The Amphiblets

by Oghenegweke, Helen

  The Professor stepped into the cell, closing the door behind him. He shone his torch into the wide, terrified yellow eyes of the strangest babies he had ever seen.

  Trembling, he placed the torch back into his pocket and took his time to study the mutated triplets on his video camera. With slow, careful movements, he knelt beside the subject and noticed the infants snuggling their unresponsive mother.

  They each possessed a small scrawny body and head, and were making soft, squeaking sounds. The Professor was startled; their eyes were completely black, not yellow. They had simply reflected yellow in the torchlight, like those of a cat. They had cute little noses that twitched from side to side as they sucked on their long webbed fingers. They were certainly captivating gremlins.

  He began to make observations concerning the babies. He noted their remarkably human-looking skin, slim arms with wide palms and webbed fingers. Their legs were bent in the same way as those of a frog.

  The Professor’s eyes misted with tears; it was an incredible moment. He reached forward and scooped a child in his palm. Its little fingers tightened their grip around the Professor’s own.

  ‘Hello, little boy,’ said the Professor gently, feeling the strength in the child’s thighs. ‘Aren’t you a strong little fellow? Don’t worry. You’ll soon leave here. I shall build you a new home. I’ve been thinking of your new name. I shall name you the Amphiblets, since you are both amphibian and triplet.’

  4

  New Accommodation

  Five months later, the Professor looked upon his completed project with pride. The builders had finished the final touches to his new extension – an enormous greenhouse. He went round the complex to make sure everything was in place and had been done properly before they left. He had a keen eye for detail and would be sure to spot any errors.

  The greenhouse was built on the west side of the mansion so it was hidden from any visitors coming from the main land. It was made from toughened glass and consisted of two major parts: the tree room and the pond room. The rooms were connected but could also be sealed off from one another.

  The tree room was half the size of a football pitch and was filled with many exotic plants and trees. There were two massive ponds. One had giant lily pads floating on top of it, the size of tractor wheels, while the other resembled a swimming pool. They were specially filtered to maintain the clean water. The pond room was more secure, with a low ceiling and the base had been dug deep below the ground so the Professor could see into it from his laboratory in the cellar.

  Once the builders had gone, the Professor went to see Hugo, who was taking a nap on his bed. He had been forbidden to go downstairs during the daytime for the past few weeks. Because of his size the Professor had wanted Hugo to remain unseen, so he had only ventured outside during the night. This had caused his body clock to alter so that he slept during the daylight hours instead.

  The Professor rocked the giant’s body back and forth until he managed to roll him off bed. The moment Hugo hit the floor, he woke with a start.

  ‘Hello, Hugo,’ smiled the Professor. ‘I thought you’d like to see the greenhouse. But before you do, I need you to do me a favour. Follow me’

  They went into the cellar, straight to the cells.

  Hugo covered his nose. ‘It stinks down here!’ he grumbled.

  ‘Oh, does it?’ replied the Professor, who continued along the corridor, completely oblivious.

  He was unaware that as Hugo passed a cell door he saw a face staring at him through a small, barred opening and heard a voice whispering, ‘Help me! Please help me!’ Not knowing what to do he ignored it and followed the Professor into the last cell.

  The Professor withdrew a small tranquilliser gun from his pocket and approached the cage. After a brief moment, he aimed and fired the gun. Something slumped to the ground with a hefty thud. The Professor stepped forward and shone his torch. He glanced at his watch and appeared to be counting.

  ‘Quick, Hugo! Help me lift him before he wakes!’ said the Professor. ‘We’re taking him to the pond room.’

  The Professor quickly unlocked the door and strode briskly into the cage. Hugo followed. They hurried along a concrete path surrounded by dead trees, before coming across a lengthy animal slumped on the ground. Hugo lifted the awkward, scaly creature into his arms and returned the way they had come with the Professor urging him on.

