Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  “My point,” Johnny exclaimed, “is that we have known about demons for a long time. We had all the information we needed to see this coming, yet we ignored it. Scientists, like myself, ignored it. We mocked the religious texts, as we disproved their ideas, but ignored investigating their supernatural elements. We shunned them aside because, fiery monsters from another world? Pfft, that couldn’t possibly be real. Turns out, the ideas we mocked the most, ended up being stolen from ancient research that used the same scientific methods that we pride ourselves on using today. Yet because of our bias, we ignored it. History has always tried to warn us of the dangers that were to come. We have never listened.”

  Johnny was fully engaged in his lesson. Karrel had never seen him so energetic, and it felt as though he was listening to one of Prisca’s stories. “Well, you’ve convinced me to start listening.” Karrel marveled.

  Johnny relaxed a bit, and a smile started to form. “Good!” he rejoiced. “Now I hope you can understand why I think we need to be stepping up our game against the demons.”

  Karrel understood completely. “All of the information is pointing to the fact that we need to act immediately. You’re in a position to do something about this mess…” Karrel began.

  “…and I’m not going to repeat history, by ignoring that opportunity.” Johnny finished.

  Strangely motivated Karrel hopped off of the desk he had been sitting on. “Well,” Karrel said, extending his hand out to Johnny’s, “If you’ll still have me, I would love to continue being a part of your plan.”

  Clasping Karrel’s hand and shaking it, Johnny smiled. “Of course!” Johnny expressed his gratitude. He then glanced over Karrel’s shoulder, mid-handshake. “Besides, I’m fairly certain Angel would be disappointed if you left.”

  Karrel turned around and found himself staring at a person standing in the doorway of Johnny’s lab. It was Angel, and he was holding an empty glass cup in his hand.

  Karrel’s heart sank for a moment, but he knew what he had to do. He approached Angel, who did not move from the doorway. The two boys stared at each other, and neither could muster up any words. For a moment, the room was filled with an awkward vibe, and the silence could be felt in the air.

  He had practiced his apology hundreds of times, yet as Karrel stood before Angel, words escaped him. Finally, he mustered up as much courage as he could. He took a deep breath in, and scrunched his face guiltily, before ultimately asking, “We good?” As the words left him, he began making a slight gesture back a forth between himself and Angel.

  Angel’s demeanor remained unchanged. He stood still for a moment, before extending the hand that was carrying the glass cup. “Hold this…” he demanded.

  Karrel hesitantly reached out and grasped the cup. Angel stared at Karrel for an incredibly long second, before batting the cup out of his hand, causing it to crash to the floor and shatter into pieces. An evil grin formed across Angel’s face. “Now, we’re good,” he laughed and wrapped his arms around Karrel giving him a brotherly hug.

  Karrel let the air escape from his lungs as he sighed in relief. The burden that had been weighing him down was lifted, and he felt much better about his continued stay with his new friends.

  Johnny, however, expressed a mild irritation. Pointing to the broken cup on the floor, and staring at Angel, he expressed his frustration. “Did you have to do this in my lab?” he groaned. He bent over and inspected one of the broken pieces of glass. “With one of my cups?”

  Angel peered over Karrel’ shoulder. Johnny could easily spot the guilt on his face. “Oh, woops. Sorry!” Angel giggled. He then looked to Karrel and then back to Johnny before sarcastically asking, “We good?”

  Johnny chucked the piece of glass at both Angel and Karrel. The two of them dodged underneath it, laughing the entire time as they scampered their way toward the door. Ducking away from a final glass projectile that Johnny had launched, and escaping the confines of his laboratory, the two of them could hear the engineer chuckling to himself as they left.

  Angel and Karrel made sure to put some extra distance away from the warehouse, just in case. They were both still gleeful from their recent escape, but finally they stopped their slow sprint and began to catch their barely winded breath.

