Nasferas: The Begotten

19

"9-1-1. What's the nature of your emergency?" a grim female dispatcher asked.

Katelyn froze. She wanted to tell the lady about the giant fireball, how it almost hit the cabin and then crashed somewhere in the mountains. She realized it wasn't a good idea. Nobody would believe her.

"Hello. 9-1-1. What is the nature of your illness or injury?" This time the antsy dispatcher had an attitude. 

"Hi. I ... I think we may have witnessed, like a plane crash." Katelyn gave the woman the phone number, address, and the general direction the plane went down. She asked if they should try and find the plane.

"The dispatcher said, 'No'!" Katelyn yelled in Jason's general direction.

He tossed a backpack and a large medical kit. They clanked against the plastic cover in the back of the truck. "I don't give a rat's ass what she said. I'm going up there. We're gonna find the downed plane and become heroes by saving any survivors." He glanced in the direction of the mountain. "And I have a hunch where the plane went down."

Nancy nuzzled Jason's back. "Where, baby?"

"The south side of Huckleberry Mountain."

"Are you insane?" Brett interjected. "Huckleberry Canyon? How do you know it wasn't way further? I doubt it crashed in the canyon. It's too small."

Jason snapped back, "The operative word here is 'hunch'. The plane moved over the house. Which means someone was navigating. If you're going to crash, wouldn't you look for a good flat area to set the plane down with minimal damage? At the rate they were losing altitude, the only conclusion to the story is, Huckleberry Canyon." Jason bobbed his head in satisfaction.

"Dude. It's a long shot, but you're the quarterback." Brett took hold of Katelyn's hand.

Her eyes fell on their hands and she couldn't hold back a giddy smile. It felt good to have a strong boy at her side. Unfortunately, she also caught Jason watching... them, which creeped her out and made her feel bad at the same time.

"Damn straight I'm the QB." Jason headed to the kitchen and loaded a cooler. He took everything he brought, including the beer, and loaded them into a bright orange tote.

Brett let go of her hand and followed Jason. The two exchanged some football hand gestures. When Brett reemerged, he had his and Katelyn's duffel bags. Dustin followed with three tents wrapped in small camouflage bags.

Matt's hands writhed around in his jeans pockets. The commotion seemed to have sobered everyone up except for him. "I'll ... I'll go." He stumbled against the back porch wooden rail.

Eve caught him before he fell over the side. She'd pulled on a green hoodie with a white Eagle's head on the back. "I follow my man."

Nancy sat in the front seat, chugging on a beer. Her attention had focused on Katelyn. "You're coming, kitty? Right?"

Katelyn held back the eye roll. "Fine. But I think we're wasting a colossal amount of time. We should be hanging out here, doing other stuff. Something about this feels wrong." She believed it in her heart. The trip wasn't a good idea.

Brett kissed her on the cheek. "Babe, we'll be fine."

"Babe?" Katelyn scowled. "Who said I was your babe?"

Brett wandered off to help Jason. He looked pissed. Not her problem. She wouldn't let any man call her 'babe'. It made her feel like a possession. And she wasn't EVER going to be anyone's property.

Katelyn caught Matt ogling her as if he'd won a game of Pictionary and had called the win. Smug asshole. She gave him her 'shut the hell up' eyes and crawled into the extra cab of the truck with Dustin. She fastened the middle seatbelt over her lap.

Matt and Eve climbed into the bed of the truck behind her. The lovebirds cuddled under a sleeping bag. Matt would probably sleep the entire trip.

The passenger door on her left opened. Brett sneered at the freshman sitting next to her. Dustin took the hint and crawled into the bed through the sliding glass window. Even with his letterman's jacket on, he fit through with no problem. She doubted her hips would even make it. She'd be stuck like Winnie the Pooh with her ass in Brett's face.

"Sorry." Brett crept next to her.

If he thought getting off her shit list would be easy, he had another thing coming. Katelyn unwrapped her seatbelt and moved to the other side of the truck. She gazed out the back passenger window, intentionally ignoring him. 

Jason stood on the driver's side running board. "Scooby gang in and accounted for?"

Eve's face appeared in the back window. "We're good."

"Are we?" Brett rested his hand on Katelyn's right knee.

She held up a thumb. Brett took it into his hand and didn't let go. It wasn't violent, so she settled her hand into his. But she didn't let him put his other arm around her. She'd make him weasel around a little while longer. Too cute not to forgive. She sighed.

The truck thundered to life. It did a half-donut in the dirt as they tore down the gravel driveway. Seconds later they bumped onto the pavement headed southwest.

Katelyn's head swam. She needed to eat to counteract the alcohol in her system. "Do we have any food?"

Jason's eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. "Marcie's is on the way. We'll stop for gas and get some munchies. If I get tired ... Brett can drive."

"Over my dead body." Nancy's fist collided with Jason's right bicep

"Ow!" He threatened to hit her back. Instead, he gave her a love tap on the leg.

She squealed and reached for his crotch. The truck swerved and skidded causing the kids in the bed of the truck to whip around like cubes of ice on an uneven wet floor. They let him know their dislike and pounded on the cab.

Brett let Katelyn's hand go and scooted to the other side of the long seat. It seemed he had decided to get strapped in. Katelyn bit her bottom lip. His puppy dog eyes did her in. "Okay. You're forgiven."

He opened his arms. 

Katelyn dove into them as if she'd never left. Her face snuggled into his muscular chest. "Don't let it happen again." She traced his abs with her index finger.

"Believe me, it won't ... Katelyn."

Much better.

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