The scans had finally located the Relic
cocoon—at least, that was what Lord Hamilcal had told him when
he had been deployed to this nondescript neighborhood in the
Colorado Springs area. As Imakarum, leading a group of six
Standard Zoanoids, approached the location that they’d been
given, the Twelfth Zoalord wondered again just how and why the
Relic cocoon had appeared inside a suburban home.
That was what he and his group were
currently approaching: a fairly large and well-kept suburban
dwelling. He could already sense that there were no humans in
the front room, which was where Lord Hamilcal had detected the
two energy surges from the Relic cocoon. What the purpose of
those surges was, exactly, aside from being concurrent with the
cocoon’s disappearance from the Dead Sea Plant, was what
Imakarum and his Zoanoids had been dispatched to ascertain.
Reaching the door, Imakarum settled his
hand against the doorknob and pushed, shattering the latch.
Walking into the house, the Twelfth Zoalord was confronted by
two separate and distinctly annoying things: the first was the
fact that the Relic cocoon was nowhere to be found; the second
was the dog barking loudly at him. The animal was fairly large,
vaguely wolflike in appearance, and making a rather large
nuisance of itself. Therefore, he felt no remorse for using his
telekinesis to slam it against the wall of the main room until
it fell silent, though if he had known just how that action
would affect his chances of recapturing the Fifth Guyver, he
might have reconsidered.
XxXxX
It was Raider’s barking that woke him up
first; the Husky sounded like he was being menaced by an entire
army of strangers. Probably another damn squirrel had gotten in
though the basement. Those things were a menace. Ryan was just
about to flop back into bed and try to fall asleep again when he
heard five loud thumps. Then Raider fell silent. Ryan woke up
instantly, like someone had jammed a cattle prod into his back.
Turning to Sho, Ryan shook the other boy
awake a bit more forcefully than he would have if he hadn’t been
so worried about his dog.
+What is it, Ryan?+
+I think there’s someone in the house.
Listen.+
Ryan watched as Sho turned toward the
door, and then the other boy tensed up suddenly. Wondering what
was going on, Ryan was a bit more surprised by what Sho said
next.
+Zoanoids!+
+What?+
+There are Zoanoids here! We have to get
out, now!+
+What the hell are Zoanoids?+
+There’s no time! We have to get out
here, right now!+
Sho was practically in hysterics
by now, but in a calm kind of way that didn’t involve yelling
and running around. Sho’s brand of hysterics was more the kind
of twitchy, paranoid, I’m-just-about-to-crack
kind of thing that Ryan had seen in his dad a few times.
+All right, come on. Follow me.+
Pulling Sho over to the shelves that Dad
had installed in his closet, Ryan started up. Heading for the
trapdoor in the ceiling—the one that his dad never seemed to get
around to nailing shut like he said he would—Ryan climbed
quickly.
+What are you doing, Ryan?+
+You’re the one who said we needed
to get out of here fast,+ Ryan
pointed out reasonably. +This
is the fastest way you’re going to find.+
+What are you talking about?+
+Let’s just say that there are some
serious advantages to design flaws.+
Sho looked at him weirdly as Ryan scaled
the shelves.
+Don’t worry, these things’ll definitely
hold your weight. When Dad bolts things into the wall, he
doesn’t mess around.+
+How is this going to help us get out
without the Zoanoids spotting us?+
+We’re going through the attic; that’ll
keep those Zoanoid-whatevers from being able to see us. Hell,
they won’t even know we’re here.+
+All right, Ryan. I trust your
judgment.+
+Thanks.+
As the two of them scaled the mostly
unused shelves, Ryan brushed the ceiling with his fingertips,
prepping himself to shove open the trapdoor when the time came.
After six more steps on his part, that time had finally come.
Shoving the trapdoor up and out of his way, Ryan caught the edge
before it could slam into the attic floor. If what Sho was
saying was true, and the guy did honestly look freaked-out
enough that Ryan was willing to believe him, then any loud
sounds would give them away.
Climbing up all the way into the attic,
Ryan turned around and helped Sho to climb up the rest of the
way. Once Sho was inside, Ryan gently closed the trapdoor and
led Sho across the room to another trapdoor. This one, however,
came fully equipped with a flight of stairs – or a rudimentary
ladder, depending on how one looked at things – built in. Ryan
carefully unlatched the second trapdoor and let it down slowly.
+Where are we now, Ryan?+
+We’re in the hall, just outside the
kitchen now. We’ll be able to get to the garage a lot quicker
than if we’d gone the long way.+
+What’s in the garage?+
+My dirtbike; I figure we’ve got a
better chance of getting away from those Zoanoids of yours if
we’re on wheels.+
+Oh; I hadn’t thought of that.+
Sho still seemed a bit
worried, though. +Are you sure
we’re going to be able to make it our of here without any of the
Zoanoids hearing us, though?+
+You sensed them when they were near my
room, and the kitchen’s practically on the other side of the
house. We’ll be fine.+
That seemed to calm Sho down a bit,
though Ryan wasn’t sure if what he had just said was true or
not. The last thing he wanted to deal with was Sho freaking out
on him, though, so Ryan didn’t say anything else. Now at the
bottom of the ladder, Ryan checked the hallway in front and
behind to make sure it was clear of those Zoa-things Sho seemed
so eager to avoid. It wasn’t as if he knew exactly what to look
for, so Ryan was just making sure that the way to the kitchen
was empty.
As far as he could see, and, to a
certain extent, hear, it was, so he and Sho made their way to
the kitchen with Ryan in the lead since he was the one who knew
where they were going. Once they had made it to the kitchen,
Ryan stole a glance inside before he led Sho to the door at the
front of the large room.
+You still getting those bad vibes you
told me about?+
+What?+
+Are there still Zoanoids in the house
with us, or can we head back to bed?+
+Oh. Yes, the Zoanoids are still here,
Ryan. They’re a bit harder to sense than they were before, which
I think means they’re farther away.+
+Well, let’s be grateful for small
favors, then,+ Ryan said,
grinning. +And let’s also get
the hell out of here before any of them gets the bright idea to
come in here after us.+
Taking Sho’s silence for the
agreement that it was, Ryan led the other boy across the kitchen
floor to the door that would let them into the attached garage.
Ryan was just glad that neither of his parents were in the house
at the moment, ‘cause he’d never have been able to explain
this.
Walking quietly when they were barefoot on the linoleum floor
wasn’t all too difficult for Ryan since he’d done it a few times
before, but wordlessly teaching Sho that same skill more than
made up for the relative lack of difficulty there.
Finally reaching the door into the
garage, Ryan opened it as quietly as he could, let Sho inside,
and then closed it just as quietly behind them.