I looked at Bree I knew
she was the vengful type. I've seen her in action. " Track the
Erasers that down that killed our family. I was on their trail before
I got here. I wasn't even considering coming here until I got hit by
a car. Then I lost the trail," I said.
" You what?"
Bree exclaimed raising an eyebrow.
" It was a small car...it
wasn't like that time I got hit by a semi..."
" The
size of the vehicle doesn't matter PC what matters if anyone saw
you."
" yes and no."
" which is it?"
"alright someone did see...but before you chew me out who is
going to believe him? Ask yourself that before you go off on me."
"I am not going to loose my temper over this PC. But you
could have easily avoided getting hit by that car."
"I
came here to see if may be you could track them down using that
little computer lab you have growning in the study." I said
replied changing the subject to avoid an arguement
"I
probably could."
"Splendid . Let's go back then shall
we?"
"Wait a second, PC. Aren't you forgetting
something?"
"What?"
" Let see
...young...has enormous green wings does any of this ring a bell in
that thick skull? "
I ran the scentence through my mind "
nope."
" Roc."
" Ohhhhh...yes what are we
going to do with him?"
"You brought him here PC don't
ask me," Bree said crossing her arms over her chest. " I
doubt he would want to get involved in this. But I just don't want to
throw him back on the street." I paced the tunnel we were in
pensively. "Ah! I've got it. We could send him to live with
Gozbud."
"Gozbud? Why him?"
"Because I
trust him. He is a man or gator hybrid of his word and besides he
owes me a favor." I replied smoothly. " He'll take care of
Roc that I know. He can probably send him off somewhere safe."
" But my place is safe enough," Bree protested.
"
I am not doubting that Bree...you know I trust you above anyone. But
there was something else I forgot to tell you."
Bree rolled
her eyes " What else did you do."
" Its not what I
did Bree its who I met." Bree's eyes got wide again " Who?"
"Guess."
" Rancor"
" Fox,"
I replied sharply...
" Fox?" Bree
said sounding a little worried and suprised
" Yeah."
"
And you didn't kill him?"
"No... I-I was in a bad
position when he arrived and..."
" You panicked."
" Yeah."
" I figured."
" Fox is
the only one that knows us Bree. To anyother Eraser they would have
not recognized me. But Fox...he knows me...he's tasted my blood.
I
don't know how long it will take for them to track us down but it
won't be long...I'm sure. We have to act soon. Get Roc to Gozbud and
vacate this place."
" This is all very troubling
PC...What if we run out of time."
" We'll make it and
don't even ask me 'what if we get caught' cause we won't!" I
took her hand and licked it...I know its odd but its my way of
swearing to her. " You have my protection" I said softly.
Bree looked at me sternly it was kind of like a warrior's stare if
that makes sense to you. She took my hand and licked it.
"
You have me protection as well...let's move..."
Don't press the red button ? why did she say that? You know if you ever want someone to touch something you never say don't because then they do. At least I due. As I explored Bree's house I came across the infamous red button that Bree forade me to push. So I am sitting here in the hallway staring at it wondering if I should. " I wonder if its dangerous to push it?" I thought to myslef to come up with a reason for me to push it. "Well if it was dangerous than I think that Bree would have the sense to put a sticker on it that says emergency." I got to my feet and reassured myself " yeah nothing bad will happen." So being the daring person that I am. I extended my hand then folded all my fingers except the pointer finger and pushed it.
As we walked walked back to Bree's I let my mind
wander off. My thoughts first went to food then for some odd reason
shot to Roc...but why? Then I remembered something that Bree had said
before we left. The phrase,' red button' echoed in the hollows of my
mind.
" Bree did you ask Roc NOT to push your red button?"
" yes? Why? Do you think that he would actually-?" Bree
paused.
" Bree that button is very alluring."
"
Maybe to you," she replied quickly. We both looked at each other
than sprinted back to Bree's house as fast as we could. So much for
not freaking him out. Bree sprinted ahead of me running on top of the
water. Show off. Once I caught up to her she had just opened the door
and bolted inside. I was half way to the hallway where the button was
kept when. I heard Bree scream bloody murder. My thoughts hopped from
food then to erasers, then roc, then I finally came to a conclusion
which was confirmed when I entered the hallway. Bree was on her knees
hands on her head and her eyes wide with hysteria. The gun rack that
was kept in the ceiling had been brought down. Every weapon was lined
up and in perfect order,shiny and dare I mention spotless. On the
lowest part of the rack were shotguns and Bree's personal favorites.
