《Thgink》
The Pureest path
I had the basic idea of what I was getting myself into, but I didn''t quite understand how it would feel. I guess the one thing I should have expected was sweat. Lots of it. It wasn''t necessarily the king of sweat generated from the burning heat of the sun. No this was a more inner heat permeating through every one of my pores.
It was a Friday night when Jacob called my phone, excited to test out his new abilities. He talked as if he was trying to sell me some product, the type that you would get calls about from telemarketers, or pop up ads. Except the content he was selling differed. Yet what he did paid off, and here I was, running through a darkened alleyway hoping to make my way through unscathed.
It was rather quiet for a Friday night. It shocked me how the typical music that blared out of people''s houses and speakers was nowhere to be heard. Shrugging off the silence I turned my run into a controlled speed-walk, doing my best not to add the tiniest bit of sound. Why did something like this have to be scheduled for Friday? Why couldn''t they just back off? Feeling a light buzz in my pocket, I reached down and pressed a small phone against my ear, listening to hear the person on the other line speak first.
"Bry, you there?" Jacob whispered into the phone causing me to flush up in anger, "I thought I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Bryan. B R Y A N." I whispered back, taking a look around my surroundings as I did
.
"Calm down sheesh. I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Anyways I am directly outside of where they met up at. It looks to me like some sort of initiation or ceremony is being held here. Fucking bastards are gonna torture some new people now."
I bit my lip. The Pure, as they called themselves, was once again adding new additions to their makeshift gang. They were mainly composed of kids, people who wanted to become something big, but failed to achieve their dreams, so they turned to the path of crime. It sickened me to even think about how pathetic those people had become.
"How are you seeing all of this Jacob?" I questioned worried about the safety of my friend. Tho, I wasn''t sure what exactly I was worried about. He told me the weapon he brought with him would be enough to make anyone back away unless they too were armed.
Jacob began to speak as if his mind was in a different place from what he was trying to say, "I''m perched on top of a hill. You''ll notice it right away when you get here, but give me a warning before you climb up. I don''t want to accidentally shoot you dead." I shuddered knowing he wasn''t exaggerating in the slightest. The cold blood that ran in his blood also ran in every member of The Pure.
The distant sound of dogs barking made me realize that I had reached the end of the alleyway. What laid ahead of me was a street, ravaged by the elements. Chunks of asphalt were scattered all along the roadside slowly deteriorating by each passing day. Moss and weeds had found their way growing in the small cracks and holes on the sidewalks. Looking down the left horizontal road, I noticed that every streetlight down there was enshrouded in darkness. The bulb either burnt out or stolen. To my right the street led back towards the city where the people who would be partying were.
"Jacob," I said ignoring what he had said, "You did say turn right?"
My efforts where shot down as Jacob laughed a bit too loud for someone who was supposed to be hiding. "No, go left. I know the street lamps are all screwed up. If you walk faster you''ll make it here and not have to worry about some gang banger coming for you."
I groaned and began making my way into the darkness. It often amazed me how he knew exactly what I was worried about, but in this case, I figured he was also worried about which path to turn on when he was in my shoes. Walking across the road to the other side I immediately regretted my decision. Out of nowhere the pungent smell of rotting meat filled the air around me forcing a gag to escape from my lips.
"Bryan you okay?" Jacob questioned, a hint of worry in his tone.
Nodding to myself I suddenly stopped realizing he couldn''t see my head movements, "Yes... I''m okay, look i''ll see you when I arrive alright?"
Another wave of the toxic stench was sucked through my nostrils and I quickly moved the phone away as my gag reflexes activated. The phone murmured with a response as I moved it away. Returning it towards my head, I pressed the phone against my ear.
"Jacob, can you repeat that?" I was met with silence. Looking down at the phone I noticed he had hung up. Damn. I began to search around as I walked for the source of the stench I was quickly met with the decaying corpse of a deer. A large hole was visible through the deer''s throat. Of course the hole wasn''t see through, since most of it was filled with maggots slowing eating away at the deer''s insides. Looking away with disgust I examined the remainder of the body. The bottom half of the animal had been completely ripped off, including its legs. Dark patches on the deer''s back were scorched, revealing more places where maggots could call a home. The most concerning part of the deer was that its eyes were replaced by red colored ping pong balls. I instantly realized that the mutilation was done by none other but the Pure. When they formed, they decided to start replacing the eyes of humans and animals with red ping pong balls to symbolize that they had done the killing blow. It was how they marked their victories.
Making my way past the deer I soon found myself standing over another body of a deer, this time with its legs intact.
Pushing the image of the deer out of my mind, I began to run different scenarios through my head on how the confrontation with the Pure could play out. If we got a little bit closer to their base of actions, we could easily call the cops or the Knights to handle the situation. But if the Pure were capable of detecting us first... No we couldn''t allow that to happen. The cool night breeze blew against my sweaty body, cooling me off very slowly. The second option is we go down there and raid their base, break in and steal information. This gang was full of amateurs, their leader being the only one capable of wielding a sword. And even then, his power of wielding the sword only allowed his blade to produce flames on the edges. No, facing them head on in a battle would be hell for us. Our third approach could involve us joining their ranks, tearing apart the gang from the inside. If we could weaken it we could pass on word to authorities to handle the situation. The only issue is if they don''t take us into their ranks, and instead execute us as part of their training exercise. I shuttered at the image of my own head being served on a platter for some news team to report on. I shook my head as if I was trying to shake the image from ever appearing in my mind.
Grasping the phone from where I placed it in my pocket, I powered on the device and checked the time. 8:20pm. Sighing I shoved it back into my pocket. School began at 7am, and I was going to have one hell of a time waking up.
Up ahead of me I spotted two men making their way towards me, picking up speed as they went. I suddenly slowed my movements and began to walk even slower, looking around for any places I could escape to. These men had to be gang bangers, nobody in their right mind would patrol pitch black streets like these. Reaching a hand for my back pocket I surprised myself as my fingers brushed against a small book-bag. I had completely forgotten about the package Jacob asked me to deliver. As I struggled to unzip a small pouch on he book bag, the two men began to dart towards me, probably suspecting me to be reaching for a gun.
Turning my back to them I broke into a run, no longer caring about trying to mask my sound. Leaving my bag unzipped, I moved my hands in front of me so that I was more focus on one thing while I ran. A wheezing sound escaped from one of the men''s lips as he lunged towards me, plowing into my legs and sending my face into the pavement.
