Greg just stared Sam down, then looked back to me, and then down at Julia one more time, in between us.
“You sure you don’t–?” he tried.
“Nope,” she refused.
“Yeah, she’s good,” I said. “Get a move on, asshole.”
Greg gave me one last scowl for the road, and then slunk off into the thinning herd, making his way to class. I watched him until he turned a corner, and when I turned back around, Sam and Julia were gone.
I saw them walking through the hall together, and Julia gazed back at me longingly, as Sam just trudged on to class.
So, it wasn’t the best day of the year, I’d say.
Anyway, the day was relatively uneventful aside from that, and once it ended I went off to the U.S.B. headquarters immediately, for like the eight day in a row. It was a living hell; Bentley pushed me way too hard with these flying, drone, zappy things, and Bell just tried to have me work myself to my very limits to see how far I could go. He insisted I do it without my suit to hone my abilities better, which was fair, but holy hell did it tucker me out.
At the moment, I’d just finished doing lap after lap around the huge room to the left of the facility; it was basically a sparring room– the same place Bentley sent out all his drones to bully me. He and Bell were in the room, and they were timing me.
“How many laps was that?” Bell asked as I landed, catching my breath.
“I don’t know, I lost count,” I said. “I think like, 87.”
“You lost count?” Bentley asked. “Kid, what the hell is wrong with you that you can’t even count through double-digits?”
“Why is everything you say some kind of put down?” I asked. “It’s like you have no happiness inside. Who hurt you, Bentley? I want names!”
“87’s not bad,” Bell said, ignoring us, the happy couple. “It’s an improvement from yesterday alone, and it only took you 30 seconds.”
“So, rest of the day off?” I said. “How about it? All around, call it a day?” Bell chuckled.
“How’s about a ten minute break?” he replied. I shrugged, and let out another exasperated breath.
“I can work with that,” I said.
Suddenly, the side of the building shook, and some weird kind of cry reverberated through the sparring room. It was almost like it rang through the area, centered around my ears, and then echoed back out.
The three of us all looked off to the wall the crash came from, and then they looked back to me.
“Did you guys hear that weird, echoey wailing?” I asked.
“Are you nuts?” Bentley asked. “What noise? What are you talking about?”
“Jason, we didn’t hear anything,” Bell said. “You did?”
“Um…” I muttered, floating up into the air again. “I’m gonna go outside, real quick.”
“Is this another challenger?” Bell asked, he and Bentley hustling to follow me as I flew out the door, and up toward the main entrance. “Is it outside, right now?”
“I don’t know, maybe!” I shouted, clicking the suit on.
I made my way outside the building, and floated just a ways above it. There was a small, grimy road leading back into the city one way, and bay just about every other direction.
The waters were totally still, and the road completely empty. There was no sound of terror or mayhem coming from the city, and no crashed remains of a challenger’s entrance anywhere to be seen.
“What the hell…?” I said to myself, Bell, Bentley, and some scientists bursting outside just after.
“Ja– Wanderer, do you see anything?” Bell asked.
“No…” I reported. “I don’t–”
And then, all of a sudden, this electric, cosmic blast of energy shot out of the water, and hit me square in the everything, cracking me right into the wall of the H.Q.
I landed on the pavement, and looked back out at the water. I could see the area where the blast came from still settling, but I couldn’t see underneath at all.
“So, looks like something’s there, then?” Bell surmised.
“Yep,” I groaned. “Looks like it.”
“You just gonna sit there, or are you gonna go take this fish down?” Bentley asked.
“Well, I can’t exactly see where it is,” I argued. “Kinda hard to fight something that’s hiding under deep, blue, ocean.”
“Look for it’s blasts before the reach the surface, genius,” Bentley said. I hated to hand it to him, but that was actually a really solid piece of advice.
I flew back up over the bay, and looked all around. I kind of kept myself swaying around so it wouldn’t be so easy to hit me, and all of a sudden I got hit with another reverberated screech. It rattled my helmet, and not but a second later I saw a yellow streak growing in the water.
