Monster Wars

Stuck Out In The Wilderness With You

"Well, you made a mess." Ted observed. He was right. The unicorn had bled all over the place, staining the grass around where it lay. Now that I had killed it, I felt kind of bad. It looked so sad and lonely, lying there. For the first time, killings little remorse for killing the creature, even though it had been trying to kill me. My shoulder was aching as proof.

"We've got more people coming, they can deal with clean up. Are you sure you're okay?" Ted asked.

I looked down at myself. I was a mess, covered with blood, dirt and grass. It was safe to say I wouldn't be wearing any of this again. "Yeah, I just got a little scratched up. Most of the blood belongs to the unicorn."

"What about your shoulder? You're supposed to be letting it heal, you know." He sounded almost fatherly for a second, making me do a double take.

"Yeah, it'll be, um, fine I think. I just need to rest it." I said.

"Good. You'll be back to work as soon as possible. Seeing you decided finally quit school. About time." I must have imagined it, because the fatherly tone was nowhere to be found. Figured, he would bring up school right after I had been nearly murdered.

"I just couldn't deal with it. It was pointless, you know?" I said quietly.

"Well, I'm glad. With you invalid, for the most part, we need to step up the training for Matt. I was thinking the two of you could go on a little training trip, and you could show him the basics. I don't suppose he could be persuaded to drop out too?" Ted said, all business.

I shook my head. "He'll want to graduate, at least."

"I guess we'll have to wait for that then. But you could still take him on that training trip. I'm thinking just a weekend, camped out somewhere on the Headquarter's property. You could teach him how to fight, about the weapons we use. Okay?" Ted asked. I knew it didn't matter if I was okay with it or not. It was time to train Matt.

"Sure. When?" I asked.

"This weekend." Crap. That was only two days away. "You'll start after Matt gets home from school on Friday. Make sure he doesn't have any plans."

"Um. Okay." All of the sudden, I wasn't looking forward to this little outing. When I was younger, training trips included being stranded out in the wilderness, long days of physical workouts and weapons.

"I'll see you both Friday, at 3:00." Ted said, turning toward the black van that had just pulled up. Monster Fighters were already jumping out, ready to clean up the dead unicorn.

I glanced at my watch, realizing I still had way too much time before Matt got out of school. "Hold on, Ted!" He turned. "Can I have a ride home?"

**********************************************************************

The next two days had me sitting behind a rickety metal desk at The Headquarters, filing papers and twirling my thumbs. Being out of commission sucked, to say the least. I think history class had been more interesting. And that was saying something.

When 3:00 on Friday finally rolled around, I was psyched to see Matt walk in, holding my backpack I had left in his truck. The past two days I had made up excuses not to see him. I wasn't looking forward to telling him how he was going to be spending his weekend.

"Kara. Everyone's been wondering what happened to you, you know." He greeted me. I felt a guilty twinge.

"Yeah, I know. And it's probably better they don't know. Please don't tell anyone anything. Let them think I moved or something."