“What do you mean?” snapped Mr Fisher.
Milo understood. “It’s the animals,” he said. “Some of the animals are Pretenders, too.” Of course. Not all the members of this race chose a human form. Why not remain a rabbit, or a raccoon, or an owl if you had the option? Perhaps, to them, humanity was overrated.
Fisher’s wan expression made him seem older than his forty-odd years.
The luminous creatures swirled overhead in a sonorous swarm. Sharply, the amplitude of the tremors increased and Lucy was thrown from the truck. Milo leapt down after her just as, with a tremendous CRACKKKKKKKKKK, the ground split and broke open. The smell of sulphur gusted out of the fissure.
The rift sped through the orchard, encompassing the grove at the centre. “No,” cried Fisher as he heard the geodesic dome buckle and crumble.
A blast of lightning struck once more as blinding bolts rained down, striking each of the eight humanoid Pretenders. When the smoke cleared, all of the suffering gelatinous beings had disappeared, leaving nothing but puffs of smoke in their wake.
The chasm widened, trees toppling into its depths. In seconds it swallowed the dome in a crunch of twisted metal beams. Fisher’s security ops escaped into the forest and clambered over the chain-link fence in mortal desperation.
Following the structural line of the underground tunnel, the crack in the earth continued its rapid spread towards the Nu Co. factory.
“No!” Fisher bolted towards the massive brick building, like a child trying to catch a glass vase before it shattered on the floor.
“He’s crazy,” said Lucy.
His heart beating out of his chest, Milo took off after his father.
“Careful!” cried Lucy. She raced over and pulled him back as the void widened again, nearly reaching Milo’s feet. They teetered on the edge as more trees plunged into its fathomless depths, crashing against the crumbling wreckage of the underground laboratory.
Giving the ever-expanding fissure a wide berth, Milo and Lucy ran towards the factory. When they reached the employee parking lot, they found Fisher standing on the roof of his silver sedan, swinging his fist at the sky.
An expansive murmuration of sparkling violet roiled above the brick building, the many unnatural birds and bats shrieking cacophonously.
The parking lot broke open, consuming a handful of cars and trucks as the chasm split and encircled the factory.
Fisher ran towards the building, his eyes wild.
“It’s going to collapse,” Lucy warned.
With a hideous creaking wail the pyramidal smokestack began to judder and sway, bricks breaking free and toppling down its sides. The mossy base of the complex began to crumble, and then, all at once and with a terrifying groan, the structure caved in, its parts cascading into the hot bowels of the Earth.
Fisher tripped frantically across the shattered pavement to the edge of the gaping pit, where he fell to his knees in anguish. With one final rumble, the shrill animal murmur ceased and the orchestra of glowing eyes extinguished themselves. At last, the tremors slowed to a standstill.
The night was engulfed in total silence.
“Gone,” said Fisher.
Milo hadn’t seen his father look so powerless since the day his mother had died.
“Come on, Dad.” Milo beckoned from beside the sedan. “Please.”
“Nu Co.” Fisher stood. “It’s all gone.”
“I’m still here,” said Milo. He held out his hand.
Jerking himself out of a daze, Fisher took a step towards his son, but the ground crumbled under his feet. “W-whoa,” he waved his arms to keep his balance but it was too late. He was falling into the hole.
Milo’s senses dulled as he dashed to save his father, like he was running in slow motion through a tunnel of fog. Fisher clawed at the edge of the disintegrating cliff, his nails scratching against the asphalt, grappling to hold on.
Milo slid out on his knees and caught his father’s hand, but he wasn’t strong enough – they were both being pulled into the abyss. “Come on, Dad, climb!”
Fisher struggled to find a foothold on the sheer rock face. “Let go,” Fisher ordered his son.
“Never!” Milo strained to tighten his grasp. He could feel his father slipping away. Then another pair of hands gripped Fisher’s flailing arm. Milo looked over to see Lucy, beet-red, pulling his father up with all her might.
Lucy and Milo heaved in tandem. Slowly, slowly, they lifted Mr Fisher out of the crumbling hole and dragged him into the parking lot, where he collapsed on the solid ground.
Lucy rested against the wheel of Fisher’s sedan, panting. She gave Milo a thumbs-up, then closed her eyes tightly.
Milo lay on his back, staring into a star-studded sky that seemed to be spinning. They were safe. But for how long? Both Lucy and his father had been right. The world was not as simple as it seemed. And now Milo knew something that even Lucy had to agree with.
Sticky Pines is full of monsters. The Pretenders must be stopped, before it’s too late.
Fisher’s Fissure
“Mr Fisher is a monster.” Lucy’s tongue poked out the side of her mouth as she typed up the article for the SPEAMS Sentinel on her battered laptop. Gertie’s mind is about to be so blown her nose ring might fly off. Maybe I’ll be the one to get that scholarship to Stanford, after I win a Pulitzer and get elected leader of the solar system.
Lucy typed at the coffee table in the living room, knees drawn up to her chin, the warmth of the wood-burning stove at her back. She was only vaguely distracted by the clinking of dishes being washed in the kitchen and Willow’s squeaks of glee each time she fitted a jigsaw-puzzle piece. Her father was on the phone in the bedroom, as he had been all afternoon, most likely discussing the fact that nearly everyone he knew had to find a new job.
It had been two days since the demolition of the Nu Co. factory, and Lucy was still sparking with adrenaline. Every corner of the Big Crater Valley had felt the tremors. School was cancelled
