Volume 1 p9 And then there were four

Standing outside the fence surrounding the courts, Kailyn and Maya take a few minutes to catch their breath, mentally and physically. Ten minutes earlier, they were strangers. Individually facing a dilemma that drove them together. Now that the danger has passed, the two struggle with finding the right words to say. Maya is using the time to try to read Kailyn’s expression. Kailyn is realizing that even though they have a shared traumatic event, they do not know each other. Kailyn takes a moment and scans the horizon, looking for any sign to help make sense of this morning. She takes a few steps into the grass. “It seems to be coming from the field beyond the tree line, almost straight ahead.

That is where I get the strongest feeling.” Maya emphasizes her conclusion by pointing to the spot. Kailyn turns her head slightly, looks at Maya, and asks, “You can feel it?” Maya nods, “Whatever it did to me, it must have done something to me that allowed me to feel its presence. Kailyn asked, “Does it hurt? Does the hum increase when you look in a particular direction?” “The second one,” Maya responded. 

“Looks like we have a decision to make, Kailyn says as she looks over her shoulder toward the field. Stay here, or go see what is out there.” “Agree, but I am torn between the two choices. Maya says. Whatever is out there has already proven it can reach me regardless of where I am. Finding out what is over there may be my only option. It looks like it wants us to find it since it calls us. So, count me for going and finding out”

Maya thought they would start walking after her decision, but Kailyn continued staring into the field. Maya waited a few minutes and asked, “Do you want to go out there?”

“Yes, I want to go, I am just being cautious,” Kailyn responded to Maya’s question. Kailyn was struggling with her nervous thoughts. Most problems she faced were minor in comparison. Today’s events seemed to be bigger, leaving her nervous. Usually, she was quick to snatch up an adventure. She looked for anything to try to break up a day's routine. Sometimes, the events were a bit riskier than they should be, like when she agreed to ride dirt bikes. She omitted a minor detail, she hadn’t ridden a dirt bike before. The first crash took out part of a fence, her arm hurt for a week. 

Nodding her head, Maya said, “We should be cautious, but we agree that whatever it is, it seems to be calling us, so we should be safe.” Maya said the words to help Kailyn, partly to calm her fears. Typically, she’s the emotional rock in any situation. Not this time; she was a mess. She struggled to compose herself after the incident at the court, her bucket was overflowing emotionally.

“You are right, Kailyn replied. I wish we had more information to make a plan.” Kailyn shifted nervously, rocking back and forth. The hum, she could not shake it. She forced herself to take a deep breath; the situation was unsettling.

Maya also felt uncertain; the stress of the decision was becoming overwhelming. In a strange twist, the hum seemed to be the only source of calmness. The hum was helping her keep it all together. It felt powerful when Maya was in control, but when she was not in control, it felt debilitating.

Pointing toward the field, Kailyn says, “We can cross that bridge, then follow the dirt path to the tree line. Hopefully, the trees provide enough cover to see what is out there before it sees us. Maya nods in agreement. She is just happy that the hum remains at a tolerable level. As the ladies begin their journey, the sun breaks behind a wall of clouds. The sun warms their skin as they walk along the dirt path. They do not talk much, but the tension is thick. Their anxiety levels are high. They have seen what can happen to them by the powerful force out in the field. The winds pick up slightly to mirror the change in the air. The breeze swirls around them.  Their path sits beside the east end of the lake. They watch the ducks swimming lazily in the cove from their vantage point—a stark contrast to the nervous fury walled upside each of them. Swallows perform acrobatic flying maneuvers to catch their daily supply of insects. After a few minutes of walking, the path veers to the left and continues a circle around the lake. This is where the girls leave the path. The tree line is straight ahead. Whatever is causing all of this chaos awaits them beyond the tree line. Kailyn and Maya take one last look at each other. Kailyn searches Maya’s eyes to gain an understanding of her thoughts. Maya searches Kailyn’s face for strength and support. She desperately wants to understand what is out there and how it strongly affected her. She is also afraid of its power. “It is not too late to turn back.” Kailyn softly says. Maya shakes her head no. “We must go on; we must know what is happening and why it wants us out here.”  Kailyn nods in agreement, she takes Maya’s hand and leads them into the grove of trees. The trees are alive with birds flitting about and moving from tree to tree while filling the air with various bird calls. Passing the last tree, they step into the field. They seem to have been dreading this moment for hours, even though it has only been about thirty minutes. The scene that awaits them freezes them in their tracks. The field is full of deer, some looking to the right, others looking to the left. Maya covers her mouth to stifle a scream.

Zoe points toward the two individuals standing by the trees. "Look,” Zoe said, pointing ahead. Two figures stood still in the shadows, staring into the distance. “They’re like us, Alex. They hear it too." They look similar to when I saw you.” Seeing two others relieved some of Zoe’s fears; if two is better than one, then four should be amazing. Seeing the other two makes the hum feel a little stronger, as if it were encouraging her to get to them.

