Chapter 4: Jump Scares
"Oh my God..." Garrett whispered before crying out, "That crazy-ass storm turned Kelsey into a dude!" Everyone glared at him as if he was crazy, except for AJ, who was thrilled that he now had an older brother and not a sister.
"Cool," AJ commented with a smile.
The others didn't know what to believe. That tornado came out of nowhere, and Kelsey wasn't around, just an unconscious man on the ground. Maybe Garrett was right. Perhaps the twister did change Kelsey's gender. It's impossible, but a wise man once said, 'Nothing is impossible.'
Jane took in the man's appearance to see that he had bulky muscles hidden underneath the long sleeve grey undershirt. Darcy used her flashlight to analyze the facial hair and the masculine chiseled jawline. If the man was Kelsey, the storm did a great job with the extreme makeover.
"Does Kelsey need CPR?" Darcy asked once she had taken in Kelsey's handsome appearance. "I totally know how to do it!"
Jane hovered her ear over his face to feel any signs of breathing; her heart pounded faster in a panic.
"Can somebody call 9-1-1?!" Jane asked aloud, cupping the man's neck to check for a pulse.
"We're outside of town," Erik explained as he extended his arm for a signal. "We have no reception here."
"Then, get the first aid kit!" Jane snapped before pleading to the unconscious victim in a frantic whisper, "Kelsey, if this is you, I'm so sorry. I know you hate me right now, but please do me a favor and don't be dead. Please!"
The man miraculously gasped wide awake, startling the team.
"Oh, thank you, Lord!" Garrett gasped for breath that he had been holding. "Thank you, Jesus!" He placed a hand on his chest, raising the other to praise the Almighty.
The stranger blinked at the bright light and stared at the woman above him - a possible angel of Valhalla. Had he died?
Jane noticed the man's eye color. She recognized that Kelsey had brown eyes, not blue, not to mention the hair color. This man couldn't be Kelsey. But if this man wasn't Kelsey, then who was he? Where did he come from? More importantly, where's Kelsey?
~000~000~000~
Loki and Odin silently watched Thor's transportation into the mortal world known as Midgard, along with Mjolnir.
Loki looked back at his father, completely astonished, "Father... I-"
"No need to plea for mercy, my son," Odin interrupted, not bothering to retreat his gaze from the fading portal. "You believe banishing Thor might've been too harsh and unwise." Loki closed his mouth. "It may have been harsh. It may have been cruel, but the boy must learn."
"I understand, Father..." Loki was reluctant. Odin's command to speak his mind was the only encouragement Loki needed. "Must you leave Thor alone to fend for himself?" He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, shaking his head, "No. I take that back. You offered Mjolnir for a purpose. The question is... Shall it become Thor's guide and key back home or a cruel elaborate trick to keep him astray?" The Allfather didn't answer right away. Loki fought back the emotion laced in his voice, "Must my brother endure forever?"
His father finally met his gaze, shaking his head, "Nothing last forever, son. One day, Thor Odinson shall perish from this universe and cross the bridge to Valhalla." Loki perked, widening his eyes at the declaration. The way Odin had emotionlessly uttered those painful words, nor did he shed a single tear. He stated it as a simple fact. Just as Loki was about to question his father further, Odin elaborated, "You must understand, dear boy. We are not gods. We born, we live, we die - just as humans do."
Loki considered the logic. Fortunately, Asgardians had an extended life span compared to mortals. "Give or take five thousand years," the son offered humorously that didn't reach his eyes.
"The prince you once knew shall be gone but not forgotten," the king promised. "If all goes well, your brother will return home to us. His flesh may appear as mighty as before, though his spirit shall be reborn anew."
"How?" the younger son pressed.
Odin fell silent, unsure how to answer his question, until he came up with a vague solution, "That is entirely up to him."
"What of Mother?" Loki questioned his father once more. "I very much doubt she will take kindly to this sudden arrangement."
"Yes," Odin agreed, "but Frigga will understand. It had to be done. For the good of Asgard." Odin walked down the steps, taking his leave. "Come along, my son."
Loki looked at where he last saw his brother - possibly the last time to see him alive - before reluctantly turning away to follow his father.
Suddenly, a light from the Bi-Frost fixated on Loki's back. Odin and Loki whirled around and shielded their eyes from the brightness.
"Heimdall!" Odin called out to the gatekeeper. "Heimdall!"
The golden-eyed guard quickly entered the dome and halted to see the Bi-Frost working without his key.
"Heimdall, what is the meaning of this?!" the king demanded.
"I do not know, My King," Heimdall replied helplessly.
"Close the Bi-Frost!" Loki ordered him.
