Anthony could tell whatever had transpired between them had hurt the boy like a hack to the bone. It had to have for him to let it show in front of them all, most of them, to a certain degree, were strangers.
“When did this happen?” asked Elena with an innocuous undertone.
Anthony knew she was still steering the conversation. She was unearthing more than any of the others would have wanted to reveal. Because they lacked the interpersonal savvy Elena possessed in droves, they continued to spew at the mouth.
There was pause before anyone answered though.
Then Hyun let out a grunt in frustration. “It was like a freaking year and a half ago. That stupid bastard, Sonny, has harassed Derek every god damned chance he gets. I mean, the moment he sees him, he’s like a fly on shit. And for what? All Derek did was talk to Kim for no longer than a few minutes.”
“Didn’t I just say I broke up with the asshole, you - !” began Kimberly.
“Kimberly, I thought we had an agreement,” uttered Anthony, stern. He had stopped in his tracks, an intent stare at the girl through his thick eyebrows.
She stopped as well, her fists balled at her sides, staring back at him. Her face flushed with emotion. Some, he could only guess at.
He waited for her to explode, but she did not. She appeared to gather in a huge breath and swallow everything. As she did so, her expression, her demeanor, everything changed right before his eyes.
“I know it was wrong, what Sonny did, but he’s… well, he had a good way of making his point, you know? I would always end up… I don’t know, understanding, you know? Or maybe I was just trying to avoid worse things, I don’t know…,” she trailed off, staring at the ground.
To the rest of them, she was clearly uncertain of how to clarify what had gone before. They could see it in the way she walked, the tension in her shoulders, even the tightness about her eyes. They were easy to read. Kimberly was without definition.
“Children, please, continue walking,” rumbled Kodiak.
Those who were trailing them had stopped as well. The rear of their group was bunched together, a ripe target for any enemy that may be stalking them.
“Sorry, Kodiak,” Anthony mumbled.
They all continued on, striding, not quite looking at each other. Each of them gave the others transient, dubious glances out of the corners of their eyes.
Meanwhile, from above, the first flakes of snow from the oncoming storm began to fall.
Anthony tilted his head upward. He saw nothing but dark roiling clouds hanging in the sky, feeling with a degree of certainty this storm was going to be another bad one.
Out of the startling white, he had a strange thought. He frowned, turning to look back at Derek over his right shoulder. “Hey, Derek, do you guys all go to Eagle Rock High?”
Derek was glancing up, his attention focused on the falling snow. He looked confused for a few heartbeats. He peered back at Anthony dumbstruck, stammering, not making much sense.
“Yes,” interposed Kimberly before Derek could recover. Her tone sounded sarcastic, though she seemed being trying to hide it. “We all go the Eagle Rock, why?”
Anthony looked back and forth between the two, and then shrugged as Derek continued to stare back in silence.
Kimberly glanced off into the forest for a second, before her eyes shifted back to Anthony, waiting for his reply.
“I was just wondering, because it seems so far all us older kids go to Eagle Rock, except Andrew. He’s a Panther.”
Smiles came to most of them. The mentioning of their cross-neighborhood rivals - the Panthers of Benjamin Franklin High School - was ironic. It did not mean they would think about or treat Andrew any different. It meant there was a little hazing in order now. One could not let a stone of that size lay unturned, Panther and Eagle alums had been going at it for generations, by God!
As an afterthought, “Does your boyfriend go to our school as well?” Anthony asked, turning back to Kimberly.
She shook her head that Sonny did not go to their school.
“He would’ve graduated last year, if he hadn’t dropped out of school,” added Hyun in a rush. It was as if she were trying to express her thoughts before Kimberly could stop her.
Anthony felt his eyebrows rise a quarter of an inch at that. He peered over at Sophie, who was keeping her gaze forward, expressionless on purpose. He could feel both of his sisters staring at him, but he ignored them as well. He turned forward much like Sophie had done. “Oh, I see,” he said, quiet.
“He hadn’t always been a loser or anything like that before the drinking and the drugs got too deep of a hold on him. He dropped out of school because of it. Then, he got this harebrained idea that he could make it rich dealing, which was really nothing more than an excuse. You can’t make money when you’re using more of the freakin’ product than your customers are buying,” explained Kimberly. She ran a hand through her hair, tired, as if speaking of her ex- was exhausting. “After a while he just turned into someone else, someone in search of instant gratification. He could turn so mean so fast, especially if he didn’t get his way or his fix or his… Well, you know what I mean.”
“Ah, I see,” was Anthony’s immediate utterance, repeating himself. He did not know what else to say. For some strange reason, it made him feel almost as uncomfortable as it made Kimberly. It was as if throughout the entire conversation they were dancing around something. Whatever it was, it was something extremely personal to the point of being unsavory. He did not want to inquire about it in detail, and neither did the others. As if it was too much to handle at a time like this, they left it unsaid. It was better that way.
He did not know what it was.
“Does your ex-boyfriend still sell drugs?” came Elena innocent question. By her wide eyes and expectant face, Anthony knew she was morbidly fascinated at the thought of illicit activity. This was not something out of a movie or a TV drama. It was real. Though she was young and had lived an isolated life so far, she was still intrigued by those who walked on the other side of the tracks. It was her thirst for knowledge he was witnessing. She brimmed with curiosity.
