Sons of Chaos

by Jerry Hart

  Never mind, he told himself. He was overcoming the venom’s effects, and that was what was important. That, and finding Owen. Chris turned away from the river and started toward Briar Jorsen Road, wondering where his friend might be. He remembered the condo was swarming with cops, so Owen couldn’t be there.

  Nikki! The last thing Chris remembered was coming to the decision to go to her for answers. Owen had to be there.

  But should Chris go there as well? The logical answer was “yes,” but everything that had gone wrong had been because of him. He’d been the one in charge of the Unstoppable Titans, the one to make decisions on how to handle things. And now Daniel and Alyssa were dead.

  Chris regretted ever entering his friends’ lives, especially Owen’s. Chris had had the chance to return his friend to his real life, instead of being subjected to the streets for years. But Chris had wanted a friend; he’d grown tired of being alone.

  But was Owen better off alone? Well, he wasn’t really alone, if he was with Nikki and Darlington. They would take better care of Owen than Chris ever could.

  “Goodbye, my friend,” Chris whispered into the air as he started down Briar Jorsen, to destinations unknown.

  * * *

  Miles away, in a little town called Birch, Jason and Michael suddenly appeared on a country road that was so familiar to them. Jason was completely exhausted and nauseated after the “jump” as he held his brother up. Down this road, he saw the inviting blue farmhouse with the wraparound porch.

  Michael was barely recognizable now. Something was happening to him and it frightened Jason. He had to help his little brother, but he didn’t know how.

  When they got to the front door and knocked, an elderly man answered. “Jason? What happened?” The man seemed genuinely concerned. His bright blue eyes widened at the sight of Michael’s frail form.

  “Hey, Earl,” Jason said quietly.

  Someone else walked up behind Earl. It was his wife, Darlene. Her white hair was pulled back in a bun and she was wiping her hands on a dishrag.

  “Jason,” she gasped. Her eyes were also on Michael. Poor, frail dying Michael. “What happened to your brother?”

  Jason stared at the couple for a moment, thinking about what he should tell them. “He had an accident. He needs to lie down.”

  Earl helped Jason drag Michael to a bedroom at the end of the hall. “We should get him to a doctor. He looks awful.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Jason lied. “He doesn’t need a doctor.”

  They laid Michael down on the bed. Jason kneeled down next to him and held his hand. Silent tears rolled down his cheek now as he stared at his dying brother.

  “What’s going on?” Earl asked. “Tell us so we can help.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” Jason said silently, more to himself than to Earl. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It’s not fair.”

  “Darlene,” Earl called over his shoulder, “call Dr. Goldsmith. Tell him to get out here!”

  Jason took a moment to process what the old man had just said, and then he spun around and stared at Earl. “You’ve been very kind to us, Mr. Kamen. You and your wife took us in when we appeared out of nowhere weeks ago. You respected our privacy—you didn’t ask where we came from, nor did you pry into our lives. I greatly appreciate that. I’m asking you to do that again now. Please don’t bring anyone here.”

  “Now, son, look here. I can’t just stand by while your brother dies in our home. I won’t allow it.”

  Jason nodded as he stared at the old man. Darlene was still standing behind her husband, ready to spring to the phone at a moment’s notice. She only waited to see if Earl would change his mind about the doctor.

  He never got the chance to.

  Jason seized him by the neck. With a quick squeeze, Earl’s neck snapped like a twig. Darlene screamed as her husband’s body dropped to the floor. Jason looked up from the falling body to the old woman. He did the same to her—a quick, painless death.

  Now he sat beside his bedridden brother, who was slowly decaying. The fight with Owen had taken a lot out of him, as well as whatever Les had done to him; the “supplement” had left Michael’s body, thinking it was dying. The energy that held the consciousness of another life—the life that built the orb—had found a new host.

  Jason gripped his brother’s hand as more tears ran down his cheeks. He vowed to retrieve the orb, take over the world, and kill Owen. He would do so with the “supplement” which now coursed through his body. Jason could feel what Michael had felt, having all of that power in him. He felt like he could take on the world.

