//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Yoink // Story: Five Score: A New Hive // by bossfight1 //------------------------------// Chapter 11: Yoink May 10th “It’s right here,” Ray said, pointing at the small apartment complex on the right side of the road. I pulled up to the curb and put the car in park. “Nice place,” I commented. My gaze drifted to the park across the street; I could see tire tracks lining the grass, a little reminder of Chris’s ‘prank’. Ray noticed what I was looking at; there was a pregnant pause. “You know, it was because of that prank that I found you guys,” he said. “I heard the racket Chris was making out there, then I saw him flee the scene when the cops ended his little joy ride. Managed to follow him home.” He giggled. “Wasn’t so hard, he doesn’t seem to have flying down quite yet.” I gave a small smile but said nothing else, looking down at my lap. It had been days since the incident with Bedford. Chris hadn’t come out of the basement once, not even to feed. I tried to go down to the basement but he seemed to have blocked it with more of that goo. The grubs hadn’t come out either, diligently staying with their… mother. It wasn’t hard to assume what he was going through; for the months I’d known him he’d never been the kind of guy to lose his temper like that, only doing the occasionally stupid stunt. But now… it seemed Chrysalis was taking more than his human body. The thought that I’d lose Chris to her gave me a lump in my throat. I wanted, more than anything, for things to just go back to the way they were; I’d even settle for Chris being a changeling forever, if he could remain Chris at heart. As the days went by Ray started getting cabin fever. He wanted to head back to his place to pick up some things, including a journal he’d written the past few days, as well as his computer and other things. He even wanted his phone; he knew he couldn’t talk to his parents like this, but he expressed hope that they’d settle for communicating by text. I finally agreed to take him, in the dead of night, so long as we were extremely careful. As an extra precaution he laid in the back seat with a black blanket draped over him on the off-chance we saw someone else on the road. The night was, thankfully, empty; I thought I saw someone behind us in the rearview a couple times, but I shrugged it off as paranoia. “Okay, so…” Ray said, drawing me out of my thoughts. “What now?” I unbuckled my seat belt. “I’ll head inside and make sure there’s no one who’ll see you. Stay close behind me, okay?” I opened the door, got out of the car and walked casually towards the front door. Ray carefully opened his door using his magic, which he’d gotten the hang of through trial and furniture-singeing error, and crept towards me on the sidewalk, the blanket still draped over him. I took his key from the string hanging around his neck and unlocked the front door. I peeked my head into the lobby; as expected, there was no one there. The complex was a narrow three-story affair, a set of old wooden stairs leading up to each floor and a yellow-green tiled floor. I crept inside and beckoned for Ray to follow. We quickly, but quietly, snuck through the building to Ray’s apartment on the third floor. “Here it is,” he whispered, relieved. “Room 305. Use the brass key, the bigger one.” I quickly unlocked the door and held it open for Ray to dash through. With a sigh of relief I followed him in, shutting the door behind me. His apartment was simple enough; a small kitchen in the corner, a nice screen door (curtains drawn, of course) in the living room, which had a simple TV. What drew my attention was the series of plaques on the wall. They each held various academic awards, whether they were for outstanding performance in classes or great achievements in school sports. Ray really seemed like what a pessimist might call an overachiever. “Nice place,” I said aloud. When Ray didn’t respond I turned to see him looking sadly at a picture over his kitchen counter, depicted what I presumed to be the human Ray and his family. Ray fell to his haunches, taking shuddering breaths. I slowly approached and laid a hand on his back. “You okay?” “Yeah, yeah…” Ray said, nodding as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Listen, I think I’ll be good up here, why don’t you head down to the car? I’ll be fine getting downstairs…” “But what if…” I began. “It’s fine,” Ray insisted, his voice cracking. “Just… just give me a minute, okay?” He looked back at the picture without another word. I withdrew my hand and bit my lip; I was unsure about leaving him alone up here, but decided he needed his space. I turned and walked quietly from the apartment. I mused that perhaps Ray would be all right as I walked down the stairs, seeing no one else; it was way too late for anyone to be getting off any night shifts, and it was doubtful anyone would happen to come out at exactly the worst possible moment. I left the building and looked at my car. When I saw the back right door open my mind instantly flew to a multitude of scenarios that made me curse Chris for all the horror movies he’d made me watch with him. I quickly calmed down, however, when I realized Ray hadn’t closed it when he got out. With an annoyed sigh I shut the door and walked around to the driver door. It was then I noticed another car, parked a while down the street behind mine. It must have shown up while Ray and I were upstairs. Don’t panic, I thought, opening the door and settling inside. I leaned my head back and sighed; maybe it wasn’t a good idea to do this. As if to affirm my statement, a figure rose from the seat behind me. A cloth fell over my mouth. With a muffled scream I flailed my arms, my right hand hitting the car horn.                 -                -                -                -                - With a sad sigh I loaded the last of my stuff into the box; I felt grateful that I’d gotten the hang of this telekinesis. At least now I could bring this stuff downstairs without breaking my back-- HONK. “JE-sus!!” I yelled. The sudden, brief noise made me drop the box; I winced as it hit the floor and I heard something break. Great, I thought. I quickly remembered that Liz’s car was, supposedly, the only one on the street. My heart skipping a few beats I sprinted over to the window and poked my head out. “No, no, no, no no NO NO NO…” I said through gritted teeth as I watched a large figure dragging Liz out of the driver street. I opened my mouth to call out, to get someone to stop them, but quickly shut it again; I couldn’t risk bringing the attention to myself. The figure dragged Liz’s limp form from the car and towards another one a short way down the street, a black sedan, where another figure was opening the trunk. Either that guy had friends to help in some sick idea of fun, or this was slightly more ‘organized’ than it seemed. In any case, I could only watch in horror as Liz was carried to the other car and dumped into the trunk. The two men shut the trunk and, without a second glance, got into the car and drove off. I fell to my haunches, my mouth agape in shock. Not only was Liz just kidnapped before my eyes, not only had I done nothing to stop it… I was trapped in my apartment as a pony. Again.                 -                -                -                -                - “Place her in there,” I directed Travis and his cohort towards the chain-link cage of the company warehouse. The pair had acted admirably; several days ago they’d located Mr. Barton and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Pierce, in their home on the eastern side of the Kennebec. They reported that Barton’s “condition” was even more complicated than I’d realized; the sudden appearance of three smaller creatures suggested that Mr. Barton could breed them. Such a resource could not be ignored, so they had opted to give Barton some incentive to have a chat with us. They’d followed Ms. Pierce downtown- performing some unknown, and irrelevant errand- and taken her. I didn’t like having to do this, and it certainly didn’t help that I’d done it before. But a man must be willing to do what it takes to keep and maintain what he’s earned, and I had plenty of friends across the nation who would do the same thing in a heartbeat; I even enjoyed some of their services myself. And by the end of this, Mr. Barton would reap the benefits of working with my organization. Travis placed Elizabeth, or ‘Liz’, as she’d been known, in the cage. “Ensure she is well-fed and cared for,” I said, delicately. “She might not want to be here, but never let it be said I am an ungracious host.” “Dad?” I spun around to see Dane entering the warehouse. I scowled; Travis really needed to improve his standards on his security force. “Dad, what’s this?” “Dane,” I said, sternly. “I told you to stay at home.” “Dad, why is Liz here?” He asked. “I thought you were gonna get that Chris guy!” “This is much more complicated than the mishap with your car, Dane,” I said. “I told you I’d handle it; this is me handling it.” Dane stared at Liz in the cage before he seemed to realize what was happening. “...Did you fucking kidnap her?!” I saw there would be no reasoning with him. “Travis, see Dane out and have him brought home.” Travis nodded and began pushing Dane out without a word. “Dad, what the hell is happening?!” Dane cried, trying to get around Travis. “DAD!!” I could hear Dane’s protests as he was ushered out of the warehouse and to his car outside. I rubbed my temples. “Mr. Hall, kindly procure Ms. Pierce’s cell phone, would you?”                 -                -                -                -                - “SHIIIIIIT SHITSHITSHIT…” I said, clumsily fumbling with the steering wheel of Liz’s car as I sped down the street. Chris’s house was here, somewhere, I was sure of it. It had taken twenty horrifying minutes, but I’d managed to get to Liz’s car and drive it back to Chris’s place. I had to tell him, we had to get a plan together; he could call the cops and not risk being taken away, that was basically the best scenario I could hope for… assuming he was still… you know, Chris. With an immense sigh of relief I spotted the familiar house. I parked, badly, in Chris’s driveway; it was then that hindsight, the jackass, poked me on the shoulder and said, ‘you know, your magic might have helped you drive better.’ With an agitated groan I flung the door open and bolted inside. “CHRIS!!” I yelled, running through the kitchen and banging on the basement door. “CHRIS!! OPEN UP!!” I kept banging on the door until I finally heard a set of hoof-falls on the old stairs behind it. There was a minute of silence after the hoofsteps reached the top step, then the door slowly opened, dripping that strange changeling goo, now liquidated. It took me a moment to recognize Shift; he’d grown much bigger in the four days he’d been down there. He was slightly bigger than me, and his face seemed to have grown permanent scowl-supporting features. “What is it, Trixie?” He asked with a voice scarily similar to that of Invader Zim. “It’s Liz!” I said urgently. “She’s in trouble-- did you just call me--” I shook my head. “Never mind, LIZ!!” Shift glared at me for a moment before turning around. “Follow me.” I quickly followed him into the basement. If I thought it was cold before, it may as well have been winter down here. The floor and walls were lined with more goo, webbing the walls and giving off an eerie green glow. As I stepped off the bottom step I felt a deal of the stuff stick to the bottom side of my hoof. With a look of disgust I tried to shake it off, with little effect. Carefully I stepped towards the drier-looking parts of the floor and looked around. “Chris?” “Hey, Trix.” I turned to see a pair of glowing green eyes in the corner. I gave a soft smile towards them before I noticed a mild green glow behind him, illuminating his equine form. They were oval-shaped… “Oh, god…” I said, lifting a hoof to my mouth (too late to realize it was the goo-covered one before I got a taste of the nasty stuff). Chris looked sadly at the eggs, then back at me. “...I tried to stop, man…” he said, his voice quivering.