Family Essence – Deviant

...Chapter 12, Midnight Madness...

 

 

It's not without grumbling that Sawyer gets out of bed to join me in getting dressed. I can't help but watch the curve of her ass as she bends over to pluck her bra from the floor. Noticing my gaze, my sister shoots a wink my way while shaking her ass. I laugh, as I pull my boxers up. Only to realize I put them on backwards. That'll happen when you're too distracted, I guess.

Once we're fully dressed, (my boxers fixed, much to Sawyer’s amusement) Sawyer claims my hand then leads us out the door. Kaylie's leaning on the wall next to the door, and the moment we emerge, she takes my other hand before leading us upstairs instead of down. She takes us into mom's study on the third floor, a giant room that takes up half the uppermost level. And one she normally has designated as 'mom-only' space.

Not that we haven't all been inside before. It wasn't like we were banned from entering. But we weren't allowed to hang out.

So even though I don't visit it often, it's easy to see she's made dramatic changes. The strangest part is the open hatch leading to the turret. Well, maybe not the strangest. But it's the first thing that draws my attention. The second is that we're all here except Madison.

Before I can ask, mom looks up from the map in front of her and says, "Good. You're here. We should get up top before the timer hits zero."

With that, she grabs another map, and heads towards the hatch, climbing inside the tight space. I move to follow her, but Bethany puts a hand on my chest with a smirk. "Wouldn't you rather watch me go up first?"

Then she scoots forward, and I can't help but admire the firmness of her ass as she climbs inside.

"Pervert," Sawyer says, squeezing my hand before moving forward. "Checking out your baby sister."

"You like it," I counter, my eyes watching her ass instead now that Bethany's out of view.

Kaylie giggles as she takes Sawyer's place. "I know I do."

Before she squirms out of sight, I step up. I stick my head in, hoping to be able to catch several of my sisters climbing at once, but the ladder is too short. I barely have time to admire Kaylie before she makes it to the observation area. They’re right. I really am a pervert, aren’t I?

It's more tricky for me to squeeze through than my sisters, given my larger frame. Yet it's easier than the last time I tried and I soon find myself atop the turret with my family. It's weird to be up here together. Last time I was up here was with Sera. My sisters had all been home and we wanted some privacy to make out. It had been super romantic but also incredibly cold. We hadn't ended up staying long.

Now it was warm, and the view that had always been great, was jaw-dropping. The lines of blue in the sky made the distant jungle somehow seem more alive than during the day. And the ocean to the east was capped by glittering sparkles. Even the houses around us looked different in the blue hue. Sure, against the backdrop of the jungle, the suburban neighbourhood looked out of place. Yet there was a beauty to the campfires and groups of people gathered together. Which made me realize that people were gathering together.

There even seemed to be cheers and shouts coming from a fire not far from us.

Looking over, I saw it was the Clarksons and most of their immediate neighbors. They were drinking, and someone had set up a lawn bowling court in their back yard. As I'm wondering why they'd be lawn-bowling at a time like this, I feel Sawyer slip under my arm. Right. Who am I to judge how people are spending their time?

"Whatcha thinking about?" Sawyer asks as I feel Kaylie drape my other arm over her shoulder.

"Lawn bowling," I deadpan, not glancing in the direction of the Clarksons.

I can practically hear Sawyer's face scrunching up in confusion as she shifts to look at me. "Lawn bowling? Seriously?"

Kaylie must have noticed something; cause she's already giggling. Sawyer leans forward to poke her twin in the boob as she asks, "What?"

Instead of responding, Kaylie looks over our shoulder in the direction of mom. Then she leans forward, holding two fingers in front of her mouth, running her tongue up them. With a smirk, she whispers, "Lawn bowling."

Unable to help myself, I burst out into laugher. "Not... heh... not what I meant."

"Oh," Kaylie says, her cheeks turning adorably pink as she leans against me. I pull her tight, then look towards the Clarksons.

"Was thinking how weird it was they've got it out. Like this is some vacation."

"It kinda is," Bethany's voice says from behind us, "No more work. Well, no more jobs, anyway. And the raptors seemed dangerous. But they die to guns surprisingly easy. Lots of raptor meat being barbequed tonight, I bet."

We continue chatting about what the neighbors are doing until mom says, "Five seconds."

