Barcode: Legend of Apollo (16 page)

Instinctively, I crouch and prepare to run, but Selena freezes at the sight of the animal. Well aware that there’s no way we could survive while carrying her, I hold my ground.

Angie notices Selena’s fearful response. She draws her dagger from a strap attached to the loose black belt around her waist and transmutes it into a shield. She then arms herself with Kongo. She and the abomination snarl like two predators facing off. My cousin nearly transforms herself into a terrifying creature I’ve only seen in sparring sessions.

Kode jerks his head as though he hears something, or senses it. Then, he runs behind Selena and places his two thumbs on her tattoo.

Listen to the beast and tell her.
 I hear an inner voice say.

“Selena!” I shout angrily to wake her from her stupor. As her eyes focus on me I say, “Listen to the damn bear, and warn her if something’s wrong.”

Kode watches me. He seems shocked.

Selena’s codes radiate and suddenly she shouts, “Angie; it’s poisonous!”

The amazingly ugly creature slowly opens its mouth, and makes a chocking sound. Its tongue hisses and wavers left to right and the grotesque smell of rotting flesh, graveyard dirt, and sweat strengthens.

Once Angie registers Selena’s words, she withdraws her trident and creates a Spartan shield large enough to protect two bodies.

The beast spits, and the ground under Angie’s feet melts. With a mighty swing, the bear-like creature slams Angie to the floor by crashing its paw on the shield. Upset that the barrier won’t move, it tries to trample her by stomping repeatedly. I whip my chains on the creature’s back to distract it, but it hardly notices my strikes through its dense skin.

Kode runs behind us and I see sparks omitting from his gloves. He recreates the black trishula, but this time with a staff similar to the one in my dream. I snatch a page from Selena’s fear and watch as Kode launches Shiva in my direction. Everything within me begs me to move, but I only stare as it easily flies over my head and lands right on the beast’s paw.

Regaining my composure, I rush in and move Angie out of the raging bear’s way. Kode kicks Selena in the back, which pushes her towards us. After he chases the bear down to retrieve Shiva, he runs down the path he pointed to initially.

I hear, 
Follow or die
, and decide on the first option. While directing the ladies towards Kode, I use my chain to buy them enough time. Once I think the women are at a safe distance, I run like my life depended on it.

When I make my way around the corner, I practically enter a different maze. There’s a long straight shot to my friends. They’re waiting for me in what looks like an opening for a small door.

Every ten or fifteen feet, the walls shrink in size. If I make it to them, the humungous rat-bear won’t be able to fit.

I grunt as the insanely fast rodent chases me down. Glancing over my shoulder at the beast, I shout, “All that weight and you’re this damn fast?”

I pump both arms like engines. With my heart pounding and two beautiful girls watching, one clear thought emerges from the rest, 
don’t fall.

The gap between the stupid rat-bear-elephant thing and I quickly closes. I’m running out of time.

Slapping my armor, I yell, “You’re too heavy. Come on. Life or death here.”

My classmates have their trident, spear, and sword drawn, ready to strike in the worst case scenario. Now, this could just be the adrenaline speaking, but it seems that the worst case is within inches from killing me. Hey, I could be wrong.

“One of you throw a freakin’ spear before he eats me.”

Kode shrugs while Angie says, “I don’t want to lose Kongo. I just got it.”

My life’s in danger and she doesn’t want to lose a spear. Great.

Finally, my suit turns a vibrant red and my steps become more spring loaded. The armor feels like a feather and the large spine on my back decreases, giving me more room to run freely. Even the three holes on my back seem to tighten and connect in a triangular shape versus the uncomfortable column that once was there.

My classmates, more concerned about their stupid weapons than my life, spread out. This allows me enough room to enter the space. How considerate. They watch as my speed drastically increases, and the ladies cheer me on. Great. That’s what I need right now: a cheer squad.

I’m about to dive into the space of my faithful audience, but before I can leap in, the ugly monster captures me in its mouth. Just like I imagined it would be, warm and wet. Yum.

The beast slams into the small space, still holding me tightly. Though his body is far too large to fit in the door, his head made it in just enough to hold onto me.

