Sons of Chaos

by Jerry Hart

  It was close enough to touch. It looked like a large stone. It almost looked like a giant forearm. Doug wanted to touch it, but restrained himself.

  “Are you okay?” Curtis asked.

  “Yeah,” Doug said, not taking his eyes off of what was just outside his door.

  Suddenly the stony object moved, causing the truck to shift sideways onto the left tires. Doug thought they were going to tip over, but the object settled back into the ground. He was only faintly aware that he and Curtis were screaming.

  A deep, loud noise erupted above them, turning into a higher-pitched screech at the end.

  “What the hell is that?” Curtis asked.

  Doug had a theory, but was too afraid to voice it. Saying it out loud would make it true.

  The object lifted out of the ground again and this time, the truck tipped over completely. Doug and Curtis were turned upside down. Another of those weird moan-screeches erupted, followed a second later by an earth-shaking thud.

  Doug looked through the windshield and saw something in front of them. He was able to see the bottom half of the object now and saw large protrusions sticking out of it.

  They looked like toes. Doug was looking at a giant foot.

  He looked out past Curtis’s window to where Owen’s car had been. It was no longer there.

  Curtis unbuckled his seatbelt and fell onto the truck’s ceiling. He groaned and reached up to undo Doug. He fell too, but righted himself immediately. They crawled out through the shattered passenger window. Instinctively, they both looked up but saw nothing but a dark mass.

  There was an unmistakable sound coming from the dark giant. It sounded like a running motor. Doug had the impression that whatever was there was staring down at them. Another roar sliced the air. Doug and Curtis shuddered. This roar lasted longer than the others. It was a horrible sound.

  The leg rose up into the air and landed a few feet away from the truck.

  Doug realized it was walking away. And then something came to him. He turned to where Owen’s car had been just as the other leg came toward them. Doug tackled Curtis as the foot kicked the truck, sending it flying into the air. It landed somewhere in front of the beast. The creature stumbled, roared again, and then kicked the truck into the field to the left.

  Doug and Curtis got to their feet and dusted themselves off. They watched the behemoth as it made its way east. All they could see were its rocky legs; the rest of it was shrouded in darkness. They could hear an occasional roar as it walked away.

  The street where Doug and Curtis stood was dark once again. The bright patch of sky Doug had seen earlier was no longer above them. A second later, he saw the bright object in the clouds again, heading east, in the same direction of the monster.

  “Where’s Owen?” Curtis asked.

  They looked around. There was a small crater right behind them where the creature had landed after it fell from the sky. The handprint was at least thirty feet wide, going deep into the ground.

  The two of them ran around the hole and over to the other crater where the legs had landed. Inside was Owen’s car. It was lying on its side, the driver’s side facing up. They could see Owen lying unconscious, seatbelt sill fastened.

  Curtis started to climb down. “You stay here,” he said to Doug. “I’ll get him out and you pull him up.”

  The car was ten feet into the ground. Curtis climbed down carefully, grabbing into the dirt wall like a rock climber. He stepped carefully on the car door. The window was shattered, so Curtis reached in and unbuckled Owen’s seatbelt. The robot was sitting in the passenger seat, apparently powered down.

  After getting the seatbelt off, Curtis pulled Owen out of the car. Doug reached down but couldn’t quite grab Owen’s hand, which Curtis was raising up to him.

  “I didn’t think this through,” Curtis said with a hint of irritation.

  “Wake him up,” Doug said. “He can crawl out himself.”

  Curtis slapped Owen’s face a couple of times. Owen came to and looked around.

  “Where are we?” he asked wearily.

  “In a hole in the ground,” Curtis said simply.

  Owen looked down at his car and groaned.

  “Can you climb?” Curtis asked him.

  “Yeah. You go first; I’m right behind you.”

  “I really think you should go first,” Curtis insisted.

  “I gotta get my car and my robot.”

  Curtis was dumbstruck. “Get you car and.... Are you out of your mind?”

  “Just go, dude. I got this.”

  Curtis didn’t budge. “Boy, get your goofy ass out of this hole.”

  Owen suddenly grabbed the back of Curtis’s shirt and threw him upward, out of the crater. Doug reached out and caught him. They crashed painfully to the ground.

  “What the hell?” Curtis screamed, more in surprise than anger.

  Just then, noises came from inside the crater. They were sounds of metal scraping against dirt. Then two lights shined upward. The next thing Curtis and Doug knew, the front half of Owen’s car rose out of the hole.

  Doug and Curtis backed away from the crater as the front tires came down on the street. And then something else shot out of the hole and landed next to the car. It was Owen.

  His car teetered on the edge. He stepped up to the hood, grasped the fender, and pulled it the rest of the way. The car was barely damaged. Curtis and Doug were staring wide-eyed and openmouthed at Owen, who was breathing heavily.

  “Well,” Owen said to them, “I guess you two are riding with me.”

  Something else popped out of the hole and stood silently next to Owen. It was his robot.

  * * *

  The house on Fairington Drive was dark and spooky. Patrick almost didn’t want to go in. But he had to. It was his job, as an officer of the law.

