Adrenaline

Chapter 50

Jason

The man held the rifle to his shoulder even tighter. He'd switch the barrel from Mrs. Riverbed to Mr. Riverbed. They held their stances not even blinking. I looked to the side; Alyssa's eyes were locked on the man. I shrunk back slightly then made my way to the side hiding in the shadows. Again, Mrs. Riverbed warned him to put the rifle down or she'd shoot. The man was so caught up in keeping himself alive that he didn't notice my creeping form behind him. I suction cupped my hands to the rifle puling it back to hit him in the throat. He choked as I used my foot to shove him forward onto his knees. He flipped onto his back, trying to kick me. I caught one leg, then the other and flipped him right back onto his stomach. I pressed a foot into his spine to keep him down as Mrs. Riverbed came taking over. I backed up with the group watching Mr. Riverbed drag the man into a brighter area of the ground. He was grumbling and surely mumbling insults.

He pushed himself onto his butt, rubbing at his neck and sucking in breaths. "Who hit me?" he asked, sounding irritated. 

"I did." I answered sternly. 

"Why the hell are you all on my property?" he growled. 

"This is not your property and we have permission to study the Lochness Monster." Mr. Riverbed told him. "Ya don't belong here; Lochy won't come out with strangers around."

"Well we'll find that out on our own, thank you very much." Mrs. Riverbed scoffed. 

She picked up the rifle putting it with her things. 

"That is mine!" the man cried. 

"Not until we leave, which I suggest you do tonight. This will be here for you in the morning. You are a danger to us, and until we leave tonight you are not allowed your gun." Mr. Riverbed sternly told him. 

The man stood up, turning his eyes to the each of us. "It better be, or I'll be sure to hunt each and every one of you down and feed you to lochy."

"Goodbye now!" Alyssa angrily snapped. 

The man grumbled something marching through the bushes. Mrs. Riverbed picked up his gun to disarm it. 

"Matthew, something tells me this might be dangerous for the kids to be out here." She turned to us. 

"Go back to the hotel for tonight; you can come back in the morning. I think it'd be safer for you kids."

She gave the keys to Alyssa and kissed her on the cheek then walked her to the car. Alyssa gave me the keys climbing into the passenger seat with a small huff. I reached over and squeezed her hand hoping those hormones wouldn't unleash on me. We arrived back at the hotel and went up to Alyssa's room where we piled on top of her bed. I kicked off my shoes to sit at the headboard with Alyssa while the guys sat at the end. She was curled up into a ball with her hand over her stomach. I gave her a pillow to curl up with and placed her head on my lap. By midnight the long flight had caught up to us and despite the fact that it was only 7pm back in California, we disbanded to our rooms to get some rest.

***

Alyssa

Chris and I received a punctual morning wake up call. The girl was so polite and cheery on her end that I had no choice, but to thank her and pretend I was happy I'd been woken up. My parents were already up and working with their research from the night before. I wandered into their room sitting at their breakfast table with them while they watched some footage. Chris knocked on the door to call me up to breakfast. I hurried over to Jason's room to see if he and Alex were ready to join us. As soon as my knuckles beat against the wood, my phone vibrated with a message from Lydia. I knocked harder then Alex let me in. Jason was on the phone with Scott already. I went off to the balcony to answer Lydia's call.