The doctors at Rocky Springs Hospital stared at one another in bewilderment. They were utterly at a loss as to how their patient, James R. Fields, whom they had found lying beside the street in a severely weakened state, had fully recovered within minutes of his arrival at the hospital. What they found even more puzzling was that after performing various tests on him to try to see what had affected his muscles in this manner, they had found nothing at all.
As the doctors discussed the details of the case among themselves, James, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, thought about the fight he had had with the slimy monster. Apparently the slime it spat had a temporary strength-sapping effect that wore off in a little while, but rendered an opponent entirely incapable of continuing a fight. The monster was also fairly tough, since he had not been able to kill it or knock it out even with the tremendous blow he had given it.
He beckoned to Lana, and told her that he wished to leave the hospital right away, and track down the monster.
“But, James!” she protested. “You’ve barely even recovered yet, and the monster will only spit that stuff on you again!”
“I need to stop it from threatening everyone else in the town,” James replied. “I’ll find some way to defeat it.”
Before Lana could object further, James leapt from the bed, and ran out of the room. The doctors ran after him, trying to stop him. But James escaped out of the front door. He ran two miles, and finally reached the area of the city where he had fought the monster.
“It could be anywhere by now,” James thought grimly. He ran to a phone booth and called the police, informing them that he had returned and asking them if there had been any other sightings of the monster. The police answered that there had not, but urged James not to risk his life, and to leave the job of getting rid of the monster to them. “No need to worry,” said James. “I think I have an idea.”
After he had finished talking with the police, James went to the nearest manhole and lifted the cover. “I have no idea where the monster is, but I may as well start here,” he said to himself, recalling that he had seen the monster go down into the sewers after the fight. As he climbed down the ladder, James took a small flashlight from his pocket and turned it on. He then began wandering through the sewer tunnels. Soon he realized that he was lost. He went on, however, determined to seek out his quarry. All of a sudden, he heard a noise, and whirled around. Two glowing eyes were peering at him through the darkness! He shone the flashlight in their direction, and instantly perceived that he had found the monster.
James took a deep breath, and his muscles ballooned outward. The creature gave a gargling hiss – the same sound as it had made before it had spat on James during their first encounter. But this time James was prepared. He forcefully exhaled the air he was holding within him, and as he had expected, his increased power enabled him to create a mighty wind! The air ripped through the sewer ahead of him toward the monster, which immediately spat at him. The force of the wind was so strong, however, that the slime spat by the monster was blown back in the other direction, and the monster itself was blown far down the sewer tunnel. It flopped along the floor, and then collided with a wall. James inflated himself again, and ran toward it. He lifted it up with both hands before it could do anything to defend itself, noting that the slime on its skin did not have the weakening effect that the slime it spat had. Gripping the creature by the tentacles, he ripped it in half. It wriggled as its gooey, pale-green, translucent insides splattered onto the floor of the sewer, and then it became still. James released his stored-up air, tossed the remains of the creature on the floor, wiped his hands on his pants (he had not been wearing a shirt since he had escaped from the hospital), and climbed up the nearest ladder to the city’s surface.
As he climbed out of the manhole, he saw a police car nearby. He rushed over and described to the officer on patrol what had happened. The policeman climbed down into the sewer and saw the dead creature. He was amazed, and congratulated James. Then he called headquarters to inform them of James’s victory.
As soon as he had finished calling, however, the policeman received a call back from the station. As he listened to the report on the phone, his eyes widened with horror, and he motioned for James to come to him. After hanging up, he told James that large groups of monsters, all of them just like the one James had defeated a moment before, had appeared on the other side of the city and were attacking and terrorizing the general public!
To be continued…
This story is a part of the Inflato-Man series.
http://www.alternative-internet.com/serials.html#inflatoman