Information

Heterodyne has a minion!

Shroom the Hapoom

Heterodyne
Legacy Name: Heterodyne

The

Steamwork Bumbus
Owner:

Krynne

Age: 14 years, 7 months, 3 weeks

Born: August 31st, 2009

Adopted: 13 years, 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Adopted: June 10th, 2010

Statistics

Level: 65
Strength: 154
Defense: 152
Speed: 141
Health: 180
HP: 180/180
Intelligence: 30
Books Read: 30
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Night Shift

(Story by: Krynne

The alarms sounded for the third time this month. These attacks were getting more and more frequent. No one would say where the creatures originated from. Perhaps the people who once knew are now dead. Some people claim it was a lab experiment gone terribly wrong. Other people (and this was the more popular belief) say it was the asteroid that crossed the sky last year that was the cause. It passed so close that it skipped off the atmosphere and the "show" could be seen in the night sky by most of the northern hemisphere. Many folks claimed they saw "things" falling from it as it passed and now these "things" are invading the world. There is no proof of either claim but whatever the case, the creatures were now getting more bold and attacking more often.

Heterodyne and her classmates were quickly herded down the secret tunnel all classrooms had built and merged in with another 3 classes racing for the main shelter. Along with the large crowd of students there were 4 teachers (including her own), the school's head nurse, the dean of the school, and 2 visiting parents of students in other classes. Everyone, including the students wore an emergency pack on their back, kept in the classes in times such as this. They all raced through a set of thick metal doors and Heterodyne turned to watch as the adults all began to frantically push the doors hard to get them shut. Even with the large number of people pushing, they were still quite slow in closing. They were supposed to be quickly shut electronically but the power had been cut off in the last attack, which was only a week ago and had yet to be brought back online.

Slowly the doors inched closed. The sounds of skittering and clicking could be heard coming down the tunnel they had just exited. At this sound a few of the older students stepped forward to assist, causing the doors to move a bit faster. Just as the doors were almost shut, a large black clawed appendage reached in through the open space, groping madly about. The students pushing all jumped back in fright but the adults at the door continued to work frantically, shoving with renewed strength. The large claws somehow scored a hit, raking across the torso of one of the adults close to the edge of the doors. She screamed in pain but still continued her efforts in getting the doors closed. At the same time the dean pulled out a weapon from his pack and fired at the arm still scrabbling about, disintegrating it and the doors finally slammed shut. Heterodyne's teacher swirled the locks into place and they thudded into place with a boom. Heterodyne looked around at the faces of her schoolmates and wondered if her own showed the same look of panic as theirs did.

As the wounded parent turned to step back toward the crowded school children she paused and with a pained expression on her face dropped soundlessly to the floor. Heterodyne's own voice was added to the screams as they saw that part of the claw had still been attached to the abdomen of the woman. To everyone's horror it was still moving on it's own, digging deeper into the body. The school dean stepped forward and with a look of horror and regret aimed his weapon at the fallen parent and fired. The beam washed over the entire body disintegrating everything, claw and woman alike. Within seconds the only thing left was a small charred mark on the floor still slightly smoking. He then turned in sympathy toward the student who was now on her knees bawling hysterically, screaming for her mother.

The dean put away his weapon and knelt by the sobbing girl, as did the nurse. "You know that had to be done, Ashla." he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "If we didn't she would have become one of them." The girl stopped shrieking and stared up at the man. "You've seen it before... she would've become a mindless drone and not known you at all... in fact she would've killed you along with everyone else here!" The girl still wept soundlessly, two wet lines running down her face. She stared blankly for a few moments at the two adults in front of her. Slowly she looked around at the other students silently watching her, many of them with tears on their own faces. She then nodded and looked down at the floor, her chin dripping tears onto the floor. The nurse gave her a quick hug and reached into her pouch for something the girl to take for the shock.

Heterodyne knew exactly what the girl felt like. Her own parents both died the same way. Her father was taken down like Ashla's mom had been, but her mother was not found until the transformation was almost complete. The worse part is the victim is not dead when the body begins to mutate, it is just paralysed. The mind is aware of the entire thing until the very last stage when the brain is changed and metamorphosis is complete. There was no way to stop it. One did not have to have a claw attached, the change would occur even if one was just scratched... the attached claws just made The Change come a bit faster. Once the claws have made a mark, the enzyme injected by the claws is quickly absorbed and the cells within the body of the victim begin to change. The whole process takes only a few hours but it is not a pretty sight. It is always better to put the victim out of it's misery than to let it suffer through the change.

Heterodyne looked over at the scorched floor and thought to herself. One day she was going to find a way to rid the planet of these horrid creatures once and for all One day her world would live without fear. But for now she had to survive long enough to find it.