Sleepy Acer Part 3 - Animations - http://maxpages.com/andraiafanfic/III

"I don't get it," Matrix said, "how can there be a web creature in Sleepy Acer?"

"It would explain a lot of things," AndrAIa said, "like the decrease of the population, the fact that portals from the web opened up a lot."

Matrix nodded. "Yeah but…I just don't understand. How could I not be able to kill it? My gun would've been able to kill a web creature!"

AndrAIa and Matrix were back in the morgue lab, but the body had been taken away to the graveyard. She had shown him the body so he would see where there were immense amounts of web creature tissue. They didn't inspect too far, just the outside part. No matter how tough he looked, Matrix just wasn't ready to look any deeper.

"I don't know," she admitted. She glanced out the window. It was getting dark. "It's getting late. We should go back."

He nodded, standing up. They both hesitated, glancing at the now empty examining table. Then they left the morgue and headed back to the inn.

Jo-Bob was in the front family room, working on a crossword puzzle. He looked up when they came in. "Any news?" he asked.

Matrix shook his head. "Nothing right now." He looked at AndrAIa. "I'm going back into the woods."

"Now? You've got to be kidding me!” She stepped in front of the door. “It’s dangerous and I don’t want you going out there.”

“I can take care of myself. Besides, I think I have an idea.”

“Then tell me, clue me in on this.”

“I can’t because I could be…” he looked away. “I could be wrong.”

“So? That doesn’t matter.”

“Look. I’m going out to the woods now before dark. I want you to stay here and protect the villagers, keep everyone inside. Including yourself.”

She didn’t answer for a long time. They stared at each other, almost competitively, but she nodded. “Okay. But if anything happens, if you don’t come back quickly, I’m going out there.”

The woods were even scarier during the night. Matrix found his eyes wondering more and the hairs on the back of his neck prickling up. Jo-Bob had actually come along with him, determined to help the big guy out. So far, neither one of them had said anything to each other.

“So,” he said, “lived here long?”

Jo-Bob shook his head. “No. I’ve only lived here three years. I came in through a misled portal from my old system with my friends. We haven’t figured a way to go back. Everyone else here has families that go way back, even back when Sleepy Acer was first programmed. My friends and I, Billy-Bo, Franny, and Charm are the only outsiders pretty much here.”

“Interesting,” Matrix replied. Suddenly he held up his gun, alert. He had heard something.

All they could hear was a faint wind blowing through the trees. He stopped walking and looked around.

Jo-Bob started shaking, waiting as Matrix took a good look around. He kept glancing back at the town, fighting urges to run back and hide under the covers. But he had the good sense to know that the town was too far away now and if he did run, he’d pretty much be killed before making it.

That wasn’t a happy thought.

Matrix look down at him and tried to give him a comforting smile. That didn’t help. It only scared the binome even more.

AndrAIa sat down at the front bench and rested her chin in her hands. Frisket was lying on the floor, sleeping. She glanced at the windows and the doors, then thought better and checked to make sure they were locked. Then she drew the curtains over the windows and sat back down. It made her a little bit more safer.

The books she had brought back from the Principle Office were still sitting on the table. She grabbed the journal and opened it up in front of her. Maybe reading would help sooth her nerves.

The whole book was written by the Command.com, a sprite by the name of Freddy. The first entries were just updates on the population and how things were going. There were also bulletins, like weddings, birthdays, things like that.

But on the sixth page, all of that changed.

‘Today, the city still lies in fear every night now. Too many have died already. No one has dared to go into the woods in fear of their very lives. It is night at this very minute. All is so quiet. Deathly quiet. It’s almost like…

No, it cannot be like this. The town has gone through much suffering already. The Headless Binome has started to enter the village himself, hunting ruthlessly for his head. We do not have it! How could we have it? We never removed it from in the first place when he was killed. Who has taken it?

Oh no. I hear something outside. I’m writing this all down as fast as I could in hopes that someone finds this and sends help. Maybe someone will be able to save this system. It is our only hope.

My fears are more now. I know there is something outside, I just know it! I must get away-‘

That was where the journal entry ended. AndrAIa found herself staring down at it, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Did the Headless Binome get the Command.com? Was he able to get away?

She was so focused on the book in front of her that she didn’t expect a hand to grip her arm. She screamed and jumped back, grabbing her trident.

Mrs. Sheperd stood behind her, a startled expression on her face.

“Good gracious, child!” The binome cried, “What has gotten into you? Are you okay? Would you like me to get you a nice hot cup of energy?”

