“Hey, you want to see something cool?” Creed abruptly asked. Genesis nodded while she attempted to pull her hair away from her face. With one quick motion, Creed flung his wrists towards a piece of broken board that was sitting in the bed of the truck. The piece quickly cracked in two. Genesis instantly shrieked while flinging her hand across her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
“Pretty neat, huh?”
“So, you do have other powers.”
“I guess so.”
The sun had completely vanished by now and the bright lights of Phoenix were taking over as they headed towards the airport. “So, what else can you do?” Genesis interrogated further. “That’s it, I think. I don’t know. I was hanging out in the backyard, and I just busted out a brick on the house. My Mom came home before I could continue.”
“So, you can move any object? Like what about planes or even small buildings?”
“You know, oddly enough I didn’t think about trying to move a plane or even a building.”
“Really? You haven’t contemplated all the possibilities Creed?”
“Apparently not.”
“Do it again.” Genesis insisted. Creed smiled then flicked his wrists in an outward motion. Suddenly, the tailgate fell off its hitch. Kuruk felt the vibration and looked in the rearview mirror. He saw that the tailgate was down and heard Genesis laughing in the back.
“Hey, what’s going on back there?” Kuruk cried out.
“I think your truck is broken.” Genesis replied.
Kuruk pulled over and rapidly walked towards the back of his truck. He lifted the tailgate and placed it back into its hitch. “What happened?” Kuruk inquired.
“I have no idea, it just fell.”
As her brother walked back towards the cab of the truck, Genesis whispered into Creed’s ear. “Come on, we have to mess with my brother.”
Creed nodded his head in objection but of course as always, she insisted. Genesis looked over and raised her eyebrows. Creed sighed in opposition and then flicked his wrists towards the tailgate once again. The bed of the truck immediately fell, and Genesis couldn’t help but cry out in a maniacal laugh.
“Da fuck man?” Kuruk yelled.
He exited the cab and rushed towards the back. Genesis was laughing so hard that she started gasping for air. Creed sat there trying hard not to laugh while Kuruk surveyed the back end of his truck. “What the hell is so funny Gen?” her brother asked.
Genesis couldn’t even stop laughing long enough to answer her brother. It wasn’t as if the act alone was funny. She just got a kick out of her brother’s reactions to random annoyances. Kuruk might’ve looked just like their father, but their personalities were polar opposites. Kuruk’s expressions were always more hyper and enthusiastic. A loud Da Fuck was the typical response you would hear in his moments of frustration.
“Are you guys messing with the truck?” Kuruk asked. “No, we haven’t touched anything.” Creed answered. “We promise.” Genesis finally answered her brother.
“You’re an idiot Gen, knock it off.”
Kuruk slammed the tailgate back into place for the second time and began walking towards the front of his truck. Right before he could slip into the front seat, the tailgate fell down again. Genesis couldn’t help but completely lose all control of her senses and broke out into a delirious laugh. Unlike before, Creed had nothing to do with the tailgate this time. That didn’t stop Kuruk from rushing back and staring at the two of them with an egregious look. “That’s it! Get out of the bed, both of you. Get up front with me, now.”
Creed tried to apologize as they both exited the bed and made their way to the cab, but Kuruk wouldn’t even acknowledge the sentiment. As you could imagine, the rest of the drive to Sky Harbor was a bit quieter.
As soon as the trio pulled up around the back of the airport, Kuruk placed the truck in park and jumped out of the cab. He pulled out a joint from his pocket and lit it up. Kuruk announced that he was starting his own self-proclaimed vacation from school the right way. Out of the two years he had been attending school, this was the very first time he had ever decided to take a semester off. Kuruk was only sixteen when he first began receiving scholarships for his writing. He eventually decided on taking Journalism courses over at ASU since it was closest to his family. Creed looked up to Kuruk both literally and figuratively ever since they met. Creed always wished he had a sibling, and ironically enough they both shared a common rapport for writing. Kuruk equally admired Creed. He was like a little brother whom he enjoyed giving pointers and advice to. Especially on topics he couldn’t talk with his own sister about. This made Genesis happy that the two of them got along so well. She hadn’t told her brother about the momentous kiss just yet, but she was certain he wouldn’t even care. Kuruk probably wouldn’t even flinch since he probably saw it as fate.
