The Raven Gang (Noble Animals Book 1)

by Brendan Walsh

  “But we still don’t know how our parents fit in.” Gary said

  The gang was gathered by the screen. All seething with fury. Johnny fought the urge to smack down a lamp.

  “We’ll know soon. When we get our hands on that corporate beast he’ll wish he’d gone through everything Edgar went through instead.”

  A light suppressed chime rode through the air. Slate dug into his pocket and let everyone know that it was his cell. Then as if he had just been punched in the stomach, he grimaced.

  “It’s Lindsey. She just texted me. Something big has just happened. Apparently it’s something that could clear everyone’s name and we could all be finished with this.”

  Everyone was still hopped up on shock and rage that none of them felt like standing still. They all wanted to get out and do something to stop Elder in whatever manipulative game he was playing. Unfortunately, none of them knew what to do.

  “So what’s our next move?”

  The man sitting in front of a crescent ring of consultants was tenser than a president during wartime, though he fit half that description. He expressed it well by running his clammy palms across his forehead as he gazed fixedly at the national icon printed on his carpet. Dealing with the nationwide situation was not getting easier. The press was merciless, and some were saying that the crisis would cost him the next election, which was going well until his poll numbers plummeted from his isolation time. It was not a good time to be the president of the United States of America.

  “Sir, the American people are getting impatient.” said a middle-aged woman with horn rimmed glasses. “If you continue to hide from the public what will they think? They’ll think you’re scared and can’t handle the situation.”

  The commander in chief didn’t really hear her. He was still too far into his own cranium to pay too much attention, but he thought he got the gist of it.

  “Of course. It’s about time I do something.” he achingly rose from his oval office seat and moved to the center couch. “What has been recommended?” he took a glass of bourbon and seat himself down away from his associates.

  “A call came in a while back.” started a different woman. She didn’t have glasses. “Most of us think it would be best to officially make a public statement tomorrow night.”

  “Isn’t that when the National Association of Scientists has their meeting in the building down the street? There may be one hell of a crowd.”

  The glasses-wearing woman took a seat near him on the couch. She didn’t even have to try to be grave. “Have you heard the rumors? Some say this could bring you down faster than Watergate brought down Nixon. If you don’t show the people you are aware of the clear and obvious danger, then they’ll throw you out.”

  The president reluctantly rose again, glass in hand, and strode to the window. He glared out at the country before him. It didn’t always seem like it, but he’d lay down his life for it in a heartbeat without the pesky secret service taking a bullet for him. If there was something stirring the people to that much fright he was not going to sleep until the problem was terminated.

  He proudly turned around to face his correspondents. “All right I’m in. I knew I should have just gotten a real job.”

  There was a stirring noise outside her second story window, like a ten-foot-tall rat. Lindsey couldn’t hear it. Her headphones were tightly locked to her ears, wired into her MacBook. On her screen were a myriad of handwritten notes taken during her two hundred level Chaucer course. She so far had proudly gained more than a hundred percent in the class, and with the final only worth ten percent of the grade, there was no way she wasn’t acing it.

  Just as she was finishing a short lecture she found from a dull ivy league professor, someone came violently tumbling through the window. The loud thud only filtered as a small tap through her headphones, but it was enough to divert her attention.

  She took a casual glance and slammed her headphones out of her ears, leaping startlingly from her wheeled chair. With the way she reacted, she may as well have been a cartoon character. Laying before her was one member of a group she had not seen in a long time. Considering one of their earlier tasks which involved breaking into a hospital, they had recently established themselves as novice breakers and enterers. The world knew them as the raven gang.

  She cursed in surprise and fumbled two steps forward. “Patrick? What are you doing here?” she screeched. If any neighbors were asleep, they weren’t anymore.

  “Good to see you too, Lindsey.” he greeted with a smug grin. “Have you seen the news lately?”

