Chapter 5

Monday

JPOV

I woke up quite warm and feeling weighed down. Groggily I opened my eyes. I saw an arm lying across my chest. I turned my head to the side and saw Hayley with her head resting on my shoulder, her face just inches from mine. Feeling me stir she opened her eyes.

"Good Morning." I said quietly with a smile.

"Morning." She yawned and smiled back.

Then it hit me. I'm in bed with Hayley. My eyes popped open wide. Hayley's did at the same time, too. We both simultaneously screamed and jumped out of the bed on opposite sides.

We stood there for a while staring at each other wide eyed.

"What?" I finally managed to get out.

"Sleeping! I was studying and must have fallen asleep!" Hayley looked panicked. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…I'm so embarrassed." She dropped her head.

"Its okay" I tried to make her feel better. But then a thought occurred to me. "One question though." She looked up at me. "If you just fell asleep studying why did I wake with you practically on top of me?" I asked with a smirk.

Hayley looked mortified. "I wasn't."

"Sure you were. You were all cuddled up against me." I was enjoying this.

"I…umm…I must have been cold. Yeah, that's it." She tried to explain away.

"Keep telling yourself that. We both know you wanted to have a little piece of me." I laughed.

I could tell she wanted the subject dropped. "Whatever. I'm going to get dressed." She walked into her own room.

While I was just teasing her I did kind of hope she did want to cuddle with me. I slept so well and it made my morning that the first thing I saw when I woke was her. Too bad it won't happen again.

Shortly after getting dressed Mr. Cooper came knocking at the door. He got us some breakfast and we headed back to the DC HQ to work on this monster problem. Sandy, Mandy and Drew were at the school but not in HQ, as they still had to attend class. We talked about some of the ideas Hayley had come up with the night before but didn't get too far.

At lunch Sandy, Mandy and Drew arrived. It was obvious that Sandy had a crush on Drew but she was too shy to act on it. I could see her face light up with every word he said. Hayley hadn't noticed and sat down between the two. Sandy looked jealous but resigned that she could never compete against Hayley. Hayley is gorgeous after all. Hey, I'm allowed to think that. I mean, I do have eyes. Anyway, what Sandy didn't notice was while Drew was talking to Hayley his eyes were on Sandy the whole time. How could the two of them not notice they like each other? Seriously, when two people are meant to be together it should be obvious to them both.

Luckily for me, I already knew Mandy has a thing for me. We should be a couple. I started thinking about her confidence; her smile, her chocolate brown eyes, and her long curl blonde hair.

Whoa! I shook my head. Why had the picture in my head morph into Hayley? I looked over at Hayley. Catching my eye she smiled her gorgeous smile at me. I found myself smiling back.

I was pulled back to reality as Mandy slipped her arm around mine and said something about being late because of some jerk in the hall. At the word jerk Hayley's eyes opened wide.

"I've got it!" Confused we all looked at her. "I know where the Condylepous is. I know who the host is!"

"Well, are you going to enlighten the rest of us?"

"Its Tommy." She started pacing as she spoke. "It all makes sense. He kept asking me questions about my health and family medical history. He was so possessive and aggressive. And he arrived here Thursday and is staying with his family for a week."

"I think she's right." Mr. Cooper said. He had seen Tommy first hand.

"So what do we do about it?" Mandy asked.

"Well, I've got his cell programmed into my phone." Hay said. "I can text him to meet me somewhere private and we can capture him then."

"Hold on." I stopped them. "I don't really like the idea of using Hayley as bait. Its too dangerous." No way did I want Hayley to be harmed in any way.

"Don't worry, Jake. It'll be fine. You all will be there. I'll be perfectly safe." Hayley reasoned.

After we all formulated a plan, Hayley texted Tommy of when and where to meet. I still didn't feel comfortable but the plan did seem fool proof.

The five of us arrived at a storefront in an all but abandoned district. We needed someplace where there weren't too many witnesses that we would need to snark. It was almost 6:30pm so Sandy, Mandy, Drew and I hid. Mandy tried to hide with me but I wanted to make sure we had all possible routes covered so I told her where to be stationed.

6:30 sharp Tommy walked around the corner to a smiling Hayley. He had a self-satisfied sneer on his face. "Hey, Hayley. I knew you'd come around. Couldn't resist my charms, huh?" He wrapped an arm around Hayley's shoulder. "Sorry that Jake thought he could compete with me and stepped between us. " I tensed. That jerk didn't even realize it was his own doing. No, I corrected myself. It was the Condylepous' doing.

Hayley giggled and put her arm around Tommy's waist. "Oh, Tommy." She cooed. I was getting irritated. "Lets go for a walk and forget all about Jake. Shall we?"

"Perfect." Tommy said with a menacing tone. Hayley led Tommy toward the alley where we were all perched. There he paused and leaned down and kissed Hayley. I felt my cheeks go red as my blood started to boil. My knuckles turning white as I clenched my fist.

As Tommy's face rose back from Hayley's it started to change. His throat grew in size as if something was going to come up out of it and his jaw opened wide.

"Now!" Drew yelled. We all jumped down and advanced. As Tommy saw us his face returned to normal.

"Jake. Mandy." He looked at us with a glare. "What brings you here?"

"Give it up. We know what you are. Now step away from Hayley." I commanded.

