*Appears onstage surrounded by sparks of electricity*
Finally...it took me three whole months to finish this. I'm not complaining though. It gave me enough time to put my ideas into words. I hope its as good as people expected it to be (and by people I mean you MHM). Also, just for the lols and as a tribute to my fellow writers Emerald Flint and MHM, I've added a few short beyond the 4th wall moments to give off a comical effect. Also I finished this off quickly without proper proofreading or editing so please don't rage on me for grammatical or spelling errors. I've been too busy. Sorry again for the long wait.
AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO... CHAPTER 3!!!
Story so far…
The group of kids led by Arnold
join up with Justice’s crew after escaping the destruction of their home and
the betrayal of the adults. However using one of Damian’s ingenious inventions
they realise Diana is still alive and save her from the wreckage. Meanwhile
Damian who was apparently saved by Simon makes his way to rendezvous with his
team and along the way meets a mysterious boy with supernatural abilities –
Malcolm Grimshaw Braddock – and a mutant wolf. After joining up they all go and
find the portal that could possibly take them out of the island, however….
Philip wasn’t
the type to believe in miracles. Years of training had taught him that if
things are going exactly as you want them to go then it either means that the
plan is being carried out perfectly or that you falling into a trap. And because
over 85% of the time it was the latter, Philip didn’t think this portal was
going to get them anywhere, and he was right. The moment he stepped on the
other side he knew he had simply been transported to a different part of the
island. The first thing he saw was an enormous Gas Mask looking curiously at the figure that
was emerging from the portal that had randomly opened up in front of it.
Philip didn’t
give it the time to react. His movement was too fast for the Soldier to
intercept. Philip shifted left and right keeping the creature at bay by his
seemingly uncoordinated jumping. With swift movement of feet he was behind the man.
The soldier spun around trying to get his gun to aim properly at the boy.
Philip quickly slid into the creatures blind spot before taking it down with a
quick kick to the jaw and rapid finger stabs to the ribs. The gun had already
fallen out of the soldier’s reach and before it could get to it Philip broke
its arm. The other arm reached out to grab the boy but he jumped out of reach
before picking up the fallen weapon and shooting at the soldier at point blank.
Philip
quietly wiped a tear from his eye. “I am sorry,” he whispered. For all that he
was Philip was a pacifist. His training was only for self-defence and not to be
used in lethal manner. He didn’t like killing. His trainers had only given him
the means for infiltration and information gathering. Not to become a cold
hearted killer.
Philip
pointed the gun at the bush nearby without looking up. “If whoever out there is
a person please speak up now or I will be forced to attack,” he called getting
ready for either an attack or an embrace.
“I’m human!
I’m human!”was the reply. Philip lowered his weapon but didn’t lose his
tension. A girl slowly walked her way into the clearing hands held up to show
that she didn’t pose a threat. Philip knew her. She had been the one who kissed
Roger when they before they jumped through the portal. “Not bad. I was doing
all I could to hide my presence but you still sensed me being there,” she said
giving him a cool smile. “I can’t expect any less from a fellow ISAC agent.”
Philip gazed
at the girl for a while not moving from his spot. He realised that morning that
he had known the girl long before they met in Justice’s camp the previous day
but he had kept his mouth shut. Now they were alone and he didn’t have to worry
about revealing what he knew. “You are agent 747. Code name Alana Whippet aka
The Flirtatious Fatale. A three star agent. Excellent at close combat and
tactical analysis. Worked in the Terrorist Exploitation Operation in Iraq at
the age of ten. Moved to the island four years ago. Mission, hunting a group of
agents – my group that is - who disappeared and to gather Intel on GeneTech.
Real name Jacki Frasier Rides. Australian.”
Jacki’s grin
widened. “I see you did your homework. I like a guy who’s insightful and can
fight.”
She stepped
forward hands still raised and the grin still in place. “That’s right. I’m also
a prodigy like you, brought up by the same organisation in the same way you
were brought up. And just like you I did my own homework. You’re agent 666.
Code named Philip De Ville aka The Devil Child. Five star, meaning two ranks
above me and considered one of the best field operators of ISAC. Moved to the
island five years ago at the age of nine along with another minor agent and an
adult supervisor as a ‘family’, after completing three consecutive missions all
having to do with the Green Dragon Triad in China, to uncover the obscure plans
made by the multimillionaire Jonas Blunt and his Co-operatives. Real name Darren
Ozymandias Cold. British.”
Philip
finally relaxed and turned away. “Don’t call me by that name,” he growled
before he started walking. “It’s Philip.”
Jacki gave
him a puzzled look before walking after him. “Wait up! I have to talk to you
about something.”
“Not now.”
“But...”
Philip turned around and faced her. “Look I get it. You have tonnes of
questions to ask, I get it, but can we leave that for some other time? There is
someone really important I have to meet.”
Philip didn’t
let her answer. He had pressing issues
to tend to. If what he thought was correct there may be a chance that all the
kids could get to the South of the island, but that was going to depend on the
certain someone he was going to see.
Neither of
them saw the red faces peering at them from within the trees above them with
both curiosity and something more sinister in their eyes.
Prey...meat...hungry...
“Whew,”
puffed Arnold as he felt solid ground beneath him. “That jump felt like an
eternity.”
Malcolm glared up at the sky. “Yeah. Felt like twelve months.”
Arnold looked
at him confused. “Eleven months?”
“Yeah,”
Malcolm replied without taking his eyes away from the sky, then quickly looked
at the other boy realising what he just said. “Ah…I mean…don’t mind me. I’m just
blabbering again.”
Arnold shook
his head. “You are one weird dude Malcolm. Now come on we have to go find the
others. The tracking and communicating devices Damian built aren’t working
anymore. That portal must’ve done something to them.”
Malcolm watched
the other boy walk away then turned back to the sky. With one last hideous
glare and a rude gesture at a passing cloud he ran after Arnold grumbling
something to himself about irresponsible writers.
Somewhere far away in a world
similar to this but a lot more scary and depressing…
A bespectacled thin boy looked up
from the script in front of him to a dark skinned depressed boy who was also
bespectacled and was sitting two tables away from him typing away on a
computer, his eyes widening.
“I think he knows,” whispered the
thin boy.
“Don’t look at me,” replied the depressed boy trying not to show the bemusement
in his voice. “Emerald…I mean Death was the one who abandoned them without
continuing the story.”
“Why are you calling her Death
anyways? Aren’t you the one who killed of more than two characters in just the
first story?”
“You brought ‘em back!”
“Actually, I brought one back. The
other one is just a plan.”
“Uh... no, you completely ignored
the third guy I killed off in Lockdown City and randomly brought him back and
didn’t realise it.”
“I did?”
“Yeah,” the dark skinned boy
pointed at a name on the screen. “This guy was supposed to be dead.”
“He was?”
“There,” the dark skinned boy
pointed at the same name on a different screen. “He’s supposed to be dead. It
says clearly.”
“Oh.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Okay. You know what? Let’s not do
this. Our problem right now is this annoyingDeadpool wannabe who is breaking
the damn fourth wall every time.”
“You made him. He’s your
responsibility. But I am happy to kill him off you know. I can make it as
brutal and merciless and psychotic and…”
“Ok. That’s enough. Forget that I
even asked for your help.”
