Chapter 18
X X X
"So... I'm guessing from your reaction, that that thing wasn't supposed to break like that?" Zeke asked Mr. Y.
Suddenly, a puff of smoke caught the group's attention. Once it had settled, Count Eveer was standing in its wake.
"Well, what have we here?" he mused, at the site of the smashed artifact, "It would seem that, while you two have prevented me from summoning my subjects into this world, I am now free of that wretched scientist's control! Thus, I am now free to create a new army of subjects to help me rule this world! Perhaps you two are still interested in becoming my Generals?"
Upon hearing him say 'you two', Zeke and Julie suddenly glanced around and noticed that Mr. Y had disappeared on them again.
"No?" the Count went on, "Good. I've always liked it better that way!"
With that, Eveer bore his fangs and lunged at Julie; who barely managed to try and resist as the vampire started towards her neck. But he suddenly stopped, when two streams of holy water hit him in the face. He flinched in pain and glared at Zeke; who had retrieved the two water guns.
"Why you...!"
But before the Count could react further, Julie suddenly remembered the crucifix that Father Vittorio gave her. She whipped it ouf and held it in front of her, watching in amazement as the cross began to glow. Count Eveer roared in extreme pain and then jumped backwards, turning himself into a bat and flying away. Zeke walked up to Julie; who looked up and him and gave a light smile of relief, as she caught her breath.
"Any idea where our friend ran off to?" Zeke asked, handing Julie's gun to her.
"Beats me." she replied, "It's probably not important now though. We gotta find the rest of those people, fast!"
"Right. Let's go!"
X X X
Mr. Y opened each desk drawer, searching frantically, until he finally found a pair of keys. He put them in his pocket and turned towards the door, but was startled to see Dr. Tongue standing in the doorway, with a laser gun pointed at him.
"Not tho fatht!" he shouted, "Thought you could thabotage my planth behind my back, eh? Thought I wouldn't thuthpect a thing, did you? I should've known you were jutht like all the retht of them!" (Thought you could sabotage my plans behind my back, eh? Thought I wouldn't suspect a thing, did you? I should've known you were just like all the rest of them!)
Mr. Y slowly put his hands up.
"You got me, 'Doctor.'" he responded, "You've truly gone insane and I never did want to help you. But I knew you'd kill me if I didn't."
"Tho you helped thothe two kidth to thpoil my planth, figuring I'd be none the wither, ith that right?" (So, you helped those two kids to spoil my plans, figuring I'd be none the wiser, is that right?)
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Well, that'th all I need to hear."
X X X
Zeke and Julie looked around the halls, keeping an eye on Lil' Sparky's radar.
"I still don't see anyone around here," Julie told Zeke, "but it looks like we're getting closer to-..."
Julie was suddenly cut off, by a loud noise nearby.
"Whoa..." uttered Zeke, "That... sounded like... a raygun?"
Then they faintly heard a familar voice inside a room not far from where they were standing.
"I'll deal with your body later. For now, I mutht prepare to entertain my... guethth." (I'll deal with your body later. For now, I must prepare to entertain my... guests.)
There was a sound of gulping, followed by a faint poofing sound. Then, silence. Zeke and Julie looked at each other and then raced into the room. There, they found Mr. Y laying still on the floor. Lifting his 3D glasses, Zeke slowly approached him and removed his scarf and sunglasses.
"Hey... you're that other scientist!" he said, "That Dr. Weith- err... Weisman... guy that Dr. Tongue brought in to that dungeon, to give that speech for him!"
Dr. Weisman took a breath.
"Yes." he said, "It's true. All this time, I've been... well, my backstory and motivations aren't important. You've got to stop Dr. Tongue now!"
He reached into his pocket and grabbed the two keys; which he handed to Zeke.
"Here. One of these keys unlocks the dungeons. The other one... unlocks a cabinet in Dr. Tongue's lab. It'll have a... secret weapon... that you might need."
With that, Mr. Y's head fell back to the ground and he lay still.
"Most tragic indeed." a nearby voice said.
"Yeah, poor guy." Zeke replied, "Uhh... who said that?"
Zeke and Julie turned around, to face yet another puff of smoke.
"Surprise!" Count Eveer shouted, before leaping towards them with his fangs bared.
But he soon jumped back, with a scream of agony, and shielded himself with his arms, as Julie whipped out her crucifix and held it in front of her. Grunting in frustration, he turned into a bat and flew away.
"Come on!" Julie said, motioning for Zeke to follow.
Zeke; who had paused to read a text message on his phone, that he'd just recieved, suddenly looked up and noticed Julie had already left the room.
"Hey, wait up!" he called after her.
As he pursued Julie, Zeke suddenly heard Harry's voice on his radio.
"Houston calling Dallas. Give me a SitRep, over."
Sighing, Zeke grabbed the radio, when the Count suddenly appeared right in front of him. Startled, he fell backwards and dropped the radio onto the floor.
"Dallas? Do you copy?"
"Here, young man," the Count said, "let me get that for you."
But instead of picking it up, the Count stomped on the radio, smashing it.
"Whoops! Clumsy me!"
Zeke sighed.
"Well, that's inconvenient." he said.
X X X
Julie looked up from Lil' Sparky's screen, as she approached what appeared to be a fancy dining hall.
"Okay, it looks like there's two more of them in here." she muttered to Zeke.
But as she glanced in what she thought was Zeke's direction, she suddenly realized that she was alone.
"Zeke? ...Zeke, where are you?!"
No response. Julie looked back at the radar screen and sighed.
'Please let him be safe.' she thought, as she walked into the dining hall.
As she walked in, Julie found a man and woman waiting for her. They looked just like the vacationing tourists that she and Zeke had previously rescued from the grocery store.
"Ah, good." the man said, "You're here at last."
"Yes." added the woman, "You're just in time."
"You two were taken from the base too, huh? Well, don't worry, I'll have you back there in-... wait... I'm in time for what?"
The man took off his sunglasses, looked Julie straight in the eye, and replied, "Why, dinner of course!"
Suddenly, hair began to rapidly grow on the couple's flesh and their clothes began to tear apart.
"You..." Julie stammered, "You're not..."
She then noticed that the two blips on Lil' Sparky's radar screen had vanished as the werewolves' transformations completed. As the two werewolves began to hungrily approach Julie, she quickly turned off Lil' Sparky and pocketed it, before diving behind the table. Knowing that holy water would do no good against werewolves, she set her gun down.
'Wait a sec...' she thought, 'this is a dining room, so that means...'
Glancing up onto the table, Julie noticed that it was indeed set up with plates and silverware.
"Yes!" she cried, quickly grabbing a fork and a knife.
Julie then ducked down again, as one of the werewolves pounced over the table at her. As the werewolf landed near her, Julie wasted no time plunging the two utensils into its chest. The monster cried out in agony and fell to the floor, dissipating into nothingness. Julie felt a moment's relief, until a deep growling behind her reminded her that there was one more werewolf to deal with. Thinking quickly, she threw a nearby chair in front of the werewolf and scampered away. This only bought Julie a few seconds, but that was all she needed to arm herself with another set of utensils and toss them at the werewolf. After watching the second werewolf's body vanish away, Julie sighed with relief and went to retrieve her water gun. She then turned to leave the room, only to find Dr. Tongue standing right in front of her, pointing his raygun at her.
"Very imprethive, my dear!" he remarked, snatching her gun away, "But I'm afraid your fun'th over now. Now, you're coming with me!"
'Oh no... the dream!' Julie thought, as she slowly put her hands in the air, 'It's really happening!'
X X X
To be Continued