Who the actual fuck cared?
She peered through the interplay of sunlight and shadow, holding his gaze. Though his little sisters were watching her every move, she said, “You are right, Anthony. I should just be real with myself and stop wasting time.” She swallowed hard. “I do like you enough.” She was blinking rapid like the flutter of a butterfly's wings. “I think I liked you from the first moment I saw you coming at Louis and me through the snow. You were reassuring and nice. You made us both feel at ease when we were just about to go crazy with fear.” She knew she should be blushing, feeling inadequate and without confidence, but she did not. For some reason, she was feeling the exact opposite. Somehow, admitting her emotional ties to him grounded her, made her feel solid. It all felt right, as if things had always been this way and all else was a lie.
His expression went from expectant to pure exhilaration in the span of a few heartbeats. He gazed back at her with equal self-reliance. He seemed to glow before her eyes, his skin awash with light. She knew he loved her already. Like she told herself before, she could feel it. Why continue to deny the obvious? It was pointless to waste time.
“I am glad you feel the same,” he said through a sigh. “And no matter what happens, I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. I will get us all out of here safe and sound, so you and I can spend some normal time together. In the meantime, just know I mean what I say. I will always tell you what’s real and what’s not. I will be by your side…always… I will try my hardest to make sure there is enough time.” His voice trailed off, a small twinkling of his former awkwardness reaching his face, making him slink as he walked.
Sophie was powerless. She was beyond thinking. One second she was on one side of Elena and Mikalah and the next she was on the other. She was in their brother’s arms, squeezing him with every ounce of strength she had within her. She muttered simple, but powerful words in his ear, “Thank god for you, thank god for you, thank god for you…”
If she had not shut her eyes, enjoying the moment, she would have seen Elena and Mikalah share a smile and walk-on, hand in hand. Satisfied, they followed Mugzy through the trampled snow, leaving them behind.
“Come on, my dears. We still have much to travel before this day is out,” urged Kodiak. She had not stopped walking. Although, she did in fact shatter the intensity of the moment between them.
“Oh yeah,” she managed in a shuddering breath. She released her death grip on the boy, grabbing one of Anthony’s hands instead and dragged him back into place. Though now they were walking behind his sisters. She was not going to let go of his hand any time soon.
She and Anthony took their fourth step together. When the trees gave way and revealed a crossroads that looked more like a pair of wagon trails intersecting. They were the pathetic remains of two huge streets an infinite amount of worlds away.
Sophie could see Garfield and Mr. Patas milling about where the two roads met. They were sniffing at the air, listening, pawing at the ground, ensuring there was no danger abound.
The rest of them reached the parting of the trees and looked down at what should have been Colorado Boulevard. The local Rite-Aid and the Post Office would have stood had there as well if they had been back home.
Now, there was only snow everywhere and a few trees growing in sparse clumps nearer the roads, thicker the farther away. The topography of the land was exactly as it should have been. But, as was the case wherever they had traveled thus far there was no sign (or inclination) of human habitation.
Again, she saw a plant like the one she had seen before. Though hidden beneath the snow, it was still capable of issuing forth a cloud of dusty spore into the air. It was dark green and dispersed with alacrity into the lethargic air before it fell back down a few moments later. It littered the ground in all directions, four feet from where it originated.
Joaquin must have seen it to, because he called out: “Billow Wart! Don’t let that cloudy junk get on any area of your skin. It’ll burn. It'll bring about nasty, puss-filled boils that will pop with germinated seedlings of the plant. This is how its' scourge will spread even farther. You won’t die, but the process is excruciating and whatever flesh it encounters will never recover. If it does get on you, there is only one way to get it off and neutralize the toxins.”
“How’s that?” asked Andrew as the group began to bunch alongside the verges of the dirt road intersection.
“The same as with Jelly fish, you’re gonna have to pee on it,” was the answer.
“Yuck!”, Gross!”, “Ah, come on!”, said the three females together, each as outraged as the next.
“Hey, not my fault if things from the World of Storm are nasty,” replied the boy in full retreat.
“It’s from the ‘other’ place?” asked Mikalah, eye-balling the plant, distrusting of the growth.
“Yeah, real nasty stuff, so stay away from it, ok?” warned Joaquin.
“Ok.” She murmured the word.
“Garfield, lead the way following this trail,” instructed Anthony. He motioned with his hand for the huge cat to follow what Sophie considered calling the Colorado Trail. Since the four-lane avenue was gone and only a six-foot wide pathway remained, it seemed fitting.
“It will go down,” continued the boy, “and then up over that hill just ahead of us. Then it should begin to descend all the way to Floristan Avenue, if it’s in fact still there.
“Is that’s right, Jason?” He turned to ask the question, raising his voice to the teenager who had walked off a few feet to the side.
Jason just nodded and gave them the thumbs-up.
“At once, Tony-Boy, I will scout the area,” was all Garfield said. A blink of an eye later, he bounded down the decline and vanished from sight at the curve of the trail, where the trees blocked their view.
Mr. Patas ran upon his humongous toes a ways ahead as well. His colossal ears twisted one way, then the other atop his head as he listened to the noises of the landscape.
