Monsters Within the Falls

Chapter 8

Wendy came back the following morning with news. "It's not just me. The whole town's brimming with monsters."

Ford groaned. "Of course. The spilled water got into the supply and infected everyone."

"You make it sound like a disease," Mabel said, swishing her tail to keep the open end of the ball upright. "Can't it just be cool?"

Ford rolled his eyes and went back to flipping through his old journal.

"Ford, they're freaking out," Wendy said in a worried voice. "You have to tell them something."

Ford turned his back on her.

"Well, at least that means we can go out in public, right?" Mabel said hopefully.

"I guess," Dipper replied, though he was still rather self-conscious. "What's happened to everyone else, Wendy?"

The Pines already knew about Wendy being a wolf, and Soos had turned up yesterday looking like he was made of some kind of playdough goop. Ford called him a golem.

"Well, Robbie's a zombie," Wendy said, "My dad's turned into some half-man half-bull thing, my brothers all look like me, and I saw lazy Susan walking around looking like a cat. Oh, and I saw an albino bat flapping around, which I think might be Gideon. But other than that, I don't recognize many people. Most of my friends haven't replied to my texts either." She looked more worried than ever. "You have to do something!"

"Like what?" Ford snapped. "I don't have a cure. The only thing I could tell them is that it's our fault they turned into monsters!"

"Tell them you're working on a cure!" Dipper said urgently. "Otherwise, the town might tear itself apart!"

Ford crossed his arms, looking grumpy.

"Please, Grunkle Ford," Mabel pleaded. "I want to go see my friends."

Ford sighed. "Fine. Get everyone together at the town square, I only want to say this once and then I'll be back to my research."

"Thank you!" Mabel said, screwing on her lid and rolling towards the door. Dipper followed her out apprehensively, but kept up as she swam furiously toward town.

The first person they saw was Tad Strange. He didn't look like a monster, though. In fact, he looked almost normal until he turned around. They saw that part of his hair had turned white, and that he was now wearing glasses. There was a third eye on his forehead, though it didn't seem to be functional, and purple tattoos covered his neck and arms.

"Hey, Tad!" Mabel said as they approached him, her voice muffled by the plastic of the ball. He turned and waved at them.

"What's up with you?" Dipper said, "You haven't changed much."

Tad opened his mouth to speak. "Perhaps you need to look further than the surface to see the most important changes," he said. His voice was still clearly his, but it was also so smooth and sonorous that Mabel's eyes drooped, and Dipper wobbled unsteadily. "Look past the things you think you see. Move your head just a touch to the left- a glance in the world of perspectives- and then you might see it. An entire universe in the corner of your eye." He said in his hypnotic voice.

Dipper tried to focus, but his eyes were blurry. Tad continued talking, but Dipper couldn't make out the meaning of his words. "I could teach and preach and shout and explain, but no lesson is as powerful as the lesson learned on one's own." Dipper collapsed to the ground. Mabel sunk to the bottom of her hamster ball. Tad crouched down next to them and spoke softer. "We will always be in that most dangerous, most exciting, most possible time of all. The now. Where we can never know what shape the next moment will take. You must learn this someday, but for this moment, this now, goodnight, children, goodnight.

Dipper blacked out.

------

Dipper came to lying in the middle of town square. Mabel was stirring in her hamster ball next to him, but there was no sign of Tad Strange. He got up unsteadily and leaned lightly on the ball. That was the strangest thing...

Mabel awoke fully with a little spasm that sent the ball rocking. Dipper wobbled, but managed to stay up.

Mabel glanced around. "What happened?" she asked. "How long were we out?"

"Only for a few minutes, I think," Dipper said, shaking his head in an effort to clear the fog that seemed to have invaded it. "That was so weird.... We should probably be a bit more careful. Who knows what other powers people have gotten?"

But as they continued through town, it appeared that most people had merely suffered a physical change like themselves. They spread the word about a town meeting and told everyone that the answers would be explained there.

As they were heading back towards the Shack, they ran into Robbie. "You!" he said, coming towards them.

"What?" Dipper said nervously, backing up a few steps.

Robbie came right up to the twins, and they could see that Wendy had been right. His skin was a grayish-green, and his eyes were vaguely luminescent. He seemed even more lanky and gaunt than before, and as he stomped up to them his right hand fell off.

"Darn it!" He said, picking up the twitching hand and reattaching it to his wrist. Then he turned to Dipper. "What did you do, kid?" he said aggressively.

"W-what?" Dipper asked, confused.

"I know you had something to do with this! All this crazy monster stuff- it's got to be your fault!" He glared at Dipper, whose ears were pulled back in disquiet as Robbie's emaciated face loomed closer.

"I-I... I don't..." Dipper was stammering.

Mabel piped up. "Leave it, Robbie! Just come to the meeting later and everything will be explained." She looked at him defiantly.

Robbie frowned at her, then looked back at Dipper. "Fine. But if this is your fault, I'll send you back into the forest with your fuzzy little tail between your legs. Got it, deer kid?"

Dipper gulped as Robbie stomped away, watching him as he occasionally stopped to pick up a fallen body part.

"Relax, Dipper." Mabel said, looking at him sympathetically.

"But he's right! This is my fault! If I hadn't gone looking for that stupid river...!" He clutched his head in his hands and lowered his back legs so he was in a sort of kneeling position.

Mabel put her hands out as if to hug him or pull him up, but she was encased in the hamster ball. "It doesn't matter, Dipper. All we can do right now is try to fix it."

He didn't look at her, but walked dejectedly back to the Shack.