by Darren Sloan
He at least got to have his own apartment, much to his relief. She even got him a car. It was a top of the line hybrid. He had been driving it to an audition for a part in a new play that was sure to be his ticket to fame. He had turned down the street and was just blocks away from destiny, until it happened.
Tucker had seen some cars ahead of him and he stopped, but he was jerked from behind and before he knew what was happening, the frame of his car was buried and began to bend and break down on top of him. When he woke up, he was in the hospital and surrounded by concerned looking nurses and doctors, and his mother whose expression was hard to read.
"Tucker?" She asked. Tucker was about to speak but the nearest doctor to him placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't try to talk, son." He said. Tucker then realized his head was encased in bandages. Panic ran through him. He reached for the bandages, but was once again stopped.
"Tucker, dear, don't fuss with the bandages. You've been in an accident." His mother said. Her voice was dead and oddly even. Tucker turned to the doctors with pleading eyes.
"It's true. Your car was on the bottom of a multi-car pile-up. There was some kind of fight going on with Spectrum and some Neo-Human. The chaos that caused resulted in the accident. We almost didn't find you," Tucker pointed to his head. "Yes. There was extensive trauma to your head. Your jaw was broken in six places, your cheek bones had cracked and your skull was badly fractured."
"Your face was disfigured, son." His mother said as she tried to clarify the doctor's words. Tuckers heart sank. He had always prized his beautiful face. He was always the most handsome boy in school and his looks just got better with time. His whole acting career hinged on his face. He knew acting ability was a component, but the reality was pretty people worked a lot more in front of the camera.
"We can repair the damage," The doctor said. Tucker's eyes widened and he looked back up at the doctor. "But we cannot promise that we'll be able to restore your face as it was. It was a miracle we were able to stabilize you when you were brought in. I'm very sorry." Tucker looked over at the others in the room and they all looked so sad. He could feel the pity in their hearts. He then looked over to his mother. She seemed bored with the whole thing.
"Thank you, doctor. We'll let you know what we decide to do." She said.
"But, Mrs. Marsden,"
"Thank you, doctor. I'd like a moment alone with my son. Please."
"Very well." The doctor said and he led the others out, closing the door behind them. His mother then caught his eyes and shot him a smart smile.
"What do doctors know? I saw the mess you were when they brought you in. You'll be lucky if they can make you look even half way human. I know what you're thinking. You're wondering what I'm going to do about it. I can tell you this. You're not getting any operation. I simply can't afford it and I don't think my insurance will cover it," Tucker grew agitated and reached out at her, but his mother inched away in time. "Don't get so worked up. I didn't say I wasn't going to help. I'll just need to go through more unusual methods. I never told you this, but an old friend of mine used to study black magic. Voodoo. I know it sounds crazy, but this stuff is real. She goes by Mama D now and she lives here in Towers as well. I'm sure she'll be able to figure something out." Tucker wanted to scream, but as he tried to move his mouth, pain ran through his body and he held his jaw closed to prevent himself from screaming, but that inflicted great pain as well. He began to convulse and the nurses raced back in and went right to stabilizing him at once. Tucker eased down after a few seconds and his mother stood up and blew him a kiss as she left the room.
It had been two weeks and he hadn't heard from his mother or Mama D. He was beginning to wonder when he was going to be packed up and tossed out of the hospital. He shut off his light and was about to get to sleep, but the door to his room opened and a strange figure walked in. It was a woman. She was garbed in a large, flowing robe with several strands of beads wrapped around her neck. She was old, by the looks of it. Her skin was dark and deeply wrinkled. She came close to him and he could smell something unsettling on her.
"I am Mama D," She said and as she smiled, he could see her rotting teeth. "Your mother call me and tell you have big accident. You need healing," Tucker nodded carefully. Mama D smiled and produced a large black bag. She pulled out a large wooden mask and held it out to Tucker. "This mask can heal. Many cultures believe that masks can connect to the soul, and the body, and help you become something else. Something better. This mask will heal your body." She placed the mask over Tucker's face and much to his surprise, he not only didn't feel pain, but it actually felt good. He felt his jaw becoming stronger in just seconds. He could feel himself being able to move his mouth once more. Mama D then pulled the mask away.
"Wait!" Tucker said. "It was working!"
"Yes, but you can't have this mask. You can't wear this out there. You will wear this." Mama D then pulled another mask out of her bag, but it was smaller. It looked like a plain white ski mask.
"That is a healing mask?"
"Any mask can be. I have to imbue it is all. Very simple. I can do it right here," She said as she took the mask back. She set it upon the floor and began to chant and dance around it. She then pulled out a small vial of what looked to be blood. She sprinkled a few drops onto the mask and they disappeared into the white fibers. Mama D finished her ritual and gave the mask to Tucker. "Put it on." She urged. Tucker slipped the mask on and he didn't feel anything at first, but Mama D started to chant again, and he began to feel something. It was a warm, pleasant feeling. It felt as though his face was fixing itself under the mask. He slid back and basked in the ecstacy.
