Paintshark Part 17

The production manager shouted some numbers at his now former boss. "zero eight, eleven, eighty-three, but the creature isn't ready, it's not stable."

Big Man fought the urge to kill him and just grinned. "My kind of creature, close the door on your way out."

The manager didn't need telling twice and fled, leaving only the female a.s.sistant left to cope with the increasingly unstable mind of Apollo and the maniacal Big Man.

The king of the Networks entered the combination into the controller that the manager had left and waited, as did Kimberley. She called out to Felcey, who now had the other Beak-nip lion drinking from his hand.

"You ok?"

The lad pulled his hand away from the lions and gave her the thumbs-up sign.

The ground shook once more and Kimberley found it hard to stand, her glow fading and this time the whole stadium was shaking, the ground opened up once again, but there wasn't a platform large enough for what emerged from the hole.

Struggling to make its way out from the open stadium floor was a creature of unimaginable horror. A terrifying roar that rocked Kimberley off her feet bellowed from this monstrosity. It was like a lingering thunder-clap the sound of this creature, and now completely free from the hole Kimberley lost her confidence and control of her bladder.

In front of her stood the *Chimera', a giant monster created in Big Man's labs. They didn't know what to do with the creature after they had created it, but Big Man knew it was the ultimate killing machine and someday there would be a game great enough to unveil such a monster; tonight was just the night.

The creature had a giant elongated head with huge tusks jutting from its mouth, it grinded its sharp teeth together, its huge frame was lit up by the floodlights. It had distinctive marked ridges down its back, this was a male. The monster's red eyes blinked as it lifted its heavy head, fur covered its body apart from its tail. The tail was a live serpent, which hung loosely behind its back, sometimes slithering along the floor like a giant sidewinder and looked magnificent in the floodlights. The snake was added on by the scientists.

The Chimera took an awkward step forward and stopped suddenly to lick its paw as if it was in some discomfort. The beast looked up and sniffed the air, unsure of its surroundings, a deep rumbling growl came from within the beast as it gained confidence with each new step.

The two remaining Beak-nip lions were with Felcey, one was drinking milk from his fingers, while the other rolled on the ground playfully. When the Chimera came fully into view they left their new master and bounded towards the Chimera, one lion leapt on its back, trying to tear away at the monster's flesh without success, the Chimera roared mightily again more in shock than pain, the Chimera reared up, knocking the lion off. It fell, landing on its feet and started clawing away at the Chimera's underbelly.

The other lion was squaring off head to head with the giant monster and went for it, leaping on to the head of the Chimera.

It reared back with the Beak-nip clamped to its face and roared, swinging its head from side to side as Kimberley made a break for it to run to the other side of the stadium to reach Felcey. Her glow was gone except for her hands and she left the monsters fighting to reach her friend, the ground of the stadium was a mess, and Big Man watched from his seat as Kimberley sprinted from one end of the arena to the other, she reached Felcey in a speed that would embarra.s.s most top flight footballers.

Reaching Felcey, she hugged him and held him tight, showing him more emotion and attention in a few seconds than she did throughout the entire school year, she pulled away.

"Are you ok? Are you ok?" she babbled.

"I'm fine, had better days but I'm ok."

Kimberley took his hand and spoke quietly. "We have to get out of here, quickly."

"Where?" Felcey said with a sigh. "Where do we go? How do we get out of here? And how do we get past those?"

Felcey didn't have to point to the battling beasts, Kimberley knew what he was talking about.

Kimberley gave a look that said, don't worry, I got this.

She held up her glowing hands. "Look, I can make bombs, I'll blow ourselves an exit and we can escape from this place."

Felcey did the same with his own hands.

"Look, I can make milk...thirsty?" A smile flashed upon Kimberley's face and she re-grabbed Felcey's hand.

"Let's go."

No sooner had she uttered the words they both turned to hear a development from the battlefield.

The Chimera had one of the Beak-nip lions in its mouth, the jaws snapped shut, severing the lion in two, it rocked its head from side to side and than flung the remnants away.