"Fuck that hurt." The man muttered applying all of his weight onto my legs causing me to yelp in pain. The second man approached cautiously and ripped my book bag off of me, tossing it to the side showing that it was of no value to him.
"What have we here? You understand this is Pure''s turf right? Looks like you''ll be heading back with us to Pure himself, then you can explain why you are trespassing." The second man said, enjoying the victory that he had scored. It wasn''t on the top of my bucket list to talk to a deranged gang leader. To them tho, scoring me was major rep on their part. It showed that they were good at the border patrol assignment and that they could be better used at different sectors of Pure''s turf, most likely the ones with drugs.
Spitting out a pool of blood that had formed in my mouth, I looked up to the man who had stripped me of my book bag. "What happens when Pure realizes I''m not apart of any gangs? Then shit will hit the fan for the two idiots who assaulted an innocent citizen of this cit-"
"Shut up!" The guard standing roared, delivering a strong kick into my side. My eyes watered at the impact of the blow but I fought against the tears that tried to force their way down my face.
The guard crouched down beside me and lifted my up by my dark brown hair, "Listen you punk." The man spit into my face as he continued, "Me and Joseph here are on a personal level with Pure. We are his top notch forces, and for the record, we could careless if you were apart of a gang. We are the biggest gang around here now, nobody fucks with us, got it?. The new recruits need to experience their first kill, you can serve that purpose. Hell, I might even beat the shit out of you before I throw you to them. How''s that sound?"
The man pulled up on my hair, as if he was trying to force a response out of me. Yielding to the pain I spit out another wad of blood in his direction. Scowling he slammed my face into the ground and rose to his feet.
"Joseph, lift him up and let''s get going to the base. I can''t wait to kill this kid." Joseph grunted in acknowledgment and rose to his feet, bringing me with him. My face burned from being slammed into the ground for a second time. Fighting against the pain I planted my feet down to offer resistance as Joseph tried to push me along. But the brute was stronger. Shoving me too hard, he lost grip of my arms and sent me flying towards my book bag. Reaching into it I grasped my left hand on a cold metal surface and began to lift it out of the bag. Joseph was quick to grab my right hand and tug me away from the bag, helping to gift me a boost of speed as I moved towards him. Grasping the metal pipe in my hand I swung it as hard as I could and smashed it into the side of Joseph''s face. Joseph yelped in pain and was sent stumbling back into the ground.
"Daniel! He''s free!" Joseph called out, struggling to produce the word free. From the sound of it, I must of broken a few molars. Daniel lifted a gun from his pocket and pointed it at me,
"Fuck this." Pulling the trigger, he shot and missed, the bullet whizzing past my head. Using this moment to my advantage I charged directly at him and watched his fingers waiting to see the next movement in them. He pulled on the trigger again and I dove into a power slide, slamming my pipe into his legs as I passed by him. Jumping back up to my feet I moved to where he stood grabbing at his leg and cursing. Raising my pipe over my head, I slammed it down against his head, sending his body crumpling into the ground.
Noticing Joseph was back on his feet, I figured I wouldn''t have much time to reflect on this victory. Running towards Joseph I threw the pipe into his face, nailing him in the center of his forehead. As he fell onto his back I picked the pipe up and slammed the tip of it against his head, knocking him out cold.
Kneeling down, I began Reaching into his pockets, I quickly pushed aside all of the drugs stashed in the front and instead pulled out wads of cash and the pistol that he never got to use. Then standing back I made my way over to where Daniel had fallen and did the same.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Finding that my looting of the bodies proved to be bountiful, I made my way to where my book bag was lying and packed the money and one of the pistols in it, keeping the other pistol in my pocket for safety. Slinging my backpack on my back, I continued walking down the road, sticking more to where the moon didn''t illuminate any of the path.
I felt the trickle of blood coming out of where I had scraped my face on the asphalt. The pain served as a reminder of the mistake I had mad bye disrespecting him. It also reminded me how incredible foolish I was to get caught off guard by two gang bangers who couldn''t even aim a gun.
Trying my best to calm myself, I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked quietly, only slowing down when I began to see lights beginning to illuminate the road. I suddenly stopped and glanced around. This was where Jacob had told me to meet at, yet I didn''t see the hill he was speaking of.
"Bryan, look up." Turning towards a hill that my back had been facing, I spotted the silhouette of Jacob. My face turned red in the darkness and I felt like an idiot for being oblivious to the hill behind me. Running to the hill, I slowly began to climb up it, being careful to not slip and draw even more attention to myself. Reaching the top of the hill I laid back on the grass and stared up at the stars as I breathed heavily.
"What took you so long Bryan?" Jacob questioned sounding a bit annoyed at my delay. To me, this was a sign that he was oblivious to the wounds I had taken from the two gang bangers.
"Just stopped a few times to catch my breath." I lied. No need to worry him anymore, I needed his full focus on this task.
"Has the situation changed at all?" Jacob lifted a pair of binoculars up, making sure to brush his grey hair out of his face he pressed it towards his eyes.
"Couple of cars came in about ten minutes before you arrived. From what I can tell they rounded up some civilians to use as new recruits. They''ll probably go through an initiation stage tonight, have the recruits kill one another. The last few standing will be recruited."
I nodded knowing their methods of recruitment too well. It was typically one recruit against another, the winner being recruited. Almost like it was gladiator style, but ten times worse. The recruits were introduced to all kinds of advanced technology and weapons. Most not knowing how to work it and either ended up killing themselves in the process, or getting lucky and killing their enemy. It was a cruel process, but Jacob knew that better than I did.
Jacob gasped as he moved his binoculars sharply to a single position and kept it in place.
"Whats the matter? Do you see something we can''t handle?" I asked puzzled.
Jacob gave a small laugh which was followed up by an annoyed tone, "Only their fucking leader Pure. We may have to change our plans to deal with him now."
I squinted and looked into the distance trying to spot the white armor that Pure always traveled in.
"What do you mean change our plans?" I asked, failing to find Pure.
"This may turn from calling the Knight''s to help, to assassinating Pure ourselves. If we can cut off the head of the snake their drug empire will collapse on itself. Their higher ups will kill one another for control until there is nothing left." Jacob spoke as if he had been planning this out for years.
