Invincible (19 page)

little longer in the library. I’ve been starting to hate it these past few days because me, Jack, and the rest of our team, went up against our opposing team, who were really good. And I mean
really
good.

I check the score board—which I rarely ever did—and suddenly I went into a depressive state of emotion. The other team had gotten seven and ours had gotten…zero.

I turn my head away from the board, getting myself back into the game, which to me, seemed like a useless attempt.

“We’re getting creamed out here,” Jack says as the other team scores another point.

“Yeah, no kidding,” I say.

I then turn to the other team, who instantly huddle together and whisper amongst themselves.

What were they talking about?
I wondered.

But then I realized I didn’t have to wonder. I could use my super-hearing to hear what they were saying, and if they were discussing game strategies, I would know them. And if I knew them, my team would probably have a good chance at winning.

I turned on my super-hearing, waiting for descriptions of plays to enter my ears. But instead of hearing the other team, I heard a growl. A loud growl at that. As I started to wonder what the sound was, another unexpected sound materializes.

“Get him,” says a cold, disturbing voice. A voice that was not in the room. A
voice I’ve never heard before.

I start to get a little worried. Was there some robber outside trying to mug someone? Should I leave class and help? But what was the growling? What was the source of the sound, and what was the other sound that followed it?

But before I could even think any further, the growling got louder and louder, and before I realized it, the entire wall of the gym explodes behind me.

“Jack!” were the only words I could form as I leaped into the air.

When I hit the ground, I closed my eyes for a few seconds and stayed on the floor, letting the rubble from the wall fall upon me. I open my eyes and see my glasses lying a few inches away from me, but now doesn’t seem like a good time to retrieve them. As soon as I’m back on my feet and turn around, I stare in horror at what lies in front of me. An extremely large alligator lizard-like creature with dark green scaly skin and a long tail stared back at me, letting out a huge roar.

Behind me, I hear the terrifying screams of students, but I don’t turn back to see them. My eyes fixate on the creature, and the fourteen men that suddenly appeared behind it, dressed from head to toe in black. One of them surprisingly caught my interest. The guy, who was slightly muscular with blond cropped hair, stands in front of the others and stares at me; his strange orange and red tinted eyes meeting mine, a grin crossing his face at the sight of me.

Was this the voice I’d heard spoken? Was he the one who gave the terrifying command?
Get him. Get him. Get him.

When I realize the meaning behind those words, my head starts to spin, and my heart begins to pound. He wasn’t just coming for any random person. He was coming for me.

I turn back to see the screaming children running towards the entrance of the gym. There were only a few people left inside, and among those people was Jack, who seemed as frozen as a statue as he stared ahead of me.

“Jack!” I yell as I feel the floor unexpectedly quake beneath my feet. “Get out of here! Run!”

Jack shuffles his feet for a moment, his expression of fear now shifting into one of panic, and then he starts to run, heading towards the entrance, only I don’t continue to see him make it safely out of the room. My attention calls behind me as I turn back around to face the open wall and saw the creature rushing its way towards me, along the men slowly following it.

I whip around and run through the enormous gym, jumping over piles of bricks and tons of rubble, trying to make my way to the entrance, leading myself and the creatures into the rest of the school.

I run straight through the entrance, now rocketing deep into the surprisingly empty hallways. At first, I thought the creature wouldn’t pursue me, but to my surprise, it rams through the entrance, knocking down almost half of the wall, bellowing aggressively as it continues to chase me.

As I continue running for my life, I begin to think about Taylor, and wondered if she was still in the school. I didn’t want her to be here now, in case these men are as viscous as they seemed, and tried to hurt someone, her included.

Then the intercom blares around me, and Mr. Neville’s voice fills my ears.

“Code red!” he says frantically. “Code red! Teachers and students, evacuate the building immediately! This is not
a drill. Evacuate immediately!”

My mind is immediately
put to ease. Hopefully, she would’ve heard the message and left the school. Then she would be safe, along with Jack, whose fate was still undetermined to me at the moment. Other than that, there was nothing else I could do. I couldn’t

have anyone else’s well-being on my mind. R
ight now, I had to save myself.

I turn a corner and head towards the cafeteria, and at that moment, I hear
d a crash. I quickly turn my head, not even daring myself to stop running, and saw the creature sliding onto the floor beside a greatly dented wall.

I thought that it was defeated, but instead it gets back up and continues its pursuit. I turned away and made my way into the cafeteria, catching my breath as I hid beside the door. The creature busted itself in and noticed me standing next to the now demolished door. I slowly back away as it came towards me, opening its mouth and revealing its horrifyingly sharp, white teeth. I turn around to see where to run next, but unfortunately, I was trap
ped, walking right into a wall.

