Awake (13 page)

“Yes…no! I’m not! I mean, I am…but I’m not…”
Tom sighed. “Never mind. Who cares about that? The important thing
is that those animals are taking her away. And it looks like
they’re taking her to the stadium.”

“The baseball stadium?”

“That’s right. They’re headed in that
direction. The horse is moving rather carefully though. I think we
have time to save her butt.” Tom scanned around the road some more.
“I also see Genesis and Luna! Wolves are dragging them to another
road.”

Terminus hopped onto Andrew’s head and said,
“I’ll chase after them and see what I can do.” He quickly soared
high into the sky, chasing after Genesis and Luna.

“Alright then,” said Tom. “That leaves us to
deal with Kate.”

“You got a plan?” asked Andrew.

“A plan, huh?” Tom rubbed his chin. “I run
in there and get her. You cover me.”

Andrew said softly, “You want me to cover
you? I don’t think I can…”

“I don’t think this is going to work either,
but whatever. If we don’t get her out of there now, it’ll be
impossible to do anything when she reaches the stadium.”

Heaving a sigh, Andrew said, “I wish I had
your confidence.”

Tom nodded and then quietly descended down
the fire escape.

Andrew turned his attention back to the
street. Inside of him was a bubbling emotion of uncertainty that
made him sick to his stomach. It was quiet. There was no one for
him to talk to, no one to help him relieve his fear. Terrified, he
wiped his sweaty palms on his slacks and gripped the crossbow
tightly. He cocked back the string with a bolt in place. He closed
his eyes, attempting to calm down. His breathing was unsteady so he
took a deep breath to remedy it.

Could he really cover Tom from up here? He
had never used a crossbow in his life, or any other weapon for that
matter. He had no idea about what angles to fire from or how to
compensate for wind. He felt completely useless. But still, he
couldn’t just abandon Tom’s effort. He continued to watch as Katie
was carried over to the stadium. She was getting closer and closer
to it, but there was still time.

Andrew gazed anxiously at her from a
distance. She wasn’t moving. Was she already asleep? Or was
she…gone forever? Andrew grimaced. His body couldn’t stop shaking.
There was nothing he could do to help her. He was angry with
himself for getting her into this mess. What if she
was
dead? She would’ve been better off where he first found her. She
would’ve been better off asleep. What did the animals want her for?
Was she going to become food for them? He clenched his teeth.
Seeing her helpless like that roused his anger.

“Hurry up, Tom,” he whispered. “Before it’s
too late…”

Andrew waited a few minutes. Tom didn’t show
up. Where was he? What was taking him so long? In a few seconds,
the horse would be passing by the school building, giving Andrew
the best position for sniping. But there would be no point if Tom
weren’t there.

Andrew got into a prone position and aimed
the crossbow at the horse as it came directly in front. He looked
through the scope and made sure his aim was dead on. On his left
was the open case of bolts for when he needed to quickly reload.
Everything was ready. Now he just needed the right moment to
shoot.

Tom wasn’t coming. There was no sign of him
anywhere. It was too late to call him now; the horse was almost
past the building. Andrew wasn’t sure about the limit of the
crossbow range, but he was sure the closer the target, the
better.

Time was of the essence. Should he fire or
should he wait? His finger trembled on the trigger. He decided to
wait for a second, and then he waited for another. He shook his
head, cursed, and then pulled the trigger, wincing. At the very
least, if Tom was indeed coming, he had to slow down the horse.
Snap! Whoosh!
Startled, Andrew’s shoulders jerked up as he
fired his first shot, which was louder than he had expected. The
bolt zipped through the air and landed right on the horse’s thigh.
Neighing, the horse dashed off. Andrew cringed as Katie fell off
its back.

The company of wolves rallied together and
began barking furiously, alerting the whole neighborhood. One of
the wolves said, “We’re under attack! It came from above! Search
the buildings! Search the rooftops!” Immediately, the wolves
scattered left and right, like the shattering of glass on a hard
floor in slow motion.

