Chapter Fourteen: Miss Zeddemore, I Suppose
“I
WANT ICE CREAM!”
The
stressed-out parents to a five-year-old boy did their best to satisfy their son’s
needs; and they weren’t the only ones. Other parents, ones that came in pairs
and ones that were single, had out-of-control children with them at Pizza
Planet. Some kids cried and screamed. Others kicked and threw food while
laughing uncontrollably. It was a nightmarish scene. In the middle of it all
was the manager: a short, balding man with an apple-shaped body and a lack of
patience.
Doing
his best to ignore all the chaos, the manager spoke over the phone with one of
another business. “How long will it take Miss Zeddemore to get here?” He
carried his voice over the noise to hear himself, placing a hand over his ear
to hear the man on the other end. “With all due respect, sir, I’d appreciate it
if she would’ve gotten here at least six hours ago!” A cheeseburger flew
in from left field and connected with the hand holding the phone, causing him
to drop it, as well as cover the whole left side of his face with pickles,
ketchup, and tomato. “I knew I should’ve gone to college.”
The
manager kept his eyes on the entrance to Pizza Planet, waiting for “Miss
Zeddemore” to arrive. For a moment, when the double doors slid open, he thought
she had and felt greatly relieved. But, once he noticed two Caucasian women, a
Native American one, an African American man, a blond boy, a Hispanic/Italian
girl, and three Disney characters walking in, he sighed and returned to his
nervous state.
Natalie
couldn’t suppress a smile as she gazed at the chaotic sight in front of her. It
reminded her why she avoided having children (as well as stayed single). Of
course, the real joy Venkman got out of the scene was the notion of her old
teammate, Jacqueline Zeddemore, ending up in the middle of it all. Yet, she was
a little disappointed when she realized that Jacqueline was nowhere around.
“How
come she ain’t here?” Natalie asked.
Spengler glanced
at his digital wristwatch. “She’s usually here at eight o’clock. She must’ve
gotten caught in traffic.”
“Well, let’s at least
make the best outta it,” said Mickey. He turned to Goofy, Donald, Cody, and
Alex and instructed, “C’mon, fellas. Let’s go play a few games.”
Cody already headed in
the direction of the arcade games. “I’m so gonna beat Zack’s high score on Aliens:
Extermination!”
Alex
scoffed at this idea of Mickey’s. “I’m too old for little kiddie games.” She
stopped once she saw a couple of kids playing rounds of intergalactic skeeball,
in which a squishy “alien ball” was rolled down the lane and into the holes
that resembled the solar system. “Although I did see a cute iPod
on the way in that I could cash a hefty sum of tickets for.” And with that
statement, she was off to grab a cupful of tokens.
With
the kids off and doing their own thing, the adults took position at the nearest
booth that wasn’t occupied by rowdy children or exhausted parents. Genevieve
gawked at the wild scene a little more closely than Natalie had. She couldn’t
get past the notion of a former Ghostbuster working at a family restaurant as
an entertainer for children, and it once again brought her to the question of
how the Ghostbusters came to split up. “I guess now’s a better time than any to
ask this, but…” She paused and swallowed hard, a little worried that bad
memories might resurface from bringing it up. “How come you all disbanded the
team? Weren’t you a successful, working team?”
Natalie,
Sean, and Christina turned to each other, exchanging disgruntled expressions. For
a while, they were absolutely silent, obviously unsure of what to tell the
rookie. Finally, Natalie said, “It wasn’t our choice to split up, kiddo.
It was the city of New York’s decision.”
Genevieve’s
face scrunched up in confusion. “The city split you guys up?”
“Well,
it was the Mayor, to be more precise,” Sean stated. “He and his staff
discovered that we caused billions of dollars’ worth of property damage, during
one of the busiest years of ghost-busting we ever had.”
“So we shut down the
business and each took odd jobs to help pay for all the damages,” Christina
added.
Genevieve shook her head
in disbelief. “I can’t believe the city would treat you all like that. I
mean…don’t they know you’re doing it for a good cause?”
“When politics sticks
its funky nose in, heroic deeds aren’t worth squat, hon,” Natalie stated. “All
that matters are dollar signs and subpoenas…and we’ve seen enough of both to
realize when we’re beat.”
