This is going to be difficult to right. Kaz is completely off his rocker so…yeah…I suppose it kind of helps that I'm partially insane already (joking) but who knows. I don't have schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. Oh, and insomnia. Dang, Kazzer, you're gonna have to be in a strait jacket when you get home!


The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas

Book Two: After the Storm

Chapter Three: Don't Talk to Strangers


"How does it feel? No place to run. No place to hide. I'm gonna turn your whole world against you. And by the time I'm done, you're gonna beg for the safety of my prison—in the Ghost Zone…where you belong." –Walker from Danny Phantom


Sick.

Twisted.

Evil.

Wrong.

Demented.

Murderer.

Demon.

Sick.

Twisted.

Wrong.

What was the point of my existence? There wasn't any. That's what I thought. Those words repeated in an endlessly looping whisper in the back of my head, day in and day out. And I believed them. My mind was telling it to me so it must be so, that was my logic. If you could call anything I did then logical. I wasn't thinking at all.

I myself remember little of what was happening and could only rely on the information my friends gave me later. Much later. When I was ready to face what I had done.

I talked to Ghost, argued with him, told him he was wrong, hated him, cursed him, and fought with him constantly. Sometimes he was the one in control and I struggled to get back behind the wheel. One minute I was steering my actions and the next Ghost would have taken over and was laughing as I whimpered and fought him.

My moods swung dangerously. Sometimes I was calm and relatively collected and aware of what was going on around me. These moments usually came around when my friends where around. Other times I was violent and angry and lashed out at anything within my reach. The basement wall of H'earring's home I was chained to was soon defaced by huge gashes and dents from my repeated beatings upon it. There were moments when I did nothing; I was docile to the point where I sat in silence and the only words were the ones spoken in my head, arguing with Ghost.

I hallucinated too. At the time I didn't realize what was happening and so I panicked when I saw my mother sitting at our dining room table in the middle of the training room, reading a book. I yelled at her to run, to get away, but she didn't respond. So I tried to reach her but the chains were too short and it hurt to move too much. I sobbed and writhed on the floor, begging for her to set me free. Then, as I blinked to clear so tears from my eyes, she vanished. I screamed and cried the rest of my conscious time, broken by the idea that my mother hated me so much that she would ignore me and not set me free. Later I decided she just hadn't heard me and would come back again soon and then I would scream even louder and she would hear me and set me free.

You have to remember, I was completely insane by this point. I thought I was right in my thinking, even as Ghost contradicted everything I did, said, or thought. Looking back on it now, he seemed to be the saner part of my mind at the time. He may have been a bloodthirsty jerk but he wasn't screaming at hallucinations.

We argued a lot. Most of those arguments didn't make sense but I didn't know it at the time. He was the enemy. I hated him. I wanted him out. Everything he said was wrong. I was right. Right, right, right. So there.

"You're not always right."

"Am so. You're wrong, Ghost, always wrong. Always."

"And so are you, remember? Sick, twisted, wrong."

"Stupid. You're stupid! STUPID! I HATE YOU! SHUT UP! GO AWAY! YOU CAN'T TALK TO ME ANYMORE! SO STOP IT!"

"What are you going to do to stop me? Are you going to kill me? Hm?"

"No…no…no…NO! No more killing…please…no…blood…no…wrong…no…yes…"

"Kill them all…"

"Yes. NO! Kill. NO! Destroy. NO! Blood and death. NO! STOP USING ME! GET YOUR OWN BODY! I HATE YOU! AAAAHHHHHHHGGGG!"

And so it went.

I think.

I didn't know I was crazy, I thought I was perfectly fine except for the whole idea of being sick and twisted and wrong. I didn't realize how bad off I was. I knew I was far from being human anymore but I also knew that I wasn't completely a Creature. How I knew this, I'm not sure. But I knew it. And it gave me enough strength to at least fight off Ghost.

For a while.

