DAWN ON THE INFINITY
A Young Adult Urban Fantasy by Jeff Provine
Chapter 3
Dawn rode through the streets, slumped low in her seat and peering just over the edge of the window. She told herself two would-be attackers in one day would be enough to make anyone paranoid. Even so, she felt a little silly hunkered down in her brother’s car, gripping the seatbelt and constantly scanning every conceivable hiding spot.
“I don’t see why you had to have me pick you up,” Paul said stiffly. “Your bike seemed all right to me.”
It was sticking out the back of Paul’s trunk as they drove. Dawn had said the tires were flat with enough whining that Paul had finally caved and come to pick her up after school. It was a reasonable bike-ride home, but Dawn didn’t want to be alone again.
Paul hummed. “Nothing to say to that?”
Dawn looked up at her older brother. He was three years her senior, soon to be graduating high school and going on to college. He’d always been there to protect her, as much as he had always been there to torment her. She had to tell him.
“Listen, Paul,” Dawn said slowly. “I think someone’s trying to get me.”
Paul sat motionless for several seconds until finally clearing his throat. “So you’re crazy now?”
“I’m not crazy!” Dawn half-shouted. She took a breath to calm herself. “It sounds crazy, but it’s true. Twice today people have tried to kidnap me.”
Paul’s eyebrows shot up, then lowered into a fierce cross. “Seriously?”
She nodded slowly. “Seriously.”
“Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know,” Dawn said. It was a lie. She knew at least a little, but it was indeed crazy.
“Didn’t you go to the campus officer or something?”
“He wouldn’t have believed me.”
“Why not?”
Dawn swallowed. It was crazy time. “Because… one of them was dressed like some kind of Prussian general, and the other was a… vampire.”
“Vampire!” Paul shouted.
She winced.
Paul turned toward her and started to laugh. “Girl, you had me going there for a second. I mean, people get kidnapped now and again, but vampires? You are crazy.”
“I’m not crazy!” Dawn shrieked. “I’m serious! This guy looked like Nosferatu. He pulled the fire alarm and tried to grab me in the bathroom. I think he might have hurt this girl I met in detention.”
He jerked. “Wait, what’s this about detention?”
Dawn winced again. “I, um, had lunch detention today.”
“Aw, Dawnie!” Paul said, rolling his head back and forth in frustration. “The one weekend Mom and Dad go away, and you end up in detention! They are going to freak when they find out!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Dawn spat back. “Listen, we’ll deal with that later. Right now, I think I’m in real trouble with this kidnapping thing!”
“Oh, you’re in real trouble. When Mom and Dad get back, they are going to skin you alive. And I’ll probably get blamed for not taking care of you.”
“You’re not doing a very good job of it right now,” Dawn mumbled. “I’m trying to warn you that I’m probably going to be attacked again. We should do something!”
Paul arched an eyebrow. “What is this, some kind of scheme to get out of trouble?”
“No, it’s just a weird day.” Dawn paused to let out a long, deflating sigh. “You think Dad has a gun or something?”
“Gun? He got rid of all his guns when I was born.”
Dawn crossed her arms. “That’s just great.”
The car turned a tight corner and pulled onto their street. In the rearview mirror, Dawn could see the Joneses’ bushes about a block down where the whole mess had begun. She wondered if it were safe to return here.
“Listen, isn’t there something we can do?”
Paul shrugged. “Hey, I’ve got my hockey sticks in my room. You can club somebody if they try to kidnap you.”
“What about you?”
A wide grin crept over Paul’s face. “I’ve got a date tonight.”
Dawn felt her jaw drop. “What? I’m going to get kidnapped, and you’re running off on some date?”
“Hey, Debbie Thompson’s not just some date,” Paul told her. His smile widened, and he turned the steering wheel. “She’s vice-captain cheerleader, you know.”
Dawn sneered and crossed her arms. Her own brother was selling her out for some pretty face.
The car rolled up into the driveway, following the curve around the yard before Paul parked in front of the door. It was a nice house: two stories, white shutters, general Federalist style, cherub birdbath in the flowerbed, two big pines out front. Dawn wondered how safe it was against vampires and would-be Napoleons.
