Chapter 3:

The Marshboro Monster

“What happened?” Z rushed to their side. His words didn’t register. The shock of still being alive hadn’t quite escaped them. Timmy gleefully clapped his hands together. To the best of his knowledge, magic healed his hands. Beck’s eyes sat stuck to her chest, and her mind went into analysis mode. A build-up of charges must have sparked in front of me, she thought. Yeah, that’s it. Definitely not a lighting bolt through my heart. That would be… Beck scanned the lab and shook Timmy, still clapping his hands like a deranged seal. 

Maybe they would’ve been better off dead. The lab was wrecked. Frayed wires danced madly while shooting off sparks. Two monitors suffered thick cracks that made the screens unreadable. Worst of all, laying crumbled at the center of the room were the splintered remains of the Divider. 

Timmy instinctively began weaving a tale. “Yeah, so this bird just came out of nowhere and—” Timmy mimed a bird flapping its wings, followed by a gestured explosion.

“We’re underground, moron.” Beck shook her head disapprovingly.

“Are you two okay?” The panic in Z’s voice made the guilt heavier. 

Yeah. We’re fine. We’re really sorry. It was an accident.” Beck didn’t know what else to say. Z’s expression darted between relief and agony as he glanced between the twins and the Divider’s grave.  

Timmy couldn’t lift his eyes off the ground. “We didn’t mean to, Z.” 

“I–I know, dear boy. It’s quite alright.” Something in his voice said otherwise. 

“Can we help clean up?” Beck offered, but Z brushed her off. She could have sworn he was holding back tears.

“No, no. Thank goodness no one was hurt. You two get home and get some rest. I’ll–I’ll see what I can salvage.” The twins hung their heads low and left Z to clean up their mess.

. . .

Well, at least the ominous lightning was gone! Silver lining? Sorry, I’m trying here. Much to the town’s delight, the chaotic blue and purple streaks had vanished. Everyone, including Beck and Timmy, were ready for things to get back to normal.

If only they knew that Marshboro would never be normal ever again.

The next day in school went much like the last: classes with bullies, bullies without class. It didn’t help that Beck was going crazy. Multiple times that day, she could have sworn she spotted green sparks sneaking around corners. She figured she was overdue for new glasses. The day got stranger when Aiden threw a paper ball at her face, only she didn’t even feel it when it bounced off. Maybe she was coming down with something. The day only turned more bizarre when she and Timmy stopped by their lockers before science. 

At least science will make me feel better, thought Beck. It was her favorite class.

“Speak for yourself,” said Timmy. He was busy flipping through one of his large, leather books. 

“Speak for what?” 

“I swear you’re the only kid who looks forward to science. Thank god you’re my lab partner.” Beck rubbed her head. Had she spoke out loud? Before she could think more on it, Timmy exclaimed, “Aha! I found it!” Timmy pressed the book into his sister’s face. “It was from Book III, not IV! See? I told you it looked just like the Divider.” Beck looked at the page and saw a furnace, shrouded in ornate gems that flickered firelight. Beck had to admit, it did share a striking resemblance to Z’s Divider. The picture on the next page caught Beck’s eye. Two towering creatures, blue and white, were hurling chunks of ice while tiny villagers fled left and right. The picture wasn’t intriguing Beck as much as the strange green sparks that jumped from its edges.

“What are those?” she asked Timmy, but before he could look, she felt the book ripped from her hands. Aiden gripped the sides and scanned the page. His lips curled.

“Pictures of your friends?” The student behind him chuckled. “Honestly, this blue one looks a bit like you, freak.” 

“Give it back!” Timmy shouted. He lunged for the book, but Aiden was quicker. Timmy caught a stiff elbow to the chest and fell to the ground. Timmy clenched his jaw and pushed himself to stand. Beck rubbed her eyes when his hands seemed to leave scorch marks on the floor of the hall. She shook her head and yanked Timmy’s collar just before he could land a swing. 

