BLUE VENOM

Four - Claws (And Spit)

We walked towards their cube and it was just as empty as ours. No hidden compartments, no hidden switches. Kain had checked it alll but we still looked for a bit, thinking three pairs of eyes might see more than one. Until Kain said: "We can't stay here. These things... They'll come back."

Ty and I both looked up from the wall. I didn't say it out loud but I felt like hiding under a table... Had there been a table, I mean.

We all climbed down the ramp and the light of the yellow sky seemed to have shifted somehow. Dimmed.

"Oh my God", I said. "What are we going to do if it gets dark here?"

The thought of being caught in this place without seeing a thing clogged my throat. I wasn't the only one temporarily muted and numbed by this relevation

Short silence stretched between the three of us.

"...Does anybody happens to own a flashlight?" Kain looked around our little circle. Of course he was the first one to find back his voice. He cleared his broad throat. "A torch?", he offered further. "Wale fat to burn?" Then he sighed and fixed his jacket. I saw that there where three huge white scratches in the black fabric of his right sleeve.

He saw me staring at it. "Yeah they have claws.", he said briefly, like that explained it all.

"Oh my god. Is your arm like... alright?" I shouldn't worry about his limbs - he was cocky enough with all of them on. One or two less might bring the boy his much needed portion of humble. But I couldn't stop staring at these huge, wide claw marks. Just what animal in the world could leave marks like that? Besides, just because he was a jerk it didn't mean I should ignore his woes. He liked to play Superman. I'd realized this much knowing him in my life.

I remembered how he'd joked around on one the picnic tables in the outdoor dining area in front of West Jewel Highs cafeteria and slipped of the table, past his group of laughing friends. He'd twisted his ankle at a really painful looking angle, but the guy had just gotten up and laughed it away like it was all one big joke.

I hadn't meant to watch him then, while I had been over by my art class friend Sabrina Price and shared my veggie sandwiches. It was back in seventh grade. But for some reason, my eyes had caught on to him, across the terrace at that exact moment and I wondered if I, the girl he hated and who hated him, and who sat across the entire length of the concrete patio, really was the only one who saw the way his face twisted and how he kept stealthily rubbing his ankle afterwards.

Later, in the dim hallway after P.E. - which he had attended, just like an idiot, I had passed him by, standing in the middle of the way, just keeping his eyes closed. In pain.

I had said: "Hey, Kain. Maybe take a rest?"

Of course he had cracked some mean joke as he always did and I had stormed off but I did think about it now, wondering if he always overplayed any type of discomfort with more rude behaviour and boasting.

He surely would be the last one to complain, which meant I should keep an eye on him. It wasn't like me to let a dog die just because it liked to bite.

I realized I must have stared at him now because his grin grew two levels more arrogant and mocking. "Which, mine?", he said.

"Just blimey. The scratch never went past my sweater." Kain shook said arm as if to prove his point and waved me off, then walked back into the heath. "So, they disappeared down there" He pointed into the direction behind the cube and Ty and I turned, as if these 'things' could jump out from the boarder to the jungle back there. "But it won't be long until they come back. We'll hear when they do, don't worry... Unless they are really quiet."