"This is great. I can't believe this. Thank you, Mama D. Thank you so much. How long do I have to wear the mask?"
"What did your mother tell you about Mama D?"
"Not much. She said you were friends."
"Did she now?" Mama D's face became still at once. Something about her new demeanor was unsettling to Tucker. "We were friends. A long time ago. When we were young girls. She was my best friend. She was my sister and I was hers."
"I didn't think my mother had any friends. I guess you kept in touch. Isn't that why you live in Towers City too? To be near her?"
"She lived here before me. I came here after I finally found her."
"Found?"
"Yes. I was once married. He was a great man. Handsome. Kind. He was everything to me. At least, he was until I found him in your mother's bed."
"What?"
"She took him. Seduced him like the Succubus she is. She destroyed everything we had meant to each other in that one act of betrayal. I killed him and I would have killed her too, but she ran. It took me years to find her again. My anger had grown so intense in that time, I wasn't sure how to get my revenge on her, but when she came to me for help, I saw my chance," The warm sensation in Tucker's face was growing more intense. It felt like a tremendous force pushing against his skull. "I saw the best way to hurt her was to strike at those she loved. I had to take away someone she loved, as she had taken from me."
"What's happening?" Tucker asked as he pulled at the mask. He looked up at a mirror across the room and he could see the white mask was turning black.
"She never loved your father, but she has loved you, in her way. To lose you would destroy her."
"Please! Don't kill me!"
"The mask won't kill you. It will heal you, but it will also change you. Can't you feel it? All the hate? All fear? Can't you feel it all boiling in your head? Surging through your body?" Tucker felt the pain subside and his face felt better, but he also felt something else. It was like energy was filling him up at a fantastic rate. Every little hate and cruelty in his mind came bursting up. He could feel the hate of others around him. It was like an unending series of intoxicating waves of power crashing over his whole body.
"I do! Oh, God! I do!" Tucker cried out. He stumbled out of the bed and stalked toward Mama D. "And I hate you! I hat
e you for the pain you're inflicting on me! I hate you for what you are! I hate everything about you!" He barked. Mama D lifted her arms in praise and smiled up to the sky.
"Yes. Take it! Take it!" She cried. Tucker grabbed her throat and squeezed until he could feel the bones in her neck break. He then felt a rush of power race up from his feet up to the tips of his fingers and after a sudden flash of light, Mama D's head exploded in his grip. Her lifeless body fell to the floor and the blood spread fast over the floor. Tucker looked down at his blood soaked hand and turned to the window. He stared out at the city and he could feel the seething hatred pulsing from every man, woman and child in it.
"I'm not man anymore. I'm an Atrocity!"
Chapter 18
Lessons in History
Panther and I hiked as far from the mountain as we could and much to my relief, we were indeed on the solid ground. It was difficult to know which direction we were going since everything was so flat and seemed to go on forever.
Panther and I covered a lot of ground as the days bled into each other. We crossed arid fields and murky swamps as well as flowered meadows and even some more treacherous mountains and valleys. Panther was determined in her pace and I was absolutely willing to follow. I wanted to get back to the city as badly as she did.
We also faced down even more crazy wildlife as we progressed. We had to outrun a family of beasts that looked like lions, only they were about ten times the size of the ones on Earth. As we crossed a particularly lovely field filled with brightly colored flowers, we came under attack by said flowers when they became aware of our proximity and shot up out of the ground and flailed around like tentacles, trying to strangle and crush us both. I didn't have much trouble with any of that, but it was in the swamp I grew uneasy. It was dark, wet and smelled like we were wandering through a rotting corpse. As we tried to cross one particularly black pond, I was accosted by a large, reptilian creature that looked like it was a giant snake, but with four long legs complete with razor sharp talons. I had to use the suit in order to fight the thing off, but once I got it into the water, I just juiced it with some electricity and fried it into oblivion.
We were crossing yet another large stretch of land heading toward another range of hills. It was night and I was just about ready to collapse.
"How about we stop?" I asked.
"We're so close. We can't afford to stop."
"My legs are about to fall off! We need to stop." Panther stopped and looked around.
"Fine." She said at last. I smiled and allowed my legs to just give out beneath me and I toppled to the ground in a heap into a lush bed of tall grass. I didn't even bother to think about it. I rolled up into a ball and it was only seconds before I fell asleep. I could hear Panther setting up camp. I felt guilty for not helping, but my body was demanding sleep. I didn't need a tent. I didn't need a campfire. I just needed to close my eyes. It was hard to believe I was able to slip into such a deep state of sleep considering all the stress I was feeling. I was on an alien planet surrounded by creatures and monsters that could very well strike out at me in the blink of an eye. Most people in my shoes would probably have gone completely mad. I could only assume that somehow the suit within me was doing something to soothe me; cushioning my psyche from the incredible strain it was going through.
