Hybrids Full Manuscript e

HYBRIDS
by
~e.theis
Approx 62,000 words
Eric Theis
3902 Paus St. Madison, WI 53714
Phone (608) 212-2080
etheis@uwmalumni.com
www.erictheis.weebly.com
Eric Theis ©2018

Edited by K.Titan
HYBRIDS by ~e.theis 1
HYBRIDS: Full Synopsis (with spoilers)
Thirteen-year-olds Jody and Derek are fighting two battles: one against hybrid monsters that
want to eat their faces off, and one to keep their relationship alive. HYBRIDS (62,000 words) is
a humorous, upper MG sci-fi (Captain Underpants meets the mad science of H. G. Wells), split
into three parts:
PART ONE: A LOVE STORY: opens on top of Jagged Rock Mountain where middle school
sweethearts JODY and DEREK have escaped The Doctor’s Lab but are still being chased by his
hybrid monsters (a pterodactyl/owl and mastodon/sabretooth). Soon after, The Doctor traps Jody
and gives her the legs of a horse. This transformation gives soft-spoken Jody superior physical
strength and confidence, as well as the idea that she is changing in ways insecure Derek can't
comprehend. Jody is torn between leaving Derek or staying simply because that is more familiar.
A LOVE STORY ends back at The Lab with Derek threatening to harm The Doctor if he doesn’t
fix Jody’s horse legs, despite Jody’s conflicted feelings about her new body.
PART TWO: A PREQUEL: takes place a few days before A LOVE STORY. Jody and Derek’s
friends Karmel and Shaylice are kidnapped by The Doctor (and it isn’t one of those warm,
cuddly kidnappings either) then brought to The Lab. Jody and Derek look for their friends but
are put under The Trance by The Doc and forced to help him “collaborate” Karmel and Shaylice
into prehistoric beasts. The section ends where A LOVE STORY begins, Derek and Jody wake
from The Trance, uncertain what happened to them. They escape The Lab, closely followed by a
mastodon and pterodactyl (Karmel and Shaylice) brainwashed to kill them.
PART THREE: RACE WAR: returns to present day where The Doctor refuses to help Derek
undo Jody’s hybrid surgeries and flees his own Lab (so much for trusting evil doctors). Derek
and Jody track down the prehistoric monster versions of Karmel and Shyalice and wake them
from The Trance. The diverse group of teens then unite with The Doctor and his animal hybrids
to confront a greater evil: a league of modified Henchmen (super-soldiers) bent on re-segregating
our integrated society. The teenagers and hybrids defeat The Henchmen during clashes in the
school gym and a hidden bunker, saving Apple Lake. Afterward, Jody decides to break up with
Derek so she can realize her own potential, which leaves him devastated.
HYBRIDS concludes with the impression that everything is made right again. The Henchmen/
super-soldiers are devoured by hybrids. The Doctor prepares to undo his surgeries on the hybrid
teenagers. The townspeople’s memories will be erased of any suspicious activity. And the only
monsters left in the middle school will be the usual ones with teaching certificates. However, the
last sentences indicate Jody will continue The Doctor’s work in some fashion, and that her true
“potential” may not be as altruistic as it seemed. This is a complete ending but leaves options
open for a follow-up novel/series where Jody becomes the antagonist, or Jody and Derek
perform their own mad science against one another, as teenagers are prone to do.
PART ONE: A LOVE STORY ~e.theis © 2018

Two middle schoolers in love.
In danger.
In charge of ridding the world of hybrid-monsters before they destroy us all.
No big deal.
To my Love, dedicated to our many adventures battling middle schoolers.

~e
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.
CHAPTER ONE — SURVIVAL
Derek rises to his feet. Barely. His ankles might be broken from the impact. He hobbles
between moss-covered boulders looking for his girlfriend Jody somewhere on this mountain, but
the sunlight is blocked by fiery sugar maples.
Then he finds her. Still. Unbreathing.
Her thin body rests on orange and yellow leaves, her golden blond hair blends in like she
is a part of the earth. It is late October but there is still no snow on the ground, and it is not cold
enough to happen anytime soon.
Derek puffs his chest to emulate courage. He isn’t the ideal warrior to take on a beast like
this. He is short and chubby. The SaberDon towers over him, revealing knife-sized teeth between
wool and tusks. It appears to smile as if breaking character. How unprofessional.
Jewels of red trickle down the incisors of this saber-toothed tiger/mastodon hybrid. The
beast is mostly regal mastodon, a handsome coat of shiny brunette carpets its ten-foot frame. The
only features of the saber-toothed tiger are its trademark canines, which are chomping on Jody’s
left leg like it hasn’t eaten in 10,000 years.
Derek tightens his grasp on the five-foot spear he fashioned when they escaped The Lab
hours ago. He jabs the spear into the wet, woolen belly of the preoccupied mastodon.
At first, nothing happens. Then a strange bird flies into view, beckoned by the yowl of
the SaberDon; its colossal silhouette blocks the rising sun. The soaring monstrosity is an
amalgam of an owl and a pterodactyl. It lands its russet-feathered tail and scaly claws on the
canopy of a nearby maple. The six-foot dino-bird with a 25-foot wingspan distracts the massive
SaberDon long enough for Derek to retract the makeshift sword from its wooly chest. After
another glimpse at his girlfriend’s limp body, Derek rams the spear deeper into the monster’s
unguarded torso.
Without warning, the reddish-brown Pterodact-Owl swoops off its alpine perch and pecks
its bulbous, skateboard-sized-beak at Derek’s face-sized face. His piercing screams wake Jody.
She’s alive!
Jody’s head jerks toward Derek. Her mangled leg has left her immobilized but she crawls
toward a rock and hurls it at the Pterodact-Owl’s feathered crown. She never played a game of
baseball in her life. In gym class, she barely participated in attendance. That was back when they
went to school. Back when anyone went to school. Back when monsters were make-believe.
Because of this lack of athleticism, the hurled quartzite misses both the flying beast and
four-ton monster. However, inspired by her knack for knitting, a skill her loving fifth-grade
teacher taught her, she grabs two twigs, rips out her shoelaces and crafts a simple slingshot.
“I got it!” Jody squeals with pride, gripping her weapon of mass slinginess.
“Great!” Derek congratulates. But before the slingshot can be tested a voice distracts the
prehistoric beasts, and they storm down the mountain, louder than hungry students at lunchtime.
“Where are they going?” Derek catches his breath and sits next to his injured companion.
Jody looks down the mountain and contemplates what could be more important than
eating the rest of her. She is almost offended. The teens scoot below a couple of pine trees
swaying in the increasing wind. It sounds like the winds are warning them, run while you can...
But thirteen-year-olds don’t speak Wind. They hold each other tight as if they just saved
the entire human race. Or released two prehistoric hybrid monsters on an unsuspecting world.
Either way, they have each other.

CHAPTER TWO — THE DOCTOR
The two lovebirds spend a couple hours trying to sleep off their brush with death when
they hear a baby neigh, or purr, or whatever it is newborns do.
“Is that a baby?” asks Jody, sitting up from her bed of pine needles and a sweatshirt.
“Oh, come on, there’s no way a baby could be on this mountain.” Derek attempts to lie
back down when Jody roughly tousles his blond hair.
They both sit up. Derek bites his bottom lip. Jody places a finger over her lips as they
listen again. The rest of the woods are silent except for the distant drilling of a woodpecker. Jody
stands first, then nudges Derek’s hip with her left boot, signaling him to get up as well.
“Your leg!” Derek expects her to wince in pain, but she doesn’t. “How did it…”
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t hurt.” Jody jumps a few times to be sure, then beams.
Derek catches her open-toothed smile but she quickly hides it. She rarely lets that happen.
She has trained herself to smile with lips closed. Derek calls her on it frequently, but she is self-
conscious about her teeth, misbelieving they are tinted brown from the coffee she frequently
drinks. She drinks the coffee to preoccupy her mind from the anxieties that lurk. The anxieties
lurk for more reasons than she cares to admit.
Jody notices a syringe in the pine needles. She thinks a moment then lifts her jean pant
leg to see a bandage over her calf. She scrunches her face then slowly peels the bandage to see a
chunk the size of her fist still missing from below her knee.
“Aw! Nasty!” Derek stares at the indent in her flesh, exposing her off-white tibia.
Jody effortlessly picks up the syringe. “I think this is why my leg doesn’t hurt.”
“What? Who fixed you? And how?” Derek holds the syringe closer to look for evidence.
One of their questions is answered when they walk a few feet down the mountain woods
and spy a white coat hunched over a crying infant.
“THE DOCTOR!” they whisper-shout in unison.

CHAPTER THREE — THE LABORATORY
Derek is about to scream to The Doctor when Jody cups his mouth. She gestures to a set
of oak trees where they hide while The Doctor finishes his evil-doing: stealing babies and such.
"There must be a simple explanation. Maybe somebody abandoned the baby and The
Doctor is taking it to the police or something.”
“I don’t know, Jody. He didn’t look like he was taking the baby anywhere except…”
Derek doesn’t finish his thought, but Jody knows.
“We have to follow him.”
They peer around the oak grove expecting to see The Doctor’s unkempt, Dungeon &
Dragons inspired blond ponytail, but he is gone. Scarlet specked lab coat and all.
Jody and Derek know where The Doctor took that poor baby. They don’t want to discuss
what sort of experiments he might be doing to it on his operating tables, so it is a quiet hike
through old growth pines as tall as skyscrapers until they reach The Doctor’s Laboratory.
The dark grey building fits naturally into the mountain landscape, if you consider a
reinforced cement bunker that plunges three stories into the earth “natural.” There are no
windows, no ornate walkways, and no architectural embellishments. This is not Frank Lloyd
Wright’s undiscovered masterpiece. The Laboratory was designed with one goal in mind:
science. And secrecy. Okay, that’s two goals. And Jody and Derek know more than most about
this clandestine fortress.
“Doctor, release that baby!” demands Jody, bursting through The Lab doors.
“We saw you steal him from the woods!” Derek says.
“My dear assistants! You’ve returned! I was hoping you hadn’t run away forever! The
baby is safe in the other room. I was checking its vitals just now to ensure it is in good health.”
“You mean experimenting on it! I’m sorry, Doctor. We’re calling the police.”
Jody pulls out her phone when suddenly Derek slaps it to the ground, breaking it.
“What the heck, Derek?” Jody pushes him away.
A vacant look rolls over Derek’s river-blue eyes.
“What’s this?” The Doctor cuts in. “The ’tween sweethearts having a spat?”
“What’s going on? Wh-what have you done to my boyfriend?!” Jody is at Derek’s feet
picking up the pieces of her phone, almost in tears. “And we’re teens! Not Tweens!”
“Young love. Ugh! You two make me sick. No. Wait. That’s probably the gyro I had for
dinner last night.” The Doctor rubs his belly with a grimace. “Still, your sappy romance makes
my head spin!” The Doctor rubs his temples to stop the room from twirling. “No, no. That’s
probably the paint fumes. I just touched up the Laboratory Lavatory. Wanna see?!” He uneasily
hops a beat or two. “I think the turquoise in there really complements the lavender walls here in
the lobby. Don’t you think!?”
The Doctor groans and plops onto the lobby’s red velvet sofa, exhausted from his rant.
He used to rant much better, back in the old days, but now a good rant is hard to muster.
“I love Derek. What have you done to him? And what did you inject into my leg!?” Jody
lunges for The Doctor’s lapels but starts teetering back and forth. “So. Dizzy. Paint fumes?”
“Afraid not, child.”
And the teens topple on each other like chicks nesting for nightfall.
CHAPTER FOUR — UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
Jody untangles her shoulder-length flaxen hair and finds she is in a blinding white room
with padded walls. Alone. The floor is checkered black and white like a chessboard.
The ceiling above her is glass. She can see Derek up there assisting The Doctor with
some sort of procedure. He must be under The Trance. This can be the only explanation. A slab
of flesh tumbles off the operating table onto Jody’s glass ceiling.
A lion’s tail.
It wiggles a few seconds then lies as still as discarded rope.
Jody strains to see the operating table. The Doctor is carving into the torso of a horse, a
mini circular saw in one hand, and a pomegranate in the other. Red juices squirt everywhere.
“Him and his stupid pomegranates!” Jody mumbles, part in spite, part in terror.
The Doctor hadn’t always performed these human/animal experiments. However, with
the rise of Altnu Global, he has gotten more funding for his “collaborations.”
Altnu Global used to be simply Altnu, a leading health insurance company in the U.S.
Now it is the only one insurance company in the U.S. This super insurance has stomped out all
competition, so much for market capitalism. They are a shrewd and cutthroat company (or
maybe you figured that out already). At first, they bought all the smaller, regional insurance
providers. Then, over a few short years, from their small headquarters here in Apple Lake, they
undercut the giants. The result: monopolized prices and mandated premiums.
This is all a fancy way of saying people are now forced to pay too much for health
insurance that really sucks.

There was a nationwide rift in President Barack Obama’s first term over Universal Health
Care. It started with the idea of providing high-quality health insurance for all people at no cost,
but Altnu wasn’t a fan of that. So, as soon as Altnu became the only game in town, they decided
it was best to require all Americans to be insured, “for the safety and health of our country” all
for the low cost of ninety percent of their income.
And what choice did Americans have?
Politicians defended the foresight of this mandate, saying it was “a worthwhile expense to
receive the ultimate health care,” but it wasn’t long before health care became the only bill
Americans could pay—before shopping, before school supplies, before rent or mortgage or
utilities, and eventually before meals on their tables.
What happened next was logical. Altnu began to offer room and board for those people
unable to afford rent and food. In exchange, each individual and family was required to
participate in “simple medical studies,” kind of like the ones for new prescription drugs awaiting
FDA approval. Except, these studies went further. Much further.
“ROOAWR!” hollers the horrendous beast above her.
Jody clenches her fist. She has no clue who or what is making that noise—all she can
think of is that baby…

CHAPTER FIVE — BREAKING OUT
Jody paces in her sterile prison, tracing her index finger between the cracks in the
cushioned walls. She is praying for some way to escape. There has to be a door here somewhere,
right? How else could The Doctor have brought her in?
Every once in a while, Derek saunters overhead, a windowy reflection in his eyes. The
first few times he passes over, Jody frantically waves her arms hoping to snap him out of his
chemical daze. It’s useless. She tries throwing her shoes at the glass, screaming his name, and, at
one point in mad desperation, she dabs like there is no tomorrow. Surprisingly, that doesn’t
work.
If she is going to escape and save that innocent baby, not to mention Derek, if he can still
be saved, it’s going to take more strategizing. Perhaps she will have to work through Derek, use
him somehow. It’s not as if Jody isn’t used to outsmarting him. They’ve been going out for
almost a year and the desire to outsmart one another comes with every long-term relationship.
That’s normal, right?
Then it happens. Right in the middle of a good scheme to break free, she collapses.
CHAPTER SIX — OPERATION
When Jody wakes, she finds herself strapped to a flat, hard table. The overhead lights are
oppressive, forcing her to squint when she looks up. The first part of her plan worked: she is out
of that achromatic prison below. Now, about this operating table.
Derek opens the O.R. doors and slowly crosses toward his girlfriend, his confidant, his
soulmate. (Hey, they could be soulmates. How are they supposed to know? They’re only thirteen
for crying out loud!) He ignores the bulky, sedated objects under white sheets on the nearby
operating tables. His focus is on Jody.
The shiny, silver instrument in his hand shimmers under the intense glow of the surgical
lamps. It’s not a flute or trumpet, but a medical instrument, the slender cousin to the steak knife.
Many boyfriends bring their girlfriends unexpected gifts: flowers, chocolates, homemade
cards with embarrassing poetry stuck to it. Still, there is something about the scalpel Derek is
gripping as he inches closer to Jody that freaks her out a bit. Just a bit.
Before Jody can snap Derek out of The Trance, she is free. Derek has sliced the leather
straps at the same moment she thought he was going to julienne her into fine Jody-bits.
She sits up, speechless. “What? I don’t get it.”
Derek winks at her and slips the sharp instrument into his back jean pocket. “YOW!!”
“Shhhh. Derek, what’s the matter?”
“Wrong...er...place…to…put a razor sharp knife.”
Jody rolls her eyes. “Where’s The Doctor?”
“Recruiting more teens?” Derek shrugs while slicing the remaining straps.
Jody throws the straps off her waist and jumps off the table.
Most people have trouble walking after experiencing shock or being tied up. Like in the
movies when an EMT gives the victim one of those dirty old blankets to keep them from
shivering to death. Jody flops to the floor completely. She is going to need a bit more than a dirty
blanket to help her recover from this shock. She tries again. Derek holds her up this time,
whispering to her so that none of the hybrids on the other tables hear them milling about.
“You can do this,” insists Derek, affection dripping from his lips, just below his patchy,
pubescent mustache.
“No. I can’t. I can’t walk.”
Then Jody realizes why. She looks down to see her feet are...different. They are feet, but
they aren’t her feet. They aren’t even feet from her species. They have another name.
Technically her feet are now called “hooves.”

CHAPTER SEVEN — JODY-BRID
It was done. The operation was done. Apparently it was painless or The Doctor pumped
her full of anesthesia. Jody glances a moment at her feet-hooves then quickly looks away. She
steels herself to stare once more and decipher what animal they are from. Jody lifts her right leg
and oddly the hoof responds. She does so with her left: same response.
Then, with super-heroine nerves, she looks again. It reveals what she and many brave
American women have fought for decades, an enemy so forsaken from society she nearly weeps
at the sight of it: Hairy legs.
Correction: Furry legs.
Correction Again: Furry, horse legs.
Jody is strong-willed. She has surmounted immeasurable obstacles in her short thirteen
years on Earth: her dad abandoning them, her bully brother, her emotionally absent mother. But
this—turning into half a horse overnight—this will take some adjusting.
Jody sits on the table and swings her front quarters, or hind quarters, or whichever
quarters they are, back and forth, trying to get accustomed to their weight and shape. They glide
effortlessly through the air and in a split-moment her legs remember.
They leap to the glass floor—this time with confidence. One kicks back, presumably to
stretch, and before the other does the same, Derek steps out of the way, narrowly avoiding a kick
to the groin. One hoof taps against the other then grinds along the bone, digging into the U-
shaped shoe. Caked mud and bits of grass slide out and Jody produces a neigh of relief.
Derek watches in awe as Jody easily gallops onto the adjacent sink basin. She stands
there, as if under a spell to the horse legs, and asks Derek, “What happened to you?”
“The drugs wore off, I guess. Or he shot me up with some other medication to make me
myself again. Perhaps only temporarily.”
They are both quiet at the suggestion; there are no limits to The Doctor’s cruelty.
“Maybe I should ask what happened to you. I guess this fixes that chunk that was missing
from your leg. Did you forget to tell me your dad was Seabiscuit?” Derek never misses an
opportunity to relieve an awkward moment with humor.
“Black Beauty, actually.” Jody is determined to stay upbeat about this whole horse-legs-
instead-of-human-legs thing. “So, you don’t remember anything from when you were under The
Trance or medication or whatever?” She clomps to her once-lost boyfriend.
“No. If I had known The Doctor was doing this to you—” He falls silent. His guilt is
palpable, like a semi driving down a highway. Both see it coming, full speed, unyielding. The
truck crashes and Derek falls to his knees—grief weighing him closer to the glass floor.
And then the lion roars.

CHAPTER EIGHT — HERE KITTY, KITTY
It wasn’t one of those baby lion roars. Like a mew. It was the equivalent of an entire pride
of alpha lions. Like they all got together at some nightclub and roared with laughter at another
lion-comedian’s jokes.
RWA—I’M A BIG, OLD, FAT LION—OAR! HA! HA!
It was scary enough to make Jody and Derek almost poop their pants. Not their pants as if
they share one collective pair of pants, but each pair. Yeah. You get the picture.
Jody looks at Derek’s face, which is distraught for not being there for his girlfriend’s
transformation into half a horse and everything. Now his face is cement-gray like a sidewalk,
like that clumsy “truck of guilt” metaphor just ran right over his pimpled complexion.
Jody feels Derek’s hands grow tighter and colder as they wrap around her. If she wasn’t
frightened to death herself she might think it was cute he was so frightened to death.
“Um.” Derek points to the door.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Jody replies as they sprint for the door.
The lion, or what they think is a lion, soars toward the door and arrives before they do.
“Um,” Derek repeats.
“Good point.”
And the two return to the operating tables. Normally, if this were a day when The
Laboratory was empty, this would be a genius idea. But, since that darn “RWA—I’M A BIG,
OLD, FAT LION—OAR!” woke up all the other hybrids in The Lab, it may not be so genius.
“Um,” Derek three-peats.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do.” Jody takes three-and-a-half seconds to brainstorm
a plan. “Take this bed sheet and get it over that Lion-Thing’s head. I’m going to distract it.”
“What do you mean?” Derek whispers. He thinks if he can’t be heard then he can’t be
seen. That’s what Jody is dealing with.
“You’ll see.” She winks. She is strangely confident, bordering pompous.
Jody uses her newfound animal prowess to distract the lion-hybrid. With as much
courage as a student trying the “Thursday Surprise” at lunch, Jody vaults atop the operating
table, then another, then another until she has caught the lion-beast’s attention.
Jody takes a deep breath as she looks at the enemy she just made. It’s a lion, tan hide and
all, with more bang for your buck, er, cat. This king of the jungle has been augmented to make it
a king of the skies as well. It has some sort of wings, which must explain how it can pounce so
far so fast. But the wings aren’t attached to its back like a griffin; they are a part of its front legs.
It has all four limbs and no feathers. However, there is an extra layer of skin flapping below its
armpits, like Jody’s Aunt Edna’s jiggly underarms.
The lion wiggles its butt as if it’s about to jump, then extends its front arms like it’s about
to fly, then licks its yellow canine teeth like it’s about to eat. It’s quite the confused animal.
Jody, or rather, the hybrid once known as Jody, prepares herself for the mighty cat.
In the time it takes to read the “Hang in there” kitty poster above the metal sink, the lion
takes to the air and sails toward Jody, a half-ton flying kitty about to land on her slight frame.
Jody, however, is now quite comfortable in her new body, predicting its limits and
gauging its strength. With those predictions, she waits until the last possible moment to spring
her horse legs high into the air, rocketing her to the ceiling above.
Utilizing those dexterous knitting fingers of hers, she clutches the rafters. And just in
time. The great cat lands where she was half a second ago, and just as fast, quite surprisingly, the
lion-beast’s mane is covered by a large white sheet.
Derek did his part.
“Nice job, Derek!” Jody bellows from the rafters as she swings her hind legs toward the
door. “Now, let’s really get out of here!”
“Sounds good, my trusty steed!”
The adolescent darlings make it to The Laboratory’s front metallic door and thrust it
open. They close it as a stampede of strange hybrids trample over a very upset kitty cat.
CHAPTER NINE — A LITTLE HELP
“At least those hybrid thingies haven’t learned how to open doors.” Jody exhales a breath
of relief against the closed cold steel. Her breath stays on the steel door for a moment. The late
October sun is at noon-ish and the air is crisp outside unlike in The Lab. The Doctor really
cranks up the heat for his pet projects.
The teens press their bodies against The Lab door, keeping the hybrids in, but they won’t
be able to hold them for long. They look around: the old-growth forest of oak, pine and maple is
dark enough to hide in, if they can make it there. These woods have been untouched for hundreds
of years. Somehow the town of Apple Lake, or The Doctor, has kept loggers away from the rich,
biodiverse woodlands.
These woodlands are about to become even more biodiverse when the hybrids set foot.
Banging and roaring increases on the other side of The Lab door, frightening Jody and
Derek enough to rush into a nearby gulch in the woods.
“What were those sounds? They sounded like a mix between—”
One of the hybrids, a Polar Flamingo, rudely interrupts Derek by crashing down The
Lab’s front wall. Not the door, per se, the entire wall that framed the door. So, the hybrids are
smart enough to figure out how to escape, but…
Not smart enough to control their bodies. The fuzzy pink bear with skinny flamingo legs
falls flat on its face. Its polar bear top seems impossible for the twig-thick legs to hold, but
science has prevailed. However, just like Jody, this jumbo teddy needs practice walking.
Jody and Derek stare from behind the damp leaves and other shrubs they jumped in. A
handful of other half-assed creatures stumble out of the rubble. The sight is comical. Derek
compares it to a scene from “The Three Stooges,” only with less “nyuk nyuk nyuk”-ing. He adds
a clash of bowling pins in his head for effect and smiles at the uncanny antics.
Jody, too, is gawking at the remarkable creations The Doctor has made. As a lover of
animals and student of science, she is in awe of these “collaborations.”
There’s a Giraff-oon, a three-foot-tall baboon, with another six feet for its neck. It beats
its sandy-brown chest and howls a war cry, a deafening repetition of something presumably
explicit in baboon-ese, then gets its knobby antler-do-jobs pinched between two I-beams. How
embarrassing! The snag clogs the exit for the remaining, impatient hybrids.
Jody and Derek assume a beastly rampage will plow down the trapped Giraffoon, but
they witness something unexpected. Something compassionate. One of the hybrids, a sort of
Prairie-Bat, a fusion between prairie dog and fruit bat, flies toward the Giraffoon. The Giraffoon
cringes in pain. At closer inspection, Jody can see tears form around its lemon meringue skin.
The Prairie-Bat, helplessly small, nudges its furry head at the Giraffoon’s antler-knobs. It
seems pointless. The weight of the entire roof rests between the squished I-beams holding the
Giraffoon in place. There’s no way this tiny hybrid creature can save the giant Giraffoon. But it
doesn’t give up. In fact, it flaps its wings harder and harder until the roof, believe it or not,
begins to tremble. The Prairie-Bat keeps flapping, tirelessly, and the roof, somehow, keeps
trembling.
“Do you see that?” Jody gasps. The prairie dog was always a zoo favorite of hers.
Derek is distracted by the other beasts squeezing beneath the ensnared Giraffoon:
—A Pea-naconda: a twenty-foot snake with emerald green feathers adorning its
slithering frame. It moves like a Rio Carnival float, seductively shaking toward Derek.
—A Pen-Goat: an ice-water bird with a wooly grey face and beard, chewing on the metal
rubble left from the front wall’s collapse. Classy.
“Look!” Jody points at the small winged rodent with herculean strength. “That bat-rat is
freeing that giraffe-baboon. It’s lifting the roof with its tiny wings!”
Derek turns his attention on the super-rodent’s struggle. He shakes his head.
“Nah. You’re seeing things, babe.”
And before Jody can glare at Derek with spiteful girlfriend eyes, the roof flies away.
CHAPTER 10 — THE DASH
Now, it’s not as if the roof sprouted wings and flew south like a butterfly returning to
Mexico. It just flew up. Like the clouds became some sort of great vacuum and sucked it toward
the heavens a few inches.
“Um,” Derek begins poetically.
“Derek, we have bigger problems than me telling you ‘I told you so’ right now.”
And they do.
“Never mind, I can multitask,” Jody insists. “I told you so. Now let’s get outta here!”
And as the roof crashes back onto The Lab, they dash.
They dash into the oddly quiet mountain woods, hoping the oak groves will slow the pace
of whatever they are running from. They don’t have time to decipher what sorts of beast-combos
are tailing them. But you can bet these beasts dash a bit dash-ier than Jody and Derek.
Jody is dashing quite well. Her Black Beauty legs are charioting at racing speed through
the thick woods. Derek, however, not so much.
It should be explained that running isn’t young Derek’s favorite pastime.
Things he enjoys: Breakfasting. Brunching. Lunching. Linnering. Dinnering.
Not running.
Because Derek is a bit larger, he isn’t doing great being chased by these super-creatures.
Jody sees her struggling boyfriend. She could quite easily gallop off into the sunset, never
to be heard from again. Maybe gallop her way to Los Angeles and become some sort of horsey-
girl reality TV star.

But she loves Derek. She loves him very much. Though he has the self-esteem of a snail
in its shell, he is a sweet young man. Basically, he’s a mama's boy. This, though, can be an asset
in a young man. Jody has met Derek’s mom. She’s generous and makes chocolate chip cookies
practically every single day (and how come Derek is overweight again?). She’s the warm mom
Jody never had.
The two moms are just different. Not better or worse. Jody’s mom collects poetry books.
Derek’s mom collects recipe books. One is more traditional, the other more new-age. Jody’s
mom role models pursuing lifelong goals while still being a parent. Derek’s mom gave up other
dreams in order to dedicate her life to her kids.
Derek’s mom committed every moment to her family until Altnu went global and she
was forced to join the many citizens of Apple Lake “working” for them. But when she isn’t
cooking meals for Altnu’s doctors and scientists, she sneaks a few extra cookie dough balls into
the oven and brings them home to her family, the people she loves most in the whole world.
That’s how Derek feels about Jody. As if he would sacrifice life itself to save her. It’s
why he felt so awful when he realized he couldn’t stop Jody’s hybrid operation.
This is how Jody feels about Derek.
Jody stops below a golden sugar maple and crunches a few leaves as she turns around to
see Derek. He is a couple hundred yards behind her, still dangerously close to The Lab. She
dashes back to him without a second thought. She is taller than him by a few hooves, so swoops
down and says, “Wanna horsey-back ride, little boy?”
He smiles and hops on his galloping girlfriend seconds before the hybrids arrive.
CHAPTER 11 — THE SUMMIT
“I guess you’re a centaur now, huh?” Derek asks as Jody trots them to safer, high ground.
Her gait quickens every time the snarls of the beasts grow louder. Dodging trees and
hurtling icy creeks, the mountainous terrain grows rockier and harsh on Jody’s hooves.
“You gotta walk.” Jody says, not meanly, just matter of fact, the way she does
sometimes.
They can see the summit of the treacherous mountain they have called home the past day
or two; it’s all blurry. They remember escaping The Doctor and his Laboratory a couple days
ago. But why did they have to escape? What was happening there?
“I knew you’d come back for me.” Derek curls up next to Jody on a sun-warmed boulder.
“First, I’m not a centaur. I’d need some Greek name like Jodipedes.” Jody wraps an arm
around her man-boy. “Second. Of course I came back, human. Who else will massage my feet?”
“Fine. I guess I owe you.” Derek smiles then kneads her distal phalanx. “Where are we?”
He tilts his head toward the 1500 foot drop a couple yards from where they are resting.
“Judging by the jagged rocks, and the mountain shape they are in, I’m guessing we’re at
the top of Jagged Rock Mountain,” Jody mutters sarcastically, lying her head against the boulder.
“Funny. I mean where’s home?” Derek pauses the massage to look into the distance.
Jody is about to snap her fingers to continue the massage when she catches herself.
“Oh, sweetie tweetie, would you like to finish my massage?”
“Yeah, sweetie tweetie, why don’t you finish massaging your funny honey bunny?”
Jody and Derek look up, way up, to see The Doctor riding the hovering Pterodact-Owl.
He found them.
CHAPTER 12 — A SUPERIOR RACE
“Wh-what do you want, Doctor?” Derek begins sheepishly from the base of the boulder.
Not like a sheep. More like a boy trying not to show how scared he is, which only makes him
more scared, like a sheep.
“What a brave lad. Perhaps I’ll give you the heart of a grizzly bear to toughen you up.”
“Why are you doing this? Why are you using humans for your experiments now? Have
you no morals?” Jody stands next to the boulder and readies herself. Fearless.
“No morals? My dear, I’m the only one who remains with morals. What Altnu Global is
trying to do, misusing superhumans, I believe theirs are the motivations you should question.”
“What do you mean, ‘superhumans’?” Derek asks in a half-whisper.
“Oh, young, simple Derek. Never able to figure things out like your clever girlfriend. Or
should I say your bonus equus.”
The Doctor continues one of his much-loved tirades.
“Didn’t you wonder why she was, ahem, altered and you weren’t? Son, I’m trying to
save both your lives; you just can’t see that. Altnu would have snatched Jody any day now. They
have a way of finding the more capable ones. Serendipitously, I found you two first. I don’t
know why you escaped The Lab, though. You could be helping so many more teenagers.”
“Helping!? Now I remember why we escaped!” Jody stands atop the boulder proudly,
intending to intimidate this doctor riding a prehistoric bird thingy. “We knew you weren’t trying
to help any of us. We knew it was only a matter of time before you started doing your creations,
as you call them. And we couldn’t be a part of that. I don’t care what you do. I don’t care if you
call Altnu’s Henchmen on us. I am not sacrificing my morals for a sleaze bag like yourself.”
“Doctor Sleaze Bag, if you don’t mind. I do have this white coat.”
“Why Doctor? You gave me hope we could beat those jerks at Altnu and that everything
could go back to normal.” Jody tries to retrieve some sort of humane response from The Doctor.
“Things will never go back to normal, horse-girl. Can’t you of all creations understand
that? We have entered a new era. There is no turning back, and why would we want to? Look at
you. Look at your powers. Look at what you are capable of. I saw you swing Derek onto your
back. I saw you carry him 10 miles through the woods then up this peak. Yes, you just ran TEN
miles with him on your back. And you probably thought nothing of it. Sure, you’re sore I
imagine. But you will heal. You are part of a superior race now.”
“A superior race? You mean, like she’s not only half a horse, she’s better than human?”
Derek is trying his best to keep up.
“Derek, you’re a boy-genius, aren’t you?” The Doctor shakes his head then presses his
knees deeper into the sides of his mighty bird as it begins to buck. He whispers something to it
then pets its brown feathered head and bulbous tan beak.
“SKREEE!” The Pterodact-Owl shrieks in apparent delight from The Doctor’s calming
words. The high-pitched screech temporarily deafens Jody and Derek but doesn’t faze The Doc.
“Whoa! Someone’s excited!” Jody stares at the giant hybrid bird, mesmerized by its
majestic shape and skills. “Derek, I don’t know what it is, but he’s right.”
Jody points up at the steady control of the Pterodact-Owl.
“Look at how strong this pterodactyl thing is. I feel stronger too, much stronger. I can’t
believe that was 10 miles I ran with you on my back. And that little bat thingy, remember what
it did to the roof? Something strange has happened to us…hybrids.”

Jody pauses as she admits her new station in life. She is no longer only human and, as far
as she knows, she never will be again. The Doctor says she is part of something better now, but
that is no consolation. She wants to be her full self —not some half-beast.
“Baby, it’s okay.” Derek holds her hand atop the rock. “Everything is going to be
alright.”
Derek isn’t the biggest word in the dictionary, but he knows things will work out.
Somehow.
Derek looks down at the sharp teeth hundreds of feet below. Glaciers tore through here
20,000 years ago for this very moment. They left behind hundreds of pointed rocks and boulders
which are Earth’s perfect weapon against scientists who try meddling with her offspring. Derek
just needs to find a way to throw The Doctor into these jaws of death.
“You!” Derek jabs his finger at The Doctor on his beastly bird of prey. “You’ll pay for
what she has become!”
And as Derek is prone to do, he acts before thinking. This time he acts way, way, way
before thinking. He leaps from the top of the large boulder they were standing on and lunges for
The Doctor. For a moment he holds onto The Doctor in his white coat riding the great bird.
Then, he is only holding the coat.
The Doctor wrenches himself around the beast-bird and easily tosses Derek aside, 1500
feet down to the jagged rocks below.

CHAPTER 13 — SEPARATION ANXIETY
Jody had a dog growing up. Pippi. She was named after Jody’s favorite literary figure:
Pippi Longstockings. Pippi the dog had separation anxiety. She grew too close to Jody and
would freak out whenever they were separated, scratching doors to pieces when she was
unattended.
Maybe it is because Jody is now half-beast herself, but she is starting to freak out as
Derek is separated from her. Then again, watching your boyfriend plummet down the side of a
sky-high mountain would freak you out too, right?
“DEREK!” Jody rushes to the edge of the steep cliff.
“He’s gone,” The Doctor assures from the pterodactyl/owl hybrid. “It’s better this way.
He was no use to us. You know what your brilliant mind and new body are capable of. He can’t
keep up with your new life.”
Jody is quiet. She could rave at this mad man hovering above her. She could attempt to
do what Derek just did, lunge at The Doctor and try to dismount him from his beast. She would
have a much better chance given her new jumping abilities. However, she is the one who thinks
before she acts. For better or worse—she strategizes every move.
On one of Derek and Jody’s school ski trips last winter, to one of those nearby ski resorts
for families and school groups, Jody proved to be a natural at two new hobbies that day:
1) She successfully attempted the Black Diamond on her first day skiing.
2) She learned how to play chess (while resting afterward in the chalet).
Derek taught her both hobbies and naturally she kicked his butt at both. She had a
wonderful trip. Derek however wouldn’t use the word ‘wonderful’ to describe it.
She conquered those Black Diamond passes and Queen attacks through strategy: trial and
error. Like a scientist. It was something that came with the clever mind of hers. So, as she is
strategizing what to do with this jerk on a bird, this pawn posing as a king, an idea surfaces. If
she wants things to return to the way they were, if she wants to force a checkmate on The
Doctor, there’s only one person who can help her: The Doctor himself.
“Okay, Doc. What do you want?” Jody looks up from the cliff with tears in her eyes.
“My dear. I am so glad you’re coming to your senses.” The Doctor directs his prehistoric
bird to a vacant boulder. “Hop on. I’ll show you what to do.”
CHAPTER 14 — COLLABORATION
The Doctor and Jody fly off. He tries impressing her with some fancy maneuvering of the
mighty beast, but the bird doesn’t comply. However, after a parental ‘pep talk’ from The Doctor,
it performs like a trained seal.
“How did you create this, um, beautiful bird?” Jody asks as they dangerously barrel roll
over the tips of tall pines. She is attempting to gain The Doctor’s trust. The Doctor, more
narcissistic than most, falls easily for her words.
“I’m happy you asked. As one of my former assistants you know Altnu has been
experimenting on animals for years. They recruited me early in the stages of Animal
Collaboration, that’s the term we give to these spectacular hybrids we’ve created.”
“Mmmm,” Jody mutters, she isn’t sure which is worse: keeping down her vomit from the
loop-de-loops, or keeping it down from her distaste for the man who just killed her boyfriend.
“This darling is one of our most unique collaborations. Kind of ‘top secret.’ I reformed
the skeleton of the pterodactyl but admit it wasn’t me who thought to use the owl as its partner. I
was trying for something more bold: the eagle, condor, or vulture, something grand, you know?”
“Oh, certainly,” Jody pulls her hair back in a ponytail. This allows her to fully see the
death-defying maneuvers. They weave between sugar maples and oaks like cones on a road.
“The owl comes equipped with certain desirable traits for hybrid determination.” The
Doctor calls back to his passenger on this little ‘test drive’ of theirs.
“Such as?” Jody asks, now genuinely interested. The sciences have always come
naturally for her. In fact, she is one of only four eighth grade students who takes Advanced
Biology at the high school instead of regular science at the middle school. Her mom calls her
‘gifted’ but she sees herself as curious, and at times insufferable.
The Doctor picks up on Jody’s keen interest and decides to demonstrate the prehistoric
bird’s skillful ascent. “Let me show you. The owl is a bird of prey, similar to the pterodactyl, and
its stocky build is one of its saving graces in the continuum of evolution.” The Doctor is shouting
now as they climb the sky and the noise of the wind increases.
“Many birds of prey become larger to conform to their needs for growth and sustenance,
but the owl built itself stronger from the outside-in. It’s like a tank compared to a hang glider.
Sure, the hang glider has greater wing span, but the tank is virtually indestructible.”
“Um. Okay.” Jody looks down, uncertain what he is trying to prove 2,000 feet in the air.
“I’m not sure you’re ready to hear the next part, but the owl DNA and fabricated 25-foot-
wide pterodactyl skeleton were not enough to make this gorgeous creature.”
“Go on.” Jody grits through her teeth as she clings to the improvised saddle The Doctor
has made for the Pterodact-Owl, they are still climbing, now at 2,500 feet.
“We required a human subject to complete the process, someone strong and agile.
Science has now conquered nature and paved the way for a multitude of other collaborations.”
“Like the Lion Squirrel. Or...me?” Jody asks reluctantly, as they level out 3,000 feet.
“Yes. But it isn’t only what two animals have in common that make them ideal
collaborators. It’s how their genomes contradict to create stunning beasts like Estelle here.”
“Estelle?” Jody laughs, then remembers she is trying to win The Doctor over.
“Yes. Named after my mother,” The Doctor rubs the two-foot long scaly neck of the
reptilian bird. “She was the most repugnant beast that ever lived. Now, let’s dive!”
CHAPTER 15 — KID PRODIGIES
The Doctor can’t get enough of these free falls. He’s done more than he can count. He
wanted Jody to experience it, to convince her what he is doing is right, and worthwhile. There is
no feeling like this on earth and it has been created by him alone.
“It’s like standing between two El cars in Chicago!” The Doctor shouts as they rocket
toward the earth. “No. No. It’s like the log ride at Disney World. Only faster. And more chance
for death!” He is grinning from ear to ear. His cheeks flapping in the katabatic wind.
Jody is screaming at the top of her lungs with her eyes flung open. She keeps trying to
shut them, but the cold, velocious current of wind keeps prying them back.
The Doctor is oblivious to her eyes, and her screams, so continues soliloquizing.
“No, that’s not it either. It’s like when you first take off in parasailing. Only reversed.”
“AAAAAGHHH!” Jody screams in agreement, bracing her hands over her eyes.
“Or like that dream people talk about. Only there are no bedspreads for parachutes.”
Jody stops screaming long enough to listen to The Doc’s insane drivel, but is in no mood
to play along. The mountain summit is quickly approaching. Second by second.
The Doc continues his similes with a manic look in his eyes. “It’s as if you are a bird! A
bird that cares not where it lands. Or if it lands!”
The Doctor closes his eyes, as if this is where he goes to get his best thinking, moments
from crashing onto Jagged Rock Mountain. “I’ve got it! It’s like that physics riddle: What would
fall faster: a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks? Yes!”
In the knick of time The Doctor calmly pulls up on the beast’s reins. “Or a ton of
prehistoric lizard-bird carrying two scientific geniuses!”

