i f38de1664e17c992 (3 page)

Darren yelled, “Can we change the channel?”

Our waitress came over smiling politely. “I’m sorry Sir, but there are more people here

that want to watch it than those who don’t.”

Darren sighed loudly and stood up dragging me with him. The news reporter continued.

“We just learned that Russia has been…”

Darren shoved me out of the diner so hard and fast that I fell on my face on the concrete outside. Bret rushed to my side and picked me up in his arms. Bret growled. “What the hell is wrong with you Darren?”

Darren shook his head. “Get in the truck!”

Bret set me down in the truck and got in the backseat. I stared at Darren in shock.

“What’s happening? Why won’t you let us watch the news? What’s going on?!” I screamed at

Darren, knowing he was up to something.

“Just do what I say.” He started the truck and took off out of the parking lot, spraying

gravel from his tires as we raced out on to the highway again.

I felt my anger rising at Darren and my body began to heat up. I turned to yell at him then felt my body starting to twitch. I grunted in frustration as I had a seizure. Bret screamed,

“Darren!” Darren pulled over and Bret held me down against the seat so I wouldn’t thrash

around and hit my head. Darren grabbed a cold water bottle, unscrewed the lid and splashed it on my face. I closed my eyes and focused on the cold feeling, willing myself to calm down. My body slowed its convulsions and then stopped altogether. Bret sighed. “I wish I knew what the hell caused those.”

Darren just stared at me with anger and worry filling his eyes as I regained control. I

whispered, “You can let go Bret. I’m fine now.”

Bret sat back in his seat and Darren started driving again. We listened to the radio in

silence the rest of the way to town.

We hurried to the house and I climbed straight into bed. Bret followed me in and closed

the door behind him. He set our bags down and sat on the bed next to me. “I’m sorry we had to leave so early,” I said to Bret.

Bret shrugged as he settled himself next to me. “It’s not your fault, Artemis.”

I rolled over and laid my head on his chest. We had been sleeping like this for so long

that I barely thought about it. I focused on the beat of his heart and closed my eyes. Bret softly rubbed my back and I fell asleep.

The rain poured like a giant waterfall down my face as I scanned the forest. I wiped at
the rain, but nothing helped. I put my hands over my eyes and screamed in frustration. I tensed
as a wolf howled nearby, answering my scream. I walked backwards into the cave, pressing my
back against the wall. My heart hammered against my chest, threatening to break through. I
wiped the water from my eyes and stared at the black opening of the cave. Lightning flashed
allowing me to see outside and my entire body stilled. A large black wolf stood in the doorway
smelling the ground. The wolf turned its head towards me and sniffed three times quickly. I tried
to slow my breathing, but the adrenaline was pumping too quickly to allow it. The wolf walked
into the cave and whimpered. I shook my head and closed my eyes. The sound of bones snapping
and popping echoed in the cave. I hugged myself tighter, fear consuming my rational thinking. A
familiar male voice whispered, “It’s alright. I won’t hurt you. I’m Ares.”

I sat up in bed and focused on slowing my breathing down. I looked around the room and

realized I was in my bedroom, not a forest, and Bret was sleeping soundly beside me. I crawled over the top of him and walked into the bathroom. I flipped on the light and stared at the blank wall where a normal household would have a mirror. I opened the wooden medicine cabinet and took out my nighttime contacts. I forgot to put them in, in my hurry to get to sleep. I took out the ones already in and threw them in the garbage. I let my eyes rest for a minute without any contacts in, and then put eye drops in to refresh my eyes. I slowly put in the nighttime contacts and sighed.

