“Yeah, don’t worry about the bear, Mom,” Skylar yelled as she ran to the car and opened the back door. “It fell down.”
“What?”
She ignored her mom’s question.“Gerado! Get Neil and my sis off my mom’s lap so she can start the damn car, will ya?”
“On it!”
In a flash of movement, Gerado opened the front passenger door, grabbed Izzy by the wrists, and pulled her across the laps of her mother and the terror-stricken Kylie. He pushed her into the back seat.
“Ow, my wrists . . .” she griped.
“Oh, stop it,” Gerado whispered. He pulled Neil off Manny, pushing him safely into the back seat. Gerado jumped in beside him and slammed the door shut, careful not to overexert his super-strength and pull the handle off. “Skylar, they’re in!” Gerado shouted out the window. “Now you get in!”
Skylar climbed in and closed the door, scrunching herself in amid the three others already in the back.
“Mom,” she bellowed. “Everyone’s in. Floor this thing!”
Manny already had the key in the ignition. She started the engine, stomped on the gas, and swerved the vehicle in the dirt at top speed out of the verdant Cuyahoga Valley environs. She kept the pedal hammered down until the car was at least two miles away, slowing down only after she cleared the area and approached the highway that would take them back into the Cleveland suburb of Eastville.
“Izzy,” Skylar said as the car sped away. “Call the National Park Service and report an injured and hostile bear loose in the east side of the park. Tell them to send whoever needs to be sent to deal with it and evacuate every civilian from that park. Like, now!”
“I already took care of that, right after Gerado got me into the back seat,” Izzy said. “They’re sending an animal control team in now. And the rangers are swarming there in force to shoo any other campers out of the park.”
“Well . . . that was impressive, little sis,” Skylar said.
“I told you, I’m good like that,” Izzy said.
“I’m proud of you, sweetie,” Manny said from behind the wheel. “You really got over your panic attack fast.”
“Um, yeah. Guess I did,” Izzy said.
“How did you know the bear was injured, Skylar?” Manny asked.
“Well . . .”
“You mean, you didn’t see the arrow someone shot into its front leg, Mom?” Izzy interjected.
“How could I?” Manny asked. “I was scared out of my wits. So were you when you got to the car. How did you notice the arrow?”
“I guess I’m good that way too,” Izzy’s said.
Manny sighed. “Is everyone alright?”
“I’m okay,” Skylar said.
“I’m intact,” Gerado said.
“Surviving,” Izzy said.
“Kylie?”
“I guess I’m okay, Mrs. Kennedy,” Kylie said, her voice still shaking. “I . . . think I might’ve peed, though.”
“Swell,” Gerado said quietly as he pinched his nostrils shut.
Izzy slapped his hand. “Shut it.”
“Neil?”
“Huh?” Neil shook his head at his wife’s prompting until he regained something close to full cognizance. “The bear! What happened to the bear?”
“You saved us from it, Dad,” Izzy said. “You just got knocked on your butt doing it. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember trying to scare it away,” he said. “And then . . . I don’t know, I felt a sensation like going up in the air, and then . . .”
“People can experience strange sensations when they get the wind knocked out of them, Dad,” Izzy said. “I know a website where you can read all about that. I can show you now if ya want.”
“Later, little girl.” His voice took on a guilty tone. “I’m sorry this happened, kids. Someone could have been killed.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Neil,” Skylar said as she patted his hand. “You only wanted us to have a good time. You can’t foresee things like this.”
“Right, Dad,” Izzy concurred.
“That was a lot more exciting than the evening Yahtzee tournament you had planned, Mr. Kennedy,” Gerado said. “So, no worries.”
“Um . . . yeah,” Kylie muttered. “What they said, I guess.”
“I’m just glad I saved you all somehow.” Neil put his arms around each of his daughters.
“Of course, you did, Neil.” Skylar smiled. “You’re a real hero.”
And you are a hero, Neil. For risking everything to try and save us, and without any powers. Gerado still thinks this is all fun and games, but I’ll wait till later to give him another lecture. After all, he did totally put himself on the line for my family, and he came through. Maybe there’s hope for him to become a real hero after all.
Skylar leaned back against the plushy backseat, thankful that she finally had a comfortable place to do that.
-~o~-
Christofer Nigro is a lifelong fan of comic books, super-heroes, and pretty much everything in the genres of fantastic fiction. He has had short stories published in anthologies released by Black Coat Press, Sirens Call Publications, Pro Se Press, Grinning Skull Press, Horrified Press, and has had his first two novels published by Severed Press, with a third now in the works. He is currently feverishly at work putting together his own digital indie publishing label, with two super-hero novels completed and soon to be published.
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