Author's note: Once again, I apologize for taking so long to upload a new chapter. This one was not easy to write though, believe me. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 15
X X X
Father Vittorio took a moment to absorb the teens' story. Then he finally spoke.
"I'm afraid I do know of this Count that you speak of." he said, "Or at least I've heard of him, from a story that- up until recently- I always dismissed as some crazy legend. It was believed that he was once defeated by an Egyptian vampire hunter; who used a powerful artifact to banish the Count's subjects- also vampires- into another dimension, and then used a different artifact to seal the Count within his coffin."
"Cool." Zeke mused, "So what happened to those artifacts?"
"Well, they say that the vampire hunter was buried with them in his tomb, somewhere in Egypt. I would guess that this Dr. Tongue must have discovered the tomb's location and stolen one of those artifacts."
"Hmm... so the best way we could hope to stop Count Eveer, would be to find the other artifact then?" Julie asked.
"That would probably be the best idea." Vittorio replied.
Before any of them could say another word, Sergeant Weber entered the room.
"Sorry to interrupt," he told them, "but the Lieutenant has asked to see you. Says there's something even stranger than usual going on."
"Okay. We'll be right there." Julie responded.
As the Corporal left, Vittorio told the teens, "I will keep looking into this legend and see if I can find any more information that can help you."
He then looked around and brought his voice down to a whisper.
"And it would probably be best if we keep this our little secret. I do not wish to frighten the survivors here any more than they already are."
"Yeah, good idea." Zeke replied with a nod, "Thanks, Father."
As they left, Julie nudged Zeke's shoulder and asked, "Speaking of which, have you seen Tina lately?"
"Oh yeah, I know. Pretty emo, huh? In fact..."
Julie watched as Zeke took his 3D glasses out of his pocket and start to speak again.
"Really, Zeke? You really want to go there?"
"Aw, come on. Just this once? It'll be funny."
Julie sighed.
"Alright, fine." she said, "Let's hear it."
"Right, as I was saying... I'd say she's..."
He put on his 3D glasses and continued, "Emo-tionally disturbed. YEEAAAH! ...Yeah, okay, I'm sorry. That was pretty terrible."
X X X
Meanwhile, at the Police station...
The Police Chief sat at his desk, lovingly cradling a chocolate doughnut in his hand, as he noted how order in the city was slowly- but surely- being restored. As he took a bite, he propped his feet up on the desk and thought about how good it felt to relax a bit, after all the stress that the recent monster outbreaks had caused. But this moment would soon end, when there was a knock on his office door. Startled, the Chief began to choke down the doughnut bite and sat straight up, putting the rest of the doughnut down on a napkin nearby. After a bit of coughing, he managed to clear his throat.
"Come in." he said, hastily rubbing his eyes.
The door opened and Mary walked into the office.
"Sir," she said, barely containing her own breath, "we just got an anonymous tip about the Mad Cat gang!"
The Chief stared up at her.
"You mean those thugs who escaped from Federal Prison, two months ago?"
Mary nodded.
"According to the caller," she continued, "they're here in Jakobville!"
"Here?!"
The Chief paused a moment to take that in. Then...
"I want all available officers on this at once!" he ordered, "Let no cop rest until the Mad Cats have been brought in! Dead, undead, or alive!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Mary left the office, then stopped.
'Dead, undead, or alive?' she thought.
Then the door opened again.
"Err... scratch that." the Chief told her, "If they're undead... you know what to do."
"Right, Chief."
X X X
"I'm sending you to the Jakobville High School today." Harry told the teens, "Most of the area seems to have been abandoned, but we're getting reports of something crazy going on at the football field. So head on over there and get to the bottom of it. And if you see any survivors there, you know what to do."
The teens saluted in response, and Julie began setting Lil' Sparky's coordinates. Zeke meanwhile checked and refilled their water guns.
"Jakobville High School..." Julie muttered, "alright, coordinates are set."
"And we're locked and loaded." Zeke told her, as he capped Julie's weapon and handed it to her.
With that, Julie activated the door and the teens proceeded through it. Soon after it disappeared, Sergeant Weber walked in the room and looked around for the teens.
"Err... have those two already left, Sir?" he asked.
"Yes, I just sent them to investigate the High School situation. Why, Sergeant?"
Weber responded by holding up the radio that Zeke had left behind in the bunker.
"Oh. Crap..."
X X X
Zeke and Julie stared in confusion, as a football game unfolded before them. There was no audience anywhere in sight, but the players were still playing and the cheerleaders were still going about their routine. Zeke looked at Julie and pointed at the game with his thumb.
"Playing football at a time like this?" he wondered aloud.
