by Pozel, Derek
“It’s over,” Shadow Guard whispered. The hidden blade skewered Garret where he stood. “The blade is not meant to kill, only to immobilize you.”
Garrett stifled a laugh. “You’re going to have to try harder hero.”
Garrett reached up, grabbed a handful of Shadow Guards newly exposed hair, and pulled him away. Shadow Guard howled from the unexpected attack.
Garrett held Shadow Guard by the hair and slammed his elbow into Shadow Guard’s face a handful of times. He released his grip and the hero crumpled to the ground.
“You didn’t learn anything tonight did you?” Garrett tapped his head and stepped away from the hero to catch his breath. He watched the hero roll onto his hands and knees.
“I need to get away,” Shadow Guard said in-between breaths. “I need to warn them.”
Garrett rubbed his forehead and then it dawned on him what the superhero tried to do.
“No, no, no, you can’t get away...” Garrett said. He grasped forward into the empty air of the rooftop. He was too late. He watched Shadow Guard’s body sink down into a shadow on the roof. He swore at himself and ran to the edge of the roof to scan the alley below.
Garrett ran for the fire escape and bounded down the stairs. The clang of metal echoed from the thunderous steps of his descent into the alley. He scanned the darkness for any sign of Shadow Guard. His eyes could not see him, yet he knew because of his afflicted ability Shadow Guard had not escaped.
Garrett tiptoed along the alley wall. “This is the worst place to fight someone like you.”
The lack of light infuriated Garrett and he shivered when garbage crunched underneath his boots. He cupped his ears to listen for any sound out of the ordinary. His body was tense, ready for an unexpected attack.
Shadow Guard’s torso and arms slid from the dark wall directly behind Garrett. Cold metal hands ready to wrap around Garrett’s neck.
A glint of metal in the reflection of a puddle of murky garbage water underneath Garrett’s boot gave him enough time to react. He jumped away from Shadow Guard.
“You touch me when you’re in a wall and you’ll die,” Garrett stood face to face with Shadow Guard. “Go ahead, try it out and see if I’m right, hero.”
Shadow Guard slipped back into the wall, the darkness ripped when he passed. Garrett breathed a sigh of relief. He heard laughter echo down the alley and slid to hide behind a dumpster. A group of people crossed the alley and Garrett peeked out at them from the darkness. A splash of water sounded behind him and his face smashed into the green metal of the dumpster. When he fell back, Shadow Guard stood over him.
Shadows lifted off the asphalt and swirled around Garrett. They attempted to swarm him, to encase him and they could not.
“Not going to work,” Garrett rolled over off his back. What seemed like slow motion, he noticed Shadow Guard’s feet shuffle and turn away. Garrett reached out and snagged one of his feet and the hero went face first into the ground.
Garrett wasted no time and pounced on his opponent. The shadows had abandoned Shadow Guard and Garrett saw the true face of his opponent. “I thought you’d be younger.”
He placed his swollen right hand on the heroes chest. He could feel the afflicted power within Shadow Guard drawn to him. This time it answered. The Afflicted energy surged into him with ferocity mingled with pain far greater than anything he had ever felt before. He fell back and dug his fists into the pavement to keep himself upright. He gritted his teeth when his body convulsed from the newfound pain he experienced.
“So, this is what real power feels like,” Garrett said through his teeth. “It hurts like hell.” He closed his eyes and focused on breathing. His heart raced, his muscles burned and felt energized all at once. Minutes passed before the storm within him calmed enough so he could stand. He cracked open his eyes and glanced over to the man who was once Shadow Guard. This would be the first victim in his personal war against the Assembly.
Garrett brought his left hand to Shadow Guard’s neck and checked for a pulse. “Oh, thank God. If you can hear me, I am sorry about this. Tell your boss he started it.”
Garrett reached over Shadow Guard’s body and began to pry the gauntlet off his left hand. “A memento, you won’t need it anymore.” He rose from his knees and walked down the alley, dragging his feet to reach the light at the end.
