Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (73 page)

When Mr. Mush-Face brought
the boy, Jeremy, Christina had jumped up, as if electricity coursed
through her butt from the floor. It was then Marissa had been able
to see through the muck muddling her mind.

Speaking what she felt was
true, the boy was cute. He was more than half a foot taller than
Christina with a muscular frame. He had ginger-colored hair,
cropped short, fuzzy about the sides with grey-blue eyes. They were
captivating to the point of being exceptional as far as the third
grader was concerned. And, he was Caucasian.

Slung over the horrid
creature’s shoulder, Marissa could see the boy was wearing jeans, a
t-shirt and a zippered, fleece sweater. It had been bright orange
of all colors. He wore Vans, the laced-sort that matched his
outer-garment perfect.

“
Oh, Jesus!” Christina had
exclaimed. She rushed forth, as near the man-with-the-melting face
as she dared. She'd been rubbing her hands on her legs as if her
palms were sweaty and the added friction was necessary to dry
them.

Marissa had frowned,
glancing at the two for a second. Then she realized the older girl
knew the teen, just as she had known Alicia.
What the heck is going on?
she
remembered asking herself. She edged away from the desperate
clutches of her friend. She left her propped-up against the wall of
the bomb-shelter.

Alicia had cringed at the
sight of the hulking
thing
.

It placed the teenage boy
on the floor, tossing another bag of food upon the ground next to
him. “Teach him,” was all it had said before it spun upon its’ heel
and was gone.

The chain and the padlock
rattled for a few seconds as it once more secured the door against
their escape.

“
Jeremy! Are you ok?”
inquired the older girl the moment she felt safe enough to approach
the supine figure.

The boy had swiped at his
eyes, groaning, holding his head as if it pounded.

“
Jer, are you ok? Did it
hurt you?” Christina sounded frantic. She had come beside Jeremy,
the fabric of her pants scraping across the hard concrete. She had
searched over his person with her hands.

“
W-what the fuck
happened?” he sputtered, then coughed. It was evident the creature
had gassed him as he had the rest of them.

Marissa cringed at the
terrible taste it had left in her mouth, the ache that had seeped
into her bones. It had made her feel infirm, uncoordinated. It had
also seemed like a lifetime ago when the Thing brought her below
ground, and yet it had only been a few days.

She watched.

Christina explained what
had happened to the semi-conscious boy.

Hanging back, Marissa had
relived what had gone before in her mind.

Out of the sheer need to
be touched, Alicia had crept up to her from behind. She had hugged
Marissa around her midsection, placing her cheek upon her
back.

“
It’ll be ok, Allie.
Everything will work out just fine,” Marissa had murmured to her
friend, patting her on the wrist.

“
You mean to tell me we’re
all part of the same thing?” the boy named Jeremy had asked. His
eyebrows were somehow above his hairline.

“
Yes.” There was nothing
more for Christina to say.

“
Just like Anthony and his
sisters?”

“
Yup.”

Still, it was not until an
hour later that Marissa began to realize the true scope of their
predicament. That was when another of the liquid-faced creatures
brought in yet another of her friends. He was the long-haired boy
named, Miller, who, like Elena and Mikalah, she had known since
kindergarten.

He was much bigger than
her though she was six months older, but then just about everyone
was bigger than Marissa. He was still unconscious, his jaw slack,
tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. His light-brown hair
was covering the rest of his face. He wore sweats and a thick,
woven sweater over a black t-shirt. His feet were in socks. His
blue and white sneakers were in the free hand of his
captor.

Like Christina, her and
Alicia had jumped up at once, gasping, shocked to see another of
their friends. They were at his side the moment the
man-that-was-not-a-man placed him on the cold, hard
concrete.

Immediately, Marissa began
waking him up.

But, before he so much as
blinked, the door was flung wider when not one, but
two!
of the
men-with-melting-faces showed up at the same time. One was carrying
an unconscious Filipino girl and the other held a dark-skinned boy
across his abdomen using both arms.

Marissa had scurried
against the wall horrified over the sudden worsening of the
situation. She had Alicia in tow, leaving Miller sprawled on the
floor. The bigger girl had somehow been able to shrink her much
larger body behind Marissa’s smaller form.

Christina and Jeremy had
clung to one another in sheer terror.

More food was strewn
before them, while the three creatures exchanged a
smirk.

“
Now, you begin to know
what stands against you. Everywhere, all about the World of Man,
the Lesser will soon fall under the sway of the Seeker. Soon we
will bleed you all upon the Throne of Jüle and the Great Maelstrom
will be forever loosed upon the four universes.” Its’ hazel eyes
became dark brown, its’ face shifting from African to Scandinavian,
its’ sex female to male.

Another had chuckled and
continued. “There will be no hiding from that storm.”

“
Indeed,” said the first
one in agreement.

Then, to her astonishment,
a fourth came in. It strained under the tremendous weight of a boy
big enough to be a full grown man, but whose face belied that of a
teenager.

“
Bring in the food,”
ordered the fourth. To Marissa, it appeared in charge, though he
looked no different than the other three.

Two of the creatures
walked out of the Bomb Shelter, returning in a few seconds. Each of
them carried two huge, burlap sacks of what Marissa had hoped was
food they could eat like the last time.

“
Teach them,” said the
fourth, pointing at the four of them who were conscious. “There is
food and more toiletries for the new ones, courtesy of the Seeker
of course. She wishes you all remain in the best health possible.
Your blood will be all the more rich, because of it.”

Behind him, the one who
had not moved, laughed.

