I kept running, there wasn’t much else I could do. I was able to get on a cargo train to get as far away as I could from them, finally being able to rest. I had a feeling they knew where the train would be stopping so I hopped off while it was still moving and rolled down a hill. I felt my stomach grumble and realized I didn’t have any food so I sharpened a long stick and went spearfishing in a stream, made a fire, and then ate some fish after cooking it. Too bad I didn’t have any salt but whatever, beggars can’t be choosers.

I came up with what I had to do next and then started getting my new plan into action. I climbed a tree and waited in the branches over the railroads. Finally, a train going back to the town I just left came rolling by so I hopped onto the roof and held on, climbing down and into an empty container where I waited to get back into town. As the train passed by a highway I saw some police cars speeding away into the opposite direction, suckers. When the trail runs cold they’ll be back so it was time to do some prep. I hopped off the train and headed back to Cornelius’s fortress, keeping to the woods and shadows to stay hidden.

When I finally reached there I found the guys still disguised as cops investigating the place. All the guards were still hospitalized so the back was empty. I hopped over the fence while tossing a mud ball at the camera pointed there. I saw the power line connected to the house so I wrapped a rock in copper wire and tossed it at the powerline, saw lightning strike and watched all the lights in the house turn off. No houses around this place so no one else affected luckily. The cops ran to see what just happened so the house was now empty. I scaled the walls, popped open my room window, and hopped in, grabbing my stuff, body armor, and some weapons. “Hey!” I heard someone yell in the hallway. Damnit, I didn’t shut the door. I slammed my door and dropped the dresser on its side to block the entrance.

Wham! The person in the hallway bodied the door but it didn't budge. I jumped out of the open window, rolled onto the grass below, and ran to hop the fence. Before I could jump over it though I heard a loud noise come from my room, the sound of wood splintering. What the heck could’ve done that? I didn’t hear a gunshot or a bomb blast! I had to get out before the guy caught up to me so I hopped over the fence and ran back into the woods.

***

I stopped in front of an abandoned factory, this should be the perfect spot for whenever they catch up to me. No one around, empty building, perfect. I crushed an old, rusty padlock, then pushed the garage door open. Moonlight flooded in through the entrance, some coming through the cracked, stained windows up high. Dust particles floated through the air and I could hear the sound of startled rats scurrying away. I took in a deep breath, then walked in while turning on my flashlight. I saw some light switches so I went over, flicking them on and off but nothing happened, seems like the power was cut to this place. I turned the flashlight to the walls, seeing graffiti covering almost every inch of them. The old machinery was covered in cobwebs and dust with metal pieces missing. Looks like the copper wires are missing too. There was more of the same on the second floor. I tossed my bag to the side and started putting my gear on. Bullet proof vest, helmet, gloves on my hands and feet, brass knuckles in my pockets, even a shield strapped to my back. Damn, I didn’t grab any other weapons though.

I sat there for a bit, waiting for something to happen. The silence was deafening. I hadn’t said a word to anyone all day, which made me kinda miss having Xiz around, he always seemed to liven things up. Maybe I shouldn’t have lashed out at him, the guilt must’ve really got to me. I heard some chains rattle inside the building. What the heck? I thought I was alone… I stood up and started listening closely. It sounded like some people were speaking in hushed tones outside. Damnit, they must’ve caught up.

CRASH! Sounds came from all of the windows, followed by the sounds of metal canisters rolling on the floor. A low hiss came from the canisters as some kind of invisible gas started to fill up the place. I had a feeling they’d start off like this. I grabbed my gas mask on my head and pulled it down, covering my face, then dropping to the floor and playing dead with my face pointed away from where the voices were coming from.

I took out a small mirror and used it to look behind me. 10 people in full military gear like some kind of task force came in through the garage doors wearing gas masks and motioning everyone to split up in teams of 2 and headed in different directions. 2 people started getting closer until one of them spotted me, nudged their comrade then pointed to me lying on the ground. I put down the mirror then felt someone poke me in the back with the barrel of their rifle. I stayed still for a second then jumped up suddenly, knocking the rifle out of his hands, yanked his gas mask off his face, then punched him in the stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs and causing him to take in a deep breath of the knockout gas. As he started to go limp, I caught him and used him to block his partner's view from me.

Click “we’ve made contact with the target, come to our location now! Over.” yelled his partner on her walkie talkie, taking aim and firing at me. I was too tall to fully block myself from her with her now unconscious partner so I used him as a shield to get the darts into his bulletproof vest. I dropped him and then jumped straight up, hanging from the ceiling of the plant, holding onto pipes.

Click “Reese, there’s other entities here, we’ve got our hands full. Keep him busy, over!” came from Reese’s walkie talkie. I heard her shoot some more darts at me, hitting me straight in the chest. Damn, I thought they’d have bad aim, good thing I had the vest on. The night vision is making it easy for them to see me. I swung from pipe to pipe and then hid behind a vent. I yanked a dart out and tossed it at another vent further away, hearing her turn to it and blast at the sound. I dropped down behind her, kicking the back of her knees and then ripping off the gas mask as she fell down. 2 down, 8 to go. While she slumped over, I took the walkie talkie and listened to what was going on.

