Out of the Blue
July 1, 2.010 Blacwell PA, 3 PM:
The final bell rang. After the secretarial strike and yet another horrible winter everyone was more than ready for their long overdue summer vacation. Jakob Gantos and his friend Annah He\'Rah, both juniors, were trailing just behind the last students out the door of C.B. Spender High School. Looking back at the closing doors of the school, their paint chipped and the glass cracked Jakob thought again of the irony of the school\'s name, regardless of the mysterious benefactor that no one had ever heard of. It was a Wednesday so that after a quick stop at their houses they would be headed to the local Byzantine Catholic Church, not for a prayer service, but because the priest, Father Tom, was the head instructor of Holy Cross Tang Soo Do. Jakob had been training for about seven years and Annah for about six. Both boys had reached cho dan bo, black belt candidate, but the black belt itself seemed incredibly far away for both of them.
They came to Annah\' s house first. They stopped and Annah ran up to his house, grabbed his staff and uniform, yelled to his mom and ran back out to where Jakob was standing, looking out at the strangely serene lake behind Annah\'s house. As they started toward Jakob\'s house they talked about high school, summer, Tang Soo Do, and the latest news about everything from the paranormal and the unexplained to the current state of affairs around the world (which according to Annah is really the same thing) from news sources both reputable and... not so much.
After Jakob got his things for class they headed to the Nativity of the Mother of God church. Father Tom was already in uniform warming up. Three other black belts were also there. Serena Carlson and Eric Lauren were warming up and Andy Jameson was keeping some of the younger students in line.
\"Go ahead and get changed,\" Father Torn called, seeing them through the mirrors that surrounded the room. As they headed back to change they passed Dr. Klora, another black belt, heading out to the floor and bowed to her.
Once they were changed Annah and Jakob grabbed their weapons and headed out. The rest of the class was arriving, many already in uniform. At exactly four o\'clock Serena called the class to line up.
Two exhausting hours later class was over. With everyone tired from the hectic school day Father Tom decided that he was going to have an unusually rigorous class. After class was dismissed Jakob, Annah, and a few others changed. They spent about some time socializing and at about six thirty Jakob and Annah walked back to their houses. The rest of the evening was uneventful for both of them. With nothing interesting on television Jakob went to sleep at about a quarter to ten. Annah read Sandworms of Dune until he went to sleep at about ten thirty.
Jakob awoke suddenly. At first he didn\'t understand why. Then he heard the phone ring again. He checked the caller I.D. and answered the phone feeling slightly annoyed. \"This had better be important Annah,\" he said, making his voice seem groggier than he really felt. He barely recognized his friend\'s voice behind the mask of panic.
\"Jakob! You gotta help me! Call Father Tom, Serena, Eric, Dr. Klora! I don\'t care who you call just get someone to help me!\"
\"Annah!\" called Jakob, now utterly frightened, having never heard his friend like this, \"Just tell me what\'s going on.\"
\"It... It came out of the lake. It smashed through the kitchen wall... The wall!\"
\"What came out of the lake?\"
\"Just get help and get ov-\" the phone went dead.
Ten minutes later Father Tom was pulling up to Annah\'s house with Serena, Erica, and Jakob. Annah and his parents were standing outside with their backs to the new arrivals watching as strange lights accompanied by stranger sounds flashed from the windows of the house. Then everything stopped.
Something came out of the front door, its movements implying an instinctual homeostasis and so full of grace that it appeared to be gliding. It was about six feet tall. Its skin appeared to be dark blue with silver and red-gold hair all over its body and an almost human face. At the end of each of each hand were three webbed fingers with long vicious looking claws and a thumb. In the dark it was hard to be certain about anything but its eyes seemed to glow with a bluish light. As it got closer Annah and his family began to retreat towards where Father Tom and the others were. Father Tom handed Annah a staff from his truck. He pulled a gun from his jacket. Serena and Eric reached for their swords and Jakob and Annah moved into single ended staff stances.
The fight was over in moments. None of the priest\'s bullets affected it. It cut through Serena\'s sword like a stick of butter. It shattered Eric\'s sword into thin shards of steel. When Jakob and Annah tried to strike it with their staffs the wooden staffs they caught fire causing them to drop them. After this demonstration of raw power the priest ordered a tactical withdraw. The creature didn\'t even try to follow them as they fled, although it could have easily caught any of them except maybe the priest. It just kept going in one direction, right towards the wood.
Thirty minutes later the five warriors were sitting in Father Tom\'s truck discussing strategy as the sun came up. Serena reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed the police. After talking for a few minutes she handed the phone to Father Tom who talked for a few more minutes. He snapped the phone shut and handed it back to Serena. \"They don\'t believe us,\" he said in a tired, frustrated voice, \"But then again, I\'m not sure I entirely believe this.\" He sighed and ran his hands through his short black hair. \'\'I guess we need to plan our next move.\"
\"I don\'t think this thing has a weakness. It smashed my sword and just look at what it did to Serena\'s. Your bullets glanced right off its fur and I do not even want to think about what it did to those two staffs.\"
\"Eric! What is fourth code of Tang Soo Do?\" the priest reprimanded.
