02x15: A Different Person

Kyle finds Austin's body and tries to bring his friend back to life.

A DIFFERENT PERSON

 

     Kyle was on the ninth floor of the hotel. The awarding ceremony for the whole Halloween gig was happening.

     “Best costume goes to…” Mr. Malonzo said. “Ernst de Vera as Michael Jackson.”

     Ernst ran towards the stage like a little kid running for a balloon. He was screaming out loud.

     “WOOOOO! YEAH! I knew it! I knew this was gonna happen. I have the sixth sense! I SEE THE EFFIN DEAD PEOPLE! YEAH! I’M BAD! I’M BAD! AND I HAVE THE BEST COSTUME!”

     He started to moonwalk but he failed miserably.

     “WHO’S THE MAN?”

     He grabbed his crotch and did the infamous move. He started dancing like an epileptic hamster in front of everybody.

     “SHUT UP LONG CHIN!” Joel yelled.

     Ernst didn’t seem to hear this and was soon dragged across the floor by Dave and PJ.

     Everyone seemed shocked by Ernst’s “acceptance speech”. When Ernst was gone, Mr. Malonzo continued.

     “I guess lesson learned, we won’t nominate him next year. Anyway...”

     Kyle looked for Berna and soon found her. He went to her.

     “Best couple goes to…”

     “Kyle…” Berna started. “Let’s leave.”

     “Come on! Just one more award, then they’ll close this.”

     “Okay. Anyway, nice work on the third floor!”

     Mr. Malonzo continued. “Kyle Gomez and Berna Galicha!”

     “WHAT?!” Kyle and Berna asked in unison.

     They tried to escape but a few of their friends dragged them to the stage.

     “Let’s just accept this award and go,” Kyle said.

     They took the award and tried to escape but they were held in place by the Patola/Potato family. The crowd started to cheer.

     “HUG! HUG! HUG! HUG!”

     Kyle and Berna looked at each other and nodded. They made an illusion of them being invisible and escaped. They went to Kyle’s suite and sat down.

     “You know, this was fun,” Berna said.

     “What?”

    “It’s been a long time since I had a Halloween as fun as this.”

     “Why?”

     “The decorations we made were awesome, plus we’re on an island where no one else can see us. There’s a lot of possibilities in a setting like this.”

     “Right. Anyway, this afternoon? Best afternoon of my life?”

     “Yeah, anyway, it’s getting late. I gotta go.”

     “Ok, see ya!”

     “Bye. See you tomorrow.”

     Berna exited the room. Kyle stood up and wondered where Austin was. He approached the telephone and called Patrick.

     Ring… ring… ring…

     “Hello?”

     “Patrick!”

     “Kyle, how’s Berna?”

     “PATRICK!”

     “Anyway, why’d you call?”

     “Do you know where Austin is?”

     “Nope.”

     “When did you last see him?”

     “He was in the lobby with his girlfriend.”

     “HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND?!”

     “No, just kidding you. Just a friend of his.”

     “Where is she?”

     “10^th floor. Why do you want to talk to Austin so bad?”

     “We haven’t had a decent talk since July I think..”

     “You always lack decent talks with people.”

     “Anyway, I’m gonna go visit this friend of his. What’s her name?”

     “Janella…”

     “Okay thanks. See you tomorrow.”

     “Okay, bye.”

     Kyle rushed out of the room and towards the elevator.

     He was curious as to how did Austin get a female friend. Last time they met, he never really made any female friends. He did mention it earlier this year but it didn’t seem to matter that much.

     He arrived on the tenth floor. He looked for her room and finally found it. He knocked on the door and it opened.

     “Good evening. Are you Janella?”

     “Yes.”

     “Nice to meet you. I’m a friend of Austin’s. I’m Kyle.”

     “Pleasure to meet you Kyle.”

     “Have you seen him lately?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Do you know where he is?”

     “Sorry, no.”

     “Where did you last see him?”

     “His suite. We were giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters. I went back to mine and he stayed there.”

