Ayumi (c)
Chapter Eleven
By Fiction Writer #13
(rom, nosex, paranormal, magic, teen, pt)

"I I I th-th-th-ink thi-s-s wa-a-as a a a ba-d-d i-de-e-a-a."

Ayumi bounced in her seat despite the seatbelt she wore.  Things 
had been going so smoothly up until now.  We started off slowly 
cruising down the winding dirt road; I barely had to touch the brakes.  
We passed through an old chain link fence whose gate had been left 
open, apparently for years judging by the growth of weeds and vines, 
and then we started to pick up speed.

"Hold on to something!"

Still, the speed wasn't a problem.  We were making great time and 
driving the car was just like playing Grand Turismo, only I knew that 
one mistake could get us hurt for real.  Ten minutes into our auto 
adventure through the forest hillside everything went to hell.  We 
turned through a bend in the road; I must have missed the warning 
sign because the next thing I knew we were flying over a set of 
railroad tracks that crossed our path.  I could feel it in my stomach as 
the car went airborne for a moment.  We came back down hard and I 
lost my grip on the steering wheel.  After a few seconds of sheer 
panic, I managed to get us back under control, but we were 
careening down the road at breakneck speed.  I tried to slam on the 
brakes, but nothing happened.

Ayumi shrieked from the passenger seat, "Make it stop!  Make it 
stop!"

"I'm trying to." Again and again I forced the pedal to the floor but 
nothing happened. "I think the brakes are gone."

We hit a big pothole and the visor flipped down, dropping bits of 
paper the car's owner had stored up there for safe keeping.  The 
scraps of paper rained down over me, temporarily distracting me 
from the road ahead.  My eyes fell with the papers until I was looking 
at my feet, my right foot in particular.

'I'm a fuckin' idiot.'

I cursed myself while taking my foot off the accelerator and moving it 
to the brake where it belonged.  The brakes had an instant effect on 
our momentum, but I was too eager and slammed my foot down.  
The rear of the car fishtailed on the dirt road.  I spun the wheel left 
and right trying to compensate but once again I was overdoing it.  
Despite my wild attempts to regain control we did a one-eighty 
before coming to a halt in a ditch.  I sat there for a minute staring out 
the windshield as my hands clenched the wheel tightly.  The only 
sounds in the car were my heavy breathing.

"Can we do that again!"

I looked at Ayumi as if she was insane, and she just giggled.

"I take it you're not hurt?"

"Nope."

"Good, let's get out and see if we can get this back on the road."

"Okey-dokey."

Once we got out of the car I noticed two things right away.  First was 
that we were no longer on a hill, so even if we managed to get the 
car back on the road we wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.  
The second, well... I guess Ayumi noticed it first.

"Mmmm... what's that smell?" She sniffed the air like a little puppy 
searching for a treat hidden just out of sight.

The odor in question was hard to detect, at least it was for me, but 
once I caught whiff of it, I recognized it instantly. "Barbeque."

Without being asked, nor any objections from me, she headed off 
toward the scent like a bloodhound.  I made sure the dagger was 
secure in my belt loop (amazingly I hadn't stabbed myself with it 
during our wild car ride) and set off after her.  The trees had thinned 
out considerably where we were, and the scrub was virtually gone 
leaving an easily traveled leaf littered ground.  The delicious smell 
grew in intensity and had my mouth watering and stomach growling in 
anticipation.  I guess it's true what they say about not being able to 
think on an empty stomach, because neither of us noticed that 
Ayumi's wings and tail were still on display for the whole world to see 
until we stopped on the edge of a trailer park.

"Ayumi."

"What?"

I pointed at her wings and she smiled.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

Her face scrunched up in concentration, but when nothing happened 
she blanched white.

"Oh no," she squeaked.

I handed her my shirt.

"Oh no!" she grumbled.

"Oh yes," I smirked as she reluctantly took it from me. "If you want to 
see if they'll share, it's the only way."

"Yuck." She bared her teeth at my T-shirt before slipping it over her 
head. "They'd better share."

