The Rebellion (The Viral Superhero Series Book 6)

by Bryan Cohen

Dhiraj focused on one of the two copters. He noticed that the only person inside was the pilot.

  "Now or never."

  The duo kept low to the ground as they ran toward the copter. Somehow, the soldiers were so focused on their objective, they didn't see the two of them.

  As they reached the copter, Dhiraj adopted his trademark Indian accent. "Excuse me, sir? I was wondering if you needed a drink or perhaps a mango lassi?"

  As the pilot pulled out his weapon, Jennifer opened the front-most door of the copter and grabbed the armed man's wrist. Not expecting the two-front attack, Jennifer easily wrenched the weapon from his hand and punched the dark soul right between the eyes. Dhiraj marveled as he saw the pilot slump over.

  Dhiraj pulled the magazine out of the gun and tossed them into the back of the copter. "You cannot believe how incredibly sexy it is to see you do that."

  Jennifer grinned. "You know how to fly this thing?"

  Dhiraj pulled the pilot from his seat and strapped in. "There's a first time for everything." As Dhiraj flipped on the controls, the whirring of the blades above gave him encouragement that he might be able to pull this off, at least until he accidentally triggered the copter's alarm system.

  The sound was all-encompassing as he watched the dark souls turn toward the copter and draw their weapons.

  Dhiraj's stomach sank until he saw Jennifer step back toward a massive machine gun located at the side of the copter.

  "Shoot at everything! Do something!"

  Jennifer complied, firing the noisy weapon straight ahead. The bullets came out rapidly and slammed into the side of the neighboring copter. After a few seconds of gunfire, the other copter exploded in a fiery blast. Dhiraj pumped his fist in the air as Jennifer turned the weapon's ire toward the dark souls. The soldiers fired back toward the copter, but fortunately for Dhiraj and Jennifer, the glass was bulletproof. Only one of the two groups firing were immune to the weapons. Dhiraj tuned out the irritating alarm as his ex-girlfriend scattered the attackers. By the time the gun was out of bullets, the helicopter's alarm had cued the settlers' own defenses. From seemingly out of nowhere, laser blasts shot through the air. It took him a second to realize that this was the cloaking technology Jennifer had told him about. The remaining dark souls fell, and the victory was theirs. The humans in the settlement turned off their cloaking devices and raised their hands in the air for a cheer. Dhiraj felt something he hadn't experienced in over 30 days. It was accomplishment. He'd set out to stop the invasion and now he'd done it.

  By the time he'd figured out how to turn off the alarm, Beth and Winny and some of the other settlers had exited their protective underground lair. Jennifer, her cousin, and Beth shared a hug, though he knew it was bittersweet. Van Housen's death was a tragedy for them all.

  As Dhiraj figured out the radio on the helicopter, he spoke words from his heart. "Good work, everybody. I'm sorry that I had to use lies to keep myself alive this last week. But now that we're back together, there's nothing that can stop us."

  The humans cheered and clapped because the prisoner had finally made it back to his people. But the celebration was short-lived.

  While the alarm was no longer sounding, Dhiraj could still hear a sound off in the distance. He stepped out of the helicopter and to Jennifer's side.

  She shook her head. "It's not fair. Can't we win something for at least five seconds?"

  Dhiraj wished that her dream of a win could come true. But the sky was now full of planes that appeared to be bombers. And he watched the hatch of one such jet open, revealing the missile that would likely end their lives.

  "Damn it. Damn it all."

  29

  Erica woke to the feeling of purpose that had driven her the last couple of weeks. She could hardly even remember the hopelessness that had forced her to give in to the instincts of her previous inhabitant. It was almost as if she was a third new person in all of this. Not the drinking hookup machine. Not even the protector who would do anything to keep Ted alive. She was now like a General of her own army. The purpose she felt was like every motivational trick in the book tied up in one package. She sprang up quickly and got to work.

  She walked over to Yoshi, who sat beside a lake and engaged in some morning meditation. As soon as she reached his side, his eyes opened up.