Julie just shrugged. Then, as they turned back, Julie took a closer look.
"There's... something strange about those players." she muttered, "They're moving... kinda funny and don't seem to be aware of their surroundings."
"Yeah... and check out the cheerleaders. ...No, really! Look at 'em! They look like they're doing this... unwillingly."
Soon, they found out just how right Zeke was.
"Gimme a T!"
"T!"
"Gimme an I!"
"I!"
"Gimme a G!"
"G!"
"Gimme an-..."
The head cheerleader stopped when she noticed Zeke and Julie.
"Oh, thank goodness!" she cried, as she ran up to them, "Help us!"
The other cheerleaders stopped and stared at her in confusion. Then one of them shouted, "Hey! Emily, wait!"
Emily grabbed a startled Zeke and cried, "You've gotta help us, before they-... oh no! They're coming back!"
"Who?" Julie asked.
"Yeah, who's coming back?" Zeke asked as well.
No sooner than they asked, a huge flying saucer suddenly materialized in the sky. Emily ran behind Zeke and trembled, as seven green men in gray spacesuits appeared and started uttering something indecipherable.
Julie looked at Zeke and said, "We had to ask."
She turned back to face the green men, barely managing to dodge in time, as one of them pointed a pistol-type weapon at her and shot a small red sphere in their direction. Instinctively, Julie returned fire, blasting the alien with a stream of holy water. The alien shrieked in pain and then disintegrated, right before his comrades' eyes.
"...Unholy aliens?" Zeke mused, as the aliens began to mumble among themselves.
"I don't know..." Julie replied, "maybe they're vulnerable to any kind of liquids."
"Fair enough. Let's blast 'em!"
But before the teens could fire on them, the six remaining aliens suddenly vanished out of sight. One of them suddenly appeared nearby and fired at Julie. This time, however, she was struck with the red ball; which grew larger and encased her inside before vanishing away.
"Julie!" Zeke cried, "How... what the...?"
Enraged, he fired a stream at the alien; who again vanished from sight. Then the red ball reappeared and vanished again, this time leaving a dumbfounded Julie standing in its place.
"What happened?"
"I... I think they brought me aboard their ship!" Julie replied, "But then they sent me back, for some reason."
Zeke turned to face a still-shaking Emily.
"It's you they're after, isn't it?" he asked.
Emily nodded.
"They made us dress like this." she said, "And they forced us to... you know..."
Julie looked at the football players; who were still playing and seemingly oblivious to the aliens'- or anyone else's- presence. But she had little time to wonder about that, before noticing another alien approaching them. She quickly shot a stream at him, only to have him vanish away. Then she noticed him appearing again a distance away.
"I think they're on to us, Zeke." Julie told him, as she took out Lil' Sparky and checked his radar screen, "And... I think we have another problem."
Zeke lifted his glasses to look at the screen. It had suddenly occured to the teens that the 'cheerleaders' had scattered around the football field in fear, and that the aliens were now pursuing those ladies.
"Great." he replied, pushing his glasses back down, "Well, we better at least *her* out of here. Fire up the door, Julie!"
Julie nodded and activated the door.
"Head through that door." she told Emily, "Quick!"
Emily stared at it, seemingly hesitant at first. But when she noticed another alien appearing close by, she screamed and dove through the door; which Julie then deactivated.
"That's one down, and... how many to go?" Zeke asked, as he fired at the alien; who teleported away.
"Looks like, there are... nine 'cheerleaders' left." Julie responded, checking the radar again, "Come on, let's go get them! Then we'll... *think* about helping those players, if we can."
Zeke nodded, and off they went. Along the way, Julie took another glance at the football players.
'There's something... disturbingly familiar about them.' she thought.
X X X
"What is going on down there?!" the alien Captain asked his crew, "Where are those Earth women, and why aren't they doing as we instructed?"
"It's these two other teenage humans." replied one of the crew members, "They're sending the women away through some kind of portal. Our men are trying to stop them, but they're armed with some kind of... liquid-shooting weapons!"
The Captain glared at the monitor; which- upon zooming in- showed Julie and Zeke standing near the glowing exit door and firing away at the aliens; who teleported away in fear of getting disintegrated. Zeke then pointed towards the door with his gun and beckoned with his other hand for the group of 'cheerleaders' to head through it; which they did. Afterwards, the door disappeared. The Captain pounded the control panel in anger.
"They won't get away with this!" he shouted, "Destroy those meddling teenagers and bring those Earth men aboard! We'll find some new women elsewhere, to abduct later. ...And someone please get to work, fixing that wretched hatch!"
X X X
"That all of 'em?" Zeke asked Julie; who checked the radar.
"Hmm... not quite." she responded, "There are still two left, over-..."
