“
My friends will find me.
They’ll rescue me from this ridiculous predicament. Then Professor
Beauregard will wish he’d never abducted me,” Angelique
said.
“
Ha! You’re quite the
comedian! Do you realize that an
electric
fence surrounds
the entire compound? And do you realize that my husband can summon
an army of androids and a fleet of Eye-Bots from the warehouses
with the mere push of a button? There’s no way you can escape, not
even if your friends locate you!” Desiree said.
The laboratory’s giant, oak
door opened. Rusted hinges screamed while sunlight illuminated the
dusty bookshelves and cobweb-infested ceiling. Seconds later, the
door slammed and Angelique listened to heels click and clack on the
floor’s metallic grate. The newcomer cracked the knuckles of his
hands, causing Angelique to cringe and Desiree to laugh. Moments
later, a tall, skinny man emerged from behind a corner and stepped
toward Angelique’s bed. He wore a long, flowing robe. Geometric
patterns and colorful zigzags blended with each other on the silk
fabric of the garment. Matted spikes of white hair bulged from the
man’s lesion-covered scalp. A gray mustache and goatee covered the
lower portion of his face, except for his thick, pink lips. The
man’s blue eyes scanned Angelique from head to toe. After he
completed his assessment of her, he strolled toward Desiree’s table
and leaned toward her disembodied head. The man kissed her on the
lips. She moaned when he jammed his long tongue down her steel
throat.
“
You’re such a
bad
boy, Antoine,” Desiree cooed. She batted her eyelashes at
him.
In a high-pitched, feminine
voice, Professor Beauregard said: “After I scorch the princess and
retrieve your body parts, we’ll get down and dirty! It’s been a
long time since we enjoyed having fun with each other! Should I
drop her into the furnace now?”
“
Yes! Incinerate her right
now
, my darling! Pluck my components from her
ashes!”
“
Hmm, let’s see,” Professor
Beauregard said. He turned on his heels and threw his lanky,
spaghetti-like arms into the air. After he approached Angelique, he
dragged his left index finger down the middle of her upper torso.
Then he tapped his finger on her belly button.
When he touched her,
Angelique felt violated, squirmed on the bed, and begged for
help.
“
You’re not going to
molest
her, are you? Actually, I don’t care if you do! It
would be fun to watch!” Desiree said. She stuck out her tongue and
licked the tip of her nose.
Professor Beauregard
skipped across the room playfully. He cackled wildly when his left
hand yanked a long, steel lever down. Behind Angelique’s bed, stone
grinded against metal as a crack formed in the middle of the wall.
Two doors, previously concealed by a blend of rocks and stone, slid
apart to reveal the cavernous pit of a large furnace. When heat
radiated from the furnace, Angelique glanced over her shoulder and
screamed. Huge flames rose from the mouth of a wide oven, where the
bones of previous victims snapped and popped. Behind Angelique’s
bed, the floor ended and a steep slope dropped toward the entrance
of the furnace. A gust of wind caused tendrils of fire to spiral
into the room.
“
You’ll learn your little
lessons! You’ve got lessons to learn!” Professor Beauregard said.
He shook his index finger at Angelique while he jumped up and down
and giggled.
“
Release the robots! Let
them push her into the flames of Hell!” Desiree said.
“
Please don’t do this! I
don’t want to die!” Angelique said. She choked on her
phlegm.
“
Oh, I just hate it when
they cry, don’t you, Desiree? I think it’s
disgusting
and
pathetic
, especially when a stuck-up, arrogant princess does
it! Well, you’re not going to be a princess much longer, you dirty
little girl! In a few minutes, you’re going to roast like the pig
you really are!” Professor Beauregard said. He strolled to the
other side of the room and flipped up the latches of a metal door.
When he yanked the door open, dozens of small robots and androids
scurried from within a chamber. They clanked toward Angelique’s bed
and rolled it on its wheels. They pushed it slowly toward the
furnace.
A loud voice screamed
through an intercom. Red lights flashed throughout the laboratory.
Sirens wailed. The voice said: “Intruder alert! We’re under
attack!”
