Wes put on headphones to listen with her. It was a strange sound of clicks in different frequency with different pitches. She sent one copy of the recording to headquarters while another copy was sent to Donna.
"That's coming from inside the lab?" Wes was shocked and concerned.
"The lowest level also is the secret level," Rose explained. "That's where the most dangerous Mixmaster creations were made. Whatever creature is there has been communicating with El Blanco. I am still on the entrance level. The creatures over there are the first ones I have caught." Wes took off his headphones and started at the direction of the glass doors.
"What is behind door number one?" Wes stood up to see.
"Don't open it," Rose warned. "Unless you want me to take care of you. I have concluded that they are porcupine, poisonous tree frog, with irritating voice like a peacock but the frequency is long range. I am surprised the townspeople haven't heard the screams yet."
Wes slowly opened the door. He heard the screeching and shut both doors when he saw something being shot in his direction.
"I warned you," Rose stood up to lock the doors. "I will have them ready to be caravanned to headquarters. I would have you helped me but I don't want you to be poisoned as well."
"What?! When?" Wes grabbed her without thinking.
"It doesn't matter, just the poison cause's hallucinations," Rose got away from his tight grip.
"How am I supposed to do my job when you're almost getting yourself killed?" Wes was angry, at himself and her.
Rose smiled. "Oh well, I got struck twice, so much for you doing your job."
Wes crossed his arms. "You're such a child. From now on, I go wherever you go."
Rose frowned. "No."
"That's not up to you," Wes smiled this time.
That night in a nearby town, one lady heard strange sounds in her newly bought abandoned country house that she was going to renovate.
"Hello?" She walked around the empty house trying to find the source. She turned on the light in the kitchen to see her DIY renovation books were scattered on the counter to the floor. She heard movement from the hallway. The lady flicked on the light and saw a giant white apparition. She screamed out in horror as it disappeared. The lady regained some composure enough to call the local police department only to be laughed at.
"A ghost? Ha hah ahhh hah!" The voice mocked her. "That's not in our jurisdiction. You'll need to call a monster hunter for that." The laughed at her while they hung up on her.
"A monster hunter?" She thought to herself. She pulled out her smartphone and started to search for someone who could help her. She stumbled onto one of Burt Gummer's survival school videos. The town he was from was not too far from him. She was going to visit him that morning.
Rose had gathered her monitors and headed out with Wes by her side. The two stopped at the market since Wes had been eating her out of her rations.
Jodi greeted them. She was stumped when she saw Rose. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Yes," Rose handed her a list. "This is a list of food I order from this company. I cannot receive any more unless it's through a store. I will pay for the food, shipping and handling, and whatever costs you believe."
"Wow," her eyes grew wide. "Yeah I can get it for you. You must have been here long enough to go through so much."
"No, my rations weren't calculated to include for two," Rose frowned as she glanced over to Wes who was indifferent.
"Oh?" Jodi took the hint. She was about to walk away when an unexpected lady come through the doors. It was the same woman who had seen the apparition. Wes and Rose headed out. "Welcome to Perfection. If there is anything I can help you with, I am Jodi the owner of Chang's Market."
The woman was beautiful. She came up to them. "Do you know where I can find a mister Burt Gummer?"
"He's out but I can bring him back in from his daily rounds," Jodi smiled. "What is it that you need him for?"
"Oh, no that's fine, I'll just leave a message, and can you tell him Patricia Gilbert wants to speak with him," the woman left a note and headed out.
Patricia got back to her home. She heard noises again. "Anyone there, hello?" She wanted to search further but was too afraid to do anything. The sound was coming closer to her. It was just around the corner. She turned around it just as a stray cat meowed. "WAAAAAAAaaaHHHHHH!" She screamed in terror. Patricia looked down to see a stray tabby cat sitting and staring at her. She laughed at herself for thinking it was a ghost.
Burt came into the market. "Any mail for me?"
"Yes, and a note," Jodi handed it over to him.
"A note?" Burt raised his eyebrows. Jodi nodded. Burt read through the note. "A Patricia Gilbert, asking about monster hunting."
"A new fan?" Jodi teased.
"Maybe another yahoo like Larry," Burt looked through his mail.
"You're not going to call her?" Jodi looked at the note.
"Maybe later, I'm going to go check on the odd couple who have been putting new monitors and seismos in," Burt grabbed his stuff.
"Oh, do you know that he's going to be staying with her?" Jodi let it slip out.
"That's old news Jodi," Burt sighed. "We all know he is staying with her to make sure her wounds are taken care of."
"No, Burt, he's staying with her for the rest of the time being," Jodi tried to make him realize this. "She came in ordered food for two."