AndrAIa calmed down and released her grasp on her trident. “No, that’s okay, I’m fine.” She settled back down and rested her head in her hands. “I’m just a little jumpy, that’s all.”

“Well I suggest we get away from the front room and go into the family room. It’s almost midnight.”

Her head snapped up. “Midnight?”

“Yes. Now let me lock these doors and windows while you go into the family room and I’ll join you-“

“Matrix is out there!” She jumped to her feet. “Matrix is out there right now!”

“He is? Right now?” Mrs. Sheperd ran to the door and stood there. “Well you’re not going out, I’m not going to let you risk your life. The Headless Binome will get you and I’ve pretty much had enough of scary business for a lifetime, thank you very much.”

“I need to go see if he’s all right-“

“Not without getting through me, love.” She pinned herself where she was. “Now march into that family room and sit down, or I’ll have to drag you in there myself!"

AndrAIa stared at her. She knew she could walk right out into the night if she wanted to and the binome wouldn't stop her. But at the same time, she could see the fright in Mrs. Sheperd's eyes. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

She sighed. "Okay," she gave in, "I won't go out."

Mrs. Sheperd smiled. "Thank you."

Matrix jumped when he thought he heard a noise in the distance. The gun came up and he pointed it out in front of him.

Jo-Bob cried out and flew behind Matrix, his whole body trembling. The sprite ignored him and looked around. It was nothing. Relaxing only a little bit, he lowered the gun.

“It’s okay,” he assured the binome. “There’s nothing there.” He started walking again. Jo-Bob followed along side him, but his legs were shaking so much he almost lost his balance.

The found themselves in a clearing suddenly, a big open space where the trees didn’t grow. In the center the dirt was loose. Someone had been digging there.

“What is this?” Matrix wondered, feeling the ground. He turned to Jo-Bob. “Do you have a shovel?”

The digging took awhile. Matrix did most of it while Jo-Bob stayed on look-out. Everything was okay so far. Nothing scary or strange had happened and the binome was even starting to calm down.

Matrix’s shovel hit something hard in the dirt and he looked down, alarmed. He had dug three feet by then, but something was blocking him. Reaching down, he felt around until he could feel an edge. It was a board of some sort.

“Help me,” he called back to Jo-Bob.

Jo-Bob looked around timidly and inched over to him. Then he jumped into the hole and grabbed the same corner.

“On three we pull,” Matrix directed. “One, two, three!”

The both heaved backwards as hard as they could. The board became loose and they both fell on their bitmaps, the board in their hands. Down below in the hole, were a bunch of binome and sprite heads, no bodies attached.

Jo-Bob slipped suddenly and started falling into the hole. “Aaaagh!” He cried out, groping around. Matrix reached down and caught him before he fell in.

“You’re okay, I got you,” he said, pulling him out and setting him back on the ground. Jo-Bob turned away and started gagging. Just the sight of the disconnected heads was enough to make his day.

Matrix peered down the hole and winced. It really wasn’t a pretty sight. He looked back at Jo-Bob.

“These are all the heads from victims of the Headless Binome,” he said. “But why would he stash them here?” He looked aside and saw another section of dirt, freshly tossed around. Forgetting the heads for a moment, he headed over there.

“W-where are you going?” Jo-Bob asked, leaping to his feet.

“Hand me the shovel,” Matrix ordered. Jo-Bob handed it to him and he started digging.

“This time, Matrix didn’t have to dig very long. Only a foot deep later did he hit something. Bending down, he felt bark and stone, all beneath the loose dirt. With Jo-Bob’s help, they started pulling them aside.

Jo-Bob screamed and stopped suddenly when a hand bone stuck out of the dirt. He scrambled backwards, whimpering.

Matrix cried out as well, but he didn’t move. Curious, he started removing the stones more carefully.

An entire skeleton emerged.

Well, almost an entire skeleton. Its head was missing.

“This is the Headless Binome’s body!” Matrix cried, alarmed. Intrigued, Jo-Bob managed to pick up enough courage to come back and peer into the hole.

“But its head is missing!” The binome pointed out.

“That’s why it’s slottering innocent people,” Matrix said. “This is the key to all of this! But who has the head?” Then he frowned. The line-up of the skeleton wasn’t right. It was…

“This isn’t a binome or a web creature,” he realized, “This is a sprite’s skeleton!” He looked at Jo-Bob. “Why did you call it the Headless Binome?”