  And he would take on the world. Not just this one, but all others. Just like Dad had attempted years ago.

  Jason didn’t know if he could make his body grow to the size of a giant like Dad had done, but he wouldn’t have to. Not if he had the orb.

  But now Owen had the orb.

  In a fit of rage, Jason grabbed the table next to the bed with one hand and threw it across the room. It shattered with a bang, littering the floor with splinters. In the corner of the room stood the axe and sword Michael had taken from Les. Jason had carried them with him after escaping the garage disaster. Oh how Jason would love to cut Owen’s head off with that axe, or run him through with the sword. What a delight.

  At that moment, Jason realized his nausea was gone.

  There was something else, though. He’d noticed it at soon as the supplement settled in, but was just now realizing the significance: He could sense Owen. This must have been what Michael had felt.

  This was how he had found Owen in downtown San Sebastian in the first place.

  And this would be how Jason would find Owen again.

  * * *

  Nurse Laura, as everyone called her, strode up to San Sebastian Hospital, uncomfortable by the strange chill in the air. Cold in October was normal, but this cold felt wrong somehow. She pulled her white sweater tight over her scrubs as she walked through the automatic doors of the hospital.

  The moment she stepped in, she knew something was going on.

  Doctors were running down hallways, calling out orders; nurses were running alongside, assisting in any way they could. There were a few injured and waiting patients who looked nervously about themselves. Laura had heard about the parking-garage explosion down the street and figured that had something to do with the chaos at the hospital.

  As she pushed her long brown hair from her eyes, a young man in similar scrubs walked quickly up to her. “It is a madhouse today,” he said.

  “What happened, Tony?”

  “You hear about the explosion?” he asked as they walked together down the hall.

  “Yeah. The parking garage?”

  He nodded. “And Montleroy Estates, which is right down the street from the garage.”

  “Two explosions?” she asked.

  “Yes and no. There were some small explosions at the condo, and one fatality: a boy. Only a few people were injured at the garage, thank God. That’s not the strange thing, though.”

  “What is the strange thing, Tony?”

  “From what I heard, moments before the explosion, some weird pulse went throughout the city, causing damage to a few buildings surrounding the garage. After that, people started acting weird.”

  “Weird how?” Laura asked, looking at Tony like he was crazy. He was always full of gossip, but she’d never seen him worked up like this.

  “Like zombies. You remember Old Man Horner?”

  “The dementia patient? Yes.”

  “Well, the old man actually tried to get up and walk out of here today.”

  “He’s lucid?”

  “Not just lucid, girl—hostile. He got really violent when we tried to stop him. It took four guys just to take him down. We’ve got him sedated now, but it was like something out of a horror movie.”

  “That doesn’t sound too strange,” Laura countered.

  “Well, try this on for size: We had an elderly woman this morni
ng who passed away just as the pulse hit over here.”

  He paused for dramatic effect; Laura hated when he did that. “And?” she prompted.

  “The old woman was revived a minute later.” He nodded, his eyes wide. “She attacked her daughter, who was visiting at the time. She’s okay now, and the old lady died a second time.”

  That was weird. And scary.

  “You know what I think?” Tony asked Laura. “I think that weird pulse-thing brought that old lady back to life, and I think it called out to Old Man Horner.”

  “Called out?”

  “Yep. I think it was calling him to wherever it originated. He seemed pretty insistent on leaving here. He almost made it out the front, too. I saw it—he was headed toward downtown.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” said Laura. “You read too many sci-fi novels.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Things are settling down now, around the time I could swear I heard a bunch of tiny bassy thumps; felt like I was back at the club.” He did a little dance before going on. “We had some problems with the younger patients—they got a little antsy. And don’t get me started on the babies. One of them actually broke a nurse’s finger. Can you believe it?”

  “How did that happen?” Laura asked.

