Hybrid

by TJ Hines

  “Hey, Kinz. What’s up?” Drew asked as he tilted his head to each side in an effort, I guessed, to pop his neck.

  “Uh…wow…um, that’s really impressive. How did the three of you do all that?” I asked gesturing to the piles behind them.

  “We’re awesome,” Drew said rolling his eyes at me like I should never doubt his awesomeness. Is that even a word?

  “The truth—most of them were so wasted one punch and they were out. Kind of took all the fun out of it honestly. Where are the girls? We need to get out of here, in case the cops show up,” Will said.

  “Oh. Yeah well, see that’s the problem. I don’t know where they are.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know where they are? Did Ella leave you alone?” Will asked as all three guys crossed their arms over their chests and stared at me.

  “Yeah, but only because she went to look for Addison.”

  “Where’s Addison?” Ensley asked clearly panicking.

  “Calm down, Ens. Kinsey, start at the beginning and tell us everything,” Drew said putting one hand on Ensley’s shoulder in an effort to calm him.

  So, I told them about Addison disappearing, about how we came up empty when we checked the house for her and the car, about the creepy clown guy and how I thought he was related, and about how Ella said she would meet us at the vehicle.

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Ensley said running out of the door.

  Will and Drew took off running after him, but I couldn’t. My feet were killing me and there was no way I was going to be able to run in these shows. Again. I started walking after them as gently as I could. It wasn’t long before Will was back at my side.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “My feet, these shoes, and running are not mixing well right now. Go on. I’ll catch up,” I said wincing as I stepped wrong.

  “Don’t think so.”

  The next thing I knew I was in Will’s arms and he was jogging towards the others. I would have protested, but my feet really hurt. When we reached the Tahoe, Ella was already standing there. No sign of Addison.

  “We’ll find her, Kinsey. I promise,” Will vowed after registering the expression on my face.

  I bit my lower lip and nodded. I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes as my brain started processing what was actually happening and all the horrible things that could happen to her. Why Addison?

  “Drew unlock the doors,” Will said. “Kinsey, you have to stay here. We will all be back soon with Addison. Promise. Do not unlock the doors for anyone but us. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah. Will…please find her.”

  “I will, but you have to promise to stay in the car. No matter what.”

  “I promise,” I said as he put me in the passenger seat and shut the door.

  “Locks, Kinsey,” he said before he took off with the other three.

  I did exactly what he said to do. I pushed the button to lock all the doors and then I very gently climbed into the back seat because I didn’t feel safe in the front. At least this way I could hide if someone started snooping around. I hated this. I hated feeling so helpless and so emotional. I just hoped they found Addison soon, so we could put this horrible night behind us.

  I sat there forever, jumping at every strange sound and every person that walked by. I had to have yelped a half a dozen times at people walking past to get to their vehicles. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. My imagination was in overdrive and there was no way to slow it down. I kept imagining the clown guy holding Addison down and…hurting her. I imagined Addison screaming for help over and over…until…she couldn’t anymore. NO! That was not going to happen. Addison was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine.

  I sank my face into my hands and started to sob. When I finally got control of myself, I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked out the windows to check for signs of life. The first thing I noticed was that all the cars parked along the street were gone. The second thing I noticed was I was alone. There had been partygoers moving aimlessly along the sidewalks, but now—no one. I wanted to scream or cry or call someone to make it all better. Like Jack. Jack would know what to do. That’s what big brothers are for—to fix things and take care of their little sisters. No. No. No. Jack would flip out and order me home. That would be how he fixed things. His reasoning would be that if I was closer to him, he could protect me, shelter me, put me in a room and never let me out.

  Okay, so calling Jack might not be the best thing but what if some psycho had all my friends? You see that kind of stuff on the news all the time. Crazy person goes on killing rampage. Stop it! Don’t think that. They’re all fine…they have to be. I told myself as I nervously twitched my foot and punched in Jack’s cell just in case. If I don’t hear from them in thirty minutes, I’ll call Jack or the police. I can’t sit here and do nothing. They could be in trouble.

  Fifteen minutes later, my cell started playing Ghost Town by Shiny Toy Guns. My default ringtone. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the irony of that song playing right now. I didn’t recognize the number, so I answered it hoping it was Addison and that her cell had died. But it wasn’t her. It was…Tyler. Crap. In all the chaos, I had completely forgotten about him.

  “Hello,” I said quietly into the phone because it still hurt to talk.

  “Kinsey. Where are you? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Tyler said on the other end.

  “Sorry ‘bout that. Really. I, well…we decided to leave after the fight.”

  “Yeah, I heard about that. Are you okay? I heard you got hurt.”

  “Yeah, my throat still hurts a lot and it’s a little hard to talk above a whisper, but besides that, I’m okay.” Considering I haven’t been abducted like Addison, I thought miserably to myself.

  “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over Mike. I should have been there.”

  “It’s not your fault. And I’m okay, so no biggie.”

  “I’ll make it up to you…hey, are you at home right now…I could come by.”

