by T. S. Hall
“We should ask Aunt May,” Katie said.
“She’s gone, remember? And nobody says a word to my mom. She’ll flip out and lock me in my room for eternity.”
“I’m surprised she actually let you go camping tonight,” Tanner said.
“Actually, she thinks I’m sleeping at Katie’s house tonight,” Allora said, grinning.
“Oh, you are so dead if she finds out,” Dax added, laughing.
Eight
ROVER
Tanner veered his black Ford Bronco onto an old, abandoned lumberjack road that stretched high into the wooded hills of Mt. Hood National Forest. After a jarring ten-minute drive through the thick woods, they finally came upon an orange light glowing in the darkness. A large bonfire illuminated an expansive abandoned rock quarry. Flames licked ten feet into the air, sending embers rocketing skyward, and the orange-red light danced against the rocky, half-bowl-shaped hill.
Allora looked out over the edge of the quarry, down into the valley below. Dots of yellow sparkled in the distance, and something about them reminded her of home. A fight with her mother seemed inevitable.
As Tanner pulled up beside Katie’s vehicle, Allora noticed the infamous, bright yellow Volkswagen with “Pioneer Soccer” plastered all over the rear window. She cringed.
Tanner noticed too. “Sorry. I really had no idea she was here.” Allora raised an eyebrow, questioning his remark without saying a word. “We can go if you want.”
Allora let out a sigh and shrugged. “Meh. I’m gonna have to see her at school anyway.” She opened the door, stepped outside, and warily walked toward the bonfire.
As soon as Brandon saw the foursome, he strutted over. “What up peeps!”
“Hey, Brandon,” everyone said with hint of antagonism. Brandon Stringer was a forward on the soccer team. He was short, with dark skin and short, black hair. He was somewhat annoying, but he had a way of making everyone laugh at his comedic antics.
“That was a sick game bro, you killed it.” Brandon pulled Tanner in for a half-hug, pushing Dax playfully. “You were alright as well.”
Dax crouched down, trying to take out Brandon’s legs, but just ended up in an arm lock for a few seconds.
“What the hell are the freaks doing here,” Jenny said, stomping over with her posse in tow.
“Chill, girl,” Brandon said. “I invited them.”
Jenny’s eyes opened wider. “Excuse me!” she said, mimicking his body language. “Chill?”
Everyone around stopped what they were doing to watch the confrontation.
Jenny pushed Tanner and began to march a beeline toward Allora.
Katie stepped in front and raised her chin, stopping Jenny in her tracks. “Go ahead, Jenny. I dare ya.”
Jenny was intimidating, but she didn’t stand a chance against Katie. The two stared each other down like gunslingers, each waiting for the other to draw. Jenny clenched her fists but kept them stiffly by her sides as the standoff and stare-down continued.
Suddenly, a loud rustling of branches interrupted the confrontation. The sound came from the tree line at the top of the rock quarry, drawing attention upward. The group fell silent. Nothing moved except the shadows from the dancing flames.
Out of the darkness, a deafening screech pierced the silence. It echoed into the quarry, where the petrified teenagers stood motionless, grasping one another for some sense of security. Allora turned toward the twins and found Dax and Katie scanning the tree line like two sentries.
“That did not sound friendly,” Tanner said.
Katie grabbed her brother’s arm. “Did you pack the weapons?”
“No, did you?” Dax responded.
“I’ve got my throwing knifes,” Katie responded, lifting her shirt to showcase the band of steel blades around her abdomen.
“I forgot mine as well,” Tanner added.
A foreboding air surrounded the quarry.
“Shut up!” Jenny whispered loudly.
Katie ignored her and turned to Dax. “Did you bring anything?”
“Actually, I might have stuffed my staff in my bag,” Dax replied as he hastened toward the bronco.
“What the hell was that thing?” Allora asked, scanning the woods.
Panic spread throughout the group.
“This is messed up,” Brandon said. “Shouldn’t we get outta here?”
“Katie, any ideas?” Tanner asked. “It didn’t sound like anything I’ve heard before.”
