Chapter six: In which Rachel takes on the present.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee.
The wood of the door gave way, its hinges creaking underneath the repeated thuds against the wood. Leaning against the bed, Rachel held the Luger tight in her left hand, the knife in her right. At her feet was Artie's notebook, open to the diagrams of the mutilated lab rats. The girl knew what she had to do; loading several bullets into the chamber, she waited, ready to open fire when the creature on the other side burst through.
She almost dropped the firearm, however, when she saw her fathers burst through the doors, unconscious. Held aloft by their gruesome assailant, the two men swung back and forth, imprisoned by tentacles. The display reminded one of two hangmen consigned to the gibbet. With quivering hands, Rachel aimed at the center of the enormous mass of gelatinous flesh when suddenly the creature lashed out a slimy appendage, constricting her arm.
"Pull the trigger, and I'll paint your walls with your family's blood."
The creature's voice was grating; it was as if its larynx, if the monster's respiratory system possessed one, was constantly obscured by layers of mucus. Hearing it speak was enough to make Rachel's blood turn to ice. She tried to pull away, but a second tentacle found its way around her right arm. The thing attempted to draw her close, dragging the poor girl along the floor and forcing her to her knees. As Rachel looked up into the eyes of her attacker, she began to sob.
"Stop crying - it is futile to resist. I am stronger than twenty of you could ever be. I could rip you to pieces where you stand, and my spawn will feast on your carcass, and those of your friends." The thing began to laugh as yet another tentacle began to wrap itself around her torso, taking small bites of her neck and causing Rachel to wince. "Why struggle? When I'm finished raping you, if you're a good girl, you might be lucky enough to be my favorite pet."
Rachel, however, would not stop sobbing. All she could do was choke out a single word: "Why?"
"Why? You look upon me with disgust, the same disgust that Prospero showed Caliban, the same that your God showed to Lucifer and Adam. Shall I tell you what your friend Artie did to me in his little playroom? While he looked at me with that stupid grin on his face, he would fill my blood with drugs, attempt to see if I would burn or freeze to death. Sometimes he would stab me and pour my blood into test tubes. The other, Finn, was no different, keeping me imprisoned in a box. Was it not through him that I was given flesh? Shall I tell you what they called me? Your boys referred to me as 'monster,' as 'demon,' as a 'project.' As a little joke, whenever they were together, they would call me 'a freak like them,' and then they would come at me with fire and needles."
"Why me though?"
The creature took to laughing again. "I look at your form and immediately I become filled with lust, and it's only sweeter that you're the girl that my tormentors loved. I'll violate you until you become mine. Scream if you must, tell who you must. Nobody will believe you, and those who know are powerless to stop me. For all his strength, Finn struggled to contain me, and he cannot kill me. You will all become my playthings, and all the people you love will become mine. Already I have Finn, and I have you. Come on, scream. The more you resist, the more excited I get!"
The monster extended two other tentacles, spreading Rachel's legs open, when suddenly, Rachel slammed the knife into one of the creature's eyes. It let out a shriek and started dripping blood on the floor. The tendrils around her arms relaxed, and the girl, pointing her gun at the creature, fired straight into the thing's center, forcing it to drop her parents. Picking up each of her fathers, the girl moved quickly, striking at the window with the butt of the pistol and causing it to shatter. The monster attempted to extend a tendril at her, but she threw the knife into another one of its eyes, seized the notebook, held it firmly between her teeth, and leapt out the window, her fathers either arm, adrenaline rushing through her veins.
The shock of the impact shattered her left knee, and the shards of glass from the broken window embedded themselves into her hands and feet, while another grazed her side. She didn't care; the girl crawled towards the gates, with her parents in tow, and hoisted herself to her good leg, undoing the bolt. Falling back onto her stomach, Rachel attempted to creep away, the cries of the beast resounding in her ears. She was losing consciousness quickly, and suddenly, it became apparent that she could die. As the icy winds began to drive the glass into her flesh, Rachel's breath became heavier, the sound of her heartbeats getting louder and louder. She was fighting for her life, and darkness was beginning to envelop her and her parents. At last, leaning against the gate, Rachel let the notebook fall from her teeth onto the ground. As blood poured from her wounds, the girl cast her gaze skyward and slowly closed her eyes.
Rachel awoke to a bright light, on a soft mat. Raising herself into a sitting position, she looked at her arms; they were covered in bandages, and her leg was in a cast. Suddenly, she realized that her parents were nowhere to be found. Rolling out of bed, the girl made a weak effort to raise herself to her feet, clutching the side for support. Her entire body was wracked with agony from her efforts, and only barely could she avoid collapsing like a ragdoll. As Rachel slowly lowered herself to the floor, she saw Artie wheel himself into the room.
"Please don't try to move. I could just barely rescue you and your parents."
Rachel looked up at the boy in the wheelchair. "Where am I?"
"You're at the hospital. You're going to be safe, everything will be okay."
"I have so many questions about this thing. Can you help me?"
"Again, I can't tell you very much, everything I know is in this notebook. I'm impressed that you managed to wound the thing, though. Now, I have the notebook here, and there's something important I have to tell you."
Rachel nodded weakly, before falling to the floor again. Artie cringed; his friend's current state was pitiful, and it was enough to turn him a shade of green. Looking back at the notebook, he let out a sigh.
"When the creature left me, I knew it would go after you, so I crawled to my wheelchair and got to my car. It was a good thing, too; when I found you and your parents, you were nearly dead. Now, let me see..."
The boy opened the notebook, thumbing through the bloodstained pages. Turning to a picture of a black blob, organs askew, Artie pointed to a series of entries. "The results of the dissections are here. Now, it's been a rough two nights. Will you be okay with more disquieting news?"
Rachel sighed. "All right, tell me."
Artie began to read.
"'November 25:
A dissection of the new specimen shows anatomical similarities to the black mouse I found earlier. However, what is most interesting is, upon further investigation, I found a pair of organs protected by the tentacles. After placing these under the microscope, I discovered a series of small cells - when compared to the cells of the creature's skin, I noticed some distinct differences, namely a series of protrusions that could be used to latch themselves to organic matter. As they differ so greatly from the creature's somatic cells, I believe that these could be the creature's gametes, that the creature has possibly fertilized itself.
I believe that these cells could be tied to the specimen's means of reproduction. The organism's tentacles serve not only as a means of transportation, but as a means of reproduction; they use these tendrils to penetrate the females of any mammalian species in order to reproduce, releasing these cells into female hosts. These cells may connect themselves to the wombs of these organisms and feed as if the fetus of a normal mammal. As the offspring of the previous specimen took the form of a rat, I believe that the offspring may take some traits from their hosts. If left unchecked, it is possible that the hosts may be killed, and this could turn into a horrible pandemic. The rate of gestation is shorter than usual for a mouse, so it is possible that the rate of gestation for any such embryo could be considerably shortened.'
Do you understand what this means?"
Rachel shook her head.
"It's possible that when the creature raped you, it might have impregnated you. The rate of development could be even faster than usual, and it's possible that you could die. It's only a matter of time."
The girl suddenly felt an overwhelming sensation of nausea and started to vomit profusely. As her companion stared in shock, a horde of hospital staff rushed into the room.