Read Online Wyvern and Company by Connie Suttle - Free Book Online Page B

The pool waited, too, and we got to swim before dinner.
The only thing that put a damper on all of it was the game and memorial service
the following day.
    On Friday, the school was decorated as it usually was for the
first football game of the season, but a somber mood stalked the halls behind
squeaking athletic shoes and student conversations.
    A huge poster hung in front of the trophy case, depicting the
students who'd died in the attack. Room was left at the bottom for other students
to offer their condolences and it was already covered with words.
    Mack wouldn't even approach the poster, as so many others were
doing. He'd watched those people die, in horrible ways. Gina linked her arms
with ours and led us away from it toward English class.
    At least Dad managed to get the headlights fixed on Mom's Jeep
before we'd had to drive back to school, but the dents and dings from the baseball
bat and rocks remained as evidence. We found a crowd around the Jeep when
school let out.
    At least they politely got out of the way when we arrived and
climbed in to drive home.
    "This sucks," Mack mumbled as we drove through the
gate and onto the street outside the school.
    "Still planning to come with me tonight?" I asked.
    "Yeah. I'll come. I'm just glad your dad will be driving
us."
    "Me, too," I said. "Gina, do you have a ride to
work tonight?"
    "Mom takes me," she shrugged. "I'll be thinking
about you tonight."
    "Thanks."
    * * *
    Early evening that Friday was hot, and I hoped it would let up
for the memorial service and the game afterward.
    "Dress light," Mom poked her head inside my new bedroom.
    "On it," I said. I had a nice pair of cargo shorts
and a white polo laid out on the bed. Somehow, I felt weird, like the air and
rising heat in Fresno was going to stifle all of us when we got there, but that
thought was shoved aside.
    I think Mack was just hoping to get through the night without
breaking down.
    We rode to the football field in Dad's SUV in near
silence—Mack and I stared out our windows in the back seat, seeing the roads
and traffic without registering any of it. I couldn't explain how I felt—like
something was about to happen and I had no idea what it was or how to stop it.
    "We're here," Dad said, pulling into a parking spot
and shutting off the engine. "If you two want to sit higher up on the
bleachers, you can. Your mother and I will sit farther down."
    "We'll sit with you," Mack said before I could
answer Dad.
    "Good enough," Mom put an arm around Mack's
shoulders.
    Surprisingly, a comfortable breeze blew through the stadium,
which was unusual for the middle of September. We found seats right behind the
railing on the first row, by the goal line. I have no idea why Dad chose that
spot, but he evidently had some purpose in mind.
    I didn't argue. The air was cool enough to keep us
comfortable, and I wasn't about to question that. Most of the crowd had already
arrived, so it was less than ten minutes before the memorial service began.
    The football team stood with their helmets off on the
sidelines as six students, Marilee the tallest of them, were led toward special
seats on the field. The band was nearby, as were many teachers, the Principal
and Vice-Principal.
    The school board was also sitting on the field, waiting for
the state Superintendent to begin the short service.
    She never got past the first few words of her speech before
Marilee and the five others stood, their skin dripped and split off them and
the ugliest, nastiest creatures fell on anybody close enough to get caught.

Chapter 5  
    Justin's Journal
    Pandemonium is the best word I can find to describe what
happened.
    As it turned out, there weren't just six who became monsters.
Others were mixed in the crowd and they did the same thing Marilee did. So many
things happened at once—so many deaths—that I can't sufficiently describe the
carnage that ensued.
    Instead of running toward an exit like everybody else, Dad
pulled Mom against him and leapt