Another Chunk (6)

“I don’t understand,” Billy said. “Why do you look so different? Where are we going?”

“I told you just to be quiet. First we have to make a quick stop, from there I don’t know just yet.”

“But-“

“Please Billy, just shut your trap. It’s hard enough for me to concentrate on driving without you yammering in my ear. Once I get some new shades I’ll be ok.”

Billy sat back. The tone in Clyde’s voice told him not to argue. Clyde continued to whiz through traffic. Finally, he found the exit he needed. Cutting across two lanes, Clyde took the exit into the heart of the city. Clyde slowed to match the speed of traffic. Bill stared in amazement as the windshield of the car began to piece itself back together. The cracks started disappearing starting at the ends and working in. Billy felt something stirring on his suit. He looked down, and saw several shards of glass jump from his suit to fit into the rest of the windshield.

“Neat trick huh?” Clyde said.

It was almost too much, and for a moment, Billy thought he was going to faint. He became light headed and started to slump forward. Clyde reached over and patted him on the shoulder. Suddenly his mind was clear, and he no longer felt so tired.

Clyde slowed, and pulled over in front of a small drug store. Luckily the meter showed fifteen minutes left on the clock. Clyde started to get out. He paused and turned to Billy. What Billy saw was the same kindhearted look he used to get from Uncle Benny.

“You can just wait in the car,” Clyde said, “I’ll only be in for a minute.”

Billy just nodded as Clyde got out of the car and went into the store. Before he entered the store, though, Clyde looked around, for what exactly Billy didn’t know, and then hit the alarm button on the car. Billy didn’t understand why he would alarm the car with someone still in it, but the alarm made him feel safer.

Three minutes later, according to the parking meter, Clyde came out. Except now, he wasn’t old anymore but young again with the slicked back hair and a new pair of sunglasses. Under his arm was a copy of the Sun Times. He deactivated the alarm and got back into the car.

“They’re not my ray bans, but they’ll do for now,” Clyde said.

“What are you?” Billy asked breathlessly. “Why did you look like an old man when you lost those sunglasses? What’s all that weird stuff that’s chasing me?”

Clyde sighed, and for a moment he looked very old and tired again. “All of your questions will be answered later. I don’t know that I’m the one to tell you. I don’t even think you should be told.” Billy was looking more and more confused. “For right now though you’ll have to wait.”

He turned to the paper and started to flip through. A jumble of questions raced through Billy’s mind, but he couldn’t dedicate any into speech. After a minute Clyde smiled and folded back the paper. He started the engine and pulled out into traffic.

Finally, Billy found himself able to speak. “Where are we going now?”

Clyde tapped an advertisement on the face up side of the paper. There was a picture of a man with a rather impish grin. His arm was out to his side as if her were welcoming someone in. Recharge your being the ad said. Billy stared at the man, and for a split second he thought he saw the man blink.
8/29/04 12:47-1:03pm and 1:17-1:40pm

After the Civic turned the corner a second car started up and began to tail. It cut into traffic smoothly, but not by anybody’s choice. A flat tire pulled a Toyota to the side, a popped clutch stranded a Pontiac, and sudden swarm of cats stopped a Caddy. Between the gaps the car floated and followed the civic. The tinted windows allowed little in the way of scenic pleasures of the inside. But, that was better for the common person as the inside was a temperature hotter than they would have cared to endure. The car went harmlessly unnoticed, eyes slipped past it without note. The bad luck of running near the car lingered more prominently.

Inside two men looked on at the green Civic as it cut through traffic. They were dressed in black suits, sunglasses, and black gloves.

“This is proving to be most difficult.”

“Tyr will be most displeased.”

“We delivered the other guardian to him.” The driver made an unhurried turn, staying a block behind the civic. “He has great desire to close this gate and open one of ours.”

“This will be over soon. The other guardian is cocky and stupid. Had a running in with him in England during the Hundred Years War.” He stopped and seemed like he should continue but didn’t.

An alarm went off that was set in the dashboard.

“Others are approaching.”

“I thought she said that we had these two to ourselves all day.”

“I don’t know if they are friendly, yet. They could be with them.” The driver pointed at the Civic as it parked in front of a rundown block of old stores. The one that Clyde and Bill went into was called Recharge R Us. No windows showed the interior of the building.

“We should end this here.”

“Wait for help, we have more spheres coming into play, soon.” The driver took out a handheld device that looked like a small ball; it was black and had silver inlays zigzagging the surface of it. Using his index finger to motion in a counter clockwise direction on the surface a greenish light spilled forth. It cast a character the size of squirrel on the dashboard. It was a girl, but she was outlined in green and her characteristics were clearly undefined. Her voice came through as crackles like it was being fed back through speakers of speakers.

“Have you eliminated them yet?”

“We have them entering a store.” He told her where they were.

“Alright sending more help, don’t abuse this one like you did the dog. We’re still taking some backlash from the signal.”

“We had an alarm go off. Is it still safe to pursue him?” The passenger moved uncomfortably when the green woman glared.

“He has no way of communicating his where abouts, they can not know where he is. I’ll make sure of that. Just finish it, this has taken entirely too long. He is weak, do not let him become not so. He is too strong for the likes of you two that is why we waited till today. Don’t screw this up, or you’ll have to answer to him!”