He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his eyes. The victory left a bitter taste in his mouth. He looked back at the man who was once an Afflicted. Tonight would haunt him. The image of Shadow Guard unconscious on the pavement burned into his mind. It was a victory for himself and for Ethan. The question remained, would she approve? He shook his head and pulled his mask off before he left the alley. He knew the answer.
Chapter Four
The stars freed themselves from the harsh lights of the city. They peeked through the canopies of leaves, while the trees swayed in the breeze. The crunch of dry leaves under someones feet echoed throughout the entire forest. A man sat in silence against the trunk of a maple tree. His head slipped from his bloodied hands when the sound drew closer.
“Garrett,” a man’s voice whispered through the darkness. “Where are you?”
“I’m right in front of you,” Garrett waved over his shorter and stockier best friend.
Garrett saw Ethan emerged through the last row of trees into the clearing he had settled into a half hour ago. “About time.”
Ethan’s arms swayed with vigor when he strode closer to his friend. “You should try wearing something other than black at night.”
“Sorry,” Garrett said.
“What happened? You left me a pretty cryptic message,” Ethan ran his hands through his closely cropped brown hair. “I was freaking out the whole night waiting for you to call me.”
“I found him,” Garrett’s face lay hidden underneath the hood of his black sweatshirt.
“You ran into Shadow Guard?” Ethan raised his bushy eyebrows. “You’re not messing with me?”
“Nope, I did,” Garrett pulled his hood down further across his face.
“Garrett, what the hell happened?” Ethan squinted.
Garrett glanced over to his friend and pulled back the hood to display the damage of his first hunt. The moonlight revealed his right eye was nearly swollen shut. A deep cut ran underneath his left eye on the cheekbone, it went well with the bloody nose and swollen lip.
“Oh, my God. You did it,” Ethan fell to his knees. “You fought him.”
“Yeah, and it wasn’t pretty,” Garrett could not bare -the stare of Ethan’s brown eyes and turned away. “It hurt a lot more than I thought it would,” Garrett winced when he stretched his back. “I learned a lesson tonight. Superheroes are tougher than I thought.” He dabbed the blood which ran from his nose with a tissue.
“Are you alright? Is anything broken?” Ethan moved to grasp Garrett’s head and began to pull him closer. “Did they catch you?”
Garrett jerked back from Ethan’s cold hands. “If they caught me I wouldn’t be here. I don’t think anything’s broken. I bet it looks worse than it is.” Garrett gauged Ethan’s reaction and he could tell he was not in the best of shape right now. He always thought he could deal with the physical pain, tonight made him question if he could.
“We’ll have Denise take a look at you when we get home,” Ethan said with a ghost white expression on his face. “Or maybe we should take you to the emergency room?”
“No, they will be looking for something like that,” Garrett said.
Ethan inspected Garrett further and could not see anything besides Garrett’s battered face. “What are we going to do then?”
“I know Denise is a nurse,” Garrett said. “But we can’t involve her in this.” Garrett pulled the hood back over his head.
“I’m worried about you,” Ethan said.
Garrett rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I broke a rib or two.”
“I thought you said nothing was broken,” Ethan’s eyes narrowed to
tiny slits. “We have to get you checked out. I don’t care if you like it or not. We’ll tell Denise you got in a bar fight or something. Don’t worry, it’ll be all right. We should have had a plan for this.”
“Too late now,” Garrett forced a weak laugh. “I’m not the one who’s worried. I have looked worse before after a hard night of drinking. And don’t forget about the fight in high school? The fight you started.”
Ethan furrowed his brow and sighed. “This is way worse. You attacked a member of the Assembly. Are you going to tell me what happened? Or should I drag you over to Denise’s already. Because if there is a chance you’re going to pass out and I’m not dragging you through the woods in the middle of the night.”
Garrett tilted away from Ethan to reach behind the tree. He tossed the metal gauntlet onto Ethan’s lap. “A present from Shadow Guard.”