After I was certain that she was passable as a normal girl, we 
headed into the grounds of the trailer park.  At first it was eerily quiet, 
no signs of life in any of the rectangular metal mobile homes of any 
kind, but as we got closer to the scent of barbeque dogs began 
barking.  Ayumi nearly climbed halfway up my body, scared out of 
her wits by a viciously growling Rottweiler and Doberman that came 
out to greet us.

"Bingo!  Shelby!  Settle down!" A woman wearing a thin mint green 
dress commanded the beasts with authority despite her demure 
size. "Can't you see they're just kids?"

To my surprise the dogs lowered their heads and loped off, almost 
as if they were ashamed of themselves for scaring us.  As they 
scampered away the woman approached us with a warm smile. 
"Sorry about those two, they're really just a couple of teddy bears 
once they get to know you.  You kids live around here?"

"No ma'am." I pointed over my shoulder back the way we'd come. 
"We're from Highland Township."

Ayumi slid down my body until her feet found the ground; luckily her 
shirt didn't raise rise high enough to reveal anything out of the 
ordinary.

"Awful long way from home, aren't yah?"

"We're heading to the city."

She looked at me like I'd said something really stupid. "Why on Earth 
are you heading there?  Don't you know what's going on?"

"Yeah, but..." I'd forgotten my reasoning for a moment, and when it 
finally came back it did sound stupid. "Well, we don't have anywhere 
else to go and we were looking for some help."

"Where are your parents?"

"They're on vacation down the shore."

"And they just left you home with your... sister?"

I looked at Ayumi and tried not to laugh.  I guess she could have 
been adopted. "Yeah, my sister."

She smiled as she knelt down to be at Ayumi's eye level. "And 
what's your name?"

Ayumi showed a side of her personality I hadn't seen before, 
shyness.  She hid behind my legs but peeked around to answer.

"Ayumi."

"Well, that's a fitting name for such a cutie." She stood up and 
addressed me. "I'm Carole."

"Justin."

"Well Justin, I'm not sure why you thought the city would be a good 
place to go to, but you're welcome to stay here if you'd like."

"Thanks.  I think we could both use a break."

Ayumi's head nearly snapped off she nodded so hard.

"Alright then, come with me." She took Ayumi's hand and led the 
way. "So, tell me why you left your house?"

"There was a fire," Ayumi answered before I could. "An' no one was 
there to help."

"Oh my." Carole tightened her hold on Ayumi's hand. "Was anyone 
hurt?"

"No.  My big brother was very brave, he saved me."

Damn, she was good at weaving a story.  I had to feign a cough to 
stop myself from laughing, but at the same time I felt warm and tingly 
inside at her description of my bravery, even if it was a lie.

Carole looked at me full of concern. "So, are your parents in the habit 
of leaving you to watch your little sister while they go on vacation?"

"No ma'am." I could see why this might disturb her. "A friend of the 
family, James, was watching us.  He went out on Friday, but he never 
came back.  I guess he got stuck in this mess."

The memory of James lying lifeless in the street caused a shiver to 
run up my back, the image of the Zyrogoth tearing him in half caused 
me to lose my appetite.  Carole took my sudden turn as a sign that I 
was worried about him and shifted the conversation.

"Why the city?  Surely your neighbors would have taken you in."

I shrugged. "No one seemed to be home."

"No one?" She raised an eyebrow. "No one at all?"

"Well, no one came out of their homes to see if we were okay.  And 
the fire department never showed up."

"Really?"

"Uh huh," Ayumi helped, though I was fairly certain she had no idea 
what a fire department was. "We was all alone."

"Oh, you poor things." Carole looked on the verge of tears.

"We have family, in the city, that's why we were going there."

"That makes more sense." She seemed relieved. "I didn't think you 
were crazy enough to walk all that way with nowhere to go."

Carole seemed relieved, but I sure wasn't.  The more I talked the 
more my plan sounded just as crazy as she said it was.  Why were 
we going to the city?  Really, what was the point?  There was no one 
waiting for us there.  Did I really believe that we would be safer 
there?  That was nuts.  The city would be the worst place to go 
during a blackout.  What if there were riots?  But for some reason, I 
couldn't stop thinking about that strange red glow we saw when we 
were flying.  What was that?

"Hey Carole?"

"Yeah sweetie."

"Last night we saw a red light glowing in the direction of the city.  Any 
idea what that was?"