“No, no, wait. How about a less
violent way I can let be killed by being smothered by flowers or...”
“Dude! I said enough. We aren’t
killing him off. Like you said he’s my responsibility.”
“Fine.”
“....”
“....”
“Are you sulking?”
“No.”
“You are sulking.”
“No I’m not.”
“....”
“....”
And now, back to our story...
Slaw.
He had no
idea why he came up with that last name. His first name had a great story
behind it. His last name was just something he came up with on his own. Maybe
he felt out of place without a last name. All humans had last names. This was
ironic in two ways. Firstly he hated humans. They were purposeless and
illogical beings that thought using emotions. The few who actually ignored
emotions and used logical thoughts were also useless. They were selfish didn’t
seem to benefit other humans in any way. Most of these unemotional humans did
things that were harmful and unethical to fellow human beings instead of using
it for the advance of evolution and knowledge. Sometimes the ones with emotions
also did this. Sometimes when the emotionless ones did do things that were
logical and beneficial to humans, they are instantly named cold and heartless
just because these methods apathetic to feelings. They made rules to be
followed by other humans but most ended up breaking them. No matter how you
look at them they were hopeless. Trying to keep up with and understand humans
was like trying to find a needle in an island made of hay. The second irony
here was that he was not a human. Peter Slaw was manmade, created in a lab
using the DNA of the only human he had any respect to yet hated more deeply
than any other. Even then things had gone wrong scarring him for life. Where
his hair should be there were long red extremely thin blood-filled veins. He
could literally count how many he had. They never grew and never increased in
numbers. However he felt a strange pride in having them there. It was like
saying “I am not a pathetic human subspecies, I am better.”
The thought
of his ‘hair’ temporarily diverted Peter’s attention. He smiled to himself as
he ran his fingers through the rubbery wiry organs on top of his head before
being called back to reality by his assistant. “Peter! Focus!” snapped Amanda. “Sorry,”
Peter replied shrugging showing that he was not sorry in the least. Amanda
shook her head in disbelief before looking down at the corpse lying at their
feet. She prodded the head with a stick before continuing her inquiry. “So what
you are saying is that this body here is not Simon, but instead a copy created
by one of his many abilities?”
“Correct,”
replied Peter. “It’s true that Simon is practically immortal like me but that
doesn’t mean he will just recklessly dress up as me and try to infiltrate my
own base. If he needs to find something he can simply create a modified copy
and send it here to do his work.”
“I see,”
nodded Amanda letting her eyes gaze around the body. “So, what do you think he
was after?”
“Probably
trying to track down Scarjaw,” replied the boy. “Well, whether he succeeded or
not our mission has been carried out perfectly. Scarjaw has taken all the
adults to be fed to the Master. Now the self-destruction process can officially
begin. All we need now is Simon to go and speed things up and for me to be
there to get the power that will help the Master achieve his goal and to kill
that meddlesome loser. If he really did find what he was looking for then that’s
actually good news for us.”
“Won’t Simon
be able to use the information to stop all this from happening and ruin our
plans?”
“Amanda, honey,
how many times do I have to explain this to you? Everything has been planned
and pre-set, even that meddlesome Simon knows that. There’s nothing Simon, me
or any other third party can do to stop this and even if they did it’s not
going help them. Plus it just means everything is going to take longer. Simon
knows that the first phase has already begun.”
“Oh.”
“Of course,
we can’t be so optimistic for long. The moment phase one is over Simon has to
be eliminated ASAP. The second phase is still inconclusive and whoever makes
the first move or the best move will be the one to win. If Simon gets off this
island alive before it self-destructs then we will be in a pickle.”
“But you said
that if the island self-destructs, you will gain the power to help the master
and the power to kill Simon. Won’t it be easy to kill him then?”
“It is not as
simple as that. I may gain powers that can mirror the ones Simon has but I can
only get the power to kill Simon when he gets the power that can kill me. We
are polar opposites in more ways than one but yet similar. If Simon develops
that ability after he leaves the island then I will not be able to kill him
that easily. Even now I am way weaker than him. The only abilities I have are
blood control, telepathy and unmatched healing. Simon also has the ability to
gain the powers of any mutant he comes in contact with, which basically makes
him an omnipotent god.”
“Is there any
way to beat him? A weakness maybe?”
“Yes,
actually.”
Amanda finally
looked up from the corpse interested. “Really? What is it?”
“Are you that
keen on killing him yourself?” asked Peter amused.
“He killed my
dad Peter. I have every right to pay him back for all the misery he caused me.”
Peter
laughed. “The three beasts. His abilities sort of “turn off” when he is facing
them. They are the only beings that can beat him.”
Amanda looked
away for a few moments thinking about what Peter just said. Peter chuckled to
himself. He could literally see the hate and blood thirst coming off Amanda
right then. She hated Simon with everything she had. After a while she finally
spoke. “Have you heard from our spy? Has he found the mutant with Unlimited
Solution?”
“Not yet. I
am planning to contact him soon. Those kids are starting to annoy me. He should
get rid of them quickly but you know how he is. He prefers to bond with his
prey before hunting them and seeing them suffer at his hands as they perish. It
gives him a sort of perverse pleasure.”
“He’s a
bigger psycho than you are.”
Peter laughed
at this. “Sorry to disappoint you but nobody is a bigger psycho than me.”
“Did you
enjoy the book?”
The boy
sitting at the far end of the room looked up. “I think you mistook me for the
other copy. But from what I see from our shared memory I did enjoy the book but
I prefer Tom Clancy novels now.”
The Sewer
Master nodded. “Then where did that copy go off to?”
“Right now
he’s standing at what used to be the front entrance of the Shopping Complex
waiting for someone.”
“I see.”
Simon got off
his chair and walked over to the old figure. “So what’s up? Why did you call me
here?”
“That,” said
the Sewer Master pointing at the operating table. The boy lying on it was
mangled and mauled. There were stab wounds on the stomach and most of his body
was charred. “I found him in one of the rooms of the same Complex your copy is…
I mean Simon’s copy is…I mean…ok, you know what I’ll just call you C1 and the
other guy C2. Anyways, I think his name is Samson Heffet. At least that’s what
his memory trace tells me.”
“Ok. What
about it? You need me to help you bury him or something? Cos if that’s the reason
you called me here I’m leaving.”
“Not quite,”
replied the old man. “Remember the Ultra Soldiers Project of GeneTech that we
stopped three years ago?”
“You mean
when GeneTech tried to produce Bionic Soldiers when they realised the Gas Masks
were not very reliable? The time when I destroyed the Research and Information
Tech building? Yeah I remember that. Good times. Blew up a lot of stuff that
day. And didn’t even hurt a single innocent civilian, not that there were many
left to hurt.”
“Yeah, well I
managed to save one of the Bio-droids during that carnage.”
“What?” C1
asked baffled at the revelation. Why did the Sewer Master save one of those
scrap metal anyway? Those things had been a lot harder to deal with than the
Gas Mask. Also what does that had to do with the current situation?
C1’s eyes
widened when it hit him.
“You are not
trying to do what I think you are trying to do are you?”