Genevieve sighed. “I don’t
get it. Why didn’t the news or anybody else mention this to the public? Your
fans?”
“Think about it, rookie,”
directed Natalie. “If you were mayor and forced one of the finest
businesses in New York to shut down because of lawsuits and money over aging
complexes, would you spill the beans to millions of fans?”
Genevieve nodded in
understanding, but it didn’t make up for the fact that it was all pure baloney.
After all the Ghostbusters had done for New York City, this was how they repaid
them. It seemed to her that times really had changed since Gozer and the
Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. The world’s greatest heroes were now reduced to
regular citizens…at least until they reunite and become the team they once were
again.
“Welcome to Pizza
Planet, earthlings!” They turned and noticed how the waiter was dressed in a
spacesuit. It was enough to make Natalie, Sean, Christina, and Genevieve lower their
heads to save themselves from embarrassment. “How may I beam your order from
Planet K to Spaceport C?”
Natalie looked to Sean
and whispered, “Just when I thought you were a rare species.”
Spengler grinned at
Venkman, while Christina told the unusual waiter, “We’ll just take four sodas,
please.” The astronaut/waiter saluted the customers before walking off to his “home
base”: the kitchen.
The
sound of the Pizza Planet entrance sliding open caught their attention, and
they saw the next victim of the chaotic evening at the restaurant. The group
was instantly surprised when it turned out to be Jacqueline Zeddemore herself,
looking exactly the way they last saw her…well, sort of.
Jacqueline
wore an amateur copy of her old uniform, which looked as if it was a few sizes
too small. This was obvious from the way her white socks and part of her shin
were exposed, the front wasn’t zipped up all the way, and the sleeves were all the
way up to her elbows. There was also the matter of treads sticking out from the
seams, signifying a possible chance of it all coming apart with just the
slightest bit of movement. She was careful as she stiffly walked in with an inflatable
“Proton Pack” strapped on.
Upon
seeing her, Venkman, Spengler, Christina, and Genevieve felt almost
disappointed to see what she had been reduced to. Zeddemore had always been the
toughest of their team. To see her with an inflatable replica of a Proton Pack
was beyond sad, and yet Natalie Venkman could not stifle a laugh. “Oh, man!
This has got to be the best night ever!”
Her
laughing could be heard over all the screaming children in the restaurant. As
much as the others tried to compose her, she had already generated enough
attention from some of the other customers. Eventually, it reached Jacqueline’s
ears and shifted her focus to their table. The sight of Natalie laughing her
butt off was enough to create an uncomfortable feeling over Jacqueline—as if
the costume itself hadn’t already.
“You’ve
gotta be kiddin’ me,” she uttered.
She
was just about to walk towards her friends, until the Pizza Planet manager
popped up right in front of her and blocked her path. “Miss Zeddemore! Where
have you been? Little Andrew’s party has gone berserk! The parents are
threatening to leave! And I’m…” SPLAT! Another meal came in contact with
the manager’s face; ironically, the side of it that had just been cleanse of
previous meal thrown at him. “I’m going back home to mother.”
“Don’t
worry, Mr. Brewster,” Jacqueline assured. “I’ll get right to entertaining the
little sweeties as soon as possible.” Brewster unenthusiastically nodded in
approval before returning to his office. Once he was gone, she approached the
table where Natalie Venkman, Sean Spengler, Christina Melnitz, and their friend
in the old, funky Ghostbuster jumpsuit were sitting. She made it pretty obvious
that she wasn’t too happy when she asked, “What are you all doing here?”
“We came to see how far
that poor excuse of an imitation rides up, before you start lose your mind,”
Natalie answered, right before Jacqueline reached behind her to tug down on the
seat of her jumpsuit, which was starting to ride up a bit.
Ignoring Venkman’s
teasing, Genevieve stood up and extended a hand out to Jacqueline. “Miss
Zeddemore, I’m Genevieve Marie. It’s really an honor to meet…”
“Oh, my goodness!” Natalie
exclaimed as she got up from the table and stood behind Jacqueline, gawking at
her fake Proton Pack. “Seriously, where did you get this thing? Couldn’t you
have gone to one of those expensive geeks who’ve got way too much time on their
hands?”
