The Human Xenocide

Chapter Eleven - The Wizard

A bullet bore its way through the wall feet from her head, throwing scraps of wood in hundreds of directions before bouncing off one of the desks and into the carpet.  She quickly realized hiding inside wasn’t going to work, now she can’t see them in advanced.  Lilly bailed out of the room, leaving her stunned teacher behind unanswered. Not wanting to run towards the shots, She decided to do the only other option left to her, run to the field and teleport away. 

The lockdown siren began to blare from the school speakers. Someone must have seen the shots fired.  As she ran away from the gunfire and towards the field a few bullets seared by her, the bullets were not well aimed and hit the ground far away from her.

Once she was out on the dirt field, she sucked in a deep breath and flung her body around to make sure the coast was clear, whoever was shooting at her wasn’t anymore and the lockdown alarm scared everyone into the classrooms.  Before she was able to jump, the ground around her started shaking.  It shook harder, an earthquake?  Suddenly the light blue sky around her darkened and a deep thunderous roar rumbled from below her feet.

A dark oval formed in the blacking space before her.  A single long leg pealed out of the oval, then another.  It was followed by a large body clothed in a single massive dark brown trench coat.  Its side was facing Lilly.  She was unable to get a clear view of the face, but noticed its thick brown hair. The dark oval disappeared and the sky around it returned to normal. 

Two massive rough hands, each the size of her head, reached out from beneath the coat and pulled a heavy hood over its matted hair.  It turned around.  It was a man, almost nine feet tall.  His large brown eyes connected with Lilly.

“Hello,” he grumbled from under his short untrimmed beard.  His voice wasn’t quite what Lilly expected.  It wasn’t deep or powerful, instead he sounded baffled.

Lilly glanced back down at the school.  The lockdown drill had been shut off; no shots had been fired for a while. She decided she was going to jump.  This guy didn’t matter.  If he could tear through the air and appear out of nowhere, he probably already knew about her ability to jump.

Pop! A blast of wind knocked her off her feet.  The large man was un-phased by the explosion of wind.  Even the grass wasn’t moved by the force.  “Hey!” Lilly shouted at no one particular, knowing the trademark entrance of the invisible kid, Pop, she decided to call him. Pop had appeared in a standing right where she was before he knocked her over.

Lilly ignored the big ominous man who pulled himself out of a tear in space, and turned her anger at the boy.  “What the hell is your problem?” she jabbed right past the large man, “I’m getting sick of your snobby attitude and crude appearances, do you have any decency to think of others?  Leave me alone!”

Pop didn’t speak; he instead looked at the large man in awe.  Then he flung his hand out in front of the tall man as if to catch something.  A single bullet drilled through his hand hitting the large man.  Pop retracted his hand in pain and looked up at where the bullet came from, a-top a hill ninety degrees from the school, a different location from Lilly’s original shooter.  Before the large man could fall several more bullets sped in between Lilly and Pop.  All of them hit their mark, the large man, his body then hit the dirt with a light thud.

Lilly looked down at the pile of brown clothing on the ground, it didn’t move.  She heard Pop curse under his breath and watched him vanish, this time with no wind or sound.  Still trying to figure out what just happened Lilly watched the body.  She was completely out of the loop.

***

Pop appeared on the mountain, he could see the shooter who killed the man in the trench coat.  The shooter had a large gun and was lying down in the dirt aiming down into the field.  Next to the shooter was another man who was standing up, he must be a spotter—the spotter didn’t use binoculars or even a scope, he used his eyes to see all the way into the field.  The shooter was talking to his spotter, they hadn’t noticed Pop behind them.  This was the second time he got close to being able to go home and was robbed of the opportunity.  The second time he was willing to kill.  The second time this secret group interfered with his only trip home. The second time they killed a wizard.  Only difference, this time he saw where the bullet came from.  He felt the throbbing hole in his hand and a light stream of blood running down his fingers.  A few drops silently tapped the ground before he decided how to take care of the shooters.