I'm sorry about the length of this chapter. Once I'd got started, I couldn't stop!
And, finally, a bit more Randall.
Near Dark
Chapter 2-
Mary's father rolled over, mumbling in his sleep. She paused. Her heart hammered away, and her face grew tense with anxiety.
Slowly stretching out her arm, she slipped her hand into her father's coat, draped over a chair by his bed. She rummaged around in the cavernous pockets until the cold, smooth metal of a bunch of keys was found. Carefully, discreetly, and without taking her eyes off her snoozing father for a single moment, she raised her arm, especially cautious of making the keys jangle, and once certain that she had got what she came for, retreated out of the room.
Leaning against the wall in the hallway, she sighed silently. There, within her pink, clammy little hands, was the chance to return to the Monster World.
"Okay everyone, we're here! Let's get sorted out. No-one leaves the Atticus without a weapon; we're in a big city now." Chuck turned back around, looking bleakly out of the front window and seeing, outside of the two bursting beams of light from the Atticus, absolute darkness.
To his immediate surprise, directly in front of the Atticus were two monsters, both obviously terrified by the heaving machine before them.
"Looks like it's gonna be easier than I thought to find survivors out here," he chuckled to himself. He smirked at Scort who was standing attentively by his side. "Go outside and make sure those two don't go anywhere."
Chuck stood up straight and faced the cockpit of the Atticus, where most of his team were finally ready and waiting. The armour some wore was thin and weak, mostly handmade, and the weapons were varied in size and power. They all understood the dangers of going into a city like this when light had not yet dawned, but it was worth it to ensure the safety of anyone who might still be alive out there. The thought of roaming a once industrial, bustling, alive city such as Monstropolis without any protective equipment whatsoever, fully exposed to the touch of any human that might be lurking out there, was enough to send shivers down the spines of certainly more than one of the crew members. It was a sickening prospect.
"We've already got two guys- Scort's down with them right now- so why don't we give them a nice, big, Atticus welcome?" A few manly cheers were raised by the team.
They filed out of the main door and down the steps, every monster wary and observant of their surroundings, but none more so than Randall. He took a shuddering deep breath.
He was home.
As they stepped out into the deep, cavernous darkness of the city streets, Randall felt overwhelmed. He had seen Monstropolis in its heyday, and although he had never been entirely happy living there, he quickly recognised some of the local shops and sights, and felt a pang of longing. It had changed so much in those eight years, yet in Randall's eyes, there was no change at all. Monstropolis had always been bleak and dark and spiteful to him.
Despite this, he felt drawn into the city. His breaths became deeper, clogging up in his throat, and his eyes grew large, shimmering in the darkness. Slowly, he wandered off, away from the group. The idea of being back in Monstropolis was almost too much for him to handle.
He stood in the middle of the street behind the Atticus, with the murmurs of the others still in earshot. Looking around was all he could do at the time. He absorbed the surroundings, feeling strangely whole again, yet ever emptier.
Randall decided that he needed a bit of time for himself.
The group gathered around the two newly-found monsters, huddling like penguins in the arctic. The two monsters seemed shaken to the core, both wide-eyed and clinging to each other as if separation meant death.
Chuck smiled warmly.
"Sorry if we gave you a bit of a fright there; our, uh, vehicle has that effect on people sometimes." He presented a four-fingered hand, and the two monsters warily shook it, still silent in astonishment. "We call it the Atticus," Chuck continued, motioning to the machine. "It's home to any monsters in need of food, drink, and warmth. We'd be happy to take you two on board. That is, if you're willing to pull your weight!" A nervous ripple of chuckles went around the group.
"T-thank you," the larger monster stuttered, his fur bristling. "My name's Sulley, and this is Mike." The smaller green monster shied away, his single eye darting from one face to the next.
After an awkward pause, Mike felt compelled to say something.
"You're not gonna eat us, are ya? Because if you are, I warn you, I know karate!" Mike took up a fighting stance, but one that looked utterly pathetic.
"Sorry about that," Sulley apologised, holding back his friend, "he hasn't eaten anything in a while. Neither of us have..."
