“That doesn’t sound like the doctor who’s helped so many monsters without any form of compensation,” Damiana said.
“It’s not like you to give in so easily,” Evangeline added.
“Yeah, where’s the wolf I’ve come to know and love,” Damiana added.
“Busy facing reality,” Jer replied. “We’ve been outmaneuvered at every step along the way. The enemy has the upper hand. We need to acknowledge that or we’re deluding ourselves.”
“When has that ever not been the case,” Max snarked.
“Touché,” Jer said. “Still, what can we do?”
“For starters, you can stop moping,” Damiana said. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve been justified in giving up? Do you have any clue how many times I was punished and suffered for something that I had nothing to do with? Do you even realize how many monsters there are like me out there? I get that you’ve done a lot to help us, Jer. I do, but you’re the one who’s taught us to believe in ourselves again. How can the very person who’s done that just give up?!”
“I’m sorry for what you’ve had to endure, Damiana, but what are we supposed to do?” Jer asked. “They’ve got all the cards now.”
“Not all the cards,” Max said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jer asked.
Max gesticulated with his hands as if he had some grand plan and needed to get it out as quickly as he could. “You’ve still got half of the formula in your head, and the underground was spared,” he said. “That’s not nothing.”
“I hate to admit it, but the idiot human is right,” Damiana said. “You didn’t give up on any of us, and we’re certainly not giving up on you now.”
“You were there for us, Jer,” Evangeline added. “Time for us to be there for you.”
Max grimaced at all the sentimentality but kept his chin up and head high like he agreed with them and that perhaps, for the first time, he could actually help in a way, and the seeds of a plan in his head could work and he would be helping his new…almost-friends, despite being called an idiot of course.
“Glad to be of service,” Max said sarcastically in response to Damiana’s recognition that he was onto something.
Jer hung his head and took a liking to the ground. “I appreciate the eagerness, but we don’t have a foot to stand on,” he lamented. “It’s over! If this were a game of chess, we’ve just been tricked into believing we had a shot at doing some good and ended up losing all our best pieces. We were outdone. If we fight back now, they’re just going to laugh at us.”
“Good,” Damiana said. “It’s even better than them not seeing us coming. They’ll underestimate us.”
“Damiana’s right,” Evangeline said. “We have to fight back. Use their game against them. And it is like chess. We simply have to imagine that we’ve sacrificed a pawn so that we can take a bishop.”
“More like we sacrificed our queen to take one of their pawns,” Jer countered. “Not exactly how you win.”
Evangeline grimaced and cast him a glare. “I like you better when you fight against the odds,” she said. “You’re not a quitter.”
“Bravery is great when there’s actual a glimmer of hope. We’re up against the impossible here,” Jer said.
“Even better,” Damiana said. “Being the underdog gets my blood flowing. Wanna fuck?”
“What!” Jer said. “Now?”
“Just kidding,” she replied. “Trying to wake you up from the self-pity dick stuck up your ass.”
“And if we play our cards right,” Evangeline said, “we can take their king right when they think they’ve got the board under control.”
“And then change the fucking world,” Damiana said with gusto. “No more self-pity dicks.”
“And no more self-pity dick jokes,” Max added. “You’re all speaking Greek to me, but even I get the gist. Look, I know I’m not anyone’s favorite person here. I’m not even in the top ten.”
“There aren’t ten of us,” Damiana said.
“It’s an expression,” Max said. “Never mind. What’s important is that I agree with the monsters, Jer. We’re in a better position than before, believe it or not. We can take this fight to them, and we can win. And do you know why?”
Jer shrugged with dejection and placed his hands on his hips. “I’m at a loss. Truly,” he said.
“So am I,” Max admitted. “But you know what the formula does now. It unleashes the Transhumana Monstrare genes or somehow shows a connection between humans and monsters. To be honest, all the mumbo jumbo Matthias was spewing made no sense to me. I majored in communications, not science. That’s invaluable information, though, and we can use that.”
