“Come on!” he ordered the three of them in the party.
Heather practically flung herself into the back seat and sat in the very center. Danny and Ashley both sat surrounding her. Delsin was in the pilot seat. The soft fabric that heather sat on and let her palms wrap around sent shivers of pleasure through her spine. It had only been a single day, and yet she already missed the gentle and soft texture. Both doors slammed around her and Danny, holding his chest, barked at him to drive.
The car made a loud screech as it then dove through the opening that had been the makeshift gate they worked so diligently to create. Danny looked back at the hole as the haze enveloped the survivors that had stood idle, he did not even stop to comfort them. He gazed around the smoldering remains of the mother as it had reminded him of the little boy whom Merrick saved. The mother had died the moment the hole appeared, leaving the child to wither away. He turned back and slammed his head back against the seat rest in frustration.
Ashley noticed this and consoled, “We’ll be back for them. He couldn’t have gone far. It’s over now anyway.” Something in Heather’s stomach told her that it was only the beginning of the end. It was the final chapter.
They drove down between the feet of giants until the beast was once again in sight. Heather looked out front past Delsin, then struggled relentlessly to move past Danny and the woman and crawl into the passenger side. She fell all over herself as she struggled to get a good view, then she finally succeeded. Somehow the beast had managed to keep pace with the military, probably due to its enhanced size. The walking crystal closed in relentlessly, completely unaware of his followers. Heather stared in amazement at the monster, as well as bewildered. She pondered on what the beast even was, it was humanoid, which she had already known. Although, the shards protruding forth gave and ugly appearance, as well as the slash on its chest. The arms were completely made from the red rock and had a mirroring effect on the vibrant glow beyond the grey.
Water still fell out of the sky while the shine shot through them. They were a million diamonds falling through the reverse horizon and crashing onto the rock skin, leaving a brilliant glow. Where the hell did this thing come from? Heather thought to herself as she beamed at the creature with her mouth nearly hung open. They drove for what had felt like minutes before their extreme speed brought them to the gate from which their torment began. The military bashed through, leaving a sizable window for the creature to enter. The dancers clung to the sides of their jeeps like monkeys. They drew their weapons and fired upon the monster hopelessly as the crystal protected him and grew back.
They stopped short of the bridge, just before their appropriated vehicle could get close. It skidded to a stop and Heather felt her entire being launch forward and her head bashed into the front window. She reeled back and held her head painfully as she reclined into her seat.
“Oh no…why are you stopping?!” Danny asked baffled and irritated.
“We can’t follow them, not if we want to live,” He replied grimly.
“What?” The woman questioned.
“It’s an emergency scenario. They do this trick when they have their backs to the wall. Think about it, would you knowingly lead a wolf to a heard of sheep?” Heather still did not understand the example that Delsin had given everyone.
She stared out as the large crystal moved from their view. It grew thinner and thinner until it was minuscule. She watched through the glistening crystal that had fallen to the ground from the sky, then a single black speck came into view. It was out of place, all she knew was that it was within the monsters view and that it had spawned from the prey it had been perusing. It became clear that even the dancers feared whatever the monster had been.
They ran from it after several others had fallen in its stead. Those who had been created and formed to defend the innocent had been sent running like a doe from wolves. The deer kept running and running endlessly, only to soon be devoured at the hands of the circle of life. It became clear…the beast is the bane of humanity, not just the healthy. It had lost control, dropping everyone in its wake. Perhaps not, perhaps it knew far more than anyone of them could. The speck flew like a fly around the beast. It swatted left and right, the fly spun around it, angering the creature. The creature had finally stopped and whisked around, sending a massive fist in its direction. The fly was agile. It swung around and then jumped off of the creature’s colossal rock. The fly lunged past it and dove off toward the water, underneath the bridge.
The single mistake of the existence of the monster was in itself an offense, thus resorting to the ultimate procedure. The fly had left Heather’s view for less than two seconds before appearing from the other side, opposite of his entry point. Crashes were heard upon its arrival, dust flew from the bottom of the bridge, and the car the party resided in shook violently.
The fly flew upward to the sky and then across the beast overhead. He ran along the beams of the once glorious bridge to Manhattan, light glimmering from the steel. He moved swiftly. Heather lost track of him, as did the monster. However, it appeared that Danny, Delsin, and the woman all kept a keen eye attached to the fly. They watched the show unfolding before them with vacant stares that gave way to grim hearts as windows. Heather finally resorted to stepping out of the reverbing vehicle. The door flew open and she stomped her foot down to the pavement and fell to her knees due to the loss of balance. She regained herself and stood to her feet, continuing to pay witness to the cataclysmic performance.
Another massive blast emanated from the beams above the beast now, and the wire holding the structure slung back violently. Debris the size of cars flew and fell upon the monster. It was buried in the destruction until he could no longer see the light of the day. He lay below the carnage that had fallen upon him. Then the ground shook, and Heather once again fell to her knees. As the military fled leaving only the fly behind, segments fell from behind them. The beast had fallen first, any support keeping the structure alive had been shattered. The beast fell into the water, joining into the abyss the debris had been absorbed in.