Heimdall rushed to where he would insert his sword to open the portal. He didn't know how to close it, for his sword wasn't in place. Something was wrong. This had never happened before. First, the Frost Giants sneaked past his watch; now this. Heimdall was having an off day. Perhaps, if he inserted his key and pulled it out, the Bi-Frost could close independently; Heimdall tried it.
Before he could pull it out, a screaming figure tumbled her way from the portal, collapsing onto the stairs face down.
Heimdal may be known to see everything, but this was unexpected. Loki and Odin, too, analyzed the figure and noticed that this creature was wearing grey, the same color Thor had worn underneath his dematerialized armor.
"Thor!" Loki rushed over and kneeled at the figure's side. The men looked closer to see that this creature wasn't the first son of Odin, not even close. It was the body of a brunette.
Loki flipped the girl supine and brushed her hair aside to reveal her face. The mortal was wincing in pain and struggling to move. She didn't notice the gods, for her eyes squeezed shut.
Loki examined her for any possible signs of injury, "Madame, are you alright?" She weakly moaned in response, baring her teeth.
"My dear, if you can hear me open your eyes!"
Whether she heard him or not, her subconscious mind pushed to obey painfully, no doubt enduring the bright golden scenery surrounding them. He shifted her head carefully, forcing her to look at him. Those dark-chocolate brown eyes may be staring straight at him, but it didn't mean she was present. She looked lost, not that anyone could blame her. Questions ran through everyone's mind, especially the mortal who couldn't ask those questions out loud due to fear or injury. Odin demanded answers angrily, not caring for the mortal's condition. The eye contact between the prince and the mortal was brief. Her lashes fluttered shut.
"No. No. No. Stay with me, don't close your eyes," Loki's protest failed. Her head relaxed on the other side, revealing a gash of blood flowing down her jawline and on the step.
"Damn!" Loki cursed loudly as he quickly scooped her from the stairs, adding pressure to the wound.
"Loki, what are you doing?" Odin demanded.
"She is losing blood, Father! She needs help!" his son replied with haste. "I have to take her to the healing room - quickly!" Loki sped out of the dome, ignoring his father's protest, hoping to make it to the healers in time.
~000~000~000~
Everyone stepped back when mortal Thor leaped from the ground, pacing around in circles and staring at the night sky. Erik pulled AJ behind him, protecting the boy from the bulky stranger.
"Are you alright?" Jane asked Thor with concern.
"Hammer! Hammer!" The man didn't mind the group; his primary focus was on the stars.
"Yeah, we can tell that you're hammered," Darcy mumbled. "Pretty obvious."
"Uh... Kelsey, are you okay?" Garrett asked Thor.
"Garrett, it's not Kelsey," Jane acknowledged, not taking her eyes off the stranger. "Her eyes are brown, not blue."
"So I don't have an older brother?!" AJ wailed in disappointment.
"Okay..." Garrett shined the light on the man in awkward confusion, "If it's not Kelsey, then who is that guy, and why does he keep saying 'hammer' over and over again?"
"Hammer!" Thor repeated.
"Sir?" Jane stood up to demand answers. "Sir!"
"Father!" Thor changed his words, still pacing back and forth. His eyes had never left the sky.
"Excuse me?" Jane chased after him in circles, panting for breath. "Sir, can I please talk to you?"
"Father!" Thor didn't cease.
"Jane, we should take him to the hospital," Erik suggested.
"Which one?" Garrett asked. "Medical or mental?"
"Father!" Thor cried out.
"He's fine," Jane waved off the concern as she persisted in the chase. "Look at him move."
"Heimdall!" Thor cried angrily at the sky. "I know you can hear me, Heimdall! Open the Bi-Frost!"
Jane stopped when she realized how crazy the man sounded. She joined Erik's side, enlarging AJ's shield. "Hospital. Good idea. You go take him while I'll stay and search for Kelsey."
"What?" Erik questioned with furrowed brows.
Even though Darcy was partially responsible, Garrett felt terrible about hitting Thor with the van. It's a tough pill to swallow, but he had to make it right. After gathering enough courage to face the mental man, he tapped Thor's bulky shoulder for his attention.
"Uh... dude," Garrett cleared his throat nervously, "are you feeling-" The muscle man grasped Garret's biceps tightly before lifting the teen off the ground until his feet barely touched the ground. Garrett screamed in shock and instinctively kicked the air below him. Darcy would've laughed at him for being such a wimp.
"You boy!" Thor shook Garrett roughly like a rag doll. "What realm is this?!"
"Do what now?!" Garrett struggled, kicking his feet non-stop.
"Where am I?!" Thor tightened his grip. "Norheim?! Alfheim?!"
