The third man pulled a large hunting knife from a sheath on his side and came at Will with a feral ferocity that would have frightened the strongest of men. Will simply side stepped the angry thrust and waited for the man to continue the attack. The man, realizing he had missed, spun in place and slashed viciously at Will several times. Each time the man slashed or lunged, Will simply ducked under or side stepped the thrusts or slashes. Will appeared to anticipate what the man was going to do before he did it.
As though he were a toddler playing a game he had grown tired of, Will suddenly grabbed the back of the man’s wrist that gripped the knife, twisted it to the outside, and sent the man flying in the air, along with the knife, at the same time breaking his wrist in several places. Will then did a complete aerial back flip and caught the knife in mid-air by the bone-handled hilt.
While the third man writhed in agony, the fourth man tried a different tactic: he grabbed Emma from behind and put a knife to her throat.
“Boy, I don’t who or what kind of devil ye be, but if ye don’t drop that fuckin’ knife, I’ll slice this bitch’s throat, and you‘ll watch the whore die afore yer eyes.” The fourth bandit then drew a small line of blood across Emma’s throat to make his point. Emma began pleading with the bandit not to hurt Will as he was just a boy, and also with Will to drop the knife.
Will bent down and began to slowly place the knife on the ground, keeping his eyes fixed on the remaining man, like an eagle watching its prey. Just as Will was placing it on the ground, the bandit said, “Ya stupid fuckin’ boy! I’m gonna kill this bitch now anyway, an’ then have me way with ye next.”
As the bandit started to cut Emma’s throat, Will, moving, faster than the eye could follow, grabbed the knife by its handle, and in one swift motion and flick of his wrist, threw it at the face of the fourth bandit. The knife entered the man’s left eye and buried itself to the crossguard as it entered his brain. The man fell to the ground and was dead before his body landed. He convulsed for several long seconds before finally becoming motionless.
Emma fell to the ground shaking. Will went to his mother, hugged her and asked if she was injured. She wiped absently at the thin line of blood across her throat and then hugged him fiercely for several seconds before responding, “We need to get out of here now! There may be others, and even if there aren’t, I don’t want to have to explain to the authorities how a ten year old boy took on four grown men and beat them without raisin’ a sweat.”
As they walked quickly towards their home, Emma looked at her son. He was the picture of serenity and calm. You would never have known he had not only just defeated four grown men but had killed one of them, too.
Finally, after several minutes, Emma found her voice and asked, “Will, where did you learn to fight like that?”
Will was quiet for a few moments. “I don’t know, Mother,” he answered honestly. “Somehow I just knew what to do and how to do it. I can’t explain it.”
“We can never tell your father about this,” Emma replied.
Will just looked at her for a moment, and then nodded quietly in agreement.
Chapter 6
The White House, Oval Office
Washington, D.C.
April 1917 A.D.
The United States of America was now at war with Germany and its allies. Since the beginning of the war in Europe in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson had tried to maintain a policy of neutrality, despite many appeals by the British and French for America to join the war.
However, the deaths of several Americans who had been aboard the Lusitania and Arabic, among other ships and freighters, which had been sunk by German submarines, changed the minds of most of the American people. In response to these outrages they demanded war, and, eventually, President Wilson agreed with them.
Diplomatic and economic sanctions were employed at first in an attempt to halt the killing of Americans during German submarine attacks. After these failed, President Wilson went before a special session of Congress on April 2, 1917, and asked for a resolution of war. By April 6, it had been adopted by the Senate and the House. On April 7, 1917, the president signed the resolution and the United States was officially at war.
Several days later, just after 9:00 p.m., the president had just ended an hours long meeting with his various commanding generals and admirals, who had been busy planning their various battlefield, aerial and naval strategies.
Wilson was just a few months into his second presidential term and was already weary. The strokes he had suffered in 1896 and 1906 had left him weak in his right arm and hand, and almost blind in his left eye. He frequently suffered from bouts of stress as well, and America’s entry into the war had done nothing to alleviate them.
After dismissing his command staff, he returned to the Oval Office where he sat quietly at his desk for several minutes before he began signing several pieces of key war related legislation, including a proposal for a draft and funding for the war, which had been left for his signature. The Oval Office was quiet, and the president had dismissed his Secret Service detail. The president was deep in thought as he pondered America’s role in this war. Although he knew that declaring war on Germany had been necessary, the thought of sending young servicemen to their deaths with a stroke of his pen did not sit well with him.
He closed his eyes to pray for a couple of minutes. He asked God to give him the necessary strength and guidance he would need to lead his nation in this time of war. As he opened his eyes and looked down at his desk, he became aware of a slight shimmering of the air that came from the chair in front of his desk. It appeared and disappeared quickly and quietly, but invaded his inner sanctum just the same. As he started to look up from his desk to find its source, he heard a man’s deep voice speaking to him.
