Read Online The Day of Legion by Craig Taylor - Free Book Online Page B

Jason. “If you don’t come with me, I’m gonna tell everyone you’re a girl and that I’ve seen your bedroom and it’s pink and you play with dolls!”
    “I do not!” Jason shouted back. He stepped outside and ran to him at the gate. “I’m no girl! I’ll take you to the lake.”
    Alex smiled.
    Jason led the way through the paddock. “Don’t stand in the cow dung,” he said. “We let one of the farmers next door graze his cows here to keep our grass down.” He wanted to sound like he knew what he was talking about, but Alex acted like he didn’t hear.
    They walked over a gentle rise and saw the lake. It was small and dark. It looked cold and deep, gloomy. The sun had gone behind clouds and the wind picked up when they reached the top of the rise. It was colder than they expected, but they walked to the edge of the water.
    Alex climbed up on a large rock hanging out over the water. If it were Summer, it would make the perfect place to jump in, but today the water was uninviting. It was dark green where the algae had settled, and he couldn’t see the bottom.
    “Come up here,” he called to Jason, who had turned around in the direction of the house. He was sure his mother would come running over the rise and catch them any minute.
    “We should go back,” he called. “My mom will get really angry.”
    “Little girl, little girl,” Alex taunted him, moving his hips like a belly dancer and pretending to apply lipstick with his fingers.
    Jason climbed up with him. The rock wasn’t too high, but it was high enough to make him nervous. Alex was standing on the edge in front of him, looking down.
    “You’re scared, girl.”
    “No I’m not!” Jason replied, moving carefully toward the edge. The wind was stronger up on the rock. He got to the edge and looked down. A waterbug skimmed across the top of the water away from the edge in the direction of the middle of the lake. There was no one else around and Jason couldn’t hear anything over the wind. He thought he heard a voice whisper in his ear, but it was too windy to hear anything properly.
    He felt a shove from behind; a push in the middle of his back between his shoulder blades. He fell forward, his head snapping backwards. He tried to focus on the water as it came closer and closer. He felt the chill as he slapped the surface and sunk to the bottom, his heavy socks and shoes pulling him down quickly.
    The water was dark and cold. He hadn’t had a chance to take a breath, and he couldn’t get to the surface again. His clothes were just too heavy. He opened his mouth. He didn’t want to, but he had to breathe. He sucked a mouthful of water into his throat and lungs, making him choke.
    He dry retched, choked and breathed in simultaneously. He thrashed around, desperate to get to the surface, but he just couldn’t get there. Suddenly he felt someone next to him. He felt a hand on his arm, but not pulling him out, just trying to hold him still. He heard a voice in his ear. It was Christo telling him to be calm, hold on and push with all his might with his feet to the surface.
    Jason pushed off the bottom. It was soft, sticky mud and he got little traction, but it was just enough to get his face to the surface. He tried to breathe in, but his mouth was full of water and he breathed it back in again, causing him to choke more. He tried to tread water, but felt himself sinking again, unable to take in any air.
    He caught sight of Alex still up on the rock. He was looking down and laughing. He hadn’t moved and Jason saw him wave when he sunk back down beneath the surface. There was also a strange man behind him, dressed in black and watching with an impassive look on his face. He was very pale and his eyes looked black from Jason’s view.
    He remembered little after that, just slipping into blackness. He didn’t feel the hands of Alex’s father reach in and pull him to the surface, or the lips of his mother breathing life back into his body as he lay