Leech 01 Caleo Page 9

  “Are they gone?” Jack jumped up, grabbing for Caleo’s hand.

  “I hope so,” Caleo said, sniffling.

  “Would you stop crying and pull me … ” Jack’s words were lost when he emerged from the hole to see the destruction. “W-what-t ha-happened?” Jack pulled himself the rest of the way out on his stomach

  Caleo wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his arm, smearing dirt and soot across his face. “A bomb, I think.”

  Jack climbed to his feet and stared at the destruction in silence. Caleo shifted uncomfortably in the silence, knowing the question eating away at Jack’s mind, because it was eating away at his mind, too. Is our family safe? But Caleo couldn’t bring himself to ask. After a few long minutes, another bomb exploded in the distance.

  “Sounds like they're going in the other direction,” Jack said, and Caleo knew what he meant: Home was safe. “Did you see who did this? I didn’t hear an airplane or anything.”

  Caleo just shrugged, barely able to talk as he looked up at the sky and saw nothing except black smoke. “I don’t know. I saw two men, but then I didn’t.”

  There was another long moment of silence before Jack grabbed Caleo’s shoulders and forced him to turn in his direction. Caleo saw his eyes, they were red, puffy, and on the brink of tears. “Are you ok?”

  Caleo shook his head in response, but his voice cracked out, “I don’t know.”

  Jack turned around, looking at all the destruction. “Caleo, where did you hide? How did you survive?”

  He stopped, suddenly his eyes fixed on a barely intact building, a big green door with the words Govalti Apartments written in black letters across the top of the door. “Where did all the white go?”

  “What white?” Seemingly mesmerized by the lone, standing building, Jack walked up to the door and traced the lettering with his fingers. Caleo barley heard Jack softly whisper, “How did this building make it?”

  “I—” Caleo started, ready to make his confession, but another explosion cut him off. This time it was far enough away that it barely sounded like a shotgun blast.

  “It sounds like they are still heading away from home, so they should be safe. Let’s go in and check this place out; see if anyone survived and needs help.”

  Jack pushed open the door, not waiting for a response, and staggered back as a hot blast of air and steam poured out the door. Caleo ran to Jack’s side and noticed the smell of cooked meat filling the air.

  “It smells like someone was making dinner.” Caleo looked at Jack’s sullen face as they stepped through the door into a hall; their only light source was from the open door they came through.

  “Hello, is anyone there?” Jack yelled as they slowly walked down the hall, banging on the doors as they went. Chills went up Caleo’s spine at the eerie quiet of the house.

  “Hello, is anyone there?” Jack called again.

  “This one’s unlocked.” Caleo pushed a door open and cringed as it banged against the wall.

  Steam poured from the room and quickly filled the hall.

  “Caleo, be careful!” Jack said, approaching the door, concern in his voice.

  “Hey, the cooking smell is coming from here!” Caleo said excitedly, walking into the room. “Anyone in here?” Caleo yelled. “We’re here to help!” He stopped in the kitchen, expecting to see a lonely old woman hiding under the table with her supper burning on the stove, but the kitchen was empty.

  No old lady, not even a pot on the stove.

  Confused, Caleo turned and noticed Jack staring at him from a doorway across the room, looking pale and on the verge of puking. “Jack, what’s wrong?”

  When he didn’t answer, Caleo cautiously walked over.

  “Don’t! You don’t want to see this,” Jack said, stepping in front of Caleo to obstruct his view of the room.

  “What is it?” Caleo tried to peek around, but Jack moved his head to obstruct his view. “Jack!”

  Jack sighed, defeated. “They’re dead, okay? Let’s check the other rooms.” He stepped away from the door and pulled Caleo by the arm as he went.

  Caleo pulled back and looked into the room. It was a small room with red wallpaper peeling off the wall. A large king-sized bed sat in the middle of the room. Caleo gasped as he saw the body of Mr. Winter from the corner grocery store, lying dead on the bed, his skin red as a beet and hanging off his bones. Steam poured off his body, making the room smell like cooked roast. Caleo’s stomach heaved as he ran from the room. Grabbing a chair for support, he unloaded his stomach all over the floor. Jack walked up behind him and patted him gently on the back.