“Let go of me!” He fought her grip while keeping his eyes locked on Aiden. The bell rang and soon the hall flooded with students rushing to their next class.

“C’mon Aiden, let’s go. Just give him back the stupid book,” said one of his friends. Aiden shrugged in acceptance. He tore a few pages out for good measure then dropped the damaged book as he walked off. Timmy finally broke free from Beck’s hold and ran to the book. Before Beck could ask if he was okay, he raced off to class. 

Science lost a bit of its luster when Timmy chose a new lab partner. Beck knew to give him space, but she needed to talk. Had he seen those sparks, too? 

“This seat taken?” A ball of energy sat beside Beck and tossed coils of hair from her eyes. Beck recognized her from the first day of school, the girl who talked back to Aiden. 

“It’s all yours.” 

“Thanks. Name’s Maya by the way. Maya Tucker.” 

“Beck Lewis. Nice to meet you, again.” Maya smiled and began setting up for class. Beck pulled out her notebook and a ripped piece of paper fell from her zipper. She bent to pick it up and turned over a torn page from Timmy’s book. It was an illustration of the tall, icy creatures with a crudely scribbled caption, “Beck’s Boyfriend.” Beck ripped the picture quietly in her lap, trying not to let Aiden see how much it hurt.

Maya noticed her fidgeting. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Beck gritted. She could barely concentrate for the rest of class, a first for her. She didn’t even notice when Ms. Harrison called on her to answer a question. 

Beck quickly tossed out a panicked, “Uh...Mitochondria?”

“Correct, the powerhouse of the cell is the mitochondria,” Ms. Harrison carried on. That’s a freebee, thought Beck. 

Even when you’re not paying attention, you’re still right, said Timmy. Or at least, Beck could have sworn she heard Timmy say that right in her ear, but he was all the way on the other side of the room. If they were still partners, Beck probably would have noticed how Timmy somehow lit his bunsen burners without turning on gas. Instead, the two sat apart, pretending the other didn’t exist.

After class, it was time for middle school’s survival of the fittest: gym. For some reason, Marshboro Middle thought it would be fun to kick off the year with a week of dodgeball. Dodgeball, the time-honored tradition where verbal abuse manifests into physical. Of course, the twins were picked to be opposite Aiden’s team. At least she was starting to learn the names of his little army. The lanky one with bushy eyebrows was Matt Neddler, and the stocky, freckled one was Jordan Blackburn. Names added to my list. 

Hey, I’m just the narrator, but they’re going to regret getting on Beck’s bad side. 

“Big Beck means big target!” Aiden called out. Coach Marcus lined the balls along the middle of the court, stepped back, and blew the whistle. A mad rush to the court’s midline rained a hailstorm of dodgeballs in all directions. Beck leapt and narrowly avoided two incoming strikes. She tossed a ball half-heartedly at Neddler and missed by a mile. In the corner of her eye, Beck saw someone running toward her. She turned just in time to find Maya on the other side of the court readying a clean shot her way. Beck raised her hands only for the ball to fly nowhere near her. Beck met Maya with a puzzled glance, who winked, grabbed another ball and ran off to target another student. 

The relief shortly vanished when she heard Aiden shout, “Everybody aim at Beck and her sidekick! No need to hold back. We can get them wheelchairs to match their freak friend.” 

Something in Beck snapped. She firmly gripped a ball and stared down Aiden with fire in her eyes. To her surprise, Aiden dropped his bravado and stepped behind a wall of teammates. Fine, Beck thought, I’ll go through them all. She began flinging balls with full might, landing the first shot clean in Neddler’s stomach, the second ricocheting off Blackburn’s face back in her direction. Aiden heaved a ball her way, but it must have had crazy spin. At the last second, it seemed to bounce away from her in mid-air. She could have sworn a trail of red sparks followed the ball’s turn. Meanwhile, Timmy hurled a ball so hard into Fiona Brown that she flew three feet back. Timmy looked down at his hands and then to Beck, who shared his shocked expression. All of their squabbles from the past day transferred to their common enemy. Pretty soon, Aiden’s wall of faithful disappeared. With one glorious heave, Beck summoned all her strength and hurled a ball toward Aiden’s head. Right as the ball was ready to smack his smirk clean off, he ducked, sending the ball crashing into the wall behind him. 

