Campfire Horror Stories (Vol. 1)

Dr. Khalil's Bearded Crocodile

Ceres & Demeter Labs have tons of benefits! Great 401 K plan after only working here for three months, and great healthcare plans that includes dental. If you're in need of a job then, come work for us! We'll take great care of you!

That's what I was told before signing up for this crazy place. A lot of nice people work here but, a few of them were crazy. Especially, Dr. Khalil; a world famous zoologist and botanist. This guy is extremely smart, definitely one of the most intelligent out of the scientists in this place, only Dr. Green and Dr. Blue are smarter than him.

The thing is Dr. Khalil isn't exactly a mean guy, just a scientist that takes his work too seriously. A lot of the time he mumbles to himself about his experiments in front of other people. I tried to talk to him once about Egyptology, and we ended up talking about his pet crocodile that he performs experiments on from time to time.

Well, Friday morning he asked me to keep a watch on his area of the lab on Saturday. He told me to call him if anything strange happens. I wasn't sure what he meant by that but, it was whatever, no big deal. I could handle it. I drove up to the Ceres & Demeter Labs on Saturday at five o'clock in the evening, just as Dr. Khalil asked. I had to use my security pass to get through a few doors before finally reaching Area 24, where Dr. Khalil worked. To be honest, I knew the place would be filled with complicated stuff.

As I entered into the lab, I saw various kinds of chemicals stored in vials and bottles, high-tech machines, state of the art computers and laptops, as well as all sorts of plants (I bet some of them were poisonous). I dared not bother to go near the plants or the high-tech machines, in fear of dying or messing something up. I am not exactly a smart guy, was a B student in high school.

While I made sure to avoid anything dangerous or fragile, an awful smell started to tickle my nose, and gave me the urge to gag. I kept on walking to where the crocodile is being kept, and funny enough that is where the smell was coming from. No doubt about it, that crocodile smelt like shit.

There was giant cell with a sign that read, "Beardy the Crocodile". Cute name for a ferocious creature. The cell might as well have been a miniature swamp with all of the mucky water, tall grass, floating logs, marsh, and Lilli pads but, no cypress trees. I did not see Beardy in there; I thought he must have been sleeping behind a log. There was another large cell right next to it on the left side so, I decided to check it out too.

"Coco the Brown Bear" is what the sign, next to the cell, read. There were long patches of blue grass, miniature tropical trees, and a big bouncy ball in her cage. The brown bear was lying against a tree, sleeping. It was odd how she had blue lines all over her body. I assumed it must have been due to Dr. Khalil's experimental procedures. Plus, Coco looked fine.

I went to the middle of Dr. Khalil's area to make sure I could keep an eye on everything. I even had a swivel chair so, I can swivel around and not miss a single detail. Every now and then I would take a break, pull out my mobile, and play some app games on it. Everything was fine until, I saw something move in the corner of my eye.

It was Beardy. He was on the move inside his cell, I wasn't really sure what he was doing mainly because, I was too focused on how different his body looked from other crocodiles. Beardy actually had a beard, stood on two feet, and his legs and arms were long like a human's limbs. On closer inspection, he wore brown khakis, poseable thumbs, and weird red lined symbols on his stomach.

I was speechless.

How exactly did Dr. Khalil turn a regular crocodile into a bearded, mutant crocodile? I wasn't even sure if he was highly intelligent or not. That is until he started to speak to himself in English, sometimes muttering words in German (I knew he was because my mum is from Germany). I was absolutely flabbergasted.

Beardy turned his head in my direction. It looked like he was analyzing me with his sharp, swampy eyes. It was difficult to ascertain what was going on his head, and I really wanted to know so I could predict his movements.

Next thing I know, I saw Beardy putting his scaly hands on the cell's bars. There's no way a crocodile man could bend those bars. At least, that's what I thought up until I got a good glimpse of Beardy's strength. He tore open those bars so easily, it was as if he was opening a bag of chips. What exactly was Dr. Khalil feeding this crocodile? Well, I was not about be his next meal.

I immediately leapt from my chair, ran to the exit, and left the area. I had to call Dr. Khalil. A loud roar echoed from the area. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, went to the contact list, pressed "Dr. Khalil", and wait until he picked up the phone. Luck had to be on this survivor's side in this moment.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"Come on," I said impatiently as I ran through the halls.

"Hello? Hello!" Dr. Khalil finally answered the phone.

"Yeah, Doc it's me. Beardy escaped his cell," I told him quietly over the phone. Although my body couldn't help but shake in such a hectic situation, I had to make sure to keep my voice low so Beardy wouldn't be able to know my location.

There were a lot of pounding noises coming from Area 24's exit door. There was no doubt about it that Beardy would eventually break down those doors, and come chase me down.

After a brief moment of silence, Dr. Khalil finally answered, "Okay, here's what you do. Hide somewhere in the laboratory, and after enough time has passed, go back to my area. Once inside, go to a bright red cabinet, and inside the third drawer should be a large pair of cuffs. These cuffs are special. They suck away the strength of anyone that is wearing them."

"Bright red cabinet. Third drawer. Large pair of cuffs. Got it," I told Dr. Kahlil. I hung up the phone shortly afterwards, and immediately ran to Area 13.

Area 13 has a lot of friendly plants, boxes, crates, and big machines. A great place to hide. I made sure to leave the lights off and to only use my phone's flashlight mode as a way of getting around the crowded place. It was a bit tough to find the right place but, eventually I the perfect place, hiding inside a crate near some big plants, and a big machine that was pumping water into containers labeled, "Fresh Water".

Anxiety crawled all over my body, sending chills down my sides while I waited in anticipation of Beardy the crocodile to come barging in to kill me. I patiently sat in my crate, not making a single sound. A solid twenty minutes went by before I decided to get out of the crate, and check to see if Beardy was around. Much to my surprise, he was gone.

Everywhere I looked, I found no mutant crocodile. Oddly enough, nothing around the lab seemed to be damaged, aside from Area 24. Beardy must have left the lab. Who knows where he could have gone off to. When I went outside with the special handcuffs, I saw that my car was gone. Asshole.

Another twenty minutes had gone by before Dr. Khalil came by to tell me the news. He told me that Beardy was an evil crocodile that hungers for power. Luckily, the secret services came and killed him (Dr. Khalil wept a bit for he had raised him all his life). I asked him about Coco, and he told me that she was a good bear, no wonder I had no problems dealing with her. At the end of the day though, I got extra pay.