Tabloid
Issue #7
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Seven
Gator Bait
Quickly through the murky water comes four
alligators. Not just any alligators, but really large sewer gators. As they swim
closer, they open their mouths to show the rows of sharp, dangerous teeth. This
forces Madeline and Dr. Frankenstein to head in the other direction, away from
the hungry gators. Before they can get too far, they see the beams from
flashlights moving around the sewers. Like spotlights in a prison yard, they
move back and forth through the darkness. Madeline stops and whispers to Dr.
Frankenstein "Do you think that's the men in black?" He looks back at her and
whispers "That is my guess too." Sure enough, they are right as they see the men
in black come around a bend and shine their lights right on them. As the Men in
Black see them, they raise their guns and aim them at the pair. Madeline
prepares to turn around and run, but she sees the gators coming. She then looks
at Dr. Frankenstein and asks "Which one do you want to deal with?" He looks one
way and then the other and says "Not much of a choice." Madeline then comes up
with a plan. She turns to the doctor and whispers in his ear "Drop into the
water and swim towards the men in black. If we are lucky, the two will take care
of each other." He gives her a look like she is insane, but he cannot think of
any better plan, so he gives her a thumbs up. She then looks at him and says
"One...Two...Three...Go!" They both dive into the knee deep water and start
swimming towards the Men in Black. At first they are unsure what to do. They see
that both of them went under the water and they can see something moving towards
them, but why would they head this way? They then see why. Coming up fast is the
four alligators and they see the three Men in Black. This causes the Men in
Black to quickly open fire on the alligators. One by one, the alligators are
killed by the wave of bullets. The sewer water now has a distinct red tint to it
as the blood of the gators mixes with the water. Madeline and the doctor come up
for air and see the Men in Black with their guns pointed right at them. Knowing
there is not escape, they both slowly rise from the water. As they stand up,
they look behind them to see the bullet riddled alligators floating in the
water. As they look back at the Men in Black, they see the guns aimed right at
them and they raise their hands in surrender. They know they are beat and unless
they want to die, they better give up. But as they raise their hands, they hear
something loud and scary. It is a loud bellowing sound and it echoes through the
whole sewer. Everyone looks at each other as they are not sure what is making
that horrible sound. But then they hear it again, only this time it is even
closer and louder. The Men in Black turn around as the noise is coming from
behind them. They hear something splashing through the water around the bend.
One of them goes up to investigate while the other two stay behind to make sure
Madeline and the doctor don't escape. As the lone Man in Black goes around the
corner, they hear a sound they never thought they would hear from a Man in
Black. They hear him scream. Not just an eek there's a spider scream but a
bloodcurdling scream, much like the ones you hear in horror movies. They never
heard them ever make a sound and Madeline figures they didn't speak at all. But
this one just screamed and it was a horrible sounding scream. The other two Men
in Black look at each other and then run to see what is going on. As they near
the bend, the see a large shadow moving on the wall. Then they see what scared
their comrade. It is a giant alligator with the other Man in Black in his mouth
and he is swallowing him whole. Unlike the other alligators, this one is a good
eight feet tall and takes up most of the sewer. The other two Men in Black stop
and open fire on the giant reptile. The bullets hit its scaly hide but they do
not penetrate it. Madeline looks at the doctor and they both realize this is
their chance. They run off and head towards the ladder. As they rush to get
there, they hear another Man in Black scream and know the alligator has killed a
second one. They then reach the ladder and as Madeline starts climbing up the
ladder, she looks back to see that Death is there and he is dancing for joy. He
is doing a cabbage patch, which just looks ridiculous. She then climbs up the
ladder with the doctor right behind her.
The spaceship reaches the castle and lands in the front
courtyard. Once the ship lands, the three aliens come out first, all armed with
guns. Following close behind them is The King and Batboy and they both also have
guns. As they look at the castle, they see the front door has been smashed in.
"Looks like someone beat us here." Batboy says as he looks worried. As the
aliens look at the castle, one of them says to the other "This is not part of
Tabloid. Who put this castle here?" The other alien looks at him and says "I
have a feeling we're going to find out." The team then heads into the castle,
all locked and loaded. As they go through the smashed down front door, they see
more signs of forced entry. Tables are knocked over, vases are broken, the place
is in shambles. As they make their way through the castle, they do not see
anyone. The place appears to be empty. Then they hear a noise coming from a
stairway. It sounds like someone yelling, but it is faint. They make their way
over to the stairs and look down. It is dark and with the exception of a torch
at the bottom of the stairs, there is no other light. The aliens slowly make
their way down the stairs, one step at a time as they are damp and slippery.
