To begin with, this is a book I am writing. Sorry about the formatting with the paragraphs not being tabbed, but it wouldn't load correctly. Enjoy, and please comment:D
1.) The Beginning
Today is tuesday, September 18th, 2012. The day I was viciously murdered.
Chapter 1. The Quickening September 11, 2012
I was in my apartment building on the third floor when I heard a knock on the door. I stood up in my living room and walked toward the handle. I unlocked the door and looked back at my house. I sighed. I'd been living in the apartment for eight years and it only seemed to get smaller. The kitchen was about ten square feet and the living room wasn't much bigger. My bedroom was larger than my mom's, but she insisted that I took it. We only had one bathroom and the plumbing didn't work a lot of the time. Everything was grey. The only thing with color in the apartment was the front door; it was blood red. I turned the nob and opened the door. There was a broad man standing at the door.
"Mom! There's somebody at the door!" I yelled to her in the apartment. We never had visitors. I figured they wanted to see her. "Come in," I said to the man hesitantly. He was tall and well built. He had to be at least six feet, three inches tall. I was one or two inches shorter than him. I couldn't tell with the combat boots he was wearing. He had dark hair and bright green eyes like an apple. The man was dressed in dark blue jeans and a plain, white t-shirt. My mother has short, blonde hair that dropped down to her shoulders. She is skinny but not frail. She normally wore jeans, a blue or purple blouse, and brown cowboy boots. My style was tennis shoes that raised my height by about an inch. I normally wore jeans and a button-up shirt.
"Is she home?" the man asked.
"Yeah? I saw her earlier. Let me check on her." I yelled to my mom with a worried tone in my voice. I could always sense danger ever since my father had left us. There was something about this guy that I didn't like, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" She yelled. I could hear the hollow click of her brown cowboy boots.
One, two, three, four. I counted the click of her heels in my head, five, six, seven. The clicking stopped and I began to secrety panic. I looked over my shoulder and when I turned around, the man was holding a gun up to my head. It's insane how much somebody can remember about a specific moment in their lives. I could easily calculate every given second. I heard a muffled scream coming from the kitchen when my mother and two other men came out. She was wearing her usual purple blouse except it had rips in it. She was being carried by the other men. She was laid over the first man's shoulder while the other man put a gag in her mouth. The two men had the same build as the other mystery man. They looked too much alike. My mom gave me a very familiar look. She was telling me to run, but I was refusing. They were not going to take her!
"I'm gonna kill you, you sick, sorry freak!" I screamed. I grabbed a kitchen knife and slammed it toward his head. He dodged my swing as it grazed his left eye leaving a bloody mess.
"You can't kill us!" one of the men stated. "You can't kill The Immortal!" He said that like I was supposed to know what he meant. The man that had yet to say anything grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the fridge. My blonde hair started to immediately be covered with blood. It was so warm. I could feel it drip down my back. It felt like liquid heat running down my flesh. My eyes slowly started to close as they carried my mother away.
When I finally came back to my own consciousness it was two hours later and I was in the ER. I was still wearing all of my clothes, but restraints were holding me to the hospital bed. I looked around the glass room. There was nothing more than a white hospital bed, a heart monitor, and a puddle of blood on the floor. That concerned me. Something else that was strange is that the floor and the ceiling were also glass. I didn't quite know what to think of it, so I decided not to. Behind doors, two women and a man were sternly talking to each other. They kept gesturing over towards me. It made me much too uncomfortable. One of the women left. I realized, as she walked away, that she had a gun concealed on her belt.
Why would a nurse need a gun? I thought to myself. Worried, I tried to pull on my restraints and managed to get my legs free. The man and woman glanced over at me. The older man gave the young nurse something and she walked into the room. She had a fake smile on her face, and I didn't like the thought of it.
"Let me go!" I said to the nurse. She refused. "You don't get it; let me go! I can't be here! My mother is in danger."
"Look, honey. If I could legally let you go, I would. But legally, I cannot do that!"
Legally? What did that mean? What did that man give her? Surely she must be a pawn in his game of chess, and I, the enemy. I began to think how I could get out of this crazed hospital. I thought up a plan, but nothing went as it was supposed to. I pulled the wrist restraints from the bed, causing no surprise to the nurse. She secretely put her hand behind her back to hide something.
"I'll just force my way out of here." When I stood up I felt different. I can't explain it. It's like there was a new part of me. "Did you conduct any surgery on me?" I asked the nurse.
"We just made sure that you were fine, but no surgeries were performed." She replied. "But I'm sorry, Truitt, I won't let you leave!" Her face became stern and her eyes as solid as night. "Be careful!" She said like a crazed psychopath. She pulled out a knife from behind her back and threw it towards me. I ducked just in time before it pierced my head. The knife whizzed into the air and broke the window behind me causing the air to gush into the hospital room. I could smell the ocean air. We must have been on the coast of California where my mother and I had been living. She threw two more knives at me. I dodged the first, and the second came right across my ear barely missing it. I turned and grabbed a syringe. To my advantage, it was only filled with air. She swung at me and I grabbed her arm that was weilding a new knife. She gashed my arm open and spit on me. I swung over her and stabbed the syringe into her neck and injected the air into her bloodstream. She began to shake, slumped over, and died. When I turned around, a man holding a crossbow was aiming straight toward me. I only saw him for a split second because instinct told me to leave. I jumped through the second story window and started falling toward oncoming traffic on a highway. I landed on my feet, jumped over a car, and rolled in the air to land on me feet again. I didn't realize I could do anything like that! I looked up and cars were speeding at me going at least sixty miles per hour. I dodged a semi truck and almost peed myself. This was like a sick game of dodgeball where if you got hit, you died. A truck came whizzing toward me and I counted to three quietly before I jumped up. I flipped around and landed in the back of the red blur.