     “Okay thanks a lot.”

     “No problem.”

     The door closed. Kyle thought it was awkward. Was she Austin’s crush or something? Kyle was wondering all of this until he reached the elevator. He went down to Austin’s suite and knocked.

     Nothing was happening. He put his ear to the door but still nothing. There was nothing inside but the deafening silence.

     He went to Patrick’s suite and knocked on the door.

     “Who is it?”

     “Kyle!”

     Patrick opened the door.

     “Why?”

     “Can you help me look for Austin?”

     “It’s late. Can’t you just talk to him tomorrow?”

     “I don’t know okay. We have a mutant link and I can’t sense anything from his end.”

     “Well I noticed that too.”

     “He might be in trouble.”

     “Well, he’s not in this hotel so he’s either in the school or in the base.”

     “I’ll check the base, you check the school.”

     “Okay.”

     Kyle went in Patrick’s suite and they went to the terrace. They flew off and parted ways. Kyle landed in front of the base and opened the doors. He walked in and looked around. Nothing was there. He turned a corner and on the ground he saw a horrific sight. Austin, drenched in blood, dying on the floor. It was obvious that this was done out of absolute hate.

     Kyle was in shock. He couldn’t scream, shout, or even move. It happened again only sooner. He wasn’t that much in touch with Austin this year, they talked very rarely and know he was dying on the floor in front of him. He decided the best thing to do was to call for help.

     He ran outside, feeling terrible. He shouted into the air, “PATRICK!” The hotel could’ve heard him and he could’ve woken everyone up but he didn’t care.

    In the distance, coming from the school, was the sight of Patrick soaring towards him. He landed in front of him with a flash of fire.

     “Why? What did you find?”

     “Just follow me!”

     They rushed in the base. Patrick had seen blood, in real life, not in the movies Austin had forced him to watch. Ironically, it was Austin bleeding. It looked worse than the Saw movies. His face was pale white. Paler than when he was thrown into the Dome of Power. His eyes were closed. His mouth was open. His legs were filled with bloody wounds. His arms looked pretty much the same.

     “I’ve never seen a dead body before, Kyle. “

     “No, he’s not dead. He can’t be. He was alive a few minutes ago.”

     Kyle was trembling. He felt like he was dying inside. Like he was dying along with his friend on the floor.

     “Let’s not waste time!” Patrick yelled. Kyle didn’t say anything. He couldn’t hear Patrick’s soft yelling.

     “KYLE! PLEASE! We have to do something. Staring at Austin won’t help!”

     Kyle was back in the real world. He had been imagining being in the awarding ceremony with Austin standing on the opposite end of the room, smiling, alive.

     “Right, we have to do something. Open the door, I’ll bring him in,” Kyle said.

     Kyle lifted Austin with his mind. Patrick held the door to the ward open as Kyle set Austin down on the bed.

     “Pat! Get the ECG over there. Hurry!”

     Patrick went to the other side of the ward and quickly brought the ECG. It was an easier to use version. You just have to place a techopathically created patch on the person’s heart and it registers their heart rate immediately. Kyle did this and waited for a few seconds. Finally it registered. 50 BPM.

     “D****T! He’s critical. Pat! Hurry; go to Nurse Jen’s suite. 19^th floor, room 2546, hurry!”

     Patrick ran off and flew with a blast of fire.

     Kyle was not experienced in CPR. He was helpless. His friend was dying but Austin wasn’t acting like a person in a critical condition. He was still. Was the ECG defective?

     40 BPM, 30 BPM, Kyle watched Austin’s heart rate go downhill. He was no expert in cardiology but he knew some thing was wrong. Then something happened to prove this: he looked at the monitor and saw it quickly change 40 BPM, 50 BPM, 80 BPM, 100 BPM, 160 BPM. Kyle was thinking in his mind, Austin was alive only he wasn’t acting normal. Soon, Patrick arrived with Nurse Jen.

     “What’s the situation?” she asked.

