Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

  Ezra was stuck tight.

  Geth stood up, looking around, while Ezra was wedged in his left earlobe looking like a really tacky earring. Geth reached up to feel his ear.

  “Hands off,” Ezra screamed. “Get me out of here!”

  Hordes of beings continued to flow over the downed fences. Some military members tried to stop the flow, but that only made things more heated. Geth was knocked over by a rant being chased by a soldier.

  “Pull me out,” Ezra screamed again.

  Geth stood up. “Not here.” He took off running with Ezra still in his ear.

  “What are you doing?” Ezra yelled.

  Geth leapt over a small concrete wall in the parking lot and up onto a tank that wasn’t moving. He jumped off of the tank and over a half-fallen fence.

  “What are you running from?” Ezra yelled. “I’m stuck in your ear.”

  “I’m running until you’ll talk to me.”

  “What?”

  “You need to talk to me.”

  “I need to kill you!” Ezra screamed.

  “See,” Geth said, “that’s not really a motivation to stop.”

  Geth ran through crowds of protestors who had been picketing the whole idea of strangers coming in from another realm. One lady whacked Geth in the stomach with a sign that read, “Foo is for foo-ls.”

  Geth gently pushed her aside and jetted down a row of cars and media trucks. Two rows over at the end was a large black S.W.A.T. vehicle. Geth turned and headed directly toward it.

  “Ewwww,” Ezra yelped. “Ear sweat.”

  “Sorry,” Geth said insincerely.

  Ezra spat. “And I keep getting your hair in my mouth.”

  They reached the S.W.A.T. vehicle, and Geth pulled open the sliding side door and bounded up into the van. Two police officers were inside: One was looking at a computer screen and the other was on the phone. Geth grabbed the officer on the phone and tossed him out the door. Then, before the other officer could react, Geth yanked him up by the shoulders and threw him out the door also. Geth slammed the metal door shut and thrust the lock into place.

  The vehicle was all stainless steel inside. There were a couple of computers and rows of empty lockers that had once contained weapons. Geth ran to the back doors and pulled the latch down to secure them. Someone was banging on the side door demanding to be let in.

  “What are you doing?” Ezra demanded. “Where’s Dennis?”

  Geth moved up behind the front driver’s seat and tried to lean in to see in the rearview mirror. He couldn’t do it, so he pulled out his kilve. He knocked the side of the rearview mirror and sent it flying down into the driver’s seat. Geth set his kilve down and picked up the mirror. He held it so that he could see Ezra stuck in his left ear. Ezra’s arms were pinned to his side and he was desperately trying to kick at Geth’s neck and face.

  “Wow,” Geth whispered.

  “Take a picture,” Ezra mocked. “It’ll last dumber.”

  “You’re different from what I was,” Geth observed.

  “You mean stronger?”

  “Different,” Geth smiled. “I didn’t have the cool purple hair or body armor.”

  “It’s nail polish,” Ezra barked. “Now, pull me out so I can finish you.”

  “How come you can’t get out yourself?” Geth asked. “You lifted me up.”

  “My arms are bound,” Ezra yelled. “I need my arms.”

  “Well, then, we should probably work things out while you’re still pinned in.”

  “Work things out?” Ezra gagged. “Unless you’re talking about your funeral arrangements, that makes no sense.”

  Something huge slammed the outside of the vehicle, throwing Geth into the row of empty lockers. He fell to the floor, his head hitting a row of metal cabinets. He stood up, righted himself, and looked for the mirror he had just dropped.

  “Looking for this?” Ezra asked.

  Ezra was standing on the desk by the computer holding up the mirror.

  “Thanks for knocking me loose,” Ezra cackled.

  “Trust me,” Geth replied, “it wasn’t on purpose.”

  Ezra punched the rearview mirror with his right hand. The glass broke into three pieces, and the pieces slid out from the plastic frame. Ezra dropped the frame and picked up one of the pieces of glass. It was twice the size of him. He looked at his reflection and smiled vainly.