She scanned the yard, looked for any potential attackers, then unbuckled her seatbelt. Grabbing her backpack, she rolled the straps around her wrist into a makeshift club. When she felt ready, she opened the door to the car and sprang out. Dawn waited for something, anything, to lunge out at her.
Nothing happened. Paul laughed at her and walked slowly up the steps to the porch, tossing his keys in his hand as he went. He unlocked the door, stepped inside, then stopped. Dawn gripped her backpack straps, readying to club a kidnapper in the face.
Paul merely leaned back and grinned, calling, “Shall I do a sweep for listening devices?”
Dawn loosened her bag and stuck her tongue out. “When I really do get kidnapped, you’re going to be sorry.”
“I’ll bet I will,” Paul replied and went inside.
Dawn followed her brother, watching over her shoulder as she went. When she finally set foot inside, she slammed the door behind her. Dropping her bag, she fell against the back of the door and slid down until she hit the floor. She slid her hands over her face, then scooped up as much dusty hair as she could, holding it like a security blanket. Dawn felt as if she had just run a marathon.
“Easy with the door,” she heard Paul call. She didn’t look up.
Afternoon classes had been exhausting enough, counting each tick of the clock, waiting to get home. The firefighters had given them an hour or so respite, but soon the whole school was back in their seats. Dawn hadn’t heard anything about Valdez, and she didn’t know whom to ask. All she could do was wait out the day, hoping to get to the safety of her house. Now that she was here, the sense of safeness was hollow.
Slowly, Dawn let go of her hair and stood up. She left her bag in the front hall and stumbled to the living room. A little TV would drown out the weirdness of the day. She picked up the remote, flipped onto Nickelodeon, and plopped onto the couch. Animated sea life carried out misadventures in a fast food restaurant, which suddenly seemed normal enough for Dawn.
The next thing she saw was Paul’s face hovering over her. Dawn gasped.
“Hey, you awake now?” Paul asked.
Dawn blinked wearily. “Awake?”
“Yeah, you’ve been out for a couple of hours now.”
Dawn bolted upright. She had let her guard down completely. And yet, she was still there. She patted herself all over, making sure it wasn’t some kind of mistake or a dream. After a quick pinch on her wrist, she was certain it was real.
“I wasn’t kidnapped,” Dawn whispered to Paul.
Her brother rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and that’s great. Get your bike out of my trunk.”
“What?”
“You left your bike in the trunk of my car. Go put it in the garage so I can get going.”
Paul turned away, buttoning the cuffs on a blue silk shirt. Dawn blinked at him, then stood up. Her vision blurred for a moment, then cleared. She really had been out of it.
If this is real, Dawn thought, maybe the kidnapping was a dream. She walked to Paul.
Before she could open her mouth, he said hurriedly, “Bike. Car. Anytime now?”
“Fine,” Dawn said. She shrugged and spun on her heel, suddenly feeling full of life. The front door popped open almost merrily, and she hopped out onto the porch.
It was almost dark outside, the dim twilight just before the streetlights came on. Over the shadowy houses to the west, the sun was setting, casting up a brilliant crimson glow. The three pine trees in the front yard danced slowly in the evening breeze.
Dawn lifted the half-open trunk and pulled her bike out. Its tires were fine, so maybe even her lie was part of the dream. She set the bike on the driveway, slammed the trunk, and wiped her hands on her jeans. The acrid odor of Italian dressing kicked up from where it had spilled earlier. Maybe she had just been too careless with the packet over lunch instead of using it to fend off a vampire.
The breeze kicked up suddenly, and Dawn’s skin prickled. Two of trees bucked against the wind, while the one in the middle stood still. Slow realization crept over her. There was an extra pine tree in the front yard.
The realness of the day burst through her mind. She stared at the tree, watching it carefully. It wasn’t moving with the wind. Its branches jiggled seemingly at random, almost as if it were moving on its own accord. Then Dawn saw it take a step forward.
Dawn dropped her bike and charged for the front door. When she reached the steps, she risked a glance over her shoulder. The tree was racing across the yard after her.