“See it!” I shouted, pointing.
“Go get it, Wanderer! Show us what you can do,” Bell encouraged.
I shot down into the water, totally unsure if the suit could even survive like that, by the way– it could, but it was a real gamble– and tried to grab whatever it was by the throat.
That was impossible, as it was a Syliak, or a Streaker in Code-to-English translation. Streakers were these eel-like things: ten feet long, lots of really gross, tiny leg-claws, and the ability not only to use their echolocation as a kind of stun, but shoot electric and cosmic energy blasts emitted from their mouths. They were fast, ugly, and did not have a neck for me to grab.
I was able to get up close though, and as my new memories recalled, these things didn’t like being up close with their enemies. It screamed in my face, and wriggled away through the water.
I followed close behind and inevitably caught up. I grabbed ahold of its tail, and flung it up into the air, out of the water. I flew up to hit it, but as I emerged myself, the Streaker fell and wrapped itself around my limbs and neck.
“How you doing, kid?” Bentley asked. I held a thumbs up, and quickly fell back underwater.
The Streaker reeled its head around and opened its mouth right up against my face. It pulled back a ways, and I saw a growing, glowing yellow light build up its body and toward me.
I panicked, and just punched it in the side of the head as hard as I could. I cracked it across the jaw, and the energy shot right past my face, and into the ocean floor.
The Streaker slung itself off of me, and crawled up the side of the wall where the building sat.
As I flew up into the skies again, I saw it scuttling onto the road, and toward Bell and the others. They backed up toward the door, and it just moved closer, its mouth wide open.
“Wanderer!” he yelled. “A little help, please!”
“Right, sorry!” I said, realizing I spent a little too long watching.
I flew down and slammed my elbow on top of its head, to which the Streaker responded by angrily stabbing me in the suit with its little legs as it literally lifted itself backside-first over my back and around my torso.
I tried grabbing at it, but it kept moving, pricking me with its spiky feet all over the place. It also kept shouting into my ears, making everything wicked shaky and wobbly and awful.
“Kid, today maybe?” Bentley rudely pressed. Like, I don’t tell you how to do your job, do I? Well, actually, kind of, but nevertheless let me do my thing.
“Yep, got it!” I shouted, shutting my eyes to try and keep the stuns from hitting me too hard.
“Are you sure you don’t have anything like those blasts, Wanderer?” Bell asked. “Something to hit it back with?”
“Uh… no!” I said, searching through the Wanderer database that was my mind.
“Well, use your head! Just outthink this thing!” Bell said. And you know what? It actually gave me an idea.
“Alright…” I sighed, flying back up into the air. I flew us over the water again, and slammed into the side of the headquarters. I didn’t do it so hard we broke anything, but I kept hitting one part or another of the Streaker’s body into it, and just as I’d hoped, it w
as getting angry.
The Streaker wailed a banshee cry into my face, and as I paused, trying to collect myself, I saw its mouth glow yellow all over again.
“Okay, you got this, you got this!” I yelled. Then, right before the Streaker blasted me in the face with its energy, I slammed me head into its mouth, and closed all the gaps between us with its jaw and my hands.
The blast felt like a millions volts of electric pain, in case you were curious, but it did seem to seriously daze my challenger. I could see smoke coming from its mouth, and although I wasn’t feeling tip-top myself, I flew back over to the street, and grabbed the Streaker by the tail again.
I slammed it onto the ground over and over again, until eventually, the bit of tail I was holding onto came off, and its body just slid across the road. I retracted my headpiece and tried to get a breath of fresh air, relax a little.
The Streaker didn’t get up, so I think that’d be considered a win, if anyone’s keeping score.
“Did you do it?” Bell asked, walking over. I swallowed some spit, and ran my armored hand through my very sweaty hair.
“Think so,” I gasped, sitting down on the ground. “You guys can uh, keep the body, I guess.”
“Thanks,” Bentley scoffed. “Maybe we can make some prime sushi outta this thing.”
