The Starborn Ascension: Books 1, 2, and 3 (The Starborn Saga)

by Jason D. Morrow

  I unfolded the paper on my desk, expecting the note to ask me about going out, which if it was, I would have ripped the paper in front of him and thrown the pieces in the floor, but it wasn’t. It was actually a very well-drawn caricature of the professor as Frankenstein’s monster, bolts coming out of his neck and everything. The sight made me snort, and I quickly brought my hand to my mouth.

  “Oh, you agree?” the professor asked.

  I could feel my face turn beet-red when I realized that the professor was looking at me.

  “I uh…” I had no idea what the professor was talking about, so I just improvised. “Really, I love the story.” This got me several looks around the room, and the professor seemed intrigued by my opinion.

  Why did I have to laugh?

  “I love it because I agree with the author,” I said. “I don’t think that humanity can or ever will be perfected. And attempting to do so is irresponsible and not true to ourselves.”

  “Tell me more,” the professor said.

  I didn’t want to tell him more. I let out a sigh. “Victor Frankenstein should have never tried to mess with life,” I said. “When people play God, things start to go bad. You see it in the news all the time. I think the story is a testament to cloning, searching for cures, vaccines…all of it.”

  “That’s an interesting point,” the professor said. He seemed satisfied with what I said and continued to talk as though he had made the point. That was fine by me.

  I turned back to give the guy behind me a mean scowl. He just looked at me and smiled.

  Jerk.

  I was ready for class to be over when the professor finally let us go (ten minutes late). The guy that was sitting behind me started walking beside me once I got out into the quad.

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “I didn’t think you would make a show of it.”

  “You’re good at drawing,” I told him. With a smile, I squinted at him. “That was a very good likeness of the professor as Frankenstein’s monster.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “You doing anything for lunch?”

  There it is.

  “Not with you,” I said as I started walking away.

  He followed close behind me. “Oh, I didn’t mean together,” he said. “I was hoping you could buy me lunch. You don’t have to stay, I’m just short on change.”

  “Oh nice,” I said. “You really know how to get a girl.”

  He swung around me, stopping me in the middle of the sidewalk. He held his hands up in the air. “Whoa, there. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’m taken.”

  I furrow my eyebrows at him.

  “You see, I’ve got this thing for Mary Shelley,” he said, holding up his copy of Frankenstein. “You know, Gothic writers are really my type.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, nudging him with my shoulder as I passed by. “We’ve been in that class together for three months, and I’ve never heard you say a word. I don’t even know your name.”

  “My name is Andy,” he said, trailing behind me again. “And I don’t talk much, because I don’t get this stuff. You seem to love this literature junk. Half the time, I don’t even know what I’m reading. I would really appreciate it if you could sit down with me and let me pick your brain.”

  I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him. “You actually want to talk about the book, or are you just trying to get into my dorm room?”

  “I never said anything about a dorm room,” Andy laughed. “The library is a perfectly acceptable venue. Or a coffee shop if you’re feeling particularly hipster.”

  “I am not hipster,” I said to him.

  “Until not being hipster is suddenly hipster,” he said, flashing his white teeth.

  “Until then, I suppose.”

  “Great,” he said. “How about Thursday at the Book and Bean?” he said. “Eight?”

  “How about tomorrow?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I’ve got to clean up the science building tonight and tomorrow night. You see, I get the privilege to be part-time janitor and student. But I can Thursday.”

  “Tomorrow morning, then,” I said. “That’s when I like my coffee anyway.”

  “I’ll be there at eight,” he said.

  I couldn’t help but smile. He was trying so hard, and he had put up a valiant effort. “Fine,” I said. He all but pulled his elbow to his stomach with a fist pump and yelled out ‘yes’ when I agreed. I rolled my eyes at him and walked by without another word, not knowing that I would never again see Andy alive.

  I got to the Book and Bean first. I guess I was a little more anxious to meet with Andy than I should have been. I didn’t know why. There was never a shortage of guys in my life, and that fact drove me crazy.

  I had already ordered a mug of cappuccino so Andy wouldn’t feel the need to buy it for me. This wasn’t a date. We were simply here to talk about the book. At least, that’s what I told myself.

  I checked the time on my cell phone. I still had fifteen minutes until eight. I tried texting my friend, Willow, but I didn’t expect to hear from her. I hadn’t heard from her since yesterday afternoon. It was weird. I scrolled through the texts, wondering why she had stopped responding.

  Me: He’s nice enough. Don’t really want a date.

  Willow: I have a date too! Kind of old. He’s a professor.

  Me: Scandalous…

  Willow: Wear something nice. Maybe makeup this time?

  Me: No!!! o.k. Maybe…

  Me: When is yours?

  But I never got a response. It was unlike Willow to not get back to me. I tried calling her. I was going to call her roommate, Jessi, but I didn’t have her number. Jessi was one of those people that I just never got around to knowing that well.

  I was starting to worry about Willow, but I was sure that it was nothing. She probably dropped her cell in the sink or lost it. I was supposed to have lunch with her at the dining hall on Friday. We’d figure everything out.

