Dark Creations: Dark Ending (Part 6) (11 page)

“Please,”
he continued.  “Terrible things have happened, and are happening.  More is about to unfold if we don’t deal with it.”

Kyle’s aunt rubbed her temples and closed her eyes before pinching the bridge of her nose and exhaling loudly.  “I don’t know what to do here,” she said more to herself than anyone else.  She opened her eyes and huffed, “You can’t just drop this on me and not tell me what the hell is going on and where my sister is.”

Kyle lowered his eyes to his sister cradled in his arms.  He shifted his weight from one leg to the next.  When he looked up, Amber saw that tears threatened.  “All I can tell you is something terrible is happening,” he repeated.

“This is crazy, Kyle!” his aunt startled her by nearly shouting.  “It doesn’t make sense!  You’re not making sense!” Her voice had become shrill.  “What are you talking about?”

“Please, Aunt Christina!  I have to go.  We have to stop this.  But the girls need to stay here and we need to borrow some clothes.  We can’t walk around dressed like this.”

Kyle’s aunt shook her head and raised her hands then dropped them to her sides exasperatedly.

“What choice do I have?” she asked.  “You are my nephew and they are my nieces. I love you kids.  You guys are my family.  How can I turn you away?” she continued and sounded as if she were unraveling. 

“
Did Uncle Steve leave any clothes behind when he left?” Kyle asked.

“Just some jeans and T shirts,” his aunt replied and rubbed her forehead.

“Okay, that will do,” Kyle said.

“Come on,” his aunt waved them inside.  “Put the girls upstairs in my bed then grab whatever clothes you need from the guest bedroom.”

“Thank you,” Kyle said genuinely and his aunt gripped his wrist.

“Kyle, just tell me this, okay?” she asked and Kyle nodded.  “You’re not involved with drug dealers or some radical group of god-only-know
s-what, are you?”

“No, Aunt Christina, I’m not in deep with a drug cartel or terrorists, I promise.”

A fraction of the worry creasing his aunt’s face relaxed and Kyle led the way upstairs.  Amber hurried behind him and placed Jackie beside her sister in bed.  She covered them then followed Kyle to a small bedroom that smelled of rose-scented potpourri and mothballs.  His aunt appeared in the doorway and shoved clothes at Amber. 

“I’m shorter than you and a bit wider, but these are Capri p
ants that are a bit tight on me, so they should fit.  The shirt should be fine, too.”

“Thank you,” Amber said and felt a swell of gratitude so great, her eyes filled with tears. 

She disappeared back downstairs and left Amber alone with Kyle.  Worry niggled at Amber’s brain.  She wondered whether Kyle’s aunt would call the police.  If she did, the Taft Police Department, now under the command of Terzini’s members, would be alerted to their whereabouts.  Everyone would be in graver danger than they were already. 

Thoughts of being doggedly pursued by a pack of her maker’s
men nagged unendingly as she unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it to the bed before pulling her pants off.  She stood in just her underwear and had forgotten all about Kyle until she looked to the closet and saw him staring at her, his mouth partially agape.  She quickly cupped her bare breasts and his eyes snapped up and met hers.  Crimson crept up his neck and colored his cheeks brightly.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to uh, see your, uh, you know, lady parts,” he gestured to her chest and fumbled.  He turned from her and apologized again.  “I’m so sorry.”

Amber’s heart pounded in her chest and a strange sense of eagerness stimulated parts of her body she did not know could be awakened.  When she dropped her hands from her breasts and reached for the shirt Kyle’s aunt had offered her and spied Kyle glimpsing her nude form again, that feeling intensified.  Goose bumps arose and covered her entire body.  Kyle, realizing he’d been caught watching her a second time, turned an even deeper shade of red and turned his back to her.  A slow smile tugged at the corners of Amber’s lips.  No one had ever looked at her as he had.  Terzini had viewed her as a vessel by which he would gratify himself, a plaything at his disposal that he was allowed to humiliate and hurt for sport, but not Kyle.  Kyle had looked at her differently.  He’d looked at her with curiosity and appreciation, as if he were seeing a nude woman for the first time and wanted to savor every moment of it.  She’d never felt beautiful in her life, though her maker had told her she was his masterpiece and more attractive than any human being or creation he’d ever laid eyes on.  But she’d felt beautiful when Kyle looked at her.  He’d made her feel beautiful.  And for the first time in her life, she’d enjoyed being looked at undressed.