“So,” I tried again, “take the day?” Bell put his hand on my shoulder, and smirked.
“At this point, sure. I’d say you’ve earned it,” he said. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Jason.”
“Alright, awesome. Thanks, Bell. Love you, Bentley,” I said, standing up and stretching. He flipped me off, which, you know, is kinda sweet if you think about it.
I took off into the sky, and started soaring back home. Sure, I was tired, but the suit always helped, and like I said, nothing beat flying.
Just as I’d made my way out of the city, though, I got a call from Alannah. The suit picked it up, which was a little intrusive, but I guess I would have done the same anyway.
“Jason,” she said, not even going for a hello. “Jason, where are you right now?”
“Just finished a training session with the U.S.B. What’s up?” I said. “You… alright?”
“I was messing with my dad’s old police scanner, and it still works!” she said. Alannah’s dad wasn’t a cop, but he was a bit of a skeptic, so he had some… suspicious things, such as a radio for cop-related inquiries. “But that doesn’t matter– there’s a robbery going down at Mr. Giardino’s!”
“I…I don’t know, Alannah. Can’t the cops handle it?” I asked. She paused for a second, and I heard some kind of noise coming from her side.
“Sounds like they’re already trying. Jason, he might be in serious trouble here! You need to do something!” she insisted. “Please!”
The please. Oh, the please. The way her voice got a little higher, a little softer, and so heartfelt… Damn this girl, she had me on a rope.
“I– Christ– okay, alright, I’m on it,” I said. “I’ll be there in a sec.” Alannah sighed in relief.
“Okay. Sounds like a plan, hero,” she said.
“Please don’t call me that,” I said. She laughed a little, and then hung up. And I burst off to Giardino’s.
It only took me something like 13.24 seconds, and I floated a ways above the little mini mart once again. This time though, I wouldn’t be crashing through the roof.
I landed out front, my suit still on, and walked through the front door. The little electric bell chimed, and I stumbled upon a much tenser scene than I’d anticipated.
It was Mr. Giardino, his hands held way up in the air, two men with pistols, and wouldn’t you know it: Officer Clements, aiming at the mugger who aimed at Mr. Giardino. They all looked crazy nervous, and it didn’t really help when I walked in.
It felt like for a split second, time just sort of stopped. I had to read every bit of information I could about what was happening here, and none of it looked good. Clements and Giardino had enough problems with me without the suit, I didn’t want to make anything harder here. That said, I had to step in, right? I was the most qualified to stop this kind of thing, apparently
“Oh, I’m sorry, are you closed?” I asked. I was like, poo-poo-pants levels of anxious, right now, but someone here had to play it cool, and thankfully acting cool when I’m freaking out is my specialty.
“You?” Officer Clements asked. It was kind of weird that he didn’t recognize me, but I suppose that only made sense. “I… you here to give me some backup?”
“Get out of here, freak!” the mugger who aimed at Clements shouted.
“Give us the money, old man, for God’s sake!” the other mugger warned. “I swear on my life, I will kill you.”
I glanced at Mr. Giardino. He looked too scared to even speak. I know we didn’t get along very well, but this was an old man, here. My point being, it kind of pushed my buttons to see them messing with him like this.
“Hey–” I said, trying to step closer. The mugger on Clements quickly aimed at me, and cocked his pistol. Which was stupid, because I was almost certain the bullet wouldn’t do anything anyway, but whatever.
“Put it down!” Clements shouted, aiming quickly at him, holding a firm grip on his own gun.
“Look, I’m telling you, this is a bad idea. Stealing money from an old man? From a mini mart? What are you seriously hoping to gain here?” I asked.
“I said get out of here!” the mugger aiming at me– let’s call him mugger one– yelled. “You don’t want any part of this.”
“No, you’re not wrong there,” I said, then glancing over at Clements. “But unfortunately for you, I’m on his side. Step down, now.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” mugger two said.