“Aaaah!” The teeth resemble snake fangs and I’m trapped behind them like a prison in its mouth. I push against his gums so that I’m not completely enclosed.

Angie’s the first to stab the monster in her tiny space, followed by Selena and eventually Kode. It attempts to retreat while holding more tightly.

My sluggish hero, Kode, grabs my chest plate with one hand and pulls firmly against the monster’s grip. An electric surge runs through my body and every sound in the room echoes. Looking down at Kode, I see the trishula in his right hand, emitting a strange tune. The shock his gloves deliver forces the monster to open his mouth and withdraw from the room.

Even after the beast surrenders its grip, I’m still yelling hysterically. It runs away, whimpering in pain.

As I calm down, Angie checks me for scars, and the girls giggle at my misfortune.

“Nice armor,” Angie says, knocking on my chest plate.

“Screw all of you, damn it. Leo saved my life, but you three…” I clench my fist and they continue laughing. Kode bends over holding his stomach. I swear I hear three people chuckling, but I decide to look for a way out. They obviously think I’m too funny.

After they share a moment at my expense, the trio catches up to my angry pace. Now the size of the room is reversing. Every five feet, the walls and ceiling increase in size until we’re standing in front of a very large wall. Dead end.

Selena says, “I still hear that thing at the end. If we go back, we’ll have to fight.”

Angie thinks before adding, “Spencer, I heard you had a flail. Maybe we can blast through?”

“I only have the chains,” I say, releasing them. “So that means the only way out—”

Is up
, I hear in my head as the others stare at the ceiling. 
I’ve been saying that the entire time. Use your chains and my trishula, then pull us up. If I believed in gods, I’d ask how they could create so many idiots and put them in the same room.

This is the moment I realize that the voice in my head is Kode.

I snatch the trishula from his hand. After securely locking my chains around the blades, I throw Shiva at the ceiling. While climbing the links and kicking against the wall for support, I mumble, “You talk way too much to have such a weak voice.”

The girls look at the ground. They think my comment was directed towards them, but I have no way of clarifying. I sound crazy enough already. Trying to explain that I can hear a classmate through a mystical dimension won’t help much.

Masks are meant to give humans powers like the gods. Like tattoos, each mask hosts a different power. Most are made of bronze, diamond, gold, or some other earthly material. They also have codes providing ample strength or agility. But Tartarus doesn’t have a barcode and the black material’s very unique.

After talking to Angie earlier about Tartarus, I discovered that the mask sacrifices the owner’s pleasure for power. There are no senses of taste or smell inside. Owners are blind and mute to provide a greater connection with the universe. Yet here I am, hearing his voice echo inside of my head.

Perhaps I’m actually sensing his emotions. Michelle said, every barcode is connected to one of the senses; touch being the most powerful. The more I transmute MIBS, the more I’m able to understand.

That’s what I convince myself of as I finish climbing the chains, but not what my heart believes.

I squeeze in a small space between the first and second floor, and lower my chains to the others. Angie makes it to the top faster than I had. Selena slips once, but Kode catches her. He shakes his head in disgust, but all I hear is: 
You’re kidding right? You can hear fifty yards away but you can’t even climb fifty feet with the brute pulling you up?

I can’t disagree much with that, but if she didn’t hear it, I don’t want to point it out. She seems disappointed with herself enough. I’m starting to believe Selena eats alone because of her own insecurities. She doesn’t do that well in class and is practically worthless unless her hearing is needed.

After we’ve all climbed the wall, we crawl on top of the first floor maze until we reach the second. From our bird’s eye perspective, we are able to see each of the fearsome creatures waiting to capitalize on any mistake. That bear was a mouse compared to the creature at the furthest end of the maze.

Noticing the massive size of our opponents, Angie transmutes her staff to a mallet. She makes us wait an extra minute while she adds spikes and lengthens the handle.

She’s been practicing
, Kode says while shivering. 
She creeps me out more than Professor Gonzales, crazy broad.

