Awake (18 page)

Andrew said in awe, “What’s happening over
there? It’s like a monster movie!”

“Genesis is dueling with Kain,” Terminus
replied.

“That’s Genesis?” Andrew turned to Terminus
worriedly. “It doesn’t look like he’s doing too well.”

“He can’t win…alone. I’m going to help him,
but I need to wait for the right moment to strike. Even with the
relic, my body is frail. I wouldn’t survive a single blow.”

“What’s the right moment?” asked Andrew. “Is
Genesis setting up a trap or something?”

“No, that is too hard given our limited
time. All I can do is wait for a moment of weakness. That is why I
will stay here.” Terminus turned to Andrew, smiling. “But I
wonder…what will you do?”

“Here,” said a German shepherd, holding a
bag of bread in his mouth, “we brought you food and drink.”

Kevin nodded, taking a seat near a concrete
wall of a grand hotel. Kevin took the bag of sliced bread, ripped
it open and chomped into a slice. After tasting the first bite, he
gobbled it whole and went on to devour half the bag. It didn’t
matter if it was bland. He was famished. “Thanks a lot.” He guzzled
an entire bottle of water, wiped his mouth dry and let out a sigh
of relief. “Ah, that’s good. So good.”

“We await your command,” the German shepherd
said, bowing.

All of the pets around him in the empty
parking lot bowed down before him.

“Um.” Kevin looked confused. “What’s going
on here?”

The dog replied, “You are our only hope.
Because of your perseverance we have hope. It would mean a lot to
us if you could save our masters. We’re ready to go with you. We’ll
help you with whatever you need!”

Kevin’s heart felt heavy, weighed down with
the burden of responsibility. He had never expected to have to bear
the weight of all the lives of the world. When he first started
this quest, he had low expectations. He would try to succeed, but
even if he failed, it was fine because it wasn’t like he had much
of a chance anyway. He never thought he would feel so anxious, so
nervous. This was it. He was finally given the chance to save
everyone. They now had a solution and the only thing in his way was
the Forest Army.

Kevin smiled. It was strange for him to be
smiling at a time like this. He never used to smile in the face of
adversity. He would have never smiled on the due date of a final
project or research paper. But there was something about this that
made him smile. It was the fact that he wasn’t alone in this. He
would have to face an army of wild beasts with an army of his own.
It seemed a bit silly when he thought about it. But it was also
kind of cool.

“You don’t need to beg me to do anything.”
Brimming with enthusiasm, Kevin raised his hand high. “Now rise!
All of you! We’ll teach these guys not to mess with us!”

All the animals stood up and shouted happily
together. All the dogs barked, all the cats meowed, and all the
birds shrieked. They were hollering and jumping for joy.

“That’s enough! Let’s get to work!” Kevin
motioned for them to quiet down. Then he began forming a plan. He
designated leaders and divided them up into several groups. He told
them where to go and what to do, preparing them for the final
battle.

Andrew cautiously wandered the road. He
snuck around the blue mailboxes and cars, searching high and low
for any sign of his friends. He saw some pigeons and squirrels
around and guessed that they were probably being used as scouts by
the forest animals due to their understanding of the city.

Even though Kain was busy fighting, it
looked like the teens were still being hunted. Packs of wolves were
scouring desperately now. Andrew was sure it was only a matter of
time before he would be found. Reaching the limits of exhaustion,
every step was a struggle—but even so, he trudged on.

His face became scrunched with worry over
Katie’s whereabouts. She was the only one unaccounted for. Terminus
had informed him that Kevin was in a safe place, but Katie was
nowhere to be found.

Having heard a sound around the bend, he
dove and squeezed under a car. He looked past the tires to see
several pairs of paws and one pair of sneakers passing by.
Summoning up his courage, Andrew inched forward to get a better
view, but he still couldn’t see much. He had to get closer, but he
didn’t have enough courage for that. He settled for less and began
analyzing the sneakers. The sneakers were his only clue to the
identity of the person in question. Andrew scratched his head. He
couldn’t remember who had worn those sneakers.

But then he heard a voice say, “How much
farther will you take me?”

It was Kevin’s voice. Andrew immediately
recognized it.