To any other person he would have sounded insane, but I knew he was serious. When I had first met Jacob he was a hardened person whenever the subject of Pure came up. Other than that he could crack a joke or two in almost any situation, but what made it different with Pure was his history with him. When he was a kid, his mother and father worked close with Pure. Supplying him with transportation of people and and the occasional supplies when he provided them with money. As Pure''s empire grew his transportation grew, more professional drivers took up arms to assist him and try and gain from his wealth. Jacob''s parents were seen as loyal workers, ready to assist at his command. Jacob informed me that his parents and Pure had a falling out about some moral choices that Pure had made. Pure, noticing that the couple were too close to him, were a threat. They knew his identity, they knew where his bases operated, and they knew his trade routes. So he introduced the two to a prototype drug as a reward for their services, promising them that they would gain glorious powers just like him and the Knights. The couple bought his lie and took the drug, having their minds slowly being manipulated to need more and more of the drug, until they were full on addicts. The couple spent everything they had on the drug until finally overdosing on it. Pure took in Jacob to his recruitment testing and forced him to go up against multiple opponents to prove his worth. Jacob slaughtered his opponents and escaped from the facility, swearing vengeance on Pure.
"Did you spot how many gang bangers he had down there? We don''t want to be too badly outnumbered. Even my power won''t keep them at bay for long." Jacob shook his head and passed the binoculars to me to look through.
"Their forces are broken up from the last confrontation with the Knight''s. We know that they have multiple facilities and that Pure likes to visit them to check up on sales, so if we strike here quietly we should be able to win, despite the enemy numbers." Patting a bow and quiver he had sitting behind him he continued, "We can mask the sound of our kills with this." I shook my head,
"We agreed on no kills."
Jacob not listening lifted the binoculars to my eyes and I began scanning the facility with them. Recruits being unloaded from the cars varied in all ages, some being as young as eight, and others being as old as seventy. As long as they could hold a weapon of some sort and use it to kill or wound another, they were recruited into their ranks. Of course Pure preferred the younger ones, because their minds were so easy to shape to his own purposes. The sick sadistic fuck.
Moving my eyes from the recruits I stopped the binoculars on the white armor set of pure. The armor was composed of pure iron, painted over with an intense white, which was used to often blind opponents when the sun landed on it. The armor absorbed the sun''s intense rays and spit it out at its foes. From what I could tell, he was extremely buff and around six feet in height. His entire body was built with muscles, causing him not only to be insane, but immensely strong as well. His mask was the most offsetting about his costume.
There was no place for him to breathe or see. The speculation going around was that he had a layer of mesh allowing him to breathe and see through the mask. But nobody that had ever fought him and won really knew. That was another thing that popped into my head, not a lot of people win a skirmish against this man. With that in mind, I made a mental side note to take extra precautions when it came time to battle him.
Resting on his side was a large scabbard where his sword, Purify, was sheathed. And just like his armor, the blade also emitted bright lights to try and blind its opponents.
"Quick and quiet eh? I like the sound of that, let''s get moving then." I said rising to my feet.
"Not so fast, did you bring the package?" Jacob questioned, looking towards my book bag.
I nodded silently and pulled out a large dome like container and placed it in his hands. He smiled for the first time in a long time, "Good job. We will plant this down at the end and then call law reinforcements."
I nodded and bit my lip wondering what would emerge when the dome activated. It had been one of Jacob''s inventions, so knowing him, it would be as painful as possible for The Pure. Rising to my feet I placed the dome back into my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. Waiting for Jacob to rise as well, I slid down the hill slowing myself as I slowly reached the bottom.
We made our way across the road and moved towards a small fence that was already cut open. Slipping in through the gap in the fence, we began to slide down another hill, aiming to get behind a large warehouse. I had to admit, the person who picked the location of this base had to be a genius. The location was for one, in the darker side of the city where most of the major gangs ran their drug empires meaning cops would steer clear of here, and it was so well hidden by its surrounding structures.
The place looked like a private companies shipping house. Pressing my back to the warehouse, I held my breath to try and reduce the sound I was making so that I could hear if anyone was on the other side. Failing to hear anyone I moved closer to the warehouse door with Jacob at my back.
Turning the knob on the door, I quickly moved myself inside and crouched down low. Three men stood in the middle of the warehouse, checking inventory on specific cases marked with a white ball of spray paint symbolizing the ping pong. Keeping low to the ground, I moved behind a large box labeled, "Explosives". Looking towards Jacob I watched as he lifted his bow and pulled an arrow out of his quiver. Pulling back on the arrow he took aim at one of the guards that was separated from his comrades.
My heart began to pound. Jacob did know that we had to only wound the guards, not kill them. Letting the arrow fly free, it hit its target, going through the back of the man''s head. The man thumped against the ground and instantly the other two guards began looking around to see what had caused the thumping.
Taking my eyes off of them I watched as Jacob loaded up another arrow. Dammit. He''s letting emotions compromise our morals. I waited until the second arrow was free from the bow before breaking off into a run.
The second arrow slammed into the second guard''s neck which alarmed the third guard, but by then I was already next to him. Slamming my pipe into the guards leg, I watched as he crumbled into a kneel before delivering another blow to his head, knocking him unconscious.
"What the fuck Jacob!?" I said trying my best not to shout, I was beyond pissed off. "We both agreed to wound and knock them unconscious not to kill them. You can''t let your past interfere with this. Your life is not the only one at stake anymore here, so is mine."
Jacob approached me and gripped the arrow that had been lodged in one of the guard''s throats. "I also said there was a change of plans that turned this mission into an assassination. The few people that die on our journey to destroying Pure aren''t relevant to our lives. Grow up Bryan, people die every single day over little disputes. It is life. I asked you to come because I thought you could handle it, if you can¡¯t just leave."
Jacob clenched the bloodied arrow in his fist and placed it back into his quiver. As he finished speaking his words seemed to sting. Never had Jacob ever been this serious. He was just joking with me over the phone minutes before I arrived. I pushed away the many possibilities that could have changed his mood towards the entire mission and instead changed it to continuing his personal vengeance.
"Very well." I said with a heavy heart, "Shall we get going?"
Enjoy. Not really sure what everyone''s feedback will be about this haha.
A closed book.
