I am really sorry for the wait guys. Thing is that last month I took on another job to work during the week while hours at my regular job are limited. And now I have some added duties at my regular job. So in a way, I'm kinda of working three jobs right now, I'm even in the middle of a two week stretch with only a single day off during this time with late nights going on as well.
But now that things are slowing down this next week, I'm taking every chance that I can right now to get some writing done.
Avery groaned as she tried to strum on her guitar. The stress over the several incidents that she had encountered over the past couple of weeks in Nowhere had prevented her from spending any regular time to practice her guitar. And now she felt like she was forgetting some important steps when it came to playing her instrument. She'd forget to tune it before practice or pluck the wrong strings at the wrong time.
"This is what happens when your life distracts you," she muttered to herself.
She plucked the strings a few more times and accidentally hit the wrong notes again.
"Dammit!" she uttered and set her guitar down on the bed and buried her face in her hands as she groaned in frustration. "I'm getting rusty. I need to refocus."
She looked at her bracelet and said, "Can't you help me here? Can you at least help me relax or make me more musically talented."
The bracelet remained still, much to Avery's annoyance.
"Figures that you only work when it's convenient."
She picked her guitar back up and prepared to practice once again, that is until she heard the sound of a pained scream from outside. Jumping up from her bed, she ran over to the window and looked out onto the property. It was already dark out that night with a nearly full moon out, so she could see out into the yard perfectly fine. She saw her aunt Muriel out by her garden, clutching one of her hands.
Her aunt was very prideful of her vegetable garden and would tend to it every chance that she got, even at night. With there being a nearly full moon out, it was the perfect kind of night to tend to it. But right now might not have been a good time to do it as Avery could now see a little bit of blood dripping from her aunt's hand.
"Oh dear," Avery muttered and ran down from her room and towards the kitchen.
Muriel was already stepping into the house when Avery arrived at the kitchen, clutching her hand tightly as Courage let out some whines and a howl as some blood dripped onto the kitchen floor. Eustace however looked more annoyed than anything else.
"Muriel, what did you do to yourself?" Eustace demanded.
Muriel groaned from the pain and said, "I was tending to my garden when a wee little rabbit came hopping up to me and I wanted to give him a carrot. But I guess he didn't want one since he bit me."
Avery got a better look at Muriel's quickly swelling hand and saw the bite mark upon it. The bite looked a little big to have been made by a rabbit, like something more vicious had gotten a hold of her. All that she hoped is that whatever had bitten her aunt wasn't rabid. That would be a worst case scenario.
Eustace groaned and said, "So much for a quiet night at home. Everyone in the truck, we're going to the doctor."
Everyone complied and followed Eustace out to the truck, making sure to bind Muriel's bite wound before leaving the house.
It didn't take them long to get to the doctor's office and even less time than that to get in and see him. To everyone's surprise, even the doctor's, Muriel's hand had stopped bleeding by the time they got into the office. The one other thing that Avery was surprised by was the fact that the doctor was not alarmed by the fact that Muriel's hand was now enormous from all the swelling. There was no way that was normal and the doctor was incredibly nonchalant about it.
The doctor scratched his chin and said, "Hmm, there's nothing to worry about now that the bleeding has stopped. Nothing at all. Nothing at all."
Courage whined and Avery patted the top of his head to help him stay calm.
"The swelling is going to go down, to go down. Just keep soaking it, nothing to worry about. Just keep soaking it," the doctor stated.
"Hey doc, with all due respect I think there might be something worse going on. When was the last time you saw a rabbit bite inflate someone's hand to the size of a basketball? I think this is worth an extra look," Avery said and Courage nodded and whined in agreement.
Muriel patted Courage on the head with her swollen hand and said, "Now now you two, I don't want there to be any trouble."
"Then you shouldn't have gotten bit," Eustace said angrily and yanked on Courage's leash, yanked it hard and making Courage choke. "Come on stupid dog."
"HEY!" Avery cried out and pried the leash out of Eustace's grip and let Courage walk along next to her, much to Eustace's anger.
Muriel got down from the doctor's bed and said, "Thank you doctor," as she walked out.
The doctor, standing all by himself, watched them leave and said once more, "Just keep soaking it."