  Finally silent, the two friends observed each other. Karrel was the first to speak. “Look man,” Karrel started, “I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

  Angel sighed, putting his hand on Karrel shoulder. “Relax,” he insisted, “it was nothing more than a love tap–”

  “–that’s not the point,” Karrel interrupted. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a buddy. Hell, I didn’t have many friends even before I was on my own. And now you and the others have brought me into your troop and treated me like a brother.”

  Angel slugged Karrel on the shoulder. “Brothers fight, y’know?”

  Karrel recoiled slightly, rubbing his shoulder. “Yes, of course” Karrel admitted, “but, back when I had a little sister, I didn’t treat her like shit. And when we weren’t fighting, I didn’t take her kindness for granted.” Karrel extended his hand toward Angel. “I’m no longer going to take you guys for granted.”

  Angel stared at the outreached limb. “Aww, you’re gonna break my non-existent heart,” he mocked Karrel, grasping the outreach limb.

  “Non-existent?” Karrel smiled.

  “I’m made of smoke and mirrors now, remember? I don’t exactly have a heartbeat anymore.” Angel laughed before asking the question that was burning inside. “This mean you’re with us for good?”

  Karrel only gave it a moment’s thought. “Once we’ve brought down the bastards responsible for raining acid, hurricanes, and meteors down upon us all, I’ll probably need to rethink my investment…” Karrel joked. “But, how bad could it possibly be, sticking around for now?”

  “Besides,” Angel jested, “You wouldn’t want Krystalyn chasing your ass down, would you?”

  “I suppose I’ve just renewed my subscription with her, haven’t I?” Karrel pondered.

  “Yep!” Angel grinned and gave Karrel a sideways glance. “And from what Alice has told me, you haven’t yet reaped the rewards of your membership, have you?”

  Karrel gave a strange look to Angel. “What do you mean…?” he gestured in confusion. Angel gave him a wink, and realization dawned on him. “Oh…” Angel stood perfectly upright, beaming at Karrel.

  Karrel jumped to wrap his arms around Angel, but the laughing man was too quick, and squirmed his way out of the grasp. Glee still trickling from his tongue, Angel gestured behind him. “C’mon!” he happily ordered “Maybe if you get some rest, you’ll actually be able to do some damage.

  Shaking his head and smiling, Karrel followed Angel until splitting toward their separate rooms. He had a feeling that tonight’s sleep was going to be a good one.

  Chapter 16

  The Days Gone By

  Now that he had chosen to commit himself to the cause, Karrel found his days to be far less relaxing than they had been before. He was no longer a guest being offered free lodge. He had to pull his weight around the base. If he was being honest with himself, he wouldn’t have it any other way. His time was no longer being scattered to the wind. It was good to be of some use.

  He had lost track of how long he had been living in the underground base. Barring the yellow-eyed engineer, the group was not very persistent when it came to keeping track of the days that went by. Karrel did his best to be aware of when a week ended, but without being outside to watch the purple sky darken and brighten with passing time, it was difficult to be exact. By his count, it had been approximately three or four months since he joined the fight to take Earth back. He was too embarrassed to confirm the numbers with Johnny, who would likely view the question as trivial.

  Johnny had told him that it was going to be a few months before they were going to be able to take the next steps against the demons. He said he had plans already set in motion, and that they just needed to
be patient and wait for the right moment.

  Until that moment arose however, Karrel provided his support whenever he could. The Survivor’s Guild was never hesitant to ask for help, and there was no doubt that they desperately needed it. None of the attacks were quite as large as what he had witnessed at Sinwatch, but demons were brutal nonetheless. With the help of Angel, Johnny, Puck, and Karrel, casualties were kept to a minimum.

  The more Karrel helped them, the more he started to respect the Survivor’s Guild. They miraculously kept themselves well-armed, and though the majority of their soldiers had minimum training, there were people like Kailey, and the squad she procured during the fall of Sinwatch, within the guild who remained a force to be reckoned with. The citizens were always so amazed when they saw Kailey, a beautiful young woman, armed with her signature twin-pistols, facing off against brooding beasts of horrific sizes.