The great bird evens out as they swerve around great pines and other old-growth trees.
The Pterodact-Owl brushes its muscular belly against some of the firs, itching an ancient scratch.
Jody leans over the side and wretches, allergic to free falling 2000 feet.
The splatter narrowly misses The Doctor’s boots.
“Hey! Watch it! These are my alligator skin hiking boots!”
The 25-foot-wide Pterodact-Owl slows down, still 15 feet from the ground.
Jody can’t wait a moment longer and dismounts, jumping all 15 feet before the bird
Lands next to The Lab. Despite having just thrown up, she touches down as gracefully as an
Olympic gymnast, minus the leotard and multi-million dollar cereal deal.
The Doctor gingerly parks his pterosaur near The Lab’s front door. His non-olympian,
fifty-something-year-old self slides down the wing of his creation. He isn’t elderly, but he’s no
teenager either.
He was a teenager once. That was when he got into the medical field. At 17. He was a kid
prodigy of sorts, like Jody. He had an uncanny memory and thirst for knowledge. He made
rounds in several specialty areas: cardiovascular, neurology, and anatomical deformities. But
evolutionary genetics, particularly eugenics, interested him most.
He spent years at the University of Chicago researching formations and reformations of
human genomes, eventually coming to the conclusion that, “Meh, I could make one of these.”
(Referring of course to humans.) And he tried. He tried for years to master the reformation of
humankind, ultimately unsuccessfully. Until Altnu’s biogenetics team came across his work.
This became a vital chapter in the Doctor’s career. He was then in his early thirties and
devoted all his energy, waking and sleeping, to achieving his ultimate vision. He poured over
university library books during daylight hours and experimented during late nights, some on
willing friends and family, most on himself.
His “experiments” entailed electromagnetic attachments connecting the subject to
whirring machines and gadgets resembling something out of a Robert Zemeckis movie. He had
hundreds, if not thousands (he would know, why don’t you ask him) of attempts to reform man.
But all efforts were fruitless and most were abandoned.
Altnu came to the rescue when they decided his work on humans could be done on
animals, which could then be used to ‘study human behavior.’ The Doctor, having no prior
membership with PETA, or other animal rights groups, had no qualms in continuing his work on
animals instead of humans. The results were near instant. Soon he found reformations and
collaborations could be made between the strangest breeds.
The work was scientific, nature had nothing to do with The Lab.
Until nature came to destroy it.

CHAPTER 16 — THE REMNANTS OF THE LAB
The Laboratory is in partial ruins when Jody and The Doctor return. They walk through
what was once the entrance, stepping over the collapsed roof that has become a shelter for some
of the smaller hybrid animals. The Prairie-Bat and Pen-Goat scurry away as they hear Jody
approach. The Doctor calls after them,
“Dracula Ingalls Wilder! Billy Empire! Come to me!” He is kneeling down with his hand
out, as a loving owner does when returning home to their house pets.
Jody is in shock. Half because she never thought The Doctor had it in him to name these
hybrids of his, and half because they actually listened. Mama's home.
“Time for dinner, my loves,” The Doctor cuddles two of his favorite beasts.
Dracula Ingalls Wilder, the Prairie-Bat, licks The Doctor’s nose, giving him wet kisses.
So Jody wasn’t wrong when she noticed how sweet this bat-rat was. She almost feels bad for
prejudging it as some sort of savage beast. Wait, it is a savage beast, she reminds herself. No, it’s
a sweet and domesticated beast, she convinces herself, one that rescued another hybrid in danger.
Jody finishes arguing with herself. Unluckily for her, she was carrying on this argument aloud,
rather than in her head like any other rational person would do. But she is no longer a person.
Not completely. She will live forever as half woman, half beast and suffer the shortcomings of
both. At present, it is a lack of internal dialogue.
The Doctor gives her a dreadful smile, like he has seen this sort of behavior before.
Jody quickly looks away from this unsettling grin and claps her hands. “Okay! Here we
are. Back at The Lab.” Jody looks around the wreckage. “How do we make more ‘creations’?”
Jody ekes out the words. She doesn’t want to seem too eager, nor too bored. The Doctor doesn’t
notice either way. He is merely excited to have her help. Again.
“My clever Pony-Girl, you can help by being yourself. Think about your friends, how can
we get them to join you? How can we create an entire race of intelligent, teenaged hybrids like
yourself? You are the future.”
Jody thinks for a couple minutes, pacing and kicking at the red and black speckled
shingles from the roof. Fortunately for The Doctor only part of the ceiling in the waiting room
came crashing down. Which means that most of the equipment and basement holding cells are
left untouched. Jody is a bit distracted because of The Doctor’s “Pony-Girl” comment but
doesn’t want to show her ill-will.
She considers The Doctor’s other words, about convincing her friends. First off, Jody
doesn’t have a lot of friends. And more teenagers have strangely gone missing lately. If only she
had some sort of social life she might be able to get friends to help her take The Doctor down.
Well, there is Leticia…

CHAPTER 17 — LETICIA
Leticia is a budding anarchist. She has short, purple and black spiky hair. She draws
tattoos across her arms with sharpies. Chupacabras. Duendes. Any mythical creatures from her
Latina roots. Her arms look more like two pages from a graphic novel than human limbs. Jody
used to help Leticia with some of the trickier angles and shading. That was when their biggest
fears were ink poisoning and teachers’ disapproving looks.
She and Jody have been close friends since Jody moved to this small mountain town from
the Chicago suburbs several years ago. Jody was quiet and terrible at making friends, but Leticia
was the opposite. They were each others’ counterparts.
Jody excelled at science and math, Leticia at English and history. They relished each
other’s company and spent most weekends at each other’s house (Jody was stuck studying during
the week so did little hanging out after school).
Leticia is the ideal friend to help Jody take The Doctor down. She has to have Jody’s
back. She owes her.
Leticia and Jody had a tumultuous seventh grade last year. Jody had been going through
what she later realized was a serious bout of depression. Most middle schoolers get depressed,
statistically and all that. It’s just a confusing time: learning who you are on the inside, trying to
make friends on the outside, trying to fit in, trying to be yourself, it’s almost surprising most
middle schoolers make it through alive. Jody barely did.
So, Jody was depressed, hadn’t met Derek yet, didn’t like the way her body looked (she
thought she was too skinny, even though one of her other best friends was ‘Little Debbie’) and
didn’t feel like she fit in with people at school. Without a doubt she was and is hilarious, and the
few friends she does have enjoy being around her because of her irreverent humor and deadpan
wit. Still, school was hard. She often knew all the answers to the teachers’ questions but couldn’t
get herself to join in whole class discussions. She would avoid eye contact when walking down
the hallways. Most students (and some faculty) thought she was mad at the world.
No. She wasn’t mad. She was paralyzed by her shyness and introvertedness.
In that crazy seventh grade year she and Leticia made a pact. Jody would be more
outgoing and Leticia would be a better listener. Leticia was up to the challenge. She knew having
too many friends, hopping from one social scene to the next, was fun, but not as meaningful as
her time with Jody. She wanted to have more lasting relationships. Jody did, too. So, at one of
their many Friday night sleepovers, after a particularly terrifying scary movie marathon, Jody
and Leticia donned their handmade spooky masks and recited their oath.
“I, Jody, swear to make five more friends by the end of the school year. And to raise my
hand more in class.”
To which Leticia replied, “I, Leticia, swear to lose five of my fake friends and be a better
listener by the end of the year.”
It was done. Their pact was made. Now they had to live up to it.
Leticia flopped right away. She continued spending too much time with phony friends,
leaving Jody alone with her studies.
Jody was determined to get out of her funk. She even decided to hang out with friends
during, of all nights, school nights! This was a big change for her and nothing to snub, because it
made her quite vulnerable. Jody reached out to other seventh grade girls. Not to overly popular
ones and not the ones she didn’t feel she had anything in common with. The middle of the road.
The ones she saw studying alone or doodling in class or wearing clothes she wanted to wear but
didn’t have a mom cool enough to buy for her.
She began answering more questions in class. Not caring about what others thought when
she spoke. The trick was to pretend all other students weren’t paying attention. It worked. Slowly
she transformed herself. Jody was anything if not a self-transformer. Not like she turns into a
building or robot that shoots torpedoes at intergalactic space aliens, more like, she transforms
into a better person when she puts in the effort. Which is more heroic and world-saving in the
long run.
So, Jody lived up to her end of the bargain and waited for Leticia to do the same. And
waited. And waited. Until she thought Leticia was slipping further from her than ever.
See, one thing Jody didn’t know is friends slip away every day, especially during middle
school. People change. Jody wanted to change for the better, but Leticia wasn’t ready. She
wasn’t a bad person, she just wasn’t able to push outside her comfort zone. Leticia was happy
with who she was, and perhaps only pretended not to be to make Jody feel better about herself.
Leticia had incredible character if that was the case.
Leticia may have been becoming more distant, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care about
Jody. Leticia loved Jody as the sister she never had. She just didn’t know how to recognize a
sister in need until it was too late.
One day, after a particularly trying Tuesday in seventh grade, after Jody participated in
almost all of her class discussions, after she sat with an almost entirely different group of friends,
Jody came home to take a shower. It was your typical, “I’m sweaty and gross I gotta take a
shower” shower. Except, something happened that more or less changed her life. She fainted.
Collapsed.
Ka-blooey.
Ker-plop. And no one was home to check on her. Her mom was working her bank job
(even though she was a teacher during the day she still worked several afternoons as a bank teller
to keep her family from the ever-encroaching Altnu), her dad was somewhere else in the world
(he deserted them years ago), her older brother was off doing drugs or drinking (he deserted his
family emotionally when their father deserted them geographically) and her sister was off with
one of her many friends (she was like Leticia that way).
So, no one was home to hear the crash of a skinny seventh grader falling through the
shower curtains, tearing them down as she lost consciousness and smacked her face against the
bathroom tiles, rosettes with purple stems. Jody had a dream during that half-living state:
She dreamt about the many friends she wanted.
She dreamt about being valedictorian when she graduated high school.
She dreamt about being ‘normal’ like her sister. Like Leticia. Like anybody but herself.
She dreamt about leaving her damaged body behind and looking for another. One that
was perfect. One that had friends. Maybe even a boyfriend. She dreamt about ending it all.
All she had to do was keep sleeping. Never wake.
Luckily for Jody, her mom forgot some student papers she was going to grade that night
at the bank. (She was always forgetting something.) So, when Jody’s mom heard the shower
running, she called upstairs. There was no response. Instantly, her mom became worried. (She
was always worrying about something.) Though Jody’s mom spent very little time at home or
with her family, that didn’t mean she didn’t love them. Just the opposite. And so Jody’s mom
became Super-Mom. She knocked, banged, and busted down the bathroom door.
Jody was barely breathing.

CHAPTER 18 — A FRIEND IN NEED
That was how Jody almost died. It wasn’t Leticia’s fault, but she felt partially
responsible. Leticia thought if she would have been a better friend, if she had lived up to her part
of the pact, Jody might not have been so frail that day.
Jody knows Leticia felt this way. And she doesn’t want to guilt trip her (former) best
friend or anything, but this certainly is a convenient time to call in a favor, with the world almost
ending because of The Doctor’s hybrid monsters on the loose and everything.
All Jody has to do is find her.
Where would present-day Leticia be? Where would the Leticia, who was a social
butterfly, flitter to in these days of butterflies bred with bats? Of teenagers going missing? Of
evil doctors trying to conquer the world? Jody can’t imagine Leticia would soar so low as to be
employed with Altnu Global, but she can see Leticia being tangled up in Altnu’s netting of need.
Leticia was never the best planner, never the best at remembering to do homework.
At the beginning of eighth grade they both wanted a fresh start. They were determined to
leave their drama-filled 7th grade year behind them. They started studying together again.
However, on one of their last nights together, when they were supposed to be memorizing the
periodic elements, Leticia got distracted reordering the acronyms into inappropriate words.
So where would this anti-authoritarian, rarely-take-things-seriously Leticia find herself in
this mayhem?
Maybe her family would know. Leticia’s family was an easy target for Altnu and their
“medical studies.” They were Mexican immigrants in a town of 800 (mostly white) people. They
came straight from Juarez, Mexico, once the most dangerous city in the world (although Apple
Lake may now have that title).
They moved to America during the peak of the ongoing Mexican drug crusades. Leticia
lost her uncle and grandfather due to the Mexican military waging war against the drug cartel.
They were deemed “collateral damage” by Juarez police. Leticia’s life was fear and deprivation.
She was probably the most emotionally prepared Apple Lake teenager for this Altnu conquest.
Only now, instead of soldiers and tanks patrolling her neighborhood it is scientists and beasts.
Jody uses The Lab phone to call Leticia on her home phone. Leticia’s parents refused to
buy her a cell phone because of the proclivity for their former government to tap their phones.
No one answers, which doesn’t mean much. No one ever answered at their house.
Knowing she doesn’t have much time, Jody decides to call mutual friends that might
know Leticia’s whereabouts. Sure, Jody could have recruited these mutual friends to overturn
The Doctor, but that would require a more talkative thirteen-year-old.
Eventually, thanks to Sydney from their Algebra class, the girl who spent more time
sleeping than studying theorems, Jody tracks down Leticia. It turns out Jody assumed right:
Leticia wasn’t working for Altnu.
But that left only one alternative—Altnu was working on her.

CHAPTER 19 — LETICIA-BIRD
As the sun sets, the aging Doctor lies on the plush, red couch in the lavender lobby. He is
old and tired, used to his “Cream of Something” soup and trashy mystery novels this time of day.
When he closes his eyes, Jody seizes her chance and sneaks out of The Lab.
She sprints down the mountain while there is still enough sun to safely do so. She makes
it to the flat ground and runs as fast as her horse legs can into town.
She is there in a matter of minutes.
She finds the large, brick building their mutual friend described, sucks in her breath, and
breaks the basement window with a nearby rock. The moonlight reflects the pieces of broken
glass. It isn’t a perfect breaking-and-entering, but Jody is not a perfect breaking-and-enterer.
Altnu Global’s main laboratory, apart from The Doctor’s Laboratory on the side of the
mountain, is a building Jody knows quite well. All sixth, seventh and eighth graders know it
well. It is, or was, Charles Chesnutt Middle School. Their middle school. They used to joke
about it being more of a prison than a school. Now, for Leticia and other “creations” sleeping in
this dank, dimly lit boiler room, it truly is a prison.
Leticia is barely conscious when Jody finds her strapped to a metal table. She is
concealed by bright yellow plumage and a bandage over her mouth and nose. She is hardly
recognizable. The striking punk-rocker, who once flipped the bird to the school administration,
has been flipped into an actual Big Bird.
Jody weeps for her best friend. She weeps because it is obvious her family got pressured
into this. She is no longer human; she is now one of Altnu’s pets. Then again, so is Jody.
Jody strokes Leticia’s golden yellow feathers, softly gliding her fingers through the fine
down. She wonders if Leticia can fly. It isn’t impossible. Jody has the ability to jump great
heights and sprint long distances.
Jody looks around the boiler room at the dozen or so metal tables with bulky objects
under white sheets, similar to The Lab’s operating rooms. Then she looks at the various sized
cages lined up under hissing pipes and sweating air ducts. She doesn’t dare peer under the sheets
or in the cages. She is only here for Leticia. She imagines how the “reformations and
collaborations” in this middle school boiler room could advance the human species.
Perhaps there is no turning back.
Perhaps humans as we know them will become extinct.
Perhaps hybrids like Jody and Leticia will be the only ones to survive.
Then Leticia wakes.
To be honest, Jody is expecting some sort of TWEEDLY TWEET! to sing from Leticia’s
mouth. And maybe there would have been if Leticia’s mouth and nose weren’t bandaged. Jody
shudders thinking about what may be under that bandage, but she doesn’t shudder for long.
Leticia’s talons grasp Jody’s left wrist and squeeze.
Tighter. And tighter.
Jody pries her best friend’s pincers off her arm one by one. It is hopeless. They reattach
to her flesh instantly.
Leticia’s claws pop Jody’s wrist like a balloon, drawing blood in the musky boiler room
filled with a dozen blood-hungry creatures.
Whoops.
CHAPTER 20 — THE HENCHMEN
Sure Jody knows her life is (literally) in the hands of this “beast-friend” of hers. But she
stays calm a moment longer. It seems like she has been in a room full of sleeping hybrid-beast-
monster-creations before, and overreacting didn’t help much.
“Leticia,” Jody gently shakes her feathered friend.
If Leticia is inside this Big Bird looking monster she isn’t coming out soon. Maybe some
stale bread crumbs or a handful of sunflower seeds might convince her, but Jody came
unprepared. While keeping her eyes fixed on the deranged pair that used to be Leticia’s, Jody’s
free right hand slides one of Leticia’s restraints out of its buckles. Instantly Leticia loosens her
death grip on Jody’s left wrist.
Kindness.
Leticia hasn’t felt this in sometime. She has been a prisoner and “patient” to Altnu since
the beginning. It isn’t worth trying to figure out how long. Long enough that she is further along
in the process of “reformation” than Jody. She may be more bird than human now. Jody decides
it isn’t right to leave Leticia here, whether she is beast or girl. There are bound to be more tests
on her, more operations, more experiments.
Remember how this wasn’t the world’s most perfect breaking-and-entering? That’s
because Jody had no clue this middle school turned high-tech laboratory is now triggered with
infrared heat sensors and sound-sensitive alarm systems. So, when Jody broke the glass window
leading into the boiler room—that was one alarm. When Jody stumbled out of the window and
fell onto her butt (although not ungracefully)—that was another alarm. And removing the
restraints from one of the tables—yep, another alarm.

It is not the world’s most perfect exit either as four Henchmen in bright yellow Hazmat
suits enter the boiler room. It’s hard to tell because of their antimicrobial masks, but let’s assume
they aren’t wearing their happy faces.
Jody wastes no time in devising yet another escape plan in her mind. (Is this all she is
going to do this week: escape, break free, runaway, repeat?) She crouches down to lift up her
best friend who has fallen back into some sort of deep sleep (at least Jody hopes it is sleep).
Then, with her strapping new horse legs, she leaps into the air. In one coordinated action, as if
she were the principal ballerina in some equestrian “Nutcracker,” Jody does a pirouette that
topples the metal table Leticia was just occupying.
That’s it.
It doesn’t create a ripple effect where other things come tumbling down like dominos
onto the Henchmen and save the day. Nope. It just gives Jody a pain in the shin.
“Chicken nuggets!” Jody screams for some reason (hopefully not offending Leticia).
Despite the sore shin, Jody swings open the heavy boiler room door and carries Leticia
down the fluorescent-lit basement hallway where who knows what monsters lurk. This brazen
move catches The Henchmen off guard. And as Jody stampedes, The Henchmen take aim.
Several shoot but only one of their projectiles find its target. Right into Jody’s horsey hiney.
The projectile is a 3.5 inch long tranquilizer dart meant to stop beasts from escaping any
of Altnu’s labs. But either the dart didn’t inject or it was a dud because Jody keeps galloping.
She looks for the dart. It’s gone. It must have fallen out, that’s why it isn’t affecting her, right?
“Looking for this, horse girl?”
And there in the claws of the winged passenger riding Jody’s back is the dart.
Jody smiles at Leticia’s grinning beak while galloping up the basement stairs, then
through the gymnasium. She rushes into the school library which is now some sort of
supercomputer station for Altnu Global.
Correction: a diabolical, supercomputer station for Altnu Global.

CHAPTER 21 — ALTNU’S LAIR
Jody and Leticia are alone when they enter the school library turned supercomputer
station. No librarians. No overdue book fees. No hybrid, flesh-eating monsters. However, there
are a whole lot of computers. Rows and rows. Perhaps hundreds.
They are stacked, wall to wall, monitor on top of monitor, as if each screen is a piece of a
humongous grid. They are each a pristine white color, but when the library lights reflect off the
screens they look like ornate stained glass inside a church.
If only these computers were available when this was a school. Students could have
actually gotten research done and papers written. Instead, the hundred or so middle schoolers had
to share about twenty outdated laptops. Sure, they all took turns and the administration told the
students that worked just fine.
Students don’t need to be on computers all day anyways. This is true. Time outside is
nice. Reading is good. Writing by hand builds muscle. But let’s be honest. This is the
Technological Age. Any student who is computer illiterate will fit in like someone wearing day-
glo and a pair of Bugle Boy zubaz.
Exactly.
Jody and Leticia try to figure out what this all means. Why would these computer
headquarters be unguarded? Why isn’t anyone stopping them?
Then they find out.
“Hello: Jody Ann Monroe and Leticia Maria del Carmen Martinez.”
“Who is that?” Leticia’s voice cracks from underuse.

Jody is relieved to hear Leticia talk, she wasn’t sure how far the transformation had gone.
Jody stares at her friend in the middle of the computer warehouse and muses, one day
Leticia is a girl, the next she is half-bird. It would make for an animal lover’s dream comic book:
Bird-Lady and Horse-Girl Save The World!
“We are glad you have joined us,” announces a couple hundred voices in unison.
“Who’s there?” Jody says above a whisper. In her head she screamed the command, but
in actuality she is hushed by the unknown presence.
“We are.”
“We are.”
“We are.”
“We are.”
“We are.”
The voices bounce around the middle school library. They appear to be coming from the
walls. The ceiling. The floor. The books. Everywhere.

CHAPTER 22 — THE VOICES
“Who is that? How do you know our names?” Jody fires questions as her only defense,
hoping one bullet will impale her attackers.
“WE ARE,” the voices ring in unison.
“Where are you, cobardes!?” Leticia steps forward, talons at the ready, assuming these
voices are in the mood to play games.
“We are The Voices of Altnu,” a voice from a faraway computer announces.
“We know your name because you have joined us. You. Are. Us. You. Are. Family.” A
nearby computer continues.
“What do you mean ‘joined you’? What do you mean ‘family’?” Leticia asks this but
Jody is quick to respond,
“I think they mean because we’re….” Jody cannot finish her thought but The Voices can.
“Creations. Hybrids. Collaborations. You go by many names now. Though we will still
honor your given human names.” Yet another computer responds.
“¿Qué clase de demonios eres?” Leticia asks, walking up to one of the computers, sizing
it up. She wants to dangle it by its motherboard (if you know what I mean) but restrains herself.
“We are The Voices of Altnu. We were designed to keep watch on The Laboratories and
all Altnu facilities. We are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of you and your siblings. No
one will harm you as long as we are here to protect you.”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Leticia replies with sarcasm.

Jody pulls at Leticia. She gives Leticia a knowing glance, as in, “This is our chance.”
However, Jody cannot communicate this without the computers hearing. Here they are, with the
perfect opportunity to destroy all of Altnu and what is stopping them?
“What stops us from destroying you right now?” Jody asks, perhaps too bluntly.
“Your body chemistry,” one of The Voices responds from a computer monitor several
feet away. “You have been redesigned with a non-self-destruct mechanism. There is nothing you
can do to harm yourself, your siblings or your creator.”
“Not The Doctor or those security guards?” Jody asks, again, too open about her plans.
“I am afraid The Henchmen are out of our realm. We cannot fully protect them.”
The computer almost sounds sad as it explains.
Jody stands still, wondering how in the world she can destroy this place. But they are
right. She wants to push all these computers down, but can’t. Every time she lifts a hand to one
of the monitors some sort of mental fence goes up. Her vision gets blurred and her mind goes
foggy. Needless to say, it is not a pleasant feeling. Like reading a boring book about monsters.
Jody wonders what would happen if she decided to go for it. If she decided to run full
force towards these computers and leap onto them or somehow rig something to fall on top of
them. It wouldn’t necessarily be her doing then. It would be an accident.
“There are no accidents at Altnu, dear Jody.”
Jody looks at Leticia in shock.
“Holy crap.” Jody grabs Leticia’s claw/hand. “They can read our thoughts.”
CHAPTER 23 — LOSS OF HUMANITY
“Let’s get outta here!” Leticia musters, through the trembling of her beak.
“Where? How? Where are we going to go? It’s over.” Jody is slouched on one of the
reading couches in the center of the room below a poster that says, “Never give up.”
Jody is defeated. Leticia may be falling apart on the outside, but Jody is self-destructing
in a way The Voices couldn’t imagine. She is losing something any human must never lose if
they want to stay fully human. And because Jody is already half-beast, if she loses this last
humane part of her, she may never return.
It’s hope. Not her house keys like she often did in the mornings, or her cell phone like she
did when she stayed overnight somewhere. Not her hair tie or the remote control.
Hope.
The beast inside her begins to stir. It neighs and brays. It kicks and scratches. It is ready
to flee, to leave the human inside her here with The Voices. The beast inside her wants only to
survive. It cares not to plot or scheme or obliterate this run-down middle school turned diabolical
super-research facility.
Leticia sits next to Jody on the couch. Jody’s eyes are glossing over distantly, perhaps too
far gone. “Jody? Are you okay?”
No response.
“Jody? Let’s get outta here!” She shakes her friend back and forth.
It takes more than a gentle nudge from the bird-girl to oust Jody from the couch. She falls
to the ground and instantly pulls in a deep breath.
“Uhhhnn,” Jody moans, her horse legs giving way.

“JODY!” Leticia screams. “Jody! Wake up!”
It is no use.
She is not dead, but she is not moving either. Leticia owes Jody her life from earlier in
the boiler room, so swoops down and nuzzles her beak under Jody’s motionless arms. Jody
wakes when Leticia is in a full sprint, her bird legs thin but durable.
“What the…?” Jody looks around, confused.
“Just hold on,” Leticia reassures her.
They speed down the hallways of their former school, past their science teacher’s room
with stuffed hawks eating squirrels, past the sensory room with trampolines and swings, past the
history classrooms with Native American housing structures in glass displays and past the
“Bienvenido” sign hanging over the Spanish teacher’s door, until they reach the auditorium.
Leticia crashes into the revolving door with her head, ramming it open.
“Ow.”
She barrels down the vomitorium (what kind of name is that anyway? Are we supposed
to vomit on the actors as they exit?). Leticia keeps running until the weight becomes unbearable.
And all she can do is fly.

CHAPTER 24 — THE AUDITORIUM
The auditorium is vacant. Just like the gymnasium and the library-turned-diabolical-
computer-headquarters. The faded red velvet seats are empty. The stage has no actors, but is
busy with scenery from some sort of extravagant ballroom scene: a glass chandelier hangs from
the lights and sheer tapestries adorn the backdrop.
Everything is quiet.
Leticia keeps flying, struggling to maneuver this new skill while holding Jody’s weight
until they reach the catwalk she knows well. Leticia spent the past two and a half years of middle
school in this catwalk, far above the audience and stage. She was a techie for every production
that went on since 6th grade.
“Annie”
“Annie Get Your Gun”
“Anne of Green Gables”
and
Anne Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire”
Kathryn Bloy, middle school theater director, had a thing for staged productions with
“Anne” in it. This was the name of her partner, the one she was unable to marry because of laws
that said two women couldn’t marry in her state at the time. This was Kathryn’s way of making
that commitment public. Ms. Bloy and her partner Anne were together for more than twenty
years. Anne had died before Jody and Leticia got to the middle school, but because Apple Lake
is a small town, everyone knew the story. Ms. Bloy, who had produced so many moving,
romantic works of art on this stage, lived one of the most tragic love stories of all: love without
recognition. But unlike unrequited love, like Quasimodo’s for Esmeralda or Cyrano de
Bergerac’s for Roxane, Kathryn’s love for Anne was considered criminal.
“Where are we going?” Jody asks as she climbs through the theater rafters.
“I don’t know. I figured this would be a safe place. Not many people knew about it when
we went to school here so I am hoping no one knows about it now. Come on.”
Leticia leads Jody through the steel beams that hold spotlights, megaphones, and
hundreds of thick, interwoven electrical cables. They walk carefully through the webs of wires
stopping frequently to allow their long legs and wings to gain passage.
“This used to be a lot easier when I wasn’t a giant canary!” Leticia smiles at Jody.
They tiptoe across a few uncertain planks and make their way over the stage.
“Here.” Leticia stops at a small door. It would be a miracle if their human selves could fit
through this narrow opening and will be impossible with their extra beastliness.
“There’s no way we can fit through,” Jody knocks the wooden door.
Leticia opens the laundry-chute sized door and reaches around to unhinge a latch. A door
about six feet tall and three feet wide opens up before them.
“How about now?”
They step over the base of the door, careful not to lose balance and plummet the 20 some
feet to the hard stage or chandelier below. Once inside, Leticia shuts the door and a tiny light
turns on, warming the small room.
“What is this place?” Jody asks, looking at the collage of multi-colored duct tape and
techie graffiti on the walls.
“This is my dungeon.” Leticia grins, holding out her arms in a welcome.

“Your dungeon? Haven’t we played prisoner enough already?” Jody’s face is scrunched
and unconvinced.
“Hey. We need somewhere safe and quiet. What better place than here, right?”
“I guess…” Jody reads the walls, Voldemort 2020 and Naruto is Life and so on.
“What are we gonna do?” Leticia sits at one of the folding chairs, like she is home again.
“I don’t know. There’s not a lot we can do. Is there?” Jody leans against the graffiti wall,
downhearted.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Leticia is returning to her human self. Rebellious. A
survivor. An immigrant. Foreign to the blasé attitudes of American culture.
“Listen. Before my family left Juarez we once had to wait two weeks in a room not much
bigger than this. Eight of us. My three aunts, brother, sister, grandma, mom and me. We were
waiting for the cartels and military to retreat. And they take their sweet time. Stupid, selfish
soldiers sitting around sulking.”
“I love how you alliterate when you’re angry.”
“What? Why would I worry about words when I’m worn out?” Leticia smiles knowingly.
Jody snickers.
“Anyways, we waited un eternidad in a small room like this. We didn’t do much. Most of
us cried a lot. Juan Carlos, who was only six at the time, grew frustrated quickly and wanted to
go out and fight. But every time a bomb exploded near us, he’d keep quiet. We all did. We all
knew that bomb could have been aimed at us, but somehow it never hit us. None of them did.
The streets were cratered when we got out two weeks later. The bags of tortillas and potatoes we
brought in were molded and awful smelling. It clogged the air with a disgusting stench. But
when we walked out into the streets, a new smell reigned. Death. Everywhere.”
Leticia is silent for some time. As if the emotional bomb that just landed was too close to
home. “But…we stayed alive. We were destined to. We survived.”
“Then we will, too, Leticia. We will fight Altnu. Somehow. They may control half our
bodies, but the other half is ours. The other half will fight back. Somehow.”
Leticia turns off the small light then lies next to Jody as they have done for innumerable
sleepovers. The girls close their eyes to rest in this dungeon above the middle school stage, props
from “Anna Karenina” still strung about as if the production never ended.
CHAPTER 25 — THE VISIONS
That night the girls sleep. And dream. Visions of sugar plum fairies dance in their heads.
Then those sugar plum fairies are eaten by the hideous SaberDon and Pterodact-Owl. The
SaberDon pokes its six-inch claws into the plump bellies of the eggplant-shaped fairies, ripping
it into small, bite-sized pieces. Sometimes the mastodon hybrid devours the fairies in one bite, as
they try to demi-plié away, pouncing and playing with it first, of course. The Pterodact-Owl is
left the scraps: limbs of fairy legs and snapped off wings. They are not particularly filling, are
sweet. The sugar plum fairy, dancing in the heads of boys and girls until they reach the age of
reason, is delectable. Once the dreamer becomes an adult however, the fairies turn bitter. Rotten.
Altnu places hybrid implants into the dreams of their subjects for observation and
psychological torment. Altnu keeps a close eye on the creations and collaborations during the
day, the ones that hadn’t escaped, that is. Yet, they are hoping if they can track dreams, implant
visions of the more intimidating beasts, fear will force compliance.
Jody wakes with a start. She had slept, or tried to sleep, most of the night. A small
battery-operated clock says it is five in the morning.
At first she can’t place her dreams and The Visions. She merely feels unsafe, vulnerable,
as if something or someone was watching her. She looks to Leticia, who is still sleeping. Then
she carefully cracks open the door leading to the catwalk. No one is there. She must be safe.
As she begins to close the door she hears a voice.
“This is where they were seen last night. The Henchmen searched the place: the seats, the
rafters, underneath the stage. Nothing. The bird-girl was given The Visions but I cannot be sure
Jody had a successful implementation.”

It’s The Doctor’s voice.
He is here.
He knows they are near.
Jody creeps the door closed and latches the front. Not like this thin door will keep them
safe when something like the Pterodact-Owl finds them. Or The Visions.
The Visions.
They come back to Jody. The implementation of these beasts into Jody’s subconscious
while she was being operated on was indeed successful. Not like she wants to tell The Doctor
how great of a job he did. But The Doctor said The Visions were successful in Leticia as well.
Jody leans closer to Leticia and sees her best friend squirming in her sleep. Jody shakes
Leticia awake and a look of terror takes over Leticia’s face. She is lost. Paranoid. Trembling.
Jody holds the wing of her best friend and hugs her. Jody gives Leticia a comforting smirk, a
forced one, as she tries to be strong. It works because Leticia noticeably sheds some of her fear.
With a great breath Leticia begins,
“I just had an awful dream…”
“I know, Leticia. They implanted Visions. Altnu has. I assume they are meant to keep
track of us or scare us into submission, but we can’t let that happen.”
Leticia can’t help herself and begins to nod off again.
“Leticia.” Jody shakes her friend awake. “Don’t do it. Don’t fall asleep again.”
The girls are exhausted. After yesterday’s adventures, they desperately want more rest.
“I’m going back out there. The Doctor’s out there.”
Leticia nods subtly as if giving her permission. Jody opens the door again and this time
hears another voice she recognizes. A squeaky, cracking under the pressures of puberty voice.
Jody steps onto the catwalk to confirm her suspicions.
There, talking to The Doctor, is Derek. Unharmed. As if he hadn’t fallen off a cliff trying
to save her life.
But something is different about him.

CHAPTER 26 — THE WEIGHT
Derek has been overweight for more than half of his life. There was a time, up until he
was about seven or so, that he looked the part of a physically fit young boy. A real spunnort. One
of those run-around, chase-after, throw-the-ball boys. One of those keep-busy, play-with-friends
boys. That was when he still lived in the big city of Cardinal.
That life couldn’t go on forever. All that is thin and healthy must go somewhere to plump
up. And that somewhere is this small mountain town of Apple Lake. Apple Lake itself isn’t all
that bad. There are parts where decent folks live. There are some stores where those decent
people shop. And, once upon a time, there were schools and hospitals and companies where
decent people went to learn and get better and all that crap.
When Derek and his family moved to Apple Lake, he was in second grade. That much he
can remember. He was that cute little boy. Fun-sized. Not yet super-sized.
When Derek and his family came to Apple Lake, he was happy. Oh, sure, he found
closets to hide his self-pity and depression that settled in with his chunkiness. Eventually those
closets weren’t big enough for Derek’s increasing size. So, emotionally, he would move from
closet to closet. Stuck at times. He would grease himself out some days with false confidence
and slip right out of that confined emotional state.
Derek has been a big boy most of his life. Most of his memories show him carrying 50-
100 pounds more baggage than his friends he played with. But either because of, or in spite of
this extra weight, he developed a sharp sense of humor. This knack for comedy changed his life,
especially one particular day last year while walking home from school.
He was with one of his best friends, Karmel, who knew Derek for years, the real Derek,
the Derek that didn’t have to hide in closets. Karmel encouraged Derek to show people how
funny he was, and to be himself.
They were joined by an acquaintance Derek desperately wanted to impress. This boy was
one of those kids who looks cool from the moment they wake up. He didn’t need to try (or so it
seemed). He was a trend-setter. If he woke up and didn’t comb his hair, every other boy in
school went for the “messy” look. If he forgot to wear a belt because he was in a rush that
morning, other kids would sag their pants. If he decided to wear his older brother’s band t-shirt
because he wanted to be like him, guess who came in wearing their siblings’ favorite bands?
Everyone.
So you can see this guy was a VIP for Derek and Karmel’s blue-collar stroll home. Derek
tried not to let this Prince of Popularity throw him off too much. He dragged himself out of his
closet, and made every effort to be extra funny. Surprisingly, whatever Derek said, the hot-shot
acquaintance approved. However, a couple sentences that day would change Derek’s adolescent
world. It would change the way he saw himself and whether or not he wanted to stay hidden in
closets the rest of his life or try on his new wardrobe as a popular kid.
“Derek. You’re so funny! You’d be the most popular kid in school if you weren’t so fat.”
That was it. The “cool” kid’s words of wisdom. From the mouth of a king. They weren’t
even meant to be malicious, simply factual in this kid’s mind. Derek could have it all: sense of
humor, friends, maybe even a girlfriend, if he could just lose that weight.
This is what Jody saw as she crept onto the catwalk. She didn’t see the delightfully jolly
Derek. She saw a creation more hideous than the beasts roaming the school.
She saw a trim, lean Derek. And she was frightened.

CHAPTER 27 — THE HIGH COSTS OF FAME AND FRAME
“DEREK! WHY!?”
Jody screams but her hand catches the words before they slip out. She can’t believe her
eyes. Is this another Vision? How did Derek survive? And then get skinny?
Then she gets her answer.
“Where will I find them, Doctor?” His voice is eager, not the same as when he wanted a
chocolate donut from Everett’s Bakery. This eagerness is shaded with the colors of cowardice.
“We have reports they are in this building.” The Doctor looks at a small black device.
“The bird girl shows up at this very spot on our chip-tracking system. But not Jody.”
So Jody is untraceable. Free for now. And Derek is helping The Doctor find them. Jody
prays Derek doesn’t know about the hidden cubby up here in the catwalk. Then again, she prays
he will come up here. She is unsure whether she would punch his lights out or kiss him to try and
snap him out of his current Trance.
Derek wasn’t always susceptible to peer pressure, there were dozens of times when he
did the opposite of what his “cool” friends were doing because he morally disagreed. But The
Doctor found Derek’s weakness, his most vulnerable self, and is exploiting it.
“You must find them. You are fit now, you have no excuse.” The Doctor puts his device
away and storms off stage, as if he forgot his lines.
Derek looks up to the catwalk where Jody is eavesdropping. So he does know about the
cubby. She rushes into the shadows but it might have been too late.
He had to have seen her.

