The tendril of black orbs shot straight out of the side of the creature like a cat’s paw, swiping at his face. He fell back with a cry, losing all momentum and slipping out of super speed to fall on his ass.
Mae cried out when she saw him suddenly disappear and reappear mere steps from the creature.
“Are you okay?!”
He scrambled back as quickly as possible and got to his feet, turning to aim his hands at the thing in case it lunged again.
“It lunged at me!” he said. “Did you see it?”
The creature’s tendril-like arm recoiled slowly like a snake as Mae replied.
“No, it was too fast for me. I’d stay back now if I were you.”
“Don’t worry…” Shaun muttered as he prepared to keep a low instance of pulse blast churning between his fingers. “You don’t have to tell me twice now. This thing isn’t stopping whatever it’s doing.”
The morphing continued with the black beads rolling upwards until they were slightly taller than Shaun. They began to take on the unmistakable figure of a person, and as they bunched tighter together in various places, Shaun realized that they were forming the figure of a woman.
After a few seconds of viewing this transformation the figure solidified and took on a texture like polished glass. There were no more spaced between the spheres and no light leaked out. Only the shimmer of energy surrounding the figure continued to glow and pulsate as the facial features, which were oddly terrifying with no colorization, twisted into a wry smile.
Then the figure spoke, except its mouth didn’t move. Shaun wondered if he was being communicated with telepathically. The voice was like a computer simulation of what a female voice would sound like, but there was no mistaking the amusement in its tone as the figure surveyed Shaun’s mouth hanging open.
“Shaun Boding,” said the voice. “I think I’ve found you at last, and when you least expected it, no less.”
Instead of replying, Shaun called over his shoulder to Mae, who had stepped out of the figure’s line of sight (if it hadn’t noticed her already) and was keeping watch from behind a column.
“Can you hear this?” Shaun asked.
“Yes,” Mae answered, adding, “It’s not telepathic, whatever it is.”
A rough sound, like a chuckle, emanated from the heart of the figure and it lifted one of the pillars of its body until it formed a leg and took a step forward, graceful as it tested its movement through the space.
“Such intelligent beings,” it said through its speaker system. “I wasn’t expecting very much, but you impress me. Most of your kind simply runs away, or at the very least, are incredibly easy to throw around. But, you…” She took another step towards where Shaun stood, unperturbed by his glowing fingers. “You aren’t like the others. That’s why I need you. That’s why I’ve sought you out. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed by the results. No, indeed not. Austin Spencer was right. You are the exact human that I am hunting for. And now you will come with me.”
For the second time, her arm stretched out, fingers grasping in Shaun’s direction. He flared up his pulse blast and gritted his teeth.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” he said in a lowered tone. “I don’t even know what you are. How do you know Austin Spencer? What have you done to him?”
Even with the man being in prison, Shaun didn’t wish the man to be physically harmed. Seeing how easily this female-like creature had smashed her way into the restaurant, he could only imagine what sort of things had happened at the prison where Austin was being kept.
Another chuckle from the figure. Then, “I didn’t expect that, even for humans with your intelligence. My name is Zolyn, and I’m a being from the Xanther system. And I’ve come to take an item from you — one that you call The Vestige.”
Shaun’s eyes widened. His voice caught in his throat, but the being that called herself Zolyn didn’t give him a chance to respond.
“I’ll be taking The Vestige from you here and now, whether you hand it over willingly or not.” Another step and she raised both arms, extending them like liquid metal. “So, what will it be?”
10
The Escape Plan
So many questions swirled through Shaun’s mind, but only one thought kept breaking to the surface. That thought was that Mae needed to get out of here.
It took all of Shaun’s willpower not to look over his shoulder at Mae. To do so would immediately point out that there was a vial around Mae’s neck containing the shards of The Vestige. Going on how the female entity, Zolyn, was behaving, it appeared that she thought that Shaun was hiding The Vestige on himself somewhere. That would have made sense if he had been caught a year ago, but after his showdown with Bill Flagrant, the Vestige’s powers had been fused within him. Since that fight he had been able to use his Aberrant abilities without keeping a shard of The Vestige with him.
Mae on the other hand did not have that luxury. Instead the two of them had decided that it was now her responsibility to keep all of the pieces of The Vestige around her neck in a vial. Such a setup looked like a simple fashion accessory to regular people, and it also allowed Mae to use her powers whenever she liked.
All it would take for this Zolyn to confiscate the medallion would be to spot the pieces around Mae’s neck and yank them from her. The finely crafted silver chain would snap in an instant and Mae would not only have lost the shards, but she would also be vulnerable and separated from her super abilities.
Neither of those things were on Shaun’s wish list, so he kept his stance facing forward, grunting under his breath in the hopes that Mae was listening close enough to hear him.
“Get out... Mae, please get out of here...”
She heard him because suddenly she started communicating with him in rapid succession telepathically.
No! I’m not leaving you up against this thing alone. You can forget about it!