Running out of options, I raise my fist and punch the creature hard in the jaw, knocking it over. I jump over it, trying to put a distance between us and head for the kitchen, but all of a sudden, its large tail starts to swing. I flatten to the ground, avoiding the attacks it tried to make at me, swinging instead at the tables and walls. The tail paused, and for a moment, I thought it was finished. But then it rises above me and I realized it knew where I was.

I roll over as it slams at the place where I once laid, and immediately stand up. The tail starts to swing again, but I was getting so aggravated with this creature all together that as it whipped towards me, I grabbed onto it. I can hear the creature squeal as I gripped tighter onto its rear, and with all my strength, I began to pull, spinning around in a couple of circles until finally, I let go, throwing it into a wall. It went through the wall and landed outside, where I began to see screaming kids running away in the distance. 

It runs back inside and whips its tail at me again, roaring louder than ever. I avoided the attack by flipping over it backwards, and before my feet could touch th
e ground, I paused in the air.

The tail tries to raise itself up to reach me, but its efforts were worthless, as I was too high for it to hit. When it realizes this, it begins to lash out, now whipping its tail at almost anything it could come into contact with. I’ve seen this with many of the criminals I’ve encountered. Once they start to believe they can’t get you, that’s when you go in for the attack.

I drop onto the creature’s back. It screeches again at the impact, but I didn’t care. I grab onto its scaly skin, keeping my balancing, and begin to tug at it, forcing it in the air and slamming it to the floor. The screeching continues as I repeat the action over and over again. And as I keep it going, one of its teeth drops to the ground.

This was my chance.

I slide down off the creature’s side and run for the tooth. I grab it quickly, and just before it lunges towards me, plunge it into its guts.

It screeches loudly as I pull the tooth away and drive it back in, and just to be safe, I take it out and do it again. I back away as the creature keels over sideways and falls to the floor with a powerful thud, twitching for a few moments, and then goes still.

I kneel down next to the fallen creature, catching my breath as I try to sink in these last few minutes. Just who exactly were these men with strange colored eyes? Why were they after me? And what the hell was this thing I’d just killed? These were questions I didn’t know at the moment, but were certainly waiting outside for me to answer nonetheless. Without as much as a shred of fear in my body, I stand up and decide to find them.

All of the lights were out by the time I entered the hallway again. I tried to figure out which direction I should choose to find the men. Hopefully, they were still in the school, and I could get the information I wanted. But before I even had time to start walking, a voice calls out to me. A sweet musical voice.

Taylor.

She runs over to me, and without hesitation, I open my arms.

“What are you doing here?” I say, my body comforting hers as it squeezes me tightly. “Didn’t you hear the announcement?”

“I did,” she says, “but I lost my way with the others while evacuating, and before I could catch up with them, these strange men started coming my way. So I hid in one of the classrooms for a while until they left.” She lets go of my body and gazes at me with curiosity. “Wait...what are
you
doing here?”

“Uh…nothing,” I say nervously, not fully th
inking of a good enough excuse.

Taylor tilts her body away from mine, trying to look into the cafeteria. “What happened in there?” she asks, taking a step forward.

I instantly grab the top of her shoulders and pull her back, not wanting her to witness the sight of the dead green monster that I’ve just killed. “I’m not sure,” I say.

“But didn’t you just come out of there?”

“Well, yeah, but there’s nothing in there. A-at least from what I saw.”

She looks at me with a confused expression, and another word barely escapes her lips before a crashing sound is made nearby. We whip our heads

towards its possible source, and when we look back at each other, I notice the fear scattered across her face.

Before she even speaks words of panic, I pre
ss my hands against her cheeks.

“Listen to me,” I say to her, looking deeply into her eyes. “It’s go
ing to be all right. No one is going to hurt you, okay? I won’t let it happen.”

My hands begin to feel moist, and after looking into her red eyes for a few moments, she finally respon
ds by slowly nodding her head.

“Right now, we have to move,” I say, removing my hands from her tearful face. “Just follow me.”

She nods her head again. I then hold out my hand, and when she takes it, we start to run.

I decided to go the way Taylor came from. Not for us to leave. Not yet. First, I had to do some interrogating with these intruders. Whatever reason they wanted me, I would find out soon enough.

We ran as quickly as we could, trying not to make any noise so that the men wouldn’t catch us. As we continue moving, the image of them blinds me. I then realized that these guys were different. Not like the usual criminals I catch, or even Davidson for that matter. There was something strange about them, but weirdly enough, they felt familiar to me. Almost as if I’ve seen them before…

I snap back to reality as Taylor starts to scream, and halted abruptly when I realized what she was screaming at. The men—three of them standing in front of us, with large machine-like guns pointed in our direction.

I've lost focus,
I think.
I've completely lost focus. And now they’re here, with their possible strength and guns. Now it’s over. We are going to die.