Slowly they descend into what looks like a dungeon. The walls are made of stone
and there are cells along the one side. As they go up to the first cell, they
look in but don't see anything. Then they hear the yelling, it is coming from a
cell that is further down. So they move along. As they pass the next cell, they
look over and it also appears to be empty. But as they walk past, something
jumps out of the darkness and scares them. It is a large white ape and it has
wires connected to it. It reaches through the bars and says "Kill me. Please
kill me." They all move back at the sight of this poor beast that looks like it
has been tortured. Cell by cell, they see different people or creatures come up
and ask for help. There is goat boy and the real spider man. There is John
Lennon who yells out "Put down your guns and give peace a chance." At the final
cell, they hear the screaming only to find Adolph Hitler sitting in the cell,
looking at his dead werewolf and crying. Next to the werewolf is a dead
Frankenstein. The door is still open and they go in. Adolph turns to them and
says "Vy did he have to die? Vy?" The King comes over to him and asks "Was there
a woman in here?" Adolph looks up and says "She is to blame for my poor beast."
he says as tears roll down his face. Batboy then says "Which way did she go?" He
spits at him and says "You vill get nothing out of me." The aliens see the
removed drain and say "She went this way." The five of them then make their way
down the ladder and into the sewers.
As Madeline reaches the end of the ladder, she finds that
there is a steel grate at the top. She can see the sun shining through and sees
people walking overhead. She tries to push the metal grate aside, but it is too
heavy. It will not budge. She pushes harder, but still gets the same results.
She looks down at the doctor and says "I can't move it. Want to trade places?"
He looks at her and then looks down. Just as he feared, he sees the giant
alligator moving around below him. "Be quiet, I don't think it knows were up
here." She then whispers "See if you can squeeze by me. Maybe you can move it."
He then tries to squeeze past her. It is tight and they barely fit, but he is
slowly getting past. But as he does, some of the rock comes loose and starts to
fall below. The first few rocks hit the water and make a splash. This alerts the
alligator who turns around and comes over to investigate what is making the
splashing sound. As he moves below them again, a larger piece of rock becomes
dislodged and falls down, hitting the alligator on the back. The gator turns to
see what hit him and when it does not see anything, it looks up. As it looks up,
it sees the two of them stuck on the ladder, a dozen feet up. The gator lets out
another loud bellow that shakes the whole sewer. It then tries to jump up at
them, but finds that it comes up short. The gator them goes up and grabs the
ladder with its teeth. It bites the ladder and starts to shake its head back and
forth. At first it does little, but after repeated shaking, the ladder starts
coming loose. It is also shaking around and Madeline and the doctor have to hang
on or risk falling to the waiting jaws of the alligator. As they hang onto the
ladder, they hear voices from above. "Someone is down there." "Go find someone
who can lift this grate." They hear the voices and Madeline screams out
"Someone, please help us." They then hear a voice back that says "Don't worry,
we are getting help." As they wait for someone to come, they feel one side of
the ladder come loose. This makes the ladder tilt to one side and almost knocks
them off. "Please hurry." Madeline screams as she struggles to get both feet
back on the ladder. She then sees the grate lift off and the sun shine down. She
squints at all the light and starts to climb up to get out. As she reaches the
top and pulls her way out, the ladder pulls completely out. It falls down on the
alligator and takes Dr. Frankenstein with it. "No!!!" Madeline screams as she
sees him fall below. At first he lands on the gator and then falls into the
water. He is able to get up and start to run when the gator turns and goes after
him. The last thing she hears is a bone chilling scream as he is bitten in two.
Tears well up in her eyes as she hears him die. She then turns to thank the
person who let her out. When she turns, she sees it is the creature. It is
staring right at her and smiling. The aliens then look at her and say "Hello
Madeline, you didn't think you could really escape from us, did you?"
With a large splash, The King lands into the sewer water.
"This smell will never come out." he says as he looks at his wet jumpsuit.
"These things are hard to replace." he adds as his grumbling continues. Batboy
is next to land in the sewer. He also is complaining as he splashes around in
the filthy water. "My fur will stink for a week." he says as he pulls one leg
out of the sewer water and examines it. The water drips off his leg and lands
back in the sewer. The two of them look at each other and then look up the hole.