The line was broken up by one that was missing. But this wasn't the
problem...it was the fingerprints on the one next to it. Bree crawled
over to the rack and picked up the fingered shot gun and held it
close.
" You better be careful you don't want to blow your
head off do you?"
" Shut up!" She snapped.
"
Are you done or do you need a moment?" I asked sarcastically.
She glared at me and stroked the weapons metallic surface...like you
would a puppy. I rolled my eyes and went to look for rock. I hope he
didn't take one and was hiding in a closet. "Roc? Are you there?
Come on out!" I called. No one replied. After five mintues of
calling and no replies I was beginning to get a little annoyed. I
deicded the only way to lure him out was to wait and be very
quiet...
I never had siblings so
I was never really good at hide and seek...well at least the playful
kind. But what I lacked in this game of cat and mouse I made up for
in patience...which let me tell you I have alot of. I sat in the
hallway and just listened... Suddenly I heard what sounded like a
shuffle of feet. I instantly stood up. my hair bristled a little. Roc
was scared and scared animals and humans can become extremely
dangerous and even though I can get hit by a semi and come out of it
alright ...guns and blades CAN hurt me. I walked slowly toward where
I thought the sound was coming from and then felt something cold and
hard against my back. "Don't move."
" Roc? What
are you doing?"
" I am holding you at gun point what do
you think!" he snapped.
" You have questions...right?"
" Yeah"
" You want them answered?"
"
Yes."
"Okay then put the gun down." Roc didn't
make a move I could tell he was scared but this was totally
unnecessary. " I am going to count to three and then I want you
to put the gun down." Roc didn't reply. " Look you know how
much damage that thing can do? If you shoot me- oh forget it !"
I swiftly twisted around. BANG!
As I sat in the
hallway cradling one of my fingered weapons. I heard a gunshot and my
blood ran cold.
"PC" I breathed. I looked at the rack a
second time and realized another weapon was missing. " ROC!"
I shouted. I headed for the hallway where the gun had gone off. Anger
pumping through my veins if Roc hurt PC I'll kill'em!
I
glared at Roc angerily. He was gagging because I had the butt of the
weapon pressed against his throat. Even though I was human now I
still had the equipment in my throat that enabled me to roar, growl
and yowl. My anger slowly began to subside and my expression became
placid again.
"PC! Put Roc down!" Bree shouted as she
arrived on the scene. I withdrew and Roc collapsed on the floor
holding his throat,coughing.
" What do you think you were
doing! What have we done to make you act this way?" I asked. Roc
looked up at me and looked like he was trying to speak but couldn't.
" Bree take Roc to the kitchen and get him some water. I'll put
this gun back. Bree nodded and helped Roc to his feet and led him
away. When I was alone I sank to the ground clutching my side. I
surveyed the damage. The shot grazed me. " Phew! That was
scary." I said "Better clean this up first." I walked
over to the bathroom and hunted for the first aid kit. ...
Man...he was fast...even though PC looks human he is still an animal cross breed...very unpredictable too. For the first time I was acutally afraid of him. Well I guess almost shooting someone tends to bring out their bad side...I agree it was a stupid thing to do. But you can't trust anyone these days. That much I know. I mean who has a weapon rack hidden in their house?
I whistled to
myself as I fixed my wound. Keeps your mind off the pain. After that
I went to return 'Betty' to her rightful place on the rack. Bree
always names her weapons and she knows every one. If you ask her, she
can list every single one. As I put the shot gun back I looked at the
empty slot next to it. That one belong to the weapon called ' Slap
Jack' it was the one that I stole that I night I left and never
returned...if you must know. That was the reason why I needed the
peace offering... no one steals from Bree and lives to boast...except
me. I pressed the red button again and the rack folded back up into
the ceiling. Then I headed for the kitchen and it appeared to me that
Roc had calmed down. I felt odd entering the room for some reason. It
felt like an interegation was about to take place. Matter of fact is
was. I sat down beside Bree at the table placing one hand on top of
the other.
" Alrighty Roc what do you want to know?" I
asked. Roc chugged the remainder of the water down his throat and
wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
" The weapon rack. what's
it for?"
" It's for blowing the head off of little bird
boys who think they are being brave," I smiled cheekily. Bree
gave me a swift kick in the shin.
" Okay...I'm kidding. Its
for defense against Erasers. Since me and Bree aren't really that
gifted in terms of controling elements or telepathy we rely on those
for security ...but there used only as a last resort."
Roc
nodded " That makes sense. Okay, PC were you originally human or
animal."
" I thought I already answered that question."
" You never did."