Things were not looking good at all. Andrew
dropped the crossbow and ran to the fire escape. Then he goggled at
the bear, which was already waiting for him at the bottom. He
headed for the door to the school and tried to open it. He tugged
and tugged on the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. He moved to the
side of the building and glanced down the fire escape again.
Monkeys were already climbing up. Andrew tripped over his shoes and
fell as he sprinted back to the crossbow. Crawling, he snatched up
the crossbow and tried to lock in another bolt. He fumbled around
with it on his knees. His fingers not moving as fast as he wanted
them to, he dropped a bolt and reached for another. When he finally
loaded the crossbow, he swung around and, upon seeing several
monkeys closing in, fired at them.

He hit one of the monkeys in the arm. Dazed,
the monkey sluggishly removed the dart from his limb and examined
it. Andrew got into the rhythm of things and quickly fired bolt
after bolt with a quickening pace. The monkeys shrieked as they
tried to dodge the short arrows. Those that were hit limped
drowsily before collapsing. There were no more monkeys leaping onto
the roof. Andrew was able to keep them at bay, but he was still
trapped there.

Andrew cautiously aimed the crossbow around,
hoping that none of the monkeys would try to get up again. As he
did so, he felt a tap on his head. Then there was a loud knock. It
hurt. Andrew flung his head back and saw a flock of crows dropping
rocks from above. He ducked and tried to cover his head with his
arms. Seeing that Andrew was distracted, the monkeys all got back
up and charged him. His eyes wide, Andrew screamed. The band of
primates tackled him to the floor, the back of his head slamming
against the surface of the roof. Feeling rather woozy, he twisted
and shouted, trying to escape. He could feel their little fingers
clawing at his face.

While he struggled to push the monkeys away,
a series of flashes and loud bangs resounded, sounding almost like
gunfire. The monkeys ran away in haste. Just then, sprawled face-up
on the ground, Andrew saw a silhouette appear above him, blocking
out the sun.

“Are you all right?” said a voice, which
sounded vaguely familiar to him.

“Yeah…I think,” Andrew answered,
groaning.

“Good, let’s get you out of here!”

Andrew was hauled across the length of the
roof. There were more loud crackles and fizzles that disrupted his
hearing. Andrew wearily glanced at the ground. Burnt scraps of
paper and plastic were littered around. Reading the words of a
paper, he caught the word “Fire.” Fire crackers. He saw a white rat
run past his vision and then heard a voice mutter, “I’ll hold them
here! Get him inside!”

Andrew laughed faintly as darkness fell over
his sight. He was inside the school now. It was much cooler without
the sun beating down on him. Although it was hard to see as his
eyes were adjusting, he saw a figure urgently slam the door shut.
Andrew blinked rapidly and stared as the person leaned over his
face.

“Andrew…you feeling okay?”

Things started to get brighter and finally
Andrew recognized the figure. “Yeah. Thanks, Kevin. You saved my
life.”

“You should save your thanks for Helios.”
Kevin helped him up. “He’s out there right now fighting them off. I
don’t know how much good he’ll do, but I hope he can escape.”

They ran down the stairs and stepped onto
the first floor.

Kevin tapped him on the shoulder and
gestured with his head. “The exit is close.”

The exit may have been close, but it was not
at all safe. The double doors that led outside were wide open.
Wolves entered, forming a line that Kevin feared crossing.

“Scratch that,” said Kevin. He did a
three-sixty and saw more wolves on the other side of them. They
were surrounded. “Any bright ideas?”

Andrew suggested, “The classroom?”

“That’s a start.”

They darted to the nearest classroom and
locked the door. Stepping away, they watched as the door shook
violently with every second that passed. Without saying a word,
Kevin rushed to block the door with desks and chairs. He
constructed a loose pyramid that easily fell apart whenever the
wolves rammed against the door.

Andrew hurried to one side of the teacher’s
desk and slammed his open hand against the surface anxiously. “This
one! This should hold!”

“Right.” Kevin assisted him, dragging the
heavy table to the door. He pointed at the windows. There was
nothing waiting for them outside. “Let’s see if we can get out
here.”

Andrew unlatched a window and opened it.
They were able to open it all the way, giving them ample room to
escape. When they made it outside, Kevin glanced around. A cougar
was prowling the street. Kevin wished it would not notice them. It
did. The cougar’s keen eyes were fixed in their direction, even
though they were so far apart.

Though they wanted to freeze up in fear,
Kevin yanked Andrew’s sleeve and yelled, “RUN FOR IT!”

