Chasing [Zach Mitchell] (discontinued)

Chapter 8: The Abomination

"NO, NO. BAD IDEA, bad idea!" Gray exclaimed as Zach kept going through the little forest area that was supposed to be out of bound and off-road.

"Great idea." Zach corrected.

"No!" Kenna denied loudly. Her anxiety was bad in that moment. She was probably more worried than she was supposed to be, and Gray anxiously tapping his foot as he sat in her lap was definitely making the situation worse for her.

"We're gonna get arrested," Gray said with wide eyes, speculating the worst possible outcome. "They'll shave our heads, and we're gonna have to make root beer in the toilet." The end of his rant had even Kenna raising her eyebrows at the preteen.

"What are you talking about?" Zach asked. Gray seemed to calm himself down a little but didn't answer his brother's question. The Gyrosphere continued through the little forest until Zach spoke again. "There. You see? I told you." Zach grinned triumphantly like he had won some kind of award. "You're welcome. Up close and personal with... four..." he trailed off and Kenna grinned.

"Four what?" she asked teasingly. "Oh, don't stop now. You were doing so well." Zach glared at her, which Kenna saw from the corner of her vision.

"Dinosauruses." Zach decided on. Gray turned around and shared a look with Kenna.

"Ankylosaurus." Kenn and Gray corrected in synchronisation, almost like they had planned it exactly. Then they proceeded to some sort of secret handshake Zach didn't even know they had.

"We shouldn't be here." Gray continued, still worried. "And there's five dinosaurs."

Zach looked weirdly at his younger brother. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something? Look." He pointed. "One, two, three..." Zach slowed down until he saw the last one. "Four."

With a shaky hand, Gray raised his finger and pointed at the reflection of a dinosaur he could clearly see in the Gyrosphere. "Five." He finished. Zach's eyes widened in realisation along with Kenna's, and the three turned around to see what was happening.

Kenna's breath caught in her throat. The dinosaur behind them was... Monstrous. Now don't get her wrong, it wasn't just a term she used because it was a monster or anything. Monstrous means being inhumanly or outrageously evil or wrong. And the creation of this creature was exactly that. It was no dinosaur. It was an abomination. Not knowing what it was, that was exactly what Kenna named it.

And then it opened its mouth and roared at Kenna, Gray and Zach. "Go Zach, GO!" Kenna shouted, making Zach swear loudly before he tries to start forwards. Before he can, the abomination kicked the Gyrosphere, sending them off.

It spun around horizontally, as it couldn't turn upside down, and Gray began to scream. The screams made the situation seem far worse than it actually was, despite it being pretty terrible.

"Hold it together, man," Zach ordered, grabbing his brother's arm in a reassuring way. The abomination and the Ankylosaurus began roaring at each other in some sort of competition, leaving the Gyrosphere to be totally forgotten about.

"Drive, drive, go!" Gray shouted and Zach obliged, driving away form the scene until the tail of the Ankylosaurus hit the Gyrosphere. Zach shielded his face with his arms and Kenna did the same to Gray, trying to keep the young boy safe.

"I guess this is why it's restricted!" Kenna reminded Zack over all the drama. And then the impossible happened. Well, supposedly impossible. The Gyrosphere turned upside down. "Jimmy said this was impossible!" Kenna added as they all tried not to panic.

Zach attempted to move the Gyrosphere, but it wasn't working unless it was the right side up. And as the abomination threw down the Ankylosaurus, he bit into its neck with a crack. Kenna let out a quiet shriek and she moved Gray's head to the side, holding his body tightly against hers as she looked over at Zach.

Tears of panic and fear had welled in her eyes as she gave him a look of desperation. Zach's heart ached at the expression, but he was probably even more terrified than her. But he couldn't do anything.

"We're safe in here, right?" Gray asked quietly.

"Yeah, totally safe." Zach agreed, his voice coming out as nothing more than a whisper. A buzzing sound made Kenna look up and she saw that Zach's phone had fallen out of his pocket and that his Aunt Claire was calling him.

Sighing, Zach reached out for it, but his arm wasn't long enough to reach for it. "Kenna?" he asked for help and she too reached out. But all her arm could do was hang about a centimetre or two above the phone. She groaned in annoyance.

"Zach?" Gray whispered.

"I almost got it." He replied, determined to grab the phone. Claire could get help. Claire could get a lot of help, and they'd be safe.

"Zach?" Gray repeated, more desperately than before.

"Yeah?" he whispered.

"Look." Gray said simply. And so Kenna and Zach did. They stopped reaching for the phone and looked. The abomination's eye was right in front of the Gyrosphere, and it was huge. Kenna's still reached out hand grasped Zach's tightly, and he squeezed it in return.

The abomination looked away and grabbed the Gyrosphere in its hands, rolling it up slightly, so it Kenna, Gray and Zach were on the ground, they would be lying vertically. Then the abomination sunk one of its claws into the not-so-sturdy glass of the Gyrosphere.

It opened its jaw to swallow the Gyrosphere, and everyone inside it started to scream. As the glass began to break, the abomination tried to break it by hitting the Gyrosphere against the glass but had no luck.

Realising something, Zach unblocked his and Gray's belt, falling out of the Gyrosphere and landing on the ground. But Kenna didn't have it so easy. Her foot got caught in the seat belt and she shrieked out "Zach!" he turned and grabbed her hands, pulling her in one go and letting her fall on top of him. Quickly, he pulled Kenna to her feet and grabbed Gray before they all started running.

Soon after, the abomination realised they were no longer in the Gyrosphere and came after them. Kenna sprinted as fast as she could, occasionally pulling Gray along with her because his shorter legs couldn't keep up with the two almost-seventeen-year-olds. As they passed through the grassy areas, Kenna gasped loudly when she nearly fell off a cliff and into the water below.

The three looked back to see the abomination extremely close to them. "We're gonna have to jump," Zach said. Gray and Kenna looked back at him with wide eyes.

"I can't." Gray shook his head, grabbing onto his brother's arms.

"Zach," Kenna whimpered, tears now threatening to spill as she moved closer to him. "Zach, I can't do it."

"Yes you can." Zach told Gray and Kenna, realising he was going to have to be brave for all of them. "Are you ready?" Kenna shook her head frantically, two tears now making their way down her cheeks. "One, two—" instead of actually counting three, they all jumped down and Kenna and Gray screamed as they did, before landing in the water with a splash.

They wanted to come up for air, but Zach told them not to underwater. Kenna realised it was probably because the abomination might think they were dead if they didn't come up for air immediately. Once the roars faded, and Kenna's lungs burned like never before, they all came up coughing and spluttering.

Looking around, Kenna nudged her head towards the land closest to them and they all started swimming towards it. Kenna and Zach helped Gray up first, but the area they got to was muddy and slippery: difficult to get a grip onto. Kenna coughed and Zach helped her next, almost carrying her up onto the land before he stopped treading water himself.

"You jumped." Zach reminded Kenna and Gray. After a pause, they all laughed, their lungs and limbs all screaming for each person to stop and take a breath. Zach pulled Gray towards him, hugging him as he closed his eyes, taking in what had just happened.

"Zach," Kenna whispered. He looked up to see her trembling; with cold or fear he didn't know. "Zach." She repeated and Gray pulled away, allowing Zach to bring Kenna into his arms as she began to sob into his shoulder.