"Oh that." She rolled her eyes. "Some of the others thought we were 
under attack.  Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and Earl Fowler 
hiked down the road to get a better look.  Turns out it was just the 
ADS building.  You know, the black pointy one with the red lights?"

"Yeah, I know it." Everyone knew the ADS building; it stuck out like a 
sore thumb. "But, how did it still have lights on?  Isn't the city blacked 
out like everyone else?"

"Guess they have a backup generator.  Do have to admit it was eerie 
seeing everything bathed in red light like that; almost as eerie as the 
sky these past few evenings."

Ayumi chimed in. "I thought it looked pretty."

"It sure was." Carole grinned. "Prettier than any Fourth of July 
fireworks I'd ever seen, that's for sure.  But like I said, it's got some 
of the others all riled up.  Everyone's on edge.  The aurora this far 
south, the blackout, the red glow, and now thunder on a cloudless 
day... did you guys hear that by the way?"

"Yeah." I looked to Ayumi who offered a knowing smile. "Yeah, we 
heard that too.  It sure was strange."

"There's been other stuff too.  Like, did you hear that a bomb went 
off in the city on Friday night?"

"No." I honestly hadn't.  James couldn't pick me up from the high 
school after work, and the dickhead kept rubbing the fact that he'd 
gotten tickets to the Terminal Distrust concert in my face.  None of 
the other jack-off hall mopper's would take me, so I ended up 
walking.  When I finally got home I was so beat I ordered a Pizza, 
watched some porn on the computer and took a shower before 
falling asleep.  I hadn't heard anything about a bomb going off.

"What happened?"

"I don't have many details, the news was vague, but it happened at 
the Highland Plaza.  Blew out a bunch of windows, but I don't think 
anyone was hurt."

"Holy shit." I caught myself cursing and apologized.

"Don't worry about it." Carole ruffled my hair. "I said the very same 
thing when I heard about it.  There's a bunch of other stuff going on, 
but I think it's all in everyone's heads.  Fear has a way of making 
people see and hear things that aren't really there.  It's got them all 
chasing shadows and hiding under the covers when the wind blows."

The smell of barbeque had grown so strong that it reversed my 
earlier loss of appetite.  I hadn't eaten anything since last night's 
spaghetti and man was my stomach aching for food.

The trailer park surrounded a central court yard full of picnic tables 
and an inground pool, and everyone who lived here seemed to be 
gathered.  The pool was full of kids splashing and playing as if 
nothing out of the ordinary was going on.  The teenagers had 
apparently been put in charge of watching the younger kids because 
the adults were all standing together near the grills which poured out 
deliciously sweet smelling smoke.

Carole led us towards the grills but Ayumi's attention seemed fully 
focused on the pool.  I could tell that she wanted to join in, but knew 
that she couldn't because of her unnatural appendages.  The 
disappointment on her face nearly broke my heart.  The adults were 
deep in a heated conversation.  The park, it seemed, was divided on 
some issue of great importance, but all I could concern myself with 
was getting some grilled meat into my belly.

"We should move the trailers; make a wall around the entire park."

"Yeah, circle the wagons.  Form a perimeter that we can defend."

"Aren't you being a bit hasty?  We don't even know what's going on 
out there, and you want to build a fortress?"

"We know it's not good.  We know it's going to get worse.  Why not 
prepare now rather than wait for the shit to hit the fan?"

"Because if we start moving trailers, where are those families going 
to live, huh?  Have you thought about that?"

"We could set up tents here in the court yard."

"That's easy for you to say, your trailer is too far from the edge of 
camp to be used in this wall you're suggesting."

The argument broke down into angry shouts and flying insults at that 
point, just as the three of us came into view.  One of the men broke 
away from the group and approached us while shaking his head.  He 
had short cropped hair, a scruffy beard, and a bit of a beer belly 
pushing out the front of his red T-shirt.

"Hey Carole."

"Hey Len.  Still fighting the good fight, I see."

"Yeah, now they want to build a barricade to keep outsiders away.  
Two days without power and everyone's gone batshit insane." He 
smiled at Ayumi and me. "Two new strays to add to your collection?"

Carole laughed. "Yeah, Bingo and Shelby found these two wandering 
around."

