AN: Thanks for the beta as always Art! And remember to R&R everybody!
Warnings: Violence, Foul Language
Chapter 15
Rocky Mountain High
TIME:20 Hours and 45 Minutes Later, 15:40 UTC-4
LOCATION: City Park, Denver, USA
Nydia sat on a bench outside of the high school, tapping her foot to the tune on her I-Pod.
She looked over at the large clock on the school wall. You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago Nova, where are you? I wanna spend time with you but not if it means I miss the party.
About ten seconds later Nova wandered out the front door looking confused.
"Nova!" Nydia cried to get her attention.
Nova swung her head in surprise before seeing who it was. "Oh hey, Nydia. Sorry I'm late; have you seen James?"
"Oh my god you're late because of him?!" Nydia rolled her eyes. "Seriously Nova, this will be the last time I see you until school starts again. I don't want to lose it because you won't stop worrying about that loser."
"Don't call him that!"
"Fine, that 'socially disadvantaged individual'. Honestly girl, I don't know why you're so dead set on him, you could do a lot better."
"Oh for - What do I have to do to prove to everyone that it's not like that?! Is so impossible for two people of opposite genders to be just friends?"
"No, but I happen to know that you're not a homo," Nydia smirked. "Money's still out on James though."
"Listen here you -!"
"Look, just go find him, okay?" Nydia relented. "He's probably still in the art room. I'll wait here for you."
Nova quickly cooled off, for the most part. "Why are we even friends, again?"
Nydia shrugged. "Because we're both strong, good-looking, don't take any crap from the guys, and share an unhealthy drug-like addiction to stuffed animals."
Nova gaped. "You said-!"
"Relax, no one heard. There's hardly anyone here anyway."
Nova decided to give up at this point. She made her way back up the steps, Nydia cried after her. "If you take longer than 15 minutes I'll just assume you're having sex and leave without you!"
Nova mumbled in anger, ignoring the Hispanic.
Nydia giggled lightly to her self as Nova stomped into the building. And you're very fun to tease, can't forget that one.
Nova walked down the art/music hall. It was empty, except for the mess left by the summer school students as they rushed out in celebration of the last day. Apparently the janitors were on strike so nobody was there to clean it up.
She entered the room James usually was in. "James? You still in here?"
Sure enough James was there, standing in front of a sculpture he was working on, totally oblivious to everything else.
"James!"
"Huh?!" The boy whipped his head around, smiling and relaxing when he saw who it was. "Oh, hey Nova. What are you doing here?"
"Um, James, do you even know school's over?"
"Yeah, everyone left about five minutes ago I think, I was just putting on the finishing touches."
"James, school ended almost half an hour ago!" she pointed towards the clock.
The boy's eyes widened in shock. "Oh crap! I'm sorry Nova I totally lost track of time!"
Nova shrugged, "It's okay, it's not like we can't see each other soon. This is more for Nydia. So what are you working on anyway?"
"Oh!" James stepped out of the way, presenting it. "It still needs to be painted, but I think that it's pretty good so far."
Nova's eyes widened. "A monkey? Why…?" She trailed off. This was mentally straining to her for some reason. "Did you just decide to do a monkey on whim?"
James shrugged. "Kinda, the theme this summer was nature, I chose to do a monkey."
"Huh," said Nova, only half paying attention, "what color are you going to paint it?"
James looked at Nova strangely as he cleaned his sculpting tools. "Brown, duh."
"Hmm," Nova continued to stare at the sculpture. "I feel that it should be a different color for some reason."
James smiled, slightly puzzled yet amused "Okay… Like what?"
"Black, or red, or green, maybe blue."
James laughed lightly. "You do realize this is a zoo exhibit we're talking about, not a cartoon, right?"
Okay, are they actually having sex or something?
Nydia was peeved, it had been eleven minutes so far, and Nova was still in the building.
It takes four minutes top, to get to the art wing and back.