" Well to bad, because I am
not answering it." I gave Roc a lethal stare and the question
dropped like a stone.
" What do you guys intend to do with
me?" he asked.
" Well we were just going to throw you
out on the street - OW!" Bree kicked me again.
"
Kidding again?" Roc asked sarcastically.
"Yeah. But
after what just happened, the proposition doesn't sound like such a
bad idea. But anyways, I think you'll understand better if you hear
the whole story."...
I straightend up and
sighed, the incident had happened a few weeks ago but the pain was
still there. But it needed to be reaccounted for Roc's sake. "Before
I found you. before I was even wandering I used to live in a port
town in the north. I lived there was ten other experiments like me
they were animal crosses. I also had a niffty little weapon rack like
Bree's. Anyways our warehouse was attacked by Erasers and they
slaughtered us. They didn't even want us recaptured. They shot
everyone, young and old. I was able to escape and I decided to fly
out and track down the murderers. But I lost the scent . Bree may
have a way to track them down so I headed down here. We are planning
to avenge our fallen. But we weren't sure if you would want to be
involved. So we're thinking about sending you to one of our friends
in the deep south...he's part of our network and by far the strongest
experiment I know."
" What network?" Roc asked
somewhat frightened and interested. I looked over at Bree, " You
want to explain this or should I?"
" You're doing fine.
Tell away," she said with a wave of her hand.
" Bree
and I are part of the Ghost Network. We are one of the 10 mutants
that escaped from Lab 7. Since then we've started a network. Each of
us holds a territory up and down the east and west coast. Whenever we
rescue an experiment from Erasers we help them disappear. I don't
know what Jeb and his host of Loonies are up too. I don't know if
they are just wiping us out indiscriminately or they are attacking
the network directly. But that remains to be seen. Gozbud is by far
the best in our network he was make sure you stay safe. There you
have it. The whole bit. Now here comes the million dollar question do
you want to help us avenge out fallen or do you want to go stay with
Gozbud. I'll let you decide. In the main time are going to find that
group of Erasers and then we are shutting this place down." Bree
and I got up from the table together and headed for her study and we
left Roc at the table to ponder...
I feel even stupider than I have ever felt before. I finally got all the answers I needed except one and that was the one PC wouldn't tell me about him being either human or animal. I guess it isn't that big of a deal. Now I need to figure out what I am going to do with myself. I was never big on fighting...but I'm a Guy ! Its supposed to be in my nature. If I don't than PC will probably think I am a pansy. Now I don't think so...he doesn't seem like the type that really cares. But what about Bree? It's strange but I'm actually attracted to her. OKAY! Stop. Think about which option is best...for Me...
Bree
and I had been sitting the study for an hour. Not because the Erasers
were hard to find all you need is to follow the blood trail they
leave. But , the other piece of equipment that Bree had put together.
It was a wacky combination of kitchen appliances like a blender and
toaster along with accouple of other parts mainly from a lawnmower
.
Now you are probably thinking that such a crazy contraption wouldn't
work, but it does. We just can't seem to remember how to turn it on.
" Maybe you hit it a few times," I suggested yawning.
"You're lucky I am very attached to these money trees or I
would throw one at you," Bree growled.
" Come on, its
worth a shot." She huffed and place the device down and slammed
the top of it with her fist. Suddenly we heard a beeping noise coming
from it. Afraid that it was going to explode we both dove behind a
couch that faced the computer desk. After a few minutes and nothing
happen we slowly crawled out from behind the couch. Bree appraoched
first and examined it.
"It's working ! I guess you were
right. Okay so now we got this thing to work. Do you have a sample
from one of the Erasers?"
" You bet I do," I said
reaching for the back of my neck and pulling a dirty black claw that
had been lodged in my neck ever since the slaughter at my warehouse.
" Wow. I sure hope you know you could have gotten an
infection that way."
Inodded and handed it to her. See if
you can find out where this puppy went. I am going to get a
band-aid." I whistled to myself while I was in the bathroom. Not
because it hurt just because I wanted too. I remember the Eraser that
attacked me. He snuck up on me and drove his claws down my back. I
blew him away with 'Slap Jack'. I don't know if you remember me
saying I have never killed a soul. Well there is a fine line that can
be exploited. Only way I prevent myself from feeling guilty, is that
I don't think of the Erasers as humans. That is also what the
Whitecoats used to tell the new trainees the got. They would tell
them ' It will become easier once you begin to think of these
experiments as not being human.' The only person that I ever knew
that actually wanted to become one of us was Fox...
ox had gathered a group
of Erasers and had set out from Lab 7 on their mission, which was to
bring Purple Cat in by any means possible. The only rule is that he
had to be alive. The others were valuable and the same requirements
still applied. Fox always stayed in his wolf form it was rare that he
ever took the form of a human and he preffered it that way. He sat on
the passanger side of a large SUV with tainted windows so that no one
could see the giant wolf sitting on the passenger side with his arms
crossed with a particularaly frusterated frown on his face.