"Good, I can rest in the meantime and not have to worry about him spying on me," Burt started to walk off.
"He's your son!" Jodi called to him.
"I'll believe that when I have paternity test results," Burt waived at her.
"But didn't you greet him as your son?" Jodi was confused.
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Burt walked out the door.
Jodi just shook her head. Rosalita came in after Burt.
"What's his problem?" Rosalita came over to her.
"Just being his usual self," Jodi let out a breath.
"Do you have any mail for me?" She leaned on the counter. "I saw that scientist lady with Burt's cute son heading off somewhere. I wonder what they're up to. Probably some afternoon romance."
"Burt went to go check on them," Jodi mentioned.
"Huh?" Rosalita looked through her mail after Jodi handed it to her. "Nada, nada, don't care, nada, what's this?" She read that it was from someone named Roberto with the same last name as her.
"Roberto Sanchez, any relation to you?" Jodi looked at the letter.
"Yeah," Rosalita was thinking about other things. "Gracias!" She put the letters together and waved goodbye as she headed out as well.
"What's with everyone?" Jodi went back to her working on her store. The phone rang. She answered, "Chang's Market Place, Jodi speaking, how may I help you?" She listened to the voice over the line. "Uh huh. Yep. No, this isn't some sort of trick. Graboids do exist. I'm sorry that you didn't get to see one while you visited. There is an app that is being currently in the works of being created that can let you locate El Blanco's existence." The person on the other line hung up on her. Jodi sighed as she regained her composure once again. "This is not my day." She started to go through her inventory list to see if anything else needed to be ordered.
Meanwhile, Rosalita was in her kitchen reading the letter that was sent to her. Her brother, Roberto was going to visit to see how the ranch was holding up and how she was doing. The two didn't really leave on good terms and he wanted to make amends.
"This is not good," she spoke aloud to herself. "Those men have been poking around and now he wants to see what I am doing. I don't want to move again. I don't think I can keep this act up."
Harlow Winnemuca came into the kitchen. He was her hired hand. "What act?" He teased.
Rosalita jumped. She cursed in Spanish before turning around. "Don't do that! I thought you could be one of those nasty monsters that escaped." Harlow apologized as he got out a glass. "So my brother, Roberto, wants to visit but I don't think I can keep up the act of knowing how to run a ranch when he's around." She saved herself with her quick tongue.
"Oh, didn't you say you were on bad terms with some of the family?" Harlow opened the fridge to get some water.
"Yeah, that's why I was surprised to read his letter that he's coming here," she looked over the letter again. "I don't want to act like nothing happened between us, because things certainly did happen."
"Well, when's he coming?" Harlow took a drink of homemade lemonade.
"In a couple of days," Rosalita frowned. "I don't even want him to come. Who knows what kinds of things will happen when he's here? This place is like living in a war zone. You have to be careful where you step or bang! You get taken down by El Blanco or some new monster from that lab. I don't have time to babysit him when he's here, I have a ranch to run. Or at least try to run. Ugh. I'll just write him a letter telling him not to come and apology accepted. There. Problem solved." She headed out to find herself a piece of paper and an envelope so she could hopefully solve this problem.
It was horrible enough to see her past life coming and going in this little town. She thought the lifestyle change would keep her cover, but that proved wrong when two would be thugs showed up in their track suits and leather jackets trying to take down El Blanco. It was a close call. When she saw the two men in Chang's Market, it brought back how much she needs to stay here, but now that Roberto is coming, this might make things more difficult.
Burt stopped his vehicle by the white hummer. He walked over to the two who were on the ground digging a small whole. He saw equipment next to them.
"More toys to bury in the local sandbox?" Burt stopped behind them. Wes looked around while Rose kept digging.
"Afternoon mister Gummer," Rose placed the equipment next to her into the hole. "Anything I can help you with?"
"I have markers placed all over this valley and the surrounding area, why do you need to place more?" Burt looked at his watch to confirm.
"Yes, but not in these exact locations," Rose stole a glance at Wes. "These specific locations are the exhaust points of the lab."
"This far out?" Burt had written down the other locations where she was placing her equipment at. He stalked her until he figured out what she was doing.
"That's how some of the creatures escaped, remember?" Rose dusted off her hands. Wes was done with his. She only heard silence from Burt. "No, mister Gummer, these are for you. I am tracking your every movement, what you wear, what you eat, how much it time it takes you to sleep, prepare yourself, and how long your rounds last so I can make a profile of you and hand it over to the government." She stood up and looked over at him.
Burt didn't enjoy the sarcasm. "I may be slightly eccentric but that's a bit overboard."
