“Well, not money, but yes a gun or a sword is very possible,” Carl responded. Marshall just shook his head and laughed. Though not as loud spoken as Marshall, the boys were agreeing more with his point of view. That is when Carl came in telling them the downside of the object, “You may only change the object once a night to whatever you desire.”
“Once a night? Well, why’s that?” Fred asked, puzzled. The way the Rod worked was beginning to intrigue all the boys except Marshall who sat there laughing at the weapon. He eventually flung it on to the table and looked outside the window. Despite trying to act as if he didn't care, he was still listening closely.
“I will cover that later. First let's take a look at what else you got in those cases,” Carl spoke mysteriously so the boys listened. They each picked up the next object, which was a dark black belt. “The belt which you hold now, and I have all your sizes so don’t worry, will go with your other object.” They all then looked to the little black device with three colors on it. Red, green and white which were the only three buttons on it. It also had a small screen where words would pop up. “As you can see, there are three buttons. Red is to turn on Stealth mode, while green is to stop it. White is one of the most important ones. After each mission, when you eliminate the species, press the white button to tell the station you’ve completed your hunt. Soon after, a crew will come by, so be patient. They will clean up the mess with their equipment and take care of anyone injured. This is very important so please listen very carefully.” Carl finished and the boys nodded, as they understood. Marshall just threw the device onto the table without a care.
“So basically a beeper. Thanks 1999,” Marshall joked.
“You may call them beepers. Let me assure you though that they are far beyond just that. They are one of the most important tools you can have on a mission.” Carl stopped for a few seconds to take a few breaths and get some questions in before continuing.
The boys all took a second to check this new equipment. Understanding most of it was simple but what to use them for was still a mystery. “So what do we use them for in the end result, though?” inquired Fred, who was messing around with the Rod.
“Ah well that brings me to the next subject. Why are you called Exterminators and why did I just give you all these tools? This may be hard to understand but what you will be hunting are beasts. Some are very well known beasts such as dragons and Cyclops. Then there will be others, which you won’t know, such as Rockus, or Ruks for that matter. We titled all these monsters under the code name “Unknowns”. They are very real, just not in our realm. It may sound strange but these beasts can break though. How you ask? Because some are strong enough to break through the realm of the living. It's also because we have enemies who want to bring these creatures to our world. Believing they can create a new world or tame these monsters. I will assure you, these animals are very dangerous. A mission’s dead line is the day you get it and it must be completed in that day. Otherwise, we will send out an elite hunter, otherwise known as a Protector. I don’t take excuses and neither does this place so I advise you to do what you’re told.” The words sunk into the boys’ heads.
“So, in other words, this is really a game of life and death?” asked Peter. Carl answered with a nod, which made Peter slightly excited. He liked reading about this stuff. Now he might actually be apart of it.
“This isn't a game. That's one of the most important things to learn from today. You won't come back if you die. There is no restart button. No, this is real life. Meaning you can get hurt and if not careful end up dead.” The boys began to think twice about the deal. “I am not saying it’s helpless to fight at your level, though. The book that is also inside the case will help you. It’s a guide and it will show you great strategies to beat the Unknowns you will encounter. It's years of killing these things that those plans are made from. So you have the best hunters writing those. You'll be fine if you study them and hunt the monsters carefully.”
Marshall got up, brushed himself down, grabbed his case, and walked to the door. “I’m leaving. Thanks for the souvenirs, but this stuff is bull anyway. I don’t have time for this. I got school in the morning. This fantasy stuff can wait for another day.” Despite not believing, Marshall still took the case. The door slammed, making Peter jump back into reality. His mind lost in the thought process of creating weapons to kill Unknowns. Peter noticed Marshall was gone and felt relief flush over him. Carl on the other hand was angry.
