The S’earph Wars
Preface
As I crouch in the darkness, I hear the shrieks. They know I’m near. And if I’m found, the gloom and rubble around me will offer little protection. I grip my staffsword in sweaty hands, and close my eyes. It’s useless. They’ll find me, and all will end. I shake my head furiously. No! I won’t let that happen. If I give up…Well, I don’t want to think about it. The important thing is the here and now. Whether I fight or give up. That is the difference.
Slowly I stand, pointing the gently glowing staffsword towards the oncoming noises. The excited chatter rises to a deafening pitch. They have my scent, and they are coming.
Time to fight.
Chapter 1
“Come on, Cutter!”
I look up from the roots that I’m harvesting. You’d never think it, but Central Park is a virtual vegetable garden.
“What, Kili?”
She nods towards the policeman walking towards us. I groan.
“I don’t have enough yet!”
“Well, it’ll have to do, won’t it?” Kili says, grabbing the root sack. I hastily start scraping dirt back into the holes we’ve made, stand up, and look straight into the red face of the angry policeman.
“What d’you think you’re doing?” he snarls, spraying saliva all over my face. “Tearing up the grass like that? In Central Park? That’s a big offence!”
I gulp, and open my mouth to say something when, suddenly, Kili shrieks.
“Officer! Over there! Someone’s cutting down that tree!”
The policeman whirls around, a fresh reprimand already on his lips…only to see nothing.
********************
We run as fast as our long legs can carry us, Kili’s short blonde hair blowing in the wind, and my mass of red curls bouncing with each stride. We’re on the edge of Central Park before the officer even realizes what Kili did.
“Stop! Hey, you kids, I said STOP!”
So, of course, we don’t stop. We dash across the street, pick up the packs we left behind a dumpster, and continue on. I risk looking back, and see the officer speaking hurriedly into a walkie-talkie. Great.
“Through there,” I pant to Kili, gesturing towards an alleyway. She nods, and we veer into it.
Generally, going down dark alleyways in New York City isn’t a good idea. But when you’re homeless teenagers, sometimes you’ve got to take risks. As we careen down the grimy alley, I pondered that. If Kili and I had actual parents, we wouldn’t have been digging for roots on public property. We wouldn’t be in trouble. Heck, we wouldn’t be homeless, either. But neither of us have parents, so we’re on the streets. And we don’t want to live in an orphanage. It’s better this way, free as we are.
***********************
I’ve been with Kili for a long time. We think of each other as siblings, and we look out for each other. When I ran away from my foster home, at age eight, I met her. I was wandering around the dark streets, looking for somewhere to sleep, and I just found her. She was slumped against the wall of a building, shivering. Figuring I didn’t have anything better to do, I sat by her, pulling a blanket out of the backpack I’d taken from my foster parents. She didn’t say anything as I put the blanket around her shaking body. I smiled at her, and she returned the favor.
*********************
We keep running when we exit the alley, changing direction at random to throw the police off our scent. Eventually, we decide we’ve gone far enough. I lean against a building, gasping. Kili gets down on her knees and wipes the sweat from her eyes.
“That was a close one,” I finally manage to say.
Kili nods, but then frowns.
“Any idea where we are?”
I look around. The building I’m leaning against is an old warehouse, covered in graffiti and obviously abandoned. In the distance, I can see a subway station, with a sign next to it.
“I think we’re somewhere on Park Avenue,” I say.
“Great. We’re not that far from Central Park. We should get further away.” Kili says.
“Or we could see if there’s a way into this building,” I say thoughtfully, “And wait here till morning.”
Kili looks at the building doubtfully.
“Somehow, I just don’t think that we, two fifteen-year-olds, should go into the creepy abandoned building for the night.” She says.
I roll my eyes, “Umm, Kili, either way, we spend the night in some dark corner of this city, completely vulnerable to just about anything.”
“Fair enough. Still, I’ve got a weird feeling about this place…”
“I’ll take that into all due consideration,” I say, grinning, “How ‘bout we split up? Look around both sides of the building?”
“I’d rather go together,” Kili says.
“Fine. You’re the one who’s always asking me to hurry up, but if that’s what you want…”
“It is,” she says firmly.
“Okay then.”
We edge around the front of the warehouse, searching for broken windows, unlocked doors. We find nothing. As I reach the left corner, Kili stops.
“I really don’t think we should do this, Cutter.”
“Kili. We’ve got to find a place to stay that’s out of the way tonight. Plus it’s already getting dark.” I say, my exasperation obvious.