"You have not once greeted your son, you still have doubts that he is related to you, and you still want to know what goes on in the lab," Rose smiled.
"I thought we agreed that you would call me Burt, Rose," he smiled.
"Ah that's right," Rose gave him a smile as well. Wes did not like this conversation. He sensed that these two had met beforehand. "What information are you seeking now?"
"Depends on your answer," he glanced over to Wes then back to her.
Rose didn't even blink. "We're on the same side. It depends on your question."
"That's not the biggest thing in the whole facility or is it?" Burt asked.
"Who knows?" Rose shrugged her shoulders. "But I don't think it's the largest. Cletus hasn't contacted you, has he?"
"No, your friends have been watching him or so I've heard," Burt crossed his arms.
"Good, I don't want him interfering," Rose felt Wes standing up next to her. "The lab is very dangerous, even for a survivalist or monster hunter like you Burt. Once I have everything cleaned and clutter taken out, I will let you visit the lab or what's left of it."
"I cannot allow you to do that," Wes clenched his jaw.
"He has saved my life, I owe him," Rose stared Burt straight in the eyes. "Besides, once I am done, it's going to be blown up again. Why not let Burt ease his paranoia by finally seeing the lab?"
"Wait, they're blowing it up, again?" Burt put his hand on his hip while holding up the other one and tried to figure out the situation. "Now when did they blow it up the first time? The towns people would have said something if they were here before me? There's no such thing as silent explosives."
"Classified information, it's above your pay grade," Rose teased. Wes sighed while crossing his arms. He didn't even get to know that information. It was above his pay grade for sure.
"Maybe that's why the graboids came about, the god damned heat from the explosion warmed them up and released it on us without knowing," Burt spat that conclusion out. "A few years later they grew and had us as food. Blasted government. They brought those things on us!"
"Who knows?" Rose looked over to Wes. "Causation, correlation, it doesn't really matter at the moment. What matters is that you keep watch over the little town." She looked over in that direction.
"Why is that?" Burt narrowed his eyes. "Is there something that the government is planning and you're bound by secrecy?"
"No," Rose gave a genuine laugh. Wes and Burt in unison cocked up and eyebrow in surprise at her. "Increase in visitors creates an increase in accidents and problems. Less people less probability. Besides I don't know that our presence further in the lab will make the creatures start to escape or fight back. I'll let you know once when we are inside the levels. Ready?" She looked back over to Wes. He nodded and the two headed back to the Hummer. "Good day Burt."
Wes didn't say anything as he was churning over the recent knowledge he had acquired. Wes got into the driver's seat as Rose watched Burt get into his vehicle.
"Our job is finished, we can get your truck now," Rose looked over to him. "I would like to finally drive."
"Your wounds are not healed fully and you still doze off now and then," Wes glanced over to her. "I fear you might drive into a boulder and become the graboid's next meal, even though I wouldn't mind that."
"Tch," Rose rolled her eyes. "You can be replaced just as well. Don't like it, get a new job."
"Easy Dr. Frankenstein," Wes scolded her. "We were teamed up due to our skills not our personalities."
"You got that right," Rose checked her phone for any updates. She had a smirk. "Want me to get DNA from him to do a paternity test?" She looked over to him with mischief.
He started to chuckle. "You don't think I haven't done a paternity test?"
"You have? How? With what?" Rose widened her eyes.
He turned his head over to her. "Mom still has some of his belongings, like one of his many Atlanta Hawk's hats. It still has some of his hair in some of them before he started to go bald."
Rose started to laugh then. "S.S. whenever you are going to show it to him please let me be there to watch."
"Perhaps, when the day you'll let me call you by your actual name and you'll call me by mine," Wes stared back at the road.
"We'll see if we ever get past being coworkers, I don't have many friends and I would like to keep it that way," Rose looked out the window.
Burt was still thinking about what Rose said. He drove back to Chang's Market. "Mixmaster, graboids, and those damned government officials have to ruin everything. Dammit!" He cursed and yelled while he floored it. He didn't like how this was going. It was true the things she said, but he didn't want it to come to his town this quickly. Burt started to create a plan for all of the increased visitors and how he was going to take action if something dangerous were to arrive. He decided to head back to his home and prepare.
He forgot about Patricia Gilbert and her important message.
Patricia had gotten courage as she believed that it was perhaps just the stray cat that had done this to her books. She had started on the destruction of the dining room that day. She stopped when she got hungry. Patricia had gave the cat some of her scraps. She put the dish in the sink. As she did she heard a similar noise. Patricia stopped while looking around. The cat moved around while meowing at her.
"Huh?" She shook her head. "Must be my imagination."