“Don’t worry about him. When he needs help he’ll come to me,” said Fred, getting Carl’s attention. “He always does, even though we aren’t friends anymore. Well, continue. Any more information we need? Like how we’ll be getting these missions? 'Cause I don't even have a cell phone yet.” Fred changed the subject quick. Carl looked towards Fred and smiled.
“Right, good question. Always wear the Beeper, which will then give you a mission. It's not a simple message you will see. Instead the message will be shown to you. In good time you'll come to understand what that means,” Carl said, the boys now paying close attention. “Once the Unknown is found you will get a message, trust me you’ll know when the message is there. Once given the mission you will have until the end of that day to complete it. After that our Protectors will be sent out to hunt the monster. You could get the mission anytime on any day. I suggest you read your books so that you find all the information you will need about the things you’ll go up against.” The boys all looked at the book, analyzing a few pages then turning back to Carl.
Carl took a look at his watch again and began to speak “I’m sorry, but I must go. If anything comes up I will mail you like I did today or send you a message through the Beepers. Please remember to wear it tomorrow since that is when your jobs could begin. I have faith in you all…even Marshall. Have a good day now,” said Carl as he got up from his seat and walked to the closet door. He opened it, gave everyone a smile and a wave goodbye, then closed it.
“Well…that was new,” said Nick, looking at the three new things in front of him. Fred began to put away the items so Nick followed. Peter was already packed, but kept out the book. They all got up after gathering their stuff in their cases and left the house. It was getting dark out when they began their way home.
“Guys, this is crazy,” said Fred with a confused look. “I mean I've seen plenty of movies and cartoons about aliens…” Before he could continue Peter interrupted him by pointing out that they are monsters, not aliens. “Okay, monsters, creatures, aliens, whatever! These things, whatever they are, I thought can never really be out there,” ended Fred. Nick nodded in agreement but Peter disagreed.
“I must say, I believed some of what was spoken. The thing I don’t understand is, why us kids? I mean, why not adults?”
“Maybe because adults would try to get these guys arrested for thinking this is ludicrous,” Fred said.
“I see that. Still it seems weird to pick up a bunch of seventeen year old kids to try and take on these so-called monsters. I mean, this sounds like a really dangerous job. I'm kind of freaked out,” Nick responded.
“Do you think any of it's real?” Fred asked.
“I don't really know. If it isn't, that was a pretty awesome set up for a prank,” he said laughing.
“Guy seems cool. A bit weird though.” Fred said about Carl.
“Yeah, gives off that teacher vibe. We didn't even start school yet and I felt like I was in a classroom.”
“A dirty small room counts as a classroom now?”
“Well I did say “felt like” and not was one,” Nick said pushing Fred jokingly.
“Well guys, this is my way,” Peter said pointing towards the left side. “I’m going to read some of this book. Maybe you all should too. We can try to get some answers. I’ll see you at school. Bye,” Peter said and walked away. The others waved and began to walk again.
“Man, it’s like living in a video game. If this stuff is really going to happen, then I bet we’re going to have
a lot of fights,” said Fred smiling and Nick agreed. It was a bit scary, but they found it to be more exciting. “Imagine what we will be fighting.”
“Dragons!”
“Cyclops!”
“Big Foot!”
“Unicorns!”
“Unicorns?”
“Yeah, the thing with the horns and wings.”
“I know what it is.”
“Then why'd you ask?”
"I'm just saying...why unicorns?” Nick asked with a laugh.
“Dude, whatever! I'm just imagining what we'll be seeing. Fighting. Killing. It's crazy!” Fred felt his blood rushing. He was getting more and more excited by the moment.
“We don’t really have to imagine,” answered Nick as he stopped at the corner. “It’s all in the book. Well, I gotta go this way, so I’ll just see you in school. It’ll be my first day but I’m pretty good with directions.” Fred nodded.
“Later,” Nick called as he began to run off with his silver case in hand. Fred waved goodbye and then started his way home.
