by Joy
NOTE: Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing. I really appreciate having input from such loyal fiction fans as you guys! So, I bet you're wondering, who's this Rayford guy? What is all this code business about? And is the code the only thing the BGB wants from Randall? I promise ya, things will start getting even more exciting and questions will begin to get answered soon. Enjoy!
By the way, if you're interested in the DS trailer, check it out at **http://geocities.com/randallboggs02/DS_Trailer.html**.
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Chapter Five - On the Run
"Hellooo, earth to Lizard Boy!"
Randall closed his eyes tightly at the sound of Mike's voice. He didn't want to get up yet. After a night like last night, he had a good reason to want to sleep in.
"C'mon, get up," Mike insisted, snatching the blanket off of him.
Randall clenched his teeth and opened one of his eyes to see Mike looking down at him impatiently. He opened the other eye and growled softly, getting up from the floor. The sun shone brightly through the window, making him squint.
"I don't believe I left a memo notifying you to wake me up. . ." he muttered grumpily.
"Well, just count yourself lucky that I didn't decide to use the foghorn," Mike reminded him. "Besides, me and Sulley couldn't just leave ya here while we got breakfast."
Randall ran a hand through his awkwardly leaning fronds to straighten them and sighed. "Why not?" he asked stubbornly.
"Cuz we don't trust you near the stove," Mike said simply.
"Har har har," Randall replied. "That was so funny I forgot to laugh."
"Really? You know how to laugh?" Mike asked in wonder. "Now I've seen everything."
Randall rolled his eyes. "Hey, I've had a rough couple of days, okay?" he sighed. "You'd be a grouch too if you just went through what I did."
Mike pursed his lips, taking Leia's blanket off the couch, and shrugged. "Well," he said in a less sarcastic tone. "Just get ready to leave. We're gonna pick up some breakfast."
"Fine, it shouldn't take me more than five minutes," he said, heading for the bathroom.
Leia, Caylin, and Sulley came out of the kitchen, just passing Randall. Leia stopped. "Morning Randall," she greeted. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah, no rug bugs?" Caylin joked.
"Yeah, that was until Wazowski woke me up," Randall replied. "But, hey, I'll live. . . And no Cay, I didn't see any 'rug bugs' yet. But if you happen to spot one, feel free to let me know." He smirked and disappeared into the bathroom.
Caylin chuckled and went over to his napping fluppy on the rug. "Midnight? You ready for some breakfast?"
One of his white ears perked up at the sound of Caylin's voice and his eyes opened, his head raising to look at him. He panted happily and barked his approval, jumping to his feet and scampering over to his owner. He spotted Leia and bypassed Caylin to sniff her. She laughed and patted his head. Midnight was beginning to like this girl already, at least she was getting the idea. He liked head pats more than anything. The fluppy licked her hand enthusiastically.
Leia smiled at Caylin. "I didn't know you had a dalmation fluppy," she said. "He's adorable."
"Yeah, and I think he knows it," Caylin replied. "He uses it to his advantage."
Sulley chuckled, watching the fluppy run around like a hyper furball. Midnight then ran full speed towards Mike as he came out of the bedroom. Mike's eye widened and held out his hands to signal the dog to stop.
"No, no, bad fluppy! Don't-"
*WHAM* *THUMP*
Midnight had tackled him to the ground and was now covering him in a slimy layer of doggy drool much to his disgust. The fluppy crawled all over him licking him here and there as Mike attempted to push him away. "Help! Get this drool-monger off me! I feel like I'm melting!" he called.
The three burst out laughing as Caylin scrambled to get his overly-eager pet off of Mike. "Heh, sorry Mike. He likes you," he replied. "Either that or you taste like sausage. . ."
"Sausage? I can guarantee you, I don't taste like sausage," Mike replied, wiping the saliva off with his arm, but then stopping when he noticed that it just made his arm wet instead.
Randall's laugh came from behind as he offered Mike a towel. "It's times like this I wish I had a camera on hand," he commented, an amused expression on his face.
"Yeah, I know, my face is made for Christmas cards," Mike replied proudly.
