Chapter 2

Poor Gizmo

The rainwater continued to drip from the ledge, "Noooo" Gizmo cried, "Billy!".

But it was too late a drop of water fell directly right on top of Gizmo's head followed by another and another and another, each one felt as cold as ice.

"Arrrrrgh" Gizmo cried in agony and despair, he could not believe this was happening again as his back began to painfully bubble holding him down against the ground, paralysing his movements, he thumped the ground in frustration.

The pain was excruciating and Gizmo lay completely immobile, he moaned miserably and tears formed around his eyes.

Gizmo closed his eyes longing for the cell division to stop, finally one small furball popped out from his body bouncing off the ceiling, two more shot out afterwards.

Then the involuntary multiplication process came to an abrupt halt, Gizmo rolled away from the dampness of the garage floor leakage with all his energy he crawled despairingly towards his box and curled up beside it shivering, he was too horrified to call for help and instincts told him to keep quiet to prevent being discovered as the three furballs formed and grew into new mogwai.

Two of the newly spawned mogwai looked almost identical, brown all over except their faces were blazed by white streaks, however one of them had its own distinctive features and despite being the last to hatch this one shot up and stood in front of the other two in a commanding way and like a mouse sticking its head above the parapet he was accepting the challenge of leadership.

As Gizmo lay shivering the other mogwai approached the box, their leader who featured black spiked hair that was rooted to his head and the upper part of its back casting a dark shadow on his face spoke, "Let's get gizzmoooo" and signaled with his claw for the other two to charge in, they all piled on top of Gizmo beating him up, the lead gremlin snarled and dug his sharp teeth into Gizmo's right arm as the other two smacked Gizmo around the head. Gizmo squealed in pain and cried loudly for Billy.

Billy had heard some commotion and went to investigate, he could tell straight away that it was coming from the unused garage, "I better check is Gizmo allright" he said as he collected the keys from his desk and walked outside into the cold penetrating air leaving the door slightly open behind him.

He slowly approached the garage and turned the key in the lock. As the door opened he called out "Are you okay in there Giz".

There was a snigger from one of the new mogwai and Billy heard this and suspected it was someone else, then came the repsonce, "Billy Help!" and Billy recognisied this as Gizmo's voice.

Billy dashed halfway across the garage to where the box was situated and to Gizmo's rescue. To his complete horror there was four mogwai there and one of them was getting attacked by the other three and that one was... "Gizmo!" Billy cried, "this can't be happening" he thought.

Gizmo was trying desperately to hold them off but they overpowered him and were hammering him mercilessly.

Then Billy saw the shattered glass on the ground and understood at once what had happened.

As his shock subsided Billy grabbed the evil looking spiked mogwai who attempted to bite his hand off and he managed to throw him half the length of the room knocking him unconscious and then carefully pulled Gizmo off the other two baddies before slamming the lid on the box and locking them in with another key he found instinctively in his pocket.

Gizmo looked up at Billy and began to sob, "Oh Gizmo" Billy cried, "you're hurt". Gizmo continued to cry uncontrollably and Billy wrapped his arms around his little friend in a warm embrace.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you Giz" Billy cried as he walked back into the house carrying Gizmo, he rested him on a cushion and then collapsed like a loose light beam onto the sofa.

Gizmo through all his anguish returned Billy a hug. "What are we going to do now?" sobbed Gizmo who was getting Billy's T-Shirt drenched in his tears.

"I'll deal with them don't worry Giz" he said petting Gizmo's head comfortingly.

Calm washed over Gizmo, at this point he was just happy to be safe in Billy's protective arms.

"I'm so glad I'm with you" Gizmo said.

He was still in a considerable amount of pain from injuries inflicted by his offspring waging their inevitable hate campaign against him, his head was also suffering with cuts from the shattered glass.

"Yeah I'll protect you from them now Gizmo, I better get you patched up huh" said Billy, he settled Gizmo down and went to fetch some bandages.

After a few minutes spent tending to Gizmo's injuries and getting themselves something to eat, Billy went to observe the damage in the garage, he was mystified by the cause of the damage to the window and then he discovered a stone underneath, he swept up the glass and then seeing all was well went back to check on Gizmo.

Gizmo was propped up on a cushion, chewing on some chicken vigorously, his injuries didn't seem too bad to him but he was deeply distraught and upset over what had happened, Billy knew this was playing on his mind and comforted him.

"Everything will be allright, I know it will be, I'll take control of the situation".

Gizmo however still felt unassured as he gave Billy a cuddle. He asked "Can you take them away somewhere?".

"Tomorrow" Billy replied for he noticed it was getting dead late, "I know their the nastiest batch I've encountered so far, but if anything happens, I won't let them harm you".

He scratched Giz behind the ears which made him feel a little happier. "Awww poor Gizmo" thought Billy.

"He's been through a lot up to now, despite me managing to keep him away from the dangers of direct sunlight and water ever since our homecoming to Kingston Falls from New York." he thought.

"You a cute creature y'know Giz and you don't deserve all this" he said soothingly.

Billy however in the back of his mind was beginning to feel very apprehensive, what if a batch like them did eat after midnight and all that, they would be far nastier than any gremlins he would ever see and if they found a water source there would be another catastrophe like what happened here in his hometown many years ago, he tried not to think about that.

After Gizmo calmed down and relaxed, Billy decided to ease their stress by firing up his computer, "I fancy shooting some alien monsters on Half-Life, what bout you Giz?" he asked. Gizmo was like "sure" and leaped up from his seating position, Billy caught him in his arms and lifted him up onto his lap as he booted up the game so Gizmo could see the screen.

After a few loading screens Billy remarked "I've been through what is called the hazard course in this game so I say let's get down to the action".

Billy watched the opening sequence of the game and was surprised by how long it took before his in-game character was able to do anything other than shift about inside a train carriage.

As Billy waited patiently he said "Gizmo you and me are as loyal as a dog to its owner".

Gizmo held onto Billy tightly showing his appreciation for the times they had together and gazed with interest at the screen, a sense of fascination swept across his eyes.

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(Is Gizmo happy now and will Billy be able to handle the new situation that is arising, find out in the next chapter, "As Midnight Approaches".)