As I slept, for the first time since I got to Xenos, I dreamt. I was standing on a flat area with a large ball of light high above me. I turned and I could see the shadow I was casting was growing long. I could see it morphing into the shape of the costume. It was then that I turned away and walked toward the light, but as I did, I felt something happening behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw my long shadow was starting to shift and move. I spun around just as the shadow split into several lines. Each one seemed to come alive and slithered around the ground like snakes. They then began to change shapes once again. One shadow rose up from the ground and looked like it was morphing into the shape of Sur Reel. The other shadows grew and rose up in the same manner, but each one took a different form. Some were human while others were strange. There was one shadow that blew up into a large, hulking figure with a long grin across its face. Another shadow lurched up and it was in the shape of some kind of worm or snake with long, claw-tipped tendrils that flailed wildly. The shadow shapes turned toward me and they began to advance. They didn't speak, but I could hear a whispering echo in the back of my ears. It grew louder as they approached. As the Sur Reel shadow lunged at me, I threw out my fist and I struck it right in the middle of its chest. My hand was stuck in the oily muck it was made of but I then felt a sharp surge of energy rush through me and down my arm all the way to my hand. Strands of light then seeped out from my fingertips and the whole shadow creature shuddered and shrieked as the light destroyed it.
As it exploded, the other shadow creatures seemed to react by becoming more aggressive. They charged toward me and the big, hulking one swung its meaty fist at me and when it hit, it felt like a slab of rock slamming against me. I tried to fight back, but it didn't take long for them to overpower me. My eyes were blurred by darkness and I felt their hands, claws and tendrils on my flesh. My throat began to tighten and that was when I jerked awake.
I sat upright and I was back in reality in the field and I saw Panther asleep across from me, near the fire. I looked around and it was quiet. My heart, however, was racing. After I caught my breath, I went back to sleep, and thankfully I did not dream for the rest of the night.
The next day we continued on our way and we came to a large hill and as we made it to the top, we could see what looked to be the remains of a village a few miles away. Panther insisted it would be a good place to stop, if only because there was some shelter to be had.
As we got closer, I saw that the little huts and cottages were burnt out and rotted. It looked as though the village had been deserted for a very long time. We wandered through it and checked everything out. I came upon a building that looked to have once been some kind of market. There were broken down shelves leaning against the walls and the ground had large, black puddles of black sludge which I could only assume had once been food of some kind.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, but I do know that when Arkane ruled Xenos, there were villages and towns all around here. After The Council was formed and the people sectioned themselves off, the old villages were either demolished or left to rot on their own."
"Arkane. Denwall talked about him a bit. Is it true that there was magic here?"
"Of course. What's so hard to believe about that? Magic was just the same as science back then. Although instead of knowledge, magic was powered by faith. When the entire planet believed, miracles were an everyday occurrence."
"So if magic was so great, why stop it?"
"Because the enlightened saw the strain it was on the planet itself. They saw how we were needlessly exploiting the natural resources of the planet and draining the very life essences out of Xenos. They knew if they were to survive, a better way had to be found. That's when they explored new concepts and allowed themselves to learn a new way of living."
"I guess Arkane didn't like that."
"Technology in all forms was strictly forbidden."
"Weird."
"What?"
"Well, on my planet, people believed in science and thought magic was evil. It got turned around over here."
"No offense, but your people are by no means a standard to judge."
"Okay, look, I get that Earth isn't the most evolved planet in the universe, but we're not a bunch of illiterate apes flinging our filth at each other either."
"I wouldn't say that's entirely true."
"Fine. There are some who bring down the curve for the rest, but we're not a total loss. I mean, if we were, why would your people be observing?" Panther then turned to me, but she seemed to be stuck trying to find her thought.
"The Council believes there is something in you and your people worth taking note of." She
said.
"You said it yourself. Earth doesn't totally suck. Can we agree on that?"
"For the sake of peace, yes."
"I'll take it."
I moved on toward a cluster of cottages nearby. They were arranged in a way that led me to believe that they were the primary residents of the people who had lived there. I peered into the window of one of them and saw an empty room with just a few remainders of what had once been the furniture. I could smell the stench of the rotting wood everywhere. I put my hand against the wall and I felt it give way. My hand drove through the wall and I fell back. I looked up just as the whole cottage began to wobble and then fell to the ground in a mountain of dust and dirt. I got up and the other cottages began to sway and fall to pieces as well. I dashed away as they all collapsed to the ground. I looked back and as the dust settled, the entire area had been cleared. I turned and saw Panther giving me a sideways stare.
"It just fell apart!" I urged.
"I saw. I'm amazed this place is even still standing. This may not be the best place to seek shelter. I think we should just keep moving. There has to be something better." She said. She then fell forward and hit the ground hard. I ran over to her and I saw a large gash across her back.
"What the Hell is this?" I asked as I found the blood on my hand.
"That would be me." A voice called out. I looked up and I didn't see a thing, but then a woman came into sight. It was like the light was peeling away to reveal her. She was tall with silver hair and a rather stunning face.
"Isla." Panther growled as she got to her feet.
"I know it's frowned upon to attack from behind, but you just made it too easy."
"Who is this?" I asked as I helped steady Panther.