Julie was suddenly interrupted, as a bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby.
"Yikes!" Zeke cried out, jumping back in shock, "Lightning? I don't remember hearing any thunder."
"Umm... I don't think it's coming from the clouds, Zeke."
Zeke lowered his glasses and looked up at the sky, just in time to see the UFO that had appeared earlier charging up its lightning guns and preparing to fire again. He and Julie barely had time to avoid a second blast that came at them soon afterwards.
"Call it a hunch," Julie told Zeke, "but I'm guessing someone's a bit miffed about us rescuing their prisoners."
"Yeah, well, they picked the wrong planet to abduct people from!"
Zeke took aim and fired at the UFO, but it was too far up in the sky for the water to reach.
"Crap." he said.
He reached for his radio; which only now did he realize wasn't clipped to his belt.
"Where's the radio?"
"I thought *you* had it." Julie replied.
"So did I. ...Well, that's inconvenient. Guess we'll have to improvise again."
Zeke took a quick moment to scan his surroundings, until he finally spotted what looked like a six-pack of cola that had been left on the bleachers. He motioned for Julie to follow and the two of them ran towards the bleachers as fast as they could. As they crossed the football field, however, Zeke suddenly glanced up and noticed the football falling towards him. Instinctively, he caught the ball and quickly realized that the football players were now coming right for him.
"Uh-oh..."
"Quick! Toss it, Zeke! ...No, not to me!"
Julie hurriedly tossed the ball; which wound up getting stuck in the opening of one of the players' helmets, and he was quickly dogpiled by the other players. She sighed with relief and ran to the bleachers, where Zeke was nervously tugging his shirt collar.
"Sorry about that." he sheepishly said.
"Forget about it, just do whatever you were planning to do."
Zeke nodded and grabbed the six-pack; which he soon noticed only had four cans left. Shaking up one of those cans, he waited for the UFO to get just close enough before popping open and throwing the can as hard as he could. Aside from getting the ship a bit wet and sticky though, the 'grenade' didn't have much effect. Zeke started to groan in disappointment, when Julie suddenly noticed the ship's hatch constantly opening and closing on its own.
"Zeke, look!" she cried, pointing at it, "Gimme one!"
Zeke handed her one of the cans; which she quickly shook up. Aiming for the hatch, Julie opened the can and threw it just after the hatch closed. It opened again, just in time for the can to land inside. Soon, there was a distinct sound of soda fizzing and aliens screaming, along with some short-circuiting. Zeke and Julie looked on in relief, only to suddenly notice two of the persistent aliens coming their way. After dodging an incoming red sphere, Zeke quickly handed the other two sodas to Julie.
"Quick, gimme your gun! I'll cover you!" he told her.
Julie gave him her water gun and began shaking the two cans, while Zeke opened fire on the aliens. After another well-timed throw, the UFO's crew once again began to scream in agony and the equipment started to malfunction. Finally, the ship started to limp away from the football stadium very slowly.
"Oh no, you don't!" Julie muttered, moving up to the bleachers top row.
Popping open the last soda can, she threw it with all her might. The can sailed through the air towards the open hatch of the alien ship, landing inside just before the hatch could close. There was a great explosion inside the ship; which now began to plummet towards the earth. Zeke ran up to the top of the bleachers with Julie, to watch as the ship crashed to the ground.
"Stee-rike three! Yer out!" he mused, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.
Julie smiled, as Zeke handed her gun back to her.
"I always was better at baseball than football." she responded.
As Zeke and Julie descended the bleachers, they heard a noise behind them. Turning around, they saw their six alien pursuers at the top bench, staring down at their crashed ship. The aliens barely had enough time to absorb what had just happened, before turning around to find themselves getting blasted by water. A few high-pitched screams of agony later, and they were nothing but piles of dust. The teens breathed a collective sigh of relief. Then, as Julie checked Lil' Sparky for the last two cheerleaders' locations, she and Zeke suddenly noticed the football players were now groaning and holding their heads in pain. Zeke glanced at Lil' Sparky's radar screen.
"Hmm... those cheerleaders aren't too far from here." he observed, "You go get them, I'll get these guys."
Julie nodded and they split up. Zeke ran up to the field, as the players started taking off their helmets.
"What's goin' on, man?" one of them wondered aloud.
"Yeah, what we wearin' these uniforms for?"
Before Zeke could speak, one of the men pointed at him and said, "And who's this geek?"
"Uhh... I believe this 'geek' just saved all your lives." Zeke retorted, removing his glasses and pocketing them, "You're welcome?"
"Oh, you think you're some kinda smartass, eh?"
