Felix Jones and The Dawn Of The Brethren

by Julian Roderick

  “We will never give up!” screamed Seth. “We will hunt you until the end of time!”

  45

  Felix was desperately trying to pull the spear from his leg. Poppy and Tom hadn’t managed to get a sweet and were floating peacefully through the time vortex. Luther grabbed the end of the spear and began pulling. Felix screamed. He knew his wound would heal in the vortex, he just prayed that his eyebrows would grow back!

  “Thanks for coming back,” said Felix.

  “No bother,” replied Luther. “We won’t quite get you home though I’m afraid.” He smiled at Felix. Tom and Poppy stirred from their slumber.

  “Where are we going now boss?” shouted Tom.

  “I think we’re in for a surprise,” said Felix. Luther smiled as he slid his sword back inside his coat and handed out the boiled sweets ready for landing.

  The green carpet of fresh grass made for a soft landing. Above them was a familiar looking castle on a hill. The buildings next to the lush green strip looked odd, a strange mix of solar panels, steel and glass. Felix, Tom and Poppy had never seen anything like it before. Tom sprang to his feet. He was immediately rugby tackled by Luther. A funny whirring noise whizzed past as the sun peeped over the castle hill. The whizzing became more regular. Felix began laughing.

  “Why did you do that?” screeched Tom.

  “You wouldn’t want to lose your head. Would you?” said Poppy.

  “Its life Tom, but not as we know it!” Felix stated. “I think we’ve got a little ahead of ourselves this time.”

  “We’ve landed in the middle of the road,” said Luther.

  “How is there grass in the middle of the …” The penny finally dropped. “We’re in the future and those flying cheese wedges are cars!” The others nodded slowly and mockingly at Tom. “You know I’m a bit slow on the uptake sometimes!” Tom laughed.

  “Sometimes!” sniggered Poppy. “But yes! Why the grass?”

  “Green lungs,” stated Luther. “The grass creates an area of undisturbed land which creates clean oxygen and filters the carbon dioxide from your industries that is still trapped in our atmosphere.”

  “When are we?” asked Felix. It still sounded weird to ask that question, but he and the Guardians were slowly getting used to it.

  “2113! In Edinburgh.” Luther informed them.

  “First time we’ve overshot into the future,” said Poppy. “This really is weird.”

  “Come on! Let’s get back to my pod for some food. Then we’ll get you home.” Luther crawled across the grass to one of the buildings. A door slid open and the four of them stepped inside. There were conveyer belts heading in every direction. People were standing on them staring straight ahead.

  “Why the zombies?” asked Tom.

  “They’re reading or emailing,” replied Luther. “You can have google implants in your eyes and brain which relay information you want to a screen on your retina. It switches off when you get where you want to go or someone interacts with you in some way.”

  “You have what?” whispered Felix. “Your Book must be like a really ancient relic here!” A man in a kilt slid past them. “I see some people hold on to the old.”

  “Jump on!” instructed Luther. The others followed him carefully onto the conveyor belt which slowed slightly to allow them to step on. Luther appeared to enter a trance.

  “He’s looking at his eyes!” Tom rolled his eyes in disbelief at the future technology.

  “I’ve told the public transport system where we want to go and they’ve taken credit from my life account,” said Luther suddenly. In a matter of minutes they had switched conveyors automatically and were standing in the entrance to one of the glass buildings. Once more, Luther stared straight ahead and the four of them were elevated on a platform that shot straight from the floor. The strange lift took them to a hatch, number 4538. Luther stared at the hatch and it opened. Felix looked up and down. The entire wall was covered in these hatches. This must be the future version of a block of flats.

  The four friends were sucked in through the hatch and along a tube. They all arrived on a large mat where their shoes were sprayed with disinfectant.

  “Welcome!” smiled Luther. The pod was a massive room. Totally white, it was as clean and tidy as an operating theatre in a hospital. Chairs rose out of the floor and the four weary travellers slumped into them. Luther was the perfect host, bringing his guests straws.