     “We went in here with Austin here on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood. We moved him here and attached the ECG to him. It showed 50 BPM, then changed to 40, then 30. But suddenly it fluctuated to 40, then 50, then 80 to 100 then now it’s at 160.”

     “Well, that’s impossible.”

     “But it happened.”

     Patrick looked at Austin. He was silent. The bleeding stopped only now Patrick noticed, the bed wasn’t as red as he was expecting.

     “Kyle?” Patrick said.

     “What?”

     “Why isn’t Austin bleeding like mad?”

     “Now that you think of it…”

     Suddenly, Austin’s eyes sprung open, but without pupils.

     “Austin!” Kyle and Patrick shouted.

     “Hello Austin, how are you feeling?” Nurse Jen asked.

     Austin said nothing. He looked like he was in severe pain. Kyle could feel it.

     “Austin? You okay?” Kyle asked.

     Austin turned his head towards Kyle.

     “Never better,” he said weakly.

     “You don’t have pupils again,” Kyle said.

     “I think that’s pretty obvious.”

     “What happened?”

     “A man with spikes all over his body attacked me.”

     Patrick was quiet. Kyle noticed this. He was obviously in thought. Kyle sent a psychic message to him. “What are you thinking?”

     “I’m thinking, why was Austin manipulating his heart rate and blood loss?”

     Kyle looked at Austin’s face. It was different than five seconds ago. The look of weak, innocence was replaced with the look of mischievous, threat.

     “Austin, what’s going on?” Kyle asked suspiciously.

     “He took something from me, Kyle. I LOST SOMETHING!”

     The weakness in his voice was gone.

     “Calm down. Just remain calm,” Kyle said. He sent Patrick another message, “What’s wrong with him?”

     “I don’t know. Wait. Maybe he can hear our thoughts.”

     “No he can’t. His band is on… Wait, I’ll check”

     Kyle took a look at Austin’s black band. Only now he noticed, it wasn’t there. Then it struck him, like a baseball bat to his baseball head, they were in danger. He remembered Austin’s presentation.”

     Ernst raised his hand.

     “Ernst?”

     “What happens if the band is destroyed?”

     “Well, the energy gathered by the spokes is released all at once; it’s released inwards so basically you go out of control, but only if you have too many powers, more than ten spokes.”

     “Austin, you sure you’re alright?”

     “Kyle…stupid, naïve, Kyle. DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT I AM OKAY?”

     Austin’s pale face turned into a normal flesh color. His heart rate was dropping. After a while Austin was physically dead, it hit 0 BPM.

     “GET OUT, NOW!” Kyle yelled.

     The three ran out of the room and Kyle locked the door. They ran out of the base and Kyle typed in a lockdown code Austin had told him.

     They stood in front of the base, waiting for something. After a few seconds, there was nothing but silence.

     “Okay, he’s stuck in there until who knows when. Let’s get help,” Kyle said.

     Kyle looked back at the base. Out of nowhere, Austin’s hand phased out of the door and soon, his whole body was out.

     “Hello Kyle, what kind of help were you planning to get? NOTHING CAN STOP ME! WHAT KIND OF HELP CAN YOU GET THAT COULD POSSIBLY STOP ME?”

     “Easy, Austin. Just calm down.”

     “Last time I got all my powers, I didn’t have the black band on. No energy was gathered. This time however, there was energy. I’m about to explode Kyle. I could blow up right now in front of you. But nothing matters Kyle. Nothing except living in this body. I can’t remain calm because if that happens, I blow up. I have to panic, Kyle, I never panic unless I need to. I have to let go of control. I have to survive, Kyle. And to do that, I have to lose the thing I have always controlled, my homicidal impulse. Anytime I wanted to kill someone in the past, I always controlled it, I was capable but I controlled it. Now, you’re in my way Kyle, I’m afraid you have to die.”

     “Isn’t this kind of cliché Austin? You want to be a movie director in the future don’t you? This is too melodramatic. Just stop.”

