The Marinzean Epic, Part II:
The Price
Chapter Two
After school, Garrett and Roland walked back to the firehouse. Throwing his
backpack on a nearby table, Garrett rolled his wheelchair over to the couch,
where Eduardo was stretched out, watching TV. For a moment, Garrett felt
reluctant to speak with Eduardo; he was still thinking of those cold,
lifeless eyes from his dream. Angry at himself for getting scared from a
little dream, Garrett forced the thought out and spoke up.
"Hey there, Eddy!" Garrett spoke in his usual loud, macho tone. "How's
school?"
"Eh, I'll pass. Catch!" Eduardo tossed Garrett a candy bar, then pulled one
out for himself.
Roland sat down on a chair, pulled out a schoolbook, and began studying.
Garrett glanced at him and leaned over toward Eduardo. "Lookit 'im, the
poor sap. Studying his life away. Hey, where's Kylie?"
Eduardo took another bite of his candy bar before answering, while chewing,
"Upstairs, with Egon." Eduardo, without realizing it, emphasized the last
word. Garrett smiled, catching Eduardo's tone, thinking that Eduardo's
feelings towards Kylie were all too obvious.
Garrett was about to say as much to Eduardo when Egon came down the stairs,
Janine and Kylie following. "Suit up, we've got a call," Egon said.
Garrett pounded his fist into his hand, getting psyched up. "It's about
time. I was wondering when we'd get to kick some ghost butt today! How
many are there? I've got dibs on the biggest!"
"Actually," Kylie said, "there's just one."
"Just one? You mean I gotta share? Is one even worth bothering us all for?"
As the team got into the Ecto-1, Kylie pulled Eduardo aside. "Are you sure
you feel up to going?" she asked quietly. "You're still pretty bruised up
from the transformation you went through..."
"Hey, I'm fine," Eduardo said. "Egon's the one who's hurting, not me. His
arm was in a sling for a week! I'm one of those fast healers, you know?"
Garrett, on his way to the car, steered over to Eduardo and slapped him hard
on the back. "Ready for some action, Eddy?" Eduardo winced, but refrained
from showing just how much pain he was in in front of Kylie.
"Yeah, sure chico," Eduardo said as he used his foot to push Garrett's
wheelchair away. Garrett shrugged it off and steered himself up the ramp
and into the back of the Ecto-1.
"Thanks for the boost, Ed!" Garrett yelled.
* * *
Roland drove the Ecto-1 to the address they were given. All around there
was massive destruction; the street in front of them was riddled with small
craters, and the apartment buildings suffered heavy damage, some looking like
the walls were torn apart by claws, others had scorch marks around the cracks
and holes. All the nearby power lines had been snapped in half.
"Okay," Roland announced, pulling the car over, "this is the place."
"Gee, you think so?" Eduardo asked.
"Well, this is the address. And those buildings lo-"
Kylie cut Roland off. "I think Eduardo was being sarcastic." She reached
back and elbowed Eduardo, who was sitting in the back seat.
"Ow! Hey, what'd you elbow *me* for? *He's* the one who didn't get it!"
Garrett had already wheeled out the back ramp of the Ecto-1 and pulled up
alongside the side window. "Uh, guys? Hate to interupt the important
conversation, but, big, destruction-loving monster to bust mean anything to
you?"
"Garrett's right," Kylie said, "we've got a job to do."
The team strapped on their gear and followed the path of destruction the
monster had left behind. They turned a corner to find the monster a short
twenty yards away. The ghost in front of them was thirteen feet tall and
green. It had bird-like legs that led up to a cylindrical body. It's arms
were thin but, as they had seen, were very strong. The body thinned out
to form a long, spiny neck with a small head. Around its mouth were small
tentacle-like tendrils that were constantly moving.
It turned toward the team. It saw them, but instead of advancing one them,
it began toward some power lines.
"What's it doing?" Garrett asked.
"I don't know," Kylie replied, "but I don't like it."
The monster grabbed the power line with both hands and snapped it in two. It
then raised the end it was holding in its left hand up to its mouth. The
tendrils enclosed themselves around the wire as the monster began to suck
the power out.
