• CHAPTER 6


    “Good, you guys are here.” Aaron says as Jake and I walk through the backdoor of H.Q.--yeah, there’s a shed door by the school that leads down to it. “You wouldn’t believe what was on the news this morning.”

    “Yeah, we already know. Cherry Blossom talked about me, Damien, Hot Topic and that creature.“ I say as we walk forward out to the main entrance.

    “And there’s something strange going around Clallam County.” Mr. Smith says from his spot in front of the big, upgraded computer.

    “Strange as in sales of Twilight crap is going down, or strange as in devouring monsters strange?”

    “Devouring monsters strange.”

    “Is no Twilight crap being sold honestly a shock?” Jake asks as he leans against a table and Aaron goes back to fixing a broken freeze ray.

    “Yeah, did you know that that Twi-Freak shop in P.A. is selling some cheap, wooden bracelet with a plastic apple hooked onto it for eight dollars?” I reply.

    “Dude they’re selling ‘Edward Perfume’ for twenty!”

    “That s**t makes me wanna hurl!”

    Mr. Smith clears his throat and we mutter apologies. Sighing, he says, “Many weak people seem to be having nightmares when they fall asleep. Horrible nightmares. Ones they can’t wake up from.”

    “Yeah, it started in Forks, then to P.A., then Dungeness, and now we’re thinking it’s planning to show up here.” Aaron adds, without looking up from the freeze ray.

    “So what is this thing? Are you sure it’s not just some creepy coincidence?” I ask, looking up at the huge computer screen.

    “Have we ever made a mistake, Destiny?”

    “First of all, my name’s Demi! Second of all, there was that time where Jake attacked that deer…”

    “Hey, it was missing one leg and fell in pink dye! PINK!!! Would you blame me!?” He protests.

    “He’s got a point there.” Aaron raises a screwdriver in the air and reaches for the glue.

    Sighing, I turn back to the computer and Smith and say, “Well, what happens to the people?”

    “Members of the E.M.H. in those areas are working on it. Some plant material was found that can cure it, but it’s not here in Sequim. That’s why we have to stop this thing before it reaches us.”

    “Okay, got that. Do we have any idea what it looks like, where it goes, anything?”

    “Not a clue.”

    Sighing once again, I let my head drop for a moment and then say, “What about this whole Cherry Blossom thing?”

    “We can Snark her.” Jake offers with a shrug.

    “Yeah, but she already announced it on national news, and this isn’t the sort of thing that could be erased from America’s memories.” Aaron says as he carefully glues a little piece of the ray that broke off back on.

    “And I doubt that’s even possible.” I shake my head and then say, “No, we need to lead her off of her suspicions. Show her it’s nothing to talk about.”

    The computer starts beeping and we all look up. “What is it?” Jake and I ask at the same time as he walks up to stand by me.

    “AW, s**t!!!!” We slightly turn to see that Aaron’s careful job had been destroyed and that the freeze ray was in a devoured mess in front of him. Pouting, he stands up also and walks over to join us.

    “A Locht. Just sited in the forest West from here.” I freeze at the name, the memory of my dream instantly flooding my mind. “You know what to do.”

    Aaron and Jake grab a few blasters and Mr. Smith disappears into the supply closet, and when I don’t move, Jake walks up and shoves a blaster in my hands and says, “Come on, Demi. We gotta catch this thing.”

    “R-right.” I stutter, not finding myself able to look him in the eyes as we move over to the quads. Aaron takes a red one, Jake takes a blue and I take a black, and then we ride out.

    We all take different ways and entrances into the forest, and I speak into my microphone attached to my helmet, “So what exactly is a Locht, anyway?”

    “A Locht is considered one of the most dangerous monsters out there.” I hear Aaron’s voice respond.

    The wind pushes itself against my face and I reach one hand up to push a button, which makes a protective shield slide over my eyes and part of my nose. Trees and plants start to fly by and I ask, “More dangerous than the Snipe?”

    “Eh, about the same.” Jake’s voice says.

    “Lochts are extremely powerful, and are able to take on human form. They really look like--”

    “Giant troll-like creatures, I know.” I cut Aaron off as I swerve out of the way of a tree.