Kimberley shook again as more lion remnants. .h.i.t her body, she felt the stringy things wrapped around her body and then screamed as she held the lion's intestines in her hands. Felcey shouted at the other lion attacking the stomach of the Chimera, it was the one who first came to him wanting milk from his fingers, he hadn't known it for long but he kind of cared for it, he shouted again and then remarkably the lion stopped fighting and turned its head towards Felcey. He waved his hands at the lion to draw its attention and the Lion slowly started to walk towards him.

"OVER HERE, COME HERE, BOY."

He clicked his fingers and whistled at his lion to come to him, frantically waving his hands at his new friend to come and join him, he waved even more when he saw what was about to happen to his new found friend.

"MOVE IT!" he screamed.

But it was too late, with its attention turned towards Felcey the lion failed to notice the sidewinder snake slithering up to its side. The snake hissed and spat at the lion as it began to run to Felcey.

The lion continued running, its legs and body ran past, but its head was missing, eaten away by the acid spat from the snake, finally the body toppled over and all of the Beak-nip lions were now dead.

The Chimera chomped away at the carca.s.s of one lion and then turned its attention to the two teenagers, Kimberley stood firm as Felcey hovered behind her.

"I'll be dammed if I'm dying tonight," Kimberley hissed.

She was finally getting the hang of using her powers and a flick of her wrist produced an orb bomb, she ran to the creature, unafraid and hurled the bomb towards it, the Chimera caught it in its mouth and Kimberley stooped down and put her hands to her ears. "Supper time, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

The explosion erupted into its signature bright light and Kimberley clenched her fists, but as the light faded the Chimera still stood there unharmed and slightly confused and shaking its head, its jaw still chewing away, Kimberley shut her eyes and wiped more lion's brains and intestines from her hair.

"Okay, okay ...b.u.g.g.e.r...okay, okay."

The Chimera was drooling now and its red eyes narrowed at Kimberley, she armed both hands with orbs, keeping her stare with the monster, she was confident again. "Let's get this over with."

The orbs rolled from her hands like marbles, brilliant white light was already streaming from the b.a.l.l.s before they had even hit their target when they did it was like a firework display of white and blue energy, and they exploded all around the feet of the Chimera. The creature roared in defiance as it reared up on its hind legs as the explosions continued all around its feet.

The bombs died down and crackled like wood on a fireplace and when they were done the Chimera still stood unaffected by the bombs, snorting hard. Viewing this from his seat Big Man punched the air.

"BOOYAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, WHAT YOU SAYING NOW, *BOMBGIRL? WHAT YOU SAYIN? WHAT YOU GOT?"

He and Apollo touched fists and looked for Kimberley's response, she eyed the creature up again, exhausted.

"This sucks on so many levels."

She turned to run back to Felcey, dodging the large craters in the ground, the Chimera's snake tail sidewinded after her at great speed, extended from the body and wrapped itself around Kimberley's legs she screamed fiercely as she hit the ground, "NO, GET OFF ME."

As the snake dragged Kimberley to the Chimera, it threw its head back and roared, bearing its blood-stained teeth and licking its lips in antic.i.p.ation of its next meal.

Kimberley's nails scratched frantically at the dirt as the snake dragged her to the Chimera, she managed to spin around and throw some orbs at the snake's body, as they exploded the effects were like firecrackers, but the orbs danced around the snake causing no damage to its skin whatsoever.

Kimberley screamed out to Felcey and tried to wave her hands at him as she was dragged away, the disgusting smell of the Chimera grew worse as she became closer to it, the hissing snake tightened its grip.

"FELCEY HELP ME, FOR G.o.d'S SAKE DO SOMETHING."

He backed away fearfully, looking at the milk still dripping from his hands, concentrating hard he released a jet of milk at the Chimera, the milk drifted aimlessly in the cool night wind, Felcey rolled his shoulders back and tried to increase the pressure, pushing his powers to the limit the milk just rolled down the Chimera's side merely causing the monster to turn its head and greedily slurp up the milk running down its furry side. Felcey froze and thought, It's not working, I'm doing more harm than good.

