by Quil Carter
“Nine minutes,” Kheva said, his deadpan expression not faltering in the least. Kel laughed at this, his body vibrating with excitement; he jumped to his feet and began to hop up and down.
“No! Wait!” Sasha said hastily, panic hijacking his bloodstream to send itself all over his body. “I just want to know what – what’s happen–”
“Eight minutes.”
Kel howled with glee at this, a depraved yet jovial expression on his face.
“Kheva!” Sasha cried, he himself finally jumping to his feet. “Just fucking–”
“Seven minutes.”
“Fuck!” Sasha swore, and with a racing heart he dashed towards the sliding glass door, grabbing his shoes and his jacket, and sped out the door and into the night.
The crisp air of an overcast spring night greeted him, stinging his exposed skin and reminding him that summer was still weeks away. He paused for a second to put on his shoes, and the leather jacket of Kel’s he’d been borrowing, then ran off into the darkness.
Crickets chirped all around him as he crossed the field, unaware of just where he was planning on going. The light of the house was already starting to fade, and his nightvision was shit at best.
Sasha cursed Kheva in his head and hid behind the old tool shed, the same one he’d been in recently. He pressed his back against the splintery cedar wood and stared off into the forest; there seemed to be a heartbeat inside of his head now, pounding and pounding as he thought of just what the fuck he was supposed to do.
Hide, Sasha whispered inside of his head. Hide because something, or someone, is going to find me.
Shit, he’s sending Kel to find me. But why? Won’t Kel be able to find me by my beacon alone? Is there a way to turn this shit off?
Sasha decided on a whim to search Kheva out. He closed his eyes and scanned for Kheva’s beacon.
He found it easily. Is there a way to turn this shit off? Sasha said hastily. Can I cloak myself from Kel?
‘Not until you’re more advanced,’ Kheva replied back. ‘I’d keep running, nightcrawler, you only have several minutes left and you’re not near far enough away to hide from him.’ The blood drained from Sasha’s face when he heard Kheva chuckle. ‘I won’t be there to protect you and he can get carried away. If you can hide from him for an hour… you win.’
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Sasha peeked around the side of the shed, but recoiled away when he saw a dark silhouette standing in the sliding glass door. The house usually looked so welcoming in the middle of the night, the windows glowing with light on cold evenings… but now Sasha saw the house as nothing more than harbouring danger.
He had to get out of here. Sasha ran a hand down his face, the word fuck still an audio clip on repeat, and looked towards the dark woods. The last fucking thing he wanted to do was go in there. There were fucking bears, wolves, cougars, and a trillion things you could twist an ankle on… but where else could he go?
Maybe I’ll grab a fucking tool from the shed and just smack him cross the mouth with it, Sasha hissed. He closed his eyes and swore through clenched teeth. There has to be somewhere else I can hide, somewhere in the damn field!
Then he heard the sliding glass door roll open.
“Sashy! Oh, Sashy!” Kel’s musical voice suddenly rang. “You can come back. Kheva was just playing a prank.”
Sasha peeked out from behind the shed. He wasn’t a moron, there was no way Kel was telling the truth. But the question was… what the fuck would he do to Sasha if he caught him?
Fuck these guys, Sasha thought desperately. He watched Kel casually walk down the patio stairs. He… he had something in his hand. What the fuck was in his hand?
Then, as Sasha puzzled this, he saw Kel’s free hand reach towards the mysterious object, then he yanked something off of it.
And a motor suddenly sounded. A rough motor…
It wasn’t until Sasha heard that motor’s rapid-fire revving, that he knew it was a fucking chainsaw.
You’ve got to be shitting me, Sasha cried.
“Come out, Sashy! It’s okay!” Kel called. “You’re safe. It’s a joke.”
Oh fuck this. Fuck all of this! And with more swear words rolling off of his tongue, Sasha darted off into the woods.
The only thing revving faster than that damn chainsaw was Sasha’s heart. He stumbled through the woods, cursing the moon for being hidden behind an iron wall of cloud, and prayed he wasn’t heading towards any sheer drop offs.