“Listen, Venkman,”
snapped Jacqueline, turning to stare eye-to-eye with her, “The only reason I’ve
had to tolerate this job for a whole year is because you couldn’t keep track on
the finance of our business!”
“Of course not,” Natalie
boldly admitted. “That’s Chris’s job.”
Christina rolled her
eyes in disgust. “Gosh, thanks, Dr. Venkman.”
Genevieve quickly
reinserted herself back into the conversation before it drifted off-topic. “Miss
Zeddemore, the real reason we came here was to tell you about the threat
our world is facing right now from Hades, Lord of the Underworld.”
Jacqueline was caught
off guard by Genevieve’s statement. “Our old flame-headed friend from the Gozer
incident? You’re kiddin’ me!”
“I’m afraid not, Jacqueline,”
Sean declared. “Several bizarre occurrences have all pointed to a possible plot
of revenge by Hades. He’s already used Jafar to attack J.G. at his bookstore;
and even our first apparition, Maleficent, has made it clear that she’s somehow
involved in this.”
“Man!” Jacqueline
remarked. “You go out of action for a year and the whole world’s already a mess.”
She then reminded herself of the mentioning of a fellow Ghostbuster by Spengler
and realized he was not with them. “Where’s Jay?”
Natalie sighed. “That’s
been the question of the week, apparently.”
“He’s been with this new
girlfriend of his named Vanessa.” Christina said.
Jacqueline’s index
finger went to her chin as she pondered for a second. “Now why does that name
sound familiar?”
AAAAAHHHH!
The scream didn’t come
from any of the children in the restaurant; it came directly from the kitchen
area and was enough to bring the parents and their kids to a stop. All eyes
went to the set of doors leading to that area, just as the astronaut/waiter
busted out, covered with some type of green ooze. The look on his face
displayed a mixture of horror, disgust, and panic; he dashed through all parts
of the restaurant until he reached the exit, which didn’t open fast enough to
accommodate his escape, forcing him to crash through it instead.
Everyone stood in
silence over the sudden incident, except for Venkman, who shouted to the fleeing
waiter, “Hey! What about our sodas?”
Suddenly, more screams
emerged from the kitchen as other employees fled the area; they were each
dripping with the same type of funky-smelling ooze on their clothes. The smell
that fumigated the air brought back some foul memories to Natalie and Sean.
Immediately, Spengler pulled out the P.K.E. Meter and turned it on to pull up
the readings that it detected from the kitchen.
Jacqueline turned to him
as soon as she heard the device beep. “What’re you getting?”
Spengler’s eyes were
focused on the meter, but they soon darted towards the entrance to the kitchen.
A translucent green blob creature with two skinny arms, no feet, and several
chins phased through the kitchen doors, leaving behind a glob of ectoplasm all
over it. It opened its mouth to unleash a sound that was a cross between a roar
and a belch. The smell it gave off was utterly revolting and enough to not only
bring terror amongst the parents and children in the restaurant, but nausea as
well.
While the parents and
children all fled from the building with the employees, the Ghostbusters and
their friends stayed behind, continuing to stare at the disgusting blob.
Whereas the eyes of Spengler, Zeddemore, Christina, Genevieve, Cody, Alex, and
the Ajax exterminators were filled with shock, the eyes of Natalie Venkman had
nothing but intense hatred and anger in hers. She and this blob had quite an
unsettling history that was difficult for her to forget, whenever she
confronted a ghost as nasty as this one. Seeing him for the first time in four
years, one word emerged from her mouth: “YOU!”
The blob looked directly
at Natalie and grumbled, apparently recognizing her; its glowing yellow eyes
had a frightening effect on Mickey Mouse, who said, “Oh, boy! He sure looks
like a mean one!”
“Don’t worry.” Sean
uttered. “He won’t hurt any of us.”
“No, he’d just gross the
constitution outta ya with his nasty ooze!” Natalie sneered. “Look at the
little spud! He’s tauntin’ me! Probably knows I’m gonna get him back for
sliming me back at the hotel, four years ago!”
“Venkman, don’t do anything.”
Spengler warned. “He knows you’ll try something if you…”
BBBBBBRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!
The blob growled as it
flew directly towards the group; it moved at a speed that was way faster than
it had when Spengler and Venkman last saw it. There was barely enough time to
move out of the way, as the blob came right at Natalie. She opened her mouth
instinctively to scream, but that was her last mistake as the creature phased
right through the upper half of her body. A wave of slime went right into her
mouth while drenching the rest of her in it.
