Monster Wars

Welcome to The Headquarters

"Kara." Matt said. I had never heard my name said like that before. He sounded afraid of me. Betrayed. Confused. All those things came out of his mouth. And it scared me. What kind of person was I? I was also a little confused. Last year, I had a hudge crush on him. I was a sophomore, he had been a junior. I liked him for almost the whole year. Until I realized he was an idiot jock who liked to show off his basket ball skills and hang out with slutty girls. That kinda made me rethink his attractiveness, and I got over him.  

"Matt." I replied, trying (and failing) to keep my voice under control. "I don't think right now is the time." 

He glared at me. "When will be the time? I want to know what I saw yesterday. What I heard. How I got there. And why you left me standing their outside the place I almost got killed. So when are you going to tell me at least that much? Don't you owe it to me?" He voice got louder with each sentence.  

"Matt, you need to shut up! I'll explain after school, I promise. Just not now." I was begging and I knew it, but he was really loud. I was also stalling. I just  had to keep him quite until the bell rung.

"You know, you told me that yesterday. 'Shut up. Maybe you want to be ogre food, but I don't.' Something along those lines. That time I listened, because I was scared out of my wits. This time I'm not shutting up, and I'm certainly not letting you walk away from me until you tell me what's going on!" Matt stepped in front of me, not letting me go up the steps. Time for plan B. I really wasn't looking forward to this part.

I sighed, seeing no way out of this. "Call your mom. You just got sick and need to go home. Come to my car when your done. It's the light blue Bug." I turned around and flipped open my phone as I headed to the car. I had to text Tim, telling him to call the school and that I was bring Matt over to the headquarters. He was the leader if Monster Fighters. He should be able to take care of this mess. And he was going to be very, very upset with me. I had really screwed up.  I thought I could convince Matt to let this go, but that wasn't going to work.

I got the "ok" reply as Matt opened the passenger's side door. I smirked as I watched him try to squeeze in. My car was the perfect size. If you were short like me.  

"Bit cramped. " He said, knees almost up to his chin.  

"What do you mean?" I gave him my best innocent face.  

"You know exactly what I mean, shorty. Where exactly are you taking me?" he asked abruptly.  

"The Headquarters. " I couldn't tell him what The Headquarters were. I just couldn't. I tried to concentrate on getting out of the school's confusing parking lot, but I felt my eyes being drawn to The passengers seat. I flicked my eyes back to the road. I wouldn't look at him.  

"Headquarters for what?" He asked in a steely voice. "For hallucinating people? Crazy people? I know that I saw something real yesterday. You can't try to make me believe differently." 

"No, you're not crazy. " I mumbled, almost to myself. He turned to me, eyebrows raised. "I'm taking you to the Monster Fighters Headquarters. Yesterday, it was all real. The people at The Headquarters can explain to you what happened and what will happen and I'll get yelled at because I screwed up, majorly. I broke protocol, and you need to have something done to you so you forget or sign something. I don't know the details." I forced myself to calm down, focus on the road.  

"It was real." He repeated. I knew he had doubted it and was trying to reassure himself that he hadn't made it all up.  

I drove in silence for a couple minutes, until he spoke up again.  

"Kara, why did you just leave me there?" Dang it. I had hoped he wouldn't remember that part.  

"Because I screwed up. I should have taken you to The Headquarters immediately. Instead I let personal feelings get in the way. I should have remembered he real issue. I'm sorry, by the way. "  

I guess he didn't have a reply to that, because the rest of the car ride was filled with silence. Ten minutes later we pulled up to the guarded gate. I rolled down my window and flashed my official Monster Fighters ID to the guard in the booth.  

"Requesting permission to bring Mr. Downs in. Code blue. " I told him. Code blue was pretty extreme: we were close to having our cover blown because Matt had seen too much.  

"Full name of the visitor?" The security guard asked, pulling out some form.  

"Matthew Albert Downs." Matt replied. I raised my eyebrows. Albert? Ew.  

"Age and date of birth?" The guard must be filling out a Code Blue Recognition form. Crap. I was in big trouble now. 

"I'm 17. Born on June 27, 1994." 

He was a Cancer, I realized. I was a Capricorn. He was my exact opposite.  

"The Code Blue happened today, right?" 

I jumped in. "It was yesterday."  

The guard looked up at me. "Shouldn't you have already done this? Immediately after the incident?"  

I blushed slightly. "Is that all you need? We would like to get going."  

"Yeah, sure. Here you go. Good luck with the boss. Stick that on, boy. " The paper came with a visitor's sticker, which Matt attached to his shirt.  

I drove through the opening gates, parking in my assigned spot. I shoved open the door and hopped out of my car. I then amused myself watching Matt trying to crawl out. Right now I was really glad I wasn't tall.  

"So...your middle name is Albert?" I asked him as we walked toward the front door.  

"My uncle Albert died the day before I was born. My mom really hated the name, so she made it my middle name to remember him. " Matt said, calmly and evenly, like he had told the story many times before. 

I had no comeback. Instead, I led him through the automatic front doors. I couldn't wait to see his reaction. The Headquarters were ginormous, and very high tech. I remembered my first time inside. I had stopped, awestruck at the huge computer screens surrounding the main room, the polished black marble floor, and the high ceilings.  

We stepped inside, and I watched Matt stop. He gazed around, unbelieving. He looked at me, blinking.  

"What is this place?" He whispered.  

"This is The Headquarters of Monster Fighters, an organization determined to eliminate all dangerous supernatural creatures. I am Ted Waters, the leader. Kara, why don't you go to my office while I go talk to this young man." Ted gave me a nod, and I turned towards his office. Yep, I was in trouble. Big trouble. I just couldn't wait until Ted came back. No wait, I could. Defiantly could.