Chapter Four – School
Nick slowly rose up, stretched, and went for his dresser. After throwing on some clothes he made his way into his bathroom to wash his face. He had started to grow a mustache, which was beginning to show. A slight beard began to grow along with it. He thought about learning how to shave correctly as he examined his reflection. Then he spiked up his hair and brushed his teeth. After checking himself in the mirror he pushed his hair back down deciding he hated the spiky hair look now that he was older. Nick did his daily routine, sliding down the stairs banister like he did in his old house. Making his way to his kitchen he saw some doughnuts and scooped one up. “Doughnuts? Do you want to get heart disease?” His father was very picky when it came to food. Nick had snuck a box of doughnuts into the shopping cart the other day when Nick went with his father to do the food shopping. A little treat for him. His father agreed to it only because he could use the left over doughnuts to feed the birds outside.
“Of course, Father. I forgot how unhealthy I am. With me weighing a total of hundred and forty pounds and all. I'm going be the new fat kid on the block.” Nick rolled his eyes as he put down the jelly filled doughnut. He and his father bickered about small things. It was how they bonded. Nick always remained respectful though. He put the doughnut down and grabbed his book bag. “Well, this is my first day at school, wish me luck.” His dad waved goodbye as Nick shut the door behind him.
The weather outside was beautiful. Nick wanted to run towards the beach instead of school. This year though, he wanted to do better since last year he flunked most of his classes. Not to mention the big brawls at school didn't help. Somehow he always ended up in a fight every so often. It wasn’t that he wanted to start them, he just found himself finishing them. The wind rushed into him, a breeze so powerful it chased away any drowsiness he had left. Still, once the wind died down the humidity fell over him like a thick blanket. He wasn't enjoying the new change of weather in New York City.
He stopped to tie his shoe and when getting up, saw Fred walking down the block across from him. He was so excited to see a familiar face he went dashing across the street. A car stopped short and beeped at Nick, yelling and cursing at him from the driver’s seat. “Sorry! Sorry! My bad,” Nick called back as he walked onto the sidewalk. Fred looked at him, smiling. “Dude...I don't know if you noticed but everyone is kind of mean around here,” Nick said smiling back.
“Yeah. I wouldn't advise running across the street without looking.”
“Well maybe he should look to see who's coming across the street. What if I was an animal or a deer?”
“A deer is an animal.”
“Okay what if I was a dog or a deer?” Nick asked laughing. “Better?”
“Just watch it around here. No one has patience.” Fred replied as he patted Nick on the back. They shook hands in the way teenagers do and began walking to school while talking. School schedules came up and Fred checked over Nick’s. “Hey we even got four classes together. Only difference I could spot on here would be science and lunch. That means I won’t be chilling with you first period. Science is an annoyance but mandatory subject in this school, so we’ll talk more in math.” Before leaving, another handshake occurred and both boys went their opposite ways.
The school was huge with almost three thousand students to fill the rumbling halls. It wasn’t too dirty, surprisingly, but it still had too many kids for the size of the building. “Could use another paint job,” muttered Nick to himself as he pushed through the halls to make it to class. He finally pulled out from the ruckus and into the front of his classroom door. He looked into the class to see only half of it full before making his way over to the right where a few seats remained free next to the window. He made himself comfortable and closed his eyes to feel a few cool breezes that blew through.
He heard a few more kids entering but none were coming to sit close to him, so he kept his eyes closed. He was thinking of back home when the classes weren't much bigger than twenty kids. The class here was only half full and Nick remembered seeing twenty kids already. With at least thirty five plus students, Nick was ready to just skate by the class and keep his mouth shut. He didn't want to start any trouble at the new school.
While enjoying the cool wind that hit his face he heard someone finding a seat next to him. He opened his eyes to reveal one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. Her jet black hair went right down to her shoulders. Her lips were the perfect size. Not too small but not too big. Her eyes were light blue; her skin had a light complexion but still a slight tan to it. She had on colorful purple pants and a Beatles shirt, almost no makeup to be found. She wiped her head to get the sweat off and then looked to her side and smiled.