I shivered as Jacob cracked open the warehouse door, peeking out slightly, before deciding to slam it open. I took his bluntness as a sign for me to follow in his footsteps out of the door. As he left behind the darkness and safety that the warehouse had provided, lights illuminated the compound forcing me to squint slightly. Even tho I spent at least ten or so minutes clearing out the warehouse and searching the crates, my eyes acted as if I had been trapped in a mine for years, and I was just now breaching the surface. I hated the feeling of my eyes watering. Jacob on the other hand, was unaffected by the transition, instead he embraced his new surroundings. Eyes wide open and looking down the massive opening in front of us, he motioned for me to follow behind him. Together we dashed towards another warehouse, slowing our pace as we approached the surface of it. Pressing my ear to the door, I once again listened for the slightest bit of sound that would hint human presence. My heart raced as I heard a coughing fit break the initial silence that I had heard from the warehouse. I looked back at Jacob and watched as he glared at me slightly, "Someone is inside. Should we find a different warehouse to take refuge in." I asked feeling uncomfortable being out in the open. Jacob''s glare remained as he spoke to me, "Our destination requires us to go through here. As soon as we can clear out this room quickly and effectively we can plant the device and find Pure." Before I could even voice my discomfort and concern, Jacob began pushing open the door slightly, sticking his head in he surveyed the room. The roar of car engines coming down the street brought both of our heartbeats to a stop. Shoving him into the warehouse, I quickly slipped inside after him and laid low. I was beginning to think that our methods of clearing out these rooms was way too risky. Jacob scowled at me for pushing him into the room before he could finish surveying. Let him be mad, I thought. What laid in front of us was rows and rows of shipping containers labeled as medical supplies. Me and Jacob glanced a one another before slowly making our way past some of the boxes. The warehouse had most of its shipping supplies in the back of the room with the entrance, giving us an advantage of not being seen right away. Jacob was the first of us to break the silence of the room, slamming the back of his elbow against a shipping container while he tried to pull out his bow. Now it was my turn to scowl him for his recklessness. Finally pulling his bow free from his back, Jacob took the lead, bringing us towards the middle of the warehouse. Looking to where a single light beamed down in the middle , I watched as a man began pushing a large cart filled with medical supplies over to a nearby bed. The doctor, I presumed, began surfing through the cart only stopping when he wrapped his hands around a large saw. "Jackson, you should have tried harder to survive against those recruits. Maybe if you would have trained you wouldn''t be spending your final moments here." The man laying on the bed, Jackson, had several bags of ice pressed against his bloodied right side. Sweat was visible on the mans forehead, but none of his other features could be detected, since they were covered in layers of blood. Jackson leaned his head back and glanced up at the light above, "Gusten, don''t... don''t let me die in a place like this...I have...a family and a job just like you..." Jackson began to beg quietly, his voice sounding dried up and flaky. Gusten rested the blade of the saw against the cart and began sawing away at it, testing its strength and sharpness. "You need to die, for the benefit of you and me. I will feel ten times better killing you myself, and you... you will no longer be in pain. Now Mr.Jackson," Gusten said, pulling back the covers from the bed revealing Jackson''s mutilated right leg, "Where should I begin cutting to apply my serum? Here?" He said digging his saw just above Jackson''s right kneecap. Jackson screamed in pain as the doctor sawed away at his leg. I felt my stomach churn at the sight of all of the blood coming out of his knee. Moving my eyes away from the scene I waited until I heard a gleeful Gusten begin talking again, "Now that the leg is completely severed its time to test my serum." I looked up to see Gusten holding a large glass full of green liquid. Tapping the sides of the glass, Gusten swished around the liquid. I moved my eyes to where Jackson''s leg was left laying on the floor below him. Then I noticed all of the other dried blood on the floor. I felt my stomach turn again as I glanced at where the leg used to be connect. The saw had done a remarkable job of completely cutting through his flesh and bone, leaving nothing but a large bloody stump at the end of it. Perhaps it was one of the new high tech laser saws? I took a glance at Jacob to see his reaction to how fucked up this whole situation was. Jacob watched with a small grin on his face. Fear rushed throughout my body as I realized he was getting some sort of sick pleasure from this. Maybe he had a gore fetish. I tried to push past the image of him smiling and instead I continued watching Gusten flick at the side of the glass. "Its almost time Jackson. Are you ready to find out if this little concoction works or fails?" Jackson grunted out an inaudible response. Gusten did his best to look offended, "Well that''s not very nice now is it? You can just tell people who want to help you to ''fuck off''.Very well, it is time for your procedure." Gusten placed the glass down and strapped on a second layer of gloves. Uncapping the top of the glass a wave of stench greater than the smell of rotting flesh immediately filled the air. I fought back against the urge to gag and hold my breath. I looked over to Jacob again to see if he would make a move to stop the doctor. To my discomfort, he continued to watch, eager to see the next move. Gusten took a small brown spoon and dipped it in the glass, making his best effort of only getting half of the spoon full. Moving to where the leg had been severed, Gusten dripped the green liquid slowly into Jackson''s wound. Jackson released a crazed scream so loud that I ended up being happy that we were in a warehouse where most of the sound was isolated from the outside world. Unless you truly made the effort of pressing your ear to one of the doors like I did. I watched closely as Jackson''s leg began to turn a green color that spread throughout his body. He began to shake, green foam coming out of his mouth as he did. I watched horrified as his transformation began, slowly turning him into a green lizard looking beast. "What the fuck..." I whispered to myself as I watched the process. By the time the process was done, Jackson was no longer recognizable as a human, he was also no longer alive. "Curses! The serum backfired and killed the patient. Or maybe it needs to be tested on younger people. Maybe children will get the job done...Yes...Yes I like that, then the serum can spread throughout their entire body." The crazed doctor began rambling to himself as he inject a large needle into the lumpy neck of Jackson. Pressing down on the syringe, the body of Jackson slowly began to turn red and disintegrate, leaving behind ashes of the man. The method was sick, but it got the job done. And at the end of the day, I guess that was all that mattered to the doctor. Gusten made his way over to a large sink and began rinsing his gloves off, making sure he got rid of all specs of dirt and green goop. Satisfied with his cleaning, he removed the gloves and made his way out of the warehouse, flicking off the lights on his way out. I held my breath for several moments, listening carefully to make sure he actually left. Jacob was the first out of the two of us to hop to his feet and make his way towards the center of the room. He seemed fixated on the green glass of liquid that was now sitting open on the cart of supplies. I guess Gusten had no use for it now that it proved to be a failure. I looked at the small pile of ashes and cursed under my breath. These monsters had been doing human testing for a long time now, it just amazed me that they did it on their own men. It seemed rather unnatural to me that Jackson was speaking to Gusten on a personal level as he begged for mercy.Part of me felt bad for the mans death, but the other part of me suspected he deserved it. Very