Chimera (Book 2)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Casey stared into his laptop screen as he had been for days now. He hardly noticed the rancid smell of his trailer home that had be denied even the most rudimentary cleaning. Pizza boxes, fast food bags, beer bottles and soda cans were littered everywhere. Amidst the trash were piles of news articles and printouts, everything he could find on Chimeras. Even though there were only a mere 30,000 Chimeras in the world, he was obsessed with preventing any further infestation of the demon beasts on God’s Earth.

“Three Cats to start school.” Read a headline in the NY times. Insane, thought Casey. How can anyone allow these animals near our children? The government had clearly gone too far in allowing these demons to roam free and now to benefit from taxpayer dollars, not to mention endangering human children. Something had to be done. There were plenty of people criticizing the Chimera’s in the media, but that wasn’t enough. The government was too slow making laws to ban this horrible invasion. He was going to have to act; it was his duty not only as a citizen, but as a God-fearing man as well.

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Ameera cried and sniffled loudly as she sat in the bathroom stall. Why were the other kids so mean to her? They had made fun of her Hijab, and no explanation she gave them was good enough. One boy during recess even tried to pull her Hijab off and nearly revealed her long pointed ears. She could only imagine the ridicule she would have to endure if that were to happen. The bathroom door opened. She held her breath and listened closely.

 “What happened to that new girl?” a voice echoed off the tile walls.

“I don’t know, she ran off after Jason tried taking off her scarf thing.” Another replied.

“What’s up with that thing anyway? I don’t think I could ever do something like that for a religion. It makes you wonder what other things they do.”

“Yeah, she’s kind of weird. I bet she sacrifices cats in her basement.” Ameera snickered at the last comment as she loved cats and she couldn’t possibly ever sacrifice one, especially her sister who is also her favorite cat. She held her breath again hoping the others didn’t hear her, but the other girls had already left her to be alone again.

Ameera then wondered how Americans could be so ignorant to the beliefs of Muslims. After a moment’s thought she realized how ignorant she had been of Christian beliefs before she left her home country, and how she had thought how weird they were. If only everyone could know what others believed and why the world would be a much happier place. She opened the door and washed the dried tears off her face. She felt much better now and decided to try again.

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 Tony sat nervously on the bleachers; his large frame looked even bigger the way his white and black striped fur draped over his body. Everyone else in his gym class sat as far as they could from Tony while the coach called out the role. Tony was unsure about this class. He had never been very athletic, at least he didn’t think so. Physical Exercise wasn’t part of the curriculum at his home and school where he lived most his life with Dr. Bucur in the Yukon, so he really didn’t know if he would like it or not. If everyone was going to keep their distance from him as if he were a diseased leper, he didn’t think he would enjoy it much at all.

“Alright did I call off everybodies name?” The coach announced.“Yes, ok then we are going to start this year off easy and play dodge ball for your first day back at school.” Everyone in the class cheered. “I need two team captains, how about you and you over there.” The coach said pointed at two other students on the bleachers.

The team captains began picking their teams until it was down to Tony and another rather obese boy who was sitting on the bleachers just below Tony. “You can take the last two.” One of the team captains said after his last pick.

“Are you sure, that would give us an extra man.” The other replied.

“Yeah, I’m sure, I don’t think you can count those two as one extra.”

The coach called everyone to take their respective sides then he began laying down the rules. “Ok gents, this is dodge ball. The object of the game is to dodge the ball. When you get hit take a seat on the bleachers until the next round starts. If you catch a ball then the person who threw it sits down, same if he hits you below the belt. If you are holding a ball you can deflect others with it. Ready, Set…” Then he blew his whistle.

Instantly balls flew from the other side and headed straight for Tony as if he were a giant magnet. One ball smacked him right in the face followed by several others. “You’re out” the couch announced as if it weren’t obvious to everyone. He sulked to the bleachers and sat down shortly followed by the overweight boy who sat next to him.

“They must really not like you.” He said. “That’s the first time in my life I wasn’t the first one out, and the first time I was ever tied for last pick.”

“Are they really that mean to you?” Tony asked.

He looked up at Tony quizzically “Have you been living under a rock or something? That’s the way school kids are, spot the weakest person and go for the jugular.”

“Well, I suppose we should give them reason to believe we aren’t the weakest then.”

“Good luck with that.” The large boy sighed.

Tony began watching fervently how the others played. He studied their every move to see exactly how the game was played, and how the better players operated. When the time came for round two to start he would make himself a much harder target.

After the last man from Tony’s team fell the coach called everyone back up to start round two. Tony took his place and motioned the other boy to stand behind him, he did. When the coach sounded the whistle it was like déjà vu. The Balls came soaring towards him like he was the only target. However, this time Tony was ready, he quickly snatched the first two balls headed towards him right out of the air with his paws, and then he began to deflect the others off in a blur of movement that put everyone in a state of shock and amazement.

While they were still dazed Tony hurled the two balls in his paws at two of the boys on the other team who had won the last round, pummeling each of them in the face with a force and accuracy that sent one of them crumbling to the ground. The coach’s jaw dropped, and when the boy didn’t move to get up he blew on his whistle and called a time out.