"The thing about strays," the man chuckled to himself, "is if you feed 
them they'll never leave."

"Oh stop it, Len." Carole put a hand on my shoulder. "This is Justin 
and his sister Ayumi.  They came all the way from Highland 
Township."

Len made a funny face. "Really?"

"Uh huh." Ayumi spoke from behind Carole and me, playing up her 
shyness again.

Len shot Carole a confused look and she mouthed 'I'll tell you later'.

"Alright then," he smiled. "Hope you two brought a good appetite, 
we've got a ton of food that needs to be eaten before it spoils."

Ayumi and I sat at a picnic table by ourselves gorging on every kind 
of meat you could imagine.  Steaks, chicken, burgers, hotdogs... it 
was like heaven.  I thought I ate a lot, but Ayumi must have had a 
hollow leg or something, because she ate twice as much as me.  
The adults all seemed nice, though a few gave us the cold shoulder.  
They were the same ones who wanted to keep outsiders out, 
outsiders like Ayumi and me.  Even though they were the minority, 
they had the loudest voices, and they voiced their opinions about us 
incessantly, starting one argument after another.  On more than one 
occasion I heard derogatory terms whispered about Ayumi.  Gook, 
chink, slant eye, Jap... Fucking racists.

Ayumi appeared unfazed by the hostility directed towards us.  After 
she made six hotdogs disappear she gazed longingly at the 
swimming pool full of kids her age splashing and playing.  Every 
once in a while she'd scrunch up her face, a sign I now recognized 
as her trying to pull the Veil around herself.  It was on the seventh 
such attempt that a look of pure glee washed over her and she 
began clapping and hopping up and down on her butt.

"Can I go swimming?  Can I?  Can I?  Can I?"

Just then a commotion erupted over by the larger group of adults.

"Hey, the radio's working again!"

For a brief moment I wondered if the two things were somehow 
related, the Veil working just as the radio came back, but Ayumi's 
giddiness snatched that thought away.

"Well?  Can I?"

I hated to burst her bubble. "You don't have a suit."

She frowned. "You can fix that."

"How?"

"You're my Master."

"Shhh..." I quickly looked around to make sure no one overheard her 
say that. "Keep that to yourself."

"Sorry."

Fortunately, nearly everyone had moved over to where the radio was, 
so no one heard.  There was one guy though, right on the edge of 
the picnic area, but he wasn't looking our way.  He sat alone, staring 
off towards the pool, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

"Okay, now what do you mean, I can fix that.  Fix what?"

"You can make a bathing suit for me."

I laughed. "Yeah, let me bust out my sewing kit."

"No silly." She rolled her eyes. "You can make me wear anything you 
wish; you just have to imagine it."

"Wait, so when I asked you to put clothes on, why did you come 
back wearing that leather strap thing?"

"Oh this?" She started to lift up the shirt but I quickly stopped her.

"Yeah, that."

"This was the last thing Otho wanted to see me in, so it was all I 
could come up with."

"Why didn't you try my sister's clothes?"

She scrunched up her nose. "I didn' like 'em."

"You could've told me about this sooner."

"I know." She batted her eyelashes and smiled wickedly. "I thought 
you might like seeing me in this."

Well, shocking as it was, I did kind of enjoy seeing her wear that little 
number, but I still wished I'd known that she could have been wearing 
something else.

"Didn't I ask you if you could do any other tricks?"

"Uh huh, but this is diff'rent."

"How so?"

"This is something that you do, not me." Once again I got the hands 
on her hips pose. "You didn't ask about that stuff."

"I didn't know that I was in charge of your wardrobe."

"Not my fault you didn' ask." She raised her voice.

"Alright, settle down.  You're drawing attention again."

"Sorry." Her eyes fell to her feet as a sly smile came to her lips. 
"So... can I go swimming?"

"I guess so, just tell me how."

"Okey-dokie." She took my hands into her hands. "Close your eyes 
and imagine me in a bathing suit."

"That's it?"

"That's it.  Easy huh?"

It seemed simple enough, but I had my doubts.  I closed my eyes, 
and imagined little Ayumi in a bathing suit.

"All done!" she happily chirped.

I opened my eyes as she peeled the T-shirt over her head, then I 
nearly had a heart attack.

