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Keir blocked Leoc’s shot
and dribbled the ball to the three point line.
Leoc came out and feebly tried to guard him, but Keir just posted him up
and did a turn around jump shot on his little brother.
“That’s
game!” Keir shouted in Leoc’s
face. “You wanna go again, or do
you think you’ll lose that one, too?”
“Whatever.”
Leoc said, turning and walking away.
“What’s
wrong?” Keir asked, setting the
ball down on the ground and following his little brother.
“It’s
nothing.” Leoc replied, while
going through the screen door to their house.
Keir
was about 12 years old at this time and Leoc was 9.
Keir had always been more athletic than Leoc and always dominated in any
sport or game they would play together. Leoc,
however, was the smart one. He
could figure out the hardest equations in a matter of seconds while some of the
world’s brightest minds could just stare, baffled.
They
lived with their mother and father in a two story brick house, truly the way to
go, in Keir’s opinion. They had a basketball court in their back yard and a swimming
pool right beside that. Their
garage was where Keir practiced his drumset every day. He always wanted to become a famous drummer.
Right
now, though, Keir just wanted to have fun and play another game of one on one.
He followed Leoc through the door and closed it.
He looked around the kitchen that the door led into and didn’t see his
brother anywhere.
He
must be in the family room with Mom and Dad.
Keir thought to himself. He
picked up a towel from the rack above the counter and wiped off the sweat from
his forehead and headed towards the door.
He
stopped suddenly and realized he still had his shoes on.
He went back to the screen door and took them off, making sure to put
them in a neat line for when he would need them again.
Satisfied, he turned around and went through the revolving door to the
family room.
In
Keir’s opinion, the family room was the best part about the house.
It had two levels, with three steps leading from the lower one to the
upper one. They had a 32’ TV that
Keir loved to watch sports on. His
mother and father were watching the news at the time.
Keir
turned and spotted Leoc on the computer, typing some weird stuff that Keir
didn’t understand. He walked over
to him and tapped him on the shoulder. When
Leoc turned around, Keir spoke towards him.
“Hey,
what’s wrong with you?” He asked, “You can’t be that mad that you lost, I
mean you always lose to me.”
“There’s
nothing wrong,” Leoc said, turning back around and getting back to typing
whatever it was he was typing, “I’m just tired of playing sports all day, I
want to do something more productive with my time.”
“Tired
of playing sports?” Keir asked, disbelievingly.
“Do more with your time? And
what exactly does writing love letters to the girls you’re stalking have to do
with “doing something more productive” with your time?”
“For
your information, I’m typing a report on the difference of amount of genomes
in a dermian and a human, if that’s fine with you.”
“I
have no idea what you just said,” Keir said plainly, heading for the stairs,
“but I don’t care either way.”
He
went up three steps to the upper level and stopped.
As if by an afterthought, he turned to his parents and said, “So,
what’s going on the news today?”
Keir
had no idea why he asked that question. He
never cared before what happened to humans.
Keir was a dermian, full blooded and had no need for human politics in
his opinion. He didn’t see how it
could possibly affect him at all and he wondered why his parents even bothered
watching that stuff.
Jewels
turned and looked at her son, “Honey, are you okay?”
“Yes,
Mom.” Keir said, annoyed.
“Stop
teasing him, Jewels.” Chuck said, coming to his son’s aid.
“Well,
they’re about to make an important announcement on the dermian/human
conditions of peace in America.” Leoc said, matter-of-factly.
“How
could you possibly know that?” Keir
asked, coming back downstairs.
“Just
watch.” Leoc said.
Just
then, on the TV, there came a reporter that Keir had no knowledge of.
Reporter: This just in! America is preparing to pronounce war on the dermians. We go to Scott Tisdale, out on the scene. Scott.
Everyone in Keir’s house just stood there staring. Keir himself was extremely baffled, what possible reason could the humans have for declaring war on them.
Scott: Thank you, Bob. I’m here on the scene and standing next to me is the president of the United States, George Herbert Bush. Can you tell us what happened, Mr. Bush?
Bush:
Well, it all happened so fast.
Scott:
Just do the best you can, sir.
Bush:
Okay. Well, I was riding in
my limo when all of a sudden we stopped. Well,
we had the window tinted at the moment because I was talking to my vice
president. So, one of my security
guards got out to ask the driver what was going on.
