Chapter 3: Tongue Caressing _Into the Woods

Lucas couldn’t make any sense of what he just read. He has heard the word ‘ALPHA’ before but that’s definitely from his parish priest when he preaches Sunday Homily. He could remember when his parish priest could describe GOD as the ALPHA which means the ‘Beginning.’ For some moments he pondered to himself if what he read meant he would be the next GOD. ‘This might be from GOD,’ he thought to himself. That wouldn’t make sense as GOD won’t send a letter to him telling him he is the next ALPHA.

He wants this to make sense to him but there’s no address on the letter, not even the sender's address. Without any sender’s address, he can’t make contact with the person that sent the letter to him. He slowly opens the door and walks into his apartment narrowing his eyes over and over again at the five-letter words. “What does this mean?” he mutters under his breath.

One thing about Lucas is he never misses Sunday Mass nor has he ever been late. If there is anyone GOD should write to, it should be him. He keeps every dogma of the church and reads his Bible. However, the plain sheet in his hand didn’t make sense to him at all.

“Ding Dong! Ding Dong!” the bells goes interrupting his thoughts.

He quickly rushed to answer the door. Peeping through the peephole to see who it was made him smile. It was Alicia. He quickly opens the door. “Hi!” he smirked as he invited her in and gently shut the door behind him. He offered her a sit and continued. “I’m sorry I didn’t thank you for saving my ass.”

He didn’t get the chance to say proper thank you to Alicia for being the one who revealed the truth about Jack’s lie against him. As he was about to speak further, he noticed Alicia’s countenance wasn’t bright. Something was bothering her. She looks moody. Lucas hastily sat next to her, “What’s the matter?” he asked in a refined tone.

“I broke up with him!” A sob escaped her lips. She couldn’t hold back herself anymore. After she confronted Jack and presented her proof to her father, Jack was disappointed in her and wanted to know why she could betray him. Alicia however, couldn’t let Jack keep acting like a real jackass and still pose around with her as his girlfriend. He has to call off the relationship even though it was hard for her.

Lucas after he has wiped away Alicia’s tears offers her his shoulder to rest on. “I understand how it is to let go of the one you love because of his behavior, I’m sorry it has to be because of me.”

“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not on you,” Alicia whispered in a soft soothing tone.

“This shows you are a true friend.” Lucas gently pats her on the back in appreciation for what she has to sacrifice for him.

“What will I do to forget about him?”

“Get yourself occupied.”

“Occupied like this?” Alicia removed her head from Lucas’ shoulder and brought her lips close to Lucas'. She kissed him and threw her arms around him. As the kissing was going deep, Lucas threw away the piece of paper and wrapped his arms around Alicia’s waist. It was a soft touch of their both lips and their tongues caressing together passionately.

Not quite long after they both went deep in expressing their burning desires, Alicia caught a glimpse of the plain sheet as she quickly pulled away from Lucas. What caught her attention were the written five words. She picked it up and then read aloud the five written words. ‘YOU ARE THE NEXT ALPHA.’ She cast a searing gaze on Lucas and with curiosity she asked, “What does this mean?”

“I have no idea. I just got it from the porch.”

“There’s no address on the white envelope?” Alicia bends to pick up the white envelope. She narrowed down her eyes at it and then switched her gaze to Lucas. “Where did this come from?” she asked sternly.

“I have no idea.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“What exactly are you thinking?”

“This might be from Jack the jackass, don’t you think so?”

Lucas breaks into a silent soft laugh on hearing Alicia say: 'Jack the Jackass.' “Nah! Why would you think so?”

“Perhaps he wants to… Well, never mind. I’m not sure. Let’s just hope it’s not him.”

“I hope so.”

“There’s this complex question I want you to help me with. Teach me how…”

Alicia’s words were pushed back to her throat by a loud knock on the front door of Lucas’ apartment. The knock was so loud as if the door was being hit with a hammer. Lucas quickly rushed to the door to find out who it was. He forgot to peep through the peephole. Immediately he opened the door, a punch landed on him followed by a kick to the lower abdomen.

“Jack, have you gone nuts?” Alicia yelled.

It’s obvious that Jack followed Lucas home and it’s quite obvious that Lucas didn’t listen to Jack’s warning when he asked him to stay away from Alicia. Something about Jack is, he never listens either. He takes advantage of his father being a congressman to behave like a 'jackass' Alicia called him. He gives no listening ear to the school rules or even respects the law. He wants to let his anger out on Lucas for getting him suspended and for still hanging out with Alicia. He drags Lucas to his feet and lands him another punch.

Alicia wanted to help but he pushed her towards Philip. “Take her to the truck!” said Jack. He makes his way to Lucas and drags him up once more. “I told you to stay away from her, didn’t I?”

“You will not get away with this,” Lucas mutters. He is used to Jack’s beating but this very punch is times two of what Jack has been giving him.

“You are wrong; I have already gotten away with this!” Jack held Lucas to the wall and punched him severely in his abdomen. He brought his face closer to Lucas' and whispered to him, “Your father will never save you from what I have in store for you.” He dragged Lucas out of his apartment like a beat-down criminal.

Jack made sure no one was watching as he dragged Lucas to the truck. After he pushed Lucas into the truck, he drove out.

