Savior Part 2: Son of Eden (The Savior Series)

by Bradley, A. King

  Butterflies fluttered in the pit of my stomach as I looked up to see one of the guys from the nearby table staring angrily at me. My heartbeat quickened as I soon realized that all five of them were glaring at me. My palms grew sweaty with anxiety as I quickly scanned the room for Jason but he was still nowhere in sight.

  “Yeah I’m talking to you, you little perv,” the guy closest to me said as he and his group stood and approached me.

  You’ve gotta be kidding me, I thought as I looked to Reaper, hoping he would look in my direction, but his eyes were completely glued to the girl at the bar.

  The guy who was doing all of the talking sat down on the bench across from me while the other four of them stood only a few feet away. The troublemaker who now sat across from me wasn’t a very large fellow, but it didn’t take much to be larger than I was. I placed my hands in my lap and nervously tapped my thumbs together as I noticed that all five of them had Greek Tragedy masks tattooed onto various parts of their bodies. Since the death of The Suspect, the Tragedy mask had become the de facto symbol for The Strangers. Though I was certain that these punks weren’t affiliated with The Strangers in any official capacity, I was still no less nervous to have found myself completely surrounded by them. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if they were a ruthless squad of Stranger mercenaries or simply a bunch of Stranger fanboy wannabes—they had me out numbered and when it came to the combat side of our operation, as much as it pained me to admit it, I was completely useless.

  “I don’t want any trouble,” I said carefully, as the guy who sat across from me tapped his fingers on the table before him.

  “Well if you didn’t want any trouble, then maybe you shouldn’t have been sittin’ around recordin’ people on those dorky glasses you got on your face,” the troublemaker replied.

  “I’m not recording anyone, okay? Honestly, I was just checking my email—”

  “What kind of fool do you take me for, dweeb? As a matter of fact, I don’t like you even looking at me with that crap on your face. Take ‘em off right now, dammit!” he barked.

  “Just calm down for a second,” I said as I quickly scanned the room for Jason again.

  “I said take ‘em off!” the punk growled as he reached for my face.

  “Adam!” I shouted to Reaper as I quickly pulled my head backward before the troublemaker could grab my glasses. Furious, the tough guy stood and rushed toward me with his fist drawn behind his head. I threw my arms out to shield myself and clenched my eyes shut, expecting to be pummeled at any second. Instead, I opened my eyes as I heard the troublemaker suddenly cry out in pain.

  My heart thumped with excitement as I noticed that Jason was now standing between the troublemaker and me. Jason was twisting the guy’s right arm backward and glaring at the rest of his gang as they nervously watched, and debated whether or not they should jump in. They all flinched as Jason finally released the tough guy’s hand and shoved him into the rest of the group. The group caught their injured friend and backed away a few feet as Jason stood firmly in front of them.

  “Everything alright here, Howie?” Jason asked without looking back at me.

  “I’m fine,” I answered as I sat up straighter and glanced over to Reaper. He was still so locked in conversation with the girl at the bar that he hadn’t even noticed the commotion at our table. Now that Jason had arrived, I realized that it was probably for the best that he had come to my rescue instead of Reaper. Jason was much more controlled and could easily and quickly de-escalate a situation without causing too big of a scene. Reaper, on the other hand, could be a bit of a loose cannon when he didn’t have a handle on his temper.

  “You’re gonna pay for what you did to my hand,” the tough guy snarled at Jason as he flexed his injured right hand.

  “This doesn’t have to get any uglier, dude,” Jason said calmly. “You should just walk away while you still can.”

  “Walk away?” the guy said sarcastically. “Yeah sure, I’ll walk away. Hey guys, what do ya say? Why don’t we all just walk away like this chump just suggested,” the guy continued as he turned to his friends and flashed a smug smile.

