Masquerade 1: The Opening (or 'The Entrance')

[NicTei]

Dark and Light. Good and Evil. The lines continue to blur into the shade of gray that we now call home.

Delve into this fictional world, where nothing is as it seems, and all is illusory. What will you see? Is it real? Who will you side with? The Lost, or an ancient evil that threatens to devour all you hold dear and care for in this world? It's your choice. Just don't trust anyone.

(Winner of a Bebo Book Award...somehow...)
(Also, more recently, winner of Bebo Book Awards Book of the Month November/October...somehow...)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yeah, I know.  I write too much.  This was a book that was started on June 10th, 2008, and within a matter of months was up to 15 or so chapters.  That's what writing should be like; it's so fun that it seems to fly by.  I was originally going to have this go up to only 20-25 chapters, but seeing how far I had gotten without even getting to the midway mark of the story in my head, I decided that this will go on for more than twenty chapters.  Wish me luck; this is the one book that I think has the potential to be published.

If you would like to read up to chapter 20, go to the site where it first showed up and do your thing!  Although, I believe that this site is much better for the reading and writing.  Whatever!

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR PROOF OF MY AWESOME POWERS!!!
Manipulation

Contents
Prologue (see below)
Chapter 1:  The Beginning
Chapter 2:  School
Chapter 3:  Exorcising
Chapter 4:  Humans, Darks, What's The Difference?
Chapter 5:  Masks
Chapter 6:  Corrosion
Chapter 7:  Family Ties and More
Chapter 8:  Utter Terror
Chapter 9:  GORGAN
Chapter 10:  Discovery
Chapter 11:  Again!?
Chapter 12:  The Corroding Curse
Chapter 13:  Traitors
Chapter 14:  Royal Jest
Chapter 15:  Limits
Chapter 16:  Black, White, and the Gray In Between
Chapter 17:  Assistance
Chapter 18:  Spread Out
Chapter 19:  Disobedience
Chapter 20:  The Saint of the Void
Chapter 21:  Antithesis
Chapter 22:  Legacy of a Saint
Chapter 23:  Inner Conflicts
Chapter 24:  Seige
Chapter 25:  Rest and Relaxation
Chapter 26:  How a Saint Doth Rest
Chapter 27:  The Saintly Phoenix
Chapter 28:  Visit


Chapters Written But Not Posted


Chapters in Progress
Chapter 29:  No Rest for the Weary

Book Status
It's growing again!

 

[NicTei]

Army Log No. 0001 of the year 2012

*Due to safety, I’m not going to write my name here, for the simple fear of having this journal lost and falling into the wrong hands*

   Well, our final mission here in this unknown island is almost finished.  I am Private ___________ of the U.S. Army, the finest military force this planet has ever seen.  I’m not to give out specifics of my position in the military due to the security issues, but something’s urging me to do so.

   Despite the operation being over, I still have this feeling of something being wrong.  In the remote island near the equator, we obtained the cargo that President Grogen ordered us to obtain, but inside the box wasn’t exactly what I thought I’d be fighting for.  I had imagined some kind of super-powerful weapons technology, not an artifact belonging in a museum.  What was inside was a large black book, about the size of the ‘S’ volume of encyclopedias.  Of course, I could’ve foreseen some ancient book when I took a look at the guards stationed outside the temple we found it in.  They were old, but somehow moved like wild animals.  We lost five troops to them, and they only used their bare hands.  We finally managed to shoot them down, but even then they were breathing.

   After we radioed to base camp that we had the cargo, they radioed back to the states.  Our mission was classified as a success, and we were immediately brought home.  Our greeting was a mixed one, and above that, very unusual. 

   Because of complications at our military airports, we had to land in a civilian airport.  I had heard my parents tell me about the greetings of the soldiers that returned from ‘Nam and I understood only slightly what they went through.  On one side of the airport, people cheered and clapped for us.  On the other, however, there were those who would even spit at us, claiming our mission was an ‘unnecessary breach and theft of private religious grounds and property in a foreign world.’  The only breach was a breach of information; this operation was supposed to be secret, and yet there was a crowd.  Someone had been a little talkative, I guess.  We ignored those people who didn’t understand what we went through and smiled at those who cheered us on home. 

   However, as I stated before, something still felt wrong.  I was one of the few people who were selected to be present as President Grogen received the cargo.  For reasons we didn’t understand, he had felt this tome was a matter of national security, and when he saw what was inside of the box, a strange expression came over his face and he seemed to forget we were there.

  The Presidential aid cleared his throat, and the President remembered that he had company.  He hurriedly thanked us, but then immediately took the box into his office and closed the door.  As we left, I could’ve sworn I heard maniacal laughter, but I had to remember that I had just spent about two years in the hot sun and buggy forests of that damned island, and the climate of the States might be messing with my head.  For instance, as we were leaving the White House grounds, I thought I saw shadows pass in front of the President’s windows.

   But, I digress.  The ceremony took a while, but was fun, as those who survived through the missions they had been given were awarded, and I was given a Medal of Honor for my actions in the field.

   I think I shall continue this journal, though will still refer to it as an Army Log.


   
Army Log 0002

   The most peculiar thing happened today.  I was at home in Clear Springs, Florida listening to the news, when an urgent news report flashed across the screen.  The headline was ‘Body Found in Miami, Florida in Very Strange Condition!’  That was practically next door.  As I watched, the grotesque pictures of the body showed up, and I was suddenly sorry I had just filled up on cheesy pizza.  The body had been ripped in half, and on top of that it had been half eaten.  Its face had been ripped off, showing the skull and apparently punctured eyeballs still in the sockets.

   As I walked to my closet and started to pull my pistol down from the top shelf, the news anchor, a young bald man, was telling the viewers in the immediate vicinity of the town where the body was found to report anything suspicious.  The co-anchor, a woman with long blonde hair, made a joke about monsters roaming around in the great state of Florida.  This awoke a nameless fear in my heart, and I put a loaded magazine beside my pistol, which I had laying on my bedside table.  My wife didn’t approve, but I told my wife about what was happening and she pulled out my hunting rifle and set it on her side of the bed.  I laughed, but nervously.