Patricia headed up to the bathroom to take a nice warm bath after all of the work she had done. The cat stayed downstairs.
Settling down into the bath for a few minutes, Patricia drifted off into slumber. She jolted awake as her brain reminded that she was still in the tub. Patricia got out of the now cold water. She tied on her robe. Noise came bumbling up the stairs.
"That darn cat," she sighed while unplugging the water in the tub letting it drain down. She put on her slippers and headed down the stairs. "I hope I remembered to put away the leftovers."
Patricia rounded the corner and saw a tall white ghost standing in front of the fridge. It was about to reach for the leftovers.
"AHHHHH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs while the cat moved in between her legs wanting to be petted. The ghost stared at her as she rolled her eyes back into her head before falling onto the ground unconscious. The ghost ate her leftovers and shut the fridge. The ghost left as soon as he came, which was through the back door on the patio.
Patricia woke up that morning in a daze and confusion. The cat had curled up next to her, sleeping as well.
"What happened?" Patricia looked around. She remembered and twisted her head over to the fridge. It was closed. Patricia scrambled over the fridge. She opened it to find that her leftovers were gone. "It ate it! It ate it!" Her hands were shaking the container. She dropped it and closed the fridge. "My phone. Where's my phone?"
Patricia grabbed her phone from the charging station. She dialed Jodi from Chang's Market. She had taken a business card if Burt didn't call her. "Hello, yes, hi, it's Patricia from yesterday, yeah the one that left a note for Burt yeah, uh huh, anyways, I have an emergency. I need help."
"Oh, okay," Jodi tried to handle the situation as calmly as she could. "Um, are you alright? Can you get over here safely?"
"Yes, yes I can," Patricia ran upstairs to change her clothes while she talked. "I'm safe in the daylight. It only comes out at night." She hung up the phone, got dressed and grabbed the cat. Patricia put the cat in the car, buckled herself in, and started her drive to Perfection.
"Burt, Jodi here come in over," Jodi clicked on the radio.
"Loud and clear Jodi, what do you need, over," Burt was just about to head onto his rounds.
"You never called Patricia over," Jodi was organizing her new figurines she just got in.
"Who? Over," Burt was confused.
"The note that I handed you yesterday," Jodi explained. "A Patricia Gilbert wanted to talk to you about monster hunting, over."
"What about it, over," Burt tried to remember but it didn't come into mind.
"She just called saying that she has an emergency, she's coming over this way as we speak. She said she's safe for now since it only comes out at night, over," Jodi walked over to the register.
Burt stopped and thought what it could be. "Switching channels over." Burt switched over to Rose's channel. "Rose, Burt here come in, over."
The radio woke up the two who were still sleeping. Since Rose was still feeling the after affects and had to still get a dose of the antidote everyday she was had to take it leisurely for the time being. Rose was asleep on the bed while Wes was on the ground.
Rose fumbled for the radio as Burt repeated himself. "Rose here, over." Her voice still groggy as she spoke with her eyes closed.
Burt didn't have time for her games. "You better not being messing with me, I am in a situation here. You haven't went back into the lab have you, over."
"I knew the two of you were talking to one another," Wes rolled over.
"Yes and you shut our conversation off, but I still got what I wanted, nice try though," she laid on her back. "No Burt I have not accessed the lab, according to my keeper I am still on bedrest, over."
"Do you know if any of your things have escaped, over," Burt started walking again. He headed for his vehicle.
"Any of my things? Oh the creatures." Rose opened her eyes. She didn't let them adjust as she got out of bed. She stepped over Wes as she headed to the lab side. She flicked on the computer from sleep mode. Rose started to type away to get the readings from thermal, organic, seismic and infrared monitors. There was nothing. She clicked on the radio. "Nothing from the time setting the equipment up to now. If there was something that escaped beforehand I wouldn't know. Over."
"Are you sure you checked everything, over," Burt drove down to Chang's Market.
"Thorough," Rose sighed. She was still sleepy and had a minor headache. She didn't think the affects would last this long. She staggered a bit before looking through the other data. Rose view the timeline of the activity that went on throughout the years. There were some things but she had to know more before pinpointing. She clicked the radio. "I need more information, over."
"This thing came out during the night, over," Burt sighed.
"At night," Rose typed away. There was nothing anything that drastic. She had managed to signify what creatures made the disturbances. "Nothing on my end, over."
Burt tossed his radio over on the passenger seat.
Rose tried to the use the walls and cabinets as balance as she made her way back. She forgot about Wes and tripped over him onto the bed.
"Hey you alright?" He leaned up and saw the blossoming of blood under her shirt. His eyes grew wide as he flung off the blankets getting up. He turned on the lights to see her more clearly. Rose was clenching her eyes shut.