  “The nurse just reached out to let the baby grab her finger, you know, because she thought it would be cute. Then, snap. That baby was strong, honey.”

  “Too bad I missed all the excitement,” Laura said sarcastically. “Are you sure things are settled down?”

  Tony nodded.

  “I have to check on Ms. Polansky,” Laura said as she branched off down another hallway. “I’ll catch you later, Tony.”

  After clocking in, Laura made her way to Stephanie Polansky’s room. The poor young girl had suffered severe blood loss and was also under the influence of a strange, unidentifiable toxin that put her in a coma. The doctor had managed to get her blood pressure up to safe levels, though this was the girl’s second trip to the hospital this week for the same affliction. Just what had happened to Ms. Polansky?

  Her roommate, Becky Simon, had told the doctor a young man claimed someone attacked the poor girl and then escaped just before Ms. Simon showed up. That sounded like such an unlikely story to Laura she had difficulty believing it. If anything, the young man Becky spoke of attacked Stephanie himself. Ms. Simon was lucky not to have been attacked as well.

  But what about the strange puncture wounds on Stephanie’s neck. They almost looked like animal bites. Laura assumed the young man was caught up in a vampire craze and went a little too far with Stephanie in fulfilling his dark desires.

  That didn’t explain the toxin, however. Whatever it was, it managed to do odd things to Stephanie’s brain patterns. The doctor said he’d never seen anything like it before, and did not know how to treat it. The poor girl’s parents had visited their daughter just yesterday, and were distraught over how they had treated her when she was younger. They had blamed themselves for Stephanie’s condition, saying if they hadn’t thrown her out years ago, she wouldn’t have hooked up with the wrong people. They thought it was merely drugs that affected their daughter.

  The guilty minds of negligent parents.

  Laura walked up to Stephanie’s bed and looked directly at the machines displaying the patient’s vital signs. Then Laura looked at her chart at the foot of the bed. Finally she looked at Stephanie’s eyes.

  And then Laura started at what she saw.

  Stephanie’s eyes were wide open.

  “Oh, honey, you scared me,” said Laura as she replaced the chart and made her way closer to the patient. “How are you feeling?”

  “Huh,” Stephanie groaned.

  Poor girl couldn’t focus, Laura thought. “I asked how you were feeling,” she repeated kindly.

  Stephanie didn’t respond. She only stared.

  “Let me get the doctor,” Laura said as she backed away. That stare was starting to creep her out. Before she could turn around, however, Stephanie got up from the bed and started for the door. “No, honey, you have to stay here while I get the doctor.”

  She tried to reach for the patient, but Stephanie smacked Laura effortlessly across the room. A moment later, Laura slowly got to her feet and followed the crazed patient into the hallway.

  “Somebody stop her!” Laura called out, and the closest doctor said, “Not another one.” He ran toward Stephanie as a few nurses attempted to tackle the girl. Some of them were thrown about the hall, but the doctors and male nurses managed to contain Stephanie.

  It took five grown men to stop one small woman.

  * * *

  Owen parked on Lorenzo Street in the ghost town of Baker and walked into the woods. Now that the sun was up, the forest was less spooky. In fact, it was quite nice. Nicer than it had been last night. Owen doubted he would get lost; the way to Nikki’s had been pretty straightforward.

  After a few minutes, he saw the familiar box office up ahead. Daylight didn’t make that less creepy. If anything, it scared Owen more to look at it. The inside was pitch black, so he couldn’t tell if Darlington was in there or not.

  He approached the box office and got his wallet out, just in case. It was early morning, and the air was cold. Would Nikki be doing readings at this time of day?

  “Hello?” Owen called into the box office. There was no response. He stepped up and, shielding his eyes with his hands, peered in through the glass. It was empty. He put his wallet back in his pocket and hopped the turnstile.

  The moment he did, he was tackled from the side. Owen hit the ground hard as his arms were pinned behind him. His assailant had one knee against the small of his back, weighing him down.

