Chapter 10- Sickening Sights

As he was flung around the back of the lorry, Randall furiously tried to find the answer to how he had managed to get himself in this situation. Every answer, so far, boiled down to it being all his fault- if his conscience hadn't interfered and told him to stick with Zephyr, or even Patterson for that matter, he wouldn't be there, having startlingly heavy boxes thrown at him from every conceivable angle.

He saw another coming his way, and ducked, the cardboard brushing his fronds. In the shadows metres away from him, he could just make out Zephyr's face breaking out into a smile.

"Close one, huh?" she said softly, only giving Randall a second's notice before having to duck herself.

"Why this lorry?" Randall complained, his eyes focusing on Zephyr, trying to make out her stance in the darkness. "Why not some other lorry in which the driver knows how to friggin' drive?" Zephyr shrugged.

"Don't blame me- Patterson was the one who chose this vehicle. I must say though, if we hadn't got on this one…"

"Yeah, yeah, we wouldn't have got a ride."

"And we need to get there soon, y'know."

"But at that…whatever-you-call it…"

"Petrol station?"

"Yeah, well, we were nearly caught! Don't you think that was a little too close for comfort? Hmm?" A box landed heavily on Randall's tail, making him wince theatrically.

"Not really," Zephyr said, thinking back. "I've been in worse situations." As a reply, Randall rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it. And how the HELL can he sleep through all this!" he exclaimed, eyeing Patterson who was snoozing in the corner.

"One of the miracles of nature, I guess." Their conversation ended there, and Randall returned to brooding. It really HAD been close at that petrol station, but since there didn't seem to be anyone else around, getting on this lorry seemed the brightest thing to do. Patterson seemed especially eager to hop aboard; whether it was because he wanted to get a move on, or just get some shut-eye was a mystery to Randall. Nonetheless, he still trusted Patterson more then he could ever trust Zephyr, simply based on their past. She hadn't changed a bit- even at the idea of being caught and withheld by humans, she still managed to sustain this aura of calmness about her; an aura that would only disappear at the most desperate of situations.

"Hey…" Randall said, suddenly thinking. "Do you actually know where this lorry is headed?"

"Sorta. It's going in the right general direction, and I know the company and where its warehouse is- been there before- so I can practically guarantee you that if this lorry's going somewhere, it's going to be going to that warehouse."

"How do you know the company? You must've been here for a while, yet by the sounds of that conversation between you and the-"

"Look Randall, just don't interfere, alright?" Zephyr sighed. "You don't wanna know." Holding his hands up, the lizard-monster backed up.

"Fine, fine, maybe you're right, maybe I don't wanna know. I'm just curious."

"Too curious for your own good."

"Yeah, well when you find the girl that was involved in dealing with illegalities with your own brother, you wanna find out what those illegalities are."

"But you don't give a damn about your brother!" Randall nodded, admitting that she was, indeed, right.

"True." There was a pause. "But I still wanna know."

"Oh, just keep your nose out of things for once in your pointless life, will you!" Then came a terribly awkward silence. Randall didn't know whether to apologise or be angry, and Zephyr was surprised at her own outburst. "Hey, look ou-"

"Nope, don't wanna hear it- gotta keep my big fat nose out of your life-"

"No, look out!" A large stack of boxes that had been wobbling perilously behind Randall collapsed as the lorry turned to the left. The boxes fell as one, and Randall could only manage to look up for a second before they plummeted down onto him. His whole figure disappeared beneath the cardboard, and Zephyr hurried forwards, shoving boxes out of the way and trying to get to Randall. Eventually, she found one hand, then another, and finally, some fronds. A dazed looking lizard-monster gazed out at the three Zephyrs before him. "You okay?"

"Get me out of here and I might just give you an answer," he replied wearily, closing his eyes. Despite all of this, Zephyr had noticed that the boxes didn't seem to be continuously moving now, and she could feel the lorry slowing down.

"I think we're nearly there anyway," she whispered, suddenly realising how close they were to the humans. She hefted up a few boxes, double-checking that Randall was okay, and then crawled to the other side of the lorry, arousing Patterson from his extraordinarily deep sleep. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes, and nodded to Zephyr when she pressed her finger against her lips. Rising and falling slowly, the flaps of skin either side of her neck revealed her anxiety.