“Why is this happening to me?” Dawn shrieked.
The tree only replied by stomping on her bicycle.
Dawn threw herself toward the open front door, yelling behind her, “Just leave me alone!”
She could hear the tree stomping onto the steps. The bricks let out sharp cracks under the weight. A breath of wet, hot, reeking air blew over her back. Dawn winced and grabbed the front door. She slammed it behind her and threw every lock she could find.
Paul appeared from around the corner, calmly doing up a tie. “What’s all the yelling?”
“Run, Paul!” Dawn shouted at him. “They’re after me! Maybe you can make a break for it!”
Paul opened his mouth slowly, but Dawn did not wait. She ran past him and up the stairs to the second floor. She wasn’t certain exactly where she was running, but “away” was enough of a direction.
“Hey!” she heard Paul shout. “Stop!”
“Just run!” Dawn called down from the middle of the steps.
Paul yelled, “What are you talking about?”
She stopped at the landing, turning just in time to see the front door explode inward. Its locks burst out of the frame, sending out a hail of splinters. The door itself snapped off its hinges and landed haphazardly against the wall. Paul threw his arms over his face and reeled backward into the kitchen. Dawn froze, not sure whether to run or try to fight the living tree.
The pine tree ducked low through the hole where the front door had been. Its branches did not seem to bend to slip through the hole, instead appearing fully extended as if they had passed through the wall like a ghost. Dawn squinted at the green needles appearing. It looked like bad Nineties computer graphics.
A string of mild profanities rang out beneath her. Dawn jumped to the banister and leaned over. Paul was pressed against the hall closet door with his arms up in surrender. His face was twisted in unbelieving horror.
“Run, Paul!” Dawn shouted at him.
The tree let out a groan that sounded roughly like a foghorn. Paul only sank to his knees.
“Crud,” Dawn mumbled to herself.
She jumped back to the stairs and raced halfway down. A piece of the wooden paneling from the doorframe rested where it had landed after the crash. Dawn grabbed it and yelled, “Hey, tree!”
The pine waved from Paul up to her, as if it were looking around. It shuffled toward her.
Dawn reeled the panel back and threw it as hard as it could. The panel flew through the air, then disappeared as it hit the needles. A half-second after, there was a dull thud from inside the tree as the panel finally hit something solid.
“A hologram,” Dawn whispered. Years of watching science fiction movies indeed paid off.
The tree made a grunt, then broke forward with sudden speed. Dawn felt her eyes go wide, but focused the shock into fleeing. She spun on the stairs, slipping and running on all fours to the landing at the top. The tree followed, making heavy footfalls that made the stairs creak and snap.
Dawn rushed into her room, slamming the door behind her. She grabbed her desk chair and propped it under the handle. It probably wouldn’t hold long, but anything was better than nothing.
She stood panting for a second, hearing the thunderous steps coming up the stairs. There were hockey sticks she could have used as a club in Paul’s room, but she had instinctively gone into her own. There weren’t any weapons here, just the standard teenager room with a dresser, beanbag chair, laptop, bed, poster collection of movies Johnny Depp had been in, and her cell phone. Dawn gasped. The cell phone!
She dove onto her bed and scooped up the phone from where she had dropped it that morning. She pressed the 9 and 1 buttons, but the screen refused to light up. Dawn slowly realized the battery was still dead from the night before and let out a frustrated groan. Her parents had canceled the landline phones almost a year ago, thinking they’d never need them with the wonders of new technology. Dawn was trapped without any ability at calling for help. She suddenly hated progress.
There was a crash from the landing that sounded suspiciously like her mother’s houseplants being knocked over the banister. The tree would be in her room in seconds. She had to think of something, anything. Part of her thought about just surrendering, but the rest refused. Anything that was willing to smash up her house to get to her wasn’t something she wanted to beg for mercy.
Dawn jumped off her bed and raced to the window. She flipped the lock, then shoved the pane up. Cool night air rushed onto her face.
All her life, she had wanted to jump out of the window, preferably onto a trampoline, and now was her chance. Dawn leaned out of the window and judged the distance to the ground. If she got a good deal of forward momentum and rolled as she landed, she could probably make it with only a bruise or so.
