Chapter Four: Starting Over
It was the morning after Sarah's orientation and the other monsters had left their cells and were staggering towards the main room. "Now that was a power nap!" Fang yawned, stretching so much that he doubled his length. Then as they walked into the main room they stopped and saw Sarah was already there, sitting on her chair with her head buried in her arms on the table.
"The poor child," sympathized Doc, "all this must be very upsetting for her. Well I guess it's time for us to do our part,"
"Oh, does it involve a game of twister?" said T.O.M eagerly.
"No, T.O.M., we made it a rule, whoever was last captured talks to the newcomer. Fang, it's your turn!" Sprocket said to the snake.
"Oh, alright," Fang sighed. "At least I won't be any worse than when T.O.M comforted me!" Fang walked over to Sarah whilst T.O.M. started playing cards with Doc and Rex chewed on one of his toys specially made for him. Eventually Fang reached Sarah's table then extended his body so he could get to the top, scrambling, he managed to get to the middle of the table, facing the giant who hadn't noticed he was there.
Fang couldn't help feeling sorry for her, taking a step forward he trod in what felt like a puddle, looking down he saw it was actually Sarah's tears streaming over the table. It was heartbreaking to see her like this so Fang used his long tail to get under Sarah's chin and lift her head out of her arms; her golden hair sticking to her wet face as she sniveled. Looking at the snake with such a sad face was forcing Fang not to break down himself. Come on Fang! Be strong! He thought to himself.
"Hey come on, stop crying! You're with friends here, we've all been through the trauma of being locked up. It could be worse," said Fang reassuringly.
"I was turned into a giant, taken away from my friends and family and locked in an underground prison, never to see the outside world again. I don't see how it can get any worse." She sobbed.
He couldn't argue with that! So Fang decided to tell Sarah about the other monsters' ordeals and who they had to leave behind. First he told her how Dr Sprocket was forced to leave his wife after putting his brain into his robot body. Then he told of how T.O.M. was taken away from the only home he'd ever known, the vegetable patch, however he wasn't sure if the other tomatoes counted as family. Rex was brought into the world not having a home or a loving family, just a bunch of freaked scientists. And finally he told of how he was taken away from his brothers and sisters on the plane after his mutation.
"We've all been through the pain of imprisonment but we look after one another here. You're welcome to join us if you like. You don't have to go through this alone." said Fang. He could see that his comforting words were working because Sarah's sad face slowly turned into a smile. "So does this mean you'll join us?" he asked. Sarah nodded.
Over the next few days Sarah came to accept the monsters as her friends, though she remained adamant that she wasn't a monster herself. She soon got involved with their daily activities like playing cards, quickly sussing that Fang would always try to cheat. She watched TV from Doc's custom made telly, though T.O.M. always wanted to watch the garden programmes, she played with Rex who liked to play tug-o-war. She listened to Dr Sprocket's tales (including how he won a noble prize for building his own body) and she told them everything about her family, Eric and the outside world. Despite being cheered up by her new friends she still wanted to be normal again and so asked Dr Sprocket if he could do something.
"Hmmm. That sounds like a challenge," he said "but if it would make you happy my dear then I will do my very best!"
And so Dr Sprocket started with a medical examination to see if anything other than her height and hair had been affected. First he checked her pulse, though at her size, her heart was large enough that stethoscopes weren't necessary, there were no problems with her heart. She rolled up her sleeves so he could check her blood pressure and then her temperature; both were fine and then came the reflexes and that was a problem. Dr Sprocket used the largest hammers he could lift to hit Sarah's knee but nothing would happen. As a last resort Dr Sprocket constructed a large medieval catapult but instead of a projectile arm there was a huge hammer aimed at Sarah's leg, she gulped as Sprocket prepared to release the hammer, hoping it wouldn't hurt. Turned out it didn't, as it collided with her knee her leg kicked off, sending an idle T.O.M flying to the other side of the room. "Oops, sorry T.O.M!" she called.
Soon after, Doc had two machines scanning Sarah's entire being until he had as much info as he could get from the readings.
"Okay, so far the medical scanners are saying that you are in perfect health." said Sprocket. Then the other machine started beeping loudly.
"The cell scanner has discovered that the alien substance you absorbed has merged with every cell in your body. It's gonna take a device with enough extraction power to pull matter away from a black hole just to remove the element from your body completely!" Sprocket explained.
"But could you do it, doctor?" Sarah said hopefully.
"My dear, you just watch me!" Sprocket said confidently. Sarah watched as Doctor Sprocket used his mechanical body to produce various working tools from his hands, then with a loud maniacal laugh he started constructing numerous machine parts from scrap.
