Monster Mash

Later that night, when they were all back on the bus and preparing for bed (each of the guys in their own bunk, except frank, who had given up his bunk for the night so that Kori could have a bed), Mikey burrowed down into his bunk as Bob turned out the lights. Mikey told himself that he should have told Kori how he felt, he should have been braver about it. He called himself an idiot for not telling her.

Oh, well, I suppose there’s no point in it anyway, she’s two years younger than me, plus, we probably wouldn’t actually get to be together at all. It’s just as well,he thought sadly. He settled down in his bunk and was sound asleep within moments.

* * * * *

Mikey rubbed his eyes. Everything was blurry. He blinked a few times, and his eyesight cleared in a few moments. He felt so tired. And his stomach… It hurt so much…

Mikey stumbled out of his bunk, clutching his stomach. It hurt so badly. He looked over at his group mates’ bunks. They were empty.

Oh, no,he thought frantically. Please don’t tell me I woke up late and slept through the photo shoot!

He walked over to the end of the bunkroom and opened the door. The minute he did, he heard a blood-curdling scream. He ran out of the room and into the TV room. He glanced out the window at the dark night sky and saw that they weren’t moving.

That’s odd, he thought. Suddenly, there was another pang of pain in his stomach. He slowly walked to the door leading outside and nearly fell down the steps. He saw that they had stopped right in front of an old motel. There was a light on in one of the rooms on the second floor. He stumbled over to the entrance of the motel, opened the double doors, and lurched forward, falling to the floor.

What is going on here?he thought. I feel so disoriented.

He stood up carefully and saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turned as he felt another sharp pain in his stomach. He saw Ray standing in the corner with his back turned to him.

“Ray!” he called out. He started toward his friend, but stopped short when he heard a low growl. Ray turned around – AND WAS A WEREWOLF!

Mikey's eyes filled with terror. His heart began to pound with fear. “Ray?” he whispered.

The creature that Ray had become let out another growl. Not knowing what else to do, Mikey turned and fled from his friend.

What’s happening to me? What’s happened to Ray? Poor Mikey was terrified.

He ran up the stairs and went into the room in which he had seen the light turned on from outside. What he saw there startled him.

It was Gerard, only… He looked very different. He was wearing an old-fashioned suit, tortoise-shell glasses, and his hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail.

“Gee?” he asked timidly. A confused look came over the older man’s face.

“Excuse me? Who is Gee?” he asked. This puzzled Mikey even more. Without saying a word, Mikey ran from the room, but not before he noticed the Gerard look-alike drink a strange green liquid from a small vile…

Mikey wandered aimlessly through the hall. He was more confused than ever, and his stomach was still bothering him. In fact, now the pain was even more intense. What was happening to him?

He licked his lips nervously, and when he did, he noticed something very strange about his teeth. What was this? Did he have…? Fangs? His hands flew to his mouth and he felt his teeth. Yes, he did have fangs! Oh, Lord, what was happening to him? His stomach ached even more now, and suddenly he realized what the pain was. He was hungry.

For blood.

* * * * *

Mikey shook his head. This can’t be happening! he thought frantically. I’m turning into a vampire!He heard the same low growling he had heard when he had run into “Ray”, or at least, the thing Ray had become. He ran back to the room he had found “Gerard” in, and found him in the floor, moaning in pain.

“Gerard?” Lance asked worriedly.

“Get away!” the older man gasped. “Save yourself!” And, stupidly, Mikey just stood there, watching in terror as “Gerard” turned into a hideous monster with slightly greenish-tinted skin with massive cuts and bruises all over his face, long, jagged finger nails, messy hair – no longer pulled back into a neat pony tail – and yellow, uneven teeth. Mikey trembled with fear. The creature turned slowly and looked at him.

“He told you to get away!” he cackled in a low, gravely voice. “You didn’t listen! Stupid boy!” The creature lunged, and Mikey jerked away just in time before the thing’s claws raked across his chest.

“You didn’t listen!” he repeated. “Dr. Jekyl told you to get away. But you didn’t! Now you must face Mr. Hyde!”

Mikey's eyes widened in fear. What the – Gerard? Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde? What is going on here?

Before he had a chance to even begin to come up with an explanation, the creature lunged again, and Mikey spun away. He did a few more moves, escaping the insane creature by a hair, and locking him in the room in which he had been found as the Gerard-like Dr. Jekyl.

As he ran down the hall towards another room with a light, he thought to himself, Thank God for video games!

He ran into the room and slammed the door shut, and immediately regretted it.

On a stone table was a motionless Frank, with bolts coming out of his neck! Frankenstein’s monster!Mikey thought. But… It’sFrank!

Mikey looked around the room. The floor was made of stone, the stone table was in the center of the room. There were small wooden chairs around a smaller stone table covered with beakers and test tubes.

What kind of hotel is this? he thought as he looked at the strange furniture. His head snapped up as he heard a terrible scream. He jerked the door open and ran to the top of the stairs. What he saw made his heart pound with fear. The werewolf Ray was attacking a young girl.

That young girl was Kori.

* * * * *

Without even thinking, Mikey clamored down the steps and leapt on Ray, knocking him to the ground. Kori scrambled away and curled herself up into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible.

“Don’t touch her!” Mikey shouted angrily.

Ray growled. “She’s mine! You can have what’s left of her when I’m finished!”

“Leave her alone!” Mikey said, unconsciously baring his new fangs.

“You should be grateful that I’m being generous enough to give you that much!” Ray yelled. He struck at Mikey, and his long claws raked across his chest, drawing blood. Mikey cried out in pain. He fell back, shocked that Ray would do that to him. What was happening to him? Ray was one of his best friends!

