by Cody Hyde
“Not you again!” responded Will as the evil winged creature grinned at him.
“What the --” responded Charlie as he raised his sword and prepared to fight.
“That’s Lauren,” replied Will. “I haven’t mentioned before, Charlie, but she may be a little out of your league.”
Charlie couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Just a little?”
“Well... maybe a lot.”
The evil Lauren then got back up onto her feet and threw up some sort of black substance.
Yep, that’s Lauren, alright, thought Charlie.
Suddenly Lauren was thrown aside by Sheila, who had most likely thrown her through the window when she arrived as well.
Sheila pinned her to the floor behind the store counter, now in full form. “You’re not going anywhere,” she said to her.
The creature gritted her teeth, staring evilly at her, trying to break free.
Suddenly a car came crashing through the gas station wall, nearly hitting Will and Starr, who jumped out of the way.
Startled, Charlie and Rocky quickly shielded their ears, then went to help Will and Starr get back to their feet.
Sheila noticed too. Distracted, the evil Lauren broke free of her grip, spread her wings and took off.
But Sheila quickly spread her wings as well and chased after her into the night sky.
“I guess we’ll worry about them later,” said Charlie as he watched Sheila disappear into the sky with the monstrous Lauren.
Charlie, Will, Rocky and Starr all then turned back to the car that came crashing through the store... and realized it was about to explode!
“We’ve gotta move now!!” ordered Charlie, and the four then quickly made their run for the nearest broken window, all jumped out, and continued to run.
“Get to the car!!” ordered Will.
Charlie with his sword in hand and Starr with the Book of the Underground jumped into the backseats of the car. Will got in the driver’s seat. He started the car and they were off, gaining speed momentarily.
Rocky raced alongside next to them on his feet.
The gas station exploded behind them. The flames caught up to them momentarily, but now that Will and Starr had regained the Power of Victor the car was invincible again too. The flames couldn’t touch the vehicle. And Rocky was already way ahead of them.
Charlie stared out the car windows at the wall of flames around them.
“So this is your power?” questioned Charlie.
“Not exactly,” replied Will.
The flames eventually died off and Will brought the car to a halt. Rocky was catching his breath a few feet ahead of them.
“Rocky, you alright?” asked Charlie out his window.
Before Rocky could respond, screams were then heard from around the corner of a nearby building.
Charlie, Will and Starr all watched as the undead were after another few victims.
Starr hopped up into the passenger seat. “Ready for some more action?” she announced, handing Will the electric guitar from her seat.
“Let’s do it!” replied Will, grabbing the guitar from Starr.
“Agreed,” said Charlie, holding up his sword.
The three got out of the car.
Rocky put up his fists, ready to fight.
Will made the first move. With the guitar he once again swung it at one of the undead, square in its jaw, knocking it out of place.
Starr then kicked it aside.
Charlie raised his sword out in front of him and swung it at an undead entity, slicing it in half. Its body disintegrated. He then leaped into the air and took out another.
Rocky began fist-pounding the undead like before, the bodies disintegrating within seconds after they were swept aside by his fists or thrown up into the air and slammed to the ground.
Will then leaped back into the air and took out another entity, the one point of the V-shaped guitar pointed towards it.
The undead stood no chance at winning. They were too weak compared to Charlie with his sword, Will and Starr with the Power of Victor, and Rocky’s size, speed and strength.
Meanwhile, Sheila continued to fight the evil winged creature Lauren has become as they twirled together through the night sky, grasping each other’s throats.
Sheila was in full form. It was a fair fight at the moment.
Unaware of where they were going, they crashed through the window of a nearby building. It separated them and they rolled through the room they were in.
Sheila got back to her feet. She was back to normal girl-with-wings form. It took a few seconds for her to process what was going on.
She first looked out the broken window and realized where they were at. Outside was a tall flagpole. Turning around, she noticed a bunch of desks and a chalkboard in front of her. She was in a classroom. East River High School.
She then noticed the evil Lauren in front of her, who was just recovering.
While getting back up, the creature as well took a few seconds to process what had just happened. It then turned to notice Sheila right away. It grinned, baring its teeth.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” said Sheila as she turned back into full form.
The evil Lauren spread her wings and leaped at Sheila. Sheila leaped at her at the same time, throwing her down.
Sheila kept her pinned to the floor, the evil Lauren continuing to grin at her.
Her beady eyes stared up at her.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Sheila told her.
Charlie, Will, Starr and Rocky continued to fight the undead from a nearby alleyway, taking them out second after second. Then Charlie remembered....
“Guys, okay, this is never going to end, we need to find Sheila and get to the well!” announced Charlie.
Just then the ground started shaking. It sounded as if an earthquake was about to happen.
A roar was heard. The dragon.
“Um, actually, I think we better get back to the car,” suggested Starr.
“Good idea,” agreed Will.
“Yeah, let’s get back to the car for now,” agreed Charlie.
Rocky appeared to have no idea what was going on though. Either that or he could care less about the dragon. He continued
to fight the undead.
Charlie, Will and Starr turned to head back towards Greg’s car. Once they got there they got in and started it up.
“Can I drive this time?” asked Starr.
“Uh...” responded Will.
“Please?”
Next thing to happen Starr was driving the car and they were racing down the main road downtown, taking out the undead crazily.
“Woo-hoo!” exclaimed Charlie.
“Yeah!” rooted Will. “This is what I’m talking about!”
“Die you evil monsters!” shouted Starr as she drove the invincible car straight through undead after undead.
It was probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened for all three of them. The car was invincible so no damage was done. Also the fact that they were taking out the undead (in a way they were like zombies) was the coolest thing ever!
And then it happened... they swerved out of the way of a traffic jam of dozens of abandoned vehicles, the heart of where the undead were claiming their victims. The car flipped over.
“Whoa!!” they all screamed in unison as the car rolled over about three or four times, taking out a few of the undead along the way.
The car came to a rest back on its wheels.
“Whew,” said Will, catching his breath.
“That was fun,” commented Charlie.
“Hell yeah it was,” agreed Starr.
Charlie then looked out his window and realized where they had stopped. “Hey, we’re at school, the least of places I want to be right now.”
“Agreed,” responded Will.
Starr just laughed.
But that was the least of their worries... a man screaming ran past the front of their vehicle.
“Help!” he cried. “Someone help! What is this world coming to?!”
The man continued to run, heading downtown, to where little did he know but where most of the trouble was. But what was he running from?
“Uh, guys,” spoke Will, his voice shaking. Charlie and Starr turned to Will, who was pointing at something.
The evil dragon Nightwing was heading towards them.
“I think I’ve just about had it with this dragon,” said Charlie, annoyed. “I’ve dealt with it twice already in the Underground.”
“Well what do we do?” asked Starr.
“I’m going to kill it,” he replied.
“You’re kidding,” responded Will. “You plan on killing that thing on your own?”
“Well, with or without your help.”
“Um...okay.”
“I thought you guys were invincible.”
“Well, yeah, but I don’t know how long our powers will last this time.”
“Exactly,” agreed Starr. “That dragon is too big to fight on our own.”
“Well, I guess I’ll be doing it myself, then,” said Charlie. He then got out of the car bravely, sword in hand.
“Charlie, wait!” ordered Will.
But Charlie didn’t hesitate. He began running towards the dragon, which was now climbing to the top of the school.
Chapter 32