"We
should have found them by now...What is taking us so long." he
muttered to Thresher, one of the Erasers present when PC rescued Roc.
Thresher was in human form and was at the wheel of the vehicle.
"
Who knows. For one thing , expermints are easy to find when they
don't want to be found."
" Thank you for that useless
tid bit," Fox growled trying to supress his savage nature.
"You
just relax boss, if Dr. Rancor was right we should be picking up
Green Wing's signal any moment now," Thresher said trying to
decrease the tension. Fox snorted and fidgeted in his chair. He
closed his eyes and began to take his mind off of his disappointment.
He opened up a favored memory his past one that he and PC knew all to
well. A dark daywhen he had his first taste of blood. Its bitter
sweet metallic taste ,tickled Fox's senses. To him it was like eating
chocolete. It was smooth on his tongue and coated his lips in a silky
warm lather. Blood made Fox feel powerful and that is why he craved
it so. Next he remembered his wolf like dentition slicing through
flesh like paper...but a thicker kind of paper. Suddenly, his
thoughts were interuppted by a faint beeping sound . Fox's eyes
snapped open and he looked over at Thresher.
" We've picked
up a signal it's faint, but appears to be close by." Fox smile
and his eyes twinkled with a morbid delight.
"I'm coming for
you ..." he muttered with a chuckle swelling up into his
voice...
As Bree's fingers flew
across the keys of her keyboard I took the liberty of sitting down
and staring at the ceiling. Bree's furiouss taps at the keys stopped
" PC?"
" Yes?"
" What happened that
night. You know the one where you left with ' Slap Jack' ?"
"
Do we need to talk about it now?"
" Yes and you know I
won't take 'none of your business' for an answer." " I had
gotten word from one of our informents that Fox was in the area. I
had to lure him away and on top of that Julie contacted me that very
same night as well. That there was a bunch of Erasers heading our
way."
" How did they contact you?" Bree asked.
"
Telepathy." Bree chuckled to herself and continued to work. I'll
let you all in on a little secret... I HATE TELEPATHY! Mind Reading,
moving objects with your mind, the whole bit. I lived with a few mind
readers and let me tell you it gets annoying when you can't even
think your own dirty little thoughts.
"
Hey guys," Roc said entering the room.
" Hello," I
said pleasantly.
" Did you make a decision?"
"
Yes, I would like it very much if you could take me to Gozbud."
I smiled at him, " Don't look so sad. We don't think any
less of you Roc."
" You don't?"
I shook my
head " Its alright to be afriad and on top of that...some times
it takes more courage to back down from a fight then jump into one."
...
Now you all are
probably thinking thay I got my response from a copy of Reader's
Digest But the fact is that I didn't. I meant what I said to Roc
every word of it.
" PC, I think I found the Erasers,"
Bree said. Roc and I huddled around the screen.
" Fill me in
Bree."
" Okay, according to this, the claw that you
gave me came from an Eraser that was created at Lab 6 in the North.
Apparently him and his buddies are in the deep south and as our luck
would have it in Gozbud's territory."
" Are you sure?"
" I am 90 sure. You might want to check the map just
incase."
"Okay where is it?" I asked. Bree pointed
to a drawer on her left. I opened it and pulled out the wrinkely
yellow map that we swiped from a 7-11 years ago. I unravled it and
placed it on the floor. The map showed all ten of the ghost network
territories in cluding mine, Breeaka's and others. I studied the
borders carefully. " Yep, its in Gozbud's territory we couldn't
have wished for anything better."
"Alright then let's
shut this place down." Bree said with a grin. We all set to work
quickly. Bree took care of the office and weaponry while Roc took
care of the kitchen. I on the other hand started dousing the place in
gasoline. Once we were gone this place would go up in flames. It was
a common practice everytime the enemy got to close for comfort we all
abandonded our posts and went to set up shop else where. Once we were
all finished. WE met outside of Bree's place. Each of a us either
carried a backpack or a duffle bag full of stuff.
" Is
everyone ready to go?" I asked playing with a lighter in my
hands. Bree and Roc nodded and with that I walked towards the
entrance and threw the lit lighter inside and closed the heavy metal
door...