As the men began to surround Zeke, it suddenly dawned on him that these weren't real football players. He cleared his throat.
"Err... hold on now... I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here."
One of the thugs grabbed Zeke's water gun.
"Hey, I need that!"
"Oh, you want this toy?" the thug replied, "Why don't ya empty yo' pockets and show us how much it worth to ya?"
Suddenly, Zeke deeply regretted leaving his radio behind. As well as not going to help the two women with Julie; who soon came running to the field as she wondered, "Just what the heck is keeping... Zeke!"
Taking a good look at one of the players, she finally recognized them.
'Oh my God!' she thought, 'It's... the Mad Cats!'
Suddenly, Julie remembered what her mother told her back at the Police station.
'If you run into any trouble,- anything you can't handle- give me a call.'
"Don't make me ask twice now!" the thug pressed Zeke.
Summoning up her courage, Julie approached the field and took out her phone.
"You get away from him!" she shouted to the gang.
The thugs all turned to face her. One of them smirked as he noticed the phone in her hand.
"Yeah? What'cha gonna do, little girl?" he asked, "Call your mommy?"
"As a matter of fact," Julie sternly replied, "that's exactly what I'm going to do!"
The thugs burst into laughter, as Julie pressed the button that sent a call to her mother's cellphone. Zeke, on the other hand, smiled with relief. After two rings, Julie heard Mary's voice answer: "Yes?"
"Hi Mom. Zeke and I are at the High School football field and we've spotted the Mad Cat gang."
"...You have?"
"That's right, they're here. Oh, and did I mention they're currently trying to rob Zeke?"
The thugs soon stopped laughing, as the sound of sirens filled the air. Before they knew it, several Police cars burst through a chain link fence nearby and stopped just a few feet away from the thugs. Two officers emerged from each car and pointed their guns at them.
"Hands up, NOW!" Mary shouted, her gun drawn on the thugs, "Don't any of you move!"
The thugs trembled and slowly put their hands up. Zeke then snatched back his water gun, gave the lead thug a good water spray in the crotch, and chuckled as he ran back to Julie and hugged her.
"I'll be honest, I've kinda lost count of how many times we've saved each other." he told her, as the Police proceeded to arrest the thugs, "But I'm guessing this one makes it about even."
With a smirk, Mary promptly holstered her gun and turned to the teens.
"You two never cease to surprise me." she said, "First you're saving the city from undead monsters, and now you've helped save the city from a group of monsters that are among the living."
"Aw, it was nothin'." Zeke replied, "We were just at the right place at the right time."
"Yeah." Julie added, glancing at Lil' Sparky's radar, "Speaking of which, we should probably get going, now that everyone else has been accounted for."
"Right. We'll take it from here." Mary said, "Wouldn't want to keep your uncle worrying about you, per the norm. You two take care. And if there's any way we can thank you for all your help, let me know."
Zeke thought about that, while Julie fired up Lil' Sparky's door.
"Hmm... now that you mention it..." he muttered, "nah, that'd be too much. Well... maybe-..."
He stopped when Julie cleared her throat and pointed towards the door.
"Oh, right! Err... I'll get back to you on that. Bye, Mrs. Summers!"
Zeke and Julie waved to Mary and ran through the door; which closed and vanished away.
"Man! What's in that stuff we been smokin'?" one thug remarked, upon seeing the door disappear.
"Quiet, you!" shouted the officer who pushed him into the back seat of his car.
X X X
Later...
The alien Captain and his surviving crew members crawled their way out of the burning wreckage of their ship, just as several other UFOs landed nearby. Soon afterwards, a number of aliens in blue uniforms materialized in front of them with laser pistols pointed at them.
"Freeze!" they shouted, "Hands in the air!"
The Captain and his crewmates nervously complied, as one alien- dressed in a suit with a trenchcoat and hat- emerged from the crowd and approached the Captain.
"Detective Ziktor!" the Captain blustered.
"That's right." the alien Detective responded, "I've got you now, 'Captain Zander.' Or should I say... Dr. X!"
The 'Captain' growled as Ziktor took hold of his face and yanked it off, revealing it to be a mask.
"Thought you could fool us, by disguising as an Air Force Captain, huh?" he continued, "Thought you'd get away safely to the Milky Way galaxy, did you? Well, you thought wrong! You and your lackeys have been abducting people from all over the universe for far too long, and now you're coming with us. Take 'em away, boys!"
After securing their new passengers aboard their ships, the alien Police began to lift off.
"Shouldn't we recover Dr. X's ship, Sir?" one officer asked Ziktor.
"Nah." he replied, "If I know humans, they'll probably just dismiss it as one of those... weather balloon thingies. ...whatever that is."
X X X
To be Continued