“Similar in what way?” Alex asked.

“Oh, you know, staring off into the distance, mumbling to yourself, kind of thing,” Zoe said with a little laugh.

“I was not talking to myself”, Alex said gruffly.

“Oh, you were mumbling, Zoe said, pausing briefly, what were you saying?”

Alex started to argue but stopped. She said in a low, soft voice, “I was telling myself what a stupid idea this was. Deep down, I was scared, which I am not used to. It was a struggle to get my mind right.”

Reassuring her, Zoe responded, “I made a mental list of the pros and cons of the situation. The list said to run away, definitely, but here I am. I struggled too for a minute. Now there may be two more of us. We are not alone. We got this. Let’s go see what they know.”

Desperately wanting to change the subject, Alex abruptly moved toward the others. Worrying was difficult for Alex to manage; she did not like the feeling. Startled by her quick movement, Zoe hurried to catch up.

Zoe thought it was the second time she had quickly moved away. Situations that create stress trigger her, and getting away from them is her way of getting out.

Kailyn and Maya stood frozen, speechless, shocked at the scene of hundreds of deer standing silent. “They are not responding to us at all,” Kailyn whispered, as if the deer hearing her voice might start a stampede.

“What do we do?” asked Maya.

Shaking her head in disbelief at the scene before them, Kailyn responded, “I do not know. I thought coming out here might provide answers. We walked into a whole new set of questions. We will need some game plan to determine what is happening.” 

“Let’s make a list, Maya said, what do we know?”

“What, we are doing this now…Kailyn says, and Maya nods yes. Kailyn continues, “Well, we started by hearing a hum individually, and then when we got near each other, the hum tried to turn your brain into a piñata.”

“That was not fun”, Maya added.

“It was not. It was horrible to see you in that much pain, Kailyn said. Then we followed the hum here, looking for answers, and based on the fact that no one else is here to see this crazy deer scene, we are the only ones who hear it.”

“Don’t forget about us, cupcake”, Alex said.

Maya jumps. She does not see Alex and Zoe approaching. Kailyn steps in front of Maya, slipping into a defensive posture.

“Oh, nice. Another fighter. That pretty girl has a bodyguard, too,” Zoe said, laughing out loud.

 “Whoa, lady, Alex says. We are not here to fight.” Alex watches Kailyn but tells Zoe, “I am not your bodyguard, plus you are not pretty.”

Maya giggles while twirling her hair nervously.

“Rude, that’s strike two for you, Zoe says to Alex, then adds, you are definitely my bodyguard, if she gets one, then I get one.”

“Ok, stop you two, Kailyn says to Alex and Zoe, who are you?”

Zoe takes a step forward. “I am Zoe. This is Alex. We were over by the school trying to figure out what was going on out here,” she says.

Alex, nodding toward the source, added, " We were on our way out there when we saw you two.”

“Based on the convo you two were having, we have something in common”, Zoe said.

Maya's eyes brightened. “A hum?” she asked.

“Yes, pretty lady, a hum”, Zoe confirms.

Kailyn says, “What about a hum?”

Zoe begins her story by saying, “This morning at home, I started sensing a hum. I used some equipment to trace the signal to the park. I pinpointed the direction it seemed to be coming from. I was headed there when I ran into Frankenella here”, pointing to Alex.

Kailyn burst out laughing. Maya says, “Frankenella, I so love that”.

Alex shakes her head and says, “Frankenella? Really? That’s not helping. Besides, that is not even a thing. What is it? Is it some Frankenstein Cinderella combo name?”

“If the shoe fits, bodyguard, if the shoe fits”, Zoe says.

“Cute reference but not funny…and again I am not your bodyguard”, Alex says, crossing her arms.

Kailyn points to Alex, saying, “What about you?”

“I was at the skate park working on a jump when the hum started playing in my head. It felt like a drum beat or at least a steady beat, but not in a loud way, more like a metronome ticking”, Alex says.

“Wait, what…” Kailyn stammers.

Maya interrupts, saying, “Franky knows what a metronome is?”

Zoe howls with laughter, then says, “Franky, I love that”.

“Umm, no, do not call me Franky”, Alex snapped.

Kailyn adds to her misery by saying, “Ouch, that will stick.” She adds, “Maya hears it but can feel it as well. It has heightened her connection with emotions but with an alien twist.”

Alex stammered, “Wait, what, an alien twist?”

“Love me some alien twist”, Zoe says, smiling.

“Maybe in a movie cupcake, but not out there”, Alex says.

Suddenly the sound of stick snapping thundered across the field. Everyone turned to see what was happening. Two women emerged from trees along the west end of the lake.

Thank you for reading this part of Volume 1. For fan reaction, follow us on the X at @TeamMAD. If you'd like to share your thoughts on this or send some fan mail to one of the ladies, you can email us at TeamMADzakmaj@gmail.com.