   Then, as I was watching the news before going to sleep, reports of more carnage flashed across the screen, but this time the body count was worse.  One body was half burned, and the part that wasn’t burned was covered in blood, the person’s face frozen in fear.  Another body had been savagely ripped to pieces.  In all, there was a total body count of ten mutilated bodies, all of them found halfway between Clear Springs and Miami.  It was a little closer to home.  I quickly turned off the news before my wife woke up, and slid the pistol a little closer across the table.

Army Log 0003

   Not much out of the ordinary today.  The dogs in town were all riled up, and barked from morning until night, only stopping for sleep, I imagine.  Of course, they didn’t all fall asleep at the same time, so there were always some dogs barking.  The neighbors, an elderly couple, were outside today, complaining about cramps and other pains.  I started to feel a small ache at the back of my head, but I figured that it must be the power of suggestion.

   It was very odd, though.  My normally docile cat was irritable, and when I picked it up, it ended up biting me hard enough to draw blood.  After I let it go, it ran off to the basement, where it seldom goes unless there’s a storm.  I conclude that something is happening, but I don’t know what it is yet.

Army Log 0004
   
   As it turns out, I was wise to suspect that something was very wrong.  While I was mowing the lawn, I had the feeling that I was being watched.  I quickly went inside and picked up my pistol, concealing it in a holster underneath my open denim shirt.  This proved to be yet another wise choice, for just as I was finishing, some large canine beast bounded out of the trees behind my house. 
   
   It looked like some kind of Lovecraftian insect, with the skull poking through the tightly pulled, dark grey skin, the eyes sunk far into their sockets.  Tentacles were protruding from its wrists, and its teeth seemed too large to be real.  On its shoulder blades were large spines, like you’d see on a hedgehog.

   I saw it just in time and reacted like I was trained to in the Army.  In a swift motion, I pulled out my pistol and fired three rounds into the beast’s head.  The impact of the bullets sent it up a little higher and the speed it was moving at carried the body over my head.  It landed on the ground about three feet away, dead. 

   Well, that’s what I thought.  I took a quick picture with my ever-present camera, and then ran inside to call the police, taking pictures and video at the same time while I used the voice-dial function on my phone to call the police.  I turned away for a second, and when I turned back around, the beast was gone. 
 
   When the police got to my house, I showed them the footage I shot with my video camera, and saw for the first time that the beast had actually gotten to its feet and bolted.  I couldn’t believe it.  The footage captured by my security camera even showed that I had shot it several times in a supposedly vital spot, and yet it still got away.  The police called the video specialist, and when they reached the verdict that the footage was real, they called all of the other officers on the radio and reported a strange dog-like monster was on the loose.

   Of course, the worst was yet to be discovered.  When they inspected the area where the ‘dead’ monster had been, they found a human hand.  When they ran it through DNA testing on a mobile lab, it matched the DNA of the first victim that week.

   Something very strange was going on here.

Army Log 0005

   Today, the sky was red.  This is not comforting.  We’ve lost contact with the next town, and it appears that there is a large pack of those dogs coming nearer.  We are so screwed.

Army Log 0006

   There aren’t many survivors.  My wife was killed the first night the dogs swarmed the town.  I’m one of the only people in the ragtag group of survivors qualified, and able, to use any kind of weapon, my hunting partner being the other.  Our time is limited.  The dogs have been swarming this building all day, bashing their way in.  We are hiding in the school, and there is no way we will survive the night unless they experience a grievous loss in numbers. 

   Proof that we are screwed came when I stated the previous sentence and one of the survivors said, and I quote, “Speak American!”

   They are at our door, which is a three inch piece of wood.  I think I’m about to be assured that there is a God.

[NicTei]

Well, here comes another one for ya!

(Yes, I know that the above sentence is atrocious grammar and spelling, but I'm trying something that was suggested by many people, but not directly to me:  'hanging loose.'  I don't like it so far.)

 

[NicTei]

   In a ruined building in the middle of what appeared to be a war-torn town, Gabriel Colton lay on his back on the ground looking over a broken wall, gripping his rapier tightly to his chest.  His hair was dark and matted to his head with sweat.  His dark brown eyes stared out in fear.  He could see the five Deathless Dogs he had been running from rearing up at a small group of remaining Army soldiers, each of them armed with M-16s and other large firearms.  And yet, as their names suggested, the Dogs wouldn’t die.

“What the heck are you carrying a sword for, you little runt?” a voice suddenly asked.  It was a grizzled Army Sergeant, lighting a cigarette as he loaded his pistol and dropped to an army crawl behind the wall.

“I don’t like guns!” Gabriel replied wincing as the Sergeant fired off a couple of rounds at the Dogs. 

“Boohoo.  Just buy one, cowboy up, and stay alive!” he shouted at the boy, reloading his pistol.  He turned to Gabriel.  “I don’t suppose you know how to kill these things, do you?”

“Well, they sure aren’t like the werewolves in the southern part of the state, that’s for sure.  Otherwise your silver bullets would be doing the trick.”

“How’d you know I was using-?  Oh, never mind.  It doesn’t matter.  Just help us out!” the Sergeant yelled as he jumped up and lobbed a grenade, landing it in a Dog’s mouth.

“You should be glad it isn’t zombies.  You dismember them, they just pull back together.  No one’s tried to get close enough to one of these things to dismember it.”

“When I’m done shooting these things, then I’ll think about zombies, okay kid?” the Sergeant replied, barely dodging one of the Dog’s acid spit.

   Gabriel looked up at the sky.  He could tell that the sun was still up, but was covered by the clouds.  He looked back at the Dogs.  Suddenly, a twig snapped behind him.  He looked past his feet and saw three grotesque zombies inching forwards towards him and the Sergeant.  He jumped to his feet and ran at them, slashing. 

   Two went down with their heads in half, and the last one was a newer corpse, so it was faster and had an iron pole in its hand to block the assault.  However, it swung the pole clumsily and awkwardly, and was subsequently no match for Gabriel, whose father had been a fencing professor before being killed in the Great Takeover.  Gabriel had learned everything from him, and was even more accomplished than his father, being that he had to utilize this knowledge almost once a  week to get back to his house alive after foraging for food that he couldn’t grow himself, such as meat and dairy.