few people worked with the Pure long enough to know employees on a personal level like Jackson did. Which left me with one guess. Jackson had been a bodyguard to someone extremely important. These thoughts tugged at my interest and I looked towards Jackson who was now surveying the room, "Do you think Jackson was somebody important?" I asked wondering what his opinion on the scene may have been. "Jackson was a bodyguard to Pure himself. Seems odd pure would have him killed instead of doing his best to give him medical attention. But from what I understand, Jackson must have lost favor with Pure and he was put against recruits so he could attempt to redeem himself. When he lost the battle, Pure sentenced him to death." Breaking off from the conversation, he began examining a spare laser saw on the wall. If I had never known that Jacob used to be with the Pure at some point, I would have assumed he was a member of them, with as much information as he knew about Jackson and the doctor. Jacob clicked his tongue once and signaled for me to come close to the door that Gusten had exited out of. I waited until Jacob had made his way out before following him. No more warehouses were seen to give us cover. Replaced by warehouses were platoons of the Pure''s gun men, and they were facing our direction. By the time Jacob had called out for me to run, I was already taking off, turning to go back into the medical bay. Machine gun fire bounced off parts of the warehouse, some making its way through the metal barrier between us and them. Jacob tackled me into the ground and looked me in the eyes. "Get to the middle where we saw Pure at, plant the device down and set it off. Don''t worry about running, just stay with it and keep a hand over it." Jacob spoke fast and brought me up to my feet as the machine gun fire ceased. "Get out your pipe and don''t forget about your power. I will stay back and distract them, now GO!" Jacob shoved me through the backdoor and I took off running. Groups of troops began flooding down small spaces to get behind the warehouses. As I dashed past the small openings, gun fire was left behind in my wake. I had never felt something so exhilarating before in my life. My legs shook with fear but my heart nearly jumped out of my chest with glee. This is where I belonged, amidst the battle. My glee suddenly drained away and was replaced with confusion as I approached towards a new warehouse that me and Jacob had not entered into before. Slamming into the warehouse door, I quickly made my way in and closed it behind me to hide all signs of my entry. Guards near the front of the warehouse began trailing towards the back to investigate the cause of the sound. Ducking behind a small metal cage, I glanced up to see how many guards were coming towards me. Two. When the two guards came within rage of me I bounded out of my hiding spot and caught one of the men in the throat with my metal pipe, and the other in the eye. I quickly felt the pulse of the fallen men to make sure they were alive. The last thing I needed was to feel guilty over the deaths of two guardsmen. I quickly examined the room and I was shocked with what was stored in here. Men, women, and children sat shackled in large cages. All kinds of ethnic groups sat pinned to the ground, many whispering to one another about my presence. Searching one of the guards, I retrieved a small pouch of keys and made my way in front of the cages. "If I let you go, you have to help me in return. Fair?" I questioned, doing my best to make eye contact with every person in the cages. There had to be at least two hundred people changed up. I was answer with murmurs from various spots in the crowd. "Fine I will just leave the keys here and go on my way..." The crowd erupted with several cries of promises to assist me in any way possible. "Very good. We out number these men ten to one. If we want to get out of here cooperation will have to be used. We will stay as a group and push towards the middle. If enemies are in front of us we will spread out and rush them. They can''t shoot every single one of us now can they?" This time I was met with a question, rather than an answer, "Why don''t we just push towards the exit instead?" An older blonde haired man questioned me. I began to pat the back of my book bag, "I have a device that needs to be planted down. Once it is planted we can just walk out of here. You have to trust me." The crowd once again broke into murmurs, but got quiet faster than they did the first time. I took this as a sign that they were willing to cooperate. I quickly moved to the cages and began unlocking them one by one. As the people emerged, some of them rubbed their necks and began to stretch, while others found family members or friends to talk to. I began to tap my pipe on one of the cages to gather their attention. "File out of that door right there." I said pointing to the door in the front of the room. "Push for the middle." The people ran towards the door and stayed in line as they waited to get out. Luckily for me I was one of the first people out, so I had the privilege of skipping the waiting line. I did not however, get the privilege of skipping out on watching people die. Upon exiting the warehouse, several of the people began breaking off from the group and started running into different directions, only to be stopped in their tracks as they were gunned down. I made my way towards the middle of the group in an attempt to use the bodies surrounding me as body shields. Bullets flew all around us, hitting people to the left and right of me Guilt tugged at my heart as I thought more about how I used the people for my own needs. The blonde haired man was the next person to get shot down beside me. Part of me was thankful knowing he couldn''t potential mess up my plans anymore. But thinking of him as a problem instead of a person began to tear away at my humanity. I had led these people out here for my own use, to use as body shields for myself. I felt like I deserved to be put in the blonde mans shoes, I deserved to be shot down. Instead I was still running in the mass, watching more and more people die beside me. By the time we had reached the halfway point of our destination, I had at least fifty men and women beside me. The children were one of the first people to be killed off, mostly by stray bullets that moved too close towards the ground. I began directing groups of five to disarm and overpower guards. At least fifteen out of my fifty were armed to the teeth. The others would have to continue serving as shields for me. Pure hadn''t shown up yet to deal with out forces which left me a little confused. He had to be aware by now of the situation at hand, was he just testing to see how far we could make it before we all died? I tried to brush away dark thoughts like that, but the thing was I couldn''t just shake it out. Of course the thought was quickly taken away as a large flash of light slammed down in front of the group. A flash bang. "Keep going." I shouted knowing nobody would be able to hear me over the ringing erupting in their ears.As color slowly seeped back into my vision I looked around me to see at least twenty men still standing, and even that number was slowly getting lower as they were picked off. Gunmen had us surround from all sides. Reaching down to the body next to me I lifted one of the machine guns up and I broke off from the group that had been surrounding me. The gunmen turned their attentions towards me and began to fire. I smiled to myself, time to show them my power. Bullets that were flying directly towards me, bent out of the way and instead zoomed past my head, or instead were bent towards the ground. Sliding down, I allowed machine gun fire to fly out of my gun and into their chests. It no longer mattered to me if they lived or died. Too many had already died by my actions. The gunmen looked confused as all of their bullets either missed me or bent itself out of my way. For once in my life, I was thankful that I had this gift. My power allowed me to be untouchable by any sort of projectiles. It would force the projectile coming towards me to bend out of my way, or fly straight into the sky. I continued firing the gun until all of the gunmen were now laying on the ground, slowly bleeding out. Turning to look at the group of people I had left behind, I was upset to see that they had not survived. I looked towards the warehouse