After lots of thought I've found much I want to change about this chapter. The characters have evolved quite a bit since I've written this so I will need to make some big changes to how they act in this situation. I also want to put more emphasis on the fact that the protagonists had a troubled childhood and that the ones they fight in this scene are almost a mirror of their previous lives, which will add to the guilt of each character, not just Theron. When I wrote this these characters were kind of like shadows and I had no idea who they were, it was very much an exploration of possible characters and situations. So once I have written further chapters I will come back to this and redo this scene with fleshier characters.
I also want to put much less emphasis on long drawn out fighting scenes and focus more on character. The fight is still important, but I want to tighten it so the action is much shorter and more meaningful. (For some reason Kill Bill 2 comes to mind and the last scene with David Carradine and Uma Thurman, for those of you who have seen it. It has alot of build up and than about 10 seconds of fighting. But it was very meaningful.)
II. Pretend Soldiers
Each of us took a place against the dank bricks of the alley buildings. I slumped to the ground and my eyes began to close. I felt a dusty fist slam into my right cheek. My right eye opened a slip to catch Jack’s quasi-masochistic grin. “Don’t fall asleep on me Conroy.” He chuckled.
“Thanks Superman,” I rubbed my cheek in good humor.
“Someone is watching us,” Theron glanced upwards briefly, her expression remaining as cryptic as ever.
“Then why aren’t we dead yet?” Bonaventure jested while heaving warm air onto his glasses which he had placed in his right hand; then rubbed it with the sleeve of his grey uniform.
“Shouldn’t we be up against the factory right now?” I asked as I relaxed the muscles of my legs and arms. I glanced up to see the tower of bricks above me.
Jack studied the dark mist in the afternoon sky and then plucked at his teeth with his tooth pick. “We need to find a way in this industrial complex. It looks as if all of the emergency exits are sealed from this end.”
“Why don’t we just walk in the front? It’s not like we made it obvious we were coming,” I teased as I began to languor my way into a standing position propped slightly against the mixed red and brown brick.
“Actually, I was thinking more of just knocking the wall down,” Jack snickered. “Bonaventure. The honors…” Jack stepped back and wagged his hands in a welcoming gesture.
Bonaventure grunted as lumbered a good distance away from the factory brick. We all slowly made our way safely from where the grinning agent was pointing his chubby automatic monster at the wall. He carefully etched a small bullet into a snug new hole in the cold red block. An explosion followed creating a generous gorge for us to slip on in.
“Bonaventure, you get to have all the fun old man,” I mumbled.
“This baby isn’t for little boys,” Bonaventure grinned as he patted his weapon.
“Alright. Let’s keep it down,” Jack whispered his order as he embraced his own weapon, a Longman piercing rifle, which was our standard issue firearm. Theron and I quickly anted up as well, holding our weapons close like cold bullet yielding teddy bears. It seemed as though we had busted our way into an old mail room. It was quite strange because mail was all electronic now days and the only people who used snail mail were the poor ones who couldn’t afford a computer. This factory had the smell of old dress shoes, with just a hint of yesterday’s polish. This factory was not here when we lived here. Going by the familiar shops I saw outside before we got to this factory, I’d say that this factory was built in the location of Mahogany’s Bar and many other small shops. My memory of this place began to emerge again. Suddenly I had no urge to fight these terrorists. I just wanted to feel back at home, in another age. I wanted to feel nine years old again. A jarring click, clack, click, woke me up from my reminiscence. What was that sound?
“Ya hear that?” I droned.
“Hear what?”
Am I going crazy?
“Now that you mention it. A slight click?” Jack cocked his head.
“Sounds like the chirp of a bell after baking a warm pie…” Bonaventure mused.
Whew. Scared me a moment there. I guess we’d find out soon what that little sound was.
This was a gigantic old battered structure. The purpose of this industrial building was not really evident. But it was definitely falling apart. The constant war outside must have slowly ebbed away at its solidity. As I followed them into one of the gaping holes in the side I glanced up at the ceiling. There were tall file cabinets and a dusty desk and on it scattered papers. There was a hole directly above us that spanned out into some darkness. I felt a bit paranoid about the sturdiness of the canopy and could have sworn that a piece of debris fell crumbled at my feet from plummeting from the ceiling. Jack threw me down beside the desk as Theron and Bonaventure scattered immediately. I guessed that there were two possibilities: the sky was falling regularly here, or someone had been watching from above.
“We aren’t safe in here,” Theron whispered hoarsely from her crouching area beside a cabinet. There was a creaking sound above us from somewhere. I shuddered for a moment and nodded my thanks to Jack. Jack remained low and made his way towards the door which was in one piece for some odd reason. It seemed out of place in a broken world.
“In here…” Jack motioned for us to follow and opened the door slightly. We entered into a long hallway. The ceiling seemed to be more intact compared with the last room. So we crept one by one through the dark hall. It smelled like the tower office in Bastion central. The small hallway branched off into two sections to our north and our right. Jack nodded to Bonaventure and led us down the right path. As we made it to the next door Jack put his ear to the metal. “The sounds coming from in here.”
“Caution… this may be dangerous.” Jack took the lead once again and began opening the door. The chirping continued and did not falter. As we entered into the small room a desk was to my right and beside the next door a small machine clicked on the wall. “A time clock.”
“It keeps clicking… someone put it on repeat?” I scratched my head.
“Like someone’s clocking in over and over again…” Bonaventure chuckled.
“Another false alarm I guess. The thing must be broken,” said Jack as he proceeded forward. As he opened the door we had view into a large room full of silent machinery. I was wondering what had been in production when this factory was operational. As I hazily observed there were long lines of different machines and conveyor belts. Rows and rows of long conveyor belts motionless. I exchanged glances with Bonaventure and Theron as we all slowly crept over the dusty floors and past the machines. This factory was probably built after we left. Ghetto 13 wouldn’t have something this fancy. Our old neighborhood had changed so much. I started to wonder if any of my old friends worked here at one point. By now my pills were a distant memory and everything seemed perfectly clear. This either meant my mind was too numb to notice how tired I was or I was fully asleep and in the realm of dreams. I found it easier to assume I was awake these days, safer for me and everyone else. I’m sure this way, the worst thing that could happen was I did the right thing… dreaming or not dreaming. In the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something shiny on the ceiling a few meters from me. I watched it as it came closer to me. I observed the glimmering steel intimately as it approached through the air. I caught my own image in the stainless metal. By then the small sharp object had dug into my shoulder and pain shot through my body. I wobbled in slow motion falling behind one of the machines. I thought I had seen Jack leap the other way. As my hearing returned I finally realized Jack was calling out orders.
