Zachary Pill, Of Monsters and Magic

taped underneath and couldn’t detect any knobs or latches. What was he looking for?

  Suddenly the alligator’s head snapped around, its razor sharp teeth stopping only inches from his face. Large dark eyes stared at him.

  Zachary froze. He didn’t dare move and knew full well that one chomp of those teeth could easily rip his head off. The alligator’s tail slapped against the living room wall. Terrified, Zachary crawled up on the back of the couch and accidently stepped on a bloody bat. Alive, the creature squealed horribly. Zachary leapt to the floor, certain the alligator would attack and tear one of his legs off.

  As if it knew what he had been thinking, the large creature twisted over the couch and lunged at Zachary’s feet—or more correctly, where his feet had just been. Long jaws snapped together, forever silencing the squealing bat. A quick flip of the reptile’s neck sent the bat’s entire body into the alligator’s craw.

  The bats no longer seemed quite so imposing to Zachary. The choice between tiny fangs and huge bone-crushing jaws was an easy one, and to prove it he raced willy-nilly for the office, avoiding as many slimy bats as possible but mostly just worrying about those deadly jaws snapping him in half. In a desperate rush, he slipped as he rounded the hallway corner and dove into his father’s small office. He used his feet to slam the door shut behind him.

  His body trembling like the groundhog he’d once seen dying in the park across the street, Zachary cradled his throbbing arm and scuttled toward the desk. He knew the flimsy office door would never keep a monster like the alligator out. He was trapped!

  Panicked, Zachary flashed his light around the small room until he saw the phone receiver on the floor. He punched in 9-1-1.

  “Sport,” he heard. Surprised he put the receiver to his ear.

  “Sport, did it work?”

  Realizing his uncle hadn’t hung up yet, Zachary said, “You almost got me killed! That alligator nearly ripped my foot off.”

  “I doubt that,” Uncle Ned said.

  “I’m serious.” Zachary’s entire body was still trembling. He could hear the alligator thrashing in the next room. The thumps and horrific squealing sounds coming through the closed office door suggested the bats weren’t having as much luck as he had in getting away. Unfortunately, it would only be a few minutes before the six-foot-long creature ran out of bat flesh and started looking for him.

  “You should be safe now that the slumber guard is awake,” Uncle Ned said.

  “The slumber what?”

  “The alligator,” Uncle Ned said, “it’s called a slumber guard. Your grandfather gave one to both your father and me. They’re sort of like bodyguards.”

  “But it’s been in our apartment since I was a baby,” Zachary said. “How can it move after all this time?”

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  Zachary did and it started with an M and ended in A-G-I-C.

  “I’ll explain more when I get there, Partner. Just keep the slumber guard nearby and you’ll be fine.”

  During the last few seconds, Zachary had noticed the thrashing and squealing sounds had been replaced by pounding at the front door.

  “Someone’s here,” he whispered to his uncle.

  “At the door?” Uncle Ned asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t let them in, no matter what,” his uncle warned. “I doubt the slumber guard would attack a normal person but it’s better to be safe.”

  “It’s probably the super wondering about all the noise.”

  “Just say the wind broke two windows and you’re cleaning up.”

  The pounding on the door was growing louder.

  “Charlie will want to see for himself,” Zachary said.

  “Just don’t let him in,” his uncle warned. “I’m on my way. Call if anything happens, but I should be there within the hour.”

  Zachary hung up and forced himself to open the office door a sliver. Though he trusted his uncle, the alligator terrified him. He peered out and didn’t see any sign of the monstrous creature. Maybe it had jumped out a window, which would have been fine by Zachary.

  The door knocking grew more urgent.

  “Hey, what’s going on in there?”

  Zachary recognized Charlie’s voice. As the building superintendent for as long as Zachary could remember, he did everything from plumbing to electrical repairs, and Zachary had even once seen him change a part on one of the delivery trucks out front. He was usually as cheerful as he was large, but he didn’t sound all that cheerful at the moment.

  “Roger, I’ve got three floors of neighbors complaining! What the heck is going on in there?”

