After watching 'Grease' Live on the t.v. last night, I can't help but think of Trent as a Greaser now. LOL.
Anyway, here's chapter 17. If you've read Super Bad, you'll notice something very similar that I thought I'd bring back. ;)
Chapter 17
We broke out of the bank, feet slapping back onto the concrete road. The medallion swung around my neck and I quickly stuffed it under my shirt. "Let's skedaddle, bird brain," I told Roger and heard the jingle of his bag behind me.
I made it three steps down the street before Roger's shoes scraped to a halt, bits of gravel grinding against the bottom of his soles. "Let's go in there!" He pointed to the side.
"Shopping? No way." I swear I saw a dismembered mannequin move its arm. "Plus, I don't do malls."
"C'mon!"
"What?! No!" I threw my hand towards the exit road of the Forbidden City—a one way street that forced us to be out in the open... "We gotta get outta here before some weird shit happens."
Then Roger released an upsetting whine that made my nose wrinkle in disgust. "But I have to use the bathroom!"
I slapped my hand over my forehead. "You're kidding."
"I ate a lot of sandwiches!"
My brows tightly sewed themselves together. "Now isn't the time to be taking a shit!"
"Nono, wait I think it's a number one."
"Can't you hold it?!"
But he was already running for the abandoned mall. "My piss won't take long!"
"Roger!" I screamed after him and chased the little boy through the broken window shop. The glass cracked under my shoes, my eyes never leaving that khaki bag jostling on his back. "We don't know what the hell lurks in this mall! Get back here!"
I rushed up an escalator, heart pounding in my chest.
He disappeared around the corner as we both ran under the tall bathroom sign, half the sign looking like it was bitten off. The men's bathroom door swung back and forth and I charged in with a waving fist.
"Roger, don't you dare use a urinal at a time like—"
Ziiiiiip!
"Gagh! You're so-so-"
"Vhal, deary! A man would like some privacy," Roger sang, whistling to a tune that horrifically matched his urine squirts.
I stomped my foot and yanked the bathroom door open. "Fine. If you're going, I'm going too."
I marched on over to the women's bathroom across the hall. I didn't even remember the last time I used the toilet.
Mold grew across the ceiling, and I kicked open a stall door, cringing at the mountain of dead flies in a small corner. Unbuckling my pants, I was about to squad down until I heard the shuffle of feet in the next stall over.
I stopped whatever magic was happening in my hoo-ha and slowly bent my head, catching a glimpse of a two, naked feet.
Those were definitely not Rogers.
"God dammit." I slowly tugged my pants back up, careful as I watched if their feet moved. I escaped out of the stall and crouched low, creeping towards the door.
Then the stall door burst open and I shot myself forward before the stranger could attack first. I pinned their shoulders down, punched their throat and the person gagged.
My gaze snapped upright, my eyes meeting red pupils that pulsated in a trembling manner.
The psycho Citizen jolted under my hands and their snapping jaw reached for my neck. I slammed my heel into his stomach, reaching for the door.
Getting ready to escape, he snatched my wrist, twisted, and pressed my shoulders into his chest. I screamed, and immediately backed up, slamming his spine against the wall. My elbow hit his ribs, and he let go.
My heart pumped faster. I spun around and before I landed a punch, he caught both my arms and kicked my stomach.
"Shit," I said breathlessly and staggered.
He whipped the palm of his hand across my nose. Red blurs soared past my vision. My mind throbbed. He gripped my hair, my pink hair spilling out of its bun. He bashed my head off the sink.
I cried out, my hands sprawling on the mirror. He hammered my skull into my reflection. The glass made an ear splitting crack and I dug my heel into his foot. He yelped.
I turned and drove my other heel into his chest. He flew back and I made a strike for his bleeding face, but he pushed my knuckle away and plunged an uppercut into my chin.
My lungs were on fire. I couldn't breathe.
Blinded with mad confusion and pain, he clutched my neck and tossed me to the ground. My head crashed on the tiles.
I saw stars.
His weight crushed on top of me, pushing a cough past my lips. He held my cheeks, an evil smirk I wished I never laid eyes growing on his face. "Pretty little villain, aren't you?" He grinned.
I restrained a whimper and attempted to wiggle from his grasp, falling short to do so.
He was stronger and heavier than me, making it difficult to move. "Shhhhh. Don't worry," he cackled, his eyebrows drawing near. "I'll take care of you."
Fear twisted my bones cold. I registered what he meant and thrashed and squirmed on the tiles, telling my ears not to hear the sound of his zipper. Glassy water brimmed my eyes.
Where the hell was this inner beast? Why wasn't it helping me? Did I scare it away again?
He covered my screams while his other hand unbuckled the leather belt. He slowly manoeuvred his pants.
I swallowed a lungful of air, my heart crushing second by second. My arms blindly searched the floor. His jeans were at his ankles. My fingers grasped something solid. Mustering any energy I had left, I bellowed a high scream.
"Shut up!" he roared.