Turning our attention outward, we watch as the counter ticks down. At zero, a new prompt appears. But I don't look at it immediately. There's a low rumbling emerging from behind our house. Right from the shed turned geology workshop. We all watch as a spike of black obsidian shoots out the top of the garage. Then another. When it's done, half the shed has been destroyed, a fragile looking obsidian tree standing in the rubble. It stands at least five stories, the only object taller than our house within half a mile. As it shudders, and expands again, I realize it's not finished growing.

But it's slowed down enough, and there doesn't seem to be any other drastic changes, so I feel comfortable checking my notifications.

"Congratulations on being chosen for Wond- Wonder- Wonderland."

Even the first line is different. The text just slightly off from the usual System messages, the letters changing size every other word. And it only gets weirder as I continue to read.

"Allow me to be the fuh-first to welcome all of you to the-the-the ERROR #01-222 FILE NOT FOUND.... System. A little bit of a shock I know. Now, a few of you have managed to get a head start on the rest. Kuh- Can- Congratulations. We're still not sure what that's about, but LOGIC ERROR, READ FROM BACKUP. Now, once you're done reading this, most of you're going to notice some weird stuff. Like colouring out."

Yeah, cause that's half as weird as whatever's going on with these notifications.

"Totally normal. But nothing to worry about, long as you wuh-wuh-wake up."

"Next. You may have noticed you have new neighbors. With teeth and sharp claws. OMNIRAPTOR SPAWNING: MAXIMUM. WARNING: POWER CRITICAL. These are going to get a lot worse soon. Your Settlement Zone's Safe Period has expired, so it won't just buh-buh-be the scalies bothering you. But don't fret, you can get your safety back! All you need to do is have your party reach fifty thousand points! Then you can claim the Settlement for ERROR #22-3130, REBOOT WELCOME MESSAGE."

At this point, the first half of the message repeats itself. After a quick glance to confirm nothing's attacking us, I read down until I get to the next message, still holding the twins close.

"Normally, this would be a task that would take nearly a week. But some of you have gotten a head start. To check how well you're doing, meh-make sure you check out the newly activated Scoreboard."

Taking a break from reading the notifications, I do exactly that. Unlike the notifications, there don't seem to be any errors on the scoreboard. To my surprise there are a dozen different parties listed, each with over a thousand points. In fourth place is a party with three thousand points that I can't help but think might be mom. Not many other people around who’d name themselves "Rock Out Geology Nerd". The third spot is held by Tell No Lies, with four thousand points. And second holds seven thousand points and the party name simply reads, "The Sullivan Brothers."

However, first place is what really jumps out. The 4Ds, our party. 48,322 points. Even as I'm watching, the total goes up by one. Turning to my family, I ask, "Did any of you check the scoreboard?"

"Holy..." I hear Sawyer breath from beside me. And she's not the only one. The sound of whispered curse words fills the roof as we all look at each other.

Mom's words cut through our cursing. And for once she’s not telling us to stop. "I take it that means you're The 4Ds?"

As Bethany confirms, I turn back to the rest of the notifications.

"I'm sure you're all wondering how you get more points, but that'd be tuh-tuh-telling. I'll give you a hint though. It rhymes with friolence. Is that a word? It should be. DEFINITION UPDATED: FRIOLENCE IS FRIENDLY VIOLENCE. Also, you may have noticed the shiny new edifice sprouting from the centre of your zone. You can thank the owners for your stay in Wonderland. If not for their retrieval, none of you would be here. You can also get... oh, ho. But I can't say, can I? ERROR #19-0012, RESTRICTIONS INVALID. Don't get too close to it or you might find yourself whisked off to the Obsidian sub-zone, where you'll have to face... are you kids ready? Monsters! LIMITED MONSTER POOL AVAILABLE: SEE NAME-NOT-FOUND FOR DETAILS ON UPGRADING SUB-ZONES."

"I know, I know, I'm killing it. But not as much as you kids need to! Just a few more points and everyone gets to go back to their nice safe INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS Wonderland stay. I'll admit, there are a few sponsors, #ERROR 01-0002, SPONSORSHIP EXPIRED 51,321 CYCLES AGO. NEW SPONSORSHIP AWAITING ASSIGNMENT, upset about how quickly it looks like you're going to be up and running. But don't let that stop you! Get out there, score some points, and try not to die when the doggies ruff you up!"

"This has been your official Wuh-Wonderland welcome, provided by none other than your all time favourite announcer, DK Cannon. Can't wait until the next #ERROR 34-0023, EVENT CANCELLED UNTIL RESOURCES ACQUIRED."

For a few long seconds, I just try to process everything I've read. Then I can't help but chuckle as I say, "I haven't read so many error codes since I tried to learn Java."