Big Man also had saliva running down his mouth from laughing so hard. "WAY TO GO YOU NERD, YOU'RE USELESS."

He continued to back away, stopping the milk flow from his hands, it was useless, Big Man was right. Just like at school, just like his stepdad had told him every day, he clutched his stomach as a stabbing pain reminded him that there were still beetles in his body, he was no good to Kimberley...he was no good to anybody now, the beetles made sure of that.

Felcey was going to die as soon as the beetles hatched from his stomach. He wasn't going to die now though.

The Chimera continued licking the milk from its hide, as Kimberley struggled with the snake coils, it swung her around and she rolled around on the ground.

"FELCEY, HELP ME PLEASE."

Big Man turned to Apollo and pulled a face. "Doesn't she moan a lot? Blimey, she reminds me of my ex-missus, she used to whine like a stuck pig too." Apollo grinned and continued watching the girl struggle.

Felcey caught the frightened look of his cla.s.smate and he held the stare for moment...and then ran away, Kimberley's eyes widened in more shock.

"FELCEY, HELP ME, COME BACK, YOU COWARD!"

He carried on running, looking back at his friend and his head full of shame, not noticing the carca.s.s of dead lion in his path, tripping over its body Felcey fell head first to the ground, knocking himself out. A slight twinge of satisfaction came over Kimberley as she saw Felcey fall. Big Man stood up and started pointing at Felcey, singing an old football chant. "HE FELL OVER, HE FELL OVER, HE FELL OVER!"

She was right next to the Chimera now and the beast roared with menace, her bombs were doing no damage to the beast as the snake released her body Kimberley stayed on the ground and listened to the snarls of the Chimera. She closed her eyes, praying for a quick death, she flicked them open again and caught the glare of the floodlights. Nothing's happening. I'm still alive. The Chimera swung its head low to the ground and nudged Kimberley, she rolled a few yards as the wet snout left a gooey smear on her back. She scrambled to her feet and wobbled only to take another nudge from the nose, knocking her flat on her back, winding her.

It's playing with me, it's playing with its food.

Kimberley was angry more than frightened, the creature couldn't be bothered to eat her now it was just going to play around for a bit before devouring her, she wasn't on its *things to do list'.

She was Kimberley Watson and this creature was going to know who it was messing with. Can't blow it up...then I'll bury it.

Kimberley didn't stop to think, her impatience grew with the Chimera and she got on her feet again, flicking her wrists constantly to make the orbs appear, and then she pushed the two together, the Orbs pulsed with energy, slowly rubbing them together until they started to grow, time was against her as Kimberley knew roughly how much time she had before they went off.

The two orbs together were now the size of a beach ball and Kimberley struggled with it in her hands so she simply let it go.

The ground was sloping as the cracks worsened, and the bomb rolled underneath and then behind the monster, the bright glowing light fascinated the Chimera and it turned to chase it.

Big Man jumped up and down like a man possessed. "NO YOU BIG STUPID IDIOT, LET IT GO, LET IT GO AND EAT HER."

Kimberley took a breath and sprinted behind her and began the countdown. "Five. Four. Three. Two..." She laid flat on the ground at a safe distance and saw the Chimera nudging the orb, and smiled as she could just about see Big Man waving his hands frantically. ".....One...... Bang baby!"

The stadium rocked to its foundations as the light bomb exploded, the whole ground gave way and the giant Chimera shrieked in alarm as it toppled back into the ground from where it first came.

The explosion was bigger than Kimberley expected and she screamed as she began to roll into the hole that had taken the Chimera.

The powerful and surging energy of the orbs made the stadium crumble and crack. Blocks of the magnificent arena came crashing down to the ground, Big Man watched in horror as his stadium came crashing down all around him.

Felcey was still laying unconscious on the far side of the arena, some section of the seating had fallen just over him creating a bridge from other falling masonry, so for now he was protected.

As Kimberley rolled toward the huge crater, she released more orbs that rolled like marbles all the way down through the giant crater, the new flash of light started a chain reaction of explosions which went all the way through the Network's underground power generators.