"Uh..." Garrett couldn't comprehend Thor's question. The tight grip around his arms slowly cut the blood flow, creating a numbing sensation in his hands. His trembling silence thinned Thor's patience.
"You dare ignore me, boy?!" Thor cried angrily.
"Dude, I swear I'm not!" Garrett pleaded scarcely. "P-Please put me down! Put me down!"
"I beg your pardon?!" Thor blinked, taken back by his reference to him. "I am not what you call a dude! Don't you know who I am?! I am Thor! The son of Odin and the almighty king of As-" He suddenly felt electric sparks of pain coursing through his body. His nervous system gave up, as well as his consciousness. He collapsed to the ground, landing on top of Garrett.
Jane, Erik, and AJ's mouths dropped in shock, turning to the person responsible for the knockout - Darcy Lewis and her taser.
"What?! He was freaking me out!" Darcy cried defensively, without taking her eyes off Thor. Garrett struggled underneath the heavyweight and wheezed for assistance.
AJ stared at Darcy's weapon - a happy glint didn't leave his eyes, "Cool."
"I know, right," Darcy agreed as she played with the taser button, creating electrical sparks.
AJ reached for the taser, hoping that Darcy would let him try it out, "Can I-"
"Nope," Darcy answered abruptly, putting the taser back in her purse. "Sorry, kiddo. Tasers are for big kids only."
"I'm eight!" AJ pointed out.
"Exactly," Darcy joined the group. AJ sauntered behind with a puppy pout on his face. Jane and Erik rolled Thor's unconscious body back onto the desert ground.
Garrett gasped for breath and crab-walked backward, away from Thor, "The hell, man! I thought he was gonna rip my arms out."
Jane kneeled in front of Garrett, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Garrett, are you okay?"
"No!" Garrett rubbed the bruises on his arms. "I think he cracked a bone!"
"Aww. Garrett, I'm so sorry. Do we need to take you to the hospital?"
"Nah," Garrett looked at Jane with puppy-dog eyes and mumbled, "Although, my mama used to make it better by giving me a kiss." He puckered his lips.
Jane couldn't help but snort at his poor attempt to get a kiss. She covered her mouth to hide her laughter, even though a possible broken bone wasn't funny.
Darcy rolled her eyes, "Get over yourself, Romeo."
AJ stared at Thor's body in wonder. He kneeled closer to poke the abdominal muscles - he couldn't feel a trace of squishy fat anywhere. It was like touching body armor.
"AJ, what are you doing? Get away from him!" Erik quickly picked up the boy to keep a distance from the madman.
"Why?" AJ questioned. "Darcy put him to sleep. It's not like he's going to wake up anytime soon."
"Have you seen a horror movie, kid?" Darcy asked. "This is a jumpscare waiting to happen."
"Would he wake up as the Hulk?!" AJ exclaimed, widening his eyes. "Cause that would be awesome!"
Erik scowled at AJ's enthusiasm, "AJ, the Hulk is a mean green tale to scare people."
"Nuh-uh! I saw pictures on the Internet! It said that Culver got struck by a gamma meter-rite, killing millions and millions of people, but only one man survived with powers!"
Darcy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, kid, believe everything you read on the web."
"I'm telling you! He's real! He's gigantic. His fists are the size of Jane's van, and he can smash everything he sees! He's cool!"
Knowing Erik couldn't talk sense into the eight-year-old, he ordered the boy to return to the van.
AJ huffed as he obeyed in stomps, "I never get to do anything fun."
"So, what are we going to do with him?" Darcy asked, gently kicking Thor's tailbone
"Well, we can't just leave him here," Jane picked up the flashlight that Garrett dropped. "He might have a concussion. Erik, take the man to the hospital and the kids home. I should stay here and search for Kelsey."
"In the dark? All by yourself?" Garrett shook his head in disapproval. "Hell no! Do you know what happens in horror movies when women take off alone?! Damn!"
"Uh? Excuse me? Women?!" Darcy put in her two-sense. "Men are just as stupid! What about the idiot who broke the rules in Scream 2 and said, 'I'll be right back', only he didn't come back?"
"Yeah, I'm sticking with the parody version," Garrett grumbled. "That dude survived after getting stabbed through the-"
"Garrett's right, Jane," Erik agreed hastily. "We can't leave you here alone; it's dangerous."
"But Kelsey could be around here somewhere!" Jane opened her arms, gesturing to their surroundings. "She could be unconscious or hurt, or-"
"Maybe we should call the police." Garrett was the first to tense up at that last word, unbeknownst to everyone.
Darcy scoffed, "The police. Please. The cops won't help." That earned looks from her comrades as if she was an idiot. "I'm just stating facts. Everyone knows that if a person goes missing, the police always make you wait 24 hours, and by the time they can help, they become useless, especially after you hit the bad guy one time. Believe me. I watch Lifetime."