"Ooo I like this!" She giggled as she looked over the skimpy emerald 
green bikini she now wore. "Naughty-naughty, Justin."

I was in stunned disbelief as she stood before me wearing even less 
than the leather strap outfit.  I couldn't believe something like that 
could've come out of my mind.  Before I could choke out a word, she 
spun away and headed off toward the pool, revealing the suits G-
string bottom.

"Wait!" I jumped up and wrapped the discarded shirt around her 
waist.  My outburst drew some attention, but I was sure no one had 
seen why I'd shouted.  The lonely guy wore a tiny smirk though his 
eyes had never left the pool. "I can't let you wear that swimming.  
They'll kick us out for sure."

"Why?" she asked full of innocence. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's not something an eight year old would wear, that's what's wrong 
with it."

"So why did you imagine me wearing it?"

I blushed three shades of red. "I don't know, but I've got to fix it."

"Aw... do you hafta?"

"Yes, Yumi, I have to."

She frowned. "Alright... go ahead."

I took her hands again, closed my eyes, and imagined a much more 
appropriate amount of fabric. "There, that's better."

Yumi let the T-shirt fall away and immediately voiced her displeasure 
with the new suit.

"Ruffles?" She pulled on the frilly white fringe of the neon green one 
piece suit. "You gave me ruffles?"

"Do you want to go swimming?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Then deal with it, okay?"

She sighed, rolled her eyes, then turned and stomped away.  The 
further she got from me, the less annoyed she became.  By the time 
she'd gone twenty steps her excitement returned and she took off at 
a sprint.

From my spot at the picnic table I watched as she slipped through 
the open gate in the chain link fence surrounding the pool.  Once she 
breached that perimeter her shyness came back.  The other kids 
paid her no mind as she tiptoed around the concrete deck, her eyes 
darting this way and that, avoiding any direct eye contact.  Some 
bigger kids ran past her, one accidentally bumping her shoulder hard 
enough to nearly knock her over.  I was about to get up and say 
something to the prick but another kid beat me to it.  The prick had 
words with the girl in the pool who'd come to Ayumi's defense, then 
gave up and headed off to rejoin his friends.  Ayumi smiled when the 
girl in the pool invited her in, and she didn't hesitate.  Water sprayed 
high into the air as she did a cannonball and disappeared from my 
site.

"Will you shut up?  I'm trying to hear this."

Assured that Ayumi was in good company my attention turned to the 
adults huddled around the radio.  The signal was full of static but I 
could still recognize the disk jockey's sultry voice as Kayleigh "the 
Flame" Roberts.  I'd been listing to her for years since she was on 
the only radio station that played music that didn't suck ass, WAZZ 
FM, the only station in Highland that played rock.

"I don't know if anyone out there can hear me right now, but I'm 
going to stay On-Air for as long as I can, because you need to 
hear what I've got to say."

She didn't sound like she usually did, all full of confidence and sex 
appeal, she sounded scared.

"What's happening is only partly natural.  The solar flare would 
have happened no matter what, but everything else is being 
orchestrated, directed by a group, carefully controlled by men and 
beings who are bent on dominating us.  They are breaking us 
down, taking away our comforts one by one, and making sure that 
we are so filled with fear and doubt that we won't resist.  They are 
purposely isolating us from one another, dividing and conquering 
as they take away our communications, food supplies and 
conveyances."

The voices of the adults drifted over to me in hushed whispers, but 
since their backs were to me I couldn't make out just who was 
speaking.

"What the hell is she going on about now?"

"Shut up and listen, Dave."

"She's lost her fucking mind.  This isn't some big conspiracy."

"If you don't want to listen then just leave, okay?  Some of us want to 
know what's going on."

I watched as a large man shoved his way out of the group, mumbling 
as he went about everyone being a bunch of nuts.  He eyed me up 
and down as he walked past and nodded a curt greeting before 
disappearing into the maze of trailers.