Shaun grimaced. Of course Mae wasn’t going to do the one thing he told what to do. She was usually the mastermind of various operations. Shaun normally admired her determination, but now was hardly the time to be brave — especially when your powers were only flight and visionary telepathy.
“Mae, please just do as I say... You need to protect everything.... Just listen to me this time!”
I can’t leave you! she insisted. But, Shaun shook his head.
“Go! I will be with you soon. Trust me.”
Mae continued to hesitate for another few moments, then at last, to Shaun’s relief, she fell back.
“If you don’t meet me at your house, I will kill you,” she said. Then she was off to the exit, darting through the door with the remainder of the patrons.
That’s if I’m not killed right here and now, Shaun thought as he mentally prepared to fight. He supposed that he could always just fly away if things got bad. Hopefully he could hold off until the police got here, though putting his hope in normal human beings felt silly. What could an ordinary man or woman do against this alien being that Shaun, an Aberrant, couldn’t do? It was an absurd idea. Yet what else could he do? Wait for a SWAT team to arrive?
Odds are, that’s exactly what’s going to happen, thought Shaun. I just have to keep this thing busy until they get here. Then I can jet.
Zolyn rippled like smoke over a chilly lake and surveyed Shaun with a placid expression.
“You will give me what I ask for,” she said. “This doesn’t have to be complicated.”
“Oh yeah?” Shaun replied. “From where I stand, you have no right to be making demands. The Vestige is mine and you’re not taking it from me.” To further his act of intimidation he flared his fingers and shot a rippling purple sphere of pulse energy at the figure. She side-stepped the display easily, moving with that eerie click-click-click sound like glass beads striking each other. Then she returned her focus to Shaun and grinned.
“So you do have it. I hoped that Spencer was telling the truth. He had no reason to lie, however. The shard of starlight that wa
s within him once before is no longer there. I will find that particular piece as well, but for now, I am pleased to see that you have made good use of The Vestige. Not many people would have done the same. Your kind, these humans, are a fearful sort. I half expected someone like you to gain all the power in the world and then obliterate the rest of your people until they were enslaved to you. That’s how this normally goes. But, you didn’t do that.”
“And I never will,” Shaun snapped back. “I stopped Austin from doing that very thing, and I will stop you as well with all the means at my disposal.”
Another chuckle from Zolyn as she moved in a lazy arc. Every step was methodical and purposeful.
“I expected Austin to have enslaved everyone by now. It was the end game for our little experiment. But, I don’t expect that from you. You have such determination. Strength. It’s just such a strong will that I will use against you. Wait and see. If you won’t hand over the starlight, then I will take it by force — along with you!”
11
Mae
Mae couldn’t believe she was actually listening to Shaun and abandoning him, but there she was, sprinting into the stairwell and taking the steps two at a time. Her hand gripped the steel railing with each vault downwards like her life depended on it...and her life probably did depend on getting the heck out of the building. The irony wasn’t lost on her that everything had to come to a screeching halt when she wasn’t wearing any of her typical Aberrant uniform. No weaponized boots. No mask. She was a straight-up civilian tonight.
First I need to find Mrs. Boding and Neil, she thought. Her heart pounded a mile a minute in her chest as anxiety threatened to make her lose her footing. Not now, she told herself, refocusing on keeping her balance. There’s no time to stall. I need to get those two out of here. If I don’t, and something happens…
She knew what would happen. Shaun would never forgive her — that’s what would happen.
Of course, setting out on her own was easier said than done. She didn’t have the caliber of powers that Shaun had. All she could do was fly and sometimes communicate telepathically. Otherwise she could see visions of potential future events, though that hadn’t happened in a long time.
Thankfully. Seeing crazy visions was the last thing she wanted to deal with. Right now she had to be careful not to knock anyone down the concrete stairs of the escape route while weaving in and out.
“Excuse me!” she said as she pushed her way in between two people who were taking their sweet time getting down the current flight of steps. “I’m very sorry — excuse me! Thank-you!”
A few more floors and she spotted Mrs. Boding at last, being led by Neil towards the final set of stairs. At the bottom was the fire door that led to the parking garage, and beyond that was an elevator servicing all the garage levels. The traffic jam of patrons trying to fit through the door at once was enough to cause Mae’s jaw to drop.
“This is like a disaster movie,” she muttered under her breath. Essentially, if they remained waiting to get out into the garage, they were in a dead end. If the glassy figure (what had she called herself? Zolyn?) was able to get past Shaun, it would be only a moment’s notice before they were all like fish in a barrel.
Mae searched the area for an alternate escape plan.
“Mrs. Boding!” she called as she started down the steps towards them. “Are you two alright? Mrs. Boding!”
“Mae?” Mrs. Boding stopped and turned to reach out an arm to Mae as the group was reunited. “Oh, thank goodness! I thought we had lost you in the crowd.” Her eyes darted around the stairs for a split second, then she added, “Where’s Shaun?”