When she’d finished dressing, she
placed her hands on her hips and decided she would like to see him undressed again.  She wasn’t sure what the exact protocol for such a request was, so she simply asked.  “Okay, it’s your turn.  May I please see you without your clothes on now?”

Kyle looked at her, his expression equal part confused and surprised.  “Uh, what?” he said and the high color of his complexion drained.

“It’s only fair, right?  You got to see me, and now I get to see you.  That’s how it works, right?”

He hesitated a moment and she supposed he
was waiting for her to laugh or tell him she was kidding.  When he realized she was serious, he smiled nervously and said, “Okay, I guess,” then unbuttoned his member-issue shirt and let it fall to the floor. 

“You have very nice abdominal muscles,” she said admiringly. 

“Thanks,” he said and pink streaks appeared on his cheeks. 

“Now take off the pants,” she said and remembered a movie she’d seen where women had sat
and watched men on stage ripping their clothes from their oiled, muscled bodies.  The women had cheered and clapped and she decided to do the same, to tease him playfully.

When Kyle dropped his pants to his ankles and stood only in his boxer shorts, Amber whistled
at him. 

“All right,” Kyle smiled embarrassedly.  “Point taken, I get it.  You caught me looking before, so I deserve it.”

Amber giggled and Kyle’s blush deepened to scarlet.  He finished dressing and they descended the staircase.  Kyle stopped in the kitchen and saw that his aunt sat clutching a steaming mug of coffee between her hands.  When he placed a hand on her shoulder, she turned and stood.  Amber noticed that her eyes were red as was her nose.  She used the sleeve of her pajama top to blot the tears still on her cheeks.

“I know how messed up this seems, but please believe me.  If there were any other way,” Kyle started, but his aunt interrupted him. 

“Just promise me you’ll come back soon and tell me what is going on, that you’ll tell me what happened to my sister and brother-in-law, your mother and father, okay?  All this not knowing is killing me,” she said in a voice that quaked.

“I’ll be back soon,” he promised, though he knew as well as Amber did that he did not know whether he would return at all.  For all they knew, this was the last time any of them would be together.  “I love you, Aunt Christina,” he said with so much emotion, Amber blinked back tears that threatened. 

“I love you, too, Kyle,” his aunt said and touched his cheek affectionately. 

Amber watched as Kyle reluctantly turned from his aunt and walked to the front door.  She thanked Christina and met up with him on the porch.  H
e waited there and gripped his head in his hands.  He dropped them as soon as he saw her.

“Are you all right?” she asked him.  “You can stay here if you want, you know.  You don’t have to come.”

Amber wanted him to stay and go simultaneously.  The conflict she was feeling was odd.  She wanted him safe and as far away from Arnold Gathers as humanly possible, yet, at the same time, she couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing him for days, or possibly not ever again.  She wasn’t sure what to do, what to say.

“I’m coming with you,” he said and the finality of his words left little room for interpretation.  He’d decided for her. 

“Okay then,” she said.  “Let’s go.”

An angry rumble of thunder rolled and
a strong gust of wind blew Amber’s hair back, away from her face.  As she climbed inside the car, the first raindrops began to fall.  Slowly at first, plump droplets dotted the windshield then, without warning, the heavens above opened and unleashed a driving rain.

Kyle turned to her and said, “Let’s get this bastard before he kills us all,” then pressed his lips together tightly.  “Let’s save the world.”

Amber gave him a half-smile and turned the key in the ignition.  The engine growled like a mighty beast waiting to stretch its legs.  She tapped the gas pedal and they raced off into the night, into the heart of the storm, in search of Arnold Gathers. 