  “Uh…not exactly. I’m kind of sitting in Drew’s Tahoe.”

  “Alone?”

  “Yeah, they had to go…find something. And….um, my feet were killing me, so I decided to stay behind. But they should be back soon.” And hopefully with Addison. Because if not, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.

  “Where did Drew park? I’ll come keep you company.”

  Will said to not unlock the doors for anyone except them—meaning him, Drew, Ensley, or Ella. He probably said that to keep me from opening the door to some crazy person, but this was Tyler. Besides, Tyler was crazy hot…not crazy psycho. I could let him in the vehicle with me. What could it hurt? And I’m going mad sitting here with my overactive imagination running wild. It might do me some good to have someone to talk to while I’m waiting on them.

  “We’re parked on the road in front of your house. Right next to Hamilton Hall. I am positive that it’s the only vehicle still out here. So, it shouldn’t be too difficult to spot.”

  “I’ll be there in just a little bit. I have to do one more thing here and then I’ll come sit with you.”

  “Okay, hurry up. Sitting out here by myself is starting to mess with my sanity.” What little I had left, I thought to myself trying to keep from giggling. I must be delirious.

  Tyler laughed. “I’ll be there soon.”

  And then it was just me again. All by myself. Sitting and waiting.

  Twenty minutes later. No Tyler. No Will. No friends. No one but me. I sighed heavily.

  “Wow, this is going to be a really long night,” I said to myself. “If I hadn’t worn these stupid shoes, I could be out there with the guys looking for Addison. Stupid, too expensive, feet hurting boots.” I took them off and threw them in the front seat.

  “What did the shoes do to you?” A voice asked.

  I screamed so loud that I think people across town heard me.

  “Chill, Kinsey. It’s m
e,” Tyler said standing next to the passenger side door. “Open up.”

  Jeez, Kinz. Real smooth. You freakin’ scaredy-cat. Why don’t you start crying too? Completely humiliate yourself. Get a grip, kid.

  I reached up and pushed the unlock button. Oh, man. I hope Will doesn’t get mad at me for this. Who am I kidding? Of course, he is going to get mad. Oh, well. Too late to worry about it now because Tyler was already opening the door and climbing in next to me.

  “Hey, you okay? You look a little shook up.”

  “Really? And here I thought I was doing such a bang-up job acting like I’m not totally freaked out right now.” I said exasperated. I started putting my boots back on wincing in pain as I did it. I was going to leave them off but what if I had to take off to find Addison, too. Or what if that clown guy shows up here. Better to be in pain because of shoes, than anything else.

  “Um…okay. Well, do you want to talk about it?”

  I thought about telling him what was going on with the whole Addison being missing thing, but I was worried he might try to leave me too. And I didn’t think I was going to be able to handle it if I was left alone again.

  “Not really. It’s been a weird night.”

  “Yeah. I get that. It has been full of…surprises and very informative.”

  “Huh?”

  “Nothing. So, you looking forward to your date with Chip?”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot all about that. At this point, I don’t care. He seems normal enough.” I said before settling back into the seat. I was so tired and drained. My whole body ached in places I didn’t even know existed. And to top it off, I was beginning to get a migraine. I started to rub my temples trying to relieve the mounting pressure in my skull. This one came on so quick. Ouch. Oh, it hurts. It felt like my brain was exploding.

  “You okay?” Tyler asked.

  “I…yeah, it’s just…a migraine…it’ll pass. Owww.” I grabbed both sides of my head at the same time. “Oh. It hurts. It hurts. Make it stop. Oh, please make it stop.” I screamed in pain and doubled over.

  “Kinsey,” Tyler said in a weirdly quiet voice.

  I was in too much pain to answer. My head felt like it was going to explode. I wanted to jab something in my head to relieve the pressure.

  “Kinsey! You got your cell?”

  “Why?” I asked still hunched over trying to will my throbbing migraine away.

  “Look!” He yelled, clearly upset by something.

  When I looked up, I wasn’t even sure I was seeing what I was seeing. Standing in front of the Tahoe was a group of his Delta Chi brothers, still wearing their togas by the way. At first glance, I didn’t realize why Tyler was so upset. But then I noticed that their eyes were, well, not quite right. They were a little glassed over and the color of a foggy, milky gray. Why was that familiar?

  And then I remembered why they looked familiar.

  Oh, shit.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Mike’s eyes looked the same way right before he started choking me. I wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with those guys. But I definitely knew that something was wrong…really wrong. Natural eyes did not look like that. They didn’t have a foggy, milky sheen to them. There was a logical explanation for what I was seeing, right? Like, for instance—they could all be wearing contacts. Makes sense. Contact manufacturers are designing new stuff all the time. Some contacts could even make your eyes look black or like cats’ eyes. That had to be it. They were just contacts. But….