What am I going to do? I thought to myself.
"Get off my truck!" screamed the man.
That's it! That's exactly what I am going to do! I jumped off the freeway and plummeted toward the ocean. The feeling of diving from one-hundred feet in the air is the kind of feeling you get when you think there is one more step in a staircase but your foot comes plummeting toward the ground. You get this sick feeling in your stomach and you feel like you are about to die, when in reality, it does absolutely nothing to even harm you! I fell towards the water and all I could think about is me.
I swam to shore and found that absolutely nobody was there. My jeans were soaked with water. I walked along the beach and still saw nobody. Confused, I headed toward a phone booth. The style reminded me of the old Superman movies. I picked up the phone and held it to my ear only to hear static. When I looked up at the glass on the door, the single letter "C" was written in blood. I started to panic. I pulled on my blue button-up shirt as I worried. I turned around and leaned on the phone booth. My mother could have been dead already, and there I was in the middle of nowhere having no way to help her. I began to cry at the day's events.
"Hello? Will anybody answer me?" I screamed. I turned and saw a pack of wolves glaring into my eyes. I stood there as blood dripped down my arm, burning from the ocean water. This could not be real, as every single wolf was as white as snow. Behind them stood a man that said one phrase.
"I know where she was!" A lean, tall man said. At the first glance, I thought he was a homeless man with his scraggly beard and semi-long, brown hair. His appearance worried me. The man that knew how to get my mother back wore flip-flops, worn out jeans, and a hawaiian button-up shirt that only had four buttons done.
Great! I thought to myself. The wolf man is crazy and he knows where my mom is. Just great!
I looked into his seaweed green eyes and screamed, "Give me my mother or I'm going to kill you!" I charged toward him ready to attack but he just snapped his fingers and the wolves charged right towards me. I backed up until my back hit the phone booth. I screamed from terror and the wolf man called them off. They still circled me and glared at me as I took a few steps forward.
"Quiero matarte," I said in Spanish. Ever since I started taking college level spanish, I would begin to speak it as I would get angry. It just seemed natural. What I said was perfectly true. I wanted to kill him and would if I had the chance.
"You're like your mother: angered and passionate in what you believe in. Truly a tragic flaw."
Strike one. I thought.
"You're well built! What do you bench-press? Is it two hundred and thirty five pounds? That seems reasonable. I'm surprised you let them take her!"
Strike two. I thought.
"How do you know her?" I snarled. The fact that he knew her made me sick. I wanted my mother, but he wanted humor.
"Tell me!" I screamed.
"That is beside the question. I just want to help you find her!"
"I thought you knew where she is."
"Correction. I know where she was. This organization won't keep her in one place long, but we have to hurry. As for the organization, I can't tell you anything"
"How can I trust you?"
"Listen, kid. If I snap my fingers, you die a painful death. Consider yourself worthy. The name's Joseph. Joseph Sullivan."
"Truitt Carter," I said as if I was asking him. I was still trying to decypher why he said I should feel worthy of his help. For some reason, he cared. That reason made me feel worthy.
"Come on, kid. You look terrible. Let's patch up that arm" And that's when I began to like Sully the wolf man.
He took me to an underground mansion. Literally, it was huge! His bathroom was just smaller than my whole apartment! The floor was black marble and the staircase, made of perfectly clear glass. Occasional rose bushes were planted in pottery here and there. A large chandelier hung in the middle of the room It was decorated with magnificient, silver arrows and axes. I took a second look and could have sworn that I saw blood stains on some of the weapons. It reminded me of a gladiator, yet it was beautiful. There was a red velvet colored, suede couch and on both sides were black, coffee tables. There were large, famous painting by Picasso hung everywhere. Sully had been talking about something that I probably should have listened to, but I couldn't focus on him. I was dumbfounded.
"Listen, kid," Sully said to catch my attention, "this is not going to be easy. I'd rather train you in combat before we leave to find your mom."
"Sullivan, I don't think you realize this situation! I-"
"Listen, Carter. You don't understand what these people can and will do. They will kill you when and if we find your mother. I don't like it anymore than you do, kid, but we have to train."
To my demise, I said, "Let's Start!" Sully stepped over to his closet and opened up the lightswitch panel. He pressed a little red button and the staircase leading back to above ground slid open revealing a training area.
This is going to be fun. I thought. The way I had changed over the past three hours was insane.
My name is Truitt Carter, I am sixteen years old, and my mother was kidnapped today.
Chapter 2. Training September 11, 2012
Worthy doesn't describe how I felt when I walked into that training room! There were weapons laid out everywhere. The room was denim blue and the floor was padded with some sort of material. There were no windows and all the lights were covered with protection. There was no furniture and nothing that would distract me.
"Where would you like to start?" Sully asked.
"Start? This place is huge!" I was absolutely awestruck. I had no clue what to say. "Let's just start with the basics, I guess!"
Sully laughed and pulled me into a room filled with all these ordinary household items and weapons. There were things from kitchen knives to broken lamps used for defense to couches used to relax. The messiness of this room reminded me of my room back in California. To tell you the truth, I had no idea where I was. I could have been in some foreign country and not known it.
"If you want to learn how to fight with the good weapons, you have to know how to use your surroundings as a weapon. Try me!"
I looked around the room and couldn't decide what to use. Finally, I grabbed a knife and lunged toward him. With one swift motion, he grabbed a couch cushion and a tv remote. He threw the remote at my head and held the cushion in front of the knife blocking me from stabbing him. The remote slammed into my head and immediately it started throbbing.
"What was that?" I yelled. Inside, I was wondering why there was a television remote, because there was no tv in this room.
"Defense." He replied, "Learn it, or die." He grabbed a guitar and took a swing at me. That sense of danger came back to me. Instinctively, I reached for a hanger and let the guitar lodge in the hook of it. I pulled back on it and kicked Sully straight in the stomach sending him to the ground.
