Chaos (2)

“Bam!”

I slammed into Gabe, and kept him from hitting the ground. Although, after the collision, I wasn’t sure which was better. Him hitting the ground, or me slamming into him.

Thinking about it logically, trying to catch him while going at such a fast speed was idiotic. Thankfully, he was going at similar levels of speed before the explosion, so the collision hadn’t seemed to break anything. Speaking of which, was the truck driver ok?

I put Gabe down, where he winced and stood up, and then I walked over to inspect the driver’s seat of the truck. Given that the gas tank was in the far back of the truck, it didn’t seem to affect the truck. And strangely enough, the door to the truck was slightly ajar; no one was inside. A bag filled with bricks had fallen over, and a couple of them were in the driver’s seat area.

Welp. As I looked over the bricks guiltily, it dawned upon me that my desire to ‘catch up’ to Gabe resulted in this. I think that’s why my other self warned me, saying, “a simple mistake in the wording in which you choose to express your desire can lead to our deaths.”

I went back to Gabe. I wasn’t too worried about him; given his level of body transformation, he probably wouldn’t be hurt by something as weak as diesel fuel. Especially since it had not come into direct contact with him. But just to make sure, I asked,

Me- “Are you ok?”

Gabe shook his head, slapped himself in the face a couple of times, and responded,

Gabe- “Yeah, I should be ok.”

He didn’t elaborate, so I took that as there was nothing serious. He continued,

Gabe- “We’ve delayed long enough. Come on, let’s get going.”

Gabe fell down to do the speed-dash, and I followed him.

*****************

On the way, I ended up recognizing our route. We were en-route to the library, meaning we were checking out what was happening, getting Sparrow out of there, or both. Which brings to question, why was I being brought along? There should be no motivation as a bodyguard to put my life in danger if we were already in a safe place to begin with. Or was our house even safe to begin with?

I started to question myself incessantly. There were endless possibilities, but the most reasonable solution I could think of was that I was a member of C.H.I.B.I. It was a fairly obvious conclusion, but nonetheless a valid one.

Being a member might give me certain privileges, or at least it would earn me a level of trust. And even if I was wrong, and it was the government directly doing these checks, the organization was the one currently cooperating with the government. Surely since I was an American, and a member of a friendly organization, they wouldn’t become hostile, right?

But it was definitely better to have a certain level of cautiousness when dealing with such powerful entities. The bulletproof vest I was wearing would definitely help, but it was only useful when dealing with direct conflict. I would need to make preparations along the side that decided whether I would even enter conflict or not. Preparations along the line of intelligence.

I activated the golden aura, and chose my words carefully. I would make sure that nothing like the truck situation would ever happen again. ‘First priority, prevent them from getting the idea to harm me, Gabe, Chloe, or anyone else that I care greatly about. Second priority, do not negatively involve any unrelated persons or party that is not hostile to me, or anything defining me.’

I figured that was pretty all encompassing. It dealt with my protection firstly, and it also kept my ability from unnecessarily hurting other people as long as it didn’t violate the first condition. And as I thought of this, suddenly huge portions of the golden aura turned into a gas and spread out like a shockwave around me. It left only a fist sized portion remaining.

Weird. That never happened before… Maybe it’s because I never used anything that would require so much energy before? But that wouldn’t make sense. I froze a whole lake, and nothing like this ever happened. Was this a representation of my power threshold?

Suddenly, the dashing was no longer nearly as simple as before. If the angle of my body from the floor was too big, the wind would lift me up, making me unable to take another step without starting over. If my angle was too low, I would have to over compensate with my legs. And while second gear now gave me at least 7 times the ‘being*’ of a normal human, I still had a limit. Doing such a thing did not deplete my stamina, but I would have to slow down if I wanted to keep running.

(Author’s musings- Strength, speed, intelligence, defense, reaction speed, agility basically all the qualities of a person except wisdom and knowledge. Those are only gained through experience.)