It took me a while to be able to put contacts in since we didn’t have a mirror, but I

learned to do a lot of things without mirrors. So much so, that I never even look at one when away from home. Bret thought it was weird that I didn’t have a mirror, but to me it was just how I was raised, like the kids who didn’t have televisions. I closed the medicine cabinet and walked out into the living room. The TV was turned to the news, but Darren wasn’t there. I heard him shooting his gun in the distance and knew he was out target shooting or coyote hunting. I sat down and turned the news up so I could hear it.

~~~~

The news reporter’s face was saddened and he spoke in a monotone voice. “Just two hours ago devastation wrought the town of South Lake Tahoe.” I gasped. “So far no survivors have been found within a ten mile radius.” I stared in shock at the television channel, not wanting to believe what was being reported.

Bret walked out of the bedroom rubbing his eyes. “What are you doing?”

I shushed him and pointed at the television. “Everyone is dead in Tahoe.”

He stared at me in shock. “What?”

I patted the seat beside me and said, “Watch.” He sat down next to me and stared at the

television.

The reporter began speaking in his monotone voice again. “At full dark, something began

to kill people. We do not know what it was, but the bodies were found exactly like those in Japan and Russia. Their throats torn out and…”

Darren ran into the house and turned off the television. Bret jumped up. “What the hell

are you doing?”

Darren pointed his finger at us. “I said no television!”

“Now you are being stupid, Dad. Something is happening and we need to know. Why

aren’t you letting us watch the news?”

Darren shook his head. “I can’t tell you. Just trust me that you do not want to watch the news.”

I snarled at him. “I do want to watch the news! I want to know what is going on!”

“It’s not safe, especially not after tonight. Now go to bed,” Darren said in his no back talk allowed tone. He was mad at me, but I hadn’t done anything that bad. I knew I wasn’t supposed to talk back to him, but he had never been this angry before. I wanted to argue more and find out what had happened in Tahoe, but Darren was not someone I liked to see mad.

I groaned at him and stomped to my room. I think at times like this it’s perfectly normal to act bratty. Bret followed me in and he laid back down and stayed silent.
Something is going on
and I am going to find out what. Whether Darren likes it or not, I need to know what is going on.

Bret hummed softly and rubbed my back lulling me to sleep before I wanted to fall asleep.

The sun shining in my room woke me up. I stretched and yawned, feeling refreshed. I

looked beside me and realized Bret was gone. I listened and heard bacon cooking which let me know that Bret and Darren were in the kitchen. I hurried to the bathroom and changed my

contacts to the daytime prescription. Apparently my eyes were so bad that I needed two different sets of prescriptions. I rushed to the kitchen and found Bret sitting at the kitchen table. I sat down next to him sipping the hot chocolate that was on the table for me. Darren finished the bacon and set it on a plate in the middle of the table. I started to reach for a piece and he smacked my hand.

“You wait for the rest of us.”

I groaned. “But it smells SOOOO good!”

He smiled and started making scrambled eggs. I bounced my leg as I waited impatiently

for my food. Darren scraped the eggs into a bowl then placed it on the table. Before I could move he smacked my shoulder. “Wait!”

I groaned and started bouncing both my legs at the same time. Darren opened the fridge

and tossed Bret the butter tray and then the bottle of syrup. Darren then opened the freezer, which was on the bottom of the fridge, unlike most refrigerators, and took out frozen waffles.

I started bouncing on my chair. “Come on! Hurry!”

Darren rolled his eyes at me as he put ten frozen waffles in the microwave. I watched

anxiously as the microwave table spun in small, slow circles. I felt my mouth watering as the eggs and bacon sat waiting on the table. The microwave dinged and I jumped up. Darren growled at me and I sat back down, sipping my hot chocolate. Bret laughed at me as I waited until Darren gave us each a waffle then he smiled. “Go on.”

I grabbed four pieces of bacon from the plate and spooned two large spoonfuls of eggs

next to the bacon. Bret was holding the butter tray and spreading the butter on his waffles slowly.

I groaned and started bouncing my legs again. He handed me the butter with an exaggerated slowness. I yanked it from his hand and slapped butter on my waffle then took the syrup and poured it all over my plate dousing the waffle, eggs and bacon with syrup. I set the syrup bottle down and looked up to find Darren and Bret staring at me in shock. I giggled nervously then started eating. I shoveled the food in my mouth as fast as I could chew. I groaned happily at the delicious food and ate without any more noises until my plate was empty. I sat back and sighed in contentment, resting my hands on my full stomach.

