Luke entered the main office to find his principal waiting by the secretary’s desk for him. She grabbed him and whispered, “The men are in my office. They are from the Department of Defense and they have asked me to step outside so that they may talk to you in private.”
A shocked look appeared on Luke’s face, “The Department of Defense? Why on Earth would they want to talk to me?”
The principal shook her head, “I don’t know, but if you need any help, I am right here for you. All you need to do is open the door and call for me. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
Luke was surprised to see two men who looked like they were Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones from the film Men in Black.
One of the men stepped forward and flashed a badge, “Mr. Davis, my name is Agent Scott and this is Agent Jackson. We work for the Department of Defense. I will be brief. We are currently looking for a BCBA with experience in dealing with subjects who exhibit aggressive and destructive behaviors. This is a full-time position with full benefits for you and your family, as well as continuing to pay into your pension at your current rate. This position within the Department of Defense would require you and your family to relocate to a military installation in Virginia. We came across your resume and you appear to be one of the most qualified people for this position. You have the credentials for the position and the field experience to deal with the subject that we have in mind. For reasons of National Security, I cannot divulge any further information about this project until you have accepted the position. I also understand that this is short notice for the offer but we need to know if you will be accepting this position within the next twenty four hours.”
Luke was still in shock over the entire situation, “I am definitely going to need to go home and discuss this with my wife.”
Agent Scott nodded and handed him his card, “Of course, if decide to accept this position call this number within the next twenty four hours. Thank you for your time, Mr. Davis.”
The agents left the office with Luke staring down at the card still trying to process what had just happened.
Chapter 3
Felicia Cally and her friends entered the night club and headed straight for the bar. As a blonde in her early twenties with extremely well-developed attributes, Felicia usually did not have to wait long before some guy approached her and asked to buy her a drink. She was scanning the bar for potential suitors when she saw a guy who had businessman written all over him. The man came up to Felicia and started talking to her. He was not bad looking so she began chatting with him. The conversation carried on until she looked further down the bar and saw another man staring at her. The man was tall. He was at least 6’5 and extremely well built. Through his T-shirt, she could see his muscles rippling with each movement that he made. His face was chiseled and tanned. He looked like he could be a movie star. Felicia walked past the first man who had approached her as he was still talking to her. Her eyes and her mind were set on the man at the end of the bar.
Felicia was completely transfixed on the man. It was as if every move that he made was perfectly timed. He was like a living work of art. When the man looked at her and smiled, she felt a rush of energy course through her body. She couldn’t understand what was happening to her. She had just noticed this man and she felt as if she was back in 7th grade, and this was the first time that a boy asked her dance at one of those silly middle school dances.
The man put down his drink and started walking toward Felicia. He put his arm around her and Felicia could feel her body quiver. He leaned forward slightly, “My name is Aiden. May I be so bold as to inquire to the name of the vision I see before me?”
Felicia was almost hypnotized. She stood silent for a moment before her brain screamed for her to wake up and say her name. She stammered, “Fe, Felicia. I am Felicia.”
Aiden smiled, “Felicia, meaning one of fidelity.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it, “I could not think of a more fitting name.” He gestured toward the bar, “Can I buy you a drink?” Felicia smiled, “Sure.”
After sharing a drink, the two of them hit the dance floor. Felicia could not believe what a good dancer Aiden was. Most of the big muscular guys that she had met were stiff and awkward when they were dancing but Aiden moved as if he were one of Usher’s backup dancers. When they took a break from dancing, Felicia briefly noted that she had lost track of her friends. She was looking around for them when Aiden leaned in and kissed her. She found herself lost in his kiss. At first her entire body tensed up, and then gradually it began to relax. She quickly realized that this was the best kiss that she had ever had.
Aiden pulled his lips away as Felicia was still caught up in the ecstasy of it. He looked into her eyes, “Do you want to get out of this place?”
Felicia nodded as Aiden put his arm around her and they walked out of the club. Felicia’s friend Nicole saw her leaving with the stranger and she was a little surprised. Felicia was not above hooking up with a guy at a club but she was not prone to leaving with a stranger no matter how good looking he was. Nicole made a move toward the entrance when a wave of people suddenly blocked her way. She called out to her friend but she was sure that Felicia did not hear her. She watched Felicia and the tall stranger walk out into night.
As they walked into the cool night air, Felecia could hardly believe what she was doing. One of her first rules about clubbing was to never leave with a stranger, but she found herself unable to pull herself away from Aiden. She was starting to doubt what she was doing until they had to stop at an intersection and wait for the light to change. As they stood there, Aiden leaned in and kissed her again. With his kiss, he erased any doubts that she may have had. Felicia quickly decided that rules were made to be broken and that Aiden was certainly rule- breaking worthy.
She wrapped her arm around his waist and together they crossed the street when the light changed. When they had reached the other side of the street, Aiden led her down a dimly lit alley way. Normally, this would have stopped Felicia in her tracks but she felt surprisingly safe with Aiden. She attempted to initiate a conversation with Aiden to help ease what nerves she did have about the dark alley,” So where exactly do you live?”