The Sewer
Master grinned – If you could call it that – sheepishly. C1 glared at him in
shock and anger.
“No! I
refuse! That’s a horrible thing to do! Get rid of that body immediately!”
“WHERE IS
HE?”
Simon – or
the copy of Simon – looked up at the enormous creature that was holding him
down. She was obviously feminine despite her abnormal masculine features. Her
wings were at least twice as big as her. Her body was pitch black and twisted
at angle that would cause a human a back pain just by looking at it. Muscles
bulged here and there irregularly giving her the form of some sort of winged
black lump. Her eyes were glowing green like those of a serpent. Even her fangs
could’ve been compared to those of a snake. Yet strangely enough her head was
the only part of her body that showed anything human. Despite the two sharp
fangs that pointed down from within her mouth she had the face of a female
human. Her hair was pure white which stood out well against her dark body.
“The Copy
smiled. “It’s good to see you again Angel. How is the Southern Sector
nowadays?”
“Don’t screw
with me!” hissed the Dark Angel. “Where is Philip? You told me he’d be safe!
You told me he won’t be hurt! Where the heck is he? I’m telling you boy, if
anything happened to him I’ll…”
The Angel
trailed off before slumping down, her hands falling to her sides from Simon’s
chest. She soon started to weep softly repeating the word “Philip” to herself
again and again as the Copy got up and dusted himself. “Philip is fine,” he
replied before walking over to the wrecked front entrance of the Shopping
Complex.
This was the only thing that was still
standing after the incident two nights ago. Everything else had either burnt down
or sank into the ground or both. “Right now he and a small group of kids are
stuck at the border between North, South and East. They are planning to make
route for the Southern Sector to find the escape route.”
He turned
back to the Angel. “Did you track his scent?”
Angel nodded.
“Yeah. Last time I came here there was a dead girl. I was able to revive her.
Then I went after Philip’s scent. It led me directly back to this place and
then away from here except this time there was no girl. The scent eventually
ended at that spot south from here.
There
was a big gate thing there and there was no trace of them after that.”
“Yeah, I
know. On the day this place collapsed I saved a boy. I sent him with the
activator to that portal hoping they will get off the island in one piece.
Guess the damn thing is as useless as ever.”
“Is that how
they landed in the border without leaving any traces?”
“Yes. But now
we have an issue. There was an enormous group of kids at the start but after
they went through that get they all got split up. Now they are all travelling
in small groups.”
The Copy sighed
and looked up at the clouds moving across the pale grey sky. To him the large
seemed like a skull. “They will be easy picking to the Fang Apes. Tonight’s a
full moon. Fang Apes go berserk on full moons. Those kids will be in brave
danger if that happens unless they are in large groups.”
“Does that
mean Philip is in danger?” asked Angel not hiding the concern in her voice.
“Maybe,” replied Copy his eyes still on the clouds. “We can’t ignore the fact
that this also means they can move faster as now they all have less people in
their groups. But now I can’t keep my eyes on all of them.”
“What do you
mean keep your eyes on them?”
“The real
Simon didn’t want Peter to know his whereabouts. As you know that guy has the
ability to sense emission from mutant bodies like Simon. And Simon being the
most powerful mutant around emits way too much. So four months ago he created
four copies of himself each embodying a certain emotion and sent them out. Then
he himself created a disguise that cloaked his emission and went along with the
kids. Nobody, not even the kids who he went with knows about this. Right now
Simon’s hiding under their noses and keeping an eye on them while staying away
from Peter’s grasp. However I think our friend Philip may have figured him
out.”
Copy looked
down to face the Angel. “Anyways I…” he stopped when he realised the Angel
wasn’t listening. Her nose was in the air sniffing something out. “Something’s
wrong,” she snarled turning away from the Complex. “I’m picking up a sent that
wasn’t here when I was last here.”
“Probably a
Death Hound. They may have been attracted by the blood.”
“No, this is
human,” she said as her wings started to flap. “And it starts from within the
complex.”
“What do you
mean from within the complex? And why didn’t you pick it up before?”
“I think
there was someone still alive inside this wreck when I last came here. He probably
climbed out after I left.”
She took a
deep breath then frowned. “What the hell?”
“What’s
wrong?” called Copy looking up at the creature flying at about seven meters
above him.
“It’s not
following the scent of the other kids. It’s going west.”
“Whoever this
person is they must’ve no idea where the others are going.”
“How come?”
“They must
have crawled out of the rubble after all of them had come back and left. That’s
why the trail is fresh and also why you didn’t see them the last time. Can you
follow this scent? Maybe we could help the guy get back with his mates.”
The Angel
nodded before flying in the direction of the scent with the Copy following close
behind.
Damian looked up at the older boy
with a confused look on his face. “The Unlimited Solution?”
“Yes,” nodded Simon. “It’s an
ability which helps you to survive in any situation. Let’s say you find
yourself in the path of an oncoming train. The Unlimited Solution can provide
you with either super strength to stop the train or give you armour that
prevents you from getting killed.”
“And you say I have this?”
“Yes. That’s how you survived that
fall.”
Damian looked even more confused
than before. “And you are saying that I had this since I was small? Since
before I came to this island?”
“Yes.”
“But that’s absurd! If I had a
super power for that long, then I would’ve noticed wouldn’t I?”
“Not exactly,” replied Simon.
“Certain abilities develop but don’t show themselves openly to the users
themselves. Your ability probably helped you get top scores in your classes or
something like that. You probably believed this your own hard work.”
“That can’t...” Damian stopped
himself. It was true that he had been the top student in his class. He was even
considered a genius amongst his peers – an unnaturally talented genius. All of
that was fake? They weren’t the fruits of his hard work? Damian felt
heartbroken. He threw the other boy another question.
“The how did you know that I
developed my powers outside of the island?”
“Because I can’t copy and collect
the abilities of anyone who developed abilities out of this Island like me. I
can only collect abilities of those who developed powers within the island. I
tried to collect your abilities but I couldn’t do it.”
“Oh. Why is that?”
“You know how opposites attract
and likes repel? How positive attracts negative but repels positives? Well
think of the island as the negative of my positive and everything out of this
island as a positive similar to my positive. Powers of others, who developed
them outside of here, repel me but powers developed here attract me.”
“That’s a weirdly understandable analogy.”
“But the truth is I knew about you
for a long time.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I had been following you
since your house burned down.”
“What?!”
“Sorry but yeah. That’s how I
managed to hide the activator key in your dad’s locket.”
“Damie!”
The voice
broke Damian out of his thoughts. The memories of that day have been playing
and replaying in his mind like a broken record. He looked down to see a
familiar face looking up at him. “Sup, Damie!” Jamie grinned at the older boy
holding his palms out for a high five. Damian smiled back at the eight year old
before giving him his long awaited greeting. “Have you seen Arnie anywhere?” he
asked looking around for his elder sibling. Damian shook his head. He and Kumar
had managed to find about twenty kids but Arnold along with many others was missing.
“Sorry, Jamie,” sighed Damian trying hide mask his concern, “but I couldn’t
find him anywhere, but don’t worry. Your brother is a tough one, hard to
crack. I’m sure he’s fine.”
“You think
so?” inquired the worried youngster.
