Master of Puppets

Chapter 14

Summer was nearing its end and all the kids would be soon returning to school. Thus, the teachers, club presidents, activity organizers, and the rest of the staff were preparing for the new semester to begin. Trevor Wallace was one such individual. He ran the youth parliamentarian club where students could come and share their ideas on politics, campaigns, etc. The first annual chapter meeting was set to commence tomorrow afternoon, so he and several other members were tasked with setting up their respective classroom.

That was the plan, anyway. Trevor was the only one who showed up.

He'd decided to push past his initial frustration and get the decorations up himself. If he stayed on top of it, he'd be home before 9 PM, long after every other teacher, student, and staff member had gone home. Trevor raised an American flag decoration to the wall and fumbled with his tape, only to realize it was empty. He cursed under his breath. Remembering that he had some extra supplies in his car, he sighed in resignation, before making the trek into the hallway.

This wasn't fair. He shouldn't have to do all of this by himself. He wanted to be home, watching tv, enjoying his Saturday, but he couldn't because his classmates had bailed on him. Great. He passed by a room full of students finally finishing up their own decorations, the disco club. A girl he recognized waved at him as he made his way by, the groovy music echoed throughout the hall as it played on full blast. He smiled a bit and waved back. Allison Green. He was planning on finally asking her to the fall dance. Trevor had been far too nervous before, but this year would be his chance. He passed their classroom and continued to the exit.

When he finally left the building and walked away from the overhead lights into the dark concrete lot, a noise shuffled somewhere behind him. Trevor jumped at the sound and looked around to find the source, but he was alone. Shrugging it off, he continued towards his car. Whatever. He just needed to get the supplies and get back inside. The sudden sound of flapping wings and scraping asphalt made him drop his keys in shock. They tumbled away from him and under another car, jangling wildly. He hissed in frustration and spared another glance in all directions.

"Hello?" He called.

No response.

Trevor cursed under his breath and knelt down quickly to try to find his keys, raking his hands underneath the car to try to feel for them. More sounds, more scraping, closer and closer now. His heartbeat quickened. It took a moment of frantic searching before he finally felt the leather of his key chain and yanked it out from under the car. He stood as quickly as he could, looking wildly around the area. His throat felt tight as he gripped his keys with shaking hands.

What he saw, however, was an empty parking lot. His eyes flicked all around as he backed against the car, breathing heavily, but it seemed to him that he was alone. Trevor let out a breath and rolled his eyes at himself. He felt like such a wimp. It was probably just a raccoon or something. He pushed himself from the car and unlocked his own vehicle, fishing through his trunk for the box of supplies. Finding it, and several more rolls of tape, he nodded in satisfaction. Time to get the fuck out of this parking lot. Trevor lifted it up and clumsily fumbled with his other hand to close the lid of the trunk.

When he finally shut it, he looked up and his heart nearly stopped. Mere feet from him, he was met with a pale, leathery creature crouched on the roof of his car. It was the size of a cat and its skin was slick with mucus that dripped down the tentacle-like appendages writhing at its tail. Large, demonic wings stretched from its back as it faced him, eyeless and blind and snarling.