“The kid is a different story though, he’s not seven, and he’s not naïve.”
Merrick smiled again in the halls and responded, “True, but he is scared of you. You have that going for you.”
“I think he just hates me,” Danny retorted.
“Then I believe you should fix that,” Merrick sneered. He walked along the halls ahead of him and Danny walked back into his room. He shut the door and thought about what he had told him about chances and trust. He couldn’t trust every person that they met, but couldn’t give up hope that they had a civilized side. The door slammed open and Danny was knocked back as Vlad bashed in. “Hey flamer. You and boney tie up yet?”
“I told you to stop calling me that,” Danny complained.
“You two should get a room you know that?” He stated as he walked on casually with the same psychotic grin sprawled across his face.
“You don’t even know what happened!” Danny shouted as he stepped out onto the hall and watched as Vlad’s pitch dark coat flailed with each step.
“I don’t need to know. I just know you guys,” He said as Danny shut the door in front of him again and walked back over to his bed and sat back down. He took another drink and looked back at his picture of Ashley. Although his rough skin couldn’t take a lot, he remembers the one thing he doesn’t want to push too hard. It was his love for her. She was his weakness, and he couldn’t wait until her birthday, he knew she would love it despite what she keeps saying.
The water within the plastic bottle swished as Heather walked with the man who still had not told her his name. She took a drink from. She had her eyes fixed on the knife in his back pocket. She didn’t want to do anything, she would not know what she would do if she were to take a life. Even if she did, she would have no other place to go. She couldn’t even tell if he was telling the truth about that refuge. All she could do now was to wait and see. They walked for a few more moments and then she asked, “What’s your – “, She was cut off by him. He pointed ahead of them and in the distance appeared a four story house with windows lined across the building, peering into the rooms they belonged to.
“We’re here!” He said enthusiastically as he grasped her sleeve and tugged her over to the house faster. Heather began to question just what this middle aged man was. He behaved as though he were not much older than her in this callous and relentless world. He acted as though it were the times before, the times Heather would know nothing of. They made their way up to the front door and, without so much as a knock, the man slowly shoved her in by the hand.
He walked in shortly after she was forced in and she turned to him and said, “Can you please answer my question? Who are you? Where am I?” The man looked at her with a blank stare then gave way to a softened smile.
“I’m sorry. My name is Robert Grey,” The man said finally revealing his identity to her. Heather looked around, she appeared to be in a large foyer with a whole second floor balcony surrounding her and renaissance furniture marshalled around the fire place and a long doctors table.
“Okay Robert, can you please tell me where these people you told me about are?” She gestured around her as there was not a soul in sight.
“They’re on their break. They don’t work on these days.”
“What do you mean by work?”
“They work in production.”
“Of what?” Heather asked as her eyes continued to loom around the room. The room was large enough that she felt like she had been eaten by a beast and sat sweltering and assimilating within the stomach.
“Oh!” Robert said in a hurry, “I know the perfect roommate for you.”
“Roommate?” Heather asked felling suspicious and slightly anxious at the thought.
“Yeah, come on I’ll introduce you two,” He said as he walked over and up the stairs by her shoulder. Heather had noticed how ecstatic he was about her presence here. She felt like she was being walked into something, but she kept telling herself that they might be another peace movement group. He seemed convinced of what he said to her back at the gate. They made their way up the stairs and didn’t walk far to make it to one room overlooking the foyer from the balcony.
The man opened the door and Heather saw another girl of her age with long straight black hair and almost pale skin sitting across one of the two beds in the room. She looked over at her with eyes of indifference. Perhaps the most startling thing about her was her gaze. Her left eye was flooded with a sea of sapphire in her iris, whereas her right posed a consuming crimson that had conquered her iris with imposing dominance. She wore white dress which brought a sense of balance to her unnatural and imposing nature. The man gently pushed Heather in and said, “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” He shut the door, leaving Heather to continue to look into her eyes. The girl looked away from her again and picked up a book that she must have been reading and resumed. A gauche moment had passed until Heather started to speak.
“Well…Hi. I’m Heather. What’s your name?” The girl sighed and looked over to her with slightly annoyed eyes.
“We don’t go by names here, just titles.”
“Huh?” The girl set her book back down and gave Heather her full and uncaring attention.
“You’ll see. It won’t be long until you get one.”
“O…kay…then what’s your ‘title’.”
“Cross Deity.”
“That’s a weird name.”
“Not really.”
Heather was caught off guard by her callous nature, despite this being a place of peace as Grey had claimed. Cross Deity did not seem to take much notice to her, as though she actually was a specter watching in on her.
“So what can you do?”
“Excuse me?” Cross Deity asked sounding and looking offended.
“I mean…what you can do. What abilities do you have that got you here?”
“I’m a Chimera.”
“What?”
“It means I have a disorder that merges my two abilities into one. It puts twice the strain on my body though,” She said as she picked her book back up and continued reading.