  Some of the citizens were just astonished that there was a faction out there that was willing to help others. Selflessness was a rare commodity in the wastelands, and even in the surviving cities. Hilariously, a rather large number of people seemed to consistently mistake the Survivor’s Guild for UWP rescue forces. It was an easy blunder to make, given that the UWP’s false promises of protection were still believed by many. Still, it was ironic that the Survivor’s Guild, which was formed because of the absence of the UWP, would be mistaken for the latter. It did not matter though. Puck was very adamant about educating those on the truth. Anytime someone gave their thanks for being rescued by the UWP, he would promptly scream the proper corrections at them. Karrel was never sure if it worked with setting things straight, but it was always fun to watch.

  Unfortunately, there was another problem Karrel had to deal with now. With how often he was now finding himself at the Survivors Guild headquarters, and many of their other bases, he had to take measures toward keeping his lineage a secret. Johnny mentioned that Kailey, and surprisingly Dane too, had been consistently hinting that they wanted him to step up into a leadership role within the guild. Apparently, Karrel’s parents had brought a large chunk of their influence with them to their graves, and Kailey assured him that he was the only person who could bring that influence back to life. They believed that having a person with the last name of Kerstabest would rally more people to their cause.

  Karrel turned down all of their offers of course. He had only recently gotten the courage to follow. He was nowhere near ready to lead anything. Besides, he never wanted anything to do with the Survivor’s Guild in the first place. He enjoyed helping them from time to time, but Angel’s group was where he belonged. Thankfully, Johnny still believed that the four of them were connected in some way and needed to stick together. Against their protests, he told Kailey and Dane to keep Karrel’s lineage a secret.

  Freed from forcibly undertaking a leadership role that he never wanted, Karrel had put the past few months to good use. A majority of his free time went to training with the others. They held small skirmishes and conditioned themselves for the upcoming battles. With the influx of battle experience, Karrel was discovering more and more about his gifts every week. The more he played around with his green book, the more variables would reveal themselves. Progression was random, with him still not truly understanding how to unlock the secret texts. However, very slowly, every now and then, he would be flipping through the pages and find that a new set of black symbols, which he previously was not able to understand, had turned red, and that he now had a new weapon at his disposal.

  Most of the new variables hit certain niches in combat scenarios. They were not as universally applicable as some of his previous skills, but they were useful all the same.

  It was strange, though. Karrel swore that his book was slowly getting larger in size. Before, it easily slipped into any of his pockets. Now, the book fit quite snugly, and it was hard to tell, but Karrel began to realize that it was taking him longer and longer to flip through all of the pages of the book.

  When he wasn’t studying or practicing with his green book, Karrel rapidly found that entertainment was not lacking. There was a myriad of ways to expend his leisure time. If he was not getting his butt handed to him by Jessica in some form of board game or another, Krystalyn was always happy to wreck his pride with any game involving standard playing cards. She would brag about her ability to read Karrel more easily than any book. When everyone was free and bored, Puck always had the solution, breaking out his own homemade craft beers. They all tasted terrible, but to be perfectly honest, they were not drinking it for the zest.

  The first night that Puck and the others introduced him to the foul flavored brews, Karrel feared that he would awaken with a fatal hangover. However, Puck had a solution for this as well. He had apparently created a cure for the inevitable after-night migraine, boasting that it was the lesser of his list of concoctions. Karrel had no idea how he brewed these things in an underground base, but he came to realize that the others were not kidding when they said that Puck was the one who dealt with the liquids.