CHAPTER 28 — TELEVISION
If there was one thing Derek loved as much as food it was television. He couldn’t tell you
how many afternoons and weekends he spent wasting away…or rather, the opposite of wasting
away…in front of a television. Some call it the electronic babysitter, but for him, it was more. It
was the electronic mother, teacher and friend. The one who made him laugh. Taught him new
jokes. Accepted him.
Most school nights his actual mom was at Altnu until late, so he developed a healthy after
school routine, just like his friends at sports practice:
A) He warmed up with a walk to the fridge and back for anything he forgot.
B) He stretched his legs on the ottoman in front of the couch (and some days even
had to bend over to bring it closer or further away).
C) He then spent a healthy two or three hours lifting his eyeballs in front of his
favorite shows and movies. Of course he had to move his thumbs quite a bit to
change the channel, which could wear out the digits of an untrained contender.
D) Finally, his cool down was usually a trip to the bathroom or kitchen sink to wash
his dishes.
Friday afternoons were especially adventurous. This was not on a hike in the woods
(although occasionally this did happen) or out with his friends looking for excitement (that never
happened). No, he would come home, throw his backpack on the couch, grab some Cheeze-aritos
and click on his quest.
The adventure wasn’t solving the murder of some famous person or tracking down the
loot of some robber baron. No, the adventure was solving the mystery of whether or not this
weekend was a free premium channel weekend. It happened often enough, every couple months,
enough to keep Derek wanting more.
HBO.
Showtime.
Whichever.
He pursued them like a safari huntsman tracking its prey, excited to watch some new
television for a change, perhaps catch a movie with some curse words or some gratuitously
gratuitous violence.
These things motivated him: junk food and television. It was so much of who he was. He
had become one of the millions of kids hooked to the stuff. Like a drug, he needed it bad, and
couldn’t go one day without it.
So, though Derek often said ‘No’ to peer pressure from his friends, he always gave in to
the electronic babysitter, the mother of entertainment, television.
Jody knew how much he loved television. That was practically all the two of them did
when they went to his house. Watch T.V, eat chocolate chip cookies, and hold hands.
Jody never thought she would find herself in this position, but here she is. She could let
Derek come up to these rafters and drag the two girl-beasts down to the gurneys and metallic
beds with the other hybrids—or she could try to stop him.
Before she gave it another thought, it dropped. It plummeted like a meteor from the sky
and burst into a thousand pieces. It crashed onto the stage as if it was part of some outer-space-
sci-fi production the middle school was putting on. It didn’t hit Derek, thank goodness. It did
shake him up though.
That happens when someone drops a television on you from twenty feet in the air.
CHAPTER 29 — NORMAL
Derek didn’t snap out of The Trance The Doctor put him under, but he did show a glint
of his old self. The television was just a warning from Jody, but Derek took it as more. Derek
took it as a threat to his life. Derek took it as if Jody was trying to kill him. Was she? Was she
trying to kill her own boyfriend? No, this wasn’t her boyfriend anymore. Wasn’t he about to
come up to this catwalk to feed her to The Doctor’s creations?
Derek runs stage left and vanishes down the stairs. Jody tries to follow him along the
rafters, but as soon as he is out into the audience, he is gone.
“What the…” Jody can’t believe her eyes. Has he really just vanished into thin air?
No. He’s not magical. The Doctor didn’t give him the powers to turn invisible. Did he?
He gave Derek what is rightfully his, his health and fitness. Derek turned into a “normal” sized
eighth-grader. What is “normal”? Isn’t being overweight normal? Is skinny the only normal?
No. The Doctor hadn’t turned Derek normal. In this modern day obesity epidemic, The
Doctor merely turned Derek into a healthy young man. And it was that healthy young man that
vanished—dashed fast down the vomitorium aisles, nowhere to be found.
Jody freezes. She doesn’t know where the real entrance up the catwalk is. She and Leticia
flew up here, you know, like “normal” eighth graders. It isn’t near where she and Leticia slept.
She hears his footsteps. They are quick at first. Loud. Like thunder to the imaginary
audience below. Then they stop. Has he seen her? Did he fall? What is he going to do to her? To
them? How much of his kind soul has he given up to become this new, fit young man?
Then she sees him.

CHAPTER 30 — THREE’S COMPANY
Jody doesn’t want to hurt Derek. And she certainly isn’t going to throw another one of
the television prompters at him. They were fastened in a way that was easy for her to stand on
one and hold onto the railing and watch the television fall below. But she can’t use that trick now
that Derek is up here. On the catwalk. Creeping toward her.
She scrambles for some sort of weapon. Or shield. She is unsure whether she should be
attacking him or protecting herself. She thinks back to how Derek plays chess. Tries to
remember what sort of strategies he taught her that day on their field trip to the ski hill. Should
she attack or protect? What would he do? Would he strike first, afraid to lose his queen but
slowly drain his arsenal? Or has he turned into a new strategist because of this new body he is
trapped in?
Jody decides not to wait and find out. If he were going to attack he would have done it by
now. So there is something the same about him. Perhaps he still loves her?
But Derek didn’t come alone.
The hybrids plow through the theater like the steel doors are made out of wooden blocks.
The SaberDon leads the way with its mastodon head, followed by several beasts that escaped
The Laboratory:
-The Polar Flamingo, bright pink and full-bear-sized (except for its broom-thick legs).
-The huge Lion-Squirrel, not quite a Griffon, but equally intimidating as it leaps and
soars from seat to seat smelling for the stench of human and human-hybrid.
-The Pterodact-Owl sniffs Jody and Derek out in seconds. It screeches a message to the
hybrids below that their hunt is over. They have found their prey.
Jody knows what she must do. It isn’t Derek who is the enemy. She knows this clearly
because of the danger he is in from these hybrids. These hybrids have no conscience, no way to
differentiate between those who work for The Doctor and those who do not. You are either a
monster or a dessert.
Derek looks as if he is about to fly off the catwalk onto the Pterodact-Owl. Then
something comes over him, oh yes, probably the memory of how it turned out last time he tried
to jump on a moving pterosaur. Not too well.
Jody calls out, “Derek, in here!”
The two former lovers scramble down the catwalk just as the Pterodact-Owl strikes the
metal planks at Derek’s feet. He leaps toward Jody, who reaches him just in time to save him
from falling back into the pit of hybrids forming below. The roars, snarls and growls below are
deafening, and with their hunger-cries is a horrid, beastly stench. It is like going to the petting
zoo except the pets are ten times the size of the children petting them.
And the pets eat children.
And Jody and Derek are those children.
Jody pounds on the door to the room Leticia and she holed-up in last night.
Immediately Leticia opens the hatch and the half-horse girl and Derek squeeze into the
small quarters, now made even smaller as three bodies try to fit in. It is roughly the size of the
vegetable crisper at the bottom of a refrigerator, if that helps you understand how much room
they have. Unless you don’t eat vegetables, then use your imagination.
“What’s going on out there?!” Leticia paces, her mind reconsidering the times her family
spent in similar near-death circumstances during the war.
“They’ve found us,” Jody replies.

“The hybrids,” Derek quickly closing the latch.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Jody says, needlessly.
“How?” Leticia and Derek say this in unison.
“Leticia, isn’t there another way out?”
Leticia looks up. Above their heads is a discolored tile leading to the roof. “I’ve never
been up there. I don’t know if Altnu has Henchmen up there or what. And…”
She holds back the obvious pronunciation that neither Jody nor she will fit through the
small opening, not as half-beast anyways.
Derek seems to understand the predicament. “I’ll go. You two should be safe for a few
minutes. I’ll look around and see how I can get you two out of here.”
A half-ton prehistoric bird crashes into the door of the small room. The thud and its
accompanying screech pierce the hideout’s thin metal walls.
“How do we know we can trust you? What the heck are you doing here? You looked like
you were about to take me down to The Doctor two minutes ago.”
Jody’s hurt feelings seep through her watery eyes.
“You are exactly right,” Derek begins. “That’s exactly what I was going to do. I can’t
stand the thought of you living like this. Half beast. The Doctor is the only one who can save you
both. You have to know that.”
“What did he do to your body? Is this even your body or did he transplant your head onto
someone else or something?” Jody asks between breaths.
“It’s me. I don’t know what he did, he put me under and the next I know…”
“So, what were you going to do?” This is Leticia interrogating now. “Why would The
Doctor help us? We know too much. We are more of a threat to him alive. He’d rather kill us
than have us turned back to normal.”
“Babe, that’s exactly why he wants to turn you back to normal. So that no one will
believe human hybrids ever existed.”
Jody is unsure, but Derek doesn’t wait to hear her protests. He turns his back on the two
half beast young women and reaches for the escape hatch to the outside world.
CHAPTER 31 — SUNRISE
As soon as Derek’s fit self crawls out of the hatch leading onto the roof, he is blinded.
The sun is unusually bright. Or perhaps Derek has spent too long in Altnu’s lair. The Doctor
found Derek (after his heroically stupid attempt to jump on a flapping pterodactyl) lying on a
small ridge off the cliff. Derek was unconscious and didn’t suspect The Doctor would rescue
him. However, The Doctor moves in mysterious ways. He always has his own interests at heart
and so brought Derek to Altnu.
The Doctor’s plan was to use Derek as bait to find Jody. That worked easier than he
thought when they found out Jody and Leticia were stashed somewhere in the old middle school
auditorium. Still, The Doctor hadn’t planned on the hybrids scaring the three eighth graders
away. It turns out hybrids have their own interests as well—hunger.
Derek scans the rooftop for beastly hybrids that might tear him to shreds at any moment.
Seeing none, he yells down to Jody and Leticia, “The coast is clear.”
“Good. Now get us out of here!” Jody wails above the repeated thrashing at the metal
door. The Pterodact-Owl is relentless; apparently, someone woke up on the wrong side of the
pre-historic nest this morning.
“Okay…” Derek retreats to the outside world.
There’s no way he can get these two out of here. Not on his own at least. He needs
something, or someone, to help. In desperation he runs around the rooftop looking for assistance.
Nothing. No rope, no TNT, no wrecking ball, no way to free his girlfriend (or is she his former
girlfriend now?) and her best friend.

The sun distracts him again. What did The Doctor say happens at sunrise? He was talking
about it over the phone while Derek was still recovering from his procedure. Something about
the hybrids. Something happens at sunrise.
Derek abandons the sunrise mystery when he sees an answer to his more immediate
problem. A fire hose and axe alongside the chimneystack of the middle school roof. Now, Derek
is no body builder, but when he needs to assert his strength surely he will be able to do so, right?
Especially with this new build of his. Derek kicks open the small glass door that holds the axe
and hose and cautiously lifts the axe out of the case. Then he notices the key was left inside the
case and realizes he could have unlocked the glass door and saved a step, but that wouldn’t have
been as dramatic.
Derek grabs the axe with one hand and starts heading back toward the girls. The axe,
however, isn’t budging. It seems to be fastened to the case somehow. After closer inspection
Derek notices the axe isn’t locked in place. It is just heavy. So heavy Derek attempts to remove it
with both hands and barely knocks it out of the glass case. Okay, so maybe Derek’s new fitness
didn’t include increased strength like Jody and Leticia. Still, isn’t some adrenaline supposed to
be kicking in about now, turning him into superman or something? You know, because he needs
to save someone he loves. Derek looks at his watch. Still no adrenaline. Must only work for
mothers. They get all the fun. He looks at the sun, almost rising completely.
He remembers now what it was that happened to the hybrids at sunrise.
Suddenly, full of the anticipated adrenaline, Derek yanks the axe over his shoulder and
rushes toward the hatch leading down to the girls.
“BACK UP!” he yells. And with one great swing Derek tears into the metallic side of the
hatch. It seems to be some sort of cheap aluminum and melts easily under the blade of the axe.
Derek, still fired up from knowing what will happen in mere moments when the sun rises,
unleashes another WHACK! against the side of the hatch. The blow is terrific and creates a
manageable dent. Once more Derek pummels into the aluminum side as sweat drips down his
cheeks. He keeps at it for a minute straight.
Jody and Leticia are not exactly the “damsel in distress” types and have barricaded the
door leading into the room with a small couch and some discarded lighting equipment. The
Pterodact-Owl hasn’t called it quits either. It seems to sense the sun’s near rise and repeatedly
smashes its body into the wall of the catwalk room. To Jody and Leticia’s surprise, they hear
something in addition to the thumping of the Pterodact-Owl’s wings. The Squirrel-Lion seems to
have found a way to fly itself up onto the catwalk-maybe by flight or maybe by clawing onto the
walls of the auditorium. Jody and Leticia don’t care how that great beast managed such a feat.
All they know is they want out.
Derek has fashioned a significant gash in the hatch, large enough for both horse-girl and
bird-girl to sneak through.
Just as Jody bends down to raise Leticia onto her shoulders, the thin wall leading to the
catwalk crashes down. The Lion growling.
“GO! I’M COMING! JUST GET OUT!” Jody screams like a commanding officer to a
reluctant soldier. Leticia scrambles out of the enlarged hatch and watches as Jody attempts to
fight the Lion-Squirrel once again.
“Hello, kitty. Remember me?!”
The Lion-Squirrel seems to be in no mood for games and lunges for Jody. However, her
body seems to expect it and she uses the Lion’s head as a springboard and hurdles herself toward
Derek and Leticia’s outstretched arms.

“RWAAAAOOOOAR!” The Lion-Squirrel howls in anguish.
And before the Flying Lion or Pterodact-Owl can maneuver out of the enlarged hatch, the
sun rises.
CHAPTER 32 — SO, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENS AT SUNRISE?
And with the sunrise is a glorious sight. Not like a firework show or paint spilling across
the sky or some kind of celestial metaphor like that. No, this was real. With the sunrise brought a
new twist to Jody, Derek and Leticia’s story. With the sunrise nature is restored, balance is made,
life returns to the way it was. At least for a moment.
Through some miracle of life as we now know it, all hybrids, for one split moment, are
returned to their natural forms at sunrise. Not long enough for them to enjoy an espresso and read
the New York Times. Nor is it so short that the hybrids don’t notice something changing, or
rather, returning. In the same span of time that Pink turns to Orange, however long that takes,
balance is restored. No longer are they prisoners of dual-creation. However, when Orange turns
to Yellow, the hybrids are once again chained to another life form.
So why was Derek so rushed to remove Jody and Leticia from the hatch at sunrise? It
wasn’t the hybrids he was afraid of, just the opposite. He was hoping beyond hope he might
witness some sort of transformation in these two girls. He was praying the sun might return the
horse-girl back to normal, back to his girlfriend (if she forgave him for sort of working with the
evilest doctor that ever lived, that is).
Now the Red is fading to Pink and Derek holds Jody tight. She assumes he is in a state of
shock and so embraces the moment and the young man. Derek stares at Jody’s hooves, expecting
some wink of change, but soon the sun turns Orange and nothing happens. Both of Jody’s horse
feet remain; there is no flash of humanity. They are as beastly as ever.
What he didn’t notice was a single golden feather floating above his head, softly, gliding
through the early morning air across the roof. It came from Leticia’s wing. It had burst off in that
moment of opportunity. Derek had not noticed it, but Leticia had felt it. As if she were herself
again, she felt sadness and grief and love and dreams and all of life rolled heavily into a few split
seconds—all of life bottled into one promising moment.
“Leticia, are you okay?” Jody holds her best friend’s yellow-feathered shoulders.
Leticia gazes into the sunrise. “Yes. I…” She is unable to express the change or
understand its relevance.
“Did you feel something, Leticia?” Derek looks at her face for tangible evidence.
“Yes. As if I were myself again. In Juarez we have a mural of a half-woman, half-eagle
overtaking the skies. I’ve been thinking of that painting since my transformation. And just now I
felt human again.”
“I may know how you can return to normal. But it’ll take a trip back to The Lab.”
The eighth grade girls look at each other. Just last year, their major concerns were
whether or not anyone noticed their new haircut or the pimple on their forehead. Now they are
concerned with a different appearance—whether they are human or beast.
“I’m ready,” Jody stretches her horse limbs, prepared to sprint if need be.
“I don’t want to, but it may be our only shot.” Leticia agrees, stretching her wings.
And they race across the roof.

CHAPTER 33 — DEREK PLAYS DOCTOR
When the teens return to The Lab they find it completely rehabilitated. Everything is
restored – the crumbling roof, the front wall and lobby, everything. This brings Derek relief, for
he needs everything possible to be functional here. Had The Henchmen fixed everything? Altnu?
What the eighth graders don’t realize is that they are not alone.
“Wait!” Jody stops, having a bad feeling.
“What? Do you need to take a manure stop?” Leticia jokes. She is in high spirits after
finally being released from the Altnu dungeon.
“Speaking of that, Jody. How do you use the bathroom?” Derek asks candidly.
“If it’s anything like me, I just use my animal instincts and squat on the windshield of a
car.” Leticia imitates this movement.
“Nice,” Derek holds his hand up for a high-five.
“Gross,” Jody slaps his hand away.
“Are you denying your animal tendencies?” Leticia crosses her arms jokingly.
“No. That description was gross. Defecation is normal. I’m afraid your birdly ways are a
bit repulsive for me,” Jody says with a false air.
“Oh, yeah?” Leticia nudges her friend in the ribs.
“Yeah. If you had any civility you would do your business equestrian-like. I simply plop
whatever I want behind me like I’m marching in the St. Paddy’s Day Parade.”
“Okay. I stand corrected. THAT was gross!” Derek laughs.
“No. That was hilarious!” Leticia joins in the laughter.

The three of them enjoy their eighth grade humor and the relief from the dread that lies
ahead. Jody, ever the strong one, breaks their silliness and walks up to The Lab door.
“You guys ready?” she asks as she begins to punch in a key code.
“As we’ll ever be,” Leticia taps her talons on the door.
“Okay, I have some ideas on where we can start,” Jody finds some paper and starts
writing out a list. She is a fan of lists. “Hurry. The Doctor will probably be back soon.”
And with that warning, they find not just the Laboratory filled with medical machines,
equipment, and unknown doohickeys. They find the man himself, The Doctor, asleep near the
front door. Apparently, he was hoping to keep guard but failed.
Jody gestures to The Doctor. Derek and Leticia freeze instantly. “This is what we’re
going to do…” Jody begins in hushed tones.
As she whispers her idea, a flying rodent pokes its head through The Lab door. The
notably friendly Prairie-Bat waddles itself near the eighth graders.
Jody and Derek move fast to execute their plan and look for the proper “medication” for
The Doctor. Derek finds some of it in one of the tubes marked, “Sedative” and jabs it into The
Doctor’s leg. As he jolts upward, the three eighth graders leap on him, keeping him from leaving.
And in a moment, The Doctor is once more fast asleep.

CHAPTER 34 — ABOUT THOSE HOOVES OF YOURS…
The three former eighth graders are now on a time limit. The sedation injection says it
will last four hours. Derek is no doctor but he was The Doc’s only assistant for the past few
procedures while Jody was gone.
He meekly calls to his patients, “Jody, Leticia, can you two come over here, please?”
Derek is bundled up in personal protective equipment: rubber gloves, a surgeon’s mask
and smock; and he even has those cute little booties on his feet (that stop you from slipping on
puddles of blood during surgery—that would be embarrassing).
“I can’t do this,” Derek says, his hands shaking as they sterilize a forceps with goo.
“Sure you can,” Jody encourages. “Listen, it’s not like we have a lot of choices. I’m not
asking for a miracle, but we need to show The Doctor he doesn’t control us. We need to provide
some sort of hope for the hundreds of people in this town that will end up looking like us in a
couple weeks. We need to stop that from happening. This must be done.”
“Why don’t we just destroy The Lab again?” Derek asks, knowing the answer.
“Destroying The Lab will prevent future suffering, but it won’t help us.” Jody gives him
a piece of paper. “You can do this, Derek. Just follow these instructions.”
“Okay. Lie down please.” Derek assists each hybrid lady friend to a hospital bed.
“I’m going to strap you down. Okay? I can’t have you moving and stuff.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” Jody holds her boyfriend’s hand to reassure him.
“Strap away!” Leticia yells, breaking the emotional goodbye.
Derek forces a smile but it fades before he begins removing their feet and wings.
“I wish there was another way.” Derek whispers as his friends put on their facemasks and
suck down their anesthesia cocktails. They smile then close their eyes within seconds.
Derek looks at Jody’s detailed instructions. It is all so impersonal:
1) Remove human legs from freezer.
2) Plug in power saw.
3) Remove horse legs from girlfriend.
4) Use microscope to connect blood vessels, nerves, tissue, bone, cartilage, muscles.
Jody is in Advanced Biology, she probably could do a surgery like this. In fact, she has,
several times with The Doctor. Derek was simply the videographer. He wasn’t trusted on
operations. Case in point, Jody had to remind him to plug in the power saw, that’s what kind of
reputation he has with this sort of thing.
He can’t do this alone. Unfortunately, he just anesthetized her along with the one man
who knows how to do these surgeries. There he goes acting before thinking again.
“That’s it!” Derek perks up. “If I force The Doctor to do the surgeries...”
Derek checks the clock. 8:30 in the morning. It’s not that Derek isn’t a morning person.
He hasn’t slept in almost a day. Not good. His hands keep shaking. He tries to hold them still.
No luck. He knows what he has to do.
Derek walks over to The Doctor’s medical cabinet and withdraws a small bottle of
Alertol, a medication he has seen The Doctor use to suddenly wake patients up.
He crushes the pill and pours it into a half cup of coffee. Then, as if force-feeding a baby,
he spoons the wake-up medicine to perhaps the most malicious doctor who ever lived.
CHAPTER 35 — THE DOCTOR DOES DEREK’S BIDDING
“What? What are you doing, Derek, my boy?” The Doctor wakes and can see Derek has
strapped him into one of the electric wheelchairs. It is one of those wheelchairs controlled with a
joystick by the person sitting in it; only this one has been rigged by a remote. Derek wheels The
Doctor around and around, touting his control over the wheelchair-strapped Doctor.
“What is this, Derek? I demand answers!”
He spins.
The Doctor is more than confused; he is scared. Derek can see the fear in The Doctor’s
eyes and slows the wheelchair down so they can talk.
“You’re going to do my bidding,” Derek demands, stopping the wheelchair completely.
“Your bidding? Have you become someone’s arch-nemesis? Really? Bidding? Why not, I
am going to “do what you say” or “you have to do what I say” or something more general?
What’s with the sinister undertones? I believe that is my realm, wouldn’t you agree?”
“This is no time for jokes, Doctor.” To prove he is serious, Derek childishly rotates The
Doctor in a couple more circles.
“Okay, stop. I’m gonna be sick,” The Doctor groans.
“You are going to fix Jody and Leticia.”
“Leticia? The bird girl? And if I don’t?”
“Let’s just say no one will be able to ‘fix’ you when I’m done here.”
“A threat? From such a young man. Are you sure you want to be threatening violence?
You know that means you have to follow up. That’s a lot for a twelve-year-old to burden.”
“I’m thirteen. I’m starting to grow peach fuzz below my nose. I can handle it. Now, are
you going to help or should I put you back to sleep? Maybe a sleep you won’t wake from?”
“You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
The Doctor doesn’t know Derek’s pain. He doesn’t know the bullying and incessant
name-calling he has faced for years because of his weight. The Doctor does not know Derek has
taken out all his anger from bullies on his sisters. Throwing rocks at them. Bruising them.
Ridiculing them. The Doctor doesn’t know what Derek is capable of. Derek isn’t proud, it’s the
cycle of violence he has been sucked into. The Doctor has no idea how short Derek’s temper can
be and how easily he can lose control of his emotions and actions.
Derek grabs the surgical scissors off the nearby medical cart. Without thinking, indeed,
driven by the torment of his bullies, Derek stabs the scissors into The Doctor’s leg.
“OW! My injured leg!” The Doctor yelps. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”
“Hurting a fly.”
Derek wheels the bleeding Doctor to the sedated bodies of Jody and Leticia.
“Help me fix these two…or this fly will get squashed…”

END OF PART ONE

PART TWO: A PREQUEL ~e.theis © 2018
A PREQUEL: explains what happened before Derek and Jody escaped from The Lab. Their
friends Karmel and Shaylice were kidnapped by The Doctor (and it wasn’t one of those warm
and cuddly kidnappings either) then brought to The Lab. They haven’t been seen since.
To my middle schoolers, battling their own monsters.
~e
A good friend will help you move. But a best friend will help you move a dead body.
-Jim Hayes
CHAPTER ONE — FRIENDS TILL THE END OF THE WORLD (AKA, NEXT WEEK)
Karmel and Shaylice were two peas in a pod. Literally. That's what they dressed as for
their Eighth Grade Halloween Dance, the last dance Charles Chesnutt Middle School would see
before Altnu and the hybrids took over.
The dance was Halloween themed: scary ghosts on the ceiling, spooky snacks (which for
a middle schooler is anything healthy) and some haunting music. The monsters that arrived that
night were supposed to be in costume. No one was ready for what The Doctor would unleash.
Everyone knew Karmel and Shaylice were besties. Sure, occasionally they wouldn't talk
to each other, but the foundation of their friendship could withstand such cracks. And like any
good homeowners they'd seal up those cracks with junk food and laughter. Okay, maybe they
weren't the best homeowners, but come on, they were in middle school, give them a break.
Karmel and Shaylice were in the same homeroom all three years of middle school, which
perplexed some of the teachers and even the BFFs themselves when they found this out at the
beginning of eighth grade - but they were not going to say anything to ruin it. The gods had been
kind to them, but after this Halloween—new deities would soon take over...
CHAPTER TWO — DANCE OF DEATH
“whats ur costume for halloween dance tomorrow?” Karmel texts Shaylice.
“idk. u?” Shaylice responds.
“wanna match?”
“lol. As what?”
“2 peas in a pod. WTF, right?”
“omg! I love it! ur mom got the fabric?”
“yes.”
“k. bye”
That night, as Karmel and Shaylice were squeezing between their green sheets and
balloons, The Doctor was partnering his own creations in the middle school boiler room. He had
a small laboratory there, built as a satellite location for his main Laboratory (where he attended
to all his mad science) by Jagged Rock Mountain. He had a part time job as the school janitor,
but of course he wasn’t really a janitor, and nobody, not even the principal, knew what he did in
this part of the basement. They assumed he was like all the other janitors in all the other middle
schools. He wasn’t. He was mad. Not angry. And not like a cow. He was insane. He was pretty
angry too, that’s why he is doing this to Karmel and Shaylice, and eventually all the other middle
schoolers in small Apple Lake.
No one recognized all the extra work he put in with Altnu, the super-health care provider
that has become the ONLY health care provider in most of the country. No one recognized the
technological advances he brought to the table in making Altnu a leader in animal
experimentation.
No one recognized that one day he would be in control.
Not of the school. But of the world…
Karmel and Shaylice showed up thirty minutes late to the dance, which they were prone
to do, though this time it was legitimate. Karmel had gotten his perfect hair zipped to his side of
the pod, and he couldn't have that. He spent a good twenty minutes each morning poofing out the
blond highlights, or in tonight's case, green stripes to match their outfit. Shaylice wasn't as
obsessed. She picked out her fro, which she had also dyed green, so that she looked more like a
broccoli than a pea in a pod, but she didn't care. No middle schooler was going to call her out for
being the wrong vegetable. Why? She was big. Not overweight - just tall and bulky. She was as
sweet as could be though, unless you messed with her friends, then she didn't mind snapping
you—like a string bean.
Shaylice didn’t know that tonight she would use her height and strength to combat the
strangest creatures she’d ever seen in her life.
And since Karmel was attached at her hip, literally, it looked like he was in the fight too.
Friends forever.
CHAPTER THREE — THE PEA POD VS. THE RAT-ROACHES
Before the Pterodact-Owl and SaberDon, there were the Rat-Roaches. They were as
slimy and disgusting as they sound. Probably worse.
A few months ago, after his forced retirement from Altnu Global, The Doctor applied for
the night time custodial position at the local middle school. It was just what he needed: a quiet
work area with access to certain equipment and “resources”. What were those resources? You’ll
find out later. For now he started small: rats and roaches.
It took about a dozen of the slipper-sized rodents before he perfected the union with these
crunchy Order Blattodea. Luckily, he had an endless supply of both creeping crawlers pitter-
pattering beneath the middle school floors. Beneath the tidy classrooms and over-crowded
hallways. And in the walls, behind cutesy bulletin boards. If only students and teachers knew
what breathed and hissed inches from their faces every minute.
The collaboration design was simple. One rat could fit about six to eight roaches sewn
onto it’s torso. Why you ask? SEE: AFOREMENTIONED MADNESS
The Rat-Roaches were The Doctor’s only friends before the PteradactOwl, SaberDon and
numerous other hybrids were created. He took time to name the first few, and earnestly tried to
remember who was who, but their greased back hair and fang-like bucked teeth were all so
similar, even as their mother and creator he struggled to tell them apart. Nonetheless, when he
called: “Pony Boy, Johnny, Dally, SodaPop, Two Bit, Darryl…” (he was a fan of S.E. Hinton’s
The Outsiders) they came scampering to Mama.
Weeks later, The Doctor collaborated a legion of hundreds of these beautiful greasers at
his disposal, too many to count or name.

On the night of the big Halloween dance, when Karmel tousled his hair into submission,
and Shaylice painted her face, The Doctor readied the launch-points. Throughout the gymnasium
were several vents: one at each floorboard and a half dozen around the ceiling.
The time had come for Mama’s babies to skitter from their nest.
CHAPTER FOUR — MONSTER MASH
“No, you have to move left when I move left, dummy!” insisted Shaylice, stomping on
Karmel’s feet for emphasis.
“This is stupid! We should have just gone in our own costumes,” Karmel stops
altogether.
Shaylice rolls her eyes and slips her head under the sheet to have a private conversation
with her BFF, “It was your idea, genius. And we’re sticking with it!”
“Fine! But this song sucks. I don’t want to dance to it. Let’s see if the punch is spiked.”
Karmel motions toward the table of drinks set up against the back wall.
“Karmel, this is middle school. No one’s going to spike our punch. And we don’t drink
alcohol anyways.”
“I know. I’m talking about sparkling water. Maybe someone spiked the punch with some
refreshing carbonation. I could use a little jolt!”
Shaylice smiles. “You’re a dork. We gotta get you out of the house more.”
“At least I’m not an ugly dork like you! I bet I could get more girls phone numbers than
you can tonight.”
“Oh really, playa!?” Shaylice taps Derek’s shoulder as he and Jody pass by.
“Hey! Romeo and Juliet, nice costume idea! It works for you two. Quick question, who
do you think can get more ladies’ phone numbers tonight—Karmel or me?”
“Here, Shaylice.” Jody jots down her number then hands it to her. “There. Ladies: One.
Boys: Zero.” She playfully throws her blond hair over her fluffy, white blouse.
“Whoa. Since we’re not playing fair, Karmel will need a wingman. Someone to …”
“Um, Derek.” Karmel interrupts.
“...someone to talk you up, Karmel. Someone…”
“Um, Derek…” Karmel tries stopping him again politely.
“...someone who can sing your praises…”
“Derek, buddy. The best way you can help is by wearing that pirate shirt more. Then the
ladies will know they’d rather be with me than someone like you. No offense, Jody.” Karmel has
his arm around Derek, one of his closest friends since elementary school.
“You see the ego on this guy?” Shaylice pulls Jody by the hand and walks toward a group
of popular girls. She has no idea what she is doing.
“What’s your plan?” Jody asks, looking toward the group of girls.
“Shoot! Are you kidding me?! I’m not telling those preppy white girls I want their phone
number! You can get away with that but things is different for me.” Shaylice stays her course,
confidently walking up to this gaggle of obliviousness.
“Hey girls,” Shaylice begins in a phony voice. “Who wants Starbucks to cater the next
dance? Give me your phone numbers and I’ll text you the details.”
The corner of the room erupts with “Oh My Gods!”
Not in an exciting, of course I want free Starbucks kind of way. This was a “There’s an
army of rats riding on roaches and they’re swarming this way” kind of way.
And so, phase one of The Doctor’s plan is complete.
(Cue maniacal laughter from the basement.)

CHAPTER FIVE — TAKE MY BREATH AWAY
No student asked for this corny song from Top Gun. It was a request from one of the
teachers, trying to relive their own middle school dance. Yuck. In some cases, students and
teachers were actually hyperventilating, so it was an appropriate soundtrack for the mayhem.
Shaylice didn’t waste any time. She ripped out of the pea costume and swiftly stomped
on the grotesque beasts - two at a time where she could. Karmel tried his best to help. Shaylice
had grown up on the Southside of Chicago where this sort of thing happened. Maybe not to this
extreme. And definitely not with cockroaches and rats sewn together, but she knew what to do.
The entire dance floor instantly turned into a who’s who of the social classes. You could
see the kids who grew up poor flipping tables onto the scurrying rodent-insects and crushing
their hairy little backs. While the middle class and rich kids cried, powerless.
“So this is how the world’s gonna end? Poor kids working for the rich kids till the end.”
The thought whisked through Shaylice’s brain as the creepy crawlies did the same over her feet.
Even after the rats were smushed, the roaches darted back and forth carrying the
carcasses as an added shield atop their already impenetrable casings. They were indestructible.
The heavy carcasses slowed the first batch of The Doctor’s creations, but they kept coming, from
every corner of the gym, until the once white dance floor became waves of wet brown fur,
swaying almost, to the hideous song. For a moment Karmel didn’t know which was worse: the
music or infestation of repulsive hybrid mini-monsters. He eventually decided it was the rodents.
When the creatures skittered out, as if summoned, Derek and Jody rush to each other.
“They took Karmel .... and Shaylice!”

CHAPTER SIX — MONITORED
“Where are we!?” Karmel whispers to his cellmate in the dark.
“No clue. But it’s as hot as hell in here,” Shaylice wipes her brow.
“What the heck were those furballs of death?”
“That’s no way to talk about your new family!” The Doctor interrupts via intercom.
“Who’s that?” Karmel reaches out for Shaylice’s hand.
The Doctor interrupts again, mockingly, “Where am I? Where are my friends? Why did I
spend my last hours as a human at a lame middle school dance? All questions that will be
answered soon enough.”
“Who are you!? Let us out now!” Shaylice shakes the cage in front of her.
“Ah, Shaylice. This is why I chose you. So feisty. A fighter. Able to withstand physical
duress and able to destroy others...when I make you…”
“What!? Let us out! Come talk to us like a man. Or are you chicken?” Shaylice is ready
to fight whomever is on the other end of the intercom.
Laughter spits out the small box.
“I’m sorry. I’m laughing because I’m not a chicken, but you’ll be the one with wings
soon enough! Oh, gosh. But we’ll talk about all that tomorrow. Nighty Night!”
The dim light emanating a single ray of hope extinguishes from behind the door. And the
two eighth graders hold each other close.

CHAPTER SEVEN — DEHYDRATION
“Cock-A-Doodlio! Rise and shine sleepy peepies!” The Doctor announces with a smile.
“Soon you’ll rise with the sun, but I get it, you’re still middle schoolers. For now...”
“What? What are you talking about?” Karmel pushes his face closer to the metal box but
the voice is coming from within the room this time.
“Morning, introductions are required. I’m ‘The Doctor’. You can call me ‘The Doctor’.”
“Aren’t you the janitor? I’ve seen you after detention sometimes.” Karmel is mustering a
warm approach before Shaylice tries it her way.
“Got me. Guilty. Lock me up and throw away the key!” The Doctor jokes. “Oh, whoops,
was that insensitive? You know because you two are locked up … you get it.”
“Doctor, I…” Shaylice attempts before slumping to the side of her cage.
Motionless.
CHAPTER EIGHT — REANIMATION
“Shaylice! Shaylice! Doctor, um, whatever your name is. Get over here. She’s fainted. Or
died or something. Get her some water—we’re heating up in here.”
The Doctor rushes over, not wanting his careful planning to be foiled due to a simple
watering problem.
“Okay. Crap. I didn’t foresee this. I can’t let anything happen to you two yet.”
He fills a nearby bowl at a utility sink and carefully opens Shaylice’s cracking lips.
“She’s dehydrated, do something. Get closer. Tip her head back to get it down.”
BONK!
The Doctor’s head slams against the metal cage, nearly knocking him unconscious.
BONK!
That one got him.
And The Doctor collapses to the concrete floor of the boiler room.
CHAPTER NINE — A CONGA LINE
Shaylice and Karmel should be upstairs. They should be dancing to some cheesy music.
Doing some goofy moves. Making their friends laugh. Doing what they do best.
No.
Instead they are holding some old white dude’s body against the side of the animal cage
they are trapped in.
“Grab it.”
Shaylice motions toward the key dangling from The Doctor’s belt.
“No. You grab it.”
“Screw that. You wanna hold him, muscle man?”
“Fine. Hold him still.” Karmel reaches his hand through the cage.
“Here,” The Doctor says and gives Karmel his key.
“Thanks, Doc.” It takes Karmel a moment, as it does sometimes, before he realizes what
happened.
“Dang,” Karmel admits as The Doctor stands up and opens the cage.
Two syringes in hand.

CHAPTER 10 — NEEDLES
Shaylice has always been deathly afraid of needles. Both her older sisters had to hold her
down during flu shots or to draw blood. They couldn’t do it though. She’s been the same size or
taller than them for most of her life. Sometimes people think she is the eldest, but she isn’t, she
just has her mother’s height.
Her mom would have traded anything to shrink a few inches, not to tower over most of
the men she dated, and Shaylice’s sisters longed for that height. Shaylice was content. She felt
inherently confident—perhaps it was the height or just who she was. She was not one to
apologize for being in the way of someone behind her in class. She enjoyed being the same
height or taller than some of her eighth grade teachers. Again, she wasn’t a bully and didn’t feel
the need to flaunt her build, but she didn’t cower from it either.
She listened to her mother and grandmother when they told her “God gave you that
height so you could rise above the fools.” Or “People need a leader, and you are built like a
leader, so act like one.” So she tried to rise above the fools, or the drama, or the real-world strife.
And she tried to lead, as her mother and grandmother wanted. But she was still deathly afraid of
needles. No amount of altitude could persuade her psyche that tiny swords being jabbed into her
flesh don’t hurt. Because they do.
Seriously.
Like, really bad.

CHAPTER 11 — JUST A LITTLE PINCH
“What are you going to do with that syringe, Doc? I already got my tetanus. And my flu
shot. And measles. And…” Shaylice is backing away as far as she can in her cage.
“Shhh. It’s okay, Shaylice. It’s just a little pinch. Followed by an excruciating pain that
will transform you into a beast like this world has never seen!”
“Um. Who are you talking to?” Karmel asks, distracting Shaylice from the pain.
“What? You two, of course.” The Doctor lowers the syringe.
“Yeah, but you’re a bit dramatic. Like, is this being filmed or something? Is all of this
even real? Did my mom set you up to this? Is this because I broke her vase?”
“Oh, this most certainly is real.” The Doctor assures. “In all honesty, it’s also being
recorded. My phone’s over there. If you’d prefer I don’t record this let me know.”
Karmel and Shaylice look at each other, with discerning expressions. They think they are
reading each other’s minds when they respectively blurt:
“Turn it off!” demands Shaylice.
“Can you stream it on my YouTube Channel?” Karmel inquires excitedly. “I’m at a
stand-still on my subscribers and this could really bring me to one million views!”
Okay, so they weren’t reading each other’s minds.

CHAPTER 12 — LIVE STREAMING THEIR DEMISE
The Doctor is willing to oblige. He couldn’t have thought of a more villainous plan.
“In that case, let me get another camera down here. You’re going to have to show me
how to make it live. I was just recording with an old phone. It probably wouldn’t have captured
the whole procedure anyways.”
“Dude. You’re so behind the times,” Karmel gently mocks his captor from within his
cage. “If you really want this thing to go viral, no pun intended, if you want lots of people to see
the dope mad science you’re doing, I’m assuming you do, correct? That’s why the big stunt
upstairs?”
“Oh, yes! YES!” The Doctor bops like a child being offered a second scoop of ice cream.
“Okay, settle down, old man. You can use my phone. It’s not fully charged so you’re
going to have to get a charger for it. Are there any outlets in this...wherever we are…”
“Oh. We’re just in the boiler room of the school.”
“Perfect.” Karmel quickly texts Derek before handing The Doctor his last lifeline.
CHAPTER 13 — A RESCUE MISSION
“Jody! I just got a message from Karmel. ‘Boil janet’.” Derek shows her his phone.
“Boil Janet? What? Stupid auto-correct!” Jody returns his phone and thinks.
“I don’t know, but this is our chance. They gotta be in the school, those nasty rats
couldn’t have dragged them far,” Derek says with a prayer inside.
“And how did they do it so fast?” Jody paces the gym surrounded by panicking students.
The mayhem continued after the rat-roaches retreated. There were about 60 or so eighth
graders there, just about everybody. It’s a small town so most teens didn’t have anything else
better to do, than get almost kidnapped by rodents.
“There had to be thousands of those nasty creatures.” Derek says before trying to respond
to Karmel, but the response is: Error Message. “You’re an error message,” he says to his phone.
“Hmmm. Boil Janet?” Jody repeats aloud.
“Boil…”
“Boiler? Boiler room!”
“JANITOR!” they scream in unison.
“Okay. The police are in the hallway. Should we tell them?”
“No. They’re our friends. We’re saving them!”
“I get that, it’s just...I’m a little, you know…”
“Right, the rats and roaches. Let’s do something about that.”

