Chapter 9 (Todd/The Canler)
#9 of First Steps 3: New Generations
I run down the basement steps and into the first room. I grab a box of momentos and go back upstairs. When Wendell came home, he said we needed to leave immediately. So he grabbed me and fled with our son and Mike. The problem though is that we needed to come home to grab some stuff that the bad guys can't use against us. I think Riley called them "the Influence". Wendell comes back down the stairs with clothes and a box of condoms. "Really?" I ask. "What?" He says. "I don't know if I'll ever get the chance again. Let's go." The four of us run back out to the car and buckle in. As Wendell pulls out of the driveway, I look out the window and see people coming. Looking closer and I see it's a bunch of fifth graders. "Step on it!" Riley cries. Wendell gives the car gas and we zoom forward back to Evan's house. Evan is a panda bear and a police officer who came to our house earlier and said we needed to come with him. We went to his house and then went back to ours to get a few things. We turns a few streets and then come up on his house. The garage door is still open. As Wendell slowly backs into it, the door slowly closes and then shuts. The four of us get out of the truck, our breaths heavy. "Is everyone ok?" I ask. "Yeah." Wendell says. "We're ok over here." Riley says. Wendell opens the door into the main house and we go in. Evan lies on the couch watching Point of Interest when we enter. "You guys ok?" He asks. "Yeah." I say. "We're fine." "Good." Surprisingly, he turns off the TV and motions for us to sit down. Me and Wendell sit next to him on the couch. Riley sits on the comforter with Mike in his lap. While I would normally think that's cute, I can't think about that right now. We have a crisis in hand. "Riley, I have to ask you about what exactly you heard. You said you listened outside the principal's office and heard a man and a woman speak..." "Right." Riley says. "The woman was Ms Kara, our teacher. The man was someone who is known as The Canler. He supposedly goes around the country spreading music." "But his music is a lot scarier than it would seem." Mike says. "It made everyone's eyes glow all red." "As I was saying, Canler must've infected everyone at the school because he kept saying something about a life force." "What else did you hear?" Evan leans forward in his seat. "I hear the two ways to resist it: basically be really smart or..." Riley looks at me and Wendell. "... or be really gay." "What? What the hell does that mean?" I ask. "I don't know." He buries his face in his paws. "Everything today felt like it was rushed to me. One minute I'm in detention, the next I'm running away from everything." "Look, until we find someway to deal with this, I suggest we stay here and plan our next move." Wendell says. "Ok." Mike says. "But where are we gonna sleep tonight?" "I've got some spare rooms upstairs. Todd, Wendell, you can have my room." Evan says. "Oh, that's certainly generous, but we couldn't possible take your room." I say. "I insist. I've always been a couch man anyways." *** Evan's house is exactly what the inside of a grandparent's house looks like: old furnishings, fragile, old antiques, black-and-white TV, and carpeting. His living room takes up a large area. His kitchen is just next to it. Right on the divider between the kitchen and TV room is the stairs. Two steps up, a huge space and then a flight of stairs leading to the second story. Upstairs is just a thin hallway that goes left and then left again and then ends. Two doors on each side of the hall at the second turn. The first door on the right is where Evan says his bedroom is at. Me and Wendell go inside. Windows line up on two walls. The bed is big enough to fit three of Evan in it (let's face it, he's a big man). A small TV sits on the dresser with a small analog clock right next to it. "I think this room is pretty nice." I say. "I guess," Wendell says. When me and him sit down on the bed and embrace each other, we hear a knock at the door. "Come in!" I say. Riley opens the door and slowly walks up to us. We welcome him with open arms and he sits on my lap. "Hi dads," he says. "I wanted to talk to you about this Influence situation." "Trust me, son," Wendell says, "me and Todd have had tougher battles to fight." For a second, I think he's about to bring up the Tennessee and Roadrock incidents. Riley