After a few tries, he finally managed to pick up the apple.
Next, he made Carl stand up and walk across the room. It worked, but the animation of his body definitely looked unnatural. The knee joints didn’t bend correctly, and his arms remained rigid at his side. It was hard to control Carl’s body the way he controlled his own, since he couldn’t feel the effects of gravity on it. It was like driving a car in a racing game versus real life.
To practice, Neil stood up and walked alongside Carl. He forced Carl’s limbs to mimic his own. His arms bounced naturally at his side, and his legs flexed and contracted to push off of the ground in a fluid motion. Carl’s body did the same. He was making steady improvements.
Neil spent the next hour testing his control of Carl’s body by performing various everyday activities. He made Carl breathe naturally as he chewed a bite off of a donut. He chewed with Carl’s mouth until the food was mush, and swallowed. After Carl was done eating, he threw his empty juice bottle across the room into the trash can. It missed, but the motion looked natural for Carl.
The one thing that Neil still had difficulty with was Carl’s face. If he let Carl control it, the look of distress was clearly evident, and contradicted the calm nature in which Neil moved the rest of his body. If Neil tried to control Carl’s facial expression, he ended up with a robotic, expressionless face.
After playing around with Carl’s facial expressions for nearly an hour, he felt like he was getting the hang of it. He could make Carl smile, or frown, or grimace. It all looked reasonably natural.
The last step was the trickiest one. He had to control Carl without being able to see him. Neil stepped into the other room and released the control over Carl’s face so that he could relay messages.
Neil made Carl stand up and start walking around.
“How am I doing?” Neil yelled.
“You’re doing fine. Absolutely fan-fucking-tastic. Now can I please have my body back?”
Carl clearly didn’t like being a puppet. Neil ignored his request.
“Is the arm swinging natural?”
“It’s a little bit too forced. Just let it hang at the shoulder.”
Neil followed his advice.
“Posture?”
“The back is too arched. Loosen up a little bit. No one flexes their lower back when they walk.” Neil was starting to feel like he was getting the hang of it. Like everything else he had learned how to do with his ability, he was a fast learner.
After a few more minutes of remotely controlling Carl, he decided to give himself one final test. He picked up an empty water bottle and threw it from across the room into the waste basket.
“He shoots, he scores!”
Carl said from the other room.
Neil had just a few more hours until he needed to make his flight to Korea. He coordinated with General Steele to come up with his backstory as a reporter.
He was a 21 year old American college senior named Steven Hawken who was doing a story on Pyongyang for the final project of his journalism degree. If anyone asked, he was reporting on how good the living conditions were in Pyongyang compared to how the American media bias portrayed it. That was sure to avoid any trouble.
Steele gave him a set of clothes, fake IDs, a fake passport and a camera pre-loaded with pictures taken off of the internet. He hoped no one would notice that some of them were taken at different times in the year.
Before he left, Steele briefed him once more on the plan.
“Remember, you will fly to these coordinates. There you will find a 28 year old Korean male wearing an orange and white striped shirt. He will have a bird watching stand set up. You will ask him what his favorite bird is, and he will respond -”
“Bald eagle, I got it.” Neil interrupted.
“Right. It is extremely important that you not be anywhere near the palace when the Generals are killed. They’ll probably try to arrest you anyways. Just play it cool, I’m sure you’ll find an opportunity to escape shortly after.”
Neil had no plans on being taken prisoner.
He changed into his clothes and put everything he would need for the mission in his pockets. He tucked his real ID badge in a secret pocket on the inside of his jacket so he would be able to get back into the building when he returned.
Steele handed him the DAGR, and saw that the coordinates for their meeting location were already plugged in. A few minutes later, Neil was upstairs and out of the building. He took off and made his way towards North Korea.
There was no rush, so Neil flew slower that time to admire the scenery. He had never seen the western United States before. It was amazing how much variety there was in the landscape just by traveling a few hundred miles. He saw deserts, mountains, forests, a lot of farmlands, and several sprawling metropolises. After crossing the rest of the States, there was nothing but the Pacific Ocean between him and his destination. He was hovering over the meet-up location just an hour after leaving Georgia.
The time was 0700 local still, so he had plenty of time to complete his mission. The council meeting was scheduled to last until later in the afternoon. Neil slowly descended until he could see his contact below, exactly where he should be. Neil appeared behind him.
“Pleasant day for bird watching, isn’t it?” He asked the man.
“Sure is. Are you a fan?”
The man turned around. He seemed to match the description given to Neil. Late 20s, orange and white striped shirt.
“Oh definitely. What’s your favorite bird?”
Neil waited for the response that he was briefed.
“Probably the canary.” The man said.
Was there some mistake? Did he not think Neil was the right guy?
“Just fuckin' with you. Bald eagle. I’m Sung Kim.”
He held out his hand, and Neil shook it.
“Steven Hawken.” Neil replied.
Sung Kim probably realized it was a pseudonym, but it was better that he didn’t know Neil’s real name or purpose for being in the city.