"MY STUDIOS!" Big Man yelled.

It was too late, the light bombs had destroyed the Chimera and were now taking out all of his underground labyrinth of studios and laboratories, all of the research his technicians had put into making the grotesque monsters that stalked the barbaric game shows of Big Man and his Network were now up in flames.

Kimberley tried to regain her balance but every time she stood up the ground moved again, forcing her to the crater's edge.

The sudden and powerful impact of the light bombs was taking down the stadium at an alarmingly fast rate, everyone in the audience had cleared their seats.

The night sky made its way into the stadium as the floodlights came toppling to the ground. Way below the surface in the studios of Big Man, flames bought recordings to an end permanently. Fire alarms sounded and sprinklers went off, as secretaries working late and lab technicians working on new projects ran for their lives as their offices and laboratories exploded into b.a.l.l.s of flame. Paint blistered and expensive cameras shattered as a trail of fire ended the Big Man's broadcasts.

Kimberley had fallen into the crater as the arena debris came down. It boomed with the sound of destruction as the once mighty football stadium which had been turned into a gladiatorial arena by Big Man, was bought to its knees.

There was no sign of Kimberley as the crater finally gave in and the whole ground was swallowed up, the *Theatre of Screams' collapsed like a house of cards and there was nothing left. Finally the ground stopped shifting and there was nothing left to fall from the stands.

Making their way down to the arena floor Big Man and Apollo stumbled from their executive box after witnessing this fantastic display of power from Kimberley, and the Network king fell to his knees. "It's gone, it's all gone, she's got rid of the lot, she took the whole lot, my arena, my studios, my cameras, it's all gone." He began to laugh hysterically. "IT'S ALL GONE, I'VE GOT NOTHING, THOSE FREAKS HAVE KILLED ME."

Apollo frowned. "These things happen."

Big Man failed to answer and Apollo spoke again. "All the creatures, all the experiments...all the monsters, all dead?"

"Probably," said Big Man.

"Boy, the R.S.P.C.A are going to be well p.i.s.sed off."

Big Man bit his lip and stood up. "Hope the cameras got that."

From the centre of what used to be his stadium Big Man heard a huffing and puffing noise, he beckoned Apollo and they climbed over what was left of the ground to look down the gigantic hole in the centre of the arena.

They were about to peer into the gap and they both jumped back, startled by what they saw. Climbing out of the crater was Kimberley, giggling, her hair was still covered in blood, but now had bits of rubble stuck to it, her dress had stopped being white a long time ago and it was shredded and black, her face was dust covered and only her teeth remained a radiant white, she was still giggling as she stood upright and stretched, she widened her eyes as she noticed Big Man and Apollo and stopped laughing, breathing hard, she looked back at the crater she had just climbed out of and then back to the men. Kimberley put her hand to her mouth and made a supping motion to them.

"Anyone fancy a cuppa? I'm gasping." She collapsed in their arms before they could answer.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

Freaks, Geeks and Dragon's Cheeks Big Man didn't even want to throw a party; it was planned way in advance of that evening's proceedings in the arena, but it was late in the night now and the party was in full flow.

Scantily clad women danced seductively to the popular tunes of the moment as business a.s.sociates of Big Man leered through smoke-filled haze at the nubile young dancers.

The older, balding men stuffed their faces with copious amounts of free food laid out for all the guests, and threw grapes and other various fruit at the entertainment on show.

The dancers found their perfect poise across the other side of the room and with the much younger and better looking male guests of Big Man much to the annoyance of the more mature ones, who in turn, opened bottles of wine and showered the dancers with them amid squeals of shock and drenched eyes widening through detest.

The mansion was filled, wall to wall with Big Man's dinner guests of who roamed freely around the rooms nosing their way through the magnificent building, drunk on fine wine and cheap gossip.

The glamour models who frequently adorned any available s.p.a.ce at the house kept to their job of providing eye entertainment and serving drinks to the a.s.sortment of crooks and henchmen at Big Man's disposal.