Rise of the Feline Society Chapter 4 - The Job
Amos cleared his throat. "Glad all of you can join us," He grinned with a smile that will make any kid cry. "Today is a special day. For this delivery only you will receive $1,000."
A couple people muttered except for William but it didn't last long as Amos had slammed his sword into the ground making a loud clang sound.
"Did you forget rule number 1 that is to not talk. Yes, muttering is talking. Now usually I will only give you maximum of $200 for a delivery. The police are onto us so out of the twelve of you I will give eleven the normal shipment and one will get the real shipment. Usually, I will wait but my client is getting impatient."
Amos paced twice while swinging his sword before he abruptly stopped and continued his speech.
"I will give you $1,000 and upon completion returning the suitcase and my client gives me a call you will receive an additional $1,000. Now for the lucky duck you will not be returning with your suitcase but will also receive $1,000. Now my people randomize and hand off the suitcases."
I group of men came out of the side of the room and proceeded to handcuff their left arm which was also handcuffed to a briefcase.
"What's in the briefcase sir?" the kid next to William asked.
Amos's head snapped to the side looking at the kid in anger. He looked at William next before speaking. "William tell this noobie the rules to being a delivery of the Shadowfire gang.
William turned to face the kid before listing the rules. "Rule number 1: Don't speak unless spoken too. Rule number 2: Don't ask questions. Rule number 3: Don't get caught. Rule number 4: Don't snitch."
"Good job William," Amos said. "Usually, I don't teach you youngsters not to snitch because you're too afraid to but I guess earlier the better."
Just then a man handcuffed a briefcase to William. The man also handed William a cellphone along with a wad of cash. William's eyes sparkled as he looked at the cash. He never had this much money at once before. He quickly shoved the $1,000 into his pocket before looking at the new cellphone. William was the last one to get the briefcase and he didn't expect to get a nice new cellphone.
"Yes," Amos said. "You have also received a new cellphone with the highest grade of anti-tracking technology. It will be good for a month before the hackers get smarter and you can't tell if it works or not. That doesn't matter though. In a minute you will receive a text message of your destination and after tonight the phones are yours. We won't be able to track you. Keep it, sell it, I don't give a hoot. Just make sure to delete the text message."
A bunch of dings were heard throughout the room as everyone had received a text regarding their destination. William opened the phone and an address was displayed.
"Emberlyn playground," William muttered.
The city of Emberlyn had a bunch of small playgrounds but at this location there was construction as it was slightly snug within the park. It was an interesting meeting place no doubt William thought as a familiar bang of Amos's sword hit the ground.
"I hope you all have your locations memorized," Amos said. "Blend in, make your delivery, and most importantly, don't get caught. Go!"
Two men opened the door to the restaurant which currently was empty. The twelve of them rushed out through the restaurant and split up going to their respective destinations.
William headed left toward where he lived because he knew that the park was located between his apartment block and the restaurant. William headed at a fast pace trying to blend in but wearing clothes that's been places and having an expensive looking briefcase along with it being handcuffed to his left arm wasn't helping him in the slightest.
He turned a corner which was a straight shot to the park.
This is probably the easiest delivery ever William thought. $1,000 instead of $200! $200 was plenty for where he was and he delivered around every two to three days. As he was thinking about how much a grand was going to help his family the briefcase shook for a moment. He stopped dead in his tracks looking as the briefcase.
"Did it just shake?" William muttered.
Just as he began walking again the briefcase shook once more. William kept walking but at a slower pace.
Should I open it he thought. No that's against the rules. I don't want the gang coming after me. I don't want to endanger my family. I'll just drop this off get my two grand and stick with the gang to try and get to become an Animorph.
After that William picked up the pace every once in a while, the briefcase would shake. After thirty minutes of walking William finally reached the park. He pulled out his phone to double check to see that he was at the right place, which he was.
"Go to the construction area," William read out loud. "Well ok then."
He closed the phone and proceeded to walk into the park. He followed the path behind a line of trees where the construction area is.
The sun had just set so the remaining light from the sun hadn't fully vanished yet but it left a sense of danger for William. It was night and he was doing a delivery that Amos seemed worried about so it put William on edge.
William entered the construction area. For what was supposed to be a playground it was a pretty big area. There were random walls here and there along with tools and materials for building the playground.
He walked around a little expecting someone to already be here. He crawled on some of the already built areas. He went down the slide which ended with him sliding off of the slide onto the ground. William got up and proceeded to walk to the back area.
Why isn't the person here yet William wondered as he turned a corner. That's when he could see a person lying on the ground it what looked like a pile of blood.
He stubbled back falling onto the ground his heart racing. Is that blood? His heartbeat started to beat faster. Is he dead?
William scrambled to his feet and began to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. A moment later a fist slammed into his face knocking him back and onto the ground.
"Ow!" William cried out as he clasped his face.
"About time you showed up," a man's voice was heard. "Just give us the briefcase and your death will be painless."
William looked up and saw five individuals wearing suits. Each one had a crowbar in their hands. This didn't surprise William after all since "Banning of Lethal Weapons Act" the only weapons were Animorphs and makeshift weapons.