As soon as the blob had
completely passed through her, Natalie collapsed to the floor and immediately
slipped into unconsciousness. Spengler knelt down near her inert, slimed body
and checked her pulse. “She’s not breathing,” he cried, which brought great
concern over the others. Immediately, Sean began administering CPR on her,
while the blob creature bellowed overhead, hovering around the ceiling and
phasing through dangling plywood models of planets.
“I thought this thing
wasn’t gonna hurt anybody!” Genevieve angrily yelled.
Spengler didn’t have a
direct answer for her confusion; even if he did, he was too busy trying to
revive his best friend. Something about the slimy blob was far different from
when they last encountered it. The readings on the P.K.E. were totally
different from last time. From what he deciphered, it almost rested in a class
close to one Gozer and Vigo were in. It’s too improbable to be true, he
thought.
Just then, another crash
rang through the kitchen. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Cody, and Alex dashed over to
the doors and opened them to see what was going on inside. Much to their
surprise, there were four more ghosts causing havoc there in the kitchen; but
these ones were different from the blob; they were more “cartoon-like” and
highly familiar to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
“Oh, no!” Donald
squawked.
“Gwarsh!” Goofy cried.
“Oh, gosh!” Mickey
exclaimed.
These ghosts were the
same lonesome ones the exterminators squared off against all those years
ago in that haunted house, during their first (and only) extermination. That
much was obvious from the translucent bowler hats and cloaks the ghosts wore
over their equally translucent forms. Like the blob, their forms were green,
but only much paler.
As soon as they spotted
their old exterminator friends, the phantoms sneered, and their eyes turned red
(something totally new to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy); they grabbed several
kitchen utensils (including forks and knives) and hurled them directly at the
mortals. Mickey and the others quickly departed from the room, just in time for
the utensils to strike the doors instead with the knives and forks stuck right
in them.
“Whoa! They were never
this mean before!” Mickey observed with surprise.
“Wonder what’s gotten
into them.” Goofy said.
“Whatever it is, I hope
it goes away soon!” Alex pleaded.
The group soon found
themselves running for their lives again as the four phantoms phased through
the kitchen doors and howled at them, chasing them away to where the
Ghostbusters were. Zeddemore, Christina, and Genevieve noticed how they were
chased by more vicious ghosts and could barely believe how crazy the situation
turned.
Just after the
exterminators, Cody, and Alex rejoined with the Ghostbusters, the four phantoms
and the blob hovered close to one another, sixteen feet in the air, and glared
at the group of mortals below. “They’re working together?” Donald questioned.
“Seems that way,”
deduced Mickey.
Zeddemore shook her head
at the sight above. “It can’t be a coincidence that they’re here at the exact
same time we are.”
“Another trick of Hades?”
Genevieve reckoned.
In response to Genevieve,
the blob and the phantoms bellowed in unison, “YOU WISH!” They started
to lunge right at them, howling eerily in the process.
At the same time,
Venkman regained consciousness, coughing up huge amounts of slime. Quickly,
Spengler turned her body sideways to let the ectoplasmic residue drain from her
body, while he once again pulled out his P.K.E. Meter and aimed it right at the
five approaching vapors. Flipping a small switch built in the back of the
device, the winged arms had risen into a vertically paralleled position at the
top of the P.K.E. Meter and emitted a shock wave of sonic energy that
surrounded the attacking ghosts. The ghosts instantly came to a halt with their
hands coming up to their “ears” and covering them from the high-pitched wailing
noise that was unheard by human ears.
“What’re you doing to
them?” Genevieve queried.
“Remember when I was
fiddling with the meter back at Hoots?” Spengler responded with a question of
his own. “I was actually upgrading a new feature to it: P.S.E. (Proton
Shockwave Emitter). It affects their psycho-kinetic energy and submits them for
at least twelve minutes.”
Spengler flipped the
switch again and removed the shock wave, allowing the ghosts to slowly descend
to the floor, where they continued to howl in agony. As she watched them writhe
in pain, Jacqueline asked Sean, “You think twelve minutes is enough to grab
some Packs and bust these jokers?”
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