  She didn’t respond. Instead she and her fugitive friend turned to several pained grunts emanating from right outside the window. Together they pulled up Slate, Jane, Gary, and Johnny, who moaned as they hurt themselves trying to crawl over the ledge. Finally they were all clenching the gray carpet as if they were lost sailors kissing the shore.

  As Johnny finished his final step through the window the ladder they used went towering down into the thinner side of the lawn. As it went down it took down a small loose pillar of a fence, which enthusiastically sent down the whole rest of the fence with it.

  Johnny grimaced as he viewed the small-scale destruction from above. “That... I’ll help fix that later.”

  “Yeah, okay. Whatever.”

  They all huddled around her queen-sized bed, which they all eyed longingly. None of them had been in a bed in weeks.

  “So Lindsey,” Slate said nervously. “How’s tricks?”

  “Can you guys finally tell me what’s going on? That party was a complete disaster. How did you end up entangled in this crap?”

  “Yes. Those are some good questions. But first, we’re here because of your text.” Slate whipped out his phone.

  “You know you could have just texted me back? I didn’t want you to risk your safety by actually coming over here.”

  “Oh.” Gary blurted out. “Yeah that may have been better. Would have saved your fence.”

  “Right,” she mouthed. She had now gained composure, and some annoyance. “Anyway, earlier today my dad came back from the office with evidence. I’m guessing he didn’t want to hand over everything to the FBI. He has the camera; the one that Doctor Black apparently was going to use for his lecture. They think it may have the murder on tape. If it does, you guys are free!”

  The gang did not have the reaction she was expecting. She had been expecting them to start jumping for joy, but they just stared back with slightly gaped mouths. They were pleased, but not exuberant.

  “That’s really good news, Lindsey. But we have more pressing issues around us.” Patrick slid to the end of the room and shut the door. They figured the conversation needed maximum privacy. “First off, we already know who killed Doctor Black. It was his boss. The guy who nearly owns the country. Doctor Sam Elder.”

  “No way! That hero genius guy? I knew he was hiding something-”

  “But that’s not all.” Slate bounced in. “We found a message that Black left behind in one of Patrick’s dad’s books. Based on what we read Elder and his gang are planning something big. All his theatrics and heroics are to a greater end.”

  Jane confirmed. “Based on our experiences we think he’s using us to gain power. To lift himself to the nation’s most powerful man. But he’s not done. He’s still missing something.”

  “His messed up animal experiments has something to do with it too.” Patrick continued. “And it doesn’t just end with Edgar.”

  “Edgar? Who’s Edgar?”

  The sound of rushing wind followed by a breeze rushed in from the still open window behind them. All their attentions were turned to a blackly coated figure whose wings barely squeezed in from outside. As he softly squirmed to the floor, just as the rest of them had done, he coupled to his feet. Edgar held his wings tightly to his chest, unable to properly span his wings in the more concise
perimeter.

  “I guess you decided to come after all.” Gary greeted his black furred friend. They all looked happily at Edgar, paying no notice to the greatly startled Lindsey.

  Lindsey bolted up as she watched the bat’s actions with a cocktail of an expression. She was mentally reevaluating her own reality, and her friends’ all comfortable reactions didn’t help. She knew that bats weren’t that large, and that her friends were likely not so well acquainted with one. Once all movements were settled she slowly walked between the crowd and gazed skeptically at Edgar. The bat simply stared back in almost equal shock while everyone silently watched from the side.

  “Oh my God.” she said. “He’s so adorable!”

  To everyone’s surprise Lindsey raised a hand and softly stroked the top of Edgar’s head between his twitching ears, in a similar manner as one would a dog. Below her arm Edgar stood frozen in a trance like he was in state of fear. His yellow pupils had almost completely flooded the rest of his eyes. It was obvious that the creature had never been greeted like that before.

  The silence happily died out when everyone around her began to laugh uncontrollably. Gary and Slate threw themselves onto the floor in an effort to silence their cheery cries.

  “Well I guess we know who wears the pants in this relationship.” Johnny said to Slate, still chuckling.

