Killer Pizza

by Greg Taylor

  They simultaneously opened their files. Annabel studied hers for a moment before asking, “Do you always hire people so young, Harvey?”

  “Depends on the person. But overall, yes, I do like to hire younger workers. They’re enthusiastic. Fast learners. Better than older people at handling the stresses and challenges of this, shall we say, unusual job. Yes, Strobe?”

  Strobe was staring intently at Harvey “Just wondering how old you are.”

  “Twenty-one. Small for my age, I know, but it allows me to pass for a teenager when I go undercover.” Harvey smiled, clearly pleased that he had been able to put one over on the trio.

  There was a knock on the door, and Steve walked in carrying a large, steaming pizza. “You read my mind, Steve. Pizza, anyone? Mr. Rogers is still the best in the business at making them.”

  Toby hungrily accepted a slice of pizza. When he bit into it, he had to admit that Harvey was right about Steve making a great pizza. What was his secret? Did he cook it differently? Did he use a special, unknown ingredient? Toby knew he had to find out. He wanted to make pizzas this good.

  Listen to yourself, Toby thought. There’s something called a guttata hanging in a refrigerator out there and you’re thinking about making pizzas!

  Strobe might have been thinking along similar lines. Chewing on his pizza, he walked out of Harvey’s office and headed for the creature. Toby and Annabel joined him. The trio stared solemnly at the bizarre-looking beast.

  Harvey watched them from his office doorway. “I think it’s only fair to tell you that this guttata was definitely not the only one in the city. Guttata are pack creatures, often with hundreds in a pack. As for our local pack? I believe it is multiplying at a rapid rate.”

  “Where do these things live?” Strobe asked.

  “In nice suburban homes and city apartments, same as you and me. As I told you, they prefer the human form. They’re very good at imitating normal, everyday people. But make no mistake, these creatures are a ruthless bunch. They will rigorously defend their turf. I say this as a warning. If you decide to try out for the KP force you’ll be getting up close and personal with this fellow’s pals very soon. The guttata will do everything they can to find out who took out one of their comrades.”

  Maybe it was the film they’d just seen. Maybe it was Harvey’s revelation of other guttata in the area. But the creature hanging in front of them suddenly looked unnervingly alive. It looked as though it might open its eyes at any moment …

  … and glare right at its human audience.

  8

  When Toby woke the following morning, he lay in bed for a while, thinking about the previous night. Had he really seen what he thought he had seen? After tossing that question back and forth for a while, Toby decided … no. No way. That thing in Harvey’s refrigerator ? The monster movie? Had to have been fake. All of it. Or just a bad dream.

  Thus convinced, Toby got dressed and went downstairs to get some breakfast. His mother and sister were in the kitchen, his mother making pancakes, his sister sitting at the round, wooden kitchen table. Toby sat down across from Stacey.

  “A ‘good morning’ would be nice,” his mother said.

  “Good morning,” Toby said. He gave his mother a smile as she brought him his pancakes. But then he frowned. Wait … what was that? Toby stared at his mom as she returned to the counter. Something was going on beneath her blouse. It was as though her body, her skin, was bubbling!

  Toby heard a grunt from across the table. When he looked at his sister she was eating her pancakes with her hands, stuffing them into her mouth so fast that they were spilling back out. A pancake jam!

  What … is … going … on … here?!!

  Toby looked back at his mom. A growing dread seized his body—pinned him to his chair—as Mrs. Magill slowly turned around to reveal … she now had a guttata face! The rest of her body quickly followed. Her fingers grew long, pointy talons. Her back hunched up and over, her reptile-like skin bursting through her blouse.

  Toby thought he was about to pass out from the shock of what he was seeing. The table suddenly shook, a jolt caused by a temper-tantrum pounding from his sister. Looking at Stacey, Toby saw that she had transformed into a miniature guttata! (The change doing nothing to improve her already annoying personality.)

