“And if it is a dream?”
“Then I guess I gotta wait till I wake up to find out.”
“Wouldn't you rather just stay here? Let all the darkness out while you rest here? Rest young one. Rest.”
“It sounds tempting, my weird inner self, but I can't do that. I have people who count on me to help them. If you're really me then you would understand that.” Fred smiled as he spoke. He could feel the tug on his body loosen up. He could feel himself becoming lighter.
“Fine, it isn't time just yet. Go, explore, live, but be cautious. Things are coming. Things you aren't ready for. When you feel tired you come back here and rest. Understood?” Fred nodded. “Good. All right...off you go!” Just like that Fred woke up, sweat dripping down his head. He could still feel the slight presence of the white room. After sitting up for a minute or two he could feel all the pain and suffering go away. It was almost like a complete sweep of terrible memories.
Nick was the last to make it down to the Station. This time he was able to walk out on his feet. He still had shaky legs though. “I really dislike elevators. Did I ever mention that?”
“That was awesome,” Marshall said, throwing his hands in the air.
“I'm not a huge fan of it myself, Nick. Still, the more you come down here the quicker you'll get used to it.” Jin looked towards the end of the hall. “Let's go see Fred and then we'll go talk to Carl.
“Sounds good to me.” Nick and Marshall followed.
It was the first time for Marshall. He touched the walls as they went down the white hallway. Marshall liked the white slick look, making the whole place look futuristic. “This place is awesome looking,” Marshall grinned.
“It's something else,” Nick muttered. The place was very plain for Nick; he wasn't amazed by any of it.
“It's a place of calm. Every time I walk these halls I feel relieved. Like all the problems of the world don't exist when I walk down here. It's calm, peaceful, and relaxing.” Jin smiled. He let the walls relax him. The white walls, no colors, made his mind rest. He could take in all his problems and just let them fly away.
They reached the medical room. Jin placed his hand on the door and moments later it opened. Fred turned his head to see Jin, Marshall, and Nick walk in. “Hey guys, nice to see you're all still alive,” he joked.
“Dude, how much does it suck?” Marshall sat at the edge of the bed Fred was laying on.
“Huh?”
“How much does it suck that you got your butt so badly whooped on your first mission!?” Marshall said slamming his hand down on Fred's leg while laughing. Fred just shook his head.
“You could of left this guy up there, ya know,” Fred told Nick and Jin.
“Yeah, but then he would just cry for an hour of how we treated him unfairly,” Nick laughed.
“Plus, I didn't want him to get into any trouble,” Jin added.
“Ya know, I'm sitting right here,” Marshall finished.
“We just came from a hunt. We were able to take down another monster.” Nick pointed to Marshall with his thumb. “This guy came through big time somehow. He not only stopped it from killing us both, he actually killed it.”
“No way,” Fred said waving his hand away.
“Yeah man. I didn't get my butt kicked. I went in there to do some ass-kicking and that's what I did. I made my hand into a metal arm and slammed the creature so hard with my fist it couldn't even move. I was a total badass.” Marshall raised his right hand in victory.
“Uhhh Marshall,” Fred said.
“Yeah?”
“Your left hand. It's kind of bleeding.”
Marshall took a look. The hole wasn't huge but big enough to keep the blood coming. The horn only caught his hand, didn't go down too far. “Dang. Yeah, can I get someone to look at that?” Marshall looked towards Jin who nodded.
“I'll go get our healers. Sit here,” Jin said moving towards the door.
“Let me tell you all about the hunt. So we were going down this block. This guy forgot his Rod. Awesome help on his part,” Marshall said sarcastically. Nick just rolled his eyes and Fred laughed. Marshall continued the story.
Peter arrived at the place but no one was there. He went into the other realm but just saw blood left over from Marshall's wound. He went over and stood near it. Looking at it, he noticed it wasn't a lot but it meant the other boys were hurt. Meaning they would have gone back to the Station. He went back into the human realm and began making his way towards the Station.