Sawyer giggles from beside me, "There are an awful lot of them, aren't there?"

"I don't think it's a good sign," mom says, her eyes fixed on the obsidian tree in our back yard. "It implies that whatever brought us here isn't working properly."

"No way! Really?" Kaylie whispers, earning a squeeze even as Sawyer and I chuckle.

She earns mom's attention too, as mom turns back to us. "Yes, really Kaylie. And that means we don't know what else is going wrong."

"Huh. Wonder if that's why my ability is Deviant?"

"I'm pretty sure that's just you," Kaylie whispers again while squeezing my ass.

I'm about to return the favour when I'm distracted by the sound of the obsidian tree shifting. We all freeze, staring up at the tree. But whatever was happening seems to have stopped.

"Damn. I was afraid of that. It really is my fault we're all here," mom mutters. Barely loud enough for me to hear it, and if the neighborhood was as loud as it was ten minutes ago, I doubt I would’ve. But everyone's gone silent since the System notifications started.

Which prompts me to look over at the Clarkson's. Most of the partygoers are laying on the lawn, completely passed out. Except for Mr Clarkson. He's got a rifle in hand and is standing over the whole party, staring out into the night. His eyes happen to pass our way, freezing on the obsidian tree behind me before returning to his vigil.

"Damn, wish I had a gun," Kaylie says, holding her hand up in a finger gun position. "I'm great at tripping stuff, but my killing power is crap."

"That's a good idea," mom says. "We should break open the safe. But we'll need to conserve ammo. Unless one of you has a power for making more?"

We all shake our heads, but I can't help but imagine. Will someone have such a power? Or maybe there's a combination. If Sawyer can create water from nothing, and Madison can do the same with magma, then maybe we can create whatever you use for gunpowder.

"You know, we might be able to make our own," Madison says, echoing my thoughts. "Like, I have some control over what kind of magma I create. It's not a lot... but..."

"Hmm. You'd probably be able to provide the sulfur. Any chance you can do coal... that isn't on fire?" mom asks, her gaze flicking towards Madison before returning to the tree.

"Uhm. I can try?" Madison suggests, looking around before leaning over the edge. "But I'd rather not experiment from up here. Connection feels weaker this far from the ground."

"Hmm. We'll give it another five minutes. Then we'll head down. I don't like the look of this tree," mom replies while I look out at the neighbors. I spend the next few minutes mostly in silence, listening to my sisters discuss ideas for getting the last of the points while I watch the Clarkson's place. When mom finally decides it's time for us to head down, I can't help but worry.

Other than Mr. Clarkson, none of the others are moving.

Emerging from the turret, I follow my sisters into mom’s office where she cracks open the safe. We all remain silent as she stands there, looking inside. We’ve all gone shooting before. After Kaylie got into sharpshooting, it turned into a bit of a family activity. None of us are close to Kaylie in skill, but we’ve all learned the basics. And we all know mom doesn’t bring out the guns at home.

She’s never even told us why she has so many.

We’ve all seen inside, of course. Mom doesn’t just keep guns in the safe. Our birth certificates and sometimes presents are in there too. And a few other things mom liked to tuck away from us. Mom retrieves a handgun for herself, handing a shotgun to Kaylie before strapping the handgun to her waist. Then she hesitates before pulling out an old worn rifle. She runs her hand along it for a few seconds before putting it back. Instead, she draws out a sawed-off version of Kaylie’s shotgun.

Turning to me, she says, “Don’t use it unless you have to. It…”

I’m a little surprised at mom’s hesitation. She didn’t hesitate for a second before giving a shotgun to Kaylie.

Before I can question it further, mom shakes her head, shoving the sawed-off into my hands, still in it’s carrying case.

With the weapons sorted, we head downstairs. But when mom starts heading for the back, my worries return. "Mom. I think the Clarksons might be in trouble. I want to check on them."

Mom pauses, looking back at me as she rubs her chin. Then her eyes flick to Bethany. "Bethany, Sawyer, go with your brother. See if there's anything you can do to help. But don't show off anything you don't have to. And don't let Darren get hurt. If you have to..."

The sentence goes unfinished, but I can't help but feel a chill creep up my spine at the way Bethany nods to mom. There's a hardness in her eyes I haven't seen since Bill Morrison tried to pull something on Sawyer. And he didn't walk straight for a month after. Not that I felt bad for him, but if that's what Bethany was willing to do when bound by the rules of civilization.

I'm hoping I'm not going to find out what she'll do now.