As Selena draws her sword, the rest of us stare at each other. We’re clearly on the same wavelength. Kode expresses it in his thoughts, 
Yeah, right. Like she knows how to use it.

One thing I do know, she can direct us out of the maze. When coming up to another split, I ask, “Where do we go now, Selena?”

You’re both stupid. Seriously, how does she know? Her ears travel fifty yards in one direction. The end of the maze is easily one-hundred and forty-three yards away.

“And how do you know that?” I blurt out, approaching Kode. Before, his voice seemed like a faint sound, but the more I listen the more I’m able to distinguish between my own thoughts and his voice. The unpleasant sound is the one coming from Tartarus.

Remove your finger from my face before I break it
, Kode says with a chuckle.

Slamming my fist against the wall next to his head, I wrap my other hand tightly around his throat. The mask must weigh a ton. That would explain why his neck is so wide compared to the rest of his body.

 “Or what?”

“Are you talking to him? Can…Can you hear him?” Angie asks, quivering in fear. This is something that none of us are used to.

“Yeah, can you?” I know the answer, but I don’t want to hear it.

No longer laughing, he says, 
Wait, you can really hear me?
 I’ve never sensed this urgency or intensity from Kode. Even after murdering the gladiators, he seemed peaceful. While flipping through channels, it was as though he felt at home.

“I said I could, though I wish you would shut up!”

Kode turns his head back to Angie and asks, 
But you still can’t hear me?

“Aren’t you going to answer him? You seriously can’t hear?” Say yes! Say yes!

Selena shakes her head with her barcodes glowing. Then, Angie says calmly, “Spence, we’re not supposed to be able to hear through Tartarus. I told you that.” She takes a step back, “So why can you?”

I relax my grip and say, “But he’s talking loud and clear. It’s like he never stops talking. Complaining is a better way to put it. I mean this guy’s life must’ve been miserable. Who talks this much about nothing? I’m sick of it.”

Kode grabs my armor to refocus my attention, but he doesn’t say a word for a few seconds. There’s too much on his mind to leak out at once.

Exploding with information, he snaps, 
You’re supposed to kill Helios, but do you really know who he is?

“I don’t care.” I know this is a bad response. I can sense Kode’s thoughts scrambling. He was already prepared to blast off, and I just hit the launch button.

A banging resonates in my ears as he flings me around and smashes me into the wall, reversing our positions. My head throbs and I squint to focus my sight, but the room turns black, and I’m only able to see him. Reactivating my tattoos returns some clarity, but everything’s still a blur. Even Kode’s splitting into two occasionally.

You’ll care
, he says shaking me as I struggle to unpin myself from the wall. There’s only one problem, I’ve never felt this much power. Sure Arnold’s strong, but he never tried to hurt me.

Angie screams. A pressure weighs against my chest as she enters the dark space as well.

“Stop,” she shouts with an energy that seems to transfer through all of our bodies. The power’s strong enough to pull me out of the dark world long enough to watch as the shock wave cracks the ground under her feet and knocks Selena on the floor. Then, the surrounding color vanishes and all three of us enter the dark space again.

Kode tightens his grip, and I struggle to fight for air. When he notices, I sense something apologetic in his tone. His words don’t match the emotion, 
Tell that annoying chick I’m not in the mood today. I’ll tear this entire school apart if she doesn’t give me a minute
. I don’t respond and he slowly draws the life from my body by squeezing tighter
. I’m well aware I can’t beat Dennis and Casey, but how many of your friends do you think I could kill before they stop me?

Raising my hand to Angie I sputter, “We’re just having a man-to-man.”

A soft expression wavers on her face. Though she seemed threatening, I never sensed her desire to stop Kode.

As her rage subsides, the pressure bearing down on my chest releases and I’m thankful that some of my pain reduces. Angie waits tearfully behind Kode before fading into the dark.

“Why should I care? Why should I give a fuck about Helios?”

Watch your language or I’ll pop your head off. Why should you care? Let’s see. He’s coming to kill you. He knows you better than you know him. He’s pure evil. Take your pick.

Trying to laugh, I say, “But I have you to save me.”

Not quite. If you even live through the process, count yourself lucky.