  Jason sighed as the guy suddenly turned and fired a wild left jab at his face. Jason lifted his left hand and checked the time on his silver Rolex watch while simultaneously catching the troublemaker’s punch with his other hand. He then twisted the troublemaker’s arm behind his back and dropped him to his knees against his will. Still tightly grasping the ring leader’s arm, Jason turned and sent two of his incoming friends sprawling to the floor with two lightning quick kicks that slammed into their faces before they knew what hit them. In a flash, Reaper was suddenly standing between us and the last two of the punks left standing. The veins in Reaper’s chiseled biceps bulged beneath his skin as adrenaline flooded his system and he clenched his fists and dared them to make a move.

  Fear ye The Reaper, his graphic T-shirt read, with a picture of a menacing human skull printed across his broad chest. As he gritted his teeth and trembled with rage I suddenly realized that my worst fears were quite possibly about to come true. It was possible that no one had realized that he had moved slightly faster than humanly possible in order to position himself between the troublemakers and me. It was also possible that none of the restaurant patrons could figure out that he was The Reaper simply based on the ridiculous shirt that he was wearing—but if he started tossing around grown men as if they were nothing more than sheets of paper, I knew that someone might be able to make the connection.

  Luckily, the bar manager and several security guards managed to surround us before things could escalate any further. Reaper was still fuming, but he was able to maintain enough composure to not flip out once the manager demanded that we all leave. Things got fairly heated once again as we exchanged insults with the other group as we made our way to the front exit, but fortunately, Jason and I were finally able to convince Reaper to leave once the manager threatened to call the police.

  OUTSIDE, REAPER PANTED HEAVILY IN ORDER TO SLOW his heart rate as we walked around the building and headed for the back parking lot.

  “How are you feeling, Reap?” Jason asked as we neared Reaper’s sleek black sports car, which was parked several meters away from the back entrance of the restaurant.

  “I’ll be fine,” he answered, as he unlocked his car by remote. “I’d sure feel better if I got a chance to knock that bastard’s head off his shoulders though.”

  “Who you callin’ a bastard, dork?” a voice rang out from behind us. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach as we turned to see that the gang of troublemakers had followed us to the back parking lot.

  “Come on guys, give it a rest, will ya?” Jason said as they approached us.

  “I don’t take orders from wannabe pretty boys like you, pal,” the ringleader replied as their group stopped their approach a few feet away from us. “And what the hell are you staring at?” he growled at me as he noticed my disapproving gaze.

  “All right,” Jason firmly said as he looked at Reaper and balled his hands into fists. “Let’s do this.”

  “On three,” Reaper said as he nodded his head and balled his fists as well.

  The group of troublemakers clamored and prepared for battle as Jason and Reaper raised their fists. Their clamoring suddenly stopped and they watched in bewilderment as Jason and Reaper began a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, instead of attacking them.

  “What the hell are you idiots doing?” the ringleader demanded as Jason and Reaper both picked Paper and prepared to play again.

  “We’re deciding which one of us is about to kick your asses. Just give us a second, will ya?” Jason said as he threw out Paper and Reaper threw out Rock.

  “Welp, looks like it’s me,” Jason smirked.

  Reaper and I quickly darted away as Jason charged forward and struck their ringleader in the face three times before he could even blink.

  “I’ll get the car,” Reaper said as he turned and headed tow
ard the car while Jason easily evaded every wild punch thrown at him by the helpless group of troublemakers. The ringleader’s nose was gushing blood as he crawled away from the fight while Jason continued to incapacitate the other four troublemakers.

  “You think you’re so tough?” the ringleader cried as he pulled himself to his feet just as Jason pummeled the last troublemaker to the ground. “Well, let’s see you punch this!” the ringleader growled as he reached into the back of his pants and withdrew a pistol.

  “Oh crap!” Jason exclaimed as he quickly looked to Reaper hoping that he hadn’t noticed the gun but it was already too late. “It’s okay, Reaper! Just calm down!” Jason yelled, but Reaper’s hands had already started to tremble with rage as he glared over his shoulder at the gun-wielding troublemaker.