Katie ignored the interrogation and ordered, “Tanner, Allora, if something comes out of those trees, you need to run as fast as you can into the forest. Head east… and don’t look back.”
“What!? I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got to—”
“Allora,” Katie snapped, “we don’t have much time. It’s imperative that you follow my directions.” Her eyes were full of authority, as if a military commander had taken over.
“I can’t find it!” Dax said, frantically throwing junk out of the back of the Bronco.
“Shut up, shut up, shut uuuuuuuuuup,” Jenny whispered, angrily.
Katie walked a half-step away from her friends, then spun back around. “Whatever you do, don’t let the rover put its palm on your forehead.”
“A rover?” Allora asked. “What the hell is that? Somebody’s dog?”
“If only that were—”
Before Katie could explain, a dark, shadowy figure leapt from high above the crowd and landed right on the hood of Jenny’s car with such force that the windows exploded outward like a bursting bubble.
“That is a rover!” Katie said, fearlessly running toward the strange creature.
Allora squinted in the firelight to get a look at it. The rover was small, only a few feet high, with scaly, dark, greenish-brown skin, like a reptile’s. Its eyes were golden with vertical, cat-like irises. After briefly surveying the chaotic scramble of humans, the creature grinned, baring sharp, pointed teeth. Before Allora could move, Jenny knocked her over, attempting to escape. From the rocky ground, Allora noticed Katie pulling knives from her waist as she charged the creature. Dax found the handle of a short stick and pulled it from the bed of his pickup just as the creature sprang forward and hit him in the chest. Dax flew limply across the quarry, into a pile of dirt. Before the creature could mount another attack, Katie pulled back a knife, gripping the steel blade with her thumb and forefinger, and flung the weapon violently toward the rover. With a glistening flash, her blade slashed through the crisp air, striking the creature in the side, sending it flying off the gravel lip at the quarry edge. A high-pitched squeal trailed into the night, followed by a chorus of earsplitting screeches from the valley depths.
Suddenly, an identical creature flew over the line of cars. It sprang forward and struck Jenny in the back with such force that it propelled her forward, hurling her into the road, where she crashed headfirst into the hard dirt, knocked unconscious. The creature crawled along her back, maliciously pulled her head by her hair, and placed its palm on her forehead. The firelight revealed a lanky, reptilian creature with a long, skinny torso, razor-sharp teeth, and five locks of hair pulled back against its flat skull. Unhappy with its prey, the creature picked up a rock and raised it above Jenny’s head.
Allora’s fast-moving foot clipped the rover’s side and sent it flying into the fire. The creature hit the logs and screeched in vile desperation as its scales were scorched, then ran around the quarry, trying to put out the fire. Allora turned around to see a larger creature charging at her. There was no time to mount a defense. Just inches from Allora, the creature yelled when one of Katie’s knives lodged deep in its side. The monster pulled the weapon from between its scales and dropped it, allowing a fountain of green ooze to spurt from the wound. The rover then cried out in pain and ran toward the parked cars. Upon reaching the quarry edge, it let out another deafening screech, causing the other creatures to abandon their attack and follow it into the woods.
“Nice kick,” Katie remarked, placin
g one of her throwing knives back in her belt and glanced at the unconscious blonde sprawled on the ground. “A little surprised that you didn’t let the thing whack her on the head.”
“No way! If anybody’s gonna whack Jenny on the head, it’s gonna be me.”
Tanner and Dax ran up.
“Where were you two?” Katie asked.
Tanner pulled a tire iron from his side to prove that he was ready to fight, even if he hadn’t gotten back in time to do so. “Sorry,” he said, wearing a guilty half-grin. “Guess I missed the party.”
“And what about you?” Katie asked, putting her hands on her hips, clearly disappointed with her brother.
“That thing knocked the wind out of me.”
“Where’s your staff?”
Dax pulled a handlebar from his waist. With a flick of his wrist, the short handle extended out from both sides to a length of five feet.