  “What are—”

  Before Geth could get his question out, Ezra threw the piece of mirror at him. It whizzed through the air and lodged itself in Geth’s left shoulder.

  “Owww,” Geth said with surprise.

  He looked at the piece of mirror sticking out of his shoulder. A small stream of blood was dripping out from below it. Geth gently took ahold of the glass and slid it out. “What are you doing?”

  A second piece of the mirror slammed into Geth’s right arm. Geth pulled it out quickly and flung it back at Ezra before he could react. It flew past Ezra and shattered up against the front window.

  “Worthless,” Ezra screamed, throwing the third piece of mirror.

  Geth turned, and the glass stuck into his right leg. He stared at the glass poking out of his leg and tried to look angry. He pulled the piece of mirror out and flung it at Ezra. He missed again, and glass sparkled all over the van.

  “I hate you,” Ezra yelled.

  Geth lunged at Ezra, and Ezra lifted his arms and sent him flying backward into the back doors. Ezra jumped off the desk and onto Geth’s neck. He then repeatedly pulled Geth’s chin down and slammed Geth’s head into the doors.

  “You made me what I am,” Ezra roared. “And I am angry!”

  Geth reached up and wrapped his fingers around the deviant toothpick, trying hard to bind his arms, but Ezra bit back, taking a nice chomp out of Geth’s left index finger. Blood squirted everywhere.

  Geth reached for his kilve lying on the floor, but Ezra waved his arms and Geth flew to the ceiling as if his backbone was made of metal and the roof of the vehicle was magnetic.

  “This is madness,” Geth hollered.

  “This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Ezra replied, holding up one arm to keep Geth in place. Ezra waved his other hand, and Geth’s kilve on the floor began to hover. Ezra waved some more, and the kilve rotated around so that the pointed end was aiming right at Geth’s heart. Ezra lowered the kilve as far as he could and then he shot it straight for Geth. Geth twisted just enough for the kilve to miss his stomach and punch a hole through the roof.

  “Can’t we talk?” Geth yelled.

  “No way,” Ezra smiled. With a wave of his hand he pulled the kilve back down and shot it up at Geth’s neck. Geth was able to bend just enough that the kilve only scraped the side of his neck while making another hole in the ceiling. Ezra pulled the kilve back down and aimed toward Geth’s face.

  “You shouldn’t be doing this,” Geth insisted. “What do you think will happen to you if I die?”

  The flying kilve stopped short just inches in front of Geth’s face.

  “What did you say?” Ezra asked.

  “What happens to you if I die?”

  “I go on to rule the world,” Ezra said seriously.

  “I don’t think so,” Geth said. “You’re a part of me.”

  “Don’t say that,” Ezra growled. “I am my own self.”

  “Maybe now,” Geth said. “But you were a part of me, and if you kill me, you will perish.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Ezra said.

  “There’s one way for you to find out.”

  Something else large hit the side of the vehicle, and Geth wiggled like a piñata on the ceiling.

  “We should be out there,” Geth said. “We should be helping to bring this to an end. I need your anger.”

  Ezra put his hands down, and Geth fell to the floor.

  “Thanks,” Geth said sarcastically.

  “You owe me,” was Ezra’s only reply.

  “For what?”

  “For not kil
ling you yet.”

  Geth stood up and dusted off his chest and knees. Somebody else was now banging on the door and there were two cops jumping up trying to get a look through the front window.

  “We have to stop this,” Geth said, “or in a little over two days everyone will be dead. Including you.”

  “I can’t die,” Ezra said.

  “You’re wrong. Our lives are hooked together.”

  “I’m tempted to shoot you just to find out,” Ezra moaned.

  “I need you.”

  “Save your mush for the ladies,” Ezra sniffed.

  A bullet struck the front window, leaving a tremendous spiderweb in the bullet-proof glass.

  “They’re trying to get in,” Geth said.

  “You’re as bright as Dennis.”

  Geth was quiet as what sounded like a dozen people began to bang on the back doors.