They are waiting for the aliens to come down, but they do not see them. The King
then yells up "Are you guys coming?" At first there is silence. Then they hear
the aliens as they say "We are going back to the ship and will meet you in the
city. Make sure no one gets past you." The King stomps his foot, which only
splashes more putrid water on his already soaked jumpsuit. "We've been tricked."
he says. Batboy nods in agreement. He then adds "Guess we better go look for
little darlin." With that, the two of them head down the sewer.
Madeline is frozen with fear. She really does not know what
to do. She just missed getting killed by a giant alligator only to find herself
face to face with the creature. This is the first time she really has a good
look at the creature. Before it was always rushing past her, but now it is
standing right in front of her and she is scared. "Would you like us to reattach
you to the creature?" the alien says as he laughs. This makes her turn her
attention to the aliens who are standing next to the creature. She looks at them
with great interest. They look very similar to the aliens who have befriended
her, but there are noticeable differences. Their eyes are a little more narrow
and sinister looking. Their fingers are more slender and end with pointy
fingernails that almost look like weapons. And they seem to have a wicked smile.
One of them holds up the handcuffs that she used to attach herself to the
creature and dangles it in front of her. "Would you like us to reattach the two
of you?" She tries to crawl back as she says "No!" As she tries to get away, she
realizes that they are not alone. Along with them, she sees DB Cooper. "You were
part of this?" she asks him. He smiles at her and says "They offered me
something the other aliens couldn't." Before she can ask him what it is, he
answers the question himself "They offered me passage back to Earth." She slowly
pushes herself to her feet. All the time she keeps her eyes on the group,
especially the creature. "We really have no need for you anymore, but we are
going to make one more movie." the alien says as he watches her rise to her
feet. "There has been such a demand for movies starring you that we decided to
wrap it up with one final battle. You versus the creature who has tormented
you." the alien laughs as he says this. She looks at him like he is mad "But I
don't have a chance against this creature, it will slaughter me." The alien
laughs and says "I know. But to make things more interesting, we will give you a
head start. You have until the count of ten. Ready, set, go!" Madeline rushes
off as fast as she can. She heads down a street and turns into the first street
she comes across. The alien stands there and counts out loud
"One...Two...Three..." Inside her head, she can hear the alien counting and it
makes her blood pressure rise. She falls as she turns a corner, but quickly gets
back up and runs off. As she rushes down the street, she pushes her way past all
kinds of creatures. She knocks over a bearded lady who screams at her.
"Four...Five...Six..." the counting continues in her head as she rushes down the
street. She keeps running as fast as she can. She knows the creature will be
released soon and she has no idea how fast it can run.
"Seven...Eight...Nine...Ten!" When the counting reaches ten, her blood turns
cold. She knows the creature is coming for her and she has no idea where to
hide. For all she knows, the creature may be able to smell her or possibly have
a psychic link to her. She does not even know if they actually waited to the
count of ten. For all she knows, the creature is right behind her. She does turn
to look and does not see the creature. She breathes a sigh of relief and keeps
running.
As the King and Batboy make their way through the sewers,
they hear the loud bellowing sound. The King turns around and asks "Is that a
relative of yours?" Batboy gives him a dirty look and says "My relatives live in
caves, not sewers and we do not make sounds like that." The King smiles and says
"Sorry, my bad." Batboy gives him an uncaring look and replies "It sounds more
like you, after you ate a bowl of hot chili." The King smiles and says "I could
go for a big bowl of chili with lots of jalapeño peppers." Batboy then holds his
nose and says "If you ate a bowl of chili, then I would not be walking behind
you." The King turns and gives him a dirty look "What are you implying?" Batboy
looks right at him and says "The smells that come out of you after eating a bowl
of chili are enough to make this sewer smell like roses." The King prepares to
argue the point, but is interrupted by the sound of splashing. They both turn to
see what is making the noise. At first they don't see anything, but within
seconds, the snout of the giant alligator comes into view. They are both frozen
in their tracks as the head slowly comes into view. Both of their jaws drop as
they see the sheer size of the alligator. As it turns its head around the bend,
it sees the two men and lets out a loud bellow. The whole sewer shakes as do the
knees of The King and Batboy. The gator is headed right for them with its
massive jaws opening wide.