His mouth wide open, I plunged the object down his throat, shoving it far as it could go. His eyes popped and summoning my hidden strength, I cried and bucked forward, slamming him hard onto the ground, and then digging the object further.
He gagged and his hands struggled to flex, my knees pinning his elbows. I took one last look at his red eyes, and put full force into thrusting the object as I felt it stab his tonsils. His body jerked. I kept it pressed, and watched him splurge and choke, his body going limp a minute later.
My breaths were heavy. Colours went weary from my motionless features. My vision connected to his dead face, eyes open and staring.
I wanted to get away, but my hands seemed frozen. Paralyzed, time passed as I sat on him, the only thoughts operating: I was almost raped. And my beast wasn't there to help me.
Traumatisation was so possessive; I hardly noted my hands were still tightly clutching the unknown murder weapon.
That was when the bathroom door unlocked.
The door swung and in stepped Roger. He looked at me. Then psycho Citizen on the floor. From tranquil to utter shock, silence settled on his tongue. And then his eyes cracked wide.
"Is that a tampon down his throat?!"
The oxygen thinned. "I-I-I—"
"You killed a man with a tampon?!"
My mouth remained clamped, the word train already leaving the station.
Roger waved his frantic hands. "I can't believe it. You shoved a tampon down his throat!" All of a sudden, he went rigid. "Is it used?!"
I screamed and jumped up, unsure myself. "I-I don't know!"
"Check!"
My hands flew to my chest. "Why do I have to check?"
"Because you put it there!"
"I don't want to touch it!"
"Well you probably touched it for a good few moments if you choked him to death!"
Mortified, I crept towards the man and lowered. I poked the tampon. It made a squishy noise. "I think I'm gonna be sick," I blurted.
"Check it!"
"Don't you have tweezers?!"
"Vhalerie!"
"Why do we have to know if it's used or not?"
"Because I'm curious!"
I narrowed my gaze. "If you're so curious why don't you check?"
"Because you already touched it. If one hand is already dirty, mind as well not dirty the other," Roger justified.
"But—"
"Do it!"
I puffed a sigh and bent down. Counting to three, I quickly picked it up and threw it across the room. Roger squealed, it nearly hitting his shirt. The tampon clattered to the ground and I ran to the sinks, disinfecting my hands.
"I can't tell!" he said.
Vigorously scrubbing my fingers, I snapped, "How do you not know?"
"It's covered in too much blood!" he responded, peering closer. "Did you cut his gums?"
"I don't know!"
He gave another hard look as if it were to come to life, and kicked it away. "I wouldn't want that in my sandwich."
"Let's get outta here!" I grabbed his hand and yanked him out of the women's bathroom.
The ground rumbled and Roger and I held onto the escalator railing. The floor cracked, and whatever glass windows were left shattered across the mall.
"Make it stop!" Roger shouted.
"It's not me!" I yelled back, clutching tighter onto the railing. Then Roger let go and ran for the next escalator. "What are you doing?!"
He failed to respond and I sprinted up the next escalator, realizing Roger's stubby legs didn't stop him from running faster.
We reached the third floor and the ground shook harder. My knees wobbly, I stumbled after Roger who was running to the end of the mall.
Pink strands of hair swung in front of my face and I quickly ripped a strip of my shirt off, tying the annoying pieces up. I saw Roger stand at the ledge of a broken window, and if he took another step, he'd fall three floors and land splat like a pancake on the sidewalk.
"Roger. Be careful," I said in a strained voice.
"Look," he whispered, staring at the Forbidden City.
Luckily, the ground had stopped shaking.
I carefully walked over and stood beside him, unsure what the big deal was. Tall buildings, a lot of pollution, flames devouring cars, abandoned homes, walls the size of academies surrounding the Forbidden City, dead dogs and—
Walls the size of academies?
I rubbed my eyes, and blinked several times before looking again.
"Since when were there walls?" I asked, the walls casting shadows over the city with their horrifically tall heights.
"I think they grew just now," Roger replied. He squinted as if that would help him get a better look.
"The ground shaking makes more sense now," I grumbled and kicked a glass shard off the ledge. "See! Never go to the bathroom because you always miss the important stuff!"
"I thought that only applied to movie theatres?" he questioned.
"Shut up." I poked my head further out, and glanced up. "You think you could channel some beast power and jump to the roof from here? To see if the walls surround the entire city?"
Roger cracked his knuckles and stepped back. He dashed forward, leaped up and there was a thud, the ceiling shaking above me.
A few seconds passed until Roger's voice projected from the roof. "Yeah, okay, I see it!" There was a whoosh of air and he leaped back to me, hobbling a bit as his backpack tipped him to the side.
"Well?" I grabbed his shoulders to keep him standing upright.
"The walls surround the city. We're trapped. They're too high to climb."
I clenched my fists and pushed him out of the way. "We'll see about that."
"W-what?"
I dashed back to the escalators, almost flying down them as I reached the first floor. "We can jump them! Trust me!"
"Vhalerie! No!"