“Pleased to meet you. My car is parked just over by the road. I can get you into the city. I’m not even going to ask why you need to be there. I’ve worked with American government long enough to know that asking questions just causes more trouble.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Neil smiled.
They walked from the river back to the nearby highway and got into a car that was parked along the road. As they drove towards the city, Neil noticed the lack of other vehicles on the road. The highway was almost completely abandoned. Most of the vehicles that were on the road were either trucks, or expensive luxury sedans that likely belonged to people working in the government.
Just outside of the city limits was a police checkpoint. The city had taken up a heightened security posture due to the council meeting. They pulled up to the line of cars and waited their turn.
“Don’t worry, there shouldn’t be a problem with letting you in. You have a press pass and ID, right?” Sung Kim asked.
Neil pulled them out of his pocket and showed him.
After waiting for a few cars, they pulled up, and a Soldier spoke to Sung in Korean. Sung showed him his ID, and the guard spoke directly to Neil, but he didn’t understand.
“He wants your ID.”
Neil handed it to him. The guard examined the IDs for a minute, and then gave them back. He said something else in Korean and held out his hand.
“And your camera.”
Neil gave it over. The guard flipped through the pictures for a few minutes. A few times he smiled and showed a picture to the other guard. When he was satisfied, he gave the camera back and allowed them to drive through.
“See? Easy.” Sung Kim said after they were clear of the checkpoint.
They continued driving into the city. The streets of the city looked just as empty as the roads. There were shops and businesses lining all of the streets, but there were hardly any people on the sidewalks or in the stores. Everything looked like a
n elaborate movie set, designed to give off the impression of luxury in the city, when really it was all just a show.
After driving through the city for a few miles, Neil heard the sound of a police siren directly behind them. They were being pulled over.
“Shit, shit, shit. Why are they pulling us over?” Neil said.
“I don’t know, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe they are just doing random checks.”
Neil had a bad feeling about it.
Two guards got out of the car and walked over towards their vehicle. They each had a loaded AK-47 held low in their hands. One guard went to each side of their car. The one on the driver side spoke something in Korean, and Sung Kim replied with something that sounded like a question. The guard immediately raised his weapon at Sung and yelled what sounded like a command.
“They want us to get out of the Car.” Sung said.
He had figured that much out.
Neil had a gun pointed at him as well while he got out of the car, hands raised. The other guard engaged in some kind of heated argument with Sung. Sung kept a level of calmness about him, but Neil could hear the occasional quivering of his voice. He was afraid.
For several minutes, the guard continued to yell in an accusatory tone toward Sung, while he tried to defend himself. The guard slapped Sung hard across the face while yelling something that Neil couldn’t understand. Sung stood up and raised his voice for the first time. Sung cowered in fear, making himself small. He was sweating, and Neil could see the signs of distress in his face. The guard finally said something that Neil could understand.
“DIE, AMERICAN SPY!”
He fired a shot right between Sung’s eyes. Neil didn’t have time to react. Sung fell to the ground, dead.
CHAPTER 17
“NNNOOOO!” Neil yelled.
The guard behind him tried to hit Neil in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle, but he felt nothing from the blow. Anger consumed him. The guard had shot Sung in cold blood. There was no arrest, no trial, and no judge. He didn’t deserve any mercy, and Neil wasn’t going to give him any.
Neil lifted the guard off of the ground several feet and slammed him hard onto the pavement. The distinct sound of snapping bones would have made anyone cringe, but Neil did not have enough humanity left to care. The guard behind Neil yelled something, but he wasn’t paying any attention. The guard was raised into the air again, and slammed down once more. Every time Neil slammed the guard down, the bones disintegrated under the immense force. The guard screamed in agony.
The guard behind Neil fired several shots from his AK-47 into Neil’s back, but his body reacted automatically to the threat. The bullets bounced off of his back like nerf darts. Neil was still too focused on the guard that he was repeatedly slamming into the ground to worry about the crushed projectiles falling to the ground behind him.
As the guard lay bleeding and broken on the ground, Neil walked up to him slowly. He could see the fear and pain in his eyes. He cried, knowing what was going to happen to him. The guard behind Neil was still firing, but it didn’t distract Neil from what he was about to do. He raised his foot above the guard’s head, and brought it down, again and again. He was gurgling and blood poured out of his mouth. He stopped crying.
Neil turned around to focus his attention on the guard that had been shooting him in the back. At the sight of the gruesome execution before him, the guard dropped his rifle and sprinted away, trying to escape. He didn’t get far. Neil severed his Achilles tendon, and he tumbled face first into the ground. He screamed as the tendon shot up into his body like a rubber band. He was completely helpless, as his calf muscles were no longer attached to his foot.
The man desperately tried crawling away. He was crying as he chanted something while inching forward, pulling his body along the road with his hands. Neil didn’t have to speak Korean to know what a prayer sounded like. As he approached the man, Neil’s shadow loomed over him, blocking the last sunlight he would ever feel.