  I placed my phone in a side pocket of my backpack, and got about halfway through the mug when I heard a series of gunshots ringing out across the campus. Several people in the coffee shop ducked down from the windows, screaming out in terror. A few others did the opposite and walked to the front windows, looking for the source of the noise. I was one of those few. I grabbed my backpack and found myself standing in front of the glass door. The gunshots were farther away. Whoever was shooting wasn’t nearby.

  That’s when alarms started screeching all across the campus. I reached for the door at the front of the Book and Bean when a small man grabbed my wrist.

  “Are you crazy?” he said. “Stay in here where it’s safe.”

  I wrenched my arm away from him, scowling until I turned my head back toward the street. Screaming. Alarms. Gunshots. The sounds were terrifying, but I pushed the door open anyway. The warm wind hit me, and with it came a strange smell. Almost like a dead animal but…different.

  I walked out into the street. I don’t know what compelled me to move forward. I don’t know why I was drawn to the chaos of the noises. I was smarter than that. There had been plenty of psycho shootings at universities—I was sure everyone else was thinking it. But for some reason, I could tell this was different. The feeling in the air had a different sort of panic to it.

  Everything in me told me I should be hiding away like everyone else, but I kept moving. I felt fear, but it was a fear more for the people screaming. They were the ones that were truly afraid. Was there some way I could help them? Did they need me?

  When I got across the street, I could see a row of police cars zooming toward me, sirens blaring. The lead officer screamed over his loudspeaker for people to take cover.

  “This is not a drill!” he said over and over.

  Of course this wasn’t a drill. People don’t give out death screams in drills. Besides, did he think that any of us had practiced for this? The only drills I could think of were the late night fire drills that got students out of bed in the dor
ms. I passed by another building and onto the next street over. The screams were much louder. And when I turned to look to my right, I could see a mass of people running in my direction.

  Fear gripped my throat like a hand had just reached out to choke me. What could they all be running from? It didn’t take them long to reach me. A man rammed into my side, knocking me to the ground, and my bag fell next to me. I let out a curse and looked up at him, but he never turned back. Maybe I was supposed to do what he was doing. Running.

  I turned my head around to see a man on top of a woman. She was clawing at him, trying everything she could to get away, but the man was relentless. He wore a janitor’s uniform that was now all bloody.

  The woman shrieked when the man reached down and bit into her neck, pulling away strands of tissue and veins. My hand smacked my mouth. I didn’t scream out. I couldn’t do anything. I was frozen to the ground as my stomach churned. The woman struggled, but the man kept biting her until she stopped moving. It was as if…as if he was eating her.

  A voice behind me made me jump.

  “Freeze!” It was a cop. He had his gun pointed at the crazed man, but he didn’t seem to hear the officer. The policeman’s hands shook violently and I wasn’t sure he would be able to make an accurate shot. “Freeze!” the officer yelled again.

  This time the man looked up at the officer and my gut wrenched. As blood streaked down the front of his face, he stood above the dead woman on the ground.

  “Andy!” His name passed by my lips, but there was no point in calling out to him. His mind was gone.

  “Put your hands in the air!”

  He’s not going to do it, I thought to myself. As I studied him for those brief seconds, I could tell there was something wrong with him. This was not the same Andy that had been so quiet through the semester in English class. This was not the same Andy that had been so charming with his funny drawings. This Andy was sick. Apart from the blood all down the front of him, his eyes had turned almost black, his skin a pale, grey color.

  His coal-like eyes fell on me, his jaws chomping up and down as if he were already biting into my neck like the woman on the ground.

  “Stop walking!” the officer shouted.

  “Just shoot him,” I whispered.

  Andy continued to trudge toward me. He acted as though he had no idea there was anyone else but me.

  “Put your hands in the air!” the officer repeated.

  “Just shoot him,” the words barely escaped my lips.

  Andy was only a few feet away.

  “Shoot him!” I shouted this time.

  A loud pop went off and the bullet went straight through Andy’s head and he was dead on the ground. My hands were trembling in front of me. I couldn’t find the strength to stand. It was as if my legs couldn’t support my weight enough for me to pull myself up.

  I turned to look up at the officer. He was shaking, too. All the color had drained from his face. In a small place like Elkhorn, he had probably never even had to pull his gun out, much less shoot a crazed lunatic. However, the officer didn’t have much time to comprehend the situation. People were still running all around us, trying to escape as though there were more people just like Andy.

  “You need to get somewhere safe,” the officer told me. But as the words came out of his mouth, someone came up behind him and bit into his shoulder. His gun instantly fell to the ground next to my backpack.

  Another crazed man had leaped onto the officer. This one was scratching and biting. In a matter of seconds, the two of them had clawed out his eyes and his throat was gaping. I grabbed the gun, trying not to look at the officer. That’s when they turned their eyes to me. They had the same eyes as Andy. Black and oozy. I didn’t hesitate. I shot the first one in the chest three times, and it came at me like it felt nothing. I aimed for its head and let the bullet fly. It died instantly. The other one came at me, and I aimed for its head.

  Missed.

