Elements

Chapter 4

Aaron

         The car sped down the highway going 40 miles over the speed limit. Aaron spent most of the 10-minute drive contemplating the clouds that were gathering over what appeared to be a single house in the town. They were swirling around the area. It looked like soon they would form a tornado, something he knew from experience was all too easy to appear when an Aero was in a distressed emotional state. That had to be where the Aero lived. He or she must be extremely upset about something for the storm to be that big, and forming so fast.

         This Aero could, and most likely would, change everything.

         A thought crossed Aaron’s mind. What if the Creatures were already there? They had to hurry. For some reason, his sense of urgency spiked when he thought of the Creatures tonight. Normally, they didn’t faze him, but he knew they’d be in full force tonight. They wanted this kid dead. That meant he had to keep this kid alive, no matter the cost.

         Aaron automatically went into leader mode thinking about the mission they had ahead. He turned to his partners and said, “Okay, so we’re gonna split up, and search the house. Sean, you take the upstairs, Cam, the downstairs, and I’ll take the backyard. If you meet a Creature, kill it. We’ll meet downstairs in the main living room 10 minutes exactly after we arrive if we haven’t found anyone. If you have any problems, use the signal.”

         They both grunted and nodded their heads in agreement.

         By the time Cam finally pulled the car up to the house, the storm was swirling around the house so fiercely it made it virtually impossible to hear anything.  

         Cam and Sean were out the car door the second the car stopped. Aaron climbed out the door and headed around to the gate. He gently tried to push it open without making any noise that the storm wouldn’t drown out, all the while keeping his eyes peeled for Creatures. The gate wouldn’t budge. The bolts were rusted closed. Okay then… He’d just have to do this the hard way.         

         Aaron stepped back several feet and ran at the fence, jumping up and grabbing the top of it, and then gracefully swinging himself over, landing with a soft thud. The fence was higher then a normal fence, and without his extra strength he doubted he would have been able to jump it.

         The wind was even fiercer in the backyard, swirling his clothes and hair around him. At some points, it was so strong, a normal human being wouldn’t have been able to walk in it. The pine trees in the yard all swayed viciously, and one of them had even fallen down. This Aero must be really scared or upset about something to cause a storm this large. Aaron hurried faster, a bad feeling was beginning to form in the pit of his stomach and spreading.

         Once he reached the corner of the house and peered around it, all that he could see through the storm was a light coming from something or someone to his left. He cautiously walked towards it.

         Once he got closer the light, he realized it was coming from a small shed in the back left corner of the property.

         It wasn’t until he was about 10 feet from the shed that he noticed her. He froze. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her dark hair swirled around her head in the powerful wind, and her electric blue eyes looked down in sorrow at what she held in her arms. Silent tears streamed down her face as she looked down at the young boy she carried in her arms.

         Aaron took a tentative step forward, and a twig snapped under his foot. The girl’s head snapped up instantly, and her eyes blazed with anger.