The Aberrant Series (Book 4): Super Invasion

by Kendrick, Franklin

  He gave her a warm smile and shook his head.

  “It’s nothing. I’m just glad I’ve got you to share my whole bizarre life with. It would be a lot harder if I didn’t have you to lean on.”

  “Tell you what,” she started. “How about we just put all of this superhero stuff behind us and just enjoy a night with your mom and her date. Tonight we’re not Fallout and Mecha. We’re just Shaun and Mae. Sound good to you?”

  He exhaled roughly, feeling his anxiety lower, and nodded.

  “Sounds perfect to me.” He planted a kiss on her forehead, then stepped away. “Are you ready?”

  He went to lead the way to the front of the restaurant, but Mae stopped him.

  “Hold on just a second.”

  She reached up to his face and gently pulled off his visor, which he had completely forgotten about. She handed it to him. He grinned self-consciously as his cheeks reddened.

  “Thanks…” he managed, adding the forgotten glasses to his jacket pocket. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “I do what I can. Now, are you going to escort me or not?”

  She held out her arm, and Shaun stared at it for a moment.

  “I didn’t think you needed to be escorted?” he replied.

  Mae pressed her lips together.

  “I like the formality. Now, come on. We’re late enough as it is.”

  7

  Dinner Theater

  Mrs. Boding was looking around the busy dining room when Shaun spotted her. Her eyes lit up and a smile that seemed like it was more of relief than anything else spread across her face when Shaun and Mae finally arrived at the table.

  “Finally!” said Mrs. Boding. “I thought you were never going to get here.”

  Shaun came around to her and planted a peck on her cheek before replying, “I’m sorry. I was…held up.” He shared a knowing glance at Mae before helping her to her seat.

  “I found him outside,” Mae explained. “Fixing his tie.”

  Shaun took the jab well enough. Mae liked to tease him, and he usually obliged her. This time her joking was more to cover for his Fallout hijinks than anything else. He appreciated the lightness after everything that had happened earlier, and he settled down beside her.

  “Well, I’m here now,” he said.

  As his heart rate simmered, Shaun looked across the table and locked eyes with a rather fit man with light brown hair and large wire-rimmed glasses. The man flashed him a business-like smile and got to his feet to come around the table and shake Shaun’s hand.

  “Shaun,” he said in a rich, welcoming voice. “It’s nice to finally meet you after all these months. I’m Neil Harden.”

  This was a moment that Shaun was guilty to admit that he had been dreading and also anticipating with great interest for the past few months. At long last, after an extended dating period, his mother finally saw fit to introduce her now official boyfriend to Shaun. He returned the handshake firmly.

  “Believe me,” Shaun replied. “I’ve been just as curious to finally meet the man that caught my mother’s eye. So, you’re the boyfriend that’s been taking her out in the evenings, leaving the house all to myself?”

  This got a chuckle out of Neil as he returned to his seat.

  “It sounds funny, doesn’t it? Calling someone my age a boyfriend. But, what else are you going to call it?”

  “There’s no age limit on love,” Mae chimed in as she picked up her tasseled menu. “Or romance, for that matter. I take it you picked out this place for tonight?”

  “Yes, that was me.”

  Shaun was amused to see that for all the professionalism that Neil tried to put on, the man was just a nervous guy trying to impress his date’s son. Neil’s cheeks reddened slightly and he glanced down at his own menu to have something to do.

  “I hope it’s to your liking,” he added, scanning the dinner options while Mrs. Boding rested a hand on his forearm.

  “I think it’s lovely,” she said. “And I’m sure that Shaun and Mae agree.”

  “Hey, don’t get all fancy on me!” Shaun shot back with a grin. “My idea of going out for food is usually burgers and fries!”

  “Ugh, I’ve had enough of those,” Mae teased. “It’s nice to get out once in a while for real food.”

  “Fries are real food!”

  This got a good laugh around the table as they all started deciding what to order.

