by Project Kyle
He can’t take that thing on by himself. I must help him.
With that thought, Tom darted quickly through the corridor, ready to fight beside the legend he looked up to.
#
Remember, David. I will be here for you. My voice will always guide you through the torment and pain.
Nerd kept these words deep within his heart. He was uncertain as to how his plan was going to work. It was true, he always seemed to come out on top whenever he faced off with his biggest rival; but, his rival had gotten the better of him in the past as well, and each time, it cost him dearly.
The room was dark and dimly lit. Nerd knew his stalker had done this on purpose as a way of continuing to control his fear as he got deeper and deeper into his head. It was an unsettling feeling, but he had to admit, there was an adrenaline rush that went with it. He had been fighting the Lord of Sorrow for so long that a part of him enjoyed it, even when the stakes were high.
Nerd walked into a split in the room that went two ways. To his left was a long hallway. To his right was a narrow room that was covered in vines. A Venton plant was protruding from the ground. Presumably it was used for some sort of training exercise for the elite. They had a dirt square built into the floor so it could grow on this level. But something was different about this one. Its flower had been cut off. This made it very dangerous, as it was almost unnoticeable when mixed in with all the vines.
Nerd decided it was best to stay away from that room, so he chose to go left through the long hallway, hoping it would lead to his destination.
Nerd made his way through the hallway, which ended in another training room. There was a lever at the end of the hallway, which was used to activate another granite door that would seal a section of the room off if need be.
Nerd knew he was making his way closer to the center of the barracks, which gave him a considerable rush, knowing that he was making progress. The adrenaline rush was soon overpowered by sentiment as the sound of Amelia’s music box filtered down the corridor.
Nerd continued down the hallway, getting closer and closer to the tower’s center. Before he could get there, he noticed a light shining where the music was coming from. Sure enough, there was Amelia’s music box, sitting in the pool of light, playing the same unsettling song that had followed him on this mission.
He walked over to it slowly, keeping his wits about him, knowing that it was probably a trap. But he was ready; he was ready to make his move.
“You remember,” Experiment-1’s voice said from behind him. “Don’t you?” Nerd quickly turned around to face where the voice was coming from, but there was no one there. He then turned around to face the music box, but it was gone.
Nerd started to clench his fist. He knew Experiment-1 was toying with him, and his anger grew deeper and deeper by the second.
“Did you ever wonder why I was so obsessed with Amelia?” he asked.
“No,” Nerd snarled in a bitter tone. “And I don’t want to!”
“Of course you don’t. Because everything must always be about you!”
“You’re one to talk.”
“You have no business judging me! If only you knew what I’ve been through, David! If only you knew what drove me to take these measures to save myself…maybe then you would understand.”
“Maybe, but unlikely. I know why you killed people at Cosmic 5. Although I don’t condone your actions, I did understand, because what we did to you was truly evil. But you, you have taken it to a level that even my mind can’t comprehend! I may appear cold, but you know that’s not the real me. You know I feel compassion. That’s why I tried to help your people when I found out what Crimson was doing to them. That’s why I tried to help you! Don’t you understand? I never wanted to fight you. I was put in a situation where I had to act. You were going to kill my friend. I saw a problem, and I took care of it…and as a result, I opposed you.”
“Then the way I see it, you and I are no different. I too was put in a situation, and I handled it…I handled it with vengeance!”
“You and I are nothing alike! Now give me back my friend. Your beef is with me, so take it out on me! You have no reason to hurt her.”
“Oh, don’t worry, David. I want you to see her. Go to the room to your right, then into the hallway to the left. It will take you to the center of the advanced training complex. Don’t disappoint me, David. I’ve been waiting a long time to see you face-to-face again…or more accurately, mask to mask.”
Nerd followed Experiment-1’s directions and headed to the center of the training facility. Sure enough, there was Sophia, alive and well. She was chained to a training dummy. Her mouth was muzzled the same way as when the two had first met. She was naturally scared, but her eyes did not look as terrified as last time. She still had fight in her; his enemy was not able to break her.
Nerd wanted to run up and free her instantly, but he walked over to her cautiously, knowing that it was a trap.
Nerd could hear footsteps behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Tom standing by the entrance.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Tom said. “You’re both alive. I was worried.”
“Tom!” Nerd shouted. “Leave the room immediately! He’s—”
But it was too late. The Lord of Sorrow was behind him. He drove a vaccine shot into Tom’s neck, a vaccine that was filled with galactic plague.
“Nerd!” Tom said as his brain began to die. “It was an honor to…”
“You didn’t have to die,” Experiment-1 said as Tom’s body began to mutate in front of Nerd and Sophia. “Had you simply done as I instructed, I would’ve honored my agreement to let you leave this world. A mind like yours deserved to live! But you just had to go and mess it up by allying yourself with him, and for that…you’re going to pay!”
Experiment-1 removed his vaccine, and Tom fell to the ground, beyond help.
“No!” Nerd said as he charged at Experiment-1. “You have taken this way too far!”