Mugzy turned back toward the rest of them. “Well, should we plow forth?”
“We should,” replied Anthony in jest.
Sophie watched his mouth move.
A few blinks of an eye later, they began to walk down the trail ever closer toward Jason’s house.
The teenage girl’s eyes never moved.
I can’t wait to kiss those lips.
~~~~~~~<<< ᴥ >>>~~~~~~~
~ 9 ~
Uncharted and Unknown
Day Four, Sunday, 8:20 am…
“Tony, do you think we’ll find anything once we reach Jason’s house?” asked Mikalah in her squeaky voice.
She’s scared, thought Sophie.
They had reached the bottom of the shallow bowl. This was where Colorado Boulevard met the terminus of La Loma Road and the beginning of Monte Bonito Drive. But, they came together in an unusual configuration for an intersection. It resembled backward letter “K” than the more normal “+”.
Except, La Loma was only the tiny walking trail now.
When the others old their stories days prior, they had informed Sophie that further up the trail was where the first of their group had met. The bear-dogs, Anthony, Andrew, Elena, Mikalah, Joaquin and Jason had faced down Fenris up there.
Since Sophie had lived in the area all her life, she knew the exact location they'd been talking about. The top of the hill, where all the roads came together, she thought. Only now, they're trails.
She glanced about, getting her bearings. Of Monte Bonito Drive, there was no trace at all.
Anthony looked down at his youngest sibling and shrugged his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine, little chicken bone. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
It was plain to the white-haired teen, Anthony’s mood had lightened three-fold since she had given him ironclad confirmation that she liked him. There was a bounce in his step now.
Elena laughed aloud. “Why is she a chicken bone?”
Anthony was smiling now, making Sophie
grin.
“I don’t know… chicken leg,” he jibed.
Now Mikalah joined in the laughter. “Well if I am a chicken bone and Elena is a chicken leg, then you’re chicken wing!”
She had such an adroit wit. Sophie laughed aloud. Anthony’s sisters are so adorable!
“Well, before you choose a name for me, I would like to be, chicken neck,” interjected Mugzy, surprising them all into silence. None of them suspected he was even listening. “Chicken necks are, after all, quite graceful. As you can see, so am I.” He pirouetted in the snow.
As if flammable, they exploded with laughter, the large man-dog as well. His chortle sounded like that of a Wall Street tycoon, chuckling at a funny jibe made over a brandy. This of course made them all laugh even harder.
“Well, if we are all going to have chicken names, what is mine?” asked Sophie through persistent giggles.
Without skipping a beat, Anthony said, “Why you’re my Chicken Tender, of course.” He scooped the girl up in his arms before she could react. He gave her a twirl that made her squeal with mock outrage and pleasure at the same time.
Anthony held her as firm as he had a few hours before in the snow when he thought the Crawling Creep had injured her.
She felt her entire body flush with excitement. Her hands squeezed him at his shoulders. Her legs bent at the knees. Inside, she relished the feelings he coaxed from her body with little to no effort.
“Oh god!” whined Elena, rolling her eyes and looking away from them.
Mikalah stared at them in wonderment. She had never seen her brother act this way with anyone, even a girl. Now he had one in his arms and she was squirming with delight. She loved it!
Then, Louis’ voice piped through the air. He broke the revelry with his excited yammer. “What is that? Hey, you guys, what is that? Do you see that? What is it? Can you see it?” He was beside himself with excitement, exclaiming time and again.
They all looked up, slowing their collective stride, into the clear, blue sky.
At first Sophie took it for a bird, but as some of its’ features came into focus, she knew it was not avian.
Above them was an animal as alien as some of the plant life she had seen in the forest. It circled in long, slow arches. Its' wings were broad and efficient, capable of gliding for long stretches without a single flap. They were much like that of a bird, possessing something that could pass for feathers. Yet, its' wings were leathery and drooped when not pulled taut. They appeared more bat-like than bird-ish.
It had a beak of a sort, but it seemed undersized and limp, and was as saggy as its “so-called” feathers. Where its’ eyes should have been, protruded thick, fleshy stalks. They stuck three inches from its’ head, angled toward the front, strange, aberrant. Each ended in what looked like large, globular orbs. They roved over the countryside without pause, ardent in their search for the next meal.
It swooped closer.
That’s when Sophie saw its’ chest. Her heart leaped into her throat.
Its’ chest oozed some sort of muciferous substance. It seemed to collect over time to form a bulbous mound that quivered and hung as it flew.
At that moment, it was right overhead and Sophie ducked out of its' way as it passed above her. She worried some of the goo would break off and fall on her, but it did not. Still, it was grotesque.
“I saw such a creature the other night.”
They all jumped. It was like a ghost had spoken. None of them had heard the great feline approach. “That one was much smaller, though.”
“What is it?” asked Elena, looking exactly like Sophie felt, grossed out and wary.
“I don’t know what to call it, but in my mind I have termed it a bird-slug,” replied the feline. He was somehow able to show his distaste for the creature through his animal-like veneer. “It flies like a bird and eats like a slug.”
