by RB Stutz
Once I was about a half a mile from the rendezvous point, I pulled over. I still had the gun I took from Travis and the clip was full. I opened the compartment in the back and grabbed another handgun and a knife, to strap to my right ankle, replacing the one they took.
I still had the ski mask, glasses and gloves on. It was getting warm, but there were too many breaks in the trees where the sunlight shone through. I could have probably avoided those spots but the rendezvous itself was in a clearing so I needed them once there anyway.
Fully armed, I quickly moved out through the forest on foot. It seemed the bullet in my leg wasn’t slowing me down much. I felt good. I was high on anger and adrenaline. The thrill of making those SOB’s pay was the fuel that drove me.
It only took a few minutes to get to the perimeter of the clearing. I stopped just on the edge of the tree line, obscuring myself behind a large fir in order to assess the situation. I saw two older trucks, one of which was the one Hank and Billy had pulled up to the truck stop in. At the edge of the clearing were two more vehicles, newer looking SUV’s, one black and one navy, both glimmering in the morning sun.
In the space between the two groups of cars I saw Hank, Bobby and two other men standing together. They seemed to be discussing something. I didn’t see the girl. She was probably already in one of the SUV’s.
The smart, cautious thing to do was to wait until they were more separated and take them out quietly, one by one. However, I wasn’t in a cautious mood right then and decided to go with a more rash theatrical approach.
I back tracked a little and found an open path to the clearing. I was facing the two older trucks and the four men standing on the other side of the trucks, still in conversation. I made my move.
I started running and quickly picked up speed until I was almost gliding across the ground. The leg was holding up well, despite the bullet. There were a few trees I had to veer around, but I was able to maintain my speed. One gun was already in my left hand and as I ran, I drew the holstered gun in my right. In a manner of seconds, I was fast approaching the two trucks and just feet ahead of them, I jumped, launching myself over the two trucks towards the group of four men with the two guns stretched out in front of me.
Hank and Bobby’s backs were towards me. As I soared towards them my heart pounded fast and heavy, the hell bent rage inside me was like a jolt of electricity, energizing me with the oncoming fight. The other two men both looked up wide eyed as I flew towards them. Before they had a chance to react, to ever consider if what they were seeing was real, my weapons simultaneously thundered and connected with their targets. I landed with a soft thud just as the two men hit the grassy earth. I was just a few feet behind Hank and Bobby, who, at the sound of the gunfire had turned and now faced me.
They both went for their guns, but I was able to move in, kick Bobby’s out of his hand and throw an elbow to his face. Bobby was falling backwards as I grabbed Hank’s wrist and twisted it, causing him to lose his grip on his weapon. I brought his arm behind him and then pushed him forward towards the ground.
Bobby started to go for one of the fallen weapons, but I was able to kick it away before he could get to it. He then rolled back away from me and I let him stand.
“Who the hell are you?” Bobby shouted as he backed away from me.
I saw Hank on his knees, trying to move towards one of the other weapons and I fired a shot into the ground an inch from his out stretched hand.
“Don’t,” I warned with a weapon on each of them. “You’re not going to walk away from this.”
From behind me, there were two quick explosions as what felt like two sledge hammers hit my back. I turned to look back at the girl in the Boise State sweatshirt pointing a rifle at me. Sharp consuming pain hit with recognition of the rifle.
“What…” I started to say when I saw Bobby coming at me from the side. He was moving with incredible speed and planted his fist dead center with my face, causing the sun glasses to shatter. The sun hit my eyes and the exposed skin erupted in what felt like fire.
“Ahhh,” I yelled out as Bobby swept my legs and I fell to the ground.
“Bobby. What’s...,” Hank began to speak as there was another loud thunder of a gunshot. Through watery pain ridden eyes, I could faintly see a dark hole appear in the center of Hank’s forehead. With a look of utter confusion, Hank fell backwards with a thud onto the soft grass.
“Thanks babe,” Bobby said to the girl who had just killed Hank. His accent had changed from stupid country boy to something more New Englandish.
“Sure. Who is this guy?” She asked, pointing her gun at me.
“I don’t know, but did you see the way he moved in here?” Bobby said. “And he was strong too.”
“I saw. Is he like us?”
I didn’t hear Bobby’s answer as I laid on the ground, the burning around my eyes turning into a pulsing numbness and my head starting to spin in what felt like a random vicious cycle of turns. The sun was draining me. Even with just the small area around my eyes exposed, I could feel my body growing weaker. The pain from the gunshots was lessened, but I was dead unless I could get out of there. I tried to move, but couldn’t. The sun was working too fast on me.
I felt a light kick to my side and I looked up at Bobby.
“Who are you?” he asked with his gun pointed at me.
I gave a small weak laugh. “I do have to give you credit. You’re smarter than you look” My body was growing weaker with each passing moment of exposure.
The girl walked over and bent down to look at me. “Let’s see,” she said and then ripped off the ski mask.
