“Come on, come on, Woman!” Kaine shouted, checking his watch for the thousandth time-even though he didn’t believe in time he thought the newer watches looked cool, “How long does it take you to get dressed?”
“Don’t call me woman!” Crystal shouted from the bathroom, “And if you wouldn’t have called it a muumuu, we could’ve been out of here by now!”
“I take it back! Just hurry,” Kaine pleaded, pacing circles around the bedroom. He nearly ran over Crystal’s cat three times until the animal finally managed to squeeze her swollen body beneath Crystal’s bed.
“Make yourself useful and call Troy or Austin; I can’t drive!”
“I can get us there a faster way,” Kaine said enigmatically. Crystal didn’t buy it.
“Then do that and let me get dressed in peace!” Crystal snapped.
“No, I’m not leaving you,” Kaine said, stubbornly, “Hurry.”
“I’m trying!” Crystal yelled.
“In the time it takes you to try,” Kaine said, quietly, more to himself than to Crystal, “I fear someone will find the time to die.”
“Cute, Kaine, that rhymed,” said Crystal.
----------------------------------------
I think I died…
Sam drifted on the edges of painful awareness. He had never really thought much about death. He had always suspected that he would die of old age. Sam was not an imaginative person; he had never dreamed that things such as that monster that killed him really existed outside the world of TV. He had never dreamed of such complex emotions such as he felt toward everything right now. The sadness as he thought of things that he’d never done in his life; the hatred he felt for the thing that did this to him; the regret that he’d not been there to help his friends when they’d needed him, as he was not there now.
Sam had never even kissed a girl. And to think he’d had the opportunity less than an hour ago…
Sam felt more regret. Troy, Austin, and Amanda had been good friends to him, but now Sam realized that he wasn’t much of a friend to them. He realized that one of the few reasons that Troy even put up with him anymore was to see his sister.
Samantha…His beloved twin, his other half…How would she react when told that he was dead. Or could she feel it where she was now, somewhere far away?
Sam knew that Samantha knew that he cared a great deal about his friends and family. But that was because they shared everything, sometimes even a mind. Would his family know he had loved them? Would Troy and Austin know that he valued them above all else, even above his ambition? Would Amanda know that Sam had cared?
Yes, she would; she told you so…The internal voice chided him for doubting his friends. What Sam really doubted was himself.
The though seemed to turn a light bulb on inside Sam’s heart. Yes, he doubted himself and had a low self-esteem; he just never admitted it.
But Troy, Austin, and Amanda believed in you…They wouldn’t have wasted their time with him if he had not had some value.
What could they see that he couldn’t?
Well…Sam could do a lot of things. He was the best damn hacker there was a Duriarb. He was an excellent hunter.
No, what was it his friends had complemented him on?
Austin had told him that he was funny. Troy had said that Sam was smart. Amanda said that he was strong.
Would he prove them wrong just because a damn computer fell on his head? Would he let himself be defeated just because he was wallowing in self-pity?
Hell, no. That wasn’t the Sam that he was. It was not the Sam that Troy, Austin, and Amanda had believed in.
CRACK!
“I think we’re running out of things to break,” Austin said, firing off another burst of fire-based energy that scorched the walls.
“Ya think?” Amanda said, crouching next to him.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
So far, turnabout had proved to be fair play. Not only were Austin and Amanda the ones closest to the window, but it seemed that the demon was having a tough time fighting. The beauty cream, which had turned out to be Nair, had kicked in, causing the creature to howl in pain and claw at its back as the depilatory cream dissolved the skin (The things women do to their bodies!). In its moment of distraction, either Austin or Amanda would shoot some energy attack at it.
Austin forbade himself to look at Sam’s corpse. You don’t know he’s dead, he chided himself. You have to believe.
Yeah, I believe…I believe if we don’t kill this thing soon, its going to get tired of us and go kill elsewhere.
Austin ducked behind the overturned couch they were using as a blockade and tried to catch his breath. It was so hard to use his powers because it made him so tired. Amanda, on the other hand, was barely winded and any trace of the cold she’d had was long gone.
Huh…Maybe I’d better try some of that Nyquil…
“I don’t understand,” Amanda said, “about twenty minutes ago this thing was an intelligent being. It talked and thought. Now it just screams like a dumb animal.”
Austin thought that was weird too, but that really didn’t mean much to him. Maybe the shock of Sam’s death was getting to him. His thoughts were numb and distant.
