Dead Clouds

Chapter 3 (2/2): The Skeleton Man Walks

Gold's heartbeat was an instrument. He felt every pulse and every rush of blood filling his veins. The music that sprang from his heart was a song of hope. The silence of doubt almost succeeded in muting him, but the arrival of Radius reminded him of how much fight he had left. His song was not over. His heart had an infinite number of notes to play.

The two leaped away from the storefront without a moment to spare. The ice crashed into the brick building and sent sparkles into the air. Radius observed the damage amazed at seeing the destructive force up-close.

Gold floated above him, "You saved me."

The amount of blood soaking Gold's white tracksuit and staining his mouth returned Radius to the previous night. He was sick of seeing this image of him. It was a distraction from his research. Something about a cloud attempting to kill the missing piece to his study of the cloudification process really pissed him off. No one—human or god—was going to impede his groundbreaking work.

"You're bleeding," said Radius, "I suppose you have a heartbeat after all."

Slowly, Gold placed his hand over his chest. The thumps felt so warm against his palm despite the freezing temperature. His sandy-blonde hair rustled around as he turned his head to the cloud.

"Let's give thinking a try," said Gold with a smile pointing to his head, "How do we stop a god?"

"It's still a cloud," answered Radius pinching the side of his glasses, "We need to dissipate it."

"Do what?" interrupted Gold scratching his head.

Radius pointed to the sun, "Scientifically, clouds are just water vapor or ice crystals in the atmosphere. By increasing the temperature, we can heat up the air around the cloud causing the liquid inside of it to evaporate. The cloud would disappear entirely."

"Dude! That's an awesome plan!" said Gold, shooting him a thumbs-up.

"It's basic science," said Radius sweeping his eyes around the fallen city, "We still need to find a way to produce some type of heat, however."

Gold snapped his fingers, "Wish we had a lighter or a flamethrower."

The cirrus cloud opened both of its palms aiming at the two.

"I wish we had more time," replied Radius eyeing the cloud.

Blood erupted out of Gold's mouth followed by several wheezing coughs. He floated onto his feet with two hands wrapped around his throat. The adrenaline that lessened his pain was running low. He felt the intense stabbing pain over and over again. Yet, he refused to surrender.

"My dream is to become a cumulonimbus cloud," said Gold as his shoulders heaved, "I won't let my dream die here. Not today."

Radius shook his head. There was no heat source available for them to use. The guy could posture as much as he wanted, but they were finished. Talk of dreams was childish to Radius. Dreams can't come true if you die.

"What's your dream, Radius?" asked Gold.

He repeated that look of sincerity. Eyes weirdly mixed with both hopefulness and sadness. They seemed to glow. Radius stared at him before noticing the blue light of the cloud's vortex cutting into his vision. His dream was something he kept to himself. It was a private desire the world didn't need to know.

Still, he wondered if the world was denying him of his dream? Why else would a cloud suddenly appear and attack the city? How could people become the cloud they envisioned, if clouds ended their lives prematurely? A righteous anger heated the inside of Radius' chest. There was an audacity to sharing a dream with the world. It was a command to the universe.