Heather had heard of chimeras before. Chimeras are mutants that had had their powers fight for dominance over the host and put visible scars on them. It turns them more into aliens or monsters more than humans. What Heather tried to figure was what her powers were. She didn’t actually tell her, and it seemed that she wouldn’t tell her if she asked. Cross Deity sat on the bed overlooking the window so Heather took the bed that rested beside her. The white sheets looked old and dingy, but as she sat in them, she felt a much needed comfort and softness from them.
“So… I’ll sleep here I guess,” Heather stated to her. Cross deity kept reading as though she did not speak. Without another word, Heather lay on the bed exhausted and concerned for her own safety, her head rested on the yellowish white pillow. She remembered that her parents would be back tomorrow, she was worried about what would happen to them if they think that they were harboring her from them. She stayed with her new partner in the room, and rested her eyes on the discolored bed.
Alex anxiously strolled along the center of the base. He needed some air from the congested factory room that was his living quarters. Every eye was on him in that room. Not a single one of his actions went unnoticed by his new peers. No one would speak to him. All that they would do was stare with cold and wondering eyes. He couldn’t say hello to the children without their parents pushing them away from him. Even as he walks outside and into a new building with a long windowed hallway, he could still look and see eyes watching him as they perform their evening responsibilities.
He was relieved to find, that when he walked in, he was the only one there. He walked through the hall and continued to cautiously explore his new surroundings. He passed doors that had names graphitized onto them. Delsin Russell, John Merrick, Ashley Martin…including Daniel Levitz. Alex continued to walk along the rooms until, from behind him, Danny’s door opened and forth came
the man himself.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Danny asked accusingly. Alex turned in shock to find him. It must have been where he slept.
“Uh, nothing! Just wanted to see what this building was,” Alex excused.
“Well now you know. You should get back to the others before night comes too quickly.”
Alex sighed and walked passed him. When he made it into a small pocket void of windows Danny stopped him. “Wait.”
Alex stopped and stood stagnant as he watched Danny walk toward the pocket and take a seat on a crate that had been sitting in the corner.
“What do you want?” Alex asked feeling cornered as though another fight would break out.
“I just want to talk,” Danny said as he heard the loud sound of doors slamming shut. He ignored whoever it was, but Alex saw that it was Ashley who had stood static after seeing the two of them together after what had happened. She was silent and watching.
“About what happened at the, well, you know.”
“Oh…” Alex said remembering the fight and then putting on a much sterner expression.
“Relax tough guy,” Danny patronized. “I’m not looking for another fight.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I…have been told that I haven’t been all that trusting with you, nor have I given much of a chance for you to prove yourself,” Danny said with some difficulty and embarrassment.
“So…are you saying that you’re sorry?”
“I’m saying that we’ve both made some mistakes.”
Alex, relieved slightly, responded, “Mostly you.”
“Listen kid, don’t make this harder for me than it already is. I’m used to being able to tell people apart easy.” This reminded Alex of what Ashley had said about herself, and how extremely different they were. It was yin and yang.
“And what did you think I was?”
“The same as everyone else, a killer.”
Alex felt offended and responded. “I’ve never kil – “, He immediately stopped himself as he remembered the soldier and the wheezer that he killed before and upon entering the red zone.
“I assumed as much from the way you fought, coward.” Alex couldn’t say much, he wanted to, but he knew better than Danny did that he was that exact word.
“But I’ll give you a chance to get better, all right? I will train you properly this time. I promise.”
Alex gave a small grin and nodded his head. It seemed as though it would be the most of an apology he will get from him. He was relieved to find that things would soon get better between them He had a good feeling about it. He had a strong feeling that if he were to survive, he would want to make friends with these savages, even if they try to kill him every once in a while. He looked over to Ashley to see her smiling in relief as she heard their apology. Alex wondered if she had anything to do with this. She said that she would have a word with him.
He supposed that she already had the moment that they finished weapons training. Danny looked in the same line that Alex’s gaze followed and saw the one he cared for smiling at the both of them. He smiled back. “Okay, I forgive you.” Alex looked back over to Danny with the same small beam.
“And I forgive you,” Danny retorted.
“For what?!” Alex asked now playfully. He still didn’t trust him, but he at least needed him to think that he did, for now that is.
“For giving me this burn on my skin,” Danny stated lifting up his shirt for Alex to see a small black scald on his stomach from the charged pipe.
“Big baby’s afraid of getting hurt, huh?” Alex burlesqued.
“Do you want to go again? Because last I remember you about pissed yourself at the beginning,” Danny mocked in return playfully. The doors opened from the far end, opposite of Ashley. Merrick walked through and his expression was that of Ashley’s. He strolled over to the pocket where they rested. The soldier appeared as though a small civil war had ended. His face radiated with pleasure at the sight of their new respect for one another.
“Looks like you two are new best friends, doesn’t it?” Merrick asked rhetorically.
“Yeah, were best buddies now,” Danny stated sarcastically.
“I suppose so. And for the record my pants were always dry!” Alex exclaimed.
Danny chuckled under his breath at Alex. “Yeah, sure.”
“Dinner’s going to be ready in three. Make sure your there kid, we sometimes don’t have enough for everyone.”