“It was too disfigured to be a sprite,” he replied, “It didn’t have a round head.”

“That’s because it’s ‘headless’.”

“Yeah well…” Jo-Bob shrugged meekly, “I knew that.”

“But this doesn’t make sense,” Matrix said to himself, “if this isn’t a web creature, then why did we find web creature tissue on Frantucket’s body?”

His thoughts were interrupted when the skeleton below him started shifting. His eyes widened and he jumped back. Jo-Bob hid behind them as they both watched in horror as the bones slid together.

“Oh User…” Matrix whispered.

The skeleton started growing tissue and skin, until it was no longer bones, but a body. The headless body than sat up and climbed out of the grave.

A horse whinnied from behind and the two whirled around as a white, ghostly horse came from the trees. Ignoring them completely, the Headless Binome grabbed onto the horse and climbed on. Then, holding on to the reigns, rode on toward the town.

“NO!” Matrix shouted, lifting his gun. “Gun-“

It was too late. The ghost was already out of range.

“Come on,” Matrix said, grabbing Jo-Bob and dragging him out of the clearing. “We’ve got to warn AndrAIa and the others.”

AndrAIa stood in the family room, her trident fully extended in her hands. She listened intentively for anything strange. At her feet Frisket stood, baring his teeth.

“Come on Matrix, where are you?” she said to herself. There was no way she could contact him. There didn’t seem to have enough power in this whole system just to try and vidwindow him. All she could was wait.

Mrs. Sheperd came into the room, a tray of energy teacups in her hands.

“Here, love,” she said, setting it on the table. “Drink up, it’ll make you feel better.”

AndrAIa’s head snapped when she heard a ‘whinny’ off in the distance. Alarmed, she rushed out of the room and out the front door, Frisket on her tail.

“Hey!” Mrs. Sheperd shouted, rushing after her. She stopped at the door. “Come back in here! You’ll get yourself killed!”

The sprite ignored her and peered down the street. Off toward the forest, she could see the Headless Binome coming towards her, and fast.

This time she wasn’t scared. After what Matrix had told her before about it being a web creature, no way was she going to be scared of that.

The Headless Binome came rushing at her upon his horse. She swung her trident and it hit the ghost. The Headless Binome flew off the horse and hit the ground. The horse stopped running and halted in the middle of the road.

The Headless Binome straightened up and withdrew a sword from his belt. He attacked her and she held her trident out for defense.

“AndrAIa, no!” Someone shouted from behind. Matrix was running toward them from down the road, Jo-Bob hurrying after.

“Matrix!” She cried, swinging her trident. She was sure she had him, there was no way the Headless Binome could escape her now.

To her surprise, the ghost was quicker than she thought. He swung his sword hard enough to cause her weapon to go flying from her hands, then kicked her in the legs. She fell back and hit the ground.

The Headless Binome held out his sword, preparing to stab her. Her eyes widened and she grabbed a throwing star. Before she could throw it, he swung his weapon.

Matrix fired his gun. The Headless ghost stumbled back at the impact, but it had only dazed him. AndrAIa scrambled to her feet as Matrix continued shooting.

The Headless Binome jumped on the waiting horse and turned around. Then, with its sword extended, rode back past Matrix and toward the forest. As he went by the renegade, he swung the blade and slashed the gun right in half. Then he disappeared down the rode.

“Matrix!” AndrAIa cried, running toward him. She threw her arms around him and hugged him hard.

“Are you okay?” he asked, “did you get hurt?”

She shook her head, “no I’m fine, really I am. But your gun…” she picked it up and held it out. “You can’t use it anymore.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” he told her, “but I have something important to tell you.”

“What?”

“The Headless Binome, it’s not the webcreature,” he said. “You know the citizens of Sleepy Acer? The original families? They’re the web creatures.”

Mrs. Sheperd looked down onto the street from her attic window and narrowed her eyes. Those outsiders. They’re messing with the wrong people. How dare they interfere with her plans!

Especially that woman, AndrAIa. Mrs. Sheperd especially didn’t like people that didn’t listen to her and stay put where they belong.

Turning around, the binome walked over to the table in the center of the room. On it sat a skull. The same exact skull that belonged to the Headless Binome.

“Your next target,” she said to it as she reached into her bag of witchcraft tools, “is that girl, the outsider. You will not rest until she’s dead.”

TO BE CONTINUED……..

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Page Updated Thu Nov 23, 2000 12:50pm EST