“P-Please, get them out of my shop!” Mr. Giardino pleaded. “I…I don’t want trouble– Crazy enough week as it is! Please, just… go!”
“Last warning: put the weapons down,” Clements said. “You don’t want to make this mistake, believe me. It’s not too late to walk away, here.”
“Yeah, okay, pig,” mugger one said.
“You don’t get to talk!” mugger two added. “You better get out of here, too, or you’re gonna regret it!”
“Alright, that’s it, this is a waste of time,” I said. “You’re done, both of you.”
“Don’t take another step!” mugger one screamed. “I’m serious!”
“You move, the old man dies!” mugger two said.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Wait–!” Clements tried to say.
I stepped forward, and just before I stepped past Officer Clements, I heard a gunshot go off. With my reaction times being a bit boosted now, I saw that the bullet zoomed toward me.
I wouldn’t have been scared, but then, coming in from my peripheral, I saw Officer Clements dive in the way, trying to protect me– the one person who didn’t need it.
The bullet hit him right in the torso– if I had to guess, right by a lung– and he slumped to the floor.
The second mugger, I guess on instinct of hearing a gun go off, fired at Mr. Giardino, and as I looked over at him in what felt like slow motion, I saw Mr. Giardino fall just below my sight and under the counter.
I heard the thud of two bodies hit the ground, and saw the two muggers staring at each other in horror. Clearly, they hadn’t actually planned on killing anyone, if their terrified, paled expressions were anything to go by. In the moment though, I didn’t really care.
I felt this horrible wave of fear and pain and uncontrollable anger sweep over me, and I’d swear my vision went white. It was like the two muggers just faded into these black silhouettes, and I felt some kind of immense heat wash over me. I balled my hands into fists, and it felt like I held fire in my palms.
“W-Wait! Wait!” mugger one said as I instinctively walked toward him, and lifted him by the collar up into the air; smoke rose from his clothes where I gripped them.
I hurled him into the other side o
f the mini mart, and he crashed through a fridge door, the glass and drinks spilling all over him. He lay limp on the ground, and groaned like he couldn’t move if he wanted to.
I turned to the other mugger.
“Hey! Hey p-please, man!” he begged. “Please!” I stepped closer, and he backed into a wall. I was right in his face, and he dropped his gun. I stepped on it, and it shattered. “I thought you were on the cops side, r-right? I thought you were supposed to be the hero…?”
“You were wrong,” I growled.
He tried to swing at me, and before his fist even reared an inch past his face I grabbed it, and crushed his elbow in my hand. It felt like his arm was made of sand. He howled in pain, and I flung him across the check-out counter, his head smashing into the wall with a force. He fell right in front of the entrance.
“H…Hey,” I heard, my vision immediately coming back to me. I glanced down, and saw Officer Clements, clinging to life. He pointed over the counter. “Is…Is he down?”
I glanced over the counter, and gasped as I saw Mr. Giardino dead on the floor, a pool of blood filling the small space he lay in.
“I…” I stammered. I nodded, and Clements groaned meekly, resting his head on the floor.
“Damn it…” he muttered.
“Come on,” I said, hustling toward him. “Come on, we…we can get you to a hospital. You’ll be alright. You’ll–”
“I’m h-hit in the lung– some kind of major artery, anyway. I’m not…I’m not making it,” Clements said. I looked in his eyes, and saw the tears he tried his best to hold back.
I clicked the button just behind my ear, and the headpiece retracted. I saw Clements’s eyes widen, and he lifted his head back up a little.
“Jason Rhodes…?” he said, awe-struck. I tried to smile a little, but seeing all the blood, seeing him like this… I could only really cry.
“I…I t-told you I didn’t b-break in here,” I stuttered. Clements paused a moment, and let out a small chuckle. He coughed, and held his side in pain.
“You were telling the truth…” he said. “I didn’t…didn’t believe–”
“That’s fine,” I assured him. “Don’t…Don’t worry about that, come on.”
The Wanderer (Book 1): The Wanderer Page 8