Stasis Shatter – chapter 1

Kei — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:50:01 +0000

“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap” he repeated to himself as he sprinted down the sidewalk. “Damn chains!” he exclaimed, for the three chains hanging from his waist, by his right thigh, flapped wildly as his legs pumped on furiously. Propelling him faster then any of the track stars in the county. Only problem is this damn dog is a lot faster then any track star. His right boot caught on a tree root breaking through the side walk, and he lurched forward. “Crap” he squeaked, and by sheer force of will, contracted his six foot six inch frame tightly into a ball. Loosing his foot, and launching him head over heals. He tucked, landed on his right shoulder and rolled back to his feet. But instead of standing, he fell flat on his stomach and felts the heat and rush of wind as that damn dog jumped over him.
He rolled to his side and quickly jumped to his feet as the big black Doberman skidded to a halt and turned on him. His breathing was much more rapid now. More from sheer adrenalin then being winded from the sprint the last couple blocks. This was it. It was time to kick this freaking Cujo’s ass. “Can’t be that hard” he shrugged. The dog charged. So did Caleb. “Iy yi yi yi yi!” he yelled as he rushed the dog. The dog lunged. So did Caleb, right fist leading the way. Aimed for the Dog throat.
The fact that he missed wasn’t the shocker. It was more the fact that he put everything into that swing and the force of it about knocked him on his face. And he did land on his face, feeling the cartilage in his nose pop, and warm blood splash in his eyes. But it was the second shot from the beanbag gun that knocked him down. The first shot hitting psycho ass Cujo in the face, knocking him out cold.
“Damn it Caleb! Leave it to you to try to fight a damn rabid dog, that would just as soon rip your throat out then piss on your leg.”
Caleb rolled over on his back staring up at the beautiful spring sky. Bright blue with a few light fluffy clouds. “Caleb?” the males voice enquired. “Hey man, you okay?”
Caleb farted.
“Oh for the love of.. Get up.”
“Lay off Stryker. That damn dog about killed me. I’m tired. I have gas from that damn C&D burrito and I broke my nose when you shot me.” Caleb reached up with his right hand and touched his nose, winced, and then jerked it back into shape. “Ah!” He grunted and tightly closed his eyes.
Stryker was now standing beside him looking down. The sun was reflecting off the badge on his left breast pocket, marking him as a local Police Officer. Not just for decoration.
Caleb made a comical site laying there. He was very tall for his 16 years of age. Actually, his 6 feet 6 inches was very tall for any age. Lean, but almost normal build. His hair was cut short and spiked. The blonde color was now tinted with dirt and twigs, which stuck greedily to the excessive amount of gel. He was wearing incredibly baggy black pants, full of safety pins and straps at the knees. Three chains hung from his right hip, making three U’s. One inside the next. The last longest chain was attached in the back to his wallet. His shirt was a short sleeved white T-shirt with a big blue and black Yin-Yang symbol smack-dab in the middle. Over this he wore an unbuttoned, also short sleeved, black silk shirt with deep red flame type swirls. His left wrist had a studded black leather bracelet, and his right hand sported three over sized rings. Around his neck he had a black spiked choker, with small metal hoops hanging after each spike. His fair complexion was blemish free -besides the now drying blood- and his attempted-to-neatly-trim goatee was almost an auburn color. His left eyebrow was pierced twice, and his left ear was pierced five times. Twice on the lobe, and three times up the cartilage.
Stryker leaned down and took Caleb’s right hand, helping him up. “I wasn’t trying to shoot you, I was going for the dog twice. Thought I had a good shot at the time, but your just too damn quick.” He steadied him and laughed at the young man standing before him. “You know, I was tempted to see if you could really kick that dogs ass. But the sarge would have my ass if I watched you get torn up.” He smiled.
Caleb was always a little set back by Stryker. He was a cop. But by all external means he looked more like he belonged to N’Sync or some other boy band. He was in his mid twenty’s, but looked about Caleb’s age. But more… Pretty. His hair was cut similar to Caleb’s, and so was the color. He was clean shaven, and his eyes were -if such a thing is possible- bright brown. He got the name Stryker from his striking appearance and from the fact that he, when fresh out of the academy, “struck” several things while driving his patrol car. His real name was Francis Stricksent Ames. Ironically his middle name very close in sound to his nickname.
Stryker was now ignoring Caleb and working on getting the Doberman muzzled and loaded into the back of his patrol car. Although not focusing on the strange young man, he still idly spoke to him. “You really have to knock this shit off man. I mean, you might be keeping your nose clean legally these days, but you seem to seek out trouble.”
Caleb could hear him but his gaze was focused roughly to the south on the large hill, known as the Rock, which his town, Castle Rock was named after. The Rock didn’t appear all that large. Like most things in Washington it was densely covered in trees and made seeing farther then a few feet into the tree line near impossible. There was also no real easy way to climb up it visible.