CHAPTER 14 — DEREK AND JODY MEET THE DOCTOR
“I thought you said you knew where the boiler room was,” Jody gripes as they go down
yet another dead end in the school basement. The paint is peeling and the lights are flickering.
Both are problems that could have been fixed right away if there was an actual janitor working
there, instead of a madman.
“I thought I did. I mean, it’s gotta be in the basement somewhere, right?”
The two vigilantes, determined to save their friends on their own, step carefully down the
rarely used stairwell to the boiler room and storage units.
As Jody places her foot onto the subfloor, a voice announces, “Any luck?”
“Um, who are you?” Jody asks cautiously.
“Greetings youngsters, the name is Doctor…” The Doctor thinks quickly on his feet.
“Banana.” He says, then immediately regrets it.
“I beg your pardon?” inquires Derek. “Did you say Dr. Banana?” He looks at Jody for a
moment, only to distract himself from laughing out loud.
“What? No. I apologize. I was, um, thinking of the answer to a crossword from this
morning.” The Doctor realizes he has another chance to come up with a proper name. “No, my
name is not Dr. Banana. Ha! My name is…” He has a great name now. “Fake. Doctor Fake”
“Um...Doctor Fake,” Jody says reluctantly. “Have you seen those kids that vanished?
They’re our friends. Are you with the police?”
“Unfortunately we haven’t found them yet. They are DEFINITELY not that way.” The
Doctor points to where Shaylice and Karmel are caged. “Do you two have any clues?”
“Actually, we got a text from one of them. He said something about the boiler room.”
“Boiler room, eh?” The Doctor rubs his wrists. “I just checked. No. Nope. Nothing there.
Did they say ‘boiler room’ exactly?”
The trusting teenagers play into The Doctor’s malevolent hands.
Derek looks at his text message again. “My friend said ‘Boil Janet’.”
“Janet?”
“Yes, we thought it meant boiler room and janitor but …”
“That makes sense, but could he have been trying to say something else? Janet Jackson
has a boil on her foot? I read that somewhere. Would that be important to know?”
“Um, sir,” Jody interrupts. “We’re gonna check the boiler room to make sure.” She walks
around the strange Doctor. The Doctor is the type of stranger that parents warn their kids about.
“Please, go ahead. I’ll go with you…in case you find anything…”
The Doctor deftly rushes past the teenagers to find something to keep these inquisitive
eighth graders silent.
It turns out a sedative isn’t needed. When Jody heaves open the heavy boiler room door,
no one is there.
The rusty lock lies broken beneath the cages, next to a large monkey wrench and a note:
Hit me up on YouTube:
GamerVids3000/WeEscapedYourDumbTrap
CHAPTER 15 — THE DOCTOR’S ASSISTANTS
“See. What’d I tell you guys? Nothing here. For some reason.” The Doctor begins to shut
the door, realizing his patients have escaped and need to be re-kidnapped.
“What is this place?” Derek walks past The Doctor’s worried face. The room is a scaled
down version of The Laboratory: two long metal work tables, a large kennel (that once held two
middle schoolers) and various straps and tethers.
“Oh, you got me. Don’t tell anyone but this is where I...” The Doctor is better prepared
for an alibi this time. “...keep the strays I take in. The principal doesn’t like it but I can’t let those
wandering souls end up hit by a car or starving to death.”
“Aren’t you a doctor? Why do you work down here?” Jody wonders.
“Yes. I’m an animal doctor. Sorry, I should have clarified that earlier.”
“Really?! I’ve been wanting to volunteer at the Humane Society but my mom’s afraid I’ll
get rabies or something.” Jody paces the hot room. “Doesn’t it get too hot down here for the
animals? Why do you work in a school?” She motions toward the cage.
“Actually, I have another labora - I mean clinic down the street where they sleep. You
know, my workload is really picking up and I could use a couple assistants if you ever want to
help me. I’ve got a few exotic animals in right now you two would love to see.”
“That would be cool!” Derek exclaims.
“Except we’re still looking for our friends,” Jody reminds the two of them.
“No problem. I’m sure you’ve seen a living pterodactyl before.”
“Say what now?” Jody perks up, completely forgetting about her friends.
“I have been sworn to secrecy by the government, but if you two are truly interested in
volunteering with me, you’ll see them soon enough…”
“Them? What else do you have there?” Jody is salivating. Not only is she an animal lover
but she is obsessed with dinosaurs. Is this actually happening!?
“Another time. You have to go look for your friends,” The Doctor reminds her as he
shows them out the door.
“Oh, I’m sure they’re fine. They probably just got lost in the shuffle when those rat things
got loose. Did you see those things, by the way?”
“See them? Dear, I made them.”
“What do you mean?” Derek looks around for the equipment to make such vile specimen.
“They are part of the experiments I do with the government. I’ll show you.” The Doctor
lifts the circuit breaker handle to reveal the cages of rat-roaches snoozing away.
“What the…? That was you who let them loose!? Why?!” Derek yells.
“I didn’t know there was a dance tonight. So when I programmed them—”
“Programmed them? Are they robots?” Ever-inquisitive Jody is nearly taking notes.
“Not exactly. But they aren’t simple rodents or roaches anymore either. They are
something greater. These are, um, “rescue rodents”. That are, um, trained to rescue people lost in
collapsed buildings or sewers or anywhere hard for humans to go.” The Doctor is obviously
lying, but the eighth graders have no reason to suspect that.
“Wow!” Jody is alternatively impressed and repulsed. “Is that what you have planned for
the pterodactyl? Can it be used to rescue our friends? Can we go there?”
“She isn’t fully functional yet. But soon. Very soon.”

CHAPTER 16 — THE WOODS
“Hold on. The shot that Doctor injected in my arm is starting to kick in.” Karmel
slouches against a tree in the mountain woods.
“We can’t just sit here! Those rat things will find us. Or something worse…”
“I don’t think I can...” Karmel closes his eyes.
“Karmel, I don’t know how else to say this, but that Doctor was crazy. Like, turn us into
his experiments kind of crazy.”
“I know. I’m just so...tired...”
“Crap. He must have given us some sort of sleeping pills. Wait. How come I’m not —”
And the two teens are on the next train to Snoozeville in a matter of seconds.
CHAPTER 17 — ALTNU’S HENCHMEN
“Shaylice! Wake up! We’re still in the woods on Jagged Rock.” Karmel shakes Shaylice
from her rest.
“Dang. I was having a nice dream about me and that girl from those werewolf movies.
She was telling me how I’m a really good kisser.”
“We’re going to be werewolf dinner if we don’t get away from that Doctor!”
“Okay. I’m up. Whoa! It’s pitch black. What time is it?”
“I don’t know. I gave that jerk Doctor my phone. Do you have yours?”
Shaylice searches her pants. They hadn’t brought jackets.
“Shoot! I must have dropped it on the run here. Or back in the basement.”
“Okay. Calling our folks is out of the question. But I’m freezing. I can’t run around
without a jacket in this weather. Do you know anyone that lives around here?”
“Yes, Karmel. My woodland friends Gnomy and Raccoon-Girl live in the tree around the
corner. Let’s go ask them for some help.”
“Fine, I should have worn a sweater. My bad. Let’s keep moving to stay warm.”
“There’s a lot of things you should have done.” Shaylice adds while stumbling through
the midnight forest.
“Like what?!”
“Like not get us kidnapped by that Doctor. Or stranded in the woods. Or …”
“Really, Shaylice? How is this my fault?”
“Ugh. Going to that stupid dance was your fault. If we would have stayed in to watch
scary movies, like I suggested, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Who knows what would have happened. Maybe The Doctor would have kidnapped us
anyways. Maybe he would have sent critters to kill our moms. We really don’t know.”
“Hold on. Quiet.” Shaylice crouches down and yanks Karmel to the ground, pointing to
the moonlit stream. “I thought I saw someone past the river over there.”
“Where?”
“There, dummy!” Shaylice narrows in on a figure wading through the water.
“What are they doing?” Karmel tries staring harder, which doesn’t help.
The figure circling the water calls out to someone else, “They’re over here!”
And the trucks shine their headlights on two terrified teenagers lost in the woods.
CHAPTER 18 — UP
“Okay. Okay. Okay,” Karmel assures himself as they jump stumps, weave between heavy
oaks and avoid darts shooting their way.
“Who was that?!” Shaylice half shouts while leaping up the mountainside. It is almost a
ninety degree climb from here. They both grasp for any tree roots and bushes they can see in the
mud and dark.
“Dang it! I can’t climb. This sucks! We need somewhere better to hide. I can’t tell if
those are bullets or tranquilizer darts they’re shooting.”
“Where can we hide?”
“Up. Just. Keep. Climbing.” Shaylice has impressive upper body strength and is making
significant progress scaling the mud and rock. She is halfway up a nearby tree when she notices
Karmel struggling.
“What’s the matter!? Just climb the frickin’ tree!” she whisper-shouts down.
“I can’t get my footing.”
Shaylice is about to jump down when a voice is heard past a nearby set of juniper bushes.
“Did you follow the river to the falls?” the man’s voice calls. “Nothing? They aren’t
masters of disguise. They’re just kids. FIND THEM!”
The deep voice trails off as Karmel looks up from the thorny bush he jumped into.
“Did you hear that up there?” Karmel asks.
“Yes! Let’s get to those waterfalls!”

CHAPTER 19 — WIDOW FALLS
They call it Widow Falls because many fishermen have attempted to fly-fish the lucrative
but deadly waters. Up close the waters aren’t terribly intimidating. It’s like looking down the
barrel of an unloaded canon, but one slip up and…BANG! You’re in the undertow, never to be
seen from again. Many students at Charles Chesnutt heard the stories, and all students were
banished from going there—but the stories were encouraged. The principal saw the oral
storytelling as a warning for any adventure seekers. It’s educational and life-saving!
When Shaylice and Karmel end their trek up the stream to the Falls, they are not alone.
Though it isn’t The Doctor or any of the men wearing strange hazmat-style suits they see, it is a
single deer, drinking from the low rush of the waters.
As the teenagers inch closer, they see the deer is different, something is altered. It’s head,
where an oblong and soft suede shape with large, movie-star eyes should be, has been replaced
with the shaggy gray mane of a wolf. The hunter has literally become the hunted.
“What the …” Karmel begins. The wolf-deer turns its supple body and mangy head
toward the teens and growls as if they just insulted its mother.
The late night commotion draws several other nocturnal woodland hybrids:
— an opossum melted into a badger
— a poky hedgehog with the tail and sprayer of a skunk
— but most frighteningly, a swarm of bats with heads of foxes.
There is a species of bats, similar to fruit bats, known as “megabats” whose wingspan
reaches up to five feet—enough said—but wait, there’s more! The bats hanging upside down in
front of them are not only megabats with fox heads, they have retracting claws like foxes.
Karmel and Shaylice cannot run backward and risk being caught by the men with
flashlights and weapons, whomever they may be. And they certainly don’t want to hang around
this monstrous National Geographic Special gone wrong.
Naturally, as they have done when presenting projects they weren’t prepared for in class
or when facing the hot breath of a disgruntled teacher, Karmel and Shaylice face their destiny
together. They lock fingers and run, without saying a single word to each other, knowing that
their only way out—is down these falls.

CHAPTER 20 — DOWN
Supposedly it took rock singer Tom Petty only a day or two to write one of his top hits,
“Free Fallin’.” It all just came together, he told people.
The freedom Karmel and Shaylice experienced while dropping down Widow Falls was a
bit more discombobulating. They didn’t feel the urge to sing, or the pride in writing a catchy
anthem for the ages, no, they were too busy screaming their lungs out.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
AAAHHHHHHH
AHHH
AHHH”
Ooompf!
The eighth graders slice into the water like meteorites. Neither are expert swimmers but
they maneuver the Mephistophelean currents threatening to drag them down.
“Karmel! Karmel! Are you o-” The loud, frenzied waters are no friend to Shaylice and
any other intruder.
“Here! I’m over here!” Karmel extends a downed branch toward his friend. Her lengthy
arms find the rescue device without problem but Karmel must fight the current and Shaylice’s
own strength if she is to make it ashore.
He digs his heels into a root system and plants himself, like a tree, by the water. Despite
the darkness, Shaylice can see the river’s mouth trying to swallow her further down the pike.
“Don’t let go, Karmel!”
“Not. For. Anything!” he hollers through gritted teeth.

The teenagers battle each other in this human versus human versus nature versus destiny
situation, but it can’t last forever.
“Swing me closer to the shore!” she shouts, while trying to swing.
Karmel willing abides and soon Shaylice wraps her hand around the same roots Karmel is
using as an anchor.
“Pull up!” he encourages as he discards the branch and wrestles her to land.
“We made it. We made it. We...”
Phlunk!
A pen-sized dart sticks to the side of Shaylice’s thigh, and The Henchmen propel down
the falls, clear experts in this line of work.

CHAPTER 21 — CAMP SLEEPY DEATH TIME
Karmel wrenches the dart from Shaylice’s thigh but it’s too late, she is passed out. He
wavers. Should he stay and fight these grown men with automatic weapons, however many there
are—in order to defend his helpless best friend?
Or should he run? What would Shaylice do?
He runs into the darkness. Half ashamed. Half disorientated. Sometimes it isn’t just fight
or flight. Sometimes we are led by love. There has to be someone who can help him save
Shaylice. And Karmel will find them.
Karmel spent some weekends on this side of the Falls. Not many, but his uncle used to
take him deer hunting in the woods nearby. He wouldn’t have any idea where he was going even
if the sun was full, so he was clueless in the middle of the night. All he needed were some
landmarks, the lookout tower or abandoned campground, somewhere he remembers from his
deer hunting trips.
It is close to an hour of running and resting before Karmel comes to the edge of the
abandoned campground. No campers or school groups grace the now dilapidated cabins. Karmel
has no idea if The Henchmen have been following him the whole time or if they were satisfied in
collecting only Shaylice. He is honestly too exhausted to care and collapses on the nearest bed in
the nearest cabin in this far off sanctuary.

CHAPTER 22 — THE REJECTS
Apparently The Doctor had experimented on animals and humans in the wilderness for
some time. And some, the more grotesque “creations,” quickly realized they were unwanted.
They formed a small band of throwaways and called themselves, “The Rejects”.
The Doctor knew these “rejects” existed somewhere, but he had more pressing matters to
attend to, including setting a trap for the entire middle school body. His dreams were lofty, but
because teenage brains were developing so rapidly (sort of) they were the precise vessels he
needed to create his army of hybrids. And as their arms and legs grew longer, they would morph
with a chosen animal...forever.
The Rejects were different than other experiments. They were not simply animal hybrids,
they were once human like any other teenager. In fact, they volunteered for their role. The
Doctor discovered that animal: animal collaboration was feasible, and even worthwhile if some
lives were lost. But the stakes raised immeasurably when The Doctor asked his friends and
family to participate.
The three teenagers who volunteered, either out of curiosity, self-loathing, or a mixture of
the two, came from The Doctor’s own brothers and sister. For whatever reason, these three
cousins decided they wanted to do something important with their lives. They thought it akin to
signing up for the military. In fact, those words may have been used by their uncle/doctor when
discussing their new roles.
“This is your chance. A soldier risks their life for their country. You are risking your life
for something even greater: all of humankind.”

Not wanting to disappoint their parents, their country, or all of humanity, the cousins, two
male and one female, went under the knife—for science, and for America.
What woke up a day later was unrecognizable to The Doctor himself. Somehow when
these first recruits were injected with an inoculating serum, their skin turned into fur, and their
faces transmogrified into unsightly amalgamations of brutes.
—18-year-old Luis became a deformed rhinoceros.
—17-year-old Jennifer turned into a misfigured cheetah.
—And young Cousin Chris, only thirteen, morphed into a misshapen grizzly cub.
All three mutated into large predators. The Doctor was not certain why. Was it because
their genetic nature insisted they stay at the top of the food chain, and evolution would not allow
them to recede?
Whatever the reason for the teenagers unexpected transformation, The Doctor is
determined to get it right with the prehistoric beasts he is currently concocting. And he thinks he
has found the perfect human counterparts to finish the job.

CHAPTER 23 — CREEPER
Have you ever felt like you are being watched? Like in the movies where some creep
pretends to be looking at the newspaper but really they are waiting …
for their moment
… to pounce?
Karmel has that feeling. The sun is starting to rise. He slept most of the night on some
youngster’s former bunk bed, but he heard something watching him.
The late October leaves crunch.
Something long and heavy drags itself along the side of the cabin.
The creature, whatever it is, creaks onto the wooden patio outside his door.
Karmel is fully alert now and sneaks himself under the bunk bed, attempting to hide from
what is about to burst through the door.
He holds his breath, his five and half foot build barely fitting beneath the kid’s bed frame.
Every breath he takes expands the wooden bunk an inch or two, it’s been awhile since he could
hide under something like this.
It doesn’t matter, within seconds the beast beats the door down with a single blow.
CHAPTER 24 — FRIEND OR FOE?
“RISE AND SHINE CAMPERS!”
It’s Jennifer, the Doctor’s niece turned cheetah. Karmel is frozen, nothing has been
injected into him, he is frozen by good old fashioned fear. Paralyzed.
“Oh, honey.” Jennifer the cheetah sees Karmel stuck beneath the bed, then springs from
bunk to bunk excited for a new play toy. “You’re just a little thing. And cute! Look at you. It’s
been a while since I’ve seen a hunk like you.”
“Jennifer, leave the poor kid alone.” This is Luis, the doctor’s nephew turned distorted
rhinoceros. His two ton body crushes the sides of the doorway as he enters the cabin. His face is
plastered with horns. Rather than a posterior and anterior horn, Luis was “created” by The
Doctor with six horns, each ranging from 8 to 13 inches in length. This is just one of the defects
that make him unwanted by The Doctor.
“I need to lie down.” Luis asserts as he lazily crashes to the floor, causing the cabin to
quake beneath them.
“Easy, tubby” says pipsqueak Chris, the perpetual grizzly cub, as he launches off his
brother’s enormous grey back.
“Hi-ya! I’m Chris,” he says, equally fired up to see a human after months of hiding.
“Um.” Karmel had seen the rat-roaches before, which was startling enough. But these
talking animals. Is he dreaming? He rubs his eyes to make sure.
“Yeah, we’re talking animals, we get it,” Luis grumbles from the floor without much
desire to explain further.
13-year-old boy-cub Chris gives Karmel the whole story.

“And then we heard you two in the woods.”
Karmel is speechless.
“Great. We’re talking animals but this human can’t speak.” Luis exhales loudly.
“No. I’m just. This is a lot …”
“Oh, I know dear,” Jennifer rubs her black and yellow fur against Karmel’s arm. “It’s all
so much. We know why you’re here. And we know where your friend is.”
“What!? You know where Shaylice is? Is she okay? I wanted to stay and help her, but…”
“Kid. We get it,” Luis says gruffly. “Animal instinct. Survival of the fittest.”
“I think he was brave saving her in the river.” Jennifer curls up next to her new boy-toy.
“How long were you watching us?”
“Since the school. We saw you run into the woods. Up the mountain. And down Widow
Falls. And then we saw The Henchmen.” Jennifer tries licking Karmel’s dyed-blonde hair.
“Hey! Stop it!” Karmel bats her away. “The Henchmen? Those men with tranquilizers?”
“Yes. Some of the military’s top mercenaries.” Jennifer clarifies. “These guys are the best
Altnu Global and The Doctor can buy. And they can buy a lot to finish their ‘project’.”
“Um. What project, exactly?” Karmel asks while sliding away from the cheetah-girl.
“Transform every teen in Apple Lake into hybrid beasts.” Young Chris says
nonchalantly.
“What!? What do we do?” Karmel pulls himself from under the bed completely.
“We’re the rejects, kid,” Luis stands up, making the old cabin creak loudly. “You’re
stuck with us. And we’re stuck with you.”

CHAPTER 25 — RESCUING SHAYLICE
“So, how do we save my friend? How can we save Shaylice?” Karmel asks from on top
of the bed now. He is slowly warming up to these talking animals.
“Oh, I’m sure she’s been collaborated with some animal already,” Luis says bluntly.
“What!? No! We have to save her! We can’t let her turn into…”
“Us?” Jennifer lunges onto Karmel’s bed.
Karmel falls onto the floor in fear.
“Oh shoot, honey. We’re not gonna hurt you. We want to stop The Doctor as much as
you. More, probably. I mean, look at us.” Jennifer licks her fur to disarm the teenager.
“Our lives are ruined.” Chris growls a low moan, then paces the sunlit cabin.
Luis perks up. “There is hope,” he says, uncharacteristically optimistic.
“There is?” Karmel inquires.
“Absolutely. It may be too late for us. And maybe your friend. But it isn’t too late for
other teenagers in Apple Lake. First he’ll hit the middle school. Then high school. He already
has the town on his side. He and Altnu have been scaring this town for years.”
“What’s wrong with Altnu? My mom works for them.” Karmel’s voice squeaks a bit, but
the others don’t tease him.
Luis stomps closer. He levels his face like he is about to tell him the news about Santa
Claus. “Kid, you just don’t get it, do you?”

CHAPTER 26 — ALTNU’S GRASP
“Sweetie, when we volunteered with Altnu, they were leading a huge campaign to
revolutionize medicine and health care,” Jennifer begins somberly. She is pacing now. Her lean
body won’t allow her to stay sedentary for too long. “They promised us a future that was
different —an end to human suffering, an end to disease.”
“Bull crap. That’s all it was.” Luis snorts. “We were guinea pigs. There was no plan to
save people or the world, just a way for our megalomaniac uncle to rise to power.”
“He likes big words.” Chris chimes in while trying to climb a nearby top bunk, but
continually falling. “Yes, it’s true, our uncle is obsessed with power. We didn’t know it at first.
He sold us on the dream of helping others. He said our bodies would be immune to every
disease—no sickness, no colds. The town was pissed when he chose us instead of strangers, but
he told them, ‘I believe in my research so much I will start with my own family.’”
“Do people know what happened to you?” Karmel asks.
“Uncle told everyone we’re in D.C., changing the world,” Jennifer growls.
“We have to warn everyone. We have to show everyone what you’ve become.” Karmel
chooses his delivery carefully, not to offend these new...carnivorous friends.
“Then what?” Jennifer shrugs. “They’d cage us for sure. We can’t do that.” She playfully
pounces on a field mouse that she had her eye on.
“You said you wanted to save the town.” Karmel looks away as Jennifer swallows the
mouse.
“We will.” Luis stands and flips a bed in one swift motion. “Our way…”
CHAPTER 27 — DESTROYING THE LAB
“What’s your plan?” Karmel asks Luis but looks around to all three teen-hybrids.
“Total. Complete. Destruction.” Chris sneers, then rips a nearby mattress apart.
“Of who? Your uncle?” Karmel gasps, uncertain what these “rejects” are capable of.
“If he gets in the way,” Chris clarifies, offering no comfort to Karmel.
“That’s it, right? No one else will get hurt? And we’ll save Shaylice?” Karmel searches
the cabin for some sort of weapon to bring.
“We will liberate all the beasts he has imprisoned.” Jennifer opens her mouth and the
field mouse runs free. For a moment.
Karmel is silent. His head swirls with what sort of animal Shaylice might have become:
Something ferocious like one of the predators here? She would almost like that. Or does The
Doctor have the ability to turn her into any sized animal: a tiny tadpole or a house-sized whale?
He becomes restless with the uncertainty then finds a baseball bat in the counselor’s closet.
“Okay. Let’s do this.” Karmel raps the bat against the closet door, a nest of mice falls
onto his head. He screams in fright.
“It’s a sign!’ Jennifer squeals while pouncing and stuffing her mouth as fast as she can.
“Come here, little brown twinkies with tails!”
“Ignore her.” Luis shakes his head while smiling all the same. “Hop on. It’s going to be a
bumpy ride...”
CHAPTER 28 — BUMPY RIDE
When Karmel was a boy he would pretend to be Tarzan. Yes, extremely racist, even if he
is mixed race. He eventually stopped that fantasy. Although, when it was all imagination and no
political corrections, he’d see himself swinging through the trees whenever he went on a hike
with his parents, when they were still together. His dad was in and out of jail, and this harsh
reality forced Karmel to live longer, deeper and more fully in his fantasy worlds.
Karmel knew why his dad was in and out of jail. It was partially his dad’s fault and
partially the world, a world that treated black men differently than everyone else.
“No one said life was fair, Mel,” his dad would remind him during visitations. “And
complaining won’t change it. You gotta stop living in your fantasy world and face reality.”
His words were wise, lived-in, resided inside his pocket for half a lifetime.
“Don’t mess around with drugs, son. Don’t start and your problems won’t start. Learn
from my mistakes.”
Karmel had taken his dad’s advice. He didn’t drink. He didn’t do drugs. He didn’t smoke.
He had friends who did all three. He knew Shaylice had tried marijuana because her older sisters
smoked it. She hated the way it made her lose control of herself. She liked being in control.
They had that in common. At parties when other kids were experimenting with drugs or
alcohol, they had each other. Sober and brilliant. They were always the life of the party. And
they were dedicated. They practiced routines like comedians. They wanted to be stage-ready at
any moment with some new gag or role play or impression.
All of that would be gone if Shaylice was gone. Their friendship. Their sober solidarity.
The secrets they told each other. Shaylice’s mom doesn’t know Shaylice is a lesbian. Karmel
wasn’t about to out her. Only her closest friends knew. Sure, some small-minded eighth graders
started rumors or talked trash, but Shaylice didn’t mind who knew. She thought love should
never be kept a secret.
Yeah, tell that to her mom…

CHAPTER 29 — THE MOUNTAIN
When they get there, The Lab is lined with more Altnu Henchmen than The Rejects have
ever seen. It is as if The Henchmen expect an attack, or invasion, from The Rejects.
Karmel is their secret weapon. The Henchmen don’t know his face, only that he was with
Shaylice. He could be any teenager interested in volunteering for The Doctor’s “Program.” That
is how they will get inside and liberate Shaylice and others.
The sun spreads across the sky as Karmel, the cheetah, rhino and bear cub peer down the
mountainside. The mountain is glacial leftovers, remnants from a previous ice age that has yet to
wear away. It is steep at parts, as in the climb to Widow Falls. And it is wide enough to conceal
most of The Laboratory.
Karmel is shaking, but inside he is ready. Determined. He will take out any of The
Henchmen who get in his way, special training or not.
As it turns out, Altnu’s Henchmen really are experts in their field. Before The Rejects
and Karmel whisper a plan, the mercenaries have them circled at the mountaintop.
Henchmen: One.
Teenagers: Zero.
CHAPTER 30 — ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER ERA
“Look! It’s the kitty, the demented rhino and cute little cub,” the lead hench-jerk taunts,
pointing his finger and laughing like they are on a playground. His hair is slicked back and black.
He is almost a human version of one of the rat-roaches. Perhaps he was a rat morphed into a
human. He is repulsive enough.
Jennifer reacts first, but her undesirable character flaw is immediately noticeable.
“MraAWHR!” she shrieks.
That is the extent of her fear-factor. No claws lash out. No incisors gnaw into flesh. She
really is just a big kitty cat. That Henchman knew what he was talking about.
“Ohh. Does the wittle kiddy wanna play with some yarn?” He pretends to grab a ball of
yarn from his holster and instead shoots the defiant cheetah to the ground with a cargo net. She
mewls and hollers for escape but it doesn’t come. She only further tangles herself.
Until Luis, all 3,000 pounds of him, rams straight into the jerk who shot his sister. Luis
and Jennifer may have fought when they were kids, but this is another world, another time, and
‘The Rejects’ are three of a kind. They need to stick together now more than ever.
Chris realizes this is it. He won’t have a chance if he waits till Luis is in a net or
tranquilized. This is not part of any plan. They all thought they would have more time. They
thought Karmel would get inside and relay intel about who or what lay in wait.
No.
The fight is here and now. On this mountain.
Karmel realizes this, too. He does what he did with Shaylice, regrettably but shrewdly.
He too wouldn’t stand a chance against these highly trained soldiers, so he slides down the rocky
terrain of the mountain, not doing much thinking as he does it and cuts through the change of
clothes he found in the camp counselor’s dresser. Shorts that kept a compass and plant guide in
the past are now ripped near to shreds. His button up flannel, which was in the counselor’s closet
and saved for chilly campfire nights, is quickly turning dark brown with blood from the scrapes
across Karmel’s back.
The mountain is virtually never-ending. Bottomless.
Until a boot catches him. The black leather, steel-toed boot of The Doctor.
CHAPTER 31 — THE PROGRAM
The Doctor’s original design for his pterodactyl creation was never going to work (but he
didn’t want to tell Jody and Derek that). He needed the right body that could withstand the
physical duress. Not some football playing jock—he wanted someone who could balance the
masculine and feminine. Poise and prowess.
He needed Shaylice. The tallest, best athlete in middle school, across genders.
“I don’t get it, Doc,” Derek begins as he casually lifts the scalp off a teenager and throws
it into the nearby receptacle. The receptacle is labeled “Bits and Pieces” and The Doctor digs in
there frequently for “inspiration”.
“What don’t you get, Derek, my boy?”
“Why wouldn’t some teens want to participate in The Program?”
“Fear of the unknown. Still, most teenagers have an outlook adults lost long ago. Teens
are both hopeful and realistic. In my research with countless youngsters, they feel a burden and
responsibility to improve society—maybe it is the injustice they face from parents and teachers,
but The Program offers a solution to a broken society. The Program equips teenagers with the
physical, social, and emotional dexterity to conquer any obstacles that come their way.”
“What about their intellect?” Jody asks from the other side of the body.
“Their intellect? Their brains?” The Doctor looks up from the microscope and into Jody’s
eyes to decipher whether she is being mutinous or merely curious. He sees curiosity.
“Yes. What happens to teenagers’ pursuit of knowledge? Do they become insatiable
learners as well as insatiable hunters? Or revert to the intellect of the animal collaboration?”
“These are excellent questions. It is great to have a teen’s perspective in the room. As a
genius myself, naturally I care greatly about participants’ cerebral capacity.”
What The Doc doesn’t say is that there is no way he would allow the teenagers to
outsmart him, as it appears Jody might one day do.
“Thus far, The Program’s participants have given high marks to their transformations. In
fact, now that you have helped with your first transferal, would you two be interested in seeing
and talking to one of our participants?”
Jody and Derek look at each other, their eyes filled with a distant glaze, as if they have no
other answer to offer but, “Yes.”
They say it in a strange unison.
“Great! You know her from your past lives, before you became my ‘assistants.’ Her
name is Shaylice.”
The Doctor removes his surgical gloves and mask and tosses them in the trash. Jody and
Derek do the same, not reacting at all to the mention of Shaylice’s name.
“Great!” They say again in a spooky unison, and follow The Doctor out of the O.R..
CHAPTER 32 —THE TRANCE
Before The Doc escorts Derek and Jody to the Lab basement to meet their distinguished
“guest”, he grabs a bottle labeled, “Trance-ill-vein-ya.” (Yes, a pathetic attempt at humor, but
how else should he spend his time when no other humans are here on their own free will?).
“Time for your medicine, lovebirds.” The Doctor holds two white capsules in his hand.
Like giving brainwashing candy to a baby.
The teenagers scoop them up and swallow them down without a moment’s hesitation.
The Doctor smiles, then thinks for a moment if he will ever tire of this power he possesses. Of
course not! He laughs out loud at the thought.
It is not truly “time” for their brainwashing medicine, however, The Doctor has not found
it disadvantageous to overlap doses at times. The “medicine” is in fact natural, so cannot easily
be overdosed. It comes from the jungles of Colombia where drug czars get their competition to
join their ranks and do their bidding. So, how did The Doctor arrive at such an exotic substance?
Let’s just say there were perks to attending last fall’s TED Conference titled, “So You Wanna
Take Over the World…”
The Doctor gives the teens an extra dose to ensure they will not manufacture any
moments of autonomy or resistance when they see their friends Shaylice and Karmel. Neither
now, nor when they begin to operate on them this afternoon.

CHAPTER 33 — FLYING
Shaylice always wanted to fly. On the basketball court, volleyball court, nearly anywhere
her height gave her an advantage and a feeling of the extraordinary in her otherwise ordinary life.
Shaylice trained daily at the rec center, during recess, and of course at basketball and
volleyball practice. Her height was a factor, to be sure, but she was driven. She may not care
about every one of her academic classes to the extent her teachers would have liked, or
demonstrate her knowledge in a conventional way, but she cared about the court.
No teachers.
No tests.
No sisters.
No mother.
Could defy her. No one could touch her. She was a phenomenon. During every game she
made it a point not to score too much, which is not the case with every athlete, especially men.
She didn’t want all the attention. She didn’t want to be seen as a freak because of this gift. She
also didn’t want to steal the feeling she loved from her teammates. She was a good person, like
her mom raised her to be. Sure, she might punch a classmate in the face for talking smack about
a friend, but in her mind, and in a lot of people’s minds, that is the definition of a good person.
And when a teacher was wrong, Shaylice didn’t mind telling them so, especially when no
one else would. Shaylice never heard a voice inside her head saying, “Keep quiet or you’ll get in
trouble.” No, the voice always said, “Speak up, or others will be mistreated.” Her thirst for
justice is matched only by her thirst for flight on the court.

Little does she know this dream of flying is closer than ever for her. Finally, she will be
able to soar like never before - but not with a basketball or volleyball in her hands. In fact, if The
Doctor’s operation is successful, she will have no hands at all. She will only have wings—for
that is what a pterodactyl uses to fly.

CHAPTER 34 — GOODBYE KARMEL AND SHAYLICE
The Doctor walks Jody and Derek down the stairs, rather than the elevator, in order to
give a bit more time for the trance-medication to fully kick in. As The Doctor opens the door to
the hallway containing hundreds of holding cells, not unlike a prison floor corridor, he looks into
Jody and Derek’s eyes. He sees the glaze and knows they will be fine to complete their task.
“Okay love birds, bring Shaylice and Karmel over to me. Derek, here is Karmel’s key.
Jody, here is Shaylice’s.”
“You got it, Doc!” Derek says, a bit too eagerly. Jody is quiet, perhaps processing
everything, perhaps psychologically warped beyond a verbal response.
The teens walk past an array of hybrids, some animal: animal, some animal: human:
The Kitchen: half snuggly kitten walking with the twig-sized legs of a chicken.
The Cow-nine: a milk drinker’s best friend that lactates and fetches the paper.
Don’t worry, there are more sinister breeds:
The CrocoGator: a deadly blend between crocodile and its cousin, the alligator.
The Hare-abbit: what was once a happy hopper is now a bouncing blood drinker.
The Tortle: part tortoise, part turtle, all evil. Exceptionally sloooow evil.
The Sealion: is it a seal? Is it a sea lion? Who cares - it will bite your face off!
The Porpolphin: it may sound like a “Prince” song, but it’s a swimming demon!
The mother of all nasty insects, The Motherfly: No, it’s not a flying mama, it’s
a moth bred with a butterfly...that feasts on human eyeballs!
And finally, the Llampaca: This herbivore now devours more flesh than grass!
They may not be the most creative collaborations, but The Doctor had to start
somewhere.
Shaylice is about to get another wish. She always wanted to fit in. This came easy for
Karmel, the social butterfly. But after their surgeries both teenagers will be just another Chesnutt
Middle Schooler—another hybrid monster programmed to kill.
It’s fair to say middle schools everywhere have awkward looking bodies in transition, but
here, at Charles Chesnutt Middle School in Apple Lake, these beings are in a special sort of
purgatory.
Halfway between one species and another, forever caught between two dimensions.
CHAPTER 35 — ORDER OF OPERATIONS
Karmel and Derek both had pre-Algebra with Ms. Stone. If it hasn’t been clear by now,
these two aren’t future NASA scientists. In fact, there is doubt as to whether they would be smart
enough to operate the cash registers at a NASA gift shop. So, math isn’t their forte. Still, when
The Doctor asked about the “Order of Operations,” meaning who will get their operation first,
Karmel couldn’t help but think about math class. How he actually longed for math class. Hybrid
transformation really puts PEMDAS in perspective.
Derek and Jody mindlessly escort their ziptied friends into the O.R.
“Okay, who first?” The Doctor asks. “Ha! I’m kidding! I’ve been waiting a long time for
someone with Shaylice’s speed, determination and emotional intuitiveness.”
“Okay, weirdo. Let’s not turn this into an episode of ‘To Catch a Predator.’” Shaylice is
not holding back, despite these being her last moments as her human self.
“I love it! Look at the spunk on this girl! Oh, you’re going to enjoy your new self.”
“And what is that, may I ask?” Shaylice shifts in her makeshift handcuffs.
“Haven’t I told you!? I could have sworn I told you. How come I didn’t tell you?!”
“Just tell me, Doctor Moron.”
“Doctor Moron? Oh, you’re so cheeky!” The Doctor smiles, to the teens disdain.
“You never told us your name,” Karmel pitches from his corner of the room.
“What? I thought I told you that, too! How could I not have told you?”
“Um, Derek, Jody, what’s with this guy?” Shaylice looks over to her friends.
No response.
“And what’s with you two?” Karmel adds. “It looks like you’re working for this Doctor.”
“Oh, isn’t this sad? Or exciting if you’re me!” The Doctor prances between Derek and
Jody, waving his hand in front of their eyes. “They don’t recognize you. You’re just another
specimen to them. They’re under my control now.”
Shaylice, who until now quietly accepted her fate, struggles beneath her shackles. She
nearly knocks over her captors, until she remembers they are their good friends.
“What are you talking about ‘under your control’!? Are you a wizard? Why are you
doing all of this!?” Shaylice would be fighting him if it weren’t for her handcuffs.
“Perhaps it is time I answer some of these questions. I don’t see the harm. I suppose I
owe you and Karmel this much, considering all the work you’ll be doing for me in the near
future.” The Doctor pulls up a nearby stool and motions for Derek and Jody to release their grips
on Karmel and Shaylice, who oblige immediately.
“Have a seat, well, the best you can with your hands tied. Sorry, just a precaution.”
Shaylice stubbornly stands as her only form of resistance at the moment. Karmel leans
against a wall and lets himself slide to the floor, albeit uncomfortably.
“So, my name is Felix.” The Doc begins as if it is storytime. His voice is hushed and his
hands gesticulate to captivate his captive audience. “My story isn’t diabolical, which I guess
makes it ...all the more diabolical…” He laughs a sinister laugh.
“Pick up the pace, Doctor Dumb-Dumb.” Shaylice calls from the corner of the room.
“Fine!” The Doc continues more quickly, although a bit irked that he was interrupted. “I
wasn’t scorned by my teenage sweetheart and want to take revenge on all teenagers across the
world. I’m not doing this from a place of hatred or fear. This truly is our future, our evolution.
With the rate of global warming, wars, disease, and other planetary calamities, humankind
doesn’t have time for natural evolution. We are rapidly causing Earth’s destruction, and I’m
trying to make the best of it while we’re here.”
“Um, sorry, Doc. I know I’m not as sharp as Shaylice with all this, but I gotta ask, when
you say natural evolution and all this ‘collaboration’ business, are you suggesting humans and
animals should...get freaky?”
“HA!” Shaylice laughs uproariously at The Doctor’s expense.
“What!? I...uh...uh...” The Doctor is flustered.
“Are you okay, Doc?” Shaylice isn’t about to miss this opportunity. “Did you have some
‘special’ dreams about Bambi’s mom or Nala from Lion King or something? I get it, they cute.”
“Really. It’s okay,” Karmel continues. “I went to the zoo this summer and the llama was
looking at me funny, and I thought, hey, if only things were different...”
“Are you making fun of me!?” The Doctor asks meekly. At this moment, one of Karmel
and Shaylice’s last moments together, The Doctor is the victim. He is victim to the dynamic tag
team that roasts, mocks, insults, and slams parents, peers, and teachers alike.
However, it will be their last time laughing together.

