Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive (The Lucas Ryan Versus Series) (16 page)

LEVEL 23:
This Is War

“Please, don’t hurt my friends,” Sophia wilted. Her hands tightly strangled the last remaining piece of my missing gauntlet as tears scratched down her cheeks. She looked to the horrifying scene above her head, watching as her sister, my best friends and oldest enemies, dangled from the rafters of the school gymnasium. General Love had strung everyone, but her, up in the air, attached to the roof by some weird and sticky substance like a gooey spiderweb. It oozed black slime and twinkled with green flecks of light. Twenty-feet above the hardwood floor Olivia hung in pain, trying to be strong for her sister.

“Please!” Sophia begged again, surrounded by the General’s monstrous armed guard. This time they pointed their daggers for fingers and mouthfuls of fangs at her, instead of assault weapons. They shook with powerful bodies, hunched over and growling. General Love watched her with his phantom eyes from across the room. He smiled with the same cocooning black ooze dripping from his lower lip. It disgusted Sophia, completely.

“Soph! Don’t make him angry!” Olivia warned from above. Her warning only seemed to scare Sophia more, exciting the General and his men.

“I am not angry, my dear Olivia. Far from it,” General Love said, strolling along the length of the gymnasium floor, playing hide and seek with the falling shadows of my tortured friends. As he passed under each hanging body he gave a wicked glare to each of his prisoners. A personal moment of fear for all his trapped victims.

Finding a new wind in her lungs, Sophia stepped forward, “Let us go!” Holding the magical token seemed to settle her nerves and fill her with confidence. This new sensation enveloped her young body and she didn’t notice that the gauntlet screen was radiating inside her hands. General Love avoided her silly threats and continued his stalking of my friends. He stopped halfway to Sophia and jerked his head upward, focusing his hateful stare on Dax. Dax hung quiet and petrified, trying his hardest to not show the General just how scared he actually was. General Love pulled his lips together and sucked in a long dusty breath. Quickly, he expelled a jagged icy column of air that crackled upward, reaching for Dax. The force of it spun him in a sickening circle of dizziness that covered his clothes and skin in chunks of frozen crystals. Dax screamed down to the General as if he were dying.

“Don’t do this! You don’t have to do this!”

“Of course I have to do this! I want to do this!” General Love laughed in an unnatural, gravelly voice. “This is why I have brought my men, my Hive! This is what I am here for. This is what I am made for!”

Dax lost consciousness and the General’s guards joined in his celebration of laughter.

“I don’t understand, why are we here?” Olivia asked, upset. General Love whipped his head around to meet her drained face.

“I needed you as bait. Your pitiful little friend, Lucas Ryan, has something I need. Something I crave!” his pointed teeth locked together. “It’s the only reason why you’re all still breathing.”

“Why Lucas? What does he have?” Olivia tried distracting him, as she noticed Sophia and her glowing handfuls of power.

“Because, he would taste the best!” General Love declared, and continued walking toward Sophia.

The luminous piece of glass warmed in Sophia’s grip, filling her eyes with hypnotizing daydreams. General Love’s bulky shadow crawled over her.

“I’m hungry! The Hive is starving! My men and I have waited an eternity for this moment, this feast!” he roared, as thick drool fell from his words in chunks. “The only thing that would have made this entire event better is if the universal
Jynshee Orb
would have chosen you, my dear.”

“Jynshee what?” Sophia choked. General Love’s evil stare flared with hate, sending her backwards to the floor. His bubbling black tar skin began to steam.

“The
Jynshee Orb
! The greatest power your universe has ever known. Its energy will feed my Hive for eons. Unfortunately, your precious Lucas Ryan has tainted its existence with his own ignorance. I’ll never let him ruin my plans!” He bent down toward her, “And I’ll kill anyone who tries to stop me!”

“If you knew what the stone was already, then why didn’t you eat it when you had a chance? Why all this pain and horror?” Sophia asked in a mumble.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, because it wasn’t ready yet. Mr. Ryan will rectify that soon enough, though,” he said, with a loud snap of his jaws. “Besides, I find your fear...delicious...”

Sophia turned her face from his ready to scream, when her eyes caught the same single word typing itself across the small flashing screen between her fingers.

She whispered to herself, “Believe.”

From above her, Taylor flexed and strained helplessly, trying to free himself from the binding cocoon. His muscles ached with a burning fever, but he kept trying with his last bit of strength. The alien webbing seemed unbreakable, and he knew he didn’t have anymore time. Sophia was moments away from death, he had to try something else.