  “What do we do with these?” snapped Tom.

  “You put them into the hole marked H2O on the arm of your chair. There’s a menu, if you want to add flavour.”

  “This is great!” shouted Tom, as he pressed every button to produce a fruit cocktail of flavour in the water. Felix sipped more sedately, his mind was filled with questions that he knew nobody could answer.

  “Have The Brethren found you here?” Felix enquired.

  “They have come a few times but we’ve fought them off,” replied Luther.

  “What about the Typhon?” Poppy asked.

  “That’s a different story,” Luther sighed. “They seem to be everywhere. I have to keep moving to get away from them. I’ve only been back where I grew up in Edinburgh for a month. I’ve lived in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Geneva. They eventually track me down and I have to move on.”

  “Where are the Guardians?” snapped Tom.

  “They are all over the world. I can contact them all quickly but there is nobody like you two.” Luther smiled at Tom and Poppy. “One of them will always move to the city I’m in, just in case!”

  “What do the Typhon wear these days?” asked Poppy as she gazed out of the window.

  “Black suits,” replied Luther. “They stick out like sore thumbs. Nobody wears black anymore!”

  “Well, a load of guys in black suits are standing outside waiting for something,” Poppy stated.

  “We’ve got no chance,” whispered Luther.

  “We’ve outwitted them before,” Felix said with confidence. “Why not again?”

  “They use lasers! If they don’t catch you, they evaporate you!”

  “Lasers! All very Star Wars,” laughed Tom. “Felix will think of something.”

  “Can they get in?” Felix asked.

  “Not without breaking hundreds of security barriers,” Luther replied.

  Poppy was deep in thought. “They can still call the Brethren though,” she said dully. Felix had forgotten that the Typhon had been able to summon the creatures from Ancient Egypt.

  “The only way in here is through that water pipe.” Luther pointed out a tiny pipe that came into the pod close to the window.

  “If they come we’re trapped,” said Felix. “They can send sixteen monks, four for each of us, and we only have three swords. If we try and escape the Typhon will catch us and take us to the Brethren anyway. So the question is, do we stay and fight or give ourselves up?”

  46

  Luther smiled and began moving from foot to foot in excitement. “There is another option!”

  “There is?” Tom stuttered. Felix and Poppy started to move towards Luther.

  “There’s always the old fashioned way,” laughed Luther as he opened a door which until now had been invisible in amongst the wall of white. At the back of the building was a fire escape that led up to the roof and down to the ground floor. Felix looked over the edge of the metal staircase. Below them, like ants on the ground, were three of the Typhon thugs, unmistakable in their black suits.

  “We have to go up,” Felix began the short climb up to the roof. The others followed. As Tom mounted the first step an explosion knocked them all off their feet. A gaping hole, where the door to Luther’s flat had been, was spewing thick black smoke everywhere. Poppy pulled herself up and tried to see where Tom had ended up. He was nowhere to be seen.

  “Heeeellllllpppppp!”

  Felix rushed past Poppy to find his best friend. He feared the worse. “Tom!” he shouted through the smoke.

  “Down here!” came th
e desperate cry. Felix saw the tips of Tom’s fingers clinging tightly to the edge of the metal step that had disappeared from under him in the blast. Felix grabbed Tom’s arm and Poppy and Luther helped to heave Tom to safety.

  “That was a bit close!” Tom was patting himself down to check he hadn’t hurt anything.

  “Luther McDonald, The Keeper. Where are you?” growled the Brethren leader through the smoke.

  “Here we go again!” Poppy was poised ready to pounce with her sabre, with Tom by her side. The gap in the wall was only large enough for the monks to squeeze through two at a time. The Guardians blocked the Brethren’s advance on the narrow metal stairway. Felix had a piece of broken metal in his hand to use as a weapon - Luther was the Keeper with the broadsword. Luther would lunge at the monks whenever they stumbled in their battle with the Guardians. Poppy and Tom battled valiantly, but were soon struggling.

  “There are too many of them,” shouted Felix. “Is there another way out of here?”