I fell behind, struggling, and I think Gabe could tell. He slowed down for me, and ran at my pace. Screaming over the howling of the wind, he asked,

Gabe- “WHAT’S WRONG?”

Me- “GIVE ME A SEC!”

Tagging on another wish to my previous desire, I added, ‘third priority, allow me to run as fast as possible.’

The glob of golden aura I had all but disappeared, leaving a fingernail’s width of it left. But thankfully, my running stabilized, and I was running as fast as Gabe again.

We arrived at the library’s outskirts a short 2 minutes later, and we slowed down to walking speed. And strangely enough, the library parking was packed full with cars. Most of the people there looked normal, besides the occasional tail, ears, the like… WTF was going on!!!

As I looked over the crowds, I realized that most of them could not control their abilities at all. Some had materials of all kinds whirling around them, while most of the others were clearly within an augmented state. Wait, ‘augmented?’ Where have I heard that before?

My head started to hurt when I thought about it, so I moved on. The group of people had formed a line, but many more were sitting in their cars with the cold AC. But from a few deformed figures that I could see through slightly tinted windows, I could tell that a few of them were hiding for more private reasons.

I gazed over the crowd once more, looking for familiar faces and cars. Maybe I could find Sparrow. I spotted a couple of familiar cars, but none that I could immediately identify. My body enhancement had happened quite recently after all, and my memorization abilities only came into effect then. However, I couldn’t help but look over one of the cars over and over.

It was an average car with tinted windows, the kind you would see many duplicates of if you were to take a thirty-minute drive. In fact, there was another car just like it here as well, with only minute differences like the tires, various marks, etc. But there was something about this car that gave me a strong feeling of de ja vu.

Gabe- “Nathaniel.”

I wanted to see who was inside, so I switched to second gear. The world around me immediately seemed to slow down, and suddenly the indistinct figures in the car became much clearer. A man and a woman were sitting in the driver’s and passenger’s seat respectively, but the person in the back… A girl… She was sitting with her head reclined backwards; presumably, she was asleep. She somehow seemed so familiar… CHLOE!!!

Gabe- “NATHANIEL!?”

The girl jolted awake at my mental scream, and I started walking briskly over to the car! But as soon as I did this, a powerful hand grasped my shoulder!

Gabe- “NATHANIEL!!! What are you doing!?”

I turned to him, irritated,

Me- “What are you yelling for? Hold on for a moment, I think I see Chloe.”

Gabe- “Wait, involving that girl would only complicate matters. Do you see that car?”

He pointed over to a group of cars that were all parked together. Evidently, this was the first batch of cars as most of them were completely empty. But there was one car that stood out from the rest. A-

Gabe- “You see that Toyota Scion, yeah, the one shaped like a box?”

The Toyota Scion xB, nicknamed, ‘The Box,’ was a car that gained unprecedented popularity for its ridiculous shape, cheap price, and comfortable insides. Complete with tinted windows, this car was perfect for anyone who wanted to remain unique in this age of sleek and cool cars.

Me- “…Yes, I see it.”

Gabe- “Sparrow is in that car. Go over there while I infiltrate and find out what’s going on.”

Wait, what? Did he bring me all the way over here just so I could sit in some crappy car? Nuh uh, not happening.

Me- “Why? I want to see what’s going on.”

Gabe gave a slight, menacing chuckle.

Gabe- “You want to see what’s going on!? Do you have any idea~!”

He calmed himself down before continuing,

Gabe- “Look, my job is to protect you. And I want to see what’s going on isn’t a good enough reason to risk both your life and mine from a single newbie mistake. Now well this might not be a life or death scenario, what we do or don’t do here can put us in a position where we might have to take serious risks.”

Me- “But-“

Gabe- “No buts. Now get in the car, so- Sh*t”

His phone vibrated, and he picked it up. After looking at it, he dismantled the phone with obviously practiced movements. Then he took out the desert eagle. He demonstrated the shooting position to me.