\"No retreat in battle.\"
\"It doesn\'t matter whether this creature was made by God or by man it is not perfect. It has a weakness and we can defeat it. We just have to figure out how. Annah, tell us exactly what happened here.\"
\"...Okay,\" Annah\'s voice seemed weak and he was obviously shaken but as he recounted the nights events his voice got stronger, \"I woke up at about one o\'clock, hearing strange sounds down at the lake. I could tell it wasn\'t just fish or anything else normal. I walked down the stairs and looked out a window. I saw it coming out of the lake, moving with a speed that almost seemed to indicate it was fleeing something.\"
Jakob adopted a wise look saying. \"There\'s always a bigger fish.\"
\"It stopped by the house,\" Annah continued, \"looked around a bit as though it was contused, and then it hit the wall and smashed through it. That was when I called Jakob. I got my parents and we ran outside. It wandered for what must have been fifteen minutes, apparently learning to use a door at some point in the process. The rest you know.\"
\"So...\" mused Father Tom, \"It came from the lake, part of a river system that ultimately flows into the Allegheny, into the Ohio, to the Mississippi, and then to the Gulf of Mexico. This thing could have come from anywhere, but the fact is it didn\'t come from anywhere. If we could determine its source we might be able to find something to defeat it.\"
\"I think we should get Dr. Klora and start talking to the nut jobs that follow conspiracy theories and believe that everyone in power is out to get them,\" said Annah. \"If we can learn anything about it, even a reasonable hypothesis, we might be able to keep it from hurting anyone.\"
\"I don\'t see what Dr. Klora could do but it can\'t hurt to have some more heads so we\'ll get her, and 1 think Andy too.\" Father Tom reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number talked for a few minutes, then dialed another number and talked for a few more minutes. \"Annah, Jakob 1 want you to get Andy, we\'ll go pick up Dr. Klora.\"
\"After convincing his parents to loan him the keys to the car Annah and Jakob drove off to pick up Andy who was a freshman at C.B. Spender and a black belt at Holy Cross, while Father Tom. Serena, and Eric went for Dr. Klora.
They met back at the church twenty minutes later to discuss the threat and how to deal with it. Dr. Klora suggested that perhaps the stainless steel that their swords was forged from could harm it and that was why it focused on the swords and just let its natural defenses deal with the gun and staffs.
Although they felt that this hypothesis might have some credence they were unable to test it. After their encounter the creature had seemingly vanished. Annah seemed to think that it was gone for good, but Father Tom was certain they had not seen the last of it.
Finally, two weeks after they fought the thing at Annah\'s house rumors began circulating of a creature down on Evergreen road, just outside of town. The popular description of the creature was of a tall black or silver demon with glowing blue eyes which matched the creature they fought fairly well considering the hysteria such a sighting could easily cause. For a week the seven warriors met in the church basement every day, practicing their speed, agility, and swordsmanship for hours upon hours until they could no longer stand. When Father Tom was satisfied with their abilities he told them it was time to head down to Evergreen road.
At two o\'clock in the morning they finally found it. They got out of the vehicle, noticing that the red-gold creature avoided the headlights. Father Tom and the rest of the warriors from Holy Cross drew their blades. Seeing the glint of metal in the moon light, their adversary fled into the shadow of the forest with them hot on its heels. The seven moved only as fast as their slowest member but still managed to keep up with the creature and they finally managed to comer it. It lunged at Serena\'s chest. She moved deftly out of the way of the creature\'s blow bringing her sword down in a devastating blow on the creature\'s chest, opening a deep red gash. Eric moved in behind it and he and Serena began to bring their blades about in killing blows but the creature wasn\'t going to be taken off guard again. It dodged their blows and slashed out at Serena, who wasn\'t able to quite escape its reaching claws. She cried out in pain, grabbed her shoulder, and hit the forest floor hard, dark blood evident on the bright white of her uniform. Jakob cried out and rushed to her but Father Tom shouted for him to worry about the creature instead. It ran towards where he and Annah stood. They brought their blades up, noticing that the deep gash from Serena\'s sword was gone. As it ran past them they brought their blades down on it. It destroyed their swords but they cut off its hands in the process. Strangely no blood seemed to flow from what should have been deadly wounds.
With a shock of horror Jakob realized that its hands were regenerating fairly quickly. Never the less the Holy Cross warriors held the upper hand and the creature new it. It fled towards a darkened clearing in the nearby woods. Father Tom, Eric, Andy, and Dr. Klora moved towards it. Jakob and Annah helped Serena get to the edge of thelearing were the others were standing in a state of shock. When the creature reached the center of the clearing it was bathed in light from a series of spotlights surrounding it. Men in black suits swanned all over the clearing covering the creature in a silvery net. One of the men walked over to them.
\"Thank you for helping us to apprehend this animal.\"
\"Who are you and what is that thing,\" demanded Father Tom.
\"We are no one. That is an escaped circus bear.\"
\"That is no bear!\" cried Jakob, his voice betraying his anger, \"Just look at what it did to Serena!\"
Without responding the man turned and moved back into the clearing. The lights went out abruptly and four blue inconspicuously marked vans pulled out. Jakob went back for the hands, finding them gone he returned to the clearing. Father Tom walked out to the center of the clearing he stopped, bent down, and picked something up. It was a piece of Whitehouse stationary with two words written on it: DENY EVERYTHING.
