“How do you know so much about Kyle and Jay? Is it just common knowledge around here?” I asked, trying not to think about enduring the next five months. She looked away from me for the first time. When she finally met my eyes again, she seemed more hesitant.
“Well, it’s mostly common knowledge, but I have a little more insight on the matter than most people do. Kyle talks about it a lot.” I looked at her questioningly, and when she continued she sounded embarrassed. “Kyle is my…boyfriend. I know you may think he’s a real jerk for attacking you, but he’s a nice guy once you get to know him. Maybe you two could be friends.”
“Or maybe he just found another reason to beat the hell out of me. He seems like he might be the jealous type.” She didn’t talk for a while. She knew I was right; if Kyle even saw us wave in the hallway, he’d punch me without a second thought. I was about to end our awkward silence when the bell rang. April grabbed her bag and left with a small goodbye. Something weird seemed to be up with her. I hadn’t said anything too bad, yet her mood had switched in the blink of an eye.
The next couple of periods were uneventful. I carefully avoided Kyle and Jay while looking out for any sign of April. No one else got up enough courage to talk to me because most people felt strangers couldn’t be trusted. There were a few human and monster alliances. The human would stay alive as long as the beast got to feast on the ones that the human brought them. It was hard to even think that any human would sink so low, especially since it was only a matter of time before they would get slaughtered and replaced by a new victim anyway. I hoped more people from school would warm up to me soon, or the next year of my life would be a living hell.
I finally got a break from all the teachers and lectures during eighth-period lunch. It was late to eat at that time of day, but at least I would be able to relax for forty minutes. When I walked into the lunchroom, all of the tables were filled with what appeared to be groups of friends. No one would want me there. I spotted April sitting in the back corner, but even she ducked her head down. I didn’t bother to ask to sit with her; I knew she wouldn’t want me to sit with her friends. I walked out and down a hall and found a carpeted sitting area with a few more students eating their lunch. An open bench was in the corner with one kid sitting alone reading a book. I walked over and sat at the other end of the bench. The boy looked up, smiled, then kept reading. I took out the pile of homework I had been assigned in my earlier classes.
As I finished my math homework, the boy put down his book and looked at me.
His blue eyes danced behind his glasses as he studied my face. He was a scrawny kid with long, curly, dirty blonde hair, and he was at least two or three years younger, probably a sophomore.
“Can I help you?” I had never liked younger kids, even when I was one. They always thought they were better than everyone else. All I saw were smart-mouthed brats that didn’t listen to their parents.
“I’m sorry,” he said, snapping out of his daze and looking away from me. “I just realized you look a lot like someone I used to know. His name was Dan Spark.”
“Never heard of him,” I responded quickly as I pulled out my science homework. I tried to ignore him, but he had turned his eyes back to me and kept staring. “Seriously, what do you want?” I seemed to have offended him, because a single tear rolled down his face.
“I’m really sorry. It’s just that Dan was my brother. He was attacked and taken away about three years ago in Colorado. You could be his twin, and I feel like I’m with him right now.” I was taken aback. I felt horrible for acting like such a jerk to him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he was…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“It’s okay. I’m coping. It’s just that seeing you made me think of him.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Brian,” he replied, shaking my hand.
“I’m Jason. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” He pulled his hand back to his book. When the bell rang, I threw my work into my bag and stood up. “I’ll see you later then.” Brian smiled as he put his book away.
“Okay. Bye.” I walked to the gym, happy that I had found another friend, even if he was younger.
Luckily for me, the gym was just around the corner, so I didn’t have to take alternate routes to hide from Kyle and Jay. However, I pushed the door open and, to my utter dismay, saw Kyle dribbling a basketball down the court. Another glance showed Jay standing under the hoop waiting to block. The three of us were the only ones there at the moment, and I really didn’t want to be alone with them. I stood there unnoticed for a moment, then decided to flee the room. It was then that I realized I had let go of the door, and it was quickly swinging shut behind me. The door slammed, the noise echoing throughout the entire gym, causing Kyle and Jay to turn and face me. They must not have been expecting me, because they both froze in surprise. Then, Kyle suddenly dropped the ball and started to walk toward me.
I inched back, reaching for the door blindly while keeping my eyes on Kyle, who was advancing rather quickly. The look of intense anger and hate on his face caused my legs to lock in panic. When he finally reached me, he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. My own hands grabbed his instinctively, and he pulled me farther into the gym towards Jay.
“Looks like we get to finish what we started this morning, Jay,” Kyle snickered as we reached his cousin.
“What’re we gonna do with him?” Jay asked. Kyle pushed me away and straight into Jay’s clutches.
“Bring him into the locker room. We can take care of him in there.”
“But Kyle, people will be coming in here any second. Ninth period is about to start.” Jay was apprehensive now, unlike in the morning when he had been just as eager to beat me up as Kyle.