  "I think that finding Zen is tough during a time of war. But somehow you are the one who has found it."

  Erica considered gloating at the bruises that still showed themselves on Yoshi's face. She beamed with human pride. "Your peace will return soon enough. Are you ready to lead your navy into the biggest battle history has ever seen?"

  Yoshi's neutral expression gave way to the smallest hint of a smile. "In lieu of getting fat and happy in a world full of mermaids, this is probably the next best thing."

  Erica looked upon her former friend from another life. "It's rare for someone to have a second chance to do an incredible amount of good."

  Yoshi stood gracefully. "Good or bad mean nothing to me anymore. You've given me a chance to live forever with this battle. I thank you for that, but that doesn't make us allies for life."

  Erica nodded. "I'll take what I can get. We leave in an hour. Tell your mermen to put on some pants already."

  Erica had always wondered if Yoshi's eyes could roll. That joke answered her question once and for all.

  Erica spent the next 30 minutes gathering the troops. There was only one stop remaining in their journey, and Erica could hardly wait to put Ted's plan into action. There was only one problem. Everybody had exited their tent except for the living soul himself.

  As the protector pulled back the flap, she expected to see the exhausted hero still nestled up in his sleeping bag. But that wasn't the case. He was nowhere to be seen.

  As Erica started asking around, the worrisome answer kept repeating itself. Nobody had seen him since the previous night.

  When she noticed that Natalie kept glancing away whenever the two met eyes from across the campsite, she knew that something terrible had happened.

  It didn't take long for Erica to sneak around the camp and corner the former basketball star.

  "You're hiding something. And it has to do with Ted."

  Natalie frowned. "I knew I was going to take crap for this. If I tell you what happened, will you promise not to blame me and hold it against me?"

  Erica crossed her arms. "No. I'm not giving any promises. Where the hell is he?"

  Natalie raised her eyebrows, and it was all the protector needed to see.

  "Ted! Ted! If you're not on this planet, I'm going to find you and kill you!"

  As Erica continued to call out for the living soul, a sense of dread took over. It was obvious that he wasn't there.

  Erica circled back around to Natalie and grabbed her shoulders. "Please tell me he let you know where he was going."

  "He followed his vision, Erica. For what it's worth, I did try to stop him."

  Erica ran toward her tent with Natalie following close behind. She grabbed the book that allowed a non-living soul to create a portal and placed her hand on top of it. "This should get me a portal to wherever he went. And if it doesn't, I'm going to be pretty darn angry."

  As Erica searched the area for the previous portal that had been created, she could feel the magic sputtering out. She pressed her hand harder into the book and grabbed Natalie's wrist for some extra juice. But it was no good, her attempt at a portal led to nothing but a few sparks.

  She threw the book down and stared at Natalie. "If he went somewhere that's resistant to this magic, then the only one who can get him back is him. And we have no clue where he is with an army that's planning on following him into battle in the next couple of days. Are you telling me that this whole plan is scrapped because Ted literally had to follow his dreams?"

  Natalie shrugged. "He wasn't impulsive when I dated him. Must have been something you did."

  Erica screamed and kicked the first object she could find. An empty metal bucke
t clattered against the side of the tent. "If Ted doesn't come back in time, we're going to have to do all of this without him."

  Natalie put on a forced smile. "Girl power?"

  Erica huffed and stormed out of the tent. She looked off into the horizon and wished she could burn a hole into it with her eyes.

  "Wherever the hell you are, Ted, you'd better not die." She grumbled. "Because I want to be the one to kill you."

  30

  Ted flew through the air toward what he felt was his destination. There had been several red flags already in a world that resembled a rainforest. The first one was that Ted hadn't come into contact with any people in over six hours of flying. All he saw were trees and birds and fish. If he'd done all of this for a wildlife safari, Erica would have his head on a plate for sure. Another red flag was that every so often, Ted's powers would short out for a second or two. The first one was an unexpected drop of several hundred feet in a matter of seconds. When it happened the second time, Ted made a mental note of the location.

