The next night, Randall got his water first and went by the house. He saw the shadows in the house again and laid low.
"NO! PLEASE! I'm sorry!" The girl was screaming again with grief and terror.
"You have crossed me for the last time! Now you're going to get it for the last time!" The horrendous woman sounded in Randall's ears.
He gasped. Normally he would have just left the scene, but this had gone on long enough. He put the canteen down and ran to the scene.
He ran real fast and leaped up to the window, smashing through it, glass shattering everywhere. Right now, he didn't care if he was seen.
The woman and the child turned, startled out of their wits at what had caused the glass to break like that.
The woman had a rolling pin in her hands. She was about 5'2, with short red hair, green eyes, and jeans and a white shirt on.
"What on Earth are you?" She asked with a scared tone.
Randall growled. "You are not going to harm that kid!"
"She's my property and I'll do whatever I want with her! Now get out before I call the police!"
He growled again and with the right amount of adrenaline, he vanished.
"Where are you?!" She began hitting the rolling pin out in front of herself.
She was then suddenly so startled and screamed when she fell over backwards.
The child was shocked at this. Her abuser was taking this revenge now. She had no idea who this strange creature was, but he was helping her.
The woman got back up again, trying to find the attacker, but then she was pushed from behind and she fell on her front this time. But this time, her head connected with a decorative rock on the floor. There was a crushing sound on the rock, and then blood on the floor. The woman no longer moved.
Randall reappeared. "Get a taste of your own medicine, you old bitch!" He said angrily. Then he stepped away from her.
He walked back over to the child. She was still in shock this had happened.
"She won't be hurting you again, Kid. A mother shouldn't treat her child like that." Randall's expression was soft to the girl.
The girl was still in shock, but when she snapped out of it, she got up and ran to him. She began to cry. She wrapped her arms around his waist, in between his two sets of arms.
He was now the startled one. No one had ever hugged him like this.
"She wasn't… my mom!" The girl sobbed.
Randall looked down at her hugging him, and, to his own surprise, he found himself putting his own arms around her in a hug. He lowered his lower body to the ground, holding the child.
He let her cry until she couldn't anymore. Then he asked, "So who was she then?"
"My guardian. She took me from a foster home and treated me bad."
"I can see that. Where are your parents?" Randall asked.
"I'm an orphan." The girl replied sadly.
This was one thing he and this girl had in common.
"So what's your name, Mr. Lizard?" The girl asked.
"It's not important. You should tell someone about the woman and let them get you to safety." Randall said. "I should go." He untangled himself from her to leave.
"Wait. I don't have anywhere else to go, and I would just get sent back to the foster care. I don't want to go back. Can't I go with you?"
"I can barely take care of myself, Kid. I just didn't want that woman to harm you anymore."
"Please?" She gave him sad, sorrow feared eyes.
Randall sighed in defeat. "Alright. But this is just temporary."
The girl smiled.
"But you have to stay quiet and follow me." Randall said. "I'll let you know when you can talk again."
"Okay. Let's go. Mr. Lizard." The girl said happily.
"The name's Randall, Kid." He led her to the door and they walked out together.
He led her to the canteen and they went into the swamps for the night, leaving that trailer behind and the door wide open. He got a flashlight out of his pack and they went into the darkness.
When they got to the swamp, Randall asked, "So what is your name anyway, Kid?"
"Joanna. Joanna Kimberly Knolls. You can call me Jo if you like, or Anna." Joanna said.
"Nice to meet you. Randall Boggs."
"I've never heard of a lizard who could talk." Joanna said.
"Well, let's just say I'm from a different place than here." Randall said.
"Cool!"
"Yeah, well, it's not cool. They kicked me out as they didn't want me either." Randall said.
"You just saved me from my horrible guardian. You can't be all that bad, Randall." Jo said.
"Thanks. I can be a pretty cool guy."
They soon arrived at his camping spot. "This is my home for the time being, Kid. Now I'm going to start a fire."
He gave Jo the flashlight and he began gathering wood limbs for the fireplace and he soon lit a fire.
"This is just like a camping trip." Jo smiled. She was sitting on a rock by the fire pit.
"Yeah, sort of. But it never ends for me. I'm going to have to find somewhere for you to go." Randall said.
"Why can't I stay with you, Randall?" Jo asked.
"It just isn't a good option. You would have to be on the run all the time, stay hidden, sneak around, kill animals for food, steal things. That's what I have to do to survive out here unfortunately." Randall explained.
He looked at the girl who was sitting across from him. She almost looked like an older version of the girl he had tried to test his Scream Extractor on. But he didn't want to tell her any of that. She had been scared of him, and yet, here was a different human girl who was wanting to be with him because he had saved her life.
"I could learn from you. I'm just happy to be away from that awful bad lady." Jo said.
Randall still knew this was a bad idea and just temporary. He knew humans weren't toxic, but he couldn't take care of her. Not like this. He would have to find a place for her, and the trailer park just had bad people just as bad as that whore who had been taking care of Jo before.
"It's late, Kid. We should get some sleep." Randall said.
"Okay." Jo said. She sounded tired.
It was a nice clear night out. It was a little cool out, considering it was March.
Randall brought out a blanket he had stolen. He was cold without it when he slept at night. The days were warmer.
"I'm cold." Jo said.
