| Fiction |
Tomorrow's Light
Written by Drew Clements
Conceptualized by Drew Clements and Bryan Hester
(Part Five - VII)
Khron
exited the girl’s house through the back door, careful to
make as little noise as possible.
He was confused as to why this girl had The Council all up
in arms. She looked just as normal as the rest of her kind.
Surely it was just the position of her father? He knew that
Augustus was aware of the reason, but the elder wouldn’t go
beyond saying that he did. Khron, out of respect for his
position, did not press further; he would learn in time if
he were meant to.
Khron turned a sharp right at the right corner of the house
and made his way down the small alley that the back yard’s
tall brown fence and house created. Thick bushes concealed
his quick, stealthy movements.
His mind raced over the last week’s events. Things had been
much tougher lately with all of the Group’s increased
attempts to reach the girl. As time had moved closer to
Tomorrow’s transformation the Group’s movements had been
nearly nonstop. They had become increasingly inventive too.
Just earlier tonight he and Augustus had to snag two Zar;
one that had possessed the body of a teenager that Tomorrow
apparently knew; the other, a pizza delivery guy.
The unfortunate part of dealing with Zar is the fact that in
possessing a being, they completely destroy its soul to make
room for theirs, so there was no chance of exorcising the
Zar in order to return the body to its rightful owner; it
was always just too late for that. There was, for him, a
required emotional detachment in order to face the
creatures. He had no use for killing, really, at all, and
when it came to Zar using the bodies of people who were
little more than children, it was disturbing to a higher
degree. That was their tactic, he knew: grab a body that
will cause their prey or predators to lose sight of their
intentions.
Foul things, the Zar, Khron thought. Even fouler are the
creatures that would employ them. He supposed it fortunate
that even worse things have not been called in to capture
this girl. Becoming emotionally detached to destroy a Zar,
an easy defeat in itself, was one thing, but fighting things
that could crush you by stepping on you was something else!
Khron stopped at a high bush, just before reaching the front
yard. This area offered decent viewing while keeping him
comfortably concealed. He had spent much time here and,
looking down, you could tell by the area of grass that had
been worn away. If he’d been back home and his elders had
noticed such a patch of area, which laid bare the fact he
had been there, he would have been punished; it was
careless. Yet here… beings weren’t quite as observant.
Still, that didn’t mean he should be any less careful.
A car door closed beyond the front gate. Khron zeroed in on
its position with his ears; the vehicle was a couple houses
down and its occupant was now making its way toward this
house. A familiar scent preceded the being.
Khron figured that after a while of these Zar not showing
back up to their masters, they would realize something was
amiss and stop sending more. They’re obviously not working
out; they’re wasting them. But, Khron supposed, they
recruited them en masse, which, according to Augustus, was
the only way to get them at all. That, apparently, was a
result of their somehow being caged for many years;
something that dated back to World War II.
The near-silent sound of the front gate opening was like a
pounding drum to the intensely sensitive ears of Khron.
He waited a few seconds more, then bounded from behind the
bush and caught his prey. The Zar had no time to react and
crumpled beneath the pressure of Khron’s powerful limbs. In
an instant, he returned to the bush with the Zar who had,
this time, possessed the body of an elderly man.
“An odd choice for a body.” He whispered to the creature.
It really was an odd choice. Sure, Zar possession amplified
a being’s body strength a good bit, but not enough to make
an already feeble body worth inhabiting.
Up above, the sound of glass breaking split the silence of
the night. The Zar began emitting a disgusting cackle from
its dirty mouth.
“A diversion? Finally a tactic I can respect.”
Khron congratulated the monster before he kindly removed its
head.