The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 20

Dave shook his head and seemed disappointed as Andrew continued, "You'll need to hold onto one of our hands from here on out. There's... well, let's just say I don't want you freaking out unnecessarily."

A rumble reverberated in Dave's chest as his anger swelled up. "Enough Andrew, we need to talk-"

"Another couple of minutes, Dad, and we will."

Sara and Karen were standing to the side, holding each other's hands with a nervous expression on their faces. Dave was still not sure how to feel about that development, Sara's involvement in Andrew's life was an unexpected turn that Michelle and he had struggled to accept, but having seen Karen with them, he could see the same ironclad devotion that Sara and Andrew shared. She was an integral part of their lives in a binding and unbreakable way, he saw that, but it would take time that Dave didn't have to determine what that meant.

Michelle had always been good at those things, discerning what people were feeling, and why. Andrew was his blind spot, Dave knew that, but whatever was happening between them was way outside of his wheel of expertise.

The consideration he was giving to their relationship was clouded by his growing frustration at their situation, and how flippant Andrew was being with their limited time together. His anger was like a coiled spring, and as his eyes scanned through the darkness he could feel it tightening.

"That's enough, we need to talk now."

Andrew simple held out his small and delicate seeming hand, stating, "This isn't a negotiation, father. I'll explain when we get there, but without this there isn't enough time to cover everything. Despite what you think, I'm not the only one that has questions to answer, and I'm just as eager as you to know what the fuck is going on in my life."

There was a threat in Andrew's statement, and true anger in his tone. Dave had never seen that before, finding that his son was different from the boy he had left a little over a week before. The man who stood before him was self confident and assertive, two things the Andrew of old never was. If he was not so angry, Dave might have been proud, but instead he found himself questioning just what Andrew had to be upset about.

"What the hell were you thinking fighting that wolf, Andrew? The bully was one thing, but that was just stupid."

Instead of looking surprised, Andrew shook his head and looked towards the ground, sighing before his head came up and he responded, "I'll tell you exactly why, but you'll need to tell me why you allowed the government to study me for the last eighteen years."

Dave realized his surprise must have shown on his face as Andrew again extended his hand, asking, "Are you ready to follow me now?"

Whatever was going on was well beyond what Dave had expected. He had arrived with the plan of ambushing Andrew and Sara, but so far every step of their confrontation had gone awry, leading Dave to more questions than he knew how to ask. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing that Michelle was there for backup.

Instead of saying anything he released a heavy breath and took his son's hand.

Within half a minute, Dave found his thoughts lingering on the weapons cache back at the house. How much had Andrew used, and what exactly would they need to replace. The more he tried to ignore those thoughts, the more pressing the questions seemed. It wasn't until the hairs on his body began to stand on end that his attention was drawn back to Andrew, who was pulling him through the darkness.

Panic filled Dave's heart, his mind traveling back to the last time he had felt that strange and tingling sensation. Yanking his hand from Andrew's grip, Dave pulled his sidearm and aimed it into the impenetrable darkness. The closest trees were outlined in a faint silvery sheen, but everything outside of their small group was a mystery, and through it he could hear the sounds of gunfire.

He knew it was a memory, Michelle and his last mission in SOAL, and the moment when they had been separated. His heart raced and his finger itched to pull the trigger, his brain racing to predict where the next undead monstrosity would appear.

"Get back," he bellowed, sweat pouring from the sides of his face as his whole body seemed to tense.

Reaching out, he gripped Andrew's shoulder and immediately felt the weight of his memory fading away, his thoughts returning to normal as the sounds of the forest replaced the silence of the tomb.

Dave's breath was coming to him in a deep and measured pace, his body suddenly feeling cold as his muscles started to shiver. No matter how many times he was in active combat, he would never grow used to the adrenaline fatigue that inevitably had to come crashing down upon you.

"It's alright, Dad. We're safe."