"A computer virus called MABUS is responsible for most of what's 
happening.  All of NASA's early warning satellites were disabled 
by it, allowing the flare to take us all by surprise.  The virus then 
targeted our communications satellites, blocking any mention of 
the solar flare from reaching those who could have done 
something about it.  By the time anyone thought to react, it was too 
late, MABUS was everywhere.  Electric companies tried to save 
the power grids by shutting them down until the storm passed, but 
MABUS wouldn't allow it.  Military systems, which have been 
mandatorily shielded from electro magnetic pulses since the 
nineteen-fifties, were simply shut down by the virus.

"As I speak to you, ninety-nine percent of the world is totally 
blacked out.   Only those with well shielded, non-computerized, 
totally off the grid generators which have been built before the 
nineteen-nineties still have power.  It is only by the help of a few 
new friends of mine that I'm still able to broadcast, and I fear that 
their efforts may have been in vain because the enemy is already 
knocking on my door."

A loud crash came from the radio followed by the whine of feedback.  
When it died down Kayleigh continued as if nothing had happened, 
though her voice sounded a little shakier.

"You may have heard some reports that people have been seeing 
things, things that shouldn't be real." Another crash reverberated 
from the tiny radio. "But they are.  They are real, and you should be 
scared." The sound of metal scraping against metal interrupted her. 
"I have witnessed them with my own eyes, terrible things... 
monsters from our darkest nightmares... but they are real and they 
are out there.  The ones who created the MABUS virus are 
controlling them, giving them orders, telling them where to go and 
what to do." A loud crash and more steel rending filled the static 
filled radio signal. "They are trying to stop me from telling you the 
truth.  They don't want you to know what's really going on... oh 
god."

A low growl made my skin crawl.  In my mind I could see what 
Kayleigh must have been seeing... the snarling maw of a Zyrogoth.

A new voice, another woman's voice, cut through the growling. "Kay, 
we've got to go!"

Kay returned. "Don't let them use fear against you!  Don't let them 
take over without a fight!  They will offer you peace!  They will offer 
you protection!  But it is a lie!  Beware of Phoenix!  Beware of 
Hol..."

"Kay!" the other woman screamed as glass shattered.

"STAND UNITED!"

For a moment screams and crashes filled the air, then it all went 
dead silent.  A few seconds passed before static, and only static, 
came from the radio's speaker.

"What the fuck do you think that was all about?"

"It's a joke, it's gotta be a joke."

"Didn't sound like no joke to me."

"War of the Worlds."

"What's that shitty movie got to do with this?"

"No, not the movie, you moron.  The radio program, Orson Welles!"

As the crowd of adults dispersed, little cliques of like minded 
individuals quickly coalesced around the picnic area.  I noticed right 
away that the small group of rabble rousers had grown in numbers.  
The lonely guy at the edge of the picnic area remained alone, but his 
eyes had moved from the pool area to his lap, and his thoughts had 
grown darker as evidenced by the deeper wrinkles now etching his 
weathered face.  Carole and Len eventually peeled away from their 
own little group and decided to sit at the same table I was at, but no 
one else did.

"Why aren't you swimming with the rest of them?" Len asked as he 
tossed me a can of Budweiser.

I was just as shocked as Carole by his generous gift of alcohol, and 
opened it before she could form the words to argue against it.  The 
beer was warm and a little flat, but wasn't the worst I'd ever drank.  
When you're thirteen beggars can't be choosers when it comes to 
underage drinking.  Back when Tommy and I still hung out, right 
before he moved, we swiped some Bailey's from my dad's bar.  
Neither of us knew what it was, but we stashed it out in the woods 
until we could drink it.  Three blisteringly hot summer days later, we 
chugged that warm thick slop down, neither of us wanting to admit 
just how horrible it tasted; not even when we started heaving it back 
up again a few minutes later.

After taking a large chug, much to Carole's dismay, I answered, "I 
didn't really feel like it.  Besides, I wanted to hear what was going on 
with the radio."

Carole and Len exchanged glances. "So you heard it then?"

"Yeah." I tried to take another chug but belched instead.

"You know that wasn't real, right?" Carole tried to console me. "It was 
someone's poor idea of a joke."

Maybe it was the half a beer in me, or possibly the lull one gets from 
a belly full of charred cow, but I felt it was better to be honest with 
them rather than let them discover things out on their own.

"No, it was real." It came out a little too matter of factly than I 
intended, so I wasn't surprised when they didn't take me seriously.

