Jaime takes a step back and looks on, watching Paco and Brenda stand by the grave. He wondered what felt worse, the pain he knew Brenda felt still or the fact that the truth was worse?
But it's okay. He was here for her. They were going to go back to his house and watch "A Christmas Story."
"Take all the time you need," Paco said, squeezing Brenda's shoulder before taking a couple steps back himself. He looked over at Jaime like he could sense his best friend's thoughts and gave him a shrug. He didn't feel too bad about what they knew and she didn't about her aunt. Amparo had been the best thing to happen to Brenda since her mom died, and what Amparo had done to Mr. Del Vecchio couldn't have happened to a more deserving scumball.
But he wasn't going to say anything out loud. He was there to be supportive, not talk. And then they were going to hang out and do fun stuff so that Brenda's whole day didn't suck.
A chill kicks up in the air, a soft rush of wind that makes Brenda reach forward to cup her hands around the guttering flame of her candle. It had been fittingly overcast since morning but there is an ominous and noticeable dimming of the little sunshine remaining just then...
It's enough to make the three look up and see the hail of black rings diving from the sky all around them.
Brenda's eyes rounded and she dove back toward the pathway as two rings cut the air entirely too close to her head for her liking. The hail of black energy seemed to vanish into the Earth as fast as it had descended and somehow none of them had been hit.
Paco half-caught Brenda by the arm and shoulder as she threw herself backward out of the immediate danger of getting her head split open by whateverthe#$%& that had been.
"I don't know, and I don't think we want to stick around and find out," he said, backing away and dragging Brenda with him.
Jaime looked around and thankfully no one else was around. His armor slid around him so fast he was Scarab before any more rings could scream into the ground. Two big beetle-shell-shields and the three were under a small canopy.
Running is hard when there are hands around your ankles Jaime.
All around them the ground rumbles and shifts and clawing hands lunge up from the dirt, latching around anything to haul themselves up with, Jaime and Paco's feet and legs included....
Brenda shrieks, trying to get all the way to her feet, shaking off her jacket when the graspin ghands get a hold of her arms. She only gets up to her knees when she feels icy cold fingers digging into her arm and swinging around to kick whatever is holding her in the face she freezes...
Maricela DelVecchio digs bony blackened fingers into her daughter's arm, hauling herself up out of the dirt, black tendrils of energy wicking around her like a ghostly flame.
"Brenda, run!" Paco shouted, kicking and stomping on the upward-thrust hands as hard as he can, trying to escape them long enough to grab Brenda. Jaime can carry both of them once he gets loose, but that's Brenda's mom hanging onto her and how the hell is she supposed to fight off her own mom? "The resurrection of the body is not supposed to look like a &%$#ing zombie apocalypse!"
Brenda's heart is up in her throat, pounding hard, making it hard to breathe. The mix of her mother with this MONSTER is... it's...
She shrieks, "GET OFF ME!", but tears spill over as she plants her feet on her mother's ribcage and SHOVES. There's a hard crack as aging bones shatter apart and Maricela gives a strangled off shriek and Brenda collapses what's left of her chest in one strike.
And that's when another set of hands thrusts up through the dirt, clasping around her neck and pulling her down on her back. Brenda yells but can't get a breath out, whatever is underneath her hauling itself up and using her throat for a hand hold...
Maricela's hands SOMEHOW resume their clawing at her legs, the black energy sweeping around her swelling inside her broken ribs and pushing them back into place, and when the Earth under her finally opens up she feels the chill of his presence even before he speaks...
Jaime scrambled on the ground, trying to get up. The scarab itself was screaming in his head, trying to yell at him to move, that something was wrong, but Jaime was too preoccupied to listen to the random screams of \|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_-\|/|2()|\|(_- Jaime was running the armor on instinct. A kick does nothing, but a blast of ions from his boots seem to work at knocking off the hands grabbing onto him. He sees the creatures claiming to be Brenda's parents and lashes out. "Get away!" is all he can yell as the magnetized beams shoot off from his hand cannons before two more powerful arms grab onto him.
"Go where?" her father's voice growled in her ear. "Who did they let you go live with once I was gone, baby? Did they give you to Amparo?
A low dark laugh and he squeezes her against his chest as he pulls himself further up from the earth. Brenda chokes, kicks her legs, pulls against him as hard as she can, but he keeps her down...
"I was pretty sure that must have been what she wanted when her goons ran me off the road.
But it's okay. He was here for her. They were going to go back to his house and watch "A Christmas Story."
They haven't watched "Rudolph" in six years.
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But he wasn't going to say anything out loud. He was there to be supportive, not talk. And then they were going to hang out and do fun stuff so that Brenda's whole day didn't suck.
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It's enough to make the three look up and see the hail of black rings diving from the sky all around them.
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"What the hell?"
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"I don't know, and I don't think we want to stick around and find out," he said, backing away and dragging Brenda with him.
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"Come on, let's run!"
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All around them the ground rumbles and shifts and clawing hands lunge up from the dirt, latching around anything to haul themselves up with, Jaime and Paco's feet and legs included....
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(FEAR)
(HOPE)
(LOVE)
"M-mom?"
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"Brenda, sweetheart, don't go so soon...
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She shrieks, "GET OFF ME!", but tears spill over as she plants her feet on her mother's ribcage and SHOVES. There's a hard crack as aging bones shatter apart and Maricela gives a strangled off shriek and Brenda collapses what's left of her chest in one strike.
And that's when another set of hands thrusts up through the dirt, clasping around her neck and pulling her down on her back. Brenda yells but can't get a breath out, whatever is underneath her hauling itself up and using her throat for a hand hold...
Maricela's hands SOMEHOW resume their clawing at her legs, the black energy sweeping around her swelling inside her broken ribs and pushing them back into place, and when the Earth under her finally opens up she feels the chill of his presence even before he speaks...
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Come on, Jaime, come on, break away, get them out of here, come on...
(FEAR)
(HOPE)
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(RAGE)
"Let go, let go, let GO!"
It's a waste of precious breath but she can't help it, latching her fingers around the hand on her neck and pulling desperately.
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A low dark laugh and he squeezes her against his chest as he pulls himself further up from the earth. Brenda chokes, kicks her legs, pulls against him as hard as she can, but he keeps her down...
"I was pretty sure that must have been what she wanted when her goons ran me off the road.
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