  ‘Carry him through here,’ ordered the Professor, walking through the greenhouse and into the pond room. ‘Lay him there!’ The Professor pointed at the dry cemented ground.

  Hugo did as he was told and stepped back, gazing on the sight of a magnificent creature. It was eleven feet long, including its tail, and it had grey scales covering its neck, back and tail. The yellowy skin beneath its belly was hard. Its arms and legs appeared cruelly twisted.

  ‘Hugo! Get out!’ cried the Professor, who had noticed that the long tail had started to twitch.

  Hugo turned. The Professor had already exited the room and was turning a lever, unravelling a wide sheet of metal from the ceiling. Hugo ran towards the Professor just as the beast woke.

  Seeing Hugo as a potential meal, Ali-man chased him dizzily across the enclosure. The metal wall had been lowered almost completely so that Hugo had to roll his body beneath it before it sealed shut completely. It touched the ground just as Ali-man head-butted it. A great roar came from the enclosure.

  5

  Goodbye

  A short time later, the Professor was standing outside the cell where the Amphiblets were imprisoned. Their mother lay slumped on the ground. The tranquilliser that the Professor had fired had taken effect. He opened the door and stepped over her body, seizing the triplets and tearing them away from their mother. He ignored their cries of distress as he carried them away to their new home.

  The babies were anxious for days after this separation and clung to each other in fright, motionless with fear. Hugo, who was mesmerised by the youngsters, tried to comfort them, to no avail. They stared at him with their wide frog-like eyes, clutching each other and shaking as if the room were freezing cold, despite it being humid and warm.

  They shivered whenever anyone touched them and refused all offers of food and drink. They were so full of grief they were starving themselves to death. When, the Professor threw a piece of apple and it accidentally hit one of the babies, it screamed in terror. The disturbing wail echoed around the walls, upsetting Ali-man, who was in the next room. In his fear, he head butted the metal divider, terrifying the Amphiblets more.

  The Professor’s plan had been easy in theory, but putting it into practice was proving disastrous. The children wanted their mother and this was a problem; he didn’t want her in their lives at all. During the following week, matters rapidly deteriorated. The health of the starving triplets began to decline and their bones started to become visible beneath their thin skin.

  The Professor was a mess. He hadn’t washed for days and wasn’t sleeping at all. His hair was a fuzzy, grey matt instead of its usual slick style. He was at his wit’s end.

  Just then the doorbell sounded, announcing the arrival of an unexpected guest.

  ‘Stay here, Hugo,’ ordered the Professor, wondering who it could be.

  He opened the door. Standing on the porch was a short bald man who, after a brief introduction, was invited inside and taken to the kitchen at the opposite end of the house from where Hugo and the triplets were.

  ‘I’m an inspector of exotic animals. Do you have any here, sir?’

  ‘No,’ lied the Professor. ‘I have had a greenhouse recently built but it’s for plants not animals. I don’t like animals.’

  ‘Very interesting,’ replied the inspector. ‘But I’m sure you understand my position and won’t mind me taking a peep.’

  ‘Not at all,’ replied the Professor. ‘Perhaps you would like a drink first?’

  He made the inspector a drink and calmly began discussing other matters and before the visitor knew it, the time had qu
ickly passed.

  ‘Oh, my! I don’t know where the time has flown to,’ said the inspector. ‘I won’t have time to visit your greenhouse after all. I shall simply write that I investigated the property and perhaps you would sign the paper. I’m sure you won’t tell anyone any different.’

  ‘Not at all,’ smiled the Professor, who said goodbye to his visitor and watched him leave the island in his boat. An hour had passed by the time he found Hugo, who was snoring gently on the bench with the triplets on his lap. He frowned for a moment. How had Hugo managed to calm the Amphiblets?

  He smiled. Perhaps things would be all right after all. He decided to go into the cellar and finish off some work. The key was still in the cellar door and he frowned. Had he forgotten to remove it? Alarm bells rang when he discovered the door was still open. He never left the door open. Never!

