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Beyond Tomorrow

Page 14

by Leigh Vernon


  Sam was waiting for her in the car when she got out.

  "I know where it is," he told her as she got in.

  "And I know what it can do," she replied.

  ---

  For days, Justin practiced with the sword, even though he doubted using it during battle. He had always trusted his powers and they had never failed him. It felt ridiculous to be practicing with a sword that could do nothing against fast paced bullets, and others with super powers more dangerous than his own. But Father Albert had insisted on his practice, making a fuss about using everything at one's disposal.

  They're coming for you.

  Justin stopped chopping the air and stood straight. He looked around him; everything seemed peaceful.

  There's no one here.

  You need to get the others. They'll be here soon.

  Reluctantly, Justin walked in and told the others to get ready for an imminent attack. Father Albert went into the house and grabbed a very big gun. He pressed a button on it and the gun whined loudly.

  "What?" He asked when he saw the look on Justin's face. "I can't make fire come out of my hands, but this baby can spew as many bullets as my fingers can take."

  Sarah smiled at the man. Gem walked forward a bit and came back.

  "They'll be here soon," she announced to the rest of the party.

  "How many of them are there?" Justin asked.

  "That's the thing - there aren't that many," the girl answered.

  A black car arrived first, stopping at a few feet away from the group. The engine went off and it stayed that way for about a minute or two. Justin held the sword high, ready to strike at anything that was coming for them. A woman stepped out of the car first; she had barely come into full view when Justin recognized the face. It was the same woman who had been trying to kill them all this while. She smiled briskly and stepped outside for the other man in the car to come out.

  "Hello, Justin," he greeted warmly, staying where he was. There was something in his eyes that Justin couldn't decipher.

  The woman continued to smile at them, much to the discomfort of Justin, who still held the sword in his hands. The man stepped forward a bit. Father Albert fired at him and he just waved the bullets off. Then he raised his hand and Father Albert was lifted off the ground. He held on to his neck like he was trying to breath.

  "I don't know why, but you humans think too highly of yourselves," the man said, walking towards them slowly. "You invent things that have no powers in them and put your trust into it. You think your knowledge is absolute and nothing can hurt you."

  "If you kill him, I'll hunt you down and cut you to pieces," Justin growled at him.

  The man let his hands down and Father Albert dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

  "I'm not here to kill anyone," Sam replied. "I'm here to talk."

  Justin looked back to make sure Father Albert was safe before he answered. "What do you want to talk about?"

  "You! You, and the power you carry."

  Don't listen to him.

  "Please tell him I can hear him as well," Sam said to Justin, who still had the sword over his head. "The man inside you."

  "I can take the woman. You handle the man," Sarah told Justin.

  He looked to the man who was standing before them. "He wouldn't have come alone if he knew he didn't stand a chance," he replied. "There's something else at play here."

  The hooded men surrounded the house quietly. They each stayed in position, communicating with hand signals so as not to give themselves away. One of them opened the door quietly and stepped in. Two others followed instantly, while the rest stayed back to curtail any incoming threats. The three men had barely gone in when a woman walked towards the house. As soon as she saw the men in hoods, she let the bag she was holding drop and opened fire. Two of those at the entrance fell immediately. The others returned fire and she was shot dead.

  Justin heard the shots first. The way it sounded, they were just between two people.

  "I thought you said you came to talk?" He asked the man standing before him.

  Sam swore under his breath. The men had blown their cover in the blink of an eye. "Yes, and I still want to," he replied softly.

  "Talk about what exactly?" Justin asked. Gem and Father Albert were already heading back inside, widening the space between them as they did.

  "You and I, we are more alike than you can imagine," Sam continued, trying not to act bothered about the botched attempt to steal into the house. "We both come from the same source and I'm sure we want the same thing."

  "How do you know what I want?" Justin asked.

  Sam laughed slowly. "You want to know what you are, don't you? You want to know why you did what you did?"

  For a moment, Justin remained frozen where he was. The man was right; he had always wondered about certain things and would have done anything to find out the truth about them. He also wanted to know why he was feeling so strong all of a sudden, but he didn't want to learn about it from the man standing before him.

  ---

  Father Albert found one of the men lurking behind his study. He aimed and fired swiftly, bringing the man down. The others heard the shot and began to circle around slowly. Thinking they were up against one enemy only, they opened fire where they thought they had him surrounded. When the shooting stopped, someone yelled at them from behind.

  They all turned at the same time, caught in the middle of Father Albert and Gem's shots. Only two of them made it out, running back towards the car they had brought as fast as they could. Gem was faster, rounding them up before they could get to the car. She shot one in the head and the other one straight through the heart. The driver of the car was less fortunate; the shot hit the windscreen before it hit him. He was first impaled by shards of glass, and then the bullet finished the job.

  "Nice shooting," Father Albert said to the girl as she came back. Gem grinned widely.

  As the gunfire raged on, Justin held Sam's stare with his own. They both remained silent, each of them trying to decipher which way the victory was tilting. So, when Gem and Father Albert came out of the house smiling at each other, Justin smiled at the man before him.