Kimberly tried to smile at his sister, but failed. She sighed and crossed her arms across her chest. “He tries, I guess, but most of the time,” she explained after a time, “he just gets high and drinks. He gets into fist fights or does other stupid shit.”
“It’s for the better you broke up with him, Kimberly, because he’s only going to hurt himself even more. In any event, he’ll hurt you too. He’s not a good boy or man or whatever. You’re too pretty to waste yourself on a boy like that,” stated a magnanimous Louis from farther back. Somehow able to talk though he chomped through a Three Musketeers’ bar with relish. When he realized they were all staring at him, he tried with all his might to mask the wave of embarrassment washing over him. He failed. His entire face went beat red. It was obvious, he had said much more than he had intended.
Where the hell did he get a candy bar? asked Anthony with his inward voice. Still, he was more confounded the little boy could have such crystal clear insight at his age. He was so quiet and unassuming; one could never tell if Louis was paying attention to anything at all. Yet, from time to time, he proved the exact opposite.
Kimberly smiled at Louis. She seemed warmed by the boy’s words as if they had given fuel to a much needed spark. It had gone too long unlit. She still seemed sad, but only by a bit. She just stared the boy. Even when he had buried face in the candy bar - in blissful chocolate heaven - she was still gazing his way.
Louis is a smart dude.
Anthony peered ahead through snow that had increased two-fold since he had last taken the time to consider it. He realized they had passed what should have been the location of a popular gourmet coffee shop. This put them about two blocks from where the Eagle Rock City Hall would have stood back in their world. Coming down the gradual slope of Colorado Boulevard, the large building would have been on their right hand side. Its' towe
ring pine trees would have dominated the landscape.
He tried to look through the thickening fall of the snow, but could not make out any other distinctive features ahead. “Hey, Mugz?” he called to the dog-man, who was loping, with little noise, in front of the bear-dogs.
The furry Familiar turned around with his eyebrows raised, but did not utter a word.
“Hey, can you see a large group of pine trees ahead of us off toward the right of the trail? They would be about eighty feet tall. Their branches about half that in width,” asked Anthony, hoping they were where he thought they might be.
Mugzy, continued walking, peered through the abrupt murk of the day. The snow was beginning to swirl to some degree. The wind was getting stronger by the minute. The dog-man’s large, pug-like visage craned forward upon his neck.
Anthony watched after him, waiting to see if he had found anything. But after a while, the dog-man did not give any sign he had spied what Anthony was hoping to find. He walked and stared, saying nothing, his head bobbing from side to side, as he searched.
“I wonder if he can see anything in this crap, because I sure can’t,” commented Sophie over the heads of Anthony’s sisters. She had one hand shielding her eyes from the intermittent glare.
“Tell me about it,” agreed Anthony.
“Lord Kring-Hël,” said Mugzy, getting Anthony’s attention. “I do in fact see the large pines as you describe off to our right, about sixty feet or so ahead. But, they are infested with some sort of crawling creatures. Their trunks and limbs are covered with them.”
“What kind of creature, Mugzy? Anything like what we have seen before?” asked Anthony in a hurried voice, already dismayed at encountering another vile beast from Storm.
Mugzy tilted his head in a uniquely canine-like fashion, deep in thought, considering. He continued to stare ahead, his eyes not leaving what the teenage boy figured was the same group of large trees, but he could not be sure.
He himself could not see them or the creatures the dog-man was speaking about.
After a time, “No, no, Kring-Hël, these creatures are different. They are not low to the ground like the squirrel-pig. And, they are certainly not winged like the creature that tried to steal away the lovely Hyun Kwon. They’re even unlike the bird-slug we had seen earlier in the day. These would appear to be a new species onto itself. They are crawling, or maybe slithering up and down the trees in great multitudes.”
“Why does he call you that?” queried Kimberly from behind with genuine inquisitiveness.
Anthony turned at the waist. “I know it sounds a little stilted, huh?”
Kimberly shrugged.
He could see she did not want to offend him. “Well,” he began before turning back around to the dog-man, “It is my title amongst the Twelve. And the Fist, being as formal as they tend to be, use it from time to time rather than my name.”
“Sounds funky,” she commented with a furtive chuckle.
“Yeah, it does,” he said over his shoulder, then echoed the sentiment with a look at Sophie who smiled back in agreement.
Mugzy looked like he might have added more when Garfield appeared out of the weather without warning.
He spoke, pacing back and forth, breathing in great huffs. “There are yet more creatures up ahead, though they do not appear aggressive at the moment. Even so, it might behoove the group to walk along the tree line opposite from where these insects have gathered.”
“So they’re bugs?” asked Elena, her face mixed between antipathy and a tinge of fear.
“Of a sort,” replied Garfield. “They are undoubtedly the largest bugs I have ever seen. They are almost a yard long.”
“Did you say they were a yard long?” queried Sophie her face pale with trepidation.