     “I can’t do that. Unless of course, you’d like Patrick to see someone blow up but even if you did, I wouldn’t want that.”

     Austin disappeared in a flash. Kyle was panicking. He didn’t know what to do. There was no way he could beat Austin. Finally, he came out of hiding and appeared right in front of him. He charged at Kyle and strangled him to the ground.

     “Patrick! Help!” Kyle yelled as loud as he can.

     Patrick charged at Austin, fireball in hand but Austin doused him with water using his right hand. The fireball went out and Patrick was blown back.

     “That kinda sucks that you can’t be killed by water unless you turn your entire body into a fiery mass. Looks like I’ll have to kill Kyle first.”

     Nurse Jen was in shock. Patrick felt helpless.

     “Pat, get Nurse Jen out of here. Call Ivan, Lanz, Cedric, Berna, anyone who can help. HURRY!” Kyle shouted as loud as he can. Patrick nodded and rushed towards the hotel.

 

It was 10:30. Everyone was tired and sleeping. Patrick had no choice. He rushed to the fourth floor and woke up Lanz, Cedric, Ivan, and Berna. They were all gathered in the hallway.

     “What’s happening?” Lanz asked.

     “Austin and Kyle, I don’t know. Austin’s out of control. You’ll see, just be prepared to kick the crap out of someone. In front of the base. Hurry!”

     They ran out. Ivan stopped.

     “What about you?” Ivan asked.

     “I’ll follow, just go!”

     Ivan turned back around and followed them.

     Patrick didn’t know why he did that. He went to the fifth floor and went in front of Sam’s room.

     “What am I doing? She’s not close to Austin. I’m not gonna wake her up.”

     He rushed to the third floor and called Lance. He rushed downstairs. Patrick ran for the elevators but when he went in, Joel was there.

     “Hey, umm… What was your name again?” Joel asked.

     “Patrick. You’re close with Austin right?”

     “Yeah, sort of.”

     “Hurry outside, in front of the base.”

     “Why?”

     “He needs your help! Just go!”

     “I was just wondering what the noise was about on the fourth floor.”

     “Go!”

    Patrick pressed the ground floor and dropped Joel off. He pushed the 10^th floor button. He was gonna call some new friends.

     He woke up Rico, Ricardo, Ernst, Johann, and Joseph.

     “Who are you and what do you want?” Rico asked.

     “You know Austin right? I’m a friend of his, he’s in trouble downstairs. Just go! GO! GO! GO!”

     “Why should we…”

     “You want to kick some a*s? Just go!”

     They left his sight. Patrick felt like he was forgetting something. He walked through all the rooms and checked the database for the people on that floor and remembered someone. He went in front of Janella’s door and knocked.

 

Back in front of the base, Austin was holding Kyle down. Kyle’s link with life was slowly being severed.

     “Austin, please.”

     “I won’t stop until I have lost all control. This is just step one you see. Killing you. It’s just a single step. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I must lose a shitload of control if I want to live.”

     “This isn’t you Austin. Snap out of it. We’ll get you a new band.”

     “Screw the band, Kyle. I finally get to use my powers again. Freely and no control. It comes with a price, my pupils, but nonetheless, it is worth it.”

     “KYLE!” Berna screamed from a distance at the horrific sight.

     “HOLY S**T! What is happening here?” Lanz exclaimed.

     “Guys, thank goodness you arrived. Get him off me,” Kyle pleaded.

     “No problem,” Lanz said.

     He prepared for a big clap. He put his hands together and a shockwave formed. It charged straight for Austin. Austin released a black force field that shattered the shockwave.

     “What the f…”

     Austin fired a fireball straight at Lanz. He was knocked unconscious.

     “The band, it was destroyed. Help, do anything,” Kyle said softly. He was starting to lose touch with life. His head was feeling heavy. He couldn’t think straight. Finally, Joel, Rico, Ricardo, Ernst, Johann, and Joseph arrived.

     “Where’s Pat?” Kyle asked.