Karen stepped over and Dave's eyes turned towards her as she reached out. Her hand cupped the side of his face, and with it came an overwhelming sense of peace and calm, his body recentering itself as he felt his pulse return to normal. In her eyes, Dave could see understanding and sympathy, recognizing in her gaze that she had been through the same type of thing he had just experienced.

"I'm not sure what you just felt, but it was not real, okay?"

As she spoke she held his focus, and together they walked with Andrew and Sara leading their way. Dave was so transfixed by that remarkable woman that he failed to notice as the area around them opened up, or as the scale of their surroundings expanded around them. It wasn't until he felt Karen's eyes stirring his desires that he broke contact with her.

Immediately, he knew that something was wrong. The air was too warm, and the area seemed far to bright, as if a full moon was shining down upon them. A couple dozen yards away there was a large pond, and in the ripples of the water he could see the signs of light emanating from below while steam rose from its surface.

Everything about it seemed idyllic, the ground coated in a soft and gentle cover of moss, grasses and clover. Small flowers of varying colors were scattered about, while maples reached up high into the canopy above. Looking out upon the vast open space, Dave knew he was seeing something special and unique. In his heart he found happiness and contentment, his mind turning away from Karen and towards his wife, where he imagined what her body would look like rising out of that water.

How soft her skin would be, the sheen of the light as it danced across her perfect feminine form. How she would taste as he sucked her nipple into his mouth, her body grinding against him as they fell back into the warm and welcoming pond.

"I'm gonna give you a minute to adjust, Dad."

Dave heard his son's words, but found it difficult to pull himself from his fantasy, a hidden and unknown force keeping him in that alluring thought. For awhile he felt like he was caught in a dream, Andrew and the girls walking towards the pond where they all turned and looked towards him.

"Are you sure this is the best idea?" Karen asked, worry evident in her kind eyes. "I mean, we've never brought a human here before."

Andrew had already kicked off his shoes and pants by that point, leaving them in a pile a short distance from where they stood. "Well, no, not really... But my dad isn't like most men."

Karen never turned her attention from Dave as she responded, "You can say that again."

Sara was not far behind as she said, "Damn right, sister."

"Hey!" Andrew almost yelled as Karen and Sara turned and laughed, helping him to remove his shirt while Karen continued her thought.

"We're just teasing you, silly boy." Karen stopped for a moment and glanced back towards his father, continuing with, "Besides, he's definitely human, Andrew. I'd know if he was anything like us, and he's not. But at the same time, he's the pinnacle of what a man can achieve." She paused long enough give Andrew a soft and reassuring kiss. "He would need to be to have given us you."

Again, Sara chimed in with a well timed, "Damn right, sister."

They all embraced, seeming to forget that Dave was there captivated in his trance, but even through the fog of his fantasy he could tell that they were holding back. He felt it in the core of his being, their lust and adoration for each other saturating every inch of that magical place.

With pants and grumbles they parted, Sara and Karen taking a seat on the padded ground while Andrew walked out into the pond, his briefs maintaining his modesty while his father stood and watched.

Dave's impressive length was silhouetted against the fabric of his pants, fighting to fulfill the desires of his fantasy as he imagined his wife's passion-laden breath filling his ears while he sheathed himself deep inside of her. Seldom had he wanted her more than he did in that moment, and as his breath grew heavy, and those familiar sensations of release began to build up within him, he forced himself to focus.

He blinked his eyes and took a sharp breath, his vision focusing in on Sara and Karen, who were chatting in casual and carefree tones. Focusing on the sounds of their voices and the feeling of the warm air as it kissed his skin he began to force the images of his wife from his mind.

The sensation of her lips on his neck was the first to go, a sigh of disappointed needs building in his throat as her rasping moans were replaced by the background noise of Andrew in the water. His cock jerked and throbbed as the woman of his dreams released her vice-like grip from his turgid and wanton flesh.

Finally he felt like his thoughts were his own once more, and as his eyes scanned his surroundings, more details came into focus. Most importantly was the arcane circle that covered the ground beneath Sara and Karen.

