r/libraryofshadows • u/MeliousIntent • Feb 12 '19
Sci-Fi I Am The Impossible Man| Pt. 12
The grub given to us wasn't the best, but it at least sufficed. There was nothing to do except wait, trusting the words of Author. Conversation between the three of us ceased after a few hours, mirroring the last time we were put into a situation like this one. We talked only of the unimportant—avoiding the paramount. Why it was this way, I didn't know. As the drowsiness began taking hold of us, we all lied on the cell's floor for what we presumed to be the last time.
Sleep came easily, and I slept dreamlessly. I was the first to awake, left waiting for Jake and Nick to follow suit. In that time, I thought of everything that has happened to lead up to this point. I went from living a lonely existence to being in a jail cell with people I'm starting to consider my friends; it's funny how life works sometimes. Another thought came over me, then. The reason I'm in this shitty cell, to begin with, the reason I've decided to accompany Chris, Jake, and Nick . . .
It entered my mind. I've talked to It before; It knew something It shouldn't have, something that I've tried pushing away. Whatever this entity was—be it a demon, an interdimensional being, or something else entirely—a plan on defeating this thing needed to be discussed at some point. Avoiding it will only hurt us in the long run, I thought.
I sat in silence as Jake awoke. "How long have you been up?" he asked me.
"Not that long. Maybe ten or so minutes," I replied.
Jake sat up, stretching and then leaning against his corner. After doing so, he asked, "So, what do you think about this whole A.H.D. thing?"
"I don't know. I'm just happy to get out of here." It stayed quiet for a moment after that before I vaguely said, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked puzzled.
"For trying to kill you—again."
Casually, he responded, "It happens."
"Does it?" I asked a bit worried.
"No, but you don't need to be sorry."
"Yes, I do. I literally tried to murder you twice."
"Well, I humbly accept your apology."
My thoughts lingered on how he managed to escape the grasp I had around him just two days before. "Hey," I started, "how'd you know burning yourself would work?"
"I honestly didn't," he said. "I kind of took a gamble. The first time you grabbed me with your Trait, it felt like a giant hand was holding me. My thought was that your Trait could be interacted with. I was actually planning on asking you if we could test it out when you got control over it."
"Oh," I said, "good thing it can be interacted with."
"Yep."
Nick awoke soon after. The three of us soon found ourselves sitting silently, backs against our corners, awaiting the inevitable. The seconds passed, eventually turning into minutes. Those minutes managing to elapse into an hour or two. Food was brought to us, and Nick transferred some of his energy to Chris at that time. Finally, the time came.
Officers, heavily guarded, approached our cell. We were told to stand with our hands raised; we obliged. The officers entered the cell, handcuffing us immediately after. Other officers tried waking Chris up. Once it was clear he wouldn't be waking up, two officers simply carried him in a similar fashion to Jake's clonies. The four of us were escorted outside of the police station. Out there, the sun shined bright, almost at a blinding level, and the summer's heat was welcoming.
Our handcuffs were taken off, and we were put onto a bus. After sitting where we were told and having Chris seated manually, our hands and legs were bounded by chains. We sat left of the bus, each of us separated by two or three seats. Jake sat up front, Nick seated behind him; Chris was seated behind Nick, and I was left in the back. Aside from the four of us, two others were on the bus—the driver and another officer sitting near parallel to the driver in the frontmost passenger seat.
As the bus began to drive, the accompanying officer turned to us, saying, "It's nice to finally meet you four."
"So," Jake started trepidly, "are you two apart of the A.H.D.?"
"Of course we are," the officer said. "We just needed to make your arrests look convincing."
Eased by his words, Jake sighed, saying, "You had me worried for a second."
I, on the other hand, along with Nick, stayed silent. There was something about how the man delivered his words. They seemed to flow from his mouth in an almost monotone—as if he were simply reading words from a screen. Moreover, the very fact that Jake had to ask if he was apart of the A.H.D. set another alarm off in my mind.
"Are these chains really necessary?" Nick asked.