“Jeez, kid!  Where’d you learn that?” the Sergeant asked. 

“My father was a good teacher.” Gabriel replied curtly, wiping the gore off of his blade.

   Suddenly, he heard, “Retreat!  Retreat!” and saw that the soldiers were retreating.  However, none of them had yelled, and neither had the Sergeant.  Gabriel stood still, trying to pinpoint the noise. 
“Come on kid, let’s go!” the Sergeant yelled as he ran past.

   Gabriel looked up and gasped.  He tried to yell a warning, but it was too late.  A humanoid figure had jumped out of the trees that the soldiers were retreating to and was starting to kill off the soldiers, one by one, with distinctive attacks on their necks and other vital areas.  It was, without a doubt, a vampire.  It appeared to be a Marine, and the dress sword that the Marines wore with their uniforms hung around its waist.

   As it finished off the soldiers and turned on him and the Sergeant, Gabriel had an idea.  He readied his sword and approached the undead bloodsucker, raising his sword in a salute.  The vampire considered him, and then pulled his blade out of its sheath.  Despite the deteriorated condition of the hilt and guard, the sabre was in remarkable condition and gleamed in the light.

   They took their en garde position, and Gabriel, though he knew it was probably futile, tried an appel.  Unfortunately, the vampire didn’t even flinch.  He did, however, slash his sabre across in a horizontal strike.

   Gabriel executed a perfect passata-sotto, lashing out at the vampire’s legs.  His rapier’s extremely sharp tip went through the vampire’s boots and cut into his ankles.  The vampire, however, didn’t flinch or even wince.  He kept looking at Gabriel as he stood up.  He suddenly struck, and Gabriel brought his rapier up in a block, keeping his blade in contact with the vampire’s, and they both performed a glide, the blades finally hitting the hilt of the opposing sword.  The vampire shot his head forward to take a bite out of Gabriel, but stopped dead, staring in horror at the boy. 

“That’s exactly what I thought!” Gabriel said, glaring into the vampire’s eyes. 

   The vampire took a step backward to flee, but Gabriel was too fast.  He lunged and thrust his rapier through the undead’s heart, and as it started to crumble, Gabriel shook its hand, a proper end to a bout.  He picked up the sword of the vampire and decided to take it home and clean it up.  He sheathed his rapier and started to walk, then turned to face the utterly stunned Sergeant. 

“You coming, or are you going to stand here and be Dog food?” he asked.

*

   When Gabriel got home, he hung his food sack by the door, letting the Sergeant into his house.  His mother had also been lost in the Great Takeover, and his sister had gone to live with his grandparents in one of the various Anti-Undead-Regiment, or AUR shelters that so many people were evacuating to.  Of course, there were still many people left in town, and since no one collected taxes anymore, kids could live in their parents’ houses even after the parents had left, died, been captured, etc.

“You live here alone?” the Sergeant asked.

“Yeah? So?” Gabriel answered.

“Well, don’t you get attacked?”

“Not often enough for it to be a problem.  Do you need to make a call?” he asked.

“Um…oh!  Yes, I do.  The AUR shelter just north of here is expecting me as one of their guards in about two days.  Where’s the phone?”

   Gabriel tossed the Sergeant the phone and carried the sword he had obtained that day to his room, where he pulled out the polish and started working on the hilt and guard.  After about ten minutes, the Sergeant returned the phone. 

“Are you sure you want to stay here?” he asked.

“Positive.”

“Alright.  The shelter is just north of here, and you know the number.  Thanks for the help.  Good day!” the Sergeant said, saluting as he exited. 

   Gabriel heard the door shut and quickly ran and locked it.  He watched the Sergeant as he started to walk, but left the window when a helicopter picked him up.  He finished the sword and left it on the floor in his room, heading into the living room of his house to watch a movie or some T.V.  He looked at his selection of videos, skipped over the zombie horror movies, and pulled out an action-adventure movie, settling in to enter the reality of the main character.

*

   On a dark street in the more city-like portion of Gabriel’s hometown, Raven Falls, a figure stood on the corner of a building rooftop.  As cars drove by cautiously, they illuminated the mask he wore underneath a hood.  It was snow-white, with a cross in the middle of its forehead and a rose thorn shaped streak of black covering where the right eyehole would be.  Where the mouth line of the person wearing the mask would be, it dropped into four fangs, the two outside ones larger than the inside ones.  Below that was a portion of the mask that was closer to the face and had vertical lines etched into it.  He regarded the people passing underneath him, completely oblivious of his presence.

   There was a scream, and he leaped into action, quite literally.  He jumped across the busy street onto the rooftop of the next building, scanning the area below.  He jumped to the next rooftop, and finally saw them.  A lady was being held at knifepoint by one man to a wall, while another man rooted through her pockets with one hand while holding her purse with another.

“Just give us all your money and maybe we’ll let you go!” the man with the knife was saying.

   The masked figure nearly laughed.  This was too easy.  He crawled down the side of the building face-first, the shadows blending in with his all-black clothes and gloves.

“I’m telling you, that’s all I have!” the woman screamed.  People passed by, but didn’t do anything.  In this day and age, it was every man for himself.

“Dressed like you are?  Ha!  No way you’ve only got fifty on ya!” the thief with the purse jeered.

“Excuse me, gentlemen, but I’m afraid you’ll have to stop what you’re doing and let the woman leave.”

   The masked figure’s voice was like a cold breeze.  The thieves stopped and turned around slowly.  When they saw what he was, they started laughing.

“Ha!  Some kid thinks that he’s the police!”

“Well, we thought that, too!”

“I thought he’d be a vampire!”

   They hadn’t seen his mask because he had his face to the ground, and was in the shadows.  He raised his head and repeated, “Let her go.”  One thief saw the mask and laughed.

“Great!  Now he thinks its Halloween!  This is priceless!”