Finishing stuffing the dog into the car, Stryker walked back across the street to Caleb’s side, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of one gloved hand. “Um, dude? I know you guys think the Rock is some source of evil voodoo-”
“Not evil voodoo. Just.. Something.”
“Yeah, great. Either way, it is a freaking huge mound of rock bordering the Cowlitz River. It has a lot of trees on it and people like to climb it. No one has died on it, gone missing on it, or been anal probed by little green goblins.”
“I just know what I feel. There is something.. Not right about it.” Caleb sighed and turned to meet Stryker’s gaze, which it turned out was not focused on him but also on the Rock. “Those ’feelings’ could be drug induced.” Stryker bluntly pointed out. Caleb clenched his fist and ground his teeth before responding, “I don’t do drugs anymore. You know that.”
“Well, either way, people don’t feel weird vibes off of big rocks.”
“Screw you. I’m going home.” And with that Caleb stalked off towards his house not looking back. Stryker never said a word to stop him.
Caleb was none too happy. It was true he had made some piss poor decisions in the past few years. But that was said and done. He was clean. He didn’t hang out with criminals. He was a good boy again. It just made him so mad, his family, the locals, even his church, no one trusted him. He never did anything to violate their trust to begin with. Sure, he hung around the dregs of society and almost killed himself with drugs. Not once though, did he lie or cheat or steal from these people. They treated him like he was going to strangle them as soon as they let their guard down. Not even local felons were treated like he was!
Blowing a snotty wad of bloody goo out of his nose he walked past the chain linked fence on to his fathers property. His dads car was gone. Good. No trouble from him at least. The door off the back porch was unlocked like always, so Caleb just came in and headed straight for the shower.
Stripping off his clothes and adjusting the water temperature he reflected on recent years. His parents had split up about 4 years ago destroying his home schooled life. Taking up a ton of hobbies, mostly physical, he exercised his way through the heart ache. Martial arts, fencing, even joined a dance studio. Public school sucked. People only liked him due to his track skills.
Not long after his parents divorce both his grandparents on his fathers side died. He just couldn’t take much more of anything. Dropping out of school and hiding in every shadow possible, he tried to escape. All the weirdness in his head, all the pain in his heart. One bad choice after another eventually led him to a heroine overdose in an old alleyway. He was saved by Stryker and was attended to through his following withdrawals from his two true friends, Brian and Pazely. Of course his dad and mother were there, though they were so consumed in their own issues they hardly noticed his.
Stepping into the shower he wondered why he was still focusing on the recent. So much good had happened in his life, yet he focused on the bad. Not to mention how he was falling farther and farther from his faith in God. He believed and always would, yet his mind always seemed to be elsewhere, not like when he was younger and had so many dreams.
Leaving the bathroom in just a towel to head to his bedroom he almost ran smack into Pazely who was passing through the kitchen heading towards his room. She squeaked in surprise then turned red in embarrassment seeing as how he was not exactly clothed in much.
“Hey Paze, did you not think to maybe knock on the bathroom door, being as how the shower was running?” He asked casually taking some mild amusement in her embarrassment. Pazely, still trying to avert her eyes to anything not associated with him said “I was going to go see if Brian was in your room. He said he was heading over here too. Gosh, just go get dressed. No one wants to see you running around half naked.”
Pazely had just recently turned 15. She was tiny. Very tiny. Standing barely 5 feet tall, although that wasn’t too strange being as how she was Japanese. She had radiant, thick black hair that seemed to sheen with a bluish hue. Her eyes were deep blue and always seemed to be the beacon of light in the deepest of storms. The fact that both of her parents were full blooded Japanese made her eyes an extremely exotic rarity. Her eyes also seem to have an exotic shape to them. Having, yet not having that classic Asian slant. Tiny though she was, her figure was no less alluring. Tiny firm butt, small yet also firm chest, flat stomach, long legs compared to her torso and a smooth complexion, she was no doubt beautiful. Her pixie like facial features gave you an impression of childishness, although she was smarter, sharper and more mature then most any adult you would meet. Her size and figure suggested, and was also correct in the assumption of her being a gymnast. She was and is, highly skilled at it. She also took every dance class, martial arts class, and partook in every hobby that Caleb and Brian had and did. So she may look cute and innocent, but she could kick your ass before you had a chance to be crude about hers.