Dawn pulled her head back and shook it wildly. Jumping was madness. Turning, she spotted her closet door leaning half-open with a pile of dirty laundry in front of it. Maybe she could use it for cushioning.
She dashed to the closet and scooped up the laundry. The bedroom door banged, banged again, and finally burst open. She twisted and fell into the closet, pushing herself backward in hopes of hiding. The old t-shirts and socks nearly covered her.
The tree lumbered into her room, keeping its highest branches low in an awkward lean. It paused in the middle of the room, looked around slowly, then moved toward the window. Another foghorn grumbling sounded from inside it.
Dawn assumed its back was turned and decided to make a run for the stairs. She threw the laundry off her in all directions. Socks disappeared into the green needles, and the tree let out a surprised grunt. Before it could move, Dawn shot out of the closet and raced back onto the landing.
The stairs were a complete mess. Every third step bore a deep crack, and splinters were still lying scattered from the former front door. Refusing to pause, Dawn hopped onto the banister and slid down. The polished wood was smooth, and the ride ended in only a second before she landed on the ground. It would have been fun if she hadn’t been running for her life.
Dawn spun around, expecting to see Paul still collapsed by the closet. He was gone, and Dawn decided she should be, too. She turned toward the former front door, catching the living room out of the corner of her eye. Two figures dressed in black fatigues and helmets had Paul’s limp body between them. They were half-carrying him, held up by his arms over their necks.
“Hey!” Dawn screamed.
The figures jumped and turned to look over their shoulders. Darkened glass faceplates in their helmets hid them.
“Leave him alone!” Dawn shouted. She picked up the piece of paneling she had thrown at the tree where it had fallen in the hall again. Wielding it like a bat, she charged into the living room.
The figures seemed frozen, and Dawn did not give them time to recover. She picked the one at the right and swung the wooden panel, hitting it in the helmet.
The figure’s head rolled back, and they both dropped Paul’s arms. He slumped to the carpet, groaning groggily as he landed. Dawn lifted her makeshift bat again.
The left figure looked at the right, and they both turned to run. The one Dawn had hit held its helmet, swinging drunkenly as it went. Dawn watched them disappear into her dad’s study, then turned to the semi-conscious Paul.
“Come on, Paul,” Dawn said, setting the bat in her right hand. She grabbed her brother’s hand with her left and tugged.
Paul’s eyes opened halfway. “Dawnie?”
“It’s me,” Dawn said. “We need to go! Help me pull you.”
“What’s going on? I’m so tired,” Paul replied, his voice trailing sleepily.
“You can rest later!” Dawn told him. She tugged again, and he wearily pushed with his legs. Dawn slowly dragged him out into the front hall. From there, she would throw him in his car and drive off before the others caught up with them.
The tree was already at the top of the landing. It let out an echoing bellow and began to plod carefully down the stairs.
“Crud,” Dawn mumbled. She looked at the comatose Paul and the wooden stick in her hand. Taking the latter up like a spear, she threw it at the tree.
It sailed through the air viciously until a huge green claw reached out of the pine needles and batted it away. Dawn gaped. Part of her wanted to know what was hidden under the hologram, and the rest told her to run.
She grabbed Paul with both hands and dragged him backwards toward the door. Whatever it was inside the tree, it was slow, and Dawn had maybe twenty seconds to get into the car and speed away. She could do it.
A metal ring poked into Dawn’s back. She straightened up and froze. Slowly turning her head, she looked behind her.
A short guy with shaggy blonde hair stood on the porch holding something that looked like a Buck Rogers laser gun. It was the blonde kid from early in the morning. The silver on his blue uniform sparkled in the darkness.
“Oh no,” was all Dawn could say.
The guy looked at her with wide black eyes. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
Dawn spun around to hit him, but a flash emanated from the barrel of his gun right into her torso.
Everything in Dawn’s body seemed to shut down at once. Her skin crawled, her vision blurred, and her ears rang. She tasted and smelled something like birthday cake, and then it all went dark. The last thing she felt was collapsing onto the guy’s soft uniform.