Ethan’s mouth hung open when he hoisted the gauntlet closer to his face, squinting to see it better in the dim light in the woods. “You got this from him?”
“It’s not like he gave it me as a prize for beating him,” Garrett said.
“Tell me what happened already,” Ethan fingers traced along the cool metal.
Garrett’s voice was harsh and hollow when he told his side of the story of what had transpired.
“Let me get this straight,” Ethan said. “He used his powers, you’re immune, thank God. You got kicked around at first and then started to turn it around. You took his powers and got this.” Ethan held up the gauntlet Shadow Guard had worn a couple of hours ago.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Garrett said.
“If you won, why do you look like someone killed your dog?” Ethan said. “Are you ready to give this up now? Because, I don’t think I can handle seeing you like this every time.”
“What are you talking about?” Garrett said. “I’m happy we got one step closer to him,” Garrett rolled to his feet and stood. “This is just the beginning.”
“I’ve known you since we were kids. Something is bugging you. What is it?” Ethan stood to confront his friend.
Garrett turned his back to Ethan, his attention drawn to the distant stars through the tree branches. “I hate that you know me so well.”
“It’s sad, but true,” Ethan said. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“He wasn’t a bad guy,” Garrett said. “He was just the easiest one to find. Now, a part of me wishes he changed his patrol and he didn’t end up on the rooftop tonight. I was sure it would be easy. But this feeling.”
“Regret and guilt? You are still human Garrett and knowing you do feel something is a good thing. ” Ethan said. “You fought a superhero. It’s not supposed to be easy.”
Garrett shivered and he was not sure if it was guilt or the foreign power inside of him.
“And you took his power,” Ethan said. “I wish I could’ve been there with you. I’m sorry.” Ethan placed his hand on Garrett’s slumped shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
Garrett pulled away from his friend. “I have to do this alone. It’s easier this way and safer. You have the chance to be a regular human. I don’t anymore. I wanted to be an Afflicted when I was a kid. My dreams came true and I hate that I am one of them.”
“It’s not easy having that kind of power,” Ethan said. “I can’t begin to understand what you’re going through. You came to me when we were in high school with this idea to stop the Afflicted, to bring those heroes down off their pedestal.”
“Shadow Guard was innocent though,” Garrett narrowed his eyes. “He was to get Patriot’s attention. Eye for an eye and all that. It does not change the fact I still feel like crap.”
“You will get his attention,” Ethan said. “It won’t be easy being a villain, you told me you were ready for this. Are you really?”
Garrett scowled at the comment. “Villain? What? I’m not a villain. I’m not out there robbing banks and killing innocent people.”
“You beat up a superhero and stole his powers tonight,” Ethan covered his eyes and shook his head.
“I like to think I fall into a nice gray area between good and evil,” Garrett said. “People don’t need superpowers to be heroes. People need to see the Afflicted and the Assembly are not perfect. They are humans who have an unfair advantage against the rest of us. Humanity was fine before and we’ll be fine if they disappear.”
Ethan sighed. “I don’t want to get into this again for the thousandth time. I hope you’re ready to be called the villain in this after what you’ve done tonight.”
Garrett’s eyes reached skyward. “So be it.”
“In the movies villains are more interesting than the hero anyway,” Ethan said to lighten the mood. “The heroes are bland and boring. Villains though, they are fun, the ladies love them too. Please don’t get emo on me and sit in your room and sulk. You’re moody enough.”
“I’ll use my new charming villain persona on Denise and woo her into my lair,” Garrett gave Ethan a sideways glance. “You could be one of my henchmen. Maybe she’s into them.”
“Whatever,” Ethan scoffed at the comment. “I have a job and being your henchman doesn’t have a salary, health insurance or a 401k. So, I’ll pass.” The two friends had a good laugh.
Garrett winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts too much.”
“Let me ask you something?” Ethan said. “How does it feel? Can you do what Shadow Guard was able to do?”
“Nope, I don’t think my powers work like that,” Garrett said.