“What is wrong with you?” Alicia yelled. She was seated in the back seat of the truck with Lucas who was still trying to catch his breath. Philip was seated at the front with Jack on the wheels.

“You shouldn’t have called off the relationship because of him. You betrayed me and now you are with him, huh!” Jack snapped back at Alicia. Although he still loves her, he is filled with the rage of anger. He wants Lucas to pay for getting him suspended and not listening to stay away from Alicia.

“Don’t do this, whatever you think you want to do,” Lucas squeezes out a few words in his dying breath. He is still feeling pain from the punches and kicking he received from Jack a while ago. No one has an idea of where Jack is taking them but someone should better talk him out of this madness before it gets too late.

“Keep your mouth shut!” Jack yelled as he gazed at Lucas from the rear mirror. He was driving as fast as he could.

“Where are you taking us to?” Alicia asked in a faded tone. She couldn't believe what was happening at the moment. This time, Jack has gone far.

“Sit tight love, you don’t want to be part of this,” Jack replied focusing on the wheels.

SOME MINUTES LATER:

Driving about two miles to the wooded area, Jack was fast enough to see a police patrol car ahead. The patrol car seems to have pulled over and the officer seems to be giving out a ticket to over speeding driver. He didn’t want Lucas and Alicia to scream for the officer's help so he quickly swerved into the woods with the hope of finding another route but unfortunately for them, he followed the wrong way. He didn’t know he was heading for a greenish swarm of alligators.

Jack’s blue truck rammed into an almond tree. The almond tree prevents the blue truck from diving further into the greenish swarm. Too bad Jack and Philip hit their head so hard as a result of the rough crash into the almond tree. There’s no one to get help for them. The patrol officer didn’t see Jack swerving off the road, they were all alone and it was already getting dark.

Lucas realizing what had happened tried to open the door but the door was stuck. “Are you alright?” he glanced at Alicia.

“I will live!”Alicia replied in a tiny little voice of her.

Lucas hastily tried the left door to see if it would open but the door was stuck as well. “Oh no!” he cried out. “This is your doing Jackass!” he hauled insult on Jack. There was no response unlike Jack who would reply to everything said to him.

“Something is not right,” said Alicia as she quickly removed her seatbelt. She began to shake Jack but he wasn’t responding.

Lucas didn't pay much attention to Jack or his buddy Philip. All he could think of was how to get out of the mess with Alicia. An idea came to him. Good thing he has seen a lot of movies and how people in his situation got away. With his elbow, he broke the windscreen. “We need to find a way out first and get help.”

“I can feel his pulse but he isn’t moving.”

“What about Philip, can you feel his pulse too?”

“Yes, and they are both bleeding from the nostrils.”

“Reach for their phone, we could use it and call for help.”

Lucas isn’t with his phone and neither is Alicia. They were pulled out of the house without anything on them. Lucas slowly climbs out and gestures to Alicia to get their phones and climb out.

“They have no phone on them!”

“No! No! This can’t be true. Check again!”

“I have but there’s no phone.”

“Check the pigeonhole!”

Alicia hastily pulled open the pigeonhole but there wasn’t any phone in there too. It’s already dark and the full moon appeared from behind a blanket of dark gray clouds. They could barely see with just the source of the light from the moon.

Alicia cast a terrified glance at Lucas and whispered in a frightened voice. “We need to get help from the roadside, help me out.”

Lucas didn’t hesitate, he drew closer to help Alicia out but as the moon cast aside its cloudy veil, she caught a glimpse of the glowing half-green eye of a hairy beasty creature staring from behind an oak tree a few paces away from them. Its sharp fangs and claws glistened in the dark. “Lucas, turn around,” she mutters in a frightened voice.

“What’s the matter?” Lucas asked as he flicked around.

“Something is watching.”

“I can’t see anything.” Lucas’ eyes were fixed toward the direction of the oak tree but didn’t see anything or anyone.

“Maybe it’s gone.”

“Is an illusion because you are afraid of the dark, we need to get to the roadside and get help.”

Lucas helped Alicia climb out of the car. She firmly held Lucas as they both made a turn toward the roadside.

Heading towards the roadside, they heard a loud growling from behind. This growling pierced through their ears and caused their heart to skip. Slowly they turned only to behold a 12 feet tall hairy beasty creature with half-green eyes before them. The creature has a snout, fangs in place of teeth, and claws in place of fingers.

“Run!” yelled Lucas.

The moon peeped through the oak tree leaves and faintly lit up the dark path ahead. Alicia flicked around and ran as fast as she could, thinking Lucas was right behind her. Before Lucas could flick around to run too, the 12-foot-tall hairy beasty creature pounced at Lucas. The creature buried its fangs into his neck and its claws into his lower abdomen. Pulling out its claws and fangs from Lucas, the creature scratched his chest and then fanged him on the chest. The pain was so excruciating that he had lost his voice to even scream out loud.

Lucas’ eyes began to close slowly as he fought through the agonizing moment of his life. His thought flashed back to his late mother whom the police department believed was killed by a wild bear. Perhaps his fate with her mother is the same. It’s quite clear now that he has to die like his mother.

Alicia let out a loud cry. She became paralyzed in fear that she couldn’t move. The loud cry drew the creature’s attention toward her as the creature switched its attention to her. The creature growled sniffing out smoke from its nostrils.