“So, like I said, her family is a bit off. Just her father really. He sees things oddly but her mother is pretty nice.” Nick tried to calm his father. His father never really wanted to meet the parents of his son’s girlfriend but he didn't have a choice. He promised to show up to the Christmas dinner. Despite arguing about it with Nick for hours.
“I trust you son. I'm still going to worry, though. You know I don't like these types of things.”
“I know pops, but it'll go fine. I'm there as well as Kelly. Just talk to us if you get bored. The father will probably talk about weird stuff as always and you can just zone out.”
“I won't zone out.”
“Trust me pops-” Nick slipped his shoes on. “-you'll zone out. I zone out. Kelly zones out. His own wife zones out. He can talk.”
His father slipped his own shoes on. “Great, just what I wanted to hear.”
“I like the pun,” Nick said laughing.
“Yeah, too bad it wasn't one,” his father said, leaving the bedroom.
Fred touched the white walls. He could feel them changing. They were becoming more hollow. He felt like if he put any pressure on a punch he could break it to pieces. He knew the inside room voice didn't like that, though. Just the thought of breaking the walls scared the voice. Fred wanted to see what would happen but he couldn't. He let himself move back from the wall and looked around the empty room.
He always felt lonely growing up. With the exception of being friends with Marshall he never had anyone to count on as a friend. He stayed in the shadows, skating by classes, wondering what his future held. He wasn't sure how to even adjust to unfamiliar situations. He never had a job, he never needed one. His family was so wealthy he'd be fine for the rest of his life. He wasn't a bad kid, he wasn't a crazy one. He was a blank slate, though. He had no memories from high school that were memorable. He mostly remembered video games he'd played over anything that occurred in school. So, as he stood in the white room, his lonely feelings he had bottled up crept in.
“Why don't you rest?”
“Okay, seriously, you sound like a damn broken record now.” He flung his hand in the air and brushed it away. Trying to scare the voice away like a mouse.
“You keep fighting me. Why? When all I'm doing is helping you. No one helps you like I do,” the voice sounded deeper this time. Such a slight change but a change none-the-less.
“You really have to leave me alone now.” Fred walked over to the wall. He felt like punching it dead center. He felt like breaking down the walls. Breaking down the chains. Breaking it all down to finally burst free from the pain and suffering. Would punching the walls do that? He wasn't sure, but he was will to discover if it would now.
“You must stop.” The voice was rising. Every time he went closer to the walls the voice grew louder. He could sense the voice was getting nervous. Was the voice worried it would be unleashed and it couldn't keep him in anymore? That's what Fred had to find out.
“You know what? I need to know what you're all about.” Fed drew his fist back.
“DO NOT DO THAT!” It roared. The voice was darker than it had ever been. Its scream was so loud that it made him jump back. “You will not destroy what I have built.”
“Sorry, voice in my head, but you don't get a say in this.” Fred began walking towards the wall, ready to finally break them down. Before he could reach them though he awoke on his couch to a knocking at the door. He grunted, slamming his fist into the soft pillow. There was another knock and he bit his lip. He was sweating like crazy and in no condition to go out. He slowly got up, feeling the pain sear through him. He tried ignoring the pain and opened the door anyway. Marshall and his lovely girlfriend Lucy were standing there. She waved at him smiling, Marshall looked at him oddly.
“Dude, you run a mile or something?”
“Nah, bad dream.” Fred waved them inside. “Sorry let me just change. Take a seat guys. I'll be back out in a minute.” Fred jumped up on the steps that lead into the hallway towards his bedroom. “You can have anything in the fridge if you want. Let me just change this shirt.” He went into his room and began digging for clothes.
“Sure this was a good idea?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah, he's fine. Just been going through some stuff.” Marshall sat down.
“This place is huge,” she said looking around the kitchen. The kitchen alone was bigger than either of their rooms at their own homes. The living room was almost the size of their homes in general. She was stunned how big the entire house was, and they were still only downstairs.
