The dance was beautiful, I thought for a moment. No, wait, the dance sucked. I was having a good time because she was beautiful. My ears hurt from the music, and my eyes ached from the bright moving lights, but I was having trouble remembering ever being this happy.
I’d been waiting so long for this moment, moving my body to the music next to Amanda. We looked at each other and smiled. She tilted her head up, and her brown eyes shone. It had taken forever to work up the courage to ask Amanda to prom, but I’d finally done it! And now we were alone in the crowd, and-
Over the sound of the music, my phone beeped in my pocket at a pitch and timing I recognized. It could only mean one thing.
While I danced, my friends were in mortal danger.
Probably from monsters, but honestly, who knew with these guys?
Groaning inwardly, I smiled and shrugged at Amanda. I was keeping up the act that I was just some awkward kid, embarrassed that his phone had gone off- which in some ways, I was.
But, sadly, I was also much more.
I turned off the alarm, shrugged again, and shouted ’medicine’ over the beat.
Amanda frowned, but nodded. She, like everyone else I knew at school, thought that the alarm was my reminder to go take my meds at the Nurse’s office.
Over my shoulder, I heard her call, "Be back soon, Matt."
I ducked out of the busy gym, and walked as quickly as I could to my regular spot- the janitor’s closet. It was hard to keep from running, and as always, I feared what would happen if I was too late.
With the door closed behind me, I finally accepted the call. James’ urgent voice came over immediately.
"Oh, thank God. Quick, those monsters we fought last month, with the bug legs- what was their weakness again?
I hesitated, blinking at the shadowed cleaning supplies that occupied the closet with me. Let’s see, last month, that would be April…
"Water. In the mouth," I finally remembered.
Then I clambered onto a bucket to reach a loose ceiling tile. With practiced hands I pushed the tile aside to pull out my laptop. It was easier to keep it here than to have it with me at all times.
I turned it on, and while I waited, I asked James to clarify on his situation.
"We’re retreating from the portal location- the monsters are just streaming out. Even worse than last time."
I sighed very quietly to myself, pulling the phone away from my mouth. Why did he always complain about how much worse they were? Couldn’t he see that they got worse every time?
Into the receiver, I said, "Right, right. What are you guys doing?"
"I’m getting a bird’s-eye view on it, Mal is spewing fireballs at the things, which isn’t doing any good, and Dale is as small as he can get- a cockroach, I think? And he’s trying to wriggle his way in past the monsters."
"Got it," I said, nodding to myself. "So, do you see or hear any water, where you are?"
My laptop was on. With one click, I opened up a window with two video streams- one from a camera on James’ shoulder, and one on Mal. When we first set up the system, I’d tried to find a camera that would work for Dale, but every time he shape-shifted, it would fall off, so I was content with two eyes.
Just as he’d said, James was hovering about a story off the ground.
Looking at that image, I felt an all-too-familiar twinge of jealousy at his abilities.
Abilities that won’t do him much good if you let them get killed, I reminded myself.
Shaking my head to clear it, I focused on the monsters.
The monsters were similar to others we’d seen, but seemed to be
moving faster. The best way I can think to describe them is ’centipedes with bat heads and wings’. Strangely, despite their prominent, leathery wings, they never flew into the air. They just ran from the portal, letting out shrill calls, something like an anxious cricket. They made little effort to attack my friends, but would try to defend themselves when they approached.
As the monsters in the front were pushed forward by those behind them, they started to squirm down a tunnel leading deeper into the earth.
I held the phone against my ear with my shoulder, tilting my laptop at the same time so I could still see the battlefield. It was hard to see too much, because the only light came from Mal’s fireballs, and the blue glint of the portal the monsters were coming through.
James finally answered my question about the water. I could tell from his camera that he’d probably just finished turning around in mid-air, where he hovered above the battlefield.
"Uh, we’re in a cave, and yeah, there’s a water pipe here."
I rolled my eyes because he’d felt the need to let me know they were ’in a cave’. Even if I didn’t have two cameras pointed at the location, I had been the one to figure out the coordinates in the first place.
"Go check it out," I said, though I didn’t really think that was necessary.
"Yes sir, Mission Control," James replied.
"Don’t call me that," I said.
James thought it was funny to call me ’Mission Control’. I thought it was inaccurate. For one thing, if I was a part of mission control, I’d probably get paid a lot more than the nothing I was currently earning.
Despite his jibe, he was already examining the pipe, which barely poked out from the dirt.
“What do we do, Matt?” He asked, pointing his camera at the pipe.
I squinted at the screen. It looked like there were some bolts along it. I assumed that James wouldn’t be able to twist them out, but maybe Dale could get it out as a chimpanzee? Those things were strong.
“Go get Dale,” I told James. “He’ll be able to get it open.”
James started to call out for Dale, turning back towards the swarming mass of monsters.
Dale didn’t come. I realized the problem before James did.
"Dude. He’s a bug. He can’t hear you."
There was silence, and then James continued to turn away from the wall, probably to go find Dale, and get his attention.
"Wait. What’s that?" I asked suddenly, and he stopped turning in mid-flight.
"What is it?"
I ignored James, frowning deeply at what I was
seeing.
I zoomed in on the image, and I thought I saw something glinting green off the cave walls. Were those scales? Or eyes?
"Are you seeing that green thing? Kinda to the left?"
There was a pause, and then he said, "Yeah, I’m seeing it."
The camera started to move towards the green thing instead. It was
hanging off the ceiling.
I heard voices in the hallway, probably passing by.
As James approached the green thing, it started to quiver as if in a strong wind. Then it flashed down my screen, falling to the floor. I vowed to examine the freeze-frame of that later, but for now there was a more pressing issue.
Someone was knocking on the janitor’s door.