Two

An encounter with two scouts brings Noah to take desperate action.

The symbol glowed, so bright it hurt Noah’s eyes. He squinted, trying to see what was going on through the light.

Uh oh……

A final flash emanated through the park, and Noah gasped, staggering back and falling on the pavement roughly.

As he massaged his lower back, grunting in pain, he looked up.

There stood a woman. She looked a few years older than Noah, and was just as tall as he was. Her face was perfectly oval, with pearly skin. Her hairline was extremely short, almost bald, an inch into her hairline. After that, her blonde hair became thick and frizzy. It was in the shape of a Mohawk, and barely tickled the back of her neck.

Around her torso was a white shirt, covered by a faded red cloth corset. A frilled white skirt wrapped itself around her waist, and fell loosely in the back.

But it was not her choice of clothing that made Noah’s eyes widen; it was her right arm and leg; they were completely robotic, a leathery brown color, covered in bolts and golden cogs.

“Quit staring,” she snapped, her accent carrying the tiniest trace of a southern twang, “And get up. The field that’s hiding us won’t last for long”.

“Field?” Noah asked, getting to his feet and grabbing his bag off the bench. If he needed to, he had his knife hidden in a pocket inside it. Just in case.

“The field that is formed whenever the calling symbol is summoned” the boy said, motioning to where the symbol had been.

Noah jumped, forgetting that he had been there.

“It makes sure other people don’t see anything near it. So, you heard the lady, let’s go”.

“Wait, wait, wait, go where? I’m not going anywhere with you two” Noah said, slipping his fingers into the mouth of his bag.

“Don’t start now, we’ve been tryin’ to find you forever” the girl said, her voice still firm, “We failed three times already. Now that we have you, you’re not goin’ anywhere. This is important”.

“Oh?” Noah said, cocking his head to the side, “Since when did you decide where the f**k I go?”.

He pushed his hand through his bag, felt the cold of the handle of his knife, and flicked it open as he yanked it out of the bag. He pointed it at the girl, and her yellow eyes got wide.

The boy stepped to her side and glared at Noah, “Really, guy? You’re not going to make this fun”.

“Don’t do anything idiotic, Daridev” the girl said, her eyes flashing angrily at Noah.

“F**k you guys, this is getting stupid” Noah said, and, keeping his knife firmly in his grasp, turned and began to jog away from them.

The boy began to pursue him, his wild hair streaming behind him.

“DEV! NO!”.

“Common, Maritilda, you just gonna let him go?!”.

“….No”.

This is something’s fucked, dude, something seriously fucked.

Don’t turn your back!

What?....

Noah turned around, still running.

Oh hell no…!

Maritilda had two wings blooming from her back. They stuck strait up and then branched off into different sections. These sections attached themselves to ten leaf-shaped ovals of skin. Or canvas. Or even leather, it was impossible to tell.

“What…the…Hell….” Noah huffed, running faster. He felt like he wasn’t getting any further away.

Without warning, time slowed down. He could hear the sound of his breathing, pounding in his head, his heartbeat slowed to half. He felt pressure from every angle. As much as he tried to push past it, something was seizing up his muscles, making them creak with the effort to move.

Why…..happening…..what’s…..going…..help….I need……to move…..

He managed to turn his head just enough to see Maritilda jump into the air, the wings folding backwards.

She began to zoom towards him, a zig-zagging white light streaming behind her. The boy was nowhere to been seen behind her.

With all the might he could muster, Noah forced his hand upwards. He felt the knife almost get thrown out of his hand as it connected with something. Blood specked his face as the pressure was released.  

He could breathe again. His muscles relaxed, and he found himself kneeling on the ground, panting.

He looked down at his hand, which was still gripping the knife.

It was covered in blood.

Hyperventilating in slight panic, Noah looked around…

And his eyes rested on Maritilda, laying on the pavement, one of her wings next to her, separated from her body.

Author's Note

This is going to be a book with many short chapters, so yes,
there won't be a lot of length to them. But I am going to try
to keep it as suspenseful and intriguing as I can.
Please let me know what you think of the details, the dialog, what strikes you as interesting.