Kissing Corpses (18 page)

“
Have some respect,” Frank scowled. The Titan thought he was going to wet himself. He might have if the Titan’s captain, Mark Alvarez, hadn’t stepped between him and Frank. Mark was good-looking with buzzed blonde hair and fierce blue eyes, but he had a bit of a baby face, even with the stubble that grew to hide it.

“
You turned green fast, traitor,” Mark Alvarez said to Frank, pushing uncomfortably close to his former team-mate, despite the fact that Frank towered over him. “He was just making another touchdown. What’s your problem?” One of the Titans laughed. Frank growled at him. The Titan tried to cover his laughing with a cough.

“
Someone got hurt.” Frank said.

“
Is that so?” Mark said laughing.

“
You need to show some respect for…”

“
It’s a game, Franky. You show respect for the dead, not for your opponents on a battlefield. You were the one that taught me that after all.” Mark said.

“
What?” Frank said.

“
Oh, speaking of the dead, how’s your daddy, Franky?”

Frank had been looking for a chance to fight. The fight, if it could be called that, was over with the flash of a fist and a spray of blood. Mark toppled over onto the ground and held his nose.

“
Alright! Break it up.” It was Miami West’s coach, Mark’s older brother James, his finger pointed, his look severe.

“
Mark, bench. Now.” James growled. Mark scurried off the field. “I would appreciate it, Mister Guerrero, if you wouldn’t break anymore of my players. Keep that temper of yours in check if you can.”

“
Yes sir.” Frank grunted.

“
Good boy.”

The ref shouted a fifteen yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct against Olympia Heights and declared the tailback down before the ball left his hands. Mark Alvarez’s turnover was invalid. The tailback was splinted and carted off to the ambulance. Miami was given the ball. The teams lined up for first down.

The crowds stomped rapidly on the bleachers. The effect was a tumult of rolling thunder. On the rubber track around the field the

Olympia Heights cheerleaders waved their pom-poms and chanted a rhyme about defense.

Jameson passed to Alvarez, Alvarez ran it up the left and into the end zone. Nobody was fast enough to catch him. The kicker came out and the ball soared through the center of the uprights for the extra point.

Olympia Heights was down by one. First down: incomplete. Second down: fumbled and recovered for a loss of three yards. Third down: another incomplete. By fourth down Zach was losing his cool. This would be the last play if they didn’t gain thirteen yards here. Twenty seconds to go. The snap.

One of the more wily Titans ducked under Frank’s arm and rushed Zach. The sky rumbled. They collided. The heavens roared. A bolt of lightning struck Zach and the Titan with a cataclysmic blast of electricity that flung the Titan several feet, leaving Zach sitting unharmed yet dazed on soft green grass.

“
Are you sure you’re OK?” June lowered her voice and inched closer to Zach. Zach had been insisting repetitively for hours that he was fine but his mother had still ordered that he go to the emergency room. She’d begrudgingly let June come along.

The emergency room was not chaotic like the ones on TV. It was boring. Zach had been sitting in the same chair for four hours and his ass was starting to hurt. On top of the boredom, there was an obese child in the chair across from Zach that had an infected thumb. It was horribly swollen and kind of purple. Zach tried to look away, but the kid wouldn’t stop staring slack jawed at him. It was starting to creep him out.

June had a mini DV camcorder in hand. She hadn’t let it go since the incident. She kept watching the play over and over on its tiny LCD screen. After each viewing she would look up and ask if he was OK. She seemed more confused than concerned.

Zach’s Mother stood and said, ”God you would think they would give priority to someone who was HIT BY LIGHTNING!” She glared at the nurse behind the counter. The nurse nervously looked around and gathered papers as people in the waiting room gasped.

“
Mom, it’s OK, they probably just think I’m faking it. I told you I’m fine.” Zach said yawning. “Can we go home? It’s two in the morning…”

The nurse stood up.

“
We can see you now,” she said.

“
Damn right you will,” snapped Zach’s mom.

Zach and June were sitting together with their legs dangling off the edge of a hospital bed and staring at the screen of June’s camcorder. June stepped the footage frame by frame. “The strike is only on a few frames, it’s real quick, but look.”

Zach leaned over her shoulder. He was distracted by the smell of her hair. It was a blend of coconut and caramel and it was far more interesting than reliving the game through June’s home movie.

“
Come over after this, spend the night.” He didn’t have his eyes on the LCD screen anymore.

She rolled her eyes. “You just got struck by lightning, Zach.”

“
I just want to cuddle. Seriously.” He started to kiss her neck, but she pushed him off.

“
Just look at this, will you?” She shook her camera in front of his face.

Zach watched the tiny screen as the Titan in crimson and black charged him. The camera had a decent optical zoom and got tight in on his body, better than the local cable channels, which broadcasted their games as a mess of generic green and yellow clad players. Each smudge of a person was indistinguishable from the next. “Nice camera,” he said.

“
Here,” June pointed. “The lightning doesn’t come down from the sky. It travels up.”

“
What?” Okay, now Zach was interested. “Like something underground zapped me?”

“
Maybe the power for the sprinkler timer?” She looked up at him, her brow wrinkled with worry. “You should sue the school.”

“
But that doesn’t make any sense? The only thing burnt on me was my face mask.” He squinted down at the camera. “See? It comes right up through my hands and hits the guard. I should have burns on my feet if it came from the ground.”

A male nurse in blue scrubs came in with a discharge paper. Zach’s mother was right behind him, arms folded. “Okay, these are some instructions on what to watch for in upcoming days.”

“
Is that other kid okay?” Zach asked.

“
Well, I can’t really discuss other patient’s details, but I can say he’ll recover.”

“
Come on Zach,” June handed him his letterman jacket. “It’s like four in the morning. I’m ready to go to bed.”

“
I second that,” his mother spoke through a yawn. “Let’s get you home.”

The full moon illuminated the Olympia Heights football field, revealing Zach standing on the forty-yard line. The glow from his cell phone outlined his face in neon green. It was six in the morning. Zach hadn’t been to sleep yet.

“
Hey there, this is June. I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name, number, and a reason for your call, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!”

Zach waited for his girlfriend’s voicemail message to finish playing.

He rubbed his jaw with his palm. His facial hair grew unnaturally fast and, since shaving yesterday morning, it was already starting to get soft and curl just a little. Zach’s eyes were cast down at the field. The electric blue moon doused the world in its light. While everything seemed coated in blue, the field still seemed bright green.

The beep, finally.

“
Hey Junebug, it’s me. I’m out here looking for the spot. I’ve been watching lightning strikes on Youtube since you went home and they all leave this ugly black burn mark.” He hesitated and switched the phone to his other ear. “There’s no burn mark here and I don’t think they’ve changed the turf in the last ten hours. I don’t think I was struck by lightning.”

Zach knew that the thoughts running through his mind now made no sense. He was certifiable for even thinking it. It sounded crazy, but he had to say it. “I think I
was
the lightning.”

Olympia Heights: The Pantheon
is available for Kindle, Nook, and in Paperback. The sequel,
Olympia Heights: The Weight of the World
will be released Spring, 2012. Read more about the sequel and the series at http://www.olympia-heights.com.