Chapter Two finally!


Randall was still curled up in the truck asleep when city noises awoke him. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, seeing it was close to night. He looked at where he was, gasping at the sight of several large buildings. Yep, he was definitely not in the bayou anymore.

"Wonder where I am now? Could be New York," he muttered. For in Monstropolis in college, they learned geography to know about the different countries and cities in the U.S.

Randall continued to keep hidden while the truck entered the city, eventually stopping at a gas station. Randall wanted to remain in the truck until a better destination came along for the opportunity to get away. After the human filled up the gas tank, he once more drove off.

Later, they went along an alleyway where suddenly the truck went over a big bump, making Randall yell out and be knocked about in the back, hitting his head. The man in the truck had heard a thump in the back of his truck, stopping it and getting out, thinking one of his items was knocked out of place.

Randall winced when the man was getting to open the back, unable to hide fast enough, as he was revealed.

"What in the—?! Monster!" screamed the man in fear and anger.

Randall got startled by the man's all too quick reaction. The man pulled out a gun he had on him, for he was one of those paranoid humans. Randall's face paled as the gun went off, narrowly missing his scales. He rarely saw guns where he came from and this one scared him like the one before. He raced off the truck, the man shouting after him and firing his gun.

Panting, he turned invisible in hopes to lose the maniac human and ran out of the alley. Randall growled at how these humans always constantly pulled out these weapons at him.

After a while of running, Randall stopped, panting heavily from it and found himself in another alleyway but a bit emptier than before with a couple trash cans here and there. Randall decided he would try to find something not trashy to eat in to start since he had to lay low now.

Pulling open a trash bin, Randall sniffed inside until he smelt something that didn't obtain poison. A chicken and half an empty water bottle, though Randall secretly thought it was weird for somebody to throw a bottle in a trash bin instead of recycling it. Yes, even somebody like him believed in recycling.

He curled up in a dry spot with his meager feast, huffing a bit from his first time being in a city was eating out of the garbage. What joy.

He still wanted to eventually get back to his home and get his revenge on his two hated rivals but for now, Randall didn't know what he was doing while he munched on a leg, hoping sooner or later something good would happen that could rise him up out of this bad situation he was in.

After finishing his dinner and drinking the water, whether it had been clean or not, Randall didn't care since it quenched his thirst. His eyes felt tired as he let out a yawn, curling up there to fall asleep and tomorrow to plan where he was gonna go next.

….

The next day found Randall roaming about the city, doing his best to keep invisible; occasionally sneaking into small stores to take small bits of food and a fresh water bottle for himself.

Randall then spotted a well sheltered roof, where he decided that's where he would take refuge for now, which seemed better than an alleyway where he could be caught. He used his climbing skills to crawl up there as the sun went down.

He found a comfortable spot far away from the edge and just lay there for a long while in the night, rather exhausted from his wanderings and feeling lonely, wishing there was some sort of kind soul to help him. Randall even felt a tear coming down. He wiped it away.

"Ugh. Pull yourself together, Randall." He grumbled sourly while the wind blew, making him shiver.

Eventually, he heard a voice, someone sighing. Tilting his head, Randall turned himself invisible to investigate, sniffing who was there. It didn't smell human.

Crawling up a stovepipe he kept listening, trying to find the speaker. He then saw a shadowed being sitting alone on the edge of the building. Curious but cautious, Randall moved closer but remained invisible. He didn't want to be in trouble with another human.

"Why must humans always see me as a devil? Why can't they just accept us?" said the male voice. Randall then had a good view of the speaker and it surprised him that it wasn't human at all.

It was unlike any monster he had seen. The creature was a dull red color with long white hair, wings that folded around his shoulders, a long tail, and a beak mouth. He looked rather sad, his hands on his knees and staring down at the city below.

Randall himself felt a small stab of pity for this creature, carefully sitting down nearby while invisible.

Brooklyn right now didn't feel like himself lately, feeling out of place with his clan and with the rest of the world. He had asked Goliath to have this patrol solo so he could be alone. Goliath didn't refuse, only asked him why but Brooklyn said he needed to try more patrols by himself if he was to become a good leader, so Goliath said he could go himself.

Now here he was struggling with his thoughts and lonely feelings and the desire for a friend. He didn't see his unusual companion nearby, though.

Randall decided to speak, then. "You don't need everyone to like you, you know." Brook jumped, eyes glowing. "Who's there?" He asked. Randall still didn't show himself; he wanted to get to know this new creature.

"Just somebody who understands you. I get looks for who I am, too. But I don't go all out to make them like me. I myself don't really seek too many friends. You just have to be patient," Randall said the best he could without trying to be mean. Thankfully though, the creature seemed to really listen.

"Well, uh, good advice, I guess, whoever you are. Perhaps I can see you now?" He asked. Randall winced but then knew he had to.

"Sure, but I'm not actually human," Randall said nervously. Brook grinned a bit. "I've seen strange stuff, so I won't freak out." Taking a breath, Randall then revealed himself.

Brooklyn was amazed at this new type of creature that looked like a mutated lizard. "Whoa, so this is the real you?" He asked, staring a bit. Randall smiled nervously. "Yep. Name's Randall, Randall Boggs. I'm new here, you can say."

Brooklyn nodded. "I can tell. But I hope I'm not being rude, but did some scientist experiment on you by any chance? For you can talk like a human."

Randall shook his head. "No. Nobody experimented on me, for I'm from a world where there are others like me, Monstropolis. You know the line, "monsters living in your closet door?"" The gargoyle nodded.

"Well, that's what I am. Monstropolis is through the closet doors of each child around the world."

"Wow, that's cool," grinned Brooklyn, imagining a world where there could be beings out there that could accept for what he looks like.

"But now it is my turn. What are you?" Randall asked, tilting his head. Brooklyn undid his wings then, startling the lizard monster.

"They call me a gargoyle. I live with my clan here in Manhattan where we do our best to protect the city," Brooklyn said. "And my name's Brooklyn. Then there's my family. My leader, Goliath, then Hudson, Broadway, Angela, Lexington and Bronx. Me, Lex and Broadway are rookery brothers, and we turn to stone during the day."

Randall smiled a bit when he described the gargoyle clan, who sounded pretty interesting. That was until he saw the sun just starting to come up. "Looks like daylight is coming. Are you going to be able to get back?" Brooklyn glanced at the sunrise.

"Doesn't look like it, may have to stay here. But perhaps you'd like to meet my clan when I wake up again? I'm sure they'd like to meet someone like you."

The lizard monster suddenly felt nervous, mostly because of his past and meeting Brooklyn's family. How would they judge him? But he saw the kindness in Brooklyn's eyes that he hadn't seen in years, making him feel comfortable around this gargoyle. So he nodded.

"Great! Try to get comfortable. I'm stone pretty much the whole day," Brooklyn said while Randall curled up, now realizing how tired he was, not realizing he had been up all night since getting chased off the truck. But he peeked his eyes open just to see what happened when Brooklyn turned. Brooklyn went into his usual stance, growling, the stone skin covering him as the sunrise finally showed.

"Whoa," Randall said softly, slowly feeling his eyes drifting shut, deciding to now sleep until his new friend woke up again. This roof seemed safe enough for them. That had been an amazing feat. He had never seen any other creature turn to stone before.