“Eewww, that’s totally gross,” chimed in Mikalah, her hands going to her mouth as if she was about to vomit out if instinct.
Goofball kid, thought Anthony. How can you be so insightful one minute and then a total “kid” the next?
“Do you think if we just steer clear they will leave us alone?” said Anthony, seeking clarification he doubted the great cat could give him.
“I don’t see why not, Kring-Hël.”
Anthony exchanged a “told you so” glance with Kimberly, who looked back, mouth down-turned.
“I have passed by them twice now. I strode along the far side of the pathway. They seemed to take no notice of me whatsoever,” informed Garfield with a confidence that made Anthony feel more at ease.
“Ok, then you lead us and tell us where to walk, since it seems you already know the way. Pray, we won’t disturb these bugs,” enjoined the teenage boy, gesturing with his hand.
The cat muttered a quiet “as you wish” and bounded off a ways, then settled into a more sedate pace still within sight.
~~~~~~~<<< ᴥ >>>~~~~~~~
~ 17 ~
Finally - a Dozen!
Day Four, Sunday, 9:51 am…
They came upon some unseen, but specific spot where Garfield motioned for them to edge away from the trail. They moved some ten feet to their left. There, he motioned for them to walk underneath the boughs of the first row of trees.
They followed suit without complaint. They all were cautious, peering across the way toward the towering copse of pine trees.
To a one, they remembered those trees, or the ones like them in the World of Man. Every Christmas they would twinkle and glow with lights and massive ornaments. They would dangle from every branch. It was always a cheerful sight.
That was not the case now. The trees themselves were at least twice as tall, and half-again wider than they should have been. It was though the transition to the Melded World had aged them a hundred years or more. Their massive limbs and far-reaching arms bristled with needles. The blanket of winter draped over them like a two-toned quilt, white then green, green then white. Their tops were so high, lost were they in the ever-descending mists of the oncoming storm. They were a sight to behold, but in a different sense now.
They were besmirched by nasty, squirming things. Their trunks crawled with the bodies of dozens of long, segmented insects. These had to be the ones Garfield and Mugzy had described before. They were scurrying and scuttling, up and down the great branches of the trees, marring their great stature.
They were in constant movement, oblivious to the increasing cold. They did not appear to be congregating in any one location in search of warmth. They milled about from one area to the next, chittering and squeaking as they oozed and squeezed by - or over - one another. They were such a jumbled mass, entangled about one another; Anthony could not make out any of their features in detail. Not a thing, other than the fact they were about three feet long and had many legs. And, their bodies were encased in some sort of tough, black armor that gleamed even in the sunless gloom of the day.
He kept his eyes on the trees until he, his sisters and Sophie had passed them. Only then did he feel they were safe.
But, the bugs ignored their passing.
When Joaquin came near, he glanced over at them with a single raised eyebrow. “Was wondering when we’d come across some of those bugs. They’re supposed to be quite a few on Storm,” he mentioned with a shrug at the insects.
“What the hell are they?” asked Anthony, not looking at the other boy. His eyes still held onto the rippling forms creeping all over the trees.
“They’re called Snörks,” he replied as a matter of fact. “They're said to be benign creatures in this state, but that won’t last long I’m afraid.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me one bit.” Anthony did not mean to come across as crass, but he did nonetheless. Maybe seeing so many terrible monsters is finally getting to me now.
Joaquin seemed to understand and chuckled under his breath, bringing a meaty fist to his mouth to muffle the sound.
“What happens to them?” asked Elena, ever curious.
Joaquin peered down at his pretty nine-year-old sister. “You see them o
ver there all over the trees, never stopping, always on the move?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“They are looking for sap.”
“Why?” she asked, sounding like a Valley-girl of a sudden.
Anthony frowned at her. Why in the heck was she talking like that?
“They need sap to further their maturity,” explained Joaquin with no reaction.
“What does it do to them?” It was Mikalah now, her dark eyes aglow with interest.
Anthony nudged them both to continue on after the bear-dogs. He had to keep them moving. Staying in one place too long in the Melded World was proving far too dangerous.
“Well?” urged Elena, looking back at the big teen when they had taken a few steps and he had not spoken.
“Oh,” began Joaquin, smiling at himself, “it changes them. The sap, I mean, does overtime. This depends, of course, on the kind of sap they ingest. They will begin to grow in size and their bodies will absorb their many legs over time. Before too long they will begin to slither rather than creep.” He raised his eyebrows up and down a few times. “But here’s the weird part. Where their legs had once been, exactly where they used to come out of their bodies, hard plates will emerge. They'll be so strong and hard, the one could call it armor and not be too far from the truth. As time passes, they will become enclosed in it, a different creature altogether. They will be about three times longer than they are now, about two times fatter. They will be completely covered in those armored segments and will resemble a large snake and not much of insect anymore. My Gift tells me, each one of them will end up different. No two of them will be alike, because of the types of sap they ingested during their transformation period. Since they will have dined upon the ooze of many trees before their change is complete, they become individualized. The unique combination of sap from a multitude of trees makes it so.”
“Wow, pretty weird,” concluded Elena, glancing over at the trees infested with the huge bugs.
Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves Page 21