cuddles up to me and then reaches into his pocket. I tilt my head sideways when he brings a photo out. Wendell leans over to see what it is too. "I've wanted to ask you about her," Riley says, "who is she?" He hands me the photo. Immediately, I see a big white polar bear with pink sunglasses and a smile across her face. "That's Janelle," I whisper. I remember when this photo was taken, a couple weeks before Wendell proposed to me. I forgot that we still had this picture. "Where'd you find this?" "In the basement when you guys were celebrating your anniversary." Wendell takes the photo and his eyes become wide. "Woah. I... don't know what to say," Wendell says, "I've moved on from that incident so much that I forgot about her." He sounds a bit guilty. I don't blame him. After Janelle was killed, Angie was devastated and so were the rest of us who suffered through that week. "What happened to her?" Riley asks. That question makes Wendell and I freeze. I know Riley is a smart kid, but I'm not sure if talking about another person's death, especially at his age, is a good idea. I look at Wendell, giving him the what-the-hell-do-we-do? look. My wolf put his paws on Riley's shoulders and turns him towards him. "Riley..." He starts. "She's dead, isn't she?" Riley guesses the question. Me and Wendell are speechless but we eventually nod our heads. He gets up from the bed and faces us both. "Guys, whatever that thing is at the school, I want to help you. I want to help fight the Influence." "Riley, it's too dangerous," I say. "I know. But they took Jo, and that a big mistake." Wendell opens his muzzle to say more but Riley continues. "I'm going to help. Period." I let out a sigh and Wendell rolls his eyes but I can tell we're both thinking the same thing: our little boy is definitely becoming a man. "Ok," I say. Riley smiles and wags his tail. "I think I might know where to start," he says as if that was rehearsed. "Where?" Wendell asks. That's when Riley's smile disappears and his serious face comes back on. "First, I need you guys to swear that no matter what I'm about to say, you won't think I'm crazy and you'll actually consider doing it." He holds his paw out, pinkie out. He's really serious about this. I reach out and latch my pinkie around his. Wendell does the same. "Alright, sport, where do we begin?" Wendell asks. "First," Riley takes a deep breath, "we kidnap the Canler." *** I sit in a big chair at the school office. My pants feel a bit tight with the heavy metal stored in my pocket. The mug that says "#1 Dad" sits on the desk, steaming with fresh coffee inside. I changed my earrings this morning (the old ones started to irritate my ears). I'm currently wearing a plain white T-shirt and jean shorts, my favorite outfit. I technically didn't want to do this job, but Riley insisted since the Canler hasn't met me. I was told we was a wolf with square glasses and a brown vest. "Ok. I'll see you soon," I hear a dark voice say. A wolf stands outside the door, putting the key in the lock. He looks like Riley's description. It's show time. He opens the door and is shocked to see me here. "Hello? Can I help you?" He asks in a friendly voice. "Hi. I'm Todd Tripp, Riley's father," I say. I try my best mirror his obviously fake friendly tone. "His father? I thought I already met his dad." "His other father." When I say that, he smiles again, like he's an owl that just found another mouse. "Other father? So you mean-" "I'm gay." We sit there in silence for a moment or two, my heart pounding out of its chest. "I'm sorry, what're you doing in my office?" Canler asks. "I think you mean my office," I say. He just chuckles. "What're you talking about? Am I in trouble or something?" "No," I reach into my pocket, take out the handgun and point it right at him, "but if you don't get into my car right now, you're going to be." He just keeps that smile on, as if he doesn't notice the gun that's only seconds away from taking his life. "Mr Tripp, we don't have to do it like this," he says finally. I stand up, keeping the barrel pointing right at his chest. "I beg to differ. Now, you have five seconds to start walking or else I'm gonna make sure you never walk again," I walk coward one step and the gun presses right onto him, "... or think." Canler turns around and slowly walks out the door. We turn right and go out the school's front door. Wendell has our truck still