The very next day passed without incident. Muriel soaked her hand all day and every now then she'd check to make sure that it was getting smaller and smaller. Sure enough it was, and before the day got long, the sun was going down and the now full moon was coming up.
Avery had taken care of dinner that night so that Muriel could focus on soaking her hand. Once everyone was finished with dinner and dishes were done, Avery, Courage and Eustace retired to the living room to watch TV. Of course, Avery kept looking out at the moon which looked like it was taking on a very unnatural color. And despite the full moon, she couldn't help but feel that the yard looked darker than ever. Courage must have had a similar feeling as he too looked stressed and kept glancing at the kitchen door.
"Muriel! You're missing your favorite show," Eustace called out that broke Avery from her focus with the moon. "MURIEL!"
"Okay Uncle Eustace, you don't need to shout. She might still be soaking her hand," Avery said.
Eustace growled, turned to Courage and said, "You go find her stupid dog."
Courage whined and complied with Eustace's demand as he made his way to the kitchen.
Avery looked at Eustace and said, "Why are you getting so angry all of a sudden?"
Eustace didn't answer and just turned back to the show. Avery decided to bite the bullet and sat down next to him and watched the show as well. But her newfound focus was broken when she heard the sound of Courage screaming in the kitchen.
Both she and Eustace were groaning and Avery was even saying, "What scared him this time?" But her aggravation turned to concern when his scream suddenly stopped and was replaced with the sound of a thud. She looked back at the kitchen door and couldn't hear any sign of Courage coming back or even moving. She looked back to Eustace who kept focusing on the TV and didn't even look away. Avery let out a sigh and walked over to the kitchen door.
She tried to open the door, only to find that something was blocking it. She forced it open a little more, only to find Courage was lying in front of it and was clutching his chest. She took a look inside the kitchen and saw no sign of her aunt anywhere. So she looked back down at Courage and nudged him with her foot.
"Courage? You okay boy?" she asked softly and nudged him again. "Courage?"
It only took a few minutes for an ambulance to arrive and load Courage into the back. Since Muriel was still missing and Eustace just didn't notice or even care for that matter, Avery chose to ride along with them to the hospital. The same one that they had been to the night before for Muriel's bite. By some weird circumstance, Courage was even in the care of the same doctor from the night before and Avery couldn't help but think that this could potentially end in disaster.
But Courage recovered from his heart attack quickly and was more than grateful than ever to have Avery there with with him as he kept nestling into her grip. Almost like her presence helped calm him down. The doctor in the meantime kept looking over his clipboard and back to Courage as the heart monitor kept beeping.
"You almost bought it boy. What is up with that?" the doctor asked.
Avery looked back at him and said, "Something scared him tonight doc, really bad. I've seen him face multiple different horrors, but he's never freaked out this bad before. And we've encountered mutant spiders before doc. MUTANT SPIDERS! I'm sure most people would die from fright with those alone. Something terrified him tonight and my aunt is missing. You know, the patient who got bitten by something that we still don't know."
The doctor waved her off and said, "Common phobia young lady, nothing more. Common phobia, nothing more. There's nothing to worry about, there's nothing at all."
Courage however quickly jumped up from the hospital bed and grabbed the doctor, letting the heart monitor flat line as they ran off. Avery followed them close behind, leaving any nurse who would come in to ponder what was going on.
Courage didn't stop running until they were approaching the farm once again, even Avery was mystified by the little dog's endurance and was still feeling anxious from the moon's strange color and hue that the light was taking on.
They all stepped into the living room, with Courage carrying the doctor, and much to Courage's surprise, Muriel was sitting in front of the TV in her rocking chair and watching the TV. Courage set the doctor down and pointed at Muriel, babbling a bit. Out of nowhere, he made his teeth look sharp and growled horrendously as he continued to point at Muriel. Avery gulped and looked at her aunt's rocking from. She had had a feeling that something very wrong had been going on with her aunt's animal bite and usually Courage's instincts were right. So now she feared the worst and knew that her aunt was now something to fear.
The doctor approached her and said, "Excuse me ma'am, your son and his friend say that there is something wrong with you. What is up with that?"
Muriel continued sitting and watching the horror movie in front of her, just rocking in her chair as she did so. But as the doctor got closer, she turned towards him and even looked normal to all of them.