“
Ah, your friends have
arrived! It’ll give me pleasure to punish Dr. Stine for being such
a
sleazebag
! I’ll be his judge, jury, and executioner!”
Professor Beauregard said.
Angelique perspired as heat
and flames surrounded her. Desiree cackled wildly while she licked
her lips. Professor Beauregard left the room and slammed the door.
The androids and robots squeaked and beeped while they pushed the
bed. Near the room’s window, a white owl named Stanley hooted and
flapped his wings high above the laboratory.
***
Alexander knew Dr. Stine
would die if he froze and didn’t do anything to prevent the robot’s
attack. He stumbled toward Shadow and found his Bible on the ground
next to a steaming pile of horse dung. After flipping through the
Bible’s frail pages, he located the verse he wanted to read. He
scanned Genesis 9:6 and spoke in a clear, loud voice. “Whoso
sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the
image of God made he man.” A strange, gold light throbbed around
Alexander’s body.
The guardian of the
junkyard swiveled on his feet and turned to face the boy. Alexander
walked backward while he held the Bible in front of his chest. He
peeked around the robot’s legs and watched Dr. Stine slither out
from under the heavy net. From the corner of his right eye,
Alexander watched a compartment open in the middle of Razor’s
chest. A grappling hook shot out of the dog’s chest and zipped
through the air. The hook latched onto the robot’s left foot. Razor
trotted around the robot several times and wrapped the hook’s thick
rope around the giant’s feet. Razor barked and Dr. Stine said “Get
out of the way!” when the robot swayed from side to side. Alexander
jumped out of the way moments before the robot tumbled to the
ground and landed on the area where he’d been standing. The robot’s
upper torso crushed a large chunk of the compound’s fence. Dr.
Stine pointed at the gap in the barrier and cheered.
“
You hypnotized the robot
long enough for us to defeat him!” Dr. Stine said.
“
I didn’t think my voice
would have an effect on robots. I thought it would only work on
animals and undead creatures,” Alexander said. He shook his head in
bewilderment.
Dr. Stine climbed onto
Shadow’s back and settled into the saddle. Alexander placed his
Bible in the plastic case with the rest of his belongings. Then he
climbed onto Shadow’s back with the case in his left hand and Razor
tucked under his right armpit. Dr. Stine dug his heels into
Shadow’s ribcage. The horse trotted around the circumference of the
junkyard, jumped over the guardian’s upper torso, and hopped over
the fallen fence.
Sirens blared and red
lights flashed at the top of concrete poles. Robots and androids,
who wore black uniforms, combat boots, and gun holsters, emerged
from the roll-up doors of warehouses. When the heavy, metallic
doors of a hangar opened, a swarm of Eye-Bots spread their wings
and launched into the air. Shadow whinnied, pulled his lips back in
a sneer, and exposed his teeth when six androids stepped in front
of him and yanked Nuke Guns from their holsters. Dr. Stine glanced
over his shoulder and watched three Eye-Bots hover in a semi-circle
behind the black stallion. They were trapped!
A frail, lanky man emerged
from a brick building. He walked across the cobblestones of an
S-shaped road. The man scratched his head while he surveyed the
scene and stared at the intruders. Professor Beauregard giggled
while he tiptoed toward Shadow and craned his neck up to look at
Dr. Stine’s face. Then he threw his head back and exhaled a shrill
laugh.
“
There’s no escape, Dr.
Stine! Your reward for being a clever thief is for me to chop off
both your hands! Or would you prefer a more painful
punishment?”
“
You think you’re a law
abiding citizen? The penalty for kidnapping a woman and holding her
against her will is quite severe! And if you’ve already killed
Angelique, I’d have to say that murder is a far more serious crime
than theft,” Dr. Stine countered.
“
I make the rules here!
You’ll pay for what you’ve done! My wife suffered after you stole
her components and fled like a coward! Now you’re going to pay for
all the pain and agony you caused!” Professor Beauregard’s face
turned bright red.