  If they were contacts, why did Mike’s eyes change color like? Contacts can’t do that. Can they? No, no I am almost positive that contacts don’t have that technology. Did they all have some kind of disease? All those guys living in such close proximity to each other. Maybe one caught something and then gave it to the rest of them. Which meant Tyler might have it. Ewww! I kissed him. Oh, no. What if I got it too? That’s disgusting. Thankfully, Tyler’s panic-stricken words cut through the incessant babbling in my head.

  “Kinsey, we need to make a run for it.”

  “Are you crazy? We can’t go out there with them.” Seriously, was he insane? They were standing there in the middle of the street watching us. There were a dozen guys out there. There was no way we were going to outrun them, okay, well, maybe Tyler could—but there was no way I could in these shoes. “Just get down and keep quiet.”

  Tyler and I both hunched down behind the front seats. My head was still hurting…but it wasn’t as debilitating as it had been. I was—somewhat—able to function and think. I reached up onto the seat and grabbed my cell. I started dialing Will’s phone but caught myself after one ring. If I talked, they—the crazy-eyed frat boys outside—would hear us. So, I started to text him, but Tyler put his hand on my phone and mouthed, what are you doing? It seemed obvious to me, so I mouthed back, texting the cavalry. He took his hand off my phone but seemed annoyed when he realized who the cavalry was. Jeez, priorities. I don’t think jealousy would be helpful at this point. Finally, I started texting Will—gotta love technology in a time like this.

  HELP!!!! Crazy guys at the car. Not joking. HURRY!!!

  I punched in Drew’s number, too, just in case. Before I got the word ‘hurry’ typed out—my migraine came back full force. I screamed and fell forward.

  “Kinsey! Kinsey, what’s wrong?” Tyler said loudly over my screaming.

  “Head. Hurts really bad.” I held my head with both of my hands and started rocking back and forth. In my entire life, I have never felt pain like that before. It was so excruciatingly painful. I started crying. I felt Tyler’s hands on my shoulders trying to get me to calm down, but I didn’t care. The only thing I cared about at that moment was to make the pain stop.

  “Can you move?” Tyler asked as he reached up and unlocked the door.

  “Stop it!” I said as I locked the doors back. Death wish—much. “Will and the guys will be back soon. I can’t leave without them. And I am not going out there in this much pain with those…those people.”

  “Well, I really don’t think we have a choice about it,” Tyler said through wide eyes.

  I looked in the direction Tyler was staring, with my hands still on my head. My hands slid down from my head to cover my mouth, so I could hold the scream in. Well, crap! Tyler’s frat brothers were now moving towards us. And to make matters worse, they all had makeshift weapons—something I apparently overlooked before. Baseball bats, hockey sticks, crowbars, etc. all in their hands and they were walking towards us as if it was their purpose—their mission in life.

  My head stopped hurting once again and then in the most horrific sequence ever, all of guys lifted up their weapons and then brought them down hard against the Tahoe. Drew is going to be sooo pissed. I covered my head quickly when one of the guys threw a bat at the front windshield. And then they all decided to go for the windows. This is bad! Really, really bad! I felt glass fall on me when someone busted the window next to me. I started screaming…not because glass was falling all around me or because there were loud pounding sounds against the vehicle—making it sound like they were crushing it. No, I started screaming because someone’s hand came down on my head, grabbed my hair, and yanked me back against the door.

  “Tyler! Help!” I yelled as I struggled with my attacker. Tyler reached up to the front, unlocked the doors, and ran away. He actually ran away!!! My hero. What the hell was wrong with him? Better yet, what the hell was wrong with me for wanting to date a douchebag like that?

  I started yelling for help and trying every way possible to get away from the guy holding my hair. Nothing. I kept struggling and I finally managed to turn myself in the backseat enough to reach the door handle. I had one shot at this and if it didn’t work, I was really screwed. One, two, three…I pushed the door open hard, hoping to catch the guy off guard and make him stumble—releasing my hair. It worked. I shut the door quickly, reached upfront and relocked all the doors. I glanced back at where Tyler had been sitting.

  Son of a bitch! His door wa
s wide open and one of his darling frat brothers was climbing into the Hummer. A big guy—at least the size of Drew—he had a bat in his left hand and his eyes, like everybody else’s, were messed up. I didn’t even hesitate. Fight or Flight, right? Well, I wasn’t about to wuss out like Tyler—pansy-ass momma’s boy. I kicked the Magic Mountain dude square in the face, making a sick crunching sound—at least the boots came in handy for something tonight. He stumbled back, fell on the ground holding his nose—as blood flowed down his shirt, and looked confused.

  I quickly shut the door, crouched down in the middle of the backseat floor and tried to think up a plan to get myself out of this. What the hell do I do? I could call for help. But who? Will hadn’t answered his text and Tyler…well…he was useless. Running away and leaving a girl in danger. What happened to chivalry and heroicness? You sure can pick some winners Kinsey! I thought to myself as I started searching for my phone, so I could call the cops. I started swaying from side to side as the freaks outside started rocking the Tahoe back and forth. Some of them had their hands in the vehicle, grasping at air. What the hell are they doing?