CHAPTER 36 — DOCTOR’S PETS
Jody was always a teacher’s pet. Not the rub-it-in-your-face kind. You see, her mom was
a teacher, so she knew the demands of the job and tried to help when and where she could, even
if that simply meant being as little of a pain in the butt as possible.
Now, as one of The Doctor’s only trusted assistants, Jody can’t help but be the same way.
Truly, she has no option. Even when The Doctor asks her to operate a transferal collaboration on
one of her only good friends, she is forced to obey. Lucky for her, while under The Trance she
will not remember anything. She will not have any memories of how she turned Shaylice into a
prehistoric dinosaur.
“Derek, can you skip this song?” Jody calls out without looking up from the incision she
is making into Shaylice’s shoulder blade.
She prefers music while she operates. The Doctor has set aside more time for her on the
operating table in the past few days. Altogether, she has assisted in about six procedures—on
former classmates, close friends and enemies.
It has all been leading up to this procedure. The Big One.
It would take two fully trained surgeons to tackle an operation this size, but The Doctor
has yet to find a colleague maniacal enough to team with him. Thankfully, most operations can
be done with assistants, though of course that means longer hours. Still, he is grateful for Jody.
She is as protégé as a protégé could be.

CHAPTER 37 — BABY, WON’T YOU PLEASE COME HOME?
“Hey, Jody,” Shaylice whispers, her face smushed against the operating table. “I don’t
know if you can hear me under that mind control, but we were friends once. How about you let
me choose the song, for old time’s sake?” Shaylice attempts to persuade her long-lost, perhaps
forever lost friend, while hiding her fear.
Jody looks vacantly to The Doctor, who nods his head. Shaylice whispers the song to
Derek, who complies and looks for the request online.
“I've got the blues, I feel so lonely
I'll give the world if I could only
Make you understand
It surely would be grand
Baby won't you please come home
Baby won't you please come home
I have tried in vain
Evermore to call your name
When you left you broke my heart
That will never make us part
Every hour in the day
You will hear me say
Baby won't you please come home…
“Nice selection, Shaylice. Too bad you won’t hear the rest. But you’ll go home, home to
your new body.” The Doctor secures the mask pumping anesthesia into Shaylice’s mouth and
nose. And Shaylice falls asleep to music, like so many other nights at home in her bed.
CHAPTER 38 — RECONSTRUCTING THE TROPEOGNATHUS
As a vivisectionist, The Doctor gathered animal testing research from various fields of
science. He found many answers, not in textbooks at the University of Chicago, but on walks to
the Field Museum, the Smithsonian and other prehistoric era exhibits. This is what inspired him
to reconstruct the Tropeognathus, the pterosaur that lived 110 million years ago, give or take.
The Tropeognathus was not a pterodactyl. Pterodactyls were not as common as other
pterosaurs, so fewer fossils remain from these ancient birds, er, reptiles. Were they birds? Were
they reptiles? Were they dinosaurs? Paleontologists will tell you that pterosaurs were not
dinosaurs but reptiles, with wings, that looked a lot like birds. Birdy-reptile-saurs. For
convenience, we’ll call them all pterodactyls.
The Tropeognathus was a huge beast, though not the biggest flying lizard. Some reached
the size of small jets. The Doctor chose the Tropeognathus because when he walked beneath it at
The Field, he couldn’t help see that his body fit perfectly into the skeleton of the large ‘bird.’ His
mind flashed to that of Da Vinci’s first designs of human-powered flight, flapping wings and all.
The Doctor, then only a student in the “School of Mad Science,” knew that when he had a
Laboratory of his own, an evil lair, so to speak, this would be one of his creations: a human-
powered Tropeognathus.
Years later (not 110 million, but sometimes it felt like that because it takes forever to get
your doctorate!), The Doctor is here, with his reconstructed Tropeognathus, or the best replica he
can manufacture, given his resources. It isn’t too shabby, though. It’s not like The Doctor had no
help. He was able to use Altnu’s nearly bottomless bank account, but money cannot buy science,
it cannot buy life, it cannot reanimate the dead.

Yet.
The Doctor knew he needed a human subject to complete this reconstruction, one of
Shaylice’s body and spirit. He was going to make her fly, as she always wanted to on the court.
She just wouldn’t be able to fit a jersey over the new enormous, scaly body of hers.
The Doctor and Jody prepped themselves. Their gowns are on, their hair in proper caps,
and both don the magnifying surgical loupes (those cool high-tech glasses surgeons use to make
precise incisions).
There are four large metal tables. On three of them rests Estelle, the reconstructed
Tropeognathus, complete with skin-like membrane and 25-foot wingspan. Her crowned head is
laying to the side as if sleeping, which is not possible because she was never awake. The Doctor
is not certain she ever will be, but after his research with “The Rejects,” he knows what not to
do, and can pray to his Animal Experimentation Gods that all will go right with today’s
procedure.
Inside Estelle’s core, similar to Da Vinci’s original flight machine, is space for a human
body. Although there are no levers and pulley systems like Da Vinci planned. The Doctor’s
designs are more natural, as in, congruent to the natural design of the Tropeognathus. Shaylice’s
arms will spread into the large wings of the great bird, and as was the case with every pterosaur
from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous periods, her thumbs will connect to the tip of
the wings through her radius and humerus bones. She won’t have anything removed from her
body. She will just have longer arms, like eight foot longer arms, which will soon be called
wings. Makes sense, right?
“Ready, Jody?” The Doctor knows she is, after the past few assists and some work on her
own, he is confident in her skills.

She nods her head. She doesn’t fully comprehend the gravity of what she is ready for, as
in surgically collaborating her friend with a prehistoric bird, but she is under The Trance, and is
thus ready to do as The Doctor commands.
Derek waits like a child at The Doctor’s office, feet swinging on one of the stools.
“Derek, I’ve decided you will be our cameraman.”
“Great!” Derek exclaims, also under The Trance.
He reaches for The Doctor’s old Sony HandiCam and flips open the viewfinder.
“Derek. You don’t have to do this,” Karmel whispers from his cage nearby.
“Yes I do, silly goose!” Is Derek’s only response before the bone saw starts singing,
Bessie Smith’s romantic longing long gone.

CHAPTER 39 — KARMEL’S TURN
Karmel can only watch and wait. Eventually a barn owl is brought in, but Karmel has no
clue why. All he can see is an occasional brown feather flutter from the table.
The procedure takes at least eight hours. He tries to keep track on the clock above the
door but he is distracted, tormented at the sight of his friend.
Thankfully, Shaylice is asleep the whole time. She is put under anesthesia and then under
The Trance, the South American drug The Doctor uses on both humans and hybrids.
Eventually the lights go off and The Doctor, Jody, and Derek exit. The Doctor looks to
his new pet, his greatest accomplishment to date: Estelle, formerly known as Shaylice.
“Good night, my child. Mother will see you in the morning!”
The door closes and Karmel is alone with his former best friend and the nightmares of
what sort of animal might be wheeled in here tomorrow, ready to be collaborated with him...
CHAPTER 40 — ANTICIPATION
The next morning comes. And another. And another. Karmel loses track of the days.
Food is thrown to him from the door. No one talks to him. The bowl he uses for, um, the
opposite of eating, is replaced every night.
Karmel becomes unhinged. Was this part of The Doctor’s plan? Is he driving Karmel
insane instead of turning him into some beast? Or, is the beast supposed to be driven mad?
Completely devoid of any human sentiment and emotion? What Karmel doesn’t know is that The
Doctor is still securing Karmel’s “co-collaborator”.
If things had gone differently, Karmel would have made it to class on time a bit more.
Sure, that may seem irrelevant now. But perhaps he missed something in all of those cumulative
minutes he was tardy. Was there something taught in a science class about the human brain
going insane after a certain period of time? Did they read about it in English class, like that
Edgar Allen Poe story? He is lost. Clueless as to what The Doctor’s “Program” has in store for
him.
Karmel soon loses his marbles (not the ones his four-year-old cousin gave him for his
birthday. Those are on his dresser at home—or wait, did he move them? Did he leave them
outside? Okay, it looks like he lost those marbles, too), anyways, Karmel goes coo-coo. But soon
after The Doctor, Derek, and Jody come in the operating room laughing hysterically.
“And now you know what’s really in the burgers at BurgerMania!” The Doctor finishes
as his brainwashed puppets applaud their Geppetto.
He flips on the light. “Okay, Mr. Karmel, are you ready to meet your match? Your date
with destiny? Your...Derek, help me out here.”

“Your worst nightmare?” Derek shrugs his shoulders while setting up the camera tripod.
“Lame.” Jody cuts in as she washes her hands.
“Your prehistoric partner?” Derek suggests.
“Meh.” Jody rolls her eyes.
“Your co-collaborator! Yes! That’s it!” The Doctor squeals as he ties his mask.
“Wow. I’m so glad you all found the right term. Now can we get this over with?”
Karmel’s voice is sore. He hasn’t talked in days.
“Hold your horses. Or should I say hold your, oh, I’m not going to spoil it with a pun.
Let’s just get you out of here. You’ll see!” The Doctor seems magnanimous, like he has all the
time and riches and power in the world.
A couple of Henchmen enter and place Karmel’s cage on a flatbed dolly.
“Where we going?” Karmel is frightened, he holds the bars tight as his only force field
between these twisted surgeons.
“Oh, come on. Why would I ruin that surprise? You know me by now. I gotta get your
reaction on camera. Derek?” The Doc looks around to see if Derek is nearby.
“Ready, boss!” Says Derek through The Glaze.
“Okay. Field trip! Let’s get you acquainted with someone you’ll become quite ‘close’ to.
You could say you two will be ‘attached at the hip!’” The Doctor laughs as he exits the O.R.
“That’s good, Doc!” Derek follows as The Henchmen roll Karmel out of the O.R. doors.
Karmel shakes his cage in vain, about to meet his match made in (scientific) heaven.
CHAPTER 41 — MASTER DON
The skies stretch as far as Karmel can see. The sun burns his eyes. It has been a few days
since he was captured by Altnu’s Henchmen and last seen the sun. Because of his preoccupation
with the skies he doesn’t notice what everyone else around him is focused on. Twenty of Altnu’s
Henchmen encircle the largest land beast this world has seen in thousands of years. Larger than
an elephant, but not as massive as a whale, it is some version of the mighty mastodon.
It is lying on the damp grass. Similar to Estelle the pterosaur, this beast appears to be
sleeping, but no, it is merely awaiting it’s final component before animation.
It is awaiting Karmel.
When it stands it will be ten feet tall, as large as the first floor of The Lab, hence the
transferal operation will take place outside (The Doctor isn’t about to have his evil lair trampled
on, or his newly renovated lobby muddied up by mastodon footprints!). However, different from
the reconstruction of Estelle the Tropeognathus, which he felt adept at recreating, The Doctor
needed a colleague who specialized in mastodon anatomy and paleontology. He chose one of the
best paleontologists he knew to reconstruct this Ice Age beast.
His wife.
CHAPTER 42 — BAOZHAI AND FELIX
Doctor Baozhai Yang has several degrees in Biology, Geology and a sundry of other
Sciences. However, her PhDs are in Paleoanthropology, the study of human and pre human
hominids as well as Human Genetics. Similar to The Doctor, she is obsessed in finding a way to
create or recreate life, at any cost.
She met The Doctor at the University of Chicago. They were in graduate school attending
a “Genetics, Paleontology, and Macroevolution” class taught by author Jeffrey Levinton. They
both thought they were the smartest in their class. They were both driven to prove they were the
smartest in their class. The result?
Near expulsion for both of them.
Baozhai was habituated to studying wherever and whenever she could. She had a part
time job in the University bookstore where she did her class readings. When The Doctor, who
was not yet a Doctor at the time, but merely Felix, The PhD Candidate, discovered Baozhai (his
academic nemesis) worked at the bookstore, he knew how he could finally surpass her.
His plan was only to get her fired, or chastised. As smart as he was, he wasn’t thinking
how her employment with the University was tied in with her status as an immigrant student. He
was going to take money from her drawer when she was distracted so that when her boss counted
it later, it would look like Baozhai pocketed the cash.
His plan would have worked if Baozhai wasn’t such a fast pooper. Not to get too
personal, but Baozhai is an “in and out” type of bathroom user. She had other places to be and
other books to read. She isn’t a “prolonger” like The Doctor. Felix didn’t know this detail about
his eventual wife (he would when they later lived together), and in the amount of time that The
Doctor would have only sat down and got himself comfortable, Baozhai was back—and
infuriated at what she saw.
She recognized Felix immediately, and also quickly surmised what he was trying to do—
get her fired as a way to rid her from the class. Well, she wasn’t having any of that. She wasn’t
one to just let things go. Bygones would not be bygone today! She had not made it to this
prestigious program, competing with dumb, sexist, spoiled men along the way, to have this Felix
jerk take it all away from her.
No.
She was not going to let this slide.
Faster than the Smilodon attacking its prey, Baozhai tackled Felix right there in the
middle of the University bookstore. It was late at night so there were no customers or witnesses,
but there was video footage that got the whole fight on camera.
Fortunately for Felix, no one except the night security and his supervisor saw the tape,
otherwise he surely would have become the laughing stock of these nerdiest of nerds. Most of his
colleagues had been beaten up by bullies before. It came with the career track. And some of them
had even been beaten up by female bullies. Yet, to be beaten up by the female nerd herself, the
intersection of both worlds, would have stuck with Felix for life, and perhaps driven him to
prove himself in the scientific community however he could.
Oh, wait. That’s exactly what happened.

CHAPTER 43 — BAOZHAI AND FELIX SAVE THE WORLD
Baozhai and Felix eventually kissed and made up. And kissed some more. And more.
And you get it. They romanced their way around the world, digging for clues into our hominid
past and humanoid future. They were destined to be together, to find new ways of creating life
(had no one told them about the usual way a man and woman create life?).
It was their excavations in Alaska, Mexico, and Colorado that would change their lives,
and their outlooks. They were going about this creation of life all wrong. They could not simply
create the human they wanted in a petri dish. And procreation would not allow them to program
what that life would look like, yet.
So while Baozhai was on assignment digging in the deserts of Oaxaca, Mexico and later
in the Subarctic Yukon Territory, she thought about how she could reconstruct the prehistoric
vertebrates that once roamed here.
Baozhai urgently shared this possibility with her then-fiance and The Doctors took to
Colorado where one of the world’s largest mastodon snares was set. A colleague informed The
Doctors about his theory, “Dude, the beasts were like totally stuck in quicksand. A mother and
child mastodon were chilling in the lake when an earthquake broke open beneath them. The sand
and water glued their feet in place when the quake was over. It was a bodacious way to die!”
Baozhai empathized, “Imagine watching your child die beside you from starvation,
powerless. We must recreate this mother and child and make things right.”
There, in Colorado, The Doctors unearthed enough petrified remains, albeit illegally, to
recreate the world’s largest land-dwelling beast since dinosaurs: the mighty mastodon.
CHAPTER 44 — THE SIXTH GREAT EXTINCTION
At first, The Doctors weren’t malicious. Their plans then and now were the same: to save
the world. How they go about that is a bit “unorthodox”.
Felix and Baozhai: evolutionists, scientists, budding climatologists, know the world is
ending. It just is. Don’t argue, you’ll lose like Karmel did on his last day as a human.
“The earth is warming, yada yada yada.” The Doctor walks around the giant mastodon
sprawled outside between The Mountain and The Laboratory. “Today is a perfect example of
global warming. It’s fifty something degrees outside and it’s almost November!”
There is no snow yet, and in the middle of the day it almost seems like spring.
“The earth is coming to an end! But what is truly interesting, and more compelling, is that
this isn’t the first time. There have been five other mass extinctions in Earth’s history.”
“Is this how you will sedate me? Bore me to sleep with some lectures?” Karmel is at his
sharpest as he sits in the cage, albeit a bit chilly, his arms folded across his chest. The “surgeons”
and Henchmen are all wearing jackets, but Karmel is still in the camp counselor flannel and
shorts he found some days ago, before being captured.
Just as Shaylice felt no urge to hold back, neither does Karmel, perhaps that is why they
were best friends, and best friends who got in too much trouble.
“You got that right, Caramel Apple!” The Doctor sees this nickname annoys Karmel,
which pleases him. “My Henchmen and I have a special presentation for you, Caramel. Consider
it a going away gift, a bit of performance art to explain these five catastrophic events. Perhaps it
will help you understand your role in all of this better.”
Instantly, several Henchmen create a circle with their bodies lying on the grass.
“Okay, the first extinction event, the Ordovician Era Extinction. Here are the oceans, or
massive ocean, or whatever body of water existed 439 million years ago. Inside it, most of the
sea’s creatures are dying because the water froze.”
A few Henchmen clench their chests and pretend to die alongside the others.
“It’s kind of like when you leave the freezer door open and everything gets freezer burnt.
Except, this killed off most of the earth’s living species. So, basically samesies!” The Doctor is
conducting the performance art with various hand gestures, signaling his “actors” on their cues.
A cluster of Henchmen barrel toward Karmel.
“Here is one of our asteroids. Earth has been hit by a handful of asteroids in the past
couple billion years, not including the large rock we now know as...the moon!”
The Doctor pauses for effect and glances at Karmel, who shows no emotion.
“Nothing? The moon! Okay.”
“Keep trying.” Karmel mumbles from his corner in the cage.
The Hench-asteroid smashes into some of their colleagues, avoiding Karmel.
“The second great extinction, the Late Devonian, killed three-fourths of Earth’s water and
land species due to climate/sea level changes and asteroid impact 364 million years ago.”
“Bummer,” Karmel breathes sarcastically.
“I know! Right?! If you think that was a bummer, check out the Earth’s third extinction
event. The Permian-Triassic extinction extinguished a whopping 96% of Earth’s species 251
million years ago! In fact, all life on Earth today are descendants from that surviving 4%.”
“Wow!” Karmel stands up from his “too-cool-for-school” corner. He is amazed by these
cataclysmic events but doesn’t want The Doctor to see that. It’s like in class when you really like
the subject but hate the teacher, and the teacher is trying to turn you into a prehistoric monster,
that sort of thing.
“Number four...the Triassic-Jurassic extinction demolished half of the Earth’s species
about 200 million years ago due to climate change, volcanic basalt eruptions and…?”
“Asteroid!” Karmel shouts, now eager to be part of the show. A new group of Henchmen
bowl each other over and they all dramatically fall to the ground.
“See! I told you this would be fun!” The Doctor assures.
“What next? There’s still one more extinction, right?” Karmel can’t contain himself, he is
pressing his face against the cage now, ready for his next lesson.
The Doctor clears his throat and begins as if he is narrating a documentary, “The fifth
extinction, the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction of dinosaurs and pterosaurs 65 million years
ago, was most likely the result of, you guessed it, volcanoes, sea level changes and asteroid
impact!” The Doc leans in and whispers to Karmel, “Isn’t the Earth going to come up with some
new way of killing life off? Who wrote this stuff?!”
“So that’s it?” Karmel clarifies, a look of confusion on his face. “Is there an asteroid
about to hit us, and you’re doing whatever you want before we all die?”
“Actually, an asteroid almost hit us a couple years ago, but our current extinction is
different than the rest. We are currently in the Holocene epoch, which some people think is the
sixth mass extinction event.”
The Henchmen, knowing their parts surprisingly well (are they all community theater
actors on the side?), start hunting each other with imaginary spears.
“It began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the Paleolithic Ice Age. As the Earth
started to warm back then, which is natural, the glaciers retreated, causing new bodies of water.
As humans became more ‘civilized’ and ‘technological,’ we started overeating meat, overfishing,
acidifying and poisoning our waters, and not to mention the babies. Yes! Babies are killing us!”
The Doctor stops orchestrating his show and waves for Derek and his camera to come
closer, which he does. The Doc sits next to the caged Karmel, just a teach chatting with his
imprisoned student.
“Um, what?” Karmel is confused, but doesn’t back away from The Doctor’s closeness.
He is hooked. He wants to find out the ending...of our civilization.
“I’m talking overpopulation, baby! I’m talking too many babies, baby!”
“What are you going to do? Kill all the babies?” Karmel asks, incredulously. He looks
closely into The Doctor’s eyes to see if he has it in him to do such a dastardly task.
“Uh, I’ll get back to you on that one.” The Doctor opens Karmel’s cage. “First, let’s get
you suited for your big premiere as ‘Donny, the SaberDon’!”
The Doctor’s Fun Facts on When We’re Gonna Die:
# Mass Extinction Event Time Period Impact
1 Ordovician-Silurian 443 million years ago, 85% of species lost
2 Late Devonian 375 million years ago 75% of species lost
3 End Permian 251 million years ago 96% of species lost
4 End Triassic 200 million years ago 80% of species lost
5 End Cretaceous 66 million years ago, 76% of all species lost
6 Holocene Era 10,000 BC-Present Day We’re all gonna die!?

CHAPTER 45 — LIFE AFTER LIFE AFTER DEATH
Karmel and his mom have always been close. They were close before his dad got thrown
into the slammer due to drug possession and they were even closer after. Karmel had to learn to
be the “man of the house” in elementary school. When a lot of kids were playing video games or
looking for anime, Karmel was fashioning his place in a family. His teachers didn’t know this,
most of them at least. Most of them didn’t care. They were obsessed with meaningless
standardized test scores and fluency checks. It’s not that Karmel didn’t like reading. He frankly
didn’t see the point at school. He didn’t see what it gave him. He didn’t see people who looked
like him in most of the books. And he didn’t see it improving his life. He tried to be a good
friend. That, at least, was something he could be proud of at the end of the day.
However, there was a series of graphic books that Karmel was drawn to, no pun intended.
It was a graphic novel series titled, “The End of Forever.” It was based off the idea that there is
not only life after death, but there is a life AFTER life after death. Some people believe in the
afterlife, but they don’t think about the after-afterlife. It was kind of a serious subject, but ever
since Karmel became the man, he was into serious things.
Karmel’s dad got locked up when Karmel was in 5th grade. Every school night that year,
Karmel and his mom read and reread and reread the series. It was their thing. On the couch, with
a bowl of snacks and some juice boxes. Really they just loved the special time, uninterrupted by
small voices with smaller problems. They would get lost in this life after life after death, their
heads spinning and imaginations churning, until some little voice brought them down a couple
universes, “I poop ice cream!” or “He pulled my butt!”
Karmel had two little brothers who never seemed to tire of annoying each other.
“Okay, little mess makers,” Karmel would say. “I know how we can clean this mess.
We’ll call…Robot Cleaner!”
And so, the soft clouds between Karmel and his mom would dissipate and he would be
the “man of the house,” playing with the kids while Mom cooked dinner. All through sixth,
seventh and eighth grade, he continued to watch the boys after school until his mom got home.
Everyday.
Until the day he never came home.

CHAPTER 46 — KARMEL AND SHAYLICE’S MOTHERS
“Shaylene, is Karmel there?” Karmel’s mother, Laura, asked that night over the phone.
At first both parents assumed their children were at each other’s houses. But when neither
child responded to their texts all day, both moms started to worry.
“No. I thought Shaylice was at your place?” Shaylene responded, noticeably alarmed.
Have you talked to their other friends? Derek and Jody? Or Leticia?”
Laura is in her car at this point. “I can’t get ahold of them. I’m going to the school if you
want to join me. They’re probably working on some project or playing basketball or something.”
Serendipitously for The Doctor, he saw the moms from his basement Lab cams.
“Hello! What can I do you lovely ladies for?” The Doctor charmed that night.
“Our kids. They’re missing. We haven’t seen them since this morning.” Shaylene looks
The Doctor up and down in his white lab coat and janitor outfit beneath.
The Doctor smiled an unsettling smile. “Oh, yes, very helpful kids. They’re going to help
me save the world from total annihilation.”
“What!?” Shaylene looks to Laura, but it is pointless. Their questions are unanswered and
The Doctor injects both mothers with readied needles.
Trance time.
The mothers get into their cars, went home, and forget about their children—because The
Doctor told them to. The police called an Amber alert for the missing teens, but others soon
vanished as well.
No one would see Shaylice and Karmel again, except as the beasts they would become.
CHAPTER 47 — A NEW PREDATOR
Clinical elephantiasis is caused by nasty little roundworms that infect the skin and
inflame the arms or legs to the size of an elephant’s limbs.
AND a mastodon isn’t an elephant.
AND Karmel’s body wasn’t technically altered so he couldn’t be turning into the size of
an elephant. Like Shaylice, only a very small procedure was done to “fasten” the human body
into that of the ice age reconstruction.
BUT The Doctor likes to make dumb jokes and keep things interesting, so when he says
“Carmel Apple, I’m sorry, but you have elephantitis,” then, that’s the prognosis.
Karmel couldn’t argue with him. He wanted to because his ears were still working and
The Trance had not fully set in yet. But he couldn’t speak. He was in the process of being
hooked up to the mastodon, sort of like getting hooked into one of those huge hamster balls that
roll around and around at a gym. Except, no, nope, not at all. Karmel was de-evolving into a
mammal that died thousands of years ago.
The Clovis Hunters were the ancestors of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Some
scientists, like The Doctors, believe these hunters caused the overexploitation of the mastodons.
They were the first humans to start destroying the world around them.
The Doctor was going to set the world straight. He would revive every mastodon and
pterosaur he needed to put nature back on course. He would turn every teenager he needed to
into a new form of predator. He would create something, anything, to depopulate this over-
populated world.
CHAPTER 48 — BAOZHAI’S CHANGE OF HEART
“Stop! You can’t do this!” It’s Baozhai, running through The Henchmen guarding the
Karmel/Mastodon collaboration operation.
“It’s too late, my love. Both procedures are complete and I have countless more teenagers
waiting for me.” The Doctor responds from behind his mask, not stopping his needlework.
“But they’re just kids,” Baozhai attempts to pull The Doctor away but The Henchmen
pry her off of him. “This isn’t the way to fix our broken world. It isn’t the same as when we
collaborated two animals. Please, Felix. Things are different now.”
“Why?! This was always our plan. What gives you this change of heart?” The Doctor
motions for The Henchmen to release his wife.
“Because I’m having our baby. NOW! The contractions have started...” Baozhai places
The Doctor’s hand on her stomach. “Can you feel him kicking? Isn’t it glorious!?”
“Homosapien say WHAT!?” The Doctor says, for some reason.
“I said, I’m going into labor!” Baozhai slides her husband’s hand off her belly. “Wait.
That’s your response? When we tell our child, ‘This is how Daddy reacted when he heard I was
in labor. ‘Homosapien say what!?’” Her nostrils flare, and her face turns red.
“I’m sorry,” The Doctor quickly apologizes. “Let’s try again. Run through the Henchmen
and tell me again.” He looks to the Henchmen, “Guys, you don’t mind, right?”
They shake their heads.
“See. Let’s do it again. Oooh! And let’s get it on camera!”
Baozhai slaps The Doctor in the face as he hails Derek to come closer.
She waddles away, trying not to let him see that her water just broke. But the pain is too
great. This baby is coming right now, on this grassy area between The Mountain and The Lab.
And she hasn’t even finished knitting the baby’s stuffed pterodactyl yet…
CHAPTER 49 — BIRTH STORY
“Keep pushing, honey! You’re doing great!” The Doctor coaches his laboring wife as the
Birth Practice video showed him. They are inside The Lab O.R. now. The Doctor had the
Henchmen clear out the lion and some other animals awaiting collaboration.
The lights are shining down brightly, like any other operation.
“Don’t tell me what to do! I’m the one pushing a bowling ball out of my body!” Baozhai
is panting. Her short dark hair is drenched in sweat. “AHHHHGGGHHH!” She moans in
excruciating pain.
“Go for the 7-10 split, Baozhai! I got it!” The Doctor smiles with his hands held out.
“SHUT. UP. YOU. ANNOYING.WEIRDO”” Ah, labor. The time when a woman can
say what she really feels and no one can do anything about it.
“Okay. Yeesh. Someone can’t take a joke. How about a song? Buzz around, buzz around,
keep a-buzzin' 'round. Be my little baby bumble bee!”
“FELIX! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” Baozhai frantically grabs for something to throw
at her exasperating husband, anything except the object being pushed out of her. She settles on
half a pomegranate The Doctor had been snacking on earlier. The smack is perfect. It hits him
straight on the mouth, pausing his singing for a moment.
“AHHGGHH!!” She screams again, perhaps louder than the hybrids that have been
tortured in this same room.
“PTUH! Thanks for the pomegranate, darling. I was looking for that!” The Doctor wipes
his face and picks up the fruit from the ground to take another bite.
It was just for one moment that he lost his attention.
Maybe if he hadn’t been annoying he would have seen her face.

If he hadn’t pissed her off maybe he could have noticed she stopped breathing.
Maybe if he had her hooked up to a heart rate monitor he could have heard the solid flat
tone alerting him that something was wrong.
But he was The Doctor. The annoying, selfish, work-obsessed Doctor.
“Oh, stop playing, Baozhai.” The Doctor nudges his head below. “Your mother is such a
kidder, little Gregor. And Daddy is a great singer, don’t listen to your mommy!” The Doctor
pokes his head further. “He’s crowning! Keep pushing! Seriously, come on, honey. Do I have to
do everything!?”
The Doctor gently persuades the newborn body out of his wife. Placenta and all.
“Waaaah!” The baby hollers under the harsh lights and new surroundings.
“You almost didn’t make it, buddy.” The Doctor rocks his wailing newborn son and
carries him to his mom, who lies motionless on the table.

CHAPTER 50 — RUN
Derek and Jody,
You don’t know me. You may not even know where you are as you read this. But you have to run.
NOW! Even before you finish this letter. You are not safe here. My husband, The Doctor, has
been using you to be his assistants on terrible experiments.
I must go now. I am about to have his child. Please. Run.
-Baozhai
Jody reads it again to herself. It doesn’t make any sense. She is unsure where she is. She
is wearing some sort of hospital scrubs. She looks around to see she is in some sort of operating
room. She sees Derek in the corner of the room, smiling at the wall.
“Derek!” she whispers loudly.
This gets his attention and he shakes his head. “What? Where are we?”
“I don’t know. All I know is we have to run!”
They rip off their scrubs to reveal their regular street clothes and rush toward the door,
not knowing that The Doctor is in the neighboring operating room.
And The Doctor, who is mourning the sudden death of his wife, has no idea his two
assistants are running out on him. During the birth of his new baby, he forgot to give them their
next Trance dose.
He has lost his wife and his two assistants in the same day.
He'll be damned if he's losing his baby, too.

CHAPTER 51 — UP THE MOUNTAIN
“Where are we?” Derek asks Jody, as they begin the ascent up the wooded mountain.
They have made this climb many times when under The Trance but they don’t remember it now.
The sugar maples are in peak color. Their leaves are a fiery orange and light up most of
their path as the sun begins to rise. It is chilly and they can see their breath, but their minds are
not focused on the weather.
“Judging by the mountain-like structure and up-hill climb, I'm guessing we’re on a
mountain.” Jody says, returning to her sarcastic self.
“Tuh! I know! I meant which mountain?” Derek had no idea they were on a mountain.
“Um, probably Jagged Rock Mountain, the only mountain near our city…” Jody is
pushing past thorny bushes looking for a beaten path. But between the rocky terrain, junipers and
maple trees there isn’t one easy route.
“Okay. Fine. How about another question. Why are we on this mountain?” Derek is
dutifully following behind Jody, stepping where she steps. Grabbing the roots she grabs to
continue their almost vertical incline.
“That’s easy. We’re on this mountain because...” She stops the muddy ascent to think.
“Oh, little miss smarty pants doesn’t have all the answers!”
“No, it’s just that, I can’t remember.”
“You can’t remember why we’re on this mountain?” Derek looks around and points.
“No. I can’t remember anything. For a while.” Jody leans against the steep climb and
rests against a nearby boulder sticking out of the mountainside. She grabs Derek’s hand.
“Me either.” Derek sits beside her, looking into the distance for some sort of answers.
“The last thing I remember is…” Jody searches her memory. “Helping some doctor do
surgeries on animals?” She rubs her head as if it hurts to use her memory.
“Oh, yeah! Why?” Derek looks at his girlfriend hopefully.
“And Karmel and Shaylice. They went missing at the Halloween Dance.” Jody taps her
hand nervously against the boulder.
“Maybe they’re back home by now?” Derek places his hand over hers to steady it.
“Maybe. But how do we get home?” Jody buries her head in her hands. Derek wraps his
arm around her as the only answer he can provide.

CHAPTER 52 — GOODBYE, MY DARLING
“My love. We were going to conquer this world. For our child. And for all the children
who survived our apocalypse. Rest now. Know that you will return. I will be sure of it.” The
Doctor kisses Baozhai’s cheek and takes the baby outside.
“Here is the world, my son. It will be yours after your Daddy conquers it.”
Baby Gregor cries.
“I know, baby. I know. I cannot wait any longer either, but we must. We have help,
though. Would you like to see what Mommy and Daddy made you?”
Karmel is fully fastened inside the mastodon’s body. The behemoth stands about ten feet
tall and has both enormous tusks and saber-toothed incisors.
“This is your new kitty. Isn’t he pretty?”
The baby is unimpressed. He is starving and tired. The Doctor places the newborn against
his chest and sings.
Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee, All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee, All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loved ones' watch am keeping, All through the night…
As the baby falls fast asleep, The Doctor whispers something to The Head Henchman.
“Send the beasts to retrieve Jody and Derek. They know too much.”
CHAPTER 53 — KARMEL AND SHAYLICE ARE STILL ALIVE!
“Find them!” The Head Henchman orders Karmel the mastodon, who reluctantly obliges.
His massive legs smash the ground as he moves. Why doesn’t he end this now? Why doesn’t he
smash these puny men into dust? When he tries, something stops him. He is unable to do any
harm to anyone working for The Doctor. Karmel the mastodon/sabretooth combo, looks up at
The Mountain that The Henchmen are expecting him to climb. There is something in his ear
telling him what to do, some sort of radio The Doctor is controlling.
“You must find your former friends, Derek and Jody. And you must bring them back to
me. If you refuse to do this I will turn your little brothers into Rejects.”
Karmel is unknowingly under The Trance of The Doctor and begins the steep climb up
the mountain. He is able to think to himself, but not for himself, about the great weight he is now
carrying and the sheer power he can wield in this new body of his, this dumpster truck of a body.
The ascent is no joke. It takes all his strength to maneuver through the maple trees but
mostly he lets them collapse under him like prairie grass on a stroll. His wooly trunk sways in
front of him like a wrecking ball, tossing branches to and fro.
He cannot see his “former friends.” He has a hard time remembering who these people
are. Everything is fuzzy. Certainly he will recognize them when he sees them. And maybe they
can help him return to his former self.

CHAPTER 54 — SOAR
Shaylice is loving her new body. She doesn’t have the weight and size of Karmel’s new
incarnation, but she is still huge. Her wingspan is about 25 feet and she isn’t wearing a
speedometer, but if she were, she would be clocked at about 67 miles per hour.
When The Doctor gives her the same instructions he gave Karmel, she doesn’t fight back.
She soars. She surges through the open skylight in The Lab and climbs higher into the clouds.
She isn’t thinking when she does it. It is like her body has been waiting a long, long time
to do this, a mere two hundred million year nap. And it is ready to wake up.
The maneuvering is surprisingly easy, and painless. She cannot see the way her arms
attach into the bones of the wings, but if she could, she would be freaked out. She feels nothing
abnormal about her new body, like it has always been this way.
She reaches the top of the clouds, as far as she feels the urge to fly, and looks down.
There is no time to be afraid. Before she knows it, her conical beak is pointing toward the ground
a half mile below. She shoots toward Earth like a dart, folding her wings in to gain speed. She
didn’t warm up or practice with her wings. She will either soar or she crash.
Just like on the courts, she is hoping to soar.

CHAPTER 55 — ALTNU’S HAZE
Karmel spots two bodies lying in the woods, resting beside a small creek.
“Where will we go?” Derek asks, washing his face with the freezing water.
“Back home. Somehow.” Jody sighs. She is also trying to wash her face and her arms.
“Should we stay on this mountain until we figure things out? Like, what was that building
we escaped from? It seems familiar.” Derek walks into the water in his bare feet, enjoying the
cool rinse. “Was it some sort of hospital? An animal hospital? Or maybe a clinic?”
“A laboratory?” Jody suggests, also dipping her feet.
Derek redresses his socks and shoes. “Yes! But what were we doing there? Were we
subjects being tested on?” Derek feels around his body for anything missing or extra.
Jody looks down at her sweatshirt and jeans. “I don’t know. When we woke up we were
wearing scrubs, not hospital gowns. And we weren’t lying on the operating tables in there.
Something else was.”
“We were working there!” Derek shouts, then begins gesticulating with his hands. “It’s
coming back to me! We were working on some animals. Trying to fix them. The Doctor was
making us? That was his name, ‘The Doctor’.”
Jody presses her eyes shut hard as if she is trying to remember something else. “Why do I
keep seeing the word ‘Altnu’? Like a company logo, in white letters within a golden orb.”
Derek tries to place the word and image. “Altnu? What is that? An alternative nut butter
company? Did we escape from a peanut factory?”
Jody rolls her eyes then playfully splashes him with the frigid water.
“Derek. Come on. Let’s think. Altnu? Yes! That’s the company The Doctor works for!”
Jody stands up, walks over to Derek, and invites him to sit with her, like she has some
heavy news. “Okay, this is what I remember. The Doctor and Altnu did something to animals, I
think that was what was under those other sheets in the operating room we woke up in. Some
kind of experiments?”
Jody is slowly piecing things together with that unbreakable brain of hers.
“What animals?” Derek asks distantly.
His answer comes ramming through the trees next to them. It is a bigger, woolier version
of an elephant, crashing everything in its path and hungry for blood…

CHAPTER 56 — CHOMP! CHOMP!
“Derek! Jody!” Karmel tries to scream as he clomps up the small creek toward them. The
creek is barely a couple feet wide and only a few inches deep, but as this great SaberDon
tramples through it becomes deeper and wider. It can now be classified as a stream. Wow.
Geographic history in the making.
Derek and Jody can’t hear Karmel’s screams. He is only thinking these thoughts, no
words make their way to his saber-toothed mouth.
“Jody! Run!” Derek screams as the giant wooly elephant with fangs approaches. He grabs
for her but she stands on her own and sprints further uphill.
“What is it!?” Jody hollers as they struggle to create some distance between the beast.
“I have no idea, but I think it came from where we did.”
The teenagers choose a path the beast can’t fit through, but Karmel mows over anything
in his way, as if he something is forcing him to do so.
“That laboratory?” Jody questions, while continuing to sneak peaks at the frightening but
fascinating specimen.
“Probably. And it’s pissed!” Derek pulls Jody ahead of him so that he is a barrier, albeit a
delectable barrier, between his girlfriend and this unhappy monster.
“What should we do?!” Jody is out of answers, and out of breath. She hides behind a
golden sugar maple.
“Climb up this tree. I’ll distract it.” Derek unzips his red sweatshirt and waves it toward
the beast like a matador. “Hey stinky! Over here! Yeah, I’m talking to you, you prehistoric
dingleberry!”
Jody stares at the incredible beast. The budding scientist in her is enthralled. Is that an
actual mastodon? How could this be? She is both excited at the discovery and terrified for her
life. She now remembers The Doctor saying he had recreated a pterodactyl. And here is another
prehistoric wonder. Breathtaking.
“Derek!” Jody calls out from her golden canopy in the rising sun. “We should be okay.
Mastodons were herbivores. It must be protecting something. Just don’t piss it off anymore.”
Jody’s expert advice is ignored in exchange for Derek’s chivalry, for better or worse.
As Derek spews all the insults he can muster, which is a lot because he is a middle
schooler, the recreated mastodon rushes the lovebirds with all its might. It’s not as if Karmel
wants to attack his friends, but The Trance is hard to resist, impossible actually.
The beast runs directly into Jody’s golden sugar maple, toppling it and her to the ground.
Derek is thrown to the side and knocked out cold for a moment.
However, Jody is wide awake as the SaberDon, Karmel, rips through the flesh of her calf
like an apple.
Look at that, she thinks, I guess mastodons weren’t herbivores after all.
And she passes out.

