Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 119: The Stalkers

The two that started running as soon as Laz started walking in their direction suddenly stopped. Well, the dirty blonde haired girl with the pony tail stopped and the boy behind her crashed into her. The interesting part was that the girl that was only around 5 foot 4 inches didn't even move while the guy who was 5 inches taller than her actually bounced backwards and ended up on his butt on the ground.

"Dammit Dee, why the hell you got to stop so suddenly without saying nothing?" Complained the boy on the ground. He was a good looking young man of around 16 years of age, with chestnut brown skin and a rather skinny physique.

"Why the hell do you have to talk like your some kind of tough guy? You wanna have a go at it? Looking for another beating?" The pony tailed girl named Dee responded back.

"What? No... I'm good. But come on. I have to have some sort of image for myself. I can't always be the weak geek the rest of my life now can I?" The boy responded back while getting up.

"You want people to think you're tough Reggie? You just have to beat me in a fight first," Dee answered back while cracking the knuckles on both of her hands as though loosing up her joints.

"Why do you have to talk about beating people up all the time? Can't you see I'm fragile?" Reggie responded back while backing off. If one were to look at his face, they would see a tinge of fear there as though he already knew what being beaten up by this girl would mean.

"And this is why you will never be a tough guy Reggie. Just keep being the you that's my best friend, ok?" Dee flashed a smile that seemed rather cute and completely out of character considering her actions a few seconds ago.

"And stop calling me Reggie. The names R-Dawg, R-DAWG!"

Dee started laughing rather heavily.

"That's never going to happen. Besides, you don't talk this way in front of your sister. So if I did start calling you that, what do you think she would say?" Dee asked back once she had finally gotten her laughing under control. Although Reggie wanted to respond back, he wasn't going to do that. If there was one woman he feared more in this world than the sometimes cute fighting freak in front of him, it would be his ice cold sister. Not that she didn't love him or care about him, she was just so strict and straightforward that it was kind of hard for Reggie to be himself around her.

"Anyway, back to the topic of why I stopped. Didn't you want to talk to that guy? Why do you hide every time you come to see him and run away as though a spooked deer when you think that he notices you? Honestly, it's like your an obsessive stalker. It's kind of creepy." Dee gave her evaluation to Reggie as bluntly as she could. She had never been one to hold back because of someone's feelings. Her motto was, 'If it hurt, than get tougher." More than once Reggie wondered just how he became friends with this girl.

'Well.. I did, I mean, I do. But, it's hard to say it."

"Well I came here to back you up so what's the point if your going to just chicken out. I'm going to go home and play a game or something if there is nothing happening." Having said that, Dee turned on her heels and started to walk away, the white sneakers leaving somewhat deep impressions in the dry ground.

"Wait. No... Alright, ALRIGHT. I'll go say hi or something." Reggie finally relented.

"Bout time. I swear, you can be such a wimp sometimes," Dee turned around like she had never meant to leave in the first place and walked right back to his side. The two had a close friendship. They lived in the same neighborhood just down the street from the trailer park where Laz had taken up residence and their parents had been friends since they had kids around the same age. When Reggie's dad passed away while serving overseas, it was finally a combination of Dee and his sister that had cheered him up and helped him get through it. Although Reggie and Dee had different personalities, they seemed to get along quite well together.

"Still, I don't see what's so special about that guy. I mean, he looks young and kind of sickly himself. I'm not sure why you think he's so strong or something," Dee shared her feelings. She had come over here with him to check this guy out who Reggie had somehow discovered. Reggie had been heading to town one day and had ridden his bike past when he heard a group of people talking rather loudly. Curiosity had gotten the better of him so he ended up following the voices, only to discover a few old men who looked like hobos gathered together and having a cookout while a young man was giving them food and such and laughing away with them. The whole scene struck him as pretty weird, but he didn't think anything of it and went along on his way. After that, he realized that every Friday, they would have a cookout with the same people plus sometimes a few extras. Each time it was clear it was something the young man arranged, including grabbing more broken down car seats and expanding the gathering.

After a few times of this happening with Reggie spying on them, he suddenly felt an ice cold chill all up and down his back. He then noticed that the young man was looking directly at him. Despite being a over a hundred feet away and hidden, the young man with the black hair and blue eyes was able to notice him. Reggie then got up and biked home as fast as he could and didn't stop there since then. He couldn't forget that feeling though. The feeling of strength that the young man's gaze contained showed that he wasn't ordinary in the slightest. This was what Reggie had been looking for.

Both Dee and Reggie were in their awakening stages. Dee was at the upper level of the mid stage while Reggie was just barely at the mid stage. They both knew each other's secret. But it wasn't only them. There was also Reggie's sister and the other one, the annoying asshole that never left his sister alone. He knew of a few other people in town that were like them as well, but they were all older and well out of their teens. Reggie had this desire to talk someone about it, to be able to share it more, but minus their group, there really wasn't anyone. Everyone looked on those with abilities like they were sick and that wasn't something he was interested in hearing about.

There were also worries, lots of worries. What if they were found out and turned in? What would happen to them? What would the government do? There were already stories about it, people being brought away for their own protection. Although the government liked to say they only took away the dangerous ones, Reggie knew that it didn't matter. Dee was dangerous as was his sister. Him, not so much. He might of been glad if they dragged away the asshole, but he knew they would all be sold out in a minute if that guy was ever found out. Because of all this, he wanted to meet this young man and see if he was right. That was part of the reason he brought Dee along. With her strength, even if the guy was dangerous, they would be ok.