He cleaned his face, noticing some blood was still on it. The beating from Ryan wasn't terrible, but he left enough damage on Peter’s face to make it noticeable. He wiped away as much as he could, not wanting to be questioned about it.
He felt new emotions as he began walking. At first it was the feeling of being wanted. He enjoyed that feeling, a feeling he never really had before. This other feeling he was getting now was betrayal. He felt them leaving was wrong. Then again he felt it was his fault for getting stuck in the altercation with Ryan. If he got here sooner maybe none of the boys would be bleeding. It was a small amount of blood so he hoped for the best. He then thought of Ryan. Making sure Ryan would pay when he saw him again. Anger began to fill his body, and this time Peter was feeding off of it.
A small creature came in. Its face was squished in with an ugly blue tint to the skin. Three small eyes were forming a triangle shape at the top. Its hands were large; fingers puffed up and looked jelly-like. Nick backed away from the creature as it entered the room. It looked to the boys and then back to Jin. “Which one needs to be healed?”
Jin pointed to Marshall. “His hand has a hole in it. If you could fix him up that would be great.” The creature nodded.
“Uh, no. That's a damn monster!” Marshall was on his feet now. “You didn't tell me the same creatures we hunt are the things that cure us.” He felt angry.
“Listen, healers are here to help. Not every creature we encounter is bad. How do you think we know when the creatures are crossing into our realm? We have Callers. They can read signals, tell us when something is trying to break though. These Healers are here to heal. They help us and in exchange we try to keep out the vicious creatures who keep trying to get in to this realm. There's no need to be scared of her. She's quite harmless; all she can do is heal.” Jin smiled at the Healer. “Not to mention she's saved all of our lives more than once here. She's part of the organization.”
Marshall still felt hesitant. Nick walked forward and stopped in front of the Healer. “The way I see it, you're part of us. Even after just two fights I can see we can use all the help we can get. Especially when it’s someone to help us when we get injured. If you’re helping us, saving us, then I gladly accept you as part of the team.” Nick held out his hand for a handshake. The Healer smiled and shook the hand.
“I'm glad to help you all,” she answered with a smile.
“Fine. If you take my hand off though, I got another. And trust me. This hand can do some damage.” Marshall held his left hand out. The Healer grabbed it and began rubbing it. It began to speak a language none of the boys could understand. She then placed her left hand over his hand and Marshall could feel something attaching to his skin. He could feel his wound inside closing, just as the skin actually closed up over it. It burned but at the same time it felt amazing. Like he was gaining back something he lost.
After a moment the Healer let go of his hand. He took a look at it, turning it over to check for the wound. It was completely healed. No scars or damage present on it. It was like he was never wounded from the beginning. The Healer on the other hand had a hole on her hand now. A moment later it began to close up, though it was a slower process then Marshall's healing. “Wait, why do you have my wound? I mean my old wound.”
“We healers can transfer the damage to other people. We Healers heal far quicker than your species. So we transfer your wounds to us and let us heal our own bodies. It's easy enough and keeps you guys alive. We don't die nearly as
easily as all of you.” She said laughing, a weird hollow laugh.
“Right. Well, that's not freaky,” Marshall said looking at his hand. “But thanks.” She nodded in acknowledgment. “Now I got some questions for Carl.”
Peter walked off the elevator and towards Carl's office. He's been there before and remembered it was only three doors down from the elevator. In front of his office he stood, trying to figure out what he wanted to ask. He wanted to know a few things but most of all he wanted to know how he was supposed to defend himself against regular people when he couldn't use his weapons. He placed his hand on the door and it opened up.
Carl threw his bag on the floor and looked at Peter. “Oh, hey, come in.” He said waving his student in. As he fixed up his desk he continued speaking. “Sorry, been out of town. How are you doing, Peter?” He moved a few things off his desk to the garbage pail and sat down. “Sit, no need to stand there.” Carl motioned towards one of the three chairs in front of his desk.