running ready to drive off. I open the side door and force the Canler to get in. "I don't know how you managed to do that, babe," Wendell says. "Let's just go back to Evan's house," I say, "and see what exactly Riley wants us to do next." *** Wendell holds the Canler in the chair while I duct tape his wrists and legs down. Riley and Mike watch at a distance. Evan's asleep upstairs even though we told him we've kidnapped the enemy and are keeping him in the basement. I finish Canler's right leg and toss the tape aside. "Was taping me down really necessary?" Canler asks. "Yes," Wendell says firmly, "now shut the hell up and talk. Who the hell are you? Where did you come from? And what do you want?" Canler looks at Riley and Mike, then at Wendell, then me. "Ok," he finally says. "My real name is Cameron Montgomery. I've been associated with the Musical Institute of America for over 10 years. But... I wasn't born here in America. I was born in Almania" "Well where is that? Albania?" Wendell asks, getting antsy. "It's over 200 million light years away." That really hits the four of us hard. The question is why isn't this guy trying to keep this a secret? Normally, bad guys don't reveal stuff until they're almost dead. We haven't made a scratch on this guy. "So you're an alien?" I ask. "What do you want here on Earth?" "Todd, the mind is alien but the body, trust me, was definitely was made on this planet. Me and my kind, our planet was destroyed by our own. We wanted to have a fresh start so, we gathered as many surviving Life Forces as we could and we came here to preserve our kind." "And you had to snatch bodies to do that?" Wendell asks. "Yes. Unfortunately, yes. Believe me when I say that if there was an easier way to do this, I would've." "It's still wrong," Riley pipes up, "now tell us how to change them back." "Oh," Canler perks his ears up, "I see someone still isn't over a certain wolf despite being romantic around that pesky skunk." "Hey!" Mike shouts. "He's not pesky! Besides, you're the pest! You're the one invading bodies and taking people's lives away from them!" "No I'm not. When a Life Force takes a body, the host's consciousness is still in the brain. For now." "What do you mean?" I ask. "I mean, they're still alive in their brain, it's just that they don't live much longer. They slowly Decay until they're gone. Vanished. Never to return." "So you're saying that if there's any chance to save Jo, we have to do it now or else she'll be gone forever?" Riley asks. "That's exactly what I'm saying," Canler continues, "the younger the host, the faster the consciousness Decays." "So that's why you did this to fifth graders?" Wendell asks. "So their previous mind is gone faster? Why not just do that shit to kindergarteners or something? That might as well have been what you done!" "Silly, Wendy, kindergartener's brains aren't big enough to store the Life Force." Canler stops for a moment. Wendell looks shocked what he just said. No one has called him Wendy in six years and the last person to do that is dead. Canler's expression changes from one of mocking to one of worry. All of a sudden, he lurches forward, pulling on his restraints. Wendell pulls a gun on him, ready to shoot. "NOOOOO!!!!! DON'T LISTEN!!!!!" His screams sound unearthly and sinister. He coughs and retches on the floor. "Come on. I think that's all we're gonna get," I say. Riley and Mike follow me as we go upstairs. Wendell eventually shows up too, turning off the basement light and closing the door and locking it. We're both pretty freaked out, not only about what we just heard, but also about what that "No! Don't!" was about. "Why must our lives get weirder?" Wendell asks. "I'm not sure," I say. We hug each other and kiss. He picks me up and carries me upstairs.
I hit record and start speaking. "Well, it seems that the Resistant Ones have captured me and taken me to their secret hideout. I was only thinking for what's good for them. At gunpoint, the forced me to answer their questions. I did, of course, because it's not like it's going to matter for long. Once Jo receives the instructions I gave her, I'll be out of here by breakfast tomorrow morning and be back to running the Influence by my Queen. And Todd and Wendell..." I chuckle a little at the nice thought of what's gonna happen, "Todd and Wendell, if everything goes according to plan, will be dead the second I'm free."