Earthbound - Book 1 - A Hero Chosen (Chapter 01)

    EARTHBOUND – 1 – A HERO CHOSEN

    CHAPTER 01 – NIGHT N DAY

    Onett, a small town in Eagleland…

    The world was shaking. I tried to keep my eyes shut. I rolled over, doing my best to go back to sleep. The world was still shaking. I must have had too much soda to drink the night before. I squeezed my eyes harder, but the world continued to shake.

    KAAAAAABOOOOOM

    An explosion rocked the night and suddenly light was everywhere. My eyes were still closed but I could still see. The brightness was absolutely unreal.

    “Holy crap, what was that!?” I whispered to myself, the night having gone silent.

    I sat straight up and looked at my alarm clock. The orange numbers flashed 12:00am, the power must have gone out at some point. Was it past midnight, I wondered. It didn’t feel like it was morning, but outside the world was as bright as midday. I rolled out of bed and nearly fell to the floor but grabbed the bedpost steadying myself. I won’t lie. I was scared crapless and I couldn’t deny it. Something freaky was going on. The light faded back to darkness and once again it was night.

    “What just happened?” I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest.

    An earthquake maybe? No, that was stupid, earthquakes didn’t shine like the sun. Still half-asleep, my mind couldn't process what was happening.

    Mom and Tracy, I suddenly realized I needed to make sure they were safe. And where was that darn dog? King was probably on his back snoring when he should at least have been barking his head off.

    I fumbled through my dark room. I stepped on more than one sharp object. I bit my lip resisting the urge to cry out in pain and anger. I had probably just broken some of my action figures.

    I opened my bedroom door and stepped into the hall. Testing the light switch, I flipped it up. Warm yellow light bathed the corridor but flickered every few seconds. The power was back on it seemed. The strobe effect stung my eyes, so I rubbed them as I walked down the hall. When I came to Tracy’s door I reached up to knock but stopped to listen. I could hear her whimpering.

    “Trace?” I asked, “You okay in there?”

    The door opened wide and Tracy stood there in her long pink nightshirt and bunny slippers. Her blonde hair hung down to her shoulders and was in tangles which meant she had been fast asleep moments before.

    “I’m fine, big bro,” Tracy said, “But what about you?”

    I poked my nose in and looked around the room half-expecting to see some sort of boogeyman jump out of the closet or grab my sister and pull her under the bed. It was a crazy thought though, such things didn’t exist and I had stopped believing in them when I was younger than Tracy. Satisfied it was safe, I replied, “I’m fine.”

    Tracy was safe. That was good enough for me.

    “The sound, it woke you up too, didn’t it?” Tracy asked.

    I nodded and ran my hand through my bed-head hair.

    “I wonder what it was?” I said, “It lit up the night like no other.”

    “I don’t know bro, but did it freak you out?” she asked, “It did,” I admitted.

    “Yeah, scary huh?”

    She clasped her hands together and smiled, trying to look sweet, “Are you planning on checking it out, brave big brother of mine?”  

    I sighed. She was serious. There was no way I had planned on leaving to check anything out. Especially when something crazy could be going on outside. Sometimes I was too nice for my own good. I was never able to resist a girl’s smile.

    “I at least want to look outside.” I told her, although not being entirely honest.

    “Okay!” She cheered, “Here, take my baseball bat! It’s got a crack in it, but you can fight off any aliens that attack you!”

    “Tracey,” I rolled my eyes, “There aren’t any aliens. It was probably just a transformer blowing up.”

    “A transformer? You’re right! It blew up because of the aliens! The plot thickens!” She breathed then wrung her hands together like only a mad scientist would.

    I shut her door behind me and sighed. Her and her crazy conspiracy theories. The child watched way too much television, which made me wonder if it was rotting her brain. Even if aliens existed, which I doubted they did, they weren’t walking around Onett at night blowing things up. They’d probably attack a bigger city, like Fourside.

    I stopped and leaned against the wall. The bat she’d just given me had a nice-sized crack in the tip of it. I wondered how she managed to damage it so easily. I had just given it to her for her tenth birthday a few weeks ago. Six years younger than me, she was far more haphazard than I was at that age. I respected baseball bats. I had made the team every year since middle school and was one of the best batters.  I sighed again and walked downstairs. I took the first stair and my sock got caught on something. I spun around and slammed into the wall, grabbing the railing just in time. I clutched my chest and caught my breath. My near-fall scared the crap out me. I looked at the top stair and saw the head of a nail sticking out. If Dad were around he would have fixed it. Instead he was off on one of his long business trips, making money by the thousands. At least we didn’t live in poverty thanks to him. If only he wasn’t so generous we could’ve probably left Onett all together.