They had left as a unit,
barring the door from the outside with chains that sounded big
enough to keep King Kong from escaping.

After a short time, the
four new comers came-to and details of their predicament
explained.

Meanwhile, those who had
been captive the longest began to inventory their food and drink
situation. It was something they had learned to do every time one
of the creatures brought in a full satchel. Sometimes they proved
bountiful, other times meager. Marissa and Christina preferred to
know in advance if rationing would be necessary.

The tan girl was Juanita
Papilon. She was a stunning seventeen-year-old. She wore a loose,
knit shirt, blue jeans and white Sketchers. She attended Franklin
High School. They were all meeting her for the first time. Though
she did not profess to know Anthony Herrera or his sisters, she did
espouse to know Andrew Ibarra. This seemed to make the workings of
their plight evermore vast.

The dark-skinned boy was
Chamondalar Demondrad. It was a mouthful of syllables that Marissa
was dreading having to memorize. She felt relief when he said he
preferred, Chum-Lee, because even he was aware his name was a grim
feat of enunciation.

He was wearing tan
Chino’s, a darker Izod polo shirt and black leather shoes over
equally dark socks.

To the third grader, he
came across somewhat nerdy, but who was she to judge? He had proved
kind, even gentle as time passed. There was little doubt though
their situation frightened him. The delicate features of his visage
and large, chocolate-colored eyes looked strained.

He too was a student of
Franklin High, but he did not know J.J. or Andrew when Christina
had asked.

Miles Novello, on the
other hand, was a different story altogether. The six-foot, two
hundred pound boy was from the same circle of friends as Christina
and Jeremy. He had known Anthony for some years now.

Marissa sat back from the
older kids, her eyes narrow; trying to piece together everything
she had witnessed. She knew without a doubt, it was all
connected.

“
Have you guys heard from
anyone else?” asked Christina, desperate for news. Her confinement
was only hours shorter than Marissa's.

They were all gathered
around the lantern. Their “good” food and personal belongings they
had organized against one of the walls of the shelter. There had
been a lot of it as well as more toilet paper, toothbrushes,
underwear and a few hand towels.

For the most part,
Christina’s friends shook their heads in the negative.

“
After everything that has
happened this weekend, I had little chance to talk with anyone,”
replied Jeremy. His green eyes stared at the ground before
him.

“
I was too busy at work,”
added Miles. Wayward thoughts of Deborah Murdoch kept surfacing in
his mind. The realization he would be unable to get to know her
better saddened him. He peered down at his Novello’s t-shirt, his
heart aching at the memory of his last pizza delivery.

“
How about you guys?”
asked the half-Asian girl. She was nodding toward Chum-Lee, J.J.
and Miller, who were sitting apart from the others. They seemed
shell-shocked that they’d been victims of a crime.

“
Not much,” began Chum-Lee
in his soft, British-accented tones. “I only know that the Event
was still on-going.”

Christina’s brow furled,
but she said thanks to the exotic looking boy.

“
I wish I knew what was
going on,” stated Christina with a degree of force behind her
words.

“
Something big… for sure,”
said Marissa from her position near the wall.

The five older teens
turned to look at her, each of them frowning gravely.

Christina clicked her
tongue against the roof of her mouth. “She’s right.” A pained smile
etched her lips. “Now we know there are more than one of those
things out there gathering up kids like crazy. Who’s to say there
aren’t five or six, or a dozen of them?”

The boys shook their
heads.

“
What are those things?”
asked J.J., shaking. The thought of someone touching against her
will appalled her every sense.

Christina’s mouth sagged
to one side. “I don’t know.”

“
They’re awful.” The
Filipino girl quivered once more.

“
I wonder who’s telling
them what to do,” mumbled Marissa.

“
What did you say?” asked
the handsome Caucasian teen.

The third grader cleared
her throat. “I said, I wonder who or what’s giving those things
orders. I mean, how do they know who to grab and who not to grab?
And who’s the Great Maelstrom guy? And what the heck is the Throne
of Jüle?”

The half-Asian face of
Christina filled with admiration despite the dreary topic. “You
guys will find out soon enough that little Marissa hear doesn’t
miss a thing.”

“
Sure seems like it,” said
Jeremy with a heartfelt look.

“
She’s always been that
way,” mumbled Miller, a half-smile trying to play across his lips,
but failed after a time.

The third grader ignored
the compliments. “I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out
what’s going on.”

“
We all have.” J.J. was
edging closer to the smaller female, her comment meant to urge her
onward. Maybe the little tyke was onto something.

Marissa’s eyes sparkled as
her mind took her thoughts a step further. “What do you think
‘Lesser’ means?”

That made them all jerk
backward. The question had caught them by surprise.

“
What’re you talking
about?” asked Miles.

“
When those things dropped
you all off, one of them said, ‘all about the world, the Lesser
will soon fall under the sway of the Seeker’. What do you think
that means? The Lesser…,” she repeated, her voice far
away.

Chum-Lee shrugged,
spreading his hands to either side of his shoulders.

“
I have no idea,” retorted
Christina. She glanced at the others to see if they had a clue.
From their looks, she could tell they were as much in the dark as
she was.

“
Somehow, all this is
somehow connected.” The little girl was lost in the tangle of her
own mental web.

Silence surrounded them.
Each was marooned on an island of their own making. They just did
not know enough to make an educated guess plausible.

“
Have any of you tried to
find another way of this freakin’ hell-hole?” wondered Miles to the
structure as a whole, his eyes darting about their environs. The
quiet had unsettled him. He needed to fill it with some sort of
sound or activity.