Why would he use the guitar? I thought. I decided not to ask him why he swung the beautiful, expensive, electric guitar. I thought it was a stupid idea to waste such a good instrument, but I decided not to get on his bad side. On the other hand, I was smiling at myself for taking him out.
"Nice one, kid." He managed a smile.
"What's next?" I chuckled secretly wanting to leave this clustered room.
We ended up in a miniature jungle. I could feel the excitement showing on my face. When I turned to Sully, he just laughed. I felt as if we were outside again. The lights were strategically placed to look like the sun. As time went on, the lights would change their brightness and position. I could smell the ocean again, but what ocean? This was a forest not a paradise. I could hear the howling of animals in the shrubbery and I started to wonder how much money Sully actually had. He thought of everything! I wondered what he did for a living to give him all this equipment.
"You're going to find yourself in places that don't really match your style," he said, "but you'll have to just keep pressing on and use your instinct."
"I think I can handle this." Instinct was who I was. Instinct of danger was my nature. It turns out that instinct of nature was my danger. We walked over to a giant red line that read "Start".
"Round One," A mechanical womans voice appears over the intercom, "difficulty: amateur."
Amateur? I thought to myself, What could be easier?
Could I have been any more wrong? This instinct was completely different! The tree limbs were covered in ice but the forestry was filled with thorns. I tried climbing the trees but only ended up on the ground. Sully had given me gloves, combat boots, and a belt that wasn't near my style. He said not to ditch it because I would need it soon. I wasn't used to the grip of the gloves and I hadn't broken into the boots yet. It seemed more of a neusance than a help. I finally just decided to keep running forward. I was completely unaware of where I was as everything looked the same. I finally made it to the finish line breathing heavy.
"Level one, completed!" the woman's voice said, "Time: forty-three minutes." Forty? It felt a lot less than that. I felt hopeless. Sully said I did fine, but the expression on his face told me that I had completely failed this task. I felt sick and sore. I had no clue what to do. Even though I was now out of the arena, I turned left and right having no clue where I was. Sully grabbed me by the arm and told me to relax.
"Let's try this again," he said, "This time, you watch me do it." He moved with such bliss, it was insane. He was probably in his mid to late twenties so I would only expect him to be in shape. I watched him through a monitor which made me realize that there were cameras in there that I had never seen. He was well built and had way too much time on his hands. He finished the course in literally half the time it took me to finish. When he was done, he just walked with his hands on his head and kept a steady pace of breath. He was the perfect trainer.
"Level one, completed! Time: nineteen minutes."
"It's okay, kid," Sully said, "Let's try it again."
Determination killed the cat, not curiosity. Eventually, I proved myself to be amateur, but I had so much more obstacles to overcome. Each time I did it, my time went down and I became less weary. In intermediate, there was a swarm of angry bees that followed me until I reached the finish line. I must have been stung at least six times. By time I had finished that level, I was in so much pain, but my time was short! In expert, there were land mines. I managed not to set one off. A small, harmless squirrel wasn't so lucky, though. Now came time for me to finish the demolisher stage. The ground was erupting in flames and if I stood in a tree for too long, it would collapse under my feet. I had about fourteen solid seconds I could spend in one tree before it would snap. Gunfire was also being shot from above, so I could not roam too high in the trees. I decided to stay closer with the fire. I jumped from limb to limb on the trees, sometimes barely reaching the next tree. I knew I was close to the end. I could just sense it!
There it was, the finish line. I was twenty yards away when I saw a vicious monkey coming to attack me. I jumped from tree to tree as it started gaining on me. I always had a phobia of monkeys. They're so vicious. I went to the San Diego Zoo with my mother and father and a monkey screamed at me. I remembered hearing about monkey maulings. I was little and scared. This is how I felt with my mom gone.
Why monkeys? I thought to myself. Why not a killer bunny rabbit?
I jumped for the finish line and missed it by inches. I thought for sure I was going to die. As I was falling, I realized a gap in the fire. I dove for a vine that led to that spot and dropped down to my safety. I could immediately feel the sweat forming on my brow. There was a trapdoor engraved in the ground and I jumped into it. I went down through the trap door and couldn't see anything.
What can I use for light? I asked myself. I could tell that the stone floor was wet. Limestone! I grabbed a rock on the ground and struck it against a belt that sully gave to me. Of course! The belt had to be made of some sort of reactant! There was a flash and I could see everything for a split second. I ripped off my shirt and struck the rock on my belt, again. The shirt caught in blazing flames. For a second, I smiled, but then I could sense a pair of eyes on me. I didn't dare move after I heard the roar of a tiger. I counted to three, then I bolted straight toward the finish line and the tiger charged for me.
Great! I thought, I get to be dinner! The past few days flashed before my eyes. My mother and I happy one day; and the next day, turmoil. Next, I saw the wolf man snap his fingers to call off the wolves. As the tiger went into it's pouncing position, I snapped my fingers. It continued to pounce and tackled me to the ground. It looked straight into my face, roared, and ran off in the other direction. This time, I know I wet my pants. I ran for the finish line and claimed my victory. I still had my manmade torch in my hand when I ran throught the line. It was hard to believe that I had come this far in one day. It wasn't even too late at night, yet!
"What next, coach?" I asked.
"How about some sleep?" He chuckled, "No matter how strong a warrior is, they are vulnerable if they have no sleep." I made a mental note to remember that.
When he took me to my room, I was surprised. It looked just like my room in my apartment back in San Diego.
"I thought you could use a little bit of home." Sully said.
"You wouldn't even imagine!" I smiled, "Thank you, Sully!" I ran to him and grabbed him like he was the father I had always wanted to know but never had the chance to find. He seemed to be the void in my family, and I couldn't quite explain why.
