Chương 36: Aquabeests

Ch. 36: Aquabeests

"This car is really dirty," Nelo said.

"I didn't suggest we take my car," I replied, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles were white.

"What happened to the mirror?" Nelo asked.

"What happened to the windshield!?" Kayla asked.

"What happened to the headrests?"

"We didn't have to take my car!" I said, "Actually, I would have preferred if we took someone else' car."

"I have a two-seater," Nelo said.

"I wasn't familiar with the area, I parked like five blocks away from the party," Kayla said.

"Okay, then let's be mindful about how we talk about my steed." My car sputtered along. Bobbing and weaving through the easy traffic of the nighttime surface streets. Most of the traffic was going the other way, attempting to escape the chaos. Kayla was in the front seat next to me as she dialed on her phone and put it to her ear.

"Who are you calling?" I asked.

"Our union rep is probably in touch with the police already. I'm going to try to get more info."

"Fancy," I said, smiling before seeing Nelo's sunken expression. I turned back to Kayla and said, "Not that fancy. Everyone's got a phone, sis." I kept my hands at 10 and 2 as we waited for Kayla's phone call to commence. Nelo tapped my shoulder. I looked back and she was offering me nuts from a container.

"Trail mix. You'll need the energy," She whispered.

"I'm not hungry," I whispered.

"You will be. Have some," She shook them, loudly.

"Stop," I hissed. She shook them again.

"Okay!" I held out my hands and the trail mix. I only ate the m&ms.

"Don't just eat the m&ms. Eat the nuts too. I'm serious. You need the fats," Nelo said.

"Fine," I chucked the whole thing in my mouth. Kayla's phone call finally connected, "Hey! It's Kayla. Drake Ramirez, Nelo Stillwell and I are heading over." Once I finished my handful, Nelo shook her container again. I held my hand out and whispered, "Just the m&ms."

"No," and she shook another handful into my palm. Kayla continued, "Yeah, no. Okay. biome? Damn. Okay. So the breach.. Is it the core? Okay.

'Not yet' he says. Yeah, keep talking. Take this turn."

"We should take the freeway," I muttered.

"The freeway has been destroyed, take this turn. This turn now!" I ripped a left, almost taking the two wheels of my car off the flat of the road and we continued to drive.

"Do we have to worry about the core yet?" Kayla asked the person on the phone.

"What is it?" I asked. She mouthed, "Savannah Biome."

"Yikes," I looked back at Nelo and whispered, "Savannah biome."

"Yikes," Nelo repeated.

"Yeah, pass me an m&m." She passed me a pretzel. I ate it and said, "I said an m&m." Nelo placed something in my palm and I ate it. It was a pecan. I turned and said, "I said an m&m." Nelo had a mischievous little smile as we locked eyes. Smiling back, I mouthed, "Stop. It." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Kayla looked up and said, "Yeah, I'm seeing it." I looked up too.

A bison-like creature with wings swooped low enough, making a kind of primal 'moo-ing' sound before swooping back up.

"Windabeests," I said. Nelo groaned. Shiftabeests were highly adaptive pack animals. Often taking on elements they stampeded through. The one we had just run into had wings because it had picked up characteristics of the air, but there were all sorts of forms Shiftabeests could take on.

"No sapients as of now. Got it."

"So what makes this a Charlie?" I asked.

"The sheer number," Kayla said, pointing forward. There were more windabeests flying through the air. A lot more. And as we approached, a shiftabeest was lifting a car with its horns, flipping it over.

"We'll talk soon. Thanks," Kayla said.

"Wait!" I yelled, "Ask him if I'm going to get paid as a champ!" Kayla placed her phone on speaker, "Hey! It's Drake. He has something he wants to ask you."

"Uhh, hi. I was just touched. We were going to do my ranking tomorrow. The paperwork has not been processed but… will I still get paid a champion's rate for today's work!?" There was a beat of silence inside the car. We three were so focused on the question, that the cacophony of outside didn't reach us. Eventually, Kayla spoke up.

"Did you hear that?"

"Uh, yeah. Hold on a minute," said the disembodied voice on the speaker. I exchanged glances with Nelo, who was handing me a peanut. I nervously popped it into my mouth.

