Chapter 6: Something's Wrong with My Lasagna

Microbial organisms? An infestation? An overuse of questions? Wow there's lot going on today!

Contagioness

            Ker-pshhh hrunk ogblah!

            A sticky, oozing, mustard colored, syrupy substance dripped from the palm of my hand to rejoin its former host. A scraggly, half crushed beetle was dragging itself away by its two front legs, making a slight scratching sound on the wood of the table. Since the arrival of Super Demon Baby these creatures had been infesting the base. They were innumerable. I had long since forgone my squeamishness in cracking down on them with my bare hands considering my new-found hatred of them. This particular beetle had been eating my lunch when I caught it. As if that wasn’t bad enough, unless I were to steal food from the kitchen there would be no replacement. Super Demon Baby’s lackey, The Proliferator, had a bottomless, nay, he had an infinite number of stomachs, therefore causing us to be on rations.

            Not one to be wasteful, especially on lasagna days, I ate around the area formerly inhabited by the beetle. The cafeteria noise merely added to the ambiance provided by the beetle’s guts on my hand. I quickly scraped it off on the edge of the table.

            “Contagioness! We have a problem. My lasagna has been compromised. Beetles are all over it and it’s really gross,” announced Vertigo.

            “Here, have a bite of mine.” I held it out, grinning. All that had been left was the area the beetle had eaten off of.

            “Um, Nessa? There’s a beetle leg attached to your lasagna, so no thank you.” Her eyes had widened as they saw the offending appendage.

            “Oh, ew, that’s going in the trash then. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. I guess you will just have to go without lunch. Unless you want regurgitated food,” I suggested, slightly disappointed she hadn't eaten the lasagna.

            “No way, how could you even offer that? I’m going to go find Phanta so we can all be together during the meeting. You know how crowded it will get in here with both the lackeys and S.H.O.V.E.L. members, so it’ll be impossible to find her when the meeting starts. Do you know what Super Demon Baby has called us out for?”

            “Nope, not a clue. Hey, Vertigo, about your…” I trailed off, not wanting to ask about her father. She frowned.

            “Hey, if you think I’m going to go around weeping about my dad, think again. I don’t need comfort and I don’t need pity. I will find a way to take care of the problem, since it’s mine and no one else’s. See ya.” She turned and quickly walked away, tense.

            As I watched her leave, I wished there was something I could do to help her through this, but I knew that she needed her space.  I threw away the remainder of my beetle-contaminated lasagna and sat down alone at my table. I noticed a thin, short girl with wavy blond hair peering at me through the crowds. I'd seen her staring at me often these past few days and had found she had some sort of slowing ability. Not necessarily time, just her surroundings while she remains unaffected. I figured she was either a weird stalker or just curious about me for some reason. It was more fun to think she was a weird stalker.

            “The meeting will commence in five minutes,” announced a crackly voice over the loud speakers.

            I saw Phanta and Vertigo weaving through the crowd towards me from the main hallway. 

A sudden pain lanced through my stomach, burning its was up my esophagus, a yell nearly escaping before the pain faded away as though nothing had happened. I straightened from the fetal position I found myself in and noticed a few others in the cafeteria doing the same.

“Nessa, I think Phanta’s sick! I walked in our room and she was holding her stomach and looked really pale and she was sweating and oh my gosh, you look the same!” cried Vertigo as she approached me.

“Oh, it’s probably nothing.  Hey, who’s that guy?”  I said with a sly wink.  A muscular, dark-haired man toting an automatic rifle had appeared on the balcony, preceding Super Demon Baby. 

“Oh, snap!  I think I recognize him from the Arizona branch!” exclaimed Vertigo, just before Super Demon Baby began to speak.

“Hello, friends!  A beautiful day, isn’t it?  I would like to inform you that I have compiled a list of rules that you must follow, on the penalty of death. How will I kill you, you ask? Well, the meal you just consumed has been poisoned!” He paused for effect while several gasps and exclamations filled the room. “My cooks have infected your food with a special type of bacteria that under normal conditions is perfectly harmless. However, when using a Transvorpal Beam Ray we can activate the bacteria and it will grow quite tumorously. There will be a pile of green goop after it’s finished with you and not even bones will be left.” Super Demon Baby opened his tiny little mouth to emit both beetles and a deep, bone-chilling evil laugh. “I shall now demonstrate.” He took the pistol the hot guy handed him, aimed it at me, and fired.

Time slowed to the speed of the sliming of a slug.  I watched the fuchsia beam come towards me, while in the distance I heard a small voice cry out, “Noooooooooooo, that’s my twin sister!  I never even got to meet her because my parents got a divorce after our birth and my father, who she lived with, wanted nothing to do with me! If you can hear me, despite my ability, my name is Stephanie! I love you, Nessa! I only found out through the League’s DNA database! It’s too soon for her to part from this world! Noooooo!”

A figure leapt in front of me, successfully intercepting the beam. She fell to the ground face up, allowing me to see my supposed sister’s frozen face. Her eyes were wide, veins bulging and pulsing as the rest of her body’s veins became visibly huge under her skin and followed suit. They were no longer blue but were turning a dark green and her visible pulse slowed. Her mouth tipped open, tongue green and protruding between her teeth as the bacteria broke from the confines of her blood veins. It looked as though dark ink was spreading from her veins underneath her skin, triggering nerves, causing her whole body to twitch until there were no nerves left to trigger. Her skin was just a container for the slime, a balloon of sorts, and it appeared as if a single nudge would cause the whole thing to just pop, bacteria bursting forth. Instead, it ate the skin and collapsed in on itself, free from restraints. The crowd that had been pressing in to see leapt back and the screaming started.

I was horrified by what I had just seen.  Had that really been my sister?  It was true that my parents were divorced, and I hadn’t seen my mom in years.  It was all too much to take in.

“Ah, how touching. Now quiet down!" He waved the pistol around threateningly and the crowd went silent, still edging away from the girl's remains. "Samurai, read them the list of rules,” commanded Super Demon Baby.

“One: Always complete the mission, at any cost.  Two:  Sickness and injuries will not be tolerated.  Three:  Follow Super Demon Baby’s every command,” the hot guy read from a pink note card.

I leaned over and whispered in Phanta’s ear, “We must form a band in the face of this tyranny.”

             Vertigo overheard this and asked, “A rock band?”

Author's Note

Any review is a great review!

Reviews

[SomeTypeOfArtist]

Great chapter, the only odd thing was the scene with her sister jumping in and revealing everything out of nowhere, it happened too suddenly and quickly. Maybe try to work her in a little earlier?

[words a la carte]

I love the opening line. Sometimes the flow of the chapter was a little awkward, but all in all it's always a pleasure to read.