A/N: Thankyou to all responded to my last post. Thankyou for all the support. If you've missed the last post, the jist of it is: I've been diagnosed with a mental illness that makes it hard for me to write, I haven't updated in two years and I'm tired. I love this story and hate when other fanfic authors leave me hanging so I'm just going to summarize the story in broad strokes from now on.
This is, or would have been, chapter 31. It has some written dialogue and finished parts but it's mostly just a summary of what would have been. As I continue to post the summary (hopefully) on a regular basis. It will probably grow broader and less detailed, interspaced with completed sections that I finished years ago when the muse struck me and authors notes and explanations. Enjoy.
Intro to Adams 31
I have to crawl now on all fours.
I keep my twisted ankle and swollen foot off the ground, and I crawl awkwardly with my big belly trying to get where I need to go.
It's either that or he carries me.
He picks me up and I point where I need to go. To the bathroom, outside, or to get food. It's tedious, it makes me feel helpless and makes me actually miss those horrible animal hobbles. At least I could walk in those.
It's what I get for foolishly trying to run away.
I sigh and settle on the moldering old couch. When I came here I had to beat it with a stick to get all the dust and dead spiders off. "Here" is an old power plant .
I take savage pleasure at the amount he has to care for me. I grow demanding and shrill just to annoy him, usually he ignores me, but if I whine that I really need something he comes to pick me up and take me to the bucket I relieve myself in or to my food or outside or whatever I need.
Spider
Maria observes a large pretty colored spider weave a pretty symmetrical web by her couch/bed for a day. She thinks of killing it, but doesn't have the energy, and thinks it's a heartless thing to do anyway. She enjoys watching it. And to amuse herself catches the moths that fly to her lamp and throws them into the web. The Spider immediately devours them.
One day a large cotton ball appears in the recesses of the web. Curious, she studies it and concludes it's a piece of cotton or fluff that got trapped and moves to brush aside with her pen, but the spider immediately attacks the intruding object, much to her surprise. After watching the spider guard the piece of cotton and eat less and less for the next several days she realizes that it is in fact the spider's egg sack and she is zealous about keeping it safe. As she realizes this the Creepling starts moving.
One day the egg sack opens and Maria watches in horror and fascination as thousands of translucent baby spiders crawl out over the mother. The hatching seems to last forever but she keeps watching in fascination (she has little to do anyway) and when the last of the babies crawl out onto the mother Maria thinks she'll start carrying them around but instead the mother spider seems to give up and the multitude of babies then devours her. A disturbing commentary on motherhood and Maria is understandably very freaked out.
Note: based on the spider and redplanetes' house and a false memory implanted in a replicant in Blade Runner.
Here be Creeper POV
When I touch her I feel the thrill of possession. Run my fingers through that long dark hair, look into her eyes. Smell her scent with mine overlaid on it, She is mine, nothing can change that.
Right now I am touching her, she does not like it, but does not resist. I stroke her skin gently, careful not to scratch it with my nails. This might lead somewhere, it might not. We'll see. I inhale deeply.
I like touching her. Its odd, contact is something I rarely need, let alone with humans. All I needed was their bodies, their delicious organs, their pretty skin. If other urges came up it could be easily solved with a still-warm corpse, but even then it was only an itch to scratch, only a shadow of the lust I feel now. Now I have all the proper organs and equipment to satiate myself and her. I can feel the hormones hiss though my veins, my pupils dilate, I smell her uncontrollably. Where before it was only a ghost of a feeling the smell and taste of the breeder brings it fully alive and I crave those male parts and have an almost infinite desire to mate her over and over again. It's like being asleep for those long centuries without a breeder and finally being awake again. I had forgotten the feeling, and I'm sure I'll forget again until the next breeder. Now I can feel it.
My hands move over to her breasts and she tenses. I can feel the heaviness in them, they must be tender, so I carefully slide over them onto her ballooning stomach, feeling the sense of pride in accomplishment and ownership. As my hands rest flat as they can on the curved surface I feel a sudden movement. I jerk in surprise but do not remove my hands. The fluttering underneath my palms continue.
The Breeder's big dark eyes grow bigger and suddenly her hands are on mine, trying to shove them off her belly before I can feel more. I press my hands more firmly, resisting her efforts. A touch of panic enters her face, and I catch a whiff of fear.
This of course just proves what a naïve, silly creature she is. She is so young, she must be so unaware of the world. How can she ever think I would feel anything but joy at this movement? The movement continues. I push off her shirt and see it now in her womb.
The Breeder's breath hitches at the sight. She no longer seems afraid, she seems disturbed. He hands press against her mouth. I sigh in contentment. I press my face against her belly and feel it move against me. It must be kicking its tiny legs or fluttering it's little wings. I feel an alien emotion run over me. I have no words for it.