Madeline runs around a corner and stops. Her heart is beating
so hard that it feels like it will burst out of her chest. She has her mouth
open and is breathing heavy. She is leaned against a brick wall with her palms
pushed up against the red brick. She is pushing so hard, she can feel the coarse
material digging into her flesh. She wants to look around the corner and see if
the creature is headed this way. But she is afraid to. She looks down the alley
and sees that it dead ends into a large wooden fence. She looks around and sees
a fire escape down on the left. She looks up and sees that it goes all the way
to the roof. Maybe she should go up there. At least she will have the advantage
of higher ground. She recalls a history class where she learned how ancient
generals would use higher ground to their advantage. She is not sure if this
would apply here, but what other choice does she have? She quickly looks around
the corner and sees no sign of the creature. There is a set of Siamese twins
walking down the street. They are joined at the chest and are arguing with each
other. She also sees a young Elizabeth Taylor looking into the window of a
jewelry store. Her mind starts to wander. Is that Liz from the National Velvet
days or is she more from the Cleopatra days? What is she doing? Who cares which
Liz Taylor that is, there is a bloodthirsty creature that is looking for her and
she needs to get up that fire escape. She shakes her head and runs towards the
fire escape. When she reaches it, she hears Elizabeth Taylor scream. It is then
that she realizes the creature is coming. It would take something very vicious
to make someone on this planet scream. So she starts climbing the fire escape as
fast as she can. She reaches the first platform and stops to look. Still no one
coming down the alley. So she starts running to the next platform. As she
reaches it, she looks again to see the Siamese Twins running past the alley.
That cannot be good. She starts climbing again as she steps wrong and falls flat
on her face. This sends out a loud noise as the old fire escape shakes from the
impact. As she picks herself up, she turns around and looks. There is the
creature stopped at the end of the alley. It is looking down the alley. She
stops moving for a second, hoping it will keep going. But it is too late. The
creature heard the noise and already saw her moving. A smile comes over its
wicked face as it catches sight of her on her knees, pushing herself up. She
gasps in fear as she sees it moving down the alley, towards her. She cries out
as she gets to her feet and feels a pain sear through her ankle. Did she break
it? Maybe it is just a sprain. Whatever it is, the pain is great and she finds
it is hard to put weight on it. The creature is now halfway towards her. She
looks up and sees that there are two flights of stairs to go until she reaches
the roof. She grabs hold of the railing and starts hobbling up. She has to reach
the roof. She does not know what she will do once she reaches the roof, but she
just knows that she has to reach it. She pushes forward up the stairs, trying
hard to not put any pressure on her injured foot. The creature is now at the
bottom of the fire escape. He grabs it with both hands and starts to shake it.
Being old and creaky, it starts to sway with the pressure. The movement is too
much for Madeline with her one good leg and she falls again. She grabs hold of
the railing and pulls herself up the stairs. The creature keeps pulling on the
fire escape as if he is try to dislodge it from the building. Madeline pulls
herself up to the next platform and stops. She looks over and sees that the
creature is succeeding in dislodging it. She can see it slowly coming look from
the wall. She knows that she better move it or she is in for a big fall. She
grabs hold of the railing with both hands and pulls herself up. She plants both
feet and grimaces in pain as she puts weight on her back ankle. She bites her
lip and starts to run up the stairs. The pain is almost unbearable and she feels
herself almost passing out from it. But she fights past the urge and keeps
going. She keeps moving up and holding on to the railing to keep from falling.
She is only a few steps from the roof and she can see that the fire escape is
almost pulled out of the wall. Only a few bolts are holding it in place. She
pushes up the stairs and as she does, she reaches out and grabs the top of the
building. As soon as she does, the last of the bolts comes loose and the fire
escape pulls away from the wall. She uses all her strength to pull herself up
and over to the roof. She falls over the edge and lands hard on the tar roof.
Just then she hears a loud crashing sound as the fire escape falls to the ground
below. The large metal structure collapses right in front of the creature, who
was able to step back and avoid the impact. And falling right after the steel is
large chunks of the building that were pulled along. Madeline pulls herself up
and looks over the edge. The creature is looking at her with a smile on its
face. She looks back at it and smiles, knowing she was able to get away from it.
Then she sees it do something that makes her blood freeze. It grabs hold of the
wall and starts climbing up. Like a giant spider, it moves up the wall towards
her with a big smile on its face. "Son of a..." she says as she sees the
creature headed right at her.
Tabloid © Tom Zjaba 1994 - 2008