"Shh! I'm watching my favorite show," Muriel said.
Courage scratched the top of his head in confusion and even let out a confused grunt. Avery even began shaking her head. The night and worry must have gotten to the boy and even her as well. That is until her bracelet began to vibrate quickly and she noticed that as the doctor got closer to her aunt, the vibration of the bracelet intensified.
The doctor continued standing there and said, "Now, I want you to open your mouth and say ahh."
That was when the bracelet let out a jolt so hard, it actually shot some pain through Avery's arm.
"Ah! Wait doc, don't!" Avery called out, but it was too late.
Muriel's mouth opened wide, revealing many sharp teeth as she then chomped down on the doctor, leaving his lower half hanging out of her mouth. She chewed for a second and then began shaking the doctor around like a rag doll. Both Courage and Avery screamed and clasped onto one another as the grisly scene continued, even seeing a little bit of blood trickle down from the doctor's coat. This went on for a few more seconds until Muriel released him and the doctor scurried away from her as she let out a vicious roar. Both Courage and Avery watched in horror as Muriel's hands morphed into something more inhuman. She continued to roar as she dug down into the floor and vanished from sight.
Courage gasped and ran over to the hole as Avery turned to the doctor.
"You okay doctor?" she asked.
The doctor wiped his forehead and said, "Guess she doesn't like check ups. Some patients are stubborn, some are stubborn."
'He's fine,' Avery thought and another roar ripped her from her thoughts.
She looked over to the hole in the floor to see that her aunt had returned and now she looked far more animalistic than before. Her white hair had even turned red. She stood in the hole and roared at Courage who then suddenly jumped so high that he actually jumped through the ceiling.
It then looked over at Avery and snarled at her. Avery gulped and could feel her fear grip at her heart and she squeezed her eyes shut, too scared to even move from her spot. But to her amazement the beast turned away from her and looked back up at the hole in the ceiling and jumped up into it. This was quickly followed by more screams from upstairs, no doubt her uncle Eustace and Courage were screaming at the same time. The creature then fell back down from the ceiling and back into the hole from before and out of sight.
Avery blinked and gasped from the shock, but then heard the doctor groan from beside her and she looked down at the bite marks around his waist.
She looked at him and said, "Doctor, we should get you back to the hospital. You're bleeding."
The doctor waved her off and said, "It's just a patient having a tantrum. Some patients are stubborn. But I must say, that is the worst case of chicken pox I have ever seen."
Suddenly the floor right at Avery's feet burst open as Muriel surged out of it once more. She roared at Avery, but turned her attention back to the doctor as she chomped him once more and then dragged him back into the hole from which she had come. All she could hear was the sound of the doctor's pained cries.
Avery shrieked at the sight and said, "Dammit! Stop doing that!"
She lied near the hole, panting from the fear and was broken out of her state by the sound of footsteps approaching. She looked up to see her uncle in his towel and Courage pointing at the hole with a babble. Avery used the corner wall of the door frame to pull herself back up to her feet. Courage continued to babble as Eustace glanced at the hole is disdain.
"Mice?! Mice in my house? Gonna get me a mallet," Eusatce said and began walking away.
Courage babbled quickly, getting Eustace's attention once again. The dog quickly took out a pencil and drew a picture of a mouse and crossed it out. Next to it, he drew a picture of Muriel and drew a circle around her, pointing at the picture with a whine.
Eustace let out a scowl and said, "Where did I put my mallet?"
"Uncle Eustace, he's saying that it's not a mouse. You think mice can make a hole that big?" Avery said and pointed at the hole.
Eustace's scowled even more and said, "Rats? Those are even worse. Where's my mallet?"
He continued up the stairs and out of sight.
Courage looked up at Avery and knew that there'd be no convincing Eustace that the "rat" was actually Muriel. So if they couldn't harm her, they'd have to fix her. To find out what was going on, they'd have to consult someone that Avery really didn't want to to talk to. But if they wanted to fix her aunt, they had no choice.
Back up in the attic, Courage was quickly typing away on the computer. Avery couldn't see everything that he was typing but could see that it was something about Muriel, a big mole and eating people. He then pounded the enter button multiple times to get a response.