Tommy laughed at this. "You really think you are man enough to take Hayley from me, Jake?" He then scooped Hayley up and took off at an abnormally fast speed. She tried to free herself but the Condylepous gave Tommy extra strength.

"Jake!" She screamed.

I took after them as fast as I could go but lost them. I regrouped with the others. "She's gone. Quick what do we know about the Condylepous?" I got out my watch-com to call Felix. "Felix, the monster has Hayley. Tell me everything you have discovered."

"It will want to go somewhere cool and dark. Like a food warehouse."

I looked at the others. "Is there anything like that around here?"

"Yeah, a block down there is an abandoned juice factory." I could have kissed Mandy then for that information.

I had to ask though. "What happens if we don't get to her in time?"

"I'm afraid that it would be too late to save her. There is no way to get the spawn out and she would need to be vaporized."

"Lets go then. Now!" I started running not looking to see if the others were following. I had to get to Hayley.

We found the warehouse with no problem. Troop Grid was able to verify that they were inside but not pinpoint where. After searching for about ten minutes I heard my watch-com go off. When I looked at it I saw that it was from Hayley.

I heard her voice but could only see blackness on the screen.

"Jake, I'm in an abandoned juice factory."

"I know." I replied. "I'm here. I'm looking for you. Why can't I see you?" I was worried.

"Because I'm tied up in a chair. My wrists are bound together but he doesn't know about the watch-come. I was able to activate it to call you. " She explained.

"Tell me where you are."

"Shhh. He's coming. I'll leave this on and try to get the information to you but don't say anything. If he hears you he will break…" She stopped and I could hear the door open.

"Hello, My Love." Tommy greeted her.

"Why do you have me tied in a vat? And why does it smell like grape in here?" Good girl, Hayley! I looked at an old directory for where the grape juice vats were located and started running.

"That information is meaningless, My Dear. What is important is that you are about to be the mother of an all-powerful being. You should be honored." I could hear the monster talking to Hayley. He continued. "Now just sit back and relax."

I heard ripping of fabric as Hayley shouted in protest. I reached the section with the grape vats. There were five of them. Which one?

Suddenly Hayley's piercing scream resounded coming from the vat to the right of me. She sounded terrified. I looked for a way inside but it was locked. So using the pulse laser I fired at the wall creating a hole I could get through.

As I entered I saw Tommy's body collapsed at Hayley's feet. In a chair sat Hayley. Her arms were tied behind her back and her shirt was ripped wide open. She was screaming as a yellowish monster with green spikes advanced toward her. Its mouth was spread into a terrifying grin filled with razor sharp teeth. It had a long tentacle like arm extended toward Hayley. At the end of the arm was a drill-like instrument about to pierce Hayley's stomach.

I raised my pulse laser and fired. The Condylepous exploded into a mass of blue slime. At this Hayley passed out. I rushed over to her. She was still breathing and besides some scratches and bruising she looked all right. As I untied her arms the others rushed in. They checked on Tommy. He was also alive but unconscious. I took off my shirt and used it to cover Hayley. I then picked her up and carried her out. Hayley woke in the car on the way back to HQ. When she saw me she wrapped her arms around my neck, put her face into my neck and started to cry.

"Its okay. You're safe now. I've got you. I'll never let any thing hurt you. " I rubbed her back trying to comfort her. I'll never let her know how terrified I was of losing her.

After receiving a clean bill of health we were driven back to the hotel. We could debrief the next day. Besides we were all exhausted after the day we had. I held Hayley's hand as we went to our rooms. We both needed a shower to clean off the day. Before I went to bed I checked on Hayley. She was in a long t-shirt to sleep in and was brushing her teeth. She said she was fine and told me to go to sleep.

I was exhausted. Not only was the day physically taxing but also mentally and emotionally I was spent. If any harm had come to Hayley I don't know how I would have handled it. Almost the minute my head hit the pillow I was out.

I'm not sure how much time had passed before Hayley softly calling my name awakened me. I half opened my eyes and grunted. I could see Hayley's silhouette standing beside my bed.

"Jake, do you mind if I sleep with you tonight? I'm still freaked out about earlier and I don't want to be alone."

I didn't say a word. I just scooted over in bed and lifted the covers for her to crawl in. She lay down next to me. I could feel her shoulders shake as she cried silently to herself. I reached over and puller her to me. I wrapped both of my arms around her. I could feel her try to burrow into my side. I reached up and stroked her hair until she finally fell asleep.

When I was sure she was out, I kissed the top of her head. I vowed to her sleeping form. "Hayley, I will always protect you. Always be here for you. Always comfort you. I will never let anything happen to you." I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I continued, "I need you. Hayley, I love you."

With a sigh I felt her body relax as if she could hear me and knew she was safe with me. Never wanting to let her go, I finally fell asleep.

*A/N I based my monster on the Cordycep Fungus. It attacks a host insect, invades and eventually replaces the host tissue. Some are able to affect the behavior of the host causing then to climb and attach to get to optimal temperature. After its done with the host it sprouts out of the head of the now dead insect. There are some pretty gross things out there in nature, but they make for interesting monsters in fiction.

Good guess Athyna DaughterofPosiedon and TheTroopandGACFan, it was Tommy. :)

Thanks for all the awesome reviews the last chapter. They really did make me smile. I read them several times. They made me want to start the next chapter right away. :D

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