“I know, but-,”
That’s when I hear the sirens, coming directly towards us. Kili abruptly stops speaking.
“They’ve found us,” I whisper.
We both tear around the corner of the warehouse, frantically looking for a place to hide. Finally, Kili spots what we’ve been looking for. A shattered first-floor window. Kili jumps through the opening, and I follow suit, landing in a spacious, gloomy room. We quietly move to the far side of the room, and crouch in the dark, hardly daring to breathe. The sirens seem to roar in my ears, drowning out even the pounding of my heart. After what seems to be hours, but is probably only seconds, the whoo-wa-whoo-wa of the sirens fades into the encroaching night.
I stand slowly, my eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom. Kili gets up as well, turning around. All around the perimeter of the room, there are broken crates, bits of junk spilling out, and stacks of cardboard, leaning precariously against each other. I look up, and can vaguely see the vast ceiling of the warehouse, small cracks of fading light shining through minute cracks in the corrugated metal. The floors are dusty, but Kili and I are evidently not the only ones who have passed through here. There are footprints on the ground, but it’s too dark to see them.
Kili walks over to the broken window, and looks at it closely. I join her, hearing the crunch of glass under my old sneakers.
“This window was broken recently,” Kili whispers to me, picking up a razor-sharp shard of glass. “If it had been old, the glass would have been worn, but this isn’t.”
We stare at each other, thinking the same thing: What ever it was that broke the window is probably still in the building with us.
“It could just be an animal,” I say reasonably, “There are plenty of raccoons and foxes living in Manhattan.”
“A fox couldn’t have broken this window, Cutter, unless it was thrown through it,” Kili says, worriedly.
“Well, I don’t think we should worry about it right now. If we just keep down in the shadows over in the corner, we’ll be fine. We can hightail it out of here in the morning.”
Kili still looks unconvinced, but nods in agreement.
“Let’s set a watch, though, alright?” she says.
“Fine by me,” I reply.
Chapter 2
Kili and I set down our packs in the corner nearest the window, just in case we need to make a hasty escape. With some quiet shifting of the mildewed crates and boxes that line the walls, we make ourselves a small barricade. We have decided to speak in whispers, so as not to draw attention to ourselves. You can never be too careful.
I sit down on the dusty floor, and lean against the cold metal of the wall. It’s nice to at least be inside a building, even if it’s decrepit and full of rotting cardboard. I sigh, and open my pack, pulling out my old gas stove. It’s not much, just a tiny burner above the gas chamber, but it’s useful. Between taking from wishing fountains (always a good source of money) and just looking on the ground for loose change, Kili and I can usually scrounge up enough cash to buy gas for the stove every month.
“You wanna cook the spuds tonight, or eat the oatmeal?” I whisper to Kili, holding up our last packets of instant mush.
Kili frowns, “We might as well eat the oatmeal. The potatoes will last awhile,”
“I guess so,” I say, secretly wanting to eat the potatoes.
Kili hands me our bottle of water, which we filled at a drinking fountain, and I pour most of its contents into a small tin pot. Setting it on the burner, I fumble for the almost empty box of matches at the bottom of my pack. I open the gas valve, and light it, wondering to myself where we’ll get more matches. Sometimes charities have them. Most of the time, they don’t.
“How many do we have left?” whispers Kili, concern creasing her forehead.
I shrug, “Twenty, maybe twenty-five. We can last for awhile, I guess.”
Kili shakes her head.
Five minutes later, when the only light is the flickering of the stove, I hand Kili a small bowl of gruel.
“Not the most appetizing,” I say apologetically.
“You know I don’t care,” she whispers back, patting me on the shoulder. A shiver runs up my spine. I look into Kili’s face, her brown eyes full of the weight of a grown person’s burden. I’ve never had time to think about personal relationships, in this kind of situation. Kili’s been like a sister to me, but lately…I shake my head.
“What?” asks Kili gently.
“Nothing,” I reply, hoping that she can’t see me blushing in the darkness.
“Uh-huh. Like I believe that,” she whispers sarcastically.
I pretend that I don’t hear her. We’ve never fought before, and I don’t intend to let my personal feelings change that.
*********************
When we’ve finished our oatmeal, I pull a blanket out from the bottom of my pack. Kili does the same, wrapping the ragged fleece around her shoulders.
“I’ll take first watch,” I say quietly.
“Cutter, you don’t have to,” Kili protests.