  Feeling a wave of panic, the Professor rushed to the corridor lined with cells and checked each door. They were all locked apart from one – Penny’s cell. He opened the door. She was gone.

  ‘Hugo!’ cried the Professor dashing up the stairs. ‘Hugo!’ The old man’s heart was racing. He ran towards where he had last seen the giant, who was by now stretching and waking from his afternoon rest. ‘Hugo, what did you do?’

  ‘Do?’ yawned the giant.

  ‘Yes, when I was talking to my visitor, what did you do?’

  ‘I went into the cellar.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘And I saw a woman there.’

  ‘Yes? And what did you do?’

  ‘I opened her door for you,’ said Hugo, smiling broadly, ‘as you had accidentally forgotten about her.’

  ‘You let her out?’

  Hugo nodded.

  ‘What did she say?’

  ‘She said thank you and came to see her children before leaving.’

  ‘Where did she go?’

  ‘I don’t know. I thought she went to find you. She kept asking me where you were.’

  ‘I bet she did,’ muttered the Professor, through gritted teeth. ‘What made you go down there?’

  ‘The children were calling for her. Since she had the same hands as they have and she was asking about her children, so I knew she must be their mother.’

  ‘Oh, Hugo, you idiot,’ whispered the Professor.

  ‘Is anything wrong?’ asked the giant. ‘Have I done something wrong?’

  ‘No, Hugo. Everything is fine,’ lied the Professor through gritted teeth, throwing his arms in the air, thumping the walls, and slamming the door on his way.

  He left the room and stood in the hall, turning in circles. He checked every room downstairs and in the last one he discovered an open window, which had been closed earlier. The woman must have escaped through it! He peered out across the garden for any sign of movement. She was out there somewhere. Like a mad man possessed, he raced to the front door and along the path towards the boat shed. In the far distance, the boat on which his visitor arrived was now a small speck in the distance.

  Where was she?

  The Professor searched his boat; she wasn’t there. He searched the boat shed. Unless she had somehow transformed herself into a spider, she wasn’t there either. He searched every part of the garden but had no luck finding her anywhere. He gazed across the water. Surely, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to swim; she would be too weak and drown.

  The Professor returned to his house and searched every room again. After a fruitless effort, he had the awful realisation that she could have climbed into the visitor’s boat. However slight this possibility, he was taking no chances.

  ‘Ahh!’ he screamed in annoyance and frustration.

  ‘Is anything wrong?’ asked Hugo.

  ‘You stupid fool!’ he screamed, smacking Hugo’s head. ‘We’re going to have to leave here now because of you. All my money – all my hard work – it’s all gone to waste, because of you! Pack a bag. We’re leaving in the next few minutes.’

  The Professor had no choice but to flee the island as soon as possible. He shook his head solemnly at the greenhouse. It had been built for nothing. They could not remain here. The possibility that they would be caught was too risky and he had never been caught yet.

  ‘Are the babies coming with us?’ asked Hugo, hopefully.

  ‘Yes, but Ali-man will have to remain here,’ said the Professor, having another sudden idea. A smile etched across his face. ‘Because he will guard the house.’

  6

  The Ambush

  In the early hours of the morning, police began surrounding the mansion. It was still dark when two additional police boats quietly came to rest at the edge of the island, with dimmed headlights. The dark, glistening water rippled, acknowledging their presence. After securing the boats, five police officers went to guard the boat shed.

  Meanwhile, several officers, in pairs, awaited further instruction on what to do next, whilst two men were sent to the back of the property.

  ‘I can’t believe the woman escaped,’ whispered Sam, a young man in his early twenties.

  ‘She was determined, I’ll give her that,’ replied Bear, an older man with a trusting face and kind eyes. ‘Goodness knows what she went through locked up all those months.’

  ‘Have you heard what they’re saying about her?’ Sam glanced over towards his colleague as they wandered towards the mansion.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Apparently she’s changed.’