“But how?” Jer asked.
“Fuck if I know,” Max said. “Was I mumbling when I just said I haven’t a clue.”
Damiana laughed.
“I’m beginning to like you,” she admitted to Max.
“The feeling’s not mutual,” Max assured her. “But if we get on the same page, we can fight back.”
“We need a page to get on,” Jer said. “We’re not even there yet.”
They went silent as water dripped nearby from the underground cavern tunnel ceiling. The dripping sound reminded Jer of his sensual nightmare in which he was squeezed to death and then back into consciousness.
“I’VE GOT IT!” Damiana shouted. “We re-kidnap Matthias from GenAdvance. Then, we compel him to give up his half of the formula to us, and we combine it with yours.”
“We do what?” Max asked. “That’s crazy. What do we even do once we have him.”
“I know what to do,” Evangeline said. “We figure out a way to use it to help humans and monsters instead of using it as a weapon.”
“If by kidnap, you mean rescue,” Jer said, “Fuck that. Matthias IS A MONSTER!” An awkward silence filled the tunnel. “Sorry. Wrong choice of words. But you get what I mean. Different kind of monster.”
“Matter of perspective,” Damiana said, saving Jer’s dignity. “I don’t agree with everything Matthias has to say, or it, whatever a symbiote is, but knowing what we know about him, it’s an absolute that he memorized his half of the formula. We can use that. We need that.”
“I think I like where this is going,” Jer said. “Hate him or love him, Matthias is useful. Does anyone here have experience in genetic research, or heists for that matter?”
They all shrugged.
“Fuck,” Jer said.
“Ambrose,” Max said. “Dude went missing when we were taken by Matthias’s goons. If we find him, he can help.”
“That is, if he is even willing,” Evangeline said.
“He will be,” Damiana says.
“How can you be so sure?” Max asked. “Seemed like a self-interested asshole.”
“He’s obsessed with the idea that monsters are actually more inclined to be peaceful than humans because we’re built to fight,” she answered. “He believes that the stronger you are the less likely you are to be afraid and need to provoke violence.”
“Not a bad ideology,” Jer admitted. “But we need more than hope to win this thing.”
“No shit,” Evangeline said and smirked at him with fire in her eyes.
The piercing crimson glow ignited a fire inside Jer. Right when he was about to give up, he was beginning to think this battle had just begun.
Jer laughed. “It’s possible,” he admitted. “Together, we could pull it off. Basically, we have a plan to make a plan.”
“You really think Ambrose can repurpose Jasper’s formula?” Damiana asked. “It would be nice to have more control over what’s been happening with my body.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to end up with, but it’s worth a shot,” Jer said. “At the very least, we’ll be fighting alongside the ones we care about most.”
Murmurs of agreement passed between Damiana, Max, and Evangeline.
“It’s not ideal,” Evangeline said, “but it could work.”
; “Thanks for the half-hearted vote of confidence,” Jer said. “I’ll take it. I’m in.”
“Works for me,” Damiana said.
“I’m in,” Max said, causing the others to flinch in surprise.
“Wait, what?” Jer asked. “After all your self-righteous talk about how awful monsters are, and now you want to help them?”
Max shrugged. “Firsthand experience does more to open one’s eyes than a lecture,” he declared.
“So, it’s agreed then?” Jer asked. “We find Ambrose, kidnap or rescue Matthias depending on your perspective, and combine the two together, along with my half of the formula left behind by Jasper, and we figure out a way to use my late-friend’s discovery to help stop bloodshed and devastation.”
The four of them clasped hands like they were part of a sports team getting ready for the final match.
“Let’s do this then,” Jer said with enthusiasm. “Let’s take the fight to them!”
They all made a ruckus and cheered. After an awkward moment, they slowly let go of each other’s hands.
“What now?” Max asked.
Damiana shrugged.
