Dreamcatching

Chapter 22

Utz slowly peeled himself up from the concrete dust. Other students were running down the hall. They were scurrying from classrooms like rats in a sinking ship. The damage to the school building must have set off a fire alarm, or so Utz assumed, because it was now blaring overhead. Emergency lights were strobing on and off, irritating the concussion Utz knew he had.

"What the hell?" He groaned. "I'm getting tired of cinder blocks and fire alarms."

They had to move. Nora was getting away. They didn't need the attention from puny humans who would interfere with their mission, either.

Gravely dust was everywhere. Utz shook it out of his hair in frustration, wincing when his vision dimmed and a bout of vertigo left him spinning.

"Shit!" He cursed, falling back to the floor, cracking his skull again.

"Fuck, that hurts."

"Bitch!" He screamed in pain.

Utz held the sides of his forehead in his hands and waited for the spinning to stop before sitting back up. Needing to throw up, he got on all fours before doing so.

As he sat there like a sick dog, Utz cursed the Aingeal Fola again. She'd weakened them. They'd under-estimated the little cunt and what'd happened?

He knew they should have left her alone. But did Drexel listen? No. And now here he was whimpering like a goddamn human in this stupid school.

Pathetic.

Just then, Utz realized he was alone in his complaining. Opening his eyes to focus, Utz squinted down at his side.

Drexel laid unconscious, his neck bent at an unnatural angle and his back twisted. A large gash, dripping of blood, oozed from his eye. His leg was broken at the thigh and bone protruded from the skin. The injuries were already healing over, but the damage had been extreme.

"What the fuck?" Utz asked aloud.

He shot out a hand and pushed on Drexel's shoulder. When he didn't respond, Utz turned himself over and sat back down. He kicked at Drexel to get up. "Yo, man, wake up," he said. When Drexel began to stir, Utz kicked him again. Harder this time. "Come on, we gotta go. Get up."

"If you kick me one more time, I'll break your motherfucking arm off and shove it up your ass, Utz," Drexel whispered.

Utz smiled. Cursing was good.

He'd begun to worry. Being injured was all new territory for the both of them. Utz could feel his strength returning slowly, though.

When they were on their feet again, Utz started talking. "Let's go. I saw her run towards the exits."

"Not yet," Drexel replied, swaying a little. "We're getting help."

"What?" Utz asked. "From who?"

"I'll tell you on the way. Let's go," Drexel said, starting to limp with Utz in the opposite direction. "Besides, I know where she's going. We'll find her easily this time."

"You do?" Utz asked getting aggravated. "If you knew where he'd be all this time why didn't we just follow him to begin with? You know she'd go to him-"

"She will now," Drexel smiled. "She didn't know who she was before. Didn't you see her face? Stupid bitch actually thought she was a human. You heard the rumors. As long as Kaden stayed away from her she never would have remembered who or what she was. We'd still be looking for her. Besides, I only noticed him this morning. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him in the hallway. What a fool to have searched for her. He practically gift-wrapped her for us."

Drexel bent down to pick up his knife. It was laying in the rubble in front of them. He must have dropped it in the struggle. Standing back up he groaned at the pain in his spine.

"I wish I'd of found her before him, though" Drexel continued, cutting off Utz' obvious next question with his hand held up. "She'd of been that much easier to kill. He strengthens her, you fool. Come on." He said rubbing his neck where it'd just healed.

"She's going back to him. And I know exactly where he'll be."
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Reference:

Redish, L. and Lewis, O. Native Languages of the Americas. (1998-2019). Legendary Native American Figures: Wemategunis (Wood Dwarf). Web Search 4 June 2020. Website:

http://native-languages.org/wemategunis