“I've been coming here since I was five.” He looked around the house quickly. “It's pretty much same old same old to me. He's not lacking money though that's for sure,” he said with a dry laugh.
“I never really hung out with him. I guess its weird ‘cause we're both loners. You'd figure we'd attract to each other.”
“Hey now-” he began as he grabbed her. He pulled her down to him on the couch and kissed her quickly. “-the only one you should be attracted to is me. Don't forget that my sexy dumpling.”
“You keep calling me dumpling and you won't have a girl to get jealous of,” she replied, giggling. He kissed her again and she returned the favor. Neither questioned yet what their relationship was or how it was going but they enjoyed the ride, none the less.
“So fun to be the third wheel,” Fred said. They broke up the kiss, both embarrassed. “Let's go get some food shall we?”
“Sounds good to me,” Lucy said getting up from the couch. “Where do you wanna eat, Fred? Since Marshall is paying, I say we go somewhere expensive.”
“Whoa, what?”
“I say like Outback Steakhouse.”
“Uhh no...”
“How about like a fish restaurant. I could use some seafood.”
“Hello! I said dinner! Not a three hundred dollar meal.”
“There's that fancy Italian restaurant. I hear it's only hundred and fifty a plate.”
“Okay, enough! You're killing me,” Marshall cried out. Lucy and Fred cracked up. Christmas wouldn't be lonely for once, and Fred was glad for that.
Nick sat in the living room with Kelly on his side. His father was sitting in the arm chair watching the TV. Kelly's parents were in the kitchen finishing their dinner. His father relaxed, it had been awhile since he'd been off work. He smiled at his son and continued to watch TV.
“I'm glad your dad came.”
“Me too. He's been so busy it feels like I barely see him anymore.”
“You've been busy yourself,” she added in.
“Baby, we went over this. I go to the gym after school,” Nick said with tiredness in his voice. They'd been arguing about the issue of Nick spending an extraordinary amount of time at the gym. Little did she know it wasn't just a simple gym. He couldn't let her know about the Unknowns. There were strict rules in the organization and he didn't want to disrupt that. He wasn't sure if he was loyal or scared what might happen to her.
She grabbed his empty cup. “Its okay babe, you keep lifting weights. I just figured I'm more fun than that.” She got up and went towards the kitchen. He let out a sigh, tired of the small bickering they were going through as of late.
“You can't win the argument,” his father said without taking his eyes off the TV.
“Yeah, but I'm not doing anything wrong.”
His father chuckled. “That never matters.”
“I just want to stay healthy.” It was only half of a lie. The staying fit and healthy part was a bonus. He had to train though; death was a close friend to him, as of late. He didn't want to meet it anytime soon.
“That's great. Yet, the girl in there wants you to spend more time with her. In five years from now she'll remember you coming over and spending the night with her instead of going to the gym. That's how they operate. We forget things days later, they remember things years later. So, don't mess it up so soon.” His father took a sip of his drink and went back to watching TV.
&
nbsp; Kelly came back into the room. She sat down on the couch and smiled, passing Nick's refilled drink. “Why don't we go bowling next week?” he asked.
Her eyebrow raised. “Bowling?”
“Do you not like bowling?”
“I do...just an odd request out of nowhere.”
“You're right. We don't spend enough time together as of late. I want to though. I'm sorry for being the boyfriend who's always busy. I want to spend as much time as possible with the girl I love. If that means skipping a day at the gym to have fun with my girlfriend, so be it.” She smiled and grabbed his hand. It was just what she wanted to hear.
“Sometimes baby, you're something else.” She leaned in and he kissed her. The arguments always were terrible but the makeup made all the stress go away.
“Aw, so sweet!” Kelly's mom announced as she walked in. “Aren't they sweet?”
“Super sweet!” Kelly's father was just as cheerful.
“Sweetest ever!”
“Sweet like cupcakes!”
“Sweet like cheesecake!?”
“Sweet like jelly!”
“Sweetest of them all!”