“It’s quiet.” Kuruk announced.
The sky that night seemed like an endlessly dark abyss. If it wasn’t for Sky Harbor’s bright lights, they probably wouldn’t be able to see anything out there by the runways. Kuruk let down the tailgate of his truck and sat down while peering up at the sky. Both Creed and Genesis sat on opposite sides of the truck’s bed. After a few minutes of waiting, Genesis noticed a pair of lights slowly getting brighter and pointed towards them. “Look.”
“About time.” Her brother replied.
The lights started getting bigger and the screeching of the approaching plane’s engine grew louder. Once the plane was close enough and the sound almost deafening, the three of them began yelling up towards the sky. As the plane passed them on the ground Creed couldn’t help but notice that it was a military cargo plane. Almost immediately the three of them noticed more lights in the sky.
“Look, another one.” Kuruk yelled.
As the second plane passed them up, Creed again noticed that it was another military plane. What the hell? Creed thought to himself. He thought back to the story CNN was reporting a couple hours before Genesis had showed up at his house. Creed wondered if this could be related.
“Isn’t all this beautiful?” Kuruk started.
“What?” Genesis asked.
“I mean do you ever just sit back and think about all of this?” He continued.
“About all of what?”
“Well like, do you ever wonder what kind of people are up there in those planes, flying around in that dark sky right now? Where they all might be going, or what kind of thoughts they might have? I wonder if they in turn, ever wonder what might be taking place down here at this very moment, past their own interests.”
“What are you talking about?” Genesis interjected.
“Seriously,” Kuruk continued. “Do you wonder what might be past our skies and solar systems? What kind of unbearably mundane purposes that we all possess here on earth. We are literally just specks in a very simplistic part of the entire universe. Not even specks, probably just microscopic cells from a tiny drop of blood. Billions and billions of stars out there, light years of black holes and uninhabitable planets that haven’t even been discovered with our billion-dollar microscopes and satellites. And what do we all care about?”
It was obvious that Kuruk was now high and feeling a bit prescient. Genesis and Creed both smiled at each other while he continued his rant, flamboyantly flailing his arms around the entire time.
“Am I going to get a job out of college?” Kuruk went on. “Who will win the big game on Sunday? Does the government really have the people in their best interests, and would we even care if the truth was exposed that they really don’t give a shit about us? Health Care priorities are upside down. Big Pharma companies spending millions of dollars to market their medications. All the while, they spend millions more trying to fabricate useful information, they roll their eyes when you mention possibly seeing a holistic physician, and they pay off incessant amounts of politicians to keep the F.D.A. on their side. They call you whiny, hippy, or a tree hugging progressive if you expose any type of t
hought unparalleled to theirs. And when did those terms become so minacious to begin with? Like it’s a bad thing to be progressive?”
Genesis started laughing. It wasn’t as if she didn’t find truth to any of his predispositions. She just couldn’t help but find his animated eccentricities while expressing himself, anything short of humorous. Kuruk continued while Creed and Genesis noticed another plane approaching in the distance. They all looked up as it passed. Another military plane.
“Hey guys, are you seeing this?” Creed asked anxiously.
“Seeing what?” Kuruk snapped back to reality.
“That was the third military plane that just passed overhead. Not one commercial plane has landed or taken off since we’ve been here? You guys haven’t noticed that?”
Genesis and Kuruk both looked over past the fence at the airport’s tarmac, and noticed the military plane pulling in near the other two.
“Damn, I wasn’t even paying attention.” Kuruk announced before glancing down at his watch.
“Well, what do you think could be going on?”
“As much as I would love to stay and not find out what’s going on, it’s getting late, so we should probably start heading back.”
