Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1)

by DeSantis, James

Nick placed his hand on Peter's shoulder. “Stop worrying. We are in this together.”

  Marshall slapped both of his friends on the back. “Guys, this is it. We've been training so hard to fight the big baddies. We're about to go head-to-head with it right? So stop worrying and let's go kick this damn thing's ass! If we sit here we won't get anything done!” Marshall headed towards the door. He hit the beeper and entered the other realm. The boys followed.

  “Shouldn't we discuss a plan of attack,” Peter asked.

  “Nah, we'll discuss it on the way to the place,” Marshall responded nonchalantly, opening the door.

  They walked outside. The woods were right in front of them. It was still cold out so most of the leaves were blown off. The forest looked almost dead in a way, grim and dark. Similar to the situation they were put in. “Oh, how fitting. This looks like a perfectly fine forest to walk through!” Marshall said gleefully, walking forward.

  Then the ground shook. It was a heavy shake, one that made all three boys jump. Then another boom. They moved back a step. Another ground shuddering boom. “Okay, now that sounds bad,” Marshall said in a low voice. They heard something crashing, closer this time.

  “It's coming towards us?” Peter asked.

  “It seems that way. Get ready. Form the Rod based on attack. Plan A or B depending on what we are up against,” Nick commanded. The boys nodded and snatched their Rods. Nick grabbed his own and stepped forward. He would be leading the attack either way. He felt the sweat trickle down his neck as another boom hit the ground. The footsteps were only moments away.

  Marshall saw a shadow. It was too dark in the forest to see the shape but it was big; at least thirty feet tall. Marshall looked at his teammates. “This thing is huge guys! It's coming from the right!” They all looked to where Marshall indicated the beast was. They heard another footstep, thundering nearby, and then they saw a hand grip a tree from the darkness.

  “Everyone step to the left. Be ready to form the weapons.” Nick could feel his gut twisting as the creature grunted from the darkness. Then it poked its head out. The Unknown had a huge eye in the middle of its forehead, looking down towards the boys. Two large tusks were coming from the bottom of its chin. It walked out some more. It had huge green cloth pants covering its lower half. Its torso was completely naked and covered with thick hair. It held a club in one hand, colorful ribbons dangling at the end of it.

  “Holy freaking sh-” Marshall began, but the beast roared so loudly the boys all jumped back even further. It towered above them with its massive body.

  “It's a Cyclops!” Peter yelled.

  “Plan B!” No one moved except for Nick. “I said Plan B! Nothing changes!” Nick roared. The boys snapped back to reality and formed their weapons. Nick created his spear, Marshall created an elemental blaster, and Peter finished it up with his elemental gloves. “Strike formation. Marshall, keep it off the EB, distract it then hit it. Go!” Nick moved into action. The plans were set. So much training, it all lead up to this moment. The moment to see if it worked in a real fight.

  The Cyclops roared again and swung down the club. It wanted the fight as much as they did. It stepped forward and lifted the club to swing again at the incoming Nick. He stopped and ran to the left. The beast growled as it followed him.

  Marshall ran all the way to the right, trying to position himself. He needed time to charge the elemental blaster. He also needed to get out of sight of the Cyclops.

  Peter formed a ball of fire in his hand. He dug his fingers into it and began massaging it. He darted forward towards the side of the Cyclops. It was busy trying to chase Nick. Peter threw the ball above the Cyclops. Once it reached just over the head, he closed his palm. The ball reacted and blew up. A bunch of small flames landed on top of the Cyclops. It roared in pain as two of the small flames hit its eye. It swung backwards violently, trying to attack whatever just hit him. Peter was yards away, at safe distance.

  Nick took the opportunity and ran forward. He stabbed the Cyclops in the lower backside then quickly withdrew as the brute cried out. It turned back around and slammed the club down blindly. Nick was safely out of reach by the time the club struck. The wind and force of the club striking the ground, however, hit Nick strong enough to make Nick fall backwards. He almost lost his balance but managed to grab onto a nearby tree with his free arm.