Off to her left, a bush rustled.
The girl tilted her head in confusion. A squirrel?
She got up from the bench and made her way over to the shrub, going slowly as to not disturb whatever was in it. Maybe it's a chipmunk.
She reached out to push the branches out of the way, before stopping suddenly. Wait. What if it's like a rabid raccoon or something.
Nydia held still for a few moments.
Wait raccoons are nocturnal.
She brushed the branches out of the way to find...nothing.
Well that was really anti-climatic.
She stood up and smirked sardonically.
Now's the part in the movie where it turns out the serial killer is actually behind me.
Nydia slowly lost her smirk and peeked around nervously before quickly making her way into the building.
I better go see what's taking Nova!
TIME:10:45 UTC+12
LOCATION: Wellington, New Zealand
Hyun Jae felt like banging her head against a wall. I am such an idiot.
When she packed for her trip to New Zealand she had taken everything she needed with her: cell phone, check. Passport, check. Credit card, check. Toiletries, check. A Korean/English dictionary, check. A proper change of clothes because it was winter in the southern hemisphere, notcheck.
She sighed as she handed the store clerk her credit card, along with her brand new clothes. This trip is going to end up draining away my inheritance at this rate! You better be really fucking grateful when I rescue you Antauri.
She exited the store a few minutes later, having slipped her new maroon sweater over her t-shirt. She was fortunately already wearing a plain beige skirt that kept her sufficiently warm, but that was the only piece of clothing that she had that could be warn in weather below 15°C, so she had spent almost ₩375,000, or in this country, $450.
She shook her head, No time to worry about money. Now then, where's the nearest bus stop? I need to get to that shop Jin Sang said was in the report.
She glanced about for a bus stop sign, when she glimpsed something down the street. Is that…?
It was a beach. It's been forever since I've been to the ocean.She looked down at her watch, I can spare a few minutes for a little stroll.Hyun Jae quickly made her way down the block, stopping where the sand began.
There was nobody on the stretch of beach, unsurprisingly, what with the current temperature (and the cloudy weather only added to the effect). The beach wasn't exactly pristine, with patches of washed up seaweed and a little bit of trash, but it had been years since Hyun Jae had even seen anything larger than a pond, so she really didn't mind.
As she looked over the sand however, something caught her eye. Down towards the end of the sand, where the beach became rocks. There was a flash of pink and white. Did someone leave clothes on the beach?
As she walked closer to sate her curiosity, what slowly came into view caused a sudden shift in speed as she sprinted forward, it was a girl.
She soon reached the prone figure, "Hello, please say you are taking a nap." She said in heavily accented English
The girl didn't stir, No, no, no, this is bad!
Hyun Jae knelt down, and touched the girls clothing. The strange outfit was wet, Crap, please tell me she's breathing.
She leaned in close to listen for a breath, when the girl's eyes suddenly flew open. Before Hyun Jae could even sigh in relief or gasp in shock, the girl's hands shot up and wrapped around her neck.
Hyun Jae was thrown down onto the ground, the previously unconscious girl now on top of her while Hyun Jae tried to tare her hands away as she gasped for breath.
Less than a second later the girl's conscious thought seemed to catch up with the situation, as she suddenly let go and gasped in shock (unlike Hyun Jae who was gasping for oxygen).
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! That was just instinctual or something I swear!"
Hyun Jae pushed the younger girl lightly out of her way as she sat up. "Yes, yes that's -" She glanced at the girl, realizing something, "Wait, you speak Korean?" She does look vaguely East-Asian, maybe one of her parents is from Korea and the others from here.
"Um...yes?" The girl said, seemingly unsure of herself. "Are you alright?"
Hyun Jae nodded as she brushed the sand out of her hair, "The question is, is if you're okay. You're in soaking wet and no doubt freezing clothes, and I found you passed out on the beach."