“Yeah, don’t
worry. I bet he’s leading all those other kids towards the escape route right
now. We’ll catch up to him soon.”
Jamie nodded
and smiled. “My big bro is strong. He’ll be okay. I know it. Later, Damie.”
Damian
watched the boy walk off to chat with a bunch of boys around his age. He smiled
but he could feel the sharp tingling in his chest. Where the hell are you Arnold?
“Damian!”
Now what?
“Damian
turned around to find Tish, one of the girls from Justice’s crew walking
towards him. “We couldn’t find anyone else. But we did find some Death Hound
tracks. We believe they may return to this spot.”
Crap.
Damian knew
what that meant. “Assemble all of the kids. Bring in any division leaders you
could find. We need to move south.”
Tish nodded
and walked away. Damian looked back at the kids playing in front of him. Some
were crying for their lost siblings while the others were enjoying the open
area with ignorance to the dangers of their surroundings. He smiled and looked
up. Their lives are lot easier.
A lone cloud
moved solemnly in the distance. Or maybe
they are just denying the truth to be able to live a little longer.
“How many are
there?”
“Twenty
four.”
Philip
slumped on the soft grass exhausted. Jacki felt sorry the boy. The two of them
along with another division leader, Raymond, had been finding and gathering the
kids who had landed at the same area as them. Jacki gave him a sympathetic
look. He had been trying to keep together the younger ones from running off to
look for their siblings and friends. There were only six grown kids in the
group and all the others were under nines. “Oh, cheer up pal,” she said gently,
“at least we’ve found this many and they are all alive. That’s something
right.”
Philip looked
up at the girl and nodded. “Yeah. That is
good news I guess.”
He thought
for a while. “Hey, Jacki can you gather up the six older kids for me?”
“Sure,” the
girl nodded before walking away. Philip closed his eyes and laid his head down.
The ground felt comfortable. For a second he thought he could just die here and
be over with all this. He had died before. And then he had come back. That felt
like a long time ago. She had saved
him that day. He could still remember her green eyes and black wings as she
carried him away from those psychos in blue jumpers. He remembered everything
about that day. He didn’t want to. He wanted them out of his head. He didn’t
want to remember the way his entire team was wiped out that day. He didn’t want
to remember the way his “sister” looked at him in her final moments. He didn’t
want to remember the way his “father’s” body shook and shuttered like a strange
dance of death when his body got showered with bullets. They hadn’t been his
real family of course, but the three of them had bonded like a real one on
those three months they had been together. Philip wanted that back. His own
family had abandoned him a long time ago and he had joined that organisation
soon afterwards. For a boy who had been training as an espionage agent for most
of his life, to feel something like that after a long time had been amazing.
When he
opened his eyes everything was blurry and he felt a warm trickle down his
cheek. “Damn,” he cursed before getting up and wiping his eyes. He must have
seen it coming. They knew this mission was too obscure, that it had too many
uncertainties about it. After he was abandoned ISAC adopted him due to his
unmatched intelligence. The people who took him in were two of ISAC’s best
doctors. They had also died in their own mission and Philip had promised
himself that he will continue their legacy by becoming the best ISAC had. He
didn’t want to become too attached to anyone after that. Yet when his new
“family” bonded over dinner every night after a long day of infiltration and
information gathering they had almost started to look like a real family and he
had wanted to protect them no matter what. They
are all gone now said a voice in his head. Every single person you ever cared about are dead and there is nothing
you could do about it.
Philip closed
his eyes and took a deep breath. No.
There is still something I can do. I can escape from this wretched pile of mud
and give ISAC all the info I have on GeneTech. I can expose the truth to the
world. That’s how I will have my revenge. That’s how I will punish those
monsters that killed my comrades.
He got up and
looked around before walking into the camp. There was a certain individual he
had wanted to see but he hadn’t landed in that area. Philip knew he had seen
him today with the others before they had jumped through that portal. It had to
be him. He had seen him in that
disguise before. It was in that disguise that he had saved Philip once before.
He had to find him. He was their only hope.
“I just
caught another scent,” hissed the winged Beast as it scanned the surroundings.
“Wait there is three more, and they are all human.”
“Are they
moving together?” asked Copy as he ran after her.
“Yes.”
“Is the old
scent still there?”
“Yes.”
“Then that
means they’ve all joined together to form a group. Good for them. How fresh is
trail?”
“They’ve moved
this far since yesterday, but with my flight and your Super Speed and my flight
we’ve done that in thirty minutes.”
“Then I guess
we can catch up to them real soon.”
“Yeah I … uh
oh,” gasped the bird woman in mid-sentence.
“What’s
wrong?” the Copy asked still moving at 70 km/h.
“Death
Hounds,” replied Angel her tone holding dread at its edge before accelerating
in the direction of the scent.
Copy didn’t
need to ask any more than that. Increasing his speed to 200km/h so that he
could match with the speed of the Angel and followed her closely fearing what
he might find at the end of the trial.
“We’ll make
camp here.”
Arnold looked
at their surroundings. There were trees looking down on them on all sides. “Are
you sure Kumar? There could be things in this forest that we don’t know about.”
“Would you
rather sleep out in the open where there is no cover for us to hide from
incoming danger?”
“Good point.”
“Oi, Malcolm,”
called Kumar as he looked for the spiky haired boy.
“Here,” came
the reply and a small yet muscular figure jumped down from a nearby tree.
“What the
heck were you doing up there?”
“Oh, just
having a friendlychat with the gods.”
After looking
at their puzzled faces he added, “And checking for danger.”
“Stop
screwing around and tell us what you found.”
“There ain’t
nothing dangerous here. We’re in the green.”
Kumar gave a
sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good.”
Arnold still
looked unsure. “Let’s keep some lookouts still. You know, for just in case.”
Kumar nodded
in agreement. “Sure, better safe than sorry I suppose.”
He turned to
the two division leaders that had managed land there with him. “Howard! Ghi!
You take two kids each and keep watch. It’s going to get dark soon so we need
lookouts.
“We also need
scavenger parties to hunt for food and wood for the fire,’ added Arnold.
As the four
started making their plans Malcolm walked off towards the injured kids they had
found. There had been six of them. Two had been injured in the fight they had
with the Gas Masks prior to jumping the gate. Two of them had been attacked by
some wild ape like creatures directly after jumping. And one of those two had
been Justice. Malcolm saw the boy sit up as he approached.
“How are you
feeling?”
“Like crap.”
Malcolm
laughed sitting next to the brown haired boy. “Well at least you ain’t dead.”
“Humph!” grunted
Justice unsatisfied. He then gave a brief glance at the spikey haired boy
sitting next to him. His white hair seemed to glow in the sunlight. “Hey...Um…About
your…Uh…Power?”
“Hm?” Malcolm’s
purple eyes gave him a questioning look.
“You said you
got your powers from genetic experimentations. Is it true?”
“Well...Kinda...”
“What do you
mean ‘kinda’?”
“It’s
complicated. These powers actually belonged to someone else.”
“Someone
else?”
“Yeah,
someone else. I was just a regular kid you see. There was this girl who had
telekinesis. They wanted to see if they could take those powers from her and
transport it to someone else. All the results ended in failure. But then they
found that kid. He could copy the powers of anyone who has them and use them
for himself or distribute them to others. He also had an unusual healing
factor, like Wolverine from the X-men.”
