Lucas Ryan Versus: The Return

by Madison Daniel

  Attached to the back of the King’s neck was a slithering black and purple snake. Its mouth was locked onto the meat just below his hairline and its body jerked back and forth. With a snap it perched upward, unhitching its teeth from the boys neck. The snake wasn’t a snake at all. It shot upward in the air at the closest person with its mouth pulling apart and four clawed appendages jutting outward, grabbing at the air as it lunged forward. The crowd of onlookers flailed backwards with their dangling fake wings slapping into each other.

  “That’s not a snake!” Morgan yelled out. From the stage the Homecoming Queen stopped screaming and took two staggered steps backwards. Her hands reached up to the back of her head as she spun around in place and tumbled to the floor like a sack of rocks. Wired to the back of her head and neck were at least ten serpents of all different sizes and lengths. They twisted together like a braid before falling to the floor and zipping away in all directions.

  “Soph! Run! Head for the emergency exits!” I demanded, with a shove. “Now!”

  She ran off in a blink of an eye, leaping over a few snakes like an action hero. I turned to Morgan who had already started chopping at the monsters with her angel wings in her fists like two swords.

  “We have to get these people out of here!” she hollered. Another handful of students fell to the floor, succumbing to the bites of the spider-snakes. Bodies with fluffy white wings attached to their backs began to pile up. I reached out and snagged my microphone stand into my hands and wielded it like a staff. More snakes slithered from the edge of the stage in waves of fangs and spit. There were so many of them, too many of them.

  “Where are they all coming from?” I called out to Morgan. From the ceiling even more monsters rained down. Some as long as the school ropes that sometimes hung from the rafters to the floor in gym class. Every crack or hole in the building’s frame seemed to be leaking the serpents.

  “Everywhere,” Morgan declared. I swung my makeshift weapon as hard as I could with Morgan at my back doing the same, and all I could think about was that this must be what happened to Lucas and the others.

  I ordered, “Keep fighting! Don’t stop!”

  “Let’s get to the emergency exit at the back of the room,” Morgan pleaded, but I had already started fighting that way. I had sent Sophia that way and I needed to make sure she had been able to escape. As the lights along the ceiling began to flash on and off, I quickened my pace.

  “Hurry!” I demanded. Most of the students had succumbed to the wave of snakes, leaving only a dozen or so still on their feet. They were screaming at the top of their lungs and running for any exit in sight. The problem was each and every exit seemed to be heavily swarmed with the larger serpents. They coiled themselves like horrific totem poles that watched over the smaller attackers as they swept through the buffet of students. I was praying that they hadn’t found the emergency exit behind the stage that only a handful of school faculty used. It was hidden in a bend around the corner of a large hallway closet that resembled a dead end. This useless nook was usually used for storing boxes or folded tables. All of which hid the door at the back. It didn’t even have an exit sign above it. I pushed our retreat to this hidden escape with all my strength. Sadly, Morgan and I had to use the fallen bodies of our classmates as stepping stones to avoid the slithering floor.

  “Are we almost there?” Morgan asked, winded. I nodded yes and jumped over a knot of snakes that were preoccupied with feeding on some of the football team and their dates. On a closer inspection, they weren’t eating them but cocooning the bodies in a glistening green slime that streamed from their mouths. I had to turn my head from the sight.

  “The door’s right up ahead,” I called out over my shoulder. “We’re going to make it!” I smashed a heal into a three-foot long serpent as it flipped its fangs my way. It’s body crushed like a tin can under the sole of my boot. Moments later I realized that Morgan hadn’t answered me back.

  “Morgan?” I called out. When I looked back for her she was gone. “Mo?” I hollered. A chorus of morbid hisses greeted me as I found that I was the last person standing. The rest of the bodies in the room were all unconscious and being lathered in spider-snake saliva. The lights flickered again, drawing my eyes upward. Hanging from the ceiling was Morgan. She was wrapped in sticky web-like strands and she dangled lifelessly with her hair in her face. Her beautiful Homecoming dress flowed in the air with green stains and blood. She was still alive, but for how much longer?

  The sea of monsters rose up like a tsunami with their eyes locked onto me and my bent microphone stand. More bodies began to pull upward toward the ceiling as if they were on rubber band strings, joining Morgan in the air. I let out a desperate breath and began to tremble. With a burst of sparks the lighting along the ceiling finally gave into the onslaught of slimy beasts. Darkness fell everywhere, leaving only the haunting glow of the serpents eyes as they danced in front of me.

  Holding onto my sanity, I whipped around and made the last jump to safety. My feet barely held any traction on the slippery floor and I slid into the wall next to the final exit door. In my head one thought kept repeating itself as I reached for the door handle…

  Please be unlocked.

  My fingers wrapped around the handle and yanked with the last bit of strength I had. It clicked open and I let out a relieved cry. The roars of the creatures seemed to be just a few inches from me when I ripped the door open and pushed myself forward. With a thud, I slammed into a scaly wall.

  “Ouch…” I grimaced, grabbing my forehead. Unfortunately, I hadn’t hit another wall. A giant spider-snake that was as thick as the large plastic garbage cans we used in the cafeteria, had halted my escape. Its length was too difficult to determine because it was wrapped up in an enormous coil that made its mass at least ten-feet high. My heart sank as I understood the truth.