  Stay away from the creepy looking trees in the shape of a skull. That's the area that will probably kill me.

  But after so much flying and so little sleep, Ted realized his only chance of finding something out of the ordinary was by following the clues. Him losing his powers briefly meant that something more powerful than a dark soul's stare was down there. Ted attempted to fly lower, so that when he passed by the trees, he might actually survive the fall. The living soul hovered above the greenery until once again his powers began to blink out. But instead of it happening for just a second or two, he went from 60 to zero immediately. Ted reached for his abilities and found nothing as his body plunged through the top canopy of the trees. He grabbed hold of a branch and looked down at what had previously been closed off to him.

  Underneath the topmost layer of the trees wasn't just flora and fauna. The canopy had been hiding a settlement. Ted's arms began to tire at the strain of the branch, which was suspended about 25 feet above the ground. He tried to use his mental abilities to search for any signs of life below. While his powers didn't work, he did begin to see movement below his position. Shirtless men and their children ran about beneath. While he couldn't read their thoughts, they didn't seem to mind the man in the tree one small bit. He locked eyes with a little girl far below him. When she smiled, he smiled back. The smile went away quickly when the branch broke away from the tree. Ted reached for his abilities once more, but they continued to fail him. He felt the sharp pain of branches slamming into his body on the way down. A particularly thick one slowed his momentum for several seconds before he rolled off and continued toward the ground. As he crash-landed in the dirt below, he looked up at the girl once again. She continued to smile as he passed out.

  Over an unknown period of time, Ted continued to go in and out of consciousness. In the small bits that he could piece together, he felt himself being pulled along the forest floor. He tried to speak, but the pain made it incredibly difficult. He wondered if he had a broken rib or two as his consciousness faded out once again. As he woke once more, he realized he was no longer being dragged in the dirt and insect-ridden ground. His hair was clean and he was stripped down to his underwear in a makeshift bed. As he turned on his side, he could see that what he came for was no mere dream. The iridescent glow of the boy beside him made him smile, though it hurt to do so.

  Ted's scratchy throat made every word difficult. "Who are you?"

  The boy's face remained stoic. "I'm the one who can end your war."

  Ted attempted to think of something snappy to say as the pain and medicine they gave him proved too much for consciousness.

  31

  Dhiraj felt his stomach sink as he tightened his grip around Jennifer's hand. The missile underneath the jet seemed poised for action, and he knew there wasn't much time left.

  Dhiraj was surprisingly calm. "Thank you for coming for me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for giving me a chance to live out my dreams."

  Jennifer squeezed his hand back. "Your welcome. Ditto."

  Dhiraj breathed in what he thought would be his final breath when another missile came out of nowhere and struck the jet right in the center. Dhiraj turned back quickly to see twice as many planes headed from the opposite direction. Whoever they were, they were protecting the people down below.

  Dhiraj's optimism returned until pieces from the downed plane began falling all around them.

  His heart pumped twice as fast. "Everybody take cover!"

  The sounds overhead were overwhelming to Dhiraj's eardrums. He shouted at a little girl who was looking up at the carnage above. Missiles fired from both sides, though it appeared that their unknown allies above had the upper hand in multiple ways. Dhiraj scooped up the little girl with one arm and ran back to the other side of the copter. When he turned back, he saw one of the back fins from a downed jet land in the exact spot the girl had been standing. Beth and Winny ushered everybody back into the compound as the battle raged above.

  In all the hubbub, Dhiraj had lost track of Jennifer.

  He called out for her and ran back into the fray through Beth and Winny's protestations. He spied the girl of his dreams carrying a wounded settler in her arms. He was amazed; the guy had to be at least 200 pounds. He ran over to help her. "I think after all of this, I need to test you for performance enhancing drugs."

  Jennifer snuck a slight grin in under the strain of carrying the man. "I'll never make the Military Hall of Fame this way."

