SYNCHRONICITY (TomCat) 🖋

28

"Was he always like that with her?"

Topher turned around in his seat, his face twisted. "Wot?"

"You know, acting like he's the grand  high poobah of the planet...I hate when he does that. Like he knows best about everything..."

"Well, often times, he does. But no, he doesn't think that he's the grand high poobah..."

"Oh yeah? How do you know?"

"Because we all know that I am." Topher faced forward in his chair and sipped on the cold water that had been placed before him. "Their relationship was always very symbiotic. And now, Alison brings so much more to the table."

James didn't let on that he realized that they were going to try to keep her. He watched Judy and Topher exchange glances as she put away the roast and potatoes and removed the ingredients for a salad.

"Should I grill the corn," Topher asked.

"Oh definitely," Judy replied pursing her lips.

"I'll get the grill set up then."

James offered to prepare the vegetables for the salad, keeping himself quite busy as he washed and cut and rinsed, then dried the salad in a spinner. He open a drawer and removed the cling wrap and covered the salad and went to work melting butter and cutting the bread for the croutons.

Before too long, he was in the pool with the girls not far behind. He tread water as the girls threw their towels on the lawn chairs and ran towards the pool, climbing the wooden stairs to the small deck, then jumping in, both creating huge splashes.

He laughed but then, he thought that he heard his phone ringing and he held up a finger toward the girls as they were both on their way toward him. "Hang on," he said. "I think my phone is ringing..."

He hoisted himself out of the pool and dripped water all the way to the table where his phone was and it had stopped ringing just as he reached for it. He checked the log and frowned.

"Oh! I'm saved," he joked. "Work," he said, holding up his phone. He dried himself off with his wand and transferred his shorts to his jeans and slipped into his tee shirt. "I'll be back later, ladies."

"Okay, see ya," Elizabeth yelled from across the pool.

James turned the key into the ignition of his old pickup and moved from his prime real estate parking spot, knowing that it wouldn't be there when he returned. He picked up his phone and dialed the fire station. He was told that there was a call for a small warehouse fire and that since the unit was en route, he could meet up with the team. It was his day off, so he could decline the call if he wanted as well. He relayed that he would arrive in less than five minutes since he was on his way anyway. Then, he texted his father: Dad, gotta go to work—warehouse fire. Be back later.

He arrived at the location he was instructed to go to but saw no trucks there. He found it odd that he would have beaten them and sat in the cab of his truck wondering if he should even be there.

He exited the truck when he saw a stream of white and gray smoke billowing from a window and donned his protective gear quickly. He was going in whether the team was there or not...someone could be trapped inside and judging by the many vehicles in the lot, there were. He could at least asses the situation.

He looked in through the windows and saw several people trying to douse the flames with portable handheld extinguishers and he ran to the far door and opened it quickly and went in.

He saw an employee and pointed her to the door, where a few were already heading. When a man trotted up to him identifying himself as a Forman and told him that there were four employees on the other side of the fire, James nodded his understanding and looked for the fire suppression equipment. He hooked up the hose and turned on the water quickly enough and doused the fire fast then moved to get the people out. His company was just getting to the scene when he ushered what looked to be the last remaining few out the door. He saw his captain and explained what he had done and while the older man wasn't happy that James had entered alone, he was pleased that it seemed to be a textbook fire and went in to inspect the scene. He made his notes and had James sign the report since he was the one who put the fire out singlehandedly.

"Ah shit, I forgot my helm," James said and he went back inside as the company was already leaving. He walked all the way to the other side and retrieved his headgear and trotted back to the door, noticing that he was completely alone in the building. He would have thought that the employees would be returning by then. He pushed repeatedly on the bar to the door and realized that he had been locked in which was odd as it was a safety door and should never be locked while someone was inside the business.

It was then that he heard a click and a fizz and turned around to see a fire blow up in his face. He donned his head gear and turned his back and moved away from it toward the long fire hose. Another fire had erupted near him and he turned the water on and blasted the fire with the water but the fire raged on. Another fire erupted behind him and he turned and blasted the flames once again but this time, he saw movement within the flames. It was approaching him and he moved it away with the water until he caught sight of another fire and another two creatures.

"What the fuck are you!"

James realized that he was going to lose water pressure soon and he would wait until the things were upon him before blasting them with the water. All too soon though, the pressure in the hose was decreasing and he threw the hose down and ran through the fire, noticing that it didn't hurt him.

One of the creatures grabbed at his shoulder and he felt the burn immediately, even through his gear. He looked at his shoulder expecting to find melted fabric, but it was intact. He swallowed hard realizing that this fire and these creatures who looked like corpses, were produced magically...then, he panicked.

He spent a few minutes easily dodging and evading them only to come up on another one or sometimes two or more.

He realized that this was a trap meant for him and he prayed for his father to come.

He turned again, trying to move the corpses from the devices, as he realized that the fire was what was animating them. And it was then that he saw an archaic Native American guide standing before him and next to him, was Alison McNaulty and she was pointing behind him. He ducked and all but crawled between the two corpses and stood behind them only to run headlong into a big one. He called out to her to move, but she appeared not to hear him as the creatures were now advancing on her as well. He watched in horror as they moved onto her and she stood there, drawing them to her so that he could get away. And it was then that he felt teeth sink into his flesh. Just before he collapsed from the pain, he saw a large hulking beast of a creature completely clad in black approaching him. Then felt himself unceremoniously removed from the floor and flung over the shoulder of the hulking beast and then transported from the warehouse.

He woke up in a hospital bed the next day staring at his father and Alison cuddled together in the recliner that was positioned next to his bed, fast asleep.