"That's not true!" Garrett interjected. "They only use that rule for TV shows, not real life!"
Darcy glared at Garrett with irritation, putting a hand on her hip, "Nuh-uh."
Garrett mocked her expression, "Uh-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh-huh."
"It doesn't matter!" Erik snapped, ending the obnoxious debate. "We need to report Kelsey missing anyway, or this becomes another Casey Anthony case." Everyone blinked at Erik's choice of words. Jane was a little offended that Erik compared her to that party mom. Jane never parties; she works — a big difference.
"We haven't searched the field yet. We don't know what happened and how this guy got here," Jane pointed out, gesturing to unconscious Thor on the ground. "If we call the police, what will we tell them?" Everyone was silent, unsure how to answer that. "See? You guys don't know, either. Before getting the police involved, we should search every inch of this field for Kelsey and gather what we know. If we fail to find her, we'll stop by the sheriff's department and report her missing."
Erik paused for a minute. He gazed at Jane to see the look of desperation and guilt on her face. She was the one who forced her niece to tag along, blaming herself for Kelsey's disappearance. How could she? Jane didn't know this was going to happen. Kelsey was gone, and here lay this injured stranger who may be a nutjob. Jane was right; they should figure out what happened before making the call.
The man yawned and nodded in agreement, "Very well." Jane held back the smile of satisfaction. There's no time to be celebrating. She must search for her niece.
They split into two teams. Erik, AJ, and Darcy planned to drive Thor to the hospital while Jane and Garrett stayed behind to search for Kelsey in the desert. The group thought Garrett should switch with Darcy, but Garrett insisted that Thor didn't break his bones and that Jane should have a man to protect her if something happened.
Erik asked Garrett to help carry Thor inside the van. When the teen decided to act like a wimp, Darcy jumped in to help, despite the risk of a possible surprise attack from the patient. No matter. She prepped the taser ahead of time, just in case.
"You are taking him to a mental institution, right?" Garrett asked with unease as he watched the struggling task to shove Thor inside the trunk.
"Garrett," Jane tugged his sleeve jacket for attention, "don't worry about him. You're helping me find Kelsey, remember?"
Garrett smiled at that thought. Despite the circumstances, he could spend some quality time alone with Jane. He wouldn't like to call this a romantic date, a search date, maybe. It's better than the alternative - no date at all.
"Right," he agreed.
Erik grunted, dragging Thor's upper half into the van. "Darcy, word of advice... next time you decide to taser somebody, be sure he's already in the car, okay?" They both managed to slide Thor's other half inside.
"Jane, we'll meet you here once we drop the man off," Erik instructed.
"Alright," Jane and Garrett walked away, shining their flashlights in every direction, calling out Kelsey's name.
"AJ," Erik walked over to the boy sitting at Kelsey's last known position in the van, swinging his feet over the edge, barely touching the desert ground. He was holding something though it was too dark to see what. Garrett's Gameboy, maybe?
"Yeah, Uncle Erik?" AJ asked.
Erik nudged his head to the side, gesturing where he wanted the boy to sit for the ride, "Get in the front."
Darcy widened her eyes, and her mouth dropped in disbelief, "What?!" She watched the ecstatic boy climb onto the passenger's seat - her seat. "How come he gets to sit in the front?"
"If the man wakes up, I don't want to put AJ in danger," Erik explained.
Darcy scoffed, slapping her thighs, "Oh, I see. So you don't mind sacrificing my ass like a little lamb? You know it's against the law for an underage child to sit in the front anyway, right? What if we get into an accident, and the airbag kills him?"
"Get in the back!" Erik snapped, marching to the driver's side.
"But what if he wakes up?!" Darcy wondered.
"Did you forget your taser already?" Erik stepped inside the vehicle and shut the door.
Darcy rolled her eyes as she crawled next to the hunk.
"Typical," she grumbled, slamming the back doors shut. Thunder erupted in the sky as they drove away, creating a massive shake on the desert ground. The vehicle bounced slightly, jolting the passengers inside.
"What was that?" AJ looked through the side window to investigate but saw nothing significant. Erik dismissed it as a speed bump, a misalignment of sand.
"What the hell?!" Garrett cried as his arm started to tremble, nearly dropping the flashlight. He and Jane stumbled from the brief earthquake. Unlike the passengers, they spotted a comet falling from the night sky and imploding onto the dirt the distance. Jane gasped for breath as she picked up the pace toward the scene while screaming Kelsey's name.
"Aw, hell no!" There was hesitation on Garrett's part to follow Jane, but he trailed behind her, knowing the consequences if they were to separate - a possible death scene for one or both victims.