The beast left Heathers view, but she knew that it must have tried desperately to swim, only to descend further because of the weight of its crystals. She imagined the poor creature sinking, and sinking, till it was lost in the dark blue oblivion below. The bridge finally concluded its horrid display…and it had been subtracted to only vital segment. Connection was no longer possible. The life that Heather dreamed of regaining was lost to her forever. She stared down in despair. She felt the urge to cry. It came upon her powerfully, yet she resisted. The party in the vehicle stepped out to join her. The military was almost out of sight now…traveling across the separated connection.
They stared at the distant convoy of three leaving them. What started at least six strong had been reduced to half, almost completely courtesy of the beast that invaded earth. Heather watched in despair at the somber end of the chapter she so predicted. She was saying a final farewell to her family and life. She watched until she noticed something peculiar. Foam appeared to form among where the debris had sunk. She even saw the fly sit atop one of the surviving beams. She stood quickly and nudged the others.
“Look…” She muttered to them still depressed. The foam had grown larger as they sat and watched with the fly.
“Great…” Danny said with sarcasm in his sigh.
Heather looked over to him, She had been about to request what he knew that she did not. She was stopped by a loud roar of the sea. She jerked her head over in amazement to find the source…a large crimson mountain protruded from the oblivion. It had been slender, very thin. It stretched to her what looked like light years. It nearly pierced the sky in two, then stopped abruptly. Heather looked back down at the fly who was shocked and proceeded to retreat. Then a crash of glass filled the air. It had emerged from the mountain. It stretched infinitely, almost like and arm reaching to grasp something it had lost. The party watched it expand, grubbing for the fly with rage. The beam that pr
otruded from the mountain formed a large red cliff.
The fly was soon attacked by the arm that reached for it. The beam scraped its leg, sending him spinning. He regained his footing and landed atop the arm, until the one they had banished returned to them. The monster flew at the fly with great speed as it rose from the arm. The beast ran its claws along the arm to slow itself, then lunge. The fly had been wounded, its wing torn. The beast slid to it and clawed ferociously. The fly leaped somehow from its pain and eluded the beast.
Another spark emitted from behind the beast as the fly leaped, and then another blast could be heard, more distant this time. The beast had been knocked back by it, only to turn to the fly more frantic. It let out another screech, causing the fly to stutter back and make the audience clasp their ears again. The fly leaped from the spire to the sea and flew around the arm that had pursued him. He flew around and came out from below the other side, then took another swipe with its weapon. The beast grew more agitated at the blast, it sent forth sparks of voltage at the fly.
The fly had been agile, swerving left and right around the red streams of light. They fought viciously, the fly was exhausted from the act before and the beast had become more deranged and wounded. Heather watched and finally realized something she had mistook. The child never grows, no matter how much people force it too. They too are no different, nothing more than sad, bickering children. It was not a battle of warriors, but of infants on the playground.
The fly grappled the arm and swung down below, he held tightly to the bottom. The fly had tried to hide from the beast, only to be assaulted by a flurry of needles from the underarm. His arms danced as he grappled rapidly to elude the blizzard of spikes, until he slung himself back around. The fly had then suddenly been imprisoned in the beast’s large, rock hands. Another blast emitted into its arms and both went soaring. The beast had fallen onto its back while the lighter insect flew for what appeared to be several hundred yards. Then another burst of speed erupted stridently, and the insect had been evanescent. It faded into nothing, and had disappeared.
The beast had risen to its knees quivering in rage. It let out an eardrum shattering screech. Heather slammed her hands into her ear holes but the sound penetrated anyway. She could feel fluid flowing from her ears and onto her palms. When the siren ended she removed her hands and examined them, there were red spots on them. Her eyes widened at the results, as though she had only hours left to live, but it had only been an exaggeration. She looked back over to the other three with her, they all leered with expecting eyes until Danny finally announced.
“Hey, Ash…It’s not too far from here, and I can walk the rest of the way…I think I can make the trip there and back.”
The woman that he referred to as Ashley had eyes that swung to Danny and replied, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” He answered simply. He had taken a single, uneasy step out toward the begging of the empty space that filled the void where a segment had once stood strong. Silence filled the air as every person, even seemingly people who could have been hiding from the catastrophic event, peered from the windows of the ruined buildings. Heather stared at Danny in anticipation of what he could have meant and how he could have been able to even reach the mountain, then her answer came in a small cloud of flame. Moments before he appeared far too weak to even stand, and now by whatever means he had regained endurance to summon whatever energy he could, and take a final flight. Heather no longer gazed in awe, rather she had been exhausted bearing witness to the impossible, as it had been proven possible all those years ago.