  “What do you know, anyway?” Ezra asked as if this were a drug deal and knowledge was the drug.

  “I know what I’ve told you,” Geth said. “In two more days this will all be over. Every creature will fade and every person will begin to wither away. Four days from now—five, tops—there will be nothing alive but the trees and plants in the ground.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’m a lithen,” Geth said proudly. “We have been taught the consequences since birth.”

  “And if we do things your way?”

  “We travel as fast as we can to meet up with Leven.”

  “Thumps?” Ezra spat.

  Geth nodded as the vehicle rocked back and forth.

  “His father’s a generic noodle,” Ezra observed.

  “You know his father?”

  “He’s not far from here,” Ezra sighed. “He’s probably in the scuba shop. Wait a second; I was going to kill you.”

  “But you changed your mind,” Geth reminded him.

  “You left me with nothing but anger and confusion,” Ezra wailed over the sound of some sort of saw cutting through the lock. “I hate everything, and my mind never stops buzzing.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Geth said. “It wasn’t me who chopped us up. But if it makes you feel any better, my body fluctuates. I get bigger and smaller, and at certain times my fingers and toes don’t match my feet and hands.”

  “Really?” Ezra smiled. “You’re just saying that.”

  “Not at all,” Geth smiled back. “I’m incomplete without you.”

  “Okay,” Ezra said, disgusted. “I’ll see if what you’re saying is correct. But there’s still a good chance I’ll kill you in the end.”

  “Fair enough,” Geth agreed. “Now, how do we get out of here?”

  “Why get out?” Ezra asked. “The keys are in the ignition.”

  Geth smiled. “I’ve never driven.”

  “How hard can it be?” Ezra asked. “I’ve seen Dennis do it.”

  “I’d never pass up the chance to try something new,” Geth said.

  “I like that about me,” Ezra said happily.

  Geth jumped behind the wheel and looked for the keys. He put his hand around them and turned as hard as he could. The huge engine roared to life and the banging and screaming on the outside increased.

  “Push that stick,” Ezra ordered.

  The large vehicle jumped forward two feet.

  “Now press that skinny pedal. Hard.”

  Geth jammed his foot down on the gas, and the massive vehicle seemed to fly forward. Geth plowed into the back end of an expensive-looking car and then swerved to avoid running over two hundred people.

  “Is there a way to stop?” Geth asked.

  “Yes,” Ezra answered. “But why would we want to? Go that direction, to that white building—and keep your foot down on the pedal.”

  Geth kept the vehicle pointed toward the scuba shop. He moved around cars and rioting creatures. He made it around two news vans and straightened out.

  “The building’s coming,” Geth yelled. “How do I stop?”

  “Hold on,” Ezra insisted.

  The scuba shop was getting closer and closer. It was ringed with tanks and soldiers.

  “I don’t want to run anyone over, or run into a tank.”

  “Hold on,” Ezra ordered.

  “It’s right there,” Geth motioned. “In front of us.”

  “Hold,” Ezra said.

  The scuba shop was one hundred feet away.

  “Now,” Ezra said calmly. “Push the other pedal as hard as you can.”

  Geth took his foot off of the gas and slammed it down on the brake. The gigantic vehicle squealed and then spun in a circle, throwing dust up in nuclear-sized clouds. Geth could feel one side of the vehicle lifting up and the wheels chirping madly as they came to a stop. The vehicle shook for a few seconds and then settled.

  Ezra nodded toward the lock on the front door. Geth pulled it back and the door opened. There was a tank two inches away.

  “Driving a car’s even more fun than I thought it would be,” Geth said happily.

  “Yeah, it looks easy,” Ezra replied.

  Ezra jumped from the back of the seat onto Geth’s right shoulder. “I still might kill you,” he said honestly.

  “I appreciate the warning.” Geth stepped out of the vehicle and headed into the scuba shop.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The Residue of a Life Well Lived

  Nighttime on Alder was as spectacular and scary as one might imagine. The sky was very dark despite there being two moons out. And every sound seemed bigger and more ominous than the last. Leven and Clover had been walking the entire day and now had decided to stop and get some sleep.