“Conroy! Are you critical?” I heard his voice float over me.
“I don’t think so…” I shouted aloud clutching my shoulder. “Okay, now I regret taking so long to get out of the way,” I thought to myself.
“Theron, Bonaventure. All of you stay out of the range of sight. They are in the ceiling… listen carefully.”
“We have no time either. Who knows where they are. They are closing in on us,” Theron thought.
Bonaventure unlatched the weapon on his back and gripped it tightly. “I say we bring this floor down to us… Jack?”
“Alright. Just get ready to run everyone. We need to make it to…” Jack interrupted himself and I could see him turn his head to look for something. “That door right there. Who knows… this whole place could come down if we’re not careful.”
“We’re safer covered in rubble than facing these shadows,” said Bonaventure as I saw him clutch his large weapon. He ran his fingers down the smooth steel of his elaborate machine gun. He smiled morbidly as he fiddled with one of its features. “Now, Theron… I want to know where he’s hiding.”
“Yes.” I hardly even heard the smooth patter of her boots somewhere behind the machine that hid me. Then I heard it for sure this time. Another whizzing sound. But no clash or crunching of flesh.
“I caught it.”
“Thought so.”
“I’m on it!” My eyes caught Bonaventure rolling from under his hiding place. His machine gun lit up his face as he volleyed a line of bullets into the ceiling above him. Bonaventure grinned again as a line of explosions laced the ceiling structure. Debris fell all around us. Above me a few pieces nicked my head and wounded shoulder but I hardly noticed. A box fell not too distant from where I was seated uncomfortably. The crate exploded and objects inside burst out of it. I closed my eyes for a second expecting the worst. When my eyes opened I caught glimpse of a new sneaker that had bounced into my vicinity. Battling unseen foes in an abandoned shoe factory? I couldn’t help but chuckle at the small mark on the shoe claiming its loyalty.
“Where did Theron go?” Jack wondered.
I glanced up at the missing ceiling. Wondering if I could catch any of the action. Where were these guys?
“I’m up here,” Theron answered. “I’m on the next floor…”
“She must have jumped onto the next floor through the new hole in the ceiling,” I thought to myself. They could jump like us.
“I wounded him.”
“How?”
“He was careless. I think I got his arm with his dagger, but I could be wrong. He’s slower now, but just made it away,” Theron spoke to us from above. I could feel her steps not too far away.
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“Only briefly… and it was an obstructed view. He seemed small and goblin-like, some sort of malformed creature…” Theron explained. “Okay… here I am. I made it to one of the windows. This is where he crawled up.”
“Think he’s headed for the roof?”
“Very possible. I think he’s scared. Didn’t expect us.”
I paid close attention to Theron’s vision and did my own observations of her surroundings. It seemed familiar to me… the place where she stood - almost like I had seen it in some dream. “That’s where one of them was sniping…” I spoke up.
“I’m going to follow him to the roof.”
“Okay… the rest of us will move out of this room,” Jack ordered as we all got up and began to move towards the next door far past the row of assembly lines. I couldn’t get the clicking of the time clock out of my head.
“I’m heading up the side to the roof now.”
“Be careful,” Jack spoke as he glanced up at the ceiling as if looking at her. We all ran up to the door. “Against the wall people… I’ll open the door.” Jack began inching open the door and blood spurt from his arm. He clutched his wound and fell back and slumped against the wall.
“They’re so fast…” Bonaventure mused with a certain vague respect while he stood back.
“What do we do?” I wondered as I began to attempt at taking the sharp object out of my shoulder. More of my blood sprayed on the ground. Against the better judgment of medical science I pulled it out completely. More blood. “It’ll be harder to stay awake with no blood.”
“Conroy… you stay back and deal with that wound,” Jack looked to Bonaventure who was routing through his back pack to find medical supplies for Jack’s arm and my shoulder. He threw me a small iron like device that I pressed to my skin freezing it cold as ice. My shoulder would be a bit numb for a while but feeling wasn’t really something I was accustomed to anyways. Through the door I was able to see that this door was a way outside. The backyard so to speak of this dank factory. The area was extremely peculiar given our circumstances. It was a kid’s junk-schoolyard dream. Old wiry pipes made out to be a jungle gym. An old tire swung from a twisted wrecking ball machine. Old sheet metal was shaped into a slide extending from atop an old shed with a rickety ladder in the front. I caught a brief glimpse of the trail of blood on the ground. At the end of the trail crouched a small cloaked figure that glanced back at me and snarled. Jack pulled out his guns and aimed. The figure began to whimper and seemed to clutch a wound on its shoulder.
“A child?” Jack was taken back. He cautiously began lowering his weapon. Not really sure on what to do we watched him crawl under an old crane machine of some kind.
“Larry, it hurts, it hurts!” We heard the boy cry out. “I’m bleeding!”
“Shut up you idiot!” We heard another child-like voice nearby. “You want to give us all away?”
The sleek body of Theron bounded into sight landing right in front of the crane, crouched. She glanced back at me. “He’s in here?” I heard her thoughts as I stared into her hypnotic eyes.
“Don’t hurt me anymore!” The child glanced out from the rubble and looked pitifully at Theron.
“It… it’s…”
“Theron. Kill the target now!” I could hear Jack’s order over the clouds in my mind. But she just stayed there paralyzed. I could feel her heart beating faster and faster as she observed the pathetic creature pleading for its life.
“I can’t…” Bang! A cloud of smoke emerged where Theron had crouched motionless. We all felt her pain.
“She’s injured!”
“A bomb… from above.” Bonaventure looked at me. “Get her out of there Jack!”
“Fool!” Jack growled as he disappeared into a flurry of speed. His shadow danced along the ground and Theron was dragged out of the smoke in a matter of seconds. No one could see how fast Jack moved, it was his attribute of the unique. “You idiot.” He said aloud to Theron.
“They’re children,” she moaned. “God damn it Jack, they’re just kids!”
“You’re lucky to be alive!”
Immediately three other cloaked figures dropped onto the ground not too far from us. They were all children. One had his head covered in a small white bandana and a brown cloak. Another was a small girl with beautiful flowing blond hair that just about touched the ground. Very uncommon for a soldier. Even if they were children. These kids looked as if they had been in multiple wars. The injured kid uncovered his head to reveal a long gash overtop of where his right eye used to be and straggly burnt brown hair. To the right of them stood a tall child with a bandage completely covering his eyes. He was blind. Or so it seemed from his appearance. Why these children were suddenly showing themselves, was beyond me. Arrogant. This was the Chikamauga Squad in all its glory. It took some confidence to come stand defiantly like that in front of your opponents. They were strong. And we would truly find this out the hard way.
