Chasing Ghosts

Leroy

"Yeah, so I heard the same things as you about the RSH and all," Leroy was saying. "Crazy shit, monsters in the dark and all. Of course, I also heard a few things you didn't, thanks to this." He held up a radio.

Michelle raised a hand. "Monsters in the dark?"

Leroy brushed her question aside. "Doesn't matter. What's important is this radio is on the same frequency my dad used to contact me on, and all the chatter had been in the last few months."

"You hear anything important?"

"Well for starters it was all one voice, maybe talking to himself. Then again it could have been meant for me." Leroy scratched his head, considering. "It was all crap about legs and fists. I couldn't make any sense of it."

Hearing this, Dak immediately felt like a great weight was lifted. Legs and fists triggered a memory of decades-old radio codes. Beatle told him about it once; legs were immobile personnel and fists were offensive weapons, maybe even attackers or combatants. The odds of someone else chancing upon that frequency, as well as them knowing a specific series of code phrases were infinitesimal.

His friend was alive. He knew it and this confirmed it. His moment was short lived; however, as Leroy pointed out that even though he pinpointed the signals, he wasn't able to get there.

"Now hang on a minute" Michelle interrupted, "Why are you telling us this?"

Leroy hung his head saying, "Look Mich, I gotta admit there was another reason for saying you could stay here.

"Of course there was..."

Leroy, a hopeful look on his face, suddenly blurted "I just needed a car and someone to go with me. It's not like I could steer and triangulate the signal at the same time!"

"You could have just asked."

"Oh." The hopeful look died for a second but then Leroy brightened. "I'm not hearing a 'no' here. Soo..."

In one quick movement Dak stood up and said "I guess I'm your guy."

"Really?!"

"Really, Beatle is my friend too and besides, it's not like there's much else to do around here. Mich burned all my old comics last time we moved out."

"Let me get my gear!" Leroy dashed off toward a row of houses.

So Michelle, you gonna be able to have some fun here all by yourself?" Dak asked, kicking his bike into gear. "I'm not sure where Hailey and Lyndsey ran off to so I guess you can play hide and seek. Just keep 'em from burning the place down, alright?"

"Ya know", Michelle walked closer "I'm kinda your boss so the only way you can give me orders is if there's chocolate involved." Seeing Dak's eyes flick involuntarily toward a shed she pushed him off his bike and ran off laughing.

Dak sighed, resting his hands behind his head, staring up at the dawn. Just getting away from the stress of Blackwood was enough to lift his spirits. Not to mention, the discovery of a new lead on Beatle's whereabouts would put him one step closer to his lost friend. Despite the sudden uptick in positive developments, he was still wary. His instincts warned him that if something was too good to be true, it most likely was. Contradicting that, though, were the opposing voices in his mind reminding him that victory cannot come without risk. If he were to pass up an opportunity like this because of the circumstances around it, the next time one came along Beatle might definitely be dead.

Like always, he resolved to do whatever was necessary when the time came. Permanently closed minds locked people into cycles of self-destruction but leaping without looking was no good either. If the lead with Leroy didn't pan out then square one was as good as anywhere to restart from. If this mission went south, however, he knew violence was always the easiest option. Both of those options had still yet to come to pass, so for now he continued to stare up into the sky.