END OF PART TWO

PART THREE: RACE WAR ~e.theis © 2018
RACE WAR: closes as the teens unite with The Doctor and his hybrids to confront a greater evil:
a league of superhumans bent on re-segregating our integrated society. The teens believe in a
world where unity defeats divisiveness, but on a personal level, Jody believes dividing herself
from Derek is the only way she can realize her full potential.
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous
are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
― Primo Levi, Holocaust Survivor
Dedicated to the monsters themselves, if you don’t know who you are, you’ll find out
when you are vanquished.
~e
CHAPTER ONE — HURTING A FLY
Jody and Leticia rest, sedated in their gurneys under the scorching surgical lamps. Their
breathing is regulated due to the sleepy-time medicine still coursing their veins. Derek stands
over Jody, his one true love, well, after “Choco-Nut Buddies” (He has always been a sucker for
that chocolate-peanut butter combo. If he were an evil mastermind, he would be creating endless
armies of junk food, delivering slow, sugary deaths to all the children of the world. Oh, wait,
that’s already happening.)
“It’s okay, shnookems,” Derek whispers to the snoozing Jody. He brushes a few blond
curls from her closed eyes. “The Doctor is doing my bidding now. You’ll be yourself soon.”
The Doctor, watching nearby in the automated wheelchair he is strapped to, is about to
mock their tween-love, when the scissors protruding from his leg convinces him otherwise.
“So, um, Derek. Ricky-D. Dare-Bear. You gonna help me out? I mean, you made your
point. You tied me to this chair. You’re willing to hurt me if I don’t fix your friends. But I’ll be
able to start their transplants sooner if you untie me. This whole scissors-in-the-leg gag is
hilarious but is gushing a lot of blood. And some of my blood-thirsty creations get a bit, um,
thirsty for blood.”
The Doc makes his best effort to seem like a nice guy, which is obviously a stretch for
him. His cheeks twitch as they upturn a smile, an exercise that is usually reserved for mocking.
“Fine. I’ll get the mop.” Derek shakes his head then paces to the nearby closet. “Just stop
trying to smile. That’s hideous.” When he opens the closet he sees more than just cleaning
supplies.
The baby!
But what’s wrong with him? Is he dead?! He can’t be. He’s hooked to a bunch of tubes in
some sort of incubator. Derek kneels down to the babe only a few days old. Alone. He watches
its chest rise and fall—it is still breathing.
How did The Doctor get the baby so quiet? So still? It has to be hungry.
“See. I knew you were a reasonable guy,” The Doctor calls to him from beside the
operating table. He notices Derek has found the baby. “Oh, I see you found little Gregor. He’s a
cutie pie, huh? I told you guys I wasn’t going to hurt him. A father would never hurt his—”
“What?!” Derek tries to make sense of this news while The Doctor pockets a few nearby
bottles and a scalpel.
“Your baby!? What...did...you do to him?” Derek is concerned, as if it is his own son.
“Oh, the same sleeping aid you probably gave your friends. In fact,” The Doctor checks
his watch, “he should be waking up in a matter of hours. The medication has temporarily
suspended his hunger but when he wakes up—Whoa! Look out!”
“So he’s been asleep since Jody and I saw you bring him here?”
“Ever since his mother…” The Doctor widens his eyes to avoid the tears he knows will
come if he talks about his wife’s death. He is not ready for that. He is happily swimming in his
denial. He deftly changes the subject. “Gregor’s infantile body would be sleeping most of the
time anyways. Babies can’t cope with the world yet. They need another trimester to finish
‘cooking’.” The Doctor makes a “pop!” noise with his finger against his cheek.
“He’ll be okay, right?” Derek’s voice is above a whisper.
Because his full attention is on the baby, Derek doesn’t see The Doctor injecting himself
with a syringe and yank the scissors from his leg.

“There’s diapers and formula in the bag next to him. I’d love to stay, but you know, got a
world to conquer.” He salutes Derek and his son farewell.
The Doctor opens the O.R.’s front door and flees, leaving Jody and Leticia stuck as their
hybrid selves, and his own newborn child with Derek.

CHAPTER TWO — BABY STEPS
Derek’s first move is to wake Jody and Leticia. Then he immediately regrets this.
“Derek, you idiot!” Leticia is a bit upset.
“Don’t call my boyfriend an idiot,” Jody defends her man. “Derek! You moron! How
could you let The Doctor get away!?” Okay, so they are both upset.
“His baby distracted me. I’m sorry.” Derek rubs his hair, a nervous tick he has.
“Wait! The baby’s still alive?! Did he experiment on it?” Jody leaps off the table.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know. I do know it's his. The baby is The Doctor's son! He told
me. He’s in that closet. He’s been medicated like you two. I don't know for how long.” Derek
anxiously walks around the O.R., internally beating himself up for his failure.
“Are you sure The Doctor didn’t do anything?” Leticia asks while whisking to the baby.
“He seems fine,” Jody assures them as she looks over his incubator. “Leticia, hand me the
Alertol from the table. Derek, grab the milk formula. This baby’s going to be pretty hungry when
he wakes up.”
The teenagers whirl into action to revive the defenseless infant. Within minutes the sound
of a baby’s wail pierces The Laboratory, shriller than the PterodactOwl and Flying Lion
combined. Sadly, the bottle of formula doesn’t satiate the child. Jody instinctively holds the baby
close to her chest and bounces him.
The baby’s eyes trace a fly above its face.
And without any premeditation, the baby’s elongated tongue lashes out of its mouth and
catches its prey.

CHAPTER THREE — BABY-BRID
“Um. Did that baby just eat a fly? Like, with its tongue?” Leticia is stunned.
“No. That hybrid baby just ate a fly,” Jody corrects, holding the baby back a few inches
to get a better look at it. “It seems we’re too late. There’s only one humane thing to do.” She
reaches for another syringe and medicine bottle.
“What are you doing!?” Derek slaps the syringe from Jody’s hand.
“You don’t think this thing should live, do you?” Jody protests.
“Uh, yeah. This thing is living already. What gives you the right to kill it?”
“This will be no life for it. It’s damaged. Its life is ruined. We have a responsibility to end
it before it suffers anymore. Leticia, surely you agree with me.”
Jody looks at Leticia with glaring eyes.
Leticia flutters her wings, the wings she was supposed to lose through this morning’s
surgery, before The Doctor escaped.
“I know I don’t like living like this—” Leticia strokes the yellow feathers protruding
from under her hospital gown.
“Thank you!” Jody interrupts.
“But that doesn’t mean the baby won’t like it.” Leticia caresses the baby’s soft head. “It
won’t know any different. Being a human/snake-thing will be normal for him. And if The Doctor
is successful, humans like Derek will be the weird ones. Which is why we must kill him.”
“Kill the baby!?” Derek screams, prepared to snatch the baby from Jody.
“No. The Doctor.” Leticia grabs supplies from the closet shelf and places them in a bag.
CHAPTER FOUR — DOCTOR ON THE LOOSE
“Where will we find him?” Jody asks from the red sofa inside the fuchsia painted lobby.
“Forget The Doctor. What about this baby?” Derek is holding the baby now, partially out
of affection and partially out of fear of what Jody might do to it.
“It’s not a baby anymore, Derek. It’s one of them. One of us. It can take care of itself.”
Jody puts her feet up, tempted to nap instead of finish this conversation.
“No. I’m not leaving this defenseless baby here.”
“Suit yourself. Good luck calming not only a screaming baby, but a screaming monster-
baby.” Leticia exits The Lab’s front door, just as The Doctor did minutes earlier. Jody gets up
and is heading out as well.
“Jody, wait!” Derek catches her with one arm, holding the baby with the other.
“What is it? We can find him if we leave now.” Jody motions toward the sofa. “Leave the
baby, he’ll only slow us down.”
“I’m not going.” Derek stubbornly sits at the sofa, and rocks the baby the best he can.
“Fine. Honestly, you’ll slow us down, too.”
“Excuse me!?” Derek is careful not to yell as the baby rocks its head and closes its eyes.
Jody holds the front Lab door open, with one foot out. “What? It’s true. It’s because
you’re a human. And not a very bright one.” Her faces screws up a bit after she says it, but she
doesn’t take it back immediately. This was a long time coming.
Derek is stunned. “Did you just call me stupid?!”
Jody decides to sit with him for one more moment, a goodbye moment. “Nothing. I’m
sorry. That was insensitive. We don’t have time for niceties anymore.”
“So, you’re off to kill The Doctor. Then what? Who’s going to fix you?” Derek is equally
concerned for the baby and Jody, his eyes give this away, staring a bit too long.
“To be honest, I’m not sure I want to be human again.” Jody puts her head in her hands
for a moment then quickly stands up, proudly.
“What!? You had me sedate you so The Doctor could re-transplant your legs! And you
just said this is no life for that baby.” The pitch of Derek’s voice is rising. He takes a few deep
breaths to calm himself down. He doesn’t want to be in tears and wake up the baby.
“So what!? You don’t get it, Derek! You never will. This is my body and I decide what
happens to it. Not you! Just stay here and babysit. Or leave the baby. I don’t care. I’m doing
something with my new powers. I’m going to show that Doctor he messed with the wrong
teenager.” Jody is back at the door now, letting in the morning light and crisp air.
“What if he turns you into a Henchman-woman-beast-thing?!” Derek is now shouting,
despite the sleeping baby. He is scared for Jody and is having a hard time hiding his emotions.
“Are you sure you want me to answer that?”
Derek silently stands there, with no response.
“As long as I keep my powers, I don’t care if I’m one of the ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’.
Who can judge nowadays anyways? You!?”
Derek cowers under his girlfriend’s gaze. “I’m no judge. Or saint. I’m just me.”
“Exactly. You’re just you.” Once again Jody walks over to Derek and starts poking his
chest. “Boring, simple you. Un-evolved you. Evolution is happening in front of your eyes and all
you can do is watch. Not me. Not us hybrids. The Doctor has plans for us. We’re the future.”
“Who are you, Whitney Houston!? The children are the future!? One minute ago, you
wanted to kill the baby. And The Doctor. Now you say he has plans for us? Are you under The
Trance again?” Derek steps closer to her to look for the glaze in her eyes, he sees nothing. He
rocks the baby a bit too aggressively, but it doesn’t seem to mind, it has slept through the
fighting so far, like so many newborns manage to do.
“Derek...” Jody holds Derek’s hand. “We had something special, we did. Now I want
something different than you. We’re growing in different directions, and that’s okay. I think we
should go our separate ways. It’s just easier that way.”
And she finally exits, no last words, no more arguing. Gone.

CHAPTER FIVE — LULLABY
Derek is stunned. Shocked. He would be flabbergasted if he knew what a flabbergast
was. His girlfriend, the girl who he thought was his soulmate, that he would hopefully spend the
rest of his life with, is gone.
As if it knows Derek is alone, the lizard-baby begins to cry. Derek mixes some formula
and tries to feed it with a small cup. Nothing. He sees a small plastic syringe like his baby
cousins used for taking medicine.
Perfect. The monster-baby suckles on the plastic teat. Derek wraps the newborn in more
blankets (sloppily, of course) and rocks on the sofa it while it eats.
He can get used to this. He’ll figure something out. Jody and Leticia will return. Are they
really going to kill The Doctor? Do they want that blood on their hands?
Derek continues rocking and thinks up a song for this baby hybrid.
“Lullaby and goodnight. It’s not your fault you’re messed up…
It would happen anyways, when you were like me and grown up…
So good night, monster baby, here’s to many more nights…
Go to sleep, little beast, and dream of bugs or whatever it is you eat…”
The baby falls back asleep. He walks over to the closet and gently sets the baby in the
incubator-crib, hoping this will keep it safe should any hybrids return. As he is about to turn off
the closet light, he sees a camcorder and 8mm tapes. He can’t believe his eyes. The label on the
tapes say, ‘Karmel and Shaylice Collaborations’.
Okay, now he is genuinely flabbergasted.

CHAPTER SIX — THE FOOTAGE
Derek flips open the camcorder’s side screen. There is a bright blue screen before The
Doctor starts talking to the camera.
“Derek, are you getting this?” The Doctor’s face is pressed against the lens.
“Yeah, Doc, loud and clear.” Recorded Derek says cheerfully in response.
Present day Derek is a bit disgusted hearing his excitement, but he guardedly watches as
The Doctor explains the procedure.
“Welcome world, to our first human: animal collaboration with an extinct species!” The
Doctor has backed up now and is showing his audience around his O.R. “We have collaborated
humans to animals in the past with, let’s say, mixed success. However, we are confident now,
aren’t we, Jody?” The Doc points to his right hand assistant, wearing matching blue scrubs.
“I believe we have worked out all the kinks, so to speak.” Jody agrees, talking directly to
The Doctor and unaware of the camera.
“Everyone at home say ‘Hello’ to Estelle.” The Doctor waits a beat, expecting viewers to
follow his instructions. “Estelle is our Tropeognathus, a pterosaur that flew a couple hundred
million years ago. She was reconstructed by my talented better half, Dr. Baozhai Yang and
myself. Derek, get a close up of this.” The Doctor points to the central cavity of the great bird-
lizard.
Derek zooms in, revealing nothing. No organs or skin or anything.
“You can see there is an opening where most of the skeleton should be, that is where our
buddy Shaylice comes in. Derek and Jody, you already know Shaylice, but others don’t. Let’s
introduce her to the world.”

And present day Derek nearly drops the camcorder as he sees his missing friend. Now it
makes sense. Shaylice. Karmel. Josiah. Sabine. Dory. And so many more...taken.
Derek fast forwards until he finds Karmel and the animal he is collaborated with: the
mastodon that attacked Jody and him a few days ago at the top of the mountain.
But how?
Derek’s eyes hurt like he is about to cry. He is so physically and emotionally tired. He
lets the video camera roll out of his hands onto the plush red sofa and sleeps, something he
hasn’t done well for several days.

CHAPTER SEVEN — MANY MUMBLING MICE
When Derek wakes, the sun is setting. He slept most of the day away. He walks a few
feet outside of The Lab and hears all sorts of bizarre sounds: owls mixed with wolves mixed with
crickets mixed with bats. There is no telling what hybrid beasts stalk the mountainous woods
nearby.
He shuts the door unabashedly, unafraid who might call him a coward. He can be all the
coward he wants, when no one is around.
He trips on a lamp while walking back to the couch.
“WAAAH!” The lizard-baby hisses from its closet-nursery.
“Shoot!” He lingers by the sofa a moment, hoping the crying will stop. It doesn’t.
Whatever was screeching outside is no comparison to the demon-child penned in the closet.
As Derek walks to the closet door, the sound subsides for a moment. Perhaps it fell back
asleep. Perhaps it was just having a bad dream. Derek, paternally inclined even at thirteen, cracks
the closet door open to check on the little one.
It’s true, the baby is quiet and content. That will happen when it has a small mouse stuck
in his mouth, red juices squeezing down the sides. That isn’t as strange to Derek as to how he
unlatched himself from the incubator in the first place. Yet, again, this is no normal baby. Derek
isn’t sure what it is bred with, but he’s not sure he wants to know, either.
“Maybe I’ll find out at sunrise.” he says to himself, and that’s when he realizes how he
can track down Karmel and Shaylice, wherever they are. And with any luck, change them back
to their former selves.

CHAPTER EIGHT — FINDING KARMEL AND SHAYLICE
As kids and close neighbors, Derek and Karmel loved forts. They loved building them,
hiding in them, and creating top-secret communication devices between them. Usually there
would be the headquarters based in the living room, made out of sheets and couch cushions.
Their satellite location was often Karmel’s room upstairs, which they would use as a basecamp
for their expeditions up mountains, in outer space and beyond.
Eventually they grew “too old” for forts, but the right age to construct more sophisticated
devices. Really, these devices were garden hoses, gutter tubes, and other stray supplies they
snuck beneath Karmel’s mom’s watchful eyes. Of course, she knew what they were doing, but
pretended she didn’t so they could have their fun.
Moms always know.
Today, in the O.R., Derek will use a different device to communicate with Karmel. On
some of the video footage of Karmel being fastened into the core of the saber-toothed mastodon,
The Doctor implanted an earpiece alongside Karmel’s head. Karmel had no idea it was there but
this must be how The Doctor commanded Karmel while under The Trance.
Derek needs to hack that channel and speak to Karmel directly, wherever he is, and bring
him back to The Lab, along with Shaylice.
Unfortunately Derek isn’t a hacker. Not even a little bit. The most he knows about
hacking is to say the word “hacking” when he wants to sound cool. Real ‘hackers’ probably
don’t even say hacking. They probably have a more covert term like, ‘splicing’ or ‘embedding’
or something like that.

Derek noiselessly snoops around The Lab, not wanting to rouse the flesh-eating baby, for
some sort of walkie talkie or anything The Doctor used to speak to Karmel and Shaylice. He
reviews the hours long footage, mostly sped up, but slows down when he sees The Doctor
holding a device to his mouth.
It looked like a pen every time Derek previously reviewed the footage, but when he plays
it back with audio, he can clearly hear The Doctor repeating the phrase,
“Testing, Testing, Channel A is working on Karmel.”

CHAPTER NINE — HUNTING THE DOCTOR
When Jody and Leticia left The Lab, they were clueless. They had no inherent way to
track The Doctor down, no animal instincts like other hybrids to sniff, snort, or snarl in his
general direction. Instead, they had to rely on their human capabilities: deduction and reason.
Their first guess was the middle school, since that seemed to be the expanding nerve center for
Altnu and their evil-doing.
It is still daylight, they hadn’t fallen asleep like Derek did back in The Lab. They are
fighting their fatigue for a greater reward: The Doctor.
Jody and Leticia sneak around the back of the middle school and run to the overgrown
garden. They hide in the almost forest like growth. This school garden hasn’t seen love in many
years, but it’s a perfect hideout for Leticia and Jody.
“Last time, there were quite a few silent alarms,” Jody reminds Leticia from beside a five
foot mound of wood chips. “I don’t think we should go in, just survey the outside. Maybe we’ll
spot him in one of the rooms.”
“I don’t know. I really want that Doctor dead. We should go in and get it over with. He’s
probably got a thousand Henchmen and beasts protecting him,” Leticia protests, picking at
weeds as if they were her enemy.
“That’s why we should keep an eye on things before we do anything.”
“Okay, but if we see him, we act tonight, deal?”
“Deal.”
The young ladies shake hands on the demise of their creator and stakeout in the
overgrown garden in the back of the school. It is chilly but their body heat keeps them warm.
They snuggle together a bit closer, as good friends do. They had no intention to do so, but like
Derek, their bodies overwhelmed their brains and convinced them to nap, and so they did, for
several hours.
At sunset, Leticia gently kicks Jody’s horsey legs to wake her.
Estelle and Donny, aka Shaylice and Karmel, are patrolling the outside perimeter of the
school. And they’re heading straight for the garden.

CHAPTER 10 — HIDE AND SEEK AND KILL AND EAT
Shaylice the pterosaur prowls the school lawn on all “fours,” rather than flying.
Paleontologists debate whether pterosaurs were bipeds or quadrupeds, and here is Shaylice,
showing the scientific community how it is done: Manus. Pes. Manus. Pes, etc.
Perhaps Shaylice is as tired as Jody and Leticia and that’s why she isn’t flying. Karmel
the mastodon galumphs beside her. They tromp the yard together, almost the same as when they
would head to the basketball courts during lunch recess some weeks ago.
Leticia holds her breath and Jody does the same. They stay low behind the elderberry and
dogwood shrubs to avoid being seen. Neither has to remind the other to stay quiet. In fact, they
are too scared to say anything at all. Leticia attempts to fold her bright yellow wings, but the
ruffling only causes a greater commotion.
Shaylice and Karmel’s heightened hearing and smell are awakened at the noise. The
pterosaur was built with sight to spot prey from hundreds of feet in the air. The mastodon is
equipped to smell edible foods despite ice, mud, or rough terrain. Thus, they have no problem
recognizing something intriguing in the small rain garden behind the school.
The beasts flank the circular plot that houses various rain garden plants and species. The
eighth graders planted the garden here to prevent huge puddles from returning every spring and
winter. It was an “experiential learning” project that all eighth grade classes participated in.
Science classes chose the plants, math drew up the design, history researched the terrain and
English wrote invitation letters to the community.
Karmel and Shaylice couldn't care less about experiential learning. They are starving.
CHAPTER 11 — SUNSET DINING
There is a restaurant in Apple Lake called Sunset Supper Club. It is one of those mid-
western fixtures that serve local walleye, sturgeon, and other fresh fish from Apple Lake and
touts a picturesque view on the water. Jody, Shaylice, Derek, Karmel, and Leticia’s parents all
went there for dates at some point or another. Everyone did. It was small Apple Lake’s version
of “fine dining.”
The restaurant is only a few blocks from where Leticia and Jody lie in wait, about to be
served as the “catch of the day” behind their school. That is, until Leticia, for whatever reason,
boldly jumps from the garden and rushes toward the prehistoric beasts. That’s right. Bird-Girl
Leticia runs TOWARD the monsters that are easily ten times her size. Jody can’t let Leticia do
this alone, so, for the same insane reason, she charges the beasts as well.
The beasts are shocked. They thought some defenseless prey was waiting to be eaten:
squirrels or chipmunks or something.
No. Leticia and Jody will choose their own expiration date. And today is not the day for
them to be served as the main course.
“¡Pelearemos!” Leticia shouts toward the villains.
The beasts don’t speak Spanish. They are barely surviving speaking the English that is
force-fed through their earpieces. But there, for a split moment, when the sun was setting and
their lives were threatened, Karmel and Shaylice felt human again.
At least for a moment.

CHAPTER 12 — SUNSET SUPPER CLUB
The sunset reminds Leticia where she and Jody should run. The Supper Club. Jody can
sprint those few blocks with her brawny bronco legs and Leticia can fly. Right?
Leticia weaves through the beasts who clunk into each other like a vaudeville act. The
monsters reorient themselves and see the girls exit the parking lot on Lake Road.
“To the supper club!” Leticia calls out while taking flight.
The monsters are not far behind.
They flap.
And sprint.
And flap.
And spring!
They launch on their prey. Karmel’s tusk catches Jody’s jacket and Shaylice claws
Leticia’s shoulders mid-air. The girls are about to be shredded until a honk rings through the air.
Is it the honk of some malicious goose-canine hybrid?
No. It is Derek.
He is driving, or rather swerving recklessly, down the street, bouncing off parked cars
like he is a bowling ball down a bumper lane.
“GET IN!” Derek shouts as he attempts to swing open the door without braking.
Of course, Derek doesn’t have his license. And he’s not a stunt driver. In fact, he has
never driven behind the wheel of anything: not a riding lawnmower, not a golf cart and not even
a go-cart. He was sheltered like that. Needless to say, he has no idea how to handle a maneuver
like braking, opening the passenger door and verbalizing all at once. The result?
He crashes the “borrowed” Jeep Wrangler up the curb and into the side of a house. Derek
quickly reverses and pulls back onto the street where Leticia and Jody stare, stunned.
“Need a lift?” he sneaks from beneath the deflating airbag. Jody and Leticia are in no
position to reprimand Derek for his driving, so they jump in, hoping they don’t die.
CHAPTER 13 — PRE-HISTORI-LOCATOR
“What’s the plan?” Jody pants, between breaths in the passenger seat.
“I don’t know…” Derek switches gears to drive but immediately runs into the mailbox.
“Step on it, Derek!” Leticia screams from the backseat.
It’s too late. Shaylice is on top of the Jeep, piercing the fiberglass roof with her four inch
claws. They easily slice through but have no way to dangle into the Jeep. She has no forearms.
“DEREK!” Jody and Leticia holler simultaneously.
“I’m trying!” Derek cranks the steering wheel and attempts a donut to fling Shaylice off
the roof. She reels into a parked car and lies their motionless for a moment.
Derek stops the donut and sees Karmel the mastodon a half block in front of him. Karmel
seems to be gauging the distance like a bull about to charge. He lowers his enormous head,
replete with seven foot tusks that could stab through the Jeep and flip it over in one motion.
“DEREK!” Jody is shaking Derek in fear and desperation.
“I can’t! I’m stuck on something!” Derek keeps accelerating, with no success.
“Rock it back and forth!” Jody grabs for the wheel.
Derek dutifully rocks it and within a few moments they are free. Karmel wasn’t waiting
of them to figure it out and knocks the side of the Jeep, causing it to spin 540°, facing them head
on with the mastodon once again.
“Floor it, Derek! Smash him!” Leticia calls from the back, egging him on.
“I can’t!” Derek is paralyzed.
“What?! Are we stuck again?!” Jody clarifies, poking her head out the car window.
“No. That’s not a mastodon!” Derek mumbles. “That’s Karmel!”

CHAPTER 14 — FOLLOW THE LEADER
“Stay behind the Jeep,” Derek whispers into the pen-microphone while driving the
beasts back to The Lab. The sun has gone down and apparently so has everyone else in town.
There are no cars. It is like the teens have the town to themselves.
“Where is everyone?” Jody asks Leticia, grave concern covering her face.
“No idea.” Leticia looks around the dark highway. The gas station is closed. The supper
club is closed. There are no headlights. No street lights. Nothing.
“Derek, how did you know about Karmel?” Leticia shouts from the back of the Jeep. The
tear in the roof is allowing lots of wind as they speed down the dark highway to The Lab.
“Because we created him. And we made Shaylice.” He points to the sky.
“Um. What do you mean, ‘we’?” Jody asks, suspiciously.
“When you two left me and the baby, I found the video camera that shows us,
Jody and me, helping The Doctor turn our friends into…” He can’t say it.
Jody looks back at Karmel devotedly following the Jeep, as his earpiece is instructing
him. She hesitates before finishing, “Them?”
“Yes.” Derek clips the pen to his collar and puts both hands on the wheel. “And this mic
is what The Doctor uses to speak to his ‘creations’ when they are under The Trance.”
“So,” Leticia whispers. “What do we do next?”
“Remember that feeling you had at sunrise this morning?” Derek asks.
“This morning? It feels so long ago, but yes. I felt human again,” Leticia asserts.
“Right. At sunrise tomorrow, we’re bringing our friends back to life.”

CHAPTER 15 — MI FAMILIA
Derek has this driving thing figured out. He wonders why licenses aren’t awarded at
thirteen instead of sixteen, but then remembers how much it helps that virtually no one else is on
the road.
So, where is everyone? The small town of Apple Lake, population 800, has been
evacuated by Altnu and The Henchmen because of a rash of teenage abductions. But where have
they been evacuated?
“Derek, I gotta find mi familia,” Leticia demands. “If everyone in town is gone, I gotta
find out what happened to them.” She is trying to call them on her phone, but having no luck.
“And there doesn’t seem to be any cell reception.”
“I want to see my family, too,” Jody agrees. “Give me the microphone and I’ll make sure
those beasts, I mean, Karmel and Shaylice follow us.”
“I don’t know. I definitely wanna figure out where my family is, but it’s dark. And that
baby is in The Lab all alone. Can we get Karmel and Shaylice safe first?”
“I can’t wait. I need to see if they left me a note or are hiding or what,” Leticia keeps
trying to text, and keeps getting the same error messages.
“Okay. I can keep Karmel and Shaylice on my tail while we stop at Leticia’s place. Then
off to The Lab. Okay?” Derek announces.
“Do we even need to go back to The Lab?” Leticia asks. “I mean, don’t you think The
Henchmen or The Doctor are swarming the place by now?”
“They weren’t there when I left,” Derek states. “And how else will we get Shaylice and
Karmel human again?”

“Good question. Family or friends? How DO you choose?” the microphone announces.
It is The Doctor. Apparently, it is a two-way communication device.
Jody grabs the mic. “Where are you, Doctor!? Let’s settle this. Either turn us all back to
humans or we’re going to turn your own creations against you.”
“Yes, you have my pet creations. How is that going so far?” The Doctor giggles.
“Our friends!” Derek shouts from the driver’s seat.
“What do you mean?” The Doctor asks, pretending to play dumb.
“These are our friends! And you can’t have them back!” Leticia speaks into the mic.
“Okay. Again. Family or friends?” The Doctor threatens. “I don’t need all of you. If you
bring back my dear Estelle and Donny, I’ll release my … special guests.”
“Leticia? Are you there? Hermana? Estoy asustado!” Juan Carlos, Leticia’s baby brother
cries over the microphone.
“If you lay a finger on his head, imbécil, I’ll poke your eyes out with my beak and slowly
peck into your skull!” Leticia warns, quite graphically.
“Wow!” The Doctor declares. “Maybe I chose the wrong teen to be my pterosaur. You’re
a fighter. Middle school. One hour. Or Juan Carlos becomes Juan Crocodile.”
And the transmission ends.

CHAPTER 16 — SAVING JUAN CARLOS
“We gotta go there. We gotta save my brother and kill The Doctor.” Leticia is pleading,
rocking Derek’s driver’s seat back and forth with angst.
“We can’t do it all! We can’t save our families, and friends, and the town, and kill The
Doctor and stop Altnu!” Jody places her head between her knees to stop from hyperventilating.
“We gotta try,” Derek says. “The town can wait. We gotta save Juan Carlos.”
Jody looks back to Leticia, “That means giving up Karmel and Jody.”
“Not if we beat The Doctor at his own game,” Derek says as he opens a duffle bag from
the passenger seat floor.
“What is it?” Leticia asks, poking her head up from the back.
“Enough sedatives to knock out every Henchman we see,” Derek says.
Jody looks through the bag. “How are we going to disseminate it all?”
“That’s where you come in,” Derek looks at his friends. “Because I have no idea.”
“Can we get them to drink it?” Leticia asks, which Jody ignores.
“How many syringes do you have?” Jody rummages through the bag. “Three!?”
“I’m sorry! That’s all I could find. He might have more somewhere, but when I tracked
you guys down, I grabbed what I could.” Derek lowers his head a bit, but Jody doesn’t notice.
“We gotta stop at The Lab first,” Jody demands.
“No! My brother. We can’t leave him alone. And The Doctor made it seem like he has
more hostages. It could be any one of our family members!” Leticia cries.
“Okay. Pull over,” Jody declares.
“Why?” Derek asks, keeping his hands steady.

“Just do it!” Jody insists, then guides the wheel for him.
“Fine!” Derek clumsily pulls the car to the side of the dark highway.
Shaylice and Karmel await behind the car for further instructions. They surprisingly don’t
seem very tired. Derek had been driving for about 15 minutes out of town, and they’ve been
keeping up the whole time.
Jody steps out of the car into the freezing night. They are in the middle of nowhere,
halfway between The Lab and the rest of the town. There are no gas stations or recreation areas.
Just farmland.
“I’ll fly ‘Shaylice’ back to The Lab. I did it before,” Jody announces as she places the
duffle bag across her back.
“What?! Why!?” Leticia asks. She has gotten out of the car, too. “At least take this coat.
It’s freezing out here. It feels like the single digits!” She quakes in the frigid air then gives Jody
the jacket she found in the back of the Jeep.
“I’m gonna turn this sedative into a gas, or mist, to knock out as many Henchmen as I can
at the school. Then we’ll return to The Lab by sunrise to fix Karmel and Shaylice.” Her voice is
all authority and calm. She was born for this, a leader in times of crisis.
“Do you know how to make it into a mist?” Derek asks, already knowing the answer.
“I’m the one in high school Chemistry, remember,” Jody winks as she puts on the coat. It
is a blue and white letterman’s jacket, with the letters AL in large print.
“I know. Just don’t take too long. I, um, don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
Derek wants to kiss her but knows this would be unwanted.

“Thanks.” Jody, too, wants things to return to the way they used to be, but isn’t willing to
go there. Her feelings for Derek are complex, perhaps due to her new body, or because she is
seeing Derek in a new light.
“Ugh!” Leticia squeals. “Would you two just kiss and make up already? I’m freezing!”
“You see. It’s just...” Jody begins, then kicks the tires of the Jeep mindlessly.
“Fine, if you two can’t figure you’re crap out, then let’s do something simpler like save
my brother and everyone else from total armageddon!” Leticia smiles then hops back in the Jeep.
Leticia watches Derek and Jody converse outside then cranks up the heat.
Jody looks over her friend/pterosaur, unsure where and how to mount her this time.
“When it’s ready, I’ll give you a sign. Then leave the school ASAP or you’ll be knocked out like
everyone else.” She takes a running start with her horse legs and straddles her friend above her
lowered shoulder blades. Does Shaylice know what’s going on? Is she herself? Or beast?
Derek hands her the pen-microphone. “Here. You’ll need this.”
“Nah, that’s okay. You keep it. I think Shaylice and I will be just fine.”
Leticia rolls down the window. “Jody, you take care of the sedative. We’ll grab my
brother and kill The Doctor if we need to.”
Then, to herself, Leticia says, “And I think we’ll need to.”

CHAPTER 17 — KILLING KARMEL WITH KINDNESS
Derek and Leticia slowly drive back down Lake Road until the school is in sight. He
pulls up behind the Sunset Supper Club to hide the Jeep and this four-ton liability. Their greatest
weapon, Karmel, may be seen any moment—that is if The Doctor isn’t already tracking his
every move. They might stand a chance with whatever chemical mist Jody cooks up, but first
they have to save Leticia’s brother.
They need time.
And assistance.
They don’t have either. Then Derek remembers something. Something he saw with some
of the other hybrids, something that might break Karmel out of his Trance.
“Kindness!” Derek exclaims while pulling the car behind the Sunset Supper Club.
“What!?” Leticia asks, dumbfounded.
“I know it sounds naive, but I saw it! I saw it in action. A few days ago when this giraffe-
baboon thing was stuck under some rubble, a tiny rat-bat saved it, showed it kindness and
incredible strength. Karmel might be able to do the same thing. And maybe we can break him
out of the Trance if we do it to him!”
“Do we have time for this?” Leticia looks at the clock on her phone. “The Doctor is going
to transform my brother in 45 minutes!”
“I know. But how will we free your brother? How do we have any chance!?” Derek is
near yelling, but realizes Leticia is going through enough.
“So, what do we do? Give Karmel the mastodon a big hug?” Leticia jokes.
“Yes!” Derek steps out of the car cautiously. He looks around to make sure no one is
watching them. There could be hybrid spies or Henchmen everywhere looking for them.
“I was just kidding!” Leticia shouts after him, then joins him at a picnic table outside the
restaurant.
“We gotta try something.” Derek whispers into the mic, the one that The Doctor might be
eavesdropping on. “Karmel, I know you’re there, bud. It’s me, your best friend since 1st grade.”
“This is stupid.” Leticia rubs her arms beneath the fleece blanket she found abandoned at
the picnic table.
“Just give me a minute. I know, I know, we don’t have a minute but let’s just try.” Derek
tries again with this behemoth of a best friend. He is barely the size of one of Karmel’s legs.
There was a time when Derek was the chubby one, but now that The Doctor did that liposuction
surgery on him and the, whatever the opposite of liposuction surgery is on Karmel, their roles
have reversed.
Derek cautiously places his hand on Karmel’s extended furry trunk. He is not afraid
because he knows for a fact his friend is in there. He saw the tapes.
“Karmel, you know how I know you’re in there? You have that same hot breath! Man,
you stink!” Derek waves his hand in front of his nose for effect.
“Um, Derek. This beast could crush you like an aluminum can, so, not sure you should be
saying that,” Leticia says as she backs away.
“No. Trust me. It’s how we talk. We mess around. Play-fight. Rough-house. Bust each
other’s, um, bubbles.” Derek pats Karmel on the leg as if he were slugging him on the shoulder.
“Okay!” Leticia steps closer, feeling braver. “Karmel, if you’re in there, this is Leticia.”
Karmel’s wooly head shows no acknowledgment of what is happening.

“If you’re in there, you’d agree you look a lot better now than you did before!” Leticia
holds her ground as she insults the several ton beast before her.
“Yeah! A real upgrade!” Derek adds. “Maybe now you can finally get a date!”
“BARUMPH!” Karmel resounds, slamming his tree trunk sized leg against the ground.
“What? Can’t handle the truth?” Leticia asks.
“I think it’s his hair,” Derek begins, knowing Karmel’s hair was something he was
obsessed with.
“Oh, yes. Let’s talk about how much better your hair looks now! Before you looked like a
puffed up blonde rooster. Now you’re hair doesn’t look half bad. I think if we ever get you out of
this beast, you should go for this matted-down, tick-infected hairdo…”
“STOP!” Karmel shouts from below the trunk.
And Derek and Leticia freeze.

CHAPTER 18 — SLEEPY TIME GASSY MIST POTION
A few bright stars poke through the dark night but it is still a challenge for Jody to see
where they are. Luckily, Shaylice has some sort of sixth sense leading them back to The Lab.
Jody remembers the first time she did this, some days ago, and how she insulted the
pterosaur, the one The Doctor called “Estelle.” Jody wraps her arms around the scaly neck of her
“friend” and is curious how Shaylice could haul both The Doctor and her, when she remembers
she shouldered Derek for 10 miles. For whatever reason, hybrids are immensely powerful.
Jody and Shaylice encircle the mountain until they see The Lab’s dark brown outline. It is
camouflaged in the dark, one has to know it is there in the first place to find it. Or be bored
enough to be climbing the side of Jagged Rock Mountain. They gently glide toward The Lab’s
front entrance.
“Okay, Shaylice. Here’s good.” Jody hollers above the frigid wind into Shaylice’s
inverted ears. Shaylice seems to nod, then flaps a couple more times before drifting to the ground
and landing on her human-sized legs.
Jody dismounts then watches Shaylice “walk” over to a corner of the mountain-building,
presumably for warmth. It was ingenious of The Doctor to collaborate a human with a beast such
as this. Besides the two foot long conical beak, elongated neck, and those 12 foot wings, it is
almost like the pterosaur is part human, rather than the other way around. Seriously.
“Stay here, Shaylice, um, please.”
Jody never thought about what she would do with Shaylice once they got here. There
isn’t exactly a leash she could use, and she feels ashamed to even think of that, tying up her
friend who is already going through such a rough week, to say the least.
Jody considers the very real possibility that Shaylice will take flight, soaring back to the
middle school or to find some nearby late-night snack. Jody decides she will trust Shaylice, give
her the humane treatment The Doctor and Henchmen withheld from her the past week. Who
knows, maybe Shaylice will listen.
Jody enters The Lab’s front door, not caring who sees her. No one does. The hybrids
have migrated to their new nesting area at the middle school. No Henchmen are visible.
She finds what she is looking for almost immediately: a humidifier. Now all she has to do
is convert it to a larger size and—
“WAAAAHHH!”
CHAPTER 19 — MONSTER BABY GO POO POO?
“Dang it! I forgot all about that demon-spawn!” Jody walks up the stairs of the basement
carrying the laundry basket sized humidifier, the “baby” could be heard all the way downstairs.
“What? That’s what you are, isn’t it? A demon!” Jody steps closer to the broom closet
where she assumes the monster-baby is screeching.
“WAAAH!”
“Fine. Fine. You’re not a demon-spawn. Maybe a goblin child? Succu-baby?” She opens
the closet door, only angering the creature more.
“WAAH!”
“Okay. I get it. No name calling. You’re so sensitive.”
Despite misgivings, Jody reaches for the crying newborn and rocks it, just as Derek and
its father had “Where’s your mother, huh, babe?” Jody gently bounces the baby from room to
room, looking for some device to replicate the humidifier. A vaporizer or mister or anything.
Maybe she can place it into the HVAC of the middle school. No one will suspect a thing. Then
again, it might divert into other parts of the building and become useless.
Then she finds the answer. A fog machine. It looks like someone was prepping for a little
Halloween fun.
Jody sighs. It is almost October 31st. Or maybe it’s after Halloween by now. She has no
way of knowing. Her phone won’t update. There’s no one around to ask. Monsters have
miraculously appeared. Her relationship with Derek has vanished. All her friends and family
could be lost or killed if she doesn’t find a way to undo this damage.
How? What would The Doctor do if he had to undo all of this?