Between these bouts of insanity, my friends visited. I held onto their presence like they were the last people on earth. Or, more accurately, in Perim. I can't remember most of what happened during those times; just the calming sense of them being there, their voices talking. It was the only thing that was right in my twisted world.


"Kaz? You with us today, dude?" I cracked an eye open even though it felt like it had been glued shut. Three hazy figures stood over me. I closed my eyes again.

"Yeah." I managed to say. Ghost was still asleep and The Virus wasn't going to touch me for another hour or so. I forced myself to sit up and yawned, stretching. The sound that came out of my mouth was like a low roar. My spine cracked and popped and my claws scored lines in the stone beside many others.

"We brought you some candy." Sarah said sitting down beside Tom and Peyton. She reached into her bag and pulled out a giant Hershey's chocolate bar. I eyed it greedily, "But you have to tell us something first."

"What?" I asked, distracted by the tantalizing smell coming from the candy.

"Have you thought about escaping at all?" I stared at her.

"Not possible." I muttered and reached for the chocolate bar but she held it out of reach. I snarled at her and she cringed. Terror and pain swelled up inside me, "Don't go." I begged, " Don't leave. Sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean it. Sorry."

"Kazzer, dude, we're not goin' anywhere?" Peyton said assuredly, "Just calm down, okay?"

"We're getting you out of here, Kaz." Tom said. I turned my gaze to him, "I promised we would and we are. I'm not gonna let Chaor use you like this anymore."

"Out?" A shudder ran down my spine and my hackles rose, "Can't! Chaor! Can't!" I put my face in my hands, "Can't, can't, can't!"

"Yes we can!" Tom shouted, "H'earring and Cherri are helping! We're getting you out and we're going to get you home and that's the end of that! No arguing!"

"You!? Go home!? AHAHAHAAAAHAHAHAHA! Who would accept you!? Who could love you now!? You're a monster! A twisted freak! Everyone will hate you!"

Great, Ghost had woken up.

I flinched at his cruel words and whimpered.

"Kaz, are you okay?" Sarah asked, "Do you want this now?" She held out the chocolate to me but I drew back.

"He's here, he's back, make him leave! Make him stop! Make him leave me alone!" I wrapped my hands around my head.

"Who?" I hadn't told any of them about Ghost, I didn't dare, "Who's here, Kaz?"

"N-no one?" I managed to pull myself together a little bit, "J-j-just…hearing th-things!" I swallowed, shaking.

"They're going to figure out that you're crazy." Ghost whispered, "And then they're going to leave alone here to rot! You'll be all alone, Kaz, with no one for company but…me." And he laughed. I winced but said nothing, trying to focus on the voices of my friends.

"—have to get those chains off." Peyton was saying, "But how do we do that without hurting Kazzer?"

"Destiny Claw…" I muttered, "In my room…go get it…"

Sarah looked at Tom who shrugged, stood, and walked off.

"Ooooohhhhh, so Kazzy thinks he's clever. HA, HA! You're stuck with me, Kaz! Forever! I'll never leave! We'll have eternity together…!"

"You think?" I hissed under my breath, grinning shakily when I saw Tom coming back with the Destiny Claw gingerly resting in his hands. I reached out and took it from him. He didn't move, even as my massive claws came towards him, but he relaxed a little when I withdrew. I made them uneasy.

The Battlegear would no longer fit on my hand so I simply held it. Ulmar had said this could cut through any know substance in Perim. I'd seen it cut through my armor so I knew it could do it again. I held the Destiny Claw over the chain on my neck, shivering, unable to hold my hand perfectly still. Not that it would matter in the end.

"Kaz…Kaz what're you doing!?" Ghost had picked up on my plans, "No! No, don't! Kaz! Put it down! You'll kill yourself! Your friends will know you're crazy! No! NO!"

"BYE-BYE GHOST!" I screamed and plunged one of the sharp, pointed tips of the Destiny Claw into the side of my head.

There was instant blackness.