As soon as he opened the door, he was pulled into the air.
Then a second later, we heard a loud bang on the limo and I saw my guard
fall to the ground through the open door. My
second guard closed the door and opened the top window to look out.
He said he didn’t see anything, but then he was pulled out.
The vice president panicked then. He
ran out through the door that was previously opened.
We saw him run and we saw a dermian chase him down and…and…
Scott:
Can you finish, sir?
Bush:
Of course, suffice to say, the dermian killed him.
Then, my last guard opened the other door and got out and pulled out his
gun and told me to run. So that’s
what I did. It wasn’t long,
however, before I heard gunshots and then my guard’s cries for help.
I had nowhere to go, he stopped us in an alley and I had run into a
fence. I waited there, expecting my
death to come quickly. Suddenly,
some guy dressed up like a western movie cowboy came out and stopped the
onslaught from the dermian. They
started to fight right there in the street.
Then I heard the sirens. The
dermian must have heard them, too because he shoved the other guy out of the
way, and came for me, as if to finish the job.
Then the guy shot him in the back. He
screamed the foulest thing you could imagine and in one bound, leaped the nine
foot fence that I was standing in front of.
The other guy ran by me and climbed the fence to chase after the dermian.
Scott:
Truly a tragic turn of events. We’ll
keep you updated America, but I’m gonna send it back to Bob.
Bob.
Chuck turned off the TV. Everyone just stared in amazed silence for a while. Then, Chuck decided to talk.
“Kids,
get your stuff ready, we’re paying your cousin a visit.”
“Why
would we visit Vark at a time like this?”
Keir asked, confused, “I mean, they obviously want to kill us.”
“You’re
not suggesting that Vark is the killer…?”
Leoc asked cautiously.
Keir
looked between his dad and little brother.
“Is
that what you’re saying, Dad?” Keir
pressed.
“Well,
it’s a possibility…” Jewels said uncertain.
“Possibility
my ass!” Chuck said angrily.
“It was Vark and we both know it.
It was only a matter of time before that kid went wild.”
“Let’s
not jump to conclusions…” Jewels warned, but she sounded as if she was
trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
Chuck
sighed, “Okay, Jewels. We’ll go talk to your brother and Marlet.
Will that make you feel better?”
“It
certainly makes more sense.” Jewels
said.
“Go
start the car and I’ll be right there,” Chuck said, tossing Jewels the keys.
Jewels caught the keys and headed out the door.
As soon as Chuck was sure she could not hear him he turned back to his
boys.
“Boys,
listen. Go to Rer’s house, get
him to help you.”
“Help
us what?” Keir asked.
“You
may very well have to kill Vark.” Chuck
said, unemotionally.
“He’s
our cousin!” Keir shouted.
“Keep
your voice down!” Chuck
whispered, looking out the window, making sure Jewels had not heard.
“Better you do it now than wait longer.
The sooner you do it, the better it is for everyone, human and dermian
alike.”
“Dad,
I can’t…” Keir said, at a loss for words.
“You
can and you will!” Chuck said,
Keir recoiled. Chuck saw this and
calmed down. He got down on one
knee to talk to his son. “Son,
promise me. That no matter what
happens, you will do the right thing. Okay?”
Keir
nodded his head.
“That’s
my boy.” Chuck said, getting up
and heading for the door.
“What
do you expect us to do?” Leoc asked.
“Whatever
it takes.” Chuck said gravely.
Both
boys stared at their Dad, expecting some more direction.
What they didn’t expect was the direction they got.
“Hurry!”
Chuck shouted. “Go,
now!” With that, he slammed the
door.
Leoc
and Keir saw the car back out of the driveway and go down the street.
“What
should we do?” Leoc asked.
“…Whatever
it takes…” Keir said, holding back a tear.
Leoc
just stared up at his older brother.
Moments
went by with Leoc and Keir just staring at each other.
“Well,
Keir, what are we going to do?” Leoc
pressed. Keir shook himself out of his shock. He didn’t have time for that now.
“We
need to talk to Vark.” Keir said resolutely.
“Alone?”
Leoc asked.
“Of
course not,” Keir said, “always be prepared for the worst.
We need to get Rer and then head on over to Russ’s house.”