The bandana kid approached us slowly while the girl began to comfort the injured boy. “Looks like you guys finally made it!”
“Kill em Larry. It hurts!” The injured child whimpered.
“Stop being such a baby Johnny!” The bandana kid sneered as he glanced back. “How did you hurt Johnny?”
“Ya, no one has ever hurt us in a loooong looong time!” The brown haired gash kid bragged.
“What are kids like you doing on a battlefield anyways?” Jack finally spoke.
“Who are you calling a kid?” The injured one spat.
“You are children are you not?” Bonaventure mused.
“We’re soldiers! I’m just curious how you guys actually hurt Johnny. Our squad hasn’t been touched in years let alone lost a battle.”
“Cocky kid,” I chuckled.
“You guys trying to get through or something? Well we ain’t jus’ gonna let you pass!” Johnny blurted.
Jack chuckled. “We’re not here to pass through. We’re here to find you. And found you we have.”
“Find us? And what? Take us back?” The little girl whimpered.
“We ain’t goin nowhere!” The injured kid said.
“We’re here to kill you.” Jack grinned and he pulled out his pistols.
“You hear that Sherry? These old men think they can kill us?” The boy with the gash looked back and grinned mischievously at the small girl.
“You’ll have to catch us first.” The girl looked up playfully.
“Let’s play a game then!” Said the bandana kid. “The game is tag.” In a matter of seconds he reached into his cloak and pulled out a small pouch. “Your it!” A hurricane of fire engulfed the air around us. Sharp burning pain shot all over me.
They were so fast. It was as if time were not applicable to their actions. My clothes were singed when I fully realized what was going on and pulled myself up from under one of the old machines. “I smell like smoke. Are you guys ok?” I thought quickly. This was serious. I listened for heart beats in my mind’s ear. I could faintly sense the pulse of my comrades one by one. We were scattered. My vision cleared a bit more and I could now see a huge gaping hole in the wall where the door outside used to be.
“How is Theron?” I caught a glimpse of Jack rising, a few steps ahead of me, and lying next to a few scattered boxes.
“I can hear her heart.”
“I’m ok guys.”
I could see Theron’s vision returning. She was not far off. We had to think fast. These kids were more dangerous than we could have ever predicted. “Unbelievable.” I scratched my head. “Time to get serious.”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I could faintly hear Theron speak.
“You have to,” I spoke. “We need you.”
“It’s so cruel. How could anyone train kids to be like that? They’re just kids Conroy.”
“We’re going to have to let out all the stops if we’re going to complete this mission,” Jack added. “We can’t hold back or we may fail.”
“So what do we do?” Bonaventure joined the thought process.
Jack deducted the situation, “We need to split up and chase each one down. We are somewhat aware of what two of them are capable of. One of them, who may be the leader, seems to be using explosives. I’m guessing he has this whole place rigged with them. The other one who injured Conroy uses throwing weapons. They could be capable of much more, we can’t be sure.”
“They are much faster than normal,” Theron stated as she spit blood.
“Spectre said they were like us.” Said Jack.
“Are they better?” I chuckled.
“They may have caught us off guard a few times, but now we need to view them as more than a human class threat. We need to be ready to kill,” Jack said as I caught his expression through the piece of a shattered mirror.
“They’re children… how on earth are they a threat to us?” I thought as pain shot again through my shoulder.
“You were children once,” I heard Bonaventure’s shared thoughts.
I felt Theron’s consciousness heave with anxiety and I almost felt her pain. Mine was more of a pain of misunderstanding. I wanted to be able to feel that way. Sometimes I wondered if she was the only one with feelings left. But would that only bring her closer to death than the rest of us? We were going to make these kids bleed. Kids. We were kids once. We probably went through some similar harrowing situations. I never lost an eye of course, I do have some scars to show for it, but no real losses.
“Conroy, wake up, let’s get going. Crawl out of that damn wreckage and let’s make some more noise,” Jack said as I felt his pulse race. He loved this stuff.
“Theron, those kids are obviously not forced to be here. They are enjoying every minute of this.” Jack tried to reason with her. We all could feel her overwhelming sadness, as it even continued to magnify.
She remained silent. “Theron, we’ve gotta do this. So many people are depending on us,” I said.
I felt her hesitation in the distance but some movement could be heard from her direction.
“I’ll protect you guys even if I have to give up the rest of my soul to do it. Just know that it’ll cost us… it’ll cost us big.” I could see Theron crouched like a cat in the distant wreckage. If she was ready, I was ready.
“Sure you’re up for this?”
“We have to survive.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Alright, they think this is a game. We’ll show them how serious we are,” Jack said as he stood defiantly and disappeared. I felt the air move as Jack moved. He appeared at the doorway where we had stood before. I looked through his eyes to see no one near the crane in the small outer space touched by the sun.
“No one.”
“No one.”
I closed my eyes despite the danger that sleep could bring if it caught me up in its lustful embrace. Bodies began to move around in the dark spaces behind my eyelids. Colors danced. Life pulsed. Little hearts beating wildly with excitement; perhaps fear. I couldn’t quite tell. There was always a slight barrier between the minds of my enemies and myself. A personal barrier that could not be touched. Always vague. “They are hiding. Watching.” I thought. I felt the approval of the others. They listened to the ringing in my brain and the colors that danced. As I looked from side to side inside my darkness, images flickered now and then. The ignition of dreams.
“Stay awake!” Jack shouted. “We need you.”
“Let’s go.” My eyes opened wide with determination. I lept with great speed through the hole in the ceiling onto the next floor and darted through the shattered offices that had blended into each other like cubicles. Dust trickled off of my face and hands. I could feel the movement of my comrades. The Other began to flow through our veins.
The Other, it’s something I can’t really explain to you as I run down these hallways. A presence, a thing, a person, a raging beast, a feeling, an illusion. It is all and none of these things. What is there and isn’t there. It is what makes us who we are and who we are not. I can’t really express to you what I do not fully understand, but what embraces me and nursed me in its womb. To explain it wrongfully, but perhaps understandably for the time being, would be to call it our abilities. Ambiguous, but ultimately powerful. I feel life pulsate around me. Yet, life is far from me and distant, a doused wick. See, it’s pretty hard to explain. And I sound like an idiot. And I’m falling asleep with you, trust me. Although I sleep, some harsh and stinging wakeful consciousness hounds me. My enemies lay naked before me, ready to be slaughtered.
Our enemies began to move. As I came closer the signal of life evaded me. I leapt onto the top of the building and opened my eyes. Above me the clouds shone with brilliance. I took another grand leap over the lifeless iron silo-like chimney. I saw no one inside like I had predicted earlier. Where was this kid?