Malcolm
slowly lifted a few pebbles with his mind and started spinning them. “They
forced him to become their test subject. I think they took someone hostage or
something. In the end he surrendered himself and the experiment was a success…and
I was the result.”
Justice
hadn’t taken the eyes off this boy since he started his story. At each full
stop his questions had only increased. “Then how did those two kids develop their
powers?”
Malcolm
shrugged. “No idea.”
Justice
wasn’t fully convinced about Malcolm’s story. “You want me to believe all
that?”
“Believe what
you want,” replied Malcolm simply his eyes still on the floating pebbles.
Justice
looked away for a moment. There was no reason for to Malcolm to come up with
some elaborate lie. It wasn’t going to get him anything. And Justice had seen
enough things on this island that had already gone beyond the rules of logic.
He looked back at the white haired boy. “Okay I believe you. But who do you
mean exactly when you say ‘they’?”
“Those sadistic
bastards at GeneTech.”
Justice
nodded. He had suspected as much. “How did you escape?”
Malcolm
dropped the pebbles. There was a strange look in his eyes. For a moment he
looked vulnerable which wasn’t something Justice had seen in this boy during
the eight hours he had been with him. Malcolm finally replied. “Someone saved
me.”
Justice
wanted ask who but the look in Malcolm’s eye made him move onto his next
question. “Then what happened to the boy and the girl?”
“I know for
certain that both of them escaped but I don’t know what happened to the girl
after that.”
“Then the
boy?”
Malcolm got
up and stretched. “Lots of people know about him,” he said as he started to
walk away. “That psycho was all over the news when he massacred those seven
Co-operatives five years ago along with fifty employees.”
Philip looked
at the seven kids in front of him. He knew he had to ensure they’ll follow
orders as he didn’t have time for unnecessary fights. He carefully observed
each of them taking in as much as he can in the little time he had which was
easy for his highly skilled brain. The first was Jacki who he knew well. The
next was a short blonde square faced boy with freckles all over his face and a
smile that showed extremely high amount of optimism. From what he had heard
from Jacki his name was Raymond Goldwood. There was Griffin ‘Griff’ Hornsby
from Arnold’s crew who Philip knew well; a tall Irish brunette with bright blue
eyes who rarely spoke. He was probably the oldest out of them all. The other four
were all girls. There was a tall red headed girl with long hair who was also
from Arnold’s group. He remembered her name was Brianna Bonclaire. He could see
that the next two were twins. They had a Caucasian look about them with blue dyed
hair. Their names were Margarita and Mariya Azarov. They were the smallest in
the group but he could see that they were strong. Mariya who had pigtails to
distinguish herself from her sister had a long deep scar across her face and an eye-patch over her right eye and
Margarita who had a ponytail didn’t have a left ear. Russians, Philip thought as he turned to look at the last person of
the group. She was an Asian girl who seemed to be around the same age as Philip
himself. Philip had never met her before but he knew exactly who she was.
Everything about her entire family had been given to him prior to his arrival
to the island. She was Erika Makoto. Her father, Keiichi Makoto was one of the
leading industrial figures in Japan. His company Blue Matter industries had
once been considered one of GeneTech’s greatest rivals. However recently he had
made peace with Jonas Blunt, CEO of GeneTech and the two former rivals had
planned to make a business deal. For this Keiichi had arrived to the island
five years ago along with his entire family. Erika was brought up travelling
the world; however Philip had learned that her father had taught her everything
about the Japanese culture and that she was Black belt in Karate, Taekwondo and
Jujutsu. She was also a master swordswoman. Philip smiled. It was going to be
useful to have someone strong as her on the team. She was probably equal to
Jacki in level of skill, or may be even himself. Having so much information on
someone pleased him. This meant he was doing his job well as an information
collector.
“Thanks for
coming everyone,” he said after a short cough. “As you know, there are only
twenty four kids in the group right now. This means everyone else either got
separated or…” he paused and allowed the others make conclusion themselves.
Raymond
gasped softly. Brianna muttered to herself and wiped her eyes. Griff swore
something incomprehensible and looked at the ground. The twins were holding
each other’s hands and looked slightly unnerved. The only ones who didn’t show
any response to this were Jacki and Erika. Philip had already informed Jacki of
this possibility. Erika’s calm demeanour didn’t surprise Philip but it did
impress him. An heir to an international company must be strong willed and
controlled in this sort of situations. Erika had been brought up well. He took
a deep breath and continued.
“However, we
can’t simply assume that it is the latter and not the former. There is a great
possibility that the other group or groups are currently moving south to
rendezvous at the possible escape route as originally planned. Right now we are
at the border of South and East. If my hypothesis is correct the others may
have landed somewhere along the border. Being the oldest kids in this group we
better take responsibility for the others. Right?”
The others
nodded in agreement. “First of all we’ll need to choose a leader. Right now
there are eight of us. Is anyone here who doesn’t want to take responsibility
for the whole group? We won’t judge if you back off now.”
Brianna
instantly stepped back. Philip wasn’t surprised. She had been one of the girls
who had been taking care of the smaller children along with Diana at their old
shelter. She knew that being a leader meant being able to build hunting parties
and such. That wasn’t her forte. Raymond looked around for a few moments then
he also backed off. Griff looked at Philip for a few moments and then backed
away. Philip gave him an understanding nod. During the one year the two had
been together Griff had come to respect Philip’s leadership as one of Arnold’s
generals just as Philip had learned to respect Griff’s strength. The twins were
looked at each other and then backed away. This only left Jacki, Erika and
Philip still standing where they were. “Then I guess the rest of you can vote
for your leader. Remember only two votes per person and you can vote for more
than one leader. Any objections?”
Nobody
objected. “Well then, let’s begin.”
I see, thought
Jacki. The trick here is that only two
people are voted at maximum by each person. Philip doesn’t want to take
leadership because most kids here are not from his group and thus won’t trust
him, but he doesn’t want anyone bad and untrustworthy so he's holding his ground to gain their trust even if there is little chance for him to become leader. He’s giving all of us
what seems like an equal chance but in reality a trust test by seeing which one
of us these kids trust the most. However he also knows that there are four
people here from the same group. So the minority will be in his favour and thus
he won’t have to take leadership. Jacki smiled. Not bad. No wonder they called him the prodigious agent.
Raymond
nodded. “I give two votes for Jacki.”
Griff came
forward. “I give two votes for Philip.”
Brianna took
a deep breath. “I give two votes for Philip.”
Just as the
twins were about make their statement Jacki stepped. “I’m stepping down. I’ll
give the four votes, mine and Raymond’s, to Philip.”
Jacki gave
Philip a wink and walked off. Philip stared at her for a few moments and then
smiled to himself admitting defeat. She saw through that?
Not bad for a three star.
Other than
Erika, everyone else looked surprised by this development. The twins made their
statement giving both their votes to Erika but by now the victor had already
been decided.
“Well, that’s
that then. Anyone who wants to object my leadership speak now.”
Erika who had
stayed quiet during this whole ordeal finally spoke. “I have no objections, but
I want my leader to be trustworthy.”