Aiden took a quick look around the alley and saw that is was empty of any other people. He smiled. “You might say that it’s the most luxurious high rise in the world. Would you like to see it?”
Felicia was about to answer him when from the corner of her eye, she saw a bright light beginning to glow. She turned to see a bright white light emanating from Aiden. She started to scream when he reached out and grabbed her. Then in a flash they both disappeared.
Chapter 4
Diana Cain stopped for a moment in front of the door to her Community College Class on Folklore and Myths and looked into the door at the students eagerly awaiting her arrival. She had a degree in English Literature but she had always loved mythology. For a girl who grew up as devoted fan of Hercules the Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, teaching a class in mythology was a dream come true. To a girl who saw herself as frail when she was young, seeing a heroine, even a fictional one in the form of Xena, gave her a reason to believe in her own abilities as woman.
Diana wanted to learn more about her heroes, and while she was glad to learn that Hercules was indeed a mythological character, it took a little wind out of her sails to find that Xena was a creation of Sam Rami. Despite this, she still fell in love with mythology and she was pleased to find that myths and folklore were filled with numerous other powerful women. The Greeks told stories of the Amazons and Athena. The Vikings had the Valkyries, and most of the more powerful deities in Hindu mythology were goddesses.
She took a deep breath and tried to channel the power represented by those women into her. While she was not exactly going to fight a war on an ancient battlefield, for a woman who grew up with self-esteem issues teaching a class full of college freshman was a daunting task.
Diana pulled open the door and immediatel
y approached the SMARTboard. As a tall and athletic strawberry blonde in her mid-thirties, Diana usually got the attention of the male students in their twenties as soon as she entered the classroom. Even though she was a confident single woman, there was a small part of her that appreciated this attention. Overall though, she had much greater desire for her students to look forward to seeing her because of the knowledge she possessed and the manner in which she taught her course as opposed to her looks.
Prior to greeting her class, she picked up the pen for the SMARTboard and began outlining a giant bird. She smiled as she was pleased to see that the bird was pretty much a reproduction of the symbol used by James O’Barr in his Crow novels. She was fan of all forms of mythology after all. She returned the pen to its holder and picked up the remote control for the SMARTboard so that she could conduct her lecture and be free to move about the room.
She turned to the class and began her lecture, “We have covered multiple mythologies, and as we enter the last few weeks of the semester, it is time that we look at connections between many of the myths that we have covered. There are some obvious and easily identifiable examples of how and why some myths are similar. For instance, the Greek god Zeus and the Norse god Thor. Both gods are powerful warriors who control thunder and lightning. The basis for these two characters to have similar backgrounds is easy to identify. Thunderstorms are a common occurrence everywhere on Earth. If you are an ancient Greek or a Viking, a thunderstorm would both enthrall and terrorize you. Prior to Ben Franklin inventing the lightning rod, lightning strikes were known to burn entire city blocks to the ground, so if you lived in ancient times, you were probably well aware of a home or settlement that had been destroyed by a lightning bolt. Given the power of this natural phenomenon, it was only logical to assume that it took a powerful male god to control this power.”
Diana stopped talking and took a long look at her class to see if her words were sinking in with them or not. She observed a few students nodding their heads, several jotting down notes, and two or three of them were sleeping. The young professor took a deep breath and then continued with the introduction to the day’s discussion, “With that in mind, I present to you the symbol of a giant bird. The Roc in Persian myths, Garuda in Hindu mythology, the Peng from Chinese Mythology, and the Thunderbird from Native American folklore. There are countless other examples of a massive bird represented in various myths. Often the birds are said to be able to carry off the largest land creatures found in that area. The Roc was said to be able to lift an elephant off of the ground and the Thunderbird was reported to do the same to bison on the American Plains.”
She stopped again to see that she still had the attention of the majority of the class, “Now, why would so many different people all develop almost exactly the same story?”
Hands shot up all over the class. Diana pointed to an overweight young man sitting in the front row. He put down the coffee he was chugging on to offer his thoughts, “Is it possible that one group of people co-opted another groups myths and slightly changed it to be their own? The Persians and the Hindu’s are close enough geographically where the Persians could have taken Garuda and changed him into the Roc.”
Diana nodded, “It is almost a certainty that the Persians took some of their myths from the Hindu’s, but how does your theory account for the Thunderbird and the Peng? The Chinese and the Native Americans were completely separated from both the Persians and the Hindu’s.”
The student shrugged and quickly went back to slurping down his coffee. An older woman in the back of the classroom raised her hand and Diana gave her the floor, “Is it possible that the legends are based on factual creatures which are common around the world? Birds of prey for instance, eagles, falcons and such.”