“I know. But I’m going to, anyway. Get some rest,”
She looks like she’s going to say something else, but nods instead. I can see that she’s immensely tired, and that strengthens my resolve to stay awake. She needs the rest, and so I won’t wake her to takeover watch, even though she’ll be annoyed with me in the morning. I lean forward and turn off the stove. I won’t need it.
I settle back against the cold wall of the warehouse, feeling vaguely disturbed by the vast, abandoned building. Usually this kind of thing doesn’t scare me. Living on the streets of New York City does that to you. But this is different. The broken window and the tracks in the dust indicate that someone, or something big is in here with us. I shiver, suddenly feeling very alone. If something were to happen to Kili and me, no one will know or care. We will just disappear.
“Aren’t you just full of sunshine?” I mutter to myself, annoyed. We’ve been in this kind of situation before, and nothing has happened. This won’t be any different.
With that reassuring thought, I slide further down the wall, feeling exhausted. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. My eyelids droop, and I have trouble keeping them up. What I need is a little nap, and then I can continue the watch, and Kili won’t even know. We’re completely safe here…
CRASH
I jolt upright, scraping the back of my head against the wall. Wincing, I peer into the darkness, trying to locate where the sound came from. It sounded like one of the crates falling over. That was probably it, I decide. The crates are all rotted out, so they probably fall down all of the time. And then I hear the hissing. It’s coming from the opposite side of the room, and it sounds like an animal breathing. I strain my eyes, failing to penetrate the absolute darkness. There’s a scrabbling, like claws on wood, and then a soft chittering. Definitely an animal, and it sounds big. A bear, maybe? The hissing starts again. I’m pretty sure that bears don’t make sounds like that, but then again, I’ve never actually seen one.
The strange noises continue, making me even more nervous. What is this creature doing? Anything from the crates has either disintegrated or rotted. It can’t possibly be trying to eat from them. If it is a bear, maybe it’s smelled us, and is looking for an easy meal. I shudder, hoping that the creature can’t hear me. There’s nothing that I can do. Kili and I are stuck here until this creature decides to leave.
Suddenly, I hear the grinding of wood on wood, followed by another resounding CRASH, as the creature pulls over another crate. This time, it’s enough to wake up Kili. She sits up with a yelp.
“Wasgoinon?” she says sleepily.
I frantically shake my head at her to get her to stop talking.
“What’s wrong, Cutter?” she asks frowning.
That’s when I notice that all of the noises have stopped. Well, not all. The hissing is drawing nearer. Kili notices, and freezes, a look of intense fear creeping over her face.
“What is it?” she mouths.
I shake my head.
We hunker down behind our wall of crates, but I know instinctively that it won’t help. The creature has been throwing them around all night, and it’s not going to let these ones get in its way.
The hissing is only a few feet away now, causing me to shudder. Despite my fear, I still want to know what we’re up against, so I carefully turn my head, peering through a crack in the crates. The darkness is still obscuring most of my view, but I can make out a vague shadow of something large. Something very close to where Kili and I are hiding. The thing is sniffing the ground, and I fervently hope that its sense of smell isn’t that good. When the sounds all stop, even the hissing of the creature’s breath, I squeeze my eyes shut, willing it to go away. No such luck. With a grunt that resonates through my body, the creature leaps onto the crates behind us. Kili gasps, and grabs hold of my hand, squeezing it. I take another look through the crack. All I can see is the moon-cast silhouette of the creature: lithe body, glowing green eyes, large ears, and claws digging into wood. As if it senses me watching it, the creature’s head suddenly snaps around to face me. I quickly look away.
Kili is holding onto my hand so hard that it’s beginning to hurt, but I don’t make her let go. I’m just as terrified as she is, I’m sure. We hear the creature sniffing, and then all of the noises subside, and go away. Even the hissing. I clench my jaw, knowing that we are probably going to die. And then, out of nowhere, there is a blinding flash of light behind our wall of crates. When my eyes adjust again, I notice that the glow has not completely gone away. There’s still a faint shine that illuminates the warehouse. Cautiously, I look over the top of our crate-wall. I almost fall over. Only about seven feet away, there stands a tall, glowing figure. Long golden hair frames his face, and silken robes adorn its body. But there is something out of place. Bat-like wings spring from the figure’s back, and I can see smaller ones on its ankles and head. This, however, is not the most disconcerting thing about the figure. When I look into the glowing face, I feel a sudden calm, as if all worries that I’ve ever had have been lifted. Kili’s finally let go of my hand, and is staring at the shining figure. I shake my head, forcing myself not to look at the beguiling smile, the beaming eyes. Kili is entranced, and, inevitably, I glance at the face again. This time, my gaze lingers, and not because it gives me that sense of peace. For just a second, I am sure that the eyes had flickered, glowing green as the eyes of the creature that I had seen moments before. I shudder involuntarily. Yes, there’s something not right with this…this…well, I don’t know what it is, but it disturbs me. I’m about to touch Kili’s shoulder, make her look away, when the figure raises its arm. Smiling, it beckons us forward. I desperately want to do as this glowing apparition says, and approach, letting my worries fly free. Deep inside, though, I know that something is wrong. Where did this thing come from? Where did the hissing menace go? It just doesn’t add up. Just as I reach this conclusion, Kili frowns, and then climbs up on a crate and starts towards the creature.