Ethan scratched his head and examined Garrett. “You look the same, except for the fact that it looks like you ran into a wall, a few times too many.”
“I always have an Afflicted power,” Garrett said. “Now, I have a little bit more and I can do stuff like this.” He tried to conceal his smirk and raised his left arm slowly in front of his body. A subtle charcoal colored light began to form from his hand and it spread up his arm to his elbow. It resembled a crackling black fire.
“It kind of flared up when I was driving here. I almost ran off the road, it scared the hell out of me,” A crooked smile spread across Garrett’s swollen lip was brighter than the light around his hand.
“Whoa, that’s incredible,” Ethan fixated on Garrett’s hand.
Ethan leaned in closer to see if he could touch the light. His fingers began to tremble when he made contact. “Weird, it’s not giving off any heat and it’s not too bright either. See if you burn the grass by touching it.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to burn it,” Garrett said. “I think it’s for show.” Garrett lowered his hand and let it hover above the grass. They both noticed no burn marks when he placed his hand flat on the grass.
The flames continued to dance and pulse up Garrett’s arm. “Nothing, I think I have to practice more or something. This is the first time I’ve been conscious after taking a power.”
“Yeah, that time in high school you blacked out. How does it feel?” Ethan stared at Garrett’s hand. “Does it hurt or anything?”
“The fire light thingy doesn’t hurt,” Garrett said. “Having Shadow Guard’s power hurts like hell, because I’m holding it in. It’s like every muscle in my body is tense and sore at the same time.”
“Sounds painful,” Ethan said.
Garrett moved to stand beside Ethan. “If this is what the Afflicted have to feel every day. I feel sorry for them. I might be doing them a favor.”
“I never would’ve thought draining them would hurt you,” Ethan said. “This whole Afflicted powers thing is mind boggling.”
“Yeah it is,” Garrett said. “I still don’t know what I can do and I’m scared to find out what will happen if I let it go. Maybe, the beam of light was me the day Emma died.” Garrett let the fire emanate from his hands fade away.
“You think so?” Ethan asked.
“It’s why I dragged you out here tonight,” Garrett clenched his jaw and glanced at his hands. “I need to know what I can and what I can’t do.”
Ethan scratched his head. “Let me try to wrap my head around what you can do. You can feel the Afflicted when they’re close by, you’re immune to their powers and you can glow.”
Garrett held up his hands. “I’m only immune to Shadow Guard’s powers for all we know. I’m not going to start running in there like a complete idiot thinking they can’t touch me. I’m not that dumb.”
“You kind of did tonight,” Ethan said.
“Let’s call tonight an experiment,” Garrett said. “A painful experiment I’m going to be feeling for days.”
“There has to be something more to your hands glowing,” Ethan rubbed his clean shaven square jaw. “Some Afflicted shoot beams and other stuff from their hands. Have you tried doing that yet?”
“I’ve been more worried about keeping the power in,” Garrett said. “This is the second time I’ve taken an Afflicted’s power.” Garrett let the light began to burn again from his hands. His face silhouetted in the eerie light when he glanced to his friend.
“Let me see if I can loosen up a bit,” Garrett looked over to Ethan. “Watch if anything happens.” Garrett closed his eyes and raised his arms sideways away from his body. He calmed himself with a deep breath and loosened the grip on the power ever so slightly.
Ethan mouthed a string of curse words.
“Is something happening?” Garrett said.
“Your body has steam coming from it,” Ethan mumbled. “It’s the same color as the light from your hands.”
Garrett opened his eyes and examined his body to see if what Ethan had said was true. He could feel his body hum when the steam rose off him.
Ethan squinted and stepped closer. “It’s not coming off your body, more like around it.”
“Like an aura?” Garrett said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Weird,” Ethan stroked his chin.
Garrett’s eyes met Ethan’s blank stare. “Seems kind of useless, but the pressure is a little less now. I can breathe easier too.”
Ethan passed his right hand through the aura above Garrett’s shoulder. The aura wavered from the close contact.