Randall knew that human kids slept with blankets too, as he saw them in the bedrooms when he was a scarer.
"This is the only blanket I have." Randall said. "We should have grabbed some more stuff before we ran out of the house."
"I don't want to go back." Jo whimpered and shivered.
Randall knew he had a tough decision to make. Go back tonight or wait until morning. But it was more dangerous then. He could be seen by other humans.
"Alright. You can have this blanket. I'm going to go back and get some stuff from your house. You stay here and get some sleep. I'll be back soon. Can you do that?" He asked.
"I'm so tired, Randall. Mrs. Stone would work me into the ground every day. She barely fed me."
"That woman?"
"Yes."
Randall let the girl settled down to rest. Then he was about to leave when she said, "Can you tuck me in, Randall? Please?"
He turned. "Hmm. Sure." He was hesitant, but he put the blanket over her.
"I have to go now. Just go to sleep." He patted her on the shoulder. "Be back soon." Then he left. He had the backpack on his back.
He was tired, but he had to do this if she was going to stay with him long enough.
Joanna was frightened by the sounds of the night, but she had the fire. But she didn't want to be alone. She pulled the blanket up to her head.
…..
Randall made his way to the park again and turned the light off. He made his way to the house where he had rescued the girl from. He went inside and the woman was still laying on the floor.
He glared at her and walked past her, to the bedroom and grabbed a blanket off the bed. Then came out to the kitchen again. He grabbed some food from the cupboards and some from the fridge, from what that looked like it wasn't perishable.
But what that he recognized that shouldn't come, he quickly ate it himself. He was famished by now.
After he got his hunger and all the packed things ready, daylight was beginning to show on the horizon. Randall knew he needed to get out of here before the park started stirring. He got out of there and just as he was crossing the road to get back to the swamp, he was so startled in his tracks by a truck that slammed on the brakes so hard it's brakes squealed.
Randall took that moment to run. He was down on all eights. He was fast and got away before anything more happened.
The man who was in the truck got out, he was so shocked at what he saw. He then saw where the lizard creature had come from. He was a tall man about 5'6. Heavy set. He wore jeans and a red jacket. He had brown hair.
It had come from a certain trailer house and when he looked over, the door was wide open and blowing in the wind that had started to pick up.
He walked over to the trailer. He knew it was too chilly yet for someone to want to have their door open like that. He walked to the door and he could smell something bad. He knocked and no one answered.
He went inside in investigate and he soon found the woman, Mrs. Stone, lying the floor, dead.
The man took out his cell phone and called the police. Soon, there were police cars everywhere and an ambulance was there too. Some of the neighbors even came out to watch and find out what was going on.
The body was carried out on a gurney, covered up. The neighbors were questioned if they knew what had happened to Mrs. Stone.
"We know nothing, but we did know that she yelled at the little girl she had constantly." A neighbor lady, a blonde one, said.
"Did you know if they kept a lizard?" The man who had discovered the body, asked.
"No. They didn't. Stone was more the type who shouldn't have had a kid either."
"Wait. I know of a lizard. I've seen it running around here at night." Another neighbor spoke up.
"What of this lizard?" A cop asked.
"It goes around our neighborhood at night and steals from us. Up until now, it seemed harmless. It's never harmed anyone. Why? You don't think it did, do you?"
"I saw it coming from this house." The discover man said.
"But where's the little girl you spoke of?" A lady spoke of. "I could take care of her until you find a place for her."
"How nice of you, Ma'am, but there was no little girl in there." The cop said.
"There had to be. We've all seen her. She was treated like crap by Mrs. Stone. She never let her go to school and she was dirty and thin."
Some neighbors were beginning to think that Mrs. Stone had gotten what she deserved. But then, there was still the cause of death to be determined.
As the cops investigated the scene inside, they did see that Stone had hit her head on the decorative rock, but there was the question of did someone make her do it?
"How big was this lizard?" A cop asked the people.
"Oh, it's got to be about 13 feet or so in length. It moves so fast though." A guy said.
Then another cop came outside. "There has been things taken from the house. I think the little girl ran away. She must have tripped Mrs. Stone and ran off."
This was a big problem now. Both Joanna and Randall could be in trouble.
"We'll find this little girl you speak of." The cops said. "And we'll find out what happened. Maybe this lizard too, not that it would tell us anything."
….
Randall soon got back to the campsite where he had left Joanna. She was still awake and huddled by the tree.
"What are you doing up still?" Randall demanded firmly.
"I got scared when you left." Jo said and she came up to him, hugging him again. He was still feeling awkward about her doing this to him.
"It's safe here, Kid. But I had to get things for you. But now that I'm back, let's get some sleep."
He laid down and Joanna couldn't help but want to lay next to him.
"Can I have a little breathing space here, Jo?" Randall asked.
"Sorry. I just don't want to be far from you." She said.
"You'll be fine. We just both need some breathing room. Please, go to sleep. It's been a long night." Randall said.
"Yes, Randall." Jo said.
He tucked her into the spot she was sleeping on. This time, it was with a blanket she knew of. Randall had his back.
"From what I can remember about my real mom, she used to kiss me goodnight." Joanna said.
"I never was kissed goodnight." Randall said. "Can you make due with just a pat on the head or shoulder?"
"I think so."
"Good night." He patted her on her shoulder. Then he settled down to sleep.
Joanna fell asleep soon after too.