  The girls seemed to enjoy themselves whenever Puck broke out his famous concoctions. Human or Demon, it did not matter. Puck’s booze could poison the best of them. Karrel particularly enjoyed hanging around Krystalyn on these occasions. Like the rest of them, she became more open after a few pints, and he was learning more and more about her and her sisters. One of the times, she drunkenly let slip a particularly embarrassing memory. It was about a night she had spent in one of the populated cities. During another drunken stupor, she had apparently kidnapped a young, willing participant, whose influential parents enacted a city-wide search for their son. The tale involved many details, including the clothes, and the lack thereof, that were involved. It took a minute for Karrel to realize that the guy who readily went with her, was going to end up in the ground at the end of the adventure…

  The next day, she had desperately approached Karrel to keep him hushed about the story. Though it had served as a friendly reminder that the girls were still, in fact, demons, he had agreed. There was no sense in picking apart Krystalyn’s past. She and her sisters had the trust of both Johnny and Angel, and with their newly shared secret, he felt more at ease when he was around Krystalyn. It was a good feeling.

  Finally, at the end of what Karrel believed was his third or fourth month staying with the group, Johnny called an urgent assembly. He had said that certain actions were in motion, and all they needed to do was wait. Apparently, the waiting was over.

  It’s about time, Karrel thought to himself as he pocketed his green book and headed for the kitchen and living area.

  Walking into the room, Karrel could see that everyone was there. Prisca, Krystalyn, Alice, Jessica, Angel, and Puck had all taken seats on one of the many couches and chairs. Johnny was standing in front of all of them, waiting for everyone to quiet down and ready themselves for a debriefing. Karrel grabbed a seat next to Angel and gave his full attention to the man leading the discussion.

  “Most of you already know of what is about to unfold,” Johnny began. “However, Karrel is new here, and we haven’t informed him of all the details. So, I’m going to start at the beginning.”

  Puck was unable to contain himself. “Has our mole finally made contact?” he shouted out.

  Johnny gave a deathly glare to Puck, who promptly shut his mouth. “Yes, I’ll get to that in a second,” Johnny snapped. He took a deep breath in and continued. “As you all know, demons have been around for quite a long time. However, it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that meteors, acid-rain, and other environmental disasters started to plague our planet. We all originally thought that it was a natural byproduct of the new creatures, and that it had accumulated over time. Thanks to the girls, we know this is not true. They are artificial weather patterns, created by enormously powerful demonic entities, and used to wreak havoc upon the Earth to deter us from rebuilding.”

  “And we have our eyes set on destroying one of these entities, right?” Karrel inquired, check
ing to see if he understood the main goal.

  “Correct,” Johnny assured. “Unfortunately for us, these monstrosities only show themselves when they release their powers, after which, they return to their world. With the use of my portals, I’ve been able to maintain a connection to their world, but only for a short period of time.”

  “I’ve never even seen one of these things,” Karrel stated. “We don’t even know where they are, so how are we supposed to jump ‘em the next time they decide to rain fireballs down from the sky?”

  “We’re not going to,” Johnny shook his head.

  The yellow-eyed engineer gestured to a thin sheet of chrome metal. Pressing a few of the lights on his illuminated forearm, the metallic substance reformed itself into a small, cylindrical object. It had a few indentations and electronic markings all across its sides.

  “This,” Johnny declared, “is a self-cooling, miniaturized fusion-charged core.”

  “English please!” Angel rolled his eyes.

  Johnny once again gestured to the object. “This, is a kick-ass battery.”

  Angel nodded, allowing Johnny to continue.

  “The connection to the other dimension is the problem, but with a few of these energy cores, I should be able to power some stabilizers. This will allow me to maintain a connection indefinitely.”

  “Why don’t we just use the one you’re pointing at?” Karrel asked. Everyone in the room stared at him, and both Krystalyn and Prisca placed their palms on their faces.

  Johnny pressed one of the lights on his arm. His MAITs reconverted themselves into a chrome sheet of metal once again. “That was just an example,” Johnny noted. “Obtaining the resources needed to build one of these cores would be quite impossible for our little group.”

  “Oh…” Karrel attempted to hide his embarrassment. “Well, then how do we get our hands on one of these?”