They clicked off communication and readied to receive the signal that would help them end their trying day. They grumbled in unison at the pretension this newbie showed to them.
* * *

Clyde and Bill entered the place from the ad. It was dry, dark, and smelled of garbage, old food and left over waste. The store had filing cabinets lining the sides with globed lights hanging down the center illuminating the walkway. The man who greeted them from behind piles of paper, which Bill could only assume hid a desk underneath, was a mess. He had on a white shirt that labeled all the food he had eaten that day. At least Bill hoped it was just from that day. His pants were much too tight and he was barefoot. The only door in this building, besides the front one, was behind the desk. The man launched himself around the desk once he laid eyes on Clyde.

“You old dog!” He yelled as he crushed Clyde in a bear hug.

“Ah…Rufus you never change, it doesn’t matter what century it is. But, you really must know that the times are cleaner than they used to be.”

“Too much to do to care, you know. Who’s this with ya?”

“This is Bill, he is…”

“Wait jus’ a second…” He stared at Bill with bugged out eyes. Well, actually, he stared around Bill to be precise. He walked up close and scrutinized the air quality, or so Bill thought. “Well, I never I thought I would see one…ya know…one of the Ones up close.”

“Alright Rufus, c’mon back to today. I need some help.”

Snapping his head back, Rufus withdrew from a cowering Bill, but he glanced back with a knowing smile. Exactly what he knew, Bill was not sure he wanted to know. At this point Bill was working on theory that maybe this was all a very wicked dream. He would have to stop drinking before bed.

“Take a look at this.” Offering his watch hand to Rufus excited the messy, little man into a frenzy. “That is much too low, much, much too low. What are you trying to do yourself, dissolve?”

They were whispering to themselves about something important when Bill felt a slight shake in the walls. They apparently felt nothing. He looked around, the place was full of dust and shadows. He hoped there were no cats. No black cats, no cats that other people can’t see. For that matter no two headed dogs that break through glass and slobber all over. No more magic, I should separate myself from Benny, or whoever he is, he thought.

The walls vibrated again. This time the glass globe cracked, sparked and fell down. Bill was underneath it, but moved just in time for it to miss him.

“That was lucky,” he muttered. He looked up and saw both men frozen. “What? Your place is falling down, mister. I was just saying that I was lucky.”

“Exactly, Billy,” replied Clyde. “Luck, it doesn’t just happen for no reason. Fuck, I thought we were in the clear. If I had my ray bans I could’ve discerned this before now.” Clyde looked at Rufus, then at Bill. “I’m sorry, Rufus, but I think we’re still in danger.”

That’s when the door shuddered with an impact that knocked dust into a frenzy.
8/31/04 8:11pm- 8:51pm
Something slammed the door again. This time, they could see the door buckle. The dust was thick and choking. Something on the other side was snarling. Rufus was glancing back and forth.

“What did you guys bring with you?” He said. “They’re gonna bring this place down to the ground.”

“Rufus,” Clyde said, “you can see who Billy is. You know he means more than this dump going down. I can’t take care of whatever’s out there. What can we do about it?”

Rufus shifted back and forth on his feet. “Ah…Tanya and Lucas are in the back, they should be charged by now. They’re young, but they could buy you some time.”

The door shuddered again, and this time the hinges began to come loose. Bits of the ceiling were coming down everywhere and there was more dust in the air.

Clyde thought for a moment. “Tanya’s got a good head on her shoulders, and Lucas could be a big hitter eventually, but they’ve never seen anything bigger than an imp.” He looked at Bill who looked more scared than he had been in the car. “Ok, we don’t have much choice. Billy, follow me. Rufus, get them out here.”

Rufus nodded and disappeared; there was a sucking sound as air rushed in to fill the spot where he had been. Bill was dumbfounded again. He saw Clyde headed to the desk. He pushed a button on the desk, and a section of wall behind the desk vanished. Billy saw a small room full of light. From where he was standing he couldn’t see any lamps or source of light.

“Might as well grab a quick charge while we’re here,” Clyde said.

He moved for the room, and motioned Billy to follow. Billy looked around quickly at the dust-choked room. Billy moved in the direction Clyde was motioning. As he entered the light room, he looked back to the room he had just been in. The door shuddered again, and one of the hinges had popped out completely. Rufus reappeared with two other people, both blonde and very young looking. Then the door to the room closed and they were cut off.

Billy was enveloped in white light. He looked around at a room that could be no bigger than ten feet by ten feet, but felt infinite.

“What is this place,” he asked.

“It’s the chamber, this is where we go to recharge.”

Billy’s arms began to tingle. From somewhere far off he thought he could hear singing. It was a sweet and lazy sound. Small balls of colored light began to appear everywhere. Clyde removed his new sunglasses and stood eyes closed and completely relaxed. The colored balls began to swirl, and the singing grew louder. The balls now changed direction. They collided with Clyde sinking into him. He smiled and spread his arms.

Billy watched Clyde absorb more and more of these lights. Suddenly he felt a tickling sensation in his chest, then another in his thigh. He looked down and saw the lights sinking into him, and for each one that touched him he felt a tickle. Clyde opened his eyes and saw the energy flowing into Billy.

“Oh no,” he said.
9/1/04 2:46pm-3:27pm