Philip looked
at her surprised he hadn’t expected her to speak up as she had accepted the
method of voting. Wait. Don't underestimate her. She is a heir to an important business. She may have seen through my game. he sighed. "What do you mean?"
She came a
few steps forward and stood inched away from Philip’s face. “For any kind of
organisation to stand firm, even a small group of kids like this, we need
strong trust between the leaders. That said I only want to know one thing.”
She turned
around and walked a few steps away. “Who are you really?”
Philip didn’t
let out any reaction. “What do you mean?”
“I know that you
know what I mean,” she replied. “You and Jacki here fight in a way different
to others. I have trained and mastered a range of martial arts and weaponry.
I’ve seen how others fight. They don’t have the coordination or movement that a
professional has. When I saw the two of you fought those Gas Masks outside the
portal I saw skills that were not seen in any amateur. Those had been the products
of long years of hard work and training. I also know military martial arts when
I see it. The two of you aren’t just any random kids who came to this island
because of their parents are you?”
Jacki gave a
nervous laugh. “W-what are you talking about? We are just kids. Average kids
with the same amount of training as anyone here.”
However
Jacki’s nervous try at dodging that bullet didn’t work. Erika was still glaring
into Philip’s eyes with a smirk slowly forming on her face. Philip was simply
glaring back. Mental folder; Erika
Makoto. Daughter of a wealthy industrialist. Heir to the Blue Matter Industries
and the next head of the Makoto family. Highly skilled in martial arts and
weaponry. Philip finally blinked and smiled. Also, dangerously insightful.
“Not bad. You
figured us out. I shouldn’t have expected any less from the heir of the Makoto
Family.”
The girl’s
smirk turned to a grin. “I suppose I should be flattered. I guess from that you
know exactly who I am?”
Philip
nodded. “I know your entire background. Now don't freak out. You are from a famous
family after all. Plus it’s my job to know these things.”
“Does that
mean you’ll tell me who you are?”
“Sure. If it
means you can trust me then I’ll take that risk.”
“Philip!”
exclaimed a shocked Jacki. “We are not supposed to talk about those things.”
“It’s alright
Jacki. Right now we all want to get out of this place. We have to
take some risks.”
“B-but...”
Jacki stammered.
This
conversation however was cut short by a loud scream that rang across the camp
at that very moment.
The Death Hound sprang, fangs and claws outstretched, death marking its eyes. The Copy swung his foot connecting it with the beast's side crushing it with the force of the impact while sending it flying down the ally way. From the sides of his eyes he picked up something reddish brown moving at high speed. At the right second he jumped over the Death Hound and away from its fangs. In mid-somersault he put his palm on the creature's head.
BZZZZT
Blueish light erupted out of Copy's hand and the monster was vaporized. The Copy turned back to the four kids hiding under
the rubble. “You can come out now. They are all gone.”
They were
hesitant at first but then one boy slowly walked out with a sharp piece of wood
poised. “Are you gonna hurt us mister?”
“If I was, don’t
you think I would have let those big mutts do the job for me?”
“Then how
about that?”
The boy
pointed up at the dark winged demon who was throwing Death Hounds in all directions
from the sky smashing their heads upon walls and buildings in the process.
“Oh. Her?
She’s okay too, though I wish she’d learn to control her temper once in a
while.”
“Wait. Is she
the Dark Angel everyone was talking about? The one from the Three Beasts?”
“Yep.”
“Then how’s
she talking? I thought only the Cheshire Cat talked.”
“They can
both talk. She just doesn’t like to. That’s all.”
“Oh.”
Copy looked
at the boy curiously. “Are you from the Shopping Complex at the centre of the
city?”
“Yeah.”
“Well. Kid it
seems all of your pals have gone South looking for the fabled ‘escape route’ hoping
to find it for themselves.”
“How do you
know?”
“Cos I saw
them leave. Want to go meet up with them kid? I can take you there.
The child
looked up at the older boy. “For real?”
“Sure. I’ll
also take the little posse of yours who are hiding under the rubble.”
The boy’s
face brightened up instantly. “Th-thank you.”
The Copy
smiled. “So, what’s your name kid?”
“Oswald.
Oswald Whit. But you can call me Ozzy.”
“Well Ozzy,
how many of you are there?”
“There were
four others but Luke got eaten so only three are hiding in the rubble.”
"I see.
Bring them out.”
As the boy
walked off Copy turned back to his friend in the sky. “One of them is dead. Is
there any way you could bring him back?”
“Sorry, but
if the body has been destroyed there is nothing in the world I can do. Also I
can’t revive anyone for 84 hours if I had already revived someone else. I
already gave life to that girl at the Complex so I can’t do anything now.”
“I see.”
Copy thought
for a few seconds before talking again. “Hey, I’ve been wondering. Are there
any side effects for being resurrected?”
The Angel nodded.
“I am a mental extraction of the Entity of this Island. The island is what
provides certain individuals here their supernatural abilities. Whoever I
revive either lose the abilities they ever got or will never be able to gain
any in the future.”
“So that
means...”
“Philip will
remain normal for the rest of his life. And the same goes for the girl who I
saved back in the Complex.”
Simon looked back at the kids coming out of the rubble. “Well we better
get these kids to safety. It’s getting dark. I don’t want to stick around when
a hoard of Night Birds show up.”
Jacki looked at the great grey creature walking ahead of her. When she
had seen it earlier she couldn’t believe that it was on their side then. For
the last three years she had been living in hell surviving by killing and
fighting the monsters that this Island seemed to spit out every now and then.
That was why seeing this wolf saving the kids from that ape creatures was a bit
too hard for her. When the camp was attacked by that monsters earlier the wolf
had appeared almost out of nowhere for their rescue. Philip and the rest of
them had been overwhelmed and had almost given up before it made it dramatic
appearance. Everyone had been shocked but after a while Philip had approached
the creature grinning and Brianna had identified as the creature as the same
one that Damian and that other boy had brought with them that morning. Still
Jacki could see that many of the kids were not so keen on the idea of having a
wolf with them.
Philip however seemed okay, if not extremely overjoyed about seeing the
creature. Jacki smiled slightly. Whoever would have known Philip to be such an
animal lover? Jacki watched him intently as he kept patting stroking the
massive creature playfully. It was true that she had always been interested in
guys. Especially in the mysterious and silent type, of course this interest
never lasted for long. She had already forgotten about her last target Roger. Philip
however was different. She had always admired him since her rookie days in
ISAC. She had heard a lot about him from her mentors at both Institution of
ISAC and Scotland Academy for the Naturally Gifted yet knew so little. In her
head Philip had always been this obscure image, out of focus yet clear. Erika
was walking close behind him and she was also watching him intently. He had
promised to tell her everything about him as soon as they found a better
campsite. This annoyed Jacki a bit. Philip had simply agreed to reveal
everything to Erika as if it was no big deal.
In all honesty she was jealous. Philip had ignored her when she had
tried to talk to him but when it came to Erika he had easily opened up. She
understood that Philip had only did this because that was the best way to get
the rich heiress to co-operate but that annoyed her even more. What about the
trust between fellow agents? He had told her he wanted to find a certain
someone but he had never revealed whom he meant. Was it Erika? What was so
important about her anyway? Sure, she was rich and good looking but what was
any of that going to do in this island? Was the legendary five star prodigy
really simple enough to be seduced by a woman like that?
