***
Idris and Cal had gone inside the diner. They went into their father’s office, taking the cash purse and two small handguns.
Idris handed Cal a gun, while keeping one for himself. “Remember what I showed you, OK?”
Cal gave a nod, occasionally glancing over his shoulder. Fright was still on his face, as was a concern for his mother and father. Idris took note of this and had assumed the worst.
“Cal, I need you to be strong, OK? I know it’s a lot to ask right now, but,” Idris sighed, “we have to do it for them. We need to survive.”
Cal looked up at his big brother. “I know, it’s just…it’s hard.”
“There will be a time to mourn after we see this through, OK? For now, we have to go, and fast.”
Idris grabbed a few boxes of ammunition and tossed it in a black knapsack. He also threw in a pair of hunting knives and miscellaneous snacks.
Idris crouched next to his little brother. “Now, we’re going to sneak out front. I want you to run if anything gets too close to us, alright?”
Cal cocked his head. “Shouldn’t we take the car?”
“That would allow them to know where we are. It’s too risky,” Idris ruffled Cal’s hair, “but I give you props.”
The two brothers wandered quietly to the front door and looked out the front parking lot. It had been quiet since he last heard his dad firing the gun and of…mom.
He scanned the front, checking past the entrance and the street. “Alright, it looks clear,” Idris whispered.
“So we should assume that something is waiting for us, right?” Cal gave his brother a serious expression.
Idris grinned. “Yeah, that’s right, we should.
He glanced back outside and plotted a path. “OK, stay glued to me. We’ll exit here, then along to the right side of the diner and go straight towards the main road. Stick to the side of the road and then cross over to the shadows. Got it?”
Cal gave a nod. “Got it.”
There was an explosion, which shook the diner. Pots and pans rattled, while various items on the shelves fell to the floor. Both brothers looked to one another, saddened, but yet hopeful.
“C’mon, let’s go!” Idris whispered as he opened the front door.
Along the diner’s front, they stuck to the shadows. They cut behind their grandfather’s monument and headed for the main road. Everything seemed to be going well, too well, in fact.
They crossed the main road and started to run for downtown. Looking back every so often, hoping for mom and dad, or watching as their parents drove to come and get them, and they would all get away safely. Idris shook his head clear of such fantasy. They were dead. He came to terms that this was their new life now; that this was how things were, and how it was going to be.
Cal tugged at his brother’s sleeve, “Idris! Look!”
Idris turned around to see what it was Cal was so insisting on showing him. His eyes began to swell as he saw a lone figure walking towards them. It had stopped and then started to run.
Dad!
They both stood up and wandered into the street. However, part of Idris was uncertain, and he found it odd.
“Dad, we’re over here,” Cal shouted.
Idris’ eyes widened. Fear had set in. He cupped his brother’s mouth fast. “Shh, Cal, don’t say another word. Turn around and run, now!”
Cal looked frightfully to his big brother, puzzled, but then saw the monstrosity that was encroaching fast.
“Boys, boys, I’m so glad you didn’t stray too far!”
Cracks and snaps echoed from behind the running man, but Idris could see the same crimson vines and twine waving wildly under the moonlight, whipping against the ground violently. He pushed his brother, and both set off in full force for downtown.
James grinned fiercely, “Oh, how I do just love a little game of cat and mouse!”
Idris and Cal both ran frantically through the streets as it crept into the small downtown. On some alleyways, Idris noted that they were boarded up with some metal sheets.
What the hell is going on? Where is everyone?
They panted as they had stopped near a storm drain. Water rushed around them. Idris surveyed the area, believing to have lost their father.
We’re near the water plant.
“Ah, ah, ah, come now boys. Really? Did you honestly think you could outwit your old man?” James was behind them, the vines and twine lashed about wildly, hungry for the two survivors.
“You’re not our father!” Cal yelled at the impostor.