   The other thief, however, was frozen in fear.  He started tapping on his friend’s shoulder and stuttering, trying to say something.

“What is it?  Spit it out!”

“I-I’ve seen this guy before!  Or someone l-like him!  They wear masks that always have either black or white on them with some kind of symbol.  They’re b-ba-bad news!”

“So?  Listen.  I’m going to shoot this clown, take the lady’s money, shoot her, and then we’ll get out of here!  Okay?”

   The masked figure had heard enough.  He cracked his knuckles and started to walk forward, cracking his neck at the same time.

“First, I’m no clown.  Second, you should really listen to your friend.  And third,” he was saying, “My name is-wait!  I won’t tell you that until you’re cowering in fear and won’t forget it.”

The thief that had been laughing stopped laughing, now annoyed by the masked figure’s attitude.  He pulled out a handgun and the figure stopped in his tracks.

“See?  He’s afraid of the bullets!  So much for bad news!  Take out your gun and help me with this, will ya?” he asked his friend.

   Shaking, the other thief pulled out his gun.  They cocked the guns and took aim.  The figure started to back away, but it was too late.  They opened fire, the thieves’’ bullets finding their target.  One bullet tore through his chest, while the other one slammed into his forehead, breaking his mask.  He fell backwards to the pavement, not moving.

   The woman, horrified, screamed.  The thief who wasn’t shaking slapped her across the face.  “Shut up!  If we get caught, you’re the hostage, and you won’t make it!” he yelled.  Unfortunately for him, he was too intent on yelling at the woman to notice that the masked figure was getting up. 

“You know, I didn’t think it was proper for a man to hit a woman.”

   The thief froze at the voice, just like he had when he first heard it.  He turned around and shot the masked figure again, but he didn’t seem to notice the new wound.  He picked up the pieces of his mask, and they instantly returned to one piece, which he placed back on his face.

“Didn’t you learn the first time around?  That won’t kill me!” the masked figure said, laughing.

   Both thieves turned to run, but the masked figure simply appeared in a black blur at the entrance to the alley.  He drew back a fist and punched the closest one in the face, sending him flying into a dumpster.  He tripped the other one and grabbed onto his ears.
 
“Do you repent of your sins?” he asked.

“Never!” the thief shouted. 

“Well then, you can kiss your ears goodbye, I guess.”

   He shoved the thief’s head backward, then brought it forward into his knee, but kept pulling with his hands.  There was a terrible ripping sound, and a scream of pain.  The masked figure tossed the useless ears onto the now earless thief’s chest as thief clutched his head.

“There, kiss them.  Now, since I know you can hear from the holes in your head, my name is Cross.  Don’t you dare forget it, alright?”

   Unable to bear anymore, the woman fainted.  Cross sighed and pulled out a mobile, dialing 911.  “Yes?  Could you get me the hospital?  Hello, I’m on the alley in between the bakery and café on 3rd and Brown Street.  We’ve got a man with his ears ripped off and a fainted woman.  I can’t stay and watch them, so I leave them in your care.  Goodbye!”  He hung up before the responder could protest.  He jumped up to the top of the building and saw the ambulance already on the way.

“You just couldn’t resist, could you Cross?” asked a voice from behind him.

   He turned to see another person with a mask sitting on a ventilation duct behind him.  His mask had exposed vertical lines on the top right corner and the bottom left corner.  The other two corners were plain white, with a thin strip of white connecting them. 

“What brings you out of HQ, Hairin?” Cross asked.

“Well, M.R. was getting a little bit-!”

“Watch the language!” Cross warned.

“Okay, annoying, so I left to get some fresh air.  Can you complain?” Hairin asked.

“Well, I could, but I don’t want to get too annoying.  You might leave for some stale air.”

“Always the jokester, eh Cross?”

“You know I don’t joke that much!”

“True, true.”

    The two masked boys stood for a while in silence, Hairin on his perch and Cross on his feet.  Finally, Hairin jumped down.

“What’d they accuse you of being this time?  Vamp?  Zombie?” Hairin asked.

“Nothing.  They just screamed.  I knew one of them was thinking, ‘vampire,’ but of course, he’d have been wrong!” Cross replied.

“Seriously!  Why can’t they just learn we’re not vamps, zombies, or werewolves?” Hairin asked.

“Because,” Cross replied, “they have no clue about Darks yet.”

[Saint]

Why are there 4 digits? Don't tell me you intend to write at least 1000 of these?

NOTE: "Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post."

Looks like I started reading just in time for chapter 1.

[NicTei]

Well, I did the 4 digits to make it look professional.  At the moment, I have no intention of continuing the Army Logs, though they may be a recurring theme as the prologue for the following books, namely *spoilers for the title!*

Masquerade 2:  The Dance  (Or 'The Grand Waltz)

Oh yeah.

 

[Saint]

well, now I've actually read something from the book, I look forward to reading the rest and seeing Keitaro in action!

[NicTei]

Well, that may take a while on Tome.  Why don't you check it out on Bebo, though?  That's where I've got the majority of the book.  In fact, I could say that it comes 'hot off the press.'

Anyways, I took a while to reply, I know, but I was...well, I don't remember what I was doing.  Based on that fact, it may have had something to do with controlled substances.
...
Okay, I'm joking. 

*No controlled substances were included in the making of this book.

 

[NicTei]

I think I'll post a chapter per week until I get to Chapter 10, and then I'll wait a little longer, like until I've finished Chapter 20 (assuming it gets that far).

Keep reading guys; I'm liking the support!

 

[Chinaren]

I've not caught up with this yet NT, been too busy this week.  I will though, I will...

[NicTei]

Well, I've got a poll up.  What it's about should be quite obvious, I should hope.  If there isn't any voting, or if there is an unresolvable tie, then I will choose Friday by default.

Get your votes in!

 

[Phoenix]

i have thursdays off... other days i'm at college.. or busy... i have time on thursday though

[Chinaren]

OKay, so far so good.

I like the concept of this, though it's a little confusing half way down the first chapter, but no doubt it would clear up later.

Anyway, keep it going.