Another voice said, “Not much farther. We’ll
keep you in the building as a present for Lord Kain. He will be
most pleased to see that you have given yourself up to be his first
human snack.”

“There’s nothing else for me to do anyway,”
said Kevin.

Andrew gasped. Kevin had actually given
himself up! Andrew wondered why he would do such a thing. No,
Andrew thought, Kevin would never purposely give himself up. He
must have been captured. Andrew knew Kevin had to be just as tired
as he was. With so many creatures looking out for them, Kevin must
have gotten trapped somewhere along the way.

But there was nothing Andrew could do.
Sullen, Andrew shrank back, like a turtle in its shell. He couldn’t
save Kevin—that much was evident. Fighting against whatever was out
there would be pointless. Frowning, he watched their feet cross the
street. He was now able to see more of their legs. There were
several wolves around Kevin. Should he do something? Should he try
to do anything? Andrew closed his eyes and buried his face in his
arms. Why couldn’t he do anything? He wasn’t sure himself. He had
an urge to go out there and rescue Kevin, but there was a nagging
voice in his mind that told him he couldn’t do anything. The voice
was correct, Andrew decided. There was nothing he could do, but
think and wait and worry.

Kevin said, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll
escape?”

A wolf answered, “Our forces are spread out
across the area. If you do manage to escape, we’ll hunt you
down.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say,” said
Kevin. “But you don’t realize that it’s the other way around.” He
turned around and whistled. “Everyone, come on out!”

The covers of dumpsters flinging open, a
pack of dogs sprung out of the garbage and surrounded the party of
wolves.

“Ambush!” A wolf tried to howl but was
quickly tackled to the ground. Seeing as they were outnumbered, the
other wolves decided not to resist.

Pointing at a door, Kevin ordered the dogs,
“Shove them inside. I’ll lock it up.”

The dogs nodded and hurried the wolves into
the building.

Kevin said to the dogs, “Alright. Now bring
whatever wood you can find, or even garbage may have to do.”

There was not much wood around, but they did
bring heaps and heaps of garbage. Even though he did ask for it,
Kevin grimaced, knowing that the smell would be absolutely putrid.
But they didn’t have much of a choice. He made the dogs rip open
the garbage bags and dump the grossly messy contents all over the
road in a straight line that went from one side to the other. In
doing so, they managed to build a wall of garbage nearly four feet
high. Quite an impressive achievement, Kevin thought. This was
something he would never do again in his life, at least he hoped
not.

The nauseating smell of sweat-stained
clothes, rotten meat, moldy bread and other unidentifiable gunk
filled the air. Kevin retched. He tried to breathe with his mouth,
but the smell somehow still registered in his brain. It stunk so
much that he was sure he would remember this smell for the rest of
his life.

“Bring the stuff,” Kevin told the dogs.

The dogs brought bottles of alcohol.

“This is all you found?” Kevin shot them a
look of disappointment. “Better than nothing, I suppose.” He looked
at the cars nearby. “Hmm, you know what? Bring me a hose and some
scissors, really sharp ones. And a bucket or large can.”

The dogs scavenged through a hardware store
and brought the supplies he asked for.

Kevin nodded. “This is perfect.” He grabbed
the scissors and cut a length of about three feet on the rubber
hose. He inspected a car, removed its gas cap and stuck one end of
the hose in the gas tank. Then he took the other end of the hose
and put it in his mouth. He murmured, “This is going to be
disgusting.” He sucked on the hose and siphoned out gasoline, into
his mouth. “Ugh, yuck,” he sputtered, putting the hose down into
the bucket. The bucket quickly filled to the brim with gas. He
carried the bucket over to the wall of garbage and poured the
gasoline all over it.

“What are you doing?” asked Andrew
suddenly.

Kevin jumped up, startled. “Andrew! Don’t
sneak up me like that!” Kevin stopped whatever he was doing and
stared at Andrew. “Wait…you’re okay! I can’t believe it. You really
are okay! That’s really you…right?”

Andrew said, “Yeah, it’s me. I’m okay. So
what are you doing?”

“Oh, this?” Kevin revealed a huge grin.
“We’re going to light this disgusting baby up!”

Andrew looked at the rotting garbage and
cringed. “Why would you want to do that?”