'A big mole? Guess that explains the digging holes thing,' Avery thought.
The computer chuckled and said, "You are such a lousy typist."
This earned him a glare from both Courage and Avery, with Courage babbling angrily at the computer.
"You're welcome. What you've got here is a weremole," the computer said as it flashed the word 'weremole' in red.
Courage babbled some more at the computer.
"Weremole? I've never heard of that before," Avery said.
"They're not native to the south young lady. They come out in the full moon and they've got a taste for rabbits and people," the computer said as it displayed a weremole on screen holding up a rabbit and a person.
Avery gulped and pulled herself closer to Courage as he gasped at the sight of the demonic looking mole. She even scanned the floor, keeping her wits about her.
"And if you are bitten by a weremole, you become one yourself," the computer explained and displayed the equation on screen.
Courage howled and Avery said, "So what do we do about this?"
"If I were you, I'd get a big mallet and-" the computer began but was cut off by Courage babbling and typing away again. Avery was able to catch enough to see that it was about a cure.
Surely there had to be a way to reverse this.
"Oh... that's easy. Just eat a little hair of the mole that bit you," the computer said.
Both of their mouth's just dropped agape. The cure honestly sounded more dangerous than the condition itself. But if they wanted to fix Muriel, this was likely the only way to do it. They both turned away from the computer and began to leave the room.
But they paused as they heard the computer mockingly say, "Just don't get bitten."
Courage whined and Avery glared before the computer said, "Just kidding. Dogs aren't affected by weremole bites. But I'd be cautious if I were you young lady."
They both left the room. That last part was at least some good information to have.
Avery looked at Courage and said, "If aunt Muriel was bitten last night, then the mole that bit her might still be around here. One of us has to go out and find it."
Courage babbled something and pulled out a rabbit costume from the nearby closet.
"You can get out there and get the hair? Are you sure you want to do that?" Avery asked.
Courage nodded, but still looked frightened at the thought of it. But since he wasn't able to be infected by a weremole bite, it was less risky for him to be the one to go out there rather than her.
Avery sighed and said, "Okay, you go out there and get the hair. I'll stay here to make sure that Uncle Eustace doesn't hurt aunt Muriel. Sound good?"
Courage nodded in agreement and slipped the rabbit costume on. He gave one last look at Avery and made his way outside. So now Avery just had to find her uncle and make sure he didn't do anything stupid to Muriel... or himself.
Outside Courage shivered in fear and began hopping around the ground, pretending to be a rabbit. He was sure that the thing that bit Muriel still had to be digging around here somewhere. He just hoped that he could this quickly before he or anyone else got hurt.
Oh the things he'd do for love.
Back inside, Eustace was digging around under the bed in his bedroom, muttering to himself as scoured around. Avery stepped in to see him ranting to himself.
"Where is that darn mallet? Can't bop a mouse without me mallet," he said.
"Uncle Eustace, please just listen to me. It's not a mouse that is tearing apart the house," Avery tired to explain.
"Oh that's right, it's a rat. Rats are worse. Lousy disease spreading vermin," Eustace said and then began digging underneath his bed again, pulling out various objects.
There was a loud SNAP from under the bed and Eustace pulled his arm out with a scream, revealing that he had gotten it caught in a giant mouse trap that had been stashed underneath the bed for some reason. Avery couldn't help but chuckle at his misfortune.
"That's not me mallet!" Eustace yelled as he shook the device off of his arm.
He dug under the bed once more, this time pulling out a large wooden hammer. Avery's heart sunk at the sight of it.
"Ah! Me mallet," Eustace said excitedly.
Before Avery could get a word in edgewise, a section the floor in front of Eustace broke open and Muriel's animalistic head popped out with a roar. Eustace screamed and tried bringing the mallet down onto Muriel's head. But she retreated too quickly for him to gain a successful hit.
"Okay Uncle Eustace, I think it's time we got out of the house," Avery said but was ignored.
Then the floor right in front of her burst open as Muriel reappeared and tried to bite into her foot, Avery shrieked but was too slow to move her foot back. It was then that she noticed that her aunt retreated as something had pushed her back from Avery and back into the hole. Avery watched it bewilderment, until she felt the bracelet humming on her wrist and it took on a dim glow.
