Hissers (6 page)

“It’s better if you drink it cold,” Amanita added. “But we’ll have to make do. Come on, let’s go inside so the bugs don’t bite.”

“We have Off,” Seth said.

“As if. I’ve got expensive perfume on and I’m not ruining it with bug spray.” Amanita pushed her way inside the fort, made a dozen comments about the cleanliness of the space, and finally plopped in one of the car seats. The others followed her in. Seth, who knew nothing of chivalry as it was not a common aspect of video games, took the other chair, leaving Connor and Nicole to find spots on the floor.

When they were seated, Nicole unscrewed the cap of the Jack Daniels and held it up. “Who’s first?”

“Where did you get it?” Connor asked.

Amanita, still sucking on her cigarette, held out her hand for it. “I stole it from my parents’ liquor cabinet.”

“Won’t they be pissed when they find out?” Seth asked.

“They won’t care.”

“What? They don’t care if you drink?”

“You got the first part right.” She put the bottle to her lips. They all waited with baited breath to see if she’d take a swig.

The interior of the fort began to stink like bourbon and smoke. It reminded Connor of the few times he’d visited his father’s friend’s bar up state. All they needed was a toothless man talking to himself in the corner, a digital dartboard that didn’t work, and a jukebox that played nothing recorded after 1978 and the facsimile would be complete.

Connor looked at Nicole. “You drink this a lot?”

“Me? No. I’ve only had a beer or two before. Am talked me into trying this.” She moved a little closer to Connor until her knee accidentally touched his. “Oh, sorry.” She looked away.

Connor blushed and scootched away from her.

Amanita rolled her eyes. “Nic is all goody two-shoes when it comes to drinking. She’s afraid—”

“Am! Shut up—”

“—but we’re going to a drinking party later and I’m gonna help her change all that. It’s fine, Nic, they don’t drink either, right?”

Neither boy nodded.

“See. Okay,” she continued, “let me show you how it’s done.” She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and took a bug gulp. The liquor came out so fast it spilled down her neck. Instantly she coughed and spit bourbon all over the wall. Seth yelped as her cigarette, tossed aside as she choked, landed on his lap. He quickly stomped it out. Nicole rushed over and slapped Amanita on the back like she was a baby in need of burping. Connor sat wide eyed, unsure what the hell to do.

Finally Amanita finished coughing, wiped her mouth with her hand and handed the bottle to Connor. “See, nothing to it. Your turn.”

Connor took the bottle and smelled the lip of it. The caustic fumes burned his eyes.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Nicole said. “We just thought, you know, since everyone was going to be drinking tonight—”

“No, it’s okay. I mean I’ve had some beer before. It can’t be much worse, right?”

Seth pointed at Amanita. “I think she almost just died, dude.”

“I didn’t almost just die. It’s hard stuff is all. You have to acquire a taste for it. Least that’s what
Cosmo
said.”

Connor didn’t really like the smell of the liquor, but he could sense some kind of eagerness in Nicole. Maybe she just wanted to go the party and drink, or maybe she just wanted to see if he was a pussy or not. Tentatively, he took a small sip. The liquid burned as it slid down his throat and lit his stomach on fire. He let out a small cough. “Not bad,” he lied.

Nicole went next. Like Connor, she took a baby sip and winced as she swallowed it. “Jesus, Am, this tastes like crap.”

“Yeah but it’ll get you drunk fast.”

“I don’t want to get drunk.”

“No, but remember what we talked about?” The two girls shared a look that made Connor uneasy.

“What’d you talk about?” Seth asked.

“More
Cosmo
stuff,” Amanita said and laughed. Nicole laughed with her, but for some reason it felt forced.

Nicole, still fighting the burning sensation in her stomach, handed the bottle to Seth.

“I don’t want any,” he said.

“Oh, come on,” Amanita teased, “you can’t stay a geek your whole life. Just take a sip.”