“Okay,” Alex replied.
Merrick started back to the door he came from. Ashley went back out through her door and Danny motioned Alex in his direction as he followed her. Alex walked with him, confident of his possible survival here. It would take getting used to, but once he gained their trust, it would be smooth sailing from there. He looked back at Merrick and he could tell right away, from the way he still walked, he used to be a soldier. It gave Alex hope that if the military could one day accept them, then there may be a chance to put his old life back together again.
He could have a family one day, have a job, and live a blessed life. A glimmer from the corner of Alex’s eye caught his attention and he then stopped and marveled at it. It sat on a roof overlooking the building he stood in. it was faint, but Alex felt a feeling of uncertainty. His hope of trust was shattered like the glass that fell to the floor. The window shattered, and alloy pierced the side of the wall…and Merrick’s head. He fell to the floor on impact, crimson running from his head to the ground a plastered onto the wall where the bullet lay stagnate in the cave it carved into the wall. His body slumped up against the wall and he hunched over his own blood flooding the ground. Merrick was dead on impact.
The splintering glass had drawn the attention of Danny and made Ashley rush back into the building while Alex stood in dismay at the shell that lay before him. Danny grabbed him by the back and shoved him to the floor with him. The trio sat against the small strip of wood beneath the window that had shattered. Alex’s eyes had not left the body of the man that possibly saved his life from Danny when he tortured him as he sat next to his warden.
Danny pulled a small pistol from the back of his pants and held it, facing the ceiling. Ashley did the same, but facing the ground. “Hey kid, I think now’s your chance to set things right with us here,” Danny said.
“Wait, what!?” Alex shouted still staring at the body. Danny grabbed him by his dingy hood and turned his whole head to his face.
“You and I are going to go up there and take out that sniper,” Danny said with urgency.
“You two go on. I’ll head back to the armory and get a rifle while you distract him,” Ashley pressed.
“Wait, I don’t know how to get up there,” Alex stated.
“Just follow me,” Danny replied. In that instant Danny returned to his cloud of flame and rushed past his two companions. Alex turned and looked out the window and saw a whole stream of fire rush off to the building in awe.
“Go already!” Ashley scolded him. Alex quickly stood and rushed for a solution in his brain. He thought for one second and then remembered something form his battle with Danny. He could turn his whole being to current. Alex looked up at the building as the flame climbed the air towards it like a diagonal ladder. He still was not sure how he did it, it just happened. Back then he just shut his eyes and then he found himself looking down on the demon as he laid on the floor in shock. Alex tried desperately in his own mind to imagine his being as an electric current, it was all to no avail. As a last resort he shut his eyes and tried to imagine himself going from the earth to the top of the roof without lifting a finger. He shut his eyes tighter and tighter until he could at last feel a spark between his fingers, and from his fingers to his arms and torso.
Ashley watched as Alex had begun to be engulfed in voltage, from sparks to aura around his body. Alex shut his eyes then opened them, and he saw nothing but blue, then a white flash, loud boom, and he was behind Danny. Ashley watched from beside him when he turned,
she saw a brilliant flash of azure and then a torrent of spark travel from her side to the roof faster than her own eye could follow. It was a flash, and then it was over. Alex looked down to find fissures in the concrete and soot form from the bolts endpoint. He stepped off the landing zone with sudden surprise of a small electric fire that had started below his feet. He stood beside his small conflagration, and stared at Danny in amazement and shock at his own endowment.
Alex stared at the back of Danny and at his collar where the riddled image of the phoenix in the cage appeared in bullet holes and scratches. Alex then looked left and right for anyone else on the roof. He looked back down to see Ashley running across the court and into the building across from her position. He walked up to Danny and looked over his shoulder to find that he was staring at the ground with nothing ahead of him. Alex realized that they were too late, the assassin had left the scene with his weapon and there were no traces left. Alex began to think through the confusion of his mind and the adrenaline. If he left the scene so fast, then there was nothing they could do. He even began to think of why Danny wanted him up there with him. From what Alex witnessed. Danny would have been done with him in seconds.
Alex watched Danny closely again and saw him reinsert his weapon. It became clear to Alex, finally. “You knew we wouldn’t make it. You wanted to – “, As soon as he spoke he received a punishing blow to the chin from Danny, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. Alex looked up through the ringing in his head and the reverbing pain in his mouth to see a truly disgruntled man with flame already beginning to engulf his fingers and up his arm.
He received another blow from the tip of his shoe piercing into his side. He was surprised that he wasn’t bleeding. Danny then stomped him and grabbed him by his hair and dragged him to the edge of the building. Alex realized what had been happening through his pain and reached up to grasp Danny’s wrist. It improved nothing. Danny threw him to his back and stood over him with his hands around his neck, pushing him toward the edge until Alex had to fight gravity to lean up. Alex could see through his distorted vision the concrete that rested at least twenty feet below. He fought to make eye contact with Danny and to get words up and out of his crunched larynx. Danny finally leaned him up to speak his final words before issuing Alex’s fate.
Disease X Page 14