  “I wasn’t scared of Edgar. What are you talking about?” Slate replied in a whiney tone.

  “Dude, you ran away like an Olympian going for the gold.” Patrick said in between giggles. “I remember your reaction: ‘not who, what’.” he added making his best attempt to imitate Slate from days earlier. It was apparently good since everyone once again erupted in laughter.

  Somewhere in the room a cell phone started going off. They all stopped their caterwauls to figure out whose it was. It was Lindsey’s. She grabbed it from her desk.

  “It’s my dad.” Lindsey held her phone anxiously between her fingers. “I need to take this.” She clicked the accept button. “Hello?”

  “Lindsey it’s me.” her father greeted. “The storage unit was a bust, but that’s okay, I stopped and got us some Chinese food from our usual place. On my way home as we speak.”

  “That may not be a good idea.” she awkwardly coughed. “I … have some company over.”

  “Don’t worry, I got enough for everyone! The more the merrier!” he cheered into the speaker. “You could use a break from studying anyway.”

  “Ugh, great. I’ll let them know.”

  “Plus we have enough holiday food in the fridge as it is. Don’t need more leftovers.”

  “Good thinking.” she hung up. She knew she would now have to scramble to get things back in order.

  She turned back to her friends, her tone much more grave. “Gang, my dad’s on his way back. He’d go completely mental if he realized who you guys were. Plus he’s got a very strict no animal policy.”

  “Hey, we’re all friends here.” said Johnny

  “No Johnny, I meant Edgar over there.” she gestured to the large Chiropteran, who had just recovered from the harshness of being treated nicely.

  “Really? Is that what he is? Because this whole time I thought he was a plant!” Gary added, earning soft giggles from everyone.

  “Remind me why we like you now?”

  “Because I’m funny and charming. Obviously.”

  “As I was saying, you guys gotta go.”

  “Not without that tape you mentioned.” Jane urged as Lindsey was about to shove them away.

  “This’ll help us out big time.” Slate spoke out. “When we prove that the murderer is directly connected with Elder, the raven gang will be old news. New headline: PSYCHO DOCTOR PROVED TO BE A VILAIN, and we’ll be out for good.”

  “Yes, that’s right. Hang here I’ll be right back.”

  After fetching a thin black cord from her desk drawer Lindsey gingerly tipped down the stairs into the living room. To her relief there was no one home yet. The last thing she needed was anyone witnessing her steal vital evidence that had first been stolen by her father.

  A father/daughter thieving tag-team. Not a good thing for the family name.

  Once the evidence-filled brown lunch bag was secured in her arms she rushed back up the stairs. Everyone had guiltily been watching her every move. Their heads jutted over the door hinge like they were dolphins coming up for air.

  “My father’s a bit of a luddite. A little afraid of technology.” Lindsey said. She connected the slim chord to the lateral side of her laptop, properly feeling the click. “He didn’t realize that we don’t even need the camera to be working. As long as we can still use this chord to connect it to the computer we’ll have no problem watching the film.”

  The several tabs opening on the main screen proved the chord was still in business. After several clicks of the in-built mouse a smaller screen tab stretched across half the monitor. Everyone was standing on the edge of their feet. Everything the last couple weeks had brutally slashed at them was about to come to a justified end. Once there was inescapable proof that the species diverse gang had nothing to do with the kill, it will be like there never even was such thing as the raven gang.

  And if they were even luckier, no one would ever find out their identities.

  Their nerves aggressively pounded as they watched the video buffer. It was all black with a flashing ring, indicating the buffering progress. Then there was sound. It came while the video was still laboring in a pre-viewing state. They all clenched their shaking arms against their chests. Patrick and Jane rubbed the bases of their sweating palms on their foreheads. Seconds later the scene of only sounds grew into a moving picture. The small screen displayed a familiar scene. The seats and small podium were decorated just as they all had originally seen them.

  Before they were all thrashed in the murder.