    “I thought you were the one asking about them.”

    “I know what they look like, just don’t know much about them.”

    “Well, they’re very intelligent and have two stomachs. One on their head, one on their stomach.”

    “Nasty.” I hear Jake comment as a monster like cry cuts through the air.

    “Yeah, and I think we’ve located Mr. Nasty now.” I start to speed up and see the Locht through a clearing and go even faster.

    “Now, hold on a second, Demi. We’re not there yet and we don’t want you doing anything stupid--Demi?” I ignore Jake and cut off the machine as I remove my helmet. Staring at the Locht, more memories of the dream come over me. But I hurriedly shake them away and rest my helmet on my quad.

    Holding my blaster tightly to myself, I move closer to the monster and hide behind a tree. Another cry rings out and my heart starts to beat faster as I peek out behind the tree.

    The Locht is in it’s original troll-like form, looking underneath a log. All of a sudden, it drops the log and turns in my direction, looking straight at me. I duck back behind the tree and my heart starts beating even faster. I find it hard to grip onto the blaster because my hands are sweating so much.

    My heart skips a beat as I hear the Locht getting closer. I forget everything that’s going on as I’m remembered about how it almost killed me in the dream, and I freeze in terror. Hearing the monster stop right in front of the tree, I bring a hand up to my mouth, forcing myself not to breathe--or else it would hear.

    “HEY, MONSTER SCUM!! OVER HERE!!!!” The voice of non other than Jake shouts. I hear the Locht ‘scream’ again and imagine it turning in Jake’s direction. When it’s lured away from the tree, I remove my hand from my mouth and breathe a sigh of relief.

    I hear a pause in the Lochts movements and I instantly freeze. ‘Oh my God, it heard me.’ I think to myself.

    And, almost as if on cue, the tree behind me is uprooted and I turn around to face the beast. It releases another cry and reaches towards me. I hold the blaster in my hands, not being able to think, overcome by the memories of the dream.

    It grabs me by my ankle and lifts me into the air. I hurriedly point the blaster at its head, but it uses its other hand to cast it away. Then it hurls me at a tree and I go flying, and my back hits it first. I fall to the ground, the wind knocked out of me, and struggle to breathe.

    It starts to get closer again and I stand up to run, but my right ankle twists in some odd way and I fall to the ground again. I feel blood running down the back of my head and an ache form on the upper left side, and I see the Locht coming over to kill me once and for all.

    “FINE THEN!! I’LL JUST COME OVER HERE!!!!” Jake appears in front of me, lifts his blaster and shoots at the monster. Bright blue goo flies all over the scenery and I’m left, shocked once again.

    “Demi, what happened? Are you okay?” Jake turns to me, his voice full of concern.

    “It’s…a dream I had. Last night.” Unable to look him in the eyes, I remove some goo from my face and say, “It started out with Damien, Aaron and me. The Locht was there, and it threw them off to the sides. I was alone…and didn’t know what to do…and it was coming at me…and then you showed up.” I look up and meet his eyes and then continue, “And you killed the monster and saved my life. Just like right now.”

    “Guess you can predict the future.” Jake smiles, grabs my hands and pulls me up to rest against a tree. I try to ignore the shiver that runs through me with his touch as he adds, “Except Damien’s not here, and neither is Aaron. Speaking of Aaron, where is he?”

    “Jake, that’s not all.” He looks back at me and I look away and then finish in a rush, “You were being really nice to me and cleaned my face and called me practically perfect and then you leaned in to kiss me.” Closing my eyes, I hold my breath and wait for him to respond. When no words come, I hesitantly open up one of my eyes and ask in a small voice, “Jake?”

    “I…” Jake looks stunned, but then he shakes his head and says, “Demi, I need to tell you something. It’s something that’s sort of been going on for a while but…well…here goes…” He takes a big breath and then starts to say, “Demi, I--”

    “I’M HERE!!!!!” Aaron announces as he appears out of the forest and into the clearing, tangled in branches, wood and plants. He looks at us and asks, “What did I miss?”