Peter sat down and took a quick look around the office. Like the entire Station it was mostly all white. However, there was a picture on the desk Peter couldn't keep his eyes off. It was of Carl with four young boys, even younger then Peter himself. They all were waving at the picture while the much younger Carl in the picture was laughing. Peter went to grab the picture when Carl snatched it and brought it close to him. “That's...let's not talk about that.” Carl placed the picture in his drawer.
“Okay.” Peter didn't understand why Carl was scared to talk about the picture but he didn't care much about it. “Did my friends come here?” Peter let the word friends linger a bit longer then he wanted. It felt odd for him to say it. He never had friends in his entire life. He never felt feelings like this.
“I haven't seen the others, not yet. I think they might be here soon though. I told them to come visit once they finished the mission.” Carl noticed the cuts on Peter's face. They weren't going to leave any scars but Carl still felt the urge to ask. Peter spoke up first.
“Well the mission is done already. I was just at the scene.”
“Oh, well then they should be here,” As soon as Carl finished his sentence the door opened. Marshall, Nick, and Jin walked into the office. Jin leaned himself against the wall while Marshall and Nick sat in the other two seats. “Nice to see you boys. Sorry, I was out of town. We have other units out there trying to build up. I was sent to check in on one, they lost someone recently and it's my job to check up and see how they are dealing with it.” Carl explained his situation.
“That's all fine and dandy but we have problems here. If you haven't noticed Fred in there nearly died. Today we got chased by some rock creature, I'ma call it Rockies for short, and almost ripped my damn hand off. So, sorry if I'm a little pissed that you aren't paying attention to us, but I'm a little pissed!” Marshall watched as Carl took it all in. Carl nodded and looked towards Nick.
“I'm sorry I haven't been there. You've been in two hunts now. Everyone else one. None of you had any training and it is my fault.” Marshall calmed down some and leaned back into his seat. “First off, Fred's altercation was wrong. Something went horribly wrong and the weak signal the Callers got and sent was not the one that Fred fought. That hybrid beast was far above the level I'd ever send recruits out to fight. You guys don't even have proper training. That thing should have been able to tear all of you to pieces. I'm not sure why it didn't, but something wasn't right about the whole ordeal. Needless to say we are setting a full investigation into it and I assure you we will find out what happened. I swear on it.”
“Fine,” Marshall said. “I still have more questions though.”
“I can answer some but not all. Some you must experience to understand.”
“All right then just answer me this. Why are we killing these things?” As Marshall spoke he remembered the creature he just killed. It was on its back, defenseless, beaten, and yet he had still killed it. He still threw his hand into the belly of the beast.
“These creatures, the Rockus that you just killed, would have rammed one of you. Chances are it would have killed you if it did.” Carl pointed to Marshall's hand. “You said you were injured. Luckily it was just your hand and not your head.”
“That doesn't explain why we killed it. Why didn't we bring it back here and cage it? Why not just send it back to their realm,” Marshall questioned. Nick was also wondering why we didn't return them to the place they came from. If they can jump into our world, can we jump into theirs?
“These Unknowns aren't friendly. They come out of their realm looking for blood. As you all know, by now.”
“Then why do you have some who are just floating around here on our side?” Marshall pointed behind him. “One just healed my hand. What if she came through the realm and we just bashed her face in. Then what?”
“The ones who come to help give advance notice that they are. I'm not saying all these creatures are bad. The monsters, Unknowns, the others, and whatever else you want to call them. They exist just like we do. Some want to harm while others want to help. The ones like our Healers aren't here to harm us. They see the threat of the other creatures and they choose to help instead. Chances are in their realm these creatures hunted them as well.”
“So, we're basically using them.”
“I never said that.”
Marshall shifted in his seat. “It sure sounds like it.”