Gabe- “I’ve been ordered to infiltrate. Hold the gun with your supporting hand pulling towards your body, and your shooting hand pushing away. Align your thumbs together against the barrel and keep a tight grip on the gun. Even with your strength, you won’t break it.”

Then he put the gun closer to my face and showed me a little slider.

Gabe- “Do you see that? That’s the safety. Slide it forwards with your thumb to shoot; it will be locked otherwise. And right now the gun is unloaded, as indicated by this open chamber on the top.”

He took off a belt, and it had 10 magazines attached to it. Gabe handed me the belt.

Gabe- “This is your ammo. Just wrap it around your waist, and tighten it with these straps. Give one of those mags a pull.”

The magazine slid off the belt smoothly.

Gabe- “Each magazine carries 5 rounds; when you run out, the mag will automatically discharge. You’ll have to put in a new one. Now, when you’re ready, reattach that mag to your belt and show me what you’ve learned.”

I looked at the gun, and felt the cold hard sensation in my hands. Something about it seemed to awaken a memory deep inside of me…

Yes… It has been so long. Is it time to kill?

Suddenly, I was in a heavy rain. The stormy clouds lit up the night sky, and I was crouched down, looking down at a pair of cold, clammy hands. Rain droplets washed over both of us when suddenly a crimson, crystal clear liquid suddenly dropped down onto the hands. It wasn’t particularly eye catching during such a heavy rain, but to me, it was quite strange.

I wiped my eyes, and suddenly my hands were drenched with not water, but blood!

“So you still felt some attachment for her huh? You cold-blooded monster!!!”

Getting up from my crouching position, I turned around to face a pale-faced woman holding a big, black gun with a wing design around its barrel. The wings of a desert eagle. She was pointing it directly at my forehead, but unlike most who would cower at the face of death with their eyes fixated on the barrel, I looked directly in her eyes.

“Any last words, demon?”

Her face was drenched, but my eyesight could see through it all. She was starting to cry…

“You could never kill me.”

“BANG!!!”

My head shot back, brain matter and shattered pieces of my skull scattering everywhere.

“BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!!!!!”

She emptied a whole magazine directly into my head, completely blowing off a side of my face and causing the other side to droop down in a mangled mess of flesh and gore. Then she attempted to grab for another magazine, but my hand shot out like a venomous serpent around her wrist.

My nails, which were now at the strength and sharpness that exceeded the deadliest of knives, suddenly severed her tendons! Her grip immediately slackened, and I grabbed the gun in one swift movement. In another, I already had it in a shooting position.

Fear and terror immediately took root in her eyes, and she turned around and fled for her life! But now, it was too late. How regrettable…

My hands were now moving at lightning speeds. Before she even took her first step, my hand had already loaded the gun with the magazine. And the instant it clicked into place, I took aim.

KILL!!!

“BANG!”

With her head blasted open, she simply fell to the ground. She didn’t move from there.

Well, that was painful. I touched at the places I was shot, but new, soft skin was in its place. Because of this, I could never die. But others…

I took a long look at the owner of those long-dead, cold, and clammy hands. She was simply an old woman, with a jagged, crimson red line at her jugular. But she was also my teacher, mentor, the one who taught me everything. How fitting was it that she met her end in the way she dedicated her entire life to teaching. The art of murder.

A few more drops of red liquid fell to the ground, right onto her wrinkled old hands. The heavy rain washed them away as soon as they landed. Our relationship was now washed away, separated by the cold hands of death.

I turned around and walked away, stepping on many bodies in my wake. As I did so, I ended up stepping on something warm that squelched as I walked over it. That girl’s head.

I dropped the gun onto it nonchalantly, causing specks of brain matter and gore to splatter out, and I looked back to that old woman one last time. Sniffling quietly, I rubbed my eyes; they were still bleeding. It was really just too sad…