“They both fell. The wolf hit a rock on the way down and died. I think it broke its neck,” David explained. Nicole, Mark, and Brooke stared at David. Their brains were still processing the words that had come out of David’s mouth.
“Well, I’m just glad you’re all right. You weren’t hurt, were you?” Mark asked. Alex rubbed the lump that had formed on his head before he answered.
“No. We are both fine,” Alex lied.
“What were you guys doing?” David asked as he stood up and faced the others. Alex remained seated.
“It’s basically an updated game of Clue. All you need is people and a story. No additional materials,” Brooke answered.
“Sounds entertaining,” Alex sighed.
Brooke reached down to help Alex up but he shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m just gonna sit here for a second. We should get going in a minute though. Coyotes aren’t usually alone.”
“But that was a wolf,” Nicole said. “Wasn’t it?”
“It could be. But maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know. We don’t want to be surprised, so we should expect the worst,” Alex replied.
They nodded and walked back to their bags, hoisting them up onto their backs then continuing to walk away. Alex stood up, using the tree to keep himself steady. The others stopped and turned back around and waited as Alex grabbed his bag and made his way toward them.
TWENTY
Three nights passed and Jack had yet to show his face. Alex was waiting on the fourth night when he finally showed. Alex was sitting on a branch that hung directly over his slumbering companions. Alex hadn’t expected Jack to show up in the same way he had in past nights, so when he did Alex almost fell out of the tree he had been loitering in.
“Where have you been?!” Alex shouted once he regained his balance.
“Places. I trust everything has gone accordingly since I’ve been gone?” Jack asked.
“Peachy. I have so many questions! Why did that wolf follow us? Why was it behaving so strange? What was that black thing that smashed into the wolf? What is going on around here?”
“You must be aware of your surroundings. This whole island is after you and your friends. You don’t belong on this island. Everyone and everything can sense that.”
“I don’t think that answers even one of my questions,” Alex complained.
“I can’t give you answers to everything,” Jack chuckled.
“Just one more question before you leave,” Alex said quickly. “Can I expect you tomorrow?”
“Yes, you can expect me tomorrow along with all the days after. I will let you know when I will not be able to meet. You do need to sleep after all,” Jack said. Alex could sense his presence disappear. Alex climbed back down and lay on the ground to get some sleep.
In the morning, everyone gathered around David as he decided he would check on his wound. Everyone was disturbingly curious as to how it looked. David stuck out his bandaged arm for Alex so he could unwrap it. As he unwrapped the bandages, the closer he got to the skin the more dried blood had seeped into the cloth. When he finally got down to the last layer of cloth, David closed his eyes. Alex unwound the cloth and they all gasped. Curious for why they all gasped, David slowly opened one eye and peeked at his arm. What he saw next caused him to also gasp. Only a bit longer than the others did.
“It’s… healed?” David marveled. “It was the biggest cut I’ve ever seen! But there isn’t even a scar! How is that possible?”
“That’s the fastest healing I’ve ever seen!” Brooke exclaimed.
“I know I said you were human before but maybe I was wrong,” Alex joked as he held out the wadded-up, bloody bandages to David. “Don’t leave these anywhere. We’ll wash them out once we come across water, and we’ll be able to use them for something else. But don’t use it and don’t leave them behind until then.”
“Got it.” David shoved the bandages in a side pocket and zipped it. “These aren’t going anywhere.”
“Whelp, I guess we’re heading out now!” Mark said, grabbing his backpack.
They walked for hours non stop. They were all well rested and had so much energy they believed they could go on forever. They would take a break after a few hours, but they decided they would go on throughout the night. The unusual burst of energy stunned them, but they didn’t question it.
As Alex walked, he found himself constantly searching their surroundings. Every little sound or movement made him jump, but each time it turned out to be just a deer or bird. When he continued to see tall black shapes dash by his group yards away then disappear, he started to believe he was being paranoid.