  “Well, whatever you decide,” Neil informed them, “don’t be shy. Dinner’s on me tonight.”

  “Are you serious?” said Mae. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “It’s my pleasure. Now, please.”

  That was the end of the argument, though Shaun couldn’t help but smirk. Neil didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Shaun could eat enough food to fill a small pantry on a normal day, and now, with his super speed being used to get everywhere — not to mention also getting those office workers out of harm’s way — his appetite was especially large. His stomach gave a growl that threatened to shake the table.

  When at last the waiter came around to Shaun, he had to hold himself back to keep from embarrassing his mother. He decided on a large dish of chicken Alfredo with a side of seasoned bread sticks and a heaping Caesar salad with extra dressing. That should tide him over, he thought, and the waiter was off with their orders. Even with their orders placed, Shaun had a suspicion that he would be able to go through a second order of bread sticks.

  Mae gave him a knowing wink.

  The conversation while they waited for their dinners was the typical fare. Neil made a point to say that Mrs. Boding couldn’t stop talking about Shaun’s accomplishments, and Shaun returned the compliment by mentioning that his mother also couldn’t keep Neil out of their daily conversations. Their dinners arrives shortly after that, and the conversation turned to easier things to talk about.

  “So, Shaun — and you too, Mae. What are your plans now that school is done with? You must be relieved?”

  Mae tried not to laugh, and Shaun knew the reason for her amusement.

  “Things haven’t slowed down for me,” she said. “I’m taking a semester break from school to save up for college. Then, hopefully in the spring I’ll start a degree in computer science.”

  Neil’s brows raised.

  “Impressive. That’s a good field to get into. Good for you for going after what you want. It sounds like you’ve also got a good plan for your finances as well. I can tell you from experience that that’s one of the most important parts of education: being able to pay for it. I paid for college on my own as well. It wasn’t easy, but it’s certainly do-able. I wish I had done what you’re planning — taking a semester off. Jumping right in and working the jobs while going to classes really takes a toll on your energy.” He took a sip of his glass of wine and turned to Shaun.

  “What about you, Shaun? Any big plans for school? Not that I think you need any, if you keep going with the comic business. Lisa says it’s been taking up most of your time these days.”

  “Definitely no college for me,” Shaun answered in between bites of his Alfredo. “Luckily for me, most of my learning is done on the job.” He paused to swallow. “But, I don’t really know what’s next for me. I just submitted the final revisions on the last leg of Super Guy. After that, nothing’s really planned. I might end up taking a break to brainstorm. Maybe I’ll try my hand at doing a story that I’ve come up with completely on my own. Might be nice to throw around some ideas and not be locked into some already existing world, you know?”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Neil replied, brightening up at the notion. “The grind can really get to you after a while. I honestly don’t know how writers like you do it. Building upon what’s come before, over and over. So many sequels and retreads of what’s come before. You see that in the game industry as well. Games simply become the same skeleton with new skin draped on top of it. Fetch this item, bring it here to unlock a door. Can be infuriating when what
you really want to do is try something revolutionary. I caught a glimmer of hope with all the VR games being produced…but then that seems to have slowed down. It’s a shame, really. There’s so much that can be done, but nobody’s brave enough to try.”

  The conversation paused as everyone continued eating. After a few moments, Shaun prodded the subject of video games back to the forefront.

  “I almost forgot that you work in video games. Mom mentioned it a while back. What exactly do you do? Are you an animator or something?”

  “Oh, no. Not me. I haven’t got that level of creativity!” Neil chuckled. “I’m actually a translator of sorts. Most games that come through our company are foreign. Japanese RPGs and such. Very exciting stuff, but very long. Campaigns can take up to one hundred hours! I essentially take the original Japanese text and translate it into English. Make it flow nicely and insure that the original meaning isn’t completely off base when people in the states get their hands on it.”

  “Crazy,” said Mae as she listened intently. “Sounds like your job is incredibly technical.”