“Ahhh,” I screamed out as more burning heat flooded my face. I tried to move my arms to cover it, but it was of no use.
“How did he find us?” asked the girl once she recognized me. “What’s wrong with him?” I heard her add.
My head was spinning; vision and conscious thought were fading in and out. I could see them looking down at me as they faded to blurry splotches of color and shadow. The shadow overcame the color until all that was left was blackness.
CHAPTER 11
I think someone once wrote that right before you die your life flashes before you. You recall all of the high points, the people you’ve loved and have impacted your life, the moments that have made you the happiest. You also remember the not so high points, your failures and mistakes. As I lay on the soft ground in that small north Idaho forest clearing, those types of thoughts went through my mind, however what I knew of my life was fairly short and it didn’t take too long to re-live. As far as my greatest failures, I really had two. One of which was the series of events that led up to me lying lifeless in a clearing and the other was losing Sara.
I was so careless, so confident and now look at where I was. I was dead and useless.
It then hit me. If I was laying there thinking about those things, then I couldn’t be dead. That bit of clarity awoke the rest of my consciousness, pulling it back up from deep inside. The bright light was blinding as I opened my eyes, but it didn’t take long to readapt and for my vision to come back into focus. In the sky were dark ash colored clouds moving rapidly through the area for as far as I could see.
I sighed in relief. “If there is a god, thank you.”
I was still in the clearing, not where I was laying when I’d passed out, but now at the foot of Hank’s truck. The bodies of Hank and the other two men were lying nearby, also against the truck. The shots I’d put into the other two men had not been lethal. Each shot connected with their right shoulders just as I’d intended. My objective was to disarm, disable and cause pain, not critically wound. I noticed they each had a scarlet hole in the middle of their foreheads to match their buddy Hank.
There was a crackling noise coming from behind me and I could smell burning oil. I struggled to slowly move my sore body, to look behind me and saw orange flames licking the top of the truck and black smoke rising above it.
“Oh crap,” I shouted as
I franticly tried to crawl from the burning vehicle. My body was weak and it took enormous effort to move. I saw a good sized rock jetting out of the ground about twenty feet away so I continued to move towards it, my adrenaline kicking in and refueling my depleted energy levels.
The sound of the explosion echoed throughout the clearing just seconds after I made it behind the rock. Burning pieces of truck flew past, but the rock gave protection from the fiery shrapnel. I relaxed myself against the saving stone.
I wasn’t so sure about god, but someone was watching out for me. If I hadn’t just woken when I did…
Whatever rifle the girl had used to shoot me had a high caliber. The rounds had passed right through me. That was lucky because if bullets were lodged in any major organs, I’m not so sure I would have been able to recover from the sun weakened state, under such trauma.
Bobby had gotten the better of me and I was the idiot who let it happen. From what I saw, his strength and speed were probably a match to mine. How could that be though? The only people I knew of who could do what he did were others from the HUB. I remembered a comment the girl made. She had asked if ‘he was like us’. Did that mean she had the same abilities too?
All in all, the day hadn’t turned out the way I thought it would. I should have been sound asleep in a dingy motel room somewhere already. Instead I had let people die and almost got killed myself in my idiotic rage fueled vendetta. It was all way too close. The whole morning was a mess and I was way too sloppy.
With the fire going strong, it wasn’t going to take long for someone to come and investigate. I continued to sit for a few more minutes, as the fire continued to consume the truck and once I felt like I had enough strength to walk, I slowly got up and staggered over to the only remaining vehicle not on fire. The wounds in my torso were painful still, but just an echo of what they initially were.
I opened the door to the black Blazer and saw the keys in the ignition. I was able to get my sore stiff body into the drivers’ seat and get it started. I drove back up the road to where I had parked the Land Cruiser.
Despite still not being able to move very well, I took everything out of the Land Cruiser and transported it into the Blazer. It was as good a time as any to get rid of it, plus it didn’t have enough fuel. The Blazer had a full tank of gas and it looked like it had enough tinting on the windows to protect me from the sun, so it would do.
I was going to be leaving the Land Cruiser near several dead bodies and the location of an explosion. For a moment I considered if it was a bad idea, but immediately put the concern to rest. Sure, the police could pull my prints from the vehicle if so inclined, but I was fairly confident I didn’t have prints on file anywhere. After all, I wasn’t supposed to exist.
Quickly, I got everything loaded in the Blazer and then drove back up towards the clearing where the fire was. The police would come up the road that led to the highway so I had to find another way back down.
It had been one mess of a last twenty-four hours. I was way too reckless and way too lucky. I needed to rest, to process all that had happened. I really needed something to eat.
I passed through the clearing and up one of the logging roads that led north, away from the direction of the highway.
CHAPTER 12
“I can’t believe we’re going to learn to freakin’ teleport tomorrow,” boomed Alex in his deep enthusiastic voice as we were dressing down for the day. He was apparently very excited about the prospect, but of course we all were.
