Chapter 14:

The Smell of Danger

I Failed As a Professional Baseball Player And Now Have To Fight Otherworldly Creatures With Nothing But a Baseball Bat


Bentley woke up screaming, his hand clutched to the shoulder that held the shattered arm. Chuck, who had been shaking Bentley’s unconscious body to try and rouse him, staggered back in shock.

“What’s wrong Bentley?”

“My arm, my arm!”

“What about it?”

“What do you mean what about it?” Bentley could not fathom how someone could manage to not notice a missing arm.

“Calm down Mr. Bentley,” said a faint voice. Corinne had peeked out nervously from behind Chuck.

“What is the matter with you guys? How am I supposed to stay calm?”

Corinne stepped up to Bentley and took both of his hands.

Both of my hands?” Bentley’s eyes struggled to comprehend what they were seeing. His arm that had most definitely been shattered by the lemur man was completely restored, as if nothing had ever happened. Had it ever happened? It had all seemed so real. The pain he felt had been undeniable. Could it possibly be another dream? If so then it had been unlike any dream he had ever had in his life. The terror he had tried so desperately to mask while he was in the lemur man’s presence still sat in the pit of his stomach like a rock.

“You’re ok, the nightmares can’t get you now,” Corinne said with a smile, her fingers still laced in his.

“Take a deep breath Bentley,” Chuck said.

Bentley tried to focus on breathing but his mind still lay scattered all over the place like the fragments of his once shattered arm had, making it impossible to focus on much of anything. The lines between reality and surreality had never seemed so blurred to Bentley. All he knew for sure was that he felt cold, so painfully freezing cold. His teeth chattered like an old wind-up doll as goosebumps began to spread across the surface of his skin. Corinne tightened her squeeze on Bentley’s hands with her own. The warmth from the girl’s hands slowly began to make its way into him, first seeping into his hands and then slowly defrosting him at the core as the heat flowed through every part of his frigid body like honey. Bentley’s eyes stopped their wild darting and steadied as he stared at the girl in front of him. The baseball bat, propped up on the seat beside him, fell down onto his shoulder as if it too were doing its best to comfort him. Corinne smiled as Bentley’s eyes fell on her, her cheeks flushing slightly red. It was clearly taking all of this meek girl’s courage to try and soothe Bentley. He finally found himself able to take a deep breath. Corinne slowly removed her hands from his.

“Do you feel better now?”

“I’m getting there thanks to you,” Bentley said.

“Nice work Corinne,” Chuck said while patting the short girl on the head, causing her face to sink to an even deeper shade of red as steam poured out of her ears.

“By the way, where are Jack and Grady?” Bentley realized that the odd pair had not been present since he was roused from his hallucination, or whatever it was.

“They’re already outside. Speaking of which, I don’t mean to rush you but we’re over the drop zone right now and the helicopter can only stay hovering for so long,” Chuck said.

Bentley had forgotten entirely about the mission they had to carry out. He felt guilty, they hadn’t even seen the Cerb yet and he was already holding them back. Even on the unit that was supposedly the joke of the organization, he was still deadweight. Bentley pushed himself up out of his seat shakily.

“Yeah I’m good to go, sorry for keeping you waiting,” he said with a slight bow.

“You don’t need to bow,” said Corinne as she returned to her habit of hiding behind Chuck, “It’s ok to be scared sometimes Mr. Bentley.”

‘The only thing that’s scary is how old I feel every time you call me Mr. Bentley,” he replied.

With that, Chuck scooted over to the opening in the side of the helicopter and hoisted himself down onto the ladder that hung from it. Corinne followed closely behind, hurrying down the ladder after Chuck. Bentley stared down for a moment.

If I leave this helicopter then I really will have to fight a Cerb again,” Bentley thought. He had already had the same internal argument a million times over whether risking his life like this was worth the hefty paycheck that came with it. After all, he could simply get a normal job, work 9-5 every day, and slowly pay off as much of the medical debt as he could before his body kept him from working any longer. He knew that wasn’t what someone that May had called her superhero would do though. He was going to make sure that May woke up to no medical debt, no matter what it took. She had been through enough hardship in her life already. She deserved a better hand than the one the universe had dealt her thus far and Bentley was going to give it to her. The baseball bat, ripe with energy, stirred itself in Bentley’s hand. He tucked it into the back of his pants and slapped his face.

I guess it’s game on then,” he decided before swinging himself down onto the ladder and climbing down to the pavement below. Bentley found himself right outside the barbed fence of an abandoned power plant located on the city limits. Yellow grass stuck out from between the cracked sidewalk in sickly patches. It crunched beneath their feet like gravel as they walked down the nearest street and into the city.

“What took y’all so long?” Two Mace Jack had clearly grown restless waiting for the rest of the group. He played with his maces in a state of jittery excitement like a madman being given recess at an asylum.

“Bentley had a nightmare,” Corinne said.

“Don’t tell people I had a nightmare Corinne, it makes me sound so lame,” Bentley whined.

“I dropped the mister part that time though,” she said proudly.

“That’s a good point, I appreciate that,” Bentley relented.

“Ya had a nightmare? Ain’t ya like 19?”