“Enough! Let me down from here and I’ll show you what
I am
here for. Let me down, General, and I’ll happily try and stop you!” Taylor promised, with his serious eyes. General Love glanced upward, his body filling with a fresh tremor of rage. Taylor grinned downed at him.

“Tay, no!” Morgan screamed, at the top of her lungs. She began to cry helplessly, angering Taylor even more.

“Come on, General! I dare you!” Taylor spit.

With a quick flick of the General’s hand the binding cobwebs disappeared, sending Taylor crashing to the gymnasium floor, breaking one of his legs in the process. Blinding pain traveled through Taylor’s leg and stomach. Morgan screamed again and it echoed from every wall in the gym. Taylor waved to her to calm down as he caught his breath.

“So, the golden haired bodyguard wants to be the hero...” General Love interrogated. He stepped up to Taylor as he pulled himself to his feet.

“Always!” Taylor slammed a fist into the General’s stomach with a slushy thump. His attack had no affect on the evil before him. General Love smiled.

“My turn.” The General scooped up Taylor with a large claw for a hand, lifting him off the ground and closer to his sickening deformed face. Taylor gagged on the smell coming from the General’s mouth. With his sharp teeth dripping black saliva, General Love erupted into a haunting laugh that frightened Taylor completely. The rest of General Love’s soldiers moved in closer, joining their master in his violent fit. Taylor began to pass out from the lack of oxygen. My savior was in trouble.

“Let him go!” I called from the archway of the gymnasium doors. After watching this chaos unfold from the safety of the cafeteria kitchen, my mystical creature teleported us here, just in time. Stunned and irate, I had seen enough.

“Lucas!” Roland said startled, from above me. I stole a quick glance at him and then the others, pausing only on Olivia. The sight of her made the moisture run from my mouth and the pit of my stomach awake with butterflies. She nodded toward her little sister.

“Save Sophia!” she begged. I nodded to her and focused back on Taylor falling limp in the General’s grip.

Stepping closer, I dared the General again, “I said let him go, General.” He roared violently, slapping his other clawed hand around Taylor.

“Finally!” He eased himself closer to the cowering Sophia, intensifying his grasp on Taylor. Taylor let out a final gasp of air from his lungs.

“I know why you’re here! I know what you’ve come for!” I said, absolute. My heart raced in my chest as he seemed to grow bigger in front of me. So did his soldiers. I walked forward, ignoring each of the General’s menacing guards. As I passed them and their demonic claws and faces, they taunted me with growls of hostility. My focus was on getting to Taylor and saving Sophia.

“I know your secret, General,” I continued.

“That means you have finally chosen
its
form. The
Jynshee
has a body,” he cackled, wildly. I drew in a shaky breath.

“Yes.”

“Fantastic...this is my favorite part. All right men, now, we eat!” he announced, to wicked cheers. General Love immediately threw Taylor across the room like a giant rag doll. His body tumbled along the wooden floor with a thud and stopped just inches before my feet. For a second I was sure he was dead and my eyes blurred over in tears. He slowly rolled over in agony trying to pull his damaged body up, and with another snap of bone, his other twisted leg broke. With both legs broken he fell over in defeat. I knelt down to him, ecstatic that he was still alive.

“Hold on, T, I can fix you up. Trust me,” I nervously said.

“Luc, get out of here! You’re no match for him!” Taylor moaned. The sight of his broken legs filled him with gloom. I reached down to his legs and closed my eyes.

“This time, I got your back, my friend.” This time, I’d be his hero. “I wish you were healed.”

With a dark flash, smoke escaped from under me, circling us slowly. It shifted in shape, zigzagging back and forth like a robotic snake. As it coiled itself around Taylor and I, he grabbed hold of my arm, tensely. The unmistakable silhouette of my imagined wish dragon, materialized. The entire room fell stunned, stealing all rational thought away from my imprisoned friends.

As the bones in Taylor’s legs began to pop and snap into place, he marveled out how the pain disappeared and his body filled with renewed strength. He stood up, quickly.

“Oh...my...” he gasped. “How?”

“No time to explain, T. Distract the General’s men so I can get to Sophia,” I ordered. He paused for a second, not believing my new authority. He looked up at the eyes of my magical beast and smiled.

“Let’s do this, Luc.” He ran behind me, directly for the first guard.