That’s when things got weird. 

When the ball struck the wall, the entire gym rattled. The court fell silent. 

Aiden glared at Beck with a mix of fear and disgust and said, “Freak!” Beck stood motionless. What was that?

Timmy ran to her side and asked, “That was awesome. How did you do that?” His voice teemed with curiosity. Before she could answer, the walls shook again, harder than the first time. So hard, in fact, several kids toppled over onto the gym’s floor. A last-second grab by his sister saved Timmy from falling. After Beck pulled him to his feet, the two scanned the gym.

“I don’t think that was me,” Beck said. To her surprise, each word puffed out a white vapor. Shivers rippled across her skin, and her toes went numb. Boom! A loud thump sounded from the far wall. Students slowly backed away. Boom! Another thump came. Timmy grabbed his sister’s hand. 

BOOM! The wall exploded with flying debris. When the dust settled, Beck and Timmy couldn’t believe their eyes. Emerging from the wall stood a large, blue rhino. 

See, I told you it was coming, didn’t I?

It didn’t look like any normal rhino, though. His skin was sky blue with horns and nails semi-translucent like glass. Where eyes should sit were two dark blue orbs, mystically reflecting the overhead lights. The class scattered to the opposite wall. Two strong puffs of mist sprouted from his nostrils, fogging his face from the frightened room. 

“Everyone get back!” shouted Coach Marcus. He stepped between his students and the rhino (as if that would do any good). Before he had a chance to try anything, the rhino reared and blew a heavy gust of white fog. When the fog settled, Coach Marcus stood still, whistle clutched in his mouth, completely encased in ice.

The twins darted their eyes between the ice sculpture of their coach and the monster behind it. For a moment, every person in the gymnasium stood as if turned to ice themselves. The rhino proudly stomped one hoof into the floor and clawed back, tearing wooden chunks off the court. He lowered his head and pointed his horn toward the class.

“RAWRR!”

Yeah, that did it.

“Everybody run!” shouted Aiden. Pandemonium. Aiden shoved two students to the ground as he made a beeline for the gym’s doors. In the chaos, something knocked Beck into Timmy and sent them toppling. Another icy blast soared over their heads and crashed into the bleachers. Timmy spotted a small clearing in the crumpled mess and yanked Beck to follow. They sprinted toward the clearing, dodging blasts left and right. The court was looking more like a nightmare art exhibit with statues of frozen students scattered across.

They nearly made it to the opening but the rhino landed in front of them, blocking their path. It took in a deep breath and prepared to send the twins to an icy end. Beck threw her arms over Timmy to blanket him. She closed her eyes, and the blast struck. 

One second passed. Then another. If this was what it feels like to be a statue, it’s not so bad. She opened her eyes to find a shimmering red dome covering them both. What? 

“Beck, your hands!” Timmy pointed at Beck’s palms which were bright with the same red sparks. What?  She shook her hands causing the dome to flicker and vanish. Her brain fell frozen, yet her face burned like fire. The rhino readied its next attack. This time, Timmy stood in front of his sister and raised his hands to cover the blast. Two yellow beams shot from his hands and struck the rhino between the eyes.

“RAWRR!” it cried out and staggered back. In one move it leapt over the twins and began to attack safer prey across the court. Timmy and Beck, bewildered, waited for the other to explain what just happened. Neither said a word. They pulled themselves up and rushed toward the free opening. They just managed to slide behind the fallen bleachers when another blast struck the opening, encasing them behind a wall of ice. 