Jer covered his mouth. “All we’ve got is an idea,” he said. “No clue how to make it happen.”
“For chrissakes,” Evangeline said. “I know what to do. Follow me.” She led the way to a fork in the tunnel, and they veered right.
Jer grimaced, remembering the fork left during his nightmare that led to being crushed to death. “Of course, I should have gone right,” he blurted out.
“What’s that?” Evangeline asked.
“Nothing, sorry,” Jer said. “Just thinking out loud.”
The tunnel grew narrow as they descended lower into the ground. After several seconds, they had to crouch to keep going. The light from behind began to fade.
Jer began to feel claustrophobic, hoping this path led somewhere soon.
“Almost there,” Evangeline assured everyone.
“God, I hope this isn’t another trap,” Max said to Damiana. “She isn’t a turncoat too, like Dakota, is she?”
“No,” Damiana said. “The only person I trust more in this world is Jer, then Mira. Evangeline is solid.”
“She’s pretty too,” Max said.
“Hands off, sweet cheeks,” Damiana warned. “She only has eyes for Jer.”
“Geezus. He’s not that special,” Max snapped and snorted.
“We all have our types,” Damiana said.
“How much longer?” Max asked.
“Be quiet,” Evangeline warned. “We’re close. No unnecessary noise.”
The four of them had to get down on knees and elbows to fit through the next leg of the dark tunnel.
“I can’t take much more of this,” Jer admitted. “You know I’m claustrophobic.”
“Almost,” Evangeline assured him.
The tunnel grew so narrow that Jer had to pull his body forward with his hands. He clawed the last few feet of the distance and followed Evangeline into a dark hole, which dropped down into a slide.
Jer found himself rocketing downward and through sludge as he grasped for purchase but couldn’t stop the slide. The longer it went, the faster he slid. A moment later, he popped out of a chute and into a circular chamber with murky liquid up to his waist.
“What the hell was that?” Jer asked right as Max and Damiana popped out of the chute.
“An emergency escape route out of Sheol,” Evangeline answered.
“I get that,” Jer said, “but what’s its function?”
“Oh. Waste drainage,” Evangeline said. “It’s a runoff shaft for the underground.”
Max spat and dry heaved. “You’re telling me we just crawled through a toilet for monsters?” Max asked as he gagged without anything coming out.
Evangeline nodded. “Yup.”
“I change my mind,” Max said. “I’m going back to hating monsters. Fuck your pseudo-revolution.”
Evangeline chuckled.
“You don’t mean that,” she said. “And you’ll be fine. The runoff leads to the water between North and South Brother Island.”
“You’ve led us outside,” Jer said. “Wouldn’t Ambrose be hiding out in Sheol?”
“Not likely,” Damiana interrupted. “It’s under attack. He would have resurfaced back in North Brother Island.”
“But we’re going to be stuck in between the two islands,” Max protested.
Damiana laughed. “North Brother Island might be hard to escape from,” she said, “but it’s pretty damn easy to sneak in to. We’ll be fine.”
“Just be glad we made it out with our heads,” Jer added.
“Our wretched and foul-smelling heads covered in monster shit,” Max said.
“Shut it,” Evangeline warned, “or I’ll change my mind about not offing you.”
Max grumbled but quieted.
Evangeline led the group to a rusty pipe and climbed inside. The others followed suit, and they escaped out into the water.
21
The Crypt
After swimming to the shoreline, Damiana guided Jer, Evangeline, and Max up an embankment and stopped short of the main road that circled North Brother Island. A Pharma police cruiser flew by at high speed with its sirens on. A few seconds later, an armored vehicle with a twenty-five-millimeter gun atop soared past.
“Martial law,” Damiana said. “For an island that’s already cut off from the rest of the world?”
“Fear brings out the worst in all of us,” Jer said.