The two of them crawled towards Randall and, huddling together, Zephyr explained to them what they must do now. "Okay guys, it's gonna be a bit of a risk, but when the humans slide open the back door, we'll knock them out. I know how these operations work so there should only be two of them, and since their job also includes taking the packages inside without any help, we shouldn't have to take anyone else out. You two got that?" They nodded and braced themselves, Randall growing more nervous by the second; he couldn't completely rely on his shifting skills at this point, since when the boxes toppled over, they hit his head where the humans with the shovel had attacked him previously, and no matter how much time would go by, it would still smart.

The others had stood up, fists clenched, and so Randall tried to get to his feet too. He felt uneasy and incredibly dizzy as it was, so doing so would probably make things worse, but he really didn't want to look like a wimp in front of Patterson and Zephyr. Especially not Zephyr- with her subtle humour, she would probably never let him live it down.

A second later, human voices were to be heard. It sounded like two males having a joke, yet one was gradually increasing in decibels- he was coming closer. Then, there was a stiff click (Randall cringed- when they were at the petrol station, it had been incredibly hard to turn the latch that opened the door. Fortunately, it had not been locked, though why it hadn't been was beyond Randall- maybe the humans wanted others to steal their belongings. Or maybe they were just stupid.) and slowly, very slowly, the door rolled up and light flooded the lorry's interior. The man gasped at the sight of these creatures, but that was all he had time to do as Zephyr leapt forward, claws unsheathed, with a quick screech. Her viciousness shocked Randall as he watched her give the man some very strong punches, and scratched him unmercifully. Patterson was unperturbed though, and stepped out of the lorry to see where the other man had got to.

As soon as she was sure the human was unconscious, (or worse) Zephyr narrowed her eyes at Randall.

"Not coming down? Thought you'd like a piece of the action."

"Piece of the action? Have you been trained to kill anything that moves or something?"

"No, because I wouldn't kill the people I like and so, to be completely honest, I would've killed you by now." She walked in the direction that Patterson had, squinting at the rising sun, and followed the sounds of a struggle. Randall walked close behind her, still reeling, and resisted having a good laugh at the sight that was revealed to them.

On the ground lay another unconscious human, (this one with a most disgusting beard) but what provided the humour was what had happened to Patterson- he had somehow been flung up onto the bonnet of the lorry and stood there, shaking, a piece of the man's t-shirt dangling from his mouth. Seeing someone usually so poised and elegant suddenly become such a rough and ready fighter was quite funny, especially for Randall who had always admired Patterson for his restraint.

"Human flesh tastes nice, doesn't it, Pat?" He immediately spat out the cloth, looking insulted.

"I did not harm a single hair on that creature's body, I assure you!" Randall and Zephyr synchronically raissed their eyebrows.

"Uh huh," Randall began, turning around and observing the building before him. "Sure. So…" His forehead (well, the bit sort of behind his eyes- Randall didn't really have a true forehead) creased. "this is 'Homer's Honey House', eh? Please, tell me, why have we come to a 'honey house'?"

"It's not a honey house," Zephyr started, helping Patterson down and facing the building herself. It was old and in need of some serious restoration. Weeds had sprouted in between cracks in the concrete, and many windows of the massive warehouse were cracked and shattered. It was a dark brown and grey building, incredibly depressing, its exterior overrun by large trees and bushes. The sign stating 'Homer's Honey House' was missing several letters, and the once bright yellowy-orange paint had peeled on almost every surface. "It's an explosives house."

"Explosives?" Randall scoffed. "Right."

"Go on then, open a few of those boxes. And what you'll find isn't going to be a collection of kids fireworks, oh no. For these guys, playtime is over."

"Christ, you sound like something from a James Blonde movie. Enough with the dramatic…ness." Nevertheless, Randall went around to the back of the lorry and grabbed the closest box he could find. As he ripped it open, Patterson peering over his shoulder, his eyes widened.

"My gosh," Patterson said breathlessly. "These boxes really do contain explosives- and of the highest quality, by the looks of it." Randall looked up, calling out to Zephyr who had strode up to the main doorway of the building.

"How do you know all of this stuff?" Zephyr ignored him, staring up at the large red doors before her and thinking. Pat and Randall soon joined her, and Pat was the first, surprisingly, to try the door. A little keypad to the left-hand side of the door had rows of numbers up to twenty and was obviously a security device, and when Patterson put his weight against the door nothing happened.