General Love started to rumble, his alien torso shaking and gurgling. With his claws he ripped away every last inch of skin and clothing covering his body. Boiling black tar replaced what was once a man. The outline of his old human form faded into something unrecognizable as the blackness stretched outward, doubling in size. Long, cryptic wings jutted from his back. They reached for the ceiling, slicing through the air like whips. All his men hunched over in shrieks, tearing at their faces and bodies. Flying bits of flesh and clothing littered the gym floor. The soldiers true design emerged with loud and horrifying thunder. Winged black and dark blue beasts, stomped in place. Rubbery long tongues dangled and twisted from oversized mouths lined with bleeding teeth.

“Feeding time!” General Love hissed. His army prepared themselves for the final battle.

My hands readied themselves at my sides and I lowered my head, filling with courage. My magical dragon coiled around me like a smoky spring shield and positioned itself over my head in the striking pose of a giant cobra. Its eyes cried purple lightning that crawled along my shoulders and arms. My hands covered themselves in bright light, ready for our fight.

“A dragon?” General Love grinned, “Not bad, Mr. Ryan, but I’ve seen better...tougher.”

“I doubt it,” I bit back. My shadowed serpent shrieked a final warning. The sound filled me with a rush of adrenaline. “I call it, Ripley.”

“Cute,” he growled behind wicked teeth.

I grinned through my living shield, “This. Is. War.”

LEVEL 24:
Closer To The Edge

My heart pounded like a drum. My breath seemed to shoot from every pore I had. Sweat trailed down the lines of my temples and neck with the spine tingling touch of ice.

“Game on,” I winked at General Love, neglecting his gang of demon soldiers. This would be OUR fight.

General Love shifted his stance, readying for my attack. He waved one of his meaty claws above his head and all the sticky strands of webbing that held my friends captive began to disintegrate into ash. They all fell to the floor screaming in terror. I lunged forward with nothing but my glowing hands and a wish.

“Ripley, save them!” My latest wish demanded. My battle dragon instantly split into six smoky doppelgängers. One stayed by my side as the others slithered beneath each one of my falling friends, forming a large, cushioning spring. One by one they all slipped into the soft smoke, safely. I didn’t have time to enjoy the small victory though, as the General’s soldiers moved closer toward Sophia again.

Their nightmarish faces clicked and snapped at her. Fangs and claws sliced the air around her, forcing new tears from her eyes. Her body began to quiver, uncontrollably. She winced, holding the magical screen directly in front of her as if it would stop them. It was now or never.

“No!” I wailed, charging forward. The monsters spun around Sophia like a wicked cyclone of death, ignoring me entirely. Big mistake.

The final piece of my gauntlet she held before her exploded with golden light that took the form of a shield. It covered most of her body, blinding her attackers for a moment. I jumped forward with the flailing demons in my sights. My arms in front of me and fists locked tightly in place. From within my hands grew a pair of silver metal blades, long and lethal. I could barely control my excitement as I flew through the air like an action figure.

“Duck!” I warned Sophia. My new swords filled her eyes with wonder just before she fell to her knees and disappeared behind her protective shield. My blades sunk into the wet necks of the first two soldiers, sending their heads spinning to the floor. Gray smoke spilled from their wounds and they melted to the floor in a disgusting heap of slime and ash. Two other demons reached for me with their razored hands, just missing me as I bent backwards. I jammed a blade into each of their sides, causing one to leap into the air and slam into the roof with a thick crash. The other demon twisted away from me, spinning out of control towards the gymnasium doors. Waiting for it with his giant hammer was Taylor. He flipped his long bangs from his face and swung as hard as he could. The demon exploded into a fiery ball of ash and black sludge that stained Taylor’s clothes and muscles. He howled loudly and tapped his hammer on the floor.

“Who’s next?” he called out. The demon attached to the rafters bellowed in agony over Taylor’s head. It began to writhe and scream in an earsplitting screech. All the windows in the gym shattered, raining glass over all of us. It suddenly slammed its deformed face into the steel beams of the school, shaking the building in a dull quake. It did it again and then again. Each time the crushing blow became louder. Finally, its head exploded like a bomb, vaporizing most of the ceiling in the process. Taylor jumped on top of Morgan to protect her from the explosion. She held onto him with all her strength, breathing in his heroic scent.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha... Boom,” General Love teased calmly, still watching from the corner of the room. His demeanor was confusing and distracting. I would regret losing my focus. Two of his demons slammed into me, pinning me to the floor by my arms and sending my swords skidding along the ground, away from me. They were too strong, I couldn’t move. They pushed their weight down onto me harder, leaning in with their jaws wide open. Their breath gagged me with the putrid stench. Their teeth grew longer, stretching for my cheeks and nose.

