Eric spoke to himself, "You did good, Eric...You got the girl...Abby...she's amazing...You will see her tomorrow...Finish the game...Right, back to work.", nodding as he's excited now to work on the game. He really wants to impress Abby...
He then headed up to the laboratory, smiling and attuning his mind now to focus on the game specs, and nodded to the professor who was just coming into the lab as well, "Hi, professor. They are happy to come tomorrow for the tour.".
Professor Kaufman smiled, "Very good. You think you can finish the final specs on the game?", and Eric smiled, "Oh, I believe that I will finish it, professor.".
Professor Kaufman blinked before chuckling, "Ah, I see. Well, get going and see to it.", noting the spark in his eyes that had grown brighter. He was curious to ask for a moment but decided to let it go for now.
Eric nodded, "Yes, sir.", and headed to his computer, looking at the final specs, figuring out the technical details of his game. And so, the day passed, and evening approached, and then everything changed with an incredible, terrifying, and chaotic event when something went wrong with the laser.
As the professor, Eric, and Bill stared in shock, watching the blue glowing phantom virus leave, disappearing into the darkness, Eric moved his arm and winced, "Guys, a little help here.", trying to untie the wires from his wrist, feeling the terrible pain, realizing that it's really bruised up, but gratefully, he didn't feel anything break.
Bill and Professor Kaufman snapped out of their shock, and the professor nodded, "Right, we need a wire cutter or scissors. Bill?", and Bill replied, "On it.", searching the drawers.
After the wires were cut, Eric winced in pain, and the professor replied, "We better get you to the nurse.", and Bill replied, "I'll stay here in case if that thing comes back, and I can go down to security if it does.".
Professor Kaufman said, "Okay, then. Come on, Eric.", and Eric nodded, sighing softly as he held it carefully...Abby will be so concerned about him when she finds out...Hopefully, he can work okay with this...
After a few minutes, Bill checked to make sure the coast is clear, and then went back to the console, working on the laser, grabbing the binoculars, opening the window here and there, and after a minute of searching, he grinned as he saw Thorn strolling alone down the football field, and directed the laser in the direction of Thorn, figuring out the specs of the distance and angle, and worked it into the game.
With a push of the button, the beam of the laser came and went, absorbing Thorn. She was there one second, the next, nothing, and Bill was quick to close the window, close down the laser beam, and close down the console computers, yet kept the game flickering on and off in a hidden place on the computer.
Bill grinned to himself, "Enjoy the levels, bitch.", and hummed lightly as he departed from the laboratory, heading down to security, keeping his word to an extent so the professor and Eric wouldn't suspect.
"Everything alright?", Bill asked as he rejoined the others. "No sight of that... thing?", he asked as Kaufman and Eric shook their heads.
"No... and I don't even know where to begin with that thing...", Eric muttered as he winced in pain with his arm still.
Kaufman sighed deeply, "You talked to security?", and Bill nodded, "Yeah, and they didn't believe me. Go figure. I closed down the lab in case if it comes back and messes up stuff.".
Eric replied, "Good idea, Bill. My arm is not wrecked, but it's really bruised up.", as the nurse had bandaged it up with some pain salve. Kaufman frowned softly, "You two head to my office. It's not comfortable, but the couch will have to do...I will talk to security, hopefully, they will take me more seriously, not that you tried, Bill.", looking at Bill with a reassuring nod.
Bill shrugged, "Yeah, I tried, professor...I'm just a college student, anyway. Come on, Eric, maybe there's a pillow for your arm.", and Eric nodded, "Better than nothing. We have to be safe, huh?".
"Indeed, the safety of you two, as my students, are more important than anything right now.", Kaufman nodded, and the college boys nodded, and headed off to Kaufman's office, to sleep off their nerves and such while Kaufman went to security, with Kaufman and Eric unknowingly of Bill's crimes.
Meanwhile, in the bus, Vlad came down the stairs from the top floor, sniffing around and listening, frowning as there's no sign of Thorn. He knew she told him that she was taking some fresh air out on the football field, to enjoy the stars, but it has been almost a half hour since she went out.
He exited the bus, listening for the familiar sound of Thorn's heartbeat and his child's heartbeat, and froze in worry as he couldn't hear anything, and he ran to the football field, sniffing the trail of her footsteps, and then ended up into nothing. Not even a trace of her perfume either...
Vlad ran back to the bus, zipping upstairs, knocking frantically on Dusk and Luna's doors, and Luna groaned as Dusk looked out, "Dracula, dude, it's midnight!", before noticing Vlad's desperate look.
Luna replied, "Is Thorn okay? Is the kid okay?!", and Vlad shook his head, "I don't know! She hadn't come back from her walk, and when I just went outside to find her, she is gone! I can't find her scent, and I can't hear her or our child anywhere!".