Who knew that my old, gloomy room from my apartment would make me so happy? Laying down in bed, I found a comfort that I thought may never have returned to me. I just didn't want to let it go. It was all fine until I fell asleep ten minutes later and the nightmares began.
"Who are you?" I had cried to my mother's kidnapper. "I promise you, I'm going to hunt you down and kill you like the animal you are!"
"I know where your mother was."
"The name's Joseph."
"You don't understand what these people can and will do."
"He seemed to be the void in my family."
Then the face came. It was the face of a woman, but not a pleasant woman. She was in pain and seemed to be wanting to die, but couldn't. It wasn't my mother, but I had a bad feeling it would soon be her if we didn't find her. In my dream, I promised the woman and my mother one thing.
No matter how long and how hard I have to look for you, I will find you. I will kill your captor. We will live in paradise once again.
And that was the end.
Chapter 3. My True Gift September 12, 2012
Waking up at five in the morning wasn't quite to my liking, but I knew we had a job to do. I was exhausted, especially considering my nightmare from the night before. The scream from the woman in the dream had still been stuck in my head for hours. I couldn't help but to shudder. It was terrifying to think that one day my mother will want to die but not be allotted the privledge of mercy. I walked down to the kitchen to find an array of pancakes, pastries, fruit, and drinks. Sully was drinking a glass of milk when he turned to look at me. I couldn't help but give him a half-hearted smile when I noticed his milk moustache. I know he could tell something was different. I didn't want him to know that I was worrying. A good warrior has no fears but fear itself. I already broke that with my monkey phobia. He put so much pressure on me to be perfect. The kitchen was like something you would see Paula Dean use. It had a country feel and a warm feeling.
"What's wrong, kid?" Sully had asked me as he wiped his dairy moustache off. It was the one question that I had been dreading to hear. "Listen, I know you're broken about your mom being taken, but don't let it get to you! She's smart and she'll get through this!"
This guy could not be real! Don't let it get to me? How could he be saying something like this? I wanted to vomit all over the pinewood table. I looked down for a minute or two and neither of us said a word. When I looked up, I noticed there was another plate that had already been torn into. I wondered whose it might have been.
"Tell me one thing," I managed, "How do you know her?" Nothing could have prepared me for the answer I was about to receive.
"Your father didn't disappear," he began, "He was murdered."
I didn't know what was going throught my head. My father left me when I was eight. Eight years had past and the wolf man was telling me that he was, what? Murdered? By whom? Why did this have anything to do with my mom?
I calmly said, "What do you mean?"
Sully continued, "Your father was a bad man. He was a powerful man. Your mom, she knew that. So, she needed to get rid of him."
I started to think of when I was a kid. He seemed fine to me. I don't get why anybody would think he was a bad man. He was always smiling. He was an amazing father until he left. Or, until he was murdered.
"My mother didn't kill my father. She's not that kind of person. She wouldn't do that. Why are you."
"Karen is smart, like I said. She knew the difference between love and living. Killing your father was living. She loved him. He did nothing to show this emotion back. He sat back and let her take care of you and scold you so you would run to him when you were sad. Your mother finally got tired of his lies. This is where I'm painted into the picture. I was supposed to act like a scapegoat! Help her kill him and then take the blame: that was my duty! You're mom, she-"
"Shut up! You don't know my mom."
"I may not know your mom, but I do know Karen Carter. And I know that the woman who gave birth to you killed the president of the people who now have her. Nothing can change that, Truitt. This isn't just a small, petty, high school fight. This is war! They will stop at nothing!"
"Wait, my dad was the-"
"Leader of The Immortals? Yes!"
This time, I did puke in my mouth. Everything I loved as a little kid and all the good memories had been destroyed by the truth. I thought back to the day my mother was kidnapped and remembered something important.
"That man, he said that we couldn't kill The Immortals. What did he mean?"
"This system of government, The Immortals, believes that if they're going to die, they might as well make a show of it. They will kill all of those who surround them. They will kill the family. They will destroy nations if they have to. This is why they have your mom!"
I had to find her. There was no way that they were going to kill her. I could not be the reason. This could not be about me.
I managed, "Sully? Am I the reason why they have my mom?"
Sully whispered, "It's because of your father. It's in your blood. The need for power and how to use it runs through your veins. They will stop at nothing to get you on their side. Do not fall for their trap. Never fall for the things unsaid. Be aware. Stay vigilant. And don't be stupid. You have something that they don't. You have the will to continue on, even through death. You have the mind of a soldier. They want to break you. This is why they took your mother. It's like a giant game of chess. They have you in check. Don't make the wrong move because life doesn't always offer second chances."
I felt sick with all this pressure on me. The fate of my mom was in my hands. If I blinked when I wan't supposed to, people would die. My mom was smart, but it was about me, not her! They wanted to break me and would kill anybody to do so. I needed to train so I could get her back!
"Why do they want me on their side?" I asked, "What are they planning to do?"
"Listen, kid. These people are already powerful and psychotic. They have disgusting minds. They have power to start a World War III. The Immortals want a dictatorship in the United States. Important criminals have been in this government. John Wilkes Booth was big in The Immortals. He killed Abraham Lincoln so that we wouldn't have a leader in our nation. He planned to take over America!"
"This is insane! Why hasn't the news released this information, yet?"
"Because the news doesn't know this, but listen, kid! We need to get to training so we can stop these creeps."