  I was trapped.

  I was alone.

  We had failed tonight. I just prayed that my little sister was safe.

  The beast unhinged its jaw with the sickening sound of sizzling mucus and bones cracking. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to come. As its putrid breath pushed down on my face, I whispered…

  “Save me, Lucas.”

  LEVEL 23

  MAYHEM

  Lucas:

  The screams from the gymnasium were unbearable. Pounding bodies tried to push open the doors but something sinister wouldn’t allow their escape. Queen Strickland caressed the wall behind her, ignoring Taylor and I as we lay on the floor. Taylor was still unconscious but there were signs that he was fighting it. His breath staggered and his eyelids twitched as if he were having the worst of nightmares.

  “My babies are almost done,” Queen Strickland snickered. Her long razored claws clicked in unison against the wall as she listened intently. “I must leave you, Mr. Ryan.”

  “About friggin’ time,” I cussed. Her head whipped around and her mass of tentacles along her back mimicked her movement.

  She gurgled with laughter, “Oh, don’t you worry. I have something special planned for you and your golden haired friend.”

  “I can’t wait,” I spit, stupidly.

  “Too bad I’m not allowed to kill you myself. I bet you would taste delicious.” Her neck extended, placing her dripping black face inches in front of mine. “The critters from this world always do.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “Your monkey bones are considered a delicacy on my world. Yummy, my boy,” she licked her black lips with an alien forked tongue. The smell turned my stomach. Menacingly, she added, “I, personally don’t like human meat, but my children love it.”

  “So you’re doing this for food? We’re all just some kind of human drive-thru for you?” I was rambling on, trying to buy us some time. Taylor seemed closer to coming out of his sleep.

  “When I’m done with you, you’ll wish that I had devoured you, or, should I say, when he’s done with you.” She pulled her neck back and focused her mouth on the wall
in front of her. She outstretched all her limbs and pushed them into the cracks and crevices. With a pulsating quiver, she let out a long hiss.

  “Don’t let them leave,” she said, to the structure in front of her. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she winked one of her fiery eyes at me and dematerialized into a thick oily substance. It was as black as tar and gave off electrical trails of smoke. The mass of yuck seeped into every slit and crack in the wall until she was completely gone.

  I tried to stand up, and mumbled, “That was gross.”

  Below my feet the floor seemed to change. The black and white tiles pulled apart, letting the stench of sulfur escape the cracks. They shifted in place like scales. The walls pushed outward before pulling themselves back in. Then they did it again and again, as if they were breathing. Black veins appeared along them and they pumped with hot fluid that made them steam. The air in the hallway grew thick and humid. I could actually taste it. It tasted like charcoal.

  “Taylor…” I said, worried. He groaned from below me. “Wake up, man…I need you…”

  The ceiling above us started to crack and reshape itself in the impossible shape of enormous vertebrae. The bony features reached down the sides of the walls as if we were locked in an organic cage. The lockers along the walls crinkled with metallic pops as their doors flew open. Each piece of metal pulled itself outward, reaching for us, stretching their form into long jagged points.

  “Are those teeth?” I said, to myself. From beneath me Taylor slowly sat up.

  “Looks like were in the belly of a beast…literally.” His hair fell in his eyes and he quickly swatted it away. “What did I miss?”

  “Not much. Queen Strickland enchanted the building, turning it into a living, breathing entity while she collects the rest of our friends and schoolmates for food. You know, the usual.”

  “Funny, Lucas,” he groaned. The floor began to rock back and forth, sending us backwards on our feet. Taylor grabbed my shoulders and steadied both of us. He searched the hallway and then my phlegm-stained wrist and forearm.

  “We have to get that stuff off. We need Ripley,” he said, directly.

  Scratching at the edge of the black goop pasted to my skin, I asked, “Any ideas?”

  His eyes locked onto something at the back of the hallway, and then he pointed at it.

  “That!”

  Looking over to it, I questioned, “A fire extinguisher?” It was still incased in its glass box and had not seemed to change with the rest of our surroundings.

  “Yeah. Maybe we can freeze that stuff and break it off.”

  His idea was a shot in the dark but we didn’t have time to discuss it. The floor burst upward, sending us into the air and slamming us into the bone covered ceiling. The floor tiles underneath us filled with wetness that fastened to our exposed skin like a giant tongue. The force of the tiled tongue was too strong to fight and we both scraped along the dirty vertebrae sticking from the roof. Taylor and I braced ourselves as best we could.

  “I think its tasting us,” I freaked. The teeth shaped lockers clanked together in front of us with a sickening crash, and then another. “Never mind, it’s trying to eat us.”

  “Not if I can help it!” Taylor hollered. He jammed his fists above him, digging into the ceiling, and forcefully pulled his knees into his chest until his feet were against the tile again. With his elbows and knees lined up directly with his shoulders, he pushed with all of his strength, like a bodybuilder doing a squat and a power lift at the same time. At first nothing happened but with a hearty grunt his full power awoke. The floor began to push back down and the cramped hallway seemed to open again. Man, he truly was a superhero.