“Behind you, Dozy,” a voice of mockery hit me from behind. I didn’t even bother to turn around. I had been fooled. “I wouldn’t move though.” Finally I felt his presence. But it was too late.
“That’s a pretty nifty ability you have. You can see us, but you can’t. Isn’t that right?”
“If I could explain it to you I would, kid,” I chuckled keeping my back to him.
“Haha, yah! Now I remember why we will beat you,” the child let out a piercing half laugh.
“How is that, kid?” I sneered.
“Well for one thing, you move, you die.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup. Trust me on that one.”
“What? Will you shoot me?” I was tempted to face the annoying kid.
“Don’t need to. Well you were running I gave you a little present when you weren’t looking.” He seemed so proud of his handy work. Gutsy. I began to itch, but for the life of me I decided not to scratch it.
“When I wasn’t looking?” I thought. How did I not notice this kid when I was running.
“I know you see things. That’s all you’re good for,” the kid snickered.
“Hey!” I groaned. “That hurts man.”
“But you seem pretty blind to me. See with your eyes, or your mind… it’s all the same blindness to me. I was right behind you. Gave me just enough time to put those movement sensitive explosive tags on your back.”
“Oh I see the trick,” I chuckled morbidly. Well that was quick. I was starting to think these kids were better. But, he was a little too confident for his own good. If we were both drawing on the same source, there was no way he could be totally confident. “I’ve got a question for you kid.”
“What?”
“How did you guys see us back at the building. You guys were the snipers right?”
“You must be talking about Sarah. She was the one with the big gun.”
“Are you saying there was only one of you sniping?”
“Of course, why would we all waste time on that dumb tower you guys are building.”
Wow. One kid was holding back an entire army. These kids were somewhat extraordinary I had to admit. “So how did she see us?”
“Hehe.” The bandana kid giggled. “Well it’s kinda complicated you see. Our leader doesn’t see or hear but he ‘can’, you know? Kind of like you, but better.”
“So you guys can see each others thoughts then?” Hmmm. The blind kid picked up on us even though we were invisible. And Sarah picked up his feed. It wasn’t about sight, it was about us actually being there. Our place in time and space. Like there was a big map in his head and he saw little red dots running around on it and pressed the big button. The more I knew about these kids the easier it would be to find their weaknesses.
“Yup. We were trained like this. So that one day we could kill you guys.”
“I’m flattered kid.” Trained to kill us? Us specifically? “Are you going to finish this or what?”
“I don’t know buddy, I’m waiting for you to start sweating. This is a game remember. I want to have fun, because once we’re done killing you we won’t have much else to do except what regular kids do.”
“Wouldn’t you rather do what regular kids do? Or do you like this?”
“Don’t be a hypocrite old man. We know all about you guys too.” By then I had fully awoke. My eyes had found themselves wide open. How did these kids know about us? It seems Saladin had done much more than just his homework.
“So why would you want to spend your whole life waiting to kill some strangers you’ve never met?” I asked.
“Although we’ve never met. I know who you are. Or maybe I should say what. You are the representative of an evil philosophy. Manifest Destiny.”
“Those are some pretty big words for a kid.”
“Don’t look down on me so easily. In reality your back is still turned and I’m the one who has your life in my hands. So shut it! We’re soldiers just like you. You have no idea what suffering really is. What we’ve been through. It was enough to turn anyone into a man. And so here I am, a bigger man than you. And I’m only twelve.” The kid guffawed.
“I don’t care what you’ve been through, a kid is a kid. There’s no difference. You’ll cry just like anyone else.”
“Shut up!” I could feel his anger rising. Images started to help themselves to my brain and I closed my eyes and tried not to move my hands. I wanted so badly to put them on my head. I felt his movement. His right foot moved forward. I could feel his intensity. “You’re going to be the one crying!” He fumed.
Dying here would not be what I expected in the least. Couldn’t die yet. Too curious. I felt the confidence to turn around. I leisurely turned my neck to peek behind me. Just barely did I catch a glimpse of the child. Standing like an angry comic book super hero with his hands on his hips. He was the child with the turban and the eye patch, probably the most menacing of the kids, aesthetically at least. I cracked a smile as I realized why I wasn’t dead yet. “Face the little bastard…” I heard as I felt another presence behind me.
I was now seeing through Bonaventure’s lazy eyes which were burrowing into the child’s as the turban boy was now facing his second enemy. “Unfair!” He whined for a second but regained his angry composure. “This doesn’t change a thing.” The child sneered.
“It’s your lucky day,” Bonaventure said as I felt the crack of his smirk.
The child began to whistle as he rummaged through his ruffled bag of goodies. He pulled out a snake green, egg shaped object, and then chucked it under his own legs. I watched as the grenade tumbled along the building top towards me as my back was turned to him. I returned to my own line of sight just in time to see it roll under my legs right in front of me. Hmmm. He must not have noticed what Bonaventure’s presence provided. I immediately leapt in the air, tossed off the malfunctioning explosive tag, and clutched my rifle mid air. Aim. Fire. The child was surprised only for a moment. He jumped into the air as well.
“I can jump high too!” He spun in the air with immense speed tossing small firefly shaped objects. Most of them missed but one caught my shin and a small explosion ensued. I dropped as fiery pain shot through my leg. I clutched my limb as I plummeted. Before I could even hit the ground another explosion engulfed me from below knocking me in the air again, this time at a good angle to send me soaring like a charbroiled chicken off of the building. Now I was queasy with aching that would knock out any normal human being, but I was cursed with throbbing clarity. As I flew Eastwards I caught a glimpse of Bonaventure before multiple fires erupted around him like a town buried by a volcano.
In my haze I ended up smacking against a wall or something and falling down into a pile of debris. Strangely, I was wide awake still although a bit numb. One of the children leapt out of one of the glassless windows, down onto the ground, and than began to run in my direction. I wasn’t quite ready to start another fight. I realized he wasn’t running after me, but running away from something. When he saw I was sitting limp in a pile of broken equipment his eyes grew wide and he jumped over me and his feet touched the wall that reached above me. To my surprise he began to run up the wall. I wondered if I was dreaming. Next Jack jumped out of the same window in which the chased boy had come from.
“You alright?” Jack thought to me as he continued his pursuit.
“Ya man, just make em bleed for me.”
“I’ve got two on me… maybe you can help.”
Jack was much faster than the first child. Without hesitation, he jumped onto the wall as well and sped his way towards the enemy. In a frenzy the injured child tossed a fury of razor sharp objects. Jack moved back and forth like the wind as he zig zagged through the cloud of weapons dodging every last one. Before the kid could even blink Jack had his left hand gripped on the child’s throat. He then leapt from the top of the building with the boy’s neck gripped and slammed his head into the gravel.