She looked at the bracelet and then back at her uncle and then back to the bracelet. Was the trinket giving her a defense between her and her aunt? An idea quickly formed in her head and she dashed over to her uncle.
"Uncle Eustace, stay behind me. It won't be able to get through me," she said.
That's when Muriel popped out of the floor behind Eustace and tried biting at him again. He dodged the bite and tried bringing the mallet down on her again. Muriel pulled back under the floor once more.
Avery began to sweat drop and said, "Well so much for that plan."
She could hear Courage screaming from outside and she looked out the window just in time to see a weremole similar to the one from the computer attacking Courage and just shaking him around in the costume. All the while, Muriel kept popping her head up from under the floor and even out of the bed. Each time she popped up, Eustace tried in vain to bring his mallet down on top of her. Each time though, she'd retreat back into the hole. Every now and then, Avery was able to get between Muriel and Eustace, but Muriel would just retreat and pop up somewhere else.
All the while, Courage was outside being shaken and slammed around by the weremole, until he finally he was torn loose from the costume and thrown away from the shredded outfit. Amazingly, the weremole wasn't even interested in Courage as it just kept tearing at the costume. It took a few tries, but Courage was finally able to muster up the will to get close to the weremole and pluck a single strand of fur from the weremole's body. It never even noticed Courage's presence and the dog ran off with a shrug.
Back in the bedroom, Muriel was no longer popping up out of the floor and was instead chewing through the floor as she made her way towards Eustace. Avery tried getting in Muriel's way, but Muriel was able to just duck under her and popped out on the other side of her. Avery tried this a couple more times, but the result was always the same.
Just as Muriel was about to chomp down on Eustace, Courage hopped in through the window and onto Eustace's head. He was able to deposit the single strand of fur in her mouth. Muriel felt the hair enter her throat and began grasping her throat like she was choking, making horrific gagging sounds and then fainted back into the hole. And then all was silent.
Eustace broke the silence by turning to Courage and angrily said, "What'd you do? I almost had it. You ruin everything!"
"Uncle Eustace, he just saved you from being attacked," Avery argued, knowing it was futile regardless.
Eustace grumbled and said, "He stopped me killing that rat. Stupid dog!"
They all left the room and crept down the stairs into the living room. The TV was still playing the movie from earlier and they could see that Muriel was sitting in the chair again, watching the movie. But they could not see her face for a true conclusion.
So the three of them snuck up behind her, the squeaks of her rocking chair were louder than their footsteps. Avery began to take shallow breaths as Eustace began to sweat bullet and Courage blinked rapidly. Their fears were dashed as Muriel turned towards them.
"Where have you been? You've missed the whole show," Muriel said worriedly.
Courage babbled happily and jumped right into Muriel's lap and snuggled right up to her as she began to rock the chair. Avery smiled and took the seat right next to her aunt, glad that this ordeal was now over. They could worry about the damage that was done to the house tomorrow.
But Eustace still had his mallet held high and said, "Now where'd that rat get to?"
But Muriel looked back at Eustace and said, "I swear. All of this bother over a wee rodent?"
Courage and Avery merely smiled... that is until the floor right by Eustace began to rumble and a part of the floor broke open. Right behind Eustace was the doctor, now a weremole beast as well, and Courage and Avery just watched as the doctor grabbed Eustace and pulled him under the floor as well. This was followed by the sounds of Eustace pounding around his mallet, his laughs, biting and chewing.
Courage screamed and Avery watched with her mouth hanging open and eyes wide open. But she looked outside and could see that the moon was almost all the way down with just a sliver of it showing, so this nightmare would be over shortly anyway. She turned Courage's head away from the hole and back towards the TV.
"Let's worry about this in the morning Courage. The moon's almost down so he'll be turning back soon. He has Uncle Eustace to play with for now," She said.
Courage still shivered, but knew there was no sense in worrying about this right now. So he turned back to the TV and let that be it.
Finally back to work on this fic. I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but real life rears it's ugly head once again. At least this time it's a job and not a flooded basement. We got that fixed.
Next chapter will be Shirley the Medium. That one might take a little time as I have plenty planned for that chapter.