o' getting some uther sap ta do it fer them." Itchy was, obviously, very annoyed. He crossed his stubby arms over his chest and scowled around.
"I agree with ya, brudder," said Scratchy. "But we ain't gots none
choice in t'matter. It's find a Lord or find a grave."
"An how the 'ell are we gonna convince one o' these freaks ta come down
and be the Lord?" Itchy demanded sourly. "Don't even get ta thinkin' that they'll be more than 'appy ta follow us down ta Thinginod. Them top-dwellers like thar light taa much."
Scratchy shrugged, pulling something out from a pouch around his thin,
bony waist. Showing it to Itchy, he smiled and winked. "We'll give 'em this
and then haul their arses back down. They won't 'ave any idea where ta get
out, so's they can't leave."
Looking at the little object, Itchy raised a thick, warped brow. "Oi,
it might work, brudda," he said with a raucous laugh.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Things were getting hot and heavy in Elisa's bedroom. The cop was enjoying a bout of foreplay administered to her from the large purple shape right next to her, on her bed. She was in pure heaven, both of them sliding from 3rd base onto home plate. Elisa was in ecstasy, when the bloodcurdling screams from outside attracted her attention, killing the moment. Her eyes opened wide and she looked toward the window, failing miserably as Goliath's hulking form blocked her view. What in the flying fuck...?
"Goliath, something's wrong!"
"It's not my rash again, is it? If it is I am going to-"
"No, no, no. It's not your rash. Jesus Christ. It's coming from outside!"
Growling, the lavender gargoyle continued to nibble at her neck. "So
what?" he grumbled, focused entirely on her sweet, delectable throat. "Let the
authorities handle it..."
Elisa rolled her eyes; as much as she was enjoying the attention he was
lavishing on her, now was no longer the time. "I AM the authorities,
Goliath."
There was a pause. "Oh. Yes. I...forgot." Sitting up, a pout crossed his
face. "And just when I was finally going to get some," he muttered under his
breath as he pulled his loincloth back on. 'Dammit' he thought sourly. The first night off from work that Elisa had had in weeks, and then THIS had to happen. Goliath silently cursed his luckless karma.
Elisa, who had miraculously slipped on her pants the instant she was
out of the bed, quirked an eyebrow at him. "What was that, Big Guy?"
"Erm...nothing."
"Oh. Alright." Moving quickly out of the room, Elisa didn't notice the
sigh that escaped the lavender hulk's lips as he followed her rather
dejectedly, kind of like a lost and beaten puppy following its master.
The two lovers moved to the skylight and, sliding it open, were
assaulted with even louder howls of terror that roared in through the open glass
door, nearly deafening them. They both yelped and clapped their hands over
their ears; Goliath sliding the door shut so hard it nearly shattered. Both
of them stood panting for a moment, staring at each other, before Elisa
asked, "Just what in the world was THAT about?!"
"I've no idea," Goliath replied quietly, a frown on his face. "But I
believe we will have need of ear plugs before this night is over." So saying,
he stuck a talon in his ear and wiggled it, wincing slightly. The noise was loud, and he nearly flinched from the attack of the high frequency sound waves that seemed to come from all around. It was like in what Elisa called a 'movie theater' with the loudspeakers all around the room blaring the sounds from a blockbuster film. The noise out here, like a movie theater's sound system, seemed to come from all over the place, and it was deafening.
The detective nodded. "Right. There's some in my dresser drawer. I'll
go get them." She left the room quickly, the sounds of her rapid stride into her bedroom to get her gun completely blocked off by the loud alien screeching and the human screams outside.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"What in the world is going on?! What ARE these things?!"
Angela's voice barely reached Broadway's ears, fighting its way through
the cacophony of screams, shrieks and howls of terror erupting from below
them. The two had been flying just above the lowest buildings so they could
get a better view of what was going on, but it turns out they didn't really
need to.
All over the places, humans were running helter-skelter, their masses
increasing with every second as more and more frogs hopped out from
alleyways or rose up through the concrete streets, barely managing to
squeeze their bulbous bodies through the potholes. Some of them weren't
so lucky, however, as they burst open and their guts and slimy flesh
spilled across the streets, causing humans to slip, stumble and fall, becoming
quick meals for even more frogs. It was bloodshed, completely and undeniably dementia. In 10 minutes, Manhattan had gone from being a large island full of crime and residential people struggling to make a living to becoming a hell on Earth, a deathtrap where people were now struggling for their very lives. Chaos had come to Manhattan in the great state of New York, and Angela and Broadway was confused about how to stop it.
Broadway didn't know what to do. Never in his life had he experienced
anything that even came close to this. Sure, he had fought Oberon's
Children, the Pack, gang leaders, Illuminati, multi-millionaires and
God knows what else, but he had never fought giant, man-eating frogs. Frogs
that seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork, thousands of them hopping
from what seemed to be nowhere to gobble up the humans in great, slurping
gulps. Broadway winced.
Ew. He wanted to puke, just spill his guts right there, not caring what unfortunate soul would be at the receiving end of it. But he managed to keep it in. He had to. Depsite his misgivings, now was no time for retching.