The child’s eyes grew wide as he squirmed weakly on the ground. “No, no, no, no! Please, no,” the boy croaked as his life edged away.
While holding the boy down, Jack lodged one of his guns in his enemy’s mouth. New blood was still splotching the injured child’s little army garb. It had spread over to the right of his chest. Jack seemed to tighten his grip without mercy and the little child seemed to give up trying to breathe but his eyes remained wide and full of fear. My conscience was like a screaming voice under a pillow as I watched pleasantly the life slip away from this tiny soldier.
A bullet fired. Blood shot out from Jack’s chest and he loosened his grip on the boy’s throat. The blindfolded child sneaked out of the hole in the factory where we had come from and was aiming his solitary berretta. Another bullet fired from the blindfolded boy’s gun. Precision. Two holes now stood out of Jack’s chest. Jack breathed heavily as he glanced down at himself.
“Save me. Please save me. Please save
His blindfolded friend paced his way, totally ignoring Jack and touched the dying boy on the forehead, then continued to stroke his hair, his lips silently moving with no voice. He couldn’t speak either. A dumb and blind soldier. Able to hit Jack twice in the chest. Part of me wanted to lose and just be buried here in this strange place watching the tire swing creak back and forth almost motionless. Why didn’t I look like that little boy, eyes wide with the fear of losing a bright future filled with the wonders of life? I knew we were far from dead. Jack wouldn’t be finished so easily. The blind boy cocked his head and then darted to the side just avoiding Jack’s other gun being pointed in his face.
Ignoring the child below him, Jack stood again, his foot digging into the wound of his enemy. Blood was no longer climbing out of Jack’s healing wounds. Jack’s world moved much faster than the rest of us. Everything about him spoke of an unnatural speed. He moved faster and he healed faster than his body could die. Every time I saw his abilities in action I was in awe of what the Other was capable of. The blind child’s face was stern and fierce now at the knowledge of his dying comrade and how much more complicated this battle had become. I was too weak to contribute, so all I could do was sit back and watch their dance.
Jack and the boy began to each circle the dying boy between them, sizing each other up. Why Jack wasn’t firing at this kid was beyond me. He was obviously faster. So what held him back? Immediately Jack leaped out of the way of a falling explosive. Multiple explosions followed Jack’s jumping trail. On top of the factory stood the boy with the bandana smirking at the destruction below. He must have gotten Bonaventure too. Now Jack was against two opponents.
“Theron, I know you’re in there. I need you.”
“Jack, I have my own problem to deal with.”
The child up top shouted for all of us to hear, “So how does it feel to have bombs dropped all around you?” More explosions trailed Jack as he moved out of the way each time.
“Do these kids have some sort of grudge against us?” I thought.
Jack was being forced into the defensive as he was bombarded from the top and the gaze of another blind assassin burrowed into him. The blind one saved his bullets for the next perfect moment. He must know by now that bullets alone won’t stay Jack. Jack became a blur as he increased his speed. My tired eyes couldn’t keep up with the fight. Jack was now right behind the child. His gun fired and the child moved his head just in time to avoid the shot from behind. The child whipped around and caught Jack’s face with his foot. The battle had now evolved to close combat. The bandana kid stopped his bombing tirade above to watch his leader fight our leader. Jack was set aback by this sudden move and I felt his pain. This child was strong. Much stronger than a regular adult let alone a child. As Jack stumbled back the blind child attacked with amazing speed and strength sending his fist straight into Jack’s stomach, not just knocking him over, but sending him flying into the walls of the factory smashing a hole for Jack to hurtle through.
“Son of a…”
“Jack? What happened.”
“Strong…”
Jack was being beaten. By this kid. I started to rise out of instinct to save my friend but an explosion of smoke erupted around me. I spit and choked on the grungy cloud hanging over me. As I stumbled out of the screen of smoke I could barely make out the bandana child thrusting his injured friend on his back. A glob of spit flew into my face and the boy leered. He jumped over my head and ran up the shack behind me and disappeared. The bombing raid had left a hazy fog lying over the playground making it hard for me to see what was what. I aimed my rifle self-consciously in front of my face while half crouching and standing.
Next, I felt the collision of a bullet in my shoulder from above, right where my previous wound was. Blood spurt out of my aching skin and into the mist above the ground. This was much worse than the last wound. A powerful bullet must have exploded inside my shoulder. Maybe some bone was broken. I was in pretty bad shape. Where did this bullet come from? Above it felt like. Must have been another one of those kids. Was Theron still injured? Was Bonaventure dead? I searched the spaces in my mind and found faint life spread around the blurry rooms in my senses. They were alive… but this was not good. Not good at all. I… felt tired. Needed sleep. Really needed it. Maybe being dead was the next best thing. Another bullet! Why? Just kill me! This was good. I actually felt tired.
“Good… night.”
“Wake up!”
When I jerked awake again I stared into Jack’s gun barrel. “Don’t sleep Conroy… whatever you do,” Jack smiled mischievously.
“That second bullet was you wasn’t it?” My shoulder was still bleeding. But now two shoulders were bleeding. “You shot me!” I coughed.
“Don’t act like I haven’t done it before!” Jack croaked. He didn’t look too good himself. He was bleeding from his mouth and sprawled against a small piece of machinery. We were inside the factory, hidden behind some old equipment. “I think I’m bleeding inside.” Jack pointed to his stomach. “A fine mess this is.”
“Are they alive Conroy? Can you feel them?”
“Barely.”
“They have us right where they want us. You know we’ve all been holding back.”
“You think? I’m just not at my best. Need sleep.”
“No, that’s not it. Theron’s not the only one who’s having a problem with these kids. We’re all holding back, and we don’t even know it.”
“Believe me, I’d put a bullet in any of their heads if I could just wake up and do it.”
“Would you though?”
“I think I would. I think so.”
“We’ve never had to fight kids before. They knew what they were doing when they sent them after us. We’re holding onto that last bit of conscience and our hearts would almost let us die to protect it. Something so irrational could have us killed so easily. Our enemy knows us much better than I could imagine. We’re up against some serious opponents here. They knew exactly how to push us to our limits. I don’t want to fight these kids anymore than anyone else Conroy. I really don’t. But, one thing I will always fight for is to keep the rest of you alive, no matter what it takes. I’ll go through a thousand children if it means our survival. I don’t care about the cost.”
“You hear that?” I interrupted Jack. There was a light patting sound. Someone had given themselves away. I peaked through a small opening to see the little blond girl’s body slowly materialize out of the wall.