“No, not yet!” General Love called out. “Don’t eat him, yet. I have a surprise for him.”

“Uh, oh...” I gulped. The sound of destruction rumbled in the distance, outside the walls of the school. It was unbelievably loud and getting closer. The whole building shook as if a giant was approaching. Its footsteps warning us with building tremors. Thud! Thud! Thud!

“All you will know, Mr. Ryan, is oblivion,” General Love promised. The two demons that held me to the floor, leaned back just enough for me to see what was coming. From the opening in the roof came an eclipse that covered us all in shadow. Causing this blackout was an enormous ball of debris made of...well...everything. Trees, dirt, asphalt, cars, glass, even a giant crane and a school bus. It all hovered in place, spinning slowly as more things smashed into its core. Police cars, bicycles, about a hundred birds, a cow, and even the local television station’s News Chopper 4. With a gasp, I wondered where that helicopter had been all this time. Pieces of the steel rafters stuck out from the giant boulder like spikes ready to impale everything in its path.

With the tiniest nod of his head, the General sent the spiraling ball of everything downward. It fell directly toward me and the two demons. They quickly fled in opposite directions as I blinked upward at my appending doom. With only a second left before impact I felt my body slide across the floor, quickly. Someone had me by my shoulders and pulled me out of the way of the giant ball of death. The force of the impact exploded just behind me and my secret savior, sending us flying across the room and colliding with the wall of folded up bleachers. The world fell black for a moment as I tried to sit up.

“Lucas!” Olivia cried out, shaking me by the shoulders. Through the slit of my blurry eyes her face came into view. She was crying and unharmed. She saved me. From over her shoulder was my wish dragon. It had protected her. It had protected all of my friends from the devastation. Roland and Morgan leaned closer, scared to speak. Dax watched me worried, but I think it was intended for Olivia. Felicity peeked from around his shoulder, studying my every move. Taylor stood tall with a weary Sophia in his arms. He must have scooped her up just before the explosion.

Olivia’s hands found the back of my head before sliding down to my neck, “Are you okay?”

“I think so...” I said with blood dripping from the corner of my mouth. “Is Sophia all right?”

Sophia nodded yes, but didn’t want Taylor to put her down. Standing up slowly, I surveyed the room. It was covered in mounds of burning trash, broken glass and twisted steel. General Love’s shadow was still in the far corner of the room, watching us with gleaming eyes of contempt. His love for this chaos, and passion for my death, sliced into my chest like a knife. I hated him.

“It’s not over, Luc,” Olivia whispered. She helped steady my stance as I wiped the blood from my lips.

“This is
MY
fight...
MY
burden,” I growled, looking at my tattooed wrist. “
MY
war!” My silver bladed weapons flew across the gym and embedded into my blazing hands again. Their sharp tips rested along the floor, waiting for my next move. Olivia pressed her lips to my ear with her voice quivering.

“You can do this. You can stop him.” She smiled up at me, “I believe in you.”

My hands ignited in a storm of electricity, renewing a wave of hope inside of me. Closing my eyes, I called to the eternal voice in my head.

End this! I wish for you to end this. End them all.

~ As you wish. ~

From behind me the arches of my dream dragon’s wings cut into the air, reaching for the gray skies above us. The wings pulled its massive steel and vapor body upward, covering us in its shifting shadow. Long arms and legs wrapped in burning scales and flexing muscles, scratched to be free. They smashed into the wall and floor, signaling my friends to find a safer place to hide. Colorful, electric fire danced and popped from its skin like static. Thunder filled its chest, rumbling everywhere. The sound carried up its long neck, begging to free itself. My dragons fierce stare turned from golden yellow to blood red. Chunks of fire dripped from its eyes as it searched the room. With a loud snap, its wings fluttered above me, with the crisp bite of a giant pair of scissors. Its three tails rolled like waves, clicking their blades together like a butcher sharpening his knives. Sparks tickled the floor below them.

My imagination had outdone itself this time. General Love nodded our way and I motioned to him with one of my blades.

“Bring it!” I taunted with a couple quick flicks of my powerful sword. He never moved. He just watched me harder. My newly designed dragon stomped the floor with the weight of a dinosaur. Fire shot from its mouth and nose, covering the room in green and purple flames. The heat was intense and brought a childlike grin to my face.

“This is so cool,” I said, with the innocents of a preschooler.