  “You’re doing it, T! I can’t believe it!”

  “No time…to…die,” he said, through clenched teeth. “Have…to save…Morgan!” With a final shove he opened the pathway enough for us to stand comfortably. Well, as comfortable as possible when you’re lost in the throat of a enchanted beast.

  With strained discipline, Taylor ordered, “Get the fire extinguisher, Luc!” I rushed forward, running as fast as possible without hitting my head on any of the overhead bones. The fire extinguisher box was only a few feet away when the floor tried to stop me. It rose again toward the ceiling but only where I was at. Taylor watched as the floor formed a bumpy slide-like corridor. My feet slid out from under me, smacking my chest and palms to the floor. My fingertips slid into the crevices between the tiles so I wouldn’t slide back down to Taylor’s spot. The fire extinguisher was just out of my reach and I tried to crawl upward the last few feet.

  “Hurry, I don’t think I can hold it much longer,” Taylor groaned.

  “I’m on it,” I answered back. Just then my feet lost their grip and I slid downward a couple tiles. The floor quivered in delight and I braced for my descent. “Crap.”

  As my fingers began to ache with my bodyweight pulling on them, I filled with gloom. One thing was clear, I was not strong enough to make it to the emergency box that held the extinguisher. What was I going to do? I placed my sweaty cheek against the closest tile to rest my head. It felt like the roughness of a cats tongue, only on a much larger scale. The floor and the ceiling were inching closer again as Taylor was losing strength by the second. We were almost out of time…again.

  “Lucas!” he screamed out. Panic washed over me as the mouth around us began to win. I was so tired, so weak. That’s when it hit me…the gymnasium at the end of the hallway. It was once filled with screams of terror and pain, but now, it was quiet. Whatever Queen Strickland and her creatures were doing to my friends was ending, or worse, already over. The thought radiated everywhere in my body. I couldn’t lose Roland and Morgan, and I couldn’t live in a world where Olivia was not present.

  “No more!” I cursed, and lunged upward, scaling the rest of the way to the glass case of the fire extinguisher. Taylor fell to his knees and the mouth closed around us again. Without thinking I made a fist with my right hand and smashed it through the glass box. It shattered everywhere, cutting my flesh that wasn’t covered by the black goop. I ripped the extinguisher from its cradle and removed the tab on the firing mechanism. Immediately, I squeezed the trigger and it sent a cloud of white foam into the air. It was cold on my face and I turned my head from the explosion. Quickly, I dangled my forearm over the cooling fountain and hoped for the best. A few seconds later the burst of cold stopped, leaving my arm ice cold and crackling with powdered white flakes. They shrunk in place revealing the surface of the dried spit that kept Ripley frozen inside of me. It was no longer black. A dull gray sheen reflected back up at me.

  “Did it work?” Taylor groaned, from the other end of the monstrous throat.

  Running my other hand over the frozen shell, I said, “I don’t know.” Inside my head, Ripley returned.

  ~ Smash it! ~

  Instantly, I pulled my arm back as far as possible in the shrinking space and slammed it into the bony ceiling. My arm vibrated violently. I did it again and again. Finally, a crack formed along one side.

  ~ Don’t stop. ~

  Taylor collapsed as the floor overpowered him and smashed us up against the roof of the impossible mouth. This must be what peanut butter feels like. I laughed hysterically at my stupid thought and swung my arm with all the strength I had left. When the alien cast hit the ceiling this time it shattered into a thousand pieces. My tattoo was already glowing with gold light and my heart raced with excitement.

  “Ripley!” I begged. Ripley poured from my skin in seconds and filled with a red and orange fire. With a flash of vengeance the corridor made of metal teeth bellowed in pain and fell wide open again. Taylor and I dropped to the floor in a comical thud, like two cartoon characters on a Saturday morning television show.

  “Ripley, you did it!” I cheered, with a cocked fist.

  “We’re free!” Taylor exclaimed. The doors to the gymnasium were in sight again and we jumped to our feet swiftly. Ripley spun around us and giant wings sprouted over
the top of us. With fire dripping from Ripley’s eyes, I nudged Taylor with my elbow.

  Knowing what was coming next, I smiled, “Hold on.”

  Ripley raced forward with us in tow. We surged through the hallway like a rocket aimed for the double doors of the gymnasium.

  CRASH!

  The heavy doors flew open with the force of a bomb. They broke free from their hinges and skidded across the gymnasium floor. Taylor and I landed on our feet as Ripley flew upward toward the roof before spinning back down behind us, replacing our shadows. My arm was alive with glittering flecks of light that traced the lines of my tattoo repeatedly. Taylor had managed to scoop up the empty fire extinguisher during our flight and held it at his hip like a caveman wielding a club. We both inhaled long nervous puffs of oxygen as our surroundings filled us with despair.

  “Where is everybody?” Taylor asked, confused.

  “I don’t know,” I answered, upset. The room was covered in falling streamers and torn banners. Decorations were destroyed or stained with black sludge, but there were no signs of life. No students, no teachers, no couples, no chaperones…not even the band. My heart sank. We were too late.