Nick's father couldn't take his eyes off of them. They were like a singing duet, but scarier. He looked towards Nick who gave him a wide eye glance. Almost as if to say, “I told you so”. They stopped speaking about sweetness and looked towards their company. “Who's ready for din din?” the mother asked cheerfully.
“We're all ready, mom,” Kelly said, feeling slightly embarrassed. She couldn't control how her parents acted. Yet, being cheerful all the time was always a nice thing. She never disliked that part, just the overexcited yelling.
They all began walking to the kitchen. Nick's father grabbed him and pulled him back for a second. “Are you kidding me? These two are like Mary freaking Poppins! You could of warned me better.”
“Oh, just wait. We haven't even gotten to discuss the importance of singing and being in-tuned with nature,” Nick chuckled. His father groaned as he followed his son into the kitchen. As Nick turned the corner he felt a sharp pain in his head. He doubled over for a second, not use to getting the calls as of late. His father placed his hand on his back.
“Are you okay, son?” his father asked. He nodded back.
“Now? No way! I can't just leave here.” Nick looked around the room. He knew the destination of his new hunt was near. He told his dad to go ahead and he'd meet him. His dad stood there a second, worried, before moving on. He quickly doubled back and made it into the living room where he was just sitting. He saw the rock engraved with an address right below the mounted TV. He walked over to it and looked at the address. “Oh, come on! It's Christmas!”
“This is the best lobster, ever. Thank you so much best buddy!” Fred said happily. Marshall shook his head, Lucy laughed.
They sat in seafood restaurant, appropriately called “Lobster Head”. Marshall had ordered some shrimp with pasta. While Fred and Lucy both ordered their lobster. The room they sat in was dimly lit. Paintings of ships, sharks, whales, and other fish were pasted all over the walls. The waiters dressed in orange hats with smiling lobsters on top. Fred found it ironic they were smiling while in this place they get boiled up and eaten. Still, the place gave a happy vibe and cheerfulness, something that Fred and Marshall needed desperately.
“This is a pretty cool place. I've never been,” Lucy said. She looked around, wanting to order all the seafood in the tanks.
“It's nice. I've been here a few times with Marshall. We use to go with my parents. When they were home anyway.” Fred took another bite of his food.
“Yeah, those were pretty good times. Your parents paid for anything; even then you were pretty loaded.”
“Yeah, some good times. We use to eat here, go home, and play some Pokémon. I have to say it was some pretty great times.” Fred said laughing. Marshall smiled at the memories.
“We would sneak out of day camp once in a while-” Marshall began. Trying to get Lucy to listen but more so he wanted to egg on Fred. Resurface some old fun memories.
“-Oh my God! You remember? We'd go to McDonalds, buy like twenty one dollar hamburgers-” Marshall finished. “-and sell them for three dollars apiece. We'd make bank. It was pretty awesome.”
Lucy smiled. She liked watching her boyfriend so happy. Watching him re-live memories was nice. He didn't show his softer side much around the guys. Only to her. “That sounds pretty awesome. So you guys hung out a lot, huh?”
“Yeah. We kind of grew up together and were best friends. Things just got weird in high school,” Fred commented casually. Marshall stopped eating, feeling the guilt form in his stomach like a sack of bricks.
“Listen Fred, about that-” he began but Fred put his hand up.
“Dude, the past is the past.”
“Still, that's no excuse. I should have-”
“Like I said man-” Fred put his food down. “-it's the past. Let's just focus on the now.”
Marshall wanted to speak some more but saw Fred grab his head. Marshall knew what was coming next. Fred opened up his squinting eyes and looked around the restaurant. Marshall waited eagerly while Fred searched the area for the tomb.
“Is he okay?” Lucy asked leaning to her side towards Marshall. Whispering very low so nobody could eavesdrop.
“Yeah, it's a mission.”
“Now!?”
“Yeah, he's looking for the tomb to tell him where to go.”
“No way!” She was far too excited. Marshall had to place his hand on her knee. He looked at her, eyes dead serious. “Sorry...” She looked at Fred then went back to eating.