“I’m not a geek.”

“Don’t be a bitch, Am.” Nicole looked at Amanita as though she might shoot fire out of her pupils and burn her friend to ashes.

“Oh please, I’m just kidding around. C’mon, Seth. Take a sip. It won’t kill you. I read that bourbon drinkers are refined. You could use some refining.”

Seth gave the bottle back to Amanita. “Look, just because your parents let you smoke and drink doesn’t mean it makes you cool.”

Amanita took another sip and this time didn’t cough. “What is that, some kind of peer pressure speech? What are we in junior high still? If you don’t want any then don’t drink it. I was just trying to be nice. It’s not like I even want to be here with you…” She was clearly going to add some kind of epithet but cut herself off.

“Then why did you come?” Seth pressed. “It’s not like you’re exactly wanted here.”

“You’re a fat piece of shit.”

“Am, just drop it,” Nicole said. She turned to Connor. “Look, maybe we should just go to the party. Are you sure you guys don’t want to come?”

The truth was he did kind of want to go. He wanted to be where the in crowd was, and he wanted to talk to Nicole, which he’d hardly had a chance to do so far, but he’d pretty much promised Seth they’d hang out here for a while, play some more PSP. All this confusion sucks, he thought. “No, it’s okay. Maybe we’ll go to the next one. You go and have fun. I’ll see you in school on Monday. Who knows, maybe we’ll be in the same classes.”

The look in Nicole’s eye made it clear she was let down. “Yeah, I hope so. Well, it was cool seeing you. I like your fort.”

With that, she turned and followed Amanita out into the woods. “Well, thanks a lot,” she whispered.

Connor poked Seth in the shoulder and motioned for him to get up. “C’mon, we should walk them down the path to the street.”

“Why?”

“Because girls like that. And it’s dark out there and we have flashlights.”

“I don’t care. Amanita is a bitch with a capital B.”

“Then do it for Nicole.”

“Don’t see why I should.”

Connor thought for a moment. “Because I’ll rank your Halo stats up to 20 for you so you get the lieutenant badge.”

Normally Seth would never accept help on a video game, but he really hated being called a
noob
by the other players and wanted a better badge. “Fine. But only to the street. I’m still not going to that dumb party.”

“Thanks.”

Together, they snatched up their flashlights and caught up to the girls, who were only a few feet away from the fort, moving slowly in the darkness. “Here, let us guide you back,” Connor said. Once they played their flashlight beams over the path everyone was able to walk normal.

Amanita lit another cigarette. “Can’t believe I wore my good heels into the woods.”

“You’ll be fine,” Nicole said.

“The party probably already started.”

“So?”

“Everyone is already there. We’re gonna get there late and look like losers.”

“I don’t think everyone’s there,” Connor said. “See, you can see Jason Drake’s house from up here. Next to the pizza place. Doesn’t look like a lot of activity.”

“What do you mean? There’s like a hundred people there already.”

Nicole added, “Wow, that’s a cool view.”

They all followed her, moving through the trees to the edge of the hill looking out over the town.

Amanita pulled her cellphone out and took a picture. “Have to admit, it is a cool view.” They all looked at the picture but it was pretty blurry. “Well, what do you want,” she said, “it’s a cheap phone.”

“I don’t even have one,” Connor said. “My parents said I have to wait until I’m sixteen.”

“My parents took mine away,” Seth added. “I didn’t know they charged you to download the video games.”

Nicole took her iPhone out of her purse and took a photo of the view. The quality was much better than Amanita’s. “I’ll put it on Myspace tomorrow so we can all see it.”

“I’m not your friend on Myspace,” Connor said.

She smiled playfully. “Well, send me a friend request, dummy.”

They all looked back out over the town again, lost in the view. “Which one is your house, Connor?”

He knew she knew where he lived but he pointed it out anyway. “Over there. The trees are blocking it but you get an idea. Your house is over there.”

