Nocturnal

Sly, Pierre, Sir Voh & Fort

Ba-da-bum-bummmm

Rex felt strong arms holding him, cradling him. As he woke, the grogginess faded away — the pain in his belly did not.

Pain wasn’t really the word for it. He’d felt pain before, courtesy of Roberta, courtesy of Alex Panos and BoyCo, courtesy of Father Maloney. This was something different, something on another level altogether.

Despite that burning agony Rex Deprovdechuk felt warmth exploding in his chest. He took in a slow, deep breath — so powerful, so relaxing. It felt like when he’d met Marco, but more so.

ba-da-bum-bummmm

Rex moved his hand, felt at his belly.

Wet.

Wet with blood.

“You’ll be fine,” said a voice that sounded like sandpaper on rough wood. “The wound is already closing.”

Rex opened his eyes.

First, he saw the night sky, black and starless, the clouds above slightly lit up by the streetlights below. He was on the flat roof of a building. Then, Rex saw them.

He should have been afraid. He knew that. He should have been crapping in his pants, screaming, trying to rise and run, but he wasn’t afraid. Not in the least.

He recognized them from his dreams and his drawings.

“Hello, Sly,” Rex said.

The one with a snake’s face smiled wide. A snake-face, but he looked … young. Smooth features, tiny scales that gleamed with health. A thick body, each motion athletic, confident. He looked like a bodybuilder covered with a rotting gray blanket that hid his bulky form. Only his head was exposed, showing his pointy face with its yellow eyes and angled black irises.

Sly smiled, a mouth full of needle teeth. He looked at the others. “He knows my name.”

“It’s thim,” whispered the second something. “It’s thim, I can thmell it!”

This one was also covered in a threadbare blanket, and he was bigger than Sly. Well, taller anyway, but not as thick. He had a fur-covered face and long jaws, like those of a big dog, but the bottom jaw was a little offset, sticking at a slight angle to the right. His features were also soft, almost like he was in that middle zone between puppy and adult.

“Hello, Pierre,” Rex said.

Pierre’s long, pink tongue lolled out the left side of the cockeyed mouth. It dangled, dripping spit down onto the rooftop.

Behind Pierre, a third something stood. Taller than Pierre, wider than Sly. Rex had never seen anything so big.

“My king,” it said. The voice was thin and high-pitched. It didn’t seem at home in a body of that size. Rex looked closer and understood why — under its blanket, there were actually two somethings. One was a massive man, like one of those pro-wrestling guys, with a tiny head the size of a large grapefruit atop a wide neck. The other something rode on his shoulders. The little one had a tiny, shriveled baby’s body but a head that would have been normal on an adult. It had spindly legs and arms. It had a tail that wrapped tight around the massive man’s big neck.

“I don’t know your name,” Rex said to the thing riding on top of the big man.

“I am Sir Voh,” the big-head said. The end of his tail tapped against the big one’s barrel chest. “And this is Fort.”

A small moan drew Rex’s attention to another figure lying on the roof.

Alex Panos.

Blood covered his face, matted down his blond hair. A torn bottom lip showed the cracked teeth behind it. Rex had never seen a nose broken that bad; a bit of white stuck out from between the eyes, and the rest of it angled sharply to the left.

Rex had been face-to-face with Alex many times. Alex had always sneered, smiled, looked angry, looked at Rex like Rex was nothing more than dogshit on the bottom of a shoe. But not now. Alex’s eyes pleaded for help from someone, from anyone.

The shriveled man — Sir Voh — spoke. “We have been waiting for you all our lives. Now you’re here.”

The warmth in Rex’s chest made him smile. Why should he be afraid of these people just because they looked funny? They were his friends. They were the ones who had made his dreams come true.

“Waiting for me? Why?”

Sly picked Rex up, then set him on his own feet. Rex’s legs wobbled a little, but he was able to stand.

“We have been waiting for the king,” Sly said. “The king will save us, lead us to a better day.”

I dream of a better day. Was that why he’d put that on the drawing?

The pain in his belly remained intense, but it was already fading. “I’m only thirteen,” he said. “I don’t know much about that kind of thing.”

All four of the somethings smiled in unison, even the tiny grapefruit head. The corners of Pierre’s long, hairy mouth shrank back like a panting dog.

“You know,” Sly said. “You just haven’t realized it yet. You’ve been among the prey for your whole life, because you’re a ringer, like Marco was.”

“What’s a ringer?”

“Someone who looks like them,” Sly said. “But you are one of us. We have come to take you home. We will protect you.”

Alex moaned, then reached out with a bloody, twisted hand.

“Rex,” he said. “Please … help me.”

Pierre kicked Alex in the ribs. It seemed like just a tap, but Alex’s eyes scrunched tight in pain.

“You thut your mouth,” Pierre said.

Rex looked down at Alex. How pathetic. “What do we do with him?”

Sir Voh crawled out from under the blanket covering him and Fort, then used his spidery arms and legs to descend the mountain of flesh. The big-headed creature reached the roof, then scurried onto Alex’s back. He wrapped his tail around the boy’s bloody forehead. The tail contracted, pulling Alex’s head back until he grunted and made a little whining noise.

“We killed your enemies,” Sir Voh said. “The bullies, the ones who hurt you. We made examples of them, so everyone would know your greatness. This one” — Sir Voh shook Alex’s head — “we saved for Mommy. Unless you want to kill him yourself.”

Fort reached inside his blanket, then held out a massive hand as big as a side of spareribs. In his palm sat a long knife.

Alex saw it. He moaned in fear. Sir Voh held him still.

Rex felt his dick stiffen. Kill Alex kill Alex kill Alex. The bully now knew what it meant to feel helpless.

Rex reached out and took the knife.

Sly’s yellow eyes crinkled in delight. Rex wasn’t surprised to see a forked tongue sneak out of the face, trace across the left side of the pointy face, flick up over the left eye, then slide back inside.

“Morning is coming,” Sly said. “We need to move. Do you want to kill this one, or take him home to Mommy?”

Rex didn’t know who Mommy was, but the four seemed very excited about the prospect of giving Alex to her.

“Rex, please!” Alex managed those two syllables before Sir Voh pulled back so far that Alex started to choke.

So pathetic. So utterly pathetic.

“We’ll take him with us,” Rex said. “But first, open his mouth.”

Pierre knelt and forced Alex’s jaws open.

Rex reached out with the knife.