They turned their attention on him, both of them smiling as they saw he had overcome the mysterious force that had ensorcelled him.

"Ahh, you're back."

Karen's tone almost made her statement sound like a question.

"What the fuck is happening?!" Dave demanded.

The two women laughed while Andrew peered out from the pond, his head just sticking out from the water as he asked, "How much time do we have to answer that question?"

Sara and Karen's laughter doubled as Dave checked his watch, but they grew eerily silent the moment he began to answer.

"One minute, Andrew. Happy? You've no idea the difficult position you've put me in."

The grins that were on the girl's faces were priceless as they looked from Dave back towards Andrew.

"Actually," Andrew began. "Yeah, I'm pretty happy."

As Andrew walked out of the pond, Dave could tell that the fatigue that had stolen his son's strength was gone, and in its place he saw a power he had never known Andrew capable of. He was no match for Dave, but he was miles from the small and fragile boy Dave had known all those years.

Everything that Andrew had been doing had already begun to shape his body into a well crafted machine. The distribution of muscle was different from Dave's, whose body served one purpose; war. Sure, there were signs of combat readiness in his son, that was unmistakable, but there was more. Within those lean and wiry muscles was an unyielding strength that Dave could not deny, which would serve a purpose he could not guess at.

Andrew had been changed, whether by Sara or by the place they had moved to Dave could not be certain, but he knew that the child they had brought there was gone. Andrew was so much more than what he had been, and despite the changes he had already seen, he had yet to become the man he was destined to become.

"Son, we're almost out of time, so please just stop playing these games."

For the first time that night, Dave's commanding tone was gone, and he could tell that everyone noticed it. He was no longer trying to dominate them with his presence, and no longer attempting to influence them with his anger or imposing stature.

"This place is special-" Andrew began.

"No shit," Dave interrupted.

They all smiled, glad to see a sense of humor in the large man.

"Beyond what you've likely noticed, time works differently here. For every second out there," Andrew pointed back the way they came before he continued, "thirty seconds passes in here."

There was a long silence as Dave's brow furrowed, his eyes moving from Andrew and over to Sara and Karen. He expected to see some sign that they were in on Andrew's joke, but instead he saw them fighting their laughter as they whispered back and forth.

"There's no way he's gonna believe him," Sara stated.

Karen seemed to be studying him as she responded, "I don't know, he knows about the wolf... He might be willing to accept the truth."

The fact was, Dave's skin tingled as a slight breeze brushed up against him, the warmth of that place seeming so far removed from what he expected. Looking around, he couldn't help but smile at how beautiful everything was, a contented feeling mixing with his simmering arousal and forcing him to accept that something strange was going on.

Again, he was reminded of that time those many years ago when Michelle had vanished. How those stone passageways had appeared cold and unremarkable, and yet there was a menacing presence he could almost feel in the stale and stagnant air that told him something was wrong. The sylvan place he found himself in with this son was nothing like that, but the unexplainable source of his feelings seemed somehow similar.

"Seriously, Andrew, can we just try and get at least one question answered before I have to leave?"

Sara laughed and declared, "See, I told ya so."

Karen rolled her eyes while Andrew remained focused on his father, the two men holding each other's' gaze for the longest moment. For the first time in years, Dave could tell that Andrew was having a hard time figuring something out.

"How the hell do I get you to believe me?"

There was anger in his voice as Dave responded, "Stop playing these childish games, Andrew. I know there are mysterious creatures in our world, but what you're describing is just foolishness. I thought you grew out of this magical thinking a long time ago, but I guess not."

Andrew was growing tired of his father calling him by his first name, recognizing how the older man was trying to influence him in a subtle but demeaning way.

It was a difficult problem, Andrew realized, trying to convince someone of the truth of what he was saying. Especially someone as bull-headed as his father.

"You need to accept this, Dad. It's pretty central to the reason we got involved in the conflict with the wolf."

"No, Andrew... That was just stupidity. You could have died."

With a huff, Andrew blurted, "What, like those hunters? How many people needed to die before we stopped it? Ten? Twenty? At what point does this become our problem."