He lifted his hands into
the air and whistled three times. The androids aimed their nuke
guns at Dr. Stine, Alexander, Razor, and Shadow. The irises of the
Eye-Bots dilated and throbbed with red energy. The ground rumbled
when several robots emerged from behind the warehouses and lumbered
down the hill. After all of his troops fell into formation,
Professor Beauregard yelled: “Annihilate them! Fry them until
there’s nothing left but heaps of ash and bone!” Then he giggled
and danced in the street.
***
Relentless androids and
robots pushed Angelique’s bed toward the furnace while Desiree
watched and sang lullabies. Bursts of fire surged from the furnace
and singed Angelique’s hair. Intense heat caused the metallic bed’s
temperature to soar. Angelique hyperventilated and gasped for air
when fumes from the furnace caused her to choke.
“
When you feel the wheels
slide, you’ll know it’s time to die!” Desiree sang.
Stanley swooped through the
air and dropped Zachary’s letter and a bottle of oil supplement
tablets on a bookshelf. The owl flew toward Angelique’s bed and
landed next to her left wrist. His sharp beak pecked and tore the
leather restraint. Angelique glanced over her shoulder and screamed
when she realized that her bed’s wheels were only inches away from
the steep incline. She smiled at Stanley when the owl’s talons and
beak shredded the leather restraint. Angelique lifted her hand into
the air and cheered.
“
You’re such a stupid,
ignorant bird! I’ll take care of you!” Desiree said.
Bolts of electricity surged
from Desiree’s eyes and zigzagged through the air. Stanley strafed
to the right and avoided the attack. Desiree’s eyes rolled in their
sockets until they locked onto Stanley’s location. The bird soared
toward the ceiling when spirals of blue light sliced through the
stagnant air and rippled across the eastern wall of the laboratory.
Several flasks tumbled to the floor and shattered. Red, yellow, and
blue potions splashed on the metal grate of the floor and oozed
into the radioactive river.
“
You can’t dodge my eyes!
I’ll have baked owl for dinner tonight!” Desiree
shrieked.
Angelique used her free
hand to unfasten the leather restraint on her right wrist. She rose
to a sitting position and reached for her left foot. Hot pain
rippled up and down her spine and arthritis throbbed in her elbows.
Another burst of fire whirled out of the furnace and singed her
back. As she unfastened the leather restraint, blisters formed on
her skin. The androids and robots continued to push the bed toward
the steep slope. Angelique glanced down. The bed’s wheels were only
centimeters away from the top of the hill.
“
So you think you can
escape? Ha! You’ll never leave this factory alive! Professor
Beauregard gave me instructions about how to deal with this
scenario!”
Desiree opened her mouth
extremely wide. Red, black, and yellow wires flopped out of her
throat and dangled in the air. The wires crept toward a control
panel on the far side of the laboratory. The red wire and the
yellow wire twisted two keys simultaneously, which caused a
feminine, computerized voice to say: “This complex will
self-destruct in five minutes! Please evacuate the premises
immediately!” Then the black wire wrapped around a black, plastic
lever and tugged it into the ON position. Seconds later, a male,
computerized voice advised: “Neutron bomb is now armed!” Desiree
laughed out loud.
“
What did you do, you crazy
bitch?” Angelique said. She removed the last restraint.
“
Ha! You won’t cook in the
furnace, but you’ll fry in the factory!” Desiree said.
Angelique jumped off of the
bed and tumbled to the floor. She glanced over her shoulder and
watched the bed roll down the steep hill. It picked up speed at the
bottom of the slope and vanished into a wall of flames. Stanley
dived from the roof and landed on her shoulder. She rubbed his head
with her fingers while the owl blinked his wide eyes.
“
Come on, Stanley! We might
still have time to find the others!” Angelique said. She snatched
Zachary’s letter and the bottle of oil supplement tablets from the
bookshelf.
Desiree watched them
depart. She sang the lyrics of a different song. She wasn’t in the
mood for romance now. Guitar riffs and screeching voices filled her
thoughts instead.
***
“
This complex will
self-destruct in five minutes! Please evacuate the premises
immediately!” The feminine voice blared through a network of
speakers and echoed throughout the compound. Seconds later, a
masculine voice added: “Neutron bomb is now armed!” Professor
Beauregard’s face went pale and his lips trembled.