The three of them jumped off the bed of the truck and piled into the cab. Kuruk started the engine and they started making their way back to Mesa. On the drive home, Creed could only speculate over the planes and if they had anything to do with the news report earlier that evening. He just couldn’t help but wonder why they would be all flying to Sky Harbor. Genesis rested her head on Creed’s shoulder and Kuruk blasted the truck radio, as not a whole lot was spoken on the trip home. They made it back to Creed’s house a little before ten. Genesis turned towards her brother as he put the truck in park.
“Hey, can you tell Dad I’ll be home in a little bit?”
“Wait, what?” Creed protested.
Genesis quickly turned back towards Creed. “Just for a little bit. I wanted to talk to you.” She reassured.
Kuruk gazed confusingly at his sister and then over towards Creed. Any other time he would’ve inquired further, but he was high and was looking forward to getting some sleep. He had already taken the trip out to Mesa and back to Phoenix twice already.
“Fine, but you have to walk home, I’m not coming back to get you.”
“That’s fine. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay. See you later Creed.”
“Later man.”
Genesis closed the passenger door behind her and walked with Creed up to the house. As soon as they entered, Creed checked all over to see if anyone might still be up. His parents must’ve been in bed since all the lights were out and it was eerily quiet. They both quietly scurried upstairs to Creed’s bedroom. After he shut the door to his room, Creed sat down on his bed while Genesis started pacing around the room.
“What are you doing?” Creed asked.
“I’m nervous.”
“Nervous about what?”
Without warning Genesis finally turned and leapt on top of Creed. Their lips locked as the two of them slowly tumbled atop the mattress. She moved her body against his while she glided her lips across his neck. Creed grabbed Genesis’ hips and squeezed them, pulling her back into him. Genesis sat up momentarily and the couple gazed into each other’s eyes.
“Are you sure about this?” Creed asked. She smiled before lifting off her shirt. She unhooked her bra and revealed her breasts. Creed smiled while pausing to take in the exotic sight. Genesis’ skin was like a tannish golden dessert with a slightly whiter colorization, astonishingly beautiful like the Maldives. Creed lightly grazed his hands up and down her chest, feeling her soft and silky skin before he pulled her into the air and placed her gently on her back; her breasts shaking in the motion. He pulled off his shirt followed by his pants before grinding up against her body, Genesis’ legs wrapped around his waist as he pushed his groin into her body.
As the couple made love for the first time, all felt right in the world for the two of them. Creed probably saw this moment in his life playing out a little while down the road for him, but he was quite satisfied with the results. Additionally, Creed was very thrilled he wouldn’t have to play the what-if’s and the random rumbling surrounding this moment as he did with the kiss. Instead Genesis made a daring move and got him off the hook. And to Creed’s surprise, she didn’t runaway right afterwards either. She stayed this time. Well for a little while anyway.
CHAPTER SIX
Col. Richard Posey always kept a bottle of Ballantine’s scotch at his desk and would only pull it out in particular situations. In all his years in the military, there wasn’t much that would rattle the colonel. Tonight, happened to be quite different. He sat in his office at the US Defense Department headquarters in Phoenix staring at a manila folder that was dropped off at his office a few minutes earlier.
The colonel spent practically his entire life in the military. The Army would be the only love affair that Richard Evan Posey would ever experience. His dad before him served under the great Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and the equally prolific Gen. Sutherland during World War II in the Philippines. He grew up listening to his dad talk about old war stories and more specifically the time spent in the Philippines alongside the valiant General. His father specifically recounted the time MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia, and the elder Posey was a part of the select group to accompany the General as they all flew together in a B-17. After the war, the colonel’s father settled in Huntington, New York where he met his wife while attending Fordham University. Col. Posey was the youngest of four children. He and his three older sisters were raised with the same competitive nature equivalent to that of the Kennedy’s. The colonel didn’t disappoint either as he spent the summer after high school exceeding top scores over at West Point. Soon after, he enrolled in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program at MIT, earning a two-year scholarship. In 1983, Posey graduated as a Distinguished Graduate and received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon graduation. This would be the exact moment where the love affair started becoming mutual. Posey continued his success in Europe where he held position as platoon leader for the target acquisition, reconnaissance and surveillance platoon. After the first Gulf War broke out, he was assigned to the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment who was tasked with softening up Iraqi defenses. Shortly after the first Gulf War, he was rewarded with the rank of Captain. While the second Gulf war was looming, he was recruited to work alongside Special Ops from the CIA’s Special Activities Division. Right after most of the region was secured and tensions began dying down in the Middle East, Posey made rank of major while still overseas. He spent a short amount of time in Afghanistan before a brief stint in Korea following that. It was then that Posey returned to the states permanently in 2012, but not before being promoted to colonel. A few months after the colonel was eventually assigned to head up the DOD in Phoenix.