Blessed silence was the only thing surrounding me. I wrapped myself in it, enjoying the quiet that I hadn't had in what felt like years. Wonderful, glorious peace…

That was ruined by that stupid ripple.

I was rudely yanked back into reality and snarled horribly when I discovered myself still chained to the wall. I thrashed, rattling the metal chains, and roared in fury. But it was no help. I was still captive and all I had succeeded in doing was creating a lot of noise. I slumped to the floor and waited from Ghost to reprimand me.

It never came.

Ghost? I kept my face buried in my arms, Ghost? No answer. Was he gone? Was he finally gone!? Gone!? Completely!? All the way gone!?

"Ghost is gone!" I shouted jubilantly, shooting upright and looking around expectantly. No one was there. My friends had left. Had they just been hallucinations? Had I imagined them? Had they actually never been coming this whole time?

"Nuh-uh…" I whimpered, "No…"

"Kaz!" Tom came barreling back down the stairs and into the room and I jumped up with a cry, "Whoa! Kaz, what're you—ow!" I tackled him into a hug and we both slammed to the floor.

"I know it! I knew it! I knew, I was right, Ghost was wrong! You are real and you didn't leave me here!"

"Kaz, get a hold of yourself! Do you even realize what you're saying right now!?" Tom pushed at me, "Ugh! Get off! You're way too heavy!"

"Sorry!" I scrambled backwards, grinning. Tom looked at me in confusion.

"You're…acting really weird." He said, "Most of the time you're whining and talking nonsense and now you're saying somebody's gone and we're real…" Tom ran a hand through his hair, "Are you gonna be okay, Kaz?"

I stared at him.

I couldn't answer because I didn't know the answer.

"Maybe," I finally said, "After all of this is over. Maybe. It was…blurry. I can't remember what happened." I looked at the floor, "Did I…did I do something…did something…bad happen to me, Tom? How long was I…"

"A month." Tom choked out. He chewed on his lip a moment or two, "It's been a month since you were first…injected. A few minutes ago you…you took the Destiny Claw and…"

"I thought it would help." I murmured, feeling small and useless despite the hulking, powerful being I was becoming, "At least it…I…" I couldn't say it. I couldn't tell him about Ghost.

Later, I said to myself, When you're ready. When you're stronger. When you're past this. Then you'll be able to tell them everything.

"Tom, is Kaz—Kaz, you're okay!" Sarah, followed by Peyton and H'earring, came running into the room, "You took so long to regenerate that we thought you…we thought…!"

"I'm…better." I said.

"I found this." H'earring held out his hand, "It was in the…puddle." I stared at what was resting in his palm, confused, "It's a tracking device. Or was. But there's a Neuro-Scrambler on it."

"A what?" Peyton asked.

"A Neuro-Scrambler." H'earring responded, poking at the tiny, silvery chip in his hand, "Ulmar invented them a long time ago but never used them because they were too unpredictable and dangerous. They mess up some of the singles your brain sends."

I fell back, stunned. All this time, Ghost—the voice in my head—had been nothing but the result of a screwy piece of machinery. Ulmar had knowingly inserted that into my head beside the tracking device. I'd probably broken it when I'd stabbed myself with the Destiny Claw.

"H'earring, can I see that?" I asked, turning my massive hand towards him.

"Sure." He dumped the chip into my palm. I stared at it for a few seconds and then dashed it against the rock with a fierce cry of rage. It splintered into a bizzlion pieces.

I turned my gaze back to my friends who were all staring at me in shock and wonder, "Now, somebody said something about escaping."


There you go. A short, crappy chapter. I hate it. It made me angry. I'm hungry.

Wait, what?

Bleg. I don't like this chapter and I probably won't like the next one very much either. I don't know. Oh well. Crap happens. Sorry this took so long to get done but I got Writer's Block.

Well, thank you guys for reading this horrible, horrible angst. And thanks for all the reviews! I'll see you in the next chapter! Stick around for the daring escape plan!