"Well, come on in, boys! I'll have our onboard mechanic rustle up something for you to eat. Randall?" Chuck scanned the group as the others shrugged, bemused. "Randall? Where's he gone?" More shrugs. "He got off the Atticus with us, didn't he?"
Ijzendoorn nodded with a snort, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I was directly behind him."
"Then where the heck's he gone?" Chucked glared at the rest of the group, before finally conceding with a sigh. "Ijzendoorn, you take these two up. You're more use on board anyway. We'll just have to find Randall as we search the city for other monsters. You two haven't seen anyone else, have you?"
Sulley shook his head.
"Not for a few weeks now. We just stayed in the same block of flats most of the time."
"Okay then, never mind. I'm sure we'll find someone if they are out there. We haven't missed a soul yet. Let's move out, guys!"
The light clank of metal upon metal was all that gave Randall away as he wandered down a narrow alleyway. He remembered using this path as a shortcut to his old apartment, which was situated a good five minutes away.
Pausing for a moment, he adjusted the strap to the shotgun that was hanging off his right shoulder. He didn't like carrying weaponry; he felt all he ever needed to survive were his own wits. Nonetheless, he still felt considerably nervous. When he had first ambled off, he didn't give a thought to the dangers that could be surrounding him. He was just overtaken by being back in Monstropolis.
Now he realised that he had taken leave of his senses, and upon returning to them found himself in a gut-wrenching situation.
He was by himself, in the dark, and although just moments ago he was convinced of his location, suddenly everything looked slightly different and out of place. His one good eye was sending signals to his brain that caused panic to rise out of his stomach and grasp his cold breath. Suddenly, he wasn't so cock-sure about what street he was on, or where he was entirely.
Randall spun round. His eyes zipped around. He squeezed the gun.
He almost doubled up at the realisation that he was lost.
Rushing to the end of the alleyway and peering around the crumbled corner of a building, he scanned the area, desperate for a spark of recognition to settle his stomach. The street lay still, as if waiting for something to happen. He couldn't hear the rumbling engine of the Atticus.
Randall turned back into the alleyway, back against the wall, and squeezed his eyes shut. His breathing was furious, as if he wanted to suck all of the oxygen out of the air. The expression on his face was tense, concentrated, and his pallor near-white.
If a human were to catch him now, that'd be it. The end of the road.
And the idea of coming into contact with one of those creatures after what he had been through in the human world...
Phst.
Randall stopped breathing.
He had heard something. Something...alive. It was coming to get him, he knew it, it was coming to catch him and take him away and destroy his life all over again!
The lizard-monster sped down the alleyway, into the middle of the street, sprinting as fast as he could on all eights. Sweat dotted his forehead, and every movement he made was shaky and uncontrolled. He dared not look back.
"Oh god...Oh god..."
A half demolished building seemed the perfect place to hide. He leapt over a crumbled wall and made for a door that led into an inner room, but as one of his hands went to turn the knob, his movements grew sluggish and his eyes rolled in their sockets.
He doubled over, retching, and slowly folded to the ground.
Sulley looked about himself warily. This vehicle was very strange, but the Atticus provided everything that Chuck had promised.
"Please, take a seat." Ijzendoorn motioned to the small table in the corner of the jumbled up room, and then began to prepare some food. Although Sulley went to sit down quite comfortably, Mike stood stock still.
"Did you hear what that guy said, Sulley?" He mouthed his words carefully, in an uncomfortable, soft tone of voice. "He said 'Randall'. Randall's here. Randall, Randall. Our Randall. The one who..."
Sulley shrugged.
"Randall's quite a common name, Mike. It might be a different Randall."
"Well, there's only one way of finding out. You-", he addressed Ijzendoorn roughly, "what does the R-Randall you know look like?"
Ijzendoorn turned from the counter. "He's purple, about so tall, scaley-"
"See! See! I told you, Sulley! I knew it was him! I just knew it! It's Randall! Randall!" Mike flailed his arms wildly, his voice growing higher and higher.
Sulley shrugged again, still reserved.
"We still don't know it's him, Mike," he replied in an exasperated tone.
"Oh, come on, Sulley! How many purple scaley monsters with the name 'Randall' do you think are about?! It's him! He's somehow come back from banishment and now..." Mike paused. "...now...He's going to KILL US!"
