The Locust Man

Chapter Six

We all arrived back at our respective homes around 3:00 PM; plenty enough time to be able to execute our plan. My mom asked me to walk Koda before I ran off with my friends again, so I decided to just take her with me into the woods. Wouldn't hurt to have some extra protection with us, I thought. Koda was a pretty laid back dog most of the time, but being a German Shepherd, she was quite capable of taking care of business when the situation called for it. She was also very protective of me.

I changed out of my dress and into my trademark  black t-shirt and ripped up jeans, then tied my dark hair up into a pony tail, pushing my bangs out of my face. I ran down the stairs while yelling,

"C'mon, Koda! Leash up, we're going to the woods!"

She was standing at attention by the front door before I even reached the last few steps. I grabbed her leash, hooked the clasp to her collar, and we were off.

It was a beautiful day out. That morning had been overcast, but by the afternoon the sun was shining and the air was crisp. The first day of summer, the first day of June, the first day as a teenager. I was invigorated. We had finally gotten some information, and now we had a plan. A really good plan, too. I had Koda with me, Slim was stuck at work far away from us, and I felt like we had the upper hand, at last. I was confident that we were one step ahead of him. When I arrived at Mikey's, they were already all there waiting for me on the porch.

"Koda!!" Michelle squealed as she ran over to us.

Koda lowered herself to the ground and rolled over to let Michelle give her some belly scratches.

"Damn, why'd you bring that stinky-ass mutt with you?" Devin snarked.

Everyone loved Koda, except for Devin. I suppose it had to do with the fact that Koda loved everyone, except for Devin. He had brought that upon himself, though.

"Shut up, Dev. She smells better than you, and we still let you hang around." Lacey said, smiling at me.

"Ooooh... good one, Lace. You so got me." He mockingly replied.

I smiled and I shook my head, then looked over to Mikey and asked him,

"You got it?"

"Yep. Let's go." He said.

"Can I come?" Michelle asked me.

I looked at Mikey and he rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Sure." I told her. "You can hold Koda's leash for me."

She beamed up at me as I handed it over. As we walked, Koda excitedly wagged her tail,  meticulously sniffing everything we encountered along the way, with Michelle holding on tightly at the other end of the leash. Koda had about 20 lbs on Michelle, but was ever so graciously allowing her to be in control of the reins, as much as Koda's canine self would allow.

We were about a minute away from the clubhouse when Koda stopped suddenly in her tracks. Her nose shot up from the ground and pointed directly ahead, and she began sniffing the air intently. We all stopped walking.

"What is it, Ko?" I asked.

She let out a low growl, and the hair on her back began to raise.

"Maybe she sees a squirrel! You see a squirrel, Ko-Ko?"  Michelle asked.

I started to reach for the leash, but before I was able to get my hand on it, Koda bolted. Michelle was yanked forward hard, and as her body slammed onto the ground, she let go of the leash.