Hidden in the Immortals (Book #1)

Chapter 16

That night, I was awoken by the sound of footsteps going down the stairs. I reached over and grabbed my phone; 2:33 AM. At first, I didn't think anything of it; someone was probably just going downstairs for a glass of water or a late night snack, but then I heard the basement door open. I remembered: dad was going on a hunt. I listened closely as I heard him talking quietly as he walked back up the basement stairs.

I scrambled out of bed and ran over to my door, promptly placing my ear against it. "I'm about to leave," I heard him whisper, into his phone I would assume. The basement door closed. "I'll be at your house in about ten minutes."

"Alright, see you soon." I heard Roger's distinct brash voice respond on the other end. I heard dad's footsteps walk through the kitchen and then the front door open and close.

Without so much as a second thought, I had dashed over to my closet and grabbed a black sweatshirt out of it. I quickly, but quietly, opened my bedroom door and silently made my way down the stairs. I slipped my sweatshirt on over my head and hurried into the entry way. I slipped on the first pair of shoes I found, then hurried out of the house. As I approached my car, I saw my dad's tail lights at the stop sign at the end of the street. I slid into my car, pulled out of the driveway, and followed after his car.

I knew where Roger's house was so I didn't have to follow directly after my dad. I was actually terrified as to what I was going to witness tonight. Maybe they wouldn't find the Immortals they were looking for and would just give up and go home. But I'm sure that's not something they did often.

There was something about the atmosphere tonight that made my stomach turn. I knew it was because I was about to follow my father and his best friend to kill an Immortal, or Immortals; but something in my gut told me there was going to be more to it than that. Something worse than just that.

I waited about five minutes after I saw my dad's car disappear, then started driving toward the Nelson's house. Just as the house came into my line of vision, I saw my dad pull out of their driveway, with Roger riding shotgun. I clutched the steering wheel tighter as I watched them head in the opposite direction from where I had come from.

I made sure my headlights were off before driving forward. I followed an appropriate distance behind them. Close enough that I could see where they were going, but far enough away so they wouldn't see me. We drove out of Old Brook and for about fifteen minutes after that, until we arrived in a small, wooded town called Alburn. I don't even know if you could technically classify Alburn as a town. You could drive through the whole thing in like ten minutes. There were a few houses, but not much more than that. I imagined living here would feel like camping all year round with the amount of trees everywhere. I had always found Alburn just a little creepy, but tonight, it was giving me full on horror movie vibes.

I followed my dad and Roger as they drove through the town and then turn left onto a small dirt road. If it hadn't been for their headlights, (and my heightened vision), it would've been completely dark. The drive down the road seemed to go on forever, before finally, their car came to an abrupt stop. My reflects kicked in and I slammed on my breaks. I was quite a ways away from them so I was sure they didn't see or hear me. I turned off my car and waited.

A few moments after that, dad and Roger got out of the car. They walked back to the trunk and popped it open; then grabbed their giants bags of weapons. I leaned in closer and watched as my dad opened his bag and grabbed out a metallic looking stake, then tucked it into his waistband. Then he pulled out a long, thick knife. He removed the sheath and I saw that it resembled a machete. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then looked back at them. I saw that Roger also had a stake in his hand, but he didn't take out any other weapons. They threw their bags back into the trunk and began walking in the direction they had been driving. I waited for about two minutes, before I got out of my car and followed after them.