  “Sometimes. It had more leeway than you’d expect. Right now we’re working on a sequel to an pretty well-known RPG series called Wrath of the Ancients. One of those epic quests across a fantasy landscape. I’m just digging my way through the middle of that translation. Trust me, I’ll be glad when it’s done and tested.”

  By this point in the dinner, Shaun had wiped his plate completely clean and topped off the tray of bread sticks.

  “I think I’ll get more breadsticks,” he said, feeling that his stomach could still probably hold another two or three. This got a huge laugh out of Neil.

  “Where do you put it all?” he asked, looking to Mrs. Boding for an answer. “Has he always been able to put it away like that?”

  “Why do you think I’m glad that he’s started preparing his own meals?” she joked back, and this got a hearty laugh from the group.

  Just then their waiter walked by.

  Shaun went to raise his hand quickly and get his attention, but as he turned in his seat, his elbow jutted across the table and knocked the two glasses of water over. Both of these were in long-stemmed wine glasses, and they teetered over in an instant, tumbling with such force that they shattered into pieces on the table with a clank of silverware accompanying it. The remaining water soaked the white tablecloth quickly. Mrs. Boding and Mae both gasped at the unexpected noise.

  “Oh, great…” muttered Shaun as the buzz of conversation dimmed and all eyes searched for the source of the commotion. “Leave it to me to make a mess…”

  “It’s fine,” said Neil. “It was an accident. No need to be embarrassed.”

  But, Shaun’s face reddened and his neck turned suddenly hot as he instinctually tried to push the broken pieces of glass into a pile away from his dishes.

  “Don’t worry -” said the waiter, who had stopped to assess the damage. “We can take care of that.”

  Unfortunately, Shaun’s hand had already pressed close enough to one of the shards of glass that it was quickly nicked by the sharp edge. Shaun let out a yelp and pulled his hand away as if it had just touched hot coals on a fire. Mixed with the wet tablecloth was now the brilliant red of his own blood.

  “Oh, Shaun!” said Mrs. Boding as she and Neil stood up. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine…” Shaun replied, holding his injured hand in the other to stop the bleeding. “It’s just a small cut.”

  But, that wasn’t the truth. As he looked at the fresh wound he saw that the slice was pretty deep, and about two inches long. How had he been so stupid as to let something like broken glass slice against his hand? Could this night get any more crazy?

  “I’m just going to go to the bathroom and clean it up,” he said, locking eyes with Mae who appeared just as concerned as Mrs. Boding and Neil. Shaun didn’t wait for anyone else to say something before he was off for the nearest bathroom, thankful to see that there was a single occupant one available. With a twist of the lock, he closed himself into seclusion with his heart pounding.

  Pain surged through his hand, pulsing with his heartbeat.

  He wrapped his hand around the cut and hurried to the faucet, cursing as he fumbled with the handle.

  “Nothing can go right for me today, can it?” he asked his reflection in the mirror. “I can’t save people without being told I’m a terrible monster, and now I can’t even make it through dinner with Neil without injuring myself and causing a scene.”

  Once the water was warm enough he lowered his hand down under the stream and washed away the blood. There was a good amount, but not as much as he expected from an open wound, especially one so close to his wrist.

  As he rubbed the injured area with his thumb he felt something that he didn’t expect — but he should have. After a few moments under the water, his cut was gone. Healed completely. He didn’t see it with his own eyes, but as he took his hand out of the water and wiped it with a nearby towel, it was unmistakable.

  The wound was healed. His skin was smooth, as if the cut had never existed in the first place.

  Shaun sighed.

  “I should have known,” he murmured. One of the abilities that he had inherited after his fight with Bill Flagrant — The Drone — was the ability to heal himself. He wasn’t sure how it happened. Heck, he didn’t even think that he could control it. The speed seemed to be set by factors that he had no grasp on.

  Up until this point, the only injuries that he had gotten were superficial. Flesh wounds and things like that. He hadn’t broken any bones, so he didn’t know if he would be able to heal those with his ability. To be honest, he didn’t really want to find out. He recalled a scene in a television show about a super hero who could heal herself, and there was one wince-inducing episode where the main character had cut off her own toe with garden snippers to see if it would grow back.