Hello, little one. I think. The movement increases in vigor as if in response to my thoughts. Are you awake or dreaming? Are you dreaming of the outside world or thinking of your food? I inhale its scent through the overwhelming scent of the breeder, and it smells so good and healthy. Don't worry of the outside, I tell it silently, do not worry at all. I will care for you. I will hunt for you. I will protect you. I know now you are tiny and vulnerable, and the vessel you are in and depend on is small and weak and terribly mortal but I will protect you both from all that wishes you harm. I will protect you and feed you until you are large and strong and invulnerable and able to hunt for yourself. Don't worry at all.
It kicks now, as if in joy.
Happiness floods my brain. I will breed her many times. I will create a multitude of offspring, fill her with my seed until she loses her fertility or dies. And then I will mourn her genuinely and preserve and put her in a special place where I can touch and hold her whenever I wish and think of her fondly. I think of Sky Eyes. I could not preserve her then. I had to eat her parts and move on to sleep. She died too early, too young, she did not fulfill the promise that she had. But I will not let that happen again, I will not let that happen to this breeder. This Maria. She is mine, and what inside of her is mine. I can't defend them to the death, for I cannot die, but anything that messes with either of them will be very, very sorry it did.
Conversation
This takes up the bulk of the chapter. Maria does some thinking and realizes she doesn't really know the monster at all. That she's never ever communicated with an intelligent non-human entity and indeed she could be the only human in the world to have done so, or one of the few in history. The thought is almost overwhelming, and is blown away by the implications. She is afraid of the Creeper, sensing resentment and rebellion, will hurt her again so she decides to ingratiate herself to him, which is surprisingly easy. She draws him a picture for him (I had this idea she draws him a spider with human prey in his web, is that weird?) and he is delighted that she seems more interactive and lively. So he sits her beside him, or on his lap and lets her watch him work and tries to teach her to carve. She still has bad days where she lays there and does not respond but she's trying to talk with him because 1) she curious 2) she wants his knowledge about her pregnancy because the baby's increasing movements and impending birth are freaking her out.
They communicate mostly by talking, but sometimes he just writes or draws because it's easier. It's a bit slow going and he must look in his dictionary for proper words and must stop to eat a lot but Maria does find it interesting. She asks for his name (I don't have one) what he is (eater) and how old he is. I know "canon" has him as old as "Biblical times" but that covers a lot of territory. I was going to take a page out of redplanetes' fanfiction and use the number she used for his age. I forget the exact number of cycles it was but it amounted to about 10,000 years. Maria is just as disconcerted by this as Helen was in The Other Half, if not more so. He also admits he's probably older than that, that's just what he can really remember. Maria is really blown away, he's older than she thought, he's older than the pyramids, human civilization, older than agriculture. She has to sit down for a minute, overwhelmed by the amount of age next to her. She's like a mayfly to him. He's a little confused by her reaction.
Then she becomes excited and begins a series of rapid fire questions. What can he remember exactly? Was he always here? Has he always eaten humans? What historical events did he witness? He's a little off put, not really understanding her enthusiasm. He answers what he can yes he's always eaten humans, at least as far back as he can remember, he doesn't really get "historical events", he hunts edible humans, who cares about their history? Besides humans are basically the same in every age. Also he's asleep a lot of the time.
She presses on, only a little discouraged. Surely he could remember when things were different. Has he always been in this place? No, he muses, sometimes he's had to move, to follow his prey, they might become scarce in one area due to famine or drought or whatever reason. He couldn't tell her where he's moved from place and place though. It happens very slowly, and landmarks change. She asks if he's always lived in North America, and she has to clarify it a little with a sketch of the Earth. He can't remember ever crossing any oceans so he supposes so. She asks if he followed humans over the Bering Land Bridge. Now he's lost. She explains with the map and he's a little amused humans can, or think they can, infer about such a long ago past when their lives are short. This leads to a brief explanation about archeology and DNA studies, which he doesn't really understand but finds diverting. No he can't remember anything like a "land bridge" as far as he can tell he's always been here. So she presses on, does he remember the ice ages? He's a little lost again. Maria is frustrated and wishes she had a picture book or something, so she explains as best she could. It sounds vaguely familiar, but can't call exact details. She describes glaciers and wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers but he doesn't really remember until she mentions horses. Yes, he realizes, horses used to live here long go, then there weren't any. Then quite suddenly they were here again, with humans riding on their backs. He remembers how that surprised him. Maria feels oddly elated, having him confirm a historical detail like that.
