Wow, it's been a while. The Other Ones has even passed a thousand views in my absence, which is just crazy to me! It makes me really happy. I'm excited about where this story will go. Summer's out and new chapters should start coming soon. Thanks for your patience, enjoy!
The smoke makes it hard to see. On my knees, I reach toward Cassie. Men wearing gas masks fill the room. One of them pulls my arms back and handcuffs me, pulling me to my feet. He kicks my legs, forcing me to my knees. I watch as Four gets handcuffed. A familiar green light hits Nine, making him fall. Mogadorian weapons.
Soldiers pull Cassie and Five's limp bodies up roughly and handcuff them. "Put them in the truck," a woman with red hair says as she enters. Two soldiers pull them out. I start to struggle, getting angry.
"Daniel, wait," I hear Four say. We make eye contact and he tilts his head forward. I reluctantly nod, unsure of what he's playing at, but I know I can't take all of them by myself. He slightly nods back and then turns his gaze towards a man with white hair and a twisted nose. "What do you want with us?" He asks.
He laughs and looks over at the woman. "What do we want, Special Agent Walker?"
"For starters, I want to know who your friends are over there," she says, pointing the tube back at Nine and then at me.
"I don't know this kid," Nine says. He blows his hair out of his face and offers a smile. "I just stopped by to sell him a vacuum cleaner. The place looked like a dump and I thought he could use it."
The man circles over to Nine. "Is that what you have in these fancy chests here? Vacuum cleaners?" He nods to one of the other officers and says, "Let's have a look at these vacuum cleaners, shall we? I may be interested in one myself."
"Be my guest." Nine's smile is menacing. "I'm having a sale. Three for the price of four."
One of the soldiers slaps a pair of handcuffs on Nine and he quickly sits up. I can see the handcuffs are already broken. He's just waiting for the right time to attack. I see Four covertly do the same. As stealthily as I can, I tense my arms and grab the chain, pulling it until one of the links snaps. I keep my hands clasped behind me. The soldier's grip on my shoulders is uncomfortably tight.
A bunch of the men have surrounded Nine's Chest. One of them is slamming the butt of his rifle over and over on the lock holding it closed, but it doesn't have any effect. He smashes it a few more times anyway, clearly frustrated.
"How about this." Special Agent Walker pulls out a revolver. She fires at the lock and the bullet ricochets around the room, barely missing another officer's leg.
The broken-nose man grabs Nine by the back of his neck, pulls him to his feet, then shoves him forward. Nine can't maintain the ruse of his handcuffs and braces his fall, landing on his hands and knees. Realizing Nine's hands are now unrestrained, the man yells over his shoulder, "Somebody get me some more handcuffs! We've got a broken pair over here!"
His chin tucked into his chest, Nine's whole body vibrates with laughter. He pops his legs out and does a pushup. Then he does another one. An officer kicks his right hand out from underneath him, but Nine doesn't miss a beat. He does another pushup with just his left hand. The officer kicks at his left hand, but Nine is too fast to let that knock him over. His right hand is down in a flash and his one-handed pushup shows off his perfect form. Four officers jump on him, each one holding a leg or arm, but Nine just keeps on laughing.
Four laughs too. I look at him with bewilderment. This would probably be funny to me, too, if I wasn't worried about Cassie. Four slowly pulls his hands from behind his back and puts them on the back of his hand, whistling casually. Special Agent Walker narrows her eyes and points the cannon at him. "Do you know what happens to kids like you in prison?" she asks.
"They escape? Like I did last time?" Four says innocently. Nine howls with laughter from his place under the pile.
The lead guy claps his hands to get the attention of the other men. "Okay! Let's get these guys out of here before our friends show up."
'"Who are your friends?" Four asks him, though I'm already pretty sure that for some reason the U.S. government and the Mogadorians are working together. That's the only explanation for why they'd be using Mog weapons against us. "Who don't you want to show up?"
"Shut up!" Special Agent Walker yells. She pulls out a cell phone and dials a number. "We're bringing him in, plus four more," she says into the phone. "Three Chests. No, but we'll get them open. See you soon."
"Who was that?" Four asks. She ignores him as she puts her phone away.
"Hey, buddy, I thought you wanted to buy a vacuum," Nine says to Four. "I really need this sale. My boss is going to kill me if I come home with a full box of Hoovers again."
They pull Nine to his feet. He stretches his back and smiles, like a cat smug and full of mouse. "It doesn't matter where you take us, there's no prison that can hold us. If you knew who we are, you wouldn't waste your time with this crap."
Agent Walker laughs. "We know who you are, and if you were as smart or as tough as you think you are, we would have never found you in the first place."