He was also hoping that Dee could sense something out of this guy considering she was more powerful, but apparently, it was a bust. Not that he could blame her, after all, sense was his strong point.

"Just... trust me. You know how I feel about this," Reggie told her while starting to walk. He had no choice about that as she started pushing him..

"Yeah, I know. That big old brain of yours has way to many thoughts for your own good. You should try to be more like me and think less. It's a much better way of living." Even while pushing Reggie from behind, the short girl was nodding her head as though agreeing with herself out loud. Reggie couldn't help but laugh at her and started walking on his own.

'Seriously though, what am I afraid of? It's not like he's going to kill me in broad daylight or something.' Reggie finally picked up his courage with the girl at his back and began walking faster.

Laz returned to his seat after scaring away the kids and decided to lay down. Despite the fact that the seats were ripped from broken down cars, the cars themselves were in decent condition so the chairs were fairly clean. He decided to ignore the kids since they didn't seem to want to talk and posed no threat. After all, it's not like he went around exposing his power or anything. Since he and Vivi had decided on not hunting on the wonderfully clear spring day, he figured a nap was in order. Vivi had already beat him to it after her last snack and was already fitfully snoring in her stuffed, oversize chair.

'Not like I have to worry about someone trying to rob us. That really was wonderful what happened that last time. I swear Vivi literally frighten the shit out of them both. They even turned themselves in. Ah... rest...' With that last thought in his head, Laz closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.

As Reggie and Dee approached, Reggie noticed that the young man in question had fallen asleep. Hesitating for a second, he suddenly wondered if it was the right thing to do to wake him up. He didn't want to get on his bad side after all. Sadly for him, the choice quickly went out of his control.

"OH MY GOD... SHE IS SOOOOOOO CUUUUUTTTTTTEEEEEE," Dee screamed in excitement and launched herself away from Reggie and pounced towards Vivi who had been curled up while sleeping. Even though she couldn't have known before, after seeing Vivi, Dee automatically assumed she was a girl and having an addiction for small furry animals, couldn't control herself.

Laz, who had just fallen asleep a few minutes ago, awoke to find a strange girl suddenly pounce towards Vivi. Of course, he didn't move. After figuring out the girls strength, he knew that if Vivi wanted to do something, she would. Besides, he had just gotten comfortable and didn't want to get up yet. Laz did look over to see how Vivi would react though.

Much to his surprise, Vivi just sat up and looked at this strange girl while yawning, almost as though she was asking, 'what do you want? I'm sleeping.' Dee, not reading the mood, just hunched down in front of Vivi while looking at her closely.

"She's even got such a cute star over her eye like a real idol.... it's sooooo adorable," Dee said after soaking in all of Vivi's cuteness. Vivi, hearing the praise, raised her head and nodded, as though agreeing with Dee's statement. She then inclined her head back as though giving Dee permission to pet her fur. Dee happily complied, gently rubbing the soft and silky black fur while looking like she was in heaven.

'She's way to easy to win over. A bit of food or praise and she goes into her little princess mood. I swear to god...' Although Laz complained to himself silently, he knew Vivi's senses were incredibly sharp. Had this girl had any bad intentions, Vivi would have been the first one to notice and react accordingly.

"Oooh uh uh uh... Wait. I've got it... There is one thing she is missing to complete this perfect picture." With that said, Dee reached up and undid the ribbon that was holding her hair in place, thankful that she had gone with a ribbon today and not a hair tie. She then held out the ribbon to Vivi's face as though asking for her approval. Vivi, getting excited herself at the suggested idea, vigorously nodded her head before standing up and facing forward while remaining still. Without wasting any time, Dee tied the sparkling purple ribbon into a nice loose bow around Vivi's neck. Once she was done, Vivi quickly turned around to ask this attentive admirer for her opinion.

"A girl just isn't a girl without the right accessories. Perfect, SSSOOOO PERFECTLY CUTE!" Dee looked as though she was about to overload while grabbing out her phone and turning on the camera. Changing it to selfie mode, she showed Vivi who suddenly started wagging her tail in excitement at it.

*Human, Human... Look... LOOOOOKKKK!!!!* Vivi, who disliked barking like other canines, suddenly let out a little yelp of excitement while staring at Laz.

"Yep. Adorable. Totally." Laz's unenthusiastic response came out. It wasn't that he didn't think it looked good, he just didn't understand what there was to be so excited about.

Vivi, having expected this reaction, just ignored him while checking herself out in the phone. She then got down off the chair and started prancing around, looking like a dog on a runway. Dee, seeing this couldn't help but clap in encouragement.

Laz, having lost all interest, rolled over and closed his eyes again, attempting to go back to sleep when a sudden fake cough woke him up again. Turning over, he noticed the guy who had been stalking him for a few weeks standing right there and looking a bit nervous.

"Hmm?"

"Um.. yeah. Sorry. I... eh... just wanted to ask you something..." Reggie finally mustered up the courage to speak.

"What?" Laz didn't know what this was about, but it was getting in the way of his long awaited nap so he hoped that the guy would get to the point quickly.

"Are you.... like us?"