By the evening of the second day, they took a vote on whether they should stay the night. The vote was four to one. Alex had felt as though he could go on forever. Sadly, the others did not agree. As soon as everyone had fallen asleep, hoping to encounter Jack again, Alex raced to the darkest tree he could find. Alex climbed hastily up the branches until he came to an area that was so dark he could just barely see two feet in front of him.
“You climbed that tree very fast, my friend,” Jack said as he laughed.
“When I was walking, I saw a strange, dark shape that was following us.” Alex went straight to the point.
“What do you mean?” Jack demanded. Any hint of delight in Jack’s voice that Alex had heard earlier was replaced with a tremulous tone.
“The others didn’t seem to see it, so I was wondering. Was that real or am I just imagining things? Or did you not see it either?”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah? Was I not supposed to?”
“No. Nevermind. I’ve meant to tell you something, but I wasn’t able to last time we talked. I’m sure you have been wondering how I can do certain things; appear and disappear into thin air.” Jack paused and Alex nodded, urging him on. Jack continued, “I am what my world calls a Contour Suzerain. I can turn into a Shadow as well as control Shadows either separately or simultaneously, bending them to my will. That is the main power or defining factor of a Contour Suzerain.” Jack paused. “Now, I have a question for you.”
“What’s the question?” Alex asked.
“Why did you not stop last night to sleep? Why did you keep walking?” Jack asked.
“We aren’t completely sure. We all just had a sudden burst of energy! Even if we did stop, we probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep so we just kept going. I still feel like I could go longer but they didn’t agree. I tried sleeping. No luck,” Alex explained excitedly.
“That is strange.”
“Enough about that. I want to know more about these so-called ‘citizens.’ I want to learn more about them.”
“I can only inform you about a few. I am unaware of many. First, there are the Telepaths. Their powers are quite simple. They can put ideas and thoughts into their victim’s head that they think are their own. This may cause the victim to do many things. Basically, they can force their victims to do their bidding without them realizing it. Once they give in, they are forced to watch helplessly as they do the Telepath’s bidding.
“Then there is the Possessor. They are similar to the telepaths in many ways. Instead of putting ideas and thoughts into their victim’s head, they possess the body. When the victim is possessed, they are unaware of the events that have occurred before they were possessed, during the possession, and after the possession,” Jack explained. Jack looked to Alex, waiting for him to ask another question but he did not. Alex only stared blankly at the sky before shaking his head and turning back to Jack.
“They sound dangerous,” was all that came out of his mouth in his astonishment. After a few minutes of the new information sinking in Alex came to a realization. “I’m going to head back down now. The sun has risen above the horizon and my friends will be up and about soon. I’ll talk to you more about this later.” Alex climbed down the trunk of the tree
before Jack could respond.
Alex was halfway down before a shrill scream burst through the air. The scream shook Alex with fright causing him to lose his grip on the tree and he hurtled through the air. He waved his hands about wildly trying to grab for a branch, but he couldn’t get a firm hold. When Alex finally hit the ground, he hit it hard. Alex landed flat on his back, his breath knocked out of him.
Alex lay still, staring up at the branches he had so desperately tried to grab. His spine ached and white dots were speckled across his vision. The feeling was different from when he had hit his head. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly gasping for air, but no matter how much he tried to suck in air it made no difference. Finally, he managed to breathe and his chest heaved up and down as he gasped. Alex closed his eyes to block out the white, but as he did branches came tumbling on top of him. Pain shot through his body, adding to the pain caused by the fall.
“Alex!” A voice shouted from somewhere above the pile of branches. Alex twisted his head to see over the pile of branches, but he was completely hidden beneath them. Almost no light shone through the needles and wood. Alex lifted his hand to move away the branches, but it wouldn’t budge for it was stuck beneath all of the weight. Suddenly, light began to shine through the branches as his friends began to pull them away.