    “Ness?” Mom called up the stairs, “Was that you? I heard a thud!”

    I walked down to find the lights on and my mom sitting at the dining room table. She was in her red nightdress, with her blonde hair up in curlers.

    “It’s late,” I said.

    “I could say the same to you,” she replied, “Did the explosion wake you too?”

    “Whatever it was, it did,” I said as I sat down across from her.

    She looked at the bat in my hands, “Were you planning on going out to beat up an alien?”       

    “What is it with you two and aliens?” I asked, shaking my head, “But yes, I promised Tracey I would go take a look.”

    “You’re a young boy. It could be dangerous out there,” Mom scolded.

    “You’re putting up more of a fight than I expected,” I said, “I’ll be fine. This is the Onett hills, Mom, nothing ever happens here.”

    With a resound sigh she said, “You’ll sneak out of your room anyway, even if I asked you not to.”

    “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I responded and  cracked a grin.

    “At least change out of your jammies before you go.”

    I looked down at my pajamas. Blue and white vertical stripes, top and bottom. They weren’t very flattering, but then again who was I trying to impress?

    “Alright, I’ll be back,” I said.

    I went back to my room. As I passed Tracy’s room I could hear the television on inside. Something about alien invasions.

    I quickly changed into my favorite blue and yellow striped shirt, to which most people said I had no sense of style. I pulled on my jean shorts, and my red converse. I almost left my room, but I stopped at the mirror. My hair was a mess... I grabbed the red baseball cap my dad gave me off of my desk chair and put it on at an angle.

    “Now I look cool,” I said, joking, “No alien can resist abducting me now.”

    With that, I scooped up my backpack, and threw it over my shoulder. Never leave home without a backpack. You never know when you’ll need it... something my dad always told me. Back in the living room Mom was sitting on the couch. She looked worried.

    “What’s wrong?” I asked.

    She looked up, and I was surprised to see she was almost in tears.

    “Just be safe, honey, and come home soon. There’s a strange light coming from up the hill and the police are everywhere. Stay out of trouble.”

    She stood up, and wrapped her arms around me.

    “I’m a grown boy,” I told her, “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

    “No you’re not grown,” she responded and kissed me on the cheek.

    “You worry too much,” I said with a smile, “I’ll only be gone for thirty minutes max.”

    With that she released me from the embrace and let me walk to the door where I suddenly stopped. I heard the low groaning sound from behind the couch. Peeking around, sure enough, I found King, our lazy St. Bernard sleeping.

    “What a guard dog you are,” I muttered and nudged him with my shoe, “Sleeping through explosions.”

    His tail wagged once and he rolled onto his back, his legs up in the air. Still, he snored as if to show just how lazy he really was.

    “Won’t ask you to come with me then,” I said.

    King then breathed in deeply and his leg twitched. He was probably having one of those doggie dreams where he was running in a wide open field. With a shake of my head, I turned and opened the door. I walked out into the night, where the summer air was warm and fireflies glowed in seemingly random spots in space. I followed the path through the front yard and to the edge of our white picket fence.

    Mom had been right; Cop cars were on the path around the hill, and the police were blocking the road in and out of the area. A few bystanders were standing around at the base of the path, watching and trying to get past the black-clad officers.

    The only other house on this side of the hill sat beside ours, and was also lit up. Every light in the two-story home looked to be on. I hoped beyond hope that the kid who lived there, Pokey, was besleeping. He was the most annoying guy in school. Always ruining jokes with less than intelligent input. He also always with some kind of food on him, which showed in his gut. His little brother Picky wasn’t so bad. Brave and friendly, he was fine, but his curiosity always got him into trouble. Pokey was too cowardly to set foot outside, I was sure. I didn’t want to deal with him.