The girls immediately sprang up from where they were sitting. "Shit!", Luna cursed. "I could track it right to the football field but then it suddenly stopped...", Vlad panted as he was starting to worry. "Like she was in one spot and then suddenly just... poof..".
Dusk asked, "Is there any other scent?", and Vlad shook his head, "No, there's no other recent scents, and the scents of other students have already faded by weeks or months.", biting his lip.
Luna replied, "Could it be possible for her to fly due to the kid?", and Vlad shook his head, "No, and powers of the child doesn't develop until years later.".
"The campus is practically asleep. You scour from the skies.", Dusk said as she and Luna went with Vlad downstairs, and Vlad nodded, "And you two?".
They shared a look, and Dusk replied, "I will ask security if they had seen her.", and Luna said, "I'll stay here in case if she comes back.". Vlad exhales, accepting the plan, and transforms into his bat form, scouring from the skies as he steadily and carefully searches the campus grounds while Dusk heads to the head security office, with Luna watching them from the bus, turning on the lights for Thorn to see.
Luna sighs, "I hope you and the kid are okay...It isn't like you to vanish without telling us on the phone or something...", unknowingly of Thorn's situation.
Thorn herself is stunned as she finds herself on the moon, wearing an astronaut suit after seeing spans of green surrounding herself...The last thing she remembers was taking a deep breath, glancing up at the stars when she saw a greenish-blue light coming at her at the corner of her eye, and the only thing she did was instinctively protecting her belly, and then she knew nothing for a few moments before appearing here...
She checks herself out of parental worry, and exhales as she finds that her belly bump has gotten a tad bigger somehow, and then saw magic flickering at her gloves, and she then hears something unfamiliar for a second before the magic disappeared, and the sound is gone.
Thorn was confused, yet she decides to look into it later as she is literally on the moon, looking around, and starts to move before realizing that she is literally somewhat weightless, floating and flying through the air.
With a shocked laugh, she tries to take ahold of the gravity, and plays around with it before seeing a tent, an American flagpole, and a box of something...She couldn't see it clearly, but she clearly could see the moon rover nearby...
"Okay Sally, you've somehow ended up on the moon...", Thorn whispered to herself as she took a few more steps and glanced around. "Something's seriously off though... aside from the moon...".
She then hears a hissing, cackling sound, and she turns around to see two creepy creatures, armed with spears, riding some sort of misshaped rover.
Seeing the spears, she realizes that they're angry for her trespassing or something, and she hops-runs to the moon rover, searching for the key, and turns it on, speeding off, checking the mirror, "And I thought there aren't Martians on the moon!", shifting the gear, hoping that there's a weapon in the tent or something.
She gasped as the Martians threw the spears at her, and she dodged them, almost falling into a crater, and she arrived at the tent, getting out, searching the tent, but nothing, and she groans in frustration, hearing the hissing, cackling of the Martians getting closer, and lands her eyes on the box, seeing Scooby Snax on it, and saw that the designs were similar to the designs on the moon rover.
Seeing the Martians coming closer with their recovered spears, Thorn bit her lip, and muttered, "Please let it be a dream.", while grabbing the box, and then gasped in shock as it vanished into green transparent cubes, and then nothing.
She was confused for a moment before she saw her gloves taking on the same thing, and she felt frozen, seeing the moon surface for a second before seeing black. A moment later, she felt the environment change as she unfroze, seeing the green transparent cubes appear bigger and in different shapes, and then before she knew it, she was standing in a strange stadium, with the sky above her.
"Okay... this... what is this... some sort of game!?", Thorn shouted in anger and annoyance as she clenched her fists. "Please tell me I'm just dreaming, and my damn mind is running too wild this time...".
She then felt an unfamiliar feeling, some sort of cramps, no, not cramps, like little kicking, and she looked down at herself, gasping in surprise as she saw her belly bump looking a bit bigger, and she rubbed her belly, feeling the little kicks, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I scared you...", realizing that this is not a dream, and somehow, those strange green transparent cubes are part of this strange place.
And somehow, she is progressing faster in her pregnancy, and then saw magic flickering at her hand, hearing that unfamiliar sound again before she then remembers Vlad's words two nights ago when he was in one of his affectionate moods, saying that the sound of their child's heartbeat is like a baby bunny's heartbeat, fast and strong.
She gasped in shock as she is actually hearing her child's heartbeat, with her Wiccan magic! Tears prick at her eyes in joy, realizing that her child is strong and healthy despite the current situation...
"This... you... oh, you're so beautiful...", Thorn whispered to herself as she gently rubbed her belly, just imagining what her child would look like. "Don't worry, your mom won't let anything happen to you... I promise, I'll get us out of here... somehow...".