"We need to get out of the Forbidden City. Trent and the Citizens are counting on us." I touched the medallion underneath my shirt and squeezed it. "I'm not going to let a couple of walls get in the way of that."
The glass crunched under my feet again once I made it back onto the road.
"Vhalerie!"
"Come on, you pudgy, fat shitbrick!" I could only hear the panting of my breath, and the pounding of my feet against the gravel. My hands flew onto the brick wall, catching myself to a stop. "Roger, we can't stay on the ground for so long. We need to get to those walls before the psycho Citizens find us again, okay?"
The absence of response forced my brows to narrow. "Roger?" I turned and didn't see an oversized khaki backpack or ugly, shaggy hair. "Roger!" I yelled at his absence and ran back onto the street.
Farther down, a boy laid hunched over in the middle of the road.
"Shitting sandwiches," I cursed and blast forward, my legs burning at the sudden yank of speed. I called his name and the freshmeat's squeaky voice didn't answer. His head was bent down on the ground, and I reached for his shoulder. "Now is not the time to be kissing the ground!"
My hand landed on his shoulder, and little bumps formed under my fingertips. "Gagh! Gross!" I leaped back, wiping my pants. "Did you have an allergic reaction to a mother fucking sandwich?!" He moaned something, and I carefully approached with perked ears. "What's that?"
A low, rumbling growl strung out of his quivering lips.
"You sound like you need to take a shit," I said.
"I'm in pain, moron!" he responded.
"Wait, are you actually having an allergic reaction?"
"You know very well this has nothing to do with allergies," he grimly answered.
He remained crouched down, another low moan dragging out of his mouth. Without thinking, I ripped the straps of his backpack and tossed the heavy thing off his back. Something shifted under his shirt. His spine jerked out of his skin and I watched the familiarity of this all.
"Roger?" I whispered.
More bones popped past his skin, pushing past the pink flesh as a liquid substance drizzled down his arms.
"If...if you know what's best for you, get out of here," Roger murmured. He planted his fist down to stand up and the concrete was crushed under it.
"Can't you control it?" I stretched a hand out and he swatted it back, fur brushing up against my fingers.
"No." He winced, grey strands growing up his neck. "Not when it's like this."
"What do you—" Pain shot up my side and my knees collapsed to the ground.
Roger laid beside me, his breath picking up at rapid speeds. Fur spread across his face, neck already covered. His shirt was already split down the middle and his pants were barely holding together his legs.
Warmth rushed through my veins, and my hands dragged across the road, gravel getting stuck between my nails. I flipped over, my stomach on the ground and tried to push myself up. But my muscles felt heavier and my bones weighed me down.
Sweat broke down my temple as the hot energy swirled in my chest. "Not now..." I harshly breathed.
Through squinting eyes, I saw the psycho Citizens creep toward us with hunched backs, thirsty mouths oozing with white foam.
This was it, huh? We were going to be eaten alive.
Eyelids heavy, I bothered to look one last time and saw they had stopped. They were backing away. Some hid into the apartments or disappeared into allies. Confusion slipped into my mind, but the anger of the beast drowned any other emotion.
Fur touched my hand, and I craned my neck to the side. Roger's eyes were black, little diamonds sparkling and dancing around.
"You...you were always my sandwich partner in crime," he whispered.
"Stop talking, meathead," I whispered back. "Can we not make this emotional as fuck?"
"Right, right. Love is too much work." He grinned and I punched his face.
"What did I say, like, ten seconds ago?"
He shrieked, covering his ears and tried shaking my voice off, his head thrashing side to side.
My body the prison, the beast shook the bars and I could already hear them breaking. Heaving in large gulps of air, I crawled onto my knees, put my hands on my thighs and felt my claws digging into my quads.
"Why now..." I whispered.
My muscles shrunk, grew and then shrunk back; skin stretched and pulled, molding into the bone.
There was always at least one of us who wasn't in our beast form. He'd help me cool off whenever the beast drilled its madness into my head. But Roger wasn't going to be here this time.
Roger's spine curved and then snapped straight back.
Not as himself anyway.
I crouched, the beast triggering every pressure point to keep me down.
Roger's mouth opened and released a beastly roar followed by a choir of children screaming; reverberating through the streets, and striking every creature's heart with a bolt of fear.
I screamed and heard my bones snap and click into place, tugging my skin to fit against the newly formed creases. The monster sucked the oxygen out of my lungs and my neck cracked backwards. Skin peeled off, exposing midnight blue scales and the blackest fur.
The darkness was seconds away from swallowing me whole. I let out a pained cry and looked up as if the greater forces would give me mercy.
And I guess the forces decided to listen.
In the reflection of my eyes, was Trent standing on top of the business towers, looking down at us.
I tried to call his name, but Roger's scream drowned out my voice and shattered every window down the street.
Was this the end?
+++
A/N: Roger and Vhalerie shifting? At the same time?!
Sorry for my absence. My house had no wifi for the past 3 days.
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Thank you so much for your support! Expect another chapter soon!
Love you lots,
Xx twister