  "What were we talking about again?" He asked slowly.

  Sam's countenance changed instantly. He drew back and raised his arm towards Gem, who moved away quickly. The roof of the house behind the spot she had been standing caved in mightily. Justin shot out his hand in response, hoping to catch the man out before he recovered. The woman dragged him out of the line of fire immediately, just in time to see the bonnet of their car slice open.

  "You fool!" Sam yelled angrily. He brought both hands together and created a larger ball than the first one he had thrown towards the girl.

  Use the sword!

  Justin drew the sword the moment Sam fired at him. The ball was totally absorbed by the sword, much to the excitement of everyone except Sam, who was now seething with more anger than before. He cursed loudly and drew another ball. This time around, Justin was ready for him.

  Gianna saw the compass hanging loose from Justin's pocket and used the distraction Sam was creating to go for it. She had almost made it through when a hand flipped her feet. Before tripping to the ground, she saw Gem smiling widely at her. Justin moved out of the way as she crashed into the wall behind them all. She got to her feet slowly, debris falling off her as she did so.

  Sarah and Gem turned to Gianna while Justin's frame remained taut towards Sam. Father Albert was confused about which enemy to face for a while. He finally decided to face Sam, albeit careful not to get strangled again.

  "What is it you really want?" Justin yelled at Sam. "You're the Mayor of the city. Everyone loves the work you do, and they respect you for it. Hell, little kids sing about your heroics during the Civil War and yet, you still wish to destroy the very city you protected at all cost."

  Sam laughed at his naivety. "You think I protected this city because I loved it? You think I wanted to be Mayor? You have
no idea, son!"

  He threw a ball of fire towards Father Albert, who quickly ran behind Justin.

  "Is that the best you've got?" Justin taunted.

  Sam moved back a little and sent another blast towards them, this one more powerful than the last. Justin held the sword tightly as he cut through the blast. He surged forward with it, propelled by anger at Sam who stood waiting for him to approach. The first slice missed by a very large margin and without his agility, Justin would have fallen flat on his face. Despite that, Sam managed to kick him in the ground. He staggered backwards a bit, using his powers to steady himself. Father Albert knew he was without defense now and quickly fired from his gun. As he shot, he ducked into the building behind him quickly.

  Sam turned to Justin who was still breathing heavily. "You have no idea what it is you possess yet, but when you do, you will cause nations to shiver before you. You will crumble civilizations with just a wave of your hand and the world will grovel beneath your feet!"

  Justin smiled sarcastically, wiping the blood that had pooled on his brows.

  "You think?" He asked, gesturing with his head.

  Sam was about to say something when he paused. He realized he was bleeding from an injury to his left arm. It was a small cut, but enough to show that he wasn't invincible.

  "If there's something I know for sure, it's the fact that people make mistakes. They become vulnerable when they step out of their comfort zones. And you, my friend, just made a huge mistake."

  Justin came at him again, and this time, the sword was well positioned. He tried to stab him through the heart but Sam got away from him quickly. Then, he kicked him in the left thigh and brought the sword down heavily. Sam dodged the incoming onslaught and sent a jab to Justin's midribs. The pain forced the younger man to fly backwards. In a final attempt, Justin followed his fall with a swipe of his own hands, catching Sam by the face. The Mayor ran towards him quickly before he could fire another bolt from his outstretched arm. He grabbed the arm and twisted it strongly. He opened his palm widely and struck Justin in the chest. For a brief moment, Shay's soul came out. Sam saw him and was about to grab, but Justin stabbed him in the outstretched hand. The sword went right inside the middle of his palm, making him too shocked to do anything further. Justin was about to stab him again after pulling the sword loose when someone shot him from behind. He turned to see that reinforcements had arrived for Sam, who quickly used that opportunity to kick him again. As he staggered backwards, Sam followed with two quick jabs and an uppercut. Justin had barely landed when he sent a kick into his side again.

  "Pathetic!" Sam spat out as he towered over the man on the ground. His hand was bleeding profusely and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't lift it up.

  Justin looked up in time to catch a foot aimed at his head. He twisted the ankle and forced Sam to howl out in pain.

  Gianna was faring better than her boss against Gem and Sarah; her aerobic skills meant that they couldn't touch her no matter how hard they tried, but she couldn't get through to them either, with Gem combining her speed with her premonition. The three of them were going roughly at each other, playing a game of wits rather than strength. Gianna felt drained by the efforts it was taking to put these two down – never had she experienced a battle lasting this long. Sarah hurled a huge brick towards her suddenly, Gem following it with a rain of sand to confuse her. She had barely escaped the onslaught when something struck her. She swayed swiftly to the left and got a kick to the head from Sarah, who had timed her attack perfectly, using the dummy shot Father Albert fired as a distraction. Gem came at her then, as fast as she could. For a split second, the knife she had in her hand was in range of Gianna, who moved just at the right time. The knife dropped from Gem's hand as she fell to the ground and Sarah quickly ran to help the girl up.

