"VIIINCE!" sob, sob, the rain was mixing with is tears "I am not leaving without you!" Chris shouted. "You are not allowed to be dea…" he stopped himself mid-sentence, memories of him and Vince in the EXP sector suddenly flooded him, it was too overwhelming that he fell to the ground and continued to sob into his hands.
"No don't touch him" Chris yelled. "What did you say you little shit, do you want to be next" A soldier yelled out. "I said leave him alone don't touch him" Chris yelled again. The soldier with his baton furiously clinched it and tried to hit Chris. With not knowing how he ended up there, the soldier was now on his ass looking up at the room. "HEY, you come here" Chris whispered. "Don't be a pushover, we have a tough life as it is already. What is your name?" Chris asked. "M….my name is Vince, how'd…did you do that to him?" Vince muttered under his breath. "Oh, Vince you are popular around here in this sector. I expected more, maybe someone bigger scarier, but damn you are scrawny." Chris said whilst bursting out in laughter. 'You want to learn how I did that? Become my fellow pupil then Vince, I shall teach you my ways, ha ha ha!" Chris said in a teasing tone. "I am joking of course Vince, but from now on you are under my protection, I have always wanted a little brother." Chris said confidently. "I…I am sorry I don't need a b…brother, I ca…can take care of myself." Vince said so timidly. "Oh, is that right, that is why I had to jump in to help you just now right? You have no say in the matter anyways little brother! Oh, don't be so glum" Chris said with a big smile on his face whilst patting Vince on his head.
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP.
"Come on Vince, I didn't think the alarm would go off for fodder like him! Anyways let's run for it, I want to introduce you to a few people." Chris said with a sense of urgency whilst grabbing onto Vince's hand.
"BROTHER, BROTHER, HUH! I couldn't even protect you for a day outside! I AM A JOKE!" Chris yelled out whilst still sobbing on the ground.
"Do you hear that Ven sir, I think its this way." Alana said. "Of course I can hear that, do I look like I don't have ears? Stop asking stupid questions and get your blast gun ready" Ven Percy sneered. "Jeez I was just saying…" Alana thought to herself
A few steps away from Alana and Ven Percy, there seems to be the shadowy figure again. Cough, Cough "I…I can't breathe... Let me go" Cough. Vince was struggling to breathe whilst suspended in the air. This shadow creature had wrapped its liquid rope like arm around Vince's neck tightly. Vince started to lose it; his eyeballs began to roll back into his skull.
Rattle, Rattle "Walk slower stop making noise!" Ven Percy whispered harshly. "B…but that's you though, what the hell" Alana whispered under her breath. "Did you say something. You better not have" Ven Percy said. "No i didn't sir, but woah, what's that thing, and are those the escapee's sir?" Alana asked in awe at what she was seeing. "No, there is one missing, but he is the one the Sven wants, he is enough. Gimme that blast gun" Ven Percy whispered under his breath, as if he was worried something was about to happen. Alana passed the blast gun over to Ven Percy, as he stepped through the bush, he then saw Dean passed out on the ground. "Shit, shit, that idiot, what is he doing" Ven Percy thought to himself, as he was stepping back into the bush to talk to Alana. As he was stepping back, he bumped into Alana who was planning to come out of the bush as well.
BANG, SLISH.
A misfire had been shot. The shadows attention had shifted; it suddenly dropped Vince and started heading Alana and Ven Percy's way. It had now turned into its misty form again and started flowing through the air.
"VIIINCE!" Chris shouted as he found Vince passed out on the wet ground. "Vince, Vince, wake up, wake up" Chris kept saying whilst tapping Vince's face. In a fit of rage, Ven Percy shouted to Alana "What are you doing you idiot!". The shadow still in its misty airy form sprawled out three long rope-like shapes and grabbed onto the neck of Ven Percy, Alana and Chris simultaneously. Struggling and not able to breath, their eyes started to roll back as though they were on the brink of death. "Aaagh, what did you do to him!" Chris shouted with a determined tone in his voice. Whilst suspended in the air, he grabbed onto the part of the rope on his neck and pulled it apart – the rope then dissipated. As he dropped onto the ground, he saw the blast gun and crawled his way through the wet muddy ground to grab it.
CLICK CLACK, BANG, CLICK CLACK, BANG.
"Die, Die, you weird shit." Chris shouted so harshly you could feel the agony in his throat. After shooting the toxic slugs, there was now big gaping holes in the shadow. It then dropped Ven Percy and Alana onto the ground, its form started to change into the humanoid shape from earlier. Slowly, the holes in it began to close up.
STEP, STEP, STEP.
Every step this creature took was vibrating the ground itself. "What the… how did it get he…" Chris in awe couldn't even finish it sentence when the shadow which was not close to him, in the blink of an eye appeared in front of him. In fight mode, with the little martial arts knowledge Chris has, he tries to dropkick the shadow onto the ground. The shadow's arms solidified, gearing up to hit Chris unconscious. "Aaagh" Chris uttered with pool of blood coming out of his mouth. The shadow hit Chris so hard, he went flying.
"C…Chris" Vince started to whisper. He could barely move or see. "What is this? What is this feeling?" Vince thought to himself. Out of nowhere, he felt as if he was a completely different person. His purple hair started to transform and got streaks of black in it as he slowly started to get off the ground.
"Aagh, my back, what the hell is that thing" Alana asked. "That is what the motherland has being facing for decades, but apart from that, it seems that boy is awakening his Meraki like I told you on the way here. It is told 'His pure innocent eyes shall be showered with darkness, the streaks of his hair will burn and cinder, and with that we will know, the key for The Motherlands continuous reign has been born onto us!" Ven Percy exclaimed whilst coughing in pain. "You would've been thought that in Core training and even when you were in school as a kid. Alana, we need to get that boy back to The Motherland immediately, whatever it takes".
The shadow continued to step towards Chris who was dizzy and in agonizing pain.
"I am sorry Vince. I was no brother to you. I am a failure at everything I do, and I told myself that you are the one thing I wouldn't fail at. I am truly sorry, I always felt like I was using you to protect myself. Well… I guess this is it" Chris silently thought to himself.
STOMP, STOMP. As the shadow creature drew nearer and nearer to Chris, it began to raise its arm and sliced a tiny wound on Chris's chest.
Step, Step, Step. "How dare you". The shadow turned. "How dare you attack those you are not meant to attack?!" Vince happened to be the one speaking with an authoritative tone. Vince looked and seemed like a completely different boy at this moment. His purple hair had streaks of black in it. Those black streaks had embers of fire emanating off it as if he was a deity. On the other hand, his eyes had been drowned with a pitch-black color, no pupils could be found in them, making him seem like a demon with no soul. Whilst Vince was speaking, the shadow was listening and standing still as if it were human.
"You've gone wild. DIE!" Vince said calmly with an undertone of chaos. SCREEECH, SCREEECH. For the first time, the creature uttered sound. It was in miserable pain as it fell to the ground.
SCREECH.
As the shadow kept twisting and turning, Vince composed, slowly walked right past it as if it didn't exist and started heading over to Chris, who now had the same shadowy injury as Dean from getting cut by the shadow.
For some odd reason, as the shadow was suffering, Chris and Dean also started to convulse uncontrollably.
The shadow has passed some kind of infection onto them it seems.
NEXT CHAPTER – November 11th