Run

Chapter 11

Cedric and I ended up sitting at the kitchen table doing homework while we waited for lunch to roll around. Cedric was a year older than me so we didn't have a lot of the same classes, though I was in some advanced courses. He seemed fairly normal again but I felt that something was up.

"What were you staring at?" I finally ask as i continued to think of his behavior when we had been outside.

Cedric looked up at me but my questioning was interrupted by the arrival of Ben and Frank.

"Oh," Ben stops mid laughter when he sees Cedric. Weird reaction but better than Frank's scoff.

"How's whiny baby Micah?" I ask to shift the tension to me.

"Knock it off would ya?" Ben shakes his head.

"You really ask for the shit they give you." Frank remarks.

I narrow my eyes. I feel my blood boiling at his phrasing. I'm about to argue back when I hear a loud crashing noise from upstairs. We all look around in confusion.

Shit. My room.

I jump up and sprint up the stairs. Micah must be getting revenge. No sooner do I enter my room than a giant grey creature goes flying for my head. I let out a gasp but manage to duck in time. It lands on my bed but jumps bounces back off my bed toward me, I don't have enough time to react and it knocks me over. I look up to see its orange eyes staring at me through slits.

I let out a scream of horror as I realized this was no animal I've ever seen seen or heard of. Its skin was hairless and it looked hunched over like a some freaky kangaroo. I shove it away and make an attempt to crawl away but it let's out a hiss and charges for me. I manage to grab a lamp off my desk and swing it at the monster, sending it across the room from me.

"Kit!" Ben and Frank stop cold in their tracks when they see that thing. Frank doubles back and runs away but Ben tries to help.

"Come on, Kit!" He urges as he tries to help me up before it can recover, but my legs are like jelly.

I cringe back just as it lunges toward us but the impact never comes. I slowly open my eyes to see Cedric holding that thing. 

What?

"It's okay." He murmurs as the monster continues to panic in his arms.

"Cedric!" Ben all but scolds. Cedric simply ignores him as he continues to cradle the creature, slowly calming it down.

Soon we're joined by Frank, Wyatt, and Kieth but still Cedric focuses on the monster.

"Cedric, put down the chupacabra." Kieth says slowly.

"It's okay buddy." Cedric whispers once more.

"What is that thing?" I ask in exasperation.

"It's a gruncher." Cedric answers, finally acknowledging us. "More popularly known as a chupacrabra."

"What?" I ask with genuine confusion.

"Put it down Cedric!" Wyatt cocks his gun.

"They're harmless." Cedric insists.

"It just attacked Kit!" Ben argues.

"It was scared. Of course it would attack."

"You're not seriously defending that thing!" Kieth expresses the shock we all feel.

"It's just a baby. The baby of the gruncher you killed last night." Cedric points out.

"What?" I ask lamely.

"Put it down Cedric!" Wyatt warns once again, this time raising his gun toward him.

I immediately jump up to stop them. "Leave him alone!"

"Kit!" Ben looks at me like I've lost my mind, which is fair. I wasn't sure if I had or hadn't.

"That's what was bothering the horses last night?" I ask.

"Move. Both of you." Kieth orders in a dangerously low voice.

"It's just a baby. You can't do this." I didn't even know these things were real but I trusted Cedric and if he thought it should live, then I did too.

"Are you going to raise it?" Frank asks snidely.

"No, grunchers adopt orphaned babies much like squirrels." Cedric states simply.

"This isn't a squirrel, Cedric." Wyatt shakes his head. "This thing kills animals and people."

"No-"

I suddenly begin to have a ringing in my ear. I shake my head in an effort to get myself sorted but I only succeed in making myself dizzy.

"Wait," I mutter out, "Something's-"

I feel myself collapse as I struggle to maintain consciousness. I hear everyone begin to panic. Everything went black.