Across the room, the creature screeched again, but there was something off in its pitch. It raised a few octaves and cut off abruptly into an odd gurgle. They were doomed.
“Amanda, I want you to know that you’ve been a good buddy; I won’t lie, I’ve harbored some sexual fantasies about you. And right at this moment you are the sexiest--”
“Fuck me!”
“Oh, I didn’t know you’d take it like that…” Austin said.
“No, you degenerate pig. Look!”
Austin heaved himself up to look over the edge of the couch. Besides noticing the collection of gum stuck to the underside of the couch (Gross, Amanda!), Austin noticed the demon’s considerable bulk was eclipsing Sam’s broken body. But instead of bracing for an attack, the creature was paused as though shocked, his head facing away from Austin and Amanda.
For a second it seemed perfectly natural that there should be leaves scattered around the creature as it leaned back on its haunches, further turning its back to Austin. Amanda’s carpet was a jungle green, so the leaves blended, kind of, sort of…. Not really, Austin was delirious. The only thing that seemed like it shouldn’t be there was the long, protruding rocky structure that jutted out of the demon’s back. It looked like a stalactite or something and was developing a healthy sheen of blood that fairly gushed down the demon’s back.
The other thing that seemed grossly out of place to Austin was Sam, standing, because Austin thought that it was odd for a dead person to be standing. Sam had one arm outstretched, the fingers splayed as though reaching for something. The stalactite jiggled around in the demon’s wound, moved by some unseen force, gushing more blood. The demon howled and tried to step towards Sam, but a barrage of leaves rushed out of Sam’s hands and hit it in the face. The leaves turned to vines that wrapped themselves around the creature like living ropes.
Sam continued to stand there, projecting every bit of his newfound energy on the creature, turning the leaves to vines and the vines to wood, entombing the creature in a solid lump. It seemed to cost him; he gasped for breath and fell back against Amanda’s dresser, putting his hand out to grip the edge. Blood stained the white paneling. But he wouldn’t fall down. He kept trying, pushing…using…doing whatever it was that Austin did to manipulate fire. Only, Sam seemed to manipulate plants. Even when the demon was sealed, Sam still stood there, swaying slightly form side to side. Austin could see a dark patch of blood on the side of Sam’s face.
Amanda seized the distraction to gather energy between her hands. It wasn’t the normal hue of purple, more white than color. And there was no rushing water sound, like usual.
Austin thought that that was strange. Not that she was gathering a tangible energy, but rather that he could-theoretically-control fire, and that Sam could obviously do something with plants, or whatever, and Troy could make water out of thin air, and Daniel…. Well, Daniel was strange altogether, but he could do something with wind.
What could Amanda do? What was her special supernatural-thingy?
Austin noted that the shining light bounced off Amanda’s face, revealing tear streaks. But that was impossible; Amanda never cried. He’d seen her break her ankle and instead of crying or screaming, she simply cursed enough to make a sailor weep.
She didn’t curse, now, or say anything as she shot the white-hot light straight into the homemade coffin. The wood didn’t even have time to catch fire from the heat of the attack; it just totally disintegrated, leaving a smudge of ashes on the floor, the only evidence that there had been any wood to begin with. The leaves had been burned up too, and the jagged rock spear had become part of the creature’s tomb, so nothing remain to attest to the fact that they had just been attacked by a shape-shifting, talking mass of shadow that could rip up stuffed animals.
Accept for the fact that the stuffed animals were out on the lawn… Austin and Sam had damaged cars sitting down the street… Amanda was now out one computer, Nair, and a TV… Sam had just created wood, leaves, and solid rock from thin air… the cuts and gashes on Austin and Amanda… the scorch marks and blood-soaked carpeting and the giant hole in Sam’s head.
And the kettle of water still was boiling over downstairs.
Austin thought he really ought to tell Amanda about that, but she was busy collecting herself from the floor to go over to Sam who still standing and swaying partially supported by Amanda’s dresser, refusing to collapse. But natural law yields to no man: When you get your ass kicked, you tend to fall down.
Sam fell forwards only to be caught by Amanda. She couldn’t support his full weight, so she set him on the ground and grabbed a random item of clothing (ironically enough, the only bra she had forgot to kick out of sight) to staunch the blood flowing from his head. Austin stared at them, thinking how cute a couple they would make, but then he became very nauseous and felt himself retching all over Amanda’s emerald-green carpet.
“Lovely,” Amanda said.