[NicTei]

Which part is confusing?  Sorry, but I'm one of those writers that thinks everything makes sense in my work, even if it says

"Yay!" said Ned, and the Kindom was his forever.

Kind of creepy, huh?

 

[Saint]

"Yay!" said Ned, and the Kindom was his forever.

I see nothing wrong with that...

[NicTei]

That's the end of the poll, and since it was a tie, I go with Friday.  So, the next one comes...today!?  Wow!  Cool!  Amazing!  Crap!
...
Wait, "Crap?"  Hm...

 

[NicTei]

   As Gabriel finished his breakfast, he wished that, like everything else after the Great Takeover, school had stopped.  And yet, even after the dangers were high on the walk to school for anyone that lived over an inch away from the building, school pressed on, regardless of how the students, staff, even the school board, felt.  So, at eight ‘o’ clock in the morning, in the middle of a town infested with zombies, Dogs, and other terrible creatures, he put his books in his bag, grabbed his rapier, and headed out the door.

   In Raven Falls, it was almost certain that no matter where you went, you would see a zombie or a Dog.  It was just virtually impossible to go anywhere and not see one.  It’s when you don’t see one, however, that you have to start worrying.  That means that they are hiding from you, stalking you.  That means that they are hungry and you are their next snack.

   The walk to school was fast and tense.  Gabriel’s hand never left his rapier’s pommel, not for a second.  If he had to sneeze, he lifted his left hand and gripped the handle of the blade.  About halfway to the building, he saw a zombie lumbering around a basketball court.  Not long after that, he saw a Dog chasing a rabbit, teasing it into thinking it was too slow to catch it.  Gabriel hurried on, not wanting to see the end of the chase.  Finally, he reached the doors to the school.  But, instinct told him, he still wasn’t safe. 

   At school, there was a group of usually five or six people he hated more than zombies or Dogs.  That’s because they hated him.  In the high school community, he was more than a fourteen-year old boy.  He was seen as a pessimist because of his outlook, which was in turn brought on by the premature death of his parents and the situation the world was in.  There weren’t many optimists left, but that didn’t mean that everyone was a pessimist, which of course lead to intolerance of pessimists.  And the fact that he was narcissistic and arrogant didn’t help his condition either.

   As he rounded the corner, he saw them by their lockers, talking and joking.  He wasn’t going to try and get past them unnoticed; one of their friends, aptly named Seer, could spot anyone anywhere, no matter the traffic around him.  He stood and waited, praying that they wouldn’t come his way to go downstairs.  Thankfully, they left for the stairway on the opposite end of the long hallway.  Saying a quick ‘thank you’ to God, he ran to his locker and put everything away. 

   Because of the high probability of attacks on school grounds, students were allowed to carry their weapons along with them, which was a disadvantage in some situations.  He remembered one incident where the group, with their sixth member, attacked him with their assortment of weapons.  Most had swords or baseball bats, but one had a particularly nasty stun gun.  Stun guns were the only firearm, aside from slingshots, allowed on the school grounds, which left some students, ones that were excellent archers or marksmen, completely helpless when it came to an attack.  Not that bullets and arrows did much against Dogs and zombies, however.

   After what seemed like an eternity of quickly, but cautiously, walking the halls, Gabriel made it to his first class, Study Hall, on time.  He saw that Seer was already in the back of the room, his pale blue eyes almost melting into his pale skin and equally pale hair.  He was also nicknamed ‘the Ghost’ because of his looks.  There were rumors about an ability he possessed that compared him to a ghost, but no one was certain.  Sitting beside him were two of his cohorts; Zanzi, a tanned, well built boy with crew cut brown hair and green eyes, and Rori, who was practically a female Zanzi, but with a bit longer hair.  This made sense; they were twins. 

   The two of them snickered as they saw him come in, and they pointed to an empty seat right in front of them.  Quickly looking around the room, he saw a seat in a mostly deserted corner of the room.  He quickly took a seat and started to doodle in his notebook.  The bell rang and the teacher entered the room.  He sat at his desk in the front of the classroom and started to work on his computer.  That was pretty much how the hour went, the teacher occasionally yelling at someone to be quiet.

   Then, the first bell rang and it was time for the next class, which was science.  After a rather boring lab activity involving a balloon and a needle, it was time for P.E.  Gabriel changed and was about to leave, but Zanzi got in his way.

“Where’re you going?” he asked with a sneer.

“Get out of my way!” Gabriel muttered.

“Oooh!  Looks like we’ve got an angry one here!  I’m so scared!  Don’t hurt me, please!” Zanzi said, feigning fear.  He started to laugh.  “You hardly even change clothes!  You’ve still got a long-sleeve shirt and jeans on!  What’ve you got to hide?”

“Nothing.  Now get out of my way!” Gabriel asserted.

   When it was clear that Zanzi wasn’t going to move, Gabriel feinted to the left, then immediately ran to the right.  Zanzi didn’t fall for it, and Gabriel ended up with a bloody nose.  Zanzi looked at him in distaste.  “Try that again and you’ll be in worse shape!” he promised.  With that, he left the locker room, with a small posse of boys following him.  Gabriel waited for a while, wiped his bleeding nose on his hand, and left the locker room, wiping his hands on his pants.

*

   In the gymnasium, a girl was talking to her friends.  They were laughing and gossiping, and likely spreading rumors.  She, however, didn’t participate in the rumors.  She was one of the only people in the school who had a mind for kindness and courtesy.  She was, after all, new to the school.  She had attended the local schools before, but that had been back in Elementary school, and even then she had only been there until fourth grade, when the amount of zombies and Dogs got too overwhelming for her parents.  After that, they had moved.

“Yeah, I’ll bet the only reason Gabriel wears long sleeves all the time is to cover up the cuts on his wrist an arms!” one of her friends was saying.

“To be fair, you don’t know that for certain…” she replied.  She fumbled with her long brown hair while her brilliant blue eyes were fixated on the ground.

“Madra, why are you sticking up for that boy?  He’s changed since you were here.  He’s a narcissistic little prick, and arrogant on top of that!  Besides, he’s the biggest pessimist I’ve seen, so it’s likely that there are cuts!” her friend argued.