He shrugged, smiling “Ah, you got me, kiddo,” he threw his arms up, “but just so you know. Your daddy tried soooo hard to kill your mommy…well…me.” He grinned that damn stupid grin. “Just look how that turned out—kudos for the suicide bombing effort, but really c’mon.” it started to laugh and pace. “Oh, you humans, such pathetic, selfish, and wanna-be-righteous fanatics. You tarry on day after day, worrying about death, money, food, and the affairs and lifestyles of celebrities. You think that YOU are the only ones in this miserable little galaxy. You’re all insignificant, nothing more than moths to a flame…” he stopped pacing, “well, in this case, my late night snack, but besides that, you’re just nothing but fodder.”
Idris calmly spoke to the monster. “You will be stopped, the government will—”
“The government?” James began laughing hysterically. “I have a newsflash for you, kiddo. Haha, you think your government is protecting you? Spoilers—your precious government has made your town, your mommy, and daddy, and millions upon millions of humans, meals for moi.” His malevolent smile shined brilliantly under the saddened moonlight.
The boys stared on in shock. “N—no, that can’t be true! You’re lying!”
“Ah, come now boys. You should be grateful for some last moment father to sons bonding. Would your dear old dad lie to you?” He chuckled as he began pacing some more. “Think of it as feeding your small, delicious brains. After all, they say knowledge is power and well, pumping up that little thing would just make it taste sweeter to me, mmm yes.”
“What are you?” Idris asked disgustingly.
“Ah, ah, now that would be spoiling too much.” he waved his index finger side to side. “Let’s just say. I have an arrangement made. What you would call a deal with the devil. Oh, can you guess who I am in that part?”
Idris heard an engine trying to turn not too far away. Someone else is still in town! Idris’s ears perked up, but so did the James’.
“Well fancy that, I bet that’s our uninvited guest. I’ve been looking for that one for some time now.” James shook his head. “No matter, I can get him after I finish with you two.”
Cal looked over at his big brother, who looked back at him. The crimson vines lashed against the ground violently, starting to sprawl across the ground towards them.
“Well, it’s been fun boys, but it’s now time for you to get in my belly!” James let loose a chuckle as he patted his stomach.
“Eat this!” Cal tossed Idris a grenade, one of the few they had taken from the old van. With finesse and precision, Idris lobbed it at their impostor of a father.
James bellowed condescendingly as the grenade landed at his feet, “You little sons of bitches!”
Although Idris and Cal had already turned tail and ran, the concussion of the blast sent them off their feet. They scrambled as they saw the black and red pools, and limbs reassembling together and heard it scream with a bloody vengeance.
“Alright boys, playtime is officially over!”
They ran frantically through the outside of the water treatment plant. The cracking and hissing of something foreign, but on this night, well-known was in hot pursuit. It seemed to be coming everywhere around them.
“C’mon, Cal, we gotta find that truck!” Idris panted as they ran past more water pipes.
Suddenly, as they passed the last column of pipes, the ground beneath them burst open, along with the pipes. Idris and Cal lan
ded separately from each other on the ground, the water surging, soaking them thoroughly.
“Here’s daddy!” James cackled maniacally.
“Cal!” Idris looked up to see their father standing over his little brother. He scrambled to his feet and pulled his handgun out. “Argh!” he grunted as he fired a series of shots at the lashing monster of a man.
Cal scurried away on his back and then flipped himself over and began to run. He collapsed almost as fast as he had gotten to his feet. Cal looked down to find his ankle wrapped by one of the crimson vines. He felt an immense pressure build, and then it went numb.
“Idris,” Cal cried.
James lunged for Idris, the bullets having hardly any effect on him. Idris rolled away and fired another series of shots, two piercing the impostor’s head, dropping it to the ground.
“Hang on, Cal!” Idris ran over to his brother, stomping the vine into the asphalt.
“My foot, I can’t feel it.” Cal looked up at his brother, feeling like he let his brother down.
“It’s OK, Cal, but we have to go. Hang on tight, alright?” Idris knelt down and picked his brother up via piggy-back.
The truck had begun to move, and it was nearby. Idris carried Cal and hurried towards the back exit.
Meanwhile, slowly the vines began to lash in their frenzied assault. “I grow so, so very tired of you two insects. And look, now I am all wet!” James shook his hands. “You are—ugh—you’re so going to be grounded—indefinitely!”