“She can walk through walls?” Jack shared my thoughts.
“She blends into her surroundings I’m guessing. Maybe she can go ‘through’ those surroundings as well. I wouldn’t put anything past these buggers. She must have been the one who shot me from above. The bullets for that rifle are made to do a lot of damage when they get in your skin. She was the one who sniped from the building.”
“Ya I heard your conversation.”
“Thought you might have been too occupied.”
Then to my surprise, the injured boy sneaked up to the blond girl. He looked fully healed, as if he hadn’t been scratched. “What’s going on here? Can they heal too?”
“Should I fire?”
“Wait. There’s something weird about this.”
“Get out of here, you’ll give me away,” the blond girl muttered.
“Where did they go?” The boy slammed his fist on the firm wall. “I want to get them back for hurting me.”
“How did you get okay so fast? Were you just faking it again?”
“No way, I’m… I’m just tough.”
“You were faking again Johnny.”
Johnny frowned and his eyes were filled with anxiety, like the whole world was on his shoulders.
“Well don’t dawdle Johnny, help me find them.”
The boy just stood there in a state near to tears.
“What’s wrong with you? Why do you always have to be such a...” The last words of the young girl were drowned by a gurgling sound of death as blood frothed from her lips. To our astonishment but quick realization, the boy in front of us had thrust a small knife into his comrade’s throat. Her eyes pleaded for some kind of answer. Johnny gripped her shoulder as the knife was firmly held in her throat with shaking hands. The girl’s eyes widened as waves of electricity flowed over the boy’s body, and his shape changed. His person was replaced by the true body. My heart leaped with excitement.
“Of course!”
“It’s Theron. She used it.” Jack grinned. “This fight just got easier.”
Our conversation was diverted by the scene that followed. The girl whose life was draining away didn’t squirm anymore or try to speak. She threw her arms around Theron.
“She’s just a child.” Her eyes watered as she slowly returned the embrace. “Why did it have to be like this?”
“Theron, get away from her!” Jack warned.
“I’m sorry.” A tear trickled down Theron’s cheek as she drew the child in closer paying no heed to the blood pouring onto her. I was humbled by the sight of tears. Something my team hadn’t witnessed amongst each other, for a very long time. I painfully got to my feet and began to stumble towards my friend. Theron rocked back and forth gently, cradling the child. Then her compassionate eyes quickly changed as the child tightened her embrace violently and opened her fierce eyes one last time.
An explosion emitted from within the child shattering her body and engulfing Theron. Her mangled body slumped onto the ground.
“No!” Jack screamed as he scampered from his sprawling position on the floor towards the shaking body of our friend. Blood mixed from the child and Theron was matted on her body as she breathed heavily and looked up at me.
“Who would do that to a child? How could they?” Her thoughts were racing through mine.
I got down on my knees and threw down the small bag on my back. “You fool.” I put my hand gently on her wet cheek.
Jack’s eyes flared as he gritted his teeth. He lifted his two pistols one by one. “I’m going to kill each of those bastards. I don’t give a damn if they’re kids or not.”
“How could they order kids to kill themselves?”
“Did you see the look in her eyes? She may have been ordered to do that. But she was definitely not hesitating to do whatever she could to take you with her,” I told her as I rummaged through my bag for water.
“But she… she wanted to be saved. I could tell.”
“Can’t you realize?” Jack snapped without looking back at Theron. “They may be kids, but they have been trained to kill at whatever the cost. It’s their advantage. They are actually an equal enemy because of the fact that they are children. And they know it. And Saladin knows it.”
Jack’s anger was contagious. As he spoke my own fury rose. How could they trick Theron into having compassion and then using that compassion against her? It’s like they knew we had one speck of conscience left in one final moral area. It would either kill us or finally kill our conscience. We had to survive. Jack was right. It seemed as if Theron would rather die than kill a child. Would I have hesitated? All that mattered then was that I pull Theron out of this battle alive. I poured water on her face and past her trembling lips into her mouth. Damn it, I was no medic. I fumbled through the half assed medical equipment in my bag frantically wondering how I was going to save her. To my relief, Bonaventure bounded down from a hole in the floor above. His face was grey like he had buried his face in an ashtray. But he smiled.
“You’re alive.”
“Not a scratch Conroy,” Bonaventure chuckled. “I sensed what happened.” His face became solemn again as he quickly came to Theron’s aid. “None of you are good at saving. Only killing. I’ll take care of her, you two finish off the rest.” He glanced down at Theron. “Child bombs…”
“They train children to destroy themselves just to defeat their enemies,” Theron murmured. “How could they?”
“Shush,” Bonaventure said as he put his finger on her lip. “You’re going to live, I’m here now.”
“Just let me die.”
“Shush I said! Get out there you two. Finish them off. Don’t let them do the same thing to you.”
It would be hard for me to leave her there. At that point I didn’t care whether we killed those damn kids. I just wanted my friend to live. Hell, I was being a bit childish myself. Maybe fighting kids makes you think on their level. Images helped themselves to my brain. I was forced to close my eyes. They were coming for us. “They’re coming. They know we’re here.”
“That’s right, they read each other’s thoughts. They’d know that one of their friends was dead,” Bonaventure said as he tended to Theron.
“Let them come.” Jack stood firm and I could feel his alertness to the images in my mind. Then he acted. He dashed away from us and into the hole in the wall where he had come. I picked up my rifle from the ground and followed him. Then I stopped. One of them was very close already. Above me.
“Conroy! Behind you!”
I whipped around to spot the explosion-happy bandana kid staring the three of us down. He was no longer grinning like he always was before. Now he shook with intense anger. “You killed her. How the hell did you do it?” His childish scream pierced my ears. “Well, I’m not going to cry! I hate you! And I’m gonna kill all of you.”
I no longer hesitated. I pulled out my rifle and fired. Before I could even get a shot off he leapt behind one of the dark machines. The battle laid itself in murky view. My brain was now filling with images of mere seconds later. An explosion. Multiple explosions.
“Get out!” My thoughts went out to Bonaventure and Theron much faster than sound. I dashed. Just avoiding multiple explosions along my path. “Get her to somewhere safe.”
Bonaventure roared as he aimed his large weapon at the machine where the boy was hiding. A horizontal rain of bullets seared into the metallic skin of the machine, immediately followed by ripples of explosions. The boy scuttled from behind the machine and to his right. Bonaventure followed him with his aim. The boy jumped up into the gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Get out of here.”