  ‘Huh?’ Bear wrinkled his face. ‘In what way?’

  ‘Her appearance has altered. Her fingers have become webbed.’

  Bear laughed. ‘You’re pulling my leg! That stuff only happens in science fiction movies.’

  ‘What did the inspector say when you interviewed him?’ asked Sam.

  ‘He was in shock. I couldn’t get much information from him at all. He mentioned his visit to the Professor and said what a friendly chap he was. He said he made him tea and offered him biscuits. They had a long chat and time passed quickly. Nothing out of the ordinary. After the visit, he returned to his boat and made his way back home to the mainland. He was unaware that a woman had stowed away on his boat, hidden beneath a blanket, until he reached land. He got the shock of his life when she rose from the crumpled heap, pleading for help.’

  ‘Did he mention her appearance at all?’

  ‘No, and I didn’t ask. Besides, our interview was interrupted by Scally, who informed me he would take over from now on.’

  ‘Didn’t that strike you as odd?’

  ‘Not really. We help each other from time to time.’

  The back door was the last exit to keep under surveillance. The Professor could not escape. An announcement was given that a group of officers would enter the property via the front door. From the back of the house, Sam and Bear could hear the splintering crash of the front door being smashed open. Five police officers forced open the front door and separated to search the rooms. Their footsteps were heard tramping in every direction. An officer waited at the bottom of the stairs whilst the rooms on the ground floor were being searched first.

  ‘All clear in this one!’ came a voice from a nearby room.

  ‘It’s clear here too!’

  ‘And here!’

  Soon there was one last door to open. The handle was turned and it was clear to see that this room was very different to all the others: the ceiling was made of glass panels, revealing the shimmering stars beyond. It was a peaceful moment – like the calm before a storm. No one could say exactly what happened next. Just that the moment was surreal, like a nightmare.

  One minute an officer was standing before them and the next his body had been whisked away as something moist sprayed their faces.

  ‘Stan!’ screamed his colleagues, but there was nothing – no reply. ‘Stan!’ Their cries echoed on the night air. The room was filled with darkness. Torches were switched on, their beams darting in every direction. A switch was found on the wall. Someone pressed it. Light flooded the room.

  As the officer
s looked at one another their faces paled beneath thin films of blood – Stan’s blood. Covering the ground was a trail of further bloodstains as something had been dragged across the ground towards the bushes. There was a hand lying on the ground, completely severed from its body.

  ‘Retreat!’ came the order and the men dashed from the room, securing the door behind them. They were breathing hard amidst the silence – a horrible, cold silence that sent shivers down their spines.

  Needless to say, they fled from the mansion as fast as they could, before informing their colleagues by radios of what had happened. When the details emerged, it was more horrendous than anyone could ever have imagined. Stan’s body had been ripped to shreds.

  ‘Blood everywhere!’

  ‘His body was torn to pieces!’

  ‘A human couldn’t have done this!’

  ‘It must’ve been a guard dog!’

  ‘It was more than a guard dog,’ shivered one of the officers who had been with Stan at the time and now saw his broken body each time he closed his eyes.

  No one knew what type of animal could have been responsible for inflicting such horrific injuries in so short a time. It was a mystery that needed to be solved quickly, if others were to remain safe.

  ‘I can’t stand waiting,’ mumbled Sam, kicking his feet on the ground. ‘What good are we doing wasting our time here while that beast is still inside the house?’

  ‘Relax, kid. We need to know what we’re up against before we can do anything,’ replied Bear.

  ‘I bet I could find what killed him!’ boasted the young man.

  ‘This isn’t a game, Sam. We sit and wait for our orders.’

  ‘Wait? I can’t wait!’ Sam raised his eyebrows and grinned mischievously. ‘Hey, Bear. Let’s go in together.’ He reached for the door handle.

  Bear gripped his hand firmly. ‘No. I’m telling you to stop, kid, before you get hurt.’

  ‘Hurt? You sound like my mother. I thought you had guts!’