They had rounded the corner, and just in time. The truck was approaching the brothers fast but had to slow for the turn out of the exit.
“Get ready!” Idris readjusted carrying his brother. “Grab on, and then I’ll get on, alright?”
His little brother clenched him tightly, “OK!”
The truck was near. Idris started to run towards it. It wasn’t the regular water tank carrier or the usual delivery truck. It was one of the freighter carriers who delivered to the neighboring towns. He’d seen it go by now and then back at the diner, or when Old Joe used to stop in sometimes. It had an extended trailer, with the two front panels that would slide up and down. Thankfully, they were already up.
The truck slowed down as it approached the gate, the headlights bright—gazing upon them. Then something, they didn’t expect happened.
A man yelled out to them, “Get in, quick!”
Idris ran to the passenger-side door and hoisted Cal up, before getting in himself. He closed the door, and the truck resumed its onslaught on the gate, bashing it wide open. Behind them, a dark, twisted evil silhouette fell upon the asphalt that led from the back parking lot to the exit. He still had that damn sadistic grin.
“I was wondering when you two would show up.” The driver glanced over at the two brothers.
He was unclean, very rugged. He had somewhat long dark hair and a full bushy beard. He smelled like he hadn’t taken a shower in days if not weeks, and reeked of whiskey. He wore a red-black checkered flannel with a black baseball cap. “You can call me Mac.”
“What the hell is going on, Mac? Who or what was that—that thing?” Idris looked over at their newfound friend and savior.
“Ha, wish I could tell ya, kid. I can’t exactly say what it is, or where it came from…but it’s from space, and it gets hungry, and it changes faces more than an infant in diapers. Some folks do know, but they’re a…little hard to reach.” Mac reached down and grabbed his bottle of whiskey and took a swig. “Sorry to have brought you kids into this mess.”
Idris and Cal both looked over at Mac. “What do you mean?” Idris inquired.
Mac sighed heavily. “That van was mine, all of my research and well, my arsenal and then some. Everything in that shit of a heap was mine.”
Idris restrained himself. “So you mean to say, that you’re the reason our parents are dead, and why the town is pretty much dead?”
Mac shook his head, “Yes and no. Yes, because I was tracked there, but no, because they were going to visit it regardless of whether I was there or not. You see. It gets a free lunch card pass, and well. It happened to be your town’s day. Think of it as an ambassador with diplomatic immunity, in this case, intergalactic immunity, who can say whatever it wants. I had hoped the timer, and my card would have given enough incentive to book it.”
“But there was a woman my dad talked to, Cheryl Plain. The police said it was her van.” Idris looked ahead on the road.
Mac grunted as he cleared his throat. “Cheryl? Ha, that S.O.S. was the kill order if anything. If you want to be angry with anyone, be so with the “police” and whoever your daddy talked to. Don’t get me wrong; she was the broad that authorized that thing to clean out hundreds of towns, but she was taken care of months ago. I can vouch for that. Whoever gave the go ahead this time around, well, I ain’t got the slightest clue.”
Idris clenched his hands. Cal looked at his brother. “Idris, I’m tired.”
“Do yourselves a favor, get some sleep. You’re going to need it.” Mac shifted the truck’s gears, the small town of Lodestone was now a speck behind them. The moon was high, with the road desolate and the land, a dull green, open and wide, for miles all around them. Ahead of them were the peaks of mountains, reaching up for the umbrella of stars. The storm had passed, and again, Idris found the prelude he felt earlier was right. This predicament had evolved into a shitstorm far more than anyone could ever imagine, and it had only just begun.
“Thanks, Mac.” Idris readjusted himself, still holding the gun, concealing it.
Mac grinned. “Don’t mention it. We’ll sort out the details in the morning. For now, though, put that thing away, you’re making me nervous.”
“Sorry, I just don’t know who to trust,” Idris replied.
“I know that all too well, kid. Trust me.” Mac sighed.
The truck sped on the desolate backwater road through the night.
The Lodestone Files: The Things in the Shadows Page 4