that we had emerged from and I covered my mouth in horror at the sight of bodies leading all the way up here. The roar of engines caused me to resume making my way towards the middle. I couldn''t comprehend what I had just done. A sixteen year old high school kid just led several people to their deaths. And the scary part about it its, I barely regretted doing it. Making a sharp turn behind a large shack I laid eyes on what I assumed was the middle of the compound. Several helicopters and cars were parked in the middle from where Pure had arrived. I dashed towards the middle and quickly unzipped my book bag. Placing the device on the ground I began tapping away at the small console at the top. Please let this work Jacob. The screen of the device began to glow blue, I took this as a sign of success. Within an instant I felt thousands of volts of electricity flow through me and immobilize me to the ground. "Waha-" I screamed looking at the device. The device continued shooting electricity into me until I could no longer feel my legs and my arms. I leaned back and looked into the sky above me. The only thought running through my mind was how the sunrise would be coming very soon. My hand slipped off of the device and slapped into the ground, pulling me out of my thoughts on the sky. A familiar kind of laughter rang out into the air. I didn''t bother turning my head to see who it was, not that I could even turn my head anyways. A strong hand gripped my chin and pulled me to face the source of the laughter. It was Jacob. Pure stood a few paces behind Jacob watching. Light didn''t radiate of of his armor like it typically did when he was around, I assumed that he wanted me to be able to see him. Jacob stretched his hand out and a yellow spear materialized into his hand. Electricity of some sort seemed to dance on the spears head. "Foolish Bryan. Are you really so desperate to accept anyone as a friend? For months I dealt with your pathetic gibbering on personal affairs and your school life. Why did I do that you may wonder? The answer is simple. I wanted to see if you had the gift inside of you." Jacob spoke calmly, looking me dead in the eye. My head began to pound in pain as a headache was slowly starting to emerge. "The domino''s I set up months again have finally stopped falling. Today my friend, will mark the end of your miserable life. And it will birth the start of my rule, and my power. Pure has always been serving under me, he never killed off my family with drugs. Everything I told you was a fucking lie, including my name." The words stung deep into me, cutting away every memory I had made with him. "So..." I managed to squeeze out, "All of this...For power?" Jacob continued smiling, "It wasn''t just this for power, it was a lot more than you could even imagine. I have claimed others in the past, but Gusten was not under my services at the time. Now that he works with me, we can extract your abilities and give them to me." My mind felt hazy and my body began to shake slightly. "J-J-Jacob..." I whispered out towards the stranger. "I told you that is not my name, but speak anyways." I felt tears in my eyes. Ever since I was young, I had nobody by my side. Family was always busy, and friends was just a goal for me to one day get. I was alone in this world until I met Jacob. He gave me a second chance at social interactions, and I grew to crave his presence. "I befriended you...I talked to you, I walked with you, I hung out with you, I made promises with you, I vowed to protect you, I stood by you, I lied for you, and I trusted you. And in return, you killed me. How does it feel...To betray a friend?" Tears now fell down my face. Jacob''s expression changed into a small frown, "Don''t you get it already? I was never your friend. I tolerated you so in the end I could reach my own agenda. You were a tool to my rise of power. Now its time to finish what I started." The electric spear moved closer towards my chest. "Do it then," I screamed, "Destroy what humanity you have left and kill me. Show me what it truly takes to fall so far." And he did.
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Sorry about the color of the text and the font, I will have it changed by chapter 3.
Thignk Chapter 3
I was awoken to the sound of a horrified gasp. Blinking my eyes slightly I moved my head from my mattress. In front of me sat my two parents, Julia and Ben Sims. My father Ben, had jet black hair, a trait that I had received. Sadly I inherited very few of his handsome features. His face was rough with his morning stubble which lead down to his butt chin. My mother suddenly erupted in a small cry of pain and she covered her face as the TV began blaring out news. Dad''s bright green eyes shot directly too her and he quickly embraced her into a hug, doing his best to comfort her. Mom lifted her face from Dad''s shoulder and glanced towards me with a fixed stare. Mom had a lot more softer features, since she was a girl after all. Her hair was a light brown, dyed several times to be darker and lighter on the tips. Tears continued to flow out of her hazel eyes as she and I stared at one another for several awkward seconds. I finally tuned enough out of my morning haziness and I rose to my feet and approached the TV. Spotting what had caused so much commotion from my parents, I stared expressionless at the words on the TV. The body of the young sixteen year old Bryan Ault was found today in front of the K.N.I.G.H.T headquarters. Not much has been discussed about the way the death was carried out. Reporters have been very careful not to release any of the information. Stay tune to Civen city news for more on the matt- The TV suddenly shut off and I moved my eyes to see that Mom held the remote, clutching it to her chest. Bryan was dead? I couldn''t even begin to comprehend the death of one of my closest friends. Who would even want to kill someone like Bryan? He was respectful, friendly, and very buff. Before I could analyze the situation any further, I felt a damp hand pull on my arm. I knew it was my mother before I even turned around to face her. Mom was still sitting down, but she was no longer looking at me, instead she faced the ground letting her tears fall into the carpet. My father stared at me with a curious look in his eye, like he was trying to dissect me from information just by looking at me. Did he suspect that I would be the one responsible for Bryan''s death just because I hadn''t began crying like my mother had? I mentally shook that idea clean from my head. Dad wouldn''t suspect me of doing something like that, he knew how my situation was with friends. When I had first moved to Civen, I was instantly harassed in school for being the new kid. Something that sounded so dumb you would have believed it to be out of a movie created by an adults views on school, except I was really living it. Bryan was the first one to stand up for me, to be my friend, and to actually hang out with me and keep the bullying away. I felt bad to think it, but without him around I had no protection from the bullies. My consciousness began to eat away at me as I realized how I had just viewed him, as a form of protection instead of a human being. Nausea began to sweep over me and I felt my vision getting fuzzy again. My legs began to wobble and before I knew it I was sprawled in front of my parents, my eyes closed shut. "Get him some water ill return him to his mattress." My dad spoke out in a calm tone. I felt strong hands lift me up and place me onto a soft but firm surface. I focused all of my energy on resisting to gag. Bile pushed its way through my throat and emerged into my mouth, distorting my regular taste buds. Swallowing the bile back down I rose to my feet and leaned on a wall for support. I had to go to school, missing the first day after winter break would be very bad for me. Both of my parents had left the room to try and find water and medicine to ease my inner pain. I instead knew the correct remedy for things like this. I simply stopped thinking about what I had saw on the news, and instead diverted my attention to finding a fresh set of clothes to wear for the first day. I began searching a neatly stacked pile beside my mattress mainly composed of jeans. I learned early on that money could not buy you happiness, I guess I had Bryan to thank for that. Pulling my dark red pajama bottoms off, I quickly changed into the jeans and then