"I'm fine," she spoke through a clenched jaw. He grabbed a small flash light to shine in her eyes. Her pupils were diluted and her breathing was normal. "It wasn't a blue ringed octopus. I won't die due to paralysis."
"The neurotoxins might have taken a toll since you told me yesterday all octopi have venom in their tentacles," Wes redressed her wounds. He even gave her an increased dosage of the antidote. "Besides if we weren't there on time, I don't think you would be alive right now. I believe you owe Dr. Mathews your life as well."
Rose groaned. "Ugh and she'll want my job in return. Ugh no." She started to move around. "If anything I need to save her life and then we are even."
"No moving, you're still on bed rest," Wes warned.
Rose covered her eyes with her arm. "At least turn out the light again so I can sleep some more."
"I told you not to work so late," Wes moved away and put the blankets over her.
"How considerate?" She felt the light was gone. Wes headed down to his makeshift bed. Rose felt a tinge guilty. "Alright, since you will be staying I don't mind sharing the bed but." Wes perked up. "If you lay one hand on me or get close to me in any way shape or form-"
"I read you loud and clear," Wes cut her off. He laid on top of her covers. "Besides the same goes for you."
"Ugh," Rose groaned before drifting back into slumber.
Burt stormed into the market. Patricia was waiting there with the cat in her arms.
"Mister Gummer," she outreached her hand to him. He looked at and held out his to hers. She shook it in a hurry. "Thank you for seeing me. I-I ha-ve a problem." She looked around.
"It's okay Patricia, remember we are in a place where we see many strange things on a daily basis," Jodi reassured her.
Patricia nodded her head. "I have a ghost problem."
Burt blinked. "A ghost problem?"
"Yeah, I saw it the night before last, and last night it had opened my fridge up and I fainted," she explained as the cat purred in her arms. "At first that I thought it was this cat but when I saw it again, it was so tall and huge. This ghost must be a monster of some sort and I need your help to get rid of him."
"What color was the ghost?" Jodi tried to get more information.
"White, and so white that I couldn't see anything through it," Patricia looked over to her.
"What do you mean you couldn't see through it?" Burt cocked his head a bit.
"I could not see through it at all," Patricia looked between the both of them. "It blocked my view of the kitchen."
"And it only comes out at night," Burt tried to piece the information together. Patricia nodded her head. "Alright, I will investigate your situation."
Tyler walked in. "Woah, am I interrupting something?" He saw the three of them next to one another.
"Glad you're here," Burt turned to him. "We're going to do some investigating. She has a monster problem." Burt inclined to her. "Patricia this is Tyler, Tyler, this is Patricia."
Tyler smiled as he saw how beautiful she was. He walked over to her and shook her hand. "Sorry to have to meet like this."
"Thank you," she let go and started to pet the cat.
"We'll head to your place, investigate, and then you should head to somewhere safe while we stay the night to catch your monster," Burt explained.
"Oh, thank you, thank you," Patricia exclaimed.
The three headed off into their vehicles. Tyler rode with Burt. He explained to him the current situation he had gotten himself into.
"A ghost?" Tyler looked over to him as if he was strange. "Are you sure it wasn't something similar to the first so called ghost? Don't we need one of the good doctors to come with us?"
"I called one of them but she was asleep," Burt informed him.
"Oh, you called Dr. Frankenstein," Tyler shook his head. "Of course she was going to be asleep, do you know how much venom she got from that octopus thing? That medical doctor kept injecting her with the antidote. Shouldn't it be working? Once should have been enough? Wes has been by her side the whole time now."
"From what I gathered from Dr. Mathews, the antidote is sufficient enough, but she reconfigured it to make it more like an antibiotic since she only had samples from the saliva and not the tentacles themselves," Burt relayed the information. "She is currently working with Jodi's tentacle that she acquired to make a better antidote. Yes and it seems that he will be staying with her. At least both of the problems will stick together for now. More importantly, let's figure out what this ghost is and get back to town. I still need to complete several new plans for the increase of visitors we are getting thanks to you and Jodi."
"This little town has got to flourish somehow, besides this is what Perfection is all about," Tyler argued with him. "It keeps this place interesting. Besides how else are we going to survive? How's El Blanco going to survive?"
Burt did a double take at him. "El Blanco? El Blanco? You're worried about a graboid? The government is going to get rid of us or worse quarantine us due to damned lab!"
"You stuck in for quarantine might be actually nice," Tyler thought out loud. Burt looked down on him. Tyler raised his hands in the air as defeat. "Okay, that was a bad joke."