She took a deep breath and nodded to herself before looking around...She then realized that she saw this place in a picture somewhere long ago...something about the Romans...wait, it's the Coliseum!
She spoke loudly, "Hello?", before the stadium began to fill with noises, and then saw people in the seats, but they aren't normal...their hair and clothes look different...almost like fuzzy...
The people roared out in encouragement as Thorn then heard horns bellow behind her, and then saw two doors open out, with one having a horde of skeleton gladiators, and the other door revealing a huge, snarling lion, with the familiar box of Scooby Snax.
"Great... skeletons and a lion... this day just keeps getting better.", Thorn groaned. She had to suspect that those Scooby Snax were her way out since it was on the moon before. Now the only question was how was she going to deal with those in her way?
She narrowed her eyes as she saw the weapons the skeletons were wielding, and she doesn't want to find out if she and her child can be killed, and then she heard humming, looking down at her hands, sparking bright with magic.
"Take this if you can!", Thorn shouted as she focused on firing her magic in blasts, straight at the horde, and instantly, the skeleton horde became dust or in pieces.
Thorn laughed in shock and triumph, looking at her hands as her magic flickered and then went away, "Whoa...", as the crowd roared, cheering for her.
"Okay... I clearly have gone into witch mode, it seems... wish that Grimwood lady was here to give me more of a hand if that's the case.", Thorn said to herself as she turned to see the lion roaring at her. "Alright, Simba... let's take it easy...", she held her hands up.
The lion snarled, standing over the Scooby Snax box before he growled in confusion as a flash of light grabbed his attention, and he darted to touch it before it moved as Thorn reacted, realizing the lion is moving forward at her before blinking at the actions of the lion, it's almost like it's acting like a kitty cat. She saw the spot of light and looked down to see her bat necklace gleaming off the sunlight.
She grinned as she took it off, and moved it here and there to distract the lion, growling as he chased it, farther and farther from the Scooby Snax box, and Thorn ran as she kept distracting the lion, and finally reached the spot, leaning down to grab it as she put down her bat necklace when she heard a furious roar coming behind her, looking over as she gasped in fear to see the lion charging at her, and she touched the box with her hands, and then the familiar green transparent stuff came back to her, and she then saw black.
Another moment later, light began to return as the world changed around her once again. She slowly opened her eyes before closing them again as things were a bit too bright for her at the moment.
After a few moments, she opened them, and was amazed to see a whole new world of strange plants and an amazing terrain yet there's plenty of familiar trees, just smaller or bigger than usual.
"Wow... really humid around here...", Thorn said as she wiped her brow. "This place looks strangely familiar... like something out of a recent movie...". She glanced around as she looked to a large tree. "Hope you don't mind Mommy climbing this tree, little one.", she whispered to her growing child as she decided to climb up one of the trees so she could see things at a better angle.
She felt heavier and bigger now, feeling hard kicks now, but she is careful with the climbing, slowly at a time, and she reached up to a good spot, stopping and taking deep breaths before gasping in awe and shock as she is literally staring upon dinosaurs, mammoths, and even recent extinct animals, along with a smoking volcano in the distance.
"No freaking way...I'm in the Prehistoric world!", Thorn spoke to herself and her child who kicked her hard before hearing grumbling and growling from her belly, and she sighed, "I guess we had some action back there...you gotta be real hungry...I'm hungry too... Okay, let me climb down, sweetheart, and then we can find some food...there gotta be good food that the animals eat just fine...".
Thorn glanced around and sighed, "At least I hope that it's something we can both eat or we're in trouble.". She rubbed her belly, "Just rest easy for now, I'll make sure we don't run into any trouble. Oh, Vlad... I need you so bad right now... we're scared..."
She has a feeling that the Scooby Snax box will wait as long as she's far from it for now since she has no idea where it is.
She then sighed and then slowly, carefully climbed down to safe ground and went off to search for food...Her magic might help her kill a couple of animals so she could half cook to the crazy temperature she craved for her child...Berries and fruit might be possible as well...
She doesn't know that the length of each level measures to real time, like she spent about 15 minutes in the 1st level, 10 minutes in the 2nd level, and since there's no rush right now, she's taking about a few hours for searching for food, cooking and eating, and figuring out where she'd find the Scooby Snax box.
In the real world, Vlad was terrified and looking horrible as he returned from scouring the campus grounds, everything he could get close without being seen in his bat form, walking into the bus with slumping shoulders, red-blooded eyes...
"Still no sign...?", Luna asked as Vlad shook his head. "No such luck with the campus security on our end.", she said.
"Apparently, the campus has got its own problems right now, something's got all the security pretty much on high alert and focused elsewhere.", Dusk groaned. "What could be more important than a missing persons case?".