  When Caleo’s stomach settled, Jack pulled him upright and hugged him. “Let’s go. There’s nothing we can do here.” Jack tried to pull him away from the scene again.

  “How are you so calm? A man is dead in there! A man we've known all our lives!” Caleo cried, pushing Jack away.

  Jack grabbed Caleo by the shoulders and pulled him so they were standing face to face. “We have to remain calm. We need to search for survivors. There are people out there who may need help. We can panic when we get home.”

  “No, Jack, we don’t! We aren’t paramedics! You don’t know how to save anyone!” Caleo screamed. “We need to get home and make sure everything is fine there and protect ourselves!”

  “Caleo, we are here. The fire station was burned down with the rest of this town. We need to help, because no one else can. What if it was Grandma or Jillian who needed help? Wouldn’t you want someone to at least try and help them? We need to help because no one else can!” Caleo saw all the emotions hiding behind Jack’s tear-filled eyes and nodded his acceptance.

  Jack sighed with relief before he turned and started walking. Caleo felt a slight pull and realized Jack was holding onto his wrist. “We’ll do what we can for this building then head home. The rest of the buildings are too far gone to have any survivors.”

  “If ...”

  “Caleo, don’t even say it. I can’t deal with that right now!” Jack yelled, cutting him off.

  Caleo nodded and the two of them left the room.

  “Let’s check the basement. Anyone on this floor should be—” Jack stopped short. Caleo knew that he was refusing to say the word dead because just the thought of the word brought up images of Mr. Winter’s body, smoking and red.

  “Do you really think someone survived the attack?” Caleo asked, regaining some of his composure.

  “We can’t be the only ones.” Jack tried to open a door with a sign that read Stairs in the center of it.

  “Damn, that’s hot!” Jack jumped back, shaking his hand. “Damn it, I think some of my skin is still stuck on the door!” Caleo tried to look at Jack’s hand but the light was too low to discern anything.

  “Hold on,” Caleo said, running out of the building and grabbing his jeans, which were now lying in a newly formed stream that ran into the broken drain, and returned to Jack.

  “Here!” Caleo passed them over to Jack who had wrapped a torn piece of fabric from his shirt around his hand to cover the burn.

  “What’s that for?” Jack asked confused. “I have my pants on. You're the one running around in your Spider-Man skivvies.” Caleo saw the corners of Jack’s mouth turn up in a sad attempt of a smile.

  “I thought we could use them to open the door.” Caleo looked at the floor; his bare, white legs almost glowed in the dim light. Feeling self-conscious he held the pants up to his waist to help conceal his nakedness.

  “That should work,” Jack said, taking the pants from Caleo and sliding his hands in them. Using the pants like an oven mitt he tried the knob again. “It’s stuck!” Jack pounded his shoulder into the door; the door made a cracking noise under the pressure, but still wouldn’t budge. Then he stepped back and tried kicking the door; a loud, splintering crack filled the room. Jack kicked it again and the door cracked, but didn't give way. Caleo stepped up and placed his hand on the door.

  “Why would they lock it?” Caleo turned
to Jack who was breathing hard.

  When he just shrugged, Caleo turned his attention to the door and pushed his shoulder up against it. Nothing. Caleo stepped back and cocked his head to the side. A large, white spot of frost had formed where his shoulder had just been, but melted in a blink of an eye. Caleo looked back at Jack, but he wasn’t paying him any attention. He ran his fingers up and down the door, leaving a trail of frost in its path that melted away only a split second after his finger left the spot.

  “Step back,” Jack said, waving for Caleo to move from down the hall.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I'm going to drop kick the door.” Jack bent as if getting ready to start a race. Caleo backed into a nearby doorway to give him room.

  A loud crack sounded below Jack’s feet and he had only enough time to utter a curse before the floor beneath his feet gave out and he fell through.

  “Jack!” Caleo yelled, rushing to the hole, the floor creaking under his feet.