Nick felt himself turning red, and it wasn’t cause of the heat. The girl next to him introduced herself with sweetness in her tone. “Hey. My name is Kelly and yours?” Nick smiled back as she waited for the answer. After a few seconds she asked again. “Are you okay, you look a little red?” Nick snapped out of it and sat up straight.
“Oh yeah. Umm.... My name's Nick. Uhhh nice pen.” She tilted her head. “Nice pen? What in the world am I saying. NICE PEN!?” Nick felt his face turning even redder.
She smiled then shook her head. “Well, okay...I'm going to just turn around now. Nice meeting you, Nick the pen identifier.” She winked before turning her head towards the front of the classroom. He felt like running out of the classroom and slamming his head into a locker. He just met his first girl since he moved to New York City and the best he could come up with is “nice pen”. “I am such a geek,” he thought to himself.
“Umm, what I meant was,” Nick began to speak but the classroom was too loud for her to hear. At least over thirty kids were in the classroom now, a lot of them speaking loudly about their summer vacation.
“I see we both like science huh?” Nick turned to see Peter sitting behind him. “I didn't know you liked it that much. Advance biology can be pretty tough,” he said with a smile. Nick noticed that the smile was too big for Peter's face, making him look odd.
“Yeah, I absolutely love science. So much in fact that they threw me in whatever class they had available and I somehow got this. Did I mention I love “ADVANCE” science?” Nick was getting annoyed. He took a quick glance at Kelly but she was deep into texting someone on her phone.
“Hey, do I detect a little bit of attitude?” Peter asked.
“Sorry, it's just this girl here -” he gave a quick thumbs up towards Kelly. “is super cute. My grand opening line with her was that she had a nice pen.” Nick almost laughed at what he said. He probably would have if it wasn't for the fact he wanted to cry at the same time.
“Kelleh,” he asked, pronouncing her name odd.
“Yeah, don't call her that.”
“Why? It's what I've called her since we were five. Hey Kelleh, how was your summer?” Peter asked loudly. Kelly turned around and waved at Peter.
>
“Hey Pete! Summer was good. I mostly stayed at home and worked on my art. Nothing too fancy this summer. How ‘bout you? Did any schooling during the summer?”
“Eh a little bit. I focused mostly on creating my own website. I'm trying to launch it sometime next year. It's basically a site to help formulate math problems a lot easier for younger kids. Basically breaking it down into games so they can learn and have fun.”
“Are you trying to scare her off!?” Nick roared in his head. He took a quick look towards Kelly, expecting her to be completely bored.
“That sounds awesome,” she said, her hands flying in the air with excitement.
“What in the hell...,” Nick was in shock.
“Oh, by the way, this is Nick. He's new here. I think he just moved.”
“Oh yeah-” Kelly looked towards Nick. “-the pen expert. He's a bit of an odd one. Pete you pick the strangest friends.”
“What friends? He's probably my first.”
“HEY! What about me,” she exclaimed. She made her face look annoyed, even though she was just teasing.
“Well, of course! I meant guy friends. You know what you're always saying. “Pete go out and-” he began to say but she jumped in.
“Do some bromancing! Yes! Glad to see it finally working.” She looked at Nick. “If Pete is your friend, you have to be good people. So for now I'll accept you as the nice guy Pete is friends with. Even if you are odd. Pen expert,” she said giggling and then turned back towards the front.
Nick turned to Peter. “Dude...what the hell? Somehow you're the guy who knows the really hot girls in this school? How is this possible?”
“Actually-” Peter began as the class door opened. The teacher was walking in. “-Kelly has been my friend for over ten years. She's like my sister. Talking to girls, as in girls to date, is almost impossible for me. Now that you're here maybe you can show me the way,” Peter rushed with a smile spreading across his face. Nick felt the smiles were coming off forced or fake. Something odd about them.
Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1) Page 3
