<div align="center"><strong><span class="bbc_u">The Fictionals: Hunting Monsters</span></strong></div><br/>‘The smell was the first thing you had to get used to if you wanted to work with animals. Amy had learned this the hard way during her volunteer work at the local zoo. Ever since she was a little girl she had wanted to be a vet, so when she had learned of the opportunity to be able to work at a place that contained lions, tigers, bears and all sorts of wonderful animals she could hardly resist signing herself up. Not to mention it would help get her parents off her back. Her mother and father were constantly telling warning her about wasting her teenage years.<br/>She hadn't realised until she had gotten to the zoo how much cleaning she would be expected to do. It was not as if she minded, she liked the idea of being a help to the zoo, but there was just so many cages to do. She had already spent most of the day cleaning out the monkey exhibits and only now was she getting on to cleaning the big cats exhibitions.<br/>She sighed contently and pushed the heavy trolley of cleaning supplies down the path to the cat cages. By now her spervisor should have herded the lions and tigers into the indoor parts of their enclosure so that she would be able to clean the outdoor part without having to worry about being mauled to death.<br/>'Cleaning time everyone!' She called out cheerfully as she turned the corner and passed under the large sign that said; 'big cat enclosure'. She hummed to herself contently as she dragged the cart towards the tiger den and began to locate the keys to the cage.<br/>It was then that she noticed that the cage was already open. She blinked at the sight of the large metal door swinging back and fourth in the wind, unrestrained by the heavy locks and chains that would fasten it in place.<br/>'Milo?' She called out the name of her supervisor; a young man who had worked at the zoo for a few years. He had been a cheerful bloke who enjoyed playing the odd joke on her; like putting animal feed in the pockets of her green zookeeper uniform when she went to feed the goats. He had laughed loudly as he watched her race around the pen being chased by an army of baby goats.<br/>'Milo are you there?' She called again and stepped into the cage, looking around the corners of the cage suspiciously in case Milo decided to jump out and scare her.<br/>There was no one there. Yet despite this obvious truth Amy couldn't help but feel that she wasn't alone.<br/>'Hello? Anyone here?' She called out, only realising now that her voice sounded timid and afraid. Her hands were now shaking, it was so quiet, why weren't the cats roaring and hissing to tell her that everything was ok?<br/>It was then that Amy began to hear the sound of a gruff voice whispering. His voice low and rough, like the sound of an engine.<br/>'The plan will commence soon, be sure that your agents are ready.' It spoke, it seemed to be coming from further in the cage.<br/>'My servants are always ready. You need to hurry your efforts, you cannot keep a king waiting.' Another voice replied; a proud and strong voice that made Amy feel embarassed for intruding.<br/>'Wait until the signal is given and be grateful that my mother has vouched for you.'<br/>'She'll get her thanks when I have meat in between my jaws' It snapped.<br/>She turned on the spot, feeling it best to go before she was discovered eavesdropping.<br/>Unfortunately this had been the moment when the owner of the rough voice choose to step out of the shadows of the den.<br/>'WHO GOES THERE!?' The rough voice boomed and at once Amy turned on the spot to apologise for listening to their private conversation.<br/>'Sorry I was just-' She began, but that was all she managed to blurt out. For as she laid her curious green eyes on the figure she had fainted and fallen out of the den. What she had laid eyes on was a monster; a huge hairy figure with glowing red eyes and a mouth full of pointed teeth, like the tusks of a walrus. It had been so frightening to behold that instead of screaming she fell to the floor and passed out.<br/>A few minutes later she had been found by Milo. Unharmed but very shaken. He had figured that she must have been tired from all the work.<br/>How Amy had wished that had been the case for that would mean that what she had seen would have all been a dream. A nightmare that she could just forget about.<br/>Unfortunately for Amy this would not be her last encounter with monsters.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong><span class="bbc_u">Monday</span></strong></div><br/>'You have a nice bone structure' Lulu spoke in a dreamy voice. Long strands of her light blonde hair fell over her face as she stared out of the window of her classroom. It was an odd thing for a person to say, but what made it odder was that there was no one about to hear what she had said.<br/>The classroom was empty and had been since lessons ended five minutes ago. She knew people had told her and tried to get her to move and go home, but Lulu had been too wrapped up in her own little world to care.<br/>She sighed to herself and watched the clouds float by slowly. She smiled at the shapes and patterns they created on the deep blue background. Looking at the sky always helped her to dream. The endless of it all made her brain dance with wonderful ideas.<br/>It was just a shame that no one could ever understand her when she had these ideas. Even Alistair Croft, her only friend at Woodmore Highschool,  had a hard time remaining patient when she randomly spouted bits of wisdom, like; ‘Ice cubes should stop getting so angry, then maybe they wouldn’t get hot and melt’.<br/>‘You have a nice bone structure too’ she spoke as the door opened. She hadn’t turned from the window but it was quite obvious that she was referring to whoever had walked through the door.<br/>