At least this wasn’t in the direction of the mountain Kheva had taken him up. He’d been behind here several times to hide Jye’s food actually.
Another rapid rev of the motor. Sasha looked behind his shoulder, terror cold talons on his heart, and convulsed from fear when he saw Kel standing by the old tool shed, his shadow broken up by the thick trees, but clearly visible with the leftover glow of the house.
“Sasha! Sasha!” Kel called in a singing voice. “Where are you hiding? Come out and play!”
You watch too many damn horror movies, Kel, Sasha thought desperately. He knew Kel wouldn’t be able to hear him, if he had he’d be running full speed towards him, his head hadn’t shut up since the countdown.
Thankfully, when Sasha turned back from Kel to run deeper into the woods, the faint shreds of nightvision humans were gifted with, had made its appearance. Sasha looked ahead, and began to fast walk into the never-ending darkness of the forest, unsure of what his plan was, but just knowing he had to put as much distance between him and Kel as he could.
The motor… at least the chainsaw motor will help me know where he is. Sasha could hear it idling behind him, and as long as it remained a quiet whir, he knew that Kel was far enough away to not be an immediate threat.
Sasha stepped over rotting logs and stumbled through twisted bush that jutted up from the ground like uncovered bones to snag his legs. The jacket he was wearing was enough to fend off the sharp, whip-like snaps of the bushes he tried to run through, but he was wearing boxer pants, fucking The Simpsons boxer pants, and his calves were cold and stinging with pain.
Even though his brain was screaming at him to get going, exhaustion took Sasha and he found a tree to lean against to catch his breath. He filled his lungs with the cold night air, and tried to calm his lungs down so he could properly listen.
It was… quiet, all but the faintest rumble of the chainsaw now seemingly a half-mile away at least. Was Kel looking in the opposite direction? This might be easier than he thought, if he stayed out here for an hour, once he won, he could follow Kheva’s beacon and find his way home.
Sasha took in another breath and held it, he blocked out the steadfast knocking of his heart and craned his ears for any signs that Kel was nearby.
Nothing.
Truly nothing. Not a cricket, not a frog, all sounds had ceased but for the sound of his own body keeping him alive.
But there was a way to know for sure… Sasha closed his eyes and drew up Silent Ground. This time, instead of his decorated house, he decided to try something new. Sasha made his control room the forest, one similar to Kheva’s, and began probing the darkness for any sign of…
Holy fucking shit.
Beacons… everywhere. Fucking…
Everywhere.
At least five. They were lit up, yet strangely black, not at all similar to the brilliant orbs of light he saw on Kel and Kheva. They were… an alien presence that didn’t belong, like finding five figures standing on the surface of mars looking on. They shouldn’t be here.
There were people in these woods.
There were nightcrawlers in these woods.
Without even realizing what he was doing, Sasha dimmed down his own light, an act done purely out of fear. Like a deer who was slowly realizing he’d stumbled into the middle of a wolf’s den, he began to pull back from the strangers and backed away into the darkness.
Who are they, Sasha cried quietly in his head. What the fuck are you doing?
Sasha felt a pull in the back of his head,
then Kheva’s presence.
A presence that didn’t hide the shocked surprise.
‘Run home,’ Kheva said breathlessly. He himself was running. Why was he running? ‘Now. GO!’
Sasha paused for a fraction of a second, his eyes fearfully taking in the beacons hovering in between the black trees like spectres, washing the trunks in an eerie cold glow that had Sasha’s legs as rooted to the ground as the trees that surrounded him.
But then his mind kicked in, Sasha tore himself away from Silent Ground, and when his eyes opened up to nothing but darkness, he turned around and began to run back towards the house.
And as he ran, his ears picked up the low whirs of the motor. Using that as his homing device, he weaved through the trees, jumped over fallen logs and leaping over shallow inclines like he was running through an obstacle course.
Then he tripped. Sasha came crashing to the ground with a loud curse. He put his hands in front of him to try and break his fall, but his forehead still smacked against a brush root, cutting his head severely enough for him to feel blood drip down his face.