  Unable to get the sight of those deadly alligator jaws out of his mind, Zachary played his light in every direction as he crept down the hall. He couldn’t see the so-called bodyguard anywhere. Praying his uncle was right about him being in no danger, he hurried across the kitchen.

  “We’re okay, Charlie,” he said through the door. “The wind blew out two of our windows, but no one was hurt.” Zachary found the last words clotting in his throat. How could he say no one was hurt when he still didn’t know where his father was? His knees trembled and he found himself leaning on one of the kitchen chairs. He tried not to think about why the wood floor felt so slimy. The whole day starting with the fight with Billy had been tough, but his entire world had come crashing in on itself over the last hour.

  “Let me in to take a couple of measurements,” Charlie said. “I’ll cut some plywood to put over the windows tonight. We’ll worry about the glass tomorrow.”

  Zachary heard a scraping sound behind him. Terrified, he spun and flashed his light on the alligator that stood on its hind legs like Godzilla in the hallway beside his father’s open office door. Its tail rasped back and forth across the tiles.

  “Don’t attack me,” he begged softly.

  “What?” Charlie asked.

  The alligator’s yellow eyes watched Zachary passively. Though it made no attempt to move toward him, he was still terrified.

  Please don’t eat me.

  “Zachary,” Charlie said, “I could hear you better if you’d open the door.”

  “My dad’s sick!”

  “No problem,” Charlie said. “I hardly ever catch colds.”

  “No, this is worse.” Zachary scoured his brain for some excuse to keep the big man outside. Something they had been talking about in science class came to mind. “He might have Ebola.”

  “Ebola,” Charlie said. “Like African Ebola? Here in Boston?”

  Zachary gave the alligator another glance. It seemed to respect his need for distance.

  “Yeah, that’s what my dad said. He sold some office supplies to-to the zoo. Might have gotten it from a gorilla that spit in his eye. Very catchy the doctor said. They won’t have tests back until tomorrow.”

  “You better put some plastic bags over the windows then,” Charlie said, “because I’m not going in ‘til I see a doctor’s note. Period!”

  “Probably a good idea,” Zachary said. “I’ll tell my dad when he wakes up. He’s asleep with a fever right now.”

  “I’m also going to have to talk with the doctor’s office, too,” Charlie warned, “to verify the note.”

  “I’ll let him know,” Zachary agreed.

  There were additional voices on the other side of the door by then, but they were too low for Zachary to make out. He did, however, hear Charlie say, “Okay, everyone, back to your apartments—no, we’re not going to quarantine the Pill’s apartment. He’s probably just got the flu or something. Until we hear more, get back to bed…and stay away from this door.” There were more voices, then the sounds of several doors slamming. Shortly afterward, Zachary heard the super’s heavy footsteps recede down the hall.

  He hoped his Uncle would get there soon because he half-expected that a government health agency would be at their door bright and early. Why had he picked Ebola? Couldn’t he just have said measles or mumps?

  He flashed hi
s light around the wrecked apartment. Every picture in the house had been smashed to the floor, and all the cabinet doors were open, the cabinet contents lying in pieces on the counters and sink. Like a gruesome art project, bat blood was spattered everywhere. At least he hoped it was only bat blood.

  Dad, where are you?

  12) The End of all Things

  Shortly after Charlie left, the alligator shuffled into the living room and stood on its hind legs in front of the large broken windows. Zachary could no longer see any bats, living or dead, and guessed the alligator had been making up for a lot of hungry years behind the couch. Checking first to make sure the vicious creature didn’t move, Zachary started down the hall to search his and his father’s rooms one last time. But—faster than any creature that size had a right to be—the reptile charged past him, its scales scraping past his legs, and threw itself between him and his father’s bedroom door. Its sparkling white teeth paused only inches from his chest.

  Zachary jumped back!

  The message to stay away from his father’s room was clear. But why?

  Not sure if the alligator would permit him to go into his own bedroom or the office, Zachary retreated to the kitchen. Besides, it was the one room with an exit. Since the floor and most everything else in the apartment was covered with gore, he pushed the table out of the way and sat on the only clean spot on the floor to wait for his uncle to arrive. Several times he closed his eyes, but images of the horrible things that might have happened to his father forced him to open them again. Two years ago, he had lost his mother. Was it possible that his