"I don't know, Angela," he called back. "But there's too many of them
for us to stop!" That, he realized a moment later, was a very obvious
statement which he really didn't need to say. His own thoughts were echoed on the lavender gargoyle's face, but she said nothing, to Broadway's immense
relief.
"It's too risky for us to do anything now, when there are so few of
us," she shouted back as they circled above the massacre happening below. "We
should find the others, regroup and then come back! We can't do this alone. We
need help!"
Broadway nodded. "Yeah, Goliath should know about this."
Just as the two were about to go flying off to find the others, there
was a loud, croaking yowl kind of sound from below them. They froze, looking
down just as three or four of the giant frogs looked up, spotting them. One
of the frogs croaked loudly, and suddenly, its tongue zipped out and
slapped Broadway from the air, snapping one of his wings nearly in half.
There was no way to describe the Aqua gargoyle's pain. It was almost indefinable. His wing had just snapped roughly by a reptilian tongue that, to his agony-racked mind, had felt like someone had shot a laser through it.
The large gargoyle screamed in pain, falling to the ground with a loud
thud. He groaned in pain as humans leaped out of his way, still running
aimlessly though there were a lot less of them than there was before. Rolling
over, Broadway's eyes widened as he saw one of the frog lunging toward him,
huge mouth gaping open to swallow him whole. He screamed, flinging his arms
in front of his face to protect himself. This was the end, he was sure of it. After all the battles, all the enemies he had faced, all the obstacles he had overcome with his clan, the clan that he would never see again, he would die here. Broadway closed his eyes tightly, praying for his mercifully quick demise.
A sudden thud and a thwack, followed by a yowl and a "GAK!" assailed
his ears, and he cracked open an eye. Arms wrapped around him, pulling him
to his feet as he stared at the scene before him, oblivious of Angela's
voice screaming at him to run for it.
Lexington and Brooklyn were flying around the frog's head, diving down
to stomp on its eyes before darting away again as it let out annoyed
croaks and tried to eat them directly from the sky. The two were having some luck, since the frog was kind of slow, but more were coming and their tongues
were lashing out, trying to grab the two gargoyles as they flapped around
like crazed bats. The two gargoyles, as strong and battle experienced as they were, could not fight off an entire army of mutant frogs by themselves.
"Run, Broadway! Go!" Lex yelled, twisting out of the way of a tongue
that nearly got him.
"What are you waiting for?!" Brooklyn screamed. "GO! NOW! FIND GOLIATH!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Humming to himself, Greg was stirring a pot of spaghetti in his
kitchen, completely oblivious to anything and everything going on outside his
humble home. He was smiling happily to himself, listening to the loud chatter
going on in the other room from his friends.
Pat, Aaron, Ivan, and some extremely cute boy (whose name, for some
reason, he had forgotten) were talking in the living room. Or rather, Aaron was
talking and everyone else was trying to ignore him.
"So, like, I was sitting there and Geoff comes up to me and starts
touching my ass-"
'I'd like to touch your ass,' Pat thought, her eyebrow twitching.
'Yeah, with my foot...and it wouldn't be a soft touch either. More like a
THWACK!'
Ivan was leaning with his chin in the palm of his hand, staring blankly
at the wall as he tuned Aaron's obnoxiously loud and gay voice out,
instead listening to a little diddy in his head. A small smile touched his
lips, and Aaron thought he was smiling at what he was saying and so continued on, Ivan remaining oblivious to it all. Aaron rambled like this so much, that Ivan didn't even bother listening to him at all anymore.
"-and then, oh my god, I saw the cutest boy at the club! But, as it
turned out, he was completely straight and I had NO chance of getting into his
pants-"
The cute boy (who shall from now on be referred to as The
Anonymous/Insignificant Cute Boy, since his name is too hard to
remember), sat staring at Aaron with undisguised annoyance on his adorable and
sexy features. His face was pulled into a scowl, though, as per usual, Aaron
didn't notice or at least thought he was scowling at the injustice that all
the really hot guys were straight.
Greg, in the kitchen, was only aware of a thrumming. The voices had
blended and blurred together in a monotone fly-buzz, and he decided that, for
the moment, he was going to enjoy Aaron annoying someone else rather than
him.
So he stood there, stewing his spaghetti and humming to himself. Being
in his own little word, it came as a total shock to him when a large,
bulbous eyeball appeared in the window next to him, blinking slowly.
A loud, rumbling croak brought young Greg out of his daydream of peace
and silence and a world without Aaron, and he realized that something was oddly amiss.
He noted, belatedly, that a shadow blocked the light, and when he
turned, he found his hands go lax. The wooden spoon he was holding dropped to the floor with a loud clatter, and his jaw nearly followed it as it fell open.
The giant frog croaked loudly, the window shattering under the force of
the sound.
Greg shrieked, his eyes rolling back in his head as he fell to the
floor in a dead faint. Whatever that thing outside his window was, it had scared the living shit out of him.
The frog stared at his unconscious form through the small window for a
moment, before letting out a "cruuuaaak" and hopping away.
Apparently, it wasn't hungry enough to bust through a wall to get at
one small, insignificant human. Either that, or it was incredibly lazy.
To Be Continued...?
Broadwaysux@yahoo.com