  “I want your pancakes!” she said with a fierce snarl. Then she smiled a horrendous smile, bared her long fangs, and leaped across the table at Toby!

  Toby woke violently.

  Then he screamed when he saw his mother standing at the door to his bedroom!

  “Toby! What on earth is wrong with you!”

  Toby sat up in bed and looked around his bedroom. It was morning. The room was bright and sunny. And his mother …

  Looked like she normally did.

  Whew! Toby thought gratefully. Just a really bad dream!

  But Toby still had a freak-out hangover from his nightmare. It was, hands down, the most real and unsettling dream he had ever had.

  “Honestly. Your face is white as a sheet. Do you feel all right?”

  “Uh … yeah. I’m okay.”

  Mrs. Magill studied her son skeptically as Stacey appeared in the hallway behind her. Toby’s sister had a devious smirk on her face. She knew her brother was weird. His odd behavior this morning simply served as further evidence of that incontestable fact.

  “Show’s over, ya little mutant,” Toby said.

  “Don’t speak to your sister like that!”

  Stacey grinned and pointed at Toby behind her mom’s back. Toby wanted to tackle the brainy brat. Take her right down. Not a good idea, of course. Any disagreement between the two of them, Stacey always won. Thank goodness for easygoing Dad, a reliable buffer between Toby and his stern, disciplinarian mother.

  “I just wanted to let you know that someone named Annabel called,” Mrs. Magill said, still frowning at Toby. “She said she’d be at Prospect Park at ten o’clock. It’s ten till.”

  Toby jumped out of bed, grabbed a pair of cargo shorts from the floor, pulled them on, slipped on a pair of sandals, and was heading down the stairs before his mom or sister could even react.

  “Toby! You need to wash up before leaving this house!”

  Toby came back up the stairs, went into the bathroom, and came out with his Polo Sport deodorant. He reached under his T-shirt and slapped on the deodorant as he bounced down the stairs two at a time.

  “You can’t go out looking like that! Who is this Annabel, anyway?”

  “Just someone I work with!”

  Toby took the shortcut through the woods behind his house to get to Prospect Park. He stopped suddenly when he entered the woods. An eerie quiet permeated the place. No birds. No crickets. No hum of life. Toby was anxious to get to the meeting with Annabel, but something seemed to be drawing him away from the path through the woods, off in the direction where he had seen the mysterious shape after his first day at Killer Pizza.

  Walking cautiously along the edge of the woods where it skirted his backyard, inspecting the area as he went, Toby was relieved when he didn’t find anything. He was ready to head off when something on the ground caught his eye. There, right between his feet, embedded in an exposed tree root was … well, Toby wasn’t sure what it was. He knelt, took hold of the object, and pulled. It didn’t come out easily, but finally Toby was able to pry the thing loose from the thick root. Holding it up to the light for scrutiny, Toby felt a hot/cold chill.

  He was holding a razor-sharp, three-inch-long talon.

  Toby had seen a similar talon just the day before. Or rather, talons. Did this one belong to the creature currently hanging in Killer Pizza’s downstairs refrigerator? Or perhaps one of his guttata pals? Toby wasn’t sure, but as he studied the deadly object he felt his flesh crawl. He reached back to throw the talon into the bushes—he just wanted the thing away from him—when something made him hesitate. Toby wasn’t sure what that “something” was—it was an undefined feeling—but it was enough to ca
use him to put the talon gingerly into his pocket instead of getting rid of it. With a final look around the strangely quiet woods, Toby headed off to Prospect Park.

  Prospect Park was not large, but it was nicely situated at the highest point of Hidden Hills and provided an excellent view of the community and the farmland that stretched beyond its borders.

  When Toby reached the top of the steps that led to the park—his T-shirt already dark with sweat from the hot, humid day—he saw Strobe and Annabel sitting on the lone park bench by a large maple tree. He waved as he approached his coworkers and sat next to Annabel when he got to the bench. The trio was silent for a moment before Annabel asked, “Get much sleep last night, Toby?”