Now for the last five years, most of the military’s operations both home and abroad had been mostly stagnant. Most of the world seemed to be at peace except for a few potential terroristic cells spread throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. This would seem like good news in most people’s conceptions, but for the super soldier waning out his days in the hot Arizona desert, this couldn’t be any further from a tragedy. To surpass the time Col. Posey would hold unnecessary training exercises over at Luke Air Force Base with some of the Basic Training graduates. He’d spend his down time either conjuring up a game of pool with some of the locals down at Beaver Bar, or visiting various whores. While the colonel never had an issue finding adequate women to date from time to time, he could never really commit to settling down with anyone. Most of his time was mainly spent on attempting to replicate the same type of success as his father had done before him. While spending so much time overseas converged in mostly military matters, he eventually didn’t see the point as he got older. He never really felt confident enough that he
would be able to love another woman like he did the Army.
The closest he got to love was in Korea when he had inadvertently fell for a beautiful young woman named Jae-Hee at a local supermarket in Seoul. Like most Koreans, the young woman was very reluctant on talking with foreigners, especially an American soldier. She eventually warmed to his pathetic but sweet advances since he didn’t seem as contentious and domineering as the other soldiers would sometimes act. The two spent time attempting to teach each other’s languages while sight-seeing throughout the countryside. Jae-Hee eventually introduced the colonel to her parents. Her mother didn’t take to the colonel as generously. She thought he was another American soldier trying to procure a woman from an exotic land, all for his own perverse fulfillment. Sadly, before anything else could transpire between the young woman and her foreigner, she had caught the eye of another soldier. Instead of attempting to serenade her with flowers or sweet nothings, this soldier ended up raping her outside of town instead. This would lead to an irrational guilt that lasted a while, where eventually the colonel became altogether disengaged when it came to women. According to the countries laws, the U.S. Army was indebted to South Korea and without hesitation handed the soldier over to them to be prosecuted accordingly. The South Korean courts weren’t as kind as our judicial system would have been to the American soldier. Years later Col. Posey looked up the woman’s family and started sending them money to try and ease his guilt. He kept the letter and check anonymous since he figured the family wouldn’t accept it when they found out it was from an American, considering.
So now after everything the colonel refocused his affection for the military and never looked back. He plainly waited for another chance to get out on the battle field. This time around however and unbeknownst to him until this very moment, was that the fight was coming to him. Within that manila folder lying on the colonel’s desk, was a typed letter from his superiors that war was on its way. The U.S. government along with cooperation from the C.I.A. were both reporting that there was now enough evidence to believe the proposed attack was inescapable. There were special instructions to start an immediate removal and reassignment of airplanes, tanks, and personnel to Sky Harbor airport. Since there wasn’t enough time to prepare for an immediate defense against the imposing threat, the C.I.A. thought that a last-minute bait and switch would help salvage their armaments, while additionally giving them enough time to prepare for a more planned out counter attack. The only cause for concern with this plan was the concern for civilian population. Col. Posey never imagined that any type of enemy would ever attempt an attack on the United Sates. Anytime he brought up the fear of foreign attacks on American soil, his father would always assure that we had enough resources to blow anyone out of the sky far before they would even be able to make it here. That left a powerful impact on the colonel. A reassuring one as well.
Goodbye Sky Harbor Page 4