   Out of nowhere, Gabriel broke into the group, pulling up his sleeves.  There were no marks on his wrists, only pale, not tanned skin.  That shut the girl up. 

“Is that convincing, or do I need to write an essay on how I don’t cut myself?” he asked.

“Oh, shut up!” the girl muttered, turning red.

   Gabriel turned around and walked away, but not before Madra noticed the blood on his hand and the blood still slowly dripping from his nose.  She almost chased after him, but stopped.  It was almost class time, and they weren’t allowed to just stand around talking before the class started.

   Of course, as luck would have it, a fight broke out, and it was Zanzi, Rori, and three others beating on Gabriel.  He was holding a defensive position, but was still feeling the hits.  And still, the teacher was nowhere to be found.  Seer was watching, like he always did.  He was always telling Zanzi and Rori, and his other friends, what to do and how to do it.  There was no doubt that he was behind this.

   When they saw the amount of blood that was no coming from almost any given place on Gabriel, especially his nose, a bunch of the girls were trying to intervene with the fight and get it to stop, but mostly because they would get in trouble with the teacher if a fight of this magnitude was going on and no one had tried to stop it.  Finally, Zanzi and Rori called it off, but by then the blood from Gabriel’s nose was down to his chin, and he was bleeding from his left hand, as well as developing a cut above his right eye.

“If you had any idea what I could do, you wouldn’t even be near me!” he said under his breath.

“What was that?” Zanzi asked, brandishing a fist.

“I won’t waste my breath on the likes of you!” Gabriel muttered, pulling away from Madra, who was holding him back.  He walked to the locker room, punching the wall as he turned the corner.

   If anyone had actually been watching the wall, they would’ve seen it crack where he punched it, but as it was, everyone was more intent on making up an explanation for the drops of blood on the floor,

*

   As it turned out, that wasn’t the worst part of the day.  The worst part, by far, was when, during recess, the alarm went off, which signified that a large group of Dogs, zombies, or worse, was coming closer to the school.  Gabriel immediately unsheathed his rapier, tuning towards the patch of forest on the school grounds that the Agriculture class took care of.  Concealed in the trees was a pond, and beyond that pond was a plot of land that no one owned, which contained an old graveyard, and bordered a newer graveyard.  Zombies were a definite problem.

   Of course, unlike the way the world had been before, these days the discovery of a new species was usually a bad thing, and was feared.  As luck would have it, a creature that Gabriel had never seen before came bounding out of the woods.  He had heard of demons, incubi, succubi, and other things of the like, but none of what he had seen could prepare him for what leaped from the forest. 

   It looked like a science experiment gone horribly wrong.  It had the head of a lion, and its body was covered in yellow and gray fur.  A goat’s head was sticking out of the middle of its back, and its tail was a snake.  Its claws were enormous and covered in a thick green liquid.  It was a chimera.  Long thought to be just a myth, it seemed that it had come to life during the Great Takeover.  And now, it had its evil eyes trained directly on Gabriel.

*

   Madra was the first to see the chimera attack Gabriel.  She yelled to one of the teachers that were outside, and everyone streamed inside, moving faster than they had already been going.  Unfortunately, there was a time limit on how long the doors could remain open during after the alarm went off.  Madra was dragged inside by one of her friends, and even though she pointed out that Gabriel was still out there, her friend didn’t hesitate.

   Once inside, she immediately tried the doors again, but they were locked.  Seconds later, a green light in a box by the door told her that the firewall defense outside the door was on, and only a Deathless Dog would be able to get through it.  She ran to find a teacher.

“Gabriel is still outside!” she panted when she had found the Study Hall teacher.

He looked at the floor.  “Well, casualties are inevitable, I guess.  He’s one of the orphans, so I’ll assume that will save us the phone call.”

   Madra looked at the teacher in disbelief.  Not only had he not really reacted to the news, but he didn’t seem to care that one of his students was trapped outside with who knows how many monsters.  She ran to teacher after teacher, but they all had the same basic reaction:  There was nothing she could do, and it was hopeless.

*

   Outside, however, was a different story.  Gabriel was fending off the chimera, fighting like a madman.  But, he wasn’t getting anywhere.  If he so much as dropped his guard for a moment to run, he was as good as dead.  To make matters worse, zombies and Dogs were spewing from the forest, a couple of them joining the chimera. 

   He closed his eyes as the chimera pinned his sword and a Dog was about to rip off his head, but there was a loud ‘thwack,’ accompanied by a whimpering noise.  He opened his eyes to see that there was a figure wearing black with his foot outstretched after kicking the Dog away, and his hand was blocking the claws of the chimera from ripping into Gabriel’s chest.

“Tsk, tsk.  I think you’d move fast enough to get to the door.  Oh well.  I guess not.”

   The figure’s voice was cocky, teasing Gabriel for his position.  Gabriel stood up and ran to the school building, dispatching a group of zombies as he did so.  He saw that the firewall was up around the doors, and he looked for a good place to hide.  He saw the small shed by the school and picked the lock on the door with his knife.  He got in and locked it, holding his breath while the sounds of a zombie shuffling by entered his ears.  As soon as it was gone, he relaxed.

*

   Hairin released the claws of the chimera, kicking it like he had the Dog.  Of course, due to its considerable size and mass, Hairin only succeeded in hurting his foot and angering the chimera, which immediately attacked.  It was only the timely arrival of Cross that kept him from being the next snack for the big beast.

“Tsk, tsk.  How’d you, of all people, get in this situation?” Cross asked.

“Because I’m not some weirdo who will sit on the sidelines and analyze the situation!”

“Hey, keep the insults to a minimum, okay?” Cross asked.  “I did just save your life!”

“You think that thing could kill a Dark?” Hairin asked.

“Well, yes, I do.  This thing’s claws are layered in a special poison that causes Darks to suffer a while before dying and humans to die instantly.  I don’t think you’re strong enough to withstand the poison.  Do you?” Cross asked.

“Oh, shut up!” Hairin replied.