"Come on, coach! Let's get to the weapontry!" I said. Sully pressed the same red button under the same light switch. We walked into the weapons room and I was amazed! There were swords, daggers, javelins, bows and arrows, and pistols. They were beautiful! They were split into different areas. Bows were hanging on the wall on silver displays. Pistols were lain out on a table that was covered with a royal blue tablecloth. Most of the pistols were revolvers, but you could find any type of weapon. Swords were on a black, metal table next to a sharpener, and daggers were on an identical table next to it. Javelins were hanging from ropes on the ceiling which made me nervous. I tried not to walk under them. The whole room had to be one hundred square feet. There was a small helicopter landing pad that I imagined we would train there. The ground was painted to look like a giant cloud. It secretly made me sick. I turned to Sully who was grabbing armor that he supposed would fit me. He pushed them to my chest telling me to put them on.
"Grab a sword and come here," Sully said. I realized he didn't bother to wear any armor. I went to the weapons table that contained a sword that immediately caught my eye. The hilt was blood red and the blade was black and silver. I picked it up and turned around to see a beautiful girl with brown hair and blue eyes holding a sword at my chest. She was wearing brown, leather armor that reminded me of the greeks. She had to be about five and a half feet tall, at least. She had no freckles and a small nose that for some reason made me smile. She was grinning at me with perfect teeth.
I looked at Sully, "Who's she?"
She raised an eyebrow at me, "I'm Allison, his daughter!" She smiled. She had a wonderful, British accent.
"And your trainer," Sully continued.
I choked on my own saliva, "She's my what? I didn't even know you had a daughter. She can't train me! She's a girl! I know that girls can fight, but come on, Sully! How old are you, anyway?"
"He's thirty-four!" Allison walked closer to me and held the sword to my neck. She whispered in my ear, "How'd you get that cut on your arm, again? Look's like we girls can do some damage!" Sully bursted out laughing. We both looked over at him and he smiled at us.
"Have fun!" Sully said as he left the room. I wished that he had never left.
"Question," I said.
"No," She replied. Immediately, she swung her sword and tried to cut my head off! I screamed and blocked it, but it sent me to the ground. She was good.
"Girls can't do what?" She mocked me and gave me a smirk. I took no time to attack back. I slammed my sword against hers and she deflected it with no effort. None of my hits were catching her off guard. It was like she was programmed for this!
"You're like a lost puppy!" She chuckled, "You have no clue what you're doing."
I chuckled, "You caught me." She walked behind me and grabbed my wrists. My first thought was that she was going to try to kill me, then I realized her gentle hands.
"Relax," she whispered. I let my arms fall to my sides. I couldn't help but to fall for her. She was amazing! She kept telling me how to form my shoulders as I carry a sword. She pulled my shoulders back, keeping my back straight.
"Be gentle," she said, "And let the momentum of the sword take over. Don't think about what you are going to do. Let it be natural." She stepped back and gave me a look that said "try it". I swung at her and our blades came in contact. I eventually over powered her and she fell to the ground. She blew her hair out of her face and flipped backwards. She swung her sword over towards me and cut my jeans open.
"If the enemy is down," she said, "attack them! Don't show them any mercy!" She swung at me again and I deflected her blade. This went on for a couple of minutes and I could feel myself break into a sweat. I turned looked into her eyes and I could have sworn she checked me out. I chuckled.
"What?" she insisted.
"Nothing!" I replied, laughing again. She swung at me while I turned to smile and knocked me to the ground with her hilt.
"Other than that," she said, "I think you have the sword techniques down. Grab a pistol."
I was a natural with a pistol and a dagger. Before my dad was killed by my mom, he would take me to the shooting range. I was a pretty good shot! I would hit the target dead on nine out of ten times. As for the dagger, it just came natural. It was like an extension to my wrist.
"Grab an arrow!" Allison said with her accent. I walked over and found a sturdy bow and a quill of arrows. "Keep your shoulders back and you should do fine."
This is going to be a joke, I thought to myself. I stood firm and rolled my shoulders back. I reached for an arrow in the quill and placed it perfectly into the bow. Breathe normally, I kept telling myself. I pulled it back and looked by my arm. My form seemed right, but I was still nervous. I aimed for a red "X" on a wall roughly seventy-five feet from me. I let go and to my surprise it stabbed perfectly into the middle of the target. I turned to Allison and smirked at her. She gave me a huge grin!
"Nice shot, Mr. Carter!" She laughed, "Looks like you can use a bow and arrow! Not bad! Grab a javelin." I ignored her and walked over to the old sword I had used. I realized there was a kink in the hilt when I was using it. I grabbed the sword and turned the hilt counter clockwise once and pulled on it. The blade of the weapon shortened to that of a dagger. I was in awe.
"My father invented it," Allison said.
"It's awesome!" I replied, "It's ingenious." I felt like a little kid again! I went ahead and concealed it on my belt and grabbed a javelin. It was brown and had a knot tied at the end of it. "I am going to love this!" I told her.
"Try it out!" I turned and threw the javelin. I completely failed. It fell much too short of my target. I threw it time after time and could not get the hang of it. I finally gave up after it hit a rack of bows sending them all falling to the ground. I sat down and Allison came next to me and sat down.
"It's okay," she started, "It takes years to master certain weapons. You just have to-"
"What's that?" I interrupted. I pointed to a display case centered on the far wall that held an extreme bow. It was beautiful. It looked like a battle bow.
"What's what?" She asked confused.
"That bow," I pointed again.
"The battle bow. My father invented." I chuckled at my foreshadowing and she gave me a confused look. "It's the ultimate bow and arrow. It shoots pure energy. You can shoot regular bow and arrows with it. When the quill becomes empty, it shoots energy bolts that kill on target. Try it out!"
"Really?"
"Take it! You're a master at archery." I jumped up and bolted over to the case. I grabbed the handle and tried to open the case. I became frustrated as I couldn't get it to open. I considered breaking the glass on it but decided against it.
"Authorization, please!" A woman's voice appeared from the case.
"Truitt Carter."
"Authorization denied."
"What? Come on."
"Authorization, Mr. Carter!" Something inside of me told me to try this. I doubted it would work but I tried the name anyway.
"Karen Carter."