Soldiers pick up the Chests and walk out the front door. New handcuffs are slapped over our wrists. They use three pairs on Nine.
"You have no idea what we're capable of," Nine says in a sickeningly sweet voice as they lead us through the front yard. "If I wanted to, I could kill you all in a matter of seconds. You're damn lucky I'm being such a good boy. For now."
Eight Months Ago
Adamus Sutekh
I watch the garde fight my father on the other side of the ravine. I'm tempted to cheer, but I don't want to distract him. One cheers next to me, pumping her arms. I share a grin with her. That's why I don't hear the footsteps from behind.
"Goodbye, Adamus," I hear Ivan hiss in a whisper. I twist as he shoves me and manage to grab his hand, pulling him off balance with me. We teeter on the edge before gravity wins out and we both fall towards the water below.
He grabs my shirt and punches me in midair, causing black spots to dance across my vision. I shake my head, trying to clear it, as we land with a smack in the water.
He's a few feet away from me. We're both disoriented. The landing was like a slap across my whole body. I have a few seconds before Ivan regains focus.
"Get up!" One yells, her face deadly serious.
I stagger to my feet and with a surge, half-fall, half-jump onto Ivan, who's straightening up. It's like hitting a brick wall. But in his state, I succeed in bringing him down again. I'm sitting on his back and land frantic punches to his back. I sling my arm around his thick neck and tighten my grip, trying to cut off his air supply.
He growls loudly and grabs my head, pulling my hair. A sound escapes my mouth. He rolls over, splashing water. He spits some out and elbows me in the stomach. I dry heave, doubling over. Unintentionally, my knee comes up and smacks his temple. His head moves two or three inches.
One cheers. I feel like curling up in the water and throwing up. Ivan pins my shoulder with one huge hand and punches my chest and side with his other fist.
"Ivanick!" I yell desperately. It slips out on accident. But Ivan stops, emotions battling on his face. His fist trembles in mid-air.
"You chose them, Adamus," He says. "How could you choose them over us?"
I feel something coming over me, overriding my senses. It's One. My body moves without my permission. She hits him in the nose with a flat palm, snapping his head back. I see blood trickle down his lip.
He brings his fist down. It hits and I feel it numbly. One grabs his arm, twists over, and gets on her-my-hands and knees so that Ivanick is laying on my back.. She tightens, curves upwards, and pulls him over. His head strikes a rock as he lands in front of us.
One gives me back control. Sensation rushes back. I'm breathing hard as I crouch down next to Ivanick's prone body. "I'm sorry, Ivanick." I say, and I am really am sorry, even though I'm sure he can't hear me. The hate I feel at the hate he's shown toward the Loric is mixed with shock at my own actions. Fighting my own brother. But Ivanick is a killer. He killed Two in front of me, and I know that while I was in a coma he killed other Loric.
I grab a nearby rock. It's wet from the water, but heavy enough that it didn't get washed away in this shallow part of the river. It fits in my hand like a baseball. Shivering from the water, my fingers curled around it, I stare at Ivanick's face. Peaceful in his sleep. I suddenly drop the rock.
I don't know, if I come face to face with him again, that I'll be able to do what needs to be done. I don't have the courage, or perhaps cold-bloodedness, to do it now. I can't even beat him on my own.
I drag him to the river shore next to the body of my father. He weighs a lot. I pause for a second, facing away from the two of them, before turning back. I bend down over my father's body and watch his chest rise and fall shallowly. I unclip the communicator from his belt and toss it into the rushing water, watching it get carried downstream.
My body hurts all over as I start the long walk out of the ravine.
There's no going back from this. In a few hours or days if I'm lucky, my brother and the General will be out of the ravine and back with Mogadorian civilization. Will the General speak of my betrayal, or will the shame be enough to keep him quiet? I don't know him well enough to confidently predict what he will do. Not enough to stake my life on it.
Plan. I need a plan.
"Isn't it obvious?" One says, appearing. A little of her snark has come back, but she's still more serious than she usually is. "Find the others."
Of course. Alone, I'm nothing against the Mogadorians. It's the Loric, the garde, that are the real warriors. But how am I going to find them?
The mogs. It would be a risk, but if I can get into their systems, I can find out what we-what they know about the location of the garde. There's no way into their systems here-we only have the computer on the aircraft, and I'd have to go through another Mog, someone on the other side, to get the information I want. No, that's too suspicious. It makes the most sense to go into a Mog base and use the terminals myself.
"Ashwood Estates," One speaks up. "You live there, it won't be suspicious."
My home.