A Beast with a Smile

What in the hell just happened? I knew Tyler and Scavenger hated each other: it’s always been that way even before their fight when we were kids. Scavenger was always so sweet to me and Tyler thought I was his girlfriend. Even as a kid he was jealous.

The years went by and the awkwardness between them never really went away. Tyler and the twins actually became my friends and Tyler became my official boyfriend after years of him begging me to go out with him. I finally said yes, and he took me to New York. What a first date right? I knew he was the richest kid in town, but still, I was expecting a fancy dinner from Denny’s or the most expensive burger from McDonald’s.

His dad is an arms dealer who sells directly to anyone who can afford his top-notch weapons. They moved out here a year before the meteor shower and Tyler’s dad, Atom, paid for most of the construction out of his own pocket. To be fair, it wasn’t exactly out of the kindness of his heart because most of the businesses and 80% of the work force here works for the guy or is owned by the guy.

Tyler really is a sweet guy, he just acts tough around his friends and kids at school. The one exception is that he has always been super mean to Scavenger, always picking on him and physically hurting him every chance he got. Today was a new type of cruel and unusual punishment. It’s all my fault, I thought. I know Tyler has anger issues and can’t stand the thought of being out performed by someone he sees as a lesser being. I shouldn’t have told him Scavenger wasn’t late.

I realized my mistake when he looked at me and gave me his signature crooked smile with a wink and said, “I bet he will be now,” and floored it. I don’t think he realized Scavenger was half way in… either that or he didn’t care. Scavenger didn’t even look stunned when Tyler floored it. He almost fell out but pulled himself back in just in time. Tyler slammed on his brakes hard and Scavenger came flying into the front cabin and hit the dash. He didn’t say a word, just turned his head slowly. When his eyes met Tyler’s, Tyler’s grin faded, and he looked terrified. His skin turned pale like he had looked into the eyes of the devil and the devil looked back with a smile.

All of a sudden Tyler was flying out the door with a massive blow from Scavenger’s fist. He was hit so hard that the door of his truck flew off. Tyler tried to throw one punch and Scavenger stopped it with one hand and broke it with the other. Tyler had screamed in pain and let out the biggest “ahhhhhh” I’d ever heard. Scavenger broke the bone even more and every time he would punch it I could hear the snap. I jumped out and ran around the car to see Scavenger holding Tyler up by his neck. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t fight my best friend, but I couldn’t let him hurt my boyfriend anymore. I grabbed Scavenger and pulled him in close and he dropped Tyler to the ground and started to cry. Hearing the sound of him crying was making my eyes water.

He didn’t want to fight Tyler. He was already in a bad place that morning and Tyler just pushed him over the edge, I kept repeating to myself. We both sat there sobbing with the occasional grunt from Tyler who was unconscious due to the noodle he once called an arm. I was so focused on Scavenger feeling better that I didn’t even notice the flashing of red and blue all around us.

“Son?” Sheriff Sims asked.

Scavenger turned around to see the concerned eyes of his father locked on the massacre that had just happened.

“He almost killed me,” Scavenger said with anger behind his calm tone.

“Son, this boy looks like you tried to kill him.”

“It’s true Mr. Sims. Tyler hurt Scavenger,” I said feeling a little guilty for ratting out Tyler.

I explained the whole story to the sheriff, but his expression never changed. It was a pretty horrific scene. An arm isn’t supposed to look like a wet spaghetti noodle.

The paramedics showed up, put Tyler in a temporary cast, and drove him to the hospital. They said he may also have some cracked ribs and a bruised trachea. Scavenger did a real number on him and would’ve done more if I hadn’t stopped him.

Mrs. Cathy, the 80-year-old florist, saw the whole thing and called the police to come help, but her story left out the part where Scavenger had to climb into a moving vehicle at 40mph. She looked at Scavenger like he was a monster. They all looked at him that way: the paramedics, the bystanders on the sidewalk, and even other passing cars. He turned into the new exhibit at the zoo. They all stared at him like he was an animal and only there to satisfy their entertainment. I was getting angry that they were all looking at him like this. They were scared by him and that made me angry. If the roles had been reversed where Tyler broke Scavenger’s arm, he would be considered a hero for mutilating the outcast.

The paramedics checking on Scavenger didn’t want to stay any closer than they had to. He kept twitching and looking around at everyone very confused like and kept asking the paramedics something. I just hope he’s ok. He looked up at me and smiled. It wasn’t a big one, but it was enough to make me smile and I think that cheered him up.

My thinking was rudely interrupted by the roar of an Atom bomb. Yes, Tyler’s father was here with his Ferrari that he loves to rev the engine on. The man came speeding in, slammed on his brakes, and jumped out of the car.

“Where’s my son?” he screamed.

“Atom, he is at the hospital. His arm was very badly broken, and he might be seriously injured. They are running tests on him now,” Sheriff Sims told him.

“Why is that boy not in handcuffs? He has victimized my son and could’ve killed him,” Atom yelled.

I saw his eyes meet Scavenger’s and Scavenger was obviously hoping he would simply fade into the shadows and disappear.

Atom walked towards Scavenger, but Sheriff Sims stopped him and said, “Sir, this is an official police crime scene. There are no unauthorized personnel allowed.”

“You realize this town is mine, right? I own this place, every square inch of it. If I want to go somewhere I’ll go. What I say goes.”

The sheriff clearly understood what he was saying. I didn’t think Atom would pull the “I can ruin your life in one phone call” card. He continued towards Scavenger, but this time Sheriff Sims didn’t stop him. He just looked forward and pretended Atom didn’t just walk into a crime scene to murder his son. Sheriff Sims turned around and looked at Scavenger. Their eyes met, and both were over flowing with tears. Scavenger nodded at his dad then looked at me.

“Come on you don’t want to be late for class,” Scavenger said as he took my hand and ran.

I heard Atom screaming curses as he tried to chase us. He never even got close. Scavenger led us into the labyrinth that we call a forest, and no one knows the forest better than a scavenger.