All eyes watched as the cloud slowly glided over its very death below it. It traveled slowly, until it had finally reached the beginning of the outstretched arm. It swirled, until it had reformed into the flesh and solid matter that had fallen to its knees in the most fatigue that he had suffered from yet. He eventually returned to his unstable feet and started down the arm again. Eyes from every angle could recognize him as the demon that destroyed Time Square, the loose cannon that some believed to have been involved with the genocide of the base in the red zone. The demon moved along, apathetic of the eyes.
Danny walked further for what had only been moments until he approached the monster and stopped in his tracks. The beast was slumped over, his rocky back showing. Pieces had begun deteriorating from the matter that knelt half dead. The powerful red crystal that had formed around his body reverted to a gradient pitch dark. The monster had been surrounded by its own former vibrant crystal like a prison. They circled around him and lay flat in worship to the dying animal. This continued, until the faint sounds of tearing filled Danny’s ears as he watched patiently and blasé. He rather felt more as though what he had witnessed had been pedantic. Ribbons of flesh curled from the beast and fell like a snake sheds its skin until entire piles congregated with the black ambers around him.
Flakes held tightly to whatever cloth he had been wearing to retain humanity. Large sections fell from its face in clumps and the large crystals for arms and hands had loosened their grip, blackened, and fell from their master. They fell like a large glove from its body, to reveal new, light pink flesh that had generated from underneath. It had only one bare arm that appeared human, and one other arm that had had ribbons of cloth dangling around it. The sleeve of the cloth on its bare arm had been completely torn away.
The rock on its legs fell and blackened in the same custom. It showed pant legs that had also been torn but still in contact, only one bear shin and foot could be revealed. Danny had begun to mosey around to the front of the unveiling and bear witness to the face peeling. Large segments fell…until the unconscious eyes of his demigod, Alex, had fell shut. Danny stepped forward and lifted the demigods arm around his shoulder. He lifted him up and limped with him out back to the mainland. He stopped and turned his head back at the arm. The hand outstretched in misery, clawing at its desire. Danny stared back again, still looking out at in the distance. So, the kid did all this, huh?
…The flapping of a single small black pheasant closed in on the solid ground amongst the fire and flame. The creature had hopped nonchalantly toward a single shell that had released onto the ground. The crow reared its head in closer upon examining it and gave a small peck onto the palm of its hand. The sounds of stomping and the voice of and adult man started its way and waved his hands in a shooing matter. The crow had flown away frightened and the man watched it fly off into the amber sky. By debris sat little Elizabeth alone, wondering of what was to come.
She looked out and watched the people gradually begin relocating the shells and puppets around her. Her eyes then looked at the ground, feeling the effect of a swirling abyss within her overtaking her. She looked back up and stared at the flame that encroached around the remains of the shelter that she had once lived in, the factory. The roaring sounds of rolling tires came her way and her eyes shot to her left in excitement. Approaching had been a familiar vehicle, it was the one the four had left her in. She jumped to her feet from the large piece of stone and began running to the automobile. She swayed back and forth between the men and women that had survived and around the stone littered shells and puppets that stood as obstacles. The car had come to a grumbling stop and died upon shut down. The clicks of doors gave music to their return.
She was the first to greet them, and the first to find the boy again. She looked at him with curious and somewhat frightened eyes. Where did they find him? He had not been with them when they left. She hadn’t seen him the entire day. Danny pulled Alex from the back seat, where he had been laying comatose. Danny slung his arm around him again and began to carry him off toward the people. The people walked solemnly, some wearing whatever surgeon masks they had left to avoid sickness.
Their eyes had turned red from the haze that consumed them earlier. They were wide, as though they were in a sort of trance, staring down at the fallen. Alex still had small scraps of dead skin attached to the remains of his grey jacket, the hood, however, was still intact. The back of the
jacket had holes torn into it by the crystals. Danny dragged the coma induced body toward the people, and they watched. Danny, Ashley, Delsin, and Heather felt their eyes like a thousand piercing needles, when they all knew that they were leering at the boy with them.
“It appears as though we had it all wrong. It looks like his abilities are tied to his emotions. Causing his first power to take action when angered and his second when he’s scared or nervous. It’s a defense…” Delsin had rambled, until Ashley beside him cocked her head and stated coldly,
“Not now.”
They stumbled with Alex closer and closer to the eyes of the survivors. A select few people even grew angered at the mere sight of the unconscious boy. Danny looked forward and looked around exhaustedly at the fires that had engulfed his home. Depression swept over him like a blanket atop a bed. He moved the boy, nonetheless, and continued to support him, despite the climax that he had wrought on their fight. He could not cease to remember what it was that Huntington had spoken to him when they had locked blades. He gazed at the fiery blade that he had left behind and remembered the scene. They locked blades and over the dancing sparks and embers he remembered. Huntington stared at him with apathetic eyes and left him with a single line. The fall has been born anew. Those six small words haunted Danny. He felt that a thousand passages of new literacy would never erase the memory of that moment.
Danny stopped abruptly in his tracks, the rest of the party’s legs had nearly left without their eyes as they stopped and looked at Danny.
Disease X Page 25