"Zephyr?" he beckoned her, letting her step forwards. Forcedly, she punched in a series of numbers and turned a little rusty latch located beneath it, tried the door, and smiled.

"Ladies first." Pat refused to enjoy the joke.

"How incredibly humorous."

"Randall?" The lizard-monster was staring pretty intently at Zephyr, a questioning look bopping about his features. "Hello?"

"How do you know all this stuff, huh? You must've been here before, you must've. But what do you-"

"Look, it's a good place to stay for a few hours, get some rest."

"And I thought we were in a hurry." Zephyr shrugged.

"I misjudged the time. C'mon, there's no point standing around here- let's get inside." Zephyr led the way, Pat following closely behind her and Randall lagging behind. He still didn't feel one-hundred percent ever since getting in that lorry, and his hunger was getting to the point of being painful.

The inside of the building was downright creepy. From going through the main front door, the interior opened up into three sections- one smaller middle division which was a reception of sorts, complete with welcome desk, and another two to the left and right of this. The left had been boarded up, leaving only the right to be seen. The reception area was littered with random pieces of paper, and as dimmed rays of light squeezed through the murky windows high above, the group slowly made their way forwards, heading towards the only open door. The floor was as dirty and abandoned as everything else, and an unearthly yet faint howling was to be heard flowing through the building.

The next room on, when the three of them managed to get into it, climbing over broken bits of furniture and plastic, was bigger than they could ever have conceived looking at it from the outside. There was a row of angled windows on one side, and directly below yet slightly more towards the centre of the room, multiple copies of the same large structure formed a line the entire length of the place. To Randall, the whole atmosphere of it seemed too familiar.

Dotted about were large, metallic tubes with alien-like markings along their sides, and as the lizard-monster headed forwards in curiosity, with a bit of trouble he managed to pick one up and identify it as being a crude form of scare canister. He turned back around to look at Zephyr, and only then noticed the large amounts of explosives on the wall behind them. He began to panic.

"What IS this place? What's going on, Zephyr, what's going ON!"

"Randall, Randall," she ushered him, repeating his name calmly, over and over, "relax, please Randall, c'mon. Relax." He calmed down, Pat staring at the two of them intently. "Okay, there's something I haven't told you. I'm so sorry, I just…I couldn't, because I knew how much your job meant to you."

"Right now, any memories of my job mean nothing. Just tell me what it is, Zephyr. Just tell me."

"Okay…" She took a deep breath. "When you were…exiled…things changed. James Sullivan had discovered something that would revolutionize the scare industry."

"Revolutionize the scare industry? And let me guess- he did this by accident?"

"Yep." Bitterness rose up inside of Randall.

"I work for months, no, years on end to revolutionize the scare industry, and I get exile, and he does NOTHING and he gets big bucks, fame and glory."

"Yep."

"Great. So, tell me, I'm dying to know, what big discovery did he make? Hmm?"

"Laughter."

"Laughter?"

"Laughter."

"…Laughter…."

"Yep. Laughter- which is ten times more powerful than scream."

"…Ten times…You're kidding me…" Randall said breathlessly, reeling and muttering to himself.

"Nope. Laughter." He swallowed. This couldn't be happening. After everything he had done, after all of that work, SULLIVAN gets the big pay-up! It couldn't be possible!

"…So…" Randall whispered, trying to move onto another subject. "…So what does that have to do with a scare…laugh…whatever station in the human world? And- and the explosives?"

"That is something I can't tell you. I'm sorry." She said these words so sincerely that Randall just had to believe her. He moved on once again- back to the subject he was trying to hard to get away from. "I know you're in shock- I don't blame you- but I'm telling the truth. Sullivan struck gold. There aren't any more shortages. Everyone's happy. That is, until the humans try to invade."

"…Invade…?"

"Yep. All over the news, it was. But that's another story for another time. I've probably told you too much all at once; I'm sorry. You're gonna be okay, right?" Randall nodded mutely, an array of emotions he didn't even know existed welling up inside of him, merging and separating, making him feel sick to the stomach. Adding all of this to the pain he was already experiencing would create a very unhappy situation for Randall. He needed to sit down.