“For someone who didn't care a few days ago,” Carl said, standing up now. “You sure want to know a lot now.”
“I'm just trying to piece this all together. Why we have to kill them is all I'm wondering. If you say they want us dead, then I guess I have no choice but to defend myself. Still, I'ma figure out why they all want to attack us one day. If I find out they are just scared...” Marshall let his voice trail off. Carl watched for a moment before coming around the desk.
“Training begins at the end of this week. You'll meet at the gym here after school on Friday. Take this weekend and most of the week to rest up. Spend time with your families, your friends, whomever. Once training starts things will change. I will be your Commander, Jin here will help out as well,” They all took a look back at Jin. He waved. “I need you to understand that these missions are very serious. These hunts aren't a game. You guys get injured, you could easily die. I won't allow that to happen,” Carl's face was stone cold. The boys all looked intensively at him. “I'll let Fred know before he leaves here today. I need you boys to understand something. What we do here is a dangerous task. We face creatures, Unknowns, that could easily kill us. We face them, beat them, almost die, and get no recognition. I know none of you are in this for rewards, but it's important to note no one will know about this. No one can know about this. If someone outside the organization knows they will either be terminated or forced to join and keep secrecy. It's living a double life from now on. If you want out now, let me know.”
“You can't let them out now. It's too late,” Jin spoke up.
“I can if I want. These are my recruits, no one else’s. It is my choice. No one else’s.” Carl looked to his recruits. He saw Nick’s face, struggling to decide what he should do. Marshall’s face gave away his anger but he was already determined to fight. He was too hungry for information to back out now. Peter just watched, eyes empty. Carl knew Peter would stay; he had too much interest in the organization.
“I'm in,” Marshall said.
“I am, too,” Peter added.
“Dude, what happened to your face?” Marshall finally took a look at Peter's face. Peter looked to the side.
“I fell,” he muttered.
“You fell?”
“Yeah, fell down some stairs.”
“Well news for you, the stairs won.”
“Back to the point at hand. Are you all in?” Carl asked loudly. Marshall stopped talking, and Peter looked up at Carl.
Nick took a second before looking up. He watched as his two teammates looked at him. He saw Carl looking at him, waiting for
his answer. “Well I don't wanna be the lame one out. I’m in.” Carl nodded and stood up.
“All right kids, get out of here. Be careful out there.” All three boys stood up and began exiting the room. Nick lingered for a moment longer.
“Is everything okay, Nick?” Jin asked from Nick's side. Nick turned his head.
“Should I be nervous?”
“I'd be surprised if you weren't,” Jin said.
“My life is never going to be the same, is it?” Nick watched for a response. Jin looked towards Carl, who looked back towards Nick. “Guess that's the only answer I needed,” he said before walking out the door.
Chapter Thirteen – Bonds
Nick just got out of the shower. He was going through his clothes, trying to find something nice to wear. It had been four days since the fight with the Rockus. Nick felt fully recovered, and full of energy. He had asked Kelly out on a date the very same night he returned from the Station. She gladly accepted and they planned on meeting tonight, at six o'clock. It was already five and Nick couldn't find something he liked. “Come on! Why don't I have anything fancy!?” He looked through his closet searching for dressy clothes. He tried on a button down. “You're not going to prom. Come on!” He threw it off and tried on another shirt that was all white. It hung off baggy. He threw it off quickly. He shuffled through his clothes but found nothing. “This is insane! I need to go shopping starting tomorrow.”
Nick's dad knocked at the door. “Pops, I'm really busy right now. I can't find a decent shirt in this pile of what I call clothes. I really need to go shopping.”
“First off,” Nick's dad came in holding a nice brown button down shirt, “Your clothes are fine. You're just worried about the date. Here,” he said. He handed his son the shirt. Nick took it, studied it, and then put it on. He looked into the mirror. “Looking good kid. She'll love it.”
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