“Yup, you got that right. When they’re completely transformed, they’ll look different than they looked before. They won’t be Snörks anymore.” Joaquin’s eyes never left Elena’s. “By then, they'll be Slükks - the armored snakes of Storm, and grow up to ten feet long. From then on, they will live in the branches of trees, waiting for an unsuspecting passer-by.
“You see, they like to drop on their prey,” he continued.
In his mind’s eyes, Anthony could already imagine how awful a sight like that might be. A ten foot, armored snake would be heavy. It would do considerable damage.
“Their weight alone can crush just about anything. They really don’t need to use their fangs or have to inject poison into what they want to eat. Their bludgeoned prey is usually too stunned or on the verge of death to move. They just eat them up whole and then slide back up into the trees to sleep and rest… and wait for the next meal to come walking by…”
When he finished, they all fell silent, each of them deep in a wellspring of thought.
They had made their way back onto the path, broadening out their formation as they had before. They trekked passed where Casper Avenue should have been until they reached another T-intersection. In their world, it would have been a four-way meeting of the roads. Here in the Melded World, Eagle Rock Boulevard did not continue on once it crossed Colorado. It was merely another broad trail, much like the one, they were on, ending where they stood. It no longer traversed up the hill toward Hill Drive, more or less, paralleling Colorado higher up the ridge to their left.
Anthony had not expected to use any remnant of Hill Drive. It was becoming ever more clear that only largest of the streets and avenues of their world had made it through the Rending. They had become the small roads and trails they saw now. The narrow streets of the World of Man did not exist here.
The entire group paused for a minute or so. Everyone glanced about, getting their bearings. They exchanged looks, sighing at the changes permeating the landscape about them. So little of the Earth they had known had followed them.
Not wanting to dwell on the idea, Anthony motioned for them all to resume their trek through the snow-covered forest toward the mall, and the Target Superstore within its cinder-block confines.
Glances exchanged, a few them exhaled unspoken wisps of unrealized thought. But in a few seconds, they were all on the move again.
Anthony chanced a peep at the sky to see the clouds had darkened even more since he had last looked heavenward. It shocked him to see had fast they had moved. The nagging sensation that this storm was going to be another bad one began to take seed in the back of his mind. What he saw only confirmed it, made much more of a reality. A stiff breeze rushed passed his face. The snow stung his cheeks and nose, melting, leaving behind a small red splotch that smarted from the chill long after it was gone.
“I think we’re gonna have to get indoors before too long,” he said to Sophie. She had come up next to him and grabbed a hold of his hand when the group had resumed walking.
“Yeah, I think this storm is going to be just as bad as the last one,” she replied with her own glances above. Her eyes trailed after the large, fluffy flakes falling now. They were a much heavier curtain than before, lethargic and meandering with the wind.
“Why are there so many storms, Tony?” asked Mikalah as she stomped her feet as she walked, kicking up snow, gazing at it as it billowed before her.
“I don’t know for sure, Miki,” began Anthony. He thought back to what he had told Derek, Kimberly and Hyun further up the trail. “I think this place is just imbalanced. We should ask Joaquin for more specifics when we get to the mall.” He watched as she turned to look back at the hulking boy with an absent nod.
Joaquin was staring into the strengthening tempest as well, his expression grim.
Anthony shared a quick glance and a smile with the girl he now considered his sweetheart. He took the time to linger over her pale features and sparkling blue eyes. Jeez, you are so beautiful, Sophie…
Then Mr. Patas stopped in his tracks, training both ears ahead. “Something runs ahead. I can hear it trotting through the forest… Now, across the trail, but it is not coming at us, rather… it crosses our path. No, wait, it has fallen! It no longer moves. Or it moves with stealth, so I cannot hear it.”
“Could you tell what it might be, Patas?” asked Kenai with the rolling thunder that was her voice.
“It was bi-pedal, First Daughter, definitely running upon two legs. It was not large, though. Its’ footfalls did not sound heavy,” he replied at once in his fluttering, high-pitched tones. His great eyes darted back and forth at each of them for an instant.
“That sounds like nothing we have encountered thus far,” Kodiak stated. Her huge brow furled in consternation.
Anthony glanced at Garfield. “Cat Face!” he called, pointing ahead.
The Great Cat bounded off into the snowstorm to investigate what Mr. Patas had heard.
“What do you think it could be?” asked Louis to no one in particular.
“We don’t know, Lou, but I have a feeling we’re about to find out,” answered Sophie.
Her retort made Anthony look back the way Garfield had vanished. It astounded him to see the cat was already returning, and at great speed.
“Get ready everyone, Garfield, must have found something!” Anthony announced, peering at his onetime pet, surprised at the speed with which he was moving. He’s hauling ass!
As one, the group prepared themselves for whatever was coming their way. Anthony could see his sister’s faces lose all emotion as they both seemed on the cusp of embracing their Gifts.
The boys fanned out, placing themselves in front of all the girls, offering what little protection they could.
The four other members of the Fist stood before the entire group of kids. If there were to be an attack, they would take the brunt of it.