Len smiled. "Yeah, and so is the Easter Bunny."

Carole nudged Len in the side before realizing I was way too old to 
believe in the Easter Bunny anymore.  Honestly, I don't think I ever 
did.

"No, really.  She wasn't kidding." I polished off the end of my beer.

"Okay, I'll bite." Len leaned back on the wooden bench and folded 
his arms. "Why do you think what we heard was real?"

"I don't think it was real, I know it was real." Okay, a bit cocky, I know, 
just blame the beer.  Despite my full stomach it was quickly filling me 
with that wonderful dreamlike numbness.  You might be thinking I'm a 
lightweight, that one beer shouldn't have that effect, but then you'd 
be forgetting that I'm thirteen and not used to having beer so readily 
available.  Hell, the most I'd ever drank in one sitting had been three 
beers, a six-pack split between Tommy and I.  It'd cost us triple what 
it was worth to get the strange guy lurking outside of the liquor store 
to buy it for us, so it was never repeated. "I've heard that growl 
before."

"Go on," Len smirked, "fill us in."

"That growl," I leaned towards them and whispered conspiratorially, 
"that was a Zyrogoth."

"A Zero-what?"

"A Zyrogoth.  They're like giant reptilian dogs, as big as a bear, and 
they can tear a person in half in the blink of an eye." I shuddered as 
James once again popped into my head.  Len didn't catch my 
change in pallor, but Carole did.

"My God, you poor boy," Carole reached out and put a hand on my 
arm. "Did you see one of these things?"

I nodded and tried to shake off the queasy feeling that once again 
washed over me, "Two actually.  I saw them rip a cop and my older 
sister's boyfriend to pieces.  They were dead already, but still... it 
was sick."

"Oh come on, Carole.  He's having one over on us."

"Dude, no I'm not," I protested, but could empathize with Len.  After 
all, I'd actually witnessed a demon melting right before my eyes, and 
yet I still didn't believe Ayumi when she told me about this stuff.

"Look, I wasn't completely honest with you when we first met.  I didn't 
think you'd believe me and didn't want to come off as some nut ball.  
But you've got to listen; these things are real, real enough to kill."

So I told them.  I told them everything that had happened since I 
woke up yesterday.  I told them about the Midnight Riders, about 
Mallenchiors and of their Atrum Oculus things, I told them about the 
fire and running away, I told them about that homeless guy and the 
lightning they'd heard, I even told them about Mr. Johnson killing 
Garog with the dagger.  I told them everything.  Well, almost 
everything.  I conveniently left out Ayumi's part in the whole mess, no 
mention of what she really was, where she came from, or what she 
could do.  The made up story of her being my adopted little sister fit 
well enough.  There was no need to bring any more scrutiny her way, 
she was getting enough as it was just for being an outsider, and an 
Asian one to boot.

Carole seemed to hear what I had to say, but she still had doubt.  
Len, on the other hand, didn't buy a single word of it.  He was, 
however, kind enough to toss me another beer.

"Bullshit," he laughed. "I'll give it to you, it was a good story, but you'd 
have to get up pretty early in the morning to get me to believe that 
whopper."

"Dude, I know I can't make you believe.  I sure didn't for the longest 
time." I shrugged and returned his smile as I popped the top of the 
beer, trying to be smoother than I actually was. "It's just something 
you'll have to see for yourself.  But when you do, just remember... I 
told you so."

"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it," he chuckled, and swigged heavily 
from his own can.

Suddenly I had a light bulb moment.  Quick as a flash I reached 
behind myself, took hold of the hilt, drew the blade, then drove its 
sharp point into the picnic table.  I expected it to make a dull thud, 
like what happens in the movies when someone sticks a knife into a 
table.  I wasn't prepared for what really happened, and neither was 
Len.

Thwinggggg!

Crimson and violet arcs of electricity shot from the blade and 
wrapped around Len and my beer cans.  We dropped them to the 
table in unison, Len sprayed beer out of his mouth in a fountain of 
foam as the cans burst into blue-white flames, and poor Carole fell 
over backwards shrieking.  It all happened so fast that by the time 
anyone turned to see what the hell was going on, the cans, flames 
and sparks had already vanished into thin air.