Patterson, by this point, had wandered off to find somewhere suitable to get a bit of sleep, and had settled down in a corner of the room. There were large sheets, dirtied by grease, by the looks of it, hanging up and giving them a bit of protection and confinement, and he had crawled beneath them, only sticking his head out to summon the others.

"I have found a most suitable place for us to reside in for the time being. Come, join me- I'll share out the rations that remain." Randall literally gagged at the idea of food and hugged his stomach tightly, lowering his head. Searching the place for a bucket or a container along those lines, Zephyr ran over to a scare station, picking up something that resembled a plant-pot. As she jogged over there, she observed the peculiar design of the stations, so startlingly different from the ones in the Monster World. Their use, too, was more gruesome than any monster would enjoy imaging, and laying her eyes on them made her want to join Randall. Catching herself day-dreaming, Zephyr shook these thoughts out of her mind and focused her attention on Randall. He was now breathing heavily, eyes tightly shut and figure hunched.

"Hey Ran, in here." Zephyr pushed the pot in front of his face, and he grabbed it, retching violently. Patterson watched in concern and protection under the canvas, giving Zephyr a worried look for a moment as she signalled to him to try and find a source of water. He nodded, knowing his way around the building, and began his trek to the far side of the room where a pair of crumbling, rusty taps were waiting. "That's good, good; get it out of your system." Randall was now throwing up violently, not even stopping to breathe, and his complexion had turned a ghostly shade of white. There were many reasons for this- the pressure on his body to survive in such poor conditions, the lack of clean, good food and water, the shock of the news that Zephyr had informed him of- and, all added up, along with the mental strain that Randall had been under, formed an equation which equalled one unhappy lizard-monster.

Patterson was panting by the time he had reached the taps. Taking off the bag that was hitched up on one of his shoulders, he produced a large flask, capable of carrying at least a litre of water. He put this down for a moment to turn the tap- it hadn't been used for a while and was particularly stiff- and put all of his strength into doing so. Finally, the tap began to run, brownish water trickling away though the plughole. A few more turns and the water was gushing and a little clearer. He placed the flask under the flow, letting the water spread over his hands like a second skin, and listened to the rising tone of the container filling. Once satisfied that it was as full as it could be, Patterson screwed its top back on, peering over his back for a second- there was an unidentifiable presence in the room that made him feel as though he were being watched- and placed it back in his bag. He made a note to return to the other two as quickly as possible; he didn't like being alone in that place, no matter how many times he would visit it, and Randall and Zephyr were too far away for comfort.

Randall was now only throwing up every half a minute or so, and had collapsed in exhaustion. He sat on the floor, head bowed, wishing the dizziness to pass. Zephyr watched over him fondly, thankful for his company in such desolate surroundings. She spotted Pat approaching, looking thoroughly anxious, and turned back to Randall to see him heaving. Patterson was almost running, wanting to feel protected- this room was so large and empty, and had an ambience that was not particularly pleasant.

"Zephyr," he wheezed, dropping onto the floor next to Randall. He pulled out the flask.

"Why the rush?" Zephyr asked playfully, a grin emerging. "Afraid of being left alone?"

"No, no," Pat replied, having just gained his breath. "Of course not- just wanted to get this water to Randall as quickly as possible."

"How very noble of you." She grasped the flask, kneeling down in front of the lizard-monster. "Randall? We got you some water." He looked up, swallowing, and took the container with a shaking hand. "That's right, drink up. Just make sure to save a little for me and Pat, eh?" After three gulps, Randall stopped, almost dropping the flask, and grabbed the pot, sticking his head inside it for the last time.

The canvas had provided much-needed shade from the rising, baking sun- half of the windows in the building were smashed and broken, leaving bare sunlight to penetrate the interior of the place. Patterson hadn't managed to get any more sleep because of the nap he had had earlier on- it seemed that he couldn't get to sleep unless he were in a situation in which no-one would ever be expected to get any sleep. Zephyr was also wide-awake, a fear having grasped her. She didn't like this place- never had- and was afraid to rest there. Randall, on the other hand, was sleeping off the sickness. He hadn't uttered a word since Zephyr had told him about the fortunes of his foe, and although he seemed to be in a deep sleep, he also seemed peculiarly restless; continuously moving and turning over, muttering nonsense. He hadn't regained the natural purple of his scales, instead keeping to a consistent paleness. Zephyr was staring at him, and what was scaring her more than anything were the moments in which Randall didn't move or make a noise, simply because, in those split-seconds, he looked dead.