    I looked around and decided the trees would be the perfect place to slip past the cops. I had to get closer to the explosion site. Looking past the blockade I could see the path that wound up to the hilltop. Tiptoeing, I made my way to the bushes and got down on my knees. The first officer was easy enough to crawl pat, so much so I ended up several feet behind him. He didn’t spot me, and all I had to suffer were a few scratches here and there. Proud of myself, I scurried on ahead and ran straight into a pair of black boots.

    “Don’t you know what time it is!?” A grumpy-sounding voice asked from right in front of me.

    I froze and slowly tilted my head upwards. I had been caught already. A crooked nosed officer was staring right at me.         

    “Yes, sir,” I said, slowly nodding.          

    “Well then, get your butt home, pronto!” he responded, waving his hand to compliment his words.

    “Yes, sir,” I said and started to turn back, “Aren’t you going to escort me?”

    If he was I could probably slip away from him, but only if he turned his back.

    “What do I look like? A babysitter!?” He asked, annoyed.

    “Hey!” Another officer called to him from a squad car, a few dozen paces away.

    The officer near me squinted, and motioned with two fingers that he had his eyes on me. He obviously didn’t, because he turned his back. For a moment I pretended to walk away and but then quickly ducked behind the squad car.

    The two offers were whispering about something, but it sounded like mumbo jumbo to me, and something about the town Twoson. The night wasn’t quiet enough, so I leaned in a bit closer.

    “A meteorite has landed,” the new officer said.

    “I wish that was the worst of our problems,” The first one replied.

    A meteorite. That was actually something interesting and certainly was much cooler than a transformer blowing like I had told Tracy. I knew I needed to get up there and check it out before some scientists hauled it off to dissect it. But before I moved on, they started talking again.

    “Right... the Sharks are running wild in town and kids are wandering around all over. Worst of all I’m hungry!” The first officer grumbled.

    So then why were they on the hill? It was like the whole police force had shown up because of the meteor. The Sharks were a relatively new threat, but not one to be ignored. They practically ruled the southern part of Onett. It had been peaceful until they showed up and started tagging up the town, and terrorizing old and young alike. They even had taken over the video arcade and kept it on lockdown. No one but their members were allowed in and the cops did nothing about it.

    I was frustrated at their negligence, but I wanted to get to the bottom of the meteor situation myself. I crept past the pair and a few other preoccupied officers. When I made my way around the bend two more voices came from up the hill.

    “Crap, I’m almost there.” I whispered, “Can’t get caught now.”

    I scurried behind a large oak tree and watched as two officers went by. I put my hand down into the grass to balance myself and something cold squished beneath it. My face contorted in disgust.

    “Ew, what the heck?” I whispered.

    I pulled my hand up expecting something extremely gross, but I found just a ball of bread stuck to my hand.

    “Someone’s snack,” I muttered.

    I wiped it off in the grass and moved on. Coming up over the lop of the next section, I saw I’d made it to the hermit’s shack, the only other person to live in the Onett hills. He was standing outside looking at the commotion just up the hill where an orange light glowed.

    Lier X. Agerate. He was kind of a shady older guy. He always had his black hair slicked to the sides and split right down the middle. Not to mention his fanaticism with blue silk button downs. Of all things his job was designing billboards. A job suited for no one really.

    “Hey Ness!” He called out, having spotted me.

    “Dangit,” I hissed, I had been mostly hidden and have no clue how he saw me.

    “Hi, Mr. Agerate,” I said, trying to sound friendly, “What’s up?”

    “Hi!” He said, enthusiastic, but out of breath. He had beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

    He looked around and then leaned in close to me and started to whisper.

    “Ness, I have a secret and I want to show you. Because we’re buddies like that, ya know?”

    “Look, I don’t have the--” I tried to say.

    “Don’t worry. Not now. Too many eyes and ears. But come by tomorrow, or after the cops leave. I’ll show it to you.”

    Feeling a bit creeped out, I just nodded and replied.

    “Okay, sure thing.”

    Lier smoothed out his blue button-down shirt and looked around nervously as if someone really was listening in. He was panicky. I wondered if it was the meteorite, or maybe something else? I decided I might actually show up later to see how he was doing.

    “See you later,” I said and proceed on.

    “Right, later,” he waved me on.

    When I turned the next corner, my hopes of getting to the crash site spiraled downward and shatter into a million shards of disappointment. The road was 100% blocked by the cops. There were at least three I could see before a wooden barricade. There were probably more beyond it. I couldn’t get any farther by sneaking. With a resound sigh, I decided I would just try and ask about the incident, so I walked up to the closest cop.