Darren rolled his eyes at me and continued to slowly eat his food. I picked up my hot

chocolate and sipped it slowly like a dessert. I stared out the window next to the kitchen and wished I knew what was going on with Darren. I tried to think of a way to ask him when Bret did it for me. “Darren, what the fuck is going on?”

Darren stared at Bret in shock. “Well Bret I think that is the first time I have heard you cuss.”

Bret frowned. “It won’t be the last time if you don’t answer my question.”

Darren sighed. “There is a lot of bad stuff going on in the world and I am trying to keep you two out of it so that you can enjoy your last week together.”

I stared at Darren and for some reason knew he was lying. It was like a punch in the gut. I started to say something, but Bret interrupted me. “Well if it might interfere with our safety, I think you should tell us.”

Darren said, “You’re fine for now. I promise that I will tell you, if it gets to that point.

Now go enjoy the day.”

I stood up and walked past Darren and out the back door. Bret followed me and together

we walked out to the open fields that lay behind my house. This is the one place of country I still had. On TV they always showed the industrialized parts of the world. None of that interested me.

Just give me open fields or forests and I’m happy. I was about to head towards the forest when Darren called to us, “Don’t go to the forest. I saw a group of wolf tracks in that area this morning. I’m not sure if they are passing through or not, but just don’t go that way.”

I nodded my head and walked the opposite direction farther into the open fields. Bret

followed me, staying silent, but close. I could hear the mooing of our cattle in the distance and the neighing of my horses. I started running through the open fields just enjoying the feel of the early morning sun and wind on my face. Bret ran beside me. I smiled at him and increased my speed. He easily caught up with me and we ran for a few more minutes. I collapsed to the ground and closed my eyes.

Bret laid down next to me and asked, “What do you think is really going on with Darren?

Why would he want to keep this all hidden from us?”

I shrugged. “How should I know?”

Bret stroked the side of my face with his hand. “If anything does come I’ll protect you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up Bret. Nothing is going to come.”

A high pitched voice yelled from the road near the field. “Bret! Bret, what are you

doing?!”

I groaned and opened my eyes. “Skankzilla is calling you.”

Bret rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, I hear her.” He sat up more so that she could see him

and waved. “Hey guys.”

Guys?
I sat up and the two guys and two girls that had been smiling and waving at Bret from a lifted Chevy Blazer frowned at me. I smiled at them knowing they hated that Bret spent so much time with me.

“Oh, you’re busy I see,” said the girl whom I call “Skankzilla”. I could hear the

discontent in her voice.

I retorted, “Actually we are just hanging out. Shouldn’t you be getting back to your

corner? Wouldn’t want some other skank to take it.”

She flipped her blonde hair behind her back and turned away from me. Bret sighed. “She

was just kidding! What are you guys up to?”

J.D., one of Bret’s best friends spoke up. “We’re going to the lake. You two wanna

come?”

Skankzilla sighed and asked, “Why did you invite her?”

I stood up and put my hand on my hip and flipped my hair behind my shoulder in an

imitation of her. “Because if you don’t invite me Bret won’t come, Skankzilla. And we all know how bad you want Bret’s balls in your mouth.”

The skank frowned at me. “That’s just disgusting, Artemis.”

I shrugged. “You’re the one that does it.” I wasn’t usually so abrasive, but she rubbed me the wrong way.

J.D. and the other three people in the truck laughed loudly at Skankzilla. She screamed in frustration and turned away from me. Bret sighed and whispered, “Do you always have to get her all riled up?”

“It wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t. Besides, what did I say that wasn’t true?” I walked

towards the truck and smiled up at the two boys in it. “Hey J.D. Hey Billy. One of you strong boys wanna give me a boost?”

They both started to reach towards me, but Bret grabbed me. “I got her guys.”

J.D. rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Bret. You’ve always got her.”

In reality all of the kids just put up with me because Bret was my friend. If they had their choice I would be the biggest loner ever. Billy smiled kindly at me and moved over so I could sit in the front beside him. Bret started to sit beside me and I shook my head. “Go sit in the back with Skankzilla. I’m sure she needs some consoling after my insults.”