The Newest Normal

Chapter Eight- Cody

The official address book of Patrick Saint Mont is a thick, brown, leather bined book that contains all the addresses of the people living in our town, the next thing we have to collect. The book shows your family name and all the people who live in the house. All other towns in Againstt have their own address book, placed in a tightly secured building. Ours was placed in a tall tower, a rare sight here. Houses were small, and all looked the same with similar colours of black, white and gray. Each house is made up of a pentagon shaped building with a door, a square window, and another smaller pentagon pop-out placed on top of the main pentagon. The smaller pentagon covers half of the main pentagon, this time with big rectangle windows. Lawns are green, perfectly mowed and trimmed, with a single tree in front of every house. In my opinion, boring. I had a feeling Morgan found this normal.

We slowly approach the tower, creeping silently along the edge of the bushes. Morgan wants to unattach the book from the wand when we're done with it, and place it back. I say nothing, because it isn't something I can promise.

"I think-" She starts but I shush her, because I see something. Correction- I see someone. He or she is wearing a long black coat with dark sunglasses and a hat. The whole outfit is rather dark. The only splotch of colour is around his arms- a splotch of brown? Brown?

I look again. Yes, it's the book. An alarm goes off from the tower. Pretty smart too, if only to have set off one alarm. He or she takes the path through the forest, instead of the one through town. It's only early dawn, so the forest is still dark, murky and full of shadows.

"Do you see that person?" I point out to Morgan. "He has the book. We need to follow him."

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I find an abandoned grey jeep on the side of the road and tell Morgan to get inside. She keeps on changing her mind over and over again. She takes a step in, and then another step out. She shakes her head but then gives in to my suggestion. I finally just lift her up and place her inside, in what looks like the most uncomfortable position ever. I don't say it, but I blame her for our slow start. By the time we finally settle in, we had lost the sight of that person.

"Wait look-" Morgan splutters, oblivious to my grumpy mood. "The footprints."

We both look down to see heavy boot-like made footprints, all about 20cm long, spaced our 50cm away from each other. "You're right. They make it look like he went that way," I point to a farther path down the left and let out a breath.

I don't say anything as we start travelling. Morgan doesn't either. I'm deep in thought, the sound of the tires screeching against mud like music to my ears. Soon, a pitter-pattering sound starts mixing in with the sound of the tires. I look up, just in time to see a raindrop drizzle off a tree and lick my face, leaving a wet trail behind.

"Oh gosh," I blurt out. "It's raining." The rain is going to make it ten times harder for us to follow the footprints. In addition, it could slow down the truck.

A crack of thunder follows as the rain starts falling faster, forming small puddles on the mud. I should be scared. After all, we're in the middle of nowhere, a good chance of getting stuck in the mud, and with no chance of finding that person. And lucky us, we're also outside during a storm. To my own surprise, I start bringing the windows down. I feel like it would be something one of those adventurers in a story would do.

"What are you doing?!" Morgan exclaims as she tiptoes up and leans as far away as the window as possible. The rain is dripping in, making the seats wet. "Can't you tell that it's raining outside? Not just raining, but also a lightning storm?"

"Come on." I try to explain my sense to her. "Don't you want this to be more....I dunno... exciting? Don't you want life to always have that penetrating, extricating feel rushing through your body, giving you chills?"

She leans back in her seat and crosses her arms. "I hate thunder."

I make her face me. Maybe this was the only part of her I actually understood. "Do this for me? One little favor?"

She buries her head in her hands and moans. "I'm disappointing myself so much."

I roll the windows down even more. "Hold your hands out and feel the wind over your body."

I close her eyelids one by one. She laughs, a warm light sound. She holds her hands out and it is at this moment that I drive at the fastest speed possible. The wind is cutting onto my face, and the rain is making my hair go all damp. I finally slow down when I realize we're losing sight of the footprints and turn to look at Morgan. Her hair is all stuck to her face with the rain with wet clumps, but she's smiling- a real smile set on her face. I feel my face reflecting her expression so that I can't even see the road anymore. A sudden boom of thunder makes us both jump, nearly making me fall on Morgan. It's not the tension that makes me back away, however. It's the sound. Wolves, is the first thought that enters my head. And from the sound.... it seems like they brought some friends with them.