  He stood in the lawn in a T-shirt and jeans and looked around. There was no one here. He cringed as he thought of Daniel Hudson. Further shivers were sent down his spine when he remembered that Daniel was supposedly in this house.

  Patrick knew he should have called for assistance, but this situation felt somehow personal to him. He couldn’t explain why, though. He looked to the driveway and saw an old brown car sitting there, the trunk partially opened. He would check that out later, but for now, he decided to hit the house.

  He placed his hand on his gun and crossed the yard to the front door, which was wide open. Inside, the floor of the living room was covered with plaster. There was a huge hole in the wall directly to his left. The hole led to a room, but he couldn’t see inside from where he stood; it was too dark.

  He walked carefully to the hall on his left and immediately saw three bodies.

  Three out of five, he thought.

  Drawing his weapon, Patrick walked up to two of the bodies in the center of the hall. One was of an old woman in a blood-soaked nightgown. The other was huge and monstrous. It took Patrick only a second to realize it wasn’t a person but a statue of some kind.

  Now he focused his attention on the pale form at the end of the hall. Two out of five, he amended. Patrick knew who it was before he got there. He stood over Daniel’s body and felt light-headed.

  This whole scene was messed up, he thought. How did Daniel even get here? Did someone steal his body from the morgue and bring it here? Why? Was his brother involved?

  Patrick refused to believe that, but the circumstances were questionable. After inspecting the house further, he found the body of who he guessed was Les Huntington in the room with the hole in the wall. He then went outside and stood in the yard, breathing in all the fresh air he could. He was about to call for backup when he realized he’d only found three of the five bodies promised.

  That’s when he gazed upon the brown car with the popped trunk.

  * * *

  Owen sped down the freeway, doing over a hundred miles an hour. Curtis and Doug were in the back seat, grabbing on to whatever they could. Curtis, who was fairly large, had to slouch to
fit comfortably. Doug, however, was quite comfortable.

  The robot got to ride shotgun.

  None of them had spoken for ten minutes, ever since leaving the spot where they had encountered the giant monster that fell from the sky. Apparently none of them wanted to have that discussion. Not yet.

  Finally Curtis asked Owen, “How did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “You know what. How did you get this car out of the crater?”

  “I didn’t,” Owen said. “The robot did.”

  Curtis didn’t believe that for some reason. He knew there was more to Owen than what appeared. The boy was skinny and blond, with not much muscle on him. Maybe that bowling ball was giving him powers....

  “Where are we going?” Doug asked.

  “Birch,” said Owen.

  “Why there?”

  “It’s my hometown. I think I might find answers there.”

  “You think?” Curtis said sarcastically.

  “Hey, I told you guys not to come.”

  “No you didn’t,” Curtis snapped.

  Owen was about to respond, but instead thought about it for a second. Then he said, “Well, me running out on you guys when you asked where I was going should’ve tipped you off.”

  “The only thing it made me think was that you didn’t want to tell us about that ball you’re carrying around.”

  “I prefer to call it an orb,” Owen said with a grin.

  The backpack with the orb inside was on the floor at the robot’s feet. Curtis, who was sitting behind the passenger seat, could see it. He looked at Owen, whose face was lit up by the blue light from his dashboard, then stealthily reached between the passenger seat and the door. He wanted to open the bag to get a better look at the “orb.”

  His fingertips brushed against the pack’s rough texture. He then felt the zippers. Both zippers had come together at the top of the pack. Normally, Curtis would’ve used two hands to open it, but he improvised and grabbed only one zipper. He pulled it to the right a little, then reached into the pack. He came in contact with something warm.

  Something cold and hard gripped his hand, nearly crushing it. Curtis groaned in pain and was met with electric-blue eyes. Owen’s robot had caught him.

  Owen looked back at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing. Tell your robot to let go of me.”

  Owen did. Curtis stared at his tortured hand and groaned again.

  “What were you doing?” Doug whispered.

  “Nothing. Just forget it.”

  No one in the car was aware that the orb was now glowing faintly.

  * * *

  Another bout of silence fell upon the car. Doug couldn’t stand it anymore. “Are we seriously not going to talk about what happened back there?” he asked.

  Owen’s eyes looked back at him through the rearview mirror. “What are you talking about?”

  Doug scoffed. “I’m talking about that huge freaking monster that dropped from the sky and almost killed us.”

  Owen’s brows pulled together in confusion. “What monster?”

  Curtis and Doug exchanged quizzical looks.

  “Where do you think the hole in the road came from?” Curtis asked.

  Owen puzzled over the question for a moment, then said, “I thought it was already there and that I drove into it.”

  “No, dude,” Curtis said. “A monster leg crashed down in front of you. You swerved but hit it anyway. You don’t remember seeing the leg?”

  Owen turned back to look him square in the face. “Are you guys pulling my leg?”

  “No,” said Doug. “You don’t remember swerving to avoid it? Why do you think we’re riding with you in the first place? Curtis’s truck was destroyed by the monster.”

  Owen shook his head. “What did it look like?”

  “We don’t know. All we could see were its legs.”