Diana smiled, “Excellent deduction!” She then hit her remote opening up the first slide of the presentation which she had constructed, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the Teratorn! A massive eight foot tall bird who hunted our cave-dwelling ancestors. Fossil evidence shows that this massive raptor would use its claws to crush the skulls of our ancestors and then devour them. Luckily for us, the Teratorn went extinct thousands of years ago. In fact, their extinction is thought be one of the factors which allowed our ancestors to leave caves and start forming villages. It is a lot easier to build a hut without having to worry about a giant bird crushing your skull.” With the exception of the still two sleeping students, Diana could see that all of the students were focused on what she was saying.
She hit the next slide on her presentation, “Clearly, even the Teratorn was not the size of the Peng or the Roc and it was long gone by the time the Persians, the Chinese, and others that made these myths. With that in mind though, we can see how from the time of the Teratorn until the time of these great civilizations, word of mouth recalled these once true threats to humans and turned them in them into exaggerated myths. My point is that the myth of the giant bird, like all myths, has some basis in truth.”
Diana saw some of her students nodding and she advanced the presentation to its next slide. She was about to speak when she noticed her supervisor enter the room with a man dressed in black from head to toe. Thinking that this was some surprise observation, she continued her lecture, “This is the basis for your final paper. You are to choose a mythological character, idea, or event and write a paper explaining a possible real world connection to the myth.”
Diana looked over to see her supervisor gesturing that he needed to talk to her. She nodded in reply and then spoke to her class, “Okay everyone, pair up in groups of three and start brainstorming ideas for your papers. I will be around to check with each group in ten minutes.”
Diana was walking over to her supervisor when the man in black stepped forward and held up a badge, “Mrs. Cain, my name is Agent Raymond and I work for the Department of Defense.”
Chapter 5
Luke had made it home and was going through the usual hectic process of feeding his youngest daughter, cooking dinner for everyone else, and packing lunches for the next day. While this was a lot to squeeze into a half hour period, he was quite proud of himself that he was able to it. He turned around to pull dinner out of the oven when he heard his wife walk in through the front door. Like most men, he did not always show it but that opening of the door, signaling that Melissa had made it home, was the sound that he most looked forward to each day.
On the surface, it meant that he would have some assistance with the dozen different things that his daughters needed help with. More importantly, though, it meant that he could see the love of his life. Luke and Melissa had begun dating in high school and even back then anyone who was acquainted with them knew that they would end up together. Their story was right out of a teen romance movie.
In school, Luke was a lanky kid who sometimes tripped over his own feet, but his sense of humor and sparkling personality made him fast friends with almost everyone that he met. In many ways, he was one of the most popular kids in school. While not the most athletic student on the varsity sports team, he was by far the hardest working. That combined with his ability to deliver quick quips won over almost everyone. He was friends with all of the different high school groups of guys - the jocks, the nerds, etc.
Luke’s personality was such that he could talk to any girl in school and hold their attention as if he was their best friend. Despite these qualities, in high school Luke did not have much luck in the way of dating. All of the girls thought he was great and loved him as friend but they did not see him as boyfriend material. All of them, except for Melissa. Melissa was the prototypical teen movie girl. The quiet girl who had those very pretty ‘girl next door’ looks that no one noticed because she was not a cheerleader or star soccer player. Luke himself really didn’t notice Melissa until the day that she asked him out.
Luke was surprised but he accepted her offer and from that point on their relationship went forward. Melissa and Luke were a good balance for each other. They were the perfect exam
ple of opposites attracting. Melissa, the quiet person who always considered other’s feelings, but who was also afraid to push her limits or to accept a challenge. Luke was an outgoing individual who was always looking for the next way he could challenge himself and validate his abilities. Together they helped each other grow as individuals, and as a couple. Luke helped pull Melissa out of her shell and pushed her as much as he could, while Melissa tempered Luke’s sometimes overzealous need to challenge himself.
They were married as soon as Luke graduated with his teaching degree. Ten years of fun and the occasional argument were ahead for the couple as they built their careers and enjoyed each other. Finally, they had reached a point in their lives when they were ready to move forward and be real adults. It was at that point, that their first daughter was born. The couple had waited three years until their first daughter had crossed the threshold from toddler to little girl when they decided to have their second child. Shortly thereafter, their second daughter came into their lives. Their nights of fun quickly changed from staying out all night to getting up early to coach and run off to different sports and activities with the kids. It was a busy life but they were happy with the life that they had made and with each other.
All of these thoughts cascaded through Luke’s head as he thought about the conversation he was about to have with Melissa. A new challenge had been presented to Luke, a challenge that he knew almost nothing about, and here he was about to ask Melissa to move away from everything that they had done and to accept this new challenge with him. While the pressure would be on Luke, he knew that the moving to Virginia and embarking on a new direction in life would be difficult for Melissa. She was comfortable where she was and, while the thought of leaving that behind for the unknown was exhilarating for Luke, it would be terrifying for Melissa. There was one part of Melissa’s personality that Luke could appeal to in this instance. Above all else, Melissa was a practical person and the suggestion of three times his current salary would weigh heavily on convincing her to agree with him to take the offer from the D.O.D.
Chimera: Scourge of the Gods: A Kaiju Thriller Page 2