###
“Hey!” Mark Huxley called from down the driveway, interrupting my thoughts. Son of a bitch. There I was, chain-smoking on the porch again. I guess I never was able to break the habit. “You ran away.”
“Your point?” I exhaled.
“Point is,” he spat as he strolled up, “girls don’t usually do that to me…unless of course they’re afraid of my burn scars, which I know for a fact you aren’t.”
“Hux, I know you want to try to impress me and all, be a badass or whatever. I get it. But you’re not stupid. You know better than to ask me what happened out there.”
“Well I’m not stupid, but no one ever said I was smart exactly,” he grinned. Asshole.
“Would it kill you to be considerate?”
“I guess not. Sorry.”
“It’s whatever,” I sighed, taking one last drag and tossing out my cigarette. “So, your party…expecting a big turnout?”
“Doing what I can to rally the masses,” he said sarcastically. “Would you mind spreading the word?”
I shrugged. “Sure, why not. Not like it’s the absolute worst idea you’ve ever had.”
“Oh, almost forgot. You have any spare weed lying around? Not for me, it’s for Johnny’s dad. He’s hurting pretty bad.”
“God,” I laughed. “Course we do, take what you need. I swear we’re running a Colombian cartel.”
“Nothing wrong with that. Long as you got enough for the party,” Hux chuckled.
“Don’t push it. Shit takes time to grow. Anyone takes too much more, we’ll be down to the babies.”
Seth suddenly rounded the corner from the side of the house to surprise us both, taking off his shirt and tossing it aside. When it comes to me, my brother’s always been pretty protective, much as I give him shit about it. I used to think it was kinda strange because I always got the impression he tried too hard to be the man of the house. Of course I’d chalked it up to how most boys are. That was up until I accidentally walked in on him and Tim Andersson in bed together. Seth insists they weren’t messing around because Timmy’s been abused in the past and isn’t ready for anything serious, so they just sort of lay there with their shirts off and talk. I guess it’s adorable in an odd sort of way. Seth claims he’s bi. I can believe it though.
“Hey, Hux.” I gave him a weird look. “Not interrupting, am I?”
“Nah,” I smirked. “Mark was just leaving.”
He rolled his eyes. “Was not.”
“That’s cool, I could use your help out back,” Seth said.
“You mean in the back?” I chuckled.
“Funny, sis. No Hux, we been digging up one of your things.”
My heart suddenly sunk. “One of what things?” I snapped. “Seth, what are you doing with our yard?”
“Nothing Dad wouldn’t approve of. And it’s not in the yard, it’s out in the cornfield, he wants it outta there anyways. What do you care?”
I hesitated for a second but shook my head. It couldn’t be what I was thinking of. Not a chance in hell. We would have seen or heard something by now, especially if they had just dug their way into the ground carefully tilled by farmers for half the spring season, which was completely unlikely because somebody would have seen it. And it’s not like there were any crazy noises or things slicing us to bits. At least not yet. Still, I decided I should probably see what they were up to.
Holding my breath as we rounded the house, Hux put an arm around my shoulder right behind my brother. It was a bold move, but not one that I felt like dealing with at the moment, so I shoved him off of me. He made this sort of “whatever” sound and quickened his pace to catch up with Seth as if he even had to suck up. He was practically untouchable. It’s not like Seth would ever have the guts to fight him if he really had to. I didn’t care at the moment though. My heart was starting to thud in my chest for all the wrong reasons, wondering what the hell they were digging up and if it had anything to do with what I’d seen in the city. The flashing lights the night before had been enough to scare the living shit out of me for another lifetime.
As we made our way to the site about a quarter-way into the field through which my brother, Johnny, Mike, and that stupid Colton kid had hacked down a clear path with my dad’s old machete, I tried to remember everything my cousin had said to me on the last day I saw her. Don’t tell anyone. Not a word. Not a soul. Keep it secret. Give them hope, even if you have none. You’ve gotta give them hope.
The closer we got, the more I tried to reassure myself. Blinking lights don’t mean anything, it was probably just police from the town chasing down a lead on a meth lab. The storm came and knocked out the power and the rest is some crazy elaborate dream. Maybe they dug up rocks or found some fossilized giant like that hoax from last century. A waterline or something to help put out Burnboy’s fire party once it was over. Hey, everyone needs a solution, right? A crop circle maybe. Yeah. Even that sounded half feasible. I had to laugh. Be happy, not react completely insane, it was probably just a-
“HOLY, WHAT THE FFF-…I mean whoa, uh…okay…” Calm down. I blinked once. Twice. Quickly looked away and bit my finger, then took a quick peek again. Not that the boys were paying attention, which probably worked to my advantage. Not like I even had to see it to know what it was by someone describing it.