  The low quality feed showed nothing but stillness. The unpopulated scene was serene. Movement sparked everyone’s eyes in the upper right corner as the screen door swished open. Doctor Jefferson Black, whose face still boomed with life, silently strode across the height of the small screen. He paused, nervously shuffling his papers back into order, eyes darting around the empty area. Then he froze.

  The neat setup of tables and chairs collapsed like falling pins. A swift dark figure plummeted its large form at the doctor.

  To the gang’s horror it was a form they knew all too well.

  The nightly figure proudly stretched its powerful wings and jabbed its prey with an unrealistically elongated fang with a happy slam of its neck. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they creature was the being they had come to accept as Edgar.

  The murdering beast bore some distinct qualities from Edgar however. Its teeth were striking out of its mouth nearly a foot longer than their friend’s and its fur appeared to be long overdue for a trim. Like the bat was hopped up on cocaine.

  The doctor’s movements ceased immediately after a single swipe in a psychopathic rage. He was thrown down on his side, leaving all the blood to drain from the large slit running down his torso. He no longer blinked. His eyes were locked in a state of eternal terror.

  The gang was stunned still, just as still as the dead man. Up until now, they had all been so sure that nothing could possibly surprise them anymore, especially after the surreal bank adventure. This sole revelation had unstitched every fabric of their reality. Everything they had planned was now a lost dream. There was no video of Elder or his goons slitting Black open. It was a video of their friend. Things were only getting worse.

  Patrick instinctively dashed his view over to the murderous bat. To his small comfort, Edgar appeared to be the most surprised of all of them. His yellow irises were as big as small suns. Before Patrick could move his lips to form any words his friend gave out a screeching cry and leaped out of the second story window, taking much of the glass s
tructure with him on the way out.

  Patrick could feel a pounding pulse grow in his forehead. His blood felt like it was sluggishly slowing down, thickening. His legs lost most bone supported energy and he collapsed into Lindsey’s bed. He forcefully struck his strained cranium with a shaking hand. The pressure in his eyes was building.

  “Wha...what do we do, guys?” he managed to say. “Edgar couldn’t have known he did this. There’s an explanation somewhere.”

  Lindsey sighed, clicking the video off. “You’re sure as hell not showing this to anyone.”

  Gary motioned himself to the destroyed window archway. His disappointed, betrayed emotions showed on his face.

  “I don’t know.” Gary nearly sobbed. “Someone chase after him. Someone go get him!” He cursed loud enough to offend the entire neighborhood, thrusting an angry fist into the nearest piece of wall.

  Without giving any response Patrick hurled himself to the window and vaulted himself over the edge. It was much easier to get a grip in the new window form. Since it was many feet until the ground, he anxiously gazed down to aim for the largest patch of grass bellow him. His distressed ears picked up several conversations above him. Everyone was sharing their own opinions of the stunning revelation. For Patrick, the rational part of him told him he should have expected something of that caliber. But the compassionate, sensitive person that tended to dominate his psyche told him to be angry and depressed. It made no sense. The giant bat had once saved their lives, risking its own fragile life in the process, seeming to get nothing out of it.

  What if he was just a double agent for Elder the entire time? He didn’t want to think about it.

  His mind quickly drew blank as his feet sharply planted themselves on the grass. The leap wasn’t as bad as it seemed from above. After just one step he felt his right leg collapse to the ground in pain.

  But the pain had nothing to do with the two story fall.

  With his remaining energy he threw his hurt leg over the other. A small dart had effortlessly pierced his jeans into his calf. At first he thought it was an illusion. But a freezing sensation swarmed across his entire leg and into everywhere in his body that blood flowed. In the usual sixty-degree pre winter weather of middle California Patrick felt like he was naked in the arctic. The sensation of pain ended all nervous connection in his body. Unable to move anything except his eyes, he swayed them over to a figure spookily draped in a long dark coat and loud leather boots. As all his five senses began to evacuate from him the figure arrogantly leaned over him with a sinister toothy smile.