  “There is one but I haven’t tried it for years.” Luther smiled. “We need to get onto the roof.”

  Tom and Poppy held the Brethren at bay as they made their way slowly backwards up the fire escape towards the top of the building. As they got higher they became aware of fizzing sounds hitting the stairs and walls around them. The Typhon had joined the fight shooting their lasers at the retreating foursome. The metal stairs got weaker every time a laser hit them. Tom almost toppled off the edge again but Felix managed to grab his shirt and pull him back.

  “Quick!” shouted Luther. The Brethren had been halted temporarily by a gap in the staircase, giving the four friends a chance to run onto the flat, solar panel covered roof.

  “Great!” snapped Tom. “Nowhere else to go and that lot will be up the stairs any second now!”

  “Come on,” smiled Luther as he stepped off the front of the building. Felix, Tom and Poppy rushed to the edge hoping that Luther hadn’t plummeted to his death. To their amazement Luther had landed on the roof of a passing car and was busy hopping from car roof to car roof. He was trying to get to the building across the road. Luther was grinning as he relived his youth - playing this game had often got him into trouble with his parents.

  “God! That looks dangerous!” squealed Felix. Tom was already half way across and was enjoying being shouted at by angry motorists. Poppy wasn’t far behind. Felix was perched on the edge of the building, preparing himself for the first jump. ‘Which car shall I jump on?’ he wondered nervously. A firm hand grasped his shoulder and the stench of rotting flesh filled his nostrils. It was too late, he was captured.

  Tom screamed from his far-off sanctuary, “Felix fight and run!” He could see the small army of Brethren monks climbing the battered fire escape and cornering Felix. Thinking quickly, Felix swung the jagged steel strut he had been using as a sword behind him. He felt the grip on his shoulder weaken. Felix turned and rammed the makeshift weapon into the monk’s midriff. His enemy fell to its knees, but Felix knew he only had seconds before he would be defending himself again.

  “Tell Seth, he’ll never get The Book of Words!” Felix stepped off the roof and onto a passing car. He bounced like a Russian gymnast across the expanse between the buildings. A few nervy moments and swear words later, and Felix had joined his friends. They waved at the Brethren who had tried to follow. The monsters couldn’t master the timing of their jumps, and one by one they fell to the grassy road until eventually they gave up.

  The Brethren leader growled, “We’ll chase you until the end of time, Keeper!”

  47

  Luther opened The Book of Words and found the clock, they had an hour to get to the McDonalds near Edinburgh Castle. Sticking to the grassy side streets, the gang of four slowly made their way through the old ramshackle buildings that had once been Edinburgh’s tourist attractions. They sheltered in the ruins whenever a car approached. The Typhon would be out in force trying to locate them for the Brethren. Luther, Poppy and Tom gripped their swords tightly. Felix felt a bit like a spare part. In this world he wasn’t the Keeper, Luther was. Poppy and Tom would let him die to protect Luther and the Book if push came to shove. He hoped his friendship with them would mean he would be as safe as Luther.

  They climbed up Castle Hill. The last time Felix had been there it was a cobbled street but the only thing he recognised now was the crumbling castle walls. Tom giggled.

  “What’s up?” asked Poppy.

  “They’ve still got a huge golden ‘M’ outside!” Luther led them in. It looked like a McDonalds, it smelled like a McDonalds, but there was no counter or anybody serving.

  “What do you fancy?” asked Luther. Having only eaten bread for what seemed like an eternity Tom and Felix reeled off almost the entire menu.

  “We haven’t got any money!” declared Poppy.

  “There’s nobody to give it too anyway,” laughed Tom. “How do you order?”

  “More importantly where do you pick up the food?” Felix enquired.

  “All ordered and paid for,” said Luther with a grin.

  “It’s that creepy eye thing again,” stated Tom as he shivered in disgust. “Where shall we sit?” It was only then that they realised there were no tables or chairs in these future McDonalds.

  “No need to sit down. It doesn’t take that long to eat,” replied Luther. He led them into a corner where there were hatches numbered one to twenty. “Ours is number eight.”