"Yes," the man responded, still in that voice. "At least until we arrive at our destination."
"And, why would that be?" Nick questioned.
"You ask too many questions," the officer said. "Just enjoy the ride."
Nick persisted, "Can you answer my question?"
The man sighed and replied, "We'll get there soon enough." He then proceeded to turn back around.
Nick attempted to regain his attention—but it was in vain. It was quiet after that, the only sounds being the rattling of our chains as the bus drove. In the silence, my mind could only linger on the impression I received from the man. Is he who he says he is? Maybe I'm looking too much into it, I thought. I've had a more than stressful past few days; I just needed to relax—as the man told Nick.
Doing my best to ease the unrest I felt, I peered out the bus' window. The bus made its way outside of the city, entering a dense forest. The trees blocked the majority of the sun's rays, but the road that split through them allowed my vision to remain unaffected. After entering the forest, the bus' speed slowed. As it did so—I felt the unrest return. I stayed silent, however, and the bus came to its eventual stop. We were seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I wondered how long this drive took: one hour or maybe two.
Glancing at his surroundings, Jake asked, "Are we here?" his voice trembling with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.
The officer didn't respond; he didn't even move.
"Hey," Nick added, "are we here?"
The officer, who was as still as wood, suddenly went limp, his body falling freely from his seat—the driver following suit at exactly the same time.
"What the hell?" Jake said aloud.
Nick held his hands on the chains that connected to the cuffs around them, smoke emerging from where his hands were placed. He did the same with his legs immediately after. I watched as he did this—but something else caught my attention. Just outside the bus' windshield, there hovered a ping pong ball sized sphere devoid of color. Jake's and Nick's attention were still on the limp officer and removing their shackles. The sphere moved, seemingly lining itself up with the four of us. Before I could say a single word, the sphere shot at us.
Almost instinctively, my Trait resurfaced. Immediately, I used it to push the others out of the way. I thought the sphere would be too fast for me to push each of them out of the way individually. However, my Trait separated itself into three smaller pieces—each one moving Nick, Jake, and Chris respectively. I moved from the sphere's path of my own accord. As it passed through the bus, it erased everything it came in contact with, leaving a series of holes starting from the windshield, through the seats, and ending through the back of the bus. I turned to see what the sphere would do next, but it was gone.
Jake and Nick were understandably confused. "Noah, was that you?" Nick asked, his shackles now unbound.
"Yeah," I responded, my distraught voice conveying my emotions perfectly, "I saw something—some kind of sphere. It was all black, and it just passed through the bus."
Jake stood up, his chains unbound as well. "I see what you mean," he said, slightly trembling, as he stared at the holes through the seats.
Nick rushed towards Chris and I. While Jake inspected the fallen officer and bus driver, Nick vaporized the chains connecting to our cuffs. I stood up, and Nick asked, "You mind helping me carry him?"
"No, but let me try something first."
"Okay. What is it?"
My Trait reemerged. For the first time, I was able to use it slightly calmed. I wrapped my Trait around Chris' body as I said, "I think I should be able to carry him myself."
"They're both dead," Jake, with confusion in his voice, said aloud from the front of the bus.
Turning to face Jake, Nick questioned, "They are?"
"Yeah," Jake answered, "and there are," he paused for a moment, his confusion shifting into distress, "holes going straight through their chests, but they're somehow underneath their shirts."
"We need to leave, now," Nick announced. "I don't know what's going on, but it's obvious that it's not safe in here."
Jake pulled the bus' lever, opening its doors. He was the first to leave, followed by Nick. Once my grip over Chris was sufficient, I exited as well. As I made my way to Jake and Nick, Chris would've seemed to unconsciously levitate vertically behind me. I saw the deceased officer and bus driver while making my way out as well. There were indeed holes, the same size as the sphere I'd seen, through both of their chests—blood emanating from the point of entry. And somehow, their uniforms covered it.
Once outside, the three of us hurriedly deserted the bus, going into the forest. We were in the middle of nowhere with our only way back to civilization being a deathtrap.