Nerd took a swing at Experiment-1, but the Lord of Sorrow was easily able to dodge it. After dodging several punches, he drew his sword and slashed it across Nerd’s chest. Nerd was cut and burned from his left shoulder to the right side of his stomach. He screamed in pain, and Nerd was horrified by the smell of his own burning flesh flooding through his nostrils. The blow drove Nerd to tears, but thankfully only the tip of the sword hit, meaning the blow wasn’t fatal.
Experiment-1 then drove the sword into Nerd’s left leg. He pulled it out and instantly went for his right arm. Again, he stuck it through Nerd’s tricep.
Nerd whipped out a stimulant shot and injected himself with it. He knew it wouldn’t take away all his pain, but the wounds in his arm and leg were serious and Nerd might have to amputate them both if he didn’t boost his immune system in time.
In a desperate attempt to save himself, Nerd charged at his attacker with a full-strength punch. Experiment-1 dodged his punch, grabbed his fist in midair with his right hand, dragging Nerd over to one of the granite walls, and placing his left hand on the back of Nerds head, he drove the other man’s forehead into the granite with full force. Once, twice, three times he smashed Nerd’s head into the granite wall. Nerd fell to the ground, his vision blurry from the impact he had taken. He was still awake able to observe what was going on.
He saw the music box that used to belong to his old friend fall from Experiment-1’s coat. Experiment-1 seemed to panic for a moment and lost focus on what he was doing. He quickly picked it back up and put it in the left pocket of his trench coat. For whatever reason, he was very protective of it, and Nerd couldn’t figure out why. It didn’t matter at this moment because he was currently unable to fight Experiment-1. He was too disoriented and weak to outwit him or outsmart him, let alone outlast him.
“So, David,” Experiment 1 said. “It looks like I came out on top this time. But I must say, I’m a little confused. Where are the rest of your…”
Suddenly Experiment-1 realized what was happeni
ng. He checked the screen built into his left gauntlet and was furious when he saw that the other two had made it to the top of the tower.
“You!” he said in a harsh voice. “You worthless parasite! Now, because of your ignorance, your friend is going to die screaming!”
He walked over to Sophia and pulled out a vaccine. He was about to inject it into her but stopped for a brief moment and turned around to look at Nerd, thoughtfully looking at the syringe.
“I’ve been working on a new vaccine,” he continued. “I was so hoping it would help me to discover what I’ve been looking for. But so far, every test subject has rejected the vaccine. Pressure slowly starts building up within them. Their intestines start to burst, and then right before they die, their insides start to dissolve. It is a long and gruesome death, and so far, no one’s been able to survive it. But I’ve altered a few things, and perhaps this time it will do what I intended…but trust me, it will most likely kill her like it did the others. Sophia is going to die, and you will have to live the rest of your life knowing that it could’ve been prevented. All you had to do was give me what I wanted.”
Nerd watched in horror as Experiment-1 waved the vaccine in front of Sophia. Insane laughter started falling from his mouth. He was enjoying this. He was eager to make Nerd pay for resisting him.
Sophia was terrified, but not in the same way that she was back when the two had first met. She was alone back then, trapped in a room with a psychopath who wanted to cut her open. This time, there was someone in the room with her who actually wanted her alive…and somehow this made it worse. She didn’t know what Nerd was going to do without her. She still wanted to be there for him just as the Observer had asked of her, but there was nothing more she could do, not like this. Their enemy had won; she was going to lose her life, and Nerd was going to be traumatized beyond any hope of recovery.
Nerd knew this as well and had finally given up. He felt reality flee from him. His mind began to enter a state where only the deepest of thinking could exist. Only the deepest part of him could exist. The core…
Chapter 21 The final showdown
Henry and Alcanore had finally made their way to the top. The room was massive; its ceiling was at least ten stories above them. But despite its extraordinary size, the room was surprisingly well lit. There was a giant mural painted on the walls that surrounded them, a mural that caught both men’s attention.
The painting depicted a horrifying scene. Bodies were piled up by the thousands, and the few people who were alive were clearly screaming, terrified for their lives. Behind each living person was a flow of red energy. At the very tip of each flow, there was a three-fingered claw, crooked in a position that looked as if it was about to snatch the life out of every person crying for help. The flows of energy snaked around the room until they met in the very center, located in the back. The energy, the destruction, the chaos, was all coming from the cybernetic grip of one being; or more accurately, a machine.
The antagonist depicted at the center of the mural was a large Invader unit, a mechanical life form known for its unforgiving nature towards organic life. But this one was different; he was a specific model that neither of them had ever seen before. His style was vintage; he looked like a robot straight out of a 1940s Earth sci-fi film. The lower part of his head was very boxy, and the top of his skull was the shape of a dome. There were three antennas on top: two that started on the right and left side of his face and one that was grounded in the very top center point of his head. All three stretched about a foot upwards, giving him the illusion of wearing a large crown. His face was designed in the form of a fearsome scowl that seemed to be biting down on the rage that flowed from his fingertips, consuming the innocent life that surrounded him. His eyes were droopy, and like his mouth, red energy seemed to radiate from them. Both of his hands were lifted, and all the energy that seemed to be sucking the life out of the planet’s inhabitants was flowing from the fingertips of his two cybernetic hands. They were his puppets, attached to strings of death.