    “Have you ever seen a meteorite, kid?” The nearest asked me before I could speak.

    “Uh, not really,” I said.

    “Well this one is different than usual, lemme tell ya. It’s strange and marvelous. As well as mysterious.”

    He waggled his fingers and “oooooOOooooOOoo”s.

    “If you’re trying to scare me, it isn’t working,” I said, “You must be really bored.”

    He lowered his head in shame.

    “Yeah,” he responded, “We’re stuck here on duty when we should be in town taking down those scumbag punks. But we have to keep everyone away for safety’s sake. Especially this little fat kid.”

    “Fat kid?” I asked, realizing he could only mean one person.      Pokey, belly first, emerged from behind another pair of  officers. The squad car right beside him illuminated his face in alternating blues and reds, each detailing every wrinkle and extra chin.

    “You’re Ness, right?” The officer I was talking to asked me.

    “Yeah,” I said, “Do I know you?”

    “I guess you don’t remember me, do ya?” He said, “I’m a friend of your pops.”

    “Oh, okay, right,” I said, playing along.

    He did look a bit familiar with his crazy red sideburns, but really, I couldn’t place him. Maybe he had been at Onett High School giving one of those typical police officer speeches on doing the right thing.

    “Anywho,” he said, “Can you do something about this annoying kid?”

    He pointed to Pokey, who was munching on a chocolate bar and talking to one of the other officers with his mouth full.

    “I mean, he’s your friend, right?” he asked, “Your neighbors after all. Can you get him to go home?”

    I sighed, “Probably not, but I’ll try I guess.”

    I felt for the cops around the barricade. Pokey was a lot to deal with. I cringed as the annoying 15 year old reached into his pocket and pulled out a bread roll, much like the one I squashed. It wasn’t even wrapped up in plastic or anything. Just in his pocket with who knows what else.

    “Pokey!” I called out to him and jogged over.

    “Hey Ness!” He said, chewing away.

    “What are you doing here?” I asked.

    He looked around and then back at me like I was stupid.

    “Don’t be rubberneckin’ Ness,” He said.

    “I’m not, I--”

    “You’re gettin’ in the cops, oops... I mean officer’s way!” He continued.

    “I have as much right to be here as you do,” I told him.

    “Don’t worry, buddy,” he said, “I, Pokey, will tell you more about the strange meteorite tomorrow.”

    I cocked an eyebrow and then a yawn slipped out of me. I looked past him to the cops. There really wasn’t any way around them. Unless I felt like climbing a sheer cliffside.“I’m sure you’ll tell me everything,” I said, “I am pretty tired actually.

    “Go home and go to bed,” He said, finishing the roll by stuffing a large chunk in his mouth causing his cheeks to puff like a gerbil.

    I really didn’t want to leave. Tracy wouldn’t forgive me easily for not getting a look at the meteorite. At least there didn’t seem to be any danger, or aliens as Tracy was thinking. And I did not want to be around Pokey for any longer than I had to be. I’d probably lose my mind. In defeat, I shrugged my shoulders and headed back down the hill, ignoring every officer who threw curses my way, or angrily saying to go home. I couldn’t help but have a nagging feeling. It was in the back of my mind, something made me not just want to see the burning rock, but need to. But it wasn’t happening right then. Maybe in the morning if I came back, I thought, unless they dragged it off to a science lab.

    I made my way back to the bottom of the hill and went for my house. There was still a squad car blocking the road to town, and a man in a blue suit was arguing with the police in it. He probably just wanted to go home, which was exactly what I intended to do. When I got to my yard I found Mom standing by the open front door, arms crossed.

    “Hey Mom,” I said.

    “We don’t need to talk about it tonight,” she said.

    “Okay,” I replied, “Good, I’m tired as heck.”

    “Sleep tight, Ness,” she said as we walked in.

    Right away I went upstairs and pulled my pajamas back on then crashed right into my bed. My eyes had barely closed it seem, when BAMM BAMM BAMM.

    I bolted upright again and looked at the clock. It was not flashing 4:00am. I hadn’t set the correct time, but it was much later than befor.

    BAMM BAMM BAMM BAMM

    Someone was pounding on the front door. Whoever it was had better have a darn good reason.