Now, now. Don’t jump to conclusion. Philip probably
meant someone else. He only opened up to her to get her co-operation.
But then again Philip had never talked about this mysterious person
after the small meeting they had. Of course they had been interrupted by the
sudden appearance of the apes then. Now it seemed as if Philip was in a far
better mood. Maybe she should ask him now. She noticed Erika also approaching
Philip. Jacki knew Erika was also going to use this time to get all the info
out of him. Not if I get there first
sister, thought Jacki as she walked to the boy.
“Philip!”
Both girls called out at the same time. The boy turned around just as
both girls grabbed his shoulder. He wasn’t sure exactly who called him first. “Uh…Yes?”
“I have a question…” Erika started.
“Hey! Wait just a moment sister,” interrupted Jacki angrily. “I called
him first.”
“Sorry, but I clearly remember approaching him first,” replied Erika
calmly.
“Well, you remember wrong,” Jacki spat back.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who is remembering the wrong things.”
“Uh...girls?” Philip tried cutting in.
“For your information,” continued Jacki, “I was ranked number 14th
in the most prestigious Academy in Scotland for having the best memory.”
“Oh, you mean the Scotland Academy for the Naturally Gifted?” asked
Erika genuinely surprised. “I did a six months scholarship course there. I was
ranked 7th.”
And I was ranked 4th, thought Philip, but
who cares.
Jacki gave a loud humph of annoyance. Show off, she thought despite the fact that she was the one who
started this. “Well, anyone can make a mistake.”
“Exactly. I’m glad you’ve understood and admitted your error. Now please
don’t interrupt while I talk to Philly here.”
“I meant you and…wait did you just call him Philly?”
Neither one of them is backing down, thought Philip.
Wait did she just call me Philly?
“Yes. A suiting nickname don’t you think. I like to call my friends with
short cute nicknames.”
“Since when did you guys become friends? This is just a partnership of mutual
benefit. Also you didn’t ask Philip about his thoughts on that nickname.”
Erika grinned. “Could it be, Jacki, that you are jealous.”
“Eh…N-NO!” Jacki shouted a bit too loud to be convincing. “I-I just
think it is f-fair to ask Philip for his opinion on his n-nickname and…wait a
second…why are we talking about nicknames?! I thought we were going agree on
whom was going to talk to Philip fir…”
The conversation was cut short when a loud scream rang out from the far
end of the group.
Déjà vu thought Philip and ran after the sound followed by
the girls and the wolf close at his feet.
His name was Rip. They had started calling him since the day he
massacred twelve of his fellow Fang Apes single handed. That was why he was
feared by all things in the forest. That was it annoyed him that a mere wolf
had chased away his best hunting team away from their prey it had pissed him
off. Now he had trapped the wolf and those human prey in a clearing he will
have his dinner and his revenge. Today his pack will feast like they do in
every full like Fang Apes did.
Erika didn’t like this situation at all. The apes were advancing towards
them at a great speed. It didn’t seem to her as if there was any immediate
chance of escape. “Crap, what are we supposed to do now?!” panicked Brianna.
Everyone including the other older kids had started to panic with her. Jacki
was trying to calm everything down which proved to be a lost cause. Philip
however seemed calm and a bit amused. “Heh. Humans running from apes. Feels
like that late sixties movie I used to watch when I was small.”
Erika looked at him with a panic stricken face. “What the heck are you
talking about?! These Kids are in danger! We are all going to die if we don’t
do something quick!”
Philip nodded smiled. “Yep. No matter how you look at it we are screwed,
that is unless there was a sudden last minute miracle.”
Erika stared at him half with shock and half with rage. “HOW THE HECK
ARE YOU SO CALM RIGHT NOW?! WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO DIE!”
“And what would you like me to do? Tell the kids to move faster? Tell
them to hide? You know better than that don’t you?”
“Yeah...but…” Erika tried to say more but she stopped. She knew there
was nothing anyone could do right now. She had no right to yell at him, but
that annoying smirk on his face seriously ticked her off. She looked at Jacki
who stared back at her. The look on both of their faces was clear. We’re doomed. The two of them along with
the other older kids started to race further into the clearing. Philip however
didn’t move. He stood his ground
watching the advancing army of primate with a grin slowly forming on his face.
“Philip! Get over here or you’ll be killed!” Jacki yelled.
Philip didn’t respond.
Jacki looked at Brianna who was from the same colony as Philip. “What
the heck is wrong with him?”
Brianna gave her an equally blank look. “I have no idea. I’ve been with
him for two years and he never acted like this before. But then again, no one’s
been able to get that guy.”
“I believe he has finally snapped.”
It was Erika who had spoken. “A boy from my old colony, who had been one
of their best fighters, gave up halfway through a dangerous battle with some
Death Hounds one day and had just sat down. He got eaten. The stress of the
situation had finally got to him after all that time. The same thing must have
happened to Philip.”
Jacki couldn’t believe this. Philip had been considered one of the best
agents at ISAC. Did he really snap like that? She turned around to see if he was
still standing there. The apes were only a few meters away from them now and
Philip hadn’t moved an inch. However now another individual was standing there
next to him. It was the one member of the group Jacki had completely forgotten
- the wolf.
Philip didn’t turn around at look at his companion but he knew he was
there. “As I was saying to the others earlier, any normal person in this
situation is surely doomed.”
The apes had nearly reached them.
“But what about someone who is not normal?”
When the leading ape lunged at Philip the wolf made no motion of
interception. Brianna screamed. Jacki and Erika just watched in horror as the
apes claws reached Philip. A scene of blood and guts flashed before Jacki’s
eyes. She saw Philip’s head being ripped off. She saw apes gorging down his
innards. She saw his clothes being shred to a thousand pieces…
None of that occurred.
She had been so scared that all of the possible worst case endings for
Philip had flashed before her eyes. However what happened was something extremely
bizarre. It was as if someone had pressed a pause button on a TV screen. The
ape that had lunged at Philip froze in mid-air. The following apes had also
frozen on their tracks. The scene was so perfect that for a moment Jacki
thought she had also been.
“What…the…hell?” muttered Erika confused at the scene in front of her.
However the abnormal scene hadn’t ended yet. Suddenly a large cloak of
blackness started to slowly form around the wolf. Philip turned around has grin
still in place and looked at the great beast. “I knew it was you all along.”
Erika walked over still unable to comprehend the scene in front of her
followed by the others. “Err…Philip. What’s going on?”
Philip turned around surprised as if he had forgotten about them. “Oh,
sorry you guys, I was going to tell you sooner but it totally skipped my mind.”
“Tell us what?” asked Jacki.
“Remember how I said I had someone to meet earlier? Well this is him.”
Are you kidding me? The wolf? The important person
was the wolf?
“That still doesn’t explain the ape suspending in mid-air and…” she
stopped and gasped.
