The Marinzean Epic, Part II:
The Price
Chapter Four
When they returned to the firehouse, Garrett offered to take the trap down
to the containment unit. Kylie picked up the trap and walked over to
Garrett and Eduardo, who were watching something on TV. Actually, they were
watching lots of somethings, as they flipped from one channel to the next
at lightening speed; Kylie hated it when they did that. She handed Garrett
the trap and sat down next to Eduardo anyway, willing to put up with it.
Roland went upstairs to tell Egon of the apparent return of the Marinzeans.
Meanwhile down in the basement, Garrett loaded the Ecto-Marinzean into the
containment unit. He began thinking of how he could break into the cabinet,
put on the suit, and use its powers again, just for another half hour...
No! Garrett thought. This is crazy. I'm going back upstairs. I've never
needed my legs, and I still don't need them! He turned to head back to the
lift-
The whispering voice returned to him in his head, soothing him and relaxing
him. He strained to listen to the words the voice spoke, but couldn't seem
to make any out; It was almost as if the words weren't even English. Yet
Garrett could still understand what the voice's intent was, it was telling
him to turn around, get the suit.
Garrett slowly turned his wheelchair back around and faced the cabinet. He
backed his wheelchair up to get some distance between himself and the target.
Rolling his wheelchair faster than he thought possible, Garrett spun ninety
degrees at the last moment to slam against the cabinet with the side of his
wheelchair, emitting a loud metallic clang!
The door to the cabinet had opened a crack. Opening the door the rest of the
way, Garrett could now see the containment suit, resting on a hook,
anxiously awaiting his arrival. Not wanting to disappoint the suit which had
been waiting so patiently, Garrett reached out and touched the sleeve,
running the heavy course material between his thumb and index fingers. A
flood of emotions and thoughts washed over Garrett, the two main emotions
running through him were fear of what he'd done and was going to do, and
anticipation, not wanting to wait another second longer. One thing he was
sure of, though; the adrenaline rush he was experiencing from these two
emotions was wondrous, and certainly welcome!
Making a compromise between the conflict raging inside of him, Garrett
decided to wait until tomorrow to try the suit on. He made his way back
upstairs, where Kylie and Eduardo were switching the TV off and getting
ready to leave. Garrett continued up the lift to the second floor in search
of Roland. "Hey, Roland," Garrett said, "you about ready to go?"
Roland looked at his watch. "Oh...yeah. I was just telling Egon about our
encounter tonight."
Egon adjusted his glasses before he spoke. "If you find out any new
information, tell me. With the discovery of this new species of Marinzean,
I fear that they may be able to adapt well to extreme changes of environment,
even to go so far as to alter their very form in order to survive. If this
is the true, this enemy may be much more difficult to defeat than we had
anticipated.
However, I have this feeling that there's a key piece to this puzzle that
we haven't found yet..."
Garrett and Roland were still watching him, waiting for him to finish. Egon
looked to Roland, then to Garrett, and shrugged. "Of course, I have
absolutely no idea what that piece may be."
Garrett tapped Roland's shoulder. "Ready?" Roland nodded and followed
Garrett out of the lab. "Later," Garrett said to Egon as he turned to leave.
Garrett and Roland left the firehouse. Outside, the air was cool with a low
breeze, the kind of air that feels invigorating. By the curb in front of
the firehouse, they met up with Eduardo and Kylie, who were trying to hail
a cab to split.
"So," Eduardo addressed the group, "how long do you think it will be before
we get another call about those Ecto-Marinzeans?"
Roland replied, "Well, if it's anything like the first Marinzean wave, I'd
say they won't wait too long before showing themselves again."
Kylie took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the cool night air. "Well,
I guess we should all get some sleep. See you guys tomorrow."
A taxi cab pulled up and Eduardo and Kylie got in. Garrett and Roland said
their good-byes and headed towards their homes.
* * *
Garrett clenched and unclenched his fists as once again a nightmare played
out in his head. This time, he was back at the firehouse. Once again, that
whispering voice strode through his head, encouraging him to take the
containment suit. He opened the metal cabinet and held the suit in his
hands. He wasn't sure how, but the voice instructed him on how to operate
the suit. He looked down at his hands holding the suit. His hands were
flesh, real. If he used the suit to stand, he would be more ghost-like than
human. Was he willing to make that sacrifice?
Putting the suit back in the cabinet, Garrett slammed it shut, and headed for
the elevator lift. He pushed the lever on the lift forward to go up;
nothing happened. The elevator wasn't working. Then Garrett heard
something; looking across the basement, he could see the containment unit's
warning lights go on, along with the siren, warning him that the containment
unit was unstable, could explode at any second!
Garrett started rolling his wheelchair over to the containment unit to reset
it, get it stable again. He made it about two yards before his wheelchair
stopped dead in its tracks, held back by some unseen force. He used every
ounce of muscle he had in his arms, but the chair wouldn't budge! He quickly
pushed himself out of his chair onto the floor and continued making his way
across the basement floor. But he knew he'd never be able to crawl fast
enough to prevent the explosion that would be coming in a matter of seconds.
