Chapter 5: They're Here

"KKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!"

Eric woke up to the sound of his alarm clock radio gushing out static. With his eyes barely squinting open, he looked at the clock. The time read 6:18 a.m. "That's funny," Eric thought to himself, "I didn't set my alarm for 6:18 a.m. I set it for 7:00 a.m. And I thought I set my alarm to play music, not radio static." Barely awake, he tried to shut off his alarm, but slamming down on the snooze button as hard as possible did not stop the white noise. As Eric became more cognitive as he awoke, he heard Graham's alarm clock spewing out the same radio static. "Graham," Eric spoke up out loud, "can you turn your alarm off? I still have 40 minutes to sleep in before I have to get up to start the day. Graham?" Eric looked up to see Graham, sitting straight up in bed, stiff as a board, staring off into blank space with his eyes wide open, a bit blood shot. "Graham!" Eric shouted again, trying to get Graham's attention. At that shout, Graham turned his head slowly 90 degrees to the right. When Graham's head had finished that 90 degree turn and made eye contact with Eric, he opened his mouth and spoke like in a mesmeric trance.

"They're here…" Graham said in a sing-sung song.

Before Eric could ask what is here, the two gentlemen heard a scratching knock at their dorm's door, followed by a moan of "ssccrrttcchhmmbbcckk". Naturally, Eric got up to answer it, but Graham darted out and stood between Eric and the door, arms spread out, in order to prevent Eric from opening the door.

"What are you doing?" Eric asked inquisitively.

"Are you kidding me? Don't open the door! We don't know what's out there!" said Graham.

"Oh come on," Eric said, rolling his eyes. "It's probably some freshman whose been up all night and locked himself out. He just wants some help getting back into his room."

Graham insisted that was not the case, but Eric would not hear it. Eric pushed Graham aside, unlocked and opened the door. There in the doorway stood a monster straight out of a nightmare! Resembling a manikin covered in a sheet, the monster had clearly defined facial features and body cavities, yet, a thick, web-like sheet of mucous connected all its body parts. The monster, which towered over the two men at 6 ½ feet tall, had hues of blood red and rust brown. It smelled like blood and rust, too.

"SSSCCCRRRTTTCCCHHHMMMBBBCCCKKK!" the creature moaned louder.

"Meep," was all Eric could let out of his mouth.

"Oh dear God, we're gonna die," was all Graham could say.

Thinking fast, Graham looked around the dorm room for a way to defend himself. He first saw his wood desk, and he remembered the wooden crossbar plank of the desk was coming loose. In a rush of pure adrenaline, he ripped off the crossbar and lifted it above his head with one hand.

"I SHALL BEAT YOU WITH THIS PLANK!" Graham loudly announced. "Even though I'm pretty sure there's a hedge trimmer right outside our window…" he whispered under his breath.

Now gripping the plank with both hands, Graham swung down the plank on top of the monster's head. The monster shrieked in pain with a loud "aieee!" but beside a small trickle of blood and puss dripping down it, the creature did not move, not even flinching. Graham repeated the action, but again, with the exception of a louder "AIEEE!" shriek of pain and a larger stream of blood and puss, the monster barely moved. After a few more times repeating the action, however, the creature started to flinch and buckle. With one last swing, with the plank coming down the hardest it ever had, the board broke over the monster's head, and the creature finally fell down and collapsed. It almost seemed like the monster melted, as the frame of body cavities and facial features disappeared into a bloody pile of mucous on the ground. The 2 guys just stood there, staring at the puddle on the ground, in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Eric shouted at Graham, breaking the silence.

"Seriously, what the hell was that?" Graham wondered, still staring at the ground.

"No! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Eric yelled at Graham.

"What do you mean 'what the hell is wrong with me'?!" Graham screamed back at at Eric.

"Some poor freshman came knocking on our door for help, and you killed him," Eric stated matter-of-factly. "Great, now I am going to have to testify against my roommate in his murder trial."

"Does that seriously look like a freshman to you?" Graham asked back, puzzled by his roommate's lack of intelligence.

"Yes, it does," Eric again said matter-of-factly, "Yeah, he might be tall for his age, but he's just wrapped in his blanket, trying to warm on these cold nights. Here, I'll show you." Eric attempted to removed the "blanket," but he quickly realized that blanket was the web-like sheet of mucous."Ohhh…" was all Eric could let out of his mouth.