  The Cyclops lifted its gaze to the sky and roared. Nick watched as this mighty beast showed its dominance, trying to show it was the strongest of all. As Nick watched he thought how proud this Unknown was for being so powerful. He quickly shuffled out of the way and into the safety of the trees.

  Peter already had a new elemental ball in his hand. This time it was ice cold. He held tightly to it waiting for the right moment. The Cyclops looked at the retreating Nick and grunted as if it had already won the fight. Peter slowly moved his arm back, setting up for a good aim at the Unknowns club arm. He had to make sure he hit it dead on. He swerved the ball in his hand and then launched it forward with everything he had. The ball went flying. The Cyclops turned just in time to swat the ball with its club before it hit. The entire club began to freeze over. The creature watched, confused as it did. The ice stopped covering the club at its tip. The Cyclops tapped it with its free hand. It showed disgust for the ice cold and quickly pulled away its hand grunting. It threw the club to the ground angrily and slammed its fist to its chest. It looked at Peter with revenge in its eye.

  “Not so fast!” Nick yelled from behind it. Nick stabbed the bottom of its leg, right above the foot. It bellowed in pain as Nick drove the spear in as deep as he could. Then Nick quickly pulled it out and retreated back into the forest. The Cyclops glanced behind itself. Its eye trying to find the new prey.

  That's when the electric blue wave of energy struck its left shoulder. The Cyclops didn't even have time to fully turn its head back around before it blew up. There was an awful scream, a blue flash, and then electricity spitting out from the impact. The Cyclops collapsed to its knees placing its right hand hard on the ground and looking at its left shoulder. A huge chunk of flesh was now missing. Blood was flowing down its shoulder. Even a direct blast only took off part of its shoulder. It still could operate its left hand.

  “Are you kidding me?” Marshall said in disbelief as he looked from afar. He looked in amazement as the mighty beast began to stand again. “This thing just took my best shot. I've been charging that for like two minutes!” In most cases a fully charged blast could kill just about any Unknown they've fought so far. The Cyclops was in another league.

  “Do it again!” Peter already formed a new ball. This one was glowing with silver lighting. “We can't let up!” Peter moved in closer to the beast, still keeping a safe distance.

  Nick traveled around the forest looking for an opening. The Cyclops was already on its feet trying to pick the next target. Nick knew not to get close unless it was distracted. It would be certain death to go head to head with such a mighty creature.

  Peter threw the silver ball. The Cyclops charged forward, its left hand covering its face. The silver ball erupted into a terrible guest of wind, slicing up its arm. It wasn't forceful enough to stop the Unknown. It charged straight for Peter. Peter turned and ran towards the house. It wasn't a safe haven but at least it was something he could hide behind. Every six steps Peter took was one step for the Cyclops. It was running at full speed and would catch up to him in no time.

  Marshall fired another shot from his blaster. It didn't charge for nearly as long as the last, so it wasn't as powerful as the last one. The Cyclops saw this one coming and moved out of the way. Such ease for such a big creature. The blue electricity blast flew past it and hit a tree, ripping it to pieces upon impact. As the tree came crashing down, the Cyclops decided it wanted a new target. It began to walk towards Marshall slowly.

  Marshall was panting, exhausted after two shots in a row. He chuckled. “Damn, not smart planning on my part.”

  Nick came running out of th
e forest towards the Cyclops. He had to play it perfectly. “Pete, wind up!” he yelled. Peter watched him going towards the Cyclops then nodded. He formed another silver ball, a lot smaller. He launched it towards the Unknown's foot. The ball bounced a few times then rolled up against the Cyclops' feet. It looked back as it turned around. Nick was only a few feet away.

  “Now!” he roared.

  Peter crushed one hand against another.

  The silver ball blew up.

  Nick was tossed upwards into the sky. The Cyclops watched in anger as he saw the boy fly up. “Whoa,” Marshall gasped from the side.

  Nick came flying back down with spear in hand. He drove it right into the right side of the beast's chest. Its eye blinked and opened even wider as it cried out. Nick let go of the spear and hoisted himself off the beast. He fell on his back and rolled away. He scrambled away to get a safe distance from the beast.

