CHUM

Chapter 7: Holly Hotstuff

               

            Everything is black. More like there is nothing. Not even black. I’m not sure how long I’ve been gone, or where I’ve been. Not even sure where I am now for that matter. It’s like swimming out of a deep dark tunnel.

            Then I feel a heavy metal pole digging into my side, like the mast fell on me, and my veins are stretched and my bones ache. I have never been so keenly aware of my own marrow.

            My head hurts. Bad.

            I remember where I am — lying on the floor — inside some ship — way out to sea. Marcus. That flash. I shouldn’t have … My Chum! I force my eyelids open.

            Everything is fuzzy. I blink. I can see dimness in the hall. There’s something coming toward me. I try to focus. It’s someone.

            Got to get out of here. Can’t take another attack. Whoever it is comes toward me. Must move my limbs… I'm helpless, exposed.

            “You’ll never win like that,” says a voice. It’s pleasant, almost teasing. Holly Hotstuff. Relief washes over me. My eyes manage to put her face in focus.

            I’m drooling. She can probably tell. I turn my head to hide the fact.

            She touches my face then feels my head. It’s kind of energizing. I grunt. She jumps back.

            “Are you going to bite?” she asks.

            I try to push myself up. Everything wobbles. I manage to sit with my back leaned up against the wall. I shake my head and draw my knees in close. “No, just slobber,” I say.

            She laughs. I don’t know why. I’m just glad I got my mouth to work. It’s good she thinks I’m funny though.

            “Someone got you pretty good,” she says.

            “It was Marcus and his cousin.”

            She gives me a blank look.

            “I know them from school. They wanted to form an alliance, but I said no.”

            “Hmmm,” she says. “An elitist, huh?”

            I don’t get it.

“They shocked me,” I say. “And then they stole my Chum.”

            She lets out a low whistle. “Bandits!” she says. “But what you gonna do?”

            I think of the room with the brass door. I’m glad she’s here. I have to tell somebody what I saw. Holly seems like someone I can trust. “There’s something they’re not telling us,” I say.

            Holly gives me another look. “Like where Atlantis is?” she asks.

            This girl is nuts. “No, about a countdown. There’s a timer. Something called Friend’s E-Day is coming.” I tell her as fast as I can everything about the big brass door, and the guys in lab coats, and the monitors, and the swarming dots, and how the sailor chased me.

            “Friend’s E-Day?” asks Holly. “What’s that supposed to be?”

            “I dunno,” I say, because I don’t. “A whole day sponsored by the letter E?”