She then question s him about the people. As previously stated he doesn't think much about the differences humans attach to themselves. To him they're either prey or not. She presses on more, but surely he can remember Native American tribes, and conquistadors and settlers, things like that? This leads to him reminiscing of a "Horse Tribe" who appeared shortly after the horses did, and how they worshiped him as a god and how they dreamed of him. Again this is from redplanetes' story so I won't go into details she already provided. Maria says she doesn't recall hearing of a people exactly like that and the Creeper mentions they broke up and disappeared long ago. She draws pictures to explain her meanings. Yes he can remember European explorers and pioneers and thinks like that. He can remember the Mound Builder civilization, which flourished long before Columbus, but really he does not care for the details. Still, he carves or sketches a few things he can remember, just because it pleases her. She jokingly asks him if he was shocked when the first human shot him with a firearm, which she estimated must have probably taken place around 300-400 years ago. No, he says nonchalantly, picking his teeth with a sliver of bone, their weapons were never really a threat, no matter how ridiculously complex they got. She is secretly a little disappointed by this. She then asks if anybody ever got away. It's rare, he admits, but it happens, especially if it's near his sleeping time. He then flatly tells her she won't escape from him, suspecting this is why she is so curious. Nervous, she changes the topic.
She then asks more disturbing questions. Why doesn't he ever eat animals? (Humans are animals) Ok, why doesn't he eat non-human animals? Or plants? He laughs at that. He was made to eat humans, born to it, he knows his purpose, why can't she know hers?
She doesn't have an answer to that, but moves on, he can't really grasp the question if someone or something "made" him. He only has a basic grasp of human philosophy and theology and he doesn't bother himself with questions of who he is or why he exists. He is an eater, his purpose in life is to eat humans, and if he has the time, to amuse himself. The How or Why is utterly irrelevant to him. She then quietly asks, touching her stomach, if he has any parents.
That throws him. He muses for a long time, then says he can't remember any but supposes he might have. She asks if his mother was human like her. He concedes it's possible, to have a sire who was an early version of himself and a dam who was some long forgotten human breeder. But he doesn't really know, or care for that matter. She then asks what IS she exactly. He's bewildered. She gestures to a dead woman. Why not have killed me and used her to have a baby? He's never asks these questions. A breeder just is, that's all. It's a human who smells good but is not for eating. Maria smells like that, the dead woman didn't- that's really all there is to it. Maria becomes very bitter and says to herself, "We all tell ourselves we are special, then when we find out we are we don't want to be." He doesn't understand, so he just licks her face.
Later she continues on with her questions. Is there others like him? (He pats her stomach.) Ok but have you ever come across another? (No) Again he does not know, or really care. She realizes how utterly practical his mind is that way. She then asks if there were any other women like her. Yes, he answers, it took him a while but now he can remember Sky Eyes. Maria is very interested. With some mental digging he can even say her name in her language. Maria thinks it's a pretty name, and dreading the answer but curious anyway asks if he kidnapped and raped her too. She's surprised how "normal" she is when she questions him.
The Creeper tells what he can remember. She's a little surprised to hear this long dead woman was very willing and affectionate towards the Creeper and absolutely shocked when he says she killed herself long before their child could be born. She immediately presses him for more details which he can't really provide. From his description it sounds like she just snapped and went insane and Maria realizes why with dread in her gut. The killings must have gotten too much for her. The Creeper mentions her blue eyes, which was unheard of back then, and told of how other humans gave her to him to eat. Maria asks him what he remembers of Sky Eyes environment. He describes the semi-arid region and sketches some of the massive cliff dwelling Pueblos. Maria becomes excited when she sees them and wishes she had a picture to show him, but doesn't. She recognizes them as Anasazi ruins and struggles to remember but thinks Sky Eyes might have lived at least 700 years ago. She realizes how very rare "breeders" are and is astonished. She also wonders if he has memories of a pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New World, but he does not seem to.
Finally she asks him about the upcoming birth. He can smell her fear when he talks of it. Will the baby kill her? He is astonished and says no. She asks if it will eat her, he reassures her it won't, it's a baby- it will be helpless, and if even if it wanted to, which he highly doubts it would, he would stop it. She then asks him the one question she's been dreading, when I have this baby will you kill me? Or will you let me go?
Neither, he says enthusiastically, you will stay with me and I will give you many, many babies.
Maria has to lay on the couch a while after that.
A/N; Realize that this question section was to be huge, spanning this chapter and probably more than one other. During her questioning if he wanted to go out and hunt or got hungry or horny or wanted to listen to music instead Maria couldn't really talk to him, just when he had "free time" to work on his art. It was a fun and easy way to "pass the time" in the story, as well as give you the reader an insight on the mind on our favorite monster. You can see his mind is very practical, and while he is curious he's not nearly as much as a human would be. His character is based on the movies of course and long conversations with my favorite Jeepers Creeper writer and good friend redplanetes. You'll notice that Maria has moved from rebelling against him to trying to please him somewhat. She's submissive and does things like play music or sing to make him happy with her. I had this idea that when she was kidnapped on her way to her school she wanted to study psychology, so she is aware of what Stockholm syndrome is and actively tries to fight against it, but the fact he was willing to hurt her so badly for disobeying has frightened her and now she's trying to get him "on her side" by pleasing him and with that comes curiosity on what the monster actually is. I mean if you could have a conversation with an utterly non-human being in English (or whatever your native language is) would you pass it up?