Half an hour later, as the sun rose to its climax, Zephyr crept forwards and shook Randall gently on the shoulders. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" His eyes snapped open.

He was seeing something that no-one else was- that no-one else could.

A second passed. Randall blinked as though he had just regained consciousness and struggled to sit up.

"We'd better get going, Randall- we don't want to be late, now, do we?" Nodding mutely once more, Randall sat up properly and took a few steadying breaths. "You okay? You were throwing up like a…waterfall, but not a waterfall- a pukefall." He half-smiled, and with a croaky voice, said "thanks."

"Really," he continued slowly, "what happened last night? I don't remember a thing."

"Well, it wasn't really night-time. More like early morning. And, you threw up. A lot."

"That's…weird. And we're…" A rush of memories zoomed to Randall's brain, and everything that Zephyr had said came back to him like a boomerang returning to its owner. He sighed, disappointed and resentful once again. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Great."

"And how are you feeling?"

"Apart from a splitting headache and this weird, bitter taste in my mouth, not bad."

"Good. Now, let's go." Crawling forward, Zephyr peered around the corner of the sheets, her eyes widening in shock. She then, very quickly, shuffled back to where she had been sitting previously. "Or maybe we could stay here." Patterson narrowed his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"We can go, but I think it'd be best if we just wait for those humans to leave first."

"H-humans?" Zephyr nodded.

"Yeah." All three exchanged panicked looks, although Zephyr, who seemed only a little worried, gave Randall a quick glance only for a second.

"Does this mean I can get more shut-eye, coz, to be completely honest, I feel crap," Randall asked, talking in a hushed voice.

"I thought you were 'not bad'?"

"I only said that because I got myself hyped up and ready to leave."

"Makes sense. Yeah, sure, knock yourself out." Randall lay down once more, curling his figure up into a little ball, and rested. He would've asked what exactly the humans were doing there, but the heaviness of his head made him choose comfort over knowledge.

Fifteen minutes later, he still hadn't stirred but also hadn't been able to get to sleep, and so just relaxed. The humans were still around- he could hear the kafuffle muffled through the canvas, and Patterson and Zephyr had begun to talk quietly.

"I thought these guys were coming around later," Zephyr was saying, sounding a little annoyed.

"I thought so too, but that's Humans for you- completely and utterly unreliable," Patterson replied in his posh accent.

"The sooner they demolish this place, the better. I don't even want to think of a bunch of other Humans discovering this joint and asking questions like Randall is. If they ever find out what's going on around here…"

"They'll find out as soon as Randall will- never."

"Don't insult Randall's intelligence- he might be a scaly, but his IQ's through the roof."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that nonsense?"

"Yes." There followed an awkward silence, in which some more bangs and shuffling sounds could be heard from the Humans.

"Alright, so he has a fair brain upon his shoulders. But as long as we don't reveal any information to him, he could be Monstein and not be able to work out what has been arranged between the two worlds."

"Hmm. Yeah. I guess. I just…"

"What?" Patterson asked sharply.

"I like Randall. I find him…refreshing. And I hate lying to him."

"But you will continue to do so, or forfeit your life to the cause." Zephyr shook her head.

"I wish I hadn't got into this mess. No, I wish Cy hadn't got me into this mess. I wish…" Zephyr stopped her brooding and looked Patterson in the eye. "Do you think Cy will ever tell me about my past?"

"I can't guarantee anything- of course not- but surely he must have a conscience of sorts. And, if he does, he will one day tell you, or die primed to burn in hell."

"I guess."

"I know."

"You sound certain."

"I do not know Cyrus Boggs very well, but, by gathering what I have heard of him, I can presume that he is quite a heartless fellow. Heartless fellows always have a deeper conscience, which they mostly ignore, but when it comes to things that truly matters to them..."

"We'll have to see about that, Pat- Cy's more than just a 'heartless fellow'. He's pure evil."

"The Humans haven't made a sound for a good five minutes now."

"Let me have a look." As Zephyr peeked out once again, Randall's train of thought became furious, pumping out steam like a hyper monkey spits out pips. How did they know all of this? Why did they know all of this?

What was going on?