"He said," She repeated, "That he's got the paperwork filed but has yet to be scanned. Will he still get paid as a champion?" Still nothing. Kayla repeated my name, as if that would help.

"Drake Ramirez." Another pause and I could hear jittering like the adults in Charlie Brown on the other end of the line, unable to understand what he was saying and to whom. Eventually, he spoke.

"Yes. We'll allow it. Today will be your first day paid as a champion."

"Whooo!" I yelled pumping my fist in the air, "Hey man, you can't see it but I just pumped my fist in the air."

"Okay," Said the union rep before saying, "Good luck to all three of you champs out there."

"Thank you! Thank you again!" I said. The line went dead and I pumped my fist in the air one more time. A windabeests landed on my already-dented hood.

"Fuck!" I said, "The dents were already bad enough!" It stomped its hooves at me and was going to use its head to ram the glass. Kayla took her hammer and said, "Sorry, buddy," She rammed the head of the hammer like a spear at the flying bison, breaking through my windshield.

"Should I park!?" I asked.

"No! Keep driving!" Kayla demanded. \ I didn't. I slammed the brakes and the windabeest lost balance. Its wings fluttered as it accounted for the sudden shift. Kayla undid her seatbelt and leapt through the open windshield. She struck at it but it floated out of reach. It flapped its wings hard enough to summon a miniature tornado blast at us. Kayla, once again, turned apologetically to me and slammed her hammer into my metal hood, activating the vibrational qualities of the magic hammer.

It managed to cancel out the wind that would have knocked us all out.

"Kayla!" I yelled.

"Sorry!" Kayla jumped up and struck at the windabeest with her hammer. It managed to duck and ram her with her horns. It dragged her up into the air. She slammed her hammer on its head again. I got out of the car and closed the door. Kayla shouted from above, "Go on ahead! There's going to be a lot more!" Then her eyes went wide and she pointed to the direction we were heading. As she floated away she said, "Look!" I turned. I could only see the top, but we had found the core. Well… just the horns of the core.

The giant horns of the beest could be seen behind some buildings. She screamed at us, "I'm going ahead to check it out!" And she jumped off that windabeest onto another flying in that direction. Kayla left Nelo and I behind. I looked at my car, completely fucked up. I said, "I think that hit the alternator." I tried to rev the engine. My car coughed and coughed as I turned the ignition. I pumped the gas as well.

"Do you think an uber would take us the rest of the way?" Nelo asked. I looked at her, trying to determine if she was joking.

"Are you joking?" She showed me her phone and said, "Esteban's two minutes away."

"Oh, wow. Okay, cool." I sat on my hood. She joined me. We sat in suffocating silence. I said, "I'm not good at this stuff. Normal stuff." She scoffed and said, "Nobody is, Drake. You just think you're worse than everybody else." I thought about her answer, and how Kayla's was a lot more reassuring. Esteban pulled up and we thanked him. We got in his car and he changed the song to blink 182 as soon as we both got in. Then he hopped on his phone and talked to his buddy the entire time.

Nelo and I didn't talk for a bit. Then… Nelo finally, quietly and resolutely said, "I'd like to feel like I matter to you. I think I've earned being a priority in your life." I sat there and finally said, "Fair." We sat in longer silence while the red light blared at us before I finally said, "Hey, man. Can you just go? There are literally no cars left on the road." Esteban was too busy talking to his chum on the phone to hear what I said.

"Hey, man. I think this red light only turns when there are more cars on the sensors. You're not going to be able to go through it." He was still talking. I said, "Esteban. Esteban!" The conversation he was having started to turn ugly. I could tell it was becoming a lot more animated and he started hurling insults. He was slamming his hand on the Hyundai's interface angrily. Just then I looked up and saw a deluge of aquabeests lead a charge of water. A tidal wave in the middle of Los Angeles.

It came erupting toward us from the right side.

"Esteban, you need to rush this stoplight. Esteban!"

"Esteban, please!" Nelo shouted. Finally, he took notice. He placed hand on the headrest and turned back and said, "What!? What is it!? Need some water?" And just then the wave of aquabeests hit the car and buried us in water.