  The Cyclops grabbed the spear and tore it out of its chest. It looked at it briefly before throwing it to the side. It screamed in aggravation. It was getting stabbed, shot at, and electrocuted. Now it was beyond angry. It wanted its prey to die.

  “Okay, so I'ma take a guess that this thing is now really pissed off.” Marshall had regained his strength and began running. He wanted to get as much distance as he could.

  “Keep your distance. We keep hitting him with whatever we got! Don't back down. We got this!” Nick yelled as he made his way in a circle around the beast. He was going for his spear on the ground a few yards away. The Cyclops caught sight of him though, and ran towards the spear. Nick wasn't keeping an eye on the creature but towards his weapon.

  “Nick! Watch out!” Peter flung another ball. This one was green. It flew past the Cyclops and onto the grass. Peter tensed his fingers and dug them into the dirt. The ball went into the ground and out shot vines. They slithered around the monster and attached to its legs. The beast almost ripped them apart but too many attached themselves at once, making it fall to his knees. It screamed in anger as it tried ripping off the vines.

  Nick rolled forward, grabbed his spear, and came back up running. He had his weapon of offense again. It was now time to strike. The beast had its head turned towards the veins, still trying to rip off them off, they were keeping him in a vulnerable place. He went forward, stabbing the creature in the left shoulder. This time the Cyclops flung its fist away from ripping the vines out to hit Nick dead in the center. He went flying and came down hard on the ground a few yards away, lying motionless.

  “Nick!” both the boys yelled. Marshall was working on another attack while Peter was trying to think of what else to throw at the beast.

  Nick laid there feeling nothing. The pain was so bad he felt numb. He couldn't hear anything, he couldn't breathe. He felt like this might have been it. That he tried his best but slipped up and got caught by one of them. This Unknown would be able to kill him. This was all part of the game, right? Someone is always the prey. Sometimes the predator becomes the prey.

  Then he coughed a loud, heavy cough. He could finally breathe again. With the breathing came the terrible, sharp pain in his chest. He grabbed his chest and cried out. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt. It was as if a truck just hit him head on. He let out another breath. It hurt just as much. He took a deep breath. That also hurt. He moved his body and that hurt the most. He opened his eyes to see the Cyclops ripping the last of the vines off his feet. “Get up quick. This thing is gonna tear you into two!” he told himself, yet his body was in too much pain to move.

  Marshall was getting ready to fire another blast. He knew he only had another shot or two in him. He was using up his energy fast with each shot. That meant he couldn't miss again. He took steady aim as the Cyclops began to lift itself up from the ground. He had a perfect shot of its back.

  “Wait! Not yet!” Peter shouted.

  It was too late. This time a red fire wave shot from the blaster. It flew towards the Cyclops at amazing speed. The force behind it ignited the grass as it slid above the ground. It was going to hit the beast right in the back. Marshall tightened his grip as he fell to the grass, feeling the little energy he had left keeping him up slowly slipping away.

  The blast was nearly to its target when the Cyclops turned. It lifted its right hand and brought it down. The blast was caught under the beast's mighty hand, slamming into the ground it turned to smoke. Besides some blood dripping from the creatures palm it wasn't hurt at all. It roared, this time in victory. It had stopped the best sneak attack they had.

  Marshall laid his free hand on the ground watching as the Cyclops slammed his fist on its chest. “It's too strong...” he muttered under his breath. The Cyclops wasn't even fazed by it.

  Peter threw an ice ball at the creature’s leg. It quickly froze all the way up to its groin area. The beast roared as it turned its head towards Peter. He threw another ball, this time at the creatures other leg, freezing that one too. It tried to move but without luck. Another ball came flying at him. It hit its chest freezing almost its entire torso. Another one hit its back, freezing up just about everything else. There were two more for the arms. The creature reached out towards Peter but was too slow. The ice stopped all movements in place. Peter threw one last blast at its eye, freezing the entire head of the Cyclops. The Cyclops stood there, reaching out towards Peter only a few feet away, frozen solid.

  “No way...” Marshall took a deep breath, watching in amazement.