  They had set up camp near a small lake on the side of a mountain. Clover was in charge of gathering wood, but he kept becoming attached to the sticks and logs he found and he wouldn’t let Leven burn them. So Leven gathered some wood himself while Clover fished around in his void for something for them to eat.

  Leven came back to the camp with an armful of logs.

  Clover “ahhhhed.”

  “Don’t look at them,” Leven insisted. “Because even if you fall in love with those logs, I’m burning them.”

  “Fine,” Clover said. “I hope you’re hungry.”

  “Starving.”

  Clover handed Leven two Filler Crisps and a small white stick. Leven looked at the stick and waited for an explanation.

  “What?” Clover asked. “Finish that and I’ll get you more.”

  “Finish what?”

  “Just lick it,” Clover insisted.

  “No way.”

  Clover sighed. “Look.” Clover began to lick the end of the stick as if there were a sucker there. “It doesn’t do anything; it just tastes like whatever you’re hungry for.”

  Leven stuck the stick in his mouth and sucked. “I don’t taste anything.”

  “You don’t suck the stick,” Clover laughed. “You have to pretend there’s candy on the end.”

  Leven put the stick in his mouth and pretended it was a sucker.

  “They’re good, aren’t they?” Clover slurped.

  “I still can’t taste anything,” Leven complained.

  “Try the other end.”

  Leven tried licking the other end of the white stick. “Nothing.”

  “That’s weird,” Clover said. “Here, let me see yours.”

  Leven handed Clover his sucker. Clover looked at it and took a pretend lick.

  “Oh, this is just a stick,” Clover said. He then reached into his void and finally fished out another Phantom Pop.

  Leven reluctantly grabbed it and took a small lick. His gold eyes went wide and he smiled tall. “Not bad.”

  Leven built a big fire and the two of them lay back on their robes looking at the stars and sucking on their suckers.

  “I’m worried about Geth and Winter.”

  “They’re probably worried about us, too,” Clover pointed out.

  “Two days left and I don’t feel like we’re anywhere closer to sa
ving Foo,” Leven complained. “It’s like we’ve been placed aside while my body goes whacky.”

  “Maybe it’s not you that saves Foo,” Clover sucked. “Maybe fate just needed you out of the way.”

  “So all this was for nothing?”

  “Even nothing’s for something,” Clover said wisely.

  “What?” Leven questioned.

  “I don’t know,” Clover shrugged. “It just sounds like something Geth would say, doesn’t it?”

  “Go to sleep.”

  Thirty seconds later Clover was snoring.

  Leven listened carefully to the night, his mind refusing to shut off. Every noise and breeze caused his heart to beat a little bit faster. He shifted up onto his elbows as his feet burned. He felt like he wanted to run fast, to see how far he could go without stopping.

  The trees in front of him rustled.

  “Who’s there?”

  There was no answer, just the sounds of Clover snoring and the small crackle of fire. Leven sensed something brush over him, and suddenly the orange fire was burning blue. The change of color made the small campsite feel closed and secure. Leven looked at the fire and was reminded of the den of the dead and his visits from his mother and Antsel.

  “Mom?” he whispered, and instantly small flecks of light drifted down from the dark sky and began to cluster near Leven. “I know I’m supposed to speak of you, but I know so little. You were named Maria.” The soft bits of light stacked up higher and higher.

  Leven sat up completely and babbled on about anything he knew about his mother, knowing that in the den of the dead, people only appeared if you spoke of them.

  “I think you had dark hair,” Leven went on. “And Addy was your half sister but you never really lived with her. And you married my father, but something went wrong.”

  The bits continued to build. The shape wasn’t as clear as before, but Leven could make out that it was a person in a robe. More lights floated down as the head took shape. She was turned away from Leven, but as the last bits settled she began to spin and face him.

  Leven’s heart was beating so quickly he thought it was going to splatter internally.