  My heart thumped furiously as I watched the anger in Reaper’s eyes intensify as he slowly turned and prepared to attack. I could tell by the look in Jason’s eyes that he had the same fear as I did. The troublemaker obviously thought his gun had given him leverage but he didn’t realize that at any second now, The Reaper was about to zoom over and literally tear him in half.

  Adrenaline has a drastic effect on Reaper’s judgment. In addition to making his incredibly dense muscles even more powerful, it also caused him to go into a state that Jason and I jokingly referred to as “Reaper Rage.” During those episodes, he became a hell of a lot more powerful than he already was, but he also became considerably more unstable.

  “Look buddy,” Jason said calmly as he turned his attention to the ringleader. “You’re gonna wanna put that thing away ASAP, before you get yourself killed.”

  “I’m calling the shots here, hotshot!” the gunman shouted at Jason as he aimed the pistol for his chest.

  “Howie, get Reaper out of here!” Jason ordered as the gunman thumbed down the hammer of his pistol.

  “Got it!” I said as I started toward Reaper but I froze in my tracks as the gunman suddenly trained his gun on me.

  “Just where do you think you’re going, nerd?” he asked smugly as I stared in horror down the barrel of his handgun.

  Over the years, Reaper and Jason had both developed a painstakingly irritating habit of giving me a hard time when it came to just about anything, but even though they would often make jokes at my expense I still knew that there was nothing in the world that they wouldn’t do for me. I also knew that they were still just as over protective of me then as they were when we were growing up together back in Lexington, Florida. The troublemaker didn’t realize it at the time, but aiming that gun at me was by far the biggest mistake he could have possibly made.

  Jason sprinted forward as quickly as he could just as Reaper prepared to pounce. If I had blinked I would have missed the entire thing. In a flash, Reaper zoomed toward the gunman with his right hand cocked far behind his head. Jason hit the ground and slid forward just in time to sweep Reaper from his feet before he could punch the gunman into the stratosphere.

  In a blur, Jason leapt to his feet and disarmed the troublemaker with a stiff punch to the throat. Blood spewed from the troublemaker’s mouth as Jason followed up with a two punch combination that devastated his gut and face and sent him tumbling to the ground.

  “Get the keys and get him out of here!” Jason yelled to me as Reaper pulled himself to his feet and glared at us.

  I was never a very fast individual but somehow, in that moment, I was able to move as quickly as I had ever moved in my entire life. Reaper’s chest heaved up and down with rage as I rushed over and stood before him, pleading with him to forget about the gunman and come with me. He could see that the gunman was defeated but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted to finish him. Despite his rage, I stood my ground and it took much longer than I had hoped it would, but eventually he conceded once he realized that I wasn’t going to give up. He could have easily picked me up and flung me across the street with one hand if he had wanted to but luckily for me, even with him in full Reaper Rage, he wasn’t willing to hurt a single hair on my head.

  The fire that once burned in his eyes had somewhat lessened as we made our way to his car and prepared to flee the scene.

  Hopefully no one called the cops, I thought as I hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. I shifted gears and pulled away as soon as Reaper took his seat on the passenger side. I knew Jason could take care of himself, but for some reason, I had a funny feeling about leaving him behind. As I glanced into the rear-view mirror, I suddenly realized why. I was almost frozen in shock as I saw Jason withdraw a small caliber handgun from a hidden holster underneath his pants leg. He stared coldly at the incapacitated troublemakers as he attached a silencer to the end of the small pistol.

  I had witnessed Jason take many lives during our time together, but never had I seen him kill a civilian. Sure, that guy had pulled a gun on us, but Jason’s reflexes were so finely tuned that I doubt the guy could have hit Jason even if he had been able to get a shot off. That certainly wasn’t quite the same as staring down an assault rifle-wielding terrorist that had been trained to kill since God knows when. These guys were just a bunch of pissant wannabes, not actual terrorists. Sure, they deserved to get their asses kicked, but they didn’t deserve to die. Shooting a terrorist in the line of duty was justifiable, but shooting an incapacitated punk who wasn’t even holding his gun anymore was murder. As much as I wanted to look at it differently, I couldn’t. I had always known that Jason was hiding something from Reaper and me, but it was in that moment that I realized he was possibly hiding much more than I initially considered.

