by Joy
NOTE: Wow! Thanks to everyone who posted a review and/or compliment on my last chapter! You guys are my motivation. I promise you, things should just keep getting more exciting - but that's all I'm telling you for now. ~_^
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Chapter Eight - Moonlight Getaway
Randall groaned as he began to come to and rolled over, opening his eyes slowly. It took his eyes a few minutes to focus clearly, but he could definately see he was in a cage. The metal cage bottom felt ice cold, making a shiver run up his spine. He rose to all eights and looked around.
He wasn't in a lab and he was thankful for that, but it did seem like some kind of old warehouse. Hundreds of other cages, big and small, lined the walls opposite of him and to each side of him. This must have been where they kept all the kidnapped monsters. He then took a glance at the cage lock, hoping he could pry it open or something. It was a pretty sturdy-looking one, no chance he'd be able to bite that hard enough without breaking a tooth or two. His tail couldn't fit in the lock either, so that wasn't an option.
Randall sighed and folded all four of his arms, leaning his back against the side of his small cage. He was thinking of an escape plan. There had to be an engenious was to escape without anyone finding out. Then he began to wonder what happened to Caylin. . .
"Randall??" a familiar voice asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Randall's fronds perked up and he turned around to see Sulley in the cage next to him. A frown formed on his face. "Same reason why you're here," he said, abviously not interested in talking with his rival. "Now just leave me alone. Can't you see I'm trying to think of a way out?"
Sulley was silent for a moment, not able to think of anything to say in return. "Me and Mikey have been doing that too," he said. "There's no way out."
"That's what you think," Randall replied cockily, turning his back to him again.
"No, really," Sulley said. "They have guards assigned to this place. They come through here every few minutes."
"Guards? Is that the best they can do?" Randall chuckled, an idea forming in his head. "So, do they even feed us out here?"
"Yeah," Sulley replied, shoving a few pellets of chicken feed through the bars into Randall's cage. "They give us this stuff. I have no idea what it is."
Randall laughed upon taking a look at it and brushed it out of his cage. "It's called chicken feed, Sullivan. Bet you're getting used to it by now."
"Hey, are you calling my buddy a chicken, Lizard Boy!?" Mike piped up from the cage on top of Sulley's.
"Hey, you catch on pretty quick, Wazowski," he replied with a smirk.
Just then, the sound of a large door closing could be heard. The shadow of one of the humans stretched up the wall, making him look much bigger than he really was. He turned to look out the door.
"I'm just going to feed the new captives before Stan and Trevor come to pick up the first shipment," he said, turning back inside with his hands full with dog bowls.
Like an odd pound, some monsters growled at the human as he passed them. He just ignored them and went to a cage a few cages down from Randall's. Randall leaned towards the bars to see what he was doing, maybe he'd catch some ideas. The human opened the door to a cage and threw the bowl of chicken feed inside, quickly shutting the door and locking it again.
Whistling a tune, he casually made his way over to Randall. Randall kept quiet and stayed at the back of his cage as he came towards him, even swishing his tail once and awhile to become even less threatening. The humans grinned and began unlocking the cage door.
"Well, you sure are a well-behaved one aren't ya?" he said cheerfully. "I've got food for you."
Randall watched him intently, waiting for just the right moment. The human opened his door and placed the food inside. That's when Randall lept at him and wrapped his body around his like a rope, keeping his arms against his body. He was about to yell for help when Randall took a handful of chicken feed and stuffed it in his mouth.
"We'll see how much YOU like this stuff," he said, jumping down from him and throwing him into the cage instead. He grinned smugly into the cage as he locked the door. "Hope you like your new accomidations, because you'll be staying there for a long time."
Sulley smiled from his cage. "Hey, great job Randall," he said. "Now let us out."
"Yeah! Please?" Mike added.
Randall turned his back to them, raising his tail authoritively. "No," he said pointedly. "If you guys are so smart you get YOURSELVES out."
"But Rand-"
Mike was cut off when the sound of a truck came towards the doors. The big warehouse doors flew open and a large truck backed in. It had the back covered with a army green tarp, it sort of looked like the Crocodile Hunter's truck. Randall froze and his scales quickly changed color to blend into the floor. Sulley bit his lip and looked up at Mike nervously as two guys in trophy hunter getups hopped out of the truck. One was sort of tall and thin while the other was a big, bulky-looking guy.
They walked towards one of the scientists and handed him a big wad of bills. "Just get them in the truck quickly," the bulky guy said. "I'm eager to get them to my land and do some. . .hunting. Right, Stan?"
"Yeah, Trevor," the other agreed. "We're gonna have fun with these monsters."
Randall watched from the shadows as they looked through rows of cages, picking the 'most interesting' ones to load into their truck. Once they came upon Sulley and Mike, Trevor gave the scientist a nod and they were loaded into the back too. Mike whimpered lightly and pulled on the bars in a last, desperate attempt to get out. But it was in vain. He was loaded into the back with the others, despite his arguements.
Then they came over to a cage holding Leia. "Take that one too," Trevor said casually. "It'll look good over the fireplace in my den."
Leia wanted to shoot him a comeback, but she knew that would only make her situation worse. She held her tongue as they picked up her cage and put it in the back with all the others. Randall's fronds drooped back against his head ever so slighty as he watched. Was he actually beginning to care for her? Not possible! He had promised himself he wouldn't let love happen to him again.
"That's the last of them," Stan said, getting into the truck.
"Yup," Trevor said with satisfaction, getting into the driver's seat. He tipped his hat to the scientist and closed the door behind him. "Great doing business with you."
The scientist waved and walked off as the truck began to pull out of the warehouse. Randall was about to go out there after them, when he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He turned around to see. . .Caylin!