The boys raced away from the cougar, running
as fast as their legs could carry them. They knew very well they
couldn’t outrun the beast, but their instincts overcame any sense
of reason. They did not want to get eaten. The thought of being
bitten—of being torn apart—by a wild animal terrified them. A death
in which you are eaten alive is something that animals experience
everyday, something they had watched before on nature shows. But it
is not something they
ever
wanted to experience firsthand
for themselves. Ever.

What was going through Kevin’s mind at this
exact moment?
We’re dead. We’re dead. We’re dead, dead, dead!
Holy friggin’ crap! What the heck did I do to deserve this? Oh man,
I’m never going to procrastinate ever again! From now on, I’m doing
my homework properly! Or at least for a week, if we ever get out of
this rotten hell. It’s coming. It’s coming. I know it’s coming. Why
won’t it just get this over with already?

Kevin glanced back. The jaws of death stared
him in the face, almost catching up. “Go Andrew, go!” Kevin dug
into his pockets and grabbed the yoyos. Stopping abruptly, he
swiveled around on his heel. His motion confused the cougar and it
slowed down its approach. At the exact moment the cougar reached
him, Kevin let the yoyos loose. They flung out and, by shear luck
or fate, nailed the cougar in the eye, the only weak point Kevin
could determine. Kevin was rooted in place, yoyos swinging from his
fingers.

The snarling beast was okay. It didn’t seem
to mind the jab at its eye. It was even appearing rather ecstatic
over the fact that Kevin had stopped running. Because it was so
focused on Kevin, it wasn’t expecting anything.

Kevin stared. He wasn’t staring at the
cougar. He was staring beyond it.

SCREEEEECH!

Kevin fell back as a car swerved right at
the hungry cat. The cougar leaped away to avoid serious injury. The
car door swung open. Katie was sitting in the back seat. Tom was at
the wheel.

Beckoning wildly, Katie shouted, “Get in!
Get in! What are you waiting for?”

Kevin hopped into the back seat.

“Hang on tight,” Tom reversed the car and
then drove it over to the Andrew so he could get into the
passenger’s seat.

Frustrated, Andrew jumped in, closed the
door and said, “Tom, where were you? I was waiting for you!”

Tom ignored him and slammed on the gas. The
wheels whirred loudly before the car zoomed onto the road. Everyone
in the car fell to the right as he made a sharp left turn into the
next street.

“Slow down!” yelled Kevin, buckling up.
“You’ll get us killed!”

“Slow down?” Tom glanced back. “If I slow
down, we’ll get eaten!”

“Okay, okay!” said Kevin. “Forget I said
anything. Just keep your eyes on the road!”

They were going nearly sixty miles per hour
on the narrow one-way streets. Tom swerved left and right, trying
to dodge whatever animal was before him. The sound of birdcalls
pierced through the glass. Andrew loosened his seat belt and leaned
forward, his eyes lifting toward the sky. A massive flock of birds
were coming directly overhead.

In the distance, droplets fell from the sky.
It started out like light drizzle, like a soft pitter-patter. Then,
as the car kept going forward, it started to come down
hard
.
No, it wasn’t rain, though, at this point, everyone inside the car
was really wishing for a massive hurricane or thunderstorm. It
was…bird droppings.

“IT’S ALL OVER!” Tom screamed frantically,
“IT’S ALL OVER!”

Fuzzy splashes of white, yellow and green
hitting against the pavement, the black road was slowly turning
into a blend of sloppy, mushy, gooey bird poop. There was a
distinct outline on the ground where they could see the approach of
the unwelcome, unclean storm.

They hit it dead on.

It spattered all over the windshield. Slowly
but surely, heaps of the avian feces were accumulating on every
exposed surface of the car. It was both blinding and disgusting at
the same time. It was impossible for Tom to see past the uric acid,
which was clouding all of his visibility. Kevin turned on the
windshield wiper, but it couldn’t clean off the thick gunk.

“Slow down!” said Kevin. “If you can’t see,
brake!”

“No,” said Tom, gasping, “I won’t stop! I
don’t want to be eaten! You can’t make me stop!”

“Darn it, Tom!” Kevin unbuckled his
seatbelt, got up, squeezed between the front seats, and tried to
take control of the wheel.