  “How is all that food going to fit through that door?” Tom was getting concerned that his food might be slightly squashed as it made its way to the hatch. A green light on door eight indicated that their food had arrived. Tom’s excitement soon turned to dread as Luther collected seven tablets from chute eight. “What in the name of all that’s good is this?”

  “It’s what you ordered! All the taste, vitamins, protein and all that rubbish in tablet form. Meal in one gulp.” Luther threw two tablets in his mouth and looked as if he was savouring every second of it. Tom looked at Poppy and Felix, shrugged, and threw the tablets in his mouth. He swallowed them straight down without touching the sides.

  “Don’t know what all the fuss is about. It tastes of nothing,” sighed Tom.

  “You should have kept it in your mouth,” said Poppy. “It tastes just like a Big Mac!” Tom frowned and stormed out of the front door. Luther smiled and went to door twelve where he collected another couple of tablets. He went outside and gave them to Tom, who soon had a big, satisfied smile on his face.

  “We have to find the object,” said Luther looking at the time on the display in his eye. The four friends scanned every inch of the spotless fast food restaurant. There was nothing to see. The walls were bare and there were no fixtures or fittings.

  “There must be something!” exclaimed Poppy. They looked around the room again frantically, but still there was nothing unusual. They were losing all hope of getting home.

  Felix collapsed onto the floor. “What’s wrong?” Poppy asked.

  “I think we’ve been away too long. Remember - only seven days or the Keeper from the past dies,” stuttered Felix. Tom knelt beside his best friend and held his head. “It’s been fun!” said Felix. Tom tightened his grip on his friend.

  “Come on Luther! Find it!” Tom screamed. Luther looked on helplessly as Felix began to turn as white as a sheet. Luther stood still and seemed to be concentrating. “Move it!” shouted Tom. “Hurry up!”

  Luther smiled and his relief was written all over his face.

  “It’s not funny! We have to get him out of here!” snapped Poppy.

  “It’s the big M!” Luther pointed outside. “I should have realised. I’ve seen so many of them on my time travels I didn’t spot it on our way in! We don’t have the Ms these days it just flashes on our screens.”

  Poppy and Tom lifted Felix from the floor. Something weird was happening. Felix’s ears were disappearing. If they didn’t get into the vortex soon he would disappear for ever.

  “How are we going
to get him up there?” There was desperation in Poppy’s voice. Felix’s nose and ears had gone. He couldn’t speak but he gave his friends a smile.

  “We’ll get you up there!” shouted Tom as he hauled Felix onto his shoulders. “Come on Poppy! Thanks Luther but we have to go!”

  “It’s been great finishing my first adventure,” replied Luther. “Maybe see you again sometime.”

  “Could be anytime!” laughed Tom as he grabbed the underside of a slow moving car. It lifted him upwards as he held Felix’s limp body. Poppy just able to grab the back of the same car. When they were high enough Tom swung towards the sign. Poppy threw herself at Tom’s leg as he fell onto the huge brightly lit M. In a flash they were gone.

  48

  Tom woke first. The multi-coloured vortex spun round them. The familiar pictures flew past but none of that was important. He was clinging to his best friend’s lifeless body. He knew that if they didn’t get back to their own time, then this was the end for Felix. Felix’s face was blank, literally blank, all his features had faded and gone.

  “Is he OK?” asked Poppy through teary eyes.

  “Well if having no face and being dead is OK, he’s fine!” Tom smiled bravely at Poppy through the streams of tears running down his face. Tom gave Poppy a boiled sweet he had found in a pocket. She bit it in half and gave some back. She didn’t want to look after two unconscious people when she landed.

  “Where do you think we’ll end up?” whimpered Poppy.

  “Hopefully back in Berlin, then we can say he flew over on his own and swapped with Luther.” It had crossed Tom’s mind that they would either be stuck with Curly or Mr Taylor. At this moment in time he didn’t care which, as long as the fast disappearing Felix came back to life.