   Whilst the two of them bickered, a Dog kept coming closer and closer to them, bounding out of the forest as fast as it could.  When it got too close, however, Cross simply stuck out his arm with his fist clenched.  A sort of energy flowed down the outstretched limb and fired off at the Dog, causing a bit of kickback to Cross.  He flinched a little, but the Dog was worse off by far; the energy had hit it straight in the forehead, causing it to fly back into a group of zombies with blood spilling out of the wound.  This caused a zombie and Dog feeding frenzy, which resulted in one less Dog in the immediate area.

“Was that the ‘Cannon’ you’ve been talking about?” Hairin asked, not looking at the mess the zombies were making.

“Yeah.  The ‘Shotgun’ is a lot better, though.  It’s got a bigger blast radius.”

“Interesting, interesting.”

“Do you have anything you’ve been working on for a while that you’d like to show off?” Cross asked.

“No, not really.  Sucks, doesn’t it?” Hairin replied.

“Sure, whatever you say.”

   Their conversation was cut short as the first scream issued from the school building.  Cross looked and saw that a Dog had gotten through the doors, even though they had been lead lined.  He played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors with Hairin and lost, which meant that he had to take care of the area from inside the school walls to fifty feet around it.  He moved so fast that he became a black blur, getting to the school in less than a second. 

   He fired of his ‘Cannon’ again, slamming the Dog into a wall.  He picked it up by the neck and tossed it outside, pulling the hole in the heavy doors shut with his bare hands.  From there, he created four copies of himself, each of which guarded the doors and the rest of the outer school building while he hunted down the monsters that were getting inside the building from seemingly nowhere.  He shot down zombie after zombie, and even a couple of Dogs, before he finally found out that they were coming in through the basement.  He blasted a hole in the floor, completely ignoring the fact that there was a perfectly good door in front of him, and nearly screamed. 

   There wasn’t just a steady stream of zombies coming in through a small hole in the basement wall, rather the whole wall had been blown up and the basement was an ocean of decaying cadavers seeking human flesh.  He wasted no time getting to work defending the door to the basement and the new hole in the floor.  There was cannon flash after cannon flash, and zombies were falling about two every second.  Even so, they were pushing onward, and Cross was getting overwhelmed.  He was being pushed back into the hallway, and he yelled to a teacher to get everyone to the top floor.  As soon as there were no more kids in sight, the energy flowing up and down his arm changed, occupying a larger area.
 
“Say hello to the ‘Shotgun,’ you piles of garbage!” he yelled as he started to lay them to waste with his energy weapon. 

   With the wider blast radius of the Shotgun, more and more zombies were going down.  And yet, they didn’t seem to be stopping.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of blasting the zombies down, they stayed down.  The hallway was littered with arms, legs, heads, and almost every other body part, not excluding badly decayed internal organs.  Cross was turning around to walk away, but turned around again when he heard something move.  Nothing was moving.  He started to walk away again, but this time the noise was closer.  When he turned around, there was a huge culmination of zombie parts in a humanoid shape right behind him, and it punched him in the face with a huge hand composed of smaller hands. 

   He went flying down the forty-foot hallway, slamming into the wall at the end.  The Frankenstein-like monster charged at him, and he barely dodged a very powerful punch by ducking under.  He placed his hand on its chest area and fired his Shotgun, but this time with his hand open, which made it a lot wider.  That was the end of the monster.  The power of the blast had turned the zombies’ parts into little more than powder.  Still, Cross kept his eye on the powder, not wanting some dust zombie to come after him.  When it had been still for a while, he bagged it up and tossed the bag to yet another clone he had made of his self.

“Take that back to M.R. for testing, alright?” he instructed the clone.  It nodded and disappeared in a black portal thing that appeared behind him.

“Now, it’s time to take out the trash!” he said as he exited the school building.  He took one look and was dumbstruck.  Hairin was the only thing still standing upright on the field Cross had left him in.  Everything else was on the ground.  Dogs, zombies, and even the chimera appeared to be dead, the zombies dead a second time.

“What?  You weren’t expecting me to succeed, Cross?  That’s cold!” Hairin exclaimed, pretending to be hurt.

“Well, I knew you’d succeed, but I didn’t expect everything to be over before I was done!” Cross replied.

“Oh well!  Not everything goes as planned, eh?”

“You’ve got that right!” Cross answered.

There was silence for a while.  “Should we head back to HQ?” Cross asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Hairin answered.

*

   When it was found out that everything on the school grounds and in the school was dead or gone, and when Gabriel was found alive in the shed, school was cancelled according to protocol on days of an attack.  Gabriel found himself walking home alone, but for some reason it seemed that something was watching him.  He gripped his rapier tightly, not wanting to be taken by surprise by anything.  He heard the footsteps behind him, and turned, pointing his rapier at…Madra.

“Hey!  No need to get violent!” she yelled as she pushed the blade away.

“What makes you walk this way?” he asked, turning back around to continue walking.
 
“I’m supposed to go to my Grandma’s house, and she lives on the next block up.  I assume you live this way?” she asked, attempting to make conversation.

“Yes.  In the corner house on the block after next.”

“You only live a house away from my Grandma!” Madra pointed out.

“Yeah.  I guess.”

“I just find that interesting…” Madra said, not really understanding herself why she had pointed that out.

   After a while, Gabriel saw her, out of the corner of his eye, walk up the front walk of a house that was indeed only one house away from his.  He had never noticed anything on holidays, such as family gatherings, so this information was new to him.  Satisfied that he had at least learned something new, he entered his house, doing his customary sweep of the entire building to make sure there were no surprises, human or otherwise.

   Suddenly, a zombie leaped through the window, ripping off Gabriel’s head.  As the zombie bit down, Gabriel’s body exploded into nothing more than smoke, sending the zombie out the window.

*

   While Gabriel was getting killed, Cross was making a report to M.R.  M.R. was the leader of the group that Hairin and Cross were a part of:  the Lost.  M.R. was a taller figure than Cross, standing at least half a foot over him.  His mask was simple; it was white with two circular eyeholes, each with a curled line underneath.  His hair was dark red, and extremely shaggy.  It exploded from behind his mask with such force that it looked like a lion’s mane.  His shoulders were covered by spherical metal objects, an opening on one side allowing the armor pieces to fit on him.  The rest of his body was covered with a large cloak, and two spear-like weapons were on his back.
 
