All Is Found

Chapter 4: Fleeing The Inn

My feet landed hard on the ground. I stumbled a little as I got up. "Wait up!" I yelled as Jim ran ahead to the crashed ship. My backpack was slowing me down but I didn't care. Someone's life is in risk.

"Hey Mister?" Jim asked as he neared the ship. He got closer and banged on the glass of the window when I caught up. "Mister, you're okay in there right?"

"Sir, are you okay?" I asked, peering through the glass, trying to see through the smoke. A clawed four fingered hand smacked on the glass. We both screamed from its sudden appearance and backed up. The door swung upwards and a reptilian like alien fell out with a small treasure chest. He wore a dark blue jacket, with the inside red and a black pirate hat. He coughed out as much smoke as he could and grabbed Jim by his shirt collar.

"He's a-comin'." He said in raspy deep voice. "Can you hear him? Those gears and gyros clickin' and whirrin' like the devil himself!" Jim tried to back away but the guy's neck stretched out like a snapping turtle. He let go of Jim and went to get his chest.

"Uh, hit your head pretty hard, didn't ya?" Jim asked, rubbing his forehead.

"I don't think so." I said. I know where this is going. Anxiety rose within me watching him as I knew the next minutes would be awful.

"He's after me chest." The stranger said as he grabbed it. "That fiendish cyborg and his band of cutthroats." He heaved his chest onto his shoulders and I could see a red button down shirt and gray pants. "But they'll have to pry it from old Billy Bones' cold, dead fingers afore I—" He grabbed his throat as he fell to the ground letting out more lung hacking coughs.

"Oh my..." Jim whispered.

"We got to get him inside." I whispered to myself. Thunder went off and it started sprinkling.

We both went up to Bones and grabbed one of his arms. "Come on, give us your arms." Jim said as we both lifted an arm over our shoulders. I saw Jim grab his chest. "That's it." He added. I let out a strained grunt as I helped the old alien up. The sprinkling turned into a full downpour.

"Good kids." Bones mumbled.

"Mom's gonna love this." Jim said sarcastically.

We continued walking up to the Inn. We had to stop walking a few times as Bones almost lost his footing. I could feel eyes on me and saw Bones looking at me but shrugged it off. My clothes had already stuck to me like a second skin when we arrived at the door. The door immediately opened from the other side and I could see Delbert standing there with a surprised expression. Thunder went off and Sarah gasped as we brought him in.

"James Pleiades Hawkins!" Sarah said as Bones fell to the ground.

"Mom he's hurt." Jim said dropping the chest.

"Bad." I added as the two of us gently helped him. He stared at me for a moment before grabbing my wrist and pulling me closer. I gasped hearing alarms going off in my head.

"Lass, you best be careful where you go in this world. Beware, the bat winged man." He whispered in my ear. My eyes went wide and I stared at him in shock. What does it mean? He let me go and I backed up a little bit. His attention turned to his chest. "Me chest, lad." He said, his hand reaching out for it.

    Jim pushed it in his direction. He tapped a certain code with the three buttons that locked it up. "He'll be comin' soon." Bones said. He pulled out a sphere wrapped in cloth. "Can't let them find this."

    "Who's coming?" Jim asked. Bones grabbed him by his shirt collar and brought him close to whisper in his ear. I didn't need to hear the warning to know.

    "The cyborg!" He whispered in his ear. "Beware the cyborg!" I saw Jim's eyes widened in fear. Bones gasped and fell to the ground. He stopped breathing and everyone knew he was gone. Jim held the sphere in his hands and stared at the corpse. Sarah gasped softly and covered her mouth with her hand. A bright light filled the room and rumbling from an engine could be heard.

    Sarah let out another gasp. Jim and I stood up from the floor. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and my adrenaline rose. Jim carefully walked over to the window, that had blinds on them to show a meadow in the spring. He grabbed a knob and turned it enough for him to see out. He quickly closed the blinds and ran to his mom. "Quick, we gotta go!" He said and grabbed her wrist. He dragged her upstairs and I started to follow.

    I turned back to see if Delbert was following but saw him at the door. "Delbert come on! We gotta go!" I yelled, stopping mid way up the stairs. The dog-humanoid gasped and dodged when a purple laser blasted through the doorknob. He then came running to the stairs.

    "I believe I'm with Jim on this one!" He yelled. The two of us ran after the Hawkins until we came to a circular window. Delbert threw open the window and looked down. "Delilah! Delilah!" He yelled down. I heard said creature yelping in response. "Stay don't move!"

    I stood next to Jim watching the hallway. The wall was glowing orange and I could smell faint smoke. I could hear things being broken downstairs and voices screaming in desperation. I knew we were going to be fine but it didn't help the fear. I clung to Jim's arm, putting my face into the fabric of his jacket, hoping to drown the sounds out. I was shaking in fear as the worst entered my mind. I peaked up for a moment to see shadows coming up the stairs. If we need to survive then we need to move. Now. We both looked at the adults.

    "Don't worry, Sarah." Delbert said. He was holding her forearm as he helped her onto the window's ledge. "I'm an expert in the laws of physical science. On the count of three. One—"

    Jim ran over to them and pushed them off the ledge. "Three!" Jim yelled. I can hear Sarah scream as she fell. I was still shaking in fear, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I felt hands on my arms and the ground wasn't underneath my feet. Before I could demand to be let go, he threw me out the window. I screamed as I fell, hoping I wouldn't hit the ground. Thankfully I landed in seat in between Delbert and Jim.

    "Go Delilah! Go!" Delbert yelled as he took the reins and snapped them to get the creature to run. I felt a hand on my arm and saw Jim holding onto my arm so I wouldn't fall off. "Go! That's it! That's it! Go!" The man driving yelled as we went further away from the Inn. The pace became steady and his hand was gone. I saw Sarah looking out behind her to see the Inn burning. She turned back around and leaned her head into her hand. Jim glanced at his mom with a frown on his face. He pulled the sphere from his pocket and unwrapped the cloth to reveal the sphere's golden color. It had many lines and circles carved on it. I looked at it in awe. We looked at each other then back at the sphere.

    Things are going to change now.