  "Enough!" Sam shouted at them all.

  Gianna ran to him quickly, seeing that he was bleeding heavily. She held his arm up herself and helped him to stand up straight. The rest of the men had Justin in their grasps. One of them handcuffed him to the back while another took the sword from him quickly and passed it to another one.

  "Stay back or he dies!" Sam announced to the other three, who looked on in shock.

  Sam turned to the car beside him and got in slowly, still helped by Gianna. She left him in it and joined the other car where Justin was placed. As they drove away, Sarah cursed loudly.

  Chapter 17

  Justin heard someone talking to him. As hard as he tried, he couldn't open his eyes. The voice kept coming at him, louder than before.

  Wake up.

  He thought he had heard that voice before. It belonged to someone he knew, someone he had met some time ago.

  Wake up now or we're going to die!

  He remembered the voice now; it was the same voice that had been talking with him over and over again since all of this started. He opened his eyes slowly and counted those around him. They had boxed him in their middle, each man geared up for any eventuality of his trying to escape. There was a woman beside the driver whose hair was filled with sand. Justin knew who she was. He knew who had taken him and he thought he probably knew where they were going, but he needed to act quickly. His sword had been taken somewhere else. He only had his hands, which had been handcuffed behind him, to rely on.

  You don't need the sword if you know what you're doing. Break those handcuffs.

  For a moment, Justin thought he had heard wrongly. He was surrounded and greatly outnumbered and this man kept telling him to break the cuffs.

  You believed the sword could do what it did, didn't you?

  The question made him realize it was true - he could do anything if he truly put his mind to it. He leaned back heavily and sent a kick into the face of the man next to him. The second one to his right tried to grab him and earned himself a head butt. Another one pulled a pistol and shot him at close range. Justin closed his eyes tightly, thinking he was dead. He opened them when he realized the bullet had only grazed his forehead. Ignoring the little cut that resulted from that, he dove right into the man, causing the car to buck a little. The driver maneuvered quickly to avoid losing the steering. The result was Justin being hurled to the other side, where a man was getting ready to use a Taser on him again. Justin remembered how he had grinned at him the first time when he had done so from behind. Before he could gather himself, Justin shot his leg out and kicked him down below. He dropped the Taser and yelled in pain. The last man was holding his hands up already in surrender.

  "They don't pay you well enough, do they?" Justin asked him before he head-butted him as well.

  The van stopped suddenly and the front doors flew open. Before they could get to him, Justin had broken free of the handcuffs and was holding a gun to the door. It opened and he fired, taking a man down with the hinges of the door.

  "Damn! I used the wrong gun," Justin muttered as he checked the gun in his hand. It was way too heavy to be fired at close range.

  He waited silently for the woman to come through too, but she didn't. Instead, someone grabbed him from the roof of the car. As he tried to fight off his assailant, she dropped onto him and began to pound him seriously. He managed to hurl her off him and against the inside of the van. One of the men tried to get up and she hit him as she also came crashing against the van. He fell again, this time with a broken neck.

  "You don't get tired, do you?" Justin asked her as she got to her feet again.

  She grinned widely and made for him again. She didn't see the gun in his hands and was caught off guard as he fired twice into her. The first one hit her against the inside of the van and the second one tore a hole into it, but she got up and came at him again. Justin ducked and fired another shot. She dodged in time and the shot took out a portion of the van's roof. She climbed him and began to hit him with both hands till he had to just let her hit while he blocked. Looking around, he found the sword lying helplessly around. He grabbed it and drove it into her side.

  Gia
nna's eyes flew wide open as it registered to her that she had been impaled for the first time in her life. She had suffered cuts and bruises that healed over time before, but being impaled had never happened. Just as she made to say something, Justin took the sword out and stabbed her again. She wheezed loudly and fell to her side, blue blood pouring from her body.

  Justin looked around to make sure there was no other person in sight before he made a run for it. He had lost the compass, but the sword and his life were worth more. He wanted to go back to the way they had come, but decided against it; there might be more of them coming from behind. Seeing that he had no other options, he ran into the nearest forest instead, taking care to avoid the pathways.

  ---

  Sam waited outside the mansion for Gianna to arrive with the boy. He was impatient as he strolled along the corridor, having completely healed from his wounds. Although there were scars that stubbornly clung to his skin, he was feeling better than he had anticipated. A car made its way into the compound and he peeped to look at it. It was not the van he was expecting, but there might have been trouble and they probably changed cars. Why had he not been able to connect with Gianna spiritually?

  The man that got out of the car walked towards him slowly, his head hung low. Sam knew that something was wrong in that instant. He didn't need anyone to tell him.

  "What is it?" He barked at the man, impatiently.

  The man jumped back before he answered. "I'm sorry to inform you that there must have been some sort of accident with your bodyguards who were transporting something along the Dread Street. Either that or there was a very big fight, which I'm here to ask you about."

  The man's answer and the manner he had said it annoyed Sam but he kept his cool.

 

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