"Since we now established it is most definitely not a cold freshman, we got to figure out what exactly it is," Graham informed Eric. Taking his pocket knife off his desk, Graham knelt down and cut off a piece of the monster's web-like mucous, placing the bit in a cup.. "Let's run to this to science lab to look at this under a microscope in order to discover its weak spot, especially if we run into more of them."

"Yeah, that would be good," said Eric, "considering that right there was the easiest monster in the fanfic," pointing to the script.

"What?! This is the easiest monster in the whole fanfic?!" Graham exclaimed. "Then yes, we better get to science lab as soon as possible."

The two boys exited their dorm room, but they quickly hopped back into it. Peering outside into the quad's lounging area, they noticed another one of those monsters. It was completely identical to the last monster, even down to the exact same size. This one behaved differently, though. It just walked around in circles, quietly moaning to itself. Graham and Eric tooling take the risk that this one was peaceful.

"Say," Graham said to Eric, "the wooden crossbar on your desk is not loose by any chance, is it?"

"No, not the case at all," Eric answered.

Thinking fast, Graham looked around the quad lounge for a way to protect himself. On a nearby table, Graham saw that one of his quadmates left a Wiimote out, with the nunchuck still attached. In one smooth motion, Graham darted out the door, grabbed the Wiimote and wrapped the cord around the monster's perceived neck. The monster flailed its arms in a circular motion, as if trying to reach back and grab its attacker, but it was unsuccessful. The nunchuck cord eventually snapped, but by then, it was too late. There another monster laid dead on the ground due to its asphyxiation. Both gentlemen couldn't help but stare at it again.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Eric shouted at Graham, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean 'what the hell' this time?" Graham snapped back. "I thought we already established that this thing is not human!"

"Yeah," Eric acknowledged, "but aren't you Mennonite?"

"Yeah, so?" Graham questioned, not making a connection.

"Aren't you Mennonites supposedly pacifist or non-violent or something like that?" Eric asked.

"Listen," Graham answered Eric, looking him squarely in the eyes, "I am a non-violent pacifist towards human beings created in the Image of God. That…thing…is not a human, and it definitely not created in the Image of God! If kicking one of those things protects me or or another human made in the Image of God, I will kill it!"

"Sounds like somebody is dealing with pent up aggression," Eric said under his breath, rolling his eyes. Graham heard Eric, but he ignored it, for he hated when Eric went all counselor on him without his permission.

"Well," Graham said, changing the subject, "with first the wooden plank breaking and then the Wiimote nunchuck cord snapping, we definitely got to get this sample down to the science lab to figure out what these things are made of to discover their weaknesses. If they are made of harder stuff, we can't afford to keep losing weapons like this."

"Yeah, seriously," Eric said," in what world do weapons break so easily?!"

"coughsilenthilloriginscough" Graham coughed. Both Eric and Graham stared into the 4th wall. Graham then headed to the entry door of the quad, but he was soon stopped his tracks.

"Uhhh, Eric," Graham said, still starting at the entrance, "we got a problem.". Eric went up to Graham, and he too saw the problem. The entry door was covered in chains and ropes. Padlocks of both key locks and combination locks held the chains together, and complicated knots held the ropes together.

"Well, these chains and ropes definitely wasn't there before," Eric observed.

"Neither was this peephole," Graham said, looking through the peephole.

"What do we see outside?" Eric asked.

"Nothing much," Graham replied. "Just a bunch of bloody handprints along the wall."

"Well how are we going to solve this one?" Eric asked. "Does Mr. Smarty Pants have a solution to this problem?"

"I have no clue," Graham responded. "This will take a long time to figure out."

"Well then," Eric said, "I'm going to sit on my thinking chair."

"You're going to sit on the toilet, aren't you?" Graham asked.

"I'm going to sit on the toilet!" Eric announced marching towards the bathroom. Graham continued to state at the door. He felt like he saw this before, and if he just stared at it enough, he could solve it. After a brief silence, Graham heard his roommate's voice.

"Ummm, Graham?" Eric shouted from the bathroom.

"Yes, I bet it is big," Graham shouted back, "no, I don't want to see it."

"No, not that!" Eric shouted back. "Well, yes, but actually no, that's not what I had in mind. Come here. I think you'll want to see this."

Graham entered the bathroom to find his roommate staring into a hole dug into the wall. Both men peered into it like Red and Warden Norton in The Shawshank Redemption.

"Where do you think it goes?" Eric asked.

"Only one way to find out," Graham said, as hopped into the hole.

"Wait for me," Eric said as he too hopped into the hole, not wanting to be left alone.