“Sir, the attack on the high school in Raven Falls was neutralized.  All enemies were wiped out, and a new species was discovered.”

“What is it?” M.R. asked.

“It is a chimera, sir!  Straight from mythology!” Cross reported.

“You’re joking, right?” M.R. asked.

“No sir!  I am telling the truth!” Cross replied.

“Very well, then.  I take your word for it.  Cross, I want you to show me something…” M.R. said, his voice trailing off. 

   Suddenly, he whipped around and one of the spears flew off his back and ran right through Cross’ heart.  Cross didn’t even wince, but exploded into smoke, the force sending the spear back to M.R.
 
“Well played, Cross!  Well played!” M.R. encouraged as the real Cross stepped through the door.

“Well, you suggested that I adapt my style to my creed, which states that I trust no one, an lo and behold, I’m surrounded by clones so convincing you can’t even tell which one is the real me.  I assume I interpreted your suggestion correctly?” Cross asked.

“Quite well!  If that is all, you may return to your quarters.  You are dismissed!”

   As Cross left the room, he passed by Hairin, who was on his way to make his report and submit his expenses.  The advantage of being in the Lost was that you could submit an expense report from your other lifestyle to the Head of Base, in this case M.R., and have it taken care of.  But, it had to be reasonable and legal.

   There were rules to the members of the Lost, however.  The main rule was that you weren’t, under any circumstance, to show your identity, even to your comrades. This fit Cross just fine.  Another rule was that you had to stay at HQ overnight unless you had a reason for staying out late, such as a party to keep up social appearances in your other life, or watching a sick relative.

   Cross would normally disagree with this rule, had the quarters been like any normal sleeping quarters:  a small room with a bed and a couple of personal items.  However, that was not so.  The sleeping quarters at HQ were enormous, in fact, they were entire worlds created by the imagination of the person who owned them.  There was almost no limit as to where you could go in that world, and if you placed a certain crest in a certain spot, the door to the room would open up to that spot.

   Another thing that made the sleeping quarters, referred to (to M.R.’s dismay) as ‘rooms’ by everyone but a select few, so grand was the fact that, as soon as you entered the door, the door disappeared, making the world appear to be just that, a private world.  All you had to do to leave was imagine that the door was right in front of you and step forward.  Because of the way the rooms worked, most of the Lost couldn’t wait to get to their rooms.

   As Cross got closer and closer to his room, his pace quickened.  He opened the door with the correct word and mask scan, and found himself in his world.  His world was one that told you right away who it belonged to.  The door opened up to the ruins of a church, and looking out the broken windows revealed that, not only was the entire landscape full of the ruins of other ancient looking stone buildings, but there was a seemingly endless torrential downpour of rain that made visibility limited.  When the clouds finally did clear, the moon was always full and the stars were always bright.

   In some of the others’ rooms, there were inhabitants, such as other humans or animals.  Cross, however, chose a world that was completely uninhabited by anyone.  He was the only one in his world.  He occasionally imagined another being in his world, or another life-form such as an animal, but that was almost always before sleep collected his weary conscience, so he had no idea if there actually were other people or animals in his world.  One being that had struck his mind while he was wide awake, however, was a lone wolf, and he had since seen, or believed he had seen, the silhouette of a lone wolf stalking the ruined streets with the air of a guardian, watching over the ruins.

   Cross stepped into his world and immediately walked to the altar in front of an enormous crucifix, where he lit incense, crossed himself, bowed his head, and prayed.  With that being done, he walked over to the corner where he had a sleeping bag, pillow, and lantern set up.  He opened the sleeping bag to get it ready for whenever he did finally decide to fall asleep, and then headed for the door to the church.  Feeling the rain fall onto him from one of the sections where the ceiling had collapsed, he looked up, and when he looked back to the door he stopped and stared.

   There, framed in the door, was a lone, grey wolf, calmly gazing at him with his blue eyes.  It seemed to be satisfied with what it saw, and it turned around and disappeared into the rain.  Cross stood there for a moment, not sure what to do, then simply did what he always did;  walking on one of the collapsed marble columns, he made his way through a seemingly chaotic maze of rubble and ended up on the church’s tall, undamaged steeple, where he surveyed his world.  He saw the wolf, and nearly fell off the steeple when he saw it sprout wings.  It was official:  he would have to talk to who ever invented these rooms.

[Saint]

Thanks for that NicTei, I just had laptops in English and nothing to do... well... nothing interesting

Didn't have time to finish it though, had to do that at home 10 minutes later

You killed Gabriel! I'm guessing he's not actually dead though... possibly one of these darks you keep mentioning...

[NicTei]

QUIET, YOU FOOL!!
...
...
Sorry about that.  I really am.  But we can't have people posting spoilers that they just happened upon, can we?

 

[Saint]

I didn't know... *goes off to bebo to find out if he's right*

I like predicting plot twists xD

[NicTei]

Well, checking out the Bebo site will be the best way to figure out if you are right; that's the only way to see your char-I mean Keitaro right away.

 

[Saint]

I'd take it that means that you've finished the chapter now then?

[NicTei]

Not quite.  I'm still waiting for yours and Phoenix's mask designs.  After that, I'll get started.

 

[Saint]

oops, sorry about that!

I'll get the pad and pencils Phoenix got me!

[NicTei]

You're getting each other gifts?
...
...


 

[Saint]

It was a late birthday present

[NicTei]

I see.
...
...

 

[Saint]

Just finished the mask... errm... It didn't have to be SIMPLE did it?

*Hopes to god he says no*

[NicTei]

No, it didn't have to be simple.  It just had to look good to you.  It doesn't matter if I like it or not; I like a lot of artforms and styles, so the chances are that I'll like it.  If it looks good to you, then it qualifies.

 

[NicTei]

Tomorrow's my birthday!!!XD XD

What to ask for...


(^Yes, that's a happy birthday pumpkin.)