  A second later, the weight was gone and Owen’s arms were released. He heard a thud somewhere in the distance and saw two figures—one tall and pale, the other wearing a brown trench coat—facing each other like a couple of raging tigers.

  Darlington had attacked Owen after he’d illegally entered the park, and D had come to his rescue. Owen had told the robot to stay in the car and guard the orb. Now he was glad D hadn’t listened to a word of it.

  Darlington lunged at D, but the robot sidestepped him, grabbed his leg, and threw him toward the gift shop. Owen jumped to his feet while he had the chance. If he didn’t do something soon, D would probably wind up killing Darlington. And that wouldn’t go over too well with Nikki.

  “What’s going on here?” a female voice asked.

  Owen looked to his left, where the voice had come from, and saw Nikki running from the direction of the Ferris wheel. She held a purple towel in one hand and a bottle of purple shampoo in the other. She was wearing a red bathrobe.

  “I have to talk to you,” Owen answered.

  “I’ve already told you everything I can,” she said. “Without the orb, I can’t help you.”

  “I have the orb.”

  That caught Nikki by surprise. She simply stood there, staring at Owen. For some reason, he stared past her, at the Ferris wheel. It seemed so much larger than it had only hours ago. In the daylight, he could see the wheel was blue.

  “Owen,” Nikki said, snapping her fingers. “I asked you where the orb was.”

  He shook his head, as if just waking up from a long sleep. “Sorry. It was in the car with D. I asked him to watch it—”

  “Who’s D?” Nikki interrupted.

  “Him.” Owen pointed to the robot, and Nikki followed his finger. When she saw D, her eyes widened.

  “Is that what I think it is?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Owen grinned. “D, come here.”

  The robot walked past Darlington, who was standing in front of the gift-shop entrance, and stopped next to Owen.

  “I want you to go back to the car and bring me the orb. Okay?”

  Instead of following Owen’s orders, D looked down, opened the trench coat, and pushed his chest in slightly. A small, square section shot out and split apart, and inside D’s chest was the red or
b.

  Owen, wide-eyed with wonder, reached in and took the orb out. He’d had no idea the robot was capable of storing things inside of itself. With the orb in hand, Owen turned back to Nikki. “Tell me everything you can.”

  Chapter 22. The Deal

  Nikki was silent for an uncomfortably long time as she sat at her reading table. She held the orb in front of her, studying it with a frown on her face. She rubbed its seemingly greasy surface, and then checked her fingers to find them dry.

  Owen watched this for at least fifteen minutes, certain he would go mad if she didn’t say something soon. D stood in a corner, his blue eyes bright. Darlington sat next to Nikki, contemplating as well.

  His eyes, though. Owen saw something in Darlington’s eyes he was almost afraid to name. It couldn’t possibly be what Owen was thinking, because he had seen the same thing in Jason’s eyes—the look of greed. Darlington looked like he had just found a treasure and wanted it all for himself.

  Owen hadn’t told Nikki yet what the orb had done at the garage—partly because he didn’t know what it did, though he had an idea—but he couldn’t shake the feeling Darlington knew something and wasn’t telling.

  But how was that possible? Darlington had nothing to do with Michael and Jason’s plan. Did he?

  At that precise moment of thought, Darlington looked from the orb to Owen, and Owen flinched. Nikki looked at him too, as she set the orb down on the table.

  “So,” Owen said, “what is it?”

  Nikki took a deep breath and said, “It’s nothing.”

  Ten whole seconds passed before Owen said, “What?”

  Nikki smiled and shook her head. “It’s nothing. It’s just a rock.”

  Owen shook his head and looked at the orb. “That’s bullcrap. It did things. Michael and Jason turned it on and it lit up. Rocks don’t light up and make weird sounds.”

  “It did that?” she asked, a little irritated. She picked up the orb again. “I could have used that information sooner.”

  “Sorry” was all Owen could say.

  “No, I’m sorry.” She set the orb down again. “I’m not getting anything from this.”