“Wow, that’s like five feet across. Bigger than I thought, the ones I saw must have been half-buried,” Hux said, lighting up a cigarette. They were still digging it out. Digging up that fucking machine, and much as I wanted to tell them how much it could hurt them…
“Probably heavy too,” Seth said. “Guys, watch out for the blades!”
“HA!” I laughed loudly. “Do you guys even think you should be messing around with that? I mean seriously…I mean, it’s not like any of you know what it does! Really…what?! Seriously?! No…no, no, no fucking way! This is just…this is just fantastic…no…I can’t breathe…I need to get out of here. Now.” I felt my chest tighten as I started getting a panic attack and turned to rush for the house to down a couple of my old anxiety pills. I hadn’t had to use them in months, but the sight of that thing I’d not laid eyes on since April, not to mention any details of just how the hell it ended up in our field, right outside of our goddamn house.
“I’m going after her,” Seth sighed. “Kelsey? Kelsey, listen-”
I broke into a run but stopped halfway down the path to take a breather. “I really, really do not want you touching that!”
“Look,” he explained. “We’re just gonna see if we can take it apart, maybe figure out what’s going on around here and why we can’t get any cell phones or radios to work.”
“Oh Seth, you and your theories and science shit-”
“Kelsey-”
“You’re not gonna find anything, Seth!”
“Everyone down the street said they lost electricity in sequential order. I think it’s sending out a signal, and if there’s a chance of that, maybe we can cut it off and get the power back.”
“Cut it off how?! You don’t even know what those things do!”
“I can infer a couple things. If they’ve been sitting out there this long and there hasn’t been much hive activity around here for years, it would explain the killer bee swarms this spring! Obviously it’s dangerous. I just want to understand this. We’re being as careful as we can, okay? Trust me.”
“Seth-”
“If we can at least get the phones or a radio going, we can contact the city and see what’s going on…unless this is about something you already know.”
“Seth, don’t you dare!” I charged off. I wasn’t about to get shit on by him too.
“Kelsey, please just listen,” he insisted, pulling me back and staring me in the eye. “Sis, have I ever let you down?” I blinked away the tears and took a deep breath to calm myself. Couldn’t argue on that. “I’m not going to ask you what happened, okay? But I want your honest opinion on something.”
“I can?
??t.”
“Please…I want to know if you think this is worth it, huh? Say if we could get the power back, turn on the lights, not worry about food spoiling and dying from the summer heat and use Dad’s old radio to call for help…do you think it’s worth trying to figure this out?”
“Yeah,” I smirked, turning away.
“Seriously. You sure?”
“Yes,” I lied. “Anything’s worth a shot, right?”
“Thank you,” he smiled, giving me a hug.
“No problem. Just don’t bring that thing near me, huh?”
“You got it.”
“Cool.” I didn’t feel much better. “I’m just gonna head back for the house, take one of my old chill pills, gather up some bud for Hux’s stupid barn party.”
“Okay,” he replied, starting to head back until it registered. “Wait, what?! Not that stupid shit he planned with Mariah!”
“Guess so,” I shrugged. “You got any better ideas for a good time, let me know.” I didn’t even blink an eye or bother to stop walking when I heard a sudden explosion go off in the field. Told ya so. Maybe I looked back with a bit of curiosity and a laugh, but that was about it. Someone out there gave a nice loud shout that they were okay anyhow.
I suppose it should be said that there’s a certain amount of comfort that comes with accepting the inevitable. I wasn’t stupid either. I’d known from the start that these things would eventually show up in our area. It was only a matter of time. To tell the honest truth, I don’t think I’m even scared to die anymore. Man has always struggled with their mortality, but who really wants to live like that? Hell, might as well go out with a good bang and set the world on fire, watch it burn over the horizon until we’re all specks of cosmic dust and there’s nothing left but stars to wish on.
Why not, Janelle?
About The Author
Peter von Harten is a poet and author of teen and adult fiction.
He writes under the pseudonym of "Peter Andreas" for his young adult titles and retains the use of his real name for all general fiction, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy works.
When he isn't reading or writing, he also enjoys philosophical debate, foreign and independent films, producing electronic music and remixing, learning new languages, obsessing over the latest television dramas, or catching half-price appetizers at Applebee's with his best friend and singer-songwriter, Addie Haptain.
Peter currently resides in Allentown, PA.
Other titles from Peter von Harten:
BLUE CAR RACER (written as Peter Andreas) – After living through the pain of his father’s death in the Gulf War, Colin Dirk doesn’t want to grow up and face reality. Being bullied at school by Aaron Kinkirk only makes matters worse until he meets Eric, a former friend of Aaron who sticks up for him. But Eric has a dark side of his own, and Colin’s mother seems more interested in getting remarried than listening to his problems. Can he learn to face his greatest fears before it’s too late?
Connect with Peter online at:
https://petervonharten.wordpress.com
https://poisonrationality.tumblr.com
https://twitter.com/peter_vonharten
Contact:
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