by Kris Kendall
****
My hand still stung from the few purposeful pitches Flynn threw at me. Knowing I mostly likely deserved it, I didn’t say squat. Instead, I focused on taking a few glances here and there over where the girls were practicing. A few times, I caught Mercy looking back at me. I wasn’t vain, but it didn’t hurt my ego to think that maybe she was into me like I was into her.
“So, why do you always wear a baseball hat?” Mercy asked, sitting in the passenger seat of my monster mobile. We were headed to the county library because the school library closed before practice was over.
“It’s a long story,” I said, hoping she’d leave it at that.
Glancing over because we were at a stop light, I could see she wanted to press me more. However, she didn’t and I was grateful.
It was a personal story. One that ran deep and wasn’t something I liked to talk about. In time I may share, but I was just getting to know her. When the light changed to green, I hit the gas a little too hard and glanced over at her to mutter an apology.
Nodding her head slightly to acknowledge me, she continued as if that hadn’t happened. “I guess it helps that you look really cute wearing it,” she said, boldly.
That had my eyebrow arching. She smiled and looked away. Was I moving too slow? I would have never guessed her to speak so freely. Tugging the hat off my head, I hooked it on her. “Not as cute as it looks on you,” I said, giving her my best grin before focusing my attention back on the road.
Thinking my hair was packed down on my head from the cap, I ruffled a hand through it. When the library came into view, I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad. She’d clearly given me an opening, but what the hell was I supposed to do with it.
Not normally a patron of the place, I was shocked by how full it was. Not quite standing room only, but most of the tables had people sitting at them. We managed to find one towards the back, which in a way was good.
“So, what are you having problems with?”she asked, getting straight to business. She still wore my hat, and I wanted to kiss her for looking so cute in it.
My mouth opened to answer her question and I stopped myself. I didn’t want to lie to her. I wasn’t clueless in the class but to admit to using it as a way to get her out with me might not go over well. So I found truths in the statements I made. “I wasn’t sure the best approach to the question. I mean there are clearly two ways to look at it,” I began and launched into my two theories. Studiously, she listened and clearly got what I was talking about. It then became easy between us as we worked through both approaches talking about the pros and cons. But working with her, we were able to come up with the best solution and a good attack on how I should approach the paper. I, along with the rest of the class, didn’t understand why we had to write a paper in a Math class, but go figure.
We decided to do the library thing again in a few days to see how things were going. She was also planning to share her project too. It was hard to believe that a beautiful girl like herself was so approachable and down to earth. She didn’t seem to have one vain bone in her body.
“Ready to go?” I asked, reluctantly. We’d outlasted many of the other people who had been there or come after we showed up. I was afraid they’d start turning off the lights.
“Sure,” she said.
After she told me where she lived, I had a couple of options on how to get there. One would take a little longer than the others. Let’s call it the scenic route. Being that I wanted to extend our time together, I drove that way.
When we passed the last of the town and deep into suburbia, my monster coughed and died. Rolling to a stop, I was grateful we weren’t on a major road stuck in the middle of traffic. Where we were, no one had yet to pass.
Closing my eyes, embarrassed that we maybe be forced to walk, I put the car in park for no other reason than habit and got out.
Cursing, I said, “I’m sorry about this,” before I closed the door. Lifting the hood, the light was fading in the distance. I would need a flashlight to see pretty soon. Looking up, I noticed the unnatural clouds rolling across the sky like wild fire. Their rapid appearance turned off the lights as easy as a switch. Slamming the hood, I got back in the car. Mercy sat quietly as if she read my mood and knew better than to speak.
Scooping my phone from my pocket, I hit the button several times with no response. “Does your phone work?”
“No,” she said. “I tried while you were looking under the hood.”
“That’s strange,” I said more to myself. “Did you notice how fast the clouds rolled in?”
Looking out the passenger side window, she said, “Yeah that was weird.”
We studied each other. Neither of us wanting to admit how freaked out we were. So I made a joke. “You think we will see crop circles using trees instead?” I asked because the woods lined both sides of the road. “Maybe a spotlight on the car before we are lifted into a spaceship.”
“If that happens, I am going to find the first Stargate and dial out. I think I remember some of the patterns from the last show I watched.”
That had us laughing until a creepy howl came from somewhere outside the car. Considering the windows were up and we were laughing, yet we heard the eerie sound loud and clear, sent a chill up my spine. Swallowing, I said, “You heard that.”
Fear in her eyes had me shrugging off my own. I couldn’t wimp out. All of this was my fault. I felt like I’d driven into a bad horror movie. “It’s probably nothing,” I said. Looking at my dead phone that acted as if it were out of charge, the last of the blue sky was covered. Without the moon, we sat in utter darkness. In vain, I tried to find light in the car from the overhead, from my phone, and from a flashlight under my seat. Nothing.
“I guess I could walk back to town, it’s not that far,” I suggested, not really relishing the idea.
Her hand reached out and caught mine. It trembled. “I’ll go with you.”
Hearing the fear in her voice, I said, “Okay.” With the howling, I didn’t want to leave her alone. But staying there didn’t seem like a good idea either.
Opening our doors, we stepped out into the awaiting darkness. At the back of the car, I caught her hand, when all hell broke loose.
A crashing, like something really big was smashing through the tree line, sounded to our left. I didn’t bother with the car. It wouldn’t protect us from the unseen danger behind us. “Run,” I called out. With our hands interlocked, we did just that.
As we ran in the direction of the library, something flew by us going towards the danger. A deafening roar resounded against what sounded like a voice. “Die you dirty bastard.” I shouldn’t have heard that. I couldn’t place the voice but it sounded female. With the other noise from the ‘dirty bastard’ that had come through the trees, it was impossible to tell for sure. Looking back didn’t shed any light on what was behind us. A loud thud sounded and the pounding of earth shaking footsteps started to get closer. Whatever it was, it was big. In only a few steps, it sounded as though it was upon us.
Mercy was quiet, keeping up with my pace. When I sped up, so did she. “Tasty snacks, I do like a chase before I eat.” The voice was gravelly, as if the thing had a mouthful of rocks.
Quiet Mercy turned and screamed. Something whacked us from behind. The force of it sent us up in the air to crash onto the ground several yards away. Mercy lay still a few feet away. Using my arms, I crawled over to her, heedless of the danger behind us.
“Guardian, you are no match for me,” the gravelly voice chided. The whispered threat it’s only disturbance in the air.
Uncaring, only my need to get to her held my attention. I reached her and from her wrist, I could feel her heart beating. There was a thud and we began to get pelted by earth. Bits of dirt rained down on and around us. Protectively, I covered Mercy’s body with my own, fearing larger or shaper pieces would come.
And it happened, the ea
rth shook and more of it rained down on only me now. Larger pieces hit my back until one hit my head. Before, I succumbed to the nothingness, a bit of light lit up the field like dawn.