“Then, we’ll make it quick. Let’s hurry up and get him in there.” Kyle began to walk past Jay and me. As he passed us, he shot his arm out and sent his fist into my stomach. He continued on toward the locker room without another word.
I doubled over in pain, trying desperately to breathe; he had knocked the wind out of me. Jay pulled me back up, but before we could follow Kyle, the gym door shook violently and then was thrust open. April stood there, her face masked with anger.
“Kyle!” she bellowed as she stormed into the room. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
“You wouldn’t understand. Just go meet me at my locker; I’ll be right there,” Kyle said, then turned to Jay. “Come on. Hurry up before someone gets here.”
“No, Jay, stop right there.” April walked up and separated me from Jay’s beefy hands. “Don’t touch him again.” She punched Jay in the chest, then grabbed me by the arm and began to lead me to the door.
“April,” Kyle said, but April ignored him and kept walking. “April, stop.” She gave him no response, but I could feel her slow slightly. “April, if you leave this gym with him I’ll never speak to you again.”
She finally stopped, only two feet from the door. Kyle came to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Now get out of here.”
“No.” April’s voice was firm. “I won’t let you hurt him.”
“April, if you don’t leave this gym in the next two seconds, I swear I’ll…”
Kyle was cut short by a door opening at the other side of the gym revealing a woman who must have been the gym teacher.
“The four of you need to get out of here. I have a class starting in a few minutes,” she said in a husky voice. For a gym teacher, she was surprisingly pudgy and out of shape.
“Sorry, Ms. Stern. We were just playing some ball during lunch,” Jay said.
“Well, I’m sure you have another class to get to. Off you go.”
“We’ll see you second period tomorrow,” Kyle added lightly, as he glared at me. He and Jay grabbed their things and left the gym as the other students started to arrive. April stayed, though, guiding me over to the nearest corner.
/> “April, I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough. If you hadn’t shown up, I don’t think Ms. Stern would have come soon enough to stop them,” I said, finally able to breathe regularly again.
“I wasn’t just going to let them beat you up.” She was staring at the door anxiously, probably thinking Kyle would come back for her. “It was my fault, anyway. Kyle saw us talking in history. He came to walk me to my next class and was waiting at the door at the end of the period. That’s why I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
“Oh, I thought something was up with you. But I doubt that was the reason for what just happened. I think he’s out to get me.”
“Yeah, well, I wanted to let you know that if I ignore you, it’s not because I’m being mean. I’ll try to talk to you, but I don’t want you to get hurt because of it.” The bell for ninth period rang suddenly and April jumped. “Oops, I’m late.” She grabbed her book bag off the floor and began to walk away. “See you later.” She smiled as she disappeared through the door.
Gym was always one of my favorite classes. I was very athletic and in great shape from years of swimming and surfing off the coast. We played soccer, which would have been fine, but I collided with another kid trying to get the ball from him and landed hard on the wood floor. Other than that, class was great. I tried to get into the game so I didn’t have to think of Kyle and Jay who would probably be waiting for me outside the gym.
When the bell rang, I changed quickly and went out the back way from the gym. I took the long route around, and as I got a glimpse of the front of the gym, I saw Kyle guarding one door and Jay the other. I quickened my pace so they wouldn’t see me and headed for the side door of the school.
A cool fall breeze met my face, along with some drizzling rain. The trees were bare and the ground was beautifully colored with leaves that had recently fallen. The outside of the school was very different from the inside. The inside was more modern because of renovations to provide protection, but the outside was the original redbrick structure. The main entrance to the building included a large courtyard that led to three double doors spread along the front wall. In front of the courtyard was the first of a four-part defense system that was set up at most schools and other public buildings. Ramsons, thick, green-leaved plants with tiny white flowers, were planted all around the school in large squares. The creatures had an aversion to the ramsons’ strong aroma.
The second line of defense was the guards, better known as the Blood Protectors, who were set into place around the world with the creation of The Order. At least twenty of them were patrolling the area; more came out before and after school than during, but there were always a lot. They were dressed in black combat suits that included a lifeless looking helmet and facemask combination. Each had a handgun on their waist and a flamethrower strapped to their back. One of the only things monsters couldn’t heal from was fire, and while a gun might hold them back temporarily, it wouldn’t kill them. The guards rarely came inside the schools because adults wanted to give the kids as much of a normal childhood as possible, although that was pretty difficult these days.
The third defense was the windows. They were made with glass specially mixed with holy water so that if a creature tried to break through, it would be seared. Of all the defenses, this was the weakest. It served only as a last resort should the others fail.
The final defense consisted of one of the two defenses used for private homes. The first defense of a private home was the creatures’ inability to enter a private dwelling without the verbal permission of a resident. This was why many people were able to avoid attack, but because of the creatures’ sly trickery, they still managed to enter most of the homes they wanted to get into. By pretending to be human, a creature could win their victim’s trust, then they could be invited in, which would give them access to that home forever, even if someone else owned it. Since no one could be certain if a creature had had previous permission to enter a house, most people didn’t rely on that particular defense.