They weren’t the only ones who had the idea. Sheltered under the bleachers with them were several panicked students, including Maya. Through the cracks in seats they spotted the rhino continuing to stomp across the court. Beck’s face felt a bit cooler now, but she couldn’t speak. This had to be a dream. Maybe she had a fever? Yeah, that would explain all of this. Just a wild hallucination, a painfully real hallucination. It took Maya wincing while holding a badly scraped knee to bring Beck back. Beck ripped open her bookbag and removed her trusty first aid kit. She poured out its contents looking for bandages but stopped. Maybe it was the stress of nearly dying, but the items seemed to briefly shimmer with the same green sparks that had taunted her all day. The rest of the students didn’t seem to notice. She turned to Timmy, whose eyes were bulging.

“Please tell me you see what I’m seeing,” he muttered. She nodded. Timmy picked up the reflex hammer and inspected it. Immediately, it began growing to two, three times its size. He panicked and dropped the hammer. When it struck the ground, it returned to its normal size. That everyone could see.

“Wicked…” Timmy went to lift the hammer again but Beck smacked his hand.

“Don’t touch that! It could be full of radiation or something!” Radiation? That must be it, she wondered. She recalled the Divider’s explosion sending lightening through the room. It must have struck the kit and the tools inside. That had to be it. Of course, she tried not to think about whatever hit the bag also shot through her. There would be time for that later. Maya and other students still needed help. Carefully, she grabbed the roll of gauze. Nothing happened. No unexplainable enlargement, no terrifying red shield. Phew. She went to Maya’s side and started wrapping her knee. However, as she began, the gauze flew out of her hand and quickly unspooled midair. It wrapped itself around Maya’s knee. Poor Maya fainted at the sight. When the gauze finished, it tore itself off and weaved through the air toward Beck. Floating before her, the roll wiped a small patch of dirt off her cheek, nuzzled against her face, and finally spun back into a roll to plop in her hand.

“Did…did that roll just hug you?” Timmy asked.

Beck ignored him. “We have to get out of here,” she said.

“Not before we take that down.” Timmy studied the rhino’s movements for any patterns. 

“What??” Beck slapped her brother’s arm. “That thing nearly killed us!” Beck began bandaging the next student only for the roll to once again spring forth and help. “We’ve got to get everyone out of here.”

“Starting with them.” He pointed at a pod of students cowering under a wall of chairs the rhino repeatedly ran its horn into. The way the wall shook after each blow made it clear it wouldn’t stand much longer.

“Do you think he’s made of ice?” Timmy kept his eyes locked on the monster. “Look at his skin. His horns too. It’s translucent just like the western ice giants.”

“Timmy I swear, this is not the time.” Beck had had it with his fantasy obsession. She had no idea what this thing was, but she knew they were in serious danger. Scanning the room, the only clear exit was on the opposite side of the gym. “Look, I’m going to try and distract it. When I do, I want you to make a run for the door. Then go get help, teachers, cops, animal control, anyone. Ready?” A loud crash of ice sounded. She turned and saw the wall of ice keeping them in had fallen. Timmy was gone. And so was the hammer. Perfect. 

She peered between the bleachers. Jordan Blackburn sat behind the fallen scoreboard rocking back and forth. Under the basket, another student threw up their hands only to become the rhino’s next victim. Where is he? Beck kept looking until something caught the corner of her eye. A small figure had managed to climb atop the bleachers, wielding a large hammer. It must have grown nearly ten times in size. Even from far away, Beck could tell its opaque rubber was now glimmering dark steel. The rhino hadn’t spotted Timmy. It was busy clawing its way to little Eliza Romburg hidden in a cage of collapsed chairs. 

Atop the bleachers, Timmy raised his arm and sent a pulsating yellow blast of light at the rhino.