Neil slowly and deliberately pulled on each limb of his body. The muscles stretched, the tendons began to tear, and a soft pop could be heard as the joints at the shoulders and hips separated. He shrieked with pain, but his suffering wasn’t over. The skin connecting each limb stretched several inches without giving way.
Pools of blood began to form inside his body where the internal arteries were severed. Finally, the skin couldn’t stretch any more, and it tore. The pooled blood spilled out onto the ground. With each beat of his struggling heart, a line of crimson shot out of each severed artery where a limb was supposed to be connected. The beats became slower as the life drained from his body. The screams turned into soft moans. Finally, the noise stopped, and the blood stopped pouring.
Neil’s desire for revenge was satiated, and his rage subsided. His thoughts began to rationalize, and he fully appreciated the graphic scene before him. His actions may have been in anger, but they were justified. Neil judged their guilt just as they judged Sung’s. Blood was paid with blood.
Police sirens blared in the distance, distracting Neil from his train of thought. He couldn’t stick around if he still wanted to complete his mission. His only chance to escape was by flight, so he took off into the sky above the city.
He accelerated far too quickly for anyone to see him, so he wasn’t worried about getting spotted. The problem was that he and Sung had been figured out. If someone knew who they were, then it was possible for the council meeting to be canceled or relocated. They weren’t going to risk putting Kim Jong-Un in any danger knowing that there was an American spy in the area.
Neil flew over the city towards the palace where the council meeting was being held. It was difficult to see what exactly was going on down below him, but he could tell there was a lot of commotion. People were being hurried out of the palace and vehicles were all traveling away from the location. Sirens could be heard all throughout the city. The word had definitely spread about what happened to the guards that Neil left behind.
He descended onto the roof of the palace to get a closer look at the scene before him. The people below were scurrying around like ants. All of the fears that the North Korean propaganda machine had instilled about Americans were finally being fully realized now that a spy was in their midst. They believed that all Americans were war-hungry monsters who feasted on the flesh of their enemies and lived only to kill. In this particular case, they were right.
Three black limousines pulled up to the sidewalk in front of the palace. Two dozen armed Soldiers burst out of the car doors and raised their AK-47s, scanning the crowd. Most of the guards ran into the palace, while a few stayed behind to guard the limousines.
It wasn’t difficult for Neil to guess what the limos were for. The guards were going inside to retrieve their Supreme Commander and the top Generals in the council meeting. Neil’s original plan was foiled, but he still had a chance. He waited for the guards to come back out with the VIPs.
A few minutes later, a few plump looking people wearing the green and red peaked caps of North Korean Generals appeared out of the doorway. Their guards completely encircled them. In the middle was the familiar black, parted hair and trench coat of Kim Jong-Un. Neil immediately recognized the two Generals he was sent to kill. They each had a large silver star on their epaulette, and they wore a comical number of medals all over their green dress uniforms.
The group of VIPs headed to their vehicles and split up into three groups. Some of the Generals went into the lead and trail vehicles, while Kim Jong-Un went towards the middle one. Neil knew that he only had one chance to strike.
He took control over the bodies of the two Generals he was sent to kill. They became completely rigid while Neil adjusted his state of mind to put himself in control. The guards escorting them to their limo stopped walking and looked curiously at the two Generals. Neil relaxed their bodies so that they appeared natural. They diverted their path from the limo they were originally facing to the one Kim Jong-Un was headed t
owards. They walked in front of the door and blocked Kim’s path.
Several guards stopped in their tracks when they noticed the peculiar behavior. Now was the moment Neil had been preparing for. He ordered the two Generals to draw their sidearms from their holsters. They pointed directly at their Supreme Commander. Kim’s eyes widened and he froze in place. While Kim’s personal escort reached for their sidearms out of reflex, the Generals fired. Neil aimed carefully. He was positive the bullets would go where he meant them to.
The young leader of the DPRK clutched his abdomen and fell to the ground. His hand was soaked with blood. The two personal escorts next two him unloaded their entire magazine into the two Generals. Neil released control of them, and they fell to the ground. Their deaths looked natural.
There was a period of silence that lasted what seemed like minutes. No one understood what they had just seen. Their leader was still on the ground, squirming and making sounds of pain through his clenched teeth. His two personal guards still had their weapons raised with shocked expressions. They surely must have just realized what they had done. Their job was to protect their Supreme Commander, but they had just killed the two highest ranking Generals in the North Korean Army by doing so.
The guard to the right of Kim finally got his wits about him, and he hoisted his leader up and placed his arm around his own shoulder. They both quickly escorted him to the limousine while shouting something to the nearby guards. When all the limousines were loaded, they slammed on the gas and drove away in the direction of the nearest hospital.
He had succeeded. The two Generals lay dead on the sidewalk in front of the palace, riddled with the bullets of their own Soldiers. A crowd began to form around the corpses. No one had suspected that it was actually an assassination, and Kim Jong-Un was safe. The damage from the gunshots was minor. Neil had already closed the wounds, and was positive there would be no permanent damage. The hospital staff would be mystified by the miracle before them, and the divinity of their leader would be further reinforced.
Superhuman Nature Page 19