"Especially when it's covered in fluppy drool," Caylin added with a laugh. Mike gave him a look as the others laughed.
Sulley now had his coat on and he turned to the others, who were also putting their winter gear on. "Ready to leave?" he asked.
Leia put on a royal purple coat with a fuzzy collar that she had borrowed from Ceila and glanced at the others. "I'm ready to go when you guys are," she said.
Randall nodded. "Me too," he put in.
"Luckily, I forgot about bringing Randall's coat back to his apartment," Caylin said, holding a cooperative Midnight in his arms.
Sulley ushered the group out the door of their apartment and closed the door as they made their way down the stairs to the sidewalk outside. It had a light dusting of snow, indicating that it had been stormy out last night.
Mike took the tarp off his car and stuffed it under his seat. He then went to the driver's seat of his trusty red car and waited for everyone to file in. As Caylin sat down with Midnight on his lap, Mike looked behind his seat at him.
"Just don't let that fluppy shed all over the upholstery," he said. "I just vaccumed it out yesterday."
Caylin chuckled. "Sure, but I can't guarantee it," he replied.
"Okay, good," Mike answered, turning around in his seat again and putting his hands on the steering wheel.
Leia sat down between Caylin and Randall as Sulley took the front passenger's seat. Mike then, seeing that everyone was seated, hit the accelerator and they sped into traffic. Midnight's ears perked up at the familiar feeling of the wind in his face and excitedly placed his paws on the door, sticking his head out the side. He let his tongue hang out of his mouth with an expression of pleasure as they slowly began picking up speed.
"So, where are we going?" Leia asked, leaning forward in her seat.
"Slimy's Diner," Sulley answered. "It's our favorite place. I'm sure you guys'll like it too."
"Hey, I'll try anything once," Caylin replied, hanging onto Midnight to keep him from leaning out of the car too far.
"Slimy's Diner huh?" Randall asked. "I think I've been there once. Nice place."
Sulley nodded, watching the buildings and cars go by next to them. "It doesn't take long to get there from our apartment."
Mike took a turn and the diner appeared in the turnoff. Mike made another turn and they soon found themselves looking for the 'perfect' parking place, as Mike put it. Sulley finally convinced him that there were no such things as the 'perfect' parking place. So, Mike finally got coaxed into taking the one closest to the building and they filed out.
Randall and Leia pushed the doors open and walked inside. It was styled like an old, casual diner, waitress monster went from table to table taking orders and others went by to delivered the orders. Caylin stopped outside and tied his fluppy's leash to the stairs' railing, before joining the group inside.
Midnight jumped up at him, trying to follow, but was soon stopped by his leash, which jerked him back. As he discovered that resistance was futile, he sat down on the step and scratched his ear with his back foot boredly as he watched the door swing closed.
Caylin sat at a windowside cubicle with Randall and Leia and tapped his fingers on the table. "So," he began. "Where's Sulley and Mike?"
"They're gonna order something for us," Leia explained. "They said it was on them, so we're just waiting."
Randall, not paying attention, picked up a packet of salt and looked at it oddly. "Who uses this much salt?" he asked, holding up the large pre-made packet.
Caylin shrugged. "Ask the people who made 'em."
"Sorry, stupid question," Randall said with a shrug.
Meanwhile, Sulley and Mike sat at stools at the counter to make their order, since it was taking forever for them to recieve a menu. Mike tapped his fingers on the countertop, waiting for the next available waitress to ask them their order. Sulley cleared his throat.
"Um, could we get a menu over here, please?" he asked the busy, passing waitresses. They didn't seem to notice him.
Mike sighed, resting his head on his hand. "You know, at this rate we'll get our orders by. . .oh, next week, at the latest," he said sarcastically.
"I can't believe we let that guy get away!" came part of a conversation from a monster sitting beside them.
"I told Bruton we should have shot him right there," another voice replied.
Mike's eyes widened as the guy next to him spoke those words. He looked out of the corner of his eye to see Hunter and the ugly, octopus monster conversing over a cup of coffee. He gulped and elbowed Sulley firmly. Sulley cringed and frowned down at Mike.