As the weeks went by Sarah tried to assist in any way she could to help Doctor Sprocket build his extraction device. She lifted devices that were too heavy for him and twisted metals into shape so they would fit the machine properly. Meanwhile, the other monsters stayed well away from the work zone, Fang passed a lot of the time trying to explain the difference between boys and girls to T.O.M., who didn't seem to be getting it. Rex was taking his daily walkies through the cavernous hallways; though the staff did not appreciate the mess he kept leaving behind.
Finally, a month after Sarah was captured, Sprocket had completed his extraction device which consisted of a washing machine, a car engine and a broken laptop all wired together with other pieces of scrap metal and two long cables that were connected from the machine to Sarah who was sitting on her chair.
"Okay, I've set the machine to full power! Marvelous! And they all said I was mad! MAD I TELL YOU! Mwah Hah hah!" cackled Sprocket.
"Er, doctor? I'd prefer you didn't do your mad scientist laugh whilst I'm linked to this machine!" said Sarah anxiously.
"She makes it sound like its wrong to be a monster?" muttered Fang to the others, Rex whimpered in agreement. "You sure you wanna go through with this?" Fang asked Sarah, "This is the guy who made a toaster into a home made atom bomb."
"Guys, what choice do I have? If he can make me normal or even 6'8" I can get out of here and get back to the life I'm supposed to have." Sarah replied. "Throw the switch, doctor. But don't do the laugh!"
"Something tells me this isn't going to work!" Fang mumbled.
"Now you're going to feel a brief squish in the skull! Ha h-sorry!" explained Sprocket. Then he pulled a lever which made the engine roar loudly and the washing machine spin rapidly. Sparks of green energy shot from Sarah's body, Sprocket's machine suddenly went into overload and then with a brief jolt Sarah collapsed on the floor unconscious.
"Sarah?" Dr Sprocket called nervously. "Hello?"
Sarah felt her eyes flutter open, the monsters stood on her face, gazing down at her with concern.
"Am I small again?" she asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not, my dear," said Sprocket. "In fact…" he paused. "You may have actually grown a couple of feet."
Sarah sat up slowly and began peeling off the electrodes attached to her body. "That's okay, Doc. We'll try again tomorrow."
Fang stared at her. "I don't know why you're putting yourself through this. No monster has ever gotten out of here!"
"That's not true," T.O.M. put in. "Drakecula, G. and Lil all did!"
"No they didn't," Fang corrected him. "We just told you they did so you wouldn't get upset."
"They all died years ago. So sorry," Dr Sprocket added.
T.O.M. looked horrified, his lip quivering.
"See what I'm saying?" Fang said to Sarah. "Nobody's leaving. Nobody's ever getting out."
At that moment, General Monger roared into the room in his military jeep. "Good news, monsters!" he declared. "You're getting out of here!"
"Until today…" Fang muttered under his breath.
A short time later, General Monger led the monsters on to a moving platform. The monsters looked at each, wondering if what they had heard was correct, Fang was skeptical.
"Come on Monger, what's this really about? Are you just moving us to another prison because our current cells need redecorating?" asked Fang.
"Nothing of the sort, toothy," replied Monger, "we have had a sudden change in our alert status! Three days ago an alien probe landed near the east coast of north America, President Hanson attempted a friendly greeting but instead she was nearly flattened when the probe sprouted legs and crushed her keyboard and special stand. So far the military has been unable to stop this thing in its tracks. As a last resort I have made a deal with the Madam President to forward operation Monsters vs. Aliens: you five stop the giant robot and you will be granted your freedom!"
The monsters' eyes went wide. Freedom! Sarah thought with a burst of hope. Rex was so excited he wagged his tail so hard that the escort choppers had to keep dashing out the way. Soon they were on their way to board a huge transport plane. "I can't believe it," Sarah smiled. "Soon I'll be back in Eric's arms," She looked down at her own giant arms. "Or he'll be in mine." she corrected herself.
The others were thinking about their freedom, too. "This time tomorrow, I'll be chilling out with my homies back at the snake house." said Fang blissfully.
"And I'll go back to my secret lab and finish my ultimate doom machine," T.O.M. chimed in.
"No, no, T.O.M.," said Dr Sprocket. "That's me, remember?"
"Then I'll be a really giant lady," T.O.M. said.
"That's Sarah, T.O.M.," Sprocket reminded him.
"Then I'll go back to my secret lab and finish my…"
"That's Doc again, T.O.M.," said Fang who was getting annoyed by T.O.M.'s confusion.
"Okay, okay, I'll just be a furry dinosaur and lick my…"
"T.O.M! STOP IT!" yelled Fang.
When they boarded the plane a few minutes later, a soldier called out instructions to the pilot. "Let's go! Bring her forward! Lift off!"
And with that the plane took off into the sky, taking its passengers away from the prison they had been forced to call home.
Just to let you know:
President Hathaway/President Hanson
Oh, and the president is now a female.
Why? Cos I can.