Why had he started fighting with him? Because he hurt Kori. Mikey thought angrily. He turned back to Ray and saw him walking slowly toward Kori, who was pressed into the corner. Mikey’s eyes flashed with anger, and with a new surge of energy, he lunged forward, grabbing the back of Ray's ripped, torn t-shirt and pulling him away from Kori.

Ray whipped around and raked his claws at Mikey again, but Mikey jumped away just in time to escape another dangerous injury. Then Mikey realized that Ray had backed him into a corner. He glanced at Kori, who was still backed into the other corner. She was shaking with fear.

Mikey frantically looked around for something to fight Ray back with. He grabbed a silver candlestick from a dusty old table beside him and swung it at Ray, hitting him in the side of the head. Ray howled in pain and fell to the floor. Seeing this as an opportunity to escape, Mikey grabbed Kori’s hand and ran.

They ran up the stairs and into a room. Unfortunately, Mikey had forgotten that it was the room with the “Frankie Frankenstein." And what was even more unfortunate, the monster was beginning to awaken. The minute Kori saw the monster, she backed up against the wall and squeezed Mikey’s hand. Mikey pulled her closer to him and whispered to her, "We need to get out of here!”

Kori nodded her agreement. Mikey grabbed her hand and pulled her into a closet. Without turning on the light, he whispered, “Are you all right?”

“Uh-huh.” came her shaky reply. “What about you? He hurt you! You’re bleeding!”

Lance touched his chest and felt blood on his hand. He made a face of disgust and reached out, turning on the light. He immediately saw Kori’s worried face. He looked down at his chest and checked the injury from Ray’s claws. He was glad to see that they were only scratches, barely breaking the skin.

“It’s okay,” he said. “They aren’t deep. Just scratches.”

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

He nodded. “A little bit.” Not to mention my stomach still hurts, he thought, fighting off another hunger pang. He glanced at Kori and felt his mouth begin to water. What the-? No! Kori’s my friend! I care about her! I can’t drink her blood! He pushed the awful thought out of his mind.

Kori looked around the closet. Finding a scarf, she grabbed it and said to Mikey, “Pull your shirt up for a second.” He looked puzzled, then did as she told him. She wrapped the silky scarf around his chest, covering the scratches. She pulled a barrette out of her hair and secured the scarf around Mikey's back. Then she looked around and pulled a black long-sleeve button-down shirt off a hanger.

“Put this on,” she said. “Your shirt is covered with blood.”

He switched shirts, then leaned against the door, straining to hear what was going on in the other room. He heard the large monster stomping around and groaning. He pulled away from the door.

“Okay,” he said, trying not to look at Kori as another hunger pang hit him. “Any ideas on what to do next?”

Kori shook her head. “How about we just open the door and run like crazy?”

Mikey shrugged. “Works for me. What have we got to lose?”

“Our lives,” Kori whispered.

He looked at her for a second and wished he had the courage to tell her how he felt about her. He sighed, frustrated with himself, and, placing his hand on the doorknob, he whispered, “You ready?”

She nodded, and as yet another pang of hunger struck him, he jerked the door open, grabbed Kori’s hand and ran. Frank saw them and began to lumber after them, angry sparks shooting from the bolts in his neck. Mikey ran to the door leading to the staircase. He opened the door and pushed Kori ahead of him.

“Kori, run!” he yelled.

Kori ran a few paces ahead of him. He turned back to look behind them. It was a good thing that Frank was a very slow, clumsy monster! At that moment he heard Kori scream, and then he heard a terrible laugh. He turned to see Gerard – Mr. Hyde – grab Kori and pull her into a dark room. Mikey rushed after them, calling Kori’s name.

“Mikey!" He heard Kori screaming for him. “Help! Mikey! Please! Help!”

“Hang on, Kori, I’m coming!” he shouted back. He had caught up with them, but Gerard wasn’t about to give up his victim so easily.

“Let her go,” Mikey growled menacingly. “Fine!” Gerard said, and he threw Kori against the wall, knocking the wind out of her so badly that she couldn’t move. Mikey’s eyes glowed red with the anger of an enraged monster. Ignoring his hunger pangs, he lunged for Gerard, aiming for his throat. Gerard blocked Mikey from his throat, but Mikey still got a hold of him and shoved him back and pinned him against the wall. Gerard cried out in pain as his head thudded against the wall. He brought his knee up and kicked Mikey’s legs out from underneath him. Mikey fell to the floor, and Gerard kicked him in the side. Mikey reeled in pain.

“No!” Kori screamed. She pounced on Gerard's back. Gerard staggered forward, almost falling on top of Mikey, then threw Kori off. Kori landed flat on her back. She rolled over to her stomach and picked herself up. She shoved Gerard away from Mikey. Gerard lashed out and struck at her with his claws, barely missing her arm. She shoved him away again and helped Mikey stand up. Mikey kicked at Gerard and he backed away.

“Go on ahead of me, Kori,” Mikey said.

“Are you sure?” Kori asked.

“Yeah,” Mikey said. “But if anything happens, SCREAM!”

Kori grinned. “I think I can handle that.” She smiled at him, then took off out the door, leaving Mikey to take care of Gerard. She ran down the hall and down the stairs, and past Ray, who was still howling on the floor, holding his furry paw over the spot on his head where Mikey had struck him with the candlestick. She hesitated for just a moment as she ran past him, then pushed on, running to a door that led to a staircase. The staircase led down to the basement. She ran down the long flight of steps and turned the light on. She looked around the basement. It was dank and musty. In one corner there was a long black box that somewhat resembled… A coffin… Her eyes widened in fear when she realized that it was a coffin! She backed away from the long box. She kept backing up until she felt herself back into something. She slowly turned around and looked at what she had backed into. It was a sarcophagus!