A figure was emerging from underneath the black cloak. It wasn’t the
fact that it was a boy that surprised her but it was the fact that she knew who
this boy was. He looked little over sixteen and wore a long dark purple jacket
completed with a hood pulled back to let his long wavy raven coloured hair,
which ran halfway down his back, hang loose. His skin was pale and his cold
black emotionless eyes had sags underneath them showing sleep deprivation. From
the gasps and whispers Jacki heard behind her she knew most of the others had
also recognised him too. She looked at Erika to see her response and flinched.
Jacki had seen and met many people in her life as an espionage agent and
usually when this occurred she would be at the tubular end of a gun than an
outstretched hand. However even the ugly murderous face of all of those mass
murderers combined wouldn’t have scared her as much as the face of the girl she
was looking at now. The killing intent that had suddenly on Erika’s face was
extremely overwhelming and obvious presence that it made Jacki temporarily
forget the bizarreness of their current situation and think about an instant
escape route to get away from the malicious girl but then she realised this
murderous intent was directed at the newcomer and she relaxed.
Philip did a dramatic cough, “Everyone, this is my friend and former
benefactor, though I believe many of you already know him.”
A few faces were staring at the newcomer with curiosity and fascination.
They were the few who had no idea who this boy was.
“Allow me to introduce….Simon Riverstorm.”
As dozens of curious and dreading eyes watched the boy who was dubbed
The Psycho by the media five years ago walked over to the frozen ape his right
hand outstretched and palm open. Then in a low raspy yet monotonous voice he
spoke.
“Simon says…Leave.”
The frozen monsters slowly started to rise from the ground. Everyone
watched with amazement as the creatures rotated a few times in mid-air before
flying off in the direction. The boy didn’t turn around as he stood there
watching the apes’ flight.
Behind him Philip grinned. “Welcome back.”
The Copy gasped coughing out all the meat he had just swallowed.
“Ugh! Gross!” snapped Ozzy followed by loud ‘eews’ from his gang.
“Is something wrong?” asked the Angel concerned.
Copy looked up. “It seems the real Simon has
finally come out of hiding.”
Amanda saw the permanent grin on Peter’s face extending to a nearly
unusual size. This only occurred when he was extremely amused or excited about
something.
“What’s up Peter?”
“It sensed an extremely high amount of emission. There is only one
person who I know has this much emission.”
Amanda’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
“Yes. He has come out hiding. It’s time for us to contact our spy.”
Arnold jumped back at the last second missing the claw by nano meters. Before the Ape could react he lunged forward bringing his spear into its chest. The creature screamed and lashed at the boy leaving a bloody but shallow cut on his abdomen. Arnold gasped but pushed the weapon deep into the creature bringing it through its back. The creature struggled briefly before growing still. Arnold pulled out his spear and turned around to observe the situation.
The entire camp was in utter chaos. The Apes had appeared out of nowhere. It seemed as if Malcolm's information had been wrong. There had been hostile creatures around. Then a horrible thought hit him.
Did the others get attacked like this too?
"Arnold! Watch out!"
Arnold turned around just in time to see razor sharp fangs slam shut inches away from his face. The Ape was suspending mid-air. At first Arnold didn't know what was going on, but then he saw the faint blue glow outlining the creature and understood what had o ccured. "Thanks Malcolm!" he called out to the boy with the bleached hair who was holding up seven other Apes just like this one. He nodded back. "Sure. No problemo."
Then with a wince of discomfort he added. "But could you please be more aware of your surroundings? I can pick up anything with my ability no matter what the size is but too many stuff will mess with my focus."
Arnold returned an apologetic nod before resuming his fight with another Ape. Malcolm then looked at his three prisoners. With a menacing grin he started to throw each of them at other Apes who were running wild in the campsite. "Gotta admit though," he chuckled to himself continuing to catch and throw more apes around. "This is kinda fun."
“DIANA!”
The name erupted across the entire camp like an
earthquake at midnight. The girl wanted to get up and look at the boy who was
calling for her but the injury in her abdomen was too painful. Roger ran to the
side of his injured girlfriend tears running down his eyes.
“Are you okay? Are you in pain? You’ll live right?
Tell me you’ll live? Please Di…”
“Roger,” Diana quickly put her hands on the boys’
and smiled. “Calm down. I’m not going anywhere. I survived being stabbed by a
Gas Mask. A bite from an ape is nothing to worry about.”
Actually, it
is something to worry about. Last time you had that Angel to help you out. This
injury is almost as deep as that one.
Diana hadn’t told anyone about her encounter with
the Dark Angel and nobody had asked about it. Everyone thought Diana had simply
lucked out during the Complex collapse and did not think too much about it.
They were too happy with having her alive.
“Are you sure?” Roger inquired with concern.
No I’m not.
“I’m fine Love cakes. Quit worrying about me and
watch the camp alright?”
Roger looked at her hesitantly; not wanting to
leave her side, then got up and started to stride away.
“Get well soon my little Snuggle bunny.”
Had he turned around he would have noticed the
tears forming in Diana’s eyes. He didn’t however as he didn’t want her to see
his.
Arnold felt as he had been broken. The Ape attack had been unexpected. Thirteen casualties and four injured.
Damn. Why us? Why do we have to go through this?
“Arnold.”
He looked up. The familiar face of Kumar greeted him. From the look on
the Kumar’s face Arnold knew something had happened. Something bad.
“Go on.”
“We found Justice lying under a tree, dead.”
Arnold looked at the ground. He had lost his ability to cry. Great. There goes another friend.
Shit. Him too?
“But something’s weird.”
Arnold looked up again. “Huh?”
“Justice had no external injuries.”
Malcolm felt exhilarated. He felt his blood pumping. His heart racing.
He felt adrenaline give him new strength. This always happened after he
finished his kill. He also felt a bit guilty. Justice had been a good friend
though only for a few hours. But the guilt only increased the twisted pleasure
he was feeling. He could still remember the look on the other boy’s face when
Malcolm stopped his heart. Justice didn’t know what had hit him. One second he
was standing next second he was down with a confused look on his face. Malcolm
giggled softly.
Then suddenly from somewhere within his head he heard a voice.
“Malcolm? Are you there?”
“Master Pete! It’s been a while!”
“Don’t call me that! It is Peter Slaw. Not Pete. Anyway, have you
started carrying out your mission?”
“Yes sir. The massacre has begun.”
“Good. We shall not let any mutant survive this island. We need more
time.”
“Gotcha boss but can I kill the normal kids too?”
“How many times do I have to tell you? Leave no survivors.”
“Kay. Got it. Bye.”
“Goodbye Malcolm and good luck.”
Malcolm came back out of his trance. Telepathy really was amazing. He
grinned.
Now who is next?
He looked up and made a face at the
cloud as if mocking the gods before walking back to camp.
In that other very depressing place…
The thin bespectacled boy, with malice and murder in
his eyes, looked up from the screen at the dark skinned boy, who was sitting
near a desk chewing munching on a Snickers bar. The depressed boy, too
depressed to care, simply shrugged of the killing intent directed at him from
his colleague.
“Told ya we should’ve killed him off.”
He took another bite off the snickers bar. “Bwuh! God
I hate these. Get me a Kit-kat next time.”
To be continued…
So that was it. I hope it was worth the wait. Good luck with the next chapter. Cheerio!