“Over there?” she asked, pointing too far to the right.

“No, um, over…” he took her hand and moved it to the left. Her skin was warm and soft and standing this close to her he could smell her shampoo and perfume. It was weird to smell the scents of a girl so close up. He could feel the tiny soft hairs on her arm and, somewhat embarrassed, withdrew his touch.

She turned back and smiled, so close that he could almost taste the Jack Daniels on her breath. “Thanks.”

“You guys hear that?” Amanita asked.

Connor was frozen still, looking at Nicole’s eyes. He was afraid that if he moved at all he might throw up. “Um, no,” he said.

“No really. Listen.”

“I hear it too,” Seth said. “Sounds like a motor.”

Now that Connor listened, he could hear a strange noise, like a combination of distant screaming and a truck rumbling by at high speed. No, it was more than that. It sounded like a freight train. And it was getting louder. Damn loud.

“What the hell is that?” Seth asked.

All four of them looked out over the town, trying to find the source of the noise. There was something dangerous about it, something that felt entirely out of place.

“Oh my God.” Nicole pointed up into the sky.

Connor looked up. Every hair on his body stood on end.

Saturday, 8:24pm

At first it was just in the clouds. A light, blue and glowing, turning the clouds into pulsating purple blobs. Then tiny red flashing pinpricks joined in, and everyone knew what it was—the familiar strobing lights of an aircraft. The jet engines sounded too low to the earth. As the lights grew brighter, the sounds got louder. Nicole, Connor, Seth and Amanita stood fixed on the top of the hill, eyes watching as if in a trance.

Then…

It swam down through the lowest layer of clouds, a massive steel beast angled at some sixty degrees. If the angle was any steeper it would be in a complete nosedive, its speed in excess of five hundred miles per hour. The wings tipped too far to port, showing the four teens the metallic underbelly of the craft and the collection of desperately winking safety lights. It threatened to roll over but whoever was flying it was fighting to roll it back and it pitched like a canoe on heavy waves. The tail swung, as if the plane were skidding in the air.

Connor heard the screams from next to him, knew it was his friends, but could not register it as more than background noise. The thunderous sound of the plane almost drowned out all sound and threatened to burst his eardrums. He knew nothing of the plane’s make, just that it was giant and fast and flying the wrong direction.
Down!

He felt his pulse race and his body go cold with sweat as his brain finally made sense of what he was seeing.

Nicole grabbed his arm and screamed in his ear. Her grip threatened to rip his skin off. He couldn’t understand what she was screaming, couldn’t turn his head away. She was in hysterics but he didn’t care. He was frozen.

The plane slammed nose first into the ground with a force that shook the entire town.

Connor, Seth, Nicole and Amanita fell backwards as the concussive wave of heat from the explosion screamed up the hill and slammed into them. All four threw their arms up over their faces and yelled but there was little coherence in anything they cried before they were hurled backwards into the dirt.

“Jesus Christ!”

“Oh my God!”

“I’m on fire!”

The last was not true, but their close proximity to the crash, and the severe temperature of the fireball, made it feel like they were.

The blast wave passed over them with a howling
whoosh
. Connor sat up and rolled to his knees. He crawled on all fours back to the edge of the hill and looked out over the town. The fireball was turning black with carbon smoke, debris flew in every direction, almost like a fireworks show. He could see something soaring through the air at them, something large and on fire and coming at a speed too fast to outrun.

The thing in the air was on a trajectory for them.

He turned back to his friends, trying to issue a warning from his quivering lips. He saw Nicole standing up, brushing dirt from her eyes, trying to get her bearings. Suddenly he felt like he was on the soccer field again—the ball in front of his feet, the goal a few yards away and closing, adrenaline pumping, a massive defensemen chasing him, threatening to sweep his legs out. He sprinted at Nicole and hit her full force in the stomach, hugging her, driving her to the ground, spinning as they fell so she’d land on him instead of the other way around.