Mike continued his ravings, pacing back and forth, sometimes muttering to himself, sometimes exclaiming wildly. Soon enough, Sulley tired of this.
"Mike!" The little green monster looked up, as if snapped back to reality. "Let's calm down. We've had a lot to take in, and right now, we need to focus on having something to eat and getting some rest. We'll think about Randall later."
Mike frowned, but soon saw his friend's way of thinking. The smell of roasted dog lung made him realise how right Sulley was, and his stomach gurgled in agreement. The two ate in silence, Ijzendoorn watching discreetly, and when they were done, he cleared their plates. They had reams upon reams of questions to ask- where did the Atticus come from? Where did the other monsters come from? Why where they there, and where did they plan on going next? Ijzendoorn willingly obliged in answering their questions, but soon the topic of conversation changed in tone.
"Where did you find Randall, then?" Mike queried. He had calmed down, and controlled his voice.
By this time, Ijzendoorn had sat down with them, his pencil-like figure carefully bent in the middle to accommodate the awkward chairs.
"To be honest, I have very little recognition of exactly what circumstances brought Randall to join our little troop. We have saved so many monsters since the Atticus has been built, and many have left us."
"But why would they leave the Atta-whatchacallit? This is like one of the few safe places to be in the entire country?"
"Uhm, they did not leave us willingly..."
Mike grimaced. "Oh." A moment passed, and the little oil lamp lighting the room flickered, sending shadows sprawling across the rickety walls and crooked ceiling. "So, what about Randall then?"
Ijzendoorn shifted in his chair, realising that Mike would not let the subject drop easily.
"He just suddenly...appeared one day. I do distinctly remember an encounter with humans, concerning food or something along those lines, and then in our efforts to escape back to the Atticus, one monster was left behind. We were all safely on board, and when the alarm was raised that someone might have been abducted by the humans, well, what could we do but that point but wait and hope that he might be able to escape the clutches of those vile beings by himself? After an hour or saw, we saw two figures in the distance. Randall had risked his own life and saved him."
Mike and Sulley glanced at each other, knowing what question they had to ask next.
"But, has Randall said anything about before all of that? Before he came on the Atticus?" Sulley said.
Ijzendoorn abruptly stood up, his chair scraping back, and attended to the washing up. Whilst facing the wall, he spoke firmly.
"You must understand, gentlemen, that Randall is a private person. He keeps himself to himself."
Nothing more was said.
It was chilly outside. The night air nipped at Mary's fingers, and she scolded herself for not having brought gloves.
She stood in the shadows of a cluster of trees, facing a large concrete building surrounded by metal fencing and barbed wire. Security was tight.
She fingered the keys in her pocket, ensuring that they were still there. Her father only ever briefly discussed his work with her, and it had taken a considerable amount of cunning and pure daring to find the location of where he worked. His paperwork wasn't as protected as he thought it was.
Yet despite having done all of her research, and having riled herself up for this very moment, the task before Mary seemed more daunting than ever. If she did somehow manage to scale these fences, how was she to know whether there were any other hidden security features about? And even if she did somehow get inside, where would she find all the active doors? What would she even do once she had entered the Monster World?
Mary began to sob, albeit very quietly. All she wanted to do was find her Kitty. She had felt a pining for him ever since she could remember, and she wanted to satisfy her yearning for a hug from someone she held so dearly in her heart.
She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to become emotional.
Creeping forward, Mary analysed her surroundings constantly, never taking a step unless she was certain that there was no-one about. The place seemed surprisingly quiet on the outside, but the inside could be teeming with scientists and people from the army and, more importantly, security guards.
Step by hesitant step, she soon reached the metal fence. Pushing her fingers through the gaps, she began to scale the vertical face, every movement a struggle- silence was of the utmost importance.
Her efforts were not enough.
Within seconds, several spotlights lit up with a bang and focused directly on her. Security guards seemed to appear out of nowhere, holding their guns in a menacing stance and surrounding her without a moment's hesitation. A voice on a loudspeaker demanded that she drop to the floor, and all Mary could do was oblige.
As the guards advanced, Mary whimpered.