"Hey, what was that for?" he asked annoyedly.
"Shhht, Sul. . ." Mike muttered quietly. "Those guys. Don't they look just like the guys Leia and Randall told us about?"
Sulley glanced past Mike's head and his eyes widened too. "What are they doing here?"
"Having coffee! This is a diner! What do you think, Sul?" Mike exaggerated.
Hunter sighed rubbing his temples in frustration. "Sloop, we sent a whole crew of agents down to his apartment to find him," he muttered. "We tore the place apart but there was no sign of him."
Sloop hmmed. "You think he went somewhere else?"
"Ya think?!" Hunter snapped. "That lier! He had the code all along and I bet he knows more than what he's led us to think. . .That's why he's avoiding us. And that Kawaii girl. Ugh! I knew she couldn't be trusted. . ."
"Is that why Bruton wants us to find him?" Sloop asked.
"Yeah," Hunter replied, an evil grin on his face. "That and not to mention they would very much like to dispose of him."
"Hee hee," Sloop chuckled. "We'll find him again, don't worry."
Hunter took a sip of his coffee. "And when we do, I'm not gonna hesitate to shoot him," he said firmly, patting the good-sized, spacey-looking gun in his belt. "He's not getting out of our grasp this time. . ."
Mike gulped and put a hand on his furry buddy's spotted arm as if to say 'we gotta get out of here'. He glanced over to where Randall, Leia, and Caylin were casually chatting and noted that it was dangerously close to the two stalkers. One little sideways glance and they would be seen. Then they'd have quite a predicament on their hands.
A waitress finally came with a couple of menus for Sulley and Mike just as they began to inch away from their seats. Hunter and Sloop's attention was briefly turned to them as the waitress spoke. They gulped and slowly sat down again to avoid looking suspicious. Mike held his menu upside-down and cleared his throat nervously, aware that they were being watched. Sulley turned his menu upright and put it back in his hands. Mike anxiously chuckled.
"Let. .us..see..here," he said a bit too abviously. "I think we'll take five orders of the breakfast special and five coffees. Uh, please."
Hunter and Sloop casually turned back to their conversation as the waitress took their menus and walked into the kitchen. Both let their breath out slowly in relief, noticing that they weren't regarded as anything suspicious. Then they jumped down from their stools and rushed over to the table their three friends sat at.
"Guys, we gotta get going, now!" Mike said, trying not to draw attention to himself.
"Now?" Leia asked. "Why?"
Randall furrowed his brow. "What are you talking about Wazowski? We haven't even gotten breakfast yet."
Sulley leaned over to him and turned his head in the direction of Sloop and Hunter. "You're buddies are here, that's why," Mike explained.
Randall's eyes widened in shock as he recognised them. "What are they doing here?"
"They're lookin' for you, Lizard Boy," Mike replied. "You musta made those guys really mad, cuz they want to eliminate you."
"What? Eliminate me??" Randall gasped, not wanting to believe that he was only a couple meters away from two monsters that wanted to kill him.
"It's Hunter and Sloop!" Leia exclaimed in a hushed tone. "They're two monsters who, I'm sure, aren't going to give up easily if they're assigned to a mission."
"Sloop? Sounds like a dish I had in Ahhstralia. . ." Caylin muttered.
"Now, let's get going before they spot us, shall we?" Mike suggested, heading for the door ahead of the others.
Carefully, they slipped out of the bench that wrapped around the table and followed Mike's example. Mike opened the door and Midnight began to ferociously bark up a storm, spotting Sloop and Hunter inside. They were two monsters he couldn't forget the smell of. He growled and caught the two monsters' attention.
Sloop squinted, looking at Randall and Leia. "Hey, Hunter, it's Kawaii and that Boggs guy!" he exclaimed, jumping down from his seat and reaching for his micro-blaster.
Hunter clenched his teeth with a growl and immediately grabbed his own micro-blaster, jumping down from his seat. He fired a couple of shots that barely grazed past Randall and Caylin's heads. Midnight barked even louder, pulling against his leash insistantly.
"Okay, I say now's the time to make a break for it," Leia suggested, breaking into a run.