     “I don’t know,” Berna answered. “You’ll be fine.”

     “No he won’t,” Austin said.

     “Austin, I’m really starting to dislike you. GET OFF HIM YOU B*****D!” Berna shouted angrily.

     “Berna, he’s out of control. It’s not him,” Kyle said.

     “What do we do?” Rico asked.

     “Get him off me,” Kyle said. His eyes closed after this.

     “KYLE!” Berna shouted. She created a red orb and hurtled it towards Austin. It hit him but it merely shattered into a thousand pieces.

     “Your attempts are futile, Berna.”

     Rico then hurtled acid at Austin. It made a burn in his blood soaked shirt.

     “Rico, I never thought you were the type to attack.”

     “You never seemed to be the type to kill,” Rico replied.

     A supernova then erupted from Ricardo’s hands and hit Austin. He was shaken by this.

     “You improved but that’s not enough.”

     “Johann, do something. Austin doesn’t look okay,” Ernst said.

     “Of course he’s not okay, don’t you think? I can’t do anything; I can just absorb this dirt around us.”

     “Joseph?” Ernst said desperately.

     “What will I do, shoot light in his face?”

     “Joel?”

     “Umm… I’m uh….”

     “Then I guess it’s up to me. I’m sorry Austin. But I’m going in!”

     Ernst charged towards Austin but stopped a few centimeters away from him.

     “Hey Ernst, what do you plan to do?” Austin said mockingly.

     Ernst fired laughing gas into his face. He started laughing. But it was more of a maniacal laugh than anything else. He then shot Ernst with an electric bolt and he was knocked unconscious. Then suddenly, an ice beam caught him off guard and he froze. Berna pushed him off Kyle and he was a frozen statue on its side on the ground.

     Janella couldn’t believe what she did. She froze Austin. She had just arrived to the sight of him knocking Ernst out.

     “Nice, Janella!” Joel shouted. She didn’t react. She walked to Austin’s frozen body. Kyle regained consciousness. Berna noticed this and ran to his side.

     “Are you okay?” Berna asked.

     “Yeah, wait; was that Janella who froze Austin?”

     “Her name’s Janella?”

     “Yup, Austin’s new friend. Emphasis on friend”

     “That doesn’t sound like Austin.”

     Kyle sat up. He saw Janella beside Austin’s frozen body. Joel, Rico, Ricardo, Johann, and Joseph also went to his body. Cedric, Patrick, and Ivan were trying to wake Lanz up.

     “Pat, bring Lanz to the ward. Berna, help me stand up, I’ll override the lockdown.”

    Kyle held Berna’s hand and she pulled him up. Kyle regained his strength and he typed in the code. The doors opened and they brought Lanz inside. Kyle turned around and saw the new students surrounding Austin.

     “Guys, stay away from him. He might burst out of that ice cube.”

     They turned around to face Kyle.

     “I think I owe you people a ‘thank you’ for saving my life. Especially Berna and Janella.”

     “Don’t forget Ernst! He made him laugh a bit but it’s the thought that counts right?” Joel said.

     “Yeah, Ernst too. Bring him in the ward. All of you should rest in the base for a while.”

     They all went in. Kyle watched them and saw Berna beside him.

     “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said.

     “Thanks. I’m so glad you’re okay too.”

     “What’s important is we fix Austin. What do you plan to do with him?”

     “Let’s find that machine he used to put a black band on his wrist and put it on him.”

     They went in the base and closed the door. They looked around the cabinets. They finally found it and rushed outside. Then they were met with a fire. It was burning all over the place. Kyle flew into the air to find Austin but he was nowhere. How had he escaped in such little time? He looked down and saw that Austin had written something with the fire.

 

“NOWHERE IS SAFE. NOT HERE, IN THE CITY, EVEN IN THE OCEAN. IN ONE MONTH, IT’S GAME OVER.”

 

     A large part of the island was burning but Kyle felt cold after reading this. He never felt colder in his life…