Is it even possible?
She pauses her downward spiral and gets to work. She grabs the monster-baby and
rewraps it tightly in some hospital linen. She still has the duffle bag full of sedatives. And now
she has the fog machine and humidifier. She breaks off the only components she thinks she will
need and stuffs them in the duffle.
She takes another sheet and wraps it around her as a sling, testing it several times to make
sure it is secured. She then returns outside to Shaylice.
Who has flown away.

CHAPTER 20 — WAKING KARMEL
“Karmel! Buddy! We know you’re in there. Come out, come out wherever you are!”
Derek continues to prod his friend who just spoke a moment ago. “I heard you! Come back! I
know you can hear me! What do you need us to do!?” Derek is wailing, banging his fists against
his best friend’s thick, shaggy chest.
No response.
Did Leticia and Derek really hear him? Did they imagine it? Was it a trick? Was it
The Doctor speaking through the pen-microphone? No. Derek knew his friend’s voice. Karmel is
in there—and they are going to pull him out no matter what it takes.
“What do we do?!” Leticia yells looking at her phone. “Time is almost up!”
“I don’t know. Jody usually comes up with some sort of idea.”
“Okay, what about this: we ride on Karmel, or hide behind him, back to the middle
school. If The Doctor sees him but not us he will just think that Karmel has come back because
he was called.” Leticia is jumping up and down now to stay warm.
“Do you want this jacket? I have a thick skin I don’t mind the cold.” Derek removes
The green ski jacket and throws it to Leticia.
“Thanks! Are you sure?” Leticia asks but doesn’t really care, she is shaking. Her feathers
give her some warmth but she is still warm-blooded and needs to stay that way.
“I’m fine. So what do we do after Karmel is seen?”
“We ambush!” Leticia grins, perhaps a bit too sure of her plan.
“Just the two of us?” Derek is giving up before the fight even begins.
“No. Are you kidding me? Now that we know Karmel is in there, and The Doctor
doesn’t know we know, we can use this to our advantage!”
“Okay, okay.” Derek is starting to catch on. “And have Karmel here, this better,
smarter version of Karmel…”
“BARUMPH!” Karmel bellows.
“Yes! Yes! I knew you were still in there!” Derek continues. “We’ll have Karmel get
as close as he can to The Doctor, and destroy who or whatever he can!”
The earth quakes. Not from a volcano or tectonic shift, but from Karmel. He leans
back on his hind legs, excitedly, and plummets his front half to the earth, shaking it and
everything around them. A block down the street a car alarm goes off. A water main ruptures
because a nearby fire hydrant erupts like a geyser.
“Karmel’s in there, alright. And it sounds like he’s ready to kick some butt.”
Derek and Leticia scale their four-ton friend, trying their best to stay beneath the
tangled blankets of hair, lest their plans be ruined before it begins.

CHAPTER 21 — LIZARD BABIES, AM I RIGHT!?
Jody is stuck. She could easily run down the mountain to the middle school with the
sedatives and fog machine strapped to her back, but the baby? What can she do with it?
Jody looks up at the starlit sky, still several hours from sunrise. Perhaps there is
another microphone or earpiece she can use to communicate with Shaylice, but she doesn’t have
the time to look. The Doctor is going to kill Juan Carlos (and maybe others) any minute.
“What am I going to do with you?” She looks down at the adorably vile newborn. “I’m
sure you could survive out here on your own, right? Derek left you alone, so, I can too…”
The baby licks her arm. Not what she expected, but that’s monster babies for you.
“You are kinda cute, in your own repulsive sort of way. You don’t know what
repulsive means, do you? No. You’re just a baby, aren’t you? A cute wittle lizard baby.” She
dangles her fingers in front of its face, playfully rubbing its nose. Then quickly retracts them as it
tries to bite them off.
Then an idea strikes her. She sets the baby-monster on the ground on all fours.
“Normally, I wouldn’t try this with a newborn but since you’re...different.”
And before Jody finishes talking, the lizard baby blasts down the mountain terrain in the
dark, Jody trying her best to keep up.

CHAPTER 22 — THE INCREDIBLE VANISHING TOWN
The monster baby is fast but has no stamina.
Perhaps it was motivated by hunger at first, but after a minute or two it was done. Kaput.
Jody is only seconds behind when she scoops up the baby with one sweep and trots down
the dark mountain, carefully avoiding boulders and unseen branches. She decides to stop and re-
sling the baby so that her arms can be free to protect their faces.
Her horsey legs and cloven hooves take her down the mountain with impressive speed,
like an ibex escaping danger down the Ethiopian highlands. She jumps from boulder to boulder
in some places, knowing every second counts, while constantly checking on the little one.
Within minutes she makes it back to Lake Road and Apple Lake. She passes house after
empty house and peers into the windows where lights were left on but sees no signs of anyone.
How could everyone have disappeared in the just a couple days?
She imagines possibilities where 800+ citizens could vanish:
1) A “Shrink Ray” similar to “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” was invented and all Apple
Lake tested it the same night, shrinking everyone to ant-size.
2) Everyone is Trick or Treating at the nearby wealthy town of Diamond Creek,
which really isn’t that far-fetched considering the mounds of candy they give.
3) Some sort of natural disaster is on its way here and the citizens are hiding.
The third option seems the most likely, but also the most boring. What sort of natural
disaster could befall the town besides the occasional tornado?
Then she remembers Altnu’s ability to brainwash anyone they want.

CHAPTER 23 — PARTY TIME
The Doctor is in a festive mood as he creepily sings twisted nursery songs to the
nine-year-old Juan Carlos in the principal's office. He has taken the liberty of using the school's
loudspeaker system to further amplify his angelic voice:
Little boy blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn
Where is the boy who got turned into a sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.
Juan Carlos shakes in the corner of the principal office, not from fear of detention, but
death. This is his first time being in the principal’s office, and maybe his last.
“Hey J.C., it’s okay. It’s a great day. No matter what happens, you’ll be fine. If your
sister shows up, she'll witness your transformation into an animal of your choice. If she doesn't
come, we'll get the party started without her.” The Doctor swirls in the principal’s chair, happily
abusing his power like any good principal should.
“Don’t worry, I know what I'm doing. I've done this dozens of times before you.”
Juan Carlos sniffles, wiping his nose with his hospital gown.
“Tell you what, let's sing a song you like.” The Doctor shines one of his awful smiles to
the boy. “What do you wanna hear? Halloween is over so we can sing Christmas carols, right?”
At this news, the second-grade Juan Carlos perks up. “Can you…” Juan Carlos begins.
“Can you sing ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’?
“Sure, but just so you know, this year Santa may be ‘coming to town’ with not only
flying reindeer but pterodactyls and flesh-eating butterflies and —”
Juan Carlos starts to whimper again.

“I'm just messing with ya, kid. Somebody better than Santa is coming. Listen,
You better watch out, You better not cry
Better not pout, I'm telling you why
The Doctor is coming to town!
He's making a list, He's checking it twice;
He's gonna find out who'll get turned into mice.
The Doctor is coming to town!
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows when you've been bad or good
So be good or you’ll turn into a snake!
“So, you gonna be ‘good for goodness sake’? Or do you need to be turned into a snake?”
The Doctor opens up his white lab coat and withdraws a Trance syringe.
He walks closer to Juan Carlos, who shuts his eyes quickly and nods in frightened
agreement.
“I’ll be good! I’ll be good!”

CHAPTER 24 — HYBRIDS COMING HOME TO ROOST
“BAROOOMPH!”
Karmel trumpets at the front doors of Charles Chesnutt Middle School. The two story
brick building was built in the 1950s but stands very solid still today. It is a 5th-9th grade school,
which isn’t very common, but small towns have to do things differently. There is one K-4th
grade elementary school, named Sharon Stidfole Elementary, after a local teacher who died of a
brain disease. And the high school was just called Apple Lake High School.
Leticia and Derek both pound on the glass doors to get anyone’s attention.
There is no response from inside but the teens can hear music.
In the gym, The Doctor is DJ’ing a Halloween/Pre-Christmas Dance and this “music”
(which is a ear-bleeding mix between electronic and honky tonk) is drowning out Karmel,
Leticia, and Derek’s attempts to “storm the gates.”
Unseen by Henchmen and her fellow hybrid teens, Jody sneaks through the school’s
basement window that has not been repaired since her previous B&E to save Leticia.
The path is clear. There are no Henchmen inside the boiler room/holding cell. Jody
remembers coming here while looking for Shaylice and Karmel, where rat-roaches slumbered in
their cages. Now they are gone. Where could they be? And where are the other hybrids penned in
here with Leticia? Were they unleashed on the community? Did they eat everyone in town—is
that what happened to everyone?
Jody looks around the dirty, water-stained boiler room to find what she came here for: the
HVAC system.
She unpacks the vent and other components of the fog machine (which The Doctor
probably wanted for his DJ set anyways) and traces the vents to the furnace. She has never done
anything like this, but is determined to keep her word if they are going to save Juan Carlos. She
unscrews a side panel of the furnace and finds a vacuum hose to direct the mist through. After
she carefully removes the sedative ampoules from their canisters, she tinctures one through the
mist. Growing restless and vindictive, she smashes the rest inside the water reservoir.
She has no way to see if it is working. She can’t go upstairs without any sort of gas mask.
Then she remembers she forgot to warn her friends.

CHAPTER 25 — GET DOWN TONIGHT
Luckily, Karmel, Leticia, and Derek haven't made it inside the school yet, so they face no
threat from the sedative mist. Unluckily, Juan Carlos is still in there.
Jody delicately retreats through the window she came through and runs around the
rectangular school to get a better look at the execution of her plan. She can see lights on in the
gym, but the windows are too high. She can hear music blaring, or rather, a bass thumping
obnoxiously, but decides to wait near the gym exit in case there is a mad rush of monsters
looking for fresh air.
She waits a minute. Five minutes.
When she enters the back door to the gym, she is stunned. Horse-Zebras (her hybrid
cousins) are snoozing against each other in mid slow-dance. PenGoats, Croco-Gators, and other
hybrids are sprawled throughout the gymnasium floor. All fast asleep.
There doesn't seem to be a theme to this dance, unless “Evil Doing” or “Ne’er Do Well-
ing” is a theme. Which, of course, it is. It’s how people with too much power operate.
Derek and Leticia show up behind Jody inside the gym, admiring her handiwork. It looks
like all the animals at some nefarious zoo have gone to bed at the same time. It’s so adorable.
Then the three teens take turns asking questions:
“Um. Where are The Henchmen?” Derek asks, looking around and seeing only beasts.
“And my brother?”
“And that slimy Doctor?” asks Jody, stamping her hoof onto the gym’s linoleum floor,
wishing it was his head.

CHAPTER 26 — HUTCHINSON
“Your weak Doctor is gone.” A man in dark green camo fatigues calmly pronounces
from the opposite end of the gym. He marches forward with deliberate, even steps, as if he is
counting each one (like they do at the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier). He appears to be the opposite of everything The Doctor is: collected, well-kept, serious.
“He is nothing compared to what we have created.” The man is Hutchinson, the Head
Henchman. None of these teens have seen him before, but Karmel and The Rejects have,
Hutchinson is the one who caught them some days ago.
“What!? Who are you!?” Jody voices defiantly, readying her fists.
“Oh, please. What are you three teens going to do to me?”
He whispers something into his shoulder. Soon after, dozens, then hundreds of
Henchmen line the perimeter of the gymnasium—turned hybrid dance party—turned
battleground.
“It’s The Henchmen! Did Altnu kill The Doctor?” Jody almost sounds sad, until she
remembers the distorted ruthlessness of The Doctor himself.
“Where’s my brother!?” Leticia demands walking straight up to Hutchinson, unafraid.
“What do you teens always say? IDK and IDC,” Hutchinson responds, cooly turning his
face to her pleas.
“WHERE IS HE!” Leticia backs up then flies toward Hutchinson with all her bird-speed.
Hutchinson lifts his titanium-strong palm and Leticia’s face rams into it, knocking her
out. Jody gallops to her friend and brushes her hair, starting to cry.
“What the…? How did you do that?!” Jody asks, both fascinated and scared.
“We are Altnu,” all The Henchmen respond at once from across the entire gym.
“Say what now?” Derek asks, loudly in jest. He holds his hands up to his ear.
The Henchmen repeat in unison, “We are Altnu.” They are as calm as Hutchinson.
Derek pretends to take out invisible earbuds. “I’m really sorry. I had these in. One more
time. Who are you guys? Art Nouveau? All systems go? All Tuna? What kind of ridiculous
name is ‘All tuna’?”
The Henchmen slowly stomp closer to the teens in the center of the gymnasium.
“Derek! Really? You have to make jokes now?” Jody yells, then starts breathing heavily
as the men approach. She starts curling inside herself, trying to wish it all away.
“What? Can’t a guy lighten things up?” Derek pats her on the shoulder.
Jody shakes off his hand and her fear and stands up straight. “Okay. Here’s what we’re
going to do. Leticia, can you hear me?”
Leticia slowly rises, rubbing her forehead where a welt is growing.
The Henchmen hem in on their enemy, like a wall of ants encircling their food. Except,
these ants are human-sized, and for some reason very, very powerful.
“Yes!” Leticia shouts from a few feet away, fear in her eyes.
“Okay. Derek is going to run outside. We’re going up. Into the rafters. Got it?”
“YES!” Leticia and Derek shout together.
Jody screams, “NOW!”
In a flash, Derek rushes toward the door and the girls fly/jump for the ceiling.
Unfortunately, it is all in vain. Hutchinson, an alarmingly fast and accurate shooter, has
each of his targets on the floor in a couple seconds. They are tranquilized, not dead...yet.
CHAPTER 27 — PRISONERS AGAIN? REALLY!?
When Leticia, Derek, and Jody awake, they are in a white room below the boiler room.
Juan Carlos is there as well, but he is sedated. White walls confine them, similar to the sterile
prison Jody was thrust into some days ago below The Lab. A glass ceiling hangs above.
“Can you see anything?” Derek asks.
“No. No Henchmen. Nothing,” Leticia flies up a couple feet to be sure.
“What time is it?” Derek asks.
“Seriously? Do you have a date?” Jody asks.
“Possibly. With my friend, Karmel. What time is it!?” he repeats, annoyed.
“Don’t yell at me! It’s not my fault you lost your phone!” Jody fires back.
“Ugh!” Derek tries jumping but doesn’t have the same skills as his animal/human friends.
“Has the sun risen yet? Can either of you see if the sun has risen?”
Jody gets a running start and jumps a few feet. Leticia flaps to the ceiling.
“No. No sunlight,” Leticia offers.
“Then there’s still time. If we can get Karmel and Shaylice—” Derek turns to Jody.
“You mean find Shaylice.” Jody corrects him, happily.
“Fine, yes. If we can find them again, they can help us take out these super soldier
Henchmen.” Derek paces around the room, kicking and punching the air, ready to battle.
“It’s done, dude,” Leticia takes off her green jacket and sits on it. “Get over it. How will
we get out of here?”
“With this…”Derek pulls out a pen from his pants pocket, and calls for Karmel.
CHAPTER 28 — ON THIN ICE
Minutes pass. What seems like an hour. Finally the basement begins to quake.
“What is that!?” Jody leans her back against the wall, instinctively.
“He’s here. He made it.” Derek smiles, looking above.
The teenagers look up at the glass ceiling. Juan Carlos is still sedated on the floor. A
padded brown foot the size of a student desk pounds on the glass. A sharp crack slithers across
the glass ceiling like ice on a frozen lake. The teenagers run to the far corner to avoid the
downpour of glass soon to come.
Karmel stomps again, this time breaking a hole several feet wide. Glass rains down.
“Let’s go!” Leticia shouts, wasting no time. She scoops up her little brother and flies out
the opening.
“Wait! Leticia!” Jody calls up to her.
“Yeah?” Leticia pokes her head down into the holding cell.
“Make sure the baby is still where I told you it is. Okay?” Jody is noticeably worried.
“I’ll have my bro watch him in there.”
Jody nods then tries high-jumping her way out, but keeps missing.
“You know, I could give you a lift,” Derek offers, cupping his hands in front of him.
“No! I can get it. I’ll get some rope to help you out.” Her stubbornness is legendary.
“Come on. You keep coming a foot or two short. Let me help.” He offers his hands out
for her to launch from.
“I can do it without you! I don’t need you anymore!” She gallops again and misses.
Again.
“Okay. I can tell you’re still mad at me, for some reason.”
Jody sneers at him.
“Okay. We can talk later.” He throws up his hands. “But it’s okay to take help from
friend.” He is genuinely interested in listening to her.
“Fine! Only because I don’t know what’s taking Leticia so long.”
“I get it. Totally,” Derek announces while holding out his hands firmly.
“Your hands will break that way. Just lean over and I’ll thrust off your back. Trust me.”
“You got it, boss.” Derek smiles, almost like old times.
Jody backs up, gets a running start, and as she said she would, lightly springs off Derek’s
back. She catches the edge of the ceiling until Karmel lowers one of his mighty tusks. Jody grabs
the ivory hook and Karmel pulls her the rest of the way.
“And then there was one...” Derek mumbles to himself. He paces for a few moments,
thinking about this interaction with his former girlfriend, wondering where he went wrong. Then
the length of an extension cord is thrown down to him.
“Tie it around you like a belt!” Jody insists. “Karmel can pull you up. Right, big fella?”
She pats the wooly cheek of the gargantuan mastodon who once tried to kill her.
“Quickly!” Leticia rushes back in and shouts. “The sun is starting to rise!”
CHAPTER 29 — PINK TO ORANGE
Once out of the underground prison, the teens walk out the gaping hole Karmel left when
his body met brick. Yes! The sun is about to rise. Derek’s brain starts racing.
“Okay. This isn’t just for Karmel.” He looks to his friends. “This is for all of you.”
A sudden realization slides across Leticia and Jody’s faces. They are waiting in the pre-
glow of the sun. Fall birds such as the rapid Too-Hee! of the Midwestern song sparrow can be
heard ringing in the new day. Leticia feels an urge to join in the greeting, but resists.
“What should we do?!” Leticia asks, excited.
“Um. Think happy thoughts?” Derek offers.
“For god’s sake, Derek, be serious!” Jody reprimands. “This isn’t Peter Pan.”
“Okay. Yeesh. I have the formula The Doc used. It’s in my bag.”
Just then an entourage of Henchmen march down the stairs, all in perfect unison. There
are at least a dozen of them in their matching green camo fatigues. Their small hats sit on their
heads like lids to a teapot.
“It’s too late! They’re here! We’re screwed! It’s over!” Jody shakes her hands and
bounces slightly, in anxiety and chilliness.
Derek attempts to reassure Jody, even so far as to comfort her with his hand.
“Get off me!” Jody slaps his hand.
“Hey! Stop yelling at me.” Derek is emotionally hurt but trying to stay strong. “I’m doing
the best I can. I don’t know why you hate me all of a sudden, but I’m trying.” He steps further
toward the trees and away from the impending Hench-ocolypse.
“Um. Guys…” Leticia says softly, pointing toward the boiler room door.
“What!?” Jody and Derek yell in unison.
“Henchmen. Death. Sunrise. Becoming human again. You know...”
“Not me,” Jody steps back over the crumbling brick wall that leads to the boiler room.
“I’m not ready to forfeit my powers. Not till the Henchmen are stopped, and we do whatever we
need to save our town.”
“Bad to the bone. I’m with you.” Leticia smiles then walks back to the wall.
“What!? You two are refusing your chance?”
“For now, Derek. Just get Karmel back, okay? Do whatever it is you have to do.” Leticia
places her hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Bring him back.”
The teenage girls use their wits and hybrid super-strength to barricade the boiler room
door. They stack the large kennels that kept teenagers in them a few days ago. There is an eight
foot long metal table they also slide toward the door.
“Ready, Karmel?” Derek asks, while withdrawing the plunger on a large syringe.
Karmel’s trunk raises in agreement.
“Okay. The Doctor said we only have a moment. We’re going to use it.”
Derek watches the skies. The needle presses against Karmel’s flabby hip. And as the Pink
turns to Orange, Derek squeezes the plunger, praying this will bring his friend back.
CHAPTER 30 — KARMEL’S RETURN
“BUHHH!” Karmel booms. The colossal mastodon falls on its side, similar to the day
Karmel was surgically sewn into its core. He lies there, motionless.
“Karmel!” Derek screams, shaking every part of the enormous beast he can move.
“Hey! Get off me, bro! I’m trying to sleep!” A familiar voice responds.
Derek backs away, “Karmel! You’re back! Wait, where are you inside this thing?”
“I’m in here. Boiling up. Wow, and I thought it was hot under that pea-pod costume!”
Derek starts digging again for his formerly prehistoric friend, he has to be under this wool
somewhere, “We didn’t know what happened to you. You tried to kill us, like, a lot.”
“Yeah. Sorry ‘bout that. I mean, I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
“I get it. I was under The Trance too,” Derek steps on Karmel’s real leg somehow.
“OW! What’s the plan for getting me out of here?”
“Um, Jody!” Derek hollers toward the girls upholding the barricade.
“A little busy here!” Jody snaps, pushing back against the boiler room door.
“Oh, I got this.” Karmel rolls over then fully stands. He struts toward the weakening door
that is holding back a dozen Henchmen. He leans his large, shaggy head, about the size of a
SmartCar, against the door. The door easily breaks off the hinges and several of The Henchmen
are crushed against the hallway wall.
“Derek, you wanted a battle, you got one!” Leticia throws a busted pipe his way.
“Wait. Where are your brother and the baby?” Derek asks.
“They’re safe,” Leticia reassures while slashing throats and dodging bullets.
CHAPTER 31 — DARPA
Since the late 1980’s, when the Cold War was ending (if it ever really ended), the U.S.
government has been researching various ways to make soldiers stronger, faster, and stealthier.
Various exoskeletons and combat suits have been created to give soldiers increased night vision,
hearing, seeing, and in some cases, telepathy.
Millions, if not billions, of dollars have poured into the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) which has then funneled into various universities such as MIT,
Stanford University and other top colleges.
The best minds in our nation, and sometimes from outside our nation, are currently
working to create soldiers that can withstand pain, not sleep for days, and inhabit extreme cold
and hot temperatures, as well as other scientific marvels.
Why is The Doctor interested? Some discoveries are thanks to “super soldiers” that
already exist in nature: cheetahs, whales, bears, wolves, and, yes, the mighty squirrel.
Since his days at the University of Chicago, The Doctor has teamed with a department of
DARPA known as ARB, the Animal Research Branch. Through The Doctor and other top
scientists findings, the military is now able to replicate:
1) The hibernation of a bear to help keep soldiers alive when awaiting rescue.
2) The cold tolerance of a squirrel in winter through special enzymes found in its liver.
3) The sleep avoidance of whales and dolphins (through inter-lobal brain activity).
4) The speed of a cheetah and the stamina of a wolf.
What about this telepathy and super-strength? That’s where The Doctor and DARPA differ.
CHAPTER 32 — DOCTOR NICE GUY?
Derek, Jody, Karmel, and Leticia do not know the depth of what The Doctor is planning
with these hybrids, or his partnership with Altnu and The Henchmen. The teens have been
repeatedly lied to, manipulated, and literally brainwashed by him, so he isn’t on the top of their
“People We Can Trust” list.
Still, as Karmel the mastodon finishes pummeling the last of the impressively strong
Henchmen invading the school basement, Derek notices another underground prison. He isn’t
doing anything else particularly productive besides an occasional swing and miss at one of the
Henchmen that escape Jody’s horsey kicks or Leticia’s claws. He sees a man balled up in the
corner, rocking back and forth. He doesn’t seem to be rocking on his own, though. There is some
sort of blanket moving him.
After further inspection, Derek recognizes the blanket itself is moving and crawling. It is
the repulsive roach-rats that captured Shaylice and Karmel days ago. They are keeping their
master warm and comfy.
Unless they are slowly eating The Doctor alive?
“Jody and Leticia! Quick, look!” Derek calls his friends over.
The teenage girls around several Hench-bodies to see what Derek is excited about.
Karmel walks on top, uninterested in treading carefully over the men who imprisoned him.
“What is it?” Jody looks down into the underground prison.
“It’s The Doctor,” Leticia says, almost sympathetically.
“THE DOCTOR!?” Karmel booms from the hallway. “Just the man I want to see.”
CHAPTER 33 — KARMEL’S REVENGE
Karmel warns his friends to move before breaking the glass floor leading to The Doctor.
In only one terrifying stomp, a hole is made, sending thousands of shards just a few feet away
from The Doc and his pets.
Human Karmel would have eagerly jumped into the pit with The Doctor. However, if
mastodon Karmel does so, there would be no getting out—just as his prehistoric ancestors
couldn’t millennia ago in that lake in Colorado. He would stay there until he died.
“We have to get him out.” Karmel sounds demanding, though not necessarily mean.
“I’m not going by those nasty rats,” Jody argues, peeking into the holding cell.
“No way,” Leticia agrees, turning back to the boiler room door. “Let him rot.”
“Fine,” Derek grabs the extension cord he used to pull himself up earlier. “Since you all
saved my life a few times over, I’ll pull my weight. Karmel, can I tie this around your tusk?”
“Go for it.” Karmel leans forward to belay his friend down. Unfortunately Karmel’s huge
head accidentally knocks Derek off balance, dropping him ten feet underground.
THUMP!
“Oh, snap! Derek, are you okay!?” Karmel calls down to his friend, but Derek cannot
hear him.
He has been knocked unconscious and lies motionless, as the rat blanket slowly wriggles
off their Doctor/Mother onto Derek’s open body.

CHAPTER 34 — DEREK DOWN
“Derek!” Jody hollers, then lowers herself from the edge of the basement floor.
Leticia follows with a couple quick flaps of her winged arms and lands between The
Doctor and Derek. “You make sure Derek is okay!” she shouts while kicking some of the rats off
Derek’s face. “I’ll try to get The Doctor back up.”
Leticia had no problem flying with Jody or Juan Carlos on her back, but she’s uncertain
she will have the strength to heave The Doctor. To her surprise, she carries him as easily as Jody.
The Doctor is still sedated as Leticia, not so gently, throws him onto the boiler room
floor. Jody and Derek follow soon after with the extension cord. Derek dances around,
repeatedly brushing his body to make sure no rat-roaches are still crawling on him.
“Thank you, Jody. I’m sorry I screwed up. Again!” Derek says melodramatically.
Jody ignores him and uses the extension cord to tie The Doctor up to the scorching
furnace. His limp body makes it tricky, but it’s better than his mouth flapping.
The four teenagers stand over The Doctor, uncertain what to do or say next.
Jody walks to the utility sink, fills up a small bowl, and splashes it on The Doctor’s face.
He stays sedated.
“I tried the nonviolent way first. You all saw that, right?” Jody tells her comrades as she
raises her hand to slap The Doctor.
“NOPE! I’M UP! NO NEED FOR THE SLAPPIES!” The Doctor cries.
“Dang!” Jody mutters, then walks back to the sink.
“Where is Shaylice!?” Karmel bellows from below his trunk.
“And our families!” Leticia adds. “We met you here, but we only found Juan!”
“I don’t know where Shaylice is. And I only had your brother. I swear.” The Doctor
struggles under jos restraints, trying to break free.
“How did you get Juan Carlos? Huh!? Where did our families go if you don’t have them?
Where did everyone in this town go!?” Leticia takes the bowl and splashes him again.
“Ptew!” The Doctor spits. “The Henchmen evacuated the whole town. They’re in a
bunker below Altnu Headquarters, below Apple Lake.”
“How did you get Juan Carlos?!”
“He found me. He must have been hiding during the evacuations, but when he told me
you were his sister I knew I could use that to get you all back here.”
“Why did you want us back here?” Jody asks.
“To stop The Henchmen. They’re out of control.”

CHAPTER 35 — RENEGADE HENCHMEN
The Doctor proceeds to tell the teens about his involvement with DARPA and their
Animal Research Branch. He tells them everything he knows about the government’s plans to
create “super soldiers” and how it became less about what he and his wife wanted.
“The government took our designs and turned everything, and everyone, into weapons.
Those soldiers up there, they’re killing machines.” The Doctor sighs.
“Are they human? Or some sort of cyborgs?” Derek asks.
“They were human at one point, but now I’m not sure. The Head Henchman, Hutchinson,
has super-strength like a hybrid, but he appears to still be human.”
“We figured that out the hard way,” Leticia snaps at The Doctor then rubs her red
forehead. “So, you expect us to help you?”
“AND believe you?” Jody adds. “You haven’t been the most honest person to us since we
met you. Why in the world would we believe anything you say now?”
“Because if we don’t stop them, The Henchmen will take over the world.” The Doctor
pleads his case to these four Supreme Court justices.
“Taking over the world is exactly what you wanted. And you abandoned your baby to do
it. These are all lies.” Derek pushes The Doctor’s bare arm against the furnace.
“OWW!! No. My Gregor. Is he okay?” The Doctor speaks softly.
“He’s safe. My brother is watching him. If it were up to me, you’d never see him again!”
Leticia spits at The Doctor’s feet.
“I thought you didn’t care about the ‘monster baby,’ Leticia?” Derek turns to her.
“I care about the baby, if the alternative is it being with this tonto loco.” She kicks some
loose dirt at his face.
“I’m guessing tonto loco doesn’t mean ‘competent father’…” The Doctor smiles, trying
to win the teens over.
“I’m sick of your twisted sense of humor! And yours, too, Derek!” Jody’s face turns red
as she screams at both of them.
“Hey! Don’t compare me to him just because we both joke around,” Derek yells back.
“No. I’m sick of more than your jokes. I’m sick of saving you. I’m sick of coddling you.
I’m sick of being your ‘everything.’ And I am definitely not helping this stupid Doctor!” Jody
rushes out of the boiler room, unprepared for the dozen Henchmen that await her.
“There’s more! They just keep coming!” Jody screams as she high-kicks one in the face.
“You see,” The Doctor says arrogantly. “You have to help me. We have to help each
other. And I have a plan.”

CHAPTER 36 — THE DOCTOR’S PLAN
“First things first,” Karmel states while holding the broken door and a couple metal tables
as the new barricade. “Where was the last place you saw Shaylice?”
“I saw her,” Jody begins while trying to rehang the door. “At The Lab. She flew me there
to pick up the mist I used to knock the hybrids out. But then flew away.”
“The mist!” Leticia shouts “Maybe she’s knocked out somewhere in the school!”
“Or Hutchinson and the others are using The Trance on her,” The Doctor adds.
“Like you did to us!” Karmel shoots water from his trunk at the bound Doctor.
“Yuck! Ptew! Yes. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. Now it’s all out of control. Out of
my control and certainly out of Altnu’s control.” The Doctor wipes his face with his shoulder.
“Okay. So, we go upstairs. Find Shaylice, maybe on the roof or somewhere she’d fit, and
snap her out of The Trance. But how do we do that if it isn’t sunrise anymore? We missed it!”
“Sunrise? What does it matter if it’s sunrise?” The Doctor asks.
“You said hybrids become human again at sunrise!” Derek reminds The Doctor.
“What!? That’s ridiculous. They’re medicated by highly-concentrated Scopolamine,
‘Devil’s Breath,’ the world’s most powerful naturally occurring psychotropic drug. Not some
witch’s spell. What do you think this is, a Disney movie? Did you try kissing any of the hybrids
to break their spell, too!?”
The Doctor is unnecessarily obnoxious, and Derek is uncontrollably pissed. He pushes
The Doctor’s face against the boiling furnace panel.
“AHHH!” The Doc screams in anguish.
“Derek!” Jody snaps.

“What!? Am I doing this wrong, too!? Are you going to save me like always?!” Derek
shouts at his former girlfriend.
“Yeesh. Teenage angst. Get a grip already.” The Doctor snarks while rubbing his burnt
cheek against his shoulder.
“And you! You don’t know when to shut up, do you!” Jody joins Derek in grilling The
Doctor’s face against the furnace.
“AAAH! For the love of God! Stop!” The Doctor is bawling now.
“Oh, this isn’t even close to the pain you’ve caused us and our families.” Leticia traces
one of her sharp talons along his burnt cheek. “I say we make him suffer.”
“I’m in.” Jody says quickly. “Derek, are you going to defend your buddy again?”
“Not this time. Let’s do this. Make it hurt.” He grabs a metal pipe.
“WAIT!”
This voice of reason belongs to Karmel. Reluctantly.
“You’re going to kill him! If we do that none of us will return to our old selves. I want
this clown to pay as much you do. Look what he did to me. But not yet. I say we keep him down
here. I’ll guard him against The Henchmen if you three go up to search for Shaylice.”
Derek nods. “I’ll stay with you.”
“No. We need help up there looking for Shaylice,” Karmel says.
“Trust me. I think it’s best if I stay here.” Derek looks to Jody, who turns away.
CHAPTER 37 — THE SEARCH FOR SHAYLICE
Jody and Leticia are once again out by the garden where Shaylice and Karmel trapped
them the day before. The morning sun is brightening. They search the garden, the playground
and anywhere else a ten foot long pterosaur with twenty feet wings can hide.
“I wish there was some way to teach The Doctor a lesson,” Leticia thrusts one of the
rubber swings over the top pole.
“I know, but Karmel is right. As soon as we find Shaylice, The Doc needs to fix us,” Jody
responds, looking up the nearby oak trees.
“What if The Doctor refuses?”
“Are you kidding? The cowardly Doctor? He was already peeing his pants just talking
with us. We'll make sure he plays ball.” Jody sneers.
“Plays ball, huh? Since when are you the sports enthusiast?” Leticia quips.
“Ha! Fine. We'll make sure he doesn't...drop any stitches.”
The teens laugh foolishly, something they haven't done for days.
“Do you think everything will go back to normal if we stop The Henchmen?” Leticia
stops near the purple elderberry bush where they hid from their prehistoric friends yesterday.
“I don't know. All I know is I want to find Shaylice and sleep for a day!”
“And watch the new season of ‘Love Languages’!” Leticia sits on top of the metal slide.
“Yes! Those boys from Spain are fine!” Jody jumps the three feet onto the slide with one
horsey hop.
“Um, excuse me! And the guys from Mexico City!” Leticia nudges Jody’s shoulder.
“You're right. I just need me a new man.” She rests her head against the railing.
“Is Derek that bad?” Leticia puts one yellow wing over her friend.
“Ugh! I don’t want to talk about him.” Jody slides down the metal slide, avoiding the
conversation.
“Okay. That’s fine.” Leticia follows her and they walk to the rain garden, then lie down
looking up at the newly risen skies.
“He’s just so annoying! And needy! I want a real man in my life, not a boy I need to take
care of. I want someone to take care of me once in a while, too!”
“Um, I thought you didn’t want to talk about him.” Leticia smiles.
“I don’t, but I can’t stop now!” Jody smiles back. “He thinks he’s so funny. He thinks
he’s so sweet. He can be a real jerk, too. You just don’t see that side of him.”
“Really?” Leticia sits up next to some red lobelias.
“Yes! He’s a terrible listener, and sometimes won’t go shopping with me.”
Leticia laughs. “Are you serious!? Your dad was physically, emotionally and verbally
abusive. You know what a jerk looks like.”
“Are you saying I can’t feel disrespected?” Jody is a bit upset.
“Not over a trip to the mall! You white girls trip over the tiniest things. I’m all about
empowering women and not taking crap from guys who are mean, but I’m not sure that is what’s
happening here. Maybe you’ve just fallen out of love with him.”
Jody is silent a moment. “Yeah. I think that’s what it is. I was just afraid to admit it.”
Before they finish their heart-to-heart, a fresh troop of Henchmen head their way.
CHAPTER 38 — UP ON A SCHOOL TOP
“¡Santo infierno!” Leticia whispers to her counterpart from within the overgrown rain
garden. “This is how we got trapped last time! How are we this estúpido!?”
“Calm down, Leticia. They’re going to the parking lot,” Jody struts out of the garden.
“We should go. We should have been talking about how to get up that roof and look for Shaylice
instead of gossiping about stupid boys.”
“Agreed.” Leticia follows Jody toward the school, certain The Henchmen can’t see them
anymore. “Boys ruin it for us again.” She looks up at the two story brick wall. “If we had some
sort of grappling hook... ”
“Um,” Jody begins, looking at her feathered friend. “You know you have wings, right?”
“Yes, but how will you get up there?” Leticia looks at her friend’s equestrian legs. “This
is a tall jump, even for you, thoroughbred.”
“Can you fly up that tree to see if Shaylice is on the roof?” Jody points to a nearby oak.
“Sure. Wait here. Don’t die.”
“Not planning on it!”
Leticia army crawls below the classroom windows, the classrooms where weeks ago she
was stuck inside wanting to be free. Now she is outside, wanting to be safe somewhere else, even
if that meant in her boring eighth grade English class with her annoying teacher Mr. Vice. Well,
maybe not that safe and bored.
Leticia flies into the canopy of the two story oak. She looks onto the school roof.
Nothing. At least, nothing noticeable. She sees the opening above the auditorium where Derek
tore into the roof some days ago, saving their lives. She tries to see onto the small third story
covering, over the machine room and cooling units. It isn’t huge, maybe the size of one of the
classrooms below. She definitely sees something moving up there.
As she tries to get a closer look, she slips off one of the branches. Had she been wingless,
she would have fallen and broken something, but instead she flaps a few times and lands on the
roof next to the machine room. Nice.
“Shaylice!?” Leticia whispers below to her pterosaur-friend on the school roof.
A large rustling is heard, and Leticia is afraid she did something terribly idiotic. Whether
Shaylice recognizes Leticia as a casual acquaintance or an oversized Thanksgiving turkey is
immaterial. There is no telling who might find them or her friends in the boiler room.
Leticia reaches into her pocket for the Anti-Trance syringe Derek gave her. The sun is
still bright, and the air is a bit chilly but Leticia steels herself for a moment.
Now or never…She thinks to herself.
Shaylice appears to still be sleeping, exhausted like everyone else. Her muscular back
rises and falls like waves on a reddish brown ocean. Her immense brown wings are folded over
her like a blanket. Lucky. Leticia thinks for a moment, but just a moment, because Shaylice is
still under someone else’s control.
“Por Dios!” Leticia cries as she jumps off the machine room onto Shaylice’s back,
jabbing the Trance antidote into her notarium, right between her shoulder blades.
It isn’t sunrise anymore, so let’s hope The Doctor was right—and Shaylice returns.
CHAPTER 39 — BOILER ROOM BREAKDANCING
During the “Back to School” Talent Show in September, a group of Hmong cousins: Tee,
Cai, and Amanda, broke-danced or breakdanced or whatever the past tense is, as their talent.
They did hand hops, headspins, and of course, the famous “windmill.” They easily won first
place, as they do in most competitions. They were well-trained, fast, and mesmerizing.
Derek is currently trying to distract the never-ending stream of Henchmen that wiggle
through the barricaded door with these same moves. Except for one thing: he can’t dance.
“Derek, buddy. Stop,” Karmel laughs. “The only thing you’re ‘breaking’ is my
concentration. You suck. Just stay clear of the cracks or you’ll get shot.” Karmel is pressing his
rear end against the barricaded door, not even pushing, just sitting. Still, somehow, an occasional
Henchman makes its way in.
“But I think I mastered the Boomerang!” Derek says while spinning on his back.
Karmel tries again, more father-like than friendly. “Derek, we need a plan.”
“Like what!?” Derek looks around. “Leave?”
“And how do you propose that? As soon as I stand up, The Henchmen will pour in here
like The Doctor’s cockroaches. Who knows how many are back there.” It can’t be seen but
Karmel has on his best thinking face, it’s just buried underneath a few thousand pounds of wool.
“You need a diversion. Let it be me,” The Doctor suggests.
“You’re asking us to set you free? So you can kill us? Um, no,” Derek replies.
“No, I’ll call the hybrids to fight with you. I’ll make them fight The Henchmen.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Karmel admits. “How would it work?”
CHAPTER 40 — HYBRIDS VS. HENCHMEN
Each of the hybrids were equipped with a cochlear implant to hear The Doctor’s voice
through a special transmitter. This is not the same as the pen Derek used. This is a device only
The Doctor knows about, in his wrist. As The Doctor speaks into his wrist, Derek and Karmel
look at each other suspiciously. Is this guy crazy? Are the exact words their eyes exchange.
“Um, Doc, what are you doing?” Derek asks first.
“You’ll see,” he responds.
And in minutes, they do. Every animal-hybrid that was asleep upstairs has been
awakened. Just by The Doctor’s voice!? Or is there some other science at work here…
The building roars and howls and growls and snarls and bellows and, you get the idea.
The boys downstairs cannot see what is happening but they can hear it all. They hear the screams
of The Henchmen, who are most definitely human as evidenced by their horrifying cries for
mercy and their mothers.
This is what Karmel and Derek cannot see:
There, on the gymnasium turned dance floor, the Flying Lion easily chomps several
Hench-heads off before batting a dozen others to their deaths.
The CrocoGator terrorized the bottom of the floor while the Flying Lion took flight.
These two beasts could have taken care of the hundred or so Henchmen that stood around
awaiting orders from Hutchinson, but the hybrids kept coming.
The Henchmen were caught off guard, assuming each of the hybrids were put to sleep
indefinitely. One by one they either fall victim to the beasts or run to the exits. However, dozens
of rat-roaches and fox-headed bats claw at their feet and faces to prevent escape.
Karmel barrels up the stairwell, barely able to turn his body around the corners, until he
again plays his role as gatekeeper. No Henchmen will leave the gym alive.
There is a back door that several Henchmen notice and rally toward, but a girl with horse
legs and another with wings open it for them, only to unleash Shaylice.
“SKREEEEEEEE!”
Bullets rip through the ceiling, trying to pierce Shaylice, but she is too adept, slicing
through the smoke-filled air. At this point, there are so few Henchmen left that she is not in grave
danger. A herd of wolf-deer feast on the remains as Shaylice offers aid to a dying Giraff-oon.
Many of these beasts were not made for combat. They should not have been in this death-
match. It wasn’t theirs to fight. And though the body count is high for The Henchmen, too many
innocent lives were lost.
Cue Emotional Remembrance Music For:
-Billy Empire, the Pen-Goat, who merely wanted to eat everything in sight.
-Dracula Ingalls Wilder, a small, cute and fiercely loyal prairie-bat.
And countless other named and unnamed “creations.”
So, The Doctor did keep his word. He sacrificed these beautiful children of his, some
who paid the ultimate price.
Not to mention his biological baby boy, who was scratching at the door while Juan Carlos
hid in the small counselor’s office, away from danger, and their families.
CHAPTER 41 — HUTCHINSON’S MASTER PLAN
Unfortunately, the loss of a hundred or so Henchmen won’t thwart Hutchinson’s master
plan. There are more beneath Altnu. If anything, it makes his operations more secure.
Hutchinson had been growing increasingly paranoid that one of the men, because they were all
men, would defect back to humanity.
The Henchmen were initially enlisted as elite security to withstand outbreaks or prison
breaks from The Doctor’s Lab. The Doctor and Altnu utilized The Henchmen as needed, but
Hutchinson was their direct supervisor, like the general in a war. The Doctor saw no need to
question Hutchinson’s motives before this week. He could not fathom anyone would outsmart
him and steal his research, especially for such vile purposes.
The Doctor was speechless when Hutchinson walked into the principal’s office that night
and told him all Henchmen had been turned into Super-Humans. Hutchinson then told The
Doctor that these Super-Humans were only white men, and that it was the genetic destiny of
humanity to be ruled once more by white men.
The Doctor wasn’t much of a fighter, but he tried. He threw a jab and shoved a punch or
what-have-you, but Hutchinson was already heightened by The Formula.
The Doctor didn’t stand a chance.
Hutchinson’s master plan was to use The Doctor’s Formula, that is, the pheromone spray
that amplified testosterone in male species and estrogen in female species, to cause an all-out
race war between Super-Human white people and unenhanced people of color.
And Hutchinson’s plan is almost complete.