"Authorization accepted." I turned to Allison and she just smiled. I grabbed the bow and the quill beneath it. I pulled out one of the arrows. Each one was unique in it's own way, as Alli had described. One had hooks by the point of the arrow to act as a grappling hook. Another, an explosive tip. The third contained poison. One was iced over, another was flaming but not burning. There were three regular arrows and one triple arrow. The triple arrow would split into three after fired. The nine arrows would return to you at the press of a button. Without an arrow on the bow, the bow would shoot pure energy that would destroy the first thing it comes in contact with. All the arrows were brown with a black arrowhead at the end. They had grey and brown feathers that appeared to be plucked off of an eagle.
"This is amazing!" I yelled.
"Come on, bowman! Try it out!" I grabbed the flaming arrow and shot it at a target. It immediately erupted in flames and disentegrated to nothing. I couldn't help but to empty the quill with every arrow. I gave Alli a look as if to ask her if I could shoot the energy arrow and she nodded in approval. I pulled back on the bow and could count my heartbeats. I breathed in and as I let go, an array of light appeared and disappeared the same second. The power surged through my body and I blacked out. When I could finally see, there was a giant hole in the wall at least twenty feet in diameter. Allison smiled at me. I winked back at her. The one downfall of the arrow was that it made me exhausted.
I held the bow to the ground and said, "Time to get my mom back!"
Chapter 4. Back To the End September 17, 2012
I can still vividly remember the bullet piercing her. I couldn't stand to see her like that. I immediately started to cry when I saw it happen, but I still had to press on. That was the hard part. All I could think about was the blood. There was so much blood. I love her and I couldn't stand to see her like that. I wish I could take back the massacre. Crow was going to pay for this. I promised her I would kill him and I intend to do so. He hurt the one I love and he will pay. She did nothing for him to try to slaughter her like an animal. When the lion attacks the lamb it's a sad thing.
The next day I woke up to hearing Sully screaming. I walked out of my room and he was completely destroying his mansion. We were in New York City, now. It turns out he has about three of the same, identical mansions. He had smashed at least a dozen vases, and when I had gone out there, he was throwing a wooden stool at the wall.
"Sully," I calmly said, "I understand it hurts, but we still have a job to do."
"What's the point?" He managed between tears.
"Sully, she will be okay! I promise you. The doctor said-"
"The doctor will say anything to make the family feel better. She's gone!"
"You don't understand!" I screamed, "I love her, too! She was a beautiful woman. I never wanted to see her in that much pain. I love her!"
Sully screamed back, "Then why haven't you said her name?"
"What?"
"Since the accident, you haven't said her name."
"Her name is," I started to behind tears, "Her name is Allison Sullivan, and I love her more than I love myself. Don't you ever forget that!"
We were interrupted by an explosion.
"Grab your weapon." Sully whispered, "Grab it now!" I ran to my room and quickly put on my armor over my fresh pair of jeans and my faded red t-shirt. I slung my sheath of arrows over my shoulder and grabbed my blade. I ran back down to the kitchen where the battle bow was and adjusted a normal arrow onto it. I bolted from the kitchen and ran back into the foyer with the glass stairs and met up with Sully at the base of them. He was holding his javelin in his right hand and his sword in the left. He was wearing identical clothing and armor as I was. We both had our tan combat boots on. Sully shoved a pair of aviator sunglasses into my chest.
"Take this! If it blacks out, you'll be able to see me through them. There's heat pads in our boots that can be tracked. Be careful."
"Sully," I began before he interrupted me.
"You ready?" Sully asked me as he cleaned off a smudge on my breastplate.
"Let's kill some sorry Immortals!" I smiled. We faced the large, black double-doors and waited for them to bust them down. I pulled back on my arrow and Sully poised his body, ready to throw the spear. One soldier, who at first glance would look like an FBI agent, managed to get through and Sully threw his spear. It cleared straight through the man's temple, and he collapsed on the ground. Sully pressed a button, and a wire that was attatched to his spear and his wrist reeled the spear back to him. I looked at the man that Sully had just killed and noticed that his bulletproof vest read "IMMORTALS". I laughed at the irony. It all stopped when the power went out and I couldn't see anything. I grabbed my flaming arrow and replaced it in my bow. I turned to Sully and asked him one question.
"Shall I?" He nodded and I sent the arrow to the roof. The entire ceiling caught on fire in minutes, but it wasn't quite burning yet. Sully used several layers of paint, all of which contained oil. It was supposed to last for near an hour before the ceiling would collapse. I could finally faintly see everything under a red glow. I put on my aviators and I wished I hadn't. An Immortal was holding Sully in a head lock with a gun to his head. Sully had his eyes closed thinking for sure he was going to die. In one swift motion, I grabbed an arrow and sent it right between the creeps eyes. Blood splattered all over the back of Sully's head and the man slumped over. I put the bow to my back and grabbed my dagger. Sully ran behind me and we stood back to back.
One, two, three, four. I counted the men trying to slam the doors down. Every once in a while, they got it open just enought to where a man could peak through. We had to give them the element of surprise. I tapped Sully twice and he understood what I meant. I ran beneath the glass staircase, and Sully just seemed to vanish. I had tried to track his footprints, but they really didn't seem to be anywhere. I finally found them. They went towards a wall and ended up going along the wall.
Show off. I thought to myself. I looked back up at the door through the glass. Three men ran in and split up. I realized that the puddle of blood on the glass was words. "A rewinding is coming." There was no exclamation point. It was just a statement. Out of all the writings in blood I had seen over the past week, this seemed disgustingly comforting. I couldn't explain why. I had no confusion. I didn't get why, but it was a straight forward statement. It didn't make me shudder. It felt like a blessing, something to fight for.
I regained my attention and realized that one man was coming my direction. He seemed completely unaware that I was even here. I waited for the right time and attacked.