“How do you know how it eats?” blurted out Louis ever curious about strange topics. His eyes were as big as saucers as he stared up at the thing in the sky above. There was nothing but avid interest in his expression.
Garfield glanced over at the rosy-cheeked boy and then nodded toward the flying creature. “Do you see the sticky mess on its chest?”
More than one of them answered the cat in the affirmative, too rapt to realize the question had been for the boy.
“That gooey mound serves as its mouth. It eats from its’ chest by engulfing its prey within this chest cavity. I assume it liquefies it at leisure, making it more suitable for consumption much like a spider would via acidic venom.”
“Eeew!” exclaimed Mikalah. “That’s so gross!”
“Yes it is, Miki-girl. Be hopeful, you will never have to hear the fell creature eat as it sucks and gurgles at its quarry. They are quite loud, and, if I might add, quite nauseating.” Garfield’s disgust was profuse.
“Is that why its’ beak looks so fragile, because it doesn’t use it to eat?” calculated Louis, surprising Sophie that he could be so intuitive.
“I assume so,” retorted Garfield, his eyes squinting, a speculative frown upon his brow as if he had not thought of it before either.
Joaquin walked up with the others. “Oh,” he began, “a Gürkk, and a baby one at that.” He grunted, derisive. “You wouldn’t want to mess with a full grown one, especially a male. They are mega-mean and hard to kill.”
“How big do they get?” asked Andrew, his forehead wrinkled as he gazed up into the brightness of the day.
“Big… I don’t know, maybe twice the size of a horse,” replied Joaquin, thinking as he spoke.
“Wow!” said Jason.
Sophie reached out and clasped one of Anthony’s hands, feeling the need for a little reassurance.
They all continued to watch the beast circle over them, riding the thermals.
“Well, whatever it does or however it eats, I think what Garfield named it seems right on the money. Good call, Cat Face,” concluded Anthony as he motioned for them to continue
Within a few heartbeats, they were all moving. More than a few of them did turn back though to watch the Gürkk or bird-slug (or whatever in hell it was).
It ignored them as it continued to search for food above the treetops.
They walked from the “basin” and began to ascend the small ridge on the opposite side. They reached the summit without incident.
By then, even Sophie could not resist the urge to glance back on occasion at the flying thing.
Oblivious, it continued to fly in the air behind them.
Relief flooded through her when she realized it was not following them. The longer she looked at it the more it made her want to puke.
She recognized the lay of the land as they came over the ridge. It was still nothing but trees, boulders and bushes of varying sorts but it was somewhat familiar in a vague sense. It was easier when she imagined how it would look back home minus all the buildings.
They walked through a small u-shaped valley, opening once they began to make their way down the ridge. The narrow dirt road descended through this large depression in the earth. From there, it turned to the left in long lazy curve that stretched three-quarters the length of a football field.
Garfield ranged down the slope and out of sight again, only to come trotting back within moments. His body language relaxed as he looped over the trail without regard for anything in particular.
The girl knew for the most part it was a farce. Garfield never let down his guard, it might appear that way, but he missed nothing. She was willing to put her life on it. Garfield might forever be in a bad mood, but he was one hell of a good scout, she was thinking, and then came up short.
Mr. Patas had raised his hand in the air, making a fist.
The pre-emptory discussion they’d had back in the cave paid off in an instant. In a flash of his gesture, they had all stopped - frozen in place.
It was the age-old military gesture. It meant there was something was of the ordinary, hostilities eminent.
Her gaze followed up into the cluster of small hillocks standing on that side of the pathway. Oh god, what now?
Without making a sound, he informed them what he’d heard had come from that direction.
To Sophie’s surprise, Garfield had vanished, again not having made a single sound.
Kenai and Kodiak shed the nylon ropes lashing them to the shopping carts. Somehow silent, they moved closer. They placed themselves between the would-be intruder and the rest of the group.
The boys moved with zeal to stand behind the bear-dogs, leaving Sophie and the three little ones at the rear of their party.
Mr. Patas was the only one who did not move a muscle. He was too intent upon listening.
Mugzy took up his customary position at Elena’s side, helping Sophie gather the children into a tighter pack.
“Patas, pray tell, what do you see?” implored the man-dog, his voice low, just above a whisper.
Mr. Patas took a few steps toward them. “It is strange. It sounds like a pig, a large pig, but yet, it does not sound like a pig at all,” he whispered in his high-pitched, singsong voice.
“Would it be safe to say it does not come from our world?” questioned Mugzy, letting his claws extend beyond their protective sheaths.
Sophie saw Elena’s eyes widen at the sight of the two and a half inch nails, dark as obsidian, sharp as razors.
Mr. Patas nodded. “You have most likely presumed correct.”
“Bugger me!” mumbled Mugzy under his breath, though loud enough that those closest to him heard.
Sophie chanced a quick glance in his direction, frowning with concern, wondering what he meant.
Elena, though she did not look at him, stood stunned; staring off in the direction Mr. Patas said the creature was coming. Her eyes were wide.
Sophie guessed it was the first time the little girl had heard her former pet curse. She remained silent.
Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves Page 10