  “Look out, Howie!” Reaper suddenly shouted.

  I quickly pulled my eyes from the rear-view mirror and focused on the road, turning the wheel sharply to the right just in time to keep the car from drifting into oncoming traffic.

  “Are you okay, Howie?” Reaper asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up,” I admitted, with the image of Jason standing over the troublemaker and shooting him in the face still looming in my mind.

  “What’s on your mind?” Reaper continued.

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “Howie, I know you like the back of my hand, bro. I can tell when something’s bothering you. What’s up?”

  “I’m just curious about some of the things Wells told you about your past—mainly about The Righteous,” I replied. That wasn’t really what was on my mind at the time but it was something that I had been thinking about since Reaper had told me about his meeting with Wells and the Anokian priest known as The Elder.

  “What part are you curious about?”

  “I’m much more concerned with what he didn’t tell you,” I admitted. “I’d actually like to know the real reason why The Righteous started the war in Andromeda.”

  “Wells already told me that. He said The Righteous was trying to rule the entire galaxy.”

  “I know that’s what he said but I don’t buy it. That’s entirely too simple. No one simply wakes up one day and decides to take over an entire galaxy. Something tells me there’s a lot more to this story than Wells is letting on to.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Reaper said as he bit his lower lip and leaned back in his seat.

  “If you want, I can take a look and see what I can find,” I said cautiously as I focused on the road in order to avoid eye contact.

  “You’re talking about hacking into Wells’ files, aren’t you?” Reaper questioned. There was an awkward tone in his voice but I couldn’t tell if it meant he was interested or appalled by the idea.

  “It’s just a suggestion,” I replied. Several moments passed as Reaper stared at me in silence.

  “I just think you deserve to know the truth. The whole truth—not some filtered version. I think we both know that Wells only told you enough to get you to trust him—enough to hopefully stop you from asking questions,” I continued. “It’s been two years, Reaper. I think you’ve waited long enough.”

  “Alright,” Reaper fin
ally replied as he leaned back in his seat once again and stared forward. “Just make sure you don’t get caught.”

  “Ha!” I scoffed. “Unless Wells has a clone of me lying around, I wouldn’t worry about that.”

  “And you say I’m getting cocky,” Reaper joked. “Hey, by the way, when you’re doing your hacker thing can you see if you can find any references to a Goddess of Eden?”

  “Yeah, I’ll see what I can find,” I said. “Where did you hear that, if you don’t mind me asking?” I continued as I realized how intriguing the phrase sounded.

  “The Elder mentioned ‘The Goddess’ a few times the other day. I remember when he warned me about The Greater he referred to him as the ‘Son of Eden’ and he said that the blood of The Goddess runs through his veins. He didn’t really explain what the hell he meant by that, so I was hoping you would look into it for me.”

  “Aright. I’ll let you know what I find,” I replied, not really sure what to make of this information. “Hey, speaking of goddesses, what’s up with the girl at the bar?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, holding back a smile as he shrugged his shoulders. “We exchanged numbers but I’m not sure if I’m gonna call her.”

  “Are you kidding? Why not?!” I demanded.

  “I don’t know, man. I guess I’m just too busy, you know?” he said, as a somber expression washed over his face.

  “It’s Monica, isn’t it?” I asked, hoping the question wouldn’t hurt him too much.

  “I don’t know,” he sighed. “Maybe.”

  “You really loved her, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” he mumbled. “Still do.”

  “That’s not healthy, Reap—hanging on to a memory like that is just not healthy,” I replied. “You made the decision to walk away from her because you wanted to make sure that she was out of harm’s way. If you think that’s the right decision, then you’ve got to let her go. You can’t keep doing this to yourself, man. Maybe that’s why you met this new girl.”