Then his pet cat was upon them.
Incredibly, Garfield looked more scared than Anthony had ever seen him before. He was about to comment on it, when the cat spoke, so swift and so urgent, he had Anthony’s complete attention in an instant.
“Tony Boy, it is the last of the Twelve, lying in the snow. We must hurry, for he is near death!”
“The last of the Twelve!?!” bellowed Kodiak and Mugzy at once.
“Oh, my god! We cannot lose him! We have to save him! Come on everyone! Garfield, lead the way! HURRY!”
There was no need for Anthony to yell at the top of his lungs to get them to move.
The entire group erupted in a flurry of motion. One moment they were all standing there and in the next, they were gone.
Only the snow and wind remained.
The last of the Twelve! The last of the Twelve! We have found you! At last, we have found you! Now, we are complete. Finally!
Just please… don’t die!
~~~~~~~<<< ᴥ >>>~~~~~~~
~ 18 ~
A Tiny Frozen Beauty
Day Four, Sunday, Less Than a Minute After…
The entire group followed Garfield as fast as their collective feet could manage. They were struggling, half-crazed. Through the snow and the growing wind battering them with increasing strength, they plowed. Above, the clouds seemed to boil and churn. It was a marshaling of strength, a titan’s inhalation. All atmospheric forces gathered intent upon unleashing havoc onto the world below.
They ran what Andrew figured was about a city block. They passed what looked to be the trail representing Eagle Rock Boulevard in this place, but he paid it no heed. They ran another. Then, they found themselves in an area flatter than that around it, five hundred feet square. It nestled against rocky embankments off to the right.
As the group, they came to halt.
He glanced around and immediately recognized where they were standing. Andrew turned half-expecting to see the familiar building his father had dragged him into every other Friday when he got paid. They had not been the best memories. His father never got
paid all that much.
They were standing in what should have been the parking lot of the Eagle Rock branch of the Bank of America. There was no asphalt or painted parking spaces now. Only rocks and boulders fallen from the top of the embankment were strewn about in a random fashion. There were ferns and chaparral bushes and wild grasses everywhere. There was even the occasional slumped plant or clasping vine from Storm. All covered in snow. All disappeared further underneath the blanket of white this new storm deposited.
Andrew frowned, realizing Garfield was bent over something on the ground, something almost covered. It was a human shape, small and motionless.
Following his companions, he ran toward the prone figure without another thought. The rest of the Fistians began to set up a defensive parameter around them. Though, as one, they turned their bodies to watch what was happening within the protective circle they had formed. They were too curious not to watch what was unfolding.
By the time he reached the child-sized body lying upon the cold earth, Anthony and Sophie were already on their hands and knees. Wild, they dusted snow off the… girl!
Holy shit! It’s a girl! thought Andrew panic-stricken.
Then he saw her face and was dumbstruck with shock.
Where once he was all movement and action; now he just stood there frozen, staring - soaking in every detail of her.
I know you, right? Where have I seen you before?
He gazed upon her black hair, cut at the shoulder, covering most of her face. Still, he could see her brown skin had gone pale, almost opaque from the extreme chill.
Jesus, she’s so small…
“She’s so cold,” cried Sophie as she tugged the girl from the ground, pulling her into her lap. She wrapped her arms around her. She rubbed her hands and arms and face. Sophie tried with every ounce of energy she possessed to bring back some semblance of warmth to other’s body.
“Ah Christ, she is almost blue,” breathed Anthony, his face a twisted mask of pain.
“She’s hypothermic,” announced Jason, pinched with worry as well.
“She’s not going to die is she?” fretted Mikalah, her voice made small with trepidation.
“Not if we can help it,” answered her brother almost at once.
That seemed to snap Andrew out of his stupor. He yanked one of the blankets he was wearing over his head. He dropped to his knees, holding out his arms to Sophie, the blanket draped over them. “Sophie, put her in my arms,” he said in a single breath. “I will wrap her in the blanket and keep her warm.”
Sophie stared back at him for a second not quite understanding.
“Sophie, do it. Andrew’s right. He’s bigger than you. His body will warm the girl much, much faster than you could manage,” advised Anthony. He put a reassuring hand on one of Sophie’s arms, squeezing with the lightest touch.
She glanced between them, and then nodded in acquiescence. She moved on her knees to place the girl in Andrew’s arms. Her pink jeans ruined beyond repair now.
“She is going to be alright, yes?” asked Elena, standing next to him shivering, though Andrew was certain it had nothing to do with the cold.
“Andrew will try his best to warm her up,” reassured Hyun, hobbling up to the little girl and placing a soothing hand on her shoulder. Her face was still full with the pain of her punctured back.
He looked down at the girl in his lap, seeing she was wearing only a sweater over a cotton t-shirt. They were virtually no protection against a climate as severe as that of the Melded World. It was no great surprise she was freezing to death. He gathering the blanket about her in a rush, trying to shield her from as much of wind and swirling snow as he possibly could. Only her face shone through a small gap in the fabric.
“Andrew,” came Kodiak’s low voice at his ear like the grinding of gravel in his ear.