  I hit its throat, but the next shot landed between its eyes. There were bodies all around me, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Should I be running? Hiding? Where can I go? The thoughts raced through my head. Loud popping noises went off in the distance along with the sound of blood-curdling screams in every direction. This wasn’t an isolated incident. It was happening all over the campus.

  I had to get moving.

  I figured the basement of the science building was as good a place to hide as any. My first thought had been to get in my car and drive out of the madness, but I knew that was what everyone would try to do. If diseased people were doing everything they could to bite, maim, or kill more victims, what better way than to go after people stuck in traffic? I would have tried to get all the way back to the student apartments, but those places were filled with people. I just needed to hide away for a few hours. Surely all this would be resolved by then, and it would be all right for people to walk around again.

  I slowly walked through the doors that opened to the steps descending into the basement. I had never been in there before. It had been mentioned in passing when I was on a campus tour in high school. The student ambassador told the group that it was one of the more advanced science labs in this part of the country. I couldn’t remember what it was for or who ran the lab, but I did remember that most students weren’t allowed to go down there. I figured that perhaps in all the chaos, someone might have left the door unlocked.

  I was right.

  However, it wasn’t so much unlocked as it was broken. My throat started to tighten when I saw that two of the hinges were snapped off the door. Had the crazy people been here, too? I slid through the opening, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Shattered glass was sprinkled all over the floor. Pieces of broken lab equipment littered the tables. Worst of all, there were three bodies on the ground. Lifeless.

  The sight made my stomach churn worse than when I had seen Andy bite into the woman. It was dark, so it was hard for me to tell if these people had the same sickness.

  I knew I should have just turned and left, but what I saw compelled me to move forward. When I got closer, I had to hold my breath, the smell was so bad. These bodies weren’t fresh. At least, not within the last few minutes. The one closest to me was muscular. He had a deep gash in his shoulder, maybe a bite mark, and there was a bullet wound in his head. Next to him was a much smaller man. Old-looking. He didn’t wear a shirt, and there were bullet holes in his chest and part of the top of his head was simply gone.

  My mouth hung open, and I couldn’t look away. Beyond these two was another muscular-looking man. He lay face down on the floor, but the blood on the wall behind him indicated that he had been shot as well. What could have happened here? Why were these people murdered?

  It was time to leave. I don’t know what brought me here in the first place. I was looking for a safe hideout, but this clearly wasn’t it. I almost made it to the door when I heard a noise at the top of the stairs. My body froze in place, my ears straining to detect the movement. Was the sound coming this way? Was it a regular person or a sick person? I hoped that it was just a professor, searching the halls to make sure everyone got out all right.

  A step.

  Someone was coming down the stairs. My breath was shallow. I wanted to run, but fear kept me still. I didn’t want anyone to know I was down here, but if I stayed, they would find me.

  I decided to take a small step backward. That’s when I heard a guttural moan coming from whoever was walking down the stairs. The steps didn’t seem deliberate. If someone wanted to go down the stairs with purpose, they certainly would have already been in the lab. I took another step back. It had to be one of those diseased people.

  Someone took another step down. I couldn’t keep myself from shaking. I had the police officer’s gun in my hands, but I didn’t want to make more noise than I needed. I figured if I did, there would be many more crazy people coming after me.

  I got lucky. There was a sudden pop of gunfire echoing from another building and the
diseased person stopped walking down the stairs. Instead, it seemed to turn around and walk back up, searching for the source of the noise. I finally let out a breath, relieved that the person had left, but still too scared to go back where I had come. I scanned the room. The wall on the other side was a mess. It seemed that a shelf had fallen. Broken, glass cages lay in a pile. They looked like cages that might have been used for lab rats. Directly in front of me, behind the last muscular dead guy was a room with a gurney. There were IV’s and monitors, though nothing was turned on. To the left, everything seemed pristine. Whatever had gone down in this room, never made it to the other side. I decided to walk that way. I passed by several large tables with microscopes, test tubes, and all kinds of lab equipment set up for immediate use. At the other end of the room there was a door. I assumed it was a closet. I was right.

  When I opened it, I half expected something to jump out at me, but I was happy to find that it was a simple storage closet with more lab equipment. I looked at the mess behind me before going into the closet. For a brief second, I thought I was being stupid, trying to hide away like that. But a crashing noise somewhere on the floor above me changed my mind quickly. I fumbled for a light, but found nothing. I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone and it wasn’t there. I cursed at myself silently, remembering I had left it in my backpack. I had dropped the backpack near dead Andy and the dead cop. It was a rare feeling, but I wanted to call my family. I wanted to know if they were all right. I wanted to tell them that I was all right—at least for now. But I couldn’t. I wondered if this was one of those catastrophes where calls didn’t go through and the army would have to be brought in. Was this something going on just at Elkhorn University? Was this regional? Global? I knew nothing. I was in the thick of it, but people a hundred miles away probably had a better idea of what was happening.

  I sat there in the dark for hours.

  Hours.

  Every time I thought I was clear to come out, I would hear another noise. Be it a gunshot, screams, or a crash, something would always keep me in the closet.