Katie continued collecting her throwing knives and placing them back into the sheaths secured around her waist.
Allora grabbed a burning stick from the fire. “Okay, so what is that thing?
Katie opened her mouth to explain, but she wasn’t able to give an answer before Jenny began to stir.
“Hey, you all right?” Tanner asked, wiping the dirt from her face.
“All right?” she questioned mockingly between sobs. “That stupid animal attacked me! Where were you?” she demanded to know, jerking herself out of Tanner’s concerned grasp.
The rest of the students were already running down the dirt road. They had abandoned their cars and were trying to make it to the freeway to flag down a ride.
Brandon popped up from behind a large pile of branches. “Is it gone yet?” he asked nervously, walking to the others.
From the depths of the forest valley, another screech echoed, but this sound was different. Much to their dismay, the deep pitch suggested something larger than the creatures they had just fought.
“That’s it. I’m leaving!” Jenny said, running to catch up with the others. “Wait for me!” she yelled, but no one seemed interested in listening to her.
Brandon began to jog to his car.
“I wouldn’t go over there, man,” Dax cautioned.
“Why not? There’s no way I’m leaving my car here,” Brandon said. “I just got it detailed.”
Allora and the others watched as Brandon frantically searched his pockets, trying to locate his keys among the random debris that filled them. He fumbled through receipts and coins, becoming increasingly frantic when no keys presented themselves.
“Brandon!” Katie yelled.
Just as he got to his car, a shadowy, humanlike figure appeared, backlit by the moon.
Brandon finally pulled the keys out of his pocket but dropped them. His hand shook as he picked them up and shoved them into the keyhole on his driver side door. The others watched in horror as he froze, then reached up to touch a spot of moisture that had appeared on his shoulder. He slowly twisted his neck around to look directly into a face full of jagged teeth and dripping saliva.
A gut-wrenching scream followed when the creature picked him up and threw him at least twenty feet. Brandon was unconscious as soon as he thudded to the ground in a heap. Next, the sinister beast moved toward the fire where Allora, Tanner, Dax, and Katie were preparing their stances for an attack. Despite their fear, they stood their ground.
“You two need to get outta here,” Katie wailed. “Head east, like I said.”
Allora moved forward with the torch, her only weapon, held high. “No way! I’m not leaving you guys.”
As the figure moved closer, they could distinguish some of its features. Like its smaller counterparts, it had reptilian scales and no hair. Its beady, catlike eyes flickered, glowing gold. A slithering, snakelike tongue slipped in and out with every step it took.
Dax placed his staff in the ground like a vaulting pole and skillfully pulled his body up as the creature sprang forward. As he came down, Dax swung the staff around, twisting his body and striking the rover with the blunt end of the wooden staff. The rover shook off the pain like a dog in the rain, then positioned itself on all fours like a lion, ready to pounce. Hissing and staring intently, the beast pushed off, moving rapidly. Katie pulled back, launching a barrage of knives. The creature was surprisingly agile and flipped, dodging the flying silver blades. It snapped around and kicked Dax firmly in the chest. He flew backward, flailing and just missing the dying bonfire. Catching Katie’s flying kick, the rover twisted around, blocking another strike from the quick blonde. The rover made an offensive downward thrust, but Katie blocked it and pushed her hand forcefully into the creature’s chest. It cringed, reclaimed its balance, and spun around.
The glow from the end of Allora’s weapon lit the dark battle as the other three took turns attacking. The rover easily blocked and countered every strike. After throwing Tanner onto a car, the creature struck Allora in the gut, pushing her along the ground. Dax joined his sister, swinging his staff into the rover’s side, then twisted and tried to catch the back part of its knee. It did little good, for the rover jumped high and twisted downward, landing on Dax’s collarbone.
