A Shadow's Light BK 2 (2 page)

His day dream was interrupted by a loud voice from the other side of the truck bed.

“Hey, Chance!”

Test turned to see Rob Mills scowling at him. Rob was in his early thirties and was the loudmouth of the crew. He was of average height and build, and was as obnoxious as anyone could possibly be. The crew had always joked that Rob was the way he was because of his receding hairline; a fact of which Rob tried desperately to hide by wearing a hat. Test turned away from him, ignoring the chastising talk that he knew was to come.

“Well, I guess that makes you a bigger screw up than is humanly possible,” replied Rob with a pointed finger. “I’ve told you a million times to keep the blade out of the dirt!” yelled Rob.

“Okay, Rob,” replied Test as he rolled his eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, punk!” yelled Rob as he grabbed at Test’s shirt.

Test looked down at Rob’s hand. He had gained confidence in himself, but did not want to lose his job. He looked back up to Rob’s face.

“Sorry. It won’t happen again,” said Test trying his best to look timid and scared.

“Damn straight,” replied Rob confidently. “Next time I’ll talk to Enrique and you’ll be gone.”

Test turned back to the forest with the smile on his face hidden from the rest of the crew. He looked back to the flashing blur of trees and continued to get lost in the view.

After a twenty minute drive, the truck pulled into a clearing. Up until today, the week prior had been spent clearing the area for the newest cabin to be built. Even though he had been working on the crew for months now, Test was still the new guy and was relegated to doing whatever job needed to be done. Generally speaking, he was the work horse. Being that it was such a small crew, and that Enrique had limited amounts of equipment, most things that would be done with a machine by another crew, had to be done by hand.

Test had resisted the temptation to use his powers at work. There had been many times when things could have been finished faster and with much less effort if he had, but he knew from past experience that being noticed was inevitable and his hell would start all over again.

He jumped out of the back of the truck and noticed another truck coming up the road. It was another white eighties Chevy. As it got closer, it began to slow and turned in when it reached the clearing. The side of the truck read “Franco Construction”. It was Enrique. Sitting next to him was a young woman that Test hadn’t seen before. She had long, straight, sandy blonde hair, and as she stepped out of the truck, he noticed her tight jeans and work boots. She was wearing a blue and white plaid button up shirt that was far too clean to have been worn by someone who did manual labor with any regularity. She was tall, about five foot nine, tan, and very natural looking. She wore minimal amounts of make-up and didn’t wear any jewelry at all. Test definitely found her attractive.

“She’s pretty, huh Chance?”

Test turned, startled to see James Franklin standing behind him. James, a member of the crew, was one of the good guys. Actually he was one of the nicest people that Test had met since Cliff. James was a short man in his late twenties with bleach blonde hair and blue eyes. He had been on the crew for five years now and was Enrique’s right hand man and site foreman.

“I suppose,” replied Test.

“You suppose? What planet are you from?” asked James jokingly. “One of these days I’m gonna find a way to get you out of your shell.”

*****

Enrique came around to the front of the truck to meet Alyssa. She was his niece from his wife’s side, and had come to visit him and his wife, Julie, every summer since she was sixteen. She loved the mountains as well as her Aunt and Uncle. So much so, that she continued the tradition even after high school. She was now nineteen years old and lived a simple life. She wasn’t into partying or clubs, but very much into being outdoors and in the wild. On this day, something new in the wilderness had caught her interest.

“Who is that, Uncle E?” asked Alyssa.

Enrique turned to see who she was looking at, but there were several men working in that direction.

“Which one?” asked Enrique.

“The one in the red plaid shirt with the cut off sleeves.”

“That’s Chance Johnston,” replied Enrique. “He’s been on the crew for close to a year now.”

Alyssa stared at the young man intently. The muscles in his arms were clearly defined, and the sweat made his skin glisten in the early morning sun. She had always been considered a tomboy when she was growing up, and had only been on a few dates. She had never had a serious boyfriend before, and was horribly nervous when in situations with someone she was attracted to.

“Did you want me to introduce him to you?” asked Enrique.

“What? No!” replied Alyssa nervously as she quickly turned away.

Enrique grunted with amusement. “Are you sure? I promise he is even more shy than you are.”

As she turned back to look at Chance, her eyes met his. He was looking in her direction, and with a small smile on his face and a nod of his head, he walked away and on to his work. She could feel herself blush and her heart raced with excitement.

“Are you sure you don’t want to meet him?” asked Enrique. “He’s a good guy. A little quiet, but seems like a good kid.”

“Maybe later,” replied Alyssa bashfully. “Chance, huh? That’s an odd name.”

“That’s exactly what I said to him when we met,” replied Enrique with a chuckle. “Come on. I’ve got work to do. You’ll have to call your Aunt Julie if you want to talk boys all day.”

Alyssa smacked her uncle on the chest with an open hand. She continued to blush as she turned to open the toolbox in the back of the truck; reaching for her tool belt. As she closed the lid, Chance walked by the other side of the truck and she caught herself holding her breath. She didn’t know what it was about him, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off of him.

Chapter 2

The day was coming to an end. Sunset wasn’t for another couple of hours, but in the middle of the forest, the light faded long before the sun was actually below the horizon. The crew had just finished putting away all of their equipment, and were now loading in to the back of the pickups to head back into town. Test, as usual, was the last one in. The truck that he was riding in was being driven by Rob, a fact that actually made him happy just because now he was sure that he wouldn’t have to listen to him whine all the way to town. James took his usual place next to Test. He’d always thought that it was admirable that the foreman rode in the back of the truck with his crew. It showed he was still just one of the guys.