  “Caleo, help!” Jack's panicked voice came up from the hole.

  Caleo carefully crouched down and leaned over the hole.

  “Caleo, give me your hand!” Jack screamed, dangling from a metal beam by his armpit.

  “Jack, just let go!” Caleo tried to fight the smile that threatened to break through. “You’re two feet from the ground. This is a house, not a cliff.”

  “Oh,” Jack said, looking over his shoulder.

  “You should've seen your face, it was classic.”

  “Ha, ha. Very funny.” Jack let go of the pipe and fell to the floor, landing on a broken board that had fallen from above. The board slid out from under him the second his foot landed, sending him flat on his back, forcing the wind from his chest.

  “Well, you made it to the basement,” Caleo said, smiling over the edge of the hole.

  “Oh, my ribs hurt!” Jack whimpered, grabbing his right side and rolling to the left. Caleo’s smile vanished as the seriousness of the situation came back to him. We're in a burning building, with at least one dead man, and here I'm playing around like a two-year-old at a funeral. What’s wrong with me? Caleo chastised himself mentally.

  “Don’t move! I’m coming down.” Caleo slid his legs over the edge and pushed off, landing in a crouched position beside Jack on the cement floor.

  Looking around, Caleo saw a large fire roaring uncontrollably on the far side of the room.

  “Well, how are we going to get out of here?” Caleo coughed through the smoke, pointing at the fire. “That’s where the stairs were.”

  “Go check out the rest of the room. See if there’s anything we can use.” Jack strained to sit up.

  “Okay, wait here,” Caleo instructed, helping Jack to a nearby wall before he walked off into the darkness only to return a minute later.

  “Well, there’s a washer, dryer, and a small TV, but I didn’t see anything that could …” Caleo paused, hearing a voice from the flames.

  “Jack, did you hear that?” Caleo asked, standing back up. “I think I heard a voice.”

  “No.” Jack stretched his neck, trying to look through the black smoke and high flames.

  They stood in silence for a moment before Caleo said, “I guess it was nothing. We need to find a way out of here.”

  “Well, I’m open to suggestions. We’re going to be cooked if we stay down here much longer.” Jack wiped the sweat from his face with Caleo’s pants, which he still had wrapped in his hand.

  Something seemed odd about that and Caleo looked at Jack more closely and saw that his body was soaked with sweat. Then he looked down at his own body realized that he didn’t even notice it was hot; he felt comfortable and he wasn’t even sweating. Although, with the smoke in the room Caleo was finding it harder to breathe and his eyes were stinging, but it was as if the fire wasn’t even producing heat for him. Then, he remembered.

  “I can control the temperature around me,” Caleo whispered to himself. “Jack, you wait here and don’t panic. I'm going to find a way out.” Caleo smiled, walking towards the fire. Something inside of him telling him he could do it.

  “Caleo, where are you going?” Jack yelled, trying to climb to his feet, but the pain was too much and he fell back to the ground.

  Caleo heard Jack, but didn't turn around. He wanted to put his power to the test. He knew he could do it. He walked up to the fire and stopped. He was inches away and he still felt no heat. Curious, he stuck his hand into the flames and when he felt no pain he withdrew it.

  “Here goes nothing.”

  He took a step forward and was surrounded by the flames, but felt only sting of the smoke in his eyes and the pressure from the lack of oxygen as he gasped for breath. Caleo took a few more steps into the fire and stopped when he realized that the hem of his loose fitting Spider-Man boxers were on fire. Reflexively his hand flew to smack out the flame, when he noticed that any time his hand got close the flames the flames were extinguished.

  Okay, Caleo thought. Now how do I do that to the rest of the room?

  Closing his eyes, Caleo concentrated.

  Heat is one of the three elements of fire. Get rid of the heat. Put the fire out. That’s why the fire went out on my boxers, Caleo thought, his mind making the connection between the extinguished flame and his power.

  Think cold. Blizzard. Sled riding. No, I’ve got to think colder.

  He opened his eyes and stuck his arms straight out from his sides, palms flat and facing the floor.