Momentarily stunned, Sasha groaned and rolled onto his back. He stared up at the dark sky, covered in bright stars, watched it.
An eerie feeling took him. Sasha sat up, his chest becoming ice, and looked around the dark landscape.
Brush… twigs snapping. They were coming.
Sasha clamped a hand over his mouth, praying their night blindness would have them overlooking him. But who the fuck was he kidding? They were nightcrawlers, they could already…
Before Sasha even finished that sentence, he drew up the black and red forest of Silent Ground.
And Sasha screamed.
Running towards him was a beacon of light, crashing through the forest at a high speed.
Sasha tried to scramble backwards, but it was no use, the beacon was on him.
There was a low laugh, a low, dark fucking laugh, one that stopped Sasha’s heart.
‘I found one,’ the beacon said, no definable shape, but Sasha knew if he left Silent Ground, he would see the man right on top of him. ‘He’s out here all alone, almost like… he was gift-wrapped for me.’
‘Let’s see what you have to offer for me, nightcrawler.’ And with those vile words, Sasha physically felt something grab his arm.
He didn’t know how he did it. He didn’t even know he was capable of doing it to a fully developed nightcrawler, but the moment the stranger pulled him forward, Sasha reached into himself, drew out his fear, his panic, and even deeply buried, his anger, and he pushed those emotions into the bright faceless beacon.
And then there were screams.
Shrill, pain-filled screams.
Sasha’s eyes snapped open to see a figure falling to the ground clutching his head. He recoiled away from it and struggled to standing, his negative energy still being forced into the thrashing figure.
“Enough!” a voice suddenly called; but this was no stranger’s voice, it was…
Sasha looked towards a sudden beam of light, and as the cries died on the night air, his eyes focused on the partially shrouded Kheva.
Then Sasha looked down at the ground, and swore when he saw Kel on the forest floor, his hands clutching his head and his face twisted in pain.
“Very good, nightcrawler,” Kheva praised, his boots crunching dried twigs as he walked to Sasha. “You exceeded my expectations. Help Keluva to his feet now.”
Sasha stared at him, desperately stared at him. “What’s going on?” he said in a high-toned voice, one full of pleading. He grabbed his hair with his hand, feeling like insanity had finally breached his outer walls. “What the fuck is going on?”
Kheva let out a rolling chuckle as he leaned down and offered his hand to Kel. Kel looked tired as he took it, but when the two made eye contact, Sasha saw a faint look of pride on his face. “I don’t like my plans to be delayed,” Kheva said. “Have you not figured out how your mental development works yet?”
Sasha looked behind Kheva, and for a moment he drew up the black and red forest to search for the five beacons, the five nightcrawlers he’d seen in the woods, but all he saw were Kel and Kheva’s familiar lights. It was strange how different those nightcrawler’s beacons felt. It was like they had a different smell; they didn’t smell like theirs.
Sasha understood fully now what a pack animal smelled when they discovered another pack trespassing on their land. It was a scary thing to know you were alone in a forest with strangers, one who had every intention of harming you.
“They weren’t real?” Sasha asked, his voice still shrill from the remnants of anxiety, his entire body was one racing pulse, pushing up against his blood vessels with a pressure that threatened aneurysms.
“Of course they’re not real,” Kheva said. He began to walk back towards the house, the flashlight illuminating a maze of thick trees and shrubs. “I wouldn’t let those arrogant, stuck up little piss-ants come so close to my home.”
This gave Sasha pause. He knew there were others out there, like Sterling and Nik, but this was the first he’d heard that Kheva didn’t like them. It was common knowledge that Kheva didn’t like the first gen, but did he hate all nightcrawlers?
Sasha wanted to know more about this. He wanted to know just what sort of family he was coming into. Were there lots of them? Were their beginners like he was? Powerful, yet terrifying, people like Kheva? What else was out there?
Kheva must’ve not been tuned into him, because he didn’t react to Sasha’s thoughts. Kheva carried on, and behind him Sasha and Kel walked back side to side.
