The Abyss Between Timelines

Under Cover of Night

I handed a few coins over to the cash register, and she handed me back a small candy bar, basically the only sugar I was having all week. My friends, Tiffany and Michael, handed over the same amount for the same thing. The candy bar was a cheap off brand, as the branded version was much more expensive, though for myself, I'd rather have one of the off brands a week than one on brand a month. While biting into the candy bars, we began to exit the practically empty shop.

"So, what are we doing today?" Tiffany asked. "Michael, wasn't it you who wanted something?"

"I thought it was Alex," Michael coomented through a small mouthful of candy bar.

"It was," I quickly answered back. "I was thinking maybe go into the woods just a bit. Maybe see a monster."

"Alex," Tiffany said, with an almost parenting tone, "Remember what happened last time?" She pulled up her slightly torn sleeve just a bit to reveal a notable bite mark from the last time I'd convinced them to go monster sighting, but I could tell was interested at such a risky prospect.

"I do," I shot back, "Nasty bunch of bugs those were." Tiffany smiled, but Michael frowned slightly.

"I don't like the idea," Michael mumbled tentatively, "That Terminite nest didn't have a queen that time, but if it did..." He shuddered just a bit. We all had a fear of monsters, but Michael's was worse than most. His house bordered the words, and became infested with monsters every other week, and we would need to go in and kill as many as we could for him.

"Come on," Tiffany begged, "It will be fun!"

"Well if it's fun, I want to join." We wheeled around as a new voice echoed around the empty, dirty alleyway. Jonathan stood there with his hair that seemed to be shampooed in dirt, and a thick leather jacket made from monster hide. Denim jeans squeezed tightly around his legs that couldn't decided if they wanted to be ripped or skinny. Several of seemly clones were behind them.

"None of your business!" I scoffed to him, trying to toughen up, but failing pathetically. He took a quick sip from an energy drink. His family, like most, were poor, so I'm almost certain he stole the drink.

"I really don't care," he replied coolly, tossing the can into the litter filled street where it would be left to collect grime for years afterwards. "But I got a cool new pet." I raised an eyebrow. This was new.

"Oh no," mumbled Michael. Out from the boy's endless pockets came a small insect like creature attached to a leash. The horrible creature quickly screeched and wiggled back into the sleeves of Jonathon's leather shirt, but I had gotten a clear look. A gray worm like body with two massive pincers on the front, able to tear and shove it's helpless prey into it's maw of rotating teeth. The Terminite's only real weakness was it hated the light.

"Damn it, stop hiding Mauler," Jonathan yelled at the worm creature crawling in his grimey leather jacket, not in love like one might call a pet, but in hate, like a slave. He was able to pluck the swimming creature out from his jacket in a few more seconds and held it up to the ill lighting of the city. The Terminite writhed in pain as the light penetrated it's body revealing its tiny organs. Michael was showing visible fear, and Jonathan noticed.

"Why you so scared?" Jonathan asked. "You afraid you'll meet the same fate as your brother." His entire group, silent up to this point, broke into laughter as if they found it hilarious. Mike and his younger brother were playing in their yard at night when he strayed too far from the house and found a Terminite nest bulging out from the ground. The normal Termites were small creatures compared to the other things in the area, only an inch or two at most, but the Queens can grow to absurd sizes, twenty or more feet. The Queen Terminite emerged from the darkness and killed Mike's brother as he was forced to look on helplessly. Jonathan tossed the squirming worm at Michael who instantly slapped it to the ground and crushed it beneath his shoe. Pulling up his tattered old sneaker revealed gray mush on the ground.