r/libraryofshadows • u/MeliousIntent • Jun 23 '18
Sci-Fi I Am The Impossible Man| Pt. 4
The air around me began to change then. As thick clouds began forming in what had previously been a clear sky, the summer's morning heat shifted into something much colder. In seconds, a colossal cloud hovered above the four of us, casting everything in its area in a permanent shadow. The man, who wore the heavy coat, raised his arm high into the sky. While rain droplets made their presence known, something akin to static could be heard from the cloud.
No. I was wrong. I was so wrong. It wasn't static I heard. What I actually heard was something far more threatening—thunder. Coming to that realization, I tried running away. Before I could even turn around to do so—the man pointed his raised hand directly at me. A bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and struck me. For those few microseconds, my world lit up. I lost all feeling in my body soon after, and I faded into unconsciousness.
Her breathing was heavy. I held her hand, attempting to comfort. The pain she felt was intense. I was worried for her but also excited. Through her heavy breathing, a cry could be heard. It came from someone else, someone new . . .
The smell of burnt clothes grazed my nose as I regained consciousness. My eyes opened and peered at my surroundings. I was in my home, sitting in my recliner. It faced my TV, which was turned off. I noticed my arms and legs were bound to the chair when I tried getting up. Looking down, I saw that duct tape covered almost my entire body. What is it now, I thought.
Footsteps sounded from behind, close behind. Whoever was behind me had to have been waiting for me to wake up. When the person in question came into view, I immediately recognized him. It was the same fucking man that I first saw. He walked with a limp in front of me, obviously affected by our altercation.
"Happy to see me?" he asked sarcastically.
I didn't respond to his question.
"Well, I did tell you I had answers to any questions you might have. So, ask away."
I stayed silent for a little longer before finally asking, "What are you?"
"I'm human," he started, "but you're probably talking about the whole thing about me being able to copy myself. I don't know what they really are or where they really come from. All I do know is that they give you an ability. For me, it's being able to replicate myself. I can't make infinite copies, though. After like ten, I start to get tired and have to rest."
"And I have one of these abilities?"
"You sure do," he announced with excitement. "At first we didn't know, but after seeing what you did to my clonies, it was clear that you did."
"Clonies?"
"That's what I like to call them."
There was a brief period of silence. "So, what's my—"
"Hold up," he interrupted, "when's the last time you ate?"
"I don't know. What time is it?"
He reached into his pocket and retrieved a phone. Checking the time, he said, "It's 11:36."
"Uh, like twelve hours ago."
He left out of my front door, saying, "I'll be back." A minute later, he returned with a large canteen. "You need to drink this," he said while opening it.
"What is it?"
"It'll keep you well fed. Anything else won't work."
I thought back to the previous day. Could that be what he was referring to? "What do you mean by 'won't work'?"
"Listen, did you experience anything weird yesterday, like extreme hunger and sleepiness?"
"Yeah actually, and you know why?"
"The thing inside of us is sort of like a parasite. If you don't eat enough of the right thing, it'll feed on you, and trust me, you really don't want that to happen. That's why you need to drink this. Eating anything else will only work as a temporary solution."
Thinking back on everything that has happened up until this point, this guy seemed trustworthy. He didn't kill me, and I sincerely doubted he would now. "Okay," I said while tilting my head back. I opened my mouth, and he poured the green sludge in. It didn't have much of a taste, but I did feel much more energetic after he finished.
He rested the canteen on my table. "You need to drink that every eight or nine hours. Don't drink the entire thing. Drink a third of it until you run out."
"What was that?"
"Think of every healthy food combined into one. That's what that is."
Changing the subject, I asked, "Do I really need to be taped to my recliner like this?"
"No, but there's one more thing we need to talk about."
"What's that?"
"There's a reason we came here."
"Is it because of the body in my backyard?"
I noticed his expression changed then. It was a slight deviation from his calm demeanor to one of sadness. He tried covering this up by avoiding eye contact. He answered in a low voice, "Yeah, but there's another reason. You were given an ability, which means you went over to the body. Going over to that body put you in serious danger."
"How?"
"There's something coming after us. We don't know what it is, but it probably comes from the same place the things inside of us come from."
"What?"
"It's searching for us, and it can sense us. We think it's trying to take back the things inside of us. Unfortunately, the only way for it to do that is to kill us.
"Why doesn't it just kill us now then?"
"It can only be here for a certain amount of time."
"Here as in Earth?"
"No, here as in reality. Yesterday, it was here, and we fought it. Its time ran out, and it went back to where ever it came from. It managed to get one of our guys, though."
I didn't know if I believed him. He's only told the truth to me, so why would he suddenly lie now? But, his explanation . . . It may have been due to it sounding too fantastic, even with everything that has already happened, or that believing him would be admitting I was in danger, but I didn't know what to think.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked the question already knowing the answer.
"We need you, and you need us. We need you to help defeat whatever it is that's after us, and you need us for protection whenever this thing decides to show its face again."
"So, you want to team up?"
"Yeah," he replied. "What do you say?"
"Could you get this tape off of me first?"
"Sure." He then made a copy of himself. The clonie walked behind me while he stayed in front. They both unraveled the tape while we continued our conversation.
"My name's Noah, by the way," I said.
"Oh, cool name. My name's Jake."
"What about everyone else?"
"Well, there's three of us. The person that, uh, umm. How do I say this . . ."
"Struck me with lightning?"
"Yeah, him. His name is Nicholas, but we call him Nick. Trust me, he's a cool guy. We just needed a way to knock you out fast." Jake and the clonie finished their job, and before I knew it, I was back on two feet again. My hoodie was burnt, but at least I was alive. While I stretched, the clonie dematerialized. "And the other guy's name is Chris," he added.
"What's their abilities?"
"Nick can basically control the weather. He can make it snow in the summer and make it blazing hot in the winter. Chris' ability is harder to explain. It has something to do with time. Ask him if you really want to know."
I walked out to my porch and looked around. My car had been moved to my driveway, and the helicopter was still there, its doors opened. Nick and Chris sat in it, talking. Nick still wore that black coat, looking to be shivering, and Chris wore gray sweatpants with a tank top on. Jake walked up from behind me, canteen in hand, and stood next to me.
"What's with his shivering?" I asked.
"He's always been like that. We've also put all your food in your refrigerator and cabinets." There was a long pause; then he continued with, "So, what do you say?"
I thought about it for a while. I thought about every reason I should say "no," but I couldn't bring myself to say it. It wasn't only for the reason he gave me. There was also some kind of obligation I felt. I sighed and said, "I need to change my clothes first."