“Did I scare you?” Kel whispered, excitement hovering in his voice. He sounded proud of himself, just as proud as he looked. This didn’t really make Sasha happy, or at least he didn’t think it did; honestly, he was still riding on the leftover terror and wasn’t feeling anything but cold and shaky at the moment.
But even though the last thing he wanted to do was admit it, he decided to not cause waves by giving Kel shit. “Yes, you did,” Sasha said. “You’ve probably taken five years off of my life.”
Perhaps one day Kel would be taught how to not wear his emotions on his sleeve, but that day would not come now; Kel beamed brightly and carried on walking with his head held up high.
When they were all inside of the house, Sasha wasn’t surprised to find himself unable to settle. He sat stiffly on the couch, his hands folded over themselves and his eyes fixed on a television that was permanently on a channel that showed a fish tank.
He looked up when he saw Kheva approach, a glass of wine in his hand. “You managed to dim down your beacon,” he said, swirling the blood-red contents in the glass. “You would do wise to practice that talent. When we return from our errand that will be added to your teachings.”
Sasha, his skin still trembling like the aftershocks after an earthquake, nodded stiffly. “Yes, Master Kheva,” he said, then he hesitated, before adding. “We’re… really leaving the property tomorrow?”
Kheva narrowed his eyes. “I’m not really one to say it as a joke, nightcrawler,” he said. “We’ll be leaving in the late afternoon.”
“We will be!” Kel’s hyper voice rang out, and at the shrill sound, Kheva’s eyes closed. “I’ll organize our list!”
“I told you already, Keluva, you will not be coming along,” Kheva said with finality. “This is only for Sasha and myself. You’ll stay behind and keep an eye on things.”
Kel looked visibly crushed. “Oh, right, I forgot,” he said sadly. “Because I don’t work?”
He doesn’t work? Kheva shook his head. “You work fine,” he said. “This will not be discussed now, I’ve said my piece.” He drained his wine glass then, and handed it to Kel. “It’s time to retire. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Sasha always dreaded when it was time for them to go to bed. He was sleeping in the master bedroom now, either in the middle between Kel and Kheva, or occasionally on the right with Kheva the one in the center, followed
by Kel.
Kheva hadn’t made Sasha have sex with Kel since the incident that left Sasha injured and terrified and Kel with his mind cloaked. The Master had decided on his own to give Sasha’s body and mind a bit of a break, and even though he was sure Kheva and Kel were doing the deed somewhere, it either happened after Sasha was asleep, or some time during the day while he was out in the yard. Either way, Sasha didn’t have to do anything, and for that, he was thankful.
However, tonight, the moment Sasha exited the bathroom dressed in grey and blue plaid boxers and a white undershirt, he saw Kheva and Kel making out with their shirtless bodies partially hidden underneath the covers.
The response was the same, Sasha’s heart filled to the brim with ice water. He stood in the doorway trying to hide the expression of terror, wondering just what he was supposed to do.
Kheva’s eyes opened, his lips deeply locked with Kel’s. “Come to bed, nightcrawler,” he said with no tone in his voice. “There will be no physical intimacy, but you will be helping me take care of him.”
Kel moaned lightly at this, his lust-drunk eyes lost as his lips searched for Kheva’s. Sasha just stared for a moment, before his training kicked in, and the reminder that… he had no choice. If there wasn’t going to be any physical sex… he could do whatever Kheva wanted, right?
He’d take his wins, no matter how small, so Sasha walked to the bed, the room lit with only a single side table light, and kneeled onto the bed.
Kel slid the blankets off of his naked body, his hand already palming a hard cock. He laid there with his legs apart, his eyes eagerly watching Kheva.
“Get on your knees,” Kheva whispered, even those soft tones holding an air of command. Then the Master looked past Kel, to Sasha. “Open the first drawer, get it out, lube it up, and I’m sure you can figure out the rest.”
Sasha’s mind blanked for a moment, more drawn out from shock than anything else, but with a hard look from Kheva, Sasha nodded, and pulled open the top drawer.
His throat dried. Resting on a blue tea towel was a blue dildo, bigger than the average cock, maybe even bigger than Kheva’s, and beside it a bottle of lubricant.