  Toby tried to sound as casual as possible. “Tossed and turned a bit. You?”

  “I tossed and turned a lot,” Annabel replied. “I have to admit, I still have a hard time believing what we saw last night at KP.”

  That made Toby feel better. Nice to know he wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

  “So … either of you make a decision?” Annabel asked.

  “What’s to decide?” Strobe said. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Can’t say I’m too happy about the pay, though. Harvey tried to sneak in that little paragraph on the final page of the contract. Minimum wage during our training period? Double minimum wage if we become MCOs? I’m definitely talking to him about that. I expect more than double minimum wage if I’m gonna put my life on the line here.”

  Toby couldn’t believe how cool Strobe was being about all this.

  “I was staring up at the ceiling last night when I made my decision,” Annabel revealed. “I mean, this is about as far out of the box as you can get, right?” Annabel laughed a short laugh, then frowned. “Actually, it occurred to me that maybe this was the reason I was drawn to Killer Pizza, instead of some other place. Maybe this was simply meant to be for me.”

  “Don’t get all mystical on us, Annabel,” Strobe said. “Signing up for Harvey’s force is just a job, after all.”

  “I think you’re wrong about that, Strobe. This is about service, when you come right down to it. I mean, somebody has to step up and battle these creatures, right?”

  “I think you were taken in by that recruiting film, is what I think.”

  “Maybe I was. One thing’s for sure. I’m going in to Killer Pizza as soon as we’re done here and giving Harvey my signed contract.”

  Annabel and Strobe fell silent. Toby was aware that his two partners were silent because they were looking at him, waiting to hear what he had decided.

  “Uh … I don’t know, guys. This is all so sudden, you know?”

  “It is,” Annabel agreed.

  “Besides, look at me. Do I look like a monster fighter to you two?” Toby wouldn’t have minded if Annabel and Strobe had come back with an immediate “Of course you do!” But instead there was a little hiccup of silence before Annabel said, “Harvey likes us as a team. You have to remember that, Toby. Anyway, we’re only signing up for a training period. There’s no guarantee we’re going to make it.”

  “You two’ll make it. Harvey won’t reject you just because I didn’t sign up.”

  “Sounds like you made your decision,” Strobe said, standing.

  Have I? Toby thought.

  Annabel sat next to Toby for a moment, then gave him an encouraging smile. “If you change your mind …”

  Toby nodded. Strobe headed for the stairs. Annabel gave Toby a final “Sure you don’t want to join us?” look, then followed Strobe when Toby stared down at the ground, signaling that he wasn’t quite ready to try out to be a Monster Combat Officer.

  Watching his coworkers leave the park, Toby felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. Everything had been going so well. Now this. He looked at the street below, where a group of kids was playing basketball. It didn’t seem right how normal everything looked down there. Toby’s world had been turned upside down overnight. Why not everyone else’s?

  I feel like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone! Toby thought. Standing to leave, the talon in his pocket gave him a jab, the perfect exclamation point to his TZ vibe. Carefully taking out the talon, Toby once again held it up to the light for inspection. As before, a creepy kind of power seemed to emanate from the guttata relic.

  And just like that, Toby knew what he had to do. He didn’t really want to. He just knew he had to. After all, how could he carry on as though nothing had changed in his life?

  He couldn’t. That’s what Toby suddenly realized. He could never go back to being like those kids below, innocently playing basketball on a typical, Hidden Hills July summer morning.

  So Toby put the talon back into his cargo shorts pocket and jogged toward the stairs. Strobe and Annabel were almost to the bottom when he called out to them. They stopped and looked back at their partner.

  “I’m going with you two.” Toby felt powerful and reckless and scared all at the same time when he said those words. He instantly felt like taking them back, but Annabel’s smile convinced him otherwise. She looked genuinely pleased to have him on board. So Toby walked down the steps to join his coworkers.

  “Okay,” Strobe said. “That makes three of us.” With that, Strobe continued down the path that led to the street. Toby hesitated a moment, then followed his two former kitchen colleagues.