“We’ll go. Use this.” Bonaventure threw the hulking weapon my way. I threw him my old rifle and clutched my new fully automatic grenadier machine gun. Whew, it was heavy, but I managed. I leapt after the boy. Explosions still followed but I could see each one a mile away. Reality was far too late for me. I ran after him remembering what happened last time. The boy’s signature was quite clear in my mind but it could have failed me at any time. The Other flared inside of me like I had never felt it before. I felt like throwing up and singing Joy to the World. I ran along the second floor, through all of the battered offices. I took a long flight of stairs reluctantly. Some of the steps fell below straight after I my running foot had touched it. Everything was becoming clear to me now as I forgot about my feelings and became a slave to the Other. The life readings in my brain seared themselves into my consciousness. Finally I made it to the top of the building again. The wind was blowing in my ears. I leapt to the side as fire erupted from the roof door I had come out of. A rumbling ensued. The building was collapsing. My senses beamed. Bonaventure and Theron had made it out and I could sense them running into the alley where we had come from. Theron was going to live. Jack was fighting. He was fighting two at once, or he would be soon. I’m not sure what that meant but I could feel it as truth. I needed to finish this battle. Jack would need me soon.
A red light blinked in my head. The boy was behind me, right behind me. The roofing below me was beginning to shake and crumble. I threw myself back and began firing on the roof door that led to the stairway. The bandana kid jumped out from behind and we began our dance. The door and the small shack-like area around it completely shot up in flames and the two of us ran back and forth avoiding each other. Neither of us attacked for a few seconds as we each eyed each other, running alongside one another. The building below our feet was starting to fall. The floor below the boy slumped but he leapt from it avoiding a fall. I saw his actions in piercing clarity before he could even make them. I dodged right when he threw one of his little explosive tags.
“You’re faster now!” He grinned for a second as he tried to run around me.
“You’re just a kid. You can’t beat us.” I snarled as I aimed through the pictures in my head and I ran.
“We’re not kids. We’re soldiers! Real soldiers. And you’re going to realize that too late,” he laughed. He tossed a volley of over four or five explosive tags.
“What I see is a child,” I said as I avoided the tags. I opened fire again. The kid was wrong. They were kids. He didn’t know what he was saying. Real soldiers don’t cry, real soldiers don’t get angry and let their conscience or feelings interfere with a battle. Real soldiers have no feelings. He didn’t really know what he was asking for. He had no clue. These kids should be having birthday parties and playing spin-the-bottle. But no, they were fighting cold hearted soldiers. I could see his fury burning. And it made him slow and stupid. I decided to go against my training and trust the Other. Every bullet I fired was entrusted to the images in my mind. Firing based on the future instead of what I could see with my eyes. Five bullets pierced into the child’s skin. One in his right calve muscle. One in his thigh. One in both his chest and stomach. And one more in his shoulder. The boy stopped and looked at me with disbelief. He started to whimper as he felt his chest and stomach frantically with his hands.
His anger clouded his judgment and slowed him down. He didn’t move nearly as fast as he did before, giving me just enough time to aim those bullets perfectly ahead of schedule. He began to scream. “Please don’t let me die!” Blood started to soak his little clothes as he fell on the ground and began to crawl towards me. My thumb safely hovered above the ignition button for the explosive bullets. I wouldn’t be giving this one any comfort. I hesitated. Was it guilt I was feeling? It felt more like satisfaction. I stepped back slowly as the boy scrambled towards me. “You took everything from us. Our parents, and our home. You bombed it to shreds. Of course we had to fight you guys. We had to make up for it somehow.”
Who were these kids? Where did they come from?
“So how does it feel to be a soldier?” I said bitterly. “Do you still want to be a real soldier?”
“I don’t want to die!” The boy sobbed uncontrollably. Blood seeped from his chapped lip.
“Soldiers fight. Then they die. That’s how it works.”
“I don’t want to be a soldier anymore!”
“You never were one kid. You’re just a boy. You shouldn’t have been fighting.” I felt strange moralizing with the boy I had just maimed with led. But I stayed compassion. The closer the boy crawled towards me the further back I stepped, always keeping my distance.
The boy began to scream and his face contorted with rage. Before I could think he had leapt at me like a rabid dog. My instinct pushed my thumb into the button placing five small explosions in the boy’s body ripping him to pieces in front of me.
I wasted no more time with thinking and reverence for the dead boy. I ran in the direction of Jack. He was below in the playground again where he fought with the blindfolded boy before. The building finally gave way and collapsed as I jumped off the top and down into the battle. Jack and the blindfolded child were in mid battle. When the boy had sensed my return he dashed away and then jumped on top of the old rubber swing set. He raised his fists as if ready to fight the both of us. I began to slowly make my way towards him as I raised my gun into position.
“Be careful Conroy, he’s too fast for bullets.”
“How do we take him out?”
“I don’t know. He’s not like the other kids. He’s not reacting like them.”
“He must know that two of his friends are dead. Watch for his emotions. It’s the way to defeating these kids. Being kids... it’s their strength and their ultimate weakness.”
“I’ve hardly seen a speck of emotion from this one,” Jack said as he continued to eye the boy. Then the boy acted. He had completely disappeared. A strong light flashed in my head and I turned just in time to see the boy behind me. I barely dodged his aim as a bullet fired into my arm instead of my head. I rolled onto the ground missing Jack’s reaction. “Is he going to take on both of us?” Thought Jack.
My vision twirled as I rolled onto the ground. I got up even though pain was shooting through my body again. The third time I got shot. The Other seemed to fade. I was losing a lot of blood. I pulled out my weapon and tried to aim at the blurring battle. I caught a bullet trail with my eyes as I leapt out of the way. The Other wasn’t fully out. I could see with it still. But barely. I attempted to help Jack by leaping back and forth and firing at the child. I couldn’t hit a thing. He was too fast. He seemed to be concentrating on the both of us with ease. The Other seemed to burn within this child. I could only see a burning white light floating through my head. They continued in close combat while I looked for an opportunity to be useful. We had all been taught to use our body to fight as well as our weapons. Jack was the best of all of us in this area. The two battlers exchanged blows and blocks perfectly. The boy jump kicked as Jack stayed his foot with his hand, pushing it aside. The faded image of Jack sped towards the boy but the child blocked Jack’s fist with his young palm. It was a flawless fight and I had just become a spectator. There was no way, in this condition, that I could fight in this battle. It was above me.
The next move came totally unexpected. In a matter of seconds I felt a heavy burden on my back. “Conroy!” Jack shouted as he completely interrupted the fight with his first opponent. Jack’s image faded into the air. Someone had jumped on my shoulders.
