Nature calls

14 - Shawn

I open my eyes. My vision is blurry and there's a ringing tone in my ears. Sitting up, I look around, but all I see is brown dust filling the air like a fog. Through the ringing in my ears, I hear someone call out my name. "SHAWN?"

I rub my eyes and shake my head. Someone calls my name again. "SHAWN?" I clear my dry and hoars throat before I shout, "OVER HERE."

Out of nowhere, Sharon comes running through the dust like fog and throws herself in my arms, making me fall back on the ground again.

"Oh my God," she sobs before she pulls back and looks me over with tears rolling down her cheeks. "Are you alright?" Nodding, I say, "yes. Yes, I think so.".

Sharon cups my head with her hands, and I wince because my cheek feels sore. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asks, her voice thick with concern. "Yes, I'm fine. What happened?"

Boe comes up behind Sharon, looking just as confused as I am and puts a hand on her shoulder. She turns around and now she tackles him to the ground. "Oh my God, Boe."

What the hell happened? Why is the air like this?

Someone bends down next to me and takes my hand. I look up and see that it's Olea. She looks just as beaten up as I feel. Then another voice calls out my name. "SHAWN?"

Olea helps me up, takes my hand, and we follow the voice while I shout, "HERE." Hillary comes into view and when she sees me, she comes running over to me and throws her arms around me. "Oh God, Shawn. Are you okay? What's happening?"

Olea lets go of my hand so I can hug Hillary back. "I-I don't know. Where's Kira?" I ask. The last thing I saw was... What was the last thing I saw? I don't remember.

"KIRA?" I shout as I start walking around to look for her but it's so hard to see anything because of the dust.

"KIR-." I trip over something and fall down on the ground. When I look back, I see Kate lying on the ground with her throat ripped open and she's staring into nothing with wide eyes.

"No... Kate?" I quickly crawl over to her and cup her face. "Kate?" She doesn't move and... She isn't breathing. She's... She's... I let go of her and crawl backwards with wide eyes. Olea kneels down next to her, put her fingers on her eyelids, and closes her eyes.

A tear rolls down my cheek and I wipe it away with the back of my hand. Slowly crawling back to Kate, I sit next to her and look at her in shock. Olea takes both my hands, gives me a sad smile, and says, "she's dead Shawn."

I know that she's... I just don't want to believe it. It can't be true. Olea snaps me out of it when she asks, "do you remember what happened?" I shake my head because I can't remember a damn thing.

"Your father captured us when we went into town for groceries, remember?"

I frown in confusion, so she continues, "there were too many shapeshifters, and we couldn't get away. They brough us here and Kira came out of the forest..."

Wait.

Everything comes back in flashes, which knocks the air out of me like a punch to the gut. Then panic takes over and I ask, "Kira. where is she?" Olea slowly shakes her head. "I don't know."

I jump up on my feet and start to look for her. "KIRA? KIRA?" I can't find her anywhere and my panic grows. Then I see something on the side of the road, and I run towards it. "KIRA?"

When I get there, I see that it's a young boy. He looks at me with big, blue, scared eyes and then he points up to the sky. Up there in the air, a glowing red silhouette is levitating perfectly still. It looks like a shining red sapphire. What the...?