  Shaun would never do something like that, but he was glad that the wound was healed. It did pose a new problem, however.

  Everyone at his table, and indeed the restaurant, had seen him slice his hand open on that glass. He couldn’t go to the bathroom with a bloody cut and return with the cut nowhere to be seen.

  Looking around the bathroom, Shaun spotted, to his relief, a first aid kit under the sink. He unrolled some gauze and taped it around his hand, making it appear that he had cleaned up his wound and patched it up. The whole ordeal took a few minutes, but after a few turns of his hand to make sure that it was believable enough, Shaun was set to go back out into the dining room. Hopefully the mess was cleaned up by then.

  He was just tucking the first aid kit back in its spot when the night got worse.

  The mirror on the wall began to shake, causing Shaun’s reflection to jitter as he caught sight of it. Tap tap tap. It was a very quick sound, like a train going by. Then the floor began to shake as well. It was enough that Shaun had to reach out and steady himself against the edge of the sink.

  Then there was the unmistakable boom of an explosion, followed by the shocked screams of everyone back in the dining room.

  Then, just as quickly as the explosion had rumbled somewhere off in the distance, there was silence.

  8

  The Attack

  The dining room was more chaotic and displaced than when Shaun had left it. People were standing in groups, huddled away from their tables. Glasses and plates lay on the floor in glittering pieces, and a few chairs looked as if they had toppled over in the sudden commotion.

  “Shaun!”

  Mae came weaving in between the tables and concerned people until she made it over to him.

  “Are you alright?” He asked.

  “I’m fine,” Mae answered, motioning back to their table where Mrs. Boding was being comforted by Neil. “We’re all fine. I’m more concerned about you. Did your —”

  She didn’t finish her question before Shaun showed her his hand, pulling back the edge of his bandage to reveal the healed skin. Mae presses her
lips together and nodded.

  “I was hoping so. Your mother doesn’t suspect anything, so that’s good.”

  Shaun shook his head quickly, keeping Mae’s attention.

  “Enough about me. What was that sound? An explosion?”

  “I’m not sure. Some people by the windows were saying that it might be an earthquake. Sounds silly to me, but what do I know? Stranger things have happened.” Her eyes locked onto his.

  “You’re right,” he said as he walked over to the far side of the restaurant where a large wall of plate glass windows showcased a beautiful illuminated view of the Boston skyline. Mae followed, and the two of them joined a row of other onlookers who were pointing off into the distance where a on orange glow hung by the waterfront. Shaun nodded to Mae. “Do you think an earthquake could have caused that explosion out there?”

  “Without a doubt,” Mae replied, pulling out her phone to do a search. “It’s the most reasonable explanation. But, what the heck is over there that would have ignited such a powerful explosion? Fuel for ships?” She tapped her phone’s screen a few times, gritted her teeth, then lowered the thing to her side. “That’s no help at all. My service is gone.”

  Other people came to the same conclusion as phones were rendered useless and data was discovered to be inaccessible. After a few minutes a representative of the restaurant raised their voice, trying to get everyone’s attention as politely as possible.

  “If I could have everyone’s attention, please? I know that we all just experienced something dramatic, but there is no need to panic. It would be best if we all could stay away from the windows and evacuate to the ground floor. If you please...”

  Only a few people took this advice. Many were too busy snapping photos or taking video of the glow near the waterfront.

  Shaun wished he were away from all these bystanders so that he could use his Fallout visor to gain a better view of what was happening in the distance. Even if he could use his super speed to get away and come back, that would be better than nothing. It was sad that his first thought was that the explosion was part of a terrorist attack, but he only partially believed that they had experienced an earthquake. Those things were so rare in New England that they were practically unheard of. Even if it had been a quake, it wouldn’t have been nearly powerful enough to ignite a fuel canister.