He thought of everybody upstairs, his closest friends, oblivious to the
death quickly approaching them. A feeling Garrett was not very familiar
with washed over him: defeat. He'd let his friends down, and had cost them
all their lives. As the containment unit began to crack from the extreme
pressure building inside, he once again heard the small whispering noise
directing him to the cabinet. His final thought before being bathed in
the blinding white light exploding from the containment system was regret
that he hadn't worn the suit to be able to simply walk over and reset the
unit...
Once again, Garrett awoke with a start, drenched in sweat. Just as the day
before, he opted to get an early start getting up instead of drifting back
to sleep with the possibility of another nightmare. That's it, Garrett
thought to himself, my mind's made up.
* * *
Garrett was relieved that he didn't have any exams in any of his classes
that day; he couldn't concentrate all day, partly from thinking over his
dreams and his decision, and partly from the fatigue of not getting a sound
sleep for a couple days.
He walked into the firehouse. The ground floor was deserted, but he knew
Kylie would be upstairs in Egon's lab doing...some kind of geeky experiment,
surly. Deciding that watching Egon and Kylie work on a geeky experiment was
better than sitting alone, he got on the lift and took it upstairs. He
entered Egon's lab to see Kylie and Egon sitting at a workbench rummaging
through a bunch of circuitry, while Janine read a romance novel sitting
on another table nearby. She looked up from her reading and waved. He
waved back and wheeled over to Kylie and Dr. Spenglar.
"Hey. Whatcha guys up to?" Garrett asked.
Kylie replied, "We're working on building something that will separate
Slimer from the Marinzean leader. It's coming along pretty good. What's up
with you?"
"Ah, nothin' much," Garrett let out a few fake coughs and added, "I'm uh, not
feeling to great today, though."
Egon turned around from his work to face Garrett. "If you don't feel well,
I suggest you let the rest of the team handle the assignments today. Just
take it easy and relax today."
Garrett acted disappointed at being told he couldn't take part in any of
the action today, while inwardly he was patting himself on the back for
anticipating exactly how Dr. Spenglar would take the news. If everything
went this smoothly, he would have no trouble spending a half hour on his
feet by this evening!
After a half hour of small talk between the four of them, they heard
Eduardo's voice call out, "Hello?" from downstairs. Garrett left to go
downstairs and hang out with his bud, and after a few short moments, Kylie
followed. Egon watched her leave over his shoulder. He didn't let it
bother him that she abandoned him to do all the work on his own for a while;
quite the contrary, he admired how well she was able to responsibly balance
her time dedicated to work and her time dedicated to her friends.
A short while later Roland arrived, and the team of Ghostbusters hung out
and talked, waiting for the phone to ring, which didn't take long. Kylie
answered. "Ghostbusters...Yes...Uhh..," the others noticed that as she
was talking, her face gradually changed from its usual look to one of
confusion or suspicion. Still, she continued talking, "What's that sound
in the background?...Oh...Can you describe it?...All right, what's the
address?...We'll be there soon."
Kylie hung up the phone. "What was with giving the phone all those spooky
looks?!" Eduardo asked.
"The guy on the phone sounds like a teenage kid. Anyway, he's talking
to me and I start hearing what sounds like laughter. I asked him about
it and he said it was his girlfriend crying. He was also real vague about
what was haunting them. It's been my experience that you don't normally
forget the sight of a ghost, especially the first. Still, I guess we should
go check it out."
Garrett put on the best look of exhaustion that he could muster and said,
"I...guess I shouldn't go with you guys on this one." Eduardo and Roland
stared at him in confusion, knowing Garrett was never one to sit a battle
out.
Kylie turned to them and explained, "Oh, right. Garrett mentioned that he's
not feeling well and Dr. Spenglar advised he take it easy for a day."
Garrett winced inside at deceiving them all like this.
Eduardo whined, "Aw, man! But who's gonna say all the cool 'kick ghost butt'
lines when we bust the ghoulies? Or break down the doors with a
wheelchair?..."
Garrett felt worse with each comment.
"...Or rip the ghost trap off Kylie's back and fall backwards into Roland?"
Eduardo, Kylie, and Roland all started laughing. Suddenly, Garrett wasn't
feeling too bad about deceiving them.
The three Ghostbusters got their gear and left. Garrett turned around, about
to head for the lift...
And saw Janine coming down the stairs. Garrett parked his wheelchair by the
couch and clicked on the TV. "Hey, Gar," Janine said, "How 'bout I make you
a cup of my home-made chicken noodle soup?"
Garrett smiled and thanked her. As Janine headed into the kitchen to cook,
Garrett figured now would be the perfect time to go downstairs; Egon was busy
in his lab, Janine would take forever in her attempt to make soup, and
Garrett wasn't too thrilled with the idea of hanging around to actually taste
what Janine considered soup. He got on the lift and headed downstairs.