“To keep the enemy at bay,” said Kevin,
refilling the bucket again. “We’re going to try to fight our way
through. Since you’re here, mind helping me out? I could use an
extra human hand.” Kevin threw a glance at a whimpering pup, “Not
that you guys haven’t been helpful, but it goes without saying that
I need hands—not paws—for whatever I’m doing.”

Andrew asked eagerly, “What should I
do?”

“Help me form another line of garbage on the
other streets and get some gas on them—”

A Rottweiler barked frantically, “They’re
coming! I see them on the horizon!”

Kevin panicked. “Oh no! We wasted too much
time!” He flapped his hand at the dogs. “Quick, bring me a
flamethrower!”

Andrew raised his brow. “A what?”

“Oh—I mean a lighter, a torch or even a
matchstick!” Kevin urgently examined Andrew’s hands. “Where’s your
crossbow?”

Andrew replied, “I dropped it when I was
running away from the dragon.”

“That’s too bad. Well, do whatever you can
to stall them!” Kevin ran toward the hardware store. “I’ll be back!
Don’t let them get past the barrier!”

Andrew did not have a good feeling about
this. He looked over the wall of garbage and saw the horde of wild
beasts drawing closer. The ground shook as they trampled across the
city. The smaller, faster creatures were at the front, approaching
with incredible speed.

“Not again! I hate this!” Andrew ducked
down, placing his hands over his head. “What am I supposed to do? I
can’t do anything!”

The Rottweiler came close to him and said,
“Stand up and fight!”

Andrew huddled, knees wobbling. “I’m scared!
How am I supposed to fight against that? I’ve never done this
before!”

“We’ve never done this either,” the dog
countered.

The sound of stomping grew louder. Andrew
closed his eyes and covered his ears. “No, no, no! I can’t do this!
I can’t!”

“That’s right,” said another voice,
snickering. “After all, you’re just a wimp.”

Andrew looked up. It was Katie. She was
standing next to him, holding her baseball bat by her shoulder and
leaning forward with one foot on the barricade of trash. Even
though her face appeared dead tired, she still had the confidence
to smile.

“Ka-Katie…” Andrew stuttered, sounding
ashamed.

“Get out of here. Cowards like you always
get in the way,” said Katie. “You acted all tough before, but
you’re still just a loser.”

“But Katie…I…”

“They’re here!” barked the Rottweiler.

“COME ON! LET’S CRUSH’EM!” Katie yelled. She
hopped over the trash and all dogs followed her into battle.

The dogs rushed in first, clashing against
the front lines. They were knocked back, unable to hold their
ground. Then Katie jumped in and swung her bat furiously about. She
was able to take down a few coyotes. One after the other, the
coyotes leapt at her but Katie waved her bat around, keeping them
away.

Katie glanced at the dogs for a moment as
she watched them get back up. When the coyotes saw that she was
distracted, they all charged at her. Katie regained her
concentration and swung her bat all the way around in a full
rotation, bludgeoning them to the floor.

Then the wolves came. Katie slumped over,
using her bat to support herself. After flailing it around, she was
too exhausted to even lift her arms. She grit her teeth, staring at
the ferocious scowls of the carnivores as they raced to meet her.
Gripping the bat, she straightened up, mustered all her strength
and used the momentum of her hips to fling her arms once more. Her
fingers slipped. The baseball bat flew into the crowd of wolves. A
single wolf, ahead of the pack, jumped up on her.

“No!” Andrew picked up a metal pole, jumped
across the trash, and batted the wolf away. While Andrew crouched
over Katie, the dogs pushed forward to intercept the wolves. With
their persistence, they managed to push the fierce beasts back
several feet.

“Katie! Are you okay?” Worried, Andrew
examined her face. Her eyes closed, she wasn’t responding. Andrew
wasted no time to pull her over the heap of trash, out of the way
of the chaotic battle.

“I’m ready!” shouted Kevin, wielding a
flamethrower.

Andrew shot a mystified stare at him. “You
really found a flamethrower?”

The dogs climbed back over the heap and
Kevin let the flames loose. The fire roared in a loud explosion
when the gasoline and alcohol ignited in a burst. The flames spread
quickly over, feeding on anything it could find. The fire rose
higher and higher. Even the buildings nearby started to burn,
creating a massive wall of flame.