  “Okay, concentrate, Caleo. Blizzard, blizzard, Jack falling into the frozen-over creek last winter and having to run all the way home dripping wet.”

  Caleo felt a chill run up his spine, then slowly, the fire around him started to go out. “It’s working!” Caleo coughed out excitedly.

  He slowly walked around the room, arms outstretched like an airplane, putting out the fire within a three foot radius of his body. Once all of the fires were out, Caleo leaned up against a wall, exhausted and panting for breath in the cool, pitch black room. He could no longer feel his energy being sapped to sustain his power. He laid his head back and rested his eyes. The wall behind him vibrated as something pounded on the other side. Startled, he jumped away from the wall just as someone pounded on the door again. Caleo turned and started to pat down the wall he was leaning on and found it was a large, metal cooler door. When he came to a handle, he pulled, but the door would not open. The pounding on the door increased and a deep male voice yelled from the other side.

  “Please, you need to get us out of here! Find something to pry the door open! The latch has an electric lock and I think the fire has cooked the wiring!”

  “Okay, I’ll be right back!” Caleo yelled through the door then went off in search of something to pry the door open. A moment later he returned with a large pipe. “I found something, but I need you to push on the bottom of the door so I can slide it in!” Caleo knelt down so he could easily slide the pipe under the door when a gap appeared.

  “Okay, you ready?” the voice came again.

  “Yes!”

  Almost immediately, the door started to jump, but it wasn’t far enough for Caleo to get the pipe in.

  “Come on! Harder!” he yelled.

  The door bowed a little farther, but it still wasn’t far enough to slide the pipe in.

  After a few minutes, the people inside were tired and the door barely moved.

  “We need to rest!” the voice said within the room.

  Caleo sank to the floor and rested his head on his knees, trying to think of a way that his power might be able to help, when he heard a baby crying from behind the door.

  “I'll be right back! I have to go check on my friend,” Caleo said, remembering Jack was hurt on the other side of the room.

  Getting up, Caleo ran over to Jack, who was still leaning against the wall.

  “You okay?” Caleo crouched down beside Jack and placed a hand on his sweaty brow. Caleo could see that Jack was crying by the tear trails on his sooty face.r />
  Jack’s words came out soft and as if they caused him pain, “I think I broke my ribs.”

  “I have to go back and help these people. Are you going to be all right?” Caleo turned to leave, but Jack grabbed his hand.

  “How did you put out the fire?”

  “I’ll tell you later.” Caleo smiled, trying to reassure Jack that he had nothing to worry about. “But right now I have to get that door open and then we can get you home. Are you going to be ok?” When Jack nodded and let go of his hand Caleo ran back to the door. Picking up the pipe Caleo yelled, “Okay, I’m back and ready when you are!”

  “Okay, let’s try this again!” he heard the man say and again the door started to move under the pressure.

  Caleo tried again to push the pipe through the small gap in the bottom of door that kept bouncing open and snapping shut with each kick.

  “Harder!” Caleo screamed.

  A moment later, the gap in the door was wide enough, and Caleo shoved the pipe into the hole as far as he could, but as the door closed on the pipe, it whipped forward and smacked Caleo in the shins. Caleo grabbed the pipe and pushed as hard as he could while the man on the other side of the door kicked it. The door creaked under the pressure, so Caleo pushed even harder. Then the pipe slipped out from under the door, sending Caleo tumbling forward into the wall. He glared at the door. Caleo swore when he saw that although it had bowed a little at the bottom, there was no way that anyone could fit through. He let out a stream of curses as he picked up the pipe.

  “Why would someone put this stupid door here anyway?” Caleo complained, slamming the pipe up against the wall and leaving a large hole in the drywall right beside the door. Caleo cursed again and slammed the pipe repeatedly at the wall again and again, lost in his frustration.

  “Buddy, I think you got it!” a new man’s voice from behind the door called out excitedly.

  Caleo stopped, not knowing what the man was talking about.

  “Stand back, everyone!” Caleo heard the man say.