Andrew could feel his father's temper rise up to meet his, the influence of The Glade doing little to stem their mutual frustration.

"It's never your problem, Andrew. You should have contacted your mother and I, it's our job to deal with shit like this. I told you before I left to reach out if something came up, but I knew you wouldn't. You never do."

Instead of responding, Andrew closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Dave could tell that his son was trying to recenter himself, a practice that Andrew was very good at. Andrew reached his arm out and sighed, his shirt lifting off of the ground and moving into his hand with unexpected speed.

"I'm really not sure how I can get you to understand what's going on, and I'm honestly tired of trying to do it subtly."

Dave watched as Andrew tore the the sleeve of his shirt off with his mind, his eyes wide with shock as he tried to comprehend what he had just seen.

"If I'd called and told you what was happening, you would've been killed. That thing was far more than a wolf."

With every word that Andrew said, more and more of his sleeve unravelled, until all of the fabric had been unspooled into a large coil of thread that hovered in the air beside the small man.

"You would've set up an ambush, and probably would have done some pretty good damage, but in a national park there's no way you would have used anything of substance. The fact is, you never would have believed what I told you, and would've gone in over confident and underprepared."

A rock pulled itself out of the moss at Andrew's feet and lifted up into the air. As they all watched, the thread wove itself around the rock in an intricate pattern, and after a short period of time, it had created a very ornate and yet sturdy looking latticework before tying itself off. Most of the thread was still hovering in a spool just beside it, connected and yet loose and free.

Dave blinked and shook his head, his brain refusing to accept the feat he had just witnessed. The rock, and its newly constructed netting of thread standing in conflict with his understanding of the natural world.

His revery was disrupted by Andrew, who stated, "Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong."

It took Dave a moment before he could respond, "If we'd setup a proper killzone, there's no way that thing would have survived."

Andrew shook his head as he responded, "Perhaps it would have worked, but ultimately I think you would have discovered that the beast was far more than just a large wolf."

The stone drifted over to Dave, and dropped. Before the older man could think, he caught the falling chunk of earth and felt it's cold wet surface in his iron grip. Somehow, he thought it would have been warm.

"Throw that straight up."

Dave looked at his son with confusion written in his every feature.

"Seriously, Dad. Throw it up. You wanted me to prove that time works differently here, that will do it."

His mind was swimming with so many different things; Karen and Sara's unexpected relationship with Andrew, confirmation that they had fought the wolf, the strange place he found himself in, and most recently Andrew's ability to move things with his mind. Studying the rock, he decided there was nothing to lose, and pulled back his arm before throwing the stone with all of his might.

Just as he expected, the stone quickly vanished into the canopy, but as he looked over he expected to see the thread chasing after it. At first he did, he could see the tension of the rock as it pulled the tail of thread after it, but it quickly dawned on him that the thread was not moving away nearly fast enough.

Instead, it was unspooling at a very languid pace, as if the rock was barely moving away from them. While he watched it, his mind trying to figure out what was going on, Andrew's voice reached out from his side.

"I don't know how fast you threw it, but you have to admit that the thread is not moving as fast as it should. The fact is, its moving thirty times slower than it should, because the rock exited The Glade and entered regular spacetime."

Dave looked between the thread and Andrew, the coil getting smaller and smaller as the seconds ticked by, but remaining stubbornly slow despite everything that Dave expected.

"Since you were... distracted for about a minute when we got here," Andrew started his statement with a blush, "and you said you had a minute left after you came back around, that means we had two minutes left when we got here."

Despite what people thought, Dave was not dumb, and appreciated Andrew giving him the time to work out the implications of what he was saying for himself.

"So we have almost an hour before I need to leave?"

Sara whooped while Karen cheered, "I knew Andrew could do it."

Their love for his son was obvious by the looks they gave him, their eyes glued to the small man who stood before him. He was still struggling to accept what he had just figured out, but the slowly diminishing spool of thread helped him to realize the truth of it.