The pink-haired girl, (Dyed I guess?), shook her head, "I'm fine, okay?" She looked around the beach, seemingly disoriented. "Um...where am I?"
Hyun Jae gaped. "You don't know where you are?" This is eerily similar to how I found Antauri.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda lost. My name is Jin May by the way."
Jin May? Isn't that Chinese? Then why is she speaking perfect Korean? Wait, that's not important right now.Hyun Jae extended her hand, "My name's Hyun Jae."
Hyun Jae stood up and brushed the sand off of her as Jin May did the same. "So what were you doing that got you lost anyway Jin May?"
"Um...I was looking for my friend."
Hyun Jae laughed a small sardonic laugh. "Well what do you know, so am I. That's why I came to New Zealand in the first place, to find my friend Antauri."
"Antauri!" Jin May yelled, surprised
"You know him?" Hyun Jae asked, half in disbelief, half hopeful.
Jin May nodded. "I think so, at least I know someone with that name. Does the name Chiro mean anything to you. He's who I'm looking for."
Hyun Jae gaped before snatching Jin May's hand and dragging her away. "You're coming with me."
LOCATION:City Park, Denver, USA
TIME:15:53 UTC-4
"So are we gonna go?"
"Huh?!" Nova looked up to see James standing beside her.
The boy raised an eyebrow at Nova's continued fixation on the statue. "A picture would last longer ya' know."
"Sorry," Nova blushed lightly, embarrassed, Why am I so obsessed with this thing?
"Hey guys!"
The two quickly looked towards the door.
"Nydia?" Nova was puzzled at her friends arrival. "Why are you here?"
Nydia was breathing heavily as the door closed behind her, as if she had ran to the room. "Well you were taking a while so I figured I see what was happening, glad to see you aren't boning each other."
"Would you just drop that already?!" James facepalmed. "We're not having sex!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Nydia quickly brushed him off, a slight tinge of nervousness to her voice.
Nova noticed this. "Nydia? Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing-" she stopped and smiled sardonically at herself. "It's just, you know that feeling you get that someone is watching you, I couldn't stop feeling that outside. It was probably nothing though. So, are we gonna go or not?" Nydia turned around and opened the door.
As soon as she did, a dark shape lunged at her and tackled her to the ground.
"HOLY SHIT!" James yelled and stumbled backwards as the humanoid thing began attacking Nydia with its claws.
"GET OFF OF HER!" Nova yelled as she punted the monster off of Nydia, into a shelf of art supplies.
To her surprise the thing more or less exploded in a shower of black goop.
"What the fuck was that thing?!" shouted James, as he got up from the floor. "It looked like a skeleton had climbed out of a tar pit!"
Nova was still staring at the puddle of black goop. "I-I don't know."
It was only then that both of them realized that Nydia still hadn't made a sound since the attack.
Nova quickly bent down at Nydia's side. "Nydia!" After about a second however, she saw that Nydia's chest, although covered in shallow cuts, was still rising and falling with breaths. "Oh thank god, she's still breathing."
James shook his head. "T-this still isn't good, sh-she-" James stopped to take a calming breath. "A fall hard enough to knock someone out will give them a serious concussion, maybe even permanent brain damage."
Nova reached out to Nydia.
"No, don't!" James exclaimed.
"Why not?"
"I'm no expert, but it's probably better to not move her."
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do! I'm not just going to leave my friend lying here, maybe dying from her skull being cracked open!"
"I DON'T KNOW, OKAY!?" James yelled.
It was at this point that Nova realized James was still shaking violently.
The boy continued, visibly breaking down as he did so/ "I don't know what we should do with her, I don't know what the fuckthe thing that just attacked us was, I don't know if there's more of them waiting outside, I - I don't know okay?"
Nova put her hands on James' shoulders. "James I need you to calm downand think okay?"
James shuddered before taking several deep breaths, "You're right, I'm sorry." He slowly gazed over at Nydia. "I'll call 911." He took his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Damn, no bars. How about you?"