“No!” I yell, springing after her, and knocking her down.
“Cutter! Get off me!” Kili growls, pushing me away. I grab her wrist.
The figure has been watching all this with out flinching. Suddenly, it lunges forwards, just as it begins to transform. The beautiful face melts and starts to morph into a hideous visage. The small head-wings do not change, but the eyes grow larger, the pupils turn to slits, and the skin grows black and scaly. Pointed teeth spring out of the jaw, and the flattened nostrils flare with anger. A clawed hand reaches out for us as the creature hisses. I push Kili behind me, and then kick at the thing’s face. I hear a satisfying thud as my foot collides with its nose. It yelps, and falls back. I scrabble over the crates, to find Kili stuffing all of our things into a backpack.
“No time,” I pant, grabbing the little gas stove before Kili can put it in the bag, too, “Where are the matches?”
“Here,” Kili says. I snatch them, and light one, setting it to the stove. It flares to life.
“What are you doing?” Kili asks.
“No time,” I say again, “Run. The way we came in. I’ll follow.”
“Cutter, I-,”
“Just go!” I say, forcefully. With one last look at me, she runs off.
I turn towards the creature, which is still rubbing its face.
“Hey!” I say, “Over here, bug-eyes!”
Its head snaps up. It snarls and crawls towards me. I throw the burning stove at it just as it clambers over a crate. The wood flares to life. The creature shrieks, and falls backwards.
I turn and run towards the shattered window. Before I go through, I look around. The fire has spread across the crates, and I can’t see the monster-thing anywhere. I don’t wait for it to appear. I climb through the window, not caring that the jagged glass cuts my arms. Kili is waiting outside.
“We need to go. Now.” Kili points to the smoke leaking through the roof of the warehouse. We can hear the sirens coming. I nod, and we run back down the alley, away from the burning building.
Chapter 3
Kili and I run about five blocks before we stop. The moment we stop, Kili turns around and hugs me. Surprised, I hug her back.
“That was incredibly stupid,” Kili says, breaking the hug and wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, “But thanks anyway.”
“Any time,” I say shakily.
The fire in the warehouse is visible from here now, and I feel guilty about it. I push the thought from my mind, though. It was a matter of life and death, and I did what I needed to do.
“What do we do now?” I say, exhaustedly, sitting down on the curb. No one’s out this late in this part of town, and I’m grateful.
“I dunno,” says Kili, sitting down next to me, “I was more wondering what that thing back there was. You know, after almost being killed and eaten.”
Despite our situation, I laugh.
“But seriously,” Kili says, “What was it?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I say, shaking my head, “It was like a shape shifter, something out of a crappy fantasy novel. Something that shouldn’t exist.”
“And yet it does exist,” Kili says thoughtfully, “You know, if I hadn’t just almost died, I’d want to go find it again. I mean this could be an important discovery.”
“Yeah, it could be. But who would listen to a couple of homeless teenagers?” I say reasonably.
Kili just shrugs. We sit there on the curb for a few more minutes, not saying anything.
“Did you manage to save the food?” I ask.
Wordlessly, Kili shrugs off the ancient backpack and hands it to me. I’m about to open it when a flash of movement catches my eye. I look up.
“What is it?” Kili asks in alarm.
“Nothing. I just thought I saw…” I trail off. Then, from an alley across the street, I hear the hissing. We’re on our feet in an instant. I forget about everything else: I just want to get away.
We walk. Every instinct that I possess is telling me to run, but that would be submitting to the monster. Somehow, I know that it wants us to fear, to run. So that it can hunt. The sun is rising, though, and New York City is waking up. People are coming on to the streets, and if we were to be seen running down the curb, it would raise awkward questions. We would be stopped, and then the creature could sneak up on us. Again. And I know, with every fiber of my being, that that would be the end.