“Oh yeah?” Caleb said in defiance, “what are you so red for then? Your not exactly dressed conservatively yourself.” She actually wasn’t dressed provocatively either. Not by modern days standards. Low cut, tight hip hugger, faded jeans. A lavender and blue, all but skin tight shirt, low necked and low backed with the word – ironically – “Pixie” in glittery letter across the breast region. Bright glossy red lipstick, light blue eyeliner, and some glitter infused blush. She wore her hair down today as well, which was against her usual ponytail style.
As Caleb walked off without waiting for a retort, it didn’t dawn on him until closing his bedroom door, that she was dressed quite a bit more.. Girly, then she normally did. She always looked pretty, but normally didn’t try to go for the “I’m a 15 year old preppy little pop princess” look. He had to admit though, it looked nice. Not that he could ever truly think that way about her. They were too good of friends.
Dropping his towel he went to his dresser. All of his clothes were in his dresser due to a lack of a closet. Something told him he might need to do something physical before the day was over, so he shied away from things like dangling chains. A pair a worn down jeans, a belt to hold them snug, a solid white T-shirt, white socks. He would have taken out his earrings and eyebrow piercing if not for the fact you needed to use needle nose pliers.
Walking back into the living room he found Pazely and Brian sitting on the couch in a heated discussion. Brian sighed and pushed his glasses further up his nose and said “look Paze, we chase around rumors like this constantly. We have zero, zero reason to believe this is any different.” Brian held her gaze calmly. Pazely was shaking her head and all but flailing her arms at his answer yelling at him in Japanese so fast that even Caleb, with his decent level of fluency, was having difficulty keeping up. Realizing she wasn’t speaking in English she suddenly tensed up and made an over exaggerated pout while puffing her cheeks out. Then squeezing her eyes shut and flailing her arms furiously this time, she continued in English. “Ahh! Don’t patronize me you shit! You saw Mrs. Clausington, right? Those eyes! Those are not the eyes of someone who saw something normal.”
“As far as we know someone’s dog tried to eat her. E-A-T. No ones eyes would look normal after that.”
“You didn’t even get a good look. You were afraid of getting in trouble. I am telling you she looked more freakish then normal. This wasn’t normal terror. This was the look of someone who saw something that their mind cant comprehend!”
“There are a lot of things the mind can not compre-”
“Oh stick your I.Q. up your ass!”
Sighing, Caleb walked over to stand before them. Brian was stoically pissing off poor Pazely again. Caleb wasn’t sure if it was innocently done or if Brian took some strange joy in it.
Brian was tall yet dwarfed by Caleb. He was very much a book nerd. Never scored lower then %99 on a test in his life. His I.Q. was astronomical and he liked to make sure people remembered that. He also had blond hair which he kept cut short. His glasses had thin lenses and thin frames. No piercing or facial hair and he fit the stereotype nerd role pretty darn good. His skin was mostly clear with only a small acne problem and he was extremely physically fit. After all, he had to be to keep up with his two friends. Brian was decent with the physical activities but he didn’t shine like his counterparts. When it came to weapons use of any sort he might as well give up. When out target shooting though, he was a dead on shot. He took no time to aim, no concentration. To sum it up, if he wanted to hit something he would hit it.
None of the three liked guns. They had been out shooting a few times but it wasn’t really their thing. What was their thing was a little less socially acceptable then flying bullets.
Pazely was still glaring hard at Brian as she addressed Caleb, “something weird has happened. This time it looks like we can finally find proof.”
What these three did, or tried to do at least, was find the unknown. They all had a strong feeling that the supernatural existed. So much so that they got into a lot of trouble trying to prove it. They weren’t really sure why they were so driven to find.. To find what? Goblins? Wizards? Inter-dimensional portals?
“Like?” Caleb inquired, hoping yet assuming it would lead to nothing. Pazely finally took her gaze off of Brian and fixed it on Caleb. It was a look as deep as the tide. It was full of wonder, hope and excitement. Inhaling deeply she belted out “Mrs. Clausington was attacked by some kind of monster!” Caleb found it odd that she looked so excited at such a notion.
Hanging his head Brian added “it appeared to be some type of canine due to the puncture wounds and hair found at the scene. Yet the tracks were as big as a bear and seemed to just sorta.. Go away.” Pazely was all but jumping up and down as she sat. Caleb sat on the chair across from them. “Is she ok?”
“Who?”
“Debbie, Pazely. The one who a big ass dog tried to eat?”
“Oh! She’s fine. More or less. Crazy old bitch deserved it after what they did to you.”
Thinking of certain things in the past Caleb wasn’t too keen on. He knew instinctively what they both believed and knew there was no use in arguing or discussing, so he stood up and said “well, what are we waiting for? Lets go before some CSI nooblet screws with our evidence.”