Katie tried to thrust her knife into its abdomen, but the creature arched his back, grabbed her wrist, and smacked the steely blade from her grasp. She tried to counter, but the rover had the upper hand, quite literally, and flung her into the air. Katie’s body crashed into the windshield of the yellow Volkswagen. The rover leapt high, ready to exact a final blow as the other three tried to regain their composure, sprawled sporadically on the ground. It appeared as if Katie was doomed, and she let out a scream that was sure to be her final one. A split second before her would-be death, though, a green surge of light crashed into the creature’s upper back. The explosion of energy forced it over the quarry edge and into the forest valley below.
All four teens managed to get to their feet, holding the various aching, bruised, and bleeding parts of their body where the creature had struck them. They looked up to the top of the quarry, the place where their saving green light had come from, but nothing was there. Upon meeting next to the fire, they all checked each other’s wounds.
Suddenly, an enormous creature almost eight feet-tall and covered in brown hair emerged from the shadows. He had beady brown eyes, lanky limbs, and a funny quaffed hair cut that stuck out in different directions on top of his pointed skull. A brown leather sash was slung across his chest tightly, with a sheathed sword running diagonally across his back, and a brown belt around his waist. A black sheathed dagger was strapped to his thigh, and he had black metal bracelets on both wrists.
“Sas!” Allora screamed, running to the hairy creature, and hugging him profusely. “Where have you been?”
“Oh hey, hold your bears, I gots to go after that rover.”
“Its ‘hold your horses’ you giant fur ball,” Katie yelled, as Sas leapt over the parked cars into the forest. “I swear, he is awful with Earth sayings.”
“Now what?” Tanner asked, as an eerie silence enveloped the quarry.
The dying fire crackled in the dead of night. They stood motionless, without speaking. Then, a shadowy figure sprang from the bottom of the forest, landing hard near the fire.
“Pesky, smelly little rover be fast,” Sas said, cracking his back and stretching his torso. “We need to get out of here though.”
“We’re not going after that thing?” Dax asked.
“No, we’re going to my cave.”
“Sweet! Wait. Don’t tell me were porting there.” Allora asked, slouching down in protest.
“You want to be walking the ten miles in the woods?”
“Ugh, I suck at porting.”
Sas pulled in the hadrons around, began swirling his arms in a clockwise pattern, moving the dirt and gravel around the ground. A green glow lit the quarry as he pushed downward with both palms, shaking the earth below. The ground turned to liquid, swirling magically in the ground like looking into a blender. Dax went
first, followed by the others. Allora reluctantly jumped into the portal, pulling her body forward like jumping through the outer realm, and popping them out in the bushes near Sas’ cave. Allora’s balance shifted, spinning her wildly as she exited the port. Her body was flung into a bush upside down, landing with her feet in the air, and her face in the dirt.
“You really are terrible at that,” Tanner said, laughing as he pulled her out of the bush, and saw her dirt covered face in the light of the moon.
“Shut up,” Allora replied, stomping off up the hill towards the entrance to the cave.
Nine
SAS
Sas popped out of the portal with ease, and led them over the edge of the rock embankment and onto a large stone outcrop. They proceeded slowly along the wide slab to the mouth of a cave. A natural archway of thick vines lined the cave rim. Sharp, jagged rocks protruded inward in several rows, like the teeth of a great white shark. On either side, moss-covered trees hung low, slightly inhibiting the movement into the cavern. As they moved down into the darkness, they kept bumping into walls.
“You really need to get better lighting in here,” Katie said, pushing off the damp rock.
“Sas, you never answered my question,” Allora said, her voice echoing slightly.
The path became slightly illuminated from the faint moonlight shining through the cracks overhead.
“You mean the rover?” Sas said over his shoulder as they continued. “Right, well, rovers are reptilian creatures from Sonora, as you might have guessed,” Sas explained. “They be breaking apart their arms and legs which can change into smaller creatures.” Sas went on to explain the creature’s distinctive and unforgettable features, a biology lesson that had Allora shuddering. “The trick is to be finding the main body when the limbs be separated, because the torso can’t move very fast. It can only extend four very short legs making it pretty vulnerable. When the rover puts itself back together, it is very quick and strong—not someone you wanna be messing with unless you know how to defend yourself.”