The second defense for private homes, the one also used for public buildings, is to have special symbols carved or hung on the doors to weaken and turn the creatures away. They can also be put on the outer walls. They work best out of all the defenses, but like the others, they don’t work one hundred percent of the time.
It was a fairly long walk across the courtyard to my bus. When I arrived, I saw two more guards in the front seats. The buses in Daly City had never had guards. The bus driver was the only line of defense, and many people were killed because of it. It was nice to know I wouldn’t have that fear, anymore.
Drop-offs would be safer, too. Every student was let off the bus as close to their house as possible, instead of at a single bus stop. This minimized the time outside where a creature could attack. Now, with the extra two guards, one would escort the students directly to their front doors while the other stayed on the bus.
When I got on the bus, I saw that most of the seats had been taken. I looked to the back and, to my relief, found Brian Spark sitting by himself. I scooted past the other students and made my way to Brian. When I slumped down in the seat next to him, he looked up, startled. When he saw it was me, he sighed in relief.
“Hey, Jason,” he said quietly. “Glad it’s you. I get bullied a lot on the bus.”
“Well then, I guess we’ll both get bullied,” I laughed.
“No sophomore would dare get into a fight with you.”
“I guess that would be pretty stupid of them.” I had been thinking of Kyle and Jay, but obviously they weren’t on this bus because the doors were closing. Unlike when my parents went to school, everyone had to be evacuated from school grounds at the end of the day so that the guards could go back to patrolling the rest of the town for the night. Only one or two would stay at the school to be sure no monsters could sneak in and wait for the next day.
The ride to Stallion Trail was short, and my mom was waiting for me at the bus stop. While we drove the thirty seconds around the block to my house, she pounded me with a million questions. I gave her a “good” and a “fine” here and there, but I didn’t want to get her all riled up about Kyle and Jay.
My house stood two stories high on a 1 1/2 acre lot. It was a perfect shade of dark green, my parents called it Pacific Pine, with brown trim. At first glance, it looked like a normal home, but, like the school, it had the basic protections. My mom had planted ramsons around the whole house the first day we moved in. Although guards didn’t patrol my front lawn, they did do drive-bys regularly. The windows were made with the blessed water, and our doors had three of the special symbols carved in them. Unfortunately, the last owners had been killed by the creatures, so we were pretty sure they had already been invited and could come back at any time.
I went straight to my room and finished all of my homework. By the time I was done, dinner was ready. I ate quickly, hoping to get to sleep early. I needed energy to evade Kyle and Jay in the morning. The second my head hit the pillow I was asleep, but it wasn’t a restful night. I dreamt of bloodthirsty monsters chasing me and Kyle around. At the end of the dream, Kyle pushed me down so he could escape and I was taken away by the creatures.
Chapter 2
Stalker
“Jason!” my mom yelled, waking me up instantly. “Get up, or you’re going to be late!” The only thing that gave me a little incentive to get up was that it was Thursday and the weekend was almost here.
I got up and quickly got into the shower. The warm water felt delightful as it poured over my body. I stood in the shower for ten minutes before I got out, got dressed, and went downstairs. A bowl of cereal was waiting for me on the table when I got to the kitchen. I ate fast and got my lunch ready.
“Mom?” I asked. “Are you almost ready? I’m going to be late.” She came through the swinging door with an annoyed look on her face.
“It’ll be your own fault if you’re late,” she scolded me. “You overslept, and it’s only your second day. What am I going to do
with you?” She grabbed her keys off the counter, and I followed her to the car. The ride to school was quick, so I made it with more than enough time. I went to English early so I could get a seat in the back of the room where Kyle and Jay couldn’t throw things at me. If I was really lucky, they wouldn’t notice me at all.
Mrs. Sherwood was the last person to walk through the door after the bell rang. The class had been silently praying that she wouldn’t come in at all, but to our dismay, she came in holding a large stack of papers. She placed the stack on her desk in the front of the room.
“Could everyone please come collect their tests from Tuesday?” She spoke loudly, trying to talk over the students. As everyone got up slowly and dragged themselves to the front of the room, I stayed seated, feeling very relieved that I hadn’t been there on Tuesday to take the test. It was on Hamlet, which they had been reading before I arrived. I had already read it and knew I wouldn’t understand it, even for the second time.
Mrs. Sherwood spent the first half of the period going over the test, but since I had no test to look at, I doodled until she was finished. Next, she introduced us to A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. I hadn’t read it yet, and it sounded interesting, so I was able to pay attention for the majority of the time she spoke.
For some reason, my eyes kept darting to the trees outside the window. I couldn’t tell if I was getting antsy, or if my eyes had caught something moving. Whenever I looked there was nothing there, and it was pretty easy to see through the trees this time of fall. I finally decided it was unimportant, so I forced myself to pay attention until the end of class.
Descendant: The Protector (The Descendant Series) Page 2