Rob pulled out onto the winding road and began down the mountain with Enrique’s truck following several lengths behind. Test glanced to the passenger seat of Enrique’s truck, and noticed that Alyssa was in fact in the passenger seat.

“You know Chance, she’s been eyeing you all day,” said James, nudging Test’s shoulder.

Test looked at James with a weak smile on his face. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious. Enrique told me that she was asking about you too. I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but like I said earlier today, I’m gonna find a way to get you out of your shell.” James patted Test on the shoulder. “If the promise of a pretty young lady doesn’t do it, then there’s no hope for you.”

Test looked back to Alyssa. “She’s beautiful, no doubt,” replied Test. “Right now though, I don’t need any complications.”

“What do you mean
complications
?” asked James.

“I don’t know. It seems like every time I get close to someone, something happens before it starts,” replied Test, agitated. “Can we not talk about this anymore?”

“Easy,” replied James with a hand in the air. “I’m sorry buddy--didn’t mean to get you riled up. Just wanting to help you is all.”

“I know. I…I just don’t…ah, forget it,” replied Test as he turned away from James.

The conversation made him think about Nicole. He still had dreams of her. In his dreams, he didn’t have powers and they were together at the trailer house in Lincoln. His mom was there and she looked very pretty, wearing nice clothes and make-up with her hair done up all fancy. Then he would wake up and realize that it was all just a dream. It was getting to the point that he didn’t like to sleep any more just because it felt like he was being tortured. He knew that he and Nicole could never be, but couldn’t help thinking of what might have been. He also knew, or at least did months ago, that his mom was still alive, but he had no idea where she was.

Test was now facing towards Enrique’s truck, but looking off to the shoulder of the road. Rob was driving quickly, the bumps and ruts in the dirt causing the truck to bounce wildly, and making it difficult for any of the passengers in the back to keep their seats. There was very little light remaining and the head lights on Enrique’s truck were now shining brightly into Test’s eyes. The glare forced him to look a little farther off to the side of the road. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something moving.

Bounding from the side of the road, a deer came with great speed on a collision course for the front passenger side of Enrique’s truck. Test held up his right hand instinctively. The deer froze in mid air and then was immediately thrown back into the opposite direction. Enrique’s truck came to an abrupt stop, swerving to the left and onto the shoulder of the road. A plume of dust engulfed the truck from behind, making only the headlights visible for a few seconds. Having seen the headlights swerving in his rearview mirror, Rob stopped his truck quickly as well. Every one of the passengers in the bed, rolled, slid, or landed on one another, Test included.

Stunned, the crews gingerly crawled out of both vehicles, each with a pain or sprain to show for the sudden stop. Test watched each of them nervously, fearful that his power had been seen. With no one paying a bit of attention to him, he breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

The last one out of either vehicle, Enrique opened the door of his pickup slowly. As he closed it, he scratched his head and walked around to the front of the truck and stood by Alyssa and Eric. Eric Benson was the only crew member riding in the back of Enrique’s truck. He was a bit on the odd side, and stood six foot one with blonde hair and blue eyes. In his early forties, he was in great physical shape from his years of working in construction and logging. At times he could be incredibly quiet and reserved, but within minutes, could transform into an obnoxious and belligerent jerk. Test often thought that if there was a candidate for being bi-polar, Eric was it.

“I could have sworn that we hit that thing,” said Enrique as he examined the grill on his truck.

Frantic and upset, Alyssa replied. “Uncle E, that deer changed direction in mid air. I swear it! I don’ know how we
couldn’t
have hit it?”

“Oh come on now, Alyssa. I’m sure your eyes were playing with you. Actually I’m pretty sure that your eyes were probably closed, or at least focused on something else!” said Enrique with a smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m serious!” she replied, pushing Enrique’s hand off of her. “I saw everything perfectly. That deer was in the air and then it was like someone pressed rewind on the DVD player.”

Test, James, and Rob, along with Jordan, the final member of the team, walked up to Enrique, Alyssa, and Eric. Jordan Baxter was the brains of the operation. He was quick with numbers and knew something about everything. He didn’t look like he belonged in the forest, let alone working manual labor. He wore glasses with thin gold frames and had well groomed brown hair. His shirts, normally collared, were always ironed to perfection. If his work jeans got a hole in them, he would throw them away that night. Always clean shaven, he looked like he belonged in a classroom.

“What’s up, boss? You three alright?” yelled Rob, even though he was only a few feet away.

Wincing at Rob’s volume, Enrique replied. “Damn deer jumped out in front of us.”

“Did you hit it?” asked Jordan.

“Apparently not,” replied Enrique, turning back to examine the front of the truck.

Test had to force himself not to stare at Alyssa. Even so, every couple of seconds his eyes would creep up and meet hers. She actually seemed to be staring at
him
. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Did you see it?” asked James.

Test was caught looking at Alyssa instead of listening to the last bit of conversation. Blushing, he looked at James.

“See what?” asked Test.

“The deer, knuckle head,” replied James with a slap to the back of Test’s head. “Did you see the deer jump out? They said it changed direction in mid air.”

“I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t get a good look at it,” replied Test.

Alyssa watched him intently. She noticed the scar on his left cheek and it made her curious. Everything about him made her want to know more. Out of character for herself, she spoke to him without being spoken to first.

“Well, I got a close look at it, and I thought it was going to end up in my lap,” she said in a shy voice while she kicked at the ground.

Test, suddenly surprised she was talking to him, replied with a jab at his boss. “I’ll bet. Good thing your uncle never drives in a straight line, otherwise it may have.”