Above the Invader unit was his name, written in the language of the Obian people. Henry translated it with his communicator, and it simply came up:
Invader
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Henry said. “Anyone who has explored the galaxy knows that is an Invader unit.”
“I don’t think that’s just any Invader unit,” Alcanore replied. “It’s the Invader unit, the first of all the Invaders. Henry, I think this is what Experiment-1 is after.”
“What? What do you mean by the Invader unit?”
“I’m sure most of you humans don’t follow our galaxy’s history like we of the Renex empire, but there was a time when the Invaders used to be the dominant race. It was all thanks to one…him, the first Invader to ever set foot in the galaxy. I could spend hours telling his tale, but right now we don’t have time. We need to take out that device before Experiment-1 comes back!”
Henry nodded his head, but not before taking a panoramic picture of the scene with his communicator, which irritated Alcanore greatly.
The device was located in the very center of the giant mural, just under the Invader’s feet. It was about three stories tall, circular, and was spinning around in a clockwise formation.
Alcanore turned to Henry and smiled as best as his features would allow him.
“You shoot at the top!” he said to Henry. “I will attack the bottom, and for goodness’ sake don’t hit me!”
“Hey, hey, I’m Henry Smith,” Henry replied as Alcanore darted for the machine. “I make no promises.”
Henry opened fire on the top of the machine, Alcanore attacked the bottom, and both felt a great sense of pride when the device went up in flames.
“We have defeated our enemy!” Alcanore said. “Quick, do you know someone to call that can get us off this planet?”
Henry Smith gave an arrogant smirk upon hearing his friend’s question. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator.
“I know just the people that can help us,” he said as he made a space call.
#
“David,” Amelia asked. “Why are you always so…sad?”
David could not believe his eyes. He was in a white room that glowed so bright that it almost blinded him. Everything was quiet, disturbingly quiet. Yet, at the same time, it felt warm, cheery, and comfortable. David looked up to see the vibrant blue eyes of a ten-year-old girl looking back at him. She was smiling, thrilled to see him. He never understood why she cared about him so much, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was…no, this was all wrong. She was dead. This was all a fantasy made up by his mind. He was about to watch his friend die, and he felt so helpless that his mind went to a place where he wouldn’t have to suffer. Insanity, the perfect insanity.
David walked away from Amelia and sat down with his back turned to her. But Amelia followed him and sat next to him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked
“You’re not real,” he said flatly. “I’m at the end of my rope, and my mind is doing this to me to protect itself. You are not really here, you’re…”
David began to tear up. This was all so frustrating to him. He had fought so hard to do the right thing, and in the end, he still lost everything. Just as he always lost everything.
Amelia reached out to grab his hands.
“I will always be a part of you, David,” she said to him. “Is that not what you promised me?”
“Yes…it is…” David replied.
“Then trust me, David. You kept part of me alive in you, and right now you need that part to help you through this. What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Why are you so sad? It makes me feel sad.”
“Experiment-1 is going to kill Sophia, a girl I care very much about, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.”
“That big fat meanie that used to chase me? David, you have beaten him before.”
“But he always comes back, and he always kills when he does. How many innoc
ent people must die because of him, and why does he do it? For whose sake? It’s wrong, it’s sick, and it makes me feel helpless, because he always finds a way to get into my head. I have tried so hard to keep him out, but he always finds a way back in! Amelia…I can’t beat him.”
“Maybe you need to think more like him.”
“What do you mean by that? That sounds like a horrible idea.”
“I don’t mean you should do the things that he does, but you’ve been doing things your own way this entire time. You’re so scared that he’s going to get inside your head. You’ve done everything to keep him out. Have you thought about what makes him scared? What makes him angry?
“I don’t understand.”
“You forget, David; behind the mask of that monster is just another man. A man who is mean, yes! But he is still just a man.”
Something clicked in Nerd’s head. He now knew what Amelia was trying to tell him.
“I need to get inside his head. I need to attack his insecurities…but then what? He’s still invincible. What good will attacking his sanity do if I can’t defeat him physically?”
“Please look back on your memories. I will help you with the first thing. Experiment-1 is not invincible; he can still die if all the DNA molecules in his body are destroyed, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Now I want you to think back to what you have seen on this journey.”
Nerd thought back to all the dangers they had faced…but one stood out among the rest.
“The Venton plant. I told Collins that it devours every cell instantly.”
“Bingo! And what is hiding across the long hallway at the top of the tower that you are in?”
“A Venton, and its flower has been severed, making it harder to spot… But he’s still too observant; he will know.”
“Think, David. What is Experiment-1’s only weakness?”
“His own obsessive mind, I suppose. When he’s fixated on something, he only sees that objective, and he will walk through anyone or anything to get to it. I need to make myself his next objective!”