  Owen looked at Doug through the mirror again, as if gauging whether he were speaking the truth. It was as if he couldn’t accept it to be true. Doug didn’t blame him.

  “That’s not all,” Doug added. “I think it fell from the shape I saw in the clouds.”

  “Really?” Owen said unenthusiastically.

  “Yep. And that’s still not all. The shape was heading toward San Sebastian.”

  * * *

  Nikki packed as much as she could, as fast as she could. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew she had to leave soon, before Owen found out she’d lied to him. She hadn’t wanted to lie to him, but she’d found herself with no other choice.

  Darlington, who was also packing (he had very few belongings and was helping Nikki with her stuff), had heard Owen’s statements while under hypnosis, same as she, and though he hadn’t seemed to understand at the time, he seemed worried now.

  Owen would figure it out eventually, and when he did, he’d be back. And he’d be angry. Nikki bought herself some time by lying to him about what he’d said while hypnotized.

  And then that Curtis guy had come along. It had been an unexpected bonus. She’d seen the connection between the two young men and decided to use it to her advantage. Owen was a smart boy. The plan had been to get him and Curtis together with the knowledge that their dead friends’ bodies were in the same place. She would’ve said she didn’t know where—though she actually did—and they would go off in search of them.

  Then the zombies showed up. Nikki hadn’t expected that, nor had she welcomed it. They were walking voids, and that frightened her.

  Darlington had finished packing and was standing by the purple curtain divider, waiting. Nikki knew she had plenty of customers that loved her for the fortunes she’d read for them, and plenty who hated her for the same reason. Those who didn’t despise her would gladly help her out. All Nikki had to do was pick one.

  Suddenly a thud shook the gift shop. She spun around to look at Darlington. He shared her puzzled expression.

  Another thud.

  A candle fell off a table. Nikki had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t like it. Another thud. It felt a lot worse than the previous two. Closer. Something big was coming.

  That thought seemed impossible. Perhaps she was imagining it felt closer. To think that it was would imply that whatever was causing it was gigantic, like a monster of some kind. And monsters didn’t exist.

  Oh, but they do, her mind told her.

  Another thud, much too close.

  “Let’s go,” she said to Darlington.

  They ran out the rear exit, looking around carefully. There were no zombies or giant monsters of any kind. They ran around to the front of the store, heading for the park exit.

  Then they saw it.

  A large, dark shape stood just in front of the box office. Nikki almost hadn’t seen it at all. At first, she thought it was staring right at her and Darlington (they were standing in the open), but then it looked around, side to side, like it was looking for something. The creature looked frightening against the cloudy gray sky.

  Nikki took a cautious step forward. The creature didn’t notice. Her heart was beating so ferociously that she feared the monster would hear.

  But it didn’t.

  A few more careful steps brought her and Darlington to the exit. Nikki looked up and saw that the creature was still looking around. Any moment and it would look straight down at them. The giant looked like it was made of stone, standing on two legs like a man.

  They ran into the woods. There was an explosive sound and Nikki turned to see the giant had stepped on the box office, destroying it completely. It was walking into the park.

  Looks like the show’s over, she thought. But it was a good run.

  * * *

  Police and medical examiners crowded in front of the house on Fairington Drive. The three bodies inside were being wheeled out. The two in the trunk of the old car had been handled carefully.

  Patrick watched it all with a numb detachment—he would never get used to death. The first dead b
ody he ever saw on duty had been pretty grisly. He’d been called to the scene of a suicide at a nearby train yard. A man had simply settled down on the tracks and allowed a train to sever him at the waist.

  A man walked up to Patrick. He had short gray hair and a bushy mustache.

  “What the hell happened here, Fisher?” the man asked. “It’s a damned massacre in there.”

  “I couldn’t tell you, Chief,” Patrick said. “I’m still trying to figure it out myself.”

  Police Chief Marcus Bowman shifted on his feet, clearly anxious. “You’re the one who called it in. How did you know this was here?”

  Patrick grew nervous at the question. Though he was sure Doug Hudson had nothing to do with any of the deaths, he didn’t want to single out the boy to the chief. He wanted to keep Doug off the radar until he got answers himself.

  The chief was waiting for an answer, though.

  “Anonymous tip,” Patrick said.

  “Is that so?” Bowman sounded skeptical. “Where did you receive this tip?”

  “My cell.”

  “We’re gonna have to check your records, see who placed the call.”

  Patrick had been afraid of that and wished he’d lied about how he received the tip. Too late, now.

  “What about the thing in the sky?” he asked Bowman, hoping to distract him. “Anybody know what that was?”

  “What thing?” Bowman asked, looking up. The sky was clear now.

  “Never mind,” Patrick said, deflated. He had thought people would panic at the sight of what looked like a spaceship in the clouds, but so far, nothing was coming of it. He’d asked several officers if they’d seen or heard anything about it, but they all shrugged and went on about their business.

  Suddenly a young female officer ran up to them, out of breath.

  “Chief Bowman,” she said, “you’re not going to believe this.”

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Something’s going on in Baker.”

  “Baker?” Bowman barked. “That’s not our jurisdiction.”

  The officer was pale. “I don’t think that’s going to matter,” she said.