CHAPTER 42 — BELOW APPLE LAKE
The story residents of Apple Lake were told was that a gang of kidnappers was on the
loose, abducting teenagers but leaving younger kids alone. Luckily, Altnu’s headquarters were
here, so they could use their resources (in conjunction with the police) to relocate the town. It
wasn’t necessary, but Altnu cared about their employees and their families. Altnu offered the
entire 800+ citizens room and board in their underground residential facility.
It is below Apple Lake itself.
Most Apple Lake-ians were excited that:
A) Their town had a secret bunker beneath the lake they went fishing in. Cool!
B) They didn’t have to go to work or school for a few days. Double Cool!
Some were restless, or had jobs and families outside of their small-knit community, but
most made the best of the situation. It was almost like Altnu planned this because each family
had an apartment with running water and electricity. Their sky was the lake above them and the
fish were the stars. Children delighted in seeing the myriad of aquatic life Altnu had been
pumping into this man-made lake for the past two decades.
The residents found peace during this relocation. Citizens were encouraged to go above
ground to exercise or simply enjoy the fresh air. There was no limit to being outside.
However, no one was allowed beyond the perimeter. “As a safety precaution” The
Henchmen, aka Altnu Security Force, politely told the citizens.
Shaylene (Shaylice’s mother) and Laura (Karmel’s mother) weren’t buying it. And
neither were the other parents whose teenagers had been abducted.
CHAPTER 43 — PHASE ONE: SEGREGATION
In fact the town wasn’t being “kept safe” from any danger outside. They were inside the
lion’s den. Many were slowly becoming enhanced by Hutchinson’s Formula, the Formula that
The Doctor never meant to be used in this way.
White families, couples, and individuals were segregated from families of color
(including mixed race families). It wasn’t apparent at first because each family had its own
apartment. However, The Henchmen underground were on strict orders not to allow any people
of color into the sleeping units of white families after hours. This is when the ventilation pumped
The Formula into the white families’ sleeping quarters and gave the men intensified testosterone
levels, ones that could easily outmatch those of The Henchmen.
As the days turned into a week, the families became increasingly ill at ease. The white
men were quick to anger and even broke some of the furniture and equipment in and around the
underground town they were stuck in.
“HOW LONG ARE WE STUCK HERE!? IT’S BEEN A WHOLE WEEK!”
“DIDN’T YOU FIND THE KIDNAPPERS YET!?”
Patiently, The Henchmen informed citizens of any updates. Hutchinson made it clear no
one was to be treated like a prisoner, lest the operation be found out and all plans ruined. Each
town person was to be treated as a guest with the utmost hospitality (not exactly the strong suit of
some of The Henchmen). Still, for seven days, the citizens of Apple Lake kept the peace.
Until the propaganda.

CHAPTER 44 — PHASE TWO: PROPAGANDA
When tensions were at their highest, Hutchinson informed The Henchmen underground
to start Phase Two. Through the use of modified photographs and video testimony, citizens were
misinformed about their neighbors. White people were shown pictures of people with brown skin
kidnapping their children while families of color were shown what looked like white people in
jackets leading their teenagers into strange vans.
Shaylene and Laura were skeptical. There was no way their kids would get taken by
strangers without force. The pictures didn’t show any guns or weapons. Their kids were smarter
than that. They weren’t preschoolers.
Shaylene and Laura talked to each other a lot those first days, not over the phone, because
they had “no reception below ground,” (really Altnu had tampered with the town’s only cell
tower), but in person. They thought the bathrooms were the most private place to confer.
“Somethin’s up. My baby could take those bums on that video,” Shaylene insists quietly
from one stall.
“I know,” Laura agrees from one stall over. “Karmel isn’t stupid. He would run. I think
these people might have our kids!”
They thought they were safe, unheard, but cameras and microphones were hidden
everywhere in the bunkers, including the bathroom stalls.
“We have to get our babies back,” Shaylene whispers. “And soon.”
So these mothers listened to their intuitions and devised a way to get the truth and break
out of what was quickly becoming a prison for the entire town.
CHAPTER 45 — IN ALTNU WE TRUST
Neither Shaylene nor Laura are as athletic as their offspring. Laura can’t sprint like
Karmel. Shaylene can’t jump like her daughter. Despite these physical deficits, they had
something else they could use to escape this underground city: Numbers.
Most of the town’s 800 citizens are here. There has to be a couple hundred who will put
up a fight. But what exactly are they fighting against?
Like many people in town, Shaylene and Laura found themselves “working” for Altnu. It
wasn’t their first choice, but they needed the health care for their families. Most Altnu
“employees” were barely a step above indentured servitude. They weren’t slaves. They could go
home, or they could stay in the “employee lodging” provided on campus and below.
Altnu Global had a strong campaign justifying their monopolization of the Health Care
Industry. “Our soldiers sacrifice everyday. What sacrifices do YOU make for your family?” It
was patriotic, effective, and guilt-inducing. What could an average citizen of Apple Lake do?
Legislators weren’t fighting this monopoly. Anti-Trust laws were quietly overturned years ago.
Politicians turned corporations into people. Hutchinson turned people into monsters. And those
monsters are turning this town against each other.
Yet Altnu wasn’t all bad. They worked on promising medicines to prevent certain cancers
from growing. Since it was nearly impossible to eradicate cancer once it started, scientists
inoculated various animals with a formula to prevent it from latching onto their blood cells. That
formula also gave the everyday human extraordinary super strength—but you already know that.
CHAPTER 46 — RESISTANCE
How can Shaylene and Laura convince their neighbors that the company that has been so
“good” to them is actually holding them prisoner? And may have abducted their children?
They need hard proof, but Altnu will have counter-evidence. Altnu could bury Shaylene
and Laura with paperwork, and then bury them altogether. There were rumors of townspeople
who went against Altnu and were never heard from again.
For days Shaylene and Laura knew in their guts something wasn’t right, but like
countless others who had the same uneasiness, they went along with the status quo.
Until their seventh night underground. Shaylene was up, thinking. She hadn’t slept well
since she arrived. She was too worried about her daughter. There was a distant hissing sound
above her bed. Strange sounds and beeps were commonplace in their underground town. There
were many mechanizations operating to keep the air flowing, electricity running and water
churning. However, she noticed a light went on at the same time in the ceiling vent each night.
That was when she heard the hissing.
Again, most people had no need to question such innocuous indicators as these, but
Shaylene wasn’t most people. She was curious. She was still looking for her daughter even if the
police were supposedly investigating. Everything was a clue to her.
That seventh night she moved the small brown chair on top of the small brown desk that
came with the small brown bunker. She waited until 12:00 am when the hiss would return, and
inhaled a face-full of The Formula.
“I’m telling you there’s something in those vents,” she told Laura the next day. She
wasn’t about to roam the underground hallways alone while Altnu’s “Security” patrolled.
“I don’t get it. It’s a blinking light and probably fresh oxygen to circulate the air.” Laura
responds, unconvinced.
“Probably. Except I ran some tests.” Shaylene reveals several pieces of paper. “Yes, there
is a routine air circulation that happens every four hours in our apartments: 4am, 8am, 12pm,
4pm, 8pm and 12am. Here are several piece of ordinary white office paper I rigged up to my vent
over the past couple of days.”
Shaylene spreads each out on the small desk inside her apartment.
“You can see that at 4am, 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm there is a slight yellow tinge. That is
from the oxidation that has been sped up due to pure oxygen being pumped through the vents at
these times. You are right that air needs to be circulated, however, look at 12am.”
“It’s bright blue!” Laura gasps.
“Exactly.” Shaylene pops her head in the hallway to see if any security guards are nearby.
“Why in Sam Hill is something blue pumping into our rooms each night?”
“Great question, indeed, Ms. Thompson,” a voice from the side of the hallway wall
responds. There, inside the thermostat, is a small camera and intercom system.
“Sit tight, Ms. Thompson and Ms. Kavlier, our men are on their way to answer your
questions.”
And within seconds, two of Altnu’s security forces are inside Shaylene’s small
apartment. Smiling two very suspicious smiles.

CHAPTER 47 — THE OLD WORLD
The Henchmen escort Shaylene and Laura to a part of the underground city that neither
had noticed before. Most citizens stayed between a few areas:
1) Outside: While the unusually warm fall continues, people could fish, swim, or play
around the lake edge. They could hike the small trail along the Altnu Headquarters campus
located adjacent to Apple Lake. And, with special permission, people could stroll around the
entire lake, but that was exceptional since it required a personal security detail.
2) The Commons: This resembled an airport food court. There were shops where people
could buy various sundries but almost everything was marked “Gratis,” one of Hutchinson’s
many nods to Ancient European civilization (a time he wished would return). On The Commons
ceiling was an elaborate fresco depicting The Enlightenment era: Aurora, the goddess of dawn
awakening Morpheus, the god of dreaming. All of Hutchinson’s sinister plot could be interpreted
within these fresh colors, if only citizens knew their history. The Commons was a place for the
townsfolk to gather, eat, share news, celebrate and commiserate.
3) The Apartments: Some Apple Lake residents desired solitude. These “home bodies”
were known for shutting themselves in above ground, so it was no surprise this habit continued
when they were forcibly relocated.
As Shaylene and Laura walk past The Commons to Hutchinson’s office, they see security
guards wave ‘Hello’ and dip their heads. These Henchmen know the role they play—and the
consequences of straying from Hutchinson’s well-scripted Master Plan.

CHAPTER 48 — MEETING HUTCHINSON
“Hiya, Hutch.” The Henchman greets his boss as he opens the door to Hutchinson’s
personal apartment/office. It is roughly the same size as the family apartments. In fact, judging
by the dressers and bed in the adjoining room, it is exactly the same size.
Hutchinson is sitting at his desk, reviewing various security cameras and two desktop
computers. “Hey, Sal. Thanks for bringing in our guests. That will be all.” He waves him off.
Sal offers his guests chocolates from a nearby box on Hutchinson’s desk, before plucking
one for himself. Both Shaylene and Laura politely decline this unexpected gesture and Sal exits.
“So, I hear you have a couple questions about our air circulation?” Hutchinson stands and
invites the women to sit at the guest chairs in front of his desk.
“Glad to finally meet you.” He offers his hand. “Sorry I haven’t gotten to everyone yet,
especially the victims’ parents. How are you two holding up?” Hutchinson sits at the edge of his
desk, like one of those teachers who pretends to be cool. The ladies seem less than impressed.
“What are you pumping into our apartments?!” Shaylene doesn’t mince words.
“Ms. Thompson, I assure you we are not up to any shenanigans down here. We are
merely doing our part in providing the utmost comfort during this time of distress for our town.”
“What!? ‘Time of distress!’ Why are we down here in the first place? This seems like an
extreme way to protect 800 people!” This is Laura, Karmel’s mom.
Both women are screaming but Hutchinson remains calm and collected, as he was
trained, and formulized to be.

“Ms. Kavlier. I’m afraid we are in the dark like you regarding the investigation and
kidnappings. All I know is the Altnu CEO and Apple Lake Police have arranged for you all to
use our facilities until the suspects are apprehended.”
“So, you have suspects?” Shaylene prods. “Who!? Where are they? You seem to have
enough resources to provide luxury living down here but not enough to find our kids!”
“Again, Ms. Thompson. Altnu and the ALPD are two separate entities. Yes, we have
some of the best trained men and women from the armed forces working at our world-renowned
headquarters, but unfortunately, we have not yet been asked to assist.”
“Assist!? What if I said you were the ones who took our babies?!” Shaylene stands,
pointing at Hutchinson and the various camera screens. “And what is all this surveillance for!?”
“What an awful accusation! We are merely protecting you!” Hutchinson puts on fake
airs.
“Are you kidding me!? Why are you pumping blue toxin into us!?” Shaylene prods her
finger against Hutchinson’s chest.
“I am sure I don’t know what you mean.” Hutchinson ignores Shaylene’s physical
escalation, walks behind his desk and sits.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean!” Shaylene mocks. “You know what I mean. And
you know it’s the truth. Or you wouldn’t have brought us in here.”
Laura looks on as these two prepare for a battle of wit or fists. Neither the overly-
restrained Henchman nor the emotionally upset mother appear to back down.
“That is something I can agree with you on.” Hutchinson speaks into the intercom at his
desk. “They are ready for you now, Sal.”
And Sal the once gracious escort returns with handcuffs and two syringes.
CHAPTER 49 — THE TORMENTED PRISONER
Within minutes Shaylene and Laura are tossed into a holding cell similar to the ones in
The Lab and middle school basement. White padded walls. No windows. No clear door. It seems
when Altnu finds a jail cell they like, they stick with it.
However, this white room has erratic drawings of monsters and formulas are scribbled in
strange angles. The words “I’m Sorry” are scratched in a long list on the only uncushioned wall.
“Doc?” Shaylene asks as Sal shuts the prison door on them.
“Yes? Hello? Who are you?” The Doctor doesn’t immediately recognize the mothers.
“Are you The Doctor we met last week in the school basement? I have a vague memory
of it, somehow, but it is unclear.” Shaylene looks to Laura for clarification.
“And who are you?” The Doctor remembers, but pretends he doesn’t.
“We are Shaylice and Karmel’s parents.” Laura takes The Doctor’s hand. “What
happened to you? Did Altnu do this to you?”
“I’m afraid I did this to myself. This prison is not torment enough for me.”
“That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it, Doc?” asks Shaylene, taking his hand.
The Doctor yanks his hand away from Shaylene’s and walks back to his wall to continue
scratching his apologies with his fingernail. “Oh, no. Great pain awaits me. My babies are
coming for me. I know they are. And they will be angry.”
“What is it, Doctor? Please, sit down here.” Laura guides downward against the wall.
“I’m the one who abducted your kids.” The Doctor cries, cupping his head in his hands.
And the mothers back away.

CHAPTER 50 — PHASE THREE: WHITE IS MIGHT
Shaylene was right. Hutchinson infected white families with a hormone-enhancing
chemical while contaminating families of color with a hormone-weakening agent every morning
at 12am.
While Shaylene and Laura are stuck in a prison cell with the man who abducted their
children, Hutchinson takes to the intercom to poison the underground Apple Lake residents with
one more toxin, the tired myth that White is Right.
“People of Apple Lake...” Hutchinson announces, confident his plans are coming to a
tumultuous head. “Some of you may have felt ‘different’ over the past couple days. Some of you
may have felt stronger, while others may have felt unusually weak and tired.”
Citizens in The Commons pause their chatter and lunch to stare at the speakers.
Residents in their apartments stop their respective business to listen as well.
“There was a reason for that.” Hutchinson continues. “And there is a reason you have
been down here for so long. First, the good news. The kidnapper has been found and is in a
prison cell at this moment!”
The residents applaud, as they believe they are supposed to.
“However, the real enemies are amongst us. I have given The Mighty their strength back
and put The Weak back in their place. I am talking to my white brothers and sisters. Slowly over
the past seven days, I have been making you stronger. Physically. Emotionally. Reminding you
of the power that resides within you.”
The Commoners, who are mostly white in this mostly white town, look at one another,
uncertain if this is a trick.

“My white brothers, I made you as strong as my Henchmen before you, the mightiest
militia the world has known. In moments, you will know what I mean, but please be patient.”
The white residents obey their orders and sit on their hands while the people of color in
The Commons look fearful. Some prophetic men of color dart toward the stairs leading outside,
but The Henchmen stop them.
No one is leaving.
Hutchinson can see the men trying to escape via his desk monitor. “Oh, poor ‘people of
color,’ ‘coloreds,’ black, brown, whatever politically correct bull crap you go by these days…”
There are only seven families of color: The Xiongs, Yangs, Boyds, Espinozas, Martinez’,
Kavliers, and Thompson families.
The adults in these families look to each other. Some look to the ground and clasp their
hands, as if Judgement Day, or worse, the return to slavery, has finally come.
“You ‘people’. Ugh! I can barely say the word. You filthy animals will return to your
place in the animal kingdom soon enough. I have the means to make sure you never walk as
equals amongst our Mighty Race again.” Hutchinson fights to stay calm, his lips curl at the
words but he knows his composure is paramount for this third phase.
The Henchmen form a perimeter around the residents in The Commons. Others are
escorted in from their apartments. Hundreds of Henchmen fill the underground town, more than
were in the middle school. Where did they all come from?
Hutchinson begins again, “You will remember soon enough where you belong, and how
you prefer it there. With the dogs, and pigs, and rodents.”
He reviews his meticulous notes on his desk, making sure everything is exact.
“Henchmen, you will now withdraw your syringes. We will take no prisoners. We will
have no casualties. White men, my brothers, you have permission to use your newfound force as
you deem necessary in finishing this job.”
The white men look at one another strangely, then to the men of color, hungrily.
And as fists begin to fly and tables are overturned, Phase Three draws to a close.
CHAPTER 51 — SMALL TOWN RACE WAR
Apple Lake is a small town. And like many small towns in the Midwest, there aren’t a lot
of people of color. Many still reside in the metropolises since the “Great Migration” up North
after the Civil War. Still, there are a few families who pioneered these lily-white frontiers, the
next frontiers. These are families who wanted more than the underfunded urban centers could
offer their children:
-The Thompsons: Shaylice, Leonna, LeiLonni and matron, Shaylene.
-Laura Kavlier and her boys: Karmel, Deyjzon and Louie.
-The Martinez Family: Leticia, Juan Carlos, and their parents: Juan and Eloisa.
Other families played lesser roles in The Doctor’s operations but are still targeted on this
day of Hutchinson’s racial unrest: The Boyds, The Espinozas, The Yangs, and The Xiongs.
The Kavliers and Espinozas are the only mixed race families in Apple Lake, but
Hutchinson still saw them as inferior and wanted them downcast like the others.
Hutchinson watches the melee on the computer monitor from the safety of his bunker
office/apartment. He has no reason to risk his own life when there are hundreds of brainwashed
Henchmen to do that for him. Even those well-trained men don’t need to endanger themselves.
They easily outnumber the seven families and the whole process could have been much smoother
had the families not fought back.
Shaylene and Laura are transferred from the underground prison to The Commons to
receive their “treatment.” They are the ones who flip one of the dining tables as The Henchmen
march closer. It isn’t so much a measure of violence but the only protection they can muster for
the children of color that are clustered together, terrified.

To be sure, the white children are frightened as well, uncertain what is happening. They
hold their parents tight, predominantly their mothers, because most of the white fathers gang up
to help “secure” the adults in the Xiong, Yang, Boyd, Espinoza, Martinez, Kavlier, and
Thompson families.
There is no hope for these seven families of color.
Until a deafening bellow is heard above ground.

CHAPTER 52 — MIXED
For some reason, Jody, Leticia and Derek descend into the underground bunkers wearing
masks. Not Halloween masks, like creepy clowns, or ghost-faces, that was a week ago. The teens
are wearing gas masks.
Jody is at the front of the group. She surveys the area, pulls the pin on a small canister,
then hurls it toward The Commons. Her aim has obviously improved over the past few days.
(Has she been secretly practicing her pitching?). The canister erupts into a thick white mist,
swiftly knocking out dozens of residents within several feet. The other teens follow suit and the
majority of the town goes limp from this sleep-inducing mist in under a minute.
However, the 300 Henchmen have a heightened tolerance for chemical warfare and fight
through this sleepy-time mist.
Jody, Leticia and Derek are pathetically outnumbered until reinforcements rush down the
stairs: a cheetah and small bear cub (also wearing gas masks), a Flying Lion, a herd of wolf-deer,
a ferocious croco-gator, countless rat-roaches, flying bat-foxes and more.
Now it’s a fair fight.
The hybrid animals and “Rejects” clash instantly with The Henchmen, eager to tear into
them as they did to their comrades in the gym.
They were not downstairs for Hutchinson’s hateful speech but could hear it above ground
on the intercom. It was not easy for the teens to wait, but they needed everyone inside The
Commons if their plan was to work.
Jody, the budding chemist, once again cooked up a potion that is both sedative and
“weakening agent, ” taken from Hutchinson’s own playbook. It is hopefully enough to break the
white men out of their testosterone-heavy Trance. Of course, The Trance had not made them
racist or more likely to kill people of color. The Propaganda by Hutchinson did that. To be sure,
those two ingredients were enough to cause a war of worlds, if the teens had not interceded.
“Mi hija! How did you find us?” Leticia’s mother calls to her long-lost daughter as the
mist fills the room. She notices the mask on her daughter’s face and looks puzzled. They
embrace as her mother looks twice at the wings her daughter has grown. Before Eloisa can say
another word, the sedative settles into her lungs, and she sleeps alongside hundreds of others.
Derek, Jody, and Shaylice look for their lost families through the thickening grey air and
gunshots. Unfortunately, Leticia is the only one to find them in the chaos. Karmel and Luis (the
multi-horned rhino) are stuck above ground. There is no way for them to fit down the stairs so
they make themselves useful by plopping their heavy butts atop the doorway.
Jody launches two more canisters, tranquilizing many of the remaining Henchmen. The
bunker floor is carpeted with sleeping snoozies, including many of the hybrid animals who
couldn’t wear gas masks. The Croco-Gator, rat-roaches and a few other immune hybrids sniff out
the Henchmen that are still fighting. It is nearly impossible to see through the gas, but twenty
Super Soldiers blindly battle the immune hybrids and teenagers.
The Flying Lion knocks out a few more before hibernating like his comrades. The fox-
bats swarm the resilient 17 henchmen in a tornado of flappity-flaps, postponing gunfire for a
moment.
Everyone seems to forget they are directly below Apple Lake. One wrong shot could
pierce the high-pressure aluminum glass holding thousands of pounds of water.
But Shaylice notices as she flies below swimming fish.
“Don’t let them shoot up!” she shouts to her friends.

It is too late. Someone already did.
A small stream shoots down, then increases to the strength of Widow Falls.
“We need to get out of here!” Shaylice hollers, as she flies to her friends.
“Our families!” Karmel yells, looking helplessly at the hundreds of bodies. “We can’t
leave them here!”
The cracks continue to spread.

CHAPTER 53 — SNAPPED OUT
“BAOZHAI!” The Doctor’s voice rings throughout The Commons.
The Henchmen stop shooting.
“Grab the citizens! No one gets left behind!”
The Doctor seems to be ordering The Henchmen around. But how? The teens are
stunned. What are they seeing?
The soldiers who were attacking them moments ago are forming a 17 man line in order to
carefully pass each citizen up the stairway. The Henchmen work expeditiously, as if they are
damming a river with sandbags.
“EMBRACE THE SUCK, SOLDIERS!”
“EASY. HERE COMES A CHILD!”
“QUICKLY AND CAREFULLY, MEN!”
The teenagers barely have time to be speechless. The genetically enhanced super soldiers
work so quickly that every citizen is back above ground within minutes, before the ceiling
completely caves in.
“I don’t believe what I’m seeing!” Shaylice confesses as she wrestles the lion above her
strong shoulders. “They’re helping us.” She barely makes it up the staircase with her load.
“The question is…” Jody climbs onto Leticia’s feathered back. “Were they brainwashed
before … or now?”
“Who cares? Let’s go!” Leticia carries Jody up as soon as the citizens are secured.
Jennifer the cheetah and Chris the bear cub carry the remaining sedated hybrids. Derek
leaves last and sees some 200 Henchmen lying there helpless. He thinks about Jody’s question,
were they brainwashed by Hutchinson or did they volunteer for this mission?
If those 17 men can be snapped out of their Trance, isn’t there hope for the others? Or
have they become more monster than men now?
Either way, the lake crashes down.

CHAPTER 54 — THE DOCTOR VS. HUTCHINSON
As Apple Lake gushes through the glass, the bunker rapidly fills up. The Commons, the
apartments, the holding cell, and lastly, Hutchinson’s office on the far end are inundated. The
man-made lake drops about eight feet and boats rest on the lake’s mushy bottom. It’s as if
someone pulled the plug in a bathtub, but the water just went into another bathtub below it. And
that bathtub had about 280 dead Henchmen in it. So, it must have been a pretty big bathtub.
Hench-bodies bob up through the stairway, and some clog the gash where water rushed in
from the lake. It is a “burial at sea” for nearly 280 men.
Will there be mourners? Who could mourn their actions? Kidnapping and experimenting
on teenagers, imprisoning a whole town, starting a race war that could have torn through this
country in days should The Formula have gotten loose.
No. No mourners will visit their watery graves.
Hutchinson was a planner. He was even prepared for the lake to collapse. He could see
the tumult from the safety of his office and when the first shot hit the glass he put on his wetsuit
and SCUBA gear. What he didn’t count on was The Doctor’s next move.
The Doctor escaped his prison and made his announcement to the remaining Henchmen.
Then, before riding the CrocoGator to land, he gave his sea animals their last commands:
—The dark green CrocoGator had time for one last snack.
—The blueish-grey Porpolphin could finally satiate it’s manufactured taste for blood.
—A school of silver BarriTunas stalked the waters.
Hutchinson was prepared in case the bunker flooded, but not to be eaten alive.
CHAPTER 55 — THE DOCTOR VS. THE DOCTOR
Shaylice takes to the skies as soon as she makes it above ground. She has one target: The
Doctor. He had clung onto the CrocoGator and climbed ashore. She spots him entering a beat-up
minivan and screeches to her friends below, pointing in the direction of the parking lot.
Karmel, with Derek holding tight to his wooly mane, hustles as fast as his four tons can
through Altnu’s corporate walking path. They hustle past a slew of unidentified hybrids
alongside the lake (Mer-Muskrats), and in one grand movement bends his mighty head knocking
the minivan, rolling it over several times.
As Karmel leans back onto his hind legs, in preparation for crushing the minivan, Derek
warns, “WAIT! We need him ALIVE to undo your surgeries!”
“BARUUUGH!” Karmel shouts in anger then stomps his tree-trunk sized front legs onto
the ground instead of The Doc’s body. “Fine! But either he fixes us or dies!”
“I’ll go! I’ll go! Please.” The Doctor cowers inside the crushed minivan, drenching wet
and shaking in fear. “I want to fix this! I want to fix all of you!”
Derek dangles over Karmel’s tusk and reluctantly invites The Doctor aboard his
mammothy friend. The Doctor awkwardly hangs onto a couple patches of wool and they tromp
their way, several blocks toward The Lab.
“Wait for us!” calls Leticia and Jody, flying behind.
“And me!” Shaylice joins next, as casually as if they are walking to school.
“Wait!” Karmel stops abruptly. “Shaylice, can you go back to find The Rejects, er, Chris,
Jennifer and Luis. They should be there for this.”

“I’m on it!” Shaylice flaps higher and returns to where the town’s citizens are sleeping on
the lawn beside the Altnu campus. Nearly 800 bodies: large, small, young, old, brown, white,
litter the yard beside the rocks along the man-made lake.
The “helpful” Henchmen busily dispose of their fallen brothers into a large Altnu semi
trailer. They fish them out of the lake and the stairwell. These “super-soldiers” take their time in
this task, handling each body delicately.
As Shaylice gets closer she can hear The Henchmen singing softly but beautifully. It is
the song “Taps,” but she didn’t know there were words. She was a percussionist in band so heard
this song many times, but never the words. She pauses on a nearby pine tree alongside the lake,
watching The Henchmen respectfully assemble their countrymen into the trailer.
At first it is a single tenor soloist, in a soft, gradual crescendo.
Day is done, gone the sun,

From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Then a handful of baritones join him in harmony and vocalizing,
Fading light, dims the sight,

And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.
And then the basses,
Thanks and praise, for our days,

'Neath the sun, 'neath the stars, neath the sky;
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.
Finally, all 17 Henchmen sing, in time, while passing one fallen brother after another.
Sadly, they sound too good, too rehearsed, as if they have done this many times before.
Sun has set, shadows come,

Time has fled, Scouts must go to their beds
Always true to the promise that they made.
Once more the lone tenor finishes the serenade,
While the light fades from sight,

And the stars gleaming rays softly send,
To thy hands we our souls, Lord, commend.
Shaylice is not sure if these Henchmen knew what they were doing when they helped The
Doctor abduct her, operate on her, and keep her as a hybrid weapon. The Henchmen then helped
Hutchinson wreak havoc on this town, nearly killing many more innocent people. Were The
Henchmen under The Trance just like her? They had to have been. She can see these men love
each other, with an unbreakable bond.
Were they innately evil? Or transformed by evil men?
The tenor soloist closes the pin on the semi-trailer, and slaps the side of the truck to
signify the deed is done. It is time to carry their dead. The soloist hops into the passenger seat of
the cab, and the white truck with Altnu’s logo on it drives on.
“Chris! Jennifer! Luis!” Shaylice calls from the pine tree’s top bough. “Follow me!”
The Rejects and Shaylice rush to catch up with the others, speechless.
CHAPTER 56 — THE FINAL OPERATIONS
Jody scrubs in as she has many times before. It is second nature to her, even though she
was under The Trance for all the other operations. Derek stays in the corner of the O.R., out of
the way, while Leticia rushes around helping The Doctor and Jody in any way that can speed up
the process. Shaylice is knocked out and her brownish-red pterodactyl body is spread across
several large metal operating tables.
“Derek!” Jody hollers from the sink. “Scrub in.”
“Oh, now you need me?” Derek crosses his arms in disgust.
Jody doesn’t have the patience for Derek’s hurt feelings, but she needs him on these
operations. She takes a deep breath, determined not to over-react to his comment. “Listen. I
know I’ve been short with you. I was angry because I was changing into something better while
you stayed the same.”
“So you think you’re better than me?” Derek shakes his head and makes sure everyone
can hear him.
Once again Jody takes a deep breath, her face turning red from embarrassment. “Not like
that. I mean, a better version of myself. I can’t explain it. And I don’t want to do this in front of
everyone. We need you on Shaylice’s surgery. It’s going to take hours. Then we’re doing
Karmel’s. Then Leticia. Then me. Will you help us or not?” Her voice is calm and firm, like
Hutchinson’s.
“Fine, but after these surgeries you and I are done!” Derek says as he walks to the sink.
“Um, that’s what I’ve been trying to say to you, but I still want to be—”
“Ooh. Friend zone. This isn’t easy to watch.” The Doctor whispers loudly to the others
while arranging his instruments at the operating table. “You know what is easy? This surgery!”
The Doctor smiles at his ragtag team of OR surgeons.
“What do you mean, ‘easy’?” Jody asks, eager to change the conversation, though also
keenly interested in the process of reversal collaborations.
“At first, we didn’t know if the collaborations would take, but now we simply reverse the
procedures. We should be done in a jiffy.” The Doctor returns to his unorthodox self, now that he
is back in his own element, and not tied up, or pinned under a minivan, or pleading for his life.
“Define ‘jiffy’,” Leticia prods from beside Jody and The Doctor at the operating table. “A
two hour ‘jiffy’? Two days? How long exactly?”
“Leticia, you know science is never exact. There are always ‘unexpected’ hiccups.” The
Doctor nods to the rhino, cheetah, and bear cub waiting in the corner.
“He’s talking about us, everyone. We’re the hiccups,” Jennifer growls then starts pacing
her long body around the operating room.
“Hey Jennifer, you’re also miracles of science!” The Doctor doesn’t even bother to look
at his niece as he adjusts his surgical loupes on his head.
“Um, yeah. Then why have you repeatedly tried to kill us, Uncle Felix?” Luis’ voice
projects from an intercom in the adjacent operating room. OR 1 is too crowded so the rhino
seating is next door. Karmel knew he wouldn’t fit either, so he is resting outside The Lab in the
warm November sun.
“Not fair. We said no killing talk!” The Doctor whines like a child then check’s
Shaylice’s heart rate on the nearby monitor.

“Yeah, if we start talking about all the people, animals, and creations The Doctor has
tried to kill, we’d never get any work done.” Leticia rolls her eyes.
“Speaking of killing,” says Jody. “What’s up with The Henchmen? Are they trying to kill
everyone now?”
“The Henchmen were altered by Hutchinson, not me. Are they victims of a mad man? Or
willing perpetrators of racial ‘cleansing’? We’ll never know because most drowned in that
bunker. Those that survived will have their memories erased by Altnu, like everyone else.” The
Doctor nonchalantly slices into the membrane of the supine pterodactyl, millimeters from
Shaylice’s actual skin.
“How will Altnu erase everyone’s memories? And how much? Will our families be
vegetables? How do you choose which memories to erase? Is the memory eraser like The
Trance?” Jody is brimming with questions as she neglects her job snipping the outer reptilian
skin off of friend’s body.
“And what about us?!” Leticia asks what the others are thinking. “Will you erase our
memories? Or will Altnu? You know, you’re just as guilty of ‘racial cleansing’ as Hutchinson.
Why did you make Karmel and Shaylice prehistoric beasts but Jody and I were cutesy farm
animals? Maybe we should operate on you next?” She steps away closer to The Doctor and
scrapes her talon along his back.
The Doctor swallows hard. “No need for that! You’re all safe! I swear. No memory
erasing for any of you!” He pauses his incisions, not wanting to cut too deep.
“I think we should transform him into a pig.”
“R-r-remember I have a son!” The Doctor stutters sheepishly then lifts his hands in
surrender.
“A son you abandoned.” Derek hops off the counter where he was sitting, and joins
Leticia in pressing The Doctor.
Jody waves her friends away, and they respectfully oblige. “Let’s see how these surgeries
go. Then we’ll decide if he is next…”
Jody looks from her friends, then to The Doctor, then to Shaylice’s nearly un-pterodactyl-
ized body.
What her friends don’t see is that Jody isn’t looking at The Doctor with the same loathing
they do, but with admiration, like a student to her teacher, as if she has so much more to learn.
END OF PART THREE

Hybrids Full Manuscript e

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Hybrids Full Manuscript e

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HYBRIDS

Approx 62,000 words

Eric Theis ©2018

HYBRIDS: Full Synopsis (with spoilers)

PART ONE: A LOVE STORY ~e.theis © 2018

To my Love, dedicated to our many adventures battling middle schoolers.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

CHAPTER ONE — SURVIVAL

the sunlight is blocked by fiery sugar maples.

Then he finds her. Still. Unbreathing.

enough to happen anytime soon.

wool and tusks. It appears to smile as if breaking character. How unprofessional.

left leg like it hasn’t eaten in 10,000 years.

Either way, they have each other.

CHAPTER TWO — THE DOCTOR

they hear a baby neigh, or purr, or whatever it is newborns do.

back down when Jody roughly tousles his blond hair.

lurk for more reasons than she cares to admit.

and spy a white coat hunched over a crying infant.

“THE DOCTOR!” they whisper-shout in unison.

CHAPTER THREE — THE LABORATORY

Doctor is taking it to the police or something.”

Derek doesn’t finish his thought, but Jody knows.

“We have to follow him.”

this clandestine fortress.

“What the heck, Derek?” Jody pushes him away.

A vacant look rolls over Derek’s river-blue eyes.

the lobby. Don’t you think!?”

“Afraid not, child.”

CHAPTER FOUR — UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

It wiggles a few seconds then lies as still as discarded rope.

insurance that really sucks.

for the low cost of ninety percent of their income.

And what choice did Americans have?

utilities, and eventually before meals on their tables.

FDA approval. Except, these studies went further. Much further.

“ROOAWR!” hollers the horrendous beast above her.

think of is that baby…

CHAPTER FIVE — BREAKING OUT

That’s normal, right?

CHAPTER SIX — OPERATION

of that achromatic prison below. Now, about this operating table.

operating tables. His focus is on Jody.

She sits up, speechless. “What? I don’t get it.”

“Shhhh. Derek, what’s the matter?”

“Wrong...er...place…to…put a razor sharp knife.”

Jody rolls her eyes. “Where’s The Doctor?”

“No. I can’t. I can’t walk.”

Technically her feet are now called “hooves.”

CHAPTER SEVEN — JODY-BRID

at the sight of it: Hairy legs.

Correction: Furry legs.

Correction Again: Furry, horse legs.

this—turning into half a horse overnight—this will take some adjusting.

effortlessly through the air and in a split-moment her legs remember.

myself again. Perhaps only temporarily.”

opportunity to relieve an awkward moment with humor.

Trance or medication or whatever?” She clomps to her once-lost boyfriend.

And then the lion roars.

CHAPTER EIGHT — HERE KITTY, KITTY

RWA—I’M A BIG, OLD, FAT LION—OAR! HA! HA!

“Um.” Derek points to the door.

“Um,” Derek repeats.