She startled him for a second, because he did not know she had moved closer.
“Why don’t you climb with the girl into the shopping cart behind me. You can keep her nearer the warmth of your body without having to carry her. It will be better for the both of you, and we will move faster as a whole. I think it prudent to get her out of this growing storm as soon as possible.”
“Are you sure you could manage our combined weight?” wondered Andrew. He knew full well between him and the girl, though she was small, they easily weighed close to two hundred pounds.
Kodiak gave him a sardonic smile. “I doubt I will even feel it, Andrew Ibarra.”
Derek and Jason both burst with sardonic huffs of air.
Kimberly looked on, her eyes big and round.
Alright, big tough doggy, but don’t come complaining to me when you have a back strain later on tonight. I gave up giving doggy massages a long time ago, thought Andrew to himself. He stood up with the girl in his arms, having no issue bearing her and the bulk of the blanket as one.
He walked past the great bear-dog and up to the shopping cart strapped to her massive form, trailing behind her by about seven feet. He stumbled as he made his first attempt to scale the side of the cart. It was about a foot higher up off the ground, because of the sleds underneath it. Carrying the girl made it all the more difficult.
Joaquin and Jason stepped forward and steadied his back, stabilizing leg, so his ascent would be easier. With a second push, he swung his leg over the top bar of the cart and squeezed his way down into a sitting position. Soon, both he and the small girl were comfortable.
Before him, Kodiak had turned her large head to back at him, her eyes bright with mirth. “You ready, Andrew Ibarra?” she inquired once he settled.
He nodded, curt, breaking his gaze from the bear-dog to look once more at the girl to see if she was alright.
I know her… I’m sure of it.
He felt a jolt and swayed forward, then back as Kodiak resumed walking, dragging the shopping cart once again. She pulled the cart, the pair of large sleds lashed to it and them without any hint it taxed in the least. The extra weight was negligible to her.
He peered down at the girl yet one more time, his brow furling as he tried to place where he had seen her before. He realized she was not as young as he had first envisioned. She was small for her age. Enthralled, he moved the blanket aside so he could see more of her visage. It had an oval shape to it, terminating in a gradual, v-shaped chin. Her skin seemed tinged with red. Now though, it looked splotched with a bluish undertone belying her current physical state. She had dark hair and small, thin lips, pale and lifeless to Andrew. Her nose was short, but thin, ending in a comely button. She looked about his age, though she could not have been any more than five feet tall. Maybe smaller, he surmised. She did not appear to weigh any more than ninety pounds. She was much lighter than any weight he had been bench pressing in well over a year.
He continued to stare at her. He wondered what had happened to her. He tried to figure out why she was running about in the Melded World without a coat or even a jacket. Without either there was no way she could keep the perpetual cold from attacking her body. There was little doubt she was aware of the icy menace plaguing them since their arrival here four days ago. How could she be so reckless?
He peered through the shadows cast upon her visage by the blanket. He gazed at her small, well-formed features, curious of her story. What had happened to her? What dangers had she been running from before she had crossed their path? What had she gone through her mind? Was she frightened or distraught over her exile from her family, her friends, her home, her happiness?
Of course, you idiot!
But why had she thought she could run blind through this frozen landscape without the proper clothing? Why would she risk death? Where was she running? What solace or comfort could she have sought in a place like this? There was nothing, but a few reminders of their lost world and million horrors from the plane of the Lord of the Storm.
He looked up when he heard Anthony tell Garfield to stay closer to the group when he was scouting ahead of their intended path.
Andrew glanced around. He offered a brief smiled at Jason when he saw him, Joaquin and Louis had moved up closer to the shopping carts the bear-dogs were dragging. The triangle they had formed earlier was now no more.
Mr. Patas came trotting back from the front of the group with his strange, hop-step gait to take up the rear position. His ears and nose twitched in perpetual motion. He brought his hands to his chest as if he were about to wring them nervously. But Andrew knew this was the way he stood when he was using his ears to their greatest potential.
Andrew looked away.
The girls had formed a loose formation just behind the carts.
Anthony and Derek followed behind them.
Mugzy strode parallel to the females of the group, but broke trail further away, almost at the precise edge of the trees. His piercing gaze penetrated one edge of the forest and then the next. He narrowed his eyes every time he looked upon a plant or a bush or a creeper from Storm whether it was a Spindle Down or a Thresher or whatever. To Andrew, it was quite obvious the man-dog did not care for anything from that tortured world.
As if drawn by a magnet, Andrew’s vision fell back to the girl lying in his lap. Once again, he let his eyes wander over her face, which to his delight had grown pinker than it had been a moment ago. He hoped they had reached her in time. Though he knew it was naïve, he prayed nothing worse would happen to her. He repeated it in the back of his mind, even when his thoughts were elsewhere.
She looks like a doll, he mused unconsciously, still looking at her. She looked so frail and small, bundled tight in the blanket as he held her close to him. He wished he could make his body heat double so he could warm her, bring her back from the brink evermore quick.
A few heartbeats thudded in his chest.
He forgot time.
Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves Page 22