They had a talk about the situations with the Exterminators. They had to keep it secret. If anyone found out it could put her in danger. He didn't believe his friends would do anything but the higher ups would. This was a delicate situation. Killing wasn't uncommon for them. He wouldn't let them hurt her, so they kept their secret quiet. For now, no one knew that she had the knowledge of the Unknowns.
Fred pushed himself up from the table and walked towards the fish tank closest to them. Inside the tank the rock sat engraved the address. He took a mental note of it then walked back to the table. He let out a breath, long and heavy. “You'd think we'd be off just one day, huh?” He gave a small laugh. “Sorry, Lucy I gotta head out. Thank you guys for the dinner.” Fred got up.
“Baby I'll be by later. I'm going to go with Fred. He hasn't been feeling well as of late.”
“Nah that's fine...” Fred began but Lucy got up from her chair.
“That's fine babe!” She said cheerfully. “I'll see you at my house,” she began and gave Marshall a kiss. Turning to Fred she waved goodbye. “See you later, feel better!”
“Well I didn't expect that. I for sure thought she'd be pissed.” Fred said as he watched her walking out the door. Marshall threw his money on the table and grabbed his coat.
“Yeah, she's a cool chick. Let's head out and do this fast.” Marshall wanted to spend the rest of the night with Lucy. Not going out on a cold night to fight an Unknown.
Peter sat on his bed exhausted. He'd been able to create over sixteen balls of fire before feeling a massive drain. He was getting stronger and felt amazing every moment. He soon could prove he's unstoppable. Yet, he didn't want to get ahead of himself so he kept level-headed. He focused on training, not proving he was strongest just yet.
A knock at the door made him flinch. He was hoping it wasn't his father. They only passed by each other, most time his father too drunk to move. He'd like it to continue that way. He received a gift from his mother earlier in the day, but that's it. His dad did not wish him Merry Christmas either. He didn't mind though, the less interaction with his father the better.
“Come in,” he said in a low voice. His sister walked in holding her new Ipod. It was her brand new gift for Christmas. “Hey, need something Quin?” She shook her head. “What's wrong?”
She walked into the room and shut the door. She came over
to him and sat down. “Are you okay? You look upset.”
He looked down at his hands, dirty and messy. “Yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you think I was upset? I'm happy, see?” He pointed to his face as he put up his infamous fake smile.
“I know you sneak out at night sometimes. You're hardly home. You don't even say anything to me anymore.” The sadness in her voice did nothing for Peter. He tried to understand why she was hurting but couldn't. She never seemed to show much interest in her brother. She kept to herself almost all the time. She never really hung out with him. So why was she concerned now of his activities outside?
“Are you snooping on me?”
“No, I just don't want to see you...” she started. She sat there looking down at the floor. She never really talked to her brother.
“I'm sorry,” he said. He didn't know much about what she was going through but he tried to make it up to her. She felt sad and he knew he had to fix that. “I'm sorry if I made you worry. I've just been going through a lot. I promise you, though, I'm okay. So don't worry.” He patted her on the head. She smiled and nodded.
“Okay!” she said excited and then ran to the door. Before shutting the door she looked once more at him. “Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas,” he said smiling back. She left the room. He then heard his phone go off. He picked it up and saw a message. Nick sent it less than a minute ago. The only thing he could ever ask for Christmas.
“Fifth and 60th street. Meet you there. Merry Christmas!”
Chapter 21 – Teamwork
“How do I approach this one?” Nick contemplated, walking into the kitchen. He saw Kelly's mom placing food on the table. His father was speaking to Kelly's father, telling him all about his job. Nick knew his father didn't care about. That didn't stop him from sharing it, though. Kelly looked at him from the table and gave him the “What's wrong?” eye. Nick cocked his head to the side, trying to show he wanted to speak to her in private. She excused herself a second later. He walked back into the living room, she joined him a moment later. “Tell her you feel sick? Didn't work last time. Tell her you need to run home and get gifts. Then your dad will say something. Come on think, think, faster! Oh, she's here, think!”
Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1) Page 20