Night of the Fector Hybrid: Chapter Four: The Death Sentence
"What are you doing?" asked Rosy, as she peered over Emily's shoulder.
"Huh? Oh, homework."
Technically that's what she was supposed to be doing. She had started the homework, she just couldn't finish it. Bruce hadn't found out a single thing about that creature, Terry kept on looking at her protectively since he'd found out about Kyle, and she still had tons of shopping to do. This all kept her from finishing the assignment.
"It looks like a poem," said Rosy, who had pulled up a chair next to Emily.
"Well, it is. It's a really old horror story. By our standards today, it doesn't seem so bad, but back then," she shrugged, "it must have been easier to scare people. It's called Night of the Fector Hybrid. I'm supposed to take the poem apart, and find some hidden meaning between the lines."
"All that's between the lines is empty space."
"It's metaphorically speaking Rosy."
"Oh.....Will you read it to me?"
"Sure," said Emily, and she scooped the girl onto her lap.
"Of all the things I've known and seen,
There's one thing that I fear.
With eyes like fire,
Teeth like stone,
And claws for killing my ones dear.
'Tis name is Fector Hybrid,
With lion paws and cougar body,
Horses hind hooves,
Whom ever made it,
This is sure,
His work wasn't shoddy.
Why created?
God knows why!
As for me,
Why would someone birth something,
Who's only purpose was to let people die.
It started with goats and sheep,
Then deer and elk would feed it,
Soon it's boldness grew so great,
That sleeping children would soon meet it.
But it did not end there,
The Fector's killing spree.
Soon many people that I knew
Could no longer see me.
No sword could kill it,
No dagger true,
No bullet and no gun.
The thing that would destroy it,
would be such a tiny one.
There was a girl
With tear stained eyes
Who wouldn't hurt a soul,
But her parents met the beast
In that winter cold.
She wore a necklace, with a crystal stone,
She found by the riverside,
On one sunny day in June,
In the rising tide.
She cried out "Beast what are you,
That took away my world?!
Now I shall take your stone cold heart,
Though I am just a girl"
The necklace glowed like lighting,
Which engulfed Fector and the girl,
And when the light was torn apart,
The seen set my eyes to whirl.
The hybrid had been torn apart,
On the ground lay his heart of stone.
But the girl,
All she could do,
Was make a pitiful moan
I ran to her side
To dry her tears,
And make her parched throat wetter.
And to me,
she whispered "Dear person,
I would have liked to have known you better."
And there she and the Fector died,
A lesson floating down like a dove.
In hate and bloodshed,
Sweet things are lost,
Like a small child's love."
Emily paused for a moment after she finished. "Lion's paws, cougar's body, horses hind hooves....." It couldn't be! It was impossible!
"That was pretty," said Rosy, interrupting Emily's train of thought.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Grab your coat and we'll go have some lunch."
Rosy did as she was told and Emily started pilling her books up and shoving them into her backpack. What an idiot she'd been! Someone had read the poem! Some sicko creep who had access to splicing tools, and the knowledge to use them, had read it, and gotten ideas! She dragged Rosy out in her haste.
"Where are you going?" asked Bruce, appearing from nowhere.
"I just got a new lead. Wish me luck!"
"What are you talk-woah!" cried out Rosy as she was pulled through the door.
...
"Oh look Emily!" Rosy cried, refusing to budge at a jewelry store window. "It's just like the necklace in the story!"
Emily paused for a moment as Rosy looked wistfully at it. Well at least she knew what to get Rosy for Christmas now.
"Yeah, I guess."
It was exactly how the poem described it, but before Rosy got a chance to ponder more, Emily dragged her in the direction of the soup shop.
"Melvin? You wouldn't happen to know anyone who's been planning to do some animal splicing lately have you?" Asked Emily while Rosy ate her chicken noodle soup.
"Uh, no, why?"
"Just something for....school! Yeah, school!" and as she said that, her books came pouring out of her backpack. "Oops!"
Melvin bent down to help her with them, pausing at her English book. "The poems book huh? What poem did you get assigned?"
"Uh, Night of the Fector Hybrid."
"Really? Me too! Don't you just love it?"
"It's ok."
"I love it," piped Rosy.
"Wouldn't it be neat if there was a monster like that?"
Emily gave him a look of horrified confusion. "No! That would be awful!" Melvin turned slightly red, realizing he'd said the wrong thing.
"It wouldn't have to kill anyone...." he murmured. "Would you like some help with it?"
Emily looked at him like he'd just given her a golden ring. "Yes! I can hardly understand it!"
Melvin bent to the task of explaining it to her, and just after she got it, he made his move.
"If you aren't to busy this Saturday I was wondering if...um...."
"Melvin, are you asking me for a date?"
"Sorta."
Emily sighed. "Melvin, I'm sorry. Your really nice and all, but I've got all this homework, and my job, and Rosy and Angela to look after, and I just-"
"You don't have to say it.....I know what you mean...."
"Melvin, that's not what I meant at all!"
"Just go....I should have known better. A pretty girl like you and a guy like me."
"Melvin that's not fair!" Emily protested, but he had turned away, and was slumping back to his job.
Emily sighed. "Come on Rosy, lets go," she said. She had just made it out the door when another boy stopped her.
"Emily?"
"Kyle?"
"Fancy meeting you here! Well, before I loose my nerve, there was something I wanted to ask you."
"Kyle, I-"
"If your not to busy this Saturday, I wanted to know if you'd like to hang out or something?"
"Gee....I....I really don't want to say no...."
To no one else's knowledge, Melvin was listing in the shadows of the ally, having just taken out the trash. So he had been right. Emily was just like all the other girls. He quickly ducked inside before he could hear what Emily said next.
"...But, I've got this really busy schedule, and my homework, and my job, and Rosy and Angela to look after...."
Kyle frowned.
"I'm sorry then. Maybe some other time?"
"I hope so."
...
"Fox Ice Ring, deactivate." Emily said with out much energy, returning to her normal cloths that had been rapped up underneath. She climbed the stairs, flopping into a chair once out. Bruce was reading the paper.
"Find anything else?" he asked.
"Not a drop of blood or a paw or hoof print in the entire city!" she moaned. A sudden shrill scream pierced the air, coming from Rosy and Angela's room.
The door was flung open, Bruce with a batarang in his hand, Emily with her inactivated ring.
Rosy sat shrieking on her bed, pointing at a mess of blood and pillow feathers where Angela had lain. Emily saw the great form of the Hybrid, a dead baby in it's massive jaws, it's head covered in blood.
"TUNDRA BLAST!" Emily shouted at the top of her lungs, a beam of blue sped out from her ring. The Fector leaped from the window, the beam contacting nothingness. The dead baby, and the monster, where gone.