“Good evening, Mr. President,” said the voice.
At hearing the voice, the president’s head flew up. He was startled to see an unknown man sitting in the chair in front of his desk. The man was white, in his mid-to-late thirties, and was very powerfully built. He had short dark hair, piercing blue eyes, a clean shaven face, and was wearing a stylish dark blue suit, white shirt and silk maroon tie.
“Who the hell are you and how did you get in here past the Secret Service?” said an obviously surprised and agitated president, standing up and backing away from his desk.
“Mr. President, I mean you no harm. Please sit down as I have a lot to discuss with you, and a short time to do it in,” said the unknown man with a tone of authority, but no malice in his rich timbered voice.
“I will do no such thing! I will have you arrested immediately!” The president went around his desk as quick as he could towards the door that led to the hallway. As he passed by the chair the unknown man was sitting in, the man made no move towards President Wilson, and seemed completely indifferent to the president’s threat of having him arrested.
As he was within two arm lengths of the door, the president heard a soft whoosh, and as if by magic, the unknown man appeared directly in front of him and blocked the door, his arms folded loosely in front of his body in a non-threatening manner.
“As I told you Mr. President, I mean you no harm, but there are many things that I need to discuss with you. Listen to what I have to say, and at the end of our conversation if you still wish to have me arrested, I’ll go along peacefully. Now, please sit down.”
The president stood his ground for a second but was visibly shaken. Reluctantly he turned, went back to his desk and sat down in his leather chair.
“Well, young man, you certainly know how to make an entrance. You have five minutes to explain yourself before I call the Secret Service to arrest you.”
“Mr. President, what I am going to tell you is for you, and you alone. You can never repeat what I’m going to tell you except to your successor as you leave office. And quite frankly, you will have a difficult time believing what I’m about to tell you.”
“You have four minutes left, young man,” the p
resident said looking at his watch.
“Fine. Then I’ll get right to the point. I was born on Earth, but I represent an intergalactic police and peace keeping organization known as the Guardians. I also possess various superhuman powers which I use to protect a star sector that is roughly half the size of your galaxy and contains billions of sentient, intelligent beings.
“For thousands of years the Earth has been visited by numerous alien races, primarily for scientific studies. However, as Earth becomes more scientifically advanced, more and more of these races will take an interest, and some may try to make unauthorized contact with humans; some possibly for nefarious reasons.
“Therefore I have been given permission to contact you and other world leaders for the purpose of providing you with a way to contact me in the event that an alien civilization tries to make any unauthorized contact. This will allow me to deal with the situation before humans become aware that alien civilizations exist before they are ready and mature enough to handle that knowledge.”
The president said nothing at first, but simply leaned back in his leather chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face. It was almost a full half-minute before he finally spoke.
“Young man, you obviously have some serious mental problems. I will admit that I can’t explain how you managed to enter the Oval Office undetected…”
“One of my powers is teleportation. I simply materialized from where I was into your office,” said the unknown man.
“…or how you got in front of me at the doorway in the blink of an eye, but…”
“Hyper-speed,” he explained.
“…if you expect me to believe in little green men from Mars, and that cock-and-bull story you just gave me, then you must think I’m a fool, an idiot, or both.”
“Actually, Mars has not been inhabited in about two million years. And they were not ‘little green men,’ they were actually a shade of light blue.”
“Now you’ve had your fun, but your five minutes are up. Good evening, sir. Enjoy the rest of your life in the mental ward of a nice federal prison.”
The president stood up and started to walk towards the door and call for a Secret Service agent to come and arrest the man. The president had forgotten that he had dismissed the agents on his protection detail, and no one was outside of the door.
As the president headed towards the door, the man spoke again.
“I know this is a lot to digest and accept Mr. President. However, I am willing to prove to you that I’m neither crazy nor lying. Would you at least give me that chance?”
The president stopped just as his hand was about to open the door. He paused for a couple of seconds and then turned and faced him.
“Prove it to me? How do you think you could do that?”
The man thought for a second before answering.
“Let’s keep it simple. What if I were to teleport us to any location on Earth of your choosing?”
The president considered this for a moment.
“I don’t know why I haven’t called for the Secret Service to come and arrest you yet, but something about you intrigues me,” he said. “You have a deal. If what you’re saying is true and you can prove it, you’ll have my full and undivided attention.”
“Fair enough. Where would you like to go?”
The president thought for a few seconds before answering.
“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to the North Pole. I hear it’s nice this time of year,” the president replied sarcastically.
“Actually, it’s freezing there this time of year - much as it is the rest of the year. But if that’s your choice, so be it. You might want to bring a warm coat with you; it gets a little chilly,” he warned.
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I know the only place I’m going to be going is to bed in a few minutes, and you’ll be off to the nearest federal prison until you‘re an old man. So I’ll just humor you for a few more seconds.”