I ran behind him and covered his mouth before he was able to scream. I grabbed my dagger and held it to his throat as a threat. He managed to turn around, and I could see the worry in his eyes. He only looked to be in his early twenties. I didn't feel right doing this, but I knew what I had to do. After he was turned around, he showed no struggle as I wrapped my right arm around his neck. I squeezed my bicep until he slowly began to pass out. When I no longer felt him breathing, I snapped his neck. I heard a loud crunch that sounded like a tree branch breaking. I then laid him on the ground. I turned around the corner ready to attack, but in turn, I saw two men standing back to back with a javelin through them. Blood dripped down the spear. Sully must have gotten to them before I had the chance. I was amazed by his stealth.
This house was a blood bath. There were more puddles of blood then there was dry floor. The smell was horrific. If I could only explain the smell of death, that would be the day. The sight of dead bodies wasn't near as grotesque to me as it had used to be. I sometimes wondered if that was a good or bad thing.
Another man came through the door. This was my time to show Sully what I had learned over the past week. I hoped he was watching. I opened up my sword and ran behind the man standing back to back with him. I ran towards the wall in front of me. When I reached it, I ran straight up. It was surprisingly easy with the grip on these boots. I did a backflip and landed in front of the man with finesse. He screamed from the surprise as my sword punctured through his stomach. The man grunted. A solid look came over his eyes reassuring me that he was dead. I knew that Sully had to see that! He had to have!
"Truitt," Sully yelled over the now blazing flames, "we need to get out of here as soon as we can!"
"Wait, did you not see that?" I said disappointed. Sully looked confused. I just shook my head and yelled back, "Is there some sort of back door we can go out? Because I don't think we are going out the front door!"
"There's a chimney!"
"Perfect!" We ran to the chimney and I put my blade back in it's sheath. I grabbed my grappling bow and shot upwards until I heard a thump. I looked back and didn't see Sully. I heard him yelling at somebody and figured that he was around the corner fighting another agent that had gotten through the doors. I heard a sword go through somebody else's stomach and I prayed that Sully had won. The sound was horrific. That was one thing I would never get used to. The sound is indescribable. I saw blood act like a river and flow around the corner. It made me shudder.
"Sully!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I wouldn't settle for the fact that the man who cared enough when nobody did had been murdered.
"There's too many people! Start heading up and I will be there. I promise I'll be fine! Find Vander Kinhes and save your mother! Alli will be with you soon enough, I promise!" I had to let Sully make his own bets and realize that he knew what he was doing. I was half way up the chimney when I heard two blades come in contact and the horrifying noise came again.
"Sully!" I screamed once again and heard no reply, "Sully!"
My mentor was murdered. My girlfriend got shot. My mother was kidnapped. Vander was nowhere to be found. I was alone.
Chapter 5. The Searching September 12, 2012
The motorcycle that Sully gave me was amazing. I remember speeding down the highway on the red and black beauty. It looked like something a multi-billionaire would have. The motorcross motorcycle was perfect! It formed precisely to me body. It was weird to say, but that motorcycle was like another weapon. It was my means of transportation. Sometimes, it was the matter of life or death. I loved being on another motorcycle. I had gotten my permit to drive them back in high school. I haven't driven one in so long. When I was speeding down the highway, I felt like all my problems had gone away.
Sully and Alli were in a blood red camaro that Sully had said was designed like a tank. I know for a fact that it was a weapon. I wasn't sure if Sully was being sarcastic when he mentioned it worked underwater perfectly. I've learned to just have faith in him. Alli was there to control weapons. This had built in automatic weapons and just about everything else!
"It won't blow up. It won't crush. It won't die away." Sully had said about my new vehicle. This made me happy! The thought of not being able to get blown away because of a little mistake was great! I was following Sully on the highway. I kept a close distance as I didn't want to lose track of him. The smell of the air was amazing! Traffic was all around me. We managed to push through it all, but sometimes it was difficult. People seemed to try to literally knock me off the road. I sometimes wondered if they had planned it.
Sully thought he had a lead to where my mother might have been kept at that moment. He said we were going to Times Square. I didn't get why they would keep her out in the open. Then again, nobody would have recognized her seeing that we never put a missing report in. It was too risky. If they saw her on the news, they would kill her on target.
I looked back in suspicion of a few cop cars. I asked Sully over a headset, "Do you think they're after us?"
"What are you talking about, kid?"
"The cops," I replied.
Alli picked up in the conversation, "Well, The Immortals aren't exactly cops. They're more of -"
I cut her off, "No! I asked because they've been following us for a while."
"Catch up to me, kid!" Sully said with a calm tone over his voice, "I have a plan. I think you're gonna like this one!" I sped up to the side of the camaro and Sully pointed to a bridge about a mile or two ahead of us.
"See that?" he said.
"Yeah, why?" I had a funny feeling I knew why.
"That's our escape!"
"Our what?" Allison said.
"I want you to do something crazy so the cops start chasing us, kid. Trust me! Go now!" I wondered what he wanted me to do, but I just let Sully get ahead of me and did a U-Turn heading straight for a cop car. He slammed on his brakes and I jumped up leaving my motorcycle. It started to go around the car automatically. I pressed a button on the side of my helmet as the sirens started. The motorcycle went into auto and started to track my position. I landed perfectly back on the seat and took over it again. I pulled another sharp turn and started going with the traffic again. I assume the officer called for assistance, because it wasn't long before nearly half a dozen cops were chasing after me.
I could tell the cops were furious. Every move I made would send another siren on. I looked back at the few cops behind me and slowed down so that they would all be in my line of sight.
I can handle this! I said to myself.