Once he was free, Mark yanked him off the ground. His eyes glistened as he stared at Alex with both surprise and fear.
“Alex! Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Mark’s voice wobbled. Alex opened his mouth to answer him but no sound came out. After several tries he finally managed to say something.
“I’m fine..? Are you… all right…? What was… that… scream?” Alex choked. His voice was wheezy as he struggled to get the words out of his mouth. He took a deep breath and tried again but only a small squeak came out. Alex staggered over to his backpack where he pulled a water out. The group watched as Alex chugged it down. Once he finished, he was able to talk again.
“Is everyone okay? I heard a scream. I wasn’t expecting it so I fell out of the tree,” Alex coughed. Alex sat down on the ground and waited for an answer.
“That… was me,” Brooke slowly raised her hand and blushed. “A spider crawled into my hair. I am so sorry.”
“It’s fine, as long as it wasn’t anything serious. How long have you been awake?” Alex asked.
“Excuse me, a spider was about to crawl in my ear and lay hundreds of its babies in my brain. It was completely serious,” Brooke huffed.
“We were all startled awake when Brooke screamed. So, not for long,” Nicole answered, rolling her eyes. “By the way, why are you always in a tree? I guess It was only a matter of time before you fell out,” she joked.
Alex placed his hands on his knees and began to stand, only to fall back to the ground as a sharp pain shot up his back and through his body. He moaned. Brooke grabbed his arm to steady him.
“I’m fine. Nothing’s broken. Just give me a minute and we can be on our way.”
“Maybe we should stay for—” David started.
“I said I’m fine. Let’s just grab our things so we can go,” Alex interrupted. Reluctantly, they moved away to get their bags, leaving Alex to himself for a brief moment. Taking a deep breath, Alex calmed his nerves and closed his eyes. Strangely enough, when he opened them again he felt no pain. He stood up and took a step. He felt fine. Alex walked around expecting his body to begin to ache but nothing happened.
Mark was the first one to notice Alex’s recovery. Mark nudged Brooke next to him, who in turn nudged Nicole. The four stared dumbfounded at Alex as he paced back and forth showing no trace of pain or injury at all. Sensing that he had eyes on him, Alex stopped walking and shot his head up. In front of him stood four pairs of eyes staring at him attached to the faces of his puzzled friends.
“I thought you were hurt,” Nicole stated.
“I told you I only needed a minute,” Alex smirked although he was as confused as they were. Nicole and the others quickly shook their confusion off and continued to walk. It wasn’t long before they quickly became bored having run out of stories to tell.
“Ugh! I’m bored! All we have been doing is walking for who knows how long we’ve been on this island,” David whined. A few minutes passed and no one spoke. “I know!” David shouted. “Let’s play a game!”
“We can’t,” Alex said bluntly. “We have to keep moving.”
“Well, I know that! We can play it while we walk!” David argued. He paused to see if anyone would disagree but no one did. “All right! This’ll be fun!”
“Oh really?” Nicole rolled her eyes. “What are you getting us into now?”
“Let me explain before you object to anything,” David replied. “It’s actually simple. Improv! Who’s up for it?” They all exchanged glances before shrugging.
“Great!“ David shouted as he pumped his fists. “Now who will start?”
TWENTY-ONE
The night dragged on in slow motion. Alex stared up at the leaves in the canopy. He hadn’t slept a wink and sunrise was hours away. He had decided to try and sleep instead of going to see Jack, but his level of energy had said otherwise. Alex slowly stood up and walked farther away from his friends. Alex stood beneath the shadow of a tree waiting for Jack to show himself, but he never did.
Recalling their previous meetings, Alex climbed the tree, for they had mostly been above the forest floor within the trees. When Alex reached the top, a strong cold wind hit him head on. His hair swung about wildly as he brought his arm in front of his face to shield his eyes from the powerful wind. Alex propped himself against a steady branch and stared at the stars.