Another shot was fired and Randall ducked just in time, making it blast a hole into the wall. Hunter and Sloop began chasing them outside, firing shot after shot much to the customers and waitresses' dismay. Everyone hid under their tables or behind the counters as the shots hit windows, food platters, and bottles. Caylin quickly untied his fluppy from the stairs and scooped him up, running to catch up with the others who had piled into Mike's car.
"Mikey, go!" Sulley urged, forgetting that Caylin and Midnight were still behind.
Mike stepped on the gas and the car began to speed out. Leia gasped, seeing Caylin run towards the car, trying to get away from the angry monsters. "Caylin and Midnight!" she exclaimed.
She took off her seatbelt and climbed out onto the back hood of the car. Randall tried to grab her but she slipped past him. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.
She partially ignored him and reached her hand out towards the running gecko-monster. "Caylin, grab my hand!" she urged just as a shot whizzed past her head.
Caylin jumped and grabbed ahold of her hand just as Mike sped up again going into traffic. Leia nearly fell off, still trying to hang onto Caylin's hand, but she managed to stay on. In his other hand, Caylin held the terrified fluppy. Midnight was whimpering and whining, trying to jump onto the car and feel solid ground under his feet again. Caylin knew he wouldn't make it, so he held on to the squirming fluppy desperately.
Randall could tell they were having problems and took his seatbelt off too, crawling onto the back trunk of the car. He knew it was crazy, but he figured if her plan had worked like it did, he should at least help. Randall held his hands out. "Give me the fluppy," he said to Caylin.
Caylin did his best to hold the frightened animal out to him and Randall grabbed him, setting him on the floor of the back seat. Leia then took ahold of Caylin's other hand and pulled him up. Both were panting as they made their way back to the safety of their seats again. Randall put his seatbelt back on and looked at Leia.
"That was crazy," he let her know.
"Well, we couldn't just leave him there, could we?" she replied. "They had micro-blasters and I know for a fact that those things are powerful."
Randall looked down at his feet. She was right. He looked back up at her. "I suppose you're right, I guess," he muttered, then looking to Caylin. "Sorry I didn't do more."
Caylin was still catching his breath and hugging his fluppy. "It's okay," he replied. "By the way, thanks for losing your mind for me Leia."
Leia laughed. "Anytime, Caylin."
"Hmm, hmm. . " Midnight whined, looking up at his owner pleadingly.
Caylin looked down at him and cuddled him. "It's okay boy. We're safe now," he reassured the little dog.
But still the fluppy whined, looking up at him with big turquoise eyes. Leia glanced at the distressed animal and spotted the problem. "Caylin, I think he's been hit. . ." she said.
Caylin looked indignant. "I never hit him."
"No, I mean he's been shot," Leia elaborated. "Look at his front, right leg."
Caylin gingerly lifted up the leg and Midnight whined, pulling back. Sure enough, there was a scratch where the shot had grazed a bit too close for comfort. Midnight gently chewed on the collar of Caylin's coat as he checked it over, a sympathetic look on his face.
"You're right," he said. "Hey, Mike, pull over here would you?"
"Okay," Mike replied, pulling over to the curb.
Caylin jumped out cradling his pet. "I'll see you later, I've gotta get my little guy to the vet," he said sadly, closing the car door behind him. "Randall, I'm sure Leia can help ya as your scare assistant today. Just leave the paperwork for me, I'll be back in time."
Leia raised an eyebrow. "Me? Scare assistant?" she asked, then shrugged. "Okay, I guess I'll just go with the flow. Hope Midnight comes out okay."
"Yeah, better have the vet check it over good," Sulley recommended.
Caylin nodded. "Bye guys."
"See ya Caylin," Randall said, as the car began to pull out. "Take care of 'im."
Caylin smiled and waved with his free arm, before disappearing around the corner.
NOTE: The next chapter's gonna be a crucial turning point in Randall's life (and not to mention this story) and it begins to make him and his friends a part of this soon-to-be-intense adventure. You might also get a glance into his past. ~_^ So make sure to stay tuned for that one!