The man just smiled. “Suit yourself.” He then approached the president and offered his arm. “Put your hand on my arm, and hold on tight.”
The president did as he was instructed, and as soon as he touched his sleeve, they both disappeared as if by magic.
The next thing the president knew he was standing in the middle of the North Pole freezing his ass off in the sub-zero weather. Fortunately, the polar winds were only blowing at about five miles per hour. Unfortunately, that was enough to make it a balmy negative twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit. The president looked at the man who appeared to be experiencing no discomfort from the weather.
Upon realizing that he was no longer standing in the warmth and comfort of the Oval Office, but was indeed standing in several feet of snow and ice at what appeared to be the North Pole, the president was momentarily dumbstruck. After a few seconds he found his voice.
“Holy Mother of God! I can’t believe this! Everything you said was true! It’s all true isn’t it? The aliens? Everything!”
“Well, not everything I told you was true.”
The president looked at him in dismay.
“I did lie to you about Mars. It has never been inhabited. It was just my lame attempt at humor,” he admitted.
“C-can we go somewhere a little w-warmer please? I’m f-freezing!” the president stammered as the cold wind cut through his thin suit.
“Certainly. But first I have something for you to put on.”
The man then reached into the pocket of his suit coat and pulled out what appeared to be a belt of some kind, which was adorned with an odd-looking buckle made of a silver-colored metal that was oval in design with a diamond shape at its center.
“Put this around your waist and touch the diamond in the center. It will secure itself to you with a bio-magnet.”
The president took the belt and did as he was instructed. Immediately an invisible force field was generated around him that protected him from the cold, warmed him up and allowed him to breathe normally.
“What is this…device?”
“It’s a bio-magnetic force field and life support unit. It will protect you from pretty much anything you might encounter. It recognizes that you breathe a nitrogen-oxygen mixture and it automatically produces it internally; it also converts the carbon dioxide you breathe out back into the same nitrogen-oxygen mixture. It also recognizes that your body’s survival requires a certain temperature range and sets and adjusts it automatically to a comfortable level. It would also allow you to survive in outer space, and would protect you from an explosion equivalent to fifty-thousand pounds of TNT.”
“That’s impossible. Who could have designed something that can do all of that?”
“It was designed and built by the aliens I work for. I just made some modifications to it.”
The president looked amazed.
“Are you wearing one as well? Is that how you’re standing there looking so comfortable and warm? And how you pulled that little trick of yours?”
“No,” was all he said. “What say we head back to your office and finish this conversation where we started it?”
“You’ll get n-no argument from m-me.”
The president reached out to touch his sleeve, but he stopped him.
“Actually, I have a better idea. In case you still have any doubts about my story, we’ll take the scenic route home.”
“Scenic route?”
Instead of answering the president, he placed the president’s left arm over his shoulder, and the man then placed his arm around the president’s waist and flew up into the air. The man quickly made his way up to an altitude of 60,000 feet and flew towards Washington, D.C. at a slow enough pace that the president could enjoy the flight.
“Dear God! We’re flying!” the president exclaimed.
“Hang on,” the man said.
The man flew over the mountains and plains of Canada, and then made his way to the United States via the Great Lakes. He passed over mountains and valleys and rivers, and finally made it to W
ashington, D.C. and the White House. Throughout the entire journey the president was in awe of not only the man’s ability to fly but the sights he was seeing as well.
As they arrived in D.C., they hovered thousands of feet above the White House and then after a few seconds he teleported them back inside the Oval Office. Once safely back inside the man removed the bio-magnetic belt from the president and returned it to his suit coat pocket. The president then went and sat in the chair behind his desk with a heavy thud.
The president was clearly in shock and dismay about what had just happened.
“Mr. President, are you alright?”
The president took a few seconds to answer, but finally got his composure back and sat up straight in his chair.
“Yes, yes. I’m fine. I’m just having a little trouble grasping the enormity of what just happened.
“As I said earlier, it is a little hard to believe. If I had not experienced all that I’ve experienced, I would not have believed it possible either.”
“Everything I’ve ever believed… I will never be able to look up in the sky again without…fear. From my childhood I was taught that God created man and that we were the only intelligent beings in the entire universe. What fools the whole human race was…is to believe that. I’m not even sure what to believe anymore.”
“Mr. President, you are an educated, intelligent man, and you are having difficulty dealing with this knowledge. Now you understand why this information can never be revealed to the human race in general until they have matured significantly. Panic and fear would ensue on a scale you could not imagine.”
The president nodded his head in agreement at his assessment.
“Yes, no one must ever know of this until we as a species would be able to understand and accept it,” agreed the president. “Overnight I could see all of Earth’s major religions decrying this as the work of the devil, or the non-believers pointing and saying that they had been right all along.”
Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant Page 3