"Everything okay over there?" a tall lanky man called to us from the 
other side of the picnic area.

Len snapped out of his daze before I did, and thankfully kept his 
head.

"Yeah, we're fine." He bent down and helped Carole off the ground. 
"Little bit tipsier than she thought."

As Carole stood and dusty herself off I took the opportunity to pluck 
the dagger out of the table and hide it from view.  I don't think anyone 
saw me do it, at least I hoped no one did.

The lanky guy wasn't totally convinced and called out again as all 
eyes were now pointed in our direction. "You sure you're okay 
Carole?"

Carole was visibly shaking as she retook her spot on the bench.  I 
thought she was going to totally lose it she was trembling so much.  
Her eyes were wide open, face pale and breathing ragged, but she 
somehow pulled herself together.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm good."

Our unwanted spectators slowly dribbled away to seek out other 
drama to get involved in.  The three of us sat in hushed silence until 
we were absolutely certain they'd all gone.  We were all so keyed up 
that when a firefly blinked its little yellow-green butt over our table, we 
all jumped.  That stupid bug was just what we needed to break the 
tension, and even caused Carole to laugh.

 "I nearly pissed myself!" Carole blurted out as giggles got the better 
of her.

"Jesus kid," Len shook his head and leaned across the table to 
whisper, "don't pull any more shit like that, my heart can't take it."

"Dude, I didn't know that would happen, honest!"

"Right, sure you didn't." Len's smile faded. "Seriously though, don't 
do anything like that again.  The others are already scared shitless; 
don't give them a reason to take it out on you or your sister."

"He's right." Carole stopped her giggles. "The trouble makers are a 
minority now, but the longer this goes on, the more converts they'll 
get to join their side.  Pull a stunt like that again and it'll be a landslide 
of fear raining down on you."

"So, you both believe me now?"

Len shook his head. "I wouldn't go that far, but I'm entertaining the 
possibility that things might be more mysterious than I previously 
believed."

Carole didn't get a chance to answer for herself before we were 
interrupted.

"J-j-j-jus-s-s-s-stin-n-n-n."

I spun around to find a dripping wet Ayumi standing behind me.  She 
had her arms wrapped around herself tightly, and despite the warmth 
of the fading sun, she was shivering uncontrollably.  Her teeth were 
chattering hard and fast as her whole body seemed to vibrate from 
within.

"Oh my!" Carole was up and by Ayumi's side in a heartbeat. "You're 
freezing!  Let's get you a towel."

"O-o-o-k-key D-d-do-k-k-key."

Len and I watched as Carole whisked Ayumi away in search of a 
warm dry towel.

"She always wanted kids of her own." He smiled as the pair 
disappeared into a trailer. "But fate conspired against her.  Lucky for 
you, she takes in every stray she can find to make up for it."

As I spun around in my seat I caught that guy who was sitting alone 
quickly looking away from us.  When he realized he'd been made he 
decided to leave, rolling his wheelchair over the forest floor and 
vanishing into the trailers.

"Hey Len, who's that guy in the wheelchair?"

Len twisted in his seat to see who I was talking about but the man 
had already gone. "You must mean Ben.  Why?  Did he say 
something to you?"

"No, I just caught him keeping an eye on Ayumi and me is all."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about Ben.  He's an old Vet, keeps 
to himself and stays out of the politics of this place." Len stood up 
and stretched his back while changing the subject. "You said there 
were a bunch of cars parked up on the old service road?"

"Yeah, ten of 'em."

"That's good to know.  We're going to need fuel for the Genny soon, 
having a fresh supply so close will ease a lot of tension."

As if on cue, the lights around the pool blazed into life.  I hadn't even 
realized how dark it had become while we sat around.  It looked like 
we wouldn't be making it to the city by nightfall as I had originally 
hoped.

"Come on kid; let's get a tent set up for you and your sister before 
they shut off the lights."

"They turn them off?"

"Yeah, we only plan to run them for an hour or two each night; just 
long enough to get everyone home safe.  It gets dark around here 
fairly early because of the hills, but we can't afford to burn gas all 
night long.  Besides, lights tend to attract pests, and I'm not talking 
about insects if you catch my meaning."



Continued in Chapter Twelve....


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Ayumi 11