White Sheep

Chapter 22

This is, I'll admit, going to be a bit of a weird chapter. It's the beginning of season two in terms of series timing, so it's necessary as a set-up for later events, but well, you'll probably see that it is a bit odd. Not in a bad way per se, but kind of random in the same way the start of V2 in the show felt random.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 22 – Lamb Roast

Cardin let out a long breath of relief as he and the team arrived back at their dorm. The morning lessons were over, the afternoon soon to begin – and he'd smashed some arrogant brat in combat class. That was always fun. Now, it was time to grab a shower and a new set of clothes. His team came with him, laughing to themselves about this and that. He ignored it all, throwing his uniform jacket onto the back of a chair and stretching his muscles. They popped and clicked.

"Finally," he groaned, sitting down on his bed, "some time to rela-huh?"

There was something squishy underneath him. It felt wet, slick, rubbery. It was between his ass cheeks. His eyes widened. With a scream, he threw himself off the bed, landing on the floor and crawling away.

Russel was up in an instant. "Cardin! What the hell, man. What's wrong?"

"Tentacle!" Cardin gasped, struggling up. "It's him! He's in my bed!" He reached for a weapon, and nearly whimpered when he realised it was back in his locker. He grabbed a nearby chair instead.

"Dude, calm down. Look, that monster couldn't fit in your bed – the sheets aren't exactly bulked up."

Cardin followed his partner's gesture. True to Russ' words, the bed was messy and unkempt, as he'd left it, but there was no way a human-sized person could have been underneath the sheets. There wasn't enough room.

The chair came down with a soft click, an embarrassed silence filling the room as he tried to think of a way to explain off what just happened without sounding like a complete fool. There was none, and he grunted instead. "I must be more tired than I thought I was."

"Yeah." Russ let it go at that. "You're probably worn out from trashing that runt in class." The others agreed, laughing at the memory.

That was why he loved his team, even if it was a dicey thing at times. They knew the way things worked. They didn't push the issue. Cardin laughed with them, then wandered over to his bed and dragged the cover off. He'd get to the bottom of this mystery.

He whimpered.

Tentacles... there were tentacles in his bed. Smaller than the ones that haunted his nightmares, but oh so similar nonetheless. The others saw them too, for Sky gagged on his hands. It wasn't anything disgusting – at least not normally – but being in his bed made it worse.

It was an octopus... or rather the tentacles of one. It looked store-bought, instead of freshly caught. It still didn't belong. Cardin's body shook.

"What the hell?" Russel murmured, moving forward to prod and poke at them. They didn't move, obviously. "How did these get here?"

"H-How else...?" Cardin gasped. "He's here."

"Dude... no one's here."

Cardin rounded on them. "Not now!" he snapped. "Before, earlier – he was here! Don't you see?" He pointed to the tentacles, eyes wide. "This is a message. It's a warning!" His back hit the wall. "He could come at any time. My room isn't safe. Nowhere is safe! He's going to find me... he's going to shove his tentacles up my-"