"I'm comin' with ya, buddy," Caylin smiled. "Don't even ask about what happened to me. Not enough time. Let's just go out there."
"Glad to see you're still with me," Randall replied, slithering up the walls of the warehouse.
Caylin followed him with his own suction feet. "So, what are we doing up here?" he asked. "The guys loaded up the truck down there."
"You'll see," Randall answered.
Both of them continued on until they reached the skylights in the top. Most of them were dusty and cracked, visibly showing their age, and they went over to one that had been broken. Randall crawled onto the roof and ran for the side where the truck had been parked. Caylin tried to keep up, but Randall was faster.
As they reached the edge, Randall skidded to a stop, looking over the edge. The truck was already pulling out. They didn't have much time. He gave Caylin a quick glance.
"Do you still have that rope?" he asked.
"Well, yeah, surprisingly," Caylin answered, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "Why?"
Without another word, Randall grabbed it and made a lasso, tossing it so that it would loop around a nearby tree branch. He tugged firmly on it to see if it was firm. Caylin's eyes widened as the reason dawned on him.
"Oh no. . .you're not. . ."
Randall gave him a set expression, holding the rope. "I am."
With that said, he clutched the rope tightly in his hands and swung down from the roof towards the quickly moving truck. He let go and landed gracefully on the top, glancing back at Caylin to see if he would follow. Caylin caught the rope as it swung back and gulped, looking at the sheer drop below.
"This is insaaaannnne!!!" he yelled, jumping off the roof and swinging over after Randall.
Randall caught him as he let go of the rope. Both fell backwards onto the tarp-covered truck roof. Caylin sighed with relief and turned around to glare at Randall.
"May I ask. . .What possesses you to do such crazy things??" he asked.
But Randall was already climbing down the back where the flap to the trunk was located. Caylin just sighed, knowing it was useless arguing about the subject, and cautiously followed. Randall hung on tightly to the ladder as the wind began to pick up around him. The truck was picking up speed by the minute and his biggest worry was falling off. But, fortunately, his mind wasn't dwelling on the fear of falling. Instead, he was focusing on the task at hand - getting everyone out of their cages.
He began to tug at the strings that held the green flap down. "Get over here and help me Caylin," he called.
"Right on it, Captain," Caylin replied, pulling the string on the other side. "I'm just trying not to become road pizza, sir."
Randall got it loose and waved Caylin off as the loose part of the tarp began to flap in the wind. "Forget it," he said. "Just come over here and get inside."
Randall crawled inside the opening and into the back of the truck. The truck turned to one side and he slid against the wall, bracing himself with his hands. It was impossible to see inside the darkness of the truck bed and Randall began to feel his way around. Just then, his foot hit something rolling around on the floor. He leaned down to pick it up and dicovered that it was a flashlight. He smiled a bit at his luck and turned the switch on, scanning the interior with it.
The cages were stacked on and against each other, making it hard for them to slide around much. Most of the monsters inside them looked either bewildered or scared.
"Randall, over here," a voice said to his right. It was Leia.
Randall pointed the flashlight at the source of the voice and made his way over to her. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied with a relieved smile. "But can you help me out of here? I've been trying for the past hour."
"Yeah, just give me a minute," he said, looking around on the floor for some kind of thing to pick the lock with.
His light then picked up a shine from the floor. He crawled over to it and smiled with satisfaction. It was a paper clip. He bent it into a decent shape and poked it into the lock, moving it around precisely until he heard a click. Soon, the cage door opened and Leia crawled out.
"Thanks," she said, kissing him gently on the cheek.
Randall was caught off-guard by this and gave her a half-grin. His scales began to blush a deep red. "Eh, don't worry about it," he said, standing up.
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In the cab of the truck, the two poachers were laughing and joking about their latest catch. Stan was eating a doughnut and sat back on the well-used seats. "Can you imagine what our pals are gonna pay to hunt these creatures?" he said.
"Oh yeah," Trevor replied. "It's like having real-live unicorns in our backyard to hunt whenever we feel like it. They'll pay much more to hunt just one of these beasts than we gave those foolish science freaks."
"Do you think we should pick up a few more tomorrow?" Stan asked, chomping on a mouthful of doughnut.
Trevor rubbed his chin while he kept his other hand on the steering wheel. "You know, that's a good idea," he said. "More bang for the buck, I always say."
Stan grinned. "Yeah, I'm full of good ideas," he bragged, putting a hand behind his head.
Stan glanced out the window at the scenery and took a glance at the rearview mirror. Caylin's tail was hanging off the side of the roof in plain view of the mirror. But Stan just casually looked back at the road up ahead. Suddenly the light began to turn on in his head and he did a double-take. Stan shook his friend's shoulder.
"Hey, Trevor," he said. "You'd better take a look at this."
"You idiot," he replied. "I'm driving! How can I look all the way over there? Just tell me what it is."
"Well, looks like one of our monsters got out or something, because he's riding on the top of our truck," Stan replied, watching the tail in the rearview mirror.
"WHAT!?" he exclaimed. "Our fifty-bucks is sitting on the truck roof?!? Well, bring your gun, go out there, and do away with it now!"
"Me? Out there???" Stan asked in shock, glancing at the fast-moving scenery out the window.
Trevor groaned and glared at him for a moment. "Then I'LL go out there. You drive."
"Okay," Stan replied, as they wiggled around to trade places like sardines in a tightly-packed can.
Stan finally got ahold of the wheel and Trevor grabbed his hunting rifle from the floor of the cab. He put ammo in it and put the safety on, putting it in the strap on his back. An evil grin on his face, he grabbed the door handle and looked back at Stan.
"No matter what happens, make sure you keep driving fast," Trevor said. "I don't want it to take the chance of jumping off without second thoughts."
With that, he got out the door and disappeared around the side of the vehicle.