“Look,” Max said and pointed to Purgatory Bridge. “They’ve got the monsters sandwiched on their side of the bridge with Pharma police on North Brother Island and Pharma soldiers on South Brother Island.”
“Pincer move,” Damiana added.
“We need to move,” Evangeline said. “They’ll have patrols on foot as well.”
“What about the monsters at the bridge?” Max asked. “Not that I care about them. I don’t. Not at all,” he lied. “But…”
“Believe me, we want to help, but there’s nothing we can do yet,” Jer explained, cutting him off. “We’ll do what we can when we can.”
The four of them rushed across the road and dashed down an alleyway. They made their way between crumbling buildings and emerged out into an abandoned amusement park.
Ivy draped a rusty Ferris wheel, a carousel was turned upside down, and an electronic clown emitted eerie and mechanical laughter as they tiptoed forward.
The abandoned amusement park stood as a testament to all the failed attempts to turn the isle into a profitable tourist destination over the decades. Little did the early developers realize that the way to make it profitable wasn’t a monster-themed vacation but an actual monster town.
On the other side of the park, Evangeline led them through a maze of overgrown shrubbery and up to knocked-down fence with sharp spikes protruding from the tops. Damiana stepped over first and used her claws to rip through a mass of bushes, revealing a decrepit cemetery with hundreds of tombstones barely visible through knee-high weeds.
“Great,” Max said. “Another dead end. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve chosen the wrong side.”
Damiana smirked. “Relax, big boy. We’re exactly where we need to be.”
A second later, three of the tombstones tilted backward. Out of the grass and in front of the tombstones, several monsters emerged out into the cemetery and took aim with rudimentary and low-grade weaponry.
They encircled Jer and his crew.
“Who’s the boss?” one of the armed-monsters asked. “Who’s the leader?”
“I wouldn’t call him a leader per se. He’s more of a doctor who abhors violence,” Damiana began, “but Jer speaks on behalf of all of us.”
The armed-monster who asked lowered his weapon and stepped closer. “Doctor Hieronymus ‘Jer’ Bennington?” he asked.
“The one and only,” Jer said. “But please, just Jer.”
“He hates it when people call him Hieronymus
,” Evangeline added. “The orphanage bullies teased him endlessly. And going by his famous father’s name, well, who wants that?”
“How did you find us?” the armed-monster asked.
“I’m responsible,” Evangeline confessed. “I help set up this fallback shelter for Ambrose. We’re friends, as much as monsters like us can be.”
“Could be a trick,” one of the other armed-monsters said.
Damiana rolled her eyes. “For fuck’s sake,” she snapped, “just check with your goddamn boss. He’ll want to see us immediately. I promise.”
One of the armed monsters descended back down through an opening in front of a tombstone. Everyone else waited in awkward silence for several seconds, waiting for him to return.
Finally, the armed-monster returned to the surface. He grumbled and nodded. “The big boss says they’re welcome inside.”
The armed-monsters led Jer and the others down through the same opening. The tombstone closed above them, sealing them in darkness.
Down below, they descended along a spiral staircase until they reached the bottom. The lead armed-monster then lit a torch and gestured for them to follow through a maintenance tunnel.
“When I discovered the maintenance tunnels under the amusement park, only one thought entered my mind,” Evangeline said. “This would be a perfect hideout in case of an emergency or to launch a counterattack if GenAdvance crosses too far over the line.”
“I always knew you had secrets,” Jer said, “but you’ve been holding out on me.”
“I’ve always trusted that you have the best interests of monsters in mind,” Evangeline replied. “But one can never be too careful. Besides, we’re all willing to fight, and you’re inclined to find a peaceful solution.”
“Guilty as charged,” Jer conceded. “But Matthias was right about one thing. There are times when bloodshed is necessary to make things better.”
“Damn straight,” Damiana said.
Max rushed up alongside Evangeline. “Hey! Do you think you could make sure this Ambrose character knows I’m not aligned with the other side?” he asked.
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 18