The creature let the power lines drop to the ground as it turned towards the
ghostbusters and let out a loud, high-pitched shriek. Electricity began to
dance around its brightly glowing eyes.
"Run!" Kylie screamed over the cry of the monster.
Roland, Eduardo, and Kylie dove in different directions for cover, leaving
Garrett to roll his wheelchair out of the way as fast as he could. "Uh,
guys?!" Garrett said, a touch of panic creeping in his voice. Electricity
jumped like lightening bolts from the creature's eyes to the place where
the team had been standing moments before. Garrett just missed getting
singed as the bolt fell short of his body by mere inches. The bold struck
the street, sending large fragments of concrete in all directions. A large
piece of the cement landed on a nearby car that Roland and Eduardo had dove
behind for cover, smashing the hood in.
Roland jumped out of the way of the falling cement, with Eduardo close behind.
Roland cleared the debris, landing a couple of feet away from Kylie, who was
crouching behind a van. A small chunck of concrete smashed down on Eduardo's
ankle, twisting it in an awkward angle. Eduardo let out a scream of pain
and fell short of the van. Kylie left her cover and quickly ran over to
Eduardo, dragging him behind the van.
"You okay?" Kylie shouted.
Eduardo nodded. "Yeah. Just twisted it."
Roland joined them behind the van. "Where's Garrett?"
Peeking out from behind the van, Roland, Eduardo, and Kylie could see Garrett
crawling for cover from his destroyed wheelchair. A large cement fragment
had crushed the left wheel and part of the seat. The three of them ran out
into the street, picked Garrett up, and headed back toward the van.
Eduardo looked over at the monster on their way back to the van. "Uh-oh.
Greenie's heading toward the power cables again!"
"Well, what'll we do with Garrett?" Roland asked.
"Just sit me on the hood of the Ecto."
They ran over and sat Garrett on the hood of the car, then turned towards
the monster. Kylie had already begun running toward it when she yelled
back at them, "Get between it and the power lines!"
Eduardo and Roland caught up with her a few feet in front of the power lines
and drew their proton guns.
Garrett yelled over to them from the car, "On three!"
"THREE!" the team yelled in unison and fired.
The monster screamed in anger, bringing its huge claws back, preparing to
strike. Eduardo yelled as they jumped out of the way before two large
claws embeded themselves in the street. Garrett, being a safe distance away,
was the only one who continued firing. Kylie quickly picked herself up off
the pavement and tossed her ghost trap towards the monster. After Garrett
inched it to the trap a little more, Kylie opened the trap. The monster,
bathed in the light from the open trap, struggled futily as it was sucked in.
The trap slammed shut.
Kylie looked around to find Eduardo still laying face-down on the pavement,
his arms covering his head. As she walked over to him, Eduardo lifted his head
to see what was going on.
"My hero," Kylie said monotonously, with a touch of anger. She sighed and
offered him a hand to help him up.
"Hey," Eduardo said, ignoring her extended hand as he helped himself up, "I
don't need any help."
Her anger beginning to show on her face, Kylie walked off to retrieve the
ghost trap, then headed toward the Ecto-1 to help Garrett. At least Garrett's
not too pig-headed to refuse my help, she thought to herself.
Eduardo watched as Garrett accepted Kylie's help and got into the backseat
of the Ecto-1. He shot a look over to Roland, who couldn't think of anything
else to do except innocently shrug his shoulders and walk back to the car.
Eduardo stood there for a moment, wondering why he could never make up his
mind about Kylie, then followed the others to the car.
Roland got behind the wheel and started the car. "Hey wait, guys," Garrett
said, "what about my wheelchair?"
"Uh...," Kylie grimaced as she looked out the window at the wheelchair, "I...
don't think its' salvagable. Sorry." She reached over and flipped on the
intercom. "Egon? We're on our way back."
After a bit of static, Egon't voice replied, "Good work. Egon out."
Roland put the car in drive and headed back to the firehouse.
main page(RuneSword's Realm)
Next Chapter