Here we go with the excuses again. Mae hated that she needed to resort to covering for Shaun more and more lately, but what choice did she have? His family was way more involved than her own family was. There were schedules to keep and people to see, and if Shaun didn’t show up, then there needed to be a good enough excuse. Shaun usually relied on things such as being stuck at work...but this time that kind of excuse wasn’t going to fly for Mae.
“We got separated…” she started, looking around as if she were hunting for him, but in fact she was looking for another way out of this mess of people. After a moment, she spotted it: The emergency exit. Other people had been blocking her line of sight, but now that they had shifted, she knew that going out that exit would lead to the street.
She reached out and took Mrs. Boding by the arm.
“He must be heading for his car,” she continued, weaving the three of them through the cluster of people. “I know that he parked out on the sidewalk somewhere — on a side street. I told him that we’d meet him at home if we got separated.”
“How?” asked Neil with a frown. “Our car is still stuck up in the parking garage.”
Mae flashed him a mischievous smile.
“You’re forgetting that I also took my own car here, and I always find parking on the street. Parking garages scare me. I’m always afraid that they’re going to collapse. Now, I suggest that we all keep our cool and you follow me to my vehicle. It’s not far.”
Mrs. Boding hesitated, but Mae gave her a firm look.
“Mrs. Boding, please. I know that Shaun will be alright. He always is.”
She was saying that statement to get Mrs. Boding to feel comforted, but at the same time she was also using it on herself. Shaun had never faced such a mysterious foe before. Mae wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
But, she had to keep up the faith that things would turn out okay in the end.
Finally Mrs. Boding nodded.
“Alright. Let’s get going. The sooner we make it home, the sooner we can see if Shaun is there.”
They pushed their way through the emergency exit and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Thankfully the humidity of the stairwell gave way to the nice cool air of the street. Normally it was choked with car exhaust, but even with the vehicles beginning to pile up from the garage exit, Mae found it to be an improvement on the nearly stifling heat of all the sweaty, nervous restaurant patrons.
“Okay,” she said, looking around to get her bearings. “Let’s see which way is the quickest…”
She had just about figured out where they needed to go when a zip sound, like a skydiver falling through the air at intense speeds, sounded overhead. The crowd on the sidewalk looked up at the source and Mae’s eyes widened as she saw Shaun in his Fallout disguise shoot out of the broken restaurant window and into the open air. The blue light that ringed around his visor stuck out against the night sky like a beacon.
“Holy shit…” muttered Neil as he pulled out his phone. “That’s an Aberrant! One of the two they’ve been talking about on the news. Nobody at work is going to believe this…”
Mrs. Boding looked more concerned than impressed by the display, bringing a hand up to her chest.
“What can that poor boy do against something so unexplainable? He might get himself killed.”
If only she knew that the person in the air was her very own son, then she might be a bit more hysterical, thought Mae.
“Maybe he’s leading the thing away from the city,” she reasoned. She could only hope for that — and that he would get away without any injuries.
As she kept her eyes glued to the shining blue light, she saw that Shaun stopped in the air and turned to face the side of the building. What was he doing? Waiting for whatever that Zolyn woman was to follow him?
That had to be the case because it was only a few moments before the shimmering obsidian figure leapt out of the opening and glided through the air as if she were doing no more than swimming in a tank of water. People gasped and snapped photos and video with their phones — Neil included.
Mae suddenly had a moment of panic as she remembered what Zolyn had said before she ran out of the dining room.
The creature was looking for The Vestige.
Reaching a hand up to her neck, Mae wrapped her hand around the vial containing the shards of the medallion.
Quickly and carefully, she tucked the necklace into the neck of her dress and insured that it wouldn’t slip out into the open. Once that was finished, she waved a hand in front of Neil’s phone.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here!”
12
The Target
So, he can fly!
Zolyn watched as this human boy — Shaun Boding — soared out of the broken window and out into the night sky. He was fast. If she hadn’t been paying attention, it would have been as if he had teleported out into the open air. He came to an abrupt halt and turned, hovering above the street.
This makes things interesting, Zolyn thought. If the Vestige was able to give this Shaun Boding such an abnormal ability, it had to be expelling a ridiculous amount of energy. She could practically taste it from where she stood.
No other human beings were able to fly without an aircraft.
Zolyn knew right then and there that Shaun was exactly the kind of energy source she needed. He would be hers one way or another.
Thank-you ancestors for planting these seeds! It’s time to harvest.
Using all the energy at her disposal, Zolyn rose up into the air and followed Shaun out of the building. People down below were peppering her with flashes of light. Even more energy to claim. Shocked cries and pointing fingers.
She came to a stop about six feet from the young man and studied him with amusement.
“I didn’t know that you could fly,” she said. “I am impressed.”
Shaun looked back at her, his hands held before him with glowing purple energy flickering like sand shooting through the atmosphere. Whatever he was feeling, he certainly wasn’t letting his guard down. All the better to judge how potent his energy would be once Zolyn was able to begin harvesting it.
The Aberrant Series (Book 4): Super Invasion Page 7