“ARRGGH!” The rhino roared and whipped its head. Timmy fired another blast that narrowly whizzed by the rhino’s horn and struck the fire alarm behind him. The gym erupted with the alarm’s harsh buzzer as the ceiling rained upon them all. The rhino began to wail, not with anger or frustration, but with agony. He dug his head into the floor and continued to cry. Timmy leaned down and picked up a loose rope that once held the basketball banner. Beck’s eyes followed the rope to find it still squarely attached to the center of the ceiling. Panic struck Beck when she realized what her idiot brother was about to do.

Timmy wrapped the rope snuggly around his waist and lifted his hammer high. At the center of the court, the rhino dug in its claws and opened its jaws. 

Beck ran out from the bleachers and shouted, “Hey, Frosty!” The rhino turned to Beck just long enough for her brother to do something stupid. Or maybe brave? No, no. Just stupid.

With a mighty heave, Timmy kicked off and descended toward the beast. The rhino turned just in time to find his attacker strike the side of his horn. A horrible shriek rang out. The rhino reared and tossed its head violently side to side. One swing caught Timmy’s rope and severed it, sending Timmy into free fall. Beck didn’t think. She sprinted toward her brother with outstretched arms. He was too far away. Beck screamed as Timmy hurled toward the ground. Something tugged in her chest. The sensation ran along her arms and shot from her hands as red sparks. The sparks sprang toward Timmy and shrouded him in a flickering blanket, slowing his fall. Timmy braced for impact only to find himself floating inches above the court. Beck dropped her arms with a sigh of relief, accidentally dropping Timmy to the court with a harsh thud. 

The rhino continued to wail. It flung itself into a backboard and shattered the glass. It crashed into a crate of dodgeballs, sending them in a mad avalanche around the room. Something was off about the way it appeared, almost flickering in and out of existence. With each flicker, the rhino reappeared slightly smaller than the time before. Beck spotted the beast was missing its large, curved horn. Beck wiped her eyes as it continued to glitch smaller and smaller, now nearly half its original size. With a furious stomp, the monster let out a final howl. He charged out of the gym and out of sight. 

Beck couldn’t move. She didn’t know if it was safe to breathe. Frozen students littered the court with countless others covered in scrapes and bruises. It’s a good thing I have magic gauze now, Beck accepted. She couldn’t believe she was even using the word “magic.” Never let Timmy know that, he’ll never let you forget it.

You’re darn right! A voice spoke in her head. Beck spun in a circle searching for the source. That sounded just like Timmy, she thought.

It is me, dummy. Now will you help me up? Beck spun to find a pool of dodgeballs shifting at the center of the court. She ran over and began digging until Timmy’s head emerged. 

“Timmy!” Beck pulled him out and gave him a crushing hug. “Are you okay?”

“Erg…not if you…keep…crushing me,” he mustered under her grip. 

Beck relaxed and released her brother. “Sorry.” 

He winced and rubbed his neck. “I think Mom is right. Maybe contact sports aren’t for me.” Beck scanned him up and down for injury. When she found none, she smacked the back of his head. “What were you thinking?! Attacking that thing head-on?”

“It worked didn’t it?” Timmy rubbed the spot she hit. “Hey, how did you do that shield thing?”

“I have no idea.” Beck turned her hands over and back. “What did you shoot from your hands?”

“No idea, but it was awesome,” Timmy grinned, pleased with himself. “Where’s the hammer? I call dibs.” The two searched the floor and finally found the reflex hammer, now returned to its original form, laying beside a curved, icy horn. Beck went back to her bag, collected her tools, and brought them over. She unspooled a string of gauze to wrap the horn two times over. I’m not even going to test touching this thing, she thought.

Why? What do you think would happen? Timmy’s voice rang in her head.

Stop doing that! It’s freaking me out.

I’m not trying to. It’s just happening. The twins gazed down at the wrapped horn and shared the same thought. 

We need to talk to Z.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Med Hunters: Rage of the Rhino © 2024