Ripley, the impossible dream dragon lunged forward in a flash of blurring light that I could barely see. It surfed the fires in front of it, stalking its prey. Suddenly, it slammed into the first of General Love’s vicious soldiers, tearing him into shreds. Pieces of black tar splattered across the bleachers and its dying screams swirled everywhere. Another minion quickly fell to my dragon’s bite, and then another and another. And just when I thought my dream beast would end another of the General’s Hive, it stopped with one of the demons in its blistering hot mouth. Instead of grinding the pathetic hellion into shreds, Ripley set the demon down on the messy floor. The demon trembled in place with only superficial scratches to its body. My dragon roared with an earsplitting scream only inches from the demons face. The sound waves rippled across its unearthly skin, slowly peeling it back, revealing the soldier who had taken care of me when I was unconscious. The soldier who had asked for Taylor’s trust and warned him of the Hive.

“No way,” I swallowed. Ripley nodded to the soldier and he slowly walked away, stopping only long enough to give me a weary look that said,
thank you
. He then exited the battlefield and disappeared out the gymnasium doors.

Turning my attention back to my demon liberating dream dragon, “You freed him from the Hive, from the General’s enslavement,” I said, shocked. Ripley puffed a giant stream of mist from its unseen nostrils and then shot forward, attacking the last of General Love’s minions.

“I guess that’s a yes...”

As the carnage came to an end, I strutted to the middle of the room, climbing over all the mess of the war zone. My swords cocked and ready to strike, ignited in white and blue fire. General Love silently watched as I positioned myself with overconfidence. He seemed to be waiting for something. He was calm and motionless, not at all worried his Hive was no more. It began to really frighten me. I clutched my swords tighter and stepped forward. Ripley slithered back to me, still chewing a chunk of the last soldier demon in its jaws. Silver smoke escaped from the slits in its armor and it lowered its long neck down to me.

“I believe,” I said, full of nervous pride. Its eyes pulled closed just before I reached out and touched its head. Its vibrant flames fell away to nothing, leaving only the cooling metal of its scales.

~ I believe in you, Lucas. ~

Its body locked up like a statue, covering itself in a faint, black ash. The powdery blackness started at the tips of its tails before swiftly covering its torso and appendages. I stepped back, confused by what I was seeing. The ashy smoke became crusty flakes that fell away, leaving only the slightest outline of my beautiful wish dragon. My hands reached out in vain, trying to stop it from happening.

“No! What’s happening?” I begged. Its long neck faded to ash and then its spiky head became transparent, leaving only its glowing eyes. They pulled tightly together in thin, bright slits. My heart doubled its pace in my chest.

~ I will never forget. ~

“I don’t understand...Ripley, what’s happening? Where are you going?” I was close to crying. From the back of the room, General Love let a creepy smile slice across his face.

~ My time is up. Our time is up. We must become one again. ~

“No more time? What are you talking about?” I stepped closer to the floating eyes. “There’s so much more I wanted to ask you about. So much more to understand.”

~ My energy is gone now. Your desires have been fulfilled. We must become one. ~

“What? My desires have not been fulfilled! The General is still alive...this isn’t finished yet. I need you still! Please come back. I wish you back. I wish for you to end this! I wish it now!”

~ I believe in you, Lucas. ~

The fading eyes blinked twice leaving nothing but their memory. I jumped forward, grasping for them through the air and my blades disappeared into nothing. Instantly, I searched the magical scars on my wrist and the symbols rearranged themselves in a permanent etching of jagged lines. Each one pulsated with a purple flare before settling into its final resting place. Feeling the wind flee from my lungs, I fell to my knees and began counting each of the new scars. As I counted, the memory of each wish I had used flashed inside my head. Thirteen flashes. Thirteen wishes.

“What just happened?” I asked, catching my breath. Where did my mystical genie go? I could no longer feel its presence at all.

At the other side of the demolished gymnasium, Sophia screamed out and fell to the floor, holding her hands out in front of her as if she were in agony. Purple light split open her dirty skin, scratching the same markings onto her hands, only smaller. Six inside her left palm and seven more inside her right hand. Thirteen in total.

“Ouch!” she cried out, her scared eyes finding mine. Taylor tried to hold onto her tighter, trying to comfort as best as he could in the moment. The magical screen of my old gauntlet levitated itself between her two hands. It melted into tiny pools of liquid glass that attached to her inner wrists before swimming along her skin, positioning themselves around her body like jewelry. One around her neck like a thin choker made of shining metal. A silver band around each wrist and a smooth metallic ring for each of her fingers. The rings that locked onto her thumbs were thicker than the other ones and had strange writing along their inner walls.