"Hurry and catch up to me, kid!" Sully yelled. I sped by car after car. This one eighteen-wheeler tried to run me over and I slid under the cab of the truck. I could feel the bottom of it skim my hair. I screamed as I emerged from the bottom of the truck. A cop car on the other side was holding a gun and aiming for me. He shot and hit my rear tire. The bullet just bounced off the back of the tire. I smiled at Sully's design. My smile quickly turned to a stern face.
"Sully, they're shooting at me!" I yelled.
"Just get over here," Allison answered back. I slowly caught up to the camaro as I had to dodge cop cars trying to run me over. They did not want to let me leave this highway alive!
"When I count to three," Sully calmly said over the headsets, "we're going to drive off the side of the bridge."
"What?" I screamed, "You're crazy! We'll die!"
"One."
"I'm not doing it!"
"Two," Allison said.
"Come on, Sully!"
"Go!" both Alli and Sully yelled. To my terror, I drove off the side of the bridge. The tires on the car and my motorcycle grew metal plates over them. We started free falling towards the concrete grave of New York City. I slammed to the asphalt and my neck jerked backwards. Sully and Allison landed with ease and kept driving. I revved my engine and followed them. When I looked over my shoulder, there was smoke and fire coming from the bridge. I was worried about what Sully might have done.
We continued to ride until we reached Times Square. Sully, Allison, and I didn't exchange one word for the half hour. As we arrived at time square, the sky was turning purple from the night. The city was packed! Growing up in California, I saw some busy days, but I never had seen anything like that. It was beautiful but it made me disgusted with how many people could continue their days without a care in the world about nature.
The three of us were wearing armor that looked like normal clothing so nobody would be suspicious of us. I walked around the square awestruck. Sully and Allison laughed at me as if they have seen better. I was worried how we were going to find my mother through all of this. She could be anywhere! We didn't even know if she was here! I became choked up as I thought of her.
"Where do you think she is?" I asked Sully.
"She must be in a building," Sully said.
Alli suggested, "Perhaps a rooftop."
"Wherever she is," I said, "I can't stand to not have my mom for much longer! I want to kill these low lives and get out of here!" They both agreed with me and Sully pulled out calculations of his. He started talking about why he thinks she would be on the east side of Times Square rather than the left side, but I didn't see the logic. He thought it had to do with the way the sun was positioned this time of year. Since I had come up with nothing better, I just followed him wherever he went. Sometimes, that seemed to be nowhere. I started to feel like he was the homeless man I met in California.
We had been searching for nearly an hour when Allison said, "Do you see them? There are Immortals lined along the building. They keep walking back and forth. I can tell that they are trying to be discrete about it, but they really aren't."
I looked around trying to locate the men. "I don't see them," I said.
"Neither do I, Alli!" Sully agreed.
"I promise you!" She insisted, "Just follow my lead." It would've been easier to follow her if she had slowed down a little bit. She ran right towards a building that was advertising some broadway show. I didn't recognize the title, but Sully couldn't stop staring at it. The cover was some greek guy that I thought I saw in an old movie. Allison got our attention and pointed at this man. He was tall and muscular. He definitely looked like an agent. Allison walked up behind the man and grabbed her gun. She quickly glanced over at me and smirked in a flirtacious way.
I could hear her say over the headset, "Don't move or I will shoot you. Move into the store up ahead and get in a dressing room." The man nodded and started to walk to the store. I saw it coming before she did. I remembered when Sully said that they like to make a show of it if they are going to die. He was right.
The man turned around and punched Alli right in the face sending her flying to the ground. She landed on the concrete dazed and confused. I started to run towards the agent, but Sully held me back.
"Just watch," he whispered. Allison regained her awareness and took hold of her gun. She shot the man in the leg all withing ten seconds of getting hit. The man fell towards the ground and tried to kill himself with his own knife. Allison stepped on the blade. It was then that I realized how everybody except Sully and I had scattered from the scene. People were screaming and running from all directions trying to get away. Alli stepped on the Immortal's neck and pointed the gun at his head. I laughed at the depiction of a little girl holding a grown man down with her frail foot.
"Where is she?" she screamed.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Allison shot the concrete an inch away from his head. Meanwhile, six other men surrounded the scene loading their weapons. They completely disregarded Sully and I.
Sully quickly said, "Allison, you get the two men directly behind you. Truitt, the ones on the right. I'll get the rest. One more thing, the man lives through it all!"
Allison turned around and shot her nine millimeter at the first man. He fell to the ground. Five more quick, thunderous shots went off and all the men fell to the ground. I ran over to the man and grabbed his leather jacket pulling him slightly upwards.
"Where is she?" I screamed, slamming his head into the concrete. The man just smiled eerily.
"Don't mess with this kid," Sully stated as a fact.
"I will murder you," I said, "Your whole life will be over in the blink of an eye. You can be spared if you just tell me where she is."
"You don't get it do you?" the man spoke. He spit on my face and closed his eyes ready to die.
"You won't have the pleasure of mercy," I said to him. I shot his foot and he cried out in pain. Blood was dripping from his two new wounds. I pressed my fingers in his foot and thigh wound.
"You will tell me now, or I will let you live. You will live in misery. You will wish you could die. I will not allow you that privlege. You will suffer like the dirt you are."
He just laughed and said one word, "Goodnight." Allison, Sully, and I all understood what he was talking about. We quickly ran from the store seconds before it exploded into flames. When I looked up, there were people surrounding the scene. I saw no dead bodies and there seemed to be no blood on the concrete. This could not be possible.
"Truitt," Alli began.
"No," I said, "It's okay. We'll find her."
"I may know where she is," Sully smiled. He led us back to the poster for the broadway show. I then understood the title. It was a greek title signifying the Greek gods. The one "Trait of the Greeks" was their immortality. The subtitle said, "Let there be a rewinding." That part made me indifferent, but I decided not to say anything.
"Looks like we're going to be on Broadway!" Sully said.