  And to think only a few weeks ago I was bored! Toby thought as he fell in between Strobe and Annabel and headed off with them down the street, toward Killer Pizza.

  PART TWO:

  HOW TO BECOME AN MCO

  1

  “Annabel! Watch out!”

  The guttata came at Annabel too quickly. She had no time to set her weapon and fire. The action on the large, curved screen in front of Annabel froze on a snarling close-up of the creature’s gnarly face. “Blood” started to drip from the top of the screen.

  “GAME OVER.”

  The lights came on, and Harvey appeared from a booth in the corner. There were three stations in the room—one each for Annabel, Toby, and Strobe—but only one large screen, which allowed them to play the video game simultaneously. A game that Harvey controlled from a computer in his booth.

  Harvey did not look happy. “Watch out?” he said, glaring at Strobe. “How many times do I have to tell you? It’s ‘three o’clock’! ‘Ten o‘clock’! ‘Seven’—”

  “I know, I know,” Strobe said. “I just forgot.”

  “You can’t forget! You forget and one of your fellow officers might take a hit. Now let’s do it again!”

  Harvey strode back to his booth and slammed the door. Strobe gave his boss a cool stare, then settled in with his fellow KP rookies for another round of “Guttata Attack!” A marvel of tech wizardry and electronic sophistication, the simulated battle with the guttata was truly awesome. It blew away anything for sale on the consumer market, that’s for sure.

  The lights in the room dimmed as the large screen lit up. A group of casually clad, normal-looking men and women appeared on the screen in a suburban, Hidden Hills-type setting. Then … the suburbanites began to change. Their lifelike, grotesque transformation into a pack of guttata was climaxed by a baring of their fangs. These creatures-from-hell were programmed to do one thing, and one thing only.

  Take Toby, Annabel, and Strobe out.

  Two weeks had gone by since Toby, Annabel, and Strobe handed Harvey their signed contracts. Since then, their world had dissolved into a blur of intense study and training.

  On the morning of their first official day as rookies in the MCO Academy, Hidden Hills Branch, Harvey had led them on a tour of the secret and surprisingly large basement training center of interconnecting rooms beneath the Killer Pizza building. The tour made it immediately clear where Harvey put most of Killer Pizza’s profits.

  There was a gym with exercise and bodybuilding machines and a large matted area for self-defense classes. (Taught by Steve Rogers.)

  A shooting gallery with pop-up “monster mannequins” for hard target p
ractice. (Harvey in charge.)

  The sophisticated computer-game simulation room.

  A classroom with an impressive library where Toby, Strobe, and Annabel received instruction from both Harvey and Steve on the monsters that resided—in secret and often among—the human population of the world.

  Finally, there was the autopsy and examination room, where the trio had first become aware of the existence of the creature called the guttata.

  After the tour, the trio had immediately begun their intense, rigid training schedule, which began at ten A.M. and ended at seven P.M. The schedule was to be repeated every day, six days a week.

  In violation of the labor laws for minors, Strobe had pointed out to Harvey

  Harvey countered that normally they would not be training quite so rigorously. But because of the certainty of retaliation from the local guttata pack—not to mention that every day gone by left another innocent person open to infection from their sinister bites—they were on an accelerated crash course.

  Toby had the uneasy feeling that Harvey wasn’t telling them everything they needed to know about the guttata. Maybe that would come later, in the classroom. In the meantime, there were the workouts and self-defense classes to get through. Toby was already concerned that he might not survive that part of his training.

  “One more! YOU CAN DO IT!”

  Toby strained at the weight machine as Steve spit in his right ear. His muscles burned! His arms felt like they were going to fall off!

  “DIG!! I know you have it in you!!!”

  Toby was glad Steve knew that, because he certainly didn’t. Wrestling with an unforgiving metal machine with pulleys and wires and weights had never been his thing. Until two weeks ago, Toby had never worked out a day in his life.