  Peter fell to his knees. The energy consumption was huge. He never threw that many elemental balls so quickly. Two or three at a time was one thing. The amount he just used nearly made him faint on the spot. He tightly grabbed the grass below his hands and pulled it free. “Yes!” he exclaimed so loudly, it made both Marshall and Nick look at him. “I did it! Damn it, I freaking did it!” he screamed in victory.

  Marshall threw his non-blaster hand up in the air. “Hell to the yeah! You go man! That was freaking awesome!”

  Nick was slowly getting back to his feet. He still felt a terrible pain thrumming in his chest. He, however, felt a relief. The beast was down. “That was sick!” He tried shouting but even that hurt. He laughed and held his chest. Happiness couldn't be stopped no matter how much the pain.

  Peter got back to his feet and began walking towards Marshall. Nick grabbed his Rod and did the same. Marshall sat on his behind, looking up at the sky. “I can't believe we did it. That thing was so damn huge. I swore we were all gonna die today,” he said laughing.

  Peter sat down next to him. “That was amazing. The thing nearly killed us all. At thirty feet tall, it easily had unstoppable strength. Yet we did it. We stopped it. Just us kids. We were able to stop it.” Peter smiled. He felt the power in him. He never felt so happy in his life. If it was as if he had just completed one of the major goals in his life.

  Nick sat down and rubbed his chest. He was beginning to feel slightly better. “Damn thing knocked the crap out of me. I feel like I've been hit with a really big car.” He winced in pain.

  “That was amazing, Pete. I can't believe you did it.” Marshall smiled at his friend.

  “Yeah, Pete, that was amazing. Great job,” Nick added in.

  Peter shook his head. He loved the feeling of being complimented on his strength. He was a true person, though. “Nah, it was us. All of us defeated this thing. Without you guys it would of never fell. Without hurting it that bad, it could never have worked. It only worked ‘cause we beat it together. As a team.” Peter looked up the sky. “We are the Exterminators.”

  “That we are,” Nick said falling back into the grass.

  The door burst opened from the cabin. All three boys looked towards it. They saw Fred step out of the cabin, looking amazed at the Cyclops in front of him, frozen. “Over here, bro!” Marshall called loudly. Fred was startled then made his way towards them. The whole time walking over he kept his eyes on the Cyclops, amazed at its size.

  “Guess I missed the party,” he said wryly, now facing the boys.

/>   “Yeah, that thing wasn't a party. More like the swat unit who shuts down the party,” Marshall said chuckling.

  “Why are you out of the containment?” Peter asked.

  “Yeah about that...” Fred started.

  “Dude, we saved your ass yesterday. Now you broke out? You know they’re gonna have your neck for this one.” Nick shook his head.

  “I know. I was released suddenly though. I don't know what happened. One second I'm standing in the room doing nothing and the next the door opens. They gave me this.” He passed the note to Nick to let him read. “I couldn't just ignore it. What if you guys were in trouble?”

  “We had it handled,” Peter answered, slightly annoyed.

  “I couldn't take that chance.”

  “You really should have stayed in that room,” Nick said looking up from the note.

  Marshall stood up. He had his blaster back into Rod form. He put the Rod on his hip and looked at his friends still on the ground. “Hey, this is our teammate here. He came to help us out. We can't get mad at him for that.”

  “What if they put him back on trial?” Peter asked. “Then that whole thing yesterday was all for nothing.”

  “So, let's get him back to the Station. Back into the room. They'll never know,” Marshall said happily.

  Nick rubbed his chest some more before he stood up. He let out a tired sigh. “Let's hurry. Hopefully, no one got back yet.” He began walking towards the house. Peter got up and followed closely behind.

  Fred turned to Marshall. “Are they really pissed at me?”

  “Who cares? Big babies. You'll be fine. Let's get you back, man. I'll tell ya all about one eye ugly over there.”

  Crack

  Nick turned his head to the side. He looked at the frozen beast. Its ugly face was looking at him. Its big eye moving around beneath the ice. “Oh...no...” he said. He side stepped and grabbed Peter. “Get back!” he roared. Marshall and Fred looked up. The ice shattered suddenly into a dozen pieces followed by a roar so loud and frightening that everyone cowered.