"So, what's it going to be kid," The middle one spoke cracking his neck.
In a panic William scrambled to his feet and ran around the corner towards the exit.
"I guess it's the hard way!" the man shouted with a cackle as William could hear five sets of footsteps after him.
William was running as fast as he could taking turns left and right and unfortunately somehow, he got turned around. Three of the men went by but two of them found him.
"There you are!" one of the men shouted as he threw his crow bar at William.
Out of instinct William lifted up the briefcase and a clanging sound was made. The crowbar clattered onto the ground.
"Lucky," the man growled as they both ran forward. The other man lifted his crowbar like a madman as William just stood there the fear enveloping his body. The man swung his crowbar and at the last second William ducked. The crowbar went over his head and smashed into the other man's eye as he had decided to lunge at William.
"AGH!" the man roared as his vision instantly turned to red. "You f*cker!" the man clasped his face in agonizing pain.
"Look what you made me do," the man who no longer had a crowbar growled at William.
William turned on his heels and took off running. The man grabbed the other crowbar on the ground and ran after William.
Oh, crap he thought in a panic, his heart feeling like it was going to pop out of his chest. This is not what I signed up for.
His thoughts were interrupted as he smashed into a solid body. William tumbled onto his butt. Before William could do anything, the man grabbed his throat lifting him up.
"Let's get this briefcase off you, shall we?" the bulky man said as he pulled a long sharp piece of metal from the side of his pants. "Don't worry," the bulky man chuckled evilly. "This will only hurt a lot."
William began to squirm to try and do anything to get out of his situation but nothing seemed to be working as the man was too strong. Just then the man who was chasing William had caught up. His eyes were bloodshot with rage.
"You'll pay!" he roared as he swung the crowbar into William's gut twisting it.
William screamed as red flowed from his body. He looked down at his wound and his vision started to go in and out.
"What do you think you're doing?" the bulky man growled in anger as he dropped William to the ground. "We're not supposed to kill him here."
"What was I supposed to do?" the skinny man yelled back. "He killed Jeff."
"Jeff is dead?" The bulky man said in surprise. "How did he kill Jeff."
The skinny man opened his mouth but nothing came out.
"No," the bulky man said. "You're careless fighting style got him killed didn't you? Didn't you?"
The skinny man did not reply.
"Let's just deal with the boy before we head back to base and decide what to do with you."
During this time William had been slowly crawling away from the group hoping to get out of their sights. He knew it was useless but by this point all William wanted was to get back to his family.
"Where do you think you're going?" The bulky man snickered as he approached William. He reached out his hand but just before that could happen the briefcase hummed loudly shaking violently like it was trying to break out.
The four men stepped back in shock.
"What is in that briefcase?" The smallest one shouted.
"Boss wouldn't answer that question!" The bulky man shouted. "He just said he'll kill us painfully if we opened it.
The briefcase's shaking kept getting more aggressive and the humming sound sounded like a roar. It wasn't that loud but it was noticeable and scaring everybody.
William's vision was getting worse but he could see what was happening right in front of his eyes.
What is that William wondered. Was I the chosen one who got the package that Amos was talking about?
William kept wondering about some other things but the briefcase had now stopped being hostile. There was a moment of silence before the bulky man broke it.
"Let's just get it and we can lea…"
He couldn't finish his statement has the briefcase opened itself up with a bang causing the skinny man to give a low pitch scream.
"Hum," the briefcase hummed as everyone got to see what was inside of it.
Inside is what looked like to be a house cat skin but larger. It was just the skin and the body wasn't there. It wasn't just a skin that caught everybody's eyes but what was around it. The skin looked to be moving machine, part like nanotech infused with the cat skin as the nanotech was going up and down the skin.
The cat's nanotech skin looked like a smooth, sleek coat with a subtle metallic sheen that caught the light in shifting hues of silver, blue, and faint violet. It was almost like polished metal but with the softness and fine texture of natural fur, giving it an otherworldly glow. The surface was seamless and flawless, reflecting a futuristic elegance as if every hair was crafted from tiny, glimmering fibers woven together. The skin's color changed slightly with movement, like oil on water, revealing a delicate play of shimmering colors beneath its smooth surface. It looked like a perfect blend of organic beauty and high-tech design, sleek and mysterious.
Without warning the skin shot out of the briefcase attaching itself to William's right arm.
He immediately panicked trying to get whatever this thing was off of him but it just started to rapidly crawl up his arm. After a moment a pain crept in like the anesthesia was wearing off. The pain was so bad that William would rather get stabbed with another crowbar than deal with this.
"AAGGHH!" William screamed in agony as the nanotech looking skin kept crawling across his body.
He could see it covering his chest before his eyesight disappeared entirely and he felt his conciseness drift into darkness.
"MEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"
That was the last thing William heard before becoming unconsciousness.
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The Author that brought you "Life as a Vampire God" I now present to you the Sci-Fi series "Rise of the Feline Society" - If you haven't already please become a free member of my account. Don't forget to follow my socials Draxber Faber for updates. Thank you for your support.