“I’m going to blow you to pieces!” A child’s voice pierced into my ears. My burden was lifted as a shadow flew over me and Jack’s image faded into view kicking the boy off of me and into the wall. I turned around to see the real Johnny spit blood as he started to rise again. He pulled out two long knives in each hand and swung them at Jack one by one. He was much slower than the blind boy and without hesitation I fired a bullet straight into his leg and ignited it. His leg was mangled by the explosion and he fell onto this face.
“No, no, no!” He whimpered holding onto his shattered leg. “It hurts so much.”
To my surprise the blind child did not react the way I thought he would. Instead of going for Jack while he was occupied he scurried towards his friend in hopes of saving him. It was too late. Johnny had one hand on Jack’s foot. His body was engulfed in flames throwing Jack backwards and into the wobbling swing-set knocking the bar off of the top.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I got some shrapnel in my leg, but I’ll be fine.” I now had my gun pointed at the blindfolded boy. Our last opponent. The bandana kid was trying to detonate himself on me and Johnny, the boy with the scar tried to do the same. These kids were all trained to ignite themselves on their enemies as a last resort. No escape. They either killed or killed themselves trying. What kind of a brutal world did these kids grow up in? I wanted to be furious for these kids and what had happened to them. Why they were allowed to participate in an adult’s war for the gain of grown men. What small political gain could these kids achieve for themselves? Kids don’t care about politics. They just want to live. They have nothing to die for. That’s an adult’s job. Only questions haunted me, my emotions were far too detached to care for them. I just wanted to kill the last one. Finish the job. My opinions at the time were only musings on an unmerciful battlefield.
Jack had risen and was ready to fight this blind child. Waiting for his next move. But the blind boy fell to his knees and began to make undeterminable sounds of agony. He took off his blindfold to reveal scars where eyes used to be. He couldn’t even shed tears. But he could cry. I looked at Jack. I didn’t know what to do in this strange situation. Would an adult soldier even have time to cry before he died? Jack raised his right hand as he held out his gun and fired one last bullet into the child’s head. The fire in my mind completely went out and the boy instantly died falling flat on his face.
I saw the resolve on Jack’s face and yet I reached into his mind to see if there were any emotions to share with me. But there were none. I felt his accomplishment. He looked to me with a solemn expression of winning satisfaction. I knew that Theron had seen everything through my eyes. I could feel her agony inside me, missing what that felt like. Jack turned away and began speaking into the small mic protruding from the back of his ear. “CC, we have position. I repeat, CC, we have position. Position cleared. It’s safe.”
“Message confirmed Commander.”
“They’ll be here in about seven minutes,” Jack said as he put his pistols back into his coat. “Theron going to be ok?”
“She’s going to need some time, but I know she’ll be joining us again soon. Bonaventure is with her. She’ll survive.”
Jack plodded towards the dead boy and put his head down as a sign of respect for a fellow soldier. “They were our hardest and easiest foe. I have no pity for them. They wanted this. Even if it were forced on them, they fought us with smiles on their faces.”
“Does a child really know what they want? Or are they told what to want?”
“Whatever the case is, we had to survive. That’s just how it is.”
“I’m weary of surviving,” I muttered.
“But you want it just as much as any of us. Deep down. That’s why we beat them.”
“We beat them because they were kids. They were just pretending to be soldiers. When it all came down to it, they cried like kids, feared like kids, and hated like them. The battlefield is no place for a child. But you’re right. I did want it. In some twisted way, I really don’t want to die. Seeing death so close made me realize that.”
“Bravo!” I heard a distant clapping and turned my head. Two men were standing on the rubble of the factory. They had completely come into our presence undetected. The first man had a yellow trench coat and long brown hair, and full facial hair around his mouth and sideburns that connected his hair to his clean cut beard. He had glasses on as well. The other man was darkly familiar. Tall. His face was white like a ghost but his the dark under his eyes contrasted heavily with it. His lips were purple. He wore a long black oriental coat running down to his kneecaps. He had a face all too familiar; although ghostly in quality when compared to the man I used to know.
“Fathom?” Jack shook. I felt a mixture of fear and fury spinning through him.
Dirk Fathom and Vandal Shapiro. Fathom was a man deep in our past. A former mentor and someone we once thought of as a protective father. Vandal, on the other hand, was alive for some reason, after apparently dying twice. Once at his own hand. Vandal was the man who had killed the one I supposedly loved. If I were ever capable of such a thing. Yet here he was right in front of me and I had no speck of hatred for the man. These two men seemed like shadows detached from my world, no longer a piece of my past.
“Bravo my boy,” Fathom said again as he finished clapping and put his hands regally behind his back. “You are both truly soldiers now. You can kill four children without a blink. My, my. This is unexpected.”
Jack reached for his guns. He was ready to continue fighting.
“Patience. I have no wish to fight for now. I just wanted to see how you’ve both grown. Little crying children have become men. Bravo.”
Jack grinned manically. “It’s not like it was back then. You must have stumbled onto a war. This isn’t the streets Fathom, what are you doing here?”
“You’re right. Things are different now. But you don’t realize. You tread on holy ground. Although it has changed, this is still my territory.”
“I’d say it’s Saladin’s territory now. You’re a little out of place. This is a war and I think you should probably move out and maybe go to one of your cozy cottages on the beach.” Jack was cocky as ever.
“But you see this is my war as well. I am now a servant of Saladin?” Fathom bowed.
“What?” Jack was taken back. “You’re one of them?”
How could one of the world’s most powerful syndicate-lords stoop to the level of servant? My awe for Saladin had greatly increased and my interest in him was sparked.
“Like you, I am not who I once was. Money was once my lord because I thought it was power. But money is only a possible means of achieving power. I search for the source rather than a mere means of achieving its off-shoots. The road to becoming gods lies before you and you don’t even know it. That’s the reason you should be here. Not some fool’s war.”
“Why have you come here?” I asked.
“We wish to exchange greetings for now. I’m truly at a loss, gentlemen. A piece of me wants to accept you into the loving arms of those who would search for the path of the gods. Yet another piece of me wants to watch you suffer. I could tear your bodies to pieces bit by bit as you stood helpless to stop me. To see you cry like you were children once again would give the worse angels of my nature some pleasure, but I will do as my master wishes.”
He was talking like some twisted monk. This was not the Dirk Fathom we once knew. I could feel the Other burning in him. Part of me thirsted to taste just a bit of that power. I almost pulled the trigger of my firearm to possibly see him wield his ancient might. I snapped out of my trance and lowered my weapon.
“The most beautiful of god’s angels.” Fathom tittered as he turned around and began to walk the other way. Expressionless, Vandal followed suit.
Jack and I stood still as the wind began to whistle around us. It seemed like only seconds later when soldiers flowed into the area, Commander Jacques Spectre at the front waiting to commend the victors of a bloody battle.