  When the two of them got the wounded man back inside, they stayed under cover until the fighting seemed to stop. It was somehow calm up above, and Dhiraj took this as his cue to usher Jennifer outside.

  "Is this Ted's army?"

  Jen shrugged. "As far as I figure, they were going to have more creatures with wings and not so many planes."

  As they stepped out into the light, Dhiraj saw something absolutely terrifying. A dark soul, who seemed to have fallen from his plane, dragged a wounded leg forward toward them. He wouldn't have been nearly as terrifying if he weren't completely engulfed in flames. The dark soul screamed and Dhiraj had absolutely no idea what to do. Out of the corner of his eye, Dhiraj saw a rope extended downward from one of the planes. A man wearing lightweight armor and a helmet slid down the rope and fired a weapon with incredible accuracy. The paratrooper struck the dark soul twice in the head. The flaming man collapsed in a heap.

  Dhiraj rubbed at his temple. "I'm never going to get that image out of my head." He turned toward the man who had now reached the ground. "Thank you!"

  Jennifer wasn't quite as grateful. "Who the heck are you guys?"

  The recognition struck Dhiraj immediately when the soldier removed his helmet.

  "A guy who has a lot of mistakes to make up for."

  His hair was matted from the helmet, but Agent Vott of the Department of Homeland Security was unmistakable.

  Dhiraj shook his head. "The last time we saw you, you were trying to put us behind bars."

  Vott raised an eyebrow. "It's funny what you decide to do when your president has been killed and you're finally not under mind control for five seconds." Agent Vott pressed a button on the side of his helmet. "Agent Harding, we have a few friends down here who could use a lift."

  Dhiraj attempted to ignore how uncomfortable the helmet was as the jet cleared through the clouds and came upon an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean.

  Agent Vott spoke with pride. "The second we heard your newscast, Dhiraj, we knew we had to gather up what forces we could and go into hiding. Your late friend Van Housen gave us some of the technology we needed to survive. We couldn't have done this without you."

  Dhiraj felt a tear come to his eyes. He thought the armies of the world had all been taken over by now. But hope and soldiers still remained.

  The plane landed on the deck of the massive boat. Dhiraj was too in awe to think about his twisted and upset stomach when they stepped off of the jet. Dhiraj could see dozens of plan
es and their pilots. Not all of them were American, as he watched what appeared to be a Chinese translator attempting to broker a conversation between two pilots.

  Agent Harding put out his hand and gestured to the aircraft carrier as a whole. "Welcome to the remaining forces in the battle for Earth."

  32

  Ted woke up in the unfamiliar bed and watched a woman he took to be the glowing boy's mother leave a strange-smelling breakfast on the side table. She kept her eyes off of him like he was an unwanted stranger. The room itself didn't seem like it was meant for visitors. It was a glorified hut, but Ted didn't much mind the scaled-down accommodations.

  He cleared his throat. "Thank you for taking care of me."

  The woman kept her eyes on the food in front of her. "I thought that Riu was crazy. I'd like to think I was a good mother who wouldn't do such a thing. I recognize you from his paintings."

  Ted sat up slowly. "He painted me? What do you mean?"

  She finally looked at him, though only for a moment before she tore her eyes away. "It may sound primitive, but he painted the face of you and several others on the wall of a cave."

  Ted tried to breathe deeply, though his ribs still hurt from the fall through the canopy. "I'm not one to judge. Not after some of the things I've seen." He turned toward the bowl and spooned some of the meal into his mouth. The taste was strange but satisfying. "Do all of you glow like your son?"

  She shook her head. "He's rare. Only Riu and his grandfather had that ability."

  Almost as if by instinct, Ted reached out with his powers into the woman's mind. He was surprised to gain entry. It seemed as though only her son was able to block Ted's powers.

  He looked through her memories to see the image of the woman's father. Just as she had said, he glowed an incredible green all of his life. The strange ability had made him somewhat of a pariah until his powers stopped the dark soul invasion. Ted was unsure why his memories from the General wouldn't include this world.