grabbed a nearby t-shirt with one of my favorite knights on it, Elfin master of technology and AI. It was a collectors t-shirt that Bryan had bought for me when he first heard my dream of meeting Elfin and fighting alongside him. Bryan was tickled by the thought of a thirty year old man coming to visit a sixteen year old boy and train him, but I dreamed about it anyways. Bryan had always pictured me as the little brother he never had, someone he wanted to be there for.The memories were cut off from my mind as I heard the sound of my parents coming back down the stairs. I quickly moved to the apartments door and picked up my book bag. I felt bad leaving my family while they were upset, but what more could I do? Sit and mourn with them? No, I was determined to go out and take my mind off of things. Stepping outside of the apartment door I quickly slipped my shoes on. I began making my way towards the staircase leading to the bottom floor. The hallway to the stairs was extremely small, so I took extra care to try and space myself out from the doors of other rooms. Paradise, I was clearly living in it.I began to make my way down the staircase, refusing to touch the grease covered rails leading down. This apartment complex was unsanitary and unsafe to live in, yet nobody felt the need to check on the poor. My mother did her best to make this place seem like a real home, but it still ultimately failed in my own eyes. I began traveling down the stairs with a bit more speed as I realized that I would be late if I continued walking as slow as I was. I opened the small rusty door to the musky smelling lobby that was the first floor. Dark gray paint that had been chipped off of the wall in certain spots laid in piles . The putrid stench of smoke and musk filled every space in the room, leaving no safe haven for fresh air to linger. The remains of cigarette butts laid scattered around the room, most pressed down into the carpet while others were squished into walls. The apartment complex used to be one of the most well rated apartments in the entire city, until the gang The Pure took over the territory to expand their drug trafficking enterprise. Not longer after The Pure took over, the owner of the apartment quickly fell to the strong influence of drugs, which destroyed his life and turned him into a shell of his former self. I maneuvered around piles of garbage and made my way towards the front desk where the manager, Stephen Pendleton, stood smoking something that did not look like a cigarette. Stephen was around six three with bright orange hair that had looked like it hadn''t been washed in weeks. Dirt and mud was pressed against his cheeks and forehead, staining his pale complexion with a darker glaze. Stephen''s skin looked tight on his face, and it reassembled plastic wrapping that was tightly wrapped up. "Stephen, If my parents come looking for me tell them I headed off to school." I conserved my oxygen careful, using as little as possible to speak to Stephen, the last thing I wanted to do was intake the smoke right before I head off to school. Stephen stumbled forward a little and pushed down hard on the counter for support as he spoke, "Why woudeh be worried? Jus give them some of this blunt righ here. They will drop all worrehs." Stephen pulled the rolled up blunt from out of his mouth and motioned to it. The man was a clear sign of how far our area of town fell. Prior to turning to the drug life, Stephen had been one of the greatest lawyers in the city. He was admired and sought after by everyone who had heard of his work. As work slowed down due to the control the Knights put in, Stephen decided to focus more on running the apartment. Now he was a loser who was only playing with death now. Deciding I couldn''t communicate off of one breath of oxygen, I took a deep breath and gagged from the toxic smoke. "No, I''m not giving them drugs. Just tell them that I went to school. If you do so maybe I will reward you with something." Stephen''s eyes opened wide as I mentioned the mysterious reward. Licking his lips, he dropped the blunt on the ground in front of him and extinguished it with the bottom of his shoe. "Wha is tha reward?" he said, slurring his words as he spoke. His breath finally hit me. The smell of it was worse than the room itself, I gagged again. "Maybe I will leave some money out for you when I get back from school. Then you can go and buy yourself food or something." "I will buh drugs." Stephen was always straightforward with whatever he said when he was high like this. I sighed and nodded, "Buy whatever you want, just make sure to tell them for me." Stephen grunted and then pulled out another blunt and began lighting it. This was the best my parents could do? Raise me in a city full of addicts. I was very grateful as fresh air from outside rushed to hit my face, filling my lungs with something better than smoke.I leaned against the door behind me and took in the fresh air for several minutes, as if it were my last time ever breathing it again. I pushed away from the door and began making my way down the small staircase as I began approaching the sidewalk. Trash along with animal feces was all around the staircase, tho larger clumps of it were on the stairs itself. As I descended down it I kicked away at the clumps to free my path down. It disgusted me how pathetic the city had become when The Pure arrived. Deep down I hoped to myself that the Knights would have brought more peace and balance to the city, but it seems even with their presence they can''t even repel the thugs from murdering kids. I moved out of the alleyway where my apartment was buried in and I made my way to the sidewalk. Drug addicts stumbled around in the streets, either from being too drunk, or too strung out on their drugs. I concealed my look of disgust and started walking on the sidewalk towards where my school was. I had often wondered if the reason for our living quarters was based on my schools location. Would it have been more convenient for my mother and father to just have me walk to school instead of having to waste more of our precious money on gas? As I contemplated the reasoning for moving into the hell hole I was in, more and more of the homeless began emerging out of alleyways. The stumbled about bringing shopping carts and smaller hand held bags with them while they roamed the streets looking for anything they could use. I picked up my pace not wanting to have the risk of being robbed. Up ahead of me, two of the hobos were fighting over a single white shoe. One of the two fighters was a large black man dressed in ripped jeans and a small cargo shirt that looked tight over his muscular body. He had a small white stubble on his chin from where he hadn''t been shaving lately. His opponent was a skinny looking white guy who wore nothing but shorts. A crazed expression was on his face as he stared down the black guy. The two men stood apart from each other and continued glaring at one another. "I found this shoe first!" Yelled the black guy, moving a hand towards his back pocket. The white hobo seemed to have no response, instead he lunged for the shoe. In a swift motion the white hobo was sent flying onto his back with the black guy pushing down on his chest with is leg. A knife was now in his hand. Whatever crazed look that had been across the white mans face was no longer there. Instead it was replaced by pure fear. The two hobos glared at one another until a crowd began to form. I could tell by looking at the expressions on their faces that they wanted to see blood split. "Kill him." The crowd chanted surprising the black man. I watched as his expression changed from surprise to worry. He was now running the risk of denying the crowd its bloodthirsty and having them instead turn on him and kill him. I wanted to step forward and help stop this unnecessary bloodshed, but before I could do it the blade was coated in dark red blood. The white hobo began clawing at his open throat, as if he was attempting to stitch the wound back together with his fingers. The black man shook and dropped the knife to his side. He was clearly horrified by what he had just done. Sadly, the crowd wanted more than just a little blood to be shed. The audience quickly turned on the black hobo and pounced on him, using everything at their disposal in an attempt to kill him. I had always heard stories about how restless and ruthless the homeless had