Chapter 9

An odd heaviness settled in Arnold Gathers’ chest.  He wasn’t sure what is was or why it was happening, he just knew that it ached dully, deep and deliberate.  The strange weight seemed to smart slowly and resembled the stretch of street he was driving along, for it felt like an endless, empty expanse.  He lowered the window of his van and figured fresh air would ease his discomfort.  But it did not help.  In fact, the warm air had grown muggier, thicker and harder to breathe, and worsened what he was experiencing.

He stepped on the gas pedal, eager to create more of a breeze and to hurry ahead on
the darkened road that led finally to the highway.  He continued for several moments, speeding heedlessly.  All the while his lungs felt too compressed to fill.  When he arrived at a stop sign at the corner of a main thoroughfare, a thought occurred to him and the heaviness sunk lower, and his lungs felt as though they’d collapsed completely.  He lowered his head and felt his thick, plastic-rimmed glasses slip down the bridge of his nose as his hand covered his heart reflexively.  He realized that soon, the world as it was would end.  Human beings would fall to extinction.  And while he would not mourn their fruitless existence, he had enjoyed them in his own unique way rather enthusiastically.  His hobby that included them had blossomed considerably, had transformed from a pastime activity to a veritable art form he excelled at.  Once they all fell, his talent for selecting just the right subject to brutalize would disappear. 

The abrupt honking of a horn from behind him forced him from
his brooding.  He proceeded through the intersection and found himself on a busy, well-lit road.  Car dealerships, fast-food restaurants and retail shops lined the road and more cars than he could count puttered past him despite the late hour.  He had set his GPS navigation system to guide him along the shortest distance route available to Manhattan.  He preferred that course to the shortest travel time and figured he would follow the speed limit and get to his destination scenically.  Never in his wildest imaginings did he dream he would encounter the kind of traffic and road conditions he was encountering now.  Every few hundred feet, he was forced to stop at yet another red traffic light.  At the fourth one, he was on the verge of madness when a sedan pulled alongside him.  He glanced at the vehicle and felt his breath catch in his chest.  Inside the sedan was perhaps the most beautiful human being he’d ever seen, second only to the American actress Ms. Julia Roberts, of course. 

Bright streetlights cast a soft glow on her glorious, golden skin and long, auburn curls fell past her shoulders.  She looked about, turning her head from side to side, and glimpsed him
.  Seeing her face, getting a full-frontal view of it, made Arnold suck his breath in sharply.  Her lips, perfect, plump and pink, formed a sumptuous bow.  She looked straight ahead and did not acknowledge him, did not seem to see him.  But he saw her.  He stared with his mouth partially open and felt his glasses begin their descent down his long, thin nose. He pushed them up immediately, careful to keep his eyes on her, though he doubted he could tear them away if he tried. 

Another impatient horn honk from behind him interrupted his trance and he watched
with disappointment as she drove away, pulling ahead of him.  Arnold felt a sudden jolt rocket through his core, jarring his system alert.  He wanted to see her again.  He sped onward and hoped for another red traffic light to stop them next to one another again.  When the upcoming light remained green, he muttered a profanity under his breath and drove beneath it, squeezing the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles whitened.  His grip eased when he saw that the light ahead had turned yellow, and that both the car in front of him, as well as the car before her, raced to beat the impending red light. 

Beside her once again, Arnold’s insides hummed and buzzed excitedly. 
He had never seen a human being and felt as he felt for the woman in the sedan.  He had seen movies mocking humans for their sappy belief in love at first sight, watched them as fuel for ending their earthly existence.  He’d thought them ridiculous then, had viewed the concept of “insta-love” as not only delusional and impractical, but dangerous as well.  A population watching and imitating fantasies, willing to imperil themselves by launching headlong into love affairs with strangers, was too stupid to continue their reign on Earth. That was what he’d always thought.  But seeing the lovely creature alongside him, experiencing the delightful flutter in his belly, caused him to reconsider his stance.  Perhaps there was something more to the movies he’d ridiculed.  Perhaps there was more to the notion of love at first sight.  The reactions storming inside him were real enough.  He was fairly certain he was not experiencing a hallucination.  What if he had been wrong all along?  What if his maker was wrong about humanity?