"You know I don't have a cell phone." Nova took the cell phone from James. "I'll go pull a fire alarm, that'll bring the fire department and ambulances, right?"
"But what if there are more of those things?!" James exclaimed.
"James, the door has been open this whole time, and no others have come barging in here, I think it's safe. Besides, I can defend myself. There's a reason I wasn't afraid to kick that guy in the nads last month."
James smiled, reassured. "Okay, I'll stay here and keep an eye on Nydia then."
"I'll be right back."
Nova quickly exited the room, closing the door behind her and running for the nearest fire alarm. However, when she reached the alarm less than fifteen seconds later, a large crash and yell emanated from the room. JAMES!
Nova quickly yanked down the alarm and immediately sprinted back to the room and slammed the door open, upon which she was treated to a horrible sight.
Some...THING that looked like a monkey zombie with a crab claw had pinned a heavily injured James down, the teen's right forearm in the pincer. "Now hold still boy! Wouldn't want you to get hurt would we?" the thing sneered as he snapped the pincer shut.
James screamed in horrific pain as his arm was crushed and torn, bones cracking and vessels bursting from the pressure.
The thing laughed gleefully as blood began to pour from the wound. He was too distracted to even notice Nova charging at him.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" She tackled the monster, and began viciously whaling on it with her fists, it hurt immensely for both of them. Her blows were hard, but so was the strange armor like substance most of him was coated in.
After a few seconds, the thing was able to throw Nova off of himself, and into the shelf which then fell onto her and the puddle of sticky goop. "You..." he growled, "How dare you touch me you filthy huma-!" He paused in surprise, slowly coming to a realization as he stared at the now stuck girl. "Nova?"
"How do you know my name?!" She yelled, trying to get up from the sticky mess as the shelf held her down.
The monster laughed maliciously, ignoring her. "Oh how, ironic, here I thought that these humans had somehow captured you, using you for experiments and the like. It's not above them you know?" He growled. "But no, what I've found is even more pathetic than what I could have ever imagined. You've become one of these weak things!"
He slowly approached the girl. "You know, Master always said that you five were redeemable, and that we would be able to convert you to our side. I always thought it strange, but neither of I ever questioned it." He punched Nova's face. "But now I see that you aren't worth a moment of my time, and I don't know how I ever thought otherwise."
The monster turned and walked away, before leaping out the window he had smashed coming in.
Nova struggled to free herself, lifting the shelf off of her. "Get back here you bastard!" She got out from under the metallic heap, and began to give cha-
"Nova."
Nova froze, looking over at her friend, who was now lying in a pool of his own blood. "JAMES!"
Nova made her way over to her friend's right side, inspecting the wound. The arm was a horrific mess, covered in blood and more than a few fragments of bone were visible.
"Nova?" He whispered.
Nova looked at his face. Oh James...The teen's face was contorted in pain, yet somehow relaxed. Tears were still streaming down his face.
"Nova, did you pull the alarm?"
"Yeah, they should be here soon."
"Good, that's good, Nydia..." He trailed off. "They're not gonna get here fast enough for me Nova, are they?"
"You'll be fine."
He shook his head slowly. "No, I won't, I've lost so much blood already, I-" He choked back a sob. "Tell my parents I love them and that I'm sorry."
"You're not going to die!"
James smiled sadly. "Your eyes, they're pink again. It fits you ya' know?"
"James, snap out of it!"
His eyes started to close. "I'm sorry Nova, but it hurts so much, and I'm so tired."
"James don't give up they'll be here any second!"
He didn't respond. Blank eyes stared right back at her.
"JAMES!"
Nova stood up and looked out the smashed window, she could hear sirens coming.
She looked back towards Nydia, who fortunately remained unscathed during her fight. "I'll come back for you Nydia," she turned back to the window, "but first I'm going to go find and kill that thing."