The small area that served as the men’s living quarters for the Titan basic training program was not much to write home about, not that there was anyone to write home to. It was a cramped, one roomed dorm with a set of three steel framed bunk beds and six large steel lockers lining the walls. The walls were a flat muted grey and the flooring a plain grey vinyl covered in a heavy coat of shiny polish. Attached to the room was a bathroom also done in all grey, with two toilet stalls and a large shower with two heads. The space smelt like the bleach we used to clean everything with.
We were three weeks into the training program and every one of those days had started and ended with the same routine. Even though our speed, endurance and strength were well above that of an average person, we still could work to increase those levels even more. We started early and worked out the first hour on our own. I usually ran. Even after a few weeks, it was still a thrill to glide over the track. I couldn’t wait to get out in the open to run. I could only imagine the rush it would give.
After the hour of fitness time, we had a half hour to shower and gather for breakfast in a small room set up with cafeteria style tables. There was always plenty of hot prepared food brought in from the main facility cafeteria.
Although there were only seven of us that ate each meal, there was probably enough food for a group of twenty-five at each sitting. One thing we found was the more we used our abilities, the more energy we required. It seemed the calories used in running faster and exerting amplified strength increased in proportion with the performance level.
In short, our intense training schedule meant we had to eat a ton of calories to keep up our energy levels. Most of us ate around 8,000 calories on a day when eating light. The great thing about it was I could be a glutton and not have to pay for it. I’d never have to worry about love handles when I was older.
After breakfast came a long nine hour training session with a half hour for lunch and an hour for dinner before we headed back to the living quarters. Meal times were relished by us. It was a time where we could relax and try to enjoy conversation with each other, sometimes being able to forget the situation we were in. It was the most normal part of day, eating with the people who had become friends.
The girls had their own room on the other side of the hall, so after dinner, we never saw them again until morning. Although we were left to ourselves, we were restricted to the living quarters. The rooms came with a box of paperbacks and for lack of anything better to occupy the time before bed, I was able to pour through a good dozen or so of them.
During that first week, we all developed the strength and speed as promised. We spent most of the first week learning how to control our newly acquired power, which proved to be more difficult than I had expected. I’d assumed the use of the abilities would come naturally but found, without the appropriate amount of focus to harness such power, things could really get out of control.
The first time James tried to run, using what we liked to call our ’super speed‘, he didn’t give himself enough room to stop and ended up running directly into a concrete wall. There were several similar incidents with all of us. I had an incident being over-zealous while turning a doorknob.
Our first few weeks were focused on learning tactical combat techniques, both hand to hand and with various firearms and weapons. I was surprised how quickly we picked up on everything. One would have thought we’d been professional soldiers just brushing up after a few weeks’ holiday rather than post-comatose teens.
On the tactical firearms range, we moved through a simulated conflict zone, and it didn’t take long before we could all make it through, hitting each target without taking any lethal shots. Sara was especially adept at adapting to and moving through the range. She had it nailed after only two attempts.
Our hand to hand training was a hybrid of several styles of martial arts. It only took the one demonstration and a few rounds of sparing for each move to be ingrained in my mind. It was that way with the others as well. In just a short time we were all sparing with seemingly flawless technical expertise. The most difficult part was learning to control the power put behind each punch or kick. Certain situations would call for certain levels of force behind each blow. When we were facing each other, the full force of our hits could be taken, but when we were to head out on missions, we’d be facing others without our abilities. If we couldn’t pull back, each of our hits could be lethal. The equipment we practiced with told us the force of each hit and soon we had control.
The last part of our tactical combat training, before moving into the espionage, subterfuge and technical aspects of our training, was to be combat teleportation techniques. When Batton had first announced this, I assumed he must be kidding, except that Batton never kidded about anything. Matthew soon put that thought to rest as he demonstrated one of the teleportation devices to us. One second he was standing in the middle of the room and the next he was directly behind me. I thought he had disappeared somehow, which in itself was incredible, until I felt a tap on my shoulder.
He explained the device consisted of four bands, two around the ankles and two around the wrists of the operator. One of the wrist bands held a digital control device to enter settings and activate the PTD. Matthew explained that once activated, an energy field connected the four bands, creating a temporary artificial wormhole, to take the wearer instantly to their destination.
He explained it was a top secret highly advanced technology not available to anyone but our group. The designs for the technology were experimental and a working model was not expected for decades. Titan got a hold of the theory and early attempts at design and was able to develop the technology. The devices could give our group an obvious advantage in the field. The next day was the first day we’d get to try the PTD’s.
“You may want to make sure you ask the wall before you decide to teleport into it tomorrow,” said Alex with a smile.
James rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”
“I found it pretty funny,” I said.
I had just finished showering and was getting dressed into a fresh pair of grey PT uniforms. We had plenty of clothes to wear but only two varieties, the black fatigues and those.