become, but I never expected to see so much sheer force for the first time. Blood was soon starting to stain the clothing of some of the participants. I quickly ran past the mob, praying that one of them wouldn''t drag me into the middle of them so that I could be mauled down. When I was at least three blocks away from the site of the attack I stopped running. The area of town I had entered was much different from where I lived. This was where skyscrapers began to stretch up to the sky, like a beacon of the cities wealth. I never really viewed it like that, I saw it more like a border that divided us from them. Them being the rich of course. A deafening sonic boom signaled the arrival of one of the Knight''s departing their HQ. I began searching the skies to see if I could spot the fuzzy image of one of the units moving out to cease violence in the city. A small red fuzzy shape streaked through the sky and began tumbling to where the hobos had been slaughtering one another. I immediately knew which Knight wore the dark red platted armour , Veniet, master of the skies. Veniet had been the first Knight to receive his powers at the age of fifteen, which made him one of the youngest Knight''s alive. Veniet''s abilities granted him the power of flight, a power that was greatly sought after by all of the big Knight corporations around the world. The power to react and get to situations as fast as possible was a must have for their companies. Not only had he been gifted with flight, but he was also given the power to create sonar waves from his mouth that could shift the mood of his opponent. The power of psychological warfare is what typically won him most of his battles. People were often insecure about themselves, or other situations that occur in their life, so they hide their darkest secrets inside. But when those secrets rise up, then their mental stability comes crashing down on them. Instead of turning around to watch the battle ensue between the hobos and one of the best Knights around, I felt myself unable to do anything but walk forward. I had heard that Veniet used a special device that transmitted waves that forced civilians to go the opposite direction from the battle, but I never actually thought it existed. Normally I would have been very excited about seeing one of the Knights three blocks away from me, but all I could feel was anger towards them for not saving Bryan. Not enough was done for my friend, and that sickened me. The sound of vibrating electricity and screaming hobos faded away as I got further and further away from the fighting. I found myself less than five minutes away from the school, not that it mattered tho, I was already late from when I stopped to watch the two men kill one another. I couldn''t quiet figure out why I felt almost no feelings to what I had just saw done to the two homeless men. Perhaps I was going crazy? Or maybe it was that I was just so used to seeing death at a young age that it didn''t affect me like it would have two or three years ago. My school was rather small compared to other schools in the city. A little over five hundred students attended it, most had come from the same kind of neighborhood as me, only they were as quiet as...introduced to the world around them. A large glass dome sat on top of the schools rooftop allowing sunlight to pour into the schools interior. The building had been made last second due to the overwhelming population boom in the city. I sighed and made my way towards the entrance of the school, making sure to place on my ID before entering. The school had placed up dumb rules, such as the ID wearing rule so that they could identify students and keep everyone safe. Their stupidity usually brought more than one smile onto my face, just knowing that if a student walked into he school with and ID and a gun we would still be in the same amount of danger if it was a random man walking in with no ID. I sighed and made my way to the front office. The ideas of death had been tugging at me since I woke up, maybe this was a sign that I was getting depressed? Eh not that anyone would care if I was anyways. The lady standing in the front office was around the age of thirty, your typical blonde headed dope. She wore a bright multicolored dress and had her hair in pigtails. Freckles polluted her right face, leaving the two sides of her face looking odd. "Uh hello, my name is Jackson Sims, there was an issue going on and I lost track of time and got here late." The blonde haired lady frowned as I spoke and began typing away at her keyboard. I took this opportunity to examine the main office. Leather couches had been pressed against the walls next to small shelf''s filled with books and pictures pertaining to the school. The walls had been colored baby blue to appeal to our cognitive senses and make us more alert. The receptionist''s desk had been neatly arranged to separate different clumps of paper and work supplies. I peered past the receptionist to see a whole new hallway filled with doors leading to separate offices and teachers lounges. "Sims you said? How were you late today Mr.Sims?" The receptionist asked in a tone that told me she clearly didn''t want to be talking to me right now. I sighed and tried to make eye contact with her before giving my response. It seemed that she was too engulfed into whatever was on her computer to even glance my way. "A group of homeless people began fighting in the streets. They blocked my path to school and I had to wait until the fighting finally finished." Not the total truth, but it would do for now. The receptionist nodded and then began typing rapidly, "A hobo fight? You sure its nothing to do with the death of Bryan Ault?" The words caught me off guard and penetrated my mental walls. I felt hurt that an adult like this would instantly press me about the death of one of my closest friends. I must have looked clearly hurt because the receptionist looked up and her brow suddenly knitted into a concerned expression. "Oh I''m sorry! I didn''t realize you two were close. We have had several students come in late today because they were upset over his death. I was instructed to ask all late students if it had to deal with that young mans death." The receptionist offered a sad smile of sympathy before returning her vision back to her computer. "I''m alright." I managed to squeak out weakly. The receptionist nodded and began to rise to her feet, "You wouldn''t mind describing the incident this morning to me? I just need to check in with the police to make sure this was a legitimate excuse." "Can I just go to class?" I pleaded feeling my stomach beginning to turn. The receptionist frowned and lifted up a small yellow piece of paper and placed it in front of us. "What class are you heading to Mr.Sims?" "Ms.Walms english class." The receptionist nodded to herself and slid the note over to me. Sure enough the note was directing me to go towards Ms.Walms. "You will need to fill out an online report about the incident that caused you to be late. I need it in by the end of the day or I will just have to mark you as late to your first period class." I nodded and turned to exit the main office. As I made my way up to the second floor of the school, I began mentally replacing my destroyed barriers in my head. I couldn''t show how weak and vulnerable I really was to anyone again. Weakness would just cause me to have an even harder time today. The school as eerily quiet, besides the sound of a few caretakers to the yard outside. It was almost...Calming to me, to have complete silence. It made rebuilding my mental state all the more easier. I looked down at my feet and sighed at I looked at my shoes. New holes were starting to form on the top of the shoe from where the elements had weathered it away. I would have to beg to someone sooner or later to give me money so that I could go buy new shoes for myself, but for now that could wait, more pressing matters were at hand. I reached a hand back behind me and I began patting a small flap on my book bag to feel if my textbook was placed in there along with my journal. I smirked at my good luck and brought my hand back to my side, only, my hand never reached my side. I felt something tight clamp onto my arm and pull me backwards. The hands used my blindness as an advantage and quickly twisted my arm behind my back so that I was leaning forward looking at the ground in front of me. "Hello, Jack."