“Nice to see you’re doing well,” Jack said. Startled, Alex began to fall forward. Suddenly, a hand reached out from a shadow and caught the back of Alex’s jacket, slowly pulling him back into the tree. Alex turned to see a silhouetted hand emerging back into the shadows.
“Wouldn’t want you to fall. Again.” Jack chuckled. “I am truly sorry about before. I was unable to reach you before you hit the ground. To tell you the truth, I am surprised you aren’t dead right now.”
“Thanks. You are so helpful,” Alex replied sarcastically. “We have to stop meeting in trees. My friends are beginning to become suspicious. Look, I have been trying to stay as patient as I possibly can. Why must your identity remain such a secret?”
“When the time is right.”
“Is that your answer to everything?”
There was no answer. Alex turned to face Jack, but he was gone. “Yo! Alex! I’m coming up!” A voice called from below. Before Alex had time to ask who it was, a head popped above the canopy and started toward him.
“Mark?” Alex asked. It was still dark so Alex was unable to make out the figure coming toward him. The figure was about Mark’s height though the voice sounded more hoarse than Mark’s typically did.
“Yeah, who else would I be?” Mark asked as he climbed out of the shadow and into the light of the purple moon.
“You could have been David. Or Brooke. Or Nicole,” Alex pointed out.
“Well, they are all still asleep—” Mark stopped and looked toward the sky. “Whoa. Why is the moon—?” Mark stared at the moon, confused and unable to finish his sentence.
“Why is the moon purple?” Alex finished. Mark nodded, his eyes not leaving the sky. Alex opened his mouth to answer but was cut off when he heard a voice whisper in his ear.
“Not yet,” Jack whispered. Alex didn’t bother turning around for fear of Mark becoming suspicious.
“I don’t know,” Alex continued. “Anyway, how did you know I was up here?”
“I saw you leave. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t so I thought I would join you. Plus, when are you not in a tree?” Mark righted his head and stared at Alex. Half of his face was dark and the other illuminated by the light of the moon. “Alex, can I ask you
something?”
“You just did, but sure,” Alex joked.
“Why did you run away?”
Alex stared at Mark, unprepared for the question.
“I think I have a right to know. Don’t you think?” Mark urged.
For a moment Alex didn’t speak. He didn’t see this coming at all. Finally Alex spoke.
“No. No, I don’t,” Alex said bitterly. Mark’s eyes were wide with surprise at Alex’s remark.
“Okay. Fine. Don’t tell me. But sooner or later I would like to know,” Mark said as he turned away. Alex realized he was holding his breath and sighed.
“Sorry for the outburst. It just kind of came out.”
“That’s all right.”
Despite those words, Alex could tell Mark was still hurt that he wouldn’t tell him. It’s not that he didn’t want to, he just wasn’t sure he was ready. There was a pause before Alex started to move.
“Should we head back?” Alex asked as he began his way down. Alex stopped and looked toward Mark for an answer. He nodded. Alex continued making his way down but stopped again. Mark didn’t make any move to follow.
“Are you coming?” Alex asked.
“Where to?” asked Mark.
“I don’t know, wherever the wind takes us,” Alex replied with a joke at Mark’s cluelessness. Mark cracked a smile and started down as well. Alex jumped from the tree and disappeared beneath the leafy canopy.
“Alex? Alex, are you okay? Where are you?” shouted Mark. Mark slid down and landed on a branch where he came face-to-face with Alex. Having scared him, Mark began to tilt backwards. Alex lurched forward and grabbed his shirt collar, and Mark hung halfway in the air. He looked at Alex and was even more surprised to find him smiling. Even laughing.
“You—...? You think this is funny?” Mark shouted, his arms flailing.
“A little,” Alex stifled a laugh. “We really need to find out how to stop falling off things, though.” He pulled his arm toward him, righting Mark back on the branch.
“I didn’t laugh when you fell from the tree!”
The Abnormals: Book One Page 13
