The Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro

by J. Hickey

Chapter 12

  Disaster

  "Children!" Margot yelled. She had suddenly burst through the door in a frantic fervor. Her chest heaved with every breath. Behind her entered Sebastian, who was obviously upset by the current state of affairs. His normally chiseled smile was gone, along with his perfectly parted blonde locks, which were now a hot mess, his bangs clinging to his forehead from sweat.

  "Margot, please calm down," he uttered, gasping for air.

  "I'm so glad to see you. I lost track of you when the commotion happened." She ignored her fiancé and spoke to the children.

  Elly, Hunter, Alistair, Liv, and a few others were crammed in a small storage room outside the auditorium's main hall. A tall, frail man, who looked more frightened than the children, stood with them.

  "A beast!" the man yelled, practically pushing the children out of his way as he approached Sebastian and Margot.

  "Sir?" Margot looked up to see the tall man approaching her frantically.

  "A monster! Running wild!" he yelled.

  The children could feel the tension. They were already fearful, and now the one adult they had hidden with began to unravel, scaring them even more.

  "That thing will hunt us down! Eat us!" the man cried. He pushed Margot out of his way. He grabbed Sebastian by his collar, and shoved him violently up against the wall.

  "Y-You gotta save us, man!" the tall man begged. He was an older gentleman, with a few thin strings of hair combed over his bald spot. He wore a green sweater vest that was now soaked in sweat.

  Sebastian froze. He spent his days digging up excavation sites, mingling with ancient tribes, and dusting off ancient pottery bowls. This sort of thing wasn't Sebastian's forte. He swallowed hard, unable to think of anything to say.

  "Sir!" Margot yelled. She pulled the man forward, spinning him in place and forcing him to face her. Margot slapped the fool with all her might. The children gasped as the slap echoed loudly in the small room. "Get a hold of yourself, there are children here!"

  "But I-" The man stopped for a second, took a deep breath and sighed. His cheek was imprinted with the swollen handprint of Margot's slap. "I'm sorry, you're right…"

  "How long have you worked here? You know this could happen at any time!" Margot continued to yell.

  "I'm just a janitor though; I don't know much of anything," he argued, knowing his behavior was wrong.

  "You know our drills. These children depend on your leadership. You're an adult, so act like one!" She shot a dirty look over to Sebastian, who still looked a bit shook up and at a loss for words.

  "Hunter, Elly," Margot beckoned, her eyes darting around the room, looking for their faces. She found them both sitting in the corner, crying softly. Alistair and Liv attempted to console them. "Children, what's wrong?"

  "That thing took Uncle Joey," Elly muttered through her sobs.

  "What?" Margot's jaw dropped.

  "It killed him!" Hunter yelled in anger, fists shaking violently.

  "No… I… I saw him hold you two back. Then I lost track…"

  "Margot." Sebastian put his hand on her shoulder. "I saw it… it's true."

  "What?" she yelled. "And you did nothing?"

  "I was across the room," he added, a bit confused at the notion. "What on Earth could I have done?"

  "Something!" she yelled, pulling away from his hand.

  "Plato grabbed him before we got pushed off stage," Alistair interrupted.

  "Yeah, I'm sure he saved him," Liv added.

  "What's your name?" Margot said to the tall man.

  "Bobby."

  "Watch the kids, do not have another meltdown. Do you understand me?"

  "No, I'm fine now. I will watch them."

  "What are you doing?" Elly asked, sniffling through her tears.

  "Yes, what exactly are you planning on doing?" Sebastian asked, a bit more defiantly.

  "Going out there to help, of course." She grabbed a hammer from a nearby toolbox.

  "And do what exactly, fight off that beast with a bloody hammer?"

  "To help, Sebastian. To help!" She turned from Sebastian hotly and went for the door.

  "Really?" Sebastian added with disbelief. He grabbed her shoulder once again. "I will not allow my future wife to run out of this room towards some crazy monster," he said with determination.

  "Then come with me." She pulled away from his grip, opened the door and left Sebastian standing in the room alone with the kids and Bobby.

  "Bloody hell!" Sebastian muttered as he quickly followed.

  Margot sprinted down the hallway and back towards the auditorium. Her hands shook uncontrollably with every stride she took.

  "Margot!" Sebastian yelled as he tried to keep pace.