* * *

Unfortunately for the trio, more then just CSI nooblets were on the scene. The small lot at the base of the mountain road leading up to the Clausington’s house was littered with local police vehicles, Animal Control, Fire Department personal and worse; FBI.
Brain was less then thrilled. “Damnit, damnit, damnit! The feds are here! Guess we can kiss using our local connections to get our hands on the scene good bye.” Pazely on the other hand, seemed thrilled. “Brian, do you know what this means?”
“Um, that we are S.O.L.?”
“Y’know for being so smart you’re a freaking dumbass.”
Caleb sighed quietly enough the others didn’t hear him in the small clearing where they were hiding out. Shaking his head, he figured he would clarify. “Brian, she’s right. If the feds are here then something big is going on. They didn’t just send one car either, they sent three cars with two agents each. And if you were paying attention you would see that ’Animal Control’ are carrying machine pistols.” That revelation at the end made the other two start, then whip theirs eyes back to the scene.
“Holy crap,” Pazely chirped, “those ain’t the normal pound personal. What the fook is going on..” Brian was taking things much more calmly. Pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger, closing his eyes and smirking he said “what’s going on is something big.” Sighing, this time loud enough for them to hear, Caleb added “we still have no way to get in there and find out stuff though man.” Opening both eyes wide and smirking wider, Brian rubbed his hands in hardly contained glee. “My friends,” he began, “I have an idea.”
“Oh shit.” Caleb and Pazely moaned in unison.
“Knock it off! My ideas always work.”
Cutting off Paze before she launched a newly fueled tantrum, Caleb asked “What do we do? And don’t give me that look Paze. Lets just find out our roles and do it. Brian – talk, Pazely – listen.”
Brian spoke. “Ok, they have a blind spot on the west. That local police cruisers door is open and no one is paying attention to it. Pazely, I need you to sneak over there and take some shotgun shells. Not the gun, just some shells. About, uh, six. Caleb, I need you to gather kindling. Small, small, tiny kindling. Both of you meet me back here. Now go, shoo!”
Pazely and Caleb set out to their tasks. Pazely was a tad peeved at Brian bossing them around like this. Caleb was their leader, not nerd boy. But then again… Caleb did tell her to just listen and accept. She smiled to herself at that notion. Lithely and soundlessly drifting through the brush, she reached the edge of the line of foliage, and the police car was about twenty feet in front of her. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she dove quickly, shoulder rolled, came up to a crouch and rolled into a sideways barrel roll across the ground until she was under the cruiser. Part one completed successfully.
“Yatta,” she breathed quietly, “now what?” She hated Brian’s arrogance so damned much, just thinking about it made her clench her teeth, fist and butt cheeks in agitation. Ok, she thought, time to wiggle over to the driver side and – oh shit. A pair of booted feet were standing right where the drivers side door would be. This was just like Brian, he was probably laughing at her from a distance. Well fine! He wants to be that way then screw him. This was when sweet little Pazely was most dangerous – when she is pissed she becomes extraordinarily mischievous.

* * *

Caleb was still collecting twigs and wondering what bizarre scheme Brian had now. Odds were that Brian actually had no plan and just wanted them out of his hair so he could think. Caleb shrugged to himself as he picked up another twig. It was fine with him, he was just here to make them happy anyway. He was getting seriously tired of this. He had no structure in his life, an ex junkie, and now spent his days wandering around like some wannabe X-Files fed. It was just so damned retarded. The entire notion was about as retarded and the almost 2 foot long footprint he took his piece of kindling out of.

…….

Standing in silence and tumbling that last thought around in his head, jaw slightly agape and probably drooling like the cool stud he was, he slowly looked back down to the largest canine footprint he had ever seen. And what does he do? Wipe off the drool? No, he all but screams “Holy shit!”
Being as how all the people with guns and badges weren’t that far away it didn’t take much time for the three to be exposed from their little covert ops mission. However the explosion might have been quick, but it wasn’t without a few kinks that just made the law a bit more pissy.

the Jesters Edge

Stasis Shatter – chapter 1