He went to the cabinet and opened the doors. He took the containment suit
off its hook with hands that had become cold and clammy. His heart racing,
Garrett quickly struggled into the suit. He tried to operate the buttons
on the control panel on the left sleeve, but his right hand was shaking too
much. He stopped, closed his eyes, and took slow, deep breaths to calm
himself. After a few moments, he tried the control panel again. He heard
a small beep come from the right sleeve; he looked over and saw a screen
counting down, currently at 29 minutes and 56 seconds.
Then he noticed it; the screen was transparent! He was transparent! He
quickly jumped out of his wheelchair, trying out his longed for freedom.
Once again, a feeling of elation overtook him! He could do anything now!
And people thought I was into action before! With my legs, I can do
anything!
He spent the next few minutes running and jumping, even just walking around
the room. *SLAM!* Garrett stopped and listened. Upstairs, there were
voices, and people walking. Garrett crept up the stairway and opened the
door a crack. The team was back already! Janine walked out from the
kitchen, but before she could ask why they were back so soon, an irritated
Kylie spoke up. "Prank call. Turns out the kid's girlfriend bet him he
couldn't get her the Ghostbusters' autographs."
"So, what did you do?" Janine asked.
"We told him never to do it again or we'd blast 'im..." Kylie now spoke
through gritted teeth, "then Roland got us to sign a photograph of us for
the kid's girlfriend!"
Roland tried to rationalize in a begging voice. "Well, we have to keep our
fans happy, right?" Eduardo shot Roland a glare, then went over to the
couch.
Eduardo looked around. "Hey, where's Garrett?"
"Hm," Janine said, "that's odd. He was here a few minutes ago. I was
making him soup."
Eduardo leaned towards Kylie and said quietly, "He probably went running for
his life!" Kylie put a hand up to cover her growing smile.
"Yo, Garrett!" Eduardo called out. No answer.
"I'll go check for him upstairs," Kylie said.
"I'll check around this floor," Roland said. "Hope he's all right."
"Okay, then," Eduardo said, "I'll check downstairs." They all split up.
Garrett's heart raced. He ran down the steps, looking frantically about.
His wheelchair! He wheeled his chair underneath the stairs, hoping
nobody would notice it. Now he just had to hide himself! He scanned around
the room until his eyes fell on the cabinet he had gotten the suit from.
The door to the basement opened just as Garrett closed the cabinet door
leaving just enough open so he could see out. "Garrett?" Eduardo called
out, coming down the stairs. Eduardo, not really expecting to find Garrett,
simply strolled along the basement, checking all the corners so he could
say he looked everywhere. Garrett's heart stopped as Eduardo's eyes fell
on Garrett's wheelchair placed beneath the stairs.
As Eduardo was walking over to the wheelchair, Roland appeared in the
doorway at the top of the stairs. "He's no on the ground floor," Roland
said.
"Hey Roland, c'mere for a sec," Eduardo replied, motioning with his hands.
Roland came down the stairs and joined Eduardo, who was pointing at the
discarded wheelchair. "Isn't that Garrett's?" Eduardo asked.
"It has to be, I gave him the last spare wheelchair yesterday."
"Well, where could he go without that?!"
"Hmm..." Roland thought for a second, then replied, "He was feeling sick
when he left, so maybe his parents came by and picked him up, and he left
the spare here."
"But why would he leave it here?"
"I don't know."
They decided to go back upstairs and check with Kylie, seeing if she had
anything to add to the puzzle. Walking away from the wheelchair, Eduardo
and Roland passed dangerously close to the cabinet Garrett was hiding in.
In fear of being discovered, Garrett inched the door closed a tad bit more...
and the cabinet locked shut with a quiet click.
Garrett could hear Eduardo and Roland going upstairs. His sigh of relief
was cut short when he realized he locked himself in this tiny cramped
cabinet. Immediately he started to panic. His breathing became shallow
and quick. Bullets of sweat began to race down his brow as thoughts of a
variety of deaths occupied his mind. Each time he exhaled, a slight
whimpering sound emitted from his lips. Frantically, he turned the locked
handles, hoping each time that they'd open for him. His ears began to
ring and spots danced in front of his face. Thinking he was dying in this
small space where no one would find his body, Garrett began to scream for
help and bang his fists with all his might on the walls of the metal cabinet.
He knew it was useless, though; no one would find him. He slumped to the
floor of the small cabinet, pulling his knees up to his chest.
After a few minutes his knees began to ache from the position. He relaxed
his legs, letting them stretch as far as possible in the cramped space...
and was amazed to see his legs pass through the cabinet to stretch all the
way. He couldn't believe that he'd gotten so worked up over his
claustrophobia, he'd forgotten that with the suit activated he had all the
benefits of a ghost! Garrett stood up and walked through the locked doors
of the cabinet, his former prison.
A broad smile stretched across his face as his prior anxiety attack wore
off. He felt so foolish for being frightened of something that could
have no effect on him in a ghost form. Feeling he'd had enough for one
day, Garrett sat back down in his wheelchair to prepare for the loss of his
legs once again. He looked back at the timer on his sleeve. Garrett's
smile quickly fell from his face. The timer was inactive; he'd exceeded
his half hour. He was stuck as a ghost.
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