  She heard her fiancé's yell, but didn't stop because she didn't care to converse with him anymore. Her blood boiled with anger. She couldn't understand how he could sit back and watch a man get attacked by that thing without trying to help. The thought of watching Sebastian sit idly by while that beast clawed away at Joe, who had thrown himself to the beast to save the kids, made her sick.

  She made her way to the doublewide door and threw it open. There just in front her stood Dominick and Agent Roberts. Dominick had his rifle pointed at the beast.

  "Stay back!" Dominick yelled.

  "Oh my lord…" Margot dropped the metal hammer, which made a loud thud on the floor. There in the beast's mouth was Joe's mauled body. He was motionless, ripped and tattered, blood slowly pooling beneath him.

  "We hit the beast… calm down. Let him fall," Agent Roberts whispered.

  The beast dropped Joe from its jaws and shook its body violently in an attempt to shake the dart loose. It succeeded and the dart flew from its hindquarters, hitting the stage floor. The beast leaped violently into the air and spread its huge wings. It moved so fast Margot couldn't believe how nimble the creature was. It flew across the entire auditorium in seconds. It moved far too fast for Dominick to reload his rifle and line up a second shot.

  "That thing should be on Dream Street!" agent Roberts yelled in disbelief.

  The creature once again soared swiftly into the high arch of the dome. There it quickly tore apart one of the vents and disappeared once again into the mansion's ventilation system.

  "Damn it!" Dominick cursed. "It got away again!"

  "Medic, we need a medic!" Margot ran towards Joe's lifeless body.

  Plato knelt down beside Joe's bleeding body. The robot's hulking frame blocked out the light from the massive chandelier, preventing Margot from truly seeing the damage that had been done.

  "Master Margot," Plato said plainly, "it is imperative you stand aside."

  "Let me see him!" she yelled as Plato's long solid arm prevented her from rushing to Joe's aid.

  "I am sorry, it is unwise to move Master Joe's body until proper medical attention is distributed. He has multiple unknown injuries, potentially but not limited to: spinal damage and multiple open wounds."

  "Over here!" yelled Abram, who had brought with him a team of three medics. The team had brought a large supply of medical equipment, including a portable stretcher to move Joe's body without further damaging any potential at-risk areas, most importantly his spine.

  "Give him air, now," one of the medics said as a terrified Margot watched on in disbelief.

  "Clear this area! We need room, we need room now!" another yelled as Plato slowly backed away from Joe's body. Now Margot was able to see the extent of the injuries. She burst into tears at the horrific sight. She had never seen so much blood; his body was completely covered in red, his clothes almost completely shredded. She fell to her knees, sobbing at the sight.

  "Is he going to be okay?" Sebastian put his hand on her shoulder.

  "His injuries are severe," Plato said.

  They watched on as the medical team surrounded Joe, doing everything in their power to save his life. "Systems indicate a faint heartbeat. Tapping into portable medical operation machine's mainframe now." Plato paused
for a brief second, collecting data. "Signs of low oxygen level registering. I am sorry, probability of recovery is low." Plato paused again as if to come to terms with the sudden turn of events. "Personal emotional converter suggests a mixture of sadness and anger," Plato said aloud to the group.

  The mighty automaton always spoke his thoughts aloud. He couldn't think consciously like humans, therefore, his thoughts were expressed through speech alone; being an automaton caused him to act in such a way. His simulated feelings got the better of his judgment, and his mighty fists tensed with anger. He then swung a fist angrily at the ground, crashing it forcefully into the oaken floorboards of the stage. It smashed through, putting a giant hole into the floor.

  "We have to transfer this guy to the med bay posthaste. Move, move!" Another medic yelled as they secured Joe onto a stretcher and carried him off.

  "Honey, we need to get out of here." Sebastian wiped the tears from Margot's cheek. "They have him now; he's in good hands."

  Margot didn't move; she just stayed their sobbing in Sebastian's arms. Plato stood before her not knowing how to react in such a tragic moment. He had his core mainframe synced up with the world's largest database of information, freely connecting to any and all secure nodes throughout the internet at his disposal. Although he could give you information on any topic, answer any question imaginable in mere nanoseconds, when it came to the human condition, Plato had nothing more than his own experiences to work from. He bent down to one knee and offered his gigantic steel hand out for Margot to hold. She did so, squeezing his cold steel fingers as tightly as possible.

  "Master Margot," Plato said, lowering the pitch in his voice to add a sense of ease, "I will stay by your side as well."

  "Thank you," Margot whispered back. "Thank you for trying to save him."