Kkkh “There’s a chicken here. What the heck is a- wait, it’s not a chicken, it’s got me! AHHHHHH-” kkkh. “Ricky! Derrick! What’s going on? Over.” Kkkkh “Shadow tentacle things are coming out of the ground, AHHHH! IT’S GOT ME, I’M BEING MMMF-”.

Wow, is Xiz helping me out? He’s never done that before… No time to think about that. 4 down, 6 to go. I held my shield with one hand and the rifle Reese dropped with the other then had over to where I was hearing some commotion. Laser tag skills and video games, don’t fail me now. I pointed the rifle to one man and put the shield in front of me. One man’s back faced me and the other was out of my view.

“I told everyone, splitting up is always a bad idea. They always pick us off like that but nooooo, ‘we need to split because that’s the only way they’ll slow down and interact with us’. Them interacting with us is most of the team getting eaten!’” whispered sharply one man to someone.

“Quit yer whining. He could be listening to us as we speak.”

I aimed at the man’s leg and fired, hitting his arm. I missed my mark but whatever, good enough. He saw the dart, yanked it out of his arm but it was too late, the dart had already injected him. He spun around and yelled as he started firing at me with his rifle. “You’re not gonna eat me!!” I blocked his darts with my shield. Jeez, they stand no chance with this. I should’ve used it earlier. His partner started firing at me, realized it was a waste of time, dropped his rifle and then shot at me with some armor piercing rounds or whatever.

The shield took the shots like a champ but cracks formed. “Damnit”, I cursed as I swung it to my back and jumped behind a thick concrete pillar. The one I hit with the dart started slowing down with his shots and finally stopped, dropped to his knees then slumpped to the ground. I took out the mirror to see what was happening since the shots stopped and saw the partner took out some syringe and was about to stab the sleeping guy with. I threw a piece of concrete at the it and it went flying out of his hands.

“You ****!” He cursed and started firing at me again. It was dark and he’s wearing night vision goggles, perfect for this. I thought as I tossed a flash bang at him. “****!” he yelled, trying to kick it away but missing. It filled the dark factory with light, blinding him. I took my hands off my eyes and turned to him. He was shooting randomly in all directions so I ducked and hit him with a dart on his thigh, finally not missing. He tripped backwards and then yanked the dart out. I hopped over to him and kicked the gun out of his hands. He was still blinded, looking for it with his hands but to no avail. I walked over to the serum he was about to inject into his friend.

‘Adrenaline’ it read. I pocketed it for now and jumped to the ceiling again, searching for the 4 remaining. I quietly swung using the girders on the ceiling, scanning for them. I was wearing the night vision goggles from the guy I just blinded so they were pretty useful at this height. I could see them pretty easily.

The 4 remaining guys were standing back to back, pointing their guns outwards. “Stick together, everyone else is down” said the one who I assumed was in charge.

“Wait, that door is opening up, he’s gotta be there” said the person standing beside him, raising his weapon and running to the door. “Let’s get him!”

“Gavin, no! What are you doing? Come back!” yelled the leader but it was too late, the team mate had run into the supply closet, door slamming shut behind him. There were some banging noises with the door handle being rattled when it suddenly stopped.

Kkkkh “The door opened but I’m seeing some kinda farm house. It’s messing with spac- Hey!!” The sound of someone being shoved through the door then a loud slam came from the walkie talkie finally crackling. It seemed like he was now out of range.

“Gavin, do you copy?” yelled the leader through the mic but no response came back. “****!”

“He’s there! Fire!” pointed one of the task force members at me. All of them started firing their guns. I dropped behind some heavy machinery, rolling on the floor to dodge their shots. Some hit the vest but it seemed to still be holding up. I had to end this soon. I took the shield off my back and then threw it at them, knocking the big guy among them over.

They reloaded for a moment, giving me a chance to fire some darts back at them. I shot three times, missing 2 of them but hitting the arm of the leader. He grumbled in disappointment for not dodging it like the other 2. I was out of ammo so I threw my rifle at the big guy, blocking his view of me for a sec for me to jump to the ceiling, swing from a girder towards them, grabbing their three firearms with my hands and one foot then tossing them far away.

I grabbed the  mask of the big guy, ripped it off and then recognized the man, he was from the hallway at Cornelius’s place! I punched him in the stomach so he would be forced to breathe in the sleeping gas. To my shock, it felt like I punched a brick wall! While holding his breath, he punched me. I blocked with my arms but went flying backwards, denting the heavy machinery I crashed into. Pain flooded through my body, seeing some stars and feeling nauseous for a sec. That really hurt.

He clapped his hands really hard, causing what was left of the windows to shatter and forcing the sleeping gas out of the place. “Boss, permission for us to use our anomaly?”

The leader was now struggling to stay awake. “Granted, capture him…” he trailed off before slumping to the ground, knocked out.

He gave a wicked smile as he started getting bigger, huge red crystals growing all over his body forming a giant, thick armor - the same thing happening with his last standing partner behind him but in blue. I could barely make out his form within the crystal armor. “Let’s rock and roll” he growled while punching his fist into his open hand then yelled while charging at me. A second before he almost reached me I thought to myself maybe I should’ve just kept running.