“Listen here, I’m not even 100% sure if it was a nightmare or not yet,” Bentley said.

“Were ya awake?”

“I’m not exactly sure, it felt like I was wide awake but at the same time not exactly conscious.”

“That sounds like a dream ta me, did ya wake up scared?”

“Well yeah, but that’s not fair—”

“Then it’s a nightmare ya idiot!”

“Will you two quit being stupid so I can direct you to the Cerb?” Chrysanthemum’s voice came through with an ear-splitting screech akin to two walkie talkies being held millimeters apart. Four of the group of five clutched at their ears, the mime pretended to be shot instead and fell to the ground on his back with a hand to his chest.

“Again with the volume,” Bentley complained.

“The volume is fine, I just keep having to raise my voice to be heard over you two blabbering fools,” Chrysanthemum said.

“Blabbering fools? The fact that I feel like that’s something an old lady would call me somehow makes it more insulting,” Bentley said.

“Don’t worry about it Bentley, her insults start to trend towards the grandma-ish the more upset she gets,” Chuck said while placing a hand on Bentley’s shoulder.

“You’re all impossible,” Chrysanthemum yelled, “Just be quiet for a second so I can give you directions.”

Bentley got ready to respond before Chuck delivered a quick bonk to the top of his head. Any witty response that Bentley had prepared got jumbled on impact and instead he stood silently rubbing his head, glaring at Chuck like an annoyed kid.

“We’re ready,” Chuck said.

“Perfect, head south down the street you’re on for a few blocks and I’ll give you more directions further down the road,” Chrysanthemum said.

The group walked deeper into the concrete jungle of the city. Skyscrapers loomed overhead, judging anyone who dared to walk down the streets they stood watch over. Bentley knew that he’d never get over the strange presence of these buildings, no matter how long he lived in the city. They would always still feel like alien structures ready to stomp him out once they realized that he didn’t belong. His breathing became labored as the weight of the mime strained his arms.

“Why did we get stuck carrying him?” Bentley held the feet of Grady the mime, who was still playing dead from the imagined gunshot wound he had sustained during Chrysanthemum’s outburst, while Jack held the mime’s arms. They shuffled down the sidewalk as best they could while carrying the weight of a limp human being.

“I figured it’d be a decent way for the two of you to practice teamwork,” Chuck said.

“The only thing this is teachin’ me is that Bentley is even weaker than I thought,” Jack groaned.

“But it was your idea to let him keep playing dead,” Bentley said.

“Yeah, cuz I respect tha art of mimin’ obviously. If tha man is playin’ dead then I’m gonna pretend he’s dead,” Jack said.

“Then can we at least bury him instead of carrying him around like this?”

“Y’know that doesn’t sound like a half bad idea, I saw a nice patch of dirt back at tha power plant.”

Grady the mime’s eyes shot open. He yanked his legs and arms free from Jack and Bentley’s grip before standing straight up and dusting his whole uniform off with his hands. The mime paced rapidly away from the two who had been carrying him and took his place next to Chuck and Corinne.

“Guess he didn’t much like that idea,” Jack laughed.

“Guess not, also I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you laugh,” Bentley said.

“Don’t get used to it ya hear, I don’t plan on being too friendly with someone who’ll probably die on his first mission,” Jack said.

“Quit predicting an untimely death for me!”

“You’re gonna want to take a left up here on 22nd,” Chrysanthemum said. They passed a few groups of people making their way down the sidewalk but the streets were still relatively scarce with it being the middle of the day when most would be at school or work. Bentley stopped as they passed a fish market and began chatting with the old man running it before Chrysanthemum yelled at him through the earpiece to focus. Bentley quickly tossed the old man a couple of bucks from his pocket and grabbed a stick with fried fish on it for the road. The lack of artificial lemon flavoring would surely upset his stomach later but he didn’t have it in his heart to not support the frail man’s stand. He munched on the fried fish and followed the rest of the group.

“So is this heat signature still in the same spot? Are we supposed to assume that these Cerbs just wait for us to show up?” Bentley didn’t have much experience with wild animals outside of deer but even those he knew didn’t like to stay in the same area for too long. He didn’t know what the intelligence level of the average Cerb was but doubted that it was so low that it would wait for them like a sitting duck.

“The heat signature is—,” Chrysanthemum had started saying something before trailing off into silence.

“Director?” Chuck fiddled with his earpiece trying to restore what he assumed was a lost connection. Bentley caught wind of a rancid smell. He scrunched his nose as if trying to suck it into his face before pinching it shut tightly. As he plugged his nose, the sound of pattering feet in the distance began to fill his ears. It was a similar noise to what the cat stampede had made except for the fact that the smacking of these paws against the concrete sounded somehow harsher. The hair on the ends of his arms stood at attention. He yanked the baseball bat free from his waistband. Bentley had never been especially perceptive when dealing with people but he had experienced enough bad news to be able to know when it was